A Few Friday Faves

March 16, 2012September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett4 Comments

We’ve been busy this week. But all in the name of nesting

and spring readiness

and 80 degree days that call for

massive wardrobe overhauls.

I volunteered for the annual consignment sale so I could shop early.

Thank goodness.

$1.50 over my budget later and my kids won’t be naked.

Thanks to people who can afford Gymboree, they might even be cute 🙂

I picked up a few things for Gus as well.

Don’t want him to feel left out.

And shopping that section has inspired a blog post you’ll see next week.

I cleaned out the junk drawer this week in search of safety pins.

Now it looks like this.

Ahhh….organized clutter.

And cheapo baskets from Wal-mart because drawer organizers cost like $9.

Seriously?

Can you believe these sweet faces?

Kayden up top hangs with Amelia and me a few times a week

while him mom goes to nursing school.

Leah Kate just turned one

and is the daughter of my best friends.

Then there’s my sweet angel who consented this week

that “uh-huh” baby brother is coming to live with us.

Just not in her room.

Today’s post from Proverbs 31 ministries warmed my heart.

If you’ve ever been stopped by a well-meaning mother in the grocery store

while your child is shrieking and trying to careen the buggy

anywhere other than the frozen food aisle

and you’re praying you can just get some milk and get out

and then this person says smiles at you and says,

“Have you read The Strong-Willed Child?”

Then it takes all your willpower to grit your teeth and not throw the frozen peas.

You need to read today’s post over at Proverbs 31.

Be encouraged that you are not alone.

Let’s all raise God-following adults and not just good children.

Linking up with Rachel over at Finding Joy. Check it out. Be blessed. Happy Friday!

faith · perfectly imperfect

(Im)Perfectly Patient

December 8, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett3 Comments

I’m not a very patient person.

I can’t sit through commercials and will walk the grocery store until a register is free.

I sometimes get bored halfway through a book and read the ending. Alright, that’s not true. Usually I’m so into the story I can’t wait for the end. I have to know now.

I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in one day because I refused to allow myself to be so impatient. So I just didn’t put it down until I was finished. Somehow I don’t think that was better because I had to go back and reread so I could appreciate the details.

I don’t usually appreciate the details like I should.

And lately I’ve been really impatient with my Lord. It doesn’t make for a happy home.

But I want to know now and how and when and where. I want a blueprint of my life, or at the very least the next few months, and I want to be able to see how we’re going to get through this valley to the other side.

Faith doesn’t work like that. It’s trusting in the unknown.

I’m not so good with the unknown.

So everyday, and many times a day, I’m having to remind myself that Paul wrote a long time ago about how to combat these “fits of rage” that come with my fear of the unknown.

But the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, PATIENCE, kindness, gentleness, and self-control…..I used to think it was the self-control that would help me cultivate patience, but guess which comes first?

And then we read in our Advent devotion on Monday how God always provides. Always there’s a ram in the thicket if we’re patient enough to trust in Him.

But sometimes he brings us to the very edge of that dark place before we see the light.

faith · family

Family Rules

November 1, 2011 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

I REALLY want one of these signs. I already know where I’ll hang it. I love what this one says, but Joshua says we need to add “no whining.” The lovely Tara over at Between You&Me made this one for her home and is hosting a fun giveaway. Head over to enter to win your own or just to tell her how much I would really love to have this hanging in our cozy little home that I’m learning to re-love and re-appreciate more everyday.

And leave me a comment telling me what you think your best family rule is. My new favorite is Thank the Lord. All the time. For everything.

faith · http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · reflections

The Manna

June 8, 2011 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

I’ve long had trust issues. I think actually it’s that I have self-confidence issues that manifest as being unable to believe that I am worthy of anything.

Friendships.

Blessings.

Love.

I’ve talked a lot recently about living on faith, about believing that the Lord will provide for our family, about trusting His Hand in this little world of big change. But do I believe it? When it counts do I really?

I cried the other night after Joshua made an innocent comment that I blew out of proportion and it all related back to me feeling like I wasn’t doing enough to keep our budget sound. Our checkbook red. Our kids fed.

I had no trust, not really. I don’t think I truly believed He would come through when we needed it. Even though He always has. Even though He always will. I went ahead and prepared myself for the worst thinking, “Well, at least we know. At least we’ll be ready.” But can one ever truly be ready for the unknown?

And today when Joshua called to say he’d had an offer, that it was what he’d prayed and hoped and waited for, I realized how little faith I’d had. Here I was prepared for the worst, never trusting for the best. And that’s not faith. That’s cowardice. That’s untrust. That’s unfaithful.

That’s the opposite of the person I want to be, am striving to become, am praying to be revealed.

Trust. So hard to eat the manna everyday and believe in its worth. But always, always it is.