the BEST kind.

Tonight as I sit here, exhausted from a day's work and waiting for my dear hubby to get home from our house, I read Nie's encouraging words, and this stuck out to me:

Family is hard work, but it is the best hard work that ever existed.

That's the truth, and it is echoing in my head tonight. 

Thank you, Lord, for my precious, beautiful family.

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My "quiet" time

I've mentioned this before, but sometimes, my quiet time with the Lord looks a whole lot like this:

What I've realized is that this is just a season of my life. And know what I'm finding? The Lord meets us right where we are. 

So be encouraged, my friends. Just come to Him and let Him show you His love. His mercies. His truth. 


Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
Psalm 90:14

A house.

A lot of you may have already seen via Facebook and instagram, but this past week Chris and I became first time homeowners!!!

Woo hoo!!

Holding the key:

Us with the kiddos:

Demolition in progress: 

While we wouldn't really consider it a "fixer-upper", it does have a bit of work that we're going to do on it before we move in. (mainly floors and walls--stuff that's way easier to do while the house is empty!)

Taking a break and resting on the porch. :)

Living Water- part TWO

Well. I certainly didn't intend for a whole entire month to go by without writing. But ya know, life happens. We took a trip to North Carolina to visit my mom. (I'll give you a recap on that later.) 

Also, I'll have a really exciting announcement later this week. Am I keeping you on the edge of your seat? 
(no, I'm not pregnant, let's just get that out of the way now)

Anyway.

My month of drinking only water is over. And this coffee I'm drinking right now as I type is SO tasty. 

So what did I learn? What did the Lord teach me? First off, if you are one of those people that says, "I could NEVER give up coffee!", know that I was one of those people too. I really was. But when the Lord calls, I answer, and when He calls, He equips (not the other way around.)

It was somewhat ironic, because the very day I made that commitment, I read this on Hannah's instagram:

"it is wonderful what miracles god works in wills that are utterly surrendered to him. he turns hard things into easy, and bitter things into sweet. it is not that he puts easy things in the place of the hard, but he actually changes the hard thing into an easy one." 

hannah whit hall smith

And that day, I wondered if that would be my experience through all of this.

Let me tell you, friends, He absolutely was my help. 

I never suffered from caffeine headaches. I was rarely tempted to give in. But on the occasions that I was, He was my strength, and I was reminded of WHY I was doing it, not just the fact that I was. In summary, keeping your eyes on Jesus is always a good thing.

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One last thing, friends. Here's a song that's been on my heart the last couple of days. It's speaking to me hardcore. What is your "sing all you want to"? This last month, mine has been drinking coffee. And this week? It's something else. Please give this song a listen. Open your hearts to what the Lord may be speaking to you. 

Anything I put before my God is an idol.Anything I want with all my heart is an idol. Anything I can't stop thinking of is an idol. Anything that I give all my love is an idol.