The Quiet Heart on a Friday

Happy Friday!

I had coffee with one of my friends who happens to be a high school senior this morning. Such a joy. Fridays change as your school years pass, but there is STILL something undeniably wonderful about a Friday. I'm soaking that up today. (Thanks to my really really great mom who has my little companion with her for a few hours today).

No big personal stories on this Friday. Instead a direction for our hearts to focus on. Or for mine to focus on and for you to ponder :).

The past few days my heart has been stirring. Every time I start to talk to the Lord I feel the weight of his hand nearly saying 'Stop.' Well that's interesting isn't it?! But it's the kindest kind of stop. It's the stop that's saying, 'You've become giving heavy. It's all about you talking to me, you pursuing me, you standing for others, you doing. Of course those are beautiful things, but THIS is all about Me giving to you, daughter. Stop. Quiet your heart. Be still. Don't pray. Don't lift a weight. Let me remind you of who and what I say you are and who I am to you. Be reminded! Let me talk to you.'

Today, I invite you to join me in quieting the heart. In receiving instead of giving. Instead of thinking. Instead of anything else...

This song has been my theme for the past few days. You may want to play it in the background as I list out a few verses of who our God says that we are for pondering:

From Christianity Today:

I am God's child.
Galatians 3:26  "So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith..."

I am Jesus' friend.
John 15:15  "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."

I am a whole new person with a whole new life.
2 Corinthians 5:17  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:[a] The old has gone, the new is here!"

I am a place where God's Spirit lives.
1 Corinthians 6:19  " Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;"

I am God's Incredible work of art.
Ephesians 2:10  "For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do"

I am totally and completely forgiven.
1 John 1:9  "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

I am created In God's likeness.
Ephesians 4:24  " and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness"

I am spiritually alive.
Ephesians 2:5  "made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved."

I am a citizen of Heaven.
Philippians 3:20  "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,"

I am God's messenger to the world.
Acts 1:8  "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

I am greatly loved.
Romans 5:8  "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

My heart is going to be camping out here for a bit.  Not focusing on what I can do for Him, what I can say to Him, or how I can be like Him.  But instead, on who He says that I am, what He is saying, and simply receiving.  

Happy weekending y'all!

Abi

Life Lately: Pregnant, Tired, Joyful, Carb Hungry, and Honest

You know, the truth is that I am one nosy little person. (I guess I am kind of the opposite of a little person at 36.5 weeks pregnant!) But seriously, I love hearing people's stories. And my favorite bloggers share not just the highs of life and only perfect pictures, but truths of their lives that let me access them beyond the perfect. If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen my belly pics every few weeks. Let's be honest sister. I only take those pictures when I am dressed. And by dressed I mean, looking as good as I possibly can look under the circumstances. Here's the pic that I posted at the beginning of this week:

And here's what I look like as I type this blog:

Listen - to each her own, but I come from a long line of women that are greatly benefited by a little war paint as my great grandmother used to call it. Makeup. I do just love a bold pink lipstick. But let's be honest - I am that put together about 15% of the time!

These fingers are itching to get a little real and a little honest. I think it just hit me that I hadn't done a blog post of that nature in quite a while. So this one will be a little of this and a little of that - trying to be transparent about life, God, a painful loss, and the joy of life.

First, I love being pregnant. Truly. I am one of those. I feel all the feelings. Maybe it's because we experienced the loss of a pregnancy/child about a year ago (see this post and this follow up post). This child has been a great gift to carry. I think you're more in touch with the sanctity of human life when it's your second child but also after you've lost a baby. The preciousness of life is so blatant once you have experienced the loss of a life inside of you. So feeling every rolling elbow and even lugging the large middle from one side to the other side in the middle of the night, is a miracle.

Having said that, this pregnancy has been far less of a breeze than my experience with Liam was. Let's be honest - I had a cush pregnancy with Mr. William Justice. I sat at a desk for most of 8 hours a day and could chill on the couch after work. Not so with Mr. Shepherd Levi! Not so.

We started this one out with a bang. My progesterone was low at the very beginning so I went on supplements for the first trimester. Hello. That happened to coincide with a two month period of job transition for Zion and it all added up to me on the couch - a lot. The big old doses of hormones plus our personal transition meant I was emotionally low and physically low. Not so pretty. Bless my boys' hearts for showing me so much grace during that first trimester. Meeting second trimester had never sounded so good and saying buh bye to progesterone supplements was an instantaneous lift.

Of course, that timing was again crazy because the beginning of second trimester brought Zion full force into a new position. A great position. But, I think intense would be an accurate word to describe the transition and position. He's always been a hard worker but this time it's a whole new level. Traveling, working on the weekends, waking up at 5am to start on emails, and busting his brains to adapt to a new industry filled with some of the most intelligent people he's ever encountered has kept him intensely focused since the first few weeks...and it hasn't let up....and I'm thinking it won't let up. And that's okay! We are both excited about where this is going for him and we believe he's at the right place at the right time. But that doesn't mean it's not still intense...and demanding for our entire little family unit. Thank goodness that didn't start until we were in the second trimester! Praises.

Well then came third trimester. And my first failed glucose test...so back we go for the lovely three hour test. I was hopeful that it would come back negative but literally within a few days of having that second test done, I knew I was dealing with gestational diabetes without seeing the test results. It was like a switch went off in my body and all of the sudden I felt horrible. Three bites of birthday cake gave me a headache. My muscles started aching and trembling with fatigue as if I'd just run a half-marathon. My doctor confirmed it and thus began the great diet change of 2014. I think that my body was literally in carb/sugar withdrawal for two straight weeks. LOL! In retrospect, I understood fairly little about carbs and was having way more than I even realized. And then there was the straight up sugar. I was having less of it than I had with Liam, but sister, I still loved me a mix from Braums. So overnight, I went to counting carbs and eating pretty much zero sweets. Whew! The grace of God appears in circumstances like that because you truly are motivated to do just about anything to keep your baby healthy and give him every benefit of health that's up to you.

There's definitely been grace but there have been a fair share of low days when I am pressing into that grace with every ounce of strength I have in me. When my blood sugar gets a little off it can take 24-36 hours to start feeling normal again. That's frustrating when you feel like your to-do list is oh, like, never ending. :)

BUT there's always a gift! And the gift is that I feel so much better having made the change to counting carbs and cutting out sweets! AND - I am not nearly the puff ball that I was with Liam. Now, that is somewhat vain. But, I'm telling you, I AM thankful for that. The last 8 weeks of pregnancy with Liam, my ankles were the very definition of cankles and my face was whatever the facial equivalent of that is. I'm not being hard on myself...just honest. So, it's a bit of a joy to look down and still see bones in my ankles! And to be able to see some fraction of bone structure apparent in my face! This is the closest I'll ever be to a skinny pregnant woman and sister, I am embracing it.

My birthday will be a few days after Shepherd is born. I've decided that I need two birthday cakes this year. The vast majority of women's gestational diabetes simply disappear upon giving birth because it's a hormonal response to pregnancy. So heeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy! I want to keep a lot of the habits I've developed but let me just say - birthday cake WILL be enjoyed. When you go the last eight weeks of your pregnancy without sugar, ya just need two cakes. If I were you, I'd want to know what the picks were! My mom's incomparable chocolate sheet cake and pumpkin cheesecake with a gingersnap crust. Yes and amen. Yes. And. Amen. If you'd like to come visit me or bring me a meal after October 11 (we celebrate my birthday while watching OU/TX), you will probably be offered cake. Be strategic people.

All in all, even though there have been some very trying phases to this pregnancy, I am still overcome with thankfulness. One - for the capacity to carry a healthy baby to term and two - for this particularly precious boy's life. I'm in love with him entirely and I cannot wait to stare into his eyes and kiss that face. Bring on sleep deprivation...at least I'll be able to eat some popcorn when I want to lol!

Man alive, am I still typing???

I am. So let's wrap it up, shall we?

I pray grace and peace over you this weekend. May it be revitalizing. May you find moments of deep rest - even if it's only five minutes :). And may you enjoy life this weekend!

Much love y'all,
Abi

Rise Up

Hello there. Hi!

May my words be brief today and to the point!

My heart is stirring with simple encouragement as I write. Encouragement that I take directly for myself and encouragement that is too broad to not be somewhat applicable to anyone else, too.

Isaiah 52:2

"Shake yourself from the dust and arise; be seated, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion."
(English Standard Version)



On this Friday, can we take that as encouragement straight from Him to our hearts? There is grace today no matter how weak, how tired, how confused, how disheveled, how strong, how proud, how self-sufficient, how okay we feel, how anything etc etc etc we may feel, to RISE up and shake off the dust. There is grace to shake it off. That's what He does. He cleans. He redeems. He makes new. He starts us over. He gives NEW mercy every single day. He lifts the burden.

The thought of rising up to shake ourselves off may be more than you can tolerate because it's more will than you feel you can muster. Or the picture of rising up to shake ourselves off may be the exact picture you need to breathe life into your soul.

Truth says that no matter what this week has held, no matter what the last five minutes have held, no matter if you feel full of life or if you feel you are going through the motions, there IS grace to stop. To stand up, shake off the dust, and arise.

I find it so interesting that this scripture refers to us loosing the bonds from our own necks. Those are Bible words for stopping, deciding you're done with the heaviness that pursues your thoughts, your soul, or your heart and making a choice to step out of it.

Mercy, we all know that there are times it's not that simple.

But, let that not dissuade us from the truth that sometimes it is that simple.

We cannot step out of the heaviness because we are strong/perfect/all-sufficient. The only reason we can truly have faith that it is possible to shake ourselves from the dust is because THAT is His business. THAT is His deal. THAT is who He is. Maybe our minds forget that. Maybe our hearts forget that.

So, it's Friday. Let's cease and desist any forgetfulness right now. Let's remember. HE has not forsaken. He has not forgotten. He is real and He is here. And He's in the business of making all things new....even a weary heart.

Perhaps a little heavy for a Friday but maybe it will be the moment that welcomes a lightness into our Fridays!

Happy weekending y'all and much love,
Abi

The Woman Thing: Part Two

Oh man oh man oh man am I happy to be sitting here typing to you! Life has been a little unexpected over the past few weeks. A little more exhausting than anticipated. So when those Fridays would roll around and it was time to blog, I was on the depleted side of things and decided to let myself off the hook instead of forcing a post. But this week - I'm feeling it again! I'm feeling the stirring of writing before Friday and THAT's something that puts a little smile in my fingers.

If you missed the first post I did on The Woman Thing, and want to give it a read, click here.

Can I just tell you....can I JUST TELL YOU that this little bit of a topic has been wrestling around inside of me since writing two or three weeks ago. Sometimes in a fruitful way, sometimes in a 'gross make it go away' kind of way. Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones, right??!!

I still don't think I have all (or even many) answers for myself in terms of the woman thing. You know the thing. The one that quietly whispers or sometimes loudly blares "Lord, just don't let me miss it. Don't let me lose myself in this season. And yet, YES! DO let me lose myself in this season and be totally surrendered to it. Just please oh please help me stay in touch with where You are. Who You are. And what You want from me - today and in a forward moving way too." And the rumblings go on and on. At least for me, they do!

You know, I've only come to a few conclusions as I've wrestled. The biggest conclusion is that I really and truly believe that I'm supposed to be totally in love with this season and totally engaged with the ways that He wants to push my boundaries in other areas too. It's both. It's all of it. All at once. Which of course is never a perfect balance.

But what's in my heart for this post is to actually type out some of the things that I think He may want to encourage us in, specifically as women. Would you like to go with me on this little uncharted and not-guaranteed-to-be-accurate exercise? A little love letter from Him to me/you. Hey, what do we have to lose?

You, Daughter, you. You spend so much of your attention, energy and effort in approaching me. But I want you to hear me say that I AM THE PURSUER. Don't be afraid. Don't be hesitant to stop working so hard to pursue Me because I AM pursuing you. I am drawn to you. I want to be around you. I want to be laced into your being.

You are female. You are on purpose. All of my children are created in my image. ALL of you are made in my image. That means YES! Your femininity is initiated in Me. It was my idea. It is complex, intricate, beautiful, powerful, lovely, fierce, intelligent and designed. And it always has been. I love you in your femininity. And believe me, femininity is not a light word to me. It's not a pretty word. It's not a weak word. It's one half of what I make my children. There was a need for you and there is a need that only you were designed to meet.

You are not alone in your wrestle. I am right there, in it and through it with you. On the days you feel you can soar out of joy in the sweet moments and on the days when your soul stirs so deeply pricking you with fear that you somehow have or will 'miss it,' I am there. I am right there. I'm not bothered by the wrestle. I am even in the wrestle from time to time. I LOVE THE PROCESS with you! I love the now and I love what is coming. I am in it all. I am in your yesterday. I am in your today. I am in your tomorrow. I am present in all three. It's true. So when you lose yourself in today and the highs and lows, I am right there with you. And when you feel your heart stirring to take both small and daringly huge steps towards what else I am doing in your life, I am there too.

The truth is that I am always grounding you in the now AND I am pushing you forward at the same time. I am capable of that. When you try to do that on your own, with formulas, or follow another's path it will never bear fruit. It will only keep you spinning around in circles - neither content with your now nor taking real steps towards tomorrow. And when that happens, your today and your tomorrow are robbed from. I have fullness for you in your today. What is on your plate right now IS your calling. It's fully and totally and wholly where I am with you right now. And you can trust me to push you at the right time to break out of the boundaries when the time is right. But it won't work until the time is right. You don't want to miss it, right? Well you are in me and I am in you. And therefore, YOU WILL NOT MISS IT. I am the Vine. You are the branch. I am the potter. You are the clay. I am the Creator. You are the created. I am the Father. You are the child. Lean in and trust me. Trust me. Trust me.

Sometimes trusting me means following me on an uncharted path. Sometimes it means finding joy in the mundane. Sometimes it means going a path alone that no one else is going. Sometimes it means following the herd. There is no one path that is more righteous than another. The only righteousness is found in finding me. Follow me daughter!

You are my girl. Your path was never meant to be totally straight forward. I'm not typically found in straight lines but in winding/twisting/meandering paths. The only answer is to trust me. Trust me if I have something different for you than you have ever imagined. Trust me if there seems to be very little surprise in your day to day. Trust me.

I love you. I made you. I breathed life into you. I knew you before you were born. I am in your femininity. I am in your story. I take joy in your story. I take joy in the process we are walking out together. Great is my faithfulness. GREAT IS MY FAITHFULNESS!

Always. Before the beginning of time. Now in your every breath. Here I am and here I will always be.

Hmmmmm I'm breathing more deeply. He's in the complexity.

Sleep well my friend, my reader. And meet my writing partners tonight:


If you need a live worship feed, IHOP KC is great. This is Laura's set from Sunday, August 17. GOOD.


I needed it.

Abi

The Beginnings of a Thought: The Woman Thing

Good morning!!!

I sit here in a bit of a haze having rolled out of bed about thirty minutes ago :). I pondered writing later but life with a growing baby boy on the inside, a full of life nearly three year old boy on the outside, a big boy room to pull together and that ever lovin' mysteriously disappearing thing called energy mean that if this moment presents itself to write - I had best write! So if this one doesn't strike you well, blame it on my haziness :).

First, may I just tell you that I sit here a woman feeling mighty victorious this morning. Today is August 1 and therefore July is no more. Guess who's husband was gone for the entire month except two weekends in July? This girl's man was. Ohhhhhhhhh yeah. Cue 'I'm a Survivor!' More on that month later but let me just say - we made it through and are in one piece (mostly) but I am SO GLAD today is August 1. SO GLAD.

Second, I'd like to ask for as much grace as you can offer me as you read these thoughts today. They are the beginning of something in my heart but certainly not fully processed through. It's a touchy topic that has been rolling around inside of me so if your's are the toes that get stepped on, please know that my heart isn't to offend anyone. Ahhhhhhh let's just dive in, no more beating around the bush.


The woman thing.

There are probably a lot of woman things that come to your mind with those words. Mine too. But in this case, there is one big fatty fat fat one that won't leave me alone.

What is the role of a woman?

YIKES!

I don't have anything near a succinct answer to that but I have some thoughts that I'd like to begin to process with you, if you're willing.

I will say - I am a really bad writer and communicator when I am trying to filter too much - SO I am just going to put some honest and hopefully unfiltered thoughts out there. They're on the raw side :)

You know that scene in 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days' where Matthew and Kate are finally in their groove towards the end at his family's house? And they're playing that card game BS? I shall refrain from typing the words here but that is the exact thing (or phrase) that rises up in me when I think about women who say, "I don't know....all I have ever wanted is to be a wife and a mom. That's it. That's my calling.'

Insert the phrase which shall remain nameless.

See, there is a part of me that GETS THAT! I really get that. In fact, it's near ironic because I am one of those girls who got married, worked for eight years, had a precious baby boy and worked part time for another year, and then took the plunge when the opportunity presented itself for me to stop working outside of the home so I really focus on being mom. I mean, that's me.

I have been given the opportunity to observe many women who have walked this path beautifully and many who have ached their way through the journey and met a major crisis when the intensity of momhood eases as that child turns 18. Eases in the sense that, they likely move out and go to school, and what mom spent her days doing is now simply not there for her to do any more.

But, I've had the honor of seeing women do it fairly well, too. I've seen my mom do it. She gave her all to raising us - truly. And yet, there was still a part of her engaged in things that were totally about who she was called to be aside from mom and wife. The older we became the more she was able to host those parts of herself. I'm watching Carrie do it. I'm watching Kim do it. I'm not sure any of them would say that they're doing 'it' but they are.

So here's the deal: I think the thing that the Holy Spirit has been prodding me the most about is this - are we kidding ourselves if we invest in the belief that wife and mom are our callings in life?

I'd like to propose that they ARE most definitely A calling. Wiving and mothering are holy callings and utterly beautiful to the Lord. Frankly, if we view them as anything less than a calling, it's near impossible to do them at times.

But, I'd also like to propose that I was not born to become a wife and mom.

I do not exist on earth or have breath in my lungs for the sole purpose of marrying and supporting a great person (which HE IS!) and birthing and raising baby boys.

While both of these roles consume much of my heart, time and life and are roles that I DO feel called to, they are not my all encompassing calling in life. If that were true - my calling would be expiring with each day that Liam got closer to 18 and college/adulthood. If that were true - I'd be left without half of my purpose in life should any change ever come in my marriage. (Note: I don't say that second part lightly. I cannot imagine my marriage falling apart. But sometimes you have let the worst case scenario be a part of the picture to let truth come to the top).

Not every woman who is working outside of the home has tapped into her purpose or calling in life. Not every woman who has devoted herself to being wife and mom has either. Some in each camp have. Some have not.

Now listen, I sincerely do not judge any woman who struggles through this. Because I struggle through this! This is, for the most part, a silent battle every single woman faces. We don't talk about it. Some may assume that working women have tapped into their callings and stay at home moms have not. Or that stay at home moms have embraced the true and highest calling in life while working women have not.

There is a silence and quietness to this scenario that is the thing that really bothers me. It's like there's a silent invitation to me to slip into the proverbial back seat. There's a lot of serving in being both wife and mom that is beautiful and right. And if we try to do either of those roles without a humble willingness to serve, it gets ugly fast.

But there is something in that role of servant that has the potential to silently invite us to step back from the plate and stop swinging the bat. Ahhhh I feel very vulnerable right now! I PRAY you know a bit of what I am talking about because these words are like peanut butter coming out of my fingers. Sticky and thick and jambled.

Is it possible to step back from swinging the bat in life, in destiny, in the Kingdom, with the Lord, all the while being a wonderful wife and mom? Or stepping back from the bat all the while having an impressive and stimulating career outside of the home? This is NOT about whether a woman works in a paying job or not.

There are so many more things that can be said. I'm going to delve into this again next week. Heck, I may cancel out half of what I've said this week - next week! I feel as though some of us will read these words and have a lot of disturbance after. Press into the Lord, girl. Ask Him to help you get rid of any of my words that were off and only grab onto what He wants you to. If it's a scary and daunting question to ask yourself (as it is for me) - quietly allow Him to help you ask it anyways. Am I in touch with who I am called to be? Who am I aside from the roles I am filling?

THANK YOU for grace as you have read. Thank you for reading! This was a post I felt like I just needed to put out there - half baked - in order to get the ball rolling. Hopefully next week's words will bring more refined and processed thoughts. If you feel something in your heart that you'd like to add in to the mix as I continue to pray and process this, please get it to me!

This one feels unfinished and unedited at best. May the Lord do with it what He wants. Yikes.

Favorite (Affordable) Toys for the 2-3 Year Old Boy

Good morning!

HAPPY FRIDAY! It's a day to play the music louder, to take a moment to dance a little, and to choose joy - regardless of circumstances. Mmmmm I feel it rising!

Well, this post is going to be a little different for me. I've just wrapped a five part series on girlfriending (here's part one, part two, part three, part four, and part five) and this morning, I NEEDED to write something light and frankly, something that didn't require me to pray a lot before typing! Ha!

So - what is the obvious choice for my topic of writing this morning? Toys for boys, of course! It's not a type of post that I consider to be in my wheelhouse but here's the deal: Liam is about to turn THREE YEARS OLD!!!!!!!! How did that happen? Can't wait to write about that precious man-child soon. I am always looking for great leads on toys that tap his imagination and prompt him to deeply play. So - this is going to be a run down of some of our top toys over the past year.

What qualifies as a top toy? First, it must be a repeat offender. It must be a toy that he goes back to again and again even if he takes a break from it for a while. Second, it must be $50 or less. We do all of our toy receiving at birthday time and Christmas. The $50 limit keeps things reasonable and many of these top toys are far under that price point.

Don't expect this list to blow you away with genius idea after genius idea! These are no-brainer toys that have been big hits at our house - not revolutionary approaches to play time. And many will be just as applicable to girls! The list is not in order of most wonderful to least wonderful. It's just a comprehensive list of what we've loved over the past year.

Let's GO!

1. Jumbo Dinosaurs by Learning Resources


These have been GREAT. Liam adores them and went a straight three months playing with little else. He continues to play with them often. When I say jumbo, I do mean jumbo. These are not hand-sized - they are more like fore-arm sized (a two year old fore-arm that is) and the quality and details are solid. Highly recommend!

2. Mega Bloks (Duplos)



The large size of the blocks is helpful for little hands but still teaches the concept of sticking things together in order to build. It's been very cool to see how Liam's building skills have developed over one year. Now he builds things that really look like what he wants them to be! Planes, rockets, Lightning McQueen.... but of course!

3. Diggers!



This toy could not be a better value! This set on Amazon goes for about $6. And these diggers have been a fixture in our play lives since the moment they were opened. Great great great.

4. Melissa and Doug Fireman Outfit



Melissa and Doug ANYTHING is a winner in my opinion. So far, this is the only role play costume we have but we are getting ready to add more because Liam has used this outfit so much. From a young two to an almost three year old, this is relevant and so much fun to watch him play with.

5. Giant Cardboard Blocks



LOVE these. It's great because these are truly made of cardboard (require assembly) so if one gets hurled - it's going to hurt a lot less than a wood block. Yikes! In my experience with being a boy mom thus far - things are going to get hurled occasionally. I love the size of these because they can easily build a tower that is as big as they are and then fall into it without getting hurt. Lots of Daddy and Liam towers have been built with these.

6. Train Set



We have loved Thomas and all things trains for a long time. This particular train set is great because it has some intricacy and lots of generic trains, cars, houses, trees, etc included. 100% compatible with all Thomas trains so it's a win! Also, I'm a huge train table fan - if purchased used. These things are monsters and expensive new. We bought ours on Craigslist for $50 instead of $120-$150 new. Get one that has drawers - very useful.

7. Reusable Sticker Books



REUSABLE STICKERS!!!! Thank you Melissa and Doug. Liam loves stickers. But it irritates me that stickers are so expensive and done after one stick on the page. These are the opposite - they are able to be used again and again. Each pad comes with five different big scenes with coordinating stickers (train stickers go with a train station scene). It's a little work to put it all back together again....but this is way to go for stickers. And hello - at $7/pad it's a great deal.

8. Hero Bath Toys



This is my favorite for bath time. We use these every single time we take a bath and Liam loves them. They can be a little pricey if you think about them being bath toys but Buy Buy Baby is the place to purchase if you have a coupon. In this case, a better deal than Amazon. Elegant Baby makes many different theme sets and they are all great!

9. Curious George Books



We have all kinds of books and Liam loves to be read to. But these Curios George books are on the very top of my list. We have seven different CG books and I love them for a lot of reasons. First, the stories are a great balance of simple/complex. I think they have pulled him along in terms of listening to a story but the illustrations are so great that if he doesn't follow all of the words - he knows exactly what's going on by the pictures. Plus, the stories are precious! Second, hello price point. Amazon sells the paperback versions for $2-$3/book. Can't beat that. We plan to add more and more to the collection.

10. 100 Bible Stories



My Mom and I found this Bible at Easter this year. Actually Liam picked it out! He instantly gravitated towards it and he loves it still. It takes the Bible stories and puts them into an easily understood story for toddlers. Plus it has great illustrations and a take away point or message on the corresponding page. We have a few other toddler/kid Bibles but this is the one he really likes.

I hope this is valuable! The last year of play time with Liam has been fascinating. A lot happens between 2 and 3 years old! Hey - pass on what your favorites have been. I am always looking for more ideas.

Happy weekending y'all! And happy playing :).

Lots of love,
Abi

Girlfriending Part Five: It's Never Too Late

Blog Friday strikes again!

My brain is tired today...maybe it's the small man-child I'm providing housing for in my middle or perhaps it's the five hours of sleep I got last night. Mmmmmmm last night. Let me tell you - what happened last night couldn't have given us a better back drop for this last post on girlfriending.

College brought me some of the dearest girlfriends. The dearest. For quite a few years after college we were so good at getting everyone together for a weekend once a year. Here'a pic from one of those weekends - five years ago.



Last night, we were all together again. It had been quite a few years since we had all gotten together! I may be wrong, but I think it had been four years since all of us were in the same place at once. I wish I had the group pic on my camera but we used another camera. Pic to come later :). Here's a few shots of us last night:



Now first, I should say - these were pretty random shots. Perhaps not our most flattering moments....but still a moment to treasure.

Last night reminded me so clearly of one of the most important things I've learned in girlfriending: It's never too late to reach out.

In this case, we hadn't lost touch, it was just that we hadn't been able to make a face-to-face reunion happen. But then Heather emailed and said 'We're having dinner! Get here.' So we got there. And just like that - the four years disappeared as if it had only been two weeks since we had last been together. Heather hosted us in her delightful abode with a delicious meal....and then to top it all off she prompted each of us to share updates of our lives as they really are - the good, the bad, the ugly, the pretty. All it took was a bee in Heather's bonnet and we were back in our groove. We spent three hours sharing life stories together in honesty, tears and laughter. It just took a Heather.

It just took a Heather.

Those moments are actually some of the most pivotal in whether or not girlfriends make it the distance. There are some friendships that are meant for a season and it's maturity to know how to identify those and graciously let life happen when the season is over. But there are many that may not work in one season, but are a true delight when they are rekindled in the next. One of the biggest lessons I have learned in girlfriending is to trust your ponderings.

If it's been a few years, a few months, many years, or many months, but all of the sudden you find yourself thinking about her, do something! Text her, call her, email her, do something. It doesn't mean you're signing up for starting to get together every week....it means the connection is worth rekindling and even a small amount of reconnecting may be all that's it's about.

Be the big girl. Be the one who's willing to reach out. Be the one who's willing to apologize. Be the one who's willing to say 'come to my house!' Or - as I have learned over and over again - be the one who's willing to drive four hours to her city just to get some face-to-face time. Be the one! I can guarantee you - you will reap what you sow. Or should that be 'what you sew?' LOL! I'm going to stick with my original 'sow.' But just know - that I know I may be wrong :).

As wives, daughters, moms, aunts, friends, etc. I'm not suggesting that our lives be driven by girlfriending. In fact, we all know that there comes a point where too much of a good thing is just too much. BUT I am suggesting that there's a time to sacrifice for it. There comes a time to make it a priority. There comes a time to go the extra mile. There comes a time to say 'Okay, it's been too long and I am thinking about you and I will be the one to break the silence and jump back in.' There comes a time.

Friends, your time spent reading these words humbles me. I am so relieved to get this series off of my chest and onto the screen. I hope to revisit these posts over time because I am fairly certain most of these thoughts have been half-baked at best. Hopefully I will continue to learn and be taught and will be able to come back to revise some of these concepts as they mature inside of me.

In closing, may I take a moment to encourage you?

I encourage you that healthy girlfriending is something that God does have for you.

I encourage you to take heart and have courage if the point of all of this is that He wants to bring out more health in you before healthy girlfriending becomes a big part of your life. It will be worth the journey, I assure you.

I encourage you that you can change.

I encourage you that He wants to keep teaching you and He wants to keep teaching me how to have His heart in girlfriending. The more in touch we are with His heart, the better these girlfriend things go.

And finally, I encourage you to take a step. I encourage you to open yourself up when you see signs of health in someone else. I encourage you to be the kind of girl/woman who makes others comfortable in their own skin. I encourage you to be one who speaks life and calls out life in others.

Girlfriending is one of God's sweetest, most challening, and most rewarding gifts to us. Let's have the humility to say that there IS a lot to learn about healthy girlfriending. And let's jump onto that road of continued learning together.

May your weekend be full of grace and encouragement!

Lots of love,
Abi