I Need A System!!!! And FAST!

I normally take great pride in keeping my house clutter free and about 90% organized!

I said 90% because, as my sister can attest to, I am great at the company dash and stash!! I hate having my house look messy when someone walks through the door! So, I dash around, stash the unsightly items in my closets...light a candle or two, and when the company walks through the door my house looks pulled together. So the extra 10%...the closets, they are always a work in progress!

This being said, I really do LOVE creating systems and organization throughout my house and life. I love a drawer organizer, adore hooks, have an obsessive amount of sticky notes, use lots of baskets and totes, and swoon over a system that WORKS. I love these things so much, my husband and I use to go on dates to Office Depot or Office Max. He would hand me a $20.00 and say, "Have Fun!" I loved choosing new office supplies or creating a new system...you know, for that one drawer that was really bugging me!!! One day, during finals, He even surprised me with the NEW, extra large, bonus color, pack of Sharpies!!! I was thrilled! : ) So I am easy to please, what can I say!

This being said, you can only imagine how bothered I am by the mountains of papers currently sitting on my counter, table, desk, and even in a bag already stashed in my closet!!! Where are all these papers coming from, you ask? One word, KINDERGARTEN!!!!! And Pre-School isn't helping the matter either. I am literally drowning in cute, colored, wobbly lettered, crookedly cut and pasted papers. I love them, they are so cute, they completely represent where he is developmentally, and HE is so proud of them. I can't throw them away, at least not yet!

Ladies, I need help...try as I might, I can't seem to come up with a system that is working for me. I have tried a box/basket that they all go in, and every month we go through and pick his favorites to save. This is so time consuming! I have tried a binder, one for each kid...they are never big enough! I don't want stacks or trays where the general public can see...I am stuck! I need your help, I know you have or are currently walking through this yourselves, so...what is your solution? What kind of system do you have for sorting and filing all the lovelies from school? I NEED your help!!!

Remember I am drowning, so don't hesitate to put your two bits in!! : )

Overtaken With The Love of Fall

I love Fall, have I told you that lately??

I love EVERYTHING it encapsulates; color, leaves, sun...then wind...then sun again, pumpkins, chocolate hazelnut cookies, sunflowers, the beginning of soup and stew season, homemade bread, apple candles, going home, pumpkin patches, building a scarecrow with all the funny old clothes mom won't let dad wear anymore..., my BIRTHDAY, wine crush, apple picking, football games in the cool night air, the need for cozy clothes, and LOTS of FAMILY MEMORIES!!!

It is a blustery kind of day here in Seattle. It is the kind of day where the weather can't make up its mind, one minute it is sunny, the next raining, the next blowing...or a combination of all three. This weather encourages me to, throw open the windows and doors, wash and air dry the sheets, and COOK!!!

The laundry is washed and blowing away outside. The boys and I just finished making Cowboy cookies, which are baking and filling our house with the wonderful smells of oatmeal, chocolate, and coconut. Up next, Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Pot Pie, a fall favorite for sure!! I am just hoping I don't loose the power before I finish making this glorious dinner...the lights have been flickering off an on all day.

Fall made an official peek into our life today, the normal routines were forced to hangout and wait, and the loveliness of the new season was embraced with all that an extra cup of coffee, a puffy vest, fresh cookies, and a pot pie can muster up! The pictures are just a peek into the season ahead and a few Fall escapes that look like just the kind of place to enjoy the crunchy, munchy, pitter-patter, wrapped in a scarf kind of lovin this new season brings.

Hope you had a great day!

If you haven't made BF Contessa's Chicken Pot Pie, you must make a date and indulge in this yummy perfection!

Photos:GapPhotos, Scandinavian Escape, Brandon Remler, Kim Michael, BlogsAway, NHViewfinders, ActiveRain, & Kim Michaels.

Sometimes The Truth Hurts...

Admitting you need help is sometimes the hardest thing to do!

This is a lesson I have been learning over the course of the last 18 months, and am still learning! During our unemployment journey I felt like I worked my way through levels of humbleness, vulnerability, and the willingness to say..."I need help." Just when I thought I had shed off the last of my pride and learned my lesson, our situation would get worse, and I would have another choice to make! Usually I would choose to struggle for a while, pull up my boot straps, put on a smile, and do my best. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that you should let others solve all your problems while you sit on the sofa and eat bon-bons. It is great to learn your own strength, get creative, and problem solve. But there also comes a time when learning when you need to ask for help from the Lord, your family, your church family, or even the community, will truly save your life.

This lesson was never harder than the day when I realized I didn't have enough food to feed my boys. As a mom, nothing could be more important or foundational than putting food in front of my kids. I was terrified, without any clear ideas on what to do, so I literally just sat down and fell apart. After some good cry time, I pulled myself together and prayed! I called out with all that was in me for a solution, for HELP! I needed free or dirt cheep, quality, food...but where was I going to find that. Then the Lord answered... Three minutes down the road from my house was a community food bank. The people who volunteer their time, at the food bank, to help families in the community are kind, generous, and there to with open arms.

This wonderful food bank has saved our "bacon" a few times now, and I just can't tell you how blessed we feel when driving away with more than enough food to feed my family. The last time I needed to visit them I had to take my boys with me. I struggled keeping the tears back as I tried to explain to my boys where we were going and why. (I wouldn't want them to EVER worry that they wouldn't have food or that we couldn't provide for them.) However, to my surprise they were excited to be part of "our shopping trip," and asked if they could help say thank you to the people who were providing us with food! Their sweet spirit was a total blessing to me, and their helpful attitudes made our visit so much easier. The volunteers at the food bank were kind and very generous with my boys, and they each left saying how much FUN they thought our "shopping trip" was!!! All I could say was, Praise the Lord!!!

The point of this story, I want you to know there is NO shame in needing to ask for help from time to time. Being part of a community, whether a church community or public, is such a blessing! You don't have to do it alone! I know there are many families in this same situation all across the country right now, and I would just encourage you to let go of your fear and pride and reach out...let someone help you! Then when you can, return the favor. My boys and I are adding volunteering at the food bank into our homeschooling curriculum this year. I want our family to give back, and I want my boys to experience the pure joy in helping another!

I hope you are encouraged today!

John 15:12
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

BTW, Happy First Day of FALL!!! Love this season!!!

The Turning of Seasons

Hello Friends,
Life has taken us on quite a journey during the last 18 months. I wanted to fill in the blanks, give glory where glory is due, and turn the page with the turning of the seasons!

I am so thankful to be standing where I am today. The Lord was ever faithful, He loving provided strength for me daily, and He continues to show that his blessings and mercy are new every morning!

About 18 months ago, my husband's family company began to show stress from the declining economy. We found ourselves facing unsteady income and the fact that a job loss was emanate. We began to look for other work, along with many others across the country, and were faced with the reality that this was going to be a long process. Life, daily, became a game of survival and an ultimate test of faith; in our Provider, our marriage, our communication skills, our ability to persevere while under extreme stress...all the while attempting to keep our home peaceful and steady for our boys!

For me, I was stretched to renew my faith in the Lord, to daily ground myself in His word. I loved seeing scripture around my house, feeling His love through the form of music, and I learned to listen to the silence where I found great insight. I found out that I am actually stronger than I gave myself credit for and learned again how to use the gifts He had placed in me to support my husband through a very challenging time.

I was given the ability to see my husband, for the first time, through His eyes. He created a man with great strength, wisdom, determination, loyalty, perseverance, a servant, and a loving provider. I gained respect for the man He created him to be, and learned that I could trust in Him/him to provide for our family. Our days together weren't always easy, our communication was tested, and we daily struggled to gain some sense of control. But ultimately we found strength in each other, and daily placed our burdens at the feet of Jesus...together!

By April, we officially had no solid income, all our resources had been drained, and we faced the ending of a rental contract before us. As I began to pack our house and transition our boys into the Summer, I had to remind myself not to panic. The Lord remained so faithful, He provided small side jobs, monitory gifts from loved ones and strangers alike...just when we needed them the most, and our daily bread from unexpected, but loving sources. I have never experienced love and generosity from a community, a church family, and loved ones like we did during this time...WE WERE SO BLESSED! Our thanks will never feel like enough for the burden they helped us carry!

The middle of June rolled around and I, on wobbly feet, daily stood on the knowledge that the Lord would take care of my family. The house was packed, the boys were finishing up school, and the future was still unknown. Again, the Lord provided. A family from pre-school provided us with a place to stay during the month of July...A very cute, clean, happy one bedroom apartment on 10 acres complete with mules. I was speechless, and so thankful...my boys were thrilled! A week later my husband was called in for an interview. 4 interviews & 2weeks later he was OFFERED A JOB!!! We were thrilled, humbled yet again, and relieved! The week we moved out of our home, of four years, Glenn started his first week of work! The Lord is good, right?

We spent the Summer, officially "homeless," house hopping. We stayed on the farm for a month and a half...which was such a blessing, lived with my sister, and then my in-laws. We continued to look for a new house which would fulfill our streamed lined and practical list of requirements...this was no easy process. I had truthfully been looking for a new home since January and still hadn't found "the right one!" Our goal was to move into a new situation on labor day weekend, one week before school started! After months of scouring Craigslist, and one week before our moving deadline, I found IT! The Lord yet again, came riding in on His white horse and saved the day! Not only did we find a great house that met our conservative requirements, we found one that exceeded all of our expectations! The Lord totally blessed us!

On labor day weekend, my completely amazing sister, her family, their dog, and their camper parked in our new yard! They spent the weekend helping us schlep boxes, sort and organize, problem solve, and begin the process of restoration of our hearts and our home. I am not sure what I would have done without her that weekend, but I am so thankful she was here. Her act of love and service was a complete blessing and she really did help make my house feel like our NEW HOME! A transformation began through the moving process, we had come full circle, we had remained faithful, and the Lord really did have us in the palm of His hand.

Life has begun to resume a "new" normal. Daddy has a new job with different hours, my oldest son is in Kindergarten, my youngest is in Pre-K..., and I am trying to keep track of them all! No complaints from me though...I am thankful for our steady, crazy, new, and blessed life! I am looking forward to the upcoming year, and plan on writing one heck of a Christmas letter proclaiming all that we have to be thankful for this last year!

Thank you for standing by me, your kind words of encouragement, and prayers. We are so very thankful for where we are standing today, and so happy to be moving forward!

Emily