How Does He Do It?

I'm waking up slowly and groggy this morning, but keenly aware that my husband is some kind of super hero in disguise. Although I  think he's officially blown his cover now.

He works hard. At work and at home. He gives his all to everything he does. When he's at work, he's excelling. When he's at home, he's selfless and devoted, 100% ours. He has no downtime and almost never takes time for himself.

And I wonder...how does he do it?

Lst night when we got home from church, it became quickly obvious that our oldest was not feeling well. He devleoped a fever, headache, sore throat, etc., in pretty rapid form. And He's a needy fella when he doesn't fell well, so we knew it was going to be a long night. Right away, my sweet hubby tells me to take it easy on myself, let tomorrow be a tv day, don't push school, don't push myself, etc. He's saying all this because he knows that this is exactly what I do. Push myself and struggle with guilt when I don't live up to my own insanely high expectations. He tells me he knows the kids will be fine, but he's worried about me. Really?

And it was a ROUGH night with our fevered little guy. We finally got 4 hours of restless sleep until he woke up exhausted and fevered again. And of course he wanted Daddy (he's a Daddy's boy!), so my hubby took him up to his room, gave him medicine, drinks, calmed him down, etc. When my husband finally came downstairs, there was only 40 minutes until his alarm was set to go off. Despite my best efforts to talk him out of it, he decided to just go ahead and hop in the shower and start his day. After only 4 hours of sleep.

Watching him shut the door to the bathroom while I lay in our warm bed kind of broke my heart. But also made me fully grateful for the husband I have, I truly think there's no one like him. I can't believe God saw fit to make him mine, but I'm grateful that he did.

If you've ever met my husband, you know he's very humble. He'll probably hate reading this post, as he has a hard time accepting compliments and admitting his awesomeness. And I know from our many years together that he will tell me, among many sweet things, that it is all Jesus. Jesus is how he does it. He's the man he is because of Jesus. And I can't deny that.

For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her. Ephesians 5:25

My husband exemplifies this in our home. He is humble and patient, loving and kind. And above all, he is selfless. He lays down his life for us, and for Christ, daily.

So, I'll be praying for God to fill him with energy and alertness today. And I'll do my best to make sure he gets to sleep in tomorrow (he's off work). But I doubt he'll let me. He loves early mornings at home with his boy...while the girls of the house are sleeping, lol.

Breakfast is Served

Last summer, when I had zucchini coming out my ears, I wanted to think of a way to use it over the winter. I made the following recipe and everyone (even my non-fruit/veggie eater) liked it, so I packaged my zucchini accordingly.

I finely grated all of our extra zucchini throughout the summer and froze 1 cup in each baggie. This way, all I had to do was thaw it out and dump it in.

 

 

Zucchini Muffins

 

Combine these ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (you can use less, but we love cinnamon)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

* I always toss in some ground flax seed, as well

 

In a sperate bowl, combine these ingredients:

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup sugar

1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini

1/4 cup cooking oil

 

Add dry mixture to zucchini mixture and stir until just moistened. Batter might be a little lumpy.

 

This recipe can be used for bread or regular sized muffins, but we like to make mini muffins! For mini muffins, I bake at 325 (350 for light pan) for 12-18 minutes, depending on your oven. This makes around 35 mini muffins, give or take a few.

 

 

 

And for added fun (and calories!), we like to make icing to go on top. Mix together a little melted butter, powdered sugar and milk until it reaches the consistency you want. Sometimes we make it thinner and it acts as more of a glaze, and other times we thicken it up like icing.

 

 

 

Also, on a completely unrelated note...my little guy started reading today! He was able to sound out all of the words on this page in his kindergarten workbook by himself. And considering that my baby girl knows all of her letters and their sounds, I'd say she may not be too far behind him! Mommy's pretty proud! <3

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

That. One. Thing.

* I will be the first to admit that I am no Bible scholar, I have much to learn. I'm just sharing with you what I feel God is telling me through prayer, simply because I hope it offers something to you as it has me.*

That. One. Thing.

 

My hubby and I were discussing this passage in the Bible recently. Luke 10:38-42 says: 38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; 42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

 

If that doesn't give us busy moms some insight into what our priorities should look like, I don't know what will. I can just imagine Martha frantically cleaning and cooking. I mean, Jesus was at her house! I frantically cook and clean when anyone comes over, but Jesus!?! I can see how easy it would be to miss out on the whole day with Him because you're too busy making sure everything is perfect and all of His needs are met. Can you? Have you found yourself here lately? So busy taking care of your earthly responsibilities that you're missing out on precious time with Jesus?

Distracted...

 

Look closely at what He said to her. He never said that what she was doing wasn't important, or that it didn't need to be done. Instead, He said that there was ONE thing necessary...time with Him. Martha was so distracted that she couldn't even make time for the King of Kings who was sitting in her own house!

It would take pages to list the many obligations you and I could possibly have at the moment. From serving at church to going to work, cleaning to homeschool preparations, our days are filled with seemingly endless tasks. And many of these tasks we do in His name, for Him...just as Martha was doing on that day. We can fill our time with wonderful, noble and necessary obligations, but if our schedules are too full to cultivate our relationship with Him daily, then something needs to change.

 

He desires for us to remove the daily distractions and make time for Him above all else.

One more thing...

What I've written above is what I really desire for you to take away from today's post. But I also think this principal applies to other significant relationships in our lives. There's always something to do for your kids, but sometimes it's good to put all of that aside and focus solely on them for a little while. The other “stuff” is great, but what they really want is YOU. The same can be said for our husbands. No matter the love language, our husbands need relational time with us, not just acts of service.

Furniture Remake

Recently, I found a cheap old dresser that I just couldn't resist. My plan was to remake it and sell, but it turns out my Momma needs one just this size for use in her dining room.

Pretty ugly at first, but I knew it had potential...



Originally, it was all a dark brown, I just forgot to take a picture before I started! ;)

I started with a coat of bonding primer, then added a few coats of paint. I couldn't find the hardware that I had envisioned for this piece, so I decided to spray paint the old hardware. I really like the detail the handles have, but they needed a new color! I also covered the removable panels on the door with new fabric to match my Momma's dining room.

Here's the finished product...

Hello Again World!

Getting back into the blogging world today!

The main reason: my babies...I want them to be able to look back when they're older and read about how enjoyable this journey is for me. I want to keep track of all the neat things they say and do. And all of the fun things we do together, as a family. I also want it to be a reminder that it isn't always easy, but a description of how we navigate the harder times, with Christ guiding us.

In blogging about our life, I'm hoping to encourage others, too. I think being a Mom is incredibly challenging in this world, especially if you're trying to raise your kids counter-cultural. And being a Godly woman and wife is equally as hard. But Jesus and our families are worth fighting for. So, here's a look at what we do and how we do it, the ups and downs, the failures and successes.

At the center of it all, I hope you see Jesus in us. In me. He completes me, makes me whole and without Him, I would literally be a shell of a woman.