Children’s Book Giveaway

Children’s book and free, that is a winning combination if you ask me. As I shared in an earlier post, I have a huge passion for children’s books, so when I read about this neat opportunity I just new it was too good to keep to myself (+ for blogging about it, I get a 2nd chance to win!) This super cool mommy is doing some book reviews for Zondervan, and we get a chance to reap the benefits! She has posted a great review about a new book, Along Came You, plus she is giving away a free copy. Click here to read the review and to enter for a chance to win.

If I don’t win, it’s going on my Christmas list, so either way it’s a win-win. Thanks, Dana!

 

 

Boo, the FLU!

Ok, so Grayson came down with the flu during one of the most fun filled weeks, the last one in October. We may have been down, but we weren’t out! Here is a look at some of the things we did to stay busy during our quarantine:

Pumpkin Pancakes

Puppet Shows

We did do some brief Trick-or-Treating on Broad Street. My lil’ heros!

Check out more Perry Family Fall pics here.

Too Much Adventure for 1 Day

This stay-at-home mom of two has had more adventure today than in weeks.

The Lizard- While meeting with a friend in our den this morning a little green lizard scurried across the floor. I am not the best with critters of that sort, so my futile efforts to “Get Him” were unproductive. He was quick, which just fueled the flames of my freaking-outed-ness. With my friend now sitting Indian Style on the couch, we settled to have an uninvited guests at our meeting. Every now and then we would check his whereabouts. It went on as long as I could stand and then trying to talk myself into a brave maneuver, I approached the third wheel with an empty plastic cup, (yeah, the big kind my husband likes to dink from..). I squealed, he ran and we have yet to see one another again.

But the lizard was nothing compared to what was ahead.

Now only out of complete necessity would I even consider going to Wal-Mart with both kids in the pouring rain. The bare shelves in both the fridge and pantry as well as the pitiful excuse for a lunch I packed for my preschooler today screamed it was necessity. The trip inside the store went well, it was outside the store where we had our trouble. My rainy day procedure was in place, the kids first then the groceries. Can you feel it, do you know where I am going with this? As I put my little one in her seat she grabbed my keys, so in an effort to appease her fussing  while I loaded the groceries I let her play with them. DON”T DO THAT! I had that thought. As I loaded the sopin’ wet groceries into the back, I had a 2nd thought, don’t shut the hatch until you open another door. Ignored that one too. So, yep, I shut the hatch and in doing so successful locked myself and my son out of the car with my daughter and the keys in it. Did I mention it was pouring down rain!

The Lockout- So 2 fire trucks and 5 firefighters later my drenched son and I were reunited with our dry, but pretty upset, daughter/sister and the keys, which in her upset-ed-ness had been tossed. A five-minute frantic search found them, but it just lengthened the time I was before these fellas looking oh, so intelligent! I am sure they were thinking something along the lines of, “this stay-at-home mom need to say at home.” Apologetic and grateful, I sent my rescuers away with a promise of brownies to come. And then finally we headed home.

So have you had a MIS-adventure? Do Tell!

My Actions are Speaking

I hear, “My family is the most important thing to me.”, so often from my own two lips, from folks I love, from people I know well and others whom I hardly at all. If that is true, then why is it that those very ones we love the most are the ones who get our very least. The least of our patience, the least of our time and energy, the least of our affection, and the least of our priorities. I know, I am being a little harsh here..maybe it’s not the least or maybe its not that way everyday, but oh, my heart just breaks when I see OUR words and OUR actions not lining up.

So, why is that? As the seven-day flu quarantine has taken its toll on me and some other tough issues have been weighing on my heart, I have been praying over this and pondering it for a couple of days now, and this is what I’ve come up with.

We’re too busy. We try and do too much, too fast, too soon. We say, “yes” when the answer should be “no”. Right now in my life I have three roles that ONLY I can fill. In my opinion, these are my God given and God ordained places that I was uniquely created and established for. And they are: being my husband’s wife, being my son’s mom, and being my daughter’s mom. Those roles no one else can fill. A lot comes with that, and I want to give those three positions my everything. All else can either be done by someone else or is not important. When things being to get tough, it is absolutely necessary that I remind myself of this. There is so much out there biding for my time, attention, and affection. Good things, no great things, that I love and I am passionate about, but when those things begin to take president over the #1 thing we’ve got a problem.   I think often times we wear our busyness in one of two ways, and oh, if your like me sometimes BOTH, as a badge or as a mask. We either want to show off how busy we are as if saying to the world, “look at me and all I do because I am so important, so irreplaceable.” or we hide behind it and use it as our excuse “I can’t right now because I am too busy.”

When we hold on to things and busy up our lives we are robbing God of two things: first, the opportunity for someone else to be a part of His amazing work, and secondly, our undivided heart that fully trusts in Him. Do you really need to be doing that? Or does God want to give that responsibility to someone else, which may be their #1 thing, so you can focus on your #1 thing.

So, how does one “debusy”? How can I lessen this load on my day or my week? For me it is taking these two steps:

First,  Get Perspective. It is of utmost importance that when I am racing and feeling overwhelmed to stop and get the BIGGER picture.    At the end of the day, what really matters? What really has to get done? When the emotions are spinning and the to-do list seems endless, that’s when things get the Goliath complex. Little tasks all the sudden become huge and unconquerable. So, let’s grab our slings and stones and take the ToDo s down one at a time!

Second, Simplify. We have lost the forest in sight of the tree.  We over-complicate things. I think we spend a lot of wasted time and energy on thinking and talking about how to do things rather than simplifying doing them in the most direct and efficient manner. We can’t major on the minors. We have to keep the main thing, the MAIN thing.

With our perspective in check, our actions steps simple and direct, then we need to go for it and do it to the best of your abilities, giving it all you’ve got with no regrets. I believe when we truly do that, all the rest will fall into place.

I also believe when we do this we will have the time and energy to get the things done God would have us to do without compromising that which is the most important. For me it is my family, and I want them to SEE that.

What about you?

Unpacking

My heart has been FULL these past days.  I know there are several blog posts packed in there, but I am hard pressed to find the time, and truthfully the energy, to unpack.

“My heart is willing, but my flesh is so weak.” THIS is one of the reason I was so hesitant to even begin this blogging journey. I need NOT another thing in my life to be behind in..the laundry, dishes, ironing, house cleaning, and the list goes on and on.. are enough.

However, the truth is I can feel God tugging at my heart. Writing is my release- always has been. And I know He is beckoning me to release. For what I don’t know, and really I am not even concerned about that. At this point I just want to be obedient to Him.

What is your “release”?

A Children’s Book Passion

I have a love for children’s books. Always have! Everything about them makes me smile. They create both an experience and an opportunity that to me are priceless and irreplaceable in the life of a child.

Before I had children of my own, I got paid to read books to children. Now, that I have two of my own,  you couldn’t pay me enough to NOT read. And there is nothing more precious for this Mommy, than to see the love of books taking root in the hearts of my little ones.

Just yesterday, I overheard my 3 1/2-year-old son reading to my 1-year-old daughter. But he wasn’t just reading words and turning pages, he was sharing the treasure of a book with her! His rendition of Eating the Alphabet was so good. This Mama was sooooo proud.

I hope, through the power of this blogging world, to  share some treasures from the Perry library, and gain some new gems too.  So, here goes our 1st:

Eating The Alphabet, Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert is such a fun book. The bright colorful illustrations made this book a hit for both of my children when the very young. It was one of our first favorites. The book, complete with glossary in the back, which we needed for ones like kohlrabi, takes you through an alphabet buffet of the various fruits and vegetables beginning with each letter. We usually read this one around the breakfast table, and my kiddos give a shout out when we get to a fruit or vegetable they are eating. The possibilities of having fun with this book are endless. Trust me, I know..we are now into our almost 4th year of it being a daily read. But, who minds rereading a book this great!

Oh, and as for hopes that  reading about the vegetables will make your children want to eat them more,  I’m still waiting for that payoff!!!

Happy Reading!

It Strikes Again!

The Josh Effect was in full force again this morning.

So, I fight with the printer for about 20 minutes, frustratedly give up on it and begin devising plan B for how to get the items I need off my computer today to my son’s preschool. My husband as he walks out the door for work, takes a quick look at the printer and boom, it begins printing out my 10 pages as needed. How does HE do IT.

Who makes miracles happen at your house?

Pumpkin Family Night

Last night we had a super fun pumpkin family night.  It was all things pumpkin. What a great time we had. Josh and I are really working on making more of an effort to ensure our weeks include an extra special night for our family to connect. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate or expensive. So, here is what the Perry family was up to this Pumpkin Night!

It started with a great game of Hide-and-Spookley. Spookley, the square pumpkin, is my son’s absolute favorite lovee this time of the year or not! He was into it, her not so much!

Next we made pumpkin cookies. These darling yummies from Toll House made dessert a snap, and the best part they were the perfect treat for little helping hands.

It was time for dinner! Daddy arrived with a pizza, and leave it to him to make sure it fit the theme also. Our pizza had eyes, a nose, and a happy grin. We ate on pumpkin plates and the kiddos even had pumpkin cups.

After dinner, the carving began!

We 1st scooped out the seeds to save for roasting. Just as directed in our fall favorite book, Pumpkin Hill.

Next came cleaning out all the slimy pulp.

Once again he was so into it, she was so not!

Grayson drew the sketch and then Daddy began the carving.

While he carved we enjoyed the cookies!

Josh did a marvelous job carving, and to enjoy our work we took our precious pumpkin to his spot on the front porch. Grayson loves the pumpkin. And notice we lost one member, sleep overtook her even in all the pumpkin pandemonium!

It’s bedtime, so clearly our evening’s books were all about pumpkins. Including the aforementioned Spookley and Pumpkin Hill, other Perry pumpkin favorites include  Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins and The Pumpkin Patch. Grayson was out by the 2nd book!

My heart is full, and I treasure these precious times. May there be many more!

New Respect

In keeping with the theme of my blog, All Things New,  I periodically want to blog about the newness of God in my life, the new things He is teaching me or the new ways He is meeting me. Hey in this crazy life I live, I need the reminder! I am taking his word to Isaiah as my own, “From now on I will tell you of new things, of hidden things unknown to you.” Isaiah 48:6. This  has been a heart ponder for several months now,  and wouldn’t you know it as I begin to press into this whole newness thing, God is there with something HUGE.

So, for New thing #1: My husband needs my respect. He is God wired that way, just as I am wired to need his love. And just as Josh’s love for me is to be unconditional so is my respect to be unconditional for him. This is NEW for me. I’ve  heard and read time and time again about unconditional love and it’s high ranks in marriage but never respect. Not that I don’t respect my husband, I do, but the newness has come in the understanding it’s significance to him. So that in turn has created a desire for me to be mindful of really making sure my husband knows and feels I respect him. Wether in word, deed or expression, I am becoming mindful of, “was that respectful of  my husband?”

So this new thing, it’s not  so new. Confession- my small group has been reading this great book, Love & Respect,  by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs since September. But, I am just now at a place where I am ready and able, really, to communicate what God has been showing me through this book and the discussions its created. It was come with heartache, humbling and even embarrassment as I have begun to realize the disrespect I too often show and the lies I have believed about respect.

Also, this truth has always been there, it’s just been hidden (for me anyway) in Ephesians 5:33. I never gave it much thought I guess as to why Paul’s instructions were, ” each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” Well, I’m giving it some thought now! And it is so beautiful to see the effect it is having on our marriage.

I hugely recommend reading Love & Respect. Even if your not married yet, I sure wish I could go back and have begun my marriage with a better understanding of this love and respect thing. I believe in it’s power to revolutionize the way husband and wives interact.   I am seeing it in MINE!

Won’t you share…Is this respect thing news to you, too?

What a Week!

Apologies to my blog for the week’s absence. I had several things I wanted to post, but the time was just not there. And with so much going on and two young children, updated posts where the last thing on my list.  But I’m back, and I am ready to catch the blog up on what we’ve been up to.

First, Josh and I had the incredible opportunity to attend Catalyst In Atlanta. It was both of our first time, and WOW, we are still trying to process the onslaught of amazing things we experienced. (Once I do, I am certain there will be at least one Catalyst Post) I thank God that our church supported us in that opportunity and that my Mom was willing and available to keep my kiddos. In addition to Catalyst being a life changer, I really cherished the time spent  with my husband. I am grateful I got to experience it with him, but best of all was getting to worship WITH him.

On Saturday, we stayed in town to celebrate the several birthdays my family has in October. And when my family gets together, they go all out. The kids were to dress up, so we had 9 Superheros in our midst. 4 of the 9 are under the age of 14 months. It was a hoot! I hope to post some pictures soon.

Following the trend of the week, Sunday was just as full and just as incredible. My husband did an amazing job leading worship.  Not only was the music tight, but I was touched by Josh’s heart felt prayer. Afterwards I told him, “Yall could have played  Kum Ba Ya over and over again when you  pray like that.” Oh but they didn’t…the set was awesome.  After church, our small group had lunch together and then headed down to The Pumpkin Patch Farm in Adairsville. We had a great time.  The weather was nice, the fellowship sweet- What a way to wrap up a HUGE weekend for the Perry family!

Here are some pictures from the farm