VOTE!

I am not going to use this post to hand out all my political views and what I think you should do on voting day. Rather, I want to simply encourage you to go and vote. As mom's I think it is our responsibility to practice this privilege we have. Our communities and our states and our nation are greatly influenced by those in office. As mom's we should carefully consider our options and what and who we want representing our voices, representing our kids. I am posting this today to give you a heads up that Election Day is TUESDAY! If you haven't yet, research some of your candidates and take your kids with you to the voting polls. What a great opportunity to show them you care about their community and to let your voice be heard through your ballot.

finger lick'in good!

If I lived in a fall type atmosphere 365 days a year I would most definitely weigh 500 pounds. I love fall food! Especially fall treats! Pumpkin anything and warm apple anything makes me drool a bit just thinking about it. Yum! This is by far the best pumpkin bar recipe I have mastered in my decade of baking. I get so happy when I pull out that first pan of pumpkin bars from the oven each fall. Mmmmm, the smell, the taste, the cream cheese frosting. Too good! For a guaranteed mouth party experience try these this fall...

Mama's Favorite Pumpkin Bars

Bars:

4 eggs beaten slightly

2 C sugar

1 can of pumpkin

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 C oil

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 C flour

Mix together eggs, sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, and oil. Add remaining ingredients. Blend well and bake in jelly roll pan at 350 for 25 minutes. Cool before frosting.

Frosting:

8 oz cream cheese

1/2 c margarine (not butter)

3 1/2 c powdered sugar

2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Cream together until smooth (no lumps) and smooth over bars.

Be sure you share this pan or you will find yourself cutting little pieces off all day until you've finished it yourself! Enjoy!

what I do and don't do

There has been some buzz around my group of friends lately about what we do and don't do. The lists are filled with anything from 'I do recycle" to "I do read my Bible everyday" to "I don't garden" and "I don't watch TV". I have been thinking a lot about this myself recently and it seems to be a good practice to just write down and help clarify what I do and don't do. Some of the things in my do lists are things I want to do better and don't necessarily do much of right now. Same as with my don't do lists. There are things I do right now that I hope to not do soon. (for example I wish I wasn't addicted to good TV shows!!!) So in at attempt to bring some clarification to my purpose right now here is part of my lists. I'm only sharing some of it because to be honest I am embarrassed to share it all!

I do...read to my kids everyday. exercise fairly regularly. connect with friends, deeply and often. garden. spend time in my child's classroom. prepare good meals and has my family sit at the table for at least one of them a day. read the Bible with my family. read books almost everyday. grocery shop with organized meals in mind. send cards to people in my life. pray for others often. check in with family members. hug my kids everyday. kiss my husband everyday. spend time with families and their kids. give money to those with less then me. spend time outdoors.

I don't... recycle (I wish I did but I'm just not at that place where I can make it work yet). waste time on the Internet (and getting better at limiting email and blogging time :). make homemade things. don't sew.volunteer outside of my home much right now (more on this topic in another post). have a clutter free home. attend every mommy group I'm invited to. lead much of anything other then my household (this came off my do lists a few years ago when I used to lead a lot of things). work outside the home. make a lot of money.

This is just a handful of things on my original list. As I wrote my "I don't" lists I often had to have a reason or an excuse as to why I don't do it. So many of us mom's think we need to do it all. It's just not so. We are not made to do all things and part of what makes us uniquely made is that we each have our own set of skills and gifts that we get to use. I have found this list making freeing in some ways and also humbling. It helps me really focus on what I believe to be my purpose right now, this very moment in life. Sure, I wish I did some of the things in my "I don't" lists but it would take away from my "I do" lists if I tried to do all these things. My "I do" list helps me know what I am doing right now and what I need to be doing well today. There are things I hope to add to my "I do" list and know there are some things about myself that I can do better to make such new things happen. By looking at my 'I do" lists I also remind myself of what I need to do to be me.... even the little things like spend time outdoors. I connect to God so much through nature and not taking time to do this, in my opinion, takes away from the way God created me to be with Him.

What's on your lists? I started off just jotting a couple things down and the last month or so have gone back and added more and rewritten some things. I feel a pull for what other's want me to do and this list helps me say no when I need to and to really stay focused on what's needing to have my time, energy, and commitment. Give it a try.... write some I do's and I don'ts down and see how your heart reacts.

those ahead of me

You know, as I have lived life it seems I have always had someone just a little ahead of me in life whom I have been able to kind of walk behind. These people have touched my life in so many ways and I have learned so much through them. Some have actually been named a mentor in my life and others have been just going about their own lives without even knowing that I was watching, listening, learning from them. I think as mother's it is really important that we have some older mom's who we can watch, listen as they speak, and learn from. It is even biblical... Titus 2:4 says "These older women should train the younger ones to love their husbands and their children."

I recently watched one of my "unknown older mom's" in church with her family. I have been watching her for years, but this day I saw her showing love to her grumpy and moody father-in-law. She sat on one side of him and as her husband sat on the other side of this man I thought "Wow, I want to be able to love the unlovable in my family the way she does." We all have them don't we? People in our life that are hard to love or difficult to be around. I think God puts these people in our lives on purpose, to really teach us what it means to love at times. Loving shouldn't be easy. Love's depth isn't fully filled until we choose to love the hard ones.

I know I have not loved certain people in my life the way God would want me to. I even justify myself at times saying these people are too grumpy, too mean, too opinionated, too this, or too that. They don't DESERVE my love, right? Well, guess what? I don't deserve God's love. None of us do. And He loves them all. God loves the grumpy, the mean, the judgmental (oh, wait, that's me!). When I see someone like this little bit older mom loving her very moody father-in-law I think to myself "I want to love like that, I want to TRY to love like that." Because here is the thing... not only does God love me and yes I should pay that forward the best i can, but there may be another younger mom watching me. Or even better yet... my kids are watching me. I want them to love people. I want to love people, even the hard ones. So today my friends, my goal for the weeks to come is to show love to those in my life who make it hard. I have my elder mom to thank for inspiring me to love like God more and like me less. As the Bible says... teach the younger generation.

Good Neighbor Day

September 28th is national Good Neighbor Day! What a great reason to celebrate in your own community. What a great opportunity to teach your kids that it is important to take the first step in being kind to your neighbors. At our house we like to bake goodies (pumpkin bread this year) and take them to our neighbors. I think this year since my oldest can write I will have him write a little note to attach to them. We live in a really great neighborhood and I am so thankful for the friendly atmosphere our chunk of homes offer. For the most, we are surrounded by elderly and retired. I love it and my kids do too. My kids have been invited over to help wash a car for 10 cents, to help feed pets, to go swimming in a neighbor's pool, and just over for ice cream or cookies. I love the relationships my kids have with our neighbors and mine too. I can always go next door to borrow a wheel barrow or an egg or even a truck to load stuff away! We are blessed with our neighbors and I am happy to thank them on Good Neighbor Day! Take a few minutes to walk across the street tomorrow or next door, if even to say hello and drop off a candy bar or a flower from your yard. Good neighbors make great communities!

Here are some suggestions for celebrating the day:

• Help your neighbors in some way
• Offer a smile and friendly hello to your neighbor
• Have your neighbor over for a meal
• Hold a block party
• Get to know your neighbor a little better

I could really use...

Sometimes we just need a little something to get us over a hump... it may be something radical or something very small. Today, my somethings are small...I could really use a date night with my husband, a laundry fairy (did I mention I have done 6 loads today and still have about 5 left? ahhh!), a good hair-cut, and a movie night on my couch with a good chic flick. (Maybe I can make the husband thing and the movie thing happen at the same time tonight? :) These things are small and not super life shattering, but all the same, it would be nice!

When I start feeling or thinking this way I sometimes start to think about other people and what might they really need at that moment. I usually am surrounded by my healthy family, in a warm cozy home, and in comfy clothes when I have these thoughts. It makes me feel pretty darn blessed and the "somethings" I think I need are just icing on the cake for this life I get to live.

The days I get to have that hair-cut at that nice salon or a night out with my hubby or the remote all to myself for a night (and lets just be honest, there is no laundry fairy) become really great moments in an already great life. Are we not spoiled at times? Even better, I love spoiling my mommy friends when I can because I know under their already really blessed lives and totally awesome families, that they are very hard working moms who often put themselves last. And you know what? They deserve a little something every so often. So, what is it for you? What could you really use today? How about your pal? Maybe you could treat each other a bit?

I think us mom's should all tell our mommy friends to take a little time this week and do a little something for yourselves. I think we're better mom's for it!

Do you have space?

Lately, I have been thinking hard about how I live my everyday life. I am feeling like I want to live a life that has space for life to just happen... instead of trying to make my life happen all the time. I want to have my heart ready for what life brings us, my head able to be in the present moments, and my home available for life to just unravel here. Space. I am feeling a lot lately that in order to live daily filled with joy and peace that I need to allow for space. Leaving room for my heart to be filled and my head to be challenged and my home to have lots of possibilities requires me not being too bogged down to miss or over plan for these chances. Chances of a life time. These are short but important thoughts for me tonight. I want to start waking up in the morning feeling available for what God has planned for me and my family that day. Hmmm.... space for God to work and for me to follow. I think I need more space...