1. A bag of chocolate appearing in my candy dish at work
2. My frozen Healthy Choice lunch was surprisingly tasty
3. The drive to and from work with Brandon
4. Having a few minutes of "me" time to unwind before dinner
5. Koby and his funny little antics
Grace Day 1:
1. Uninterrupted time to work on our website
2. Leaving work an hour early
3. Brandon washing up a few dishes that were in the sink without being asked
4. Skipping PiYo and cooking dinner at home, and enjoying it
5. Going to bed knowing I could sleep in an extra hour (due to the work time I've been putting in at home
Now, I challenge all of you to follow me and remind yourself of at least five postive things throughout your day!
There is really no explanation for this one, other than we were taking a self-portrait and what is a self-portrait without silly faces??
Tonight was obviously a work event for me, so I was busy taking photos and then I realized that Brandon had disappeared. Once I found him, he informed me he was ditching me for better seats at the table with some of his coworkers, but I obliged - I'm sure he had more fun with them anyway.
Some of you may or may not know about my strong dislike of Walmart. It really began when I was in college at OBU. You see, that Walmart was disgusting and small and I got easily annoyed with the people inside of the store. Then, my luck followed me to K-State and it was the same story, just a different town. Thankfully, Manhattan had a Target and I didn't have to frequent the ol' Walmart too often. Once I moved to Wichita, I pretty much avoided Walmart for the same reasons - cramped, crazy people, etc. The only reasons I ever went to the store were for paint or an occasional visit to the lawn and garden department, which has an entirely seperate entrance.
However, over the past few months or weeks, I've been trying to give Walmart another chance. The store near my house did some renovations and opened it up a little bit and they've started carrying a few more housewares products that I like. We also purchased a television for our kitchen online and were pleasantly surprised with the ease of ordering and the prompt delivery. But, my real turn around occurred within the past week.
I was browsing around a couple of blogs and came across a blog of a girl (a girl I don't know) who I thought dressed pretty cute. She always had fun dresses or tops in her pictures, and one day she was discussing bargain shopping. As I got to the bottom of the blog, my mouth dropped - she shops at Walmart!!! So, being a curious person, I headed over to walmart.com and found a few dresses that I just had to have and to make it even better, they were like $11! So, last week, I made my way to the Site to Store section of our local Walmart to pick up my purchases and I am here to tell you, I'm a new fan! Behold, my newest Walmart purchases:
The weather hasn't been nice enough for me to wear either of these items yet, but I'm ready!
I've also purchased a couple of cute cardigans in recent days, that are affordable and cute. Unfortunately, they are sold out so I don't have a picture. But, here are a couple of things I've been eyeing and just might have to snag while they are on sale!
Seriously, none of these things are more than $10 online!
So, my lesson for today - give second chances! You may be pleasantly surprised!
Oh yeah, Megan - this post is dedicated to you :)
You will have to excuse my untanned legs, another sign of no sunshine these days.
It was a small (or smaller than usual) congregation this morning, so the service felt more intimate. As we walked in the door, the ushers handed each of us a stone. So, we took our stones and made our way to our seats. The service started with the choir and then we all sang a few songs. One of the songs especially moved me today. Here are the lyrics:
Everyone needs compassion, Love that's never failing; Let mercy fall on me.
Everyone needs forgiveness, The kindness of a Saviour; The Hope of nations.
Saviour, He can move the mountains, My God is Mighty to save, He is Mighty to save.
Forever, Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.
So take me as You find me, All my fears and failures, Fill my life again.
I give my life to follow Everything I believe in, Now I surrender.
My Saviour, He can move the mountains, My God is Mighty to save, He is Mighty to save. Forever, Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.
Shine your light and let the whole world see, We're singing for the glory of the risen King...Jesus
My Saviour, He can move the mountains, My God is Mighty to save, He is Mighty to save. Forever, Author of salvation, He rose and conquered the grave, Jesus conquered the grave.
My Saviour, you can move the mountains, You are mighty to save, You are mighty to save. Forever, Author of Salvation, You rose and conquered the grave, Yes you conquered the grave
I just love the lyrics and today, we were truly celebrating that Jesus conquered the grave! We also sang an old hymn that reminded me of my grandma. Maybe she was on my mind since my mom and I put flowers on their grave on Friday or maybe it was because we used to spend every Easter with them, but for some reason, I was brought to tears as we sang the words to "Crown Him with Many Crowns".
Then, we got to the sermon. Our preacher is a great preacher and as usual, his sermon rocked, literally ;) As I mentioned, we were handed stones when we walked in the doors and to the disbelief of some, we did not use the stones to flog the pastor - ha ha! He made that joke, so I don't feel bad using it. The sermon actually focused on the stone and the how it was rolled away for Jesus after he rose from the dead. While He could have come out of the grave on his own, the stone was removed for us so that we would believe He was truly alive. Our pastor then related that stone to stones in our own lives. He said people often wonder if God can still move the stones out of our lives today - stones such as fear, unforgiveness, guilt, addictions, work, etc. He asked us to write something on our stone that we need God to work on or roll out of our lives. Then, as we went forward to take communion, we were to wash our stones in the water and take the stones home as a reminder that God can move in our lives and He can roll away those things that keep us from living freely in Him. It was a great visual and an overall great message for today. I hope that we all have enough faith to let God work.
After church, we came home and got to work on an Easter lunch. We had my parents and Brandon's sister and her husband at our house. You can check out our Easter menu on my new blog. We had a great time relaxing and visiting. We even got in a few rounds of Rummikub. I've decided we need to purchase that game because I STINK and need some practice!
And now, we're relaxing and trying to wrap our brains around the fact that we have to go to work tomorrow. I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend and I hope you take the time to celebrate new life!
Instead, I'm going to think about and search for ideas for our living room. Tomorrow, my mom and I are going shopping for a living room chair or more specifically, fabric for a living room chair, and accessories. Yay!
I'm also thinking about the grocery store run I have to make in order to buy all of the ingredients for our Easter Dinner. And, a local chocolate store has the most adorable chocolate bunnies that I think I just may have to buy for our Easter guests!
Alright, my boss just told me we have to do some work...
First, I had these cookies sent to him at work. I think they were a big hit! Excuse the poor quality, Brandon took these with his phone.
Then, when he got home from work, I had a ball park spread waiting, complete with Cracker Jacks, peanuts and hot dogs!
It was fun to plan this and surprise him and I think he was truly surprised! Happy Opening Day!
Brandon and I got each of the little girls an Easter basket, complete with bunny ears!
We also raked and burned leaves, cleaned up flower beds, washed windows, picked up sticks, pulled out trees and much more!
(Keeping it real without makeup!)
Brother: "Hey, I'm just calling to tell you that we might be calling you in a few minutes, but you need to act like Cinderella."
Me: "Um, okay, why do I have to act like Cinderella?"
Brother: "We told Daughter if she goes pottie on the big girl pottie that she could call Cinderella."
Me chuckle: "Okay..."
Brother: "Okay, we'll call you in a few minutes."
So I wait a few minutes and my phone rings again.
Me: "Hello."
Brother: "Hi Cinderella, Daughter needs to talk to you."
(Brother gets "daughter" on the phone)
Brother (in the background): ""Daughter", say hi to Cinderella>"
Me: "Hi Daughter, it's Cinderella."
Daughter (with a little coaxing from her mom and dad): "Hi Cinderella, I went pottie in the big girl pottie and I get to wear Cinderella panties."
Me: "Daughter, I am so proud of you. You are such a big girl."
Sister-In-Law (in the background): "Daughter can you tell her what other princess panties you have?"
Daughter: "I have Snow White and Aerial."
Me: "Did you know that Snow White and Aerial are my friends?"
Daughter (to her mom): "Cinderella has friends?"
Me: "Daughter, do you get to have a jellybean for being a big girl?"
Sister-In-Law (in the background): "See, even Cinderella knows you get to have a jellybean for being a big girl."
Daughter: "Yes, I get to have a pink jellybean."
Sister-In-Law: "Okay, tell Cinderella you have to go so you can get your jellybean."
Me: "Bye Daughter, Cinderella is proud of you>"
Daughter: "Bye Cinderella."
Brother: "Thanks, Cinderella."
Oh the innocence of a child. Can it get any sweeter?
