Encouragement, patience, and other nice things.

Reading in 2 of my devotionals today, because it was the kind of day where I needed to do both of them. I got a lesson unique to each one, but then again very similar. It is odd and wonderful how the Lord can use 2 completely different devotionals to speak to you on your life.

Today I read about encouragement and patience. Sometimes we get in the way of our own encouragement of of encouraging others. I mean who hasn't been to the store or a restaurant and gotten the waiter or cashier who did not have the nicest personality when it was time to serve you or check out? I know I have. I have in the past been just as rude back, then I thought "What if I was in their shoes and everyone was being mean to me?" I try now to just smile and say thank you. It is amazing how a smile can change someones day. When at the drive through and someone says "Have a nice day" I always say "You too" just because that may be the thing they need for encouragement for that particular day. Encouragement is something we all need whether it is just a smile from someone you do not know, a text or a phone call from someone else it is good to have encouragement. Sometimes life gets in the way and it is hard to make a call or write an email but really if we all took out 5 minutes of our day to call someone to talk to them or encourage them what kind of world would we live in? It is amazing what a phone call can do in the life of someone else. I know there have been days, Weeks even when I have needed encouragement and out of the blue a friend or family member calls and all of the sudden I feel 100 times better just to know they were thinking about me.

Patience is something I am working on. I have a tendency to be impatient especially with my daughter. I am learning that patience is key in raising a Pre-schooler. It makes me sad to think she is almost 4! I consistently have to tell myself and her that patience is a virtue. It is something I know I have to work on. I wish from time to time that I had the patience of a saint but I don't. The way the devotional explained it today is that we don't always have patience with the little things but can you imagine how much patience God has waiting on his children to come to him. Day after day, year after year? Could you imagine waiting years for someone to apologize for a wrongdoing? Would you forgive them immediately after years? I know it would be hard for me.

School school school.....I have already started looking into 3 separate online schools we can choose from for kindergarten that are regulated by the state. I won't have to make lesson plans or worry about state standards because they will already be there for me. I will have more time with Grace and I will socialize her elsewhere and that will give us more opportunities to do other things with her and give her more opportunities to do ballet and other things.But it is another year away before we need to make a decision. I am already looking at curriculum though....the mind of a teacher and a mommy I guess.

She is growing up way to fast for mommy. I remember when she was born it seems like just yesterday. I also remember her first day of school back in august and her first day of ballet as well. Tomorrow is her first ballet recital, today her last day of K3. Wow how time flies when your a mommy. It is bittersweet. I am excited she is growing and becoming a new person everyday. I love all of the stages but it is crazy when you are kid you think the days go by so slow, then you grow up and have your own children, house, and marriage and realize how fast the days, months, and years go back and you wish sometimes for time to just slow down so you can savor every second of it. It is amazing to me how crazy my world is right now but to be honest I wouldn't trade this life for anything.

Homemade baby wipes

So I made my first batch of homemade baby wipes tonight. Granted my baby is 4 and does not use wipes anymore, we still use them for many other things around the house and every once in a while we need them after panting or other messy things.
The recipe I used was fairly simple. I am going to post it so that other people can try it.

Ingredients:
2 cups water
2 tablespoons baby oil
1 tablespoon baby wash
Paper towels

Mix: water, baby oil and baby wash(of your choice) and mix them together in a bowl.
I take the paper towels off the roll and cut them into 4ths. This works good if you prefer the pop up kind as opposed to the rolled kind. It also works if you have an old baby wipes container you want to use.

Cut the paper towels into 4ths and put them into the container.
Then cover the paper towels with the solution.
Turn it upside down and let it sit for 5 minutes. They may be soaked so you may need to shake them to get all of the towels wet.
I had to ring them out and rotate around and pour excess liquid back onto towels.

Took all of 5-10 minutes to do. Not hard and makes your skin smooth and smell like whatever baby wash you decide to use.

Ok.
Enjoy,
Samantha

Busy day

My week has been so crazy. That is why I haven't posted in a while. I am busy busy busy. Next week will be even crazier when Grace is home with me all the time. She decided to pick out her own clothes today after the doctor. I am out of here. More .

Today

So today was a very interesting and busy day. I still have like 4 more things to do here before I get to go out this evening. Babysitter is coming soon though, so hopefully that means I can get the car cleaned out quickly. I am excited though, in 1 week Grace will be home with me until she starts K5. I am very excited. She started picking out her own "play" clothes today. I also put "play" clothes in her drawer for her to get to and pick out. When we aren't going anywhere important or doing anything important we will definatley be wearing out "play" clothes. I always had play clothes as a kid.
I think she is too the age where she can start dressing herself, and picking out her own clothes. I mean she will be 4 in about 4 1/2 weeks. My baby is getting way to big.
Well here is a picture where she dressed herself, not too bad, I guess it could be worse just funny.

The book of 1 Peter

I began a new book of the bible today. 1 Peter, I decided to read through Peter because in a lot of books and other tracks I have 1 Peter is related to temptation/struggles/LOVE/HOPE for Christians. I read through 1 Peter 1. It is an amazing book. I have already highlighted and made notes. It spoke to me a lot today.
In my bible the title above 1 Peter 1:3-12 says Praise to God for a living hope.

Today 1 Peter really showed me that I need to put all my trust in the Lord and when I am feeling empty or alone or anxiety is really strong in my life to put it all to him and he will be my HOPE.

1 Peter 1:13 says this

"Prepare your minds for action, be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed"

This has shown me that when I am not perfect God's grace is wonderful through the Love of Jesus Christ.I have to be obedient in the Lord not to live in ignorance but to live as much as a holy as I can.

If you are struggling or a new christian 1 Peter would be a great book for you to read. It talks a lot about what it means to have salvation. Why hope in the Lord and grace is so important and why it is so important to be holy and believe in the truths.
This really helped me today with the things I have been struggling with in my walk. I am going for now. May be another blog later. For now I have things to do and just meditating on God's word to do.

Not afraid to be me in my Blog.....

I will write in here about struggles I have, and things that were significant to me in my life. I do not care if you agree with my beliefs, and I hope you are not offended. I am a Christian I believe in God and the Love and faith that comes from Christianity. I have seen my walk with the Lord change things in my life. I hope me writing about my walk with the Lord, or things pertaining to the bible/Christianity does not turn you away from my blog; if it does, I am extremely sorry. I am writing what I know and what is important in my life.

The Lord spoke greatly to me today. I have fallen out of doing a quiet time in the last week or so. I am not going to do that again. The lord spoke to me through My Utmost for his highest. This is what was said:

Once we loose sight of God, we begin to be reckless. We cast off certain restraints from activities we know are wrong. We set prayer aside as well and cease having God's vision in the little things in life. We simply begin to act on our own initiatives.

When I read that it made me realize that when I am not studying his word or having fellowship with the Lord I am not thinking of things in my life from a biblical perspective. I am thinking of them the way I want to see them or the way I want them to be; I am taking things that would other wise be a big issue and making it into a little one. I am taking desires and temptations in my life and wanting to make them real, or make them a smaller deal than they really are. I have been acting on my own initiative this week and not following God's wisdom and advice this week. I know that satan is always looking for a way to bring me backwards from my forward progression in my relationship with the Lord, and well I think he was a bit successful this week. I need to put up a higher and stronger guard this coming week.
I was reading the scripture and today this really JUMPED off the page at me today I actually highlighted it in my bible.

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. RESIST him, stand firm in the Faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of sacrifice.1 Peter 5:8-9

. I know I am not alone in the struggles that it are going on in my life. I know there are others who are struggling just like me. I know sometimes when I struggle it feels like no one else cares, understands, or knows what I am going through when in actuality they do know and they understand. I need to understand and realize that I really cannot do this on my own, and guidance from my husband or a friend is what I need to get through times of struggle and temptation in my life.

today

Alright well today. I am having the craziest day ever. I kept having weird thoughts but they had nothing to do with anything. Today was good. Went apartment shopping with a friend. More tomorrow this momma is tired.