Money Saving Mom®

Welcome to my monthly post where I share a peek into the last month at our house! Here’s a little peek into February…

I flew to Kansas near the beginning of February to help my parents with the Valentine’s Banquet they help host for their church and community every year. It was such a special day of preparations and then such a fun and memorable evening helping with the banquet!

To read all about the banquet and all the details, check out this in-depth post I did on it.

A beautiful Kansas sunset!

I got really sick in the middle of the night the day I was supposed to fly home. We were able to get my flight changed to an earlier flight and I took extra strength Tylenol and wore a mask and tried to stay away from people on the flights home. It was so good to make it home — and sure enough, I tested positive for Flu A.

I ended up being in bed sick for most of the rest of the week. Gratefully, it was a week where I could cancel everything and just rest!

Jesse and I recorded a podcast about my trip and sickness and his trip with Silas to a CrossFit training camp + details on habits that have made such a difference in our home. Listen to it here.

I did a lot of cooking and baking in February — including making these Easy Protein Breakfast Muffins!

It snowed again and the kids got two snow days!! (Yes, please laugh if you live up north that this is the amount of snow that cancels school in our area!)

I shared a story on Instagram about why I don’t have a nicer wedding ring and how much I love my simple ring. Read the details behind my wedding ring here.

I wrote this on Instagram in February:

The past few days, two of our younger kids have struggled with attitudes. They’ve seemed unsettled and off. There has been a lot more crying and arguing than usual.

I had them go to bed really early last night because I thought maybe they were just tired. But they got a great night’s sleep and still woke up seeming frustrated and irritable.

Honestly, I was feeling weary and tired of the bad attitudes and all the extra correction and time it has been requiring. (I know this is a huge part of mothering but just keeping it real that sometimes the discipling over and over again can feel exhausting!)

As I was washing my face this morning and getting ready to start the day, Kierstyn came and asked if she could fix my hair. Truth be told, I wanted to make up a lame excuse as to why I didn’t have a few minutes to stop and sit down and let her put bows in my hair, but then it hit me:

I was sick all last week and then this week I had a lot of extra work and time-sensitive projects to catch up on. As a result, the little kids haven’t gotten as much one-on-one time and attention from me. And I bet that much of their behavior has actually been a cry for attention.

Right then, I stopped what I was doing, sat down and got all excited with her about her fixing my hair. And then she asked if I could put bows in her hair and her jewelry on. And then Kierstyn, Micah, and I had a dance party.

You guys! It was crazy how just stopping and stepping into their world seemed to completely calm their hearts and turn around their attitudes.

I preach the importance of stepping into our kids’ world and caring about what they care about, but I had forgotten my own advice in the midst of a really full week.

And the little kids were just crying out for time with me in the way they knew how.

It reminds me of the quote: “You don’t yell at a flower that is wilting, you water it.”

Who needs a little extra attention and kindness and “watering” from you today?

This picture right here represents so many, many prayers answered.

You see, almost every day since our oldest, Kathrynne, was a baby, we’ve prayed for her to know and love Jesus with all her heart. We’ve prayed for her to live a life that glorifies the Lord. And we’ve prayed for her to have friends who love Jesus and point her to the Lord.

When she was looking into possible colleges two years ago, we prayed for clear direction and for her to find a community of believers to be invested in wherever she went to school.

When she decided on MTSU, she didn’t know a single freshman girl going there and only barely knew a few others who went there. She and I went to orientation before school started and we looked for any campus ministry that she might be able to get plugged into. There was a table for Baptist Collegiate Ministries (BCM) and they warmly welcomed us and we ended up talking with them for almost 30 mins!

They invited her to their welcome week events and she bravely showed up the first night knowing no one. She came home from the event so excited about the people she met… and she kept going back!

BCM has become such a huge part of her college experience and in February we got to attend a banquet put on by the BCM students.

Y’all… it was the most beautiful thing!

To watch college students talk about their passion for the Gospel and seeing their secular campus as their mission field, to see them enthusiastically leading worship and singing together about God’s goodness, to witness them serving voluntarily with such joy, to get to see Kathrynne on stage emceeing the event (that’s her in the cream pants and sweater), and to meet the women who have poured so much into her and mentored her the past many months…

I came away from the event so deeply grateful for the many, many answered prayers for her and also so fired up about this next generation of young people and their heart for the Lord!

Mamas, keep praying for your kids. Keep entrusting them to the Lord. Keep pointing them to Jesus and encouraging them to not settle. God’s answers might look very different for your child than they have for mine, but He will be faithful to answer!

A huge highlight of February was getting to go on a client getaway with my business coach, Alli Worthington, and some of her clients. Alli has been so instrumental in my life and in our business since I started coaching with her and I was so excited to see what God had for me on this getaway.

Let’s just say, I was not one bit disappointed! Not only did we laugh so hard and have so much fun (which was so good for my soul!), but I also got to learn so much from other wise women.

Alli structures the event so that there is a lot of fun but also a lot of time for coaching and mentoring. I came home so refreshed and also fired up with so much inspiration for ways to lead my company better.

I am so grateful for the answer to prayer that Alli has been in my life! And for her persistence in encouraging me to come to the client getaway. I share more on this podcast about the surprising lessons I learned in Disney (who knew a trip to Disney would be such a deeply moving experience??)

These two are about the exact same size right now and they are becoming fast friends. Micah is such a protector of David and David is constantly watching and learning from Micah.

If you didn’t see it, be sure to read my story about a really cool thing that happened at the park in February with David and another little boy who has Down syndrome.

And if you need a smile today, be sure to watch this short video of what David did when Jesse came home after being gone a few days in February.

Also, be sure to listen to this episode I recorded with Trillia Newbell on Celebrating Black History All Year Long.

Also, to ward off sickness, we started taking these elderberry gummies in February (they are on sale for just $12.96 shipped per bottle!. I’m pleased to report that we have managed to go a few weeks without one single person being sick. I feel like maybe I shouldn’t say that out loud, but with a large family who is constantly on the go, that’s a big deal!