After 13 days in Israel, Jesse made it home at 2 a.m. last Monday morning. And I made sure one of the first things I did was to express just how grateful I am for him and all he does for us.
I knew that I am so blessed with a wonderful husband, but having him gone for two weeks reminded me just how often I take so much of what he does for granted.
And then we savored a Slow Monday… sleeping in, snuggling, talking, laughing, reconnecting, catching up on some projects, and accomplishing a few Laundry Day tasks.
I’ve been a LOT more motivated to bake and cook recently since I got to add quite a few new things back into my diet again — including more baked goods and even an occasional dessert.
I still can’t have white potatoes, but I made these amazing-looking homemade rosemary fries for the rest of my family. They said they were incredible and gobbled them up in about 10 minutes! 🙂
I may have squealed when I opened up this package this week! Y’all know how much I love She Reads Truth and how much their studies have encouraged, blessed, challenged, and changed me the past three years I’ve been doing them.
The one thing I have asked for for Christmas the past few years has been a monthly subscription to their studies. It’s been such an amazing investment in my spiritual growth and deepening my relationship with Jesus.
When I heard that the team at She Reads Truth was releasing a Bible, I was thrilled and I had high expectations for it. But folks, this Bible is far beyond my highest expectations. It’s not only beautiful and high-quality, but it’s packed with reference notes, timelines, maps, charts, devotionals, introductions to each book, and — my favorite part — reading plans for each book of the Bible.
When I opened it up, I felt like the little girl who had just gotten her very first Bible… and I wanted to drop everything then and there and start reading and studying it. I’ve been so eager to get up each morning so I could start my day with time in God’s Word using this stunning Bible!
At 12 years old, she’s growing up so much and I’m so proud of the young woman she’s becoming. She’s her own person, she doesn’t worry what other people think, she has really strong convictions and beliefs, but she has a heart of incredible compassion for all people.
She loves playing flag football with the boys. She loves hanging out with her girl friends. She loves long talks with adults. She adores taking care of little kids. And she cares so, so deeply about people.
I’m especially proud of her because she and her team finished first in their division at the Destination Imagination State Championship and qualified to go to Globals in May. They are currently fundraising for this big event and have raised over half the amount needed in just less than a week!
We are helping to do a garage sale this weekend with some of the team members and all the funds will go toward the costs of this big event. I’m excited because I’ll get to go with her and there will be teams from 15 different countries and over 17,000 teams at this event! It should be quite the experience!
Jesse and I helped chaperone a Field Trip with the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes at school this past week. We went to a number of different historical sites in Franklin, TN and did a historic scavenger hunt. It was so fun and we learned so much about the history of this area!
Baseball is a big part of our life right now as Silas is on the travel team and has multiple games most weeks. We’re so proud of his team and how hard they have been working, how much they’ve improved over the last few months, how much they’ve shown great sportsmanship, and the fact that they are starting to win a few games. 🙂
We took the kids to a FREE Community Easter Party on Saturday where they had free Easter Egg Hunts, free face-painting, free balloon artists, a free petting zoo, free cotton candy, free nachos, free popcorn and more.
The kids had a BLAST — even Kathrynne! But apparently I missed the memo that kids are supposed to dress up in their Easter clothes for this type of event. Um, as you can see from this picture, we clearly did not come dressed in our Sunday best.
I just had to laugh because that’s pretty much the #StoryofMyLife as a parent. At least I’m doing my part to make all moms everywhere feel better about their parenting and organization skills! 😉
Getting Back on the Bandwagon — The Periscope Morning Show Returns!
With Jesse being gone for two weeks, I feel like I kind of fell off the bandwagon as far as consistency goes… mostly because I was just trying to survive and make it through. But I need a kick in the pants to jumpstart me back in a good direction.
So, after some thought, I decided the best way to jumpstart things would be for me to commit to going to bed by 8:30 p.m. and getting up at 4:30 a.m. Monday through Friday this week. I need the public accountability for this, so that’s why I’m putting it out there.
Starting tomorrow morning, I’ll be posting on Insta Stories soon after I get up to let you know when I got up. I’ll also be aiming to be bringing back the highly popular Periscope Morning Show and plan to be on live at 6:30 a.m. CT Monday through Friday.
This is something many, many, many of you have begged for and I’m thrilled to be committing to it again — at least for this next week. If it goes well, I may commit to trying this again longterm. 🙂
If you want to join me, you can download the Periscope app to your phone, follow me (I’m MoneySavingMom), and make sure you have notifications on so you’ll know when I go live each morning.
And I’m hoping that these public commitments will help me to get back in the saddle and start being more focused, productive, and efficient instead of feeling like I’m sort of running around in circles and taking way too long to accomplish basic tasks! 🙂
Here’s to a great week for ALL of us! And hopefully I’ll see some of you live this week on Periscope and Facebook Live!
Terry O'Donnell says
Once things calm down at your house 🙂 I hope you will go back to sharing books. Honestly, that is something I look forward to every Sunday. You have given me so many new titles to pursue and enjoy. Oddly enough, my local library does not carry most of them.
Crystal Paine says
YES! Once I have anything to report book-wise, I will. I read very little while Jesse was gone and am finally getting back to reading this week. I’ve missed it so much!
Jamie says
Heading to Globals in Knoxville from Iowa. My 11 year old does Improv and her team is SUPER excited. We are having a Breakfast Burrito fundraiser on Saturday 🙂
Crystal Paine says
So fun!!!
Megan says
I took my children to three different Easter Egg hunt events over the past few weeks, and none of the other children were dressed up. It never would have occurred to me to put my little ones in their Sunday best to run around outside for an egg hunt, but I had a friend visiting from another state for one of them, and she specifically asked if she should bring dressy clothes for her kids of the egg hunt. Maybe it’s just different in different areas of the country.
Crystal Paine says
I think it might be different areas of the country. We definitely notice that people seem to dress up much more often in the south than they do in the midwest!
Julie says
Face painting, galloping in the grass go find eggs, messy food and loads of animals….ummm casual makes the most sense- you were being a smart mama!!
Lindsey S. says
I’ve never heard of DI. I tried googling it but couldn’t find an answer. Can someone tell me what that is, a science club or something?
Thanks for posting your weekly updates Crystal! I enjoy them so much!
Crystal Paine says
Their fundraising page explains it better than I think the DI site does: https://www.gofundme.com/destination-imagination-global-fund
(And I hesitate to share this link because I do NOT want anyone to think I’m soliciting for donations. The kids are responsible to raise the funds and are all doing different things to raise the money, so I’m only sharing the link because it explains in detail what DI is and how it works.)
Davonne @ The Tidy Mom says
I was wondering what it is, too. That is very, very cool! Congratulations to their team, that’s quite an amazing accomplishment!!
Missy June says
Destination Imagination – it is a wonderful program that descended from “Olympics of the Mind” when I was in elementary school (a generation prior). My guy was able to go to Globals two years a go and it was a highlight of his young life.
Enjoy, Crystal!!!
Crystal Paine says
SO cool that he went to Globals! I think it’s going to be quite the experience and highlight for Kathrynne and her team! They are especially exciting about meeting so many kids from all over the country and the world and learning and being inspired by them!
Jamie says
Heading to Globals in Knoxville from Iowa. Improv for my 11 year old!!
Crystal @ Serving Joyfully says
Sounds like a good week! I know you’re glad Jesse is back home. We love baseball. It’s so fun to watch them play.
I’m not sure if you guys have been or not, but if not you should check out Discovery Park. It’s a great place and not too far from Nashville.