Thankful

I've been hesitant to write this post because I don't want it to come across the wrong way, but then again...when have I ever been bothered by how I come across to people. :)

Don't get me wrong, I am loving all these "I'm thankful for..." posts I'm seeing on facebook. They are refreshing, funny, sincere, honest, thought provoking, and all other wonderful things that you can think of. But if I'm being honest, which if you know me...I can't help but be honest...they are kind of irritating me. Maybe I should say that the posts themselves aren't irritating me, but the coincidental timing of everyone posting these because *gasp* it's November...the time when I'm supposed to be thankful all of a sudden. (some people also choose to not shave this month, which I also don't understand) I was doing some reading:


"for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace." - ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Hmm...it didn't say anything about a time to be thankful...

Could it be that we are to be thankful ALL THE TIME??????


"give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" - 1 thessalonians 5:18

"giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" - ephesians 5:20

YES!!!!!!

Like I said, I love seeing these posts, but why only in the month of November??!!? What if we really challenged ourselves, lived up to the will of God, and were thankful ALL THE TIME. You know, like say, January-December.

Keep the thankful posts coming friends...guess what...I'm thankful for them! But let's strive to be thankful the way we are called to be. All the time. In all things.

Friday Favorite Things

Here's another "Friday Favorite Things" post to join all the other amazing posts over at finding joy.

I'm thankful for many things this week. 

*Ava always knows how to cheer me up with her choice of outfits.

*Whenever Ava and I take a car ride together, just the two of us, she loves to have the windows down and scream as loud as she can. I let her...because why not? I mean look at the joy all over her!

*As much as my daughters make me happy, I think, no I know, that I love making them happy more. This year for Halloween, Ava asked to dress up as Rapunzel from the Disney Tangled movie. We bought her costume this week, and she couldn't be more proud of it. And yes I let her wear it all day that day.

*My sweet, beautiful, adorable, precious baby girl Lyla decided to have a couple of milestones this week. Here she is sitting up by herself. I love how happy and proud she looks. And the way she's sitting up as straight as possible. 

*Another big milestone that Lyla decided to have this very same week is saying her first word. "Momma" My heart could not be filled with more joy. Here's a video to prove it. It's quick and not great quality, but it's there regardless. She says it very quickly at the beginning of the video and then laughs at herself for doing so. I love how she's so happy and proud of herself. 

What are your Friday Favorite Things?

Lyn 101: 2-5

Ok...ok...I know I've been gone from the blog for awhile now, (3 1/2 weeks), but don't be too angry with me. Life happens. It always has a way of doing that somehow.

I went to the beach with my family and had a wonderful time. It's always so nice to be able to relax and enjoy family time. Ever since we've been back though, it seems like one thing after another has come up and unfortunately I've had zero time for writing. I thought I'd continue the Lyn 101 series.

#2 I'm completely O.C.D. about pretty much everything.

I thrive on having order in my life. I love being in a routine. I enjoying scheduling. I love cleaning. I pay major attention to details. It's all a bit much at times, and the majority of my O.C.D.-ness comes from my need to control things. I'm trying to learn to be better about being more laid back. Going with the flow. Not letting "small things" get to me, but it's reeeeeaaaaally difficult at times. I constantly fight the urge to be up and running about the house straightening up. I am always dealing with the guilt that comes with missing "laundry day" yet again this week and having to move it to *gasp* a different day of the week. I could spend hours on end alphabetizing the dvd collection at our house. There are far too many of these instances that I could even begin to list here, but that's just a peek into my head. All just part of the t.v.'s that are on incessantly in my head.

#3 I count stairs everywhere I go.

Ok...so maybe this goes hand in hand with my O.C.D., but it's very specific to me. At my parents house there are 15 from the garage to the living room. At my house there are 12, then a small landing, and then 5 more. At the dance studio they are in increments of 12, then a landing, and then 12 more...unless you're coming in from outside first, and then there's 5, then a landing, and then 5 more. I've done this for as long as I can remember. I do it unconsciously. I catch myself counting, and then try to stop, but I just can't. I've finally accepted about myself. It's not that bad of a habit, and it really does come in handy during power outages...no need to see the stairs when you know how many there are.

#4 I wear a night guard while I sleep because I clinch and grind my teeth.

Sometimes my husband and I will lay in bed at night laughing to the point of tears at the way it causes me to have a lisp when I talk. Of course I choose that very moment to practice as many words containing the letter -s as possible. There's the typical "sister sally sells seashells by the seashore" that I always bust out. I've also found that sometimes speaking words in a different language can cause quite a guffaw or two. It is often funnier to me though the way that we are trying to stifle our laughter as to not wake up our children.

#5 I sing in and out of the bath/shower.

Yeah so everyone sings in the shower. I mean the acoustics are amazing in bathrooms. Everyone sounds awesome when they sing there. Another very specific thing about me though is that I sing the same song each time upon exiting the bath/shower. (I know this may be due to my O.C.D. as well. There's no need to remind me.) Without fail, as I step out of the bath/shower, I sing "ain't nobody dope as me I'm dressed so fresh and clean, so fresh and so clean, clean" either in my head or out loud...mostly out loud.

Ok so there ya go. A post to tide you over until something uber substantial strikes me. I promise not to leave the blog so lonely for so long again.

Friday Favorite Things

I'm joining "Friday Favorite Things" that I found on one of my favorite blogs, finding joy. It's basically a time for you to step back and reflect on the week. Remember the good...even amongst the chaos and seemingly bad.

*One of my favorite things from this week, and all weeks really, is being a mother. :) Even on tough days I do truly enjoy this honor that has been given to me.

*Making silly faces with my Ava. Remembering to be silly is important.

*Sweet cuddles with my Lyla. Trying desperately to hold on and remember the feeling of her in my arms because I know it will be over faster than I am prepared for, and I really won't recall the exact feeling ever.

*I love when I wash Ava's hair and then this is how we dry it...I mean it is curly after all.

*My other favorite thing for this week, and again, all weeks really, is being a wife to the most wonderful man. I am so thankful to have Jason in my life. I love him.

What are your Friday Favorite Things?

Lyn 101

Intro to who I am...

What makes me, me...

101 things you may or may not have known about me...

I came up with a few different ideas to title this series, and I've decided "Lyn 101" will be best. Yep...I'm starting a series. It won't be an everyday series, but more of an ongoing, in between all the other blogs, series. I will in fact be sharing 101 things about myself. To be honest, I'm not even sure of each and every little thing I have to share. When they come to me I'll be sure to blog them. They won't always be things that go together, are serious, or even necessarily matter to you. The purpose in doing this is twofold. First, to let you know a bit more about me. Second, to let me know a bit more about myself. Because when you put things in writing they seem to matter more, become more important, more real.

I feel that in doing this I'll be able to work on some flaws I have, laugh at my mistakes, take pride in my tiny little quirks that make me who I am, become a better version of myself. Maybe you can help me. Maybe you can relate to some of the things. Maybe we'll all learn a bit.

#1 No one needs the gospel more than myself, I am the biggest sinner I know. I frequently need this reminder.

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." - Romans 3:23-26


In spite of this truth, I am striving to become more Christ like.
"He must increase, but I must decrease." - John 3:30

         "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." - 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

And what wonderful news that we are made new with each day.

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23


I am not perfect, nor will I be until I am made perfect by Him. I am humbled by a God that loves me, cares for me, and covers me with His grace and mercy because I am completely undeserving. I am however overwhelmed with gratitude and thankfulness for Him. I pray that He receives the glory in all that I do.

Ok...so just #1 for now. Besides, I had to split it somewhere to provide an even number so that I can have an even number of posts in this series. I mean 101 is a prime number after all. Can you guess what my #2 might be??? ;)

Stars...

Ok...so if you know me at all then you know that I have a slight major obsession with stars. I'm totally willing to admit this, but maybe you don't know why I love them so.

First of all, they are beautiful to look at. I love to just sit and watch them twinkle and sparkle and shine and glimmer. There's something very relaxing and exhilarating all at once about gazing up into the night sky. When riding in a car with you at night, chances are I'm not really listening to you as I should be when you're talking. Instead I've got my face plastered to the window searching for those little dots of fire.

Secondly, (hold on to your hats all you non-math nerds) the sheer composition of a star (pentagram) is astounding. It's unicursal. Who doesn't love to just sit and doodle stars everywhere??? And I mean really...can we say "golden proportion" sigh. That itself just makes my world right. Just google it. Do it.

Thirdly, and most importantly, they have deep meaning. For me, I'm talking biblical meaning.

The use of the star (pentagram) was used in Christianity as a symbol to remind us of those five wounds that Christ himself endured for us. His two kind, serving hands. His two faithful, unceasing feet. His one compassionate, loving side. We are called to live by His example. My hands, feet, and side could use some realigning.

They are representative of the covenant relationship between God and mankind. A sign of all of those glorious promises that He continually remains steadfast and loyal in bestowing. These verses say it best:

"And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so." - Genesis 1:14-15

"And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth." - Genesis 9:12-13


Stars were used as a sign of royalty. The highest King of all is described as a star.This verse reminds us of one of Christ's many wonderful names, the bright and morning Star:

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” - Revelation 22:16

I have always said that I am a princess because I am a daughter of the King. He makes me a princess. He makes me beautiful. He makes me new. He makes me. He makes you too. You are His princess or prince. Live in such a way.

It's Time...

Ever since I was about 12 or 13 I kept a journal. I made it a habit to write every night before bed. Sometimes this journaling would be about how my day had gone, frustrations that I had, prayers, song lyrics, thoughts about whatever it was I was reading at the time. Some time later...high school-ish...I transitioned from writing in a journal to blogging. I kept this up throughout college, but then when I moved home from Shorter I just stopped blogging. I don't know what happened. Actually I do kind of know what happened, I got busy planning a wedding. Then I got married. I taught school. I taught dance. I had a baby. I stopped teaching school. I kept teaching dance. I had another baby. You know...life.

It's time for me to write again. I've been feeling a stirring inside of me. I have things to say. Other things than "no...put that down" "don't climb on that" "please finish your breakfast" "time to clean up" and thousands of other "mom" sayings. I've got actual legit things to say. Even if I only say them here on this blog and no one else reads it or even cares for that matter. I have things that I need to get out of me. I've got to make the time to make my thoughts known, if only known to me.

My husband, Jason, said that he was happy about me starting to write again because we'd be able to remember things a bit better and maybe, just maybe, it would help me to "turn off some of the t.v.'s in my head." :) High hopes for those of you that know what I mean about those t.v.'s.

You see I have this way of explaining what the inside of my brain is like. Imagine yourself walking into the largest electronic store ever. You walk over to where the obligatory wall of t.v.'s are located. We're not talking about just a small wall or even a medium wall for that matter. Think like, football field sized wall with thousands of t.v.'s all playing different channels. These channels could be any number of things: what to wear the next day with reasons explaining why or why not, how many more times am I going to have to tell Ava to stop screaming so loud so that she won't wake up her sister, did I remember to throw out that diaper, I shouldn't have said that to so and so, I should've said this to so and so, how is the gospel showing itself in my life, I've got to work on choreography, when was the last time I washed my hair, what am I doing so wrong as a wife/mother/friend/sister/daughter, etc, etc, etc. Need I go on? So then when I lay down at night to try and fall asleep I try to go through and one-by-one turn these t.v.'s off. There are some, of course, that will never turn off. Regardless I try to turn off as many as I can. So maybe this blog will help me "power down" just a bit.

Either way, it's time and I'm excited.