Snow Day Dos and Tres!

I keep meaning to post these pictures, and then just forget!  Last Friday, we got a TON of snow. And then it started to sleet and we got some freezing rain.  We all figured that the snow would turn to ice and we'd just have a big mess.

But that's not what happened! It snowed some MORE.  All together, we think we got more than 7 inches at our house, which is c-ra-zy!!  Because the freezing rain and sleet packed down the first round of snow, we ended up with about 6ish inches to actually go play in.  And play we did.  Get ready for a picture overload from our Saturday and Sunday fun!

Karsten loved the snow so much, she cried when it was time to come in!  She would go back to the door and try to put on Kate's boots, or my shoes, so she could go back outside.  I think snow baby is a pretty accurate term for this one!

Kevin and Kate had a pretty legit snowball fight going on.  Somehow I avoided the action. :) 

Karsten even got in on some of the fun.  She especially loved sledding. You can see from the pictures below that Kate pretty much hated sledding. 

And to answer everyones questions - yes, those are grocery bags on her shoes and yes we did it on purpose. Kate had snow boots but all Karsten had were little (brand new) stride rite shoes. I didn't want them messed up and I wanted her feet to stay dry, so we improvised!

We had a blast.  And the best part was, the snow was JUST about melted enough for me to make it in to work on Monday.  Weekend snows are the best!  

Best is Better Than Good

A few weeks ago I was driving down the road and heard a new song by Johnny Diaz.  I instantly loved it because of the sound, but also because the lyrics seemed to fit so perfectly into where my life is right now.  Here are the lyrics to his new song, Breathe:

Alarm clock screaming bare feet hit the floor

It’s off to the races everybody out the door

I’m feeling like I’m falling behind, it’s a crazy life

Ninety miles an hour going fast as I can

Trying to push a little harder trying to get the upper hand

So much to do in so little time, it’s a crazy life

It’s ready, set, go it’s another wild day

When the stress is on the rise in my heart I feel you say just

Breathe, just breathe

Come and rest at my feet

And be, just be

Chaos calls but all you really need

Is to just breathe

Third cup of joe just to get me through the day

Want to make the most of time but I feel it slip away

I wonder if there’s something more to this crazy life

I’m busy, busy, busy, and it’s no surprise to see

That I only have time for me, me, me

There’s gotta be something more to this crazy life

I’m hanging on tight to another wild day

When it starts to fall apart in my heart I hear you say just

Breathe, just breathe

Come and rest at my feet

And be, just be

Chaos calls but all you really need

Is to take it in fill your lungs

The peace of God that overcomes

Just breathe

So let your weary spirit rest

Lay down what’s good and find what’s best

Just breathe

Just breathe, just breathe

Come and rest at my feet

And be, just be

Chaos calls but all you really need

Is to just breathe

Just breathe

How perfect is that? When I first heard the song, I thought "busy, busy, busy"... yep! That's me! And I know that's true for a whole lot of you out there too.  For me personally, I get so caught up in getting things done and checking things off of my list, that I forget to just BREATHE and slow down, and thank God for what He has done for me.  

But you know, the more I heard this song, the more one other section of the song spoke to me.  I didn't catch it the first time I heard the song, and maybe not even the second time, but by the third time I found myself focusing on this:

"Lay down what's good and find what's best"

Did you catch that?  Man.  That is so me too.  Lay down what's GOOD and find what's BEST.  And you know what's best?  Jesus.  That's it.  There's nothing better. 

I know some of you out there are just like me.  There's so much GOOD in all of our lives getting in the way of what's BEST.  

There's the mom who is so caught up in her kids activities, and shuttling them from one place to another, that she's too busy to even talk to God at all throughout the day.  Is loving your kids bad? No way! But Jesus is always best.

There's the family that goes on vacation every other week (must be nice!) but they're out of town so often as a family that they aren't really connected and part of a church family.  Is family time bad? No way!  But Jesus is always best. 

There's the employee that gets up at 4:30, rushes to get to work in the morning, comes home exhausted and falls into bed, too tired to take a few minutes to read God's word.  Is a job a bad thing? No way! But Jesus is always best. 

There's the volunteer that is involved in every non-profit organization and cause that exists, has been involved in church his whole life and has a lot of knowledge to share with others, but is too busy to commit to teaching a small group or Sunday school class.  Are charitable organizations bad? No way! But Jesus is always best. 

So what's getting in the way of what's best for you?  It might not be something bad!  In fact, it might be something GOOD that's getting in the way of what's best.  What's keeping you from serving, following, and obeying Jesus?  What's keeping you from spending time with the one who created us all?  Whatever it is, lay it down.  Focus on what's best.  Focus on Jesus, and all of the rest will work out on its own. 

Like the song says, I might be going ninety miles an hour, but I'm going to do my best to just breathe, and focus on what's best.   I promise you, best is always better than good. 

It's a'Snowing!

So here in good ole SC, we just don't get a whole lot of snow.  And when the weather people call for snow, they generally hype it up like it is going to be a blizzard that takes down the state, but all that happens is that we MAYBE see a few flakes.  So earlier this week, when the weather people started predicting snow near the end of the week, I pretty much ignored it.

And then it started snowing on Wednesday, and I thought "well this should be over quickly".  And it was.  It snowed pretty heavily but as soon as the flakes hit the ground, they melted.  I figured it was over, but the weather people said "No, no. There's more coming Thursday night."

Well Thursday we went to bed, and when we woke up today (Friday morning), it was WHITE.  Snow day 2016 was officially on.

We didn't get anymore snow, but all day we either had freezing rain or sleet, which made playing in the snow a little difficult.  Of course, we still made time, because Kate literally changed into THIS outfit as soon as she woke up.  And she would not take her jacket off until she got to go out into the snow.

The boys loved the snow too.  Cooper would jump for snowballs from Kevin.

 We got in Snow Round 2 a little bit later in the day.

So tonight we are really just praying that all of that freezing rain doesn't affect us too much, and these trees stay standing so we can keep our power!  Other than that, Snow Day 2016 was a success. 

(PS - Those aren't our car's tire tracks.  We have not gone ANYWHERE and we don't have plans to leave our house tomorrow either.)

Sunny Sunday

I feel like the sun has not been out here in South Carolina in about a month. Seriously, since Christmas I feel like all it has done is rain or been super cold (ie- in the high 30's, because we are talking about SC here!). But today, it was sunny AND somewhat warm.  

Big sister had a stomach virus this weekend so she was pretty puny and soaked up a lot of nap time and television time.  However, the little one had some fun in the sun with her favorite two "boys" - Max and Cooper. 

Side note - she has started saying their names, but it comes out "MAAAAA and Pooper"

Love. It.

She's not excited at all, right?

One funny thing that Karsten has started doing is acting like a dog.  She will crawl around, with her tongue hanging out of her mouth and pant like a dog.  Randomly, she will stop and bark.  She has the dog imitation down!

Thankfully, big sister is feeling MUCH better now.  We are hoping the rest of our crew stays healthy and that none of us catch the same yuckiness.