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and then i remember …

By tracie | Published: January 23, 2012

Crazy. Literally. My life is literally crazy.

~ a five year old’s ruptured ear drum
~ cat pee in curtains
~ using face toner to remove eye makeup
~ using hair gel as face moisturizer
~ rotting roof that needs repair {in numerous places}
~ mold in the hvac system
~ having the house hepa-vacc’ed
~ unexpectedly making dinner for 15 that are homeless
~ an eight year old with a hurting heart
~ never. enough. sleep
~ living and sleeping with industrial machines and fans so loud we can’t hear each other talk
~ mental stresses too detailed to mention
~ dogs eating cat poop and dragging it through the house
~ said dog’s lunch doesn’t sit well and I’m cleaning her mess off the carpet
~ nine year old in tears thinking “Bob” {the water dragon} died. thankful for false alarm
~ ten workers in the house sterilizing it and the air
~ consoling a teen in tears, in the middle of the kitchen with crazy literally swirling around us

And then I remember . . .

1. A place to find joy amidst my sorrow.
6. A husband who asks for prayer.
12. Happy texts from daughters thankful for homemade french onion soup.
20. Sweet notes written to the tooth fairy.
25. Peace for today.
32. Courage to stand up for, and share our trials.
33. Walking in on daughters saying prayers aloud.
45. Blessing others and filling them with wakeful joy.
53. Taking time to slow down and listen to a hurting child.
54. Charlie Brown band-aids stuck to my sheets.
62. Signs revealed when we need to touch His hem.
70. Trusting my {writing} voice.

Are you making Joy a habit?

Posted in 1000 gifts, family thoughts | 11 Comments

intentions and joy

By tracie | Published: January 20, 2012

You can find me over here today talking about intentions and joy … hope to see you there!

Posted in guest post, modsquad, parenting | Leave a comment

busy, busy …

By tracie | Published: January 13, 2012

Checking in to let you know I’m still here! Just busy plugging away on the 31 Days of Faith ebook. I’m not sure why I thought it’d be as easy as copying and pasting … cuz it’s most definitely not!

Also, when I wrote the 31 Days series, I hadn’t a clue I’d be turning it into an ebook, therefore it’s not written as a “book,” it’s written as a blog and pretty much “reads” as a blog. So that means I’m busy editing and do a bit of re-writing. I’ve also realized I’m way too inspired by way too many songs, quotes, images, illustrations … and they’re currently proving a bit tricky to squeeze into an ebook. You know copyright laws and all of that! Oh! not to mention a certain 11 minute video that needs to be tamed and turned to text!

The good news in my busyness … I’m including 3 bonus chapters and a study guide! The cover should be ready soon and I hope to unveil it next week!

My thoughts are pretty much consumed in this project right now, along with you know, life, laundry, kids, errands, schoolwork and the such! Which means light posting on the blog for just a wee bit longer.

I promise it’ll be worth it though!

{did I use too many of these !!! in this post?}

Posted in 31 days of faith, writing | 8 Comments

god is in the details …

By tracie | Published: January 9, 2012

The girls and I were unexpectedly blessed this weekend and I wanted to share how I believe God is in the detail business!

Piper was set to have a “marathon” sleepover this weekend. Her friend {and her friend’s sister} would be sleeping over both Friday and Saturday nights. But when I met up with the girl’s mom {also a new friend of mine} for the transfer of weekend necessities, she told me they were surprising the girls {and their family, they have 6 kids}, with a weekend trip to the beach. They’d just closed on their new beach house the day before. So that meant only one night sleepover.

Only she didn’t want me to tell the girls because she was going to surprise them the next day. My heart pretty much immediately broke for Piper, as this sleepover weekend was all she’d talked about last week!

Anyway, come Saturday morning, I covered Piper in my prayers and started thinking of some other fun things we could do that day. A couple hours later, whaddaya know? I get a call from my friend with a crazy idea! She invited the girls and I to go with for the weekend. She knew I didn’t have anything else going on and said they had plenty of room.

Yes! Yes, we’d love to go! And when we finally told the girls, they were all ecstatic!

With my four, her six, two other friends, and 3 adults … there were 15 of us in 3 cars headed to Isle of Palms, SC!

The beach house was beautiful and well … right on the beach! I’d never stayed on a coastal beach before … just tropical. So this was something different for us and we all had a great time! I even got an adult night out to dinner while all the teens stayed home with the younger kids.

Anyway. I was worried and hurting for what I knew would be Piper’s hurting heart. I prayed for her Saturday morning and literally a couple hours later, an unexpected blessing came our way. It’s one small way {if you choose to look at it that way} to see that God is in the detail business. He cares about our hurts and worries.

Ann is once again counting 1000 gifts in a years time. She’s calling it the Joy Dare and has invited all of us to join her. I’m in! And so are my girls.

This year especially, I want to be uber-aware … I want my girls to be uber-aware of every detail, every blessing, every gift that comes their way. How better to understand and recognize that God is on our side, is with us always, and cares about the smallest of details?

Posted in blessed, family photos, family thoughts | 10 Comments

a wee bit giddy!

By tracie | Published: January 5, 2012

You might remember Piper’s Willy Wonka themed birthday party last March? I may, or may not have submitted it ~~and when I got no response, resubmitted it~~ to Hostess with the Mostess {the best party blog ever!}. I’d finally shrugged it off when lookie!! It was featured yesterday!!