My Guys is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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Did you ever read The Five Love Languages? My husband and I did a small group with this book and it was very enlightening to say the least. The concept is that everyone “speaks” and “responds” in love languages. When your spouse doesn’t “speak” that same language your “love tank” can get empty and anger, hurt and resentment can set in.

For example, my husband’s love language is 100% physical touch. When I hold his hand at the mall or put my head on his shoulder, he knows I love him. I could personally care less about that. I mean, I like a good hug and kiss as same as the next person, but it doesn’t “fill up” my love tank! When I took the test to see what my language was, I actually TIED with three: acts of service, quality time and gifts. What can I say? I’m a high maintenance girl!

But since that initial test, I think my real language is quality time. Not just hours of time together watching tv. But when we are together, I want my husband paying attention to me and our household. When he’s on the phone the first 30 minutes he’s home, he might as well just not be there, you know?

After I fisnished the love language book, it was hard for me. I kept thinking, “Doesn’t he remember MY love language?! He knows how aggravated he gets when I don’t speak his. What about MINE?” See the problem?

Well, this is the motivation for Gary Chapman’s newest book, Love As A Way of Life. This book takes the love languages a step further. It’s not just a marriage book…it’s for any relationship in your life. Here’s part of an interview with Dr. Chapman & his description of the book,

Love as a Way of Life is designed to help the person who sincerely wants to make a positive impact in the world. I believe that is ‘most of us.’ Our biggest problem is that we don’t know how and we keep getting tripped up by our own selfish ambitions. The purpose of the book is to help us break free from the prison of selfishness and come to experience the satisfaction of truly loving others as a way of life. It is little acts of love that build up to a lifestyle of service.

There is nothing I want more than to have a lifestyle of service and model it for my family. The book covers the following qualities that will be strategies for a loving lifestyle: kindness, patience, forgiveness, courtesy, humility, generosity, and honesty. And hopefully, like Dr. Chapman says, the result of taking this book to heart will be a real and genuine focus on others…

When love becomes the focus of ones life it will change every encounter we have with people. In the family, the husband is thinking, “what can I do before I leave for work that would be helpful for my wife?” Such thinking may lead him to take the trash out, put his breakfast plates in the dishwasher or feed the baby while his wife takes a shower. In the workplace, employees are asking, “on my break, what might I do that would help someone else?” They will also make time to listen to a co-worker who seems to be having a hard time with a personal issue. At the bank, post office, or cafeteria, the lover will look people in the eye and smile, perhaps opening the door to a conversation. They will express interest in what is going on in the lives of those they encounter.The focus is not on “it’s all about me.” But, rather on “It is all about others.”

Sound like something you need? I know I do! Well, I’ve got TWO copies from Random House/Doubleday to give away to you! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. In your comment let me know if you’ve ever read The Five Love Languages…and if so, what’s your love language? (You know, so I can start speaking it!) If you don’t know it, you can head over to Dr. Chapman’s website and take the 30 second quiz! Try it!

I’ll pick a winner this weekend!

COMMENTS CLOSED. WINNER ANNOUNCED (somewhere up top…)

Love As A Way Of Life GIVEAWAY is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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I didn’t get to post my Sunday recap yesterday. It was my lil’ bro’s birthday. We went to a Japanese steakhouse (yum!) and then during Lydia’s nap, I read and just didn’t get online (gasp!). Last night was our neighborhood Bible Study. Les and I gave our little testimony/story. So, we were famous.

Yesterday was a guest speaker at church. You may have heard of him, Louie Giglio. One of the best speakers ever. He spoke about Hope When Life Hurts Most. It was an amazing sermon mainly full of a true story that you can read at Louie’s blog here.

In John 16, Jesus says, “I have told you these things so that IN ME you may have peace. In this world, you WILL have trouble. BUT TAKE HEART I have overcome the world.” (emphasis mine) Louie explained that some people live on the 2 extremes of this verse: some Christians believe God just makes life hard. Get over it. Others refuse trouble. But the reality is that both of these extremes are true at the same time. There is trouble AND there is an overcoming Savior.

So, the question is, when you have this trouble that will come, where do you turn? Hopefully, to the cross of Christ. When we look to the cross, when life hurts most, we will see 4 things:

1. At the cross we know and see God loves us. You can think because of your tragedy, “God has forgotten me! He doesn’t love me!” But if you look back to Jesus, God’s only Son, dying on the cross, you’ll realize and remember that God’s love for you has never changed. You’ll have that “blessed assurance” that God’s love is true.

2. God allows freedom but maintains control. WOW. This one is so big for me. We live in a sick and crazy world. People have freedom to do whatever they want. That’s why there is so much bad stuff. People always ask, “Why didn’t God stop this?” One day He will. And that’s the day Jesus will come riding a white horse and send the devil to the fiery pit. (yikes!) But right now, He’s allowing freedom, while maintaining control. An example: Jesus’ crucifixion. Did God control those Roman Soldiers? The Jews who were demanding Barabbas be set free? No! They chose their life and their words. But was God in charge of that whole scenario? YES!

3. God can use the worst for eternal good. Let’s continue our Jesus example. If we had been a disciple on Good Friday, we would have said, “God is dead. This is stupid and not what we thought.” But looking back we can see the amazing thing that God did!

4. God paints on a canvas bigger than you can see.

They closed the service with David Crowder’s new song, You Never Let Go. They lyrics say, “Joy and pain, sun and rain. You’re the same. You never let go.” This is how I feel about all this. The world is pain, rain and darkness. God is joy, sun and light. He doesn’t let go of us even in the middle of tragedy.

(If you were in our conversation about healing over at Jenny’s you may think I’d disagree with this sermon. I do and I don’t. I know many people left that sermon thinking, “Yup. God’s ways are higher. He makes bad things happen, and I have to go with it for the greater good.” While I agree whole-heartedly with everything Louie said, I didn’t leave the sermon thinking that. I left thinking, “God! Thank you for being in control. Thank you for being in midst of my tragedy. Thank you for making good come out of bad.”)

What is UP with Sunday? is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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Jason. He’s my little brother. Well, little in that he turns 27 today! He’s one of the most talented people I know. He might be the most talented one, actually. I’ve always said any talent I have, Jason has it above and beyond me plus about 5 extra talents. He’s a great musician, a performer, an outstanding artist, a carpenter, a minister, he’s unbelievabley creative in every realm, he’s normal (!), he’s a great puppeteer, an actor and he can do the funniest Mr. Haney accent you ever heard! He’s also a great son, hubby and one of the most whipped dads I’ve ever seen.

There is just nothing like having a brother. We just know each other. That’s the only way I know how to say it. Even now there are times we can say half a sentence and make absolutely NO sense to anyone else, but we understand each other!

After living away from him for 8 years, Jason is now my across the lake neighbor. It’s a gift from God, literally, that I get to live so close to him and his family.

I love you, Jason! I hope your birthday is awesome and this year is the best yet!

Look how cute we were. (What happened, J?)

(hey, hop over and leave him a birthday comment, ok?)

The Only One I’ll Ever Have is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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At the end of our wedding, we did a receiving line. We lined up outside the church doors and let everyone walk by us and shake our hand. One man from my church, who had like 8 kids shook my hand and said, “I’m giving you the fertility handshake.” And I said, “Oh no you don’t!” I didn’t want to have kids right away. I mean, I knew I wanted them at some point. But whenever someone asked when we’d have kids, I’d say, “Oh at least 5 to 8 years from now.” Then when 5 years came, I kept saying the same thing.

Les and I did lots of fun stuff before we decided to have a baby. We lived in 5 states, traveled to 32. We helped plant a church and worked with several ministries. During our 2 year pit stop in Flordia, my good friend Christy told me that she felt the same way about kids. Then one day God just changed her heart and she had the desire to be a mom. That was so encouraging. I always felt kinda bad that I didn’t “want” kids. I just relaxed and waited for that day when He’d place that same desire in me.

And you know what? He did. I remember trying to calculate it out, “if we get pregnant this month, we’ll have the baby this month…” And finally one day I just felt like, “What’s a few months? We need this baby now!” And it was there–the desire.

I didn’t go crazy with tracking and charting. One day after a small group Bible study, we stopped by Walgreen’s and bought a pregnancy test. We took it home, I poas and sure enough–two lines! I was in the family way!

That next week or so, we went to Atlanta for my niece’s 1st birthday. We were at Chuck E. Cheese playing games and eating cardboard pizza. We didn’t want to overshadow Nora’s day but we could hardly control ourselves! So, once the party was over and we were all in the parking lot, I stopped my parents, my brother, sil and Nora and said, “We’ve got something to tell you. Nora is going to have a cousin.” I don’t know what I was expecting, but blank stares was not it. They all just looked at me. No light bulbs were going off. They had NO idea what I was talking about. It was quiet for at least 30 seconds and finally Mama said, “Who, exactly?” And I practically shouted, “We’re having a baby!” Then it was like flash bulbs going off! They all screamed and started laughing and hugging. I still laugh when I think about it. Next time I’ll have to be a little more specific.

A few weeks later my parents came to Bham for my first ultrasound. Here‘s what happened.
It’s one of my favorite posts if you have a minute.

My favorite thing about the pregnancy was how my love for Lydia grew as she did. She could have come out with 3 eyes and I would have been head over heels in love with her. I think that love began the day God placed that desire in my heart.

(And for all you who are saying, “Yeah, but when are you going to have another one?” I think once Lydia turns 2, we’ll start listening for that little nudge from God!)

want more baby stories? Annie‘s got ‘em.

embarazada is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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Everything is all right with the world. My dishwasher is ready to run. My microwave is humming along with lunch. Lydia is asleep. My new Vera Bradley wallet is filled (not with money, but with my stuff). I’ve cleaned the bathrooms and picked up Lydia’s toys. I walked this morning. I gave Lydia a bath.

And the internet has brought me two new friends!

Well, one of them isn’t new exactly. Remember when I found all the stuff in my parent’s attic? One box was full of High School memorabilia. It was mainly report cards and student IDs. But there were a few notes in there. You know, the ones folded with a million folds like origami? They were mainly from my friend Stephanie. She and I were good friends in Middle School and we’d write the craziest notes to each other. We drew pictures of our band class and of each other. We had made up nicknames for each other and were just basically silly. When we got into High School we weren’t in the same classes or circles (I can’t even remember now) and we just didn’t hang out anymore. There wasn’t any animosity there…it was just one of those things.

I remember I had Chemistry with her boyfriend. I mean, we had the class Chemistry together! Ha! We talked about how she and I were good friends before and didn’t really even say hi now. He would always tell me, I wish you guys would get together again! Well, when I found those old notes, I knew I had to find her. So, I tried the usual mysapce & facebook. And sure enough found her boyfriend, who turns out to be her hubby. So, he did get us together again!

OK, this is getting to be a longer post than I intended. Anyway, we’ve emailed, she’s got a blog, 2 kids and we’re going to try to get together for a playdate! How fun is that?!

Now, my second friend. Well, I say she’s my friend. I think we’re destined to be great friends! She emailed me to let me know she’s been reading my blog for the past few months and feels like we’re kindred spirits. (My first fan mail!) She’s in children’s ministry, 30 and the daughter of pastors. So, yeah, I think we might click!

She said, “I hope you don’t find this weird.” Oh my goodness, no! One of the first blogs I ever read was Joy‘s. She was a friend of Candace’s. And I fell in love with her. I felt like we were kindred spirits. And I emailed her to let her know I was following her life online. So, I know what it’s like to be a stalker! I’m great at it. I just can’t believe someone would want to stalk me!

Earlier I said it was the internet that delivered them to me, but what I really mean is that I think it’s God. I believe there is purpose in everything. I don’t believe God moves us like pawns and we have no say. I’m not talking about destiny. I just know that God has plans for us.

Psalm 139 (my favorite chapter in the Bible) says, “every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed…” That used to upset me. I didn’t like thinking about God writing my days and too-bad-for-you if you don’t like it. But now, I see it differently. I think that God has planned the biggest and best life for me. I think He planned my friends in middle school. I believe he planned my husband. I believe he planned my jobs. Of course, the world, my will, other people, the devil and my choices can make my life deviate from this plan. But when I decide to and work hard at following Him, I’m blessed.

I think He blesses me even in the little things–finding an old friend, making a new one, getting a compliment from a mom at the park, having exact change when you need it, getting a deal on a purchase or just that undeniable sense of peace and joy on the inside.

And for some reason God has brought me this blog (and yes, the internet at large) to bless me. We’ve traveled a lot since we’ve been married. We’ve been uprooted from our friends too many times to count. We’ve even closed our hearts to new relationships. And now, we’re in a season of being able to reconnect with friends, deepen relationships with family and receive from Him.

I’m feeling very happy and loved today!

Gertrude & Bertha is a post from: ohamanda.com
Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite resources to help you make the most of 2012! One Bite At A Time: 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler, an ebook by Simple Mom!
Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule, finally get your house under control!
E-Mealz, online meal-planning with shopping lists! {20% off with code SKINNY when you choose one of their healthy menus}
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