Finding Family Link Up

Easter is 14 days away, and our family will be celebrating with a daily "Treasuring Christ...especially at Easter" activity. Each day we will leave out an egg for Caleb to open with a sweet treat inside, and then we will read a passage out of his Jesus Storybook Bible. 

We started this tradition last year, and loved the nightly scripture reading as we walked through the last few days before Christ's death and resurrection. It allows our family to spend intentional time together, and makes Easter more of a season of celebration rather than a one-day-holiday. 

If you would like the reading schedule and activity details click here. 



And don't forget about today's link up...


Welcome to the Finding Family Weekly Link up. We are so glad you stopped by. While you're here, please follow the blogs of the host and co-host:

 Tales of Beauty for Ashes (host)

Big K Fam (Cohost)

Each week, I will be choosing a featured blogger from the previous link up. Last week's featured blogger is from Love Letters I so resonate with what she said. At times, I just feel frustrated and overwhelmed, and it is okay!

• Stop by and see what other families are doing. Leave a comment, let them know you were there. 
• Grab a button to put on your blog.

If you would like to co-host send Becky an email at talesofbeautyforashes@gmail.com.

Happy {15 Months} Caleb!

My sweet baby boy is three months away from becoming an official toddler! Wow! 

Dear Caleb,

You are a rambunctious, comical, fearless, and lovable little boy! You're nickname this month has been "sour patch kid", because first you're sour and then you're sweet. For example, one second you will be climbing on the couch, throwing a toy at Ariel's head, and the next second you will hug Ariel and come hug me. One extreme to the next my little sour patch kid. 

You're favorite thing to do right now is climb on everything! Everything. It makes me nervous, and I can't leave you alone in the living room...too many sharp corners to fall on. You learned how to walk backwards this month, and now love to moon dance in the kitchen. It's hysterical! 

You got your first haircut this month...eekkk! It looks really cute, but I miss your long hair! Thankfully, you let me comb and style your hair! Thank you, thank you! I hope you let me do this until you're 30. Or 18. 

You still love bathtime {I think we need a pool because you love water so much}, and love to brush your teeth. If anyone accidentally mentions "toothbrush", you run to your bathroom. You'll even grab my hand and lead me to your bathroom. It's so cute, I'll go ahead and brush your teeth on the spot.

Speaking of grabbing hands, I'm trying to teach you to hold my hand and walk in public. We've been working on crossing the street, walking in parking lots, and going in circles around the house. You're doing pretty good, and hopefully will be a pro by summer. 

After 15 months, Ariel is finally starting to love you. She'll let you sit by her on the couch and pet her. This is big! Ariel will play tug-o-war with you, and she'll run to you when we get home. She now wants to sleep in your room and hide under your crib. The hiding under your crib is driving me bonkers, because she wants to do this while you're napping. As long as she doesn't wake you, I'm ok with it. 

Stats:

Weight: 29lbs

Height: 2' 8.5"

90% in growth

You're still a giant baby in the 90%, but you're slowing down a little bit. I swear you feel 40lbs, but you're closer to 30lbs.

You are still a happy, content, easy-going baby that loves to eat every 45 minutes. You eat the same sized meal portions as I do, and never turn down free food. Typical little man. 

Caleb, you're almost a toddler, but you're still my little baby. I love you so much, and cherish every hug, kiss, and smile with you. I pray that you grow up to be a man that chases after God's heart, and allows me to hug you whenever I want. We love you CK. 

Finding Family Link Up

I'm cohosting today's Finding Family Link Up, and happy to share what's going on in our family's life right now!

I have previously shared how I've been finding ways to save money so I can hire a cleaning service. Bryan and I wanted to spend less time doing chores on the weekend, and more time together as a family. Well, now it's time to share how the cleaning service has helped our family time!

The cleaning service came...and...well...it didn't go exactly like I thought it would. 

I hired the janitorial company that cleans our medical office. I know the owner, Mr. T,  well, and trust his company to do an excellent job.

On the day of the first cleaning I was so excited to get home after work. I love the fresh smell of cleaning products, and was excited that I wasn't the one cleaning. When I arrived home, I was pleasantly amazed. I don't think I've seen our house that clean since we moved in! It was wonderful!

Everything was clean. I was in pure bliss...until I walked into my bedroom. When I first entered my room I noticed some of my clothes hanging above my closet door. How weird? Why were my clothes hanging...why were they slightly damp...wait...those were in my hamper that morning. OH MY HOT TAMALES! I suddenly felt like I was having a hot flash and heart palpitations. I looked across my bedroom and gasped when I realized the truth of what I had feared. Mr. T did my laundry. 

When I hired Mr. T we specifically negotiated the cleaning price down to a reasonable amount by eliminating laundry and dish services. My laundry was not to be cleaned that day. 

But there, across my bedroom on my side coffee table were my freshly clean clothes nicely folded. He even folded my most intimate apparel. I wanted to die of embarrassment. Why? Because the night before that first cleaning I started my monthly cycle. Oh yes, and there was evidence in that laundry basket. {insert another hot flash here}

Mortified.

I called Bryan nearly having a panic attack, and my sweet hubby said ever so kindly, "well at least you don't have to do laundry this week". 

Yes, I didn't have to clean or do laundry. After the embarrassment wore off {it took a couple of days} we spent the weekend not doing chores and having fun as a family. 

{In case you were wondering, Mr. T is permanently hired. He did a fantastic job cleaning our house, and an amazing job removing the "evidence" from my laundry. I should ask him what his cleaning secret is but I'm too embarrassed.}

Finding Family Link Up

Happy Monday!

Welcome to the Finding Family Link up. We are so glad you stopped by. Please link up a post about family. You can link up a post about your brother's silly antics. Your daughter's birthday. Lessons on how to be a good wife. How to cope with the death of a grandparent. Really, anything family! 

While you're here, please check out the beautiful blogs of my co-hosts:

 Tales of Beauty for Ashes (host)

Phtreats (cohost)

Houtz HouseParty (cohost)

Big K Fam (cohost)

Tales from a Far (cohost)

Krystal's Kisch (cohost)

Not in Jersey (cohost)
Sunny with a Chance of Sprinkles (cohost)

• Stop by and see what other families are doing. Leave a comment, let them know you were there. 
• Grab a button to put on your blog.

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•  Don't forget to enter the giveaway below!

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A Typical Day

Hey y'all! I'm guest posting my "Typical Day" over at The Houtz House Party. Go check out Kelly's site for what a typical day at the Big K house looks like.

Shake It Out

God's heart is always on trial. 

I was abiding in God through 1Kings when I stumbled across a troubling passage. It was the story of "The Old Prophet and the Man of God", where the man of God was told by the LORD to "not eat bread or drink water, or go back by the way he came". He was obedient until "the old prophet deceived him, and the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water." {1Kings 13:19} The old prophet deceived the man of God by lying and telling the man of God that an angel spoke to him and told him that he should go back with him and eat bread and drink water. {1Kings 13:18} When the man of God left the old prophet's home, he was killed by a lion. {1King 13:24} WHAT?? "He is the man of God who disobeyed the command of the LORD. The LORD has given him to the lion, and it has mauled him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD that He spoke to him." {1Kings 13: 26} 

This week is my one year anniversary of being a working momma. A somber anniversary. I have been reflecting on the past 365 days trying to understand what God has been up to in my working circumstances, my suffering. I realized during my reading of 1Kings 13 that my heart is bent on mistrusting God's heart. When God killed the man of God my heart screamed, "WHAT??". He was tricked, and the old prophet should have been killed instead. God's heart is immediately placed on trial. Is He good? Was killing the man of God good? A fog of doubt slowly rolled in.

I have been living in this fog for the past 365 days. What a gloomy way to live as a half hearted soul trying to see the larger story from a storm. Every day this week I've been asking myself, "why don't I trust God, why do I doubt, what do I believe about His heart, what is He up to in my suffering?". The truth is I question God's heart. Is God's heart really good? Does He really care about me?

Even writing my doubt brings me to an overflow of tears. Will God's heart always be on trial?

The other day, I was listening to a song {Shake It Out by Florence + the Machine} and God spoke to my heart through the chorus:

"Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah! Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh woaaah! And it's hard to dance with a devil on your back So shake him off, oh woah!"

It's the fog of doubt that lingers on my back. It's the ancient lie that keeps rolling back. Yes, God I hear You! Shake it out indeed! The lies, the doubts, the lawyer that lives in my flesh that eagerly wants to prosecute God's heart on trial...shake it out. God help me shake it out, shake it out for me! Help my heart believe You are good and that You infinitely love me!

I want to dance with God, but I can't if I'm living in a fog of doubt. So I will search for His heart, shake off the lingering fog, hold on to the Truth, and abide in Him. If this anniversary of suffering continues, I pray that I can say I danced well. I suffered well, trusting my LORD and believing that His heart is good, and that He deeply loves me. Ooh woaaah! 

{Budget Groceries}: meal planning

I have shared before about our student loan debt, and the chaos of balancing my job and motherhood. I cannot say thank you enough to my friends and family that have walked along with me through this struggle, and encouraged me to abide in God. I now understand why God warns us to not borrow money. Debt sucks. 

Bryan has noticed my stress with balancing my role as a working-momma and motherhood, and offered to hire a cleaning service to help me with my bi-weekly cleaning. This was a helpful offer, but it has also been humbling because I have to admit that I'm not perfect. I can't be a perfect employee, a perfect mother, and a perfect homemaker. I need help, or I need to live with the chaos.

I want our financial budget to stay the same when we hire the cleaning service in February, so I had to "find" money. This left me with two options: cancel our cable or lower our grocery budget. Bryan voted for lowering our grocery budget {thanks to ESPN}.

I normally shop at Krogers because it's 1 mile down the street in the neighborhood, but I probably make 2-3 stops a week because of the convince. We spend $120-$150 per week on groceries not counting what Bryan spends eating out at lunch {weekdays only}. I also never meal plan. I just walk into Krogers and randomly buy ingredients and hope I can make a meal out of it. I hate cooking, so I'm not an organized shopper.

To save money I needed to meal plan. 

 Krogers isn't extremely expensive, but I needed to grocery shop at a more cost-effective store. A couple of my friends, Whit and MT, suggested that I do my grocery shopping at ALDI to save some cash.

I made my grocery list based on my meal plan for 5 days {I make meals to feed 6 people, so that we will have leftovers on the weekend and for work lunches}, and then headed to ALDI. ALDI doesn't carry everything, so I had to make an extra stop at Walmart to pick up toiletries and cleaning products, but adding up my ALDI + Walmart receipts I saved $50 the first week and $65 the second week. Crazy!

I am sold on ALDI now! If I can save $120 per month on groceries, then I can afford to pay our cleaning service, yay!

Meal planning is the hardest part, so I'm going to document 4 weeks of meal planning and share my meal calendar with you. If you have an ALDI or Trader Joe's near you, I encourage you to check it out! {No, no one is paying me or giving me anything to say this...it's just my opinion}

Let me know if you have any money saving tips? Saving money makes me do a happy dance! 

{ALDI Shopping Tips}:
*Go without bringing the kiddos the first time {it'll be easier}
*bring 1 quarter for the grocery cart {they're locked, and you'll get your quarter back if you take the cart back}
*bring grocery bags {you'll have to bag everything}
*they only sell in-season produce
*check out ALDI's FAQ page

{a majority of the recipes on my meal plans can be found on my Pinterest. check back in February for a complete booklet of my monthly meal plans to download for FREE}