Sometimes the answer is "No"

Have you ever prayed so hard for something?
Maybe not even something material, or some event to happen, but possibly for something NOT to happen?

I have. Without getting into serious stuff here, I'll just admit I prayed for something to NOT happen. It wasn't even to me personally, it was about someone else that would effect me. Vague I know.
 At the time I knew God heard my prayer, I knew He was listening. I felt His comfort. But when I never felt like my prayer was answered I was honestly bummed.
I just felt like I wasted all that time. As my faith grew, I realized that sometimes God's answer is "maybe" or "not now" or "yes".
I think sometimes we feel when our prayers aren't answered that God is just telling us not now.
I know now that God didn't tell me maybe, He flat out told me NO!

I prayed so earnestly, diligently, powerfully, willingly, surrendering, praising, crying, and fasting. It wasn't His will for things to end up how I prayed. He just told me no, but it's because He loves me.

Have you ever felt God told you no? 
All prayers are answered, maybe He didn't answer it how you perceived it should have been.

He has definitely told me Yes many times, but all the while I've been told no as well.

Happy Wednesday!
Kayla

Foodie Post - Review of Kale Chips

I'll be the very first to admit that I can't cook that good.
I'm not that inventive with my food at home. My husband is super picky, so if he doesn't like something more than likely my four year old will pretend he doesn't like it either.

Since I've been on my "health food" journey the last 6 months or so, I've discovered Kale.
I would have normally never eaten Kale until I went on a juice fast, which I highly recommend for anyone who needs a reboot of energy!

I started by buying Walmart Kale and washing it, then I got into organic produce and Whole Foods carries a much bigger variety. Anyway, I would put a little olive oil and sea salt on it and put it in my small convection oven until it turned crispy. You can look up youtube videos on how to do it if you don't know how, like pulling the leaves from the stem,etc.
Those are delicious! My sons even loved it.

Then I found a site selling bags of it with different flavors and thought I'd give it a shot!
I received 3 large packages (I'm assuming the packaging was recycled, or at least it seemed that way.) Three different delicious flavors: cheese, jalapeno, and some other kind that mentioned hazelnut but didn't taste like hazelnut.

These are really really rich if you ask me, but they are still delicious.
If you are on the go like me, definitely better than a bag of chips/fries, etc.

I personally like mine better, but I like the bitter taste of plain kale, I guess.

Let me know if you have any recipes for Kale, I'd love to try them!

Bless you ladies :)

Kayla

Our normal

Happy Monday ladies! 

I've been scarce the last few days because my oldest son got hurt at school on Friday morning.
He fell on the concrete and hit his front teeth. Graceful like his mother I assume.
Luckily only one was knocked loose, but hasn't came out. His dentist said there's not much to do anyway considering it's still a baby tooth. 
As eventful as my weekend was I wanted to share with you a Halloween picture of my youngest. (I have none of the oldest because he refused pictures with his friends around, plus he was running to each house.) 
These are also Iphone photos, be aware! lol 
The first one is of my little country boys together, not fighting for one minute. :) 
Don't worry, it resumed shortly after.

To get back to the topic I've been thinking of for a few weeks...
Why do we idolize being busy? Obviously by my blogger name, I'm busy as well.
But we have competitions on who is busiest. 
Let's sign up for everything imaginable and wonder why we feel overwhelmed.
We have class trips, class parents, church classes, bible studies, tball games + practices, snacks, dinners with family, cook out with friends, remodeling the house, homemade costumes, couponing, juicing, photography, blogging, and somewhere in there we fit in housework, cooking, and looking half way presentable. Some of us even try to work out!
Are we not setting ourselves up for failure? Every day something is not getting done, you can't be your best at a few things because we are constantly okay with being mediocre at 50 other things. 
We are mediocre employees, moms, wives, church members, grandchildren, sisters, etc.
My goal is to pick a few things, do my best, and be the best at them. I can't do it all anymore, and I'm not even doing a decent job at trying. 
My Halloween treats for my boys' parties are not done yet, and I'm sure I won't start until 10 pm Tuesday night. My house IS clean, but I missed church. 
I also have a trunk that needs decorating before Wednesday and it's not even cleaned out. 
Groceries need bought, but my kids' clothes ARE ironed. 
Am I talking to myself here, or do any of you feel this way too?
My husband and I have not had a date night in months. When you stretch yourself too thin, you can't spend extra time or attention on yourself or on those you love. 

As a reminder, the Bible talks about the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31. 
Girls, she does a lot.. and it is all about her family. But I can bet that God wants us to know about this woman and what she does well. 
Let's not minimize our family or values to be "busy". 
Slow down and smell the roses, it's so so worth it. 

Have a perfect night with your family. If you don't have a family yet, spend it with someone who just needs someone to talk to. 
No ones life is perfect, we can all stop pretending. Let's get real. When was the last time you spoke to a lady who you just asked how their day was and they were real, they said "girl I'm just exhausted and I feel chubby today!". How would you react? 
You don't have to know someones life story to know not everything is sweet as peaches. 
We don't have to complain, but we also don't have to give facades to make each other feel less adequate. (Even if it's unintentional.)
I'll be the first to admit today that I don't have it together. I don't eat much meat (just because I don't like it). I prefer mostly organic produce and products. My husband is a hunter, like hardcore, Duck Dynasty kind of hunting. 
He isn't just the guy that goes out during rifle season to get any 'ol deer that walks up...
I'm talking about his year is carefully calculated, feed plots planted, cameras out, stands up, obsession starts in July kind of hunter. Are we opposites? Absolutely 100%.
Our life isn't perfect, but it's OURS. 
My kids are adorable to me, but they fight all the time. That is not perfect, ya'll. 
Just be you, and do it so well that you no longer care to keep yourself busy with the other stuff.

I've ranted long enough and no one even read all this. 

God Bless you ladies. 
Kayla

Mean Girls

Catchy title eh?

I was recently submerged into Beth Moore's bible study Esther. 
Although I did the study several years ago with her (not actually with her but via dvd) but this time it hit me in a different spot. I'm only on session 4 or so, but she was talking about mean girls somewhere along the way.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, whichever.) I'm not going to be talking about Esther today, I'm going to talk about us ladies. I feel qualified because I am one. We all know the mean girl, the one everything is ALWAYS about. We know the girl that is so self absorbed she posts pictures of all the new clothes she just went out and bought while we haven't shopped in months.
Most memorable mean girl in my mind is the one who wears revealing clothing around our husbands, just to see if he will look.
Beth Moore dares to say in her study, "Keep your breasts to yourself". I found this hilarious, but then it hit me! This is so true ladies. Your goods are for your husband only. And to take that to the next step, if you do that in front of my husband then I turn into the mean girl! Let's skip that part of the story.

But the mean girl I want to talk about today is the one in the mirror. Oh yes, I said it.
I don't show it. I'm not purposely mean, but down in my heart I feel it sometimes.
When someone gets a new vehicle, or they don't have baby puke or snot on their cute clothes like I do. When they brag that their husband stayed up all night with the teething baby I feel like I could totally lose it.
How about the secret competition between us ladies? Who dresses cuter, which kids are smarter, more athletic, which one walked sooner?
Am I reaching anyone ?
We are ALL women, women of faith. God did not make us men for a reason!
The next time you are on Facebook, Twitter, a blog, etc and you feel your heart's jealousy.. remember that when someone's grass seems greener on the other side, start watering yours!
Every single one of us has a purpose and yours may be vastly different than your girlfriends. That being said, we all have trials. Each of us carries burdens not intended for us to carry, each has a heavy heart for some reason.
Let's encourage one another, love one another, pray for one another.
If a lady seems to be "doing more" for God's kingdon than you, and you feel down about that..ask her what you can help with. You may be the blessing she has prayed for.
We are all here for the same ultimate reason, to bring Glory to our Father and bring those far from Christ near.

Be with me as an encourager this week, love your lady friends, be a friend.
Don't be the mean girl.

Blessings ladies! Happy Wednesday (which I thought was initially Tuesday! haha)

Kayla

I'm a slob.

There, I said it.
All these moms pinning organization stuff on Pinterest, I do that too.
I just never get to it.
I'm thinking my 4 1/2 year old is a hoarder, no joke. (My husband might be also.)

I swear as soon as I clean something, four little sticky hands mess it up again.
I've almost given up, except I don't want a messy unorganized house.
So I figured I'd share some "end of the year, hope I get this done" goals with you.

1. Clean out boys' rooms. Old toys, broken toys, toys not played with, etc.
2. Clean out my room. Old toys, broken toys..lol that's a joke. Mostly old clothes in there.
3. Get rid of old sippies, bottles, plates. Stuff we don't use.
4. Shred all old useless paper.

There you have it.  I'll keep you updated on how this goes. It HAS to be done by Christmas.
Seems so far away, but we all know how that holiday likes to sneak up on us.

Anyone else have tips or a Pinterest link for some much needed ideas?


Have a blessed Monday!
Kayla

Something small, something big

I want to breifly touch on something sensitive today that has been pressed on my heart lately.

Years back, as I was maturing (and I still am), I started noticing that the more I asked God for help, the more He cleansed me.
A cleansing is not fun, it is meant to purify your heart. Sometimes that means pulling things out of your deepest, darkest closet.

Lately, as I have dug more into the Word and become more involved with spiritual friends and more involved in church; I feel like I'm cleansing again. 
You have to look deep inside yourself to become greater for God.
 "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, unless you abide in me." John 15:4

Any part of your life that is not producing life, light, productivity, joy, and radiating God's love through you should be "pruned". Toxic relationships, tv shows, music, etc.
Don't get me wrong, no one is perfect. But if you are looking for a more meaningful relationship with our Almighty, you must abide in Him.
I looked up abide at www.m-w.com to give us a clearer picture of what He is asking when He said "abide in me".

 to wait for : await

2a : to endure without yielding : withstand

b : to bear patiently : tolerate <cannot abide such bigots>

3: to accept without objection <will abide your decision>

: to remain stable or fixed in a state

2: to continue in a place

 

Some words in this definition stick out to me- endure, patiently, remain, accept without objection.

If God has lead you to a certain direction in your life, and you are supposed to abide

 in Him.. Does that mean you won't endure trial? Absolutely not. Everyone will face trials, but are your trials going to be worth the reward? We can bank on that.

 

Patiently- boy do I struggle with this one. Let's skip this one, we'll come to patience another day. :)

To accept without objection- Can we all just agree God certainly knows more than us? I know as a woman I feel like I'm right ALL the time, but when it comes to God I've got to learn He knows infinitely more than me. I am trying to learn not to object when He leads me somewhere.

To remain stable or to continue in a place-  Let's just say I'm not stable and I usually can't stay in a fixed state of emotions. But I think we could take this part of the defiinition a step further, staying constantly and stable in the Word. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

 

This week my goal is to abide in Him, and cut off what branches are not producing fruit. I want my life to reveal God in the most gracious ways. I want His joy to radiate through me, and shine on others.

Girls, remove those vines that are not bearing fruit. Ask God to cleanse your heart. If you need prayer during this process, please contact me.

 

Spring cleaning in the Fall, who knew?

 

Kayla

 

Sneak Peek, 15 month old!

I'm going to get to my regular blog post a little later, but I just had to share this picture with you all.
He is a total mess, look at the dirt on his face! This is my youngest son, he's the smartest little thing I've ever met. He really knows how to work his momma.

I took this in the shade, in the evening, with my new camera. I'm learning how to edit my photos, wow there is lots to learn. This little angel has the most gorgeous eyes, but I just couldn't get the light correct.. maybe next time! He is such a miracle baby to us. I had such a hard time during my labor with him. He was sunny side up, and when they flipped him he got lots of fluid down his lungs and was in ICU for 5 days. Ever since he came home after he was born he has excelled at everything. He's so competitive just like his daddy!

Can't wait to share more with you all later.
Here's something I think of each day when I see my boys.. (borrowed from some episode of Oprah I must have seen years ago.)...Do your eyes light up when your children come into the room?
On stressful days at work or when I get held up in a meeting, I really hate to take it out on my kids. They are my world. I try my hardest to make sure they see how excited I am to see them each and every day.

Today, make sure that when you see a loved one (no matter what else you have going on) make sure your face lights up when you see them. Make someone feel special today.
Happy Monday everyone!


Blessings to you,
Kayla