an intervention.

Wow. My book list this year is lacking. Big time.

It's so short and there are a few reads on that list that I did not even enjoy all that much.

It would seem that I can get sucked so easily into little games on my ipad. We downloaded a game for Isla, an Inside Out emotions game where you shoot emotion balls.... why do I even feel the need to explain this?

It didn't teach anything about emotions, except how internally upsetting it was to get stuck on a level for days at a time. To be honest the last level I was on, I was stuck on for 3 weeks. 3 weeks! On a silly children's game.

Remember how it was for Isla? Apparently it was for me.

And then I read this on Lil Blue Boo. And it was too real and too close to home and now I am done.

I also remembered a sermon from a few months back about doing things that are truly soul filling and soul restful.

And truly, tv and ipad games aren't cutting it.

So I am now trying to fill my evenings with reading, gardening and crafting-- I'm working on a few little projects in that area.

Even these past few nights have proven more filling (and restful!) than any straight tv night over the past few months.

I get it, I feel tired, I'm a full-time mom and wife with a full-time job and trying to keep up with friends and family part-time, it can seem like a lot. TV does seem like a relaxing mind numbing way to end my day,

But it hasn't been giving me the rest I've been craving.

And frankly, I don't really want my mind to be numb.

Books read in 2014

This past year ended with our house being sick, we had stomach bugs, then colds, then flus, all of us, pretty much one after the other.

This new year has started with me being sick. I have still been up coughing most of the last 4 nights.

Being sick is no fun.

It did however help me finish up my reading for 2014. 42 books.

42!

I did it! I reached my goal.... Wait! I just checked, my goal was 41! I beat my goal!

These were a few of my faves:

The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have To Be Perfect To Be Beautiful
This book was beautiful. It was like a breath of fresh air to my house and, even more importantly, to my soul. Almost like a breath I didn't know I needed. It gave me peace and patience about my house. Nester gave me permission to take my time, to not strive for perfection. When I think about what I really want my home to reflect-care, peace, coziness, rest-it doesn't need me to have every thing perfectly done, everything in it's perfect space.

The 5 Love Languages of Children      
I borrowed this one from the library, but I think I may buy it. It has been instrumental in the way I interact with my girls. The book says that most children do not have specific love languages before the age of five, but I have been seeing where they tend to lean, and by recognizing these, I have been able to show them more love in a way that they feel and receive.


I also read a lot of children's and YA fiction this year, there were a lot I loved!

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
This one captivated me from the very beginning. The author, Ransom Riggs, based this books around old photographs, weird and mysterious ones. He wrote the book based on images he had or would search out images to fit where he wanted the story to go. It is a time travel, mystery, love story filled with monsters and children and birds. oh it is wonderful. I read the second in his series as well, Hollow City, just as delightful, and now I am waiting for the third to be released
(there is also supposed to be a movie done by Tim Burton-be still my heart!)

I also started a series called The Incorrigible Children Of Ashton Place. I read the first two books. The quaintness of the settings and the lovely affections and proper etiquette of Miss Penelope Lumley, accompanied by the sweet wildness of her 3 little charges had me hooked from the get go! This is definitely a book meant for the younger than young adult group, but oh I have fallen in love with them. Their are two more loaded on my Kobo just ready to go.


And here is the full list of books read this year:

1-A Wrinkle in Time

2-A Wind in the Door

3-Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)

4-Many Waters

5-Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife

6-Found: A Memoir

7-Critical Care

8-A Swiftly Tilting Planet

9-The Book Thief

10-The Midwife of Venice

11-An Acceptable Time

12-The Third Wave

13-Charlotte's Web

14-Escape from Camp 14

15-The Silver Linings Playbook

16-The Nesting Place: It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect to Be Beautiful

17-Little House in the Big Woods

18-Notes From A Blue Bike: The Art of Living Intentionally in A Chaotic World

19-The Harem Midwife

20-The Anatomist's Apprentice

21-Beyond Molasses Creek

22-Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

23-Everything is Perfect When You're a Liar

24-The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

25-Hollow City: The Second Novel of Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children

26-The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

27-The Five Love Languages of Children

28-Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator

29-An Irish Country Girl

30-Dad is Fat

31-The Dead Shall Not Rest

32-Still Lolo: A Spinning Propeller, a horrific Accident, and a Family's Journey of Hope

33-Divergent

34-Insurgent

35-The Girl Who Soared Over Fairlyand and Cut the Moon in Two

36-The Secret Language of Doctors

37-The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

38-Finding Ultra

39-The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place-Book 1: The Mysterious Howling

40-The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place-Book 2: The Hidden Gallery

41-Allegiant

42-Flea Market Fabulous



Books on the list for this year:
-A Million Little Ways (this was on last years list, but I did not get to it)
-Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All
-Simply Tuesday:Small-Moment Living in a Fast-Moving World
-The Best Yes
-Making Habits, Breaking Habits
-Flight Behavior
-What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

I'm hoping to keep around the 40 book mark again this year. 

**this post contains affiliate links**

Thankful Thursday!

we had a really busy week!

it was also a very very fun week :)

this week i am thankful for:

-the "big mess run" with great work friends and miss Meggie!

(we actually did the Run or Dye)

-small crafty art projects inspired by a Hallmark bag

-Annie! who helped me shuffle our upper cabinets around for a more open feel

(even the ridiculously gigantic square shaped hole made me laugh when we found it!)

-funny "to do" lists

-dinner with faraway friends

Thankful Thursday

this week i am thankful for:

-camping with friends who love our kids (and our kids lu-urve!)

-watching my uber-cautious daughter becoming more brave than i was at her age

-s'mores and this girl (even when she wakes up at 4:45 am!!)

-this dad and his small girls

-sunny summer days and sunsuits

-early morning time spent with Isla and in the Word

-love this girl so so much!!

today we also had a goodbye party for my friend Kerry.

she is a lovely co-worker/co-nurse of mine who initially replaced me on my first mat-leave.

she is moving to the states in a few weeks and we are all very sad.

i am so thankful to know her and to have worked with her.

i am also thankful that we were able to bless her with a lovely surprise present.

a little Pandora bracelet with some meaningful charms.

it has been a lovely week indeed.

and i am super thankful to be off to the spa with my girl Becky tomorrow!

woop!

Thankful Thursday

This week I'm thankful for:

-being back at blogging :)

-Isla attending a morning of Junior Kindergarten (how did that happen?!?!)

-voting with these ladies

-these lovely Toms from a thrift store! Holla!

-morning runs in sunshine

-and cutie cute tiny boots

National Running Day!

(let's pretend we celebrate this nationally here in Canada too, shall we?)

i recently watched this little gem:

i've been reflecting on my running journey since i started last July.

less than 9 months ago, i couldn't run back to my car in a parking lot without losing my breath.
fast forward to a week and a half ago:
i just finished my first 10k!

i signed up in the fall to do the Ottawa Race Weekend 10k.
i trained in the fall, (and then took a little break due to the ridiculousness that was the Ottawa winter),
and then picked up my training in April.

i am so proud of what i have accomplished.

my sister caught this picture of me in the sea of 12,000(!) runners.

{can you spot me?}

i was able to finish in 1:05:41.

a personal best!

then, this past weekend, i did a mud hero with 9 other co-workers.

so so so so fun!

the mud hero was definitely the more fun of the two (to be expected i suppose),
but the sense of accomplishment i felt when i crossed the finish line of that 10k?

amazing.

i have become addicted:
.to running.
.to the running community in ottawa.
.to racing.

it's wonderful and exciting and inspiring.

i am a runner and an athlete.



and i am a proud big sister!!
my sister ran the marathon the day after me.
some words to describe what it looked like to see those marathoners come around the 38km mark:

crazy . alarming . emotional . disturbing . inspiring . motivational . frightening

{here she is pre-race}

{i have medal envy!}

Thankful Thursday

this week:

-watching Isla fall in love with puzzles!! girl after my own heart!

{all by herself!}

-having my mom visit this past weekend

-talking to Auntie Rozzy on speakerphone and having Megan shouting "HI! HI! HI! HI! HI!"

       (we love our Auntie Rozzy!)

-family day pyjama day dance parties!

-my job

-having my lovely friend and co-worker Becky babysit last night... and i totally forgot to leave any kind of putting Isla to bed instructions... whoops! she feels like such an old friend that somehow i just assumed she knew the bedtime routine... even though it was her first time at our house! Sorry Becky!

-date night that turned into free meal date night because they forgot our order in the kitchen! i have no problem spending an hour chatting with my husband and get a free meal for it!!!

Thankful Thursday

this week I am thankful for:

-these lovely lasses. sigh.

-a 30th Birthday weekend away (for my bestie!) with 6 ladies and a baby: 

time to sleep in, eat good food, laugh, shop and reconnect

-Olympics!!!! Yay!!

-My mom coming in on the train today

-Isla. Here are some things she has said this week:

           "look, my breathing is dusty"  (in the cold)

           "Mommy? When I'm a woman, can I drive your car?"

           "You know everything don't you?" (to her Gramma Kiki)

           "Uncle Ryan is silly, huh?... And Uncle Noah... And Mike"

           "You came back!" (to me after I was away for the weekend)

         

Thankful Thursday

Thankful for:

-friends celebrating Thom turning 30 this past week :)

-Sunday mornings with rowdy worship and dancing and fun fun fun!

-seeing Isla run over and sit with Isaac and Auntie Mary on Sunday morning

-cuddles on the couch later in the day with my girlies

-getting out running after an almost 3 month hiatus! 

-also thankful for no longer blistering frostbiting-ly cold temperatures! sheesh!

Thankful Thursday

i am thankful.

thankful for the people i work with.

thankful for new Church in the 'Hood beginnings.

thankful for a day that google helped troubleshoot small person sleep troubles (instead of those days that all the most unhelpful info is at the top of the search results!)

thankful for vaccines that keep people healthy. 

thankful for the OSC seed catalogue coming in the mail!

thankful for downloading library books onto my Kobo.

thankful for small people cuddles and smiles and love.

thankful for life.

it's been a week of needing an extra measure of grace.

for myself, for my girls.

we are dealing with teething and first tempers and tiredness.

it's been a week of reminding myself that i can use all my own strength,
                                                             but it probably will give out at some point.
my strength to be patient
my strength to be kind
my strength to choose my words carefully and
my strength to show love

  have all given out at some point over the past week.

today as the sun is shining through my window, i am reminded of this scripture:

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, 
but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.

Isaiah 60:1-2 (NIV)

and this one:

This is My command: be strong and courageous. 

Never be afraid or discouraged because I am your God, the Eternal One, 

and I will remain with you wherever you go.

Joshua 1:9 (the Voice)

Thank you Lord. 

Thank you for your Holy Spirit and your strength in me. 

Thank you for second chances and new beginnings.

Thank you for your forgiveness and for your never-ever-ever ending love.

Thank you for being with me and
Thank you for choosing me to be the mother of these 2 little ladies.

Amen.

how little ones point us to Jesus

can i just say that i love being a mom?

an unexpected part of being a mom this time around was discovering again how much i need Jesus.

it's an amazing thing, this truth that i've always known...


but now.

now it seems even more evident.

little ones can test your patience, without meaning it, without doing anything other than what a little one is meant to do.

they ask a lot of questions, forget tasks, wander off, and make messes.
they take their time responding, and eat all the peanut butter.

it can be overwhelming, this take take take.

but this is what:

Jesus is bigger, he loves me, he loves my children and he matched us up.
I am learning what it means to not have control of my children, to give them grace, to let them grow.

just as God doesn't stand there, tapping (or stomping!--not that this ever happens in our house!) his foot as I am learning new things, he gives me guidance and patience and love.

another slightly more painful and a little gut wrenching is how God uses our toddlers to show our least becoming behaviours.

a few notes on that:
-we are teaching Isla to use nice manners, to speak nicely and ask nicely is a kind thing to do, and I've realized that I often forget to say please or thank you when I ask her to do something for me

-attitude! the other day Isla was asking for some juice, from the basement, while I was making dinner.
I asked her to come upstairs and ask nicely, which I'm going to hope she maybe didn't hear? a few minutes later this is what happened- she walked to the bottom of the stairs and shouted: "I said, 'I want some juice!!'" and believe you me that 'I said' had some serious sass to it.
 almost like she was repeating a tone she had heard an adult say use before... strange that.  ;)


for me, God is gently pointing out the immediate reactions that I sometimes have when I don't get my way or when I feel misunderstood or unappreciated.

I am thankful so much for these moments in motherhood,
for the stretching and growing and light that it brings.

and the fun, oh the fun it brings!!

it's a new year!

wow.

2013.

it's funny to watch old tv sitcoms from the 80's where they think that by this time we will have hover-cars and robot butlers and all kinds of crazy "futuristic" things.

not so much!

i've been working out a small list of resolutions in my head, mostly i like to pick fairly achievable ones as i like to cross things off my lists :)

so in no particular order, here are some:

1-to finally stop biting my nails for good -- disgusting habit, even more so when you are a nurse. blech.
2-to go outside with the girls in the winter! -- this is tricky for me, i don't like being cold and it seems like a tremendous amount of work to bundle up 2 littles when i don't want to be outside in the first place!
3-to get back into cloth diapering -- i was a cloth fiend with Isla, and i had a pretty decent start with Megan, but kind of fell off for awhile (mostly they get cleaned and then live on top of the dryer for weeks at a time!)
4-to sew some things -- really i just want to sew, anything at all.
5-to read 40 books this year -- as mentioned here.


so, those are a few of my resolutions... do able, but i also know that i have to be intentional about them all.

i like that.

{books read in 2012}

this year, i was keeping track of the books i had read (they were in my side bar)
i made it up to 38, which considering i was pregnant, had a 2 year old, and a new baby, is pretty impressive i think!

I am almost done another one, but considering today it the 31st, i don't  think i can make it to an even 40.

i could maybe make 39 by the end of tonight, but it would be pretty near impossible, so i'm happy with 38.

my friend Stuart made a resolution last year to read a book a week (or 52 books in the whole year... i don't think it actually has to be one a week)

i'm not sure i'm going to be able to make it to 52 this year (still have a 3 year old and a fairly newish baby after all!)

but i'm going to make it my goal to get to 40 books this year.

i'll keep track in the side bar again like i did this year :)

my top picks from this year:

The Parenting Book by Nicky and Sila Lee
Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions by Lysa Terkeurst
Fire in the Bones: Bill Mason and the Canadian Canoeing Tradition by James Raffan

it's funny to me that these are all non-fiction books, because generally my favourites are always fiction.
i guess it was a different kind of year :)


Here is my full list from 2012:

1-Elizabeth I
2-The Virgin Cure
3-Because of Winn-Dixie
4-Owls in the Family
5-Anne of Ingleside

6-The Parenting Book

7-The Making of a Nurse

8-Fire in the Bones

9-Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

10-Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

11-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

12-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

13-Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix

14-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

15-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
16-Death Comes to Pemberly

17-All Creatures Wise and Wonderful

18-All Creatures Bright and Beautiful

19-The Magicians of Caprona

20-Witch Week

21-The Lives of Christopher Chant

22-Mixed Magics: Four Tales of Chrestomanci

23-The Night Shift

24-Little House in the Big Woods

25-Howl's Moving Castle

26-Fantastic Mr. Fox

27-Charmed Life

28-No One is Here Except All of Us

29-Five Bells

30-A Recipe for Bees

31-Conrad's Fate

32-The Pinhoe Egg

33-The Gilly Salt Sisters

34-Ru

35-Heaven at Home: Establishing and Enjoying a Peaceful Home

36-Young House Love: 243 Ways to Paint, Craft, Update & Show Your Home Some Love

37-Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions

38-The Snow Girl

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

we have had a lovely little holiday

we spent time with family and friends

we gave

we received

we feel full

thank you Lord for family and friends and love and laughter and life.

thank you that you sent your Son for all of this.

Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice on the cross and that this is what you came to do:

to bring us into a relationship with you.

Amen.

Day 19: myself, a year ago

(can you believe how small this tiny is?)

wow.
a year ago seems like a crazy amount of time ago!
i probably either just found out, or was about to find out i was pregnant with Megan!
i had a fresh new one year old on my hands and I had been back to work for a couple of weeks.
what a difference a year makes!
now i have a 2 year old, an almost 4 month old and i have been on mat leave for 5 months
(seems weird considering i was just back at work at this time!)

we had just moved into the Dearing's basement
were getting used to life without Olivia and life with 5 other people ;)

Isla had just started walking more than crawling!

whenever i watch videos of Isla from a year ago, i'm almost uncertain as to whether it's the same girl or not!

Day 8: three inspirational quotes

 

 

The unfailing love of the LORD never ends!

By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction.

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day.

I say to myself, "the LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!"

The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him and seek him. 

Lamentations 3:22-25 New Living Translation

 

Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what.

If you don't listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won't tell you the big stuff when they are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff.

 Catherine M. Wallace

 

 

i've been working through quite a few things since becoming a mother of two and a mother of a toddler.  love and discipline and grace and consequences. on living in the moment and planning for the future. schedules and free for alls.  it's been a big learning curve, figuring out this new stage; one that has it's difficulties but truly does have more joys that outweigh the difficult moments.

i've been speaking with friends and reading books and praying.

these quotes and verses have stuck out to me.

 

that verse from Lamentations is actually one i shared a preach on Mother's Day two years ago when miss Isla was first born.

 

image source.

 

 

 



a little truth time.

when Isla was sick in January i stayed home for a week with her.

it was lovely to be home for all that time with her :)

one of the mornings while she was napping and i was tidying up,
i had Joyce Meyer on in the background.

although i've never really listened her before or read any her books, i have friends who have, 

and i always appreciate the things that these ladies have shared.

this is what Joyce spoke about that morning:

she said; "why do we think that that if we feel a certain way we have to act that way?"

she was speaking about being angry or upset about something or with someone, and how we can feel like it gives us the right to speak harshly to someone, to make them feel as hurt or angry or upset as we feel.

it can be easy to feel like it is impossible to "perk up" or "snap out of it".
when we feel like this-we just feel like this, and it seems justifiable and fine.

but Joyce goes on to point out that if that if we can change for company,
we can indeed make a choice to do so in other times, with our spouse, kids, family and close friends.

how many other married couples can picture this:

where we're angry with Husband, (or just taking out misplaced anger on Husband)
and we're saying mean or harsh words
 and then the phone rings, or someone comes to the door and this is the conversation:
"oh hi!... yup, we're great.. how are you?"

ouch.

that morning, listening to Joyce,
i felt challenged and excited to put this into practice.

i have found myself apologizing much quicker, as well as finding it easier, for things that i have said, or the way that i have been acting by reminding myself that i need to just change my attitude.

i find that i don't carry other annoyances or hurts that don't involve Thom, into our relationship.

this doesn't mean that i don't have hurts or angry feelings anymore,
but i am learning to talk about them as opposed to letting them rule my emotions.
this definitely is a learning to let the Holy Spirit fill my thoughts and heart and rule me :)

consider me a Joyce Meyer convert :)

a moment in motherhood:

i've been a little sick the past few days.


a little gastro bug.  i won't go into details,
as Lily from How I Met Your Mother says: "when it's stomach stuff, you just say "under the weather," or people start picturing you doing unspeakable things"


so i'm "under the weather"


anyhoo, i digress.


on Sunday when i was in bed, Thom was upstairs making dinner, and watching/playing with Isla, it was really nice to lay in bed and hear them playing.

she fell down at one point and cried for awhile, it was sweet to hear Thom comforting her and hearing her calm down.

then later i kept hearing her yelling and running back and forth along the hallway.

it made me smile. 

it's the small moments that make up motherhood isn't it?

(and i guess this is a moment in wifehood as well, as it was lovely to have my wonderful husband take care of me and hear him having so much fun with our daughter :)

small style #40

40!

woot!

love it.

we've had some lovely warm weather this week in Ottawa...

oh wait, it was -26 degrees celsius on Tuesday and then Wednesday it was +12!

crazy town.

pretty happy to be putting Isla in layers again.

soon t-shirts and capris and cardis.

:)

{smoosh-y hugs!}

vest: , thrifted

long sleeve t: Gap Kids, thrifted

jeans: Mexx, consigned 

shoes: Nike, consigned

don't you just love small style Thursdays?

check out Finley's windy style over at Mama Loves Papa today: