A Day in My Life

So the girls and I have decided to chronicle a day in each of our lives to give you a window into our worlds and what our daily lives look like.  Personally, I always love getting to be a fly on the wall in someone else's day and see what their schedule is and how they go about tackling what they have to do in a 24 hour period.

To start us off I hope you enjoy this glimpse into my world as a stay-at-home mom to a 4 yr old little lady.

A Day in Kelly's Life (Monday)

7:00 am Caroline wakes up and calls across the hall to our bedroom asking if she can get up.  (She's a rule follower!)  So I crawl out from my comfy covers and greet the day.  We snuggle on the couch for a little bit while she watches a show and I adjust to being awake.  

7:30 am Make coffee so my brain can start functioning and make breakfast for both of us.  After she eats she watches another show while I check email and glance through a few blogs I love.  

8:15 am I make David's lunch and pack up dinner for a couple in our small group that just had a baby.  David is going to deliver it on his lunch break since we share a car.  

8:30 am David leaves for work and I survey what house chore I want to tackle first.  Mondays are a work day around here.  I start with the dirty dishes in the kitchen sink then head to the bedroom to sort laundry.   There is loads of it!  

10:00 am Workout time.  I do my LiveFit workout with weights.  Today's target area is shoulders & abs and then run on the treadmill.  

11:30 am Lunch time!  We get hungry early around here!  I heat up a leftover turkey burger for Caroline and make one of my favorite salads for myself.

12:00 pm  We head outside to enjoy this warm spring-like weather.  I tackle some yard work and give Caroline rides in the wheelbarrow.  

1:30 pm I teach Caroline her math lesson for pre-school.  Today we are learning about pictographs.  We're graphing her favorite outside & inside winter activities, which is ironic on such a warm day.

2:30 pm Room Time for Caroline.  She plays in her room while I have some time to myself.  Now that she doesn't take naps anymore, room time allows me a little time to breathe and refuel for the rest of the day.  She really loves it too.  Most days she is singing songs and playing make believe.

3:30 pm We head back outside for some active play time.  Caroline rides her bike while I do my daily Bible reading and then she makes up a game for us to play chasing each other around the yard.  She adds so much fun & joy to my day!

4:00 pm It's time for me to finally shower and make myself look presentable before David gets home.  I like to look appealing when he walks through the door.

5:00 pm Time for dinner prep which is fairly easy tonight.  I heat up some pasta I had already prepared and put together a salad.

5:30 pm David arrives home and we have dinner as a family.  It's full of sharing details from our day and lots of hugs from Caroline.  (This is usually her tactic to avoid eating veggies)

6:00 pm David bathes Caroline while I clean up after dinner and put away clean laundry.  Then I finish getting her ready for bed and she and I cuddle and watch Curious George.

7:00 pm We have our evening devotion with Caroline.  David reads from her new book Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing.  We pray and then tuck her into bed with books and animals to keep her company.

8:00 pm I catch up on Downton Abbey because I missed it the night before.  I get frustrated because the webstream pauses every couple of minutes so its a very slow viewing but worth the effort!

9:30 pm David and I hang out and talk about our day.  It's nice to just have some time to chill together at the end of the day.

11:00 pm It's lights out and time for sleep.

Godliness

written by Laura

Ok, stick with me here. I am really not trying to give the “Sunday school” answer that I want to be more like Jesus this year, although I do. I do have other resolutions and goals for 2013 that I wrote down last week, and the grand total came to 28 goals (not joking). I know myself enough to know that there is no way that I am going to EVER even remember what the 28 things are, much less be accountable to THAT many things.

My little man has been sick and I have been cooped up taking care of him for the majority of 2013 thus far. So, if my goals for this year were being a hermit, accurately measuring out multiple medicines with very little sleep, and having an unrivaled pile of dirty laundry then I would say that I have succeeded! 

He and I stayed home from church this Sunday as I always hope others do when their children are sick and it’s flu season (soapbox over). He went down for a nap, and I had a quiet moment with my re-warmed coffee. I really wanted my house to be clean, but did not really have the energy at the moment, so I decided to take advantage and listen to a podcast sermon. I settled on one from our church home when we lived in Memphis, Fellowship Memphis. I would really love for you to listen if you can, because it was really like a breath of fresh air for me. And then you will see why I picked this as my word!

If you would like to listen, it’s free. Go to iTunes store and search “Fellowship Memphis” under podcasts. The name of this one is Godliness: A New Year’s Resolution from December 30, 2012 by Bryan Loritts. It is based out of 1 Timothy 4:6-10.

If you put these things before the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being trained in the words of the faith and of the good doctrine that you have followed. Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.

But regardless of whether or not you listen to the sermon, I will give you the “Laura's Cliff notes” version to better illustrate why I picked this as my word for the year. Bryan Loritts defines Godliness as—

“Consistent character that is consistent with the character of God.”

Godliness isn’t something that will ever be completely achieved because we are not God, but we hope to be able to look back over a year and say, “I look a little more like Him this year.” It is something that has eternal value.

He emphasizes that Godliness requires hard work. We don’t earn our salvation; that was finished by Jesus. God does allow us to labor with Him, by His grace. Bryan says that we look at successful people, athletes and musicians, admiring how skilled they are and how hard they work, but we want godliness by osmosis without having to actually DO anything. I know this is true of me, I would love to grow in godliness while vegging out, watching Netflix documentaries, and eating cookie dough, but I haven’t seen that to be the usual pattern. 

Bryan challenges us to ask ourselves, “What is my motivation for resolutions?”

Our resolutions can either be for our own glory and recognition, worshiping the idol of our image and ourselves, or they can be for God’s glory and the Gospel of Christ. He is not saying by any means that resolutions are inherently evil, but they are often all about us, right?

Again, it all comes down to a heart issue. The same goal (for example: running) can be either something to exalt yourself and make you look really cute in your jeggings, or it can be to train your body that is God’s temple to be healthier to serve and love those he has put in your life. I am not saying I have this all figured out or always have the right motives. Far from it! Remember my 28 goals for the year, haha!

So I do want to incorporate some spiritual disciplines into my life this year, but I am intentionally not giving you my “to-do” list. I am a very good list maker, but not always a good list-follower. And sometimes, at least to me, a list implies something that is a one-time check off, and I am not thinking that godliness fits into that category. It is good to have some tangible measures of how you are doing to be accountable, but I want you just to sit and reflect a little before you get to the “doing.” I pray that whatever I “do” this year will be out of an overflow of Christ’s love for me. To focus on what He has done, not what I will do.

I want you to spend some time with the Lord, (ideally with a fresh cup of coffee, unlike mine) and ask Him how you might work with Him this year to encourage spiritual growth. Seek godliness with me this year. Not from a motivation of trying to earn his love, but remembering that, if you are in Christ, you have been RESCUED from the dominion of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of His beloved son. He is our hope; he is our Savior. May those never be just words without their weight.

Rest

Written by Erin

I have a thousand lists and they are everywhere. 

There is a list on my computer and another ten in the notes sections of my iPhone and one more I just created in the Evernote app I downloaded in another fleeting attempt to organize my life. 

I confess I’ve always wanted to be organized. I secretly envy those who have a list and actually check things off by the end of the day. Usually by the end of my day, I’ve added 10 more things that have to be done and not completed any that were there previously. 

I’m not linear. I’m scatterbrained, messy, creative and spontaneous and I'm kind of tired of trying to fit into this phantom ideal of a woman I’ve created in my mind. 

I want to rest. 

The past few years brought tragedy and relational hardship that I never really bargained for or thought possible. A deep questioning of who I am follows me and, as I heal, I yearn to draw near to the One who can still, strengthen and quiet my soul. To find rest for my soul, I must be near to the One who gives me rest both now and forever. 

In 2013, I hope to take more time to be with the Lover of my soul. I hope to have time to walk with Him and talk with Him and sing to Him and be nourished by His Word in a way that gives my soul a sense of deep belonging. I long to believe in a deeper, more penetrating way that Jesus’ work makes me okay regardless of criticism from others or my own insecurity. 

I don’t think I’ll ever be organized or detailed or “together”, but I long with Saint Augustine who wrote these words, 

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” 

Renew

Written by Kelly

Another year has been closed.  The new calendars have been opened.  It's the first year that I have not made lists of goals for all facets of my life.  There have been no sheets filled with bulleted items of physical, spiritual, relational aspirations.  There have been no revolutions within our home of pursuits toward forming new habits.  That energy that usually infuses my mind and spirit during the month of January has been absent.  But this year I don't feel that push toward making those lists and setting down on paper those goals.  This year I just long for one singular focus.  One thing to keep me on track as the months tick by.

This year instead of those lists I have chosen one word to pursue:  RENEW.

"He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit." 

~Titus 3:5

I chose RENEW because for too long I have felt like I was in a holding pattern.  Every day my mind wages war and I enter into battle to find the truth that will sustain me.  Some days I wave a white flag and find myself allowing the enemy to gain ground and other days I have stood firm and fought back.  

"And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." 

~ Colossians 3:10

I need a renewal of my mind, of my heart, of my identity, of my spirit.  2012 gave me a beating and these weary bones need some new life infused into them.  

"Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day." 

~2 Corinthians 4:16

How does one go about finding renewal?  

I believe the only source capable to restore me is the One who made me.  It is to Him that I will surrender myself.  

I plan to embark on The Romans Project where I will hide His sacred Word in my heart.  

"What a heart knows by heart is what a heart really knows,"  urges Dennis Lennon.  And what the heart knows by heart is all that can calm the heart.  And direct the heart.  And strengthen the heart. 

~ source

God's Word never returns void.  I'm counting on that this year.   

Getting to Know Kelly

Written by Erin

Here's the final installment in our series introducing the ladies behind The Orchard House.

College shopping trips on our Daddy’s dimes and spontaneous road trips to the coast in her old green civic with Sara Evans most often as our music of choice are the essence of my friendship with Kelly. Many of my most fun and life-changing conversations happened either while looking for the perfect new outfit or heading down to Charleston from Columbia to experience a change of scenery from our hectic and sometimes dramatic college lives. 

Kelly is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. She is faithful and loyal and has gone to great lengths to encourage me through difficult seasons in my life. She opens the door of her home whenever I need a couple of days to get away and is always concerned with how to be intentional and love me well. 

Kelly’s depth and vulnerability draw me to open my heart to her because I am confident that, in her, I have a safe place to process all of life’s joys and sorrows. She genuinely would do anything in her power to come alongside me and ease my burden. 

Kelly is a forever friend. 

Getting to Know Laura

Written by Kelly

Here's our second installment in our series introducing the ladies behind The Orchard House.

Laura is the kind of person who has never met a stranger.  With her big smile and even bigger heart she will strike up a conversation with any random person with ease.  

She is a lover of all things chocolate and is the only person I’ve ever met who can order a chocolate frosted brownie for breakfast without any thoughts of why that would not be a good idea.  

She is confident and self-assured.  She knows who she is and is completely comfortable in her own skin.

Laura is such a lover of life and has the best laugh that fills and lights up a room.  

She is an expert thrifter and is always on the hunt for a deal.  She can usually be found digging through the bins at the Salvation Army or loading up finds into her van off the side of the road.

Laura has a special way of helping me not take life too seriously.  She gets tickled at things that others might overlook and miss and helps you find the joy in the everyday.

She is creative and stylish with an amazing eye for fashion.

Laura adds so much color and vibrancy to my life.  I feel so blessed to call her my dear friend.

Getting to Know Erin

  written by Laura

We wanted to take the opportunity for each of us to introduce one another to all of you so you can get to know us more deeply and know what we're all about.  Here's our first introduction!

Erin is a "music loud, windows down, driving fast, singing at the top of her lungs" kind of girl. 

She’s a small town southern girl with a love for adventure. She is as comfortable out in the country riding four-wheelers as she is jet-setting around the world. 

She is one of the most fun and free-spirited people I know. If I wanted to take a spontaneous trip anywhere, I would call Erin to go with me! 

She loves people and everyone loves her. 

Girlfriend is the definition of sass! 

I love Erin because although she is most definitely the life of the party, she is also very deep. She is a thinker, and always desiring to learn and grow. 

I admire her keen self-awareness and intuition. 

She is never afraid to challenge me in my thinking or speak truth when I need to hear it. 

I am so thankful to call her my friend.