The Blessing Box

Today I'm linking up with some of my favorite bloggers that have become my closest friends! This was originally Natalie's link up a few years ago and we are bringing it back with a new look and new friends. Copy the code at the end and feel free to join in and share the ways that God has been blessing you this week! This week I've been blessed with the blessing of a church family.  Something I've always wanted and something that I know will continue to grow and be strengthened overtime.  Included in this is also the blessing to go to the same church as my immediate family.  I love that we can all worship together on Sundays.  I love that our family has been extended and we now have a church family outside of just our family. Was that enough "family" for one sentence? I'm not sure... We have all branched out and formed our own relationships and it's been wonderful.  We had been hurt by our previous church, we church shopped a bit and we have been going to our new church for a little over a year. It is exactly what we needed- for both my family and my little family. God knew.  We were craving the community.  The church family.  And now we have it.  On Sunday after church we went to a park and played Ultimate Frisbee with some church friends. And by "we" I mean Mr. B, my two brothers, sister and dad. Me, my mom and Adalyn ate french fries and watched. Just keepin' it real.

Adalyn is so loved at church.  You can usually find a little group of older kids around her at any moment and it blesses my heart. I am so thankful for them, the love that they have for her and also the love that she has for them.

I'm blessed by my group of mom friends from our church. Another thing I had always craved.  Not only can we get together and have fun, I know I can count on them for anything. To have friends to turn to, that can back you up in prayer, is such a blessing! 

There's so much blessing in church community. Church family. Friendships founded on the Lord.  If you don't have that I'd encourage you to step out, get plugged in and find it! 

You will be blessed! 

On a sidenote: Today is the first day I didn't have to wake up early and have strange men banging on my house all day! HUGE blessing, let me tell ya! The siding is finally finished and I'll post pictures after I get the fall decor/flowers up and it looks all pretty! Grab the code, link up and share how the Lord has blessed you this week! And be encouraged as you read how He has been blessings others!   

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The Blessing Box

Today I'm linking up with some of my favorite bloggers that have become my closest friends! This was originally Natalie's link up a few years ago and we are bringing it back with a new look and new friends. Copy the code at the end and feel free to join in and share the ways that God has been blessing you this week! I've had a post I've been wanting to write about for a while and today is the perfect opportunity. I've been wanting to write about the  blessing of worship music.  It's a wonderful reminder of truth and hope that brings so much joy, comfort and peace in all different seasons of life- particularly for me, the songs of declaration.  The song "Healer" is one of my all-time favorite songs. It was a song that I sang with confidence over and over when we failed to conceive month after month. 

This song was playing in the background as I cried out to the Lord, tears streaming down my face, hands laid on me, begging the Lord to "open my womb".  Two weeks later, I was pregnant.  As time drew closer for trying for baby #2 I would get waves of fear and dread. I didn't want to go through that again. But that song was always a reminder to me that He WAS my healer, He IS my healer and He will BE my healer.  I trust in Him. I do. Fear + worry= not trusting. I trust in Him. There's another Hillsong song, that we sing frequently at our church, that I hid in my heart before we officially started trying. There's a line in the song that I knew I would need.  That I knew would've encouraged me last time and I knew it would encourage me this time.  It's from the song "You are More"

There's so much peace that comes with knowing that He is Lord over ALL our days- no matter what.  And the best and easiest way to get through this season? With my eyes fixed on him.  Period. And lastly, a song that is my current fav and started the topic to this post, is a song I heard about a month ago by Chris Tomlin called "Whom shall I fear?".

Every line is so good, but here are a few that I love:

Ah-mazing.

Chills. Truth.

Blessed.

Blessed by His Promises. Blessed that He was faithful and He will be faithful again.  Blessed that He holds the world in His hands {notice a theme in the songs??}. Blessed that He knows my desires. I hold on to that truth. I take comfort; I let him hold me- my world, my wants, my needs, my desires, my family-in His hands.   I attached the song so you can get the full effect of how powerful this song really is :) 

Check out how God has been blessing my friends:

Natalie at Extraordinary Love 

 Allie at Living the Adventures 

 Beth Ann at My Life More Abundant 

 Mallorie at Happy Home

Cait at The Blessed Life

Grab the code and let your friends and family know how God has been blessing you! 

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Misc. Monday

Another 2 weeks have come and gone and I'm back at it with a bullet point post. 

I am on a roll.

Go me. 

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This weekend we finally cashed in some gift cards we had and went out for dinner at Longhorns.

It's been a while since we've been out to a real restaurant! 

It was delish, as always. 

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Yesterday was my little brother's first ever football game.

I was so nervous for him- worried her would get hurt {Friday Night Lights anyone??}, worried he didn't really know what he was doing, worried that he was doing it more for my other brother and my dad- but he was totally amazing. 

I hate to say we were all shocked...but we were all shocked. 

He scored three touchdowns and two 2 point conversions.

My little brother, the video gamer couch potato, did that.

I was beyond proud of him!!

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If your husband asks for these cupcakes

just.say.no.

Ain't nobody got time for 50 step cupcakes.

Next time I see "premium" I will know that it's not for me. I'm perfectly content baking "average" cupcakes.

Maybe, maybe, in my housewife, newly wedded bliss life I would have been more enthusiastic about such things.

Four years in and with a toddler, the last thing I want to do is line the pan, melt the butter, mix the graham cracker, cover the bottoms, mix the cake mix, put a little in each one- not too much not too little, carefully drop in marshmallow mix-avoiding the sides of the liner, cover the marshmallow mix, bake, frost, sprinkle graham cracker crumbs. 

I'm good, thanks. 

And the end result?

Something you'd love to hear after wasting an hour of your life....they taste like s'more poptarts.

Awesome.

Never making cupcakes again. 

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In other news, this dinner was so yummy!!

I had planned on making pineapple fried rice and while I was at the store I found this sauce for the chicken. 

Can't wait to have it again, it's just what I wanted!

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Tomorrow starts a new link of with some of my favorite blog friends!

I'm looking forward to it! 

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We've been having cool fall weather and it's been wonderful!

Also excited for the fall shows to kick off- Ellen starts today! 

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Adalyn fell at a friend's house and hit the side of head/ear on a coffee table.

Through this we discovered that ears can bruise. 

Probably something we should've known and that is most likely common sense and something we really did know deep down, but initial reaction was a bit surprising. 

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I'm trying to grow my hair out again. I've made it through the dreaded flip-out phase {praise the Lord}, but now I'm in the always-in-a-pony-tail-phase-so-might-as-well-have-it-short-and-cute phase.

But at least her hair is growing fast and I can make one of us look good

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Two weekends ago we finally finished unpacking/cleaning out basement. 

It's not what I envision the end result to look like, but at least for now it's presentable and no longer embarrassing. 

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We are getting the siding done on our house and new windows put in. 

I feel like it's taking for.ever.

In the meantime, I feel "trapped" at home even though we would be home anyways and I'm unusually exhausted because I know I can't nap. It's a bit ridiculous how the mind works.

It will look so good when it's finished and I'm looking forward to putting up the fall decor!

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My first official overnight trip away from Adalyn is booked.

I'm freaking out about on the inside.

And a little on the outside.

I have 2 months to process/prepare.

She's almost 2, I realize this is also filed away in the "Ridiculous" category. 

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I'll finish this off with another Timehop memory- a year ago today Adalyn took her first steps!!

So incredibly crazy how fast time goes by!

Something I think I'll always be in disbelief of. 

join in on the random shananigans:

Misc. Monday

Apparently the only way I can blog these days is in bullet point form.

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Not gonna lie, I've been struggling with what else to write. I've been distracted multiple times and I can't think of what to say.

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Tonight at dinner Mr. B asked me what my plans are for tomorrow and I said "I need to buy some laundry detergent".
How's that for a busy day?!
Try not to be too jealous.

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Speaking of, what detergent do you use?
Here's the thing...once you go pod there's no turning back.
Am I right, or am I right?
All it takes is one time using a pod and suddenly pouring detergent into a hole seems like way too much work.
And this is what we call a first world problem.
Like, to the max.

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My laundry is finally put away just in time for more laundry to be folded and put away.
Circle of life. 

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We had our annual little family weekend away at the beach a couple weekends ago.

It was perfect. 

I'm still catching up on pictures, but I got some keepers. 

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I'm still not pregnant. Bring on month 4...

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I'm thinking about starting a fertility facebook group again if anyone is interested! I've received a few emails {sorry for not responding yet!} from other ladies who have been struggling.
Knowing you're not alone on this stupid roller coaster is so helpful! 

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We took the siding off the house this weekend.
And by "we" I mean Mr. B, our dads, my brother and a friend. 

And the new siding isn't being put on for 3 weeks so...that's attractive. 

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Everyone loves to be the classy house in the neighborhood that's wrapped in paper.
Especially one where the paper is upside down on half your house.
I think we get bonus points for that?

  My dad and brother aren't attentive to details and Mr. B and his dad are.
I'll let you guess who did the top half and who did the bottom.

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Projects like these always make you realize how awesome family and friends really are though! 

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Tonight I made a delicious and super easy dinner- courtesy of Pinterest, of course!

I used red potatoes, green beans, carrots and 3 chicken breasts. Put it all in a pan, I used half a packet of italian dressing, 1/2 stick of butter and drizzled some olive oil. Covered with foil, baked at 375 for 45 minutes. I added some feta and voila! We all loved it! Next time I'd add more veggies though, it seemed like a lot at the time, but the after it cooked it didn't seem like that many and we definitely could've eaten more. 

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I finally conquered the craft area of our basement today.
It only took me 9 months.
 Because who wants to waste their time cleaning the basement during nap time??
Not me.
But it had to be done.

It's all mismatched and not the prettiest, but at least it's clean! 

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Mr. B is getting a new car and I'm jealous. 

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I've been loving my time off from Captured. It was definitely the right decision! 

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These back to school things keep getting me all emotional.

Thank the Lord I still have time!

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I'm obsessed with Timehop. If you don't have that app., get it.
It's so bittersweet, but I love it.
Love it. 
Especially for someone who has a terrible memory and who is beyond behind on the good ol' baby books.
A year ago yesterday Adalyn had her first little piggies!

That's insane.

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What's more insane is she just turned 21 months.

3 months until the big T-W-O.
Ridiculous. 

Keeping it real...

These vibrant flowers are spicing up our dining room. 

excuse: too cheap to buy the good ones. too preoccupied to throw them out. 

These are "hiding" on the side of my couch. 

excuse: I'm going to sell them... {almost 2 months and going strong...} 

{PS. Be careful when you sign up for a free trial with the honest company!}

Almost 9 months in our new house and we still have no curtains up. 

in our bedroom. Living room. Bathroom. Dining room. Kitchen. 

excuse: curtain rods and curtains are expensive. next month...

This has been sitting on our floor for a week. 

excuse: pure laziness.

Our main bathroom/ex-laundry room looks like this. 

No blind since we moved in, let alone curtain! 

excuse: I'm going to get wooden blinds....

 and something special to put in that space... {1 month and going strong..}

Our microwave has no glass plate.

excuse: who shops in the microwave glass plate section and do they even sell these in stores?

But bonus points that it's semi-clean...

Like mother, like daughter....because of mother.

Sitting in her room since Saturday. 

excuse: laziness and going on vacation soon so it's easier to find things this way...

Awesome pinterest worthy bow holder. 

excuse: i need to fix her bow holder. easy nap time fix...{9 months and going strong...}

Beautiful welcoming wreath.

excuse: going to make an easter wreath. going to make a spring wreath. going to make a summer wreath. going to make a 4th of july wreath. going to make a fall wreath. Seriously, I am...

Since Saturday...

.....

excuse: laundry room is in basement mixed with mommy brain. 

Roxie's nails are like eagle talons. 

excuse: i'm lucky if I can keep up with Adalyn's talons. 

I've eaten more of this dough than I'd like to admit. 

And that's as real as that statement is getting. 

excuse: fatty mcstuffins mixed with boredom, mixed with perfectly tempting bite sized pieces, mixed with no self-control.

Haven't posted in 2 weeks and figured why not go through my house and take pictures with my phone of a few of the many examples of "it is what it is"/borderline lazy/mom of a toddler life. 

It was certainly an easy post and enough of a filler until I can think of something else that is hardly deemed worthy of posting.