The Intentional Life

First off, an apology for the poor picture quality. My 11 year old Canon is giving me an error message that I can't fix so I've resorted to my phone camera which leaves something to be desired.... Nothing gets your rear end into gear for cleaning and purging than having company stay overnight at your house.  Well, family is coming to stay this weekend, the girls' room was WAY overdue, and they were even asking for it to happen, so we tackled it. A couple weeks ago Hannah and I whittled her wardrobe down to 40 items and it made it a lot easier to fit everything in the dresser and closet and I've found she gets dressed in the morning a whole lot quicker!  So, while cleaning up this disaster, we did the same with Madeline's as well. If I had my way I'd eliminate all the clutter on the dresser tops but I got to let the girls express themselves somehow and homemade trinkets and crafts are their language right now. Top three tips (or, at least the ones I...

So, many of you may be familiar with the story of how God parted the Red Sea so that the Israelites could cross on dry land and escape the Egyptians who were coming after them? If you are familiar with it, bear with me as a paint the scene: 1 million-plus Israelites are pretty much shoved out of Egypt after God delivers His final blow to the stubborn Pharaoh. They start on their walk through the dessert, being led by a large cloud by day and pillar of fire at night, God's presence ever before them. Where ever He went....they followed. They followed Him right up to the shores of the Red Sea. There they camped for a few nights and then hear the reports that the Egyptians changed their mind, they want their slaves back, and they are coming for them. The Israelites panic, questioning why God would lead them to the shore of a sea, only to get captured. Answer: to show them His power. God had a plan, a way to rescue His people. He uses Moses, who lifts his staff, and the ...

In my last blog post I mentioned my new venture, The Counter-Jones: permission to let go of the have-have-life.  Well, I figured the best place to start was in my own closet. Plus, I said I was going to do another one of these posts in the fall, and here we are.  For the first post click HERE. It was hardly a good day, temperature-wise, to switch out my summer clothes for my winter ones.  I think the thermometer topped out somewhere in the 90 range (in the sun). But I know that cooler weather has GOT to be close, and since I had a little bit of time on a lazy Saturday, I went for it. Before the switch As I stated in my post from the Spring, I am working on paring my wardrobe down. I find that I can get dressed more efficiently, and even feel more satisfied with what I have, when there is less to choose from. I have attempted in the past to do a Capsule Wardrobe but I just could not bring myself to eliminate my closet down to 30 items.  Once I switched...

I've had this friend, well, I don't really want to call him a friend because he's never really been nice to me.  He makes me feel inferior, discontent, and just well, yucky. I'm guessing you have this friend, too. It likes to hang onto my back, whisper in my ear and sometimes shows up at just the worst time. Comparison. You know him? Yeah, sorry to meet his acquaintance. But, sadly, I have not been able to shake him lately. It seems silly, really. Because when it comes to my life, well, I really like it. I'm thankful for my Jesus, my husband, my children, my job, my house. And the list goes on. And in reality, I wouldn't change a thing. But comparison keeps showing up and telling me what someone else has and how my measly one just doesn't foot the bill. I was mulling this around in my head today as I was coming back from a run.  And as I walked by our landscaping (or lack thereof) I had the thought, "Boy, the Joneses don't have to ...

I don't know who said it first, but August feels like the Sunday of Summer. Summer is winding down, you know school and structure and schedules are coming. So you bask in the glow of the setting sun, knowing tomorrow brings busy and movement and challenge. We started school about a week earlier this year, so not much of August got to be enjoyed in "summer" mode. But we tried our best to make the most of what we had (a familiar mantra around here). The first week was prep work for the Annual Gateway Woods auction, this year bringing in over $600,000. I'm still astounded by the number. But I shouldn't be. It's all God and He's all about astounding us. Hannah got to enjoy her first ever time away from home with a week away at camp with her best friend. She's still talking about it. We had friends over, tried out some taekwondo, watched a solar eclipse, started back to school, amped up the training for our Columbus Half-Marathon in October, cel...