since my birthday's on Monday

I thought I would compile a nice long picture list of all the things on my wish list.

but let's take a reality check for a second.

my husband bought me a car.

this is just for fun.

but let's enjoy it.

anything on your birthday wishlist this year?

toms new ballet flats.

goes well with my new wardrobe re-vamp.

hunger games inspired nail polish?

YES. any color will do.

 

birthday tattoo. non-traditional birthday gift

but I've been wanting an anchor on my achilles part of my heel foreva.

 

flowers. just flowers.

some pretty ranaculas would make a birthday.

birthday haircut.

really debating this one. could I pull off those bangs???

I had a gold bracelet once.
I wore it so much that it broke.
this is the perfect replacement from MaddyNBella

or really just anything from anthropologie.
anything. like this tea towel.

Chapter 1: Empty to Full

Happy Thursday, friends. I am SO glad you have chosen to join us this Thursday for our first week of "Heart of Thankfulness."

If you missed us last week, you can catch us here; but here's the short of it: We're reading through Ann Voskamp's 1,000 gifts and talking about a chapter a week. Today's chapter one. You are in no way required to read the book, but we would love if you did. We plan on summarizing it weekly and talking about it/applying it to our everyday lives. And when I say we, I mean my sweet friend Nicole and me. Oh, you don't know Nicole? Go meet her over at Bloom.

What is a full life? What is that point at which "we would have it all"? Are you there? What's holding you back from it?

For me, (Lauren), I have tried so many things trying to get "there", to that full life. Clothes, shoes, new things, boyfriends, school, work, and in the end it's all just striving. It gives a high that lasts until that "thing" is grasped, and then that always out of reach fullness is gone. Leaving behind disappoinment and I'm left to sit in the lie that the "thing" promised. You see, all those "things" I want that promise the fullness, they never fulfill. So for years, I'm striving, flailing, and always coming up empty.

This is the serpents lie. That God isn't good.

hat He is purposely withholding these "things" that would make me full.

The serpent keeps hissing, keeps lying. He infects my brain and I wonder "How is there a good God with cancer, with death, with babies that die, when marriages fail, when dreams are crushed? How is God good?" And I slowly begin to believe: that I can have more without God. That I can do better. That I deserve MORE.

This is the air of the world, the air that we breathe. "Satan's sin becomes the first sin of all humanity: the sin of ingratitude" (Voskamp, Chapter 1)

Instead of saying "No" to God and all He gives, could we say "Yes"?

Would I say yes? I've lived the "no".

I hunger for more in this world. more than those things that promise fulfillment and leave me empty handed.

His purpose is not to withhold, but to rename us--to bring us to what He created us to be, back in the garden when we were in communion with Him. so these heartaches that are here, the ones we can't change, He knows them. He knows the ending, so He writes the story. and I can give thanks in all of it. Because He is renaming me--calling me to Himself in all of it. In the hurt of it.

A few questions for you:

What is a full life? What gets you there?

What lie are you believing?

heart of thankfulness

Friends, today begins something big. It's something that I have been so excited about for a while now. something I have prayed about, planned for, and even done a little skyping-about.  AND, it's something that I am so happy to be doing with my friend, Nicole.

Today is our first day of a new series called Heart of Thankfulness.  You may or may not remember a few months ago when I talked about reading the book 1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  It has been a life-changing book, and I have been so compelled to share about the lessons I have learned from the book, that beginning today, and every Thursday we will delve deeper into what it really means to have a heart that is grateful and thankful. 

During this Thanksgiving and holiday season, it can be easy to see and give thanks for all the gifts we have, but this series is about more than that. It's about changing our hearts as women to living a life of thanks.  I hope you will come back each week and journey with us.  Even better, if you want to buy the book 1,000 Gifts and read along with us as well, we will be reading a chapter a week.  We will talk each week about the chapter and what we can learn from it, and also pose some questions to you guys.

Now, for those of you who don't know Nicole, she is a sweet, genuine, caring girl that I am so happy I met through blogging!  Here is a little snippet from her about who she is:

For those of you who don't know me, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I'm Nicole and I blog over at Bloom; My blog is about life, love, Jesus, and everything in between! I'm a 21 year old college student who blogs from the great state of Mississippi! I "met" Lauren only a few months ago and her blog has been a favorite of mine ever since. She's fun, honest, and loves the Lord. The Lord has been doing great things in my life over the last few months and he's gone to great lengths to teach me lessons I've needed to learn. In July, He used the book 1000 Gifts to speak to me in a ways that& pierced my heart forever. He started to teach me about true, thankful joy. because of this book, God began to break down some walls in my heart so that he could do radical things. I am so thankful for what this book has meant to me personally and I was THRILLED when Lauren contacted me about doing a blogging series on it! I hope that you will join us the next several weeks as we go through the chapters of this book.

So that's it!  We will journey from now until mid-January every Thursday about what it means to be deeply, wholly, truley thankful.  I am beyond excited and blessed to do this and hope you will come back each week!

Dear November

Dear November,

I hope that you don't bring with you any 90 degree days. let's agree to be done with summer.
I can't believe you are here. you bring so much fun and joy.
anniversary planning.
thanksgiving and family.
the beginning to our holiday season.
extra cups of coffee and hot chocolate.
and everyone's favorite, pumpkin pie.

I'm thankful for you November, and the change of seasons you bring.
thankful for a Father who knows my restless heart and knows how much good a change of seasons does for me. 

while you're here for the next 30 days, I will pledge to live in simple abundance.
abundance in coffee cups, in hugs, in nights snuggled close.
november, while you're here, i'm doing away with the overspending, overeating, and all those things that don't fill us like they promise.
i'm rejoicing in your simple abundance, your daily gifts of cool weather and sweaters.

welcome, November.

a new week

do you ever just need a new week?
a new start, a clean slate?

i have emerged out of the pile of blessing that is heartsy.
our life now has some resemblance of "normal"
and I'm not making rosettes into the wee hours of the morning.

and I am taking hold of this new week.
not that it will be perfect, or that I will accomplish all that I want.
i probably won't make all the meals I have planned, probably won't be as productive as I set out to be.
but I'm grabbing this new week and the grace that comes with it.

living in abundance of grace, not abundance of things.
this week I am choosing to live in peace.
Peace not in the removal of crisis, and removal of things,
but peace in Christ in the middle of all my things.

If you are overwhelmed, burned, burnt out, or just needing a new week, there are new mercies. every day.

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning"

Lamentations 3:22-23

Let's take this new week and claim it as ours. 

a quiet spot

this post has been bouncing around in my head the past few days.
not sure what to share, how much to share.

these days life is a blur. well, it always seems like a blur.
but now, it's more blurry than normal.

i'm struggling to write the gifts
to find time to delve in with the Lord
to find time to just be with my husband.
to find quiet and peace.

i'm in this mindless rut.
of just living,
and there is no reason for it.

so instead of wallowing, i'm getting myself out.
by writing the gifts, and seeing the good.
one small gift at a time.

have you ever gotten yourself in a rut?
how did you get out?

arriving today

this little guy is arriving today.

thank you heartsy.

and all you who bought items.

how to slow time

"Time is a relentless river. It rages on, a respecter of no one.  And this, this the only way to slow time: When I fully enter time's swift current, enter into the current moment with the weight of all my attention, I slow the torrent with the weight of me all here. I can slow the torrent by being all here."

 

"Giving thanks for one thousand things is ultimately an invitation to slow time down with the weight of full attention."

Maybe your days are slow and relaxing.  But in my neck of the woods, even with just the two of us, all of our moments seem to whirl by at the speed of sound. I have blurred the moments into one unholy smear.  I do it, still do it.  The seconds on the clock keep ticking.

But I hunger for something different.  For more fulfillment in these moments. I don't need more time, but enough time.  To take the moments I have been given and see that the wonder is here.  The beauty of God is here, in these moments of making lunches, and drives to work, and little tubes and research.

When I open my eyes and notice, and give full attention, I see the gifts.  I see the glory; I open wide and receive. 

reasons to celebrate

a year of work and a job I enjoy

football games on tv

the promise of fall

etsy sales

customers

new dawns and new days

a comfy bed

a good nights rest.

my list is growing, my heart is changing

and time is slowing

living in the everday

I posted a week or so ago about some books I wanted to read on vacation

I haven't finished it yet, but I couldn't resist posting on 1,000 gifts.

It's a book that really will change your life. 

because it's so easy to get bogged down in the everyday.

whether the days are crazy, or quiet.

if the days are rich, or poor

if the seasons are hot or cold.

if we are overwhelmed or underwhelmed

if we are exhausted, or excited.

there are gifts.

presents from a savior

that we miss.

one of my favorite quotes from the book refelcts on naming the gifts we are given

"In naming that which is right before me, that which I'd otherwise miss, the invisible becomes visible"

So I am posting a few of my gifts. These gifts that are too precious--love gifts from a Savior. and I don't want to miss them.

early morning cuddles

reading on the beach

vacations

sounds of waves crashing

inlaws that are a second set of parents

slow mornings in pjs and coffee

bowls of lemons

compliments at work

I hope you see today some of the gifts, big and small.