Christmas

The end of Saturday night I was an absolute basket case.

Noah had a COUGH.

It started in the morning when he woke up. *ahem* That’s literally what his little cough sounded like. Very dry and very harmless. But I knew he had the whooping cough. Seriously. And he had a red spot on the back of his neck and his eye looked swollen! And. And. And. We were going to be in the emergency room in seconds – I just knew it! I was driving Connor crazy, “Did he just cough AGAIN?!” and “Connor I think he’s choking. Did you hear that? Look at this eye. No, he’s really sick. We need to take him to the doctor. NOW.” To which he would reply calmly and reassuringly. But I wasn’t having it. Enter full-blown panic mode.

I watched him like a hawk. And, you may be surprised to know, that he ended that night peacefully sleeping in his crib. No cough (the nurse I had called earlier said, considering his age, he’s probably just imitating those around him…I dismissed what she said because, LIKE I SAID, he HAD whooping cough.), no swollen eye, no red spot. He was (and had been all day) fine.

This seems to happen to me a lot. I work myself into an absolute frenzy. Usually, over nothing. I do it to Connor concerning our finances, big-kid choices and our priorities. I almost always think something is wrong and we need to fix it and fix it now! I push myself mentally until I become a basket of nerves.

I think this is why the hymns “Be Still My Soul” and “Be Still and Know” have always been two of my favorites.

I let my mind get so busy and wrapped up that it can’t (or won’t) hear my heart pleading for mercy, quiet and recovery.

When I sing these songs, my mind gets quiet. It is a beautiful thing. When I’m singing for myself or during worship, I mean. Toootally different story if someone is listening.

When Noah has a particularly rough night and I’m rocking him at 3 a.m. I always find myself singing,

“Be still and know that I am God,

Be still and know that I am God

Be still and know that I am God”

In those moments I remember. I am still and I know. I wish it didn’t take 3 a.m. to get me there.

God is so good. I just need to be still and know. And I need to do it much more often than I do currently. 2014 resolution?! I think yes!

I hope that amidst the flurry of happiness and activity, you find time to quiet your soul and know that He is God.

Merry Christmas Eve Ya’ll!!

I am so excited to share this post with you! I love feeling on top of my domestic duties. It (sadly) hardly ever happens that I live up to my standards, domestically-speaking, but I had some (GASP) extra time this evening while my little buddy was ~~eating~~ playing with his books on our bed.

This afternoon, on my lunch break, I stopped into my local drug store and bought a roll of all-purpose mail packaging and a spool of magenta yarn.

Look at the result!

It was so easy and simple! The “wrapping” paper was $1.99 and there was WAY more of it than a typical themed wrapping paper. I am going to be able to wrap all my presents (12) with one roll!

That adorable green label? That’s from the downloadable free gift labels I told you about in THIS blog post. I used green cardstock and printed the sheet out on my home printer.

Does it get much cuter? Probably. But I am so proud to actually have presents wrapped before Christmas Eve this year that I couldn’t care less! ;)

Taking the extra time to appreciate people with presents, cards and little notes is ALWAYS worth it. In my life, this is the first time I have ever had all my Christmas presents ready to go in an appropriate time frame. This coming year, I am going to make a conscious effort to be better at doing presents and cards. I am hoping that writing down all those important dates in my AAA-mazing The Simplified Life Planner (which I just ordered thanks to a last minute sale!) will help me stay on top of it.

Also, this is what bubba and I think of 3:30 in the morning. Why did we wake up again? ;)