Podcasts I'm Listening to || Part 2

I'm an avid podcast listener! I listen to them a lot when I'm driving, when I'm running errands and during nap time. So many great shows, I wanted to share a few of my faves I've recently found with you. To see a few more of my favorites click here for the first installment. 

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Around the Table || Hosted by two best friends, this podcast is like pulling up a chair with your girl friends. Episodes 27 & 37 are two of my faves. 

Journey to Balance || I met Retha briefly last Fall at the Influence Conference. I've loved following along with her and her podcast. I love that it's intentionally called journey to balance, because aren't we all on that journey? Join her and listen to some inspiring guests, two of my faves were her interviews with Ashley Abramson & Kara-Kae James. 

Mom Struggling Well || I found this podcast last Fall as well, I've loved being introduced to new and inspiring women through her podcast. Listen to episodes 1, 27 & 30 if you're new. 

She Percolates || I found these gals last Fall when a good friend of mine was on their podcast. I'm loving that they ask each guest what their perspective is on success. I love hearing everyone's different answers. 

What are some podcasts you're currently listening to? Share your faves below.

A P R I L GOALS.

March was a crazy month. We pretty much spend the entire first half working on our cabinets. Finally they are finished! I'll have a post next week on how we painted them.

We celebrated Ava's birthday. We took her to build a bear and to get her ears pierced. She's six now and we can hardly believe it. 

I started a new business adventure with Younique and God's been blowing me away this month! 

Now onto April goals;

I've got a leadership retreat with Thrive Moms coming up at the end of this month. I'm excitedly preparing for that. That's probably when I'm going to read 2 new books, plane goals! We're planning on taking the kids to Legoland this May so I want to get all our tickets bought and paid for this month. Also, I'd love to reach Pink Status with my business this month and go on at least two dates with my husband. 

What are some of your goals for the month? Share them in the comments below. 

M A R C H Goals.

So now that we're ten days into the month, let's chat about goals! 

I had three goals for the month of February, but I forgot to blog all about them. I don't know where that month went but it seemed like it was over as soon as it started. Here were my goals for that month: 

1. read 4 new books- fail. I only read 1. 
2. visit our friends in California- success. we had the best time visit friends. scroll back a few posts and we can read about our trip.
3. purge & organize the house- success. I did a major clean out and went room by room. it felt so great getting rid of things. toys, clothing, stuff that was cluttering my kitchen.

Ok, so let's move onto March goals:

We're still working on our kitchen makeover. I'd love to complete the cabinet painting in the next week or so. It's taking a lot longer than expected only because we aren't spending non stop time on it, we broke it up into sections. 

Read 3 new books, ya'll I need to catch up on my reading goals. 

Finish our taxes, I should say start them and finish them in the next two weeks. I like to have mine done before the month of April rolls around. I hate waiting last minute. I'm usually done by this time, but this year I'm all sorts of behind. 

Go on 2 dates. Last month we only were able to get away once. We do a lot of in home dates but I love trying to get out of the house for dates at least every other week. 

So there you have it a short list but very determined list of goals. What are some of your monthly goals? Share them in the comments below. 

3 Benefits from Journaling

I've been journaling for as long as I can remember. I got my first journal when I was 10 years old and I have one from every year of my life since. 

My mom still buys me a journal every Christmas for the next year. It's a great tradition we have together and I look forward to getting one from her each year. I wanted to share with you today some benefits I've gotten from journaling. 

1. Spiritual & Emotional Growth

Over the years I've been able to journal the my thoughts and emotions and been able to sort out those feelings through my journaling. I've journaled my relationship with Christ over the years. What the Lord has taught me, faith lessons, struggles with my faith and more. Looking back on it I've been able to see emotional & spiritual growth. It's amazing to look back and see how good the Lord has been to me and my family through the years.

2. Memory Keeping

So many memories of mine are tucked away in the pages of my journals. At any given moment I'm able to look back and account for what I was doing in 1998, 2007 or 2015. Several years are documented in detail and I love that it jogs my memory and allows me to look back on several phases of life.

3. Finding My Voice in Writing

Through all these years of writing my thoughts, feelings, re accounting events and timelines it's all helped me find my voice and writing style. Being able to communicate through written words is really important for me in how I also communicate when I speak. Sorting out my feelings first on paper has helped me become a better writer and communicator. 

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Looking for more journaling inspiration? Check out my post on '5 Journaling Prompts for the New Year.'

I never knew I was without, because He loved me so well.

Growing up in church most of my life I heard people always share their testimonies and these stories of what God brought them through. These amazing stories of God's redemption in their lives. For the longest time I didn't think that my story mattered or that it was at all worth repeating. 

It took me a long time and spiritual growth to understand just exactly all the God had saved me from and protected me from. I came from a divorced family. My father abandoned me and my sister for much of our lives. When he was, he was in and out of our lives more than I want to remember.  

Statistically speaking there's a lot of ways this story could have gone. There's a lot of bad choices I could have made and blamed them on the issues of my past. 

Even in all of that here's where God's story of redemption and love lies. God gave me a loving mother. He placed male figures in my life that were such great examples to me in my life. 

All my life I've had the best relationships with my Grandparents. I spent so much time with them when I was little. On vacations, trips in their motor home, playing in their backyard and countless of hours of time with them. It was on trips with them to the beach that I first fell in love with the ocean and the beach, or the "lotion" as I'm told I liked to call it when I was little. 

All my life I've considered myself so lucky to have the relationship that I do with them. The closeness we have and honored that they've always been so involved in my life. A couple of years ago they moved right across the street from my little family and I. God answered my small prayer of living near family again. 

For the last two years I've loved living so close to them. Walking over for dinners, having them into my home. Catching each other at the mailbox, having my Grandfather sing to my kids and them both playing with them has been such a joy. 

My Grandfather passed away a month ago today. I spent his last everything with him in 2015. My Grandfather was strong and stern when he needed to be. He had the best sense of humor and the quickest whit of anyone I've known. He was smart, driven and a hard worker. 

He loved me so well my entire life. I never knew emotionally that I was fatherless because he loved me so well. He made such a priority and commitment to me my entire life to give and show love to me. I can remember countless moments in my life where he made sure I knew I was loved by him and by God. 

His last few years he was in such pain and confusion in his mind with dementia. He's made whole now in Jesus name. I have so much peace because I know that my Grandfather loved Jesus and served him with his entire life. 

I was thinking the other day about the legacy that my Grandfather left behind. The greatest thing that he taught me is this; that we should love people so well they see the love of Christ. 

Because that's what he did for me, my Grandfather loved me so well he pointed me towards Jesus. He allowed me to see that I was never lacking or without because Jesus loved me. Only Jesus can offer what this world can not. 

This is my testimony. 

Thank you Gramps for loving me and pointing me towards Jesus. 

love, andrea.