I'm Joining the Pocket Challenge...and for my first trick...

So a Company Girl friend mentioned that she had started a Pocket Challenge, to create little pockets of beauty within her home using items she already had around the house. I just love the idea, so I am joining her...(you can too! check it out here. )

My first mission is to transform a little nook that I have always loved the idea of in our bedroom, but that has become the ironing room. I will post a photo later. Charlie and I have both been messing around with our guitar of late, but don't have a place to play. I want to turn that space into our music/reading nook. I have some ideas, but the biggest thing that has to happen is that I have to get our ironing under control. This will take an action plan, and really isn't within the scope of the true pocket challenge...but it is a great way to motivate me, so here I go. I will put some photos (and maybe asking for suggestions soon!)

The Great Surprise!

Welcome to my Company Girls! Pour yourself a cup of Jasmine Green Tea (it's supposed to be seductive-at least that is what the box says!) and have a sit...I have much to tell, but not too much time to chat so I will try to sum up quickly!

First of all, last night was amazing! Charlie and I went to see John and Stasi Eldredge (John wrote Wild at Heart, The Ransomed Heart, Sacred Romance, and Walking with God- and many others, and his wife, Stasi wrote Captivating)All of which are fantastic books! They have a new book out about marriage called Love and War and WOW-WOW-WOW! It is awesome! Literally changed my marriage and my relationship with my husband in a weekend. Mind-blowing stuff...I highly recommend it! You can purchase it here. You won't be sorry! Beyond reading the book, seeing them in person and getting to see the authenticity of who they are was beautiful! I am so excited to be going to the Captivating retreat in April and now I am just over-the-moon!

Now, I know you ladies are dying off to discover the surprise I talked about last week. I wish I had more pictures to show you, but my photographer is off romancing his bride, so I will post pictures as soon as I can. My dear husband turned 40 on the 2/1. His birthday came and went in the middle of a snowstorm with little fanfare. He was sure that I had something big planned, but with the weather all those "big plans" got "cancelled". We went to our local favorite Mexican restaurant and had a quiet unassuming dinner with just us and our kids. I think he was a little disappointed. Little did he know that the big surprise was coming the next Sat.

So last Friday night, a friend of Charlie's from grade school flew from Maryland to "hang out for the weekend"/ attend Charlie's surprise birthday party. Oh it was priceless...he was like a little kid when he walked in from work and found his friend, Ron, who he hasn't seen in 2 years, sitting in our living room! Totally blown away! And that wasn't even the big surprise!

So Sat evening (after a day of Razorback basketball- we beat Auburn- woo pig!) and hanging with his buddy, we went to a "new restaurant" (a catering venue I had rented for his party) and walked in to forty of our close friends and family screaming "Surprise! Happy Birthday!" Oh! It was fantastic! Charlie truly had no idea! We had family from all over come in, friends of ours from the military, friends from college, from work, from church....I'm getting teary just thinking about the love that poured out for my dear sweet husband that night....He felt loved greatly...and THAT was the best present anyone could have given him! Thank you to all of you who made it! And, Company Girls, THANK YOU for praying about the weather...the snow stopped and did not interfere with any more of the guests getting into town. Here are the only two pictures that I have right now to post...I promise that I will post more when I get them.

My sister's band, "Victor's Dad, Hugo" played (they are awesome!) and even helped me prepare a version of "Danny's Song" for Charlie (it's kind of our song)..So here I am singing to my man!

Some of our good buddies from University of Arkansas ROTC days...it was so awesome to see them!

And finally, my book is finished! I am officially a published author! The big debut is Monday March 1! You can pre-order Living Life with Strings Attached by February and receive a 10% discount! You pay only 8.75 plus shipping! If you are interested, send an email to stringsattachedministries@gmail.com.

Visit www.stringsattachedministries.com to find out how you can receive a free autographed copy!

Ok...got a run...million things to do today! I will get around and visit everyone this weekend...can't wait to find out what all is going on!

Company Girl Coffee 2/5/10

Good Morning Ladies! I hope you all doing well! Thanks for stopping by!

I only have a few minutes, so this will be quick, I am planning a huge surprise for someone I love! I can't tell you about it yet in case this person is actually reading my blog, but I am about to burst with the excitement and I will for sure tell you more about it next week! I do need your help though, ladies...would you pray? Pray that the weather doesn't interfere and that all the pieces come together without driving me insane!

Also, I have to give a shout out to fellow Company Girl, Ashley posted about her new editing business. I have to sing praises of this girl, she rocks! She has been a total Godsend as I prepare to send my book, Living Life with Strings Attached, ready for press. I highly recommend her, she edits just about anything from big projects to small. Check her out here: www.ashleydaoust.com.

Check my ministry blog for an excerpt of my book! I can't wait, it's almost ready!

Gotta run! Have a great day!

Oh! and I just read Rachel's post about a recipe for everyday food:

My favorite quick recipe (and my son's favorite soup) is called Chips and Salsa Soup:

Chips and Salsa Soup

This is the recipe for Xander's favorite soup...it is quite yummy! Xan man likes spicy, so this is his version. To, uh, tame the fire in this recipe, sub diced tomatoes for rotel and go with mild salsa. Serves 6-8.

2 cans diced new potatoes, drained
2 cans sliced carrots
2 cans diced tomatoes with italian spices
1 can original Rotel
1 cup medium Salsa
4 cups gluten free vegetable broth
Sliced avocado
tortilla chips (we use Rice Works, rice torilla chips)

Combine first 6 ingredients in a stew pot. Heat over medium heat 15-20 min. Serve in bowls over tortilla chips and sliced avocado. He loves leftovers at school the next day! Just pack him some chips to dip and he is happy.

(The original recipe used black beans and corn in place of the potatoes and carrots, but since we can't eat those, we substituted. I like the carrots and potatoes better. It is heartier.)

So there you go! I really gotta run now...pray ladies...pray real hard...it's snowing cats and dogs here...ugh! have a great day!

Company Girl Coffee 1/29/10

Well, hello gang! Please come in from the snow and ice!

I am on a special diet for the next six weeks, so I am only serving coffee and tea this morning, but I don't have any yummy baked goods this morning...so sorry! However, I have lost 4 lbs this week and am well on my way to a slim figure for my sister's wedding!

Update on this week...well, there's not much to say really, other than I am really working to get this post out before power goes out due to the ice storm. Last year was AWFUL and we were without power for two days, but there were many in our city that went without for ten days or more. The isolation of that storm, first seeded the idea for Strings Attached, and the need to form different kinds of relationships for the coming world. I was amazed by the resourefulness of people during the storm last year, and heartened by the way our friends and neighbors opened their hearts and homes to one another...it is how we should live our daily lives.

It is currently snowing here, but sleeted and iced all night...we have about a half inch of ice on the ground and it is snowing at a rate of a half inch or so an hour, so we may be stuck here for a while. I am hoping to go back and do all the Small Things that I missed this week, but I have also promised myself a couple of hours to write today as well...

On that note, my book is going well and coming along nicely. My deadline to upload to the publisher is 8 Feb....So I will be so excited to share it with you when I publish!

I am so excited about my upcoming trip to Rio de Janeiro...the girls that we have chosen so far to go have been amazing young ladies, and I am continually impressed by the quality of the young women who are applying. I would love help, though! The trip is expensive and the work we are doing will change both our lives and the lives of hundreds of Brazilian girls who will be able to get an education because of our uniform donations. I would love ANY help you could muster. Just click on the ChipIN badge up at the top of the page! If you would like to learn more about the trip, Inspired Girls Life and Leadership Camp or Inspired Girls Success Summits- I have linked their websites and would be happy to answer any questions you have.

On a last note, Company Girls you rock! Thank you for your support, your wisdom, your comments and encouragement last week. I desperately needed to feel like I wasn't just being whiney about things...and you ladies not only came through, but also helped me to feel better. Which is what this whole thing is all about...Thank You!

Company Girl Coffee 1/22/09

Hey girls! Come on in...Don't mind the house or the Christmas decorations, come have a cup of tea with me cause I need a chat, or a pep talk, or something....;)

This week has been nuts...

First of all, as an update on my last post...literally within 15 minutes of posting it, I got a call from the detective working our theft case and was notified that he had found our stuff....ALL OF IT! This was exciting news from a couple of vantage points...1) we can now get it back and 2) they know, at the very least who pawned the items so they can now press charges. So yay! The not-so-great part is that the thief pawned the items so we have to pay the pawn in order to get them back.

To complicate matters, being the honest people we are, and having already received insurance settlement for said items, we reported to the insurance company that our items had been found. Turns out, people don't do that much, and well, there is the possibility that we may have to pay back the insurance settlement. This is not all that great since most of that money has, well, already been used. At this point, we are really not sure what will happen...so the saga continues...

Let's see, what else...Oh! I am recovering from my THIRD bout with the nasty stomach virus that has been going around. This one struck at the most inopportune moment....while I was co-presenting a keynote to 650 people. GRRRRREEEEAAAATTTT....Fortunately, my partner had written the presentation and picked up like a champ and soldiered on...I am blessed like that, but I was still terribly disappointed in the situation.

Last night I presented a small coaching seminar called "Step away from the Cape: How to avoid SuperMom syndrome " to a moms group here locally. I felt woefully unpolished and unprepared as I had spent most of the time I would usually spend getting ready to give a presentation in a hotel bathroom in Tulsa. The presentation went well, for the most part though. I was pleased to be able to use Rachel's horizontal time schedule as a tool to understand the story that we tell ourselves about our daily lives and to create our "As if" (aka dream schedule). I learned so much about myself using that tool, I hope that it was as much an eye-opening experience for them.

Today dawned early with the unsettling discovery of a mouse in our house. The truth is he (I pray it is not a she with a million little babies) is probably living in our garage which is severe need of a thorough cleaning. I am disgusted. So of course, I have set terribly unreasonable goals of cleaning the entire house, throwing away all of our junk and making a beautifully organized home in uh, the next two hours, oh yeah, and that includes taking down the Christmas decorations....

When we arrived at school today, I was informed that it was "P" day and that Xanman had signed me up to bring pickles. So at some point, I have to deliver pickles to school. I have band practice this afternoon and lunch meeting...all this and I haven't showered yet. I guess the point is that I feel pulled in a million directions, and I am in need of a little perspective.

So now that you have listened to my whiny rant, I am going to do what Tony Robbins says to do...When you feel like you have lost control, or things are happening "to" you, stop right there and make a decision to change....and then take action. So sorry to vent and run, but I am going to go take action AND I am going to keep in mind some wise words that I have carried with me every since my dear friend, Sweetie Berry, shared them with me, "What goals are achievable within the TIME you have ALOTTED?" Hmmmm......

I've got much to do...but I feel so much better having vented...thank you girls for listening! I probably won't get around to visiting much today as I have a lot on my plate, but I make the rounds throughout the weekend, I promise! I can't wait to hear what you are all up to!

Oh, and one more thing...would you consider a donation to help fund the Inspired Girls Life and Leadership Camp ? I will be one of the facilitators of this camp. We will be taking 15 hand-picked girls (there are still places left, if you know of a young lady who would qualify) to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this summer to engage in life-changing workshops, eye-opening humanitarian work and, to learn first hand about servant leadership. We are partnering with a Brazilian orphanage and helping provide uniforms for teenage girls in Rio so that they may attend school. The funds that you donate will go to both fund the camp, and provide 100 girls with uniforms. Any little bit will help...click on the "chip in" button at the top of the page to donate! Thank you!