the friday five {experiments, tricks for avocados, and sleeping like a baby}

It’s raining here- incredible, wonderfully constant rain- and it’s perfect background noise for doing school and preparing for a big weekend. I’m looking forward to a break from school tomorrow- we’ve been spending most of the day in one room working hard, so the weekend means even more than usual. :)

We did get to finish early enough to do a cookie experiment yesterday. Now that the boys are old enough to read well, I let them complete an entire recipe on their own for the first time {reading + fractions = cookies… my kind of homeschooling}. Their cookies turned out better than mine! :)

In honor of the end of the week finally arriving, I thought it would be fun to share five of my favorite links from around the web today! I try to pin them through the week, so if you want to follow along on Pinterest, you can find me over here! :)

1. The truth. I’m sleeping just like a baby these days… ahem.

2. Avocados. What??? This lady is a genius.

3. Bloggers don’t lie. Give us wifi.

source

4. Preschool Worksheets. I’m using these with Ava!

5. The best outfit ever.

And that’s my Friday five! How about you?

What are five things you are looking forward to right now?
sweaters, 8 p.m. on Saturday night, October {aka birthday month!}, cleaning my house sometime this weekend, and having morning devotions again {I’ve missed them so much!}

Any great links you’ve found recently? Or blogged recently? :)

What’s your Pinterest link? I’d love to follow you!

suicide and depression- loving those walking through it {links}

how can you love someone who is hurting this week?

I just wanted to quickly share two articles that are really worth your time to read:

From Beth Moore- Oh, every time I see Christians bashing other people or other Christians on Facebook about hot topics like homosexuality, suicide, and even chicken sandwiches, it makes me want to cry... it feels like such a shame to the body of Christ. I don't understand why anyone would ever feel compelled to hate on someone they don't even know or other Christians in general in such a public place. 

I love what she writes in response to the serious hatred and attacks going on toward the Warren family who lost their son to suicide this weekend. Oh friends, please consider what you are saying before you speak- especially in front of hundreds of your friends.

No one is going to be perfectly in control of their tongue all the time, I'm certainly not {!}, but it's the harsh words of others that we cannot forget, isn't it? You don't have to agree with everyone or their theology, but you are called to love always, and remember those public figures are real people too.

On Depression- Ann Voskamp writes about depression and suicide, from the other side. I think the Christian community easily dismisses depression as simply a spiritual issue and walks on, but we are called to reach out to the broken- and those broken in spirit need it even more. Love, love, love the poor in spirit, even when you don't understand why they could be sad. 

friday news + links

This has been quite the week!

Our power was down for several hours on Tuesday due to a tree limb randomly falling. I’m so thankful for a sweet husband who stayed up late and got up early to be here for the electrician, the electric company, and the inspector to come {which definitely wasn’t cheap- $800 disappeared from our bank account because of a single fallen limb…yikes!}. Our plans kept changing again and again, and we all had a great lesson in going with the flow! :)

I’m getting everything ready for the Mamas Write Conference tomorrow morning- if you think of it, will you pray for me? I’m really, really excited! My topic is “Balancing the Many Ministries of a Writing Mama”… something God is continually teaching me {see paragraph above! ha!} :D I love how He gives you a chance to put what He’s teaching you to work. He’s so cool like that!

I also wanted to share a few links for your weekend reading pleasure:

• Do you love J. Crew and Anthropologie’s style but don’t love the price? I shared five DIY fashion copycat projects you can do over at RooMag this week:

• Dawn from Before His Throne shared this awesome story of how the Holy Spirit guided her parenting to center on the Gospel this week! My heart is so excited reading of His goodness at work in little ones! It’s so beautiful to see! He guides us in our weakness, and shows us His strength.
  
• Speaking of weakness, I love this article: motherhood is for the weak from une bonne vie:

So, motherhood is not for the strong and able-bodied. It is not for the one who has it all together. It is for the weak. It is for the weary. It is for the mamas who feel they have reached their end…

• And my favorite pin of the week really makes me think {I also shared it over on our facebook page!}:

What are some of your favorite links this week?

friday links: where I'll be on Aug. 25, 1 tee = 5 looks, faith in fitness

We had the chance to go to Panera for a long lunch date yesterday. It was lovely- we just sat on the patio and leisurely chatted over our Acai Berry iced teas {yum!}.

Our total came to $23 for two of us, but it was worth it- the food was really, really good! We ordered enough food to fill us both of us up {which is very difficult to do when we eat out these days!}. I had the greek salad and a bowl of vegetarian black bean soup, and it came paired with a little apple:

It was really yummy. I even ate half of my piece of bread! :D And the coolest part? I didn't really want more than that. I was okay eating just a little, which is such a huge change from when I could eat bread all day long a few months ago. Progress! :)

This week has been anything but what I planned- partially because I had two nights in a row where I couldn't sleep at all, and my brain was in a serious fog, and I'm still recovering. 

We've really been running around all this week, but it's okay! :D The to-do list will just have to wait a little longer. And the date was definitely better than painting any day!

Rob got contacts this week! :D i love them!

I wanted to share some fun news and links with you for your weekend browsing pleasure:

the Mamas Write conference- I'm thrilled and honored to be a part of this exciting writing/blogging one-day conference designed to encourage and equip Christian blogging moms!

The lineup of speakers is amazing, and I'm humbled and beyond excited to be a part of it. If you're in the North Texas area, come and fellowship with us in Arlington on August 25!

Early bird tickets are on sale for just $30 until the end of June! You can register online here.

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one t-shirt = five fun new looks- in case you might have missed it, here are five easy outfits you can make with just one bright colored tee! I'm over at RooMag showing you how to get the most out of your trendy top!

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Peak313 fitness- if you enjoy fitness, you'll love Clare's blog! She posts new fitness moves you can do at home every Monday, and I love how she brings faith in Jesus into the realm of fitness and health. I think you'll love her as much as I do!

She even created this printable exercise routine for her readers this week:

I can't wait to try some of those moves next week! For now I'm off to teach two fitness classes myself, and somehow manage to get a family portrait taken in between... :D

Happy Friday, friends!