womenNtune

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship , created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Design is very important in the way we decide to walk about to and fro in this world.  We live in a world full of influences to be like this person or that person.  We are all truly unique.  God is our Creator and He knows what kind of life we were designed to live and how we were designed to go about our business in this world.  I believe there are many occasions where some of us fight against our unique designs.  As women we feel pressure to conform in so many different ways.  God has designed an amazing role for women to play in this story of life.  It is diverse and multi-faceted.  However, if you start adding the "worlds" pressures to conform along with your god-given roles it can easily be overwhelming.  I think one of the most important pieces of information one can know about oneself is what...

My hubby and I have a contract on a house in Gainesville, VA.  It's a beautiful home.  But it's a short sale so it could take awhile before we even know if the bank is going to accept our offer.  But we strongly believe that this is the house we are going to get and it's not going to take too long to find out.  But in terms of the house we are in now.....................beautiful house but it is so not a good layout for our family.  With the pregnancy and all I have grown weary of trying to keep it organized and cleaned in such a way to fit our family.  Lately I've just been letting it go.  Not that it looks bad, because it doesn't.  It's always been kind of a high maintenance home as far as keeping it straight because of the floor plan.  It's very easy for everything to get all over the place especially with a little one.  I don't really function well with everything all over the place, but I have learned to tolerate it more lately beca...

I'm so excited that I found the perfect little winter coat for my daughter.  I actually had a good idea this year of where I wanted to go with her winter wardrobe.  My daughter has a good sense of style and she enjoys wearing dresses and tights and nice boots.  Instead of just buying anything this Fall and Winter I really wanted to cater to her unique style. So after looking in about 4 or 5 stores, I found her the perfect coat at Gap Kids.  It's pink, ofcoarse she loves pink and it's got nice lining but it also reaches almost to her knees so it will keep her little legs warm this winter when she is wearing her tights and boots. It kind of flares out at the bottom which I really like because it makes the coat really versatile and gives it a little bit of a dressy appeal even though it is an outdoor winter coat.  I can't wait to show it to her I do hope she likes it.  I just need a couple of other essentials to make her wardrobe complete.  Couple more ti...

When I started this blog it was suppose to be my uncensored space in a sense.  I place for me to reflect, ponder, and dissect the issues of my everyday life.  I don't and didn't really think many people were reading it.  I kind of still wonder if I'm one of the blogs that people glance at and say "nothing interesting here" and move on.  I know it's been helpful to me, but I wonder who else it's been helpful too.  I wonder how important it is that I put a voice to the going's on of my life on a daily basis.  While I am very interested in the lives of others I don't know if people are that interested in my life.  Someone recently has caused me to think and pray about the voice that God has given me in a lost and hurting world.  There was a time where I was very vocal about my faith in God and my belief about what he would do in my life and the life of others.  That voice was quieted a little by past hurts and disappointments.  Even though ...

When I started this blog, I declared it as "my space".  My therapeutic space to go through life's trials and triumphs.  But sometimes when people start reading your blog you start to question what to share.  But I love being a transparent person and I think I want to get back to doing this on the blog.  I am loving my daughter more and more everyday.  I really think my love will always increase with every passing day for her.  As  she grows God is revealing layer upon layer of her beautiful personality.  I find myself fixating on every little thing about her because she is growing so fast.  She started going to school 5 days a week about 2 weeks ago and she hasn't complained not once.  I have to believe that it's a result of constant prayer for her concerning school.  She is my beautiful little gem!  I'm loving our marriage.  Although we have our ups and downs, our arguments;  Our marriage is the most beautiful relati...

There are so many beliefs out there in terms of what it "should" look like to be a Christian.  Some think Christians should be poor, some think Christians should be rich.  Some know that how much you have or don't have is no indication of where you are in your walk with God.  I was reading this scripture today (Philippians 4:12,13) and Paul said that he has learned to both abound and to suffer need and then he goes on to say that he can do all things through Christ who strengthens him.  This scripture really caught my attention because of the context in which it was used.  Did you ever think this scripture would be used in the context of when you're rich, rolling in the dough and you need Christ to strengthen you so you can do it.  I guess we do.  I guess when we abound, we need Christ to strengthen us against the temptations that come along with that, so we conduct ourselves properly in the Lord.  I imagine Christ can strengthen us so that we don...

Saturdays are my "Don't take life too seriously" day. Saturdays are my "Don't worry how much T.V. my daughter watches" day. Saturdays are my "Avoid cleaning like the plague" day. Saturdays are my "Don't worry about my family's nutrition" day. Saturdays are definitely my sabbath days.  See on Friday things are kind of tapering to go into my Sabbath day.  Like I normally don't cook on Fridays, but I do clean and make sure Noah is occupied with fun productive activities.  Sundays are like my jumpstart for the week.  I jump back on the cleaning bandwagon on Sunday, the cooking bandwagon too.  I'm back to doing activities with Noah and I'm thinking about the week ahead.  As God would have it, I do only has 1 day a week for a day of rest and thank God for it.  TGIS

Mondays are actually the only day of the week where I intentionally focus the majority of my attention on Noah.  It's kind of "Spotlight on Noah" day.  I was a little tired today, so I wasn't as energetic as I normally am but we were still able to get out to our new, neat little place we found, that has like 12 swingsets inside a showroom with 2 big trampolines.  It's this company that sells swingsets and slides.  They have a freeplay twice a week in their showroom that's free for kids 8 and under from 10am -1pm.  I'm keeping it a secret, because as of now not many people know about it.  We made it to that, which gives me a chance to run around with Noah a little bit and jump on the trampoline with her and stuff.  Then we went to the Vitamin Shoppe.  We vacuumed the car and came home.  She had a little T.V. time, ate lunch, bathroom Then we hung out in her room reading books and going over her sight words.  Then we designed an invitation...

I believe the answer is "yes".  I mean didn't it hurt Jesus when He was nailed to the cross? Although He was God, He had taken on human form.  It hurt Him just as bad as it would hurt any of us.  Didn't it hurt Jesus while He suffered for our sin.  He was without sin.  He was the only perfect man that walked the face of the earth.  But He was a man and it hurt Him.  If God was not hurting for His people, why would He send His only son, Jesus Christ to die for us.  God took action and these actions had to come from a place of grief and compassion for His people.  So yes, we have hurt Him and continue to hurt Him when we reject Him.  He does hurt because He loves us.  See, God is the inventor of love.  He is the source of true love, the only source.  God has made us the object of his affection.  It was a love affair that started in the garden of Eden long ago,  God didn't just want to "create" something, He yearned...

It's funny how people will believe these author's of all these "Self-Help" books but won't believe what the bible says.  I know it's hard to believe someone that you can't see.  But God is more "real" then any person I've ever seen with the naked eye.  I would surely believe Him over anybody else.  Not only is He my Father, but my closest friend.  We live in a fallen world and it has invaded our family structure, so we don't always have good examples of what fathers should be to their children.  We do have a Father in heaven and if we let Him he will take authority over our lives and guide us along a path that will always lead to Him.  Everyday we can find comfort and peace in Him because it is His to give to us.  We can't find peace anywhere else.  Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, you can't find it with anyone else.  Thank God that I am at peace with Him now and I am no longer at enmity with Him

I am happy to announce my first online event in which a portion of the proceeds will be donated to a nonprofit organization.  The organization I'm teaming up with for this event is the SPCA of Anne Arundel County.  The SPCA is a nonprofit organization that removes animals from unsafe conditions.  They take in 3,400 animals annually and they do not receive any government funding. Please join me as I join them in fighting animal cruelty by shopping my online Avon store!  The link is below http:// andecarr.avonrepresentative.com/online_event/

I love Saturdays because I don't have to be on such a tight schedule.  It's the one day of the week that I don't worry about cooking or keeping the house in order.  I get to start my morning very slow and I don't have to worry about being ready to get Noah busy by 8:30am doing activities and playing with her.  I don't have to be "productive"  I guess Saturday is my "Sabbath" day in a sense.  Saturday is the day we hang out as a family.  Today we are suppose to go to the pool, then we have the sitter coming at 4pm to watch Noah so Reggie and I can spend some time together. 

Sometimes.............ok, I'm lying.............Many times, I wake up and I don't feel ready to face the day. My to-do lists along with my aspirations and desires seem to crush me before I can even get started. I get overwhelmed at the very thought of tackling the various things on my plate and on my mind. Then I freeze. You know like when a deer gets caught in front of the headlights of a car in the middle of the night; he freezes right in the middle of the road. Today I had that very situation. So I stopped and took a look at myself. These days I don't like to spend too much time concentrating on myself, because it's not very fruitful. I'd rather look at God. There are times where it is beneficial for me to stop and take a look at what's going on with me (my thoughts, my heart, etc.) I only take a pause.Today, I considered and I said to myself and maybe God was listening (wink) "Can I just take peek inside my life and look at what's going on o...

Children can bring out the best and sometimes the worst in you. They challenge to your greatest depths and carry you to your greatest triumphs. You fustration and emotions can be taken to great extremes. But I know in my heart that children need to see self control in their parents. If children know they can trigger your fustration or anger than they will work to do it. They feel like they are in control of something when you allow them to control your emotions. One of the things that I don't like doing with Noah is raising my voice. It normally just makes situations worst and it doesn't exemplify a calm way of handling situations. So I am committed to trusting God to help me not to raise my voice at Noah anymore. You are much more in control of your child when you are able to institute punishments and consequences in a calm manner. When I yell at Noah normally it's because I'm trying to talk over her crying and get a point across to her. But I realize now th...

I love my little girl, Noah. There are times where Noah does some things that warrant more than a timeout or spanking. She gets an actual punishment. The punishments normally have the most impact on her. Most of the time she loses her T.v. Shows for an extended period of time, like for a whole day. If she misbehaves before bedtime and does one of those specific things that warrant a punishment I will let her know she gets no T.V. in the morning, which is her favorite time to watch T.V. This morning Noah is without her "Shows". When I start to feel bad about punishing her, I just remind myself of how much her behavior has improved in other areas as a result of being punished. I remind myself of some of the things she use to do and she doesn't anymore because of being punished. She has done well and I'm very proud of her, but I realize that I have to continue to allow her to experience the consequences of her bad behavior so she can continue to grow and learn. ...

Many a mom with grown children have told me once you become a mom, mothering never ends. It never stops. I believe them. Because I look at my mom and other mothers in our family with grown children and they are just as busy taking care of family as they ever were it seems.Not only are you still mothering your own children, but you are mothering your grandchildren and sometimes even mothering your own aging parents. This is the cycle of life. I am just beginning my journey in mothering. I think I need to grab some popcorn, a good movie, a cozy blanket and get comfortable because this is my life. There is no turning back now. Mothers are busy not matter what the situation is, whether in the workplace or at home. We are busy serving. However I tend to think a fellow co-worker or superior in the workplace has the capacity to show a little more mercy than a toddler at home. I'm sure many reading this can relate to this. But the minute I get up, the demands start to the tune o...

We all have a specific way that we function best. Some of us enjoy being more structured and some not so much. Some of us like a tight schedule, some a loose schedule and some no schedule at all. I think it is important to discover and remember how you function best as a mom and as a person. This world pulls you in so many different directions as a woman, to be so many different things. But what God calls us to is normally simple. Consult the "Lord of Lords" for wisdom on your design. Ask Him the best way for you to function. I believe grace comes with being more accepting of yourself and how you are designed. How fustrating it must be for God, seeing us struggle the way we do trying to fit ourselves into molds that we were not made to fit into. He must wonder "Why doesn't she just ask me, I can show her the mold I designed her for". Keep your life simple and call Him when you need Him. Acts 4:12 New King James Version (NKJV) 12 Nor is there salvation...

We are going on a cruise in 3 days, so My focus today was getting the laundry done and packing. The cruise is 7 days. In addition to washing & folding laundry I also vacuumed our bedroom and 2 stories of stairs, and the living room. It's already 2pm and I haven't cleaned the kitchen yet. I've stopped short once again from all I wanted to accomplish. I just get tired after 3 or 4 hours of household chores. Go figure. My body tells me "I can't do anymore." I have to respect that but it also means I will be cleaning the kitchen while I'm cooking dinner. Not my favorite way to do it, but that's ok. What would really bless me is if I could find these gloves that are used for cooking. These disposable gloves. I hate touching poultry and I tried to find these gloves at Safeway but they were sold out. Praying that I find them at Shoppers. I guess I'm off to the store once I start the dishwasher. That's my day in a nutshell so far. W...

This is going to be a short post. I had nothing to cook for dinner tonite. I thought about making rice with corn but we are not vegetarians. It could of worked I suppose. I wouldn't of had a problem with it but my husband would of. I was out all day working on some stuff for my Avon Business . So my 3yr old opted for french toast and I gladly gave it to her. Nothing for my husband but hopefully the crumb cake I have in the oven will soften the blow.

Well, Noah has officially began her training on how to behave properly. Today he daddy got her up and she was downstairs just crying for no reason and would not stop.  Maybe she had her own reasons, like an effort to wake me up so I could come downstairs.  Either way she was being bad and not listening.  Not only did she go in timeout in her room but she also lost her T.V. shows for the entire day and dad is making sure I enforce it.  I do realize that at some point in a child's life you must start to enforce strict discipline.  A child who does not have an understanding of consequences and does not have any boundaries is going to make for a very unhappy life for that child when they grow up.  Most of us are way to focused on making our child "happy" now.  Doing so steals their future happiness.  We love Noah and we know she is going to spend a lot more time as an adult than she is as a child, so we want to set the stage for her to become a happy,...