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Keep the Love Alive

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Mrs Gray / 1 Comment

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Friday makes me think of our Friday Fun Dances when I was still teaching. We’d crank up some Miley and get down! Party in the USA! *puts hands up*

Friday, of course, is also a great date night. Date night is huge for us. We make it a priority to spend time together as a couple. We gotta keep the love alive! Our marriage is worth it.

Here are some of our favorite date ideas:

Fancy dinner: We love a good meal. It’s even better if we can chat and take our time. Bonus points for being able to dress up!

Live entertainment: Concerts, theater, comedy–a live performance is always a good time!

Dessert date: Sometimes we skip dinner and go straight for the good stuff!

Post-bedtime at-home date: Sitter not available? Out of town with your kid in a single hotel room? Sometimes you just make date night work. (Here we are in the “other room” during a hotel stay. Yep, you do what you gotta do.)

Do you make date night a priority? What’s your favorite thing to do?

2014/community/faith/friends/go/goals/moving

Thankful.

Posted on July 24, 2014 by Mrs Gray / 1 Comment

Emotions tend to get the best of me sometimes, and I definitely know better. Emotions are fleeting; they’re circumstantial.

Lately, though, I have just felt thankful. In spite of circumstances that aren’t necessarily going “my way.” (My way is totally better than His, right? *sarcasm*) In spite of distances, both near and far. In spite of emotions sparked by this time of year. In spite of anything worldly, I am so thankful.

I’m thankful for our gorgeous sunsets each evening.
I’m thankful for the opportunities that keep rolling out in front of us as we say yes and step into them.
I’m thankful for friends that fill me up.
I’m thankful for the opportunity for Mr. Gray to go to Haiti next week and the conversations we are able to have with Baby Gray because of it.
I’m thankful for all our boy learns and does.

The other night, as I lay in bed, I was so full of words of praise that tears were welling up in my eyes as I wrote (and wrote and wrote) in my journal. I feel so full. So grateful. I feel like I am finding my place a little in this new physical space, and it’s a place I didn’t expect. It’s a place where community looks different than I thought it would–so does plugged in, but as I’m stepping into what He has for me, it’s starting to look better. Of course it does. His ways are higher than mine. His thoughts, higher, too.

I’m thankful for a peace that does not come from circumstance, from my husband, from friends, from any worldly thing. It can only come from Him.

Baby Gray/Haiti/Mr. Gray/swim/swim lessons/Tuesday 10/Tuesday ten/Ukraine

Tuesday Ten: Impromptu Extra Swim Lesson Edition

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

1. Swim lessons. So many approaches, yet so much is dependent on the actual kid, anyway. We’re starting round two today with a different approach. He was so close after last week, I just had to try. So an 8:15 phone call about the opening leads to blogging from my phone while I wait.

2. Back in junior high, when the internet was extra big and scary, “John K From The Net” called my house. A friend (that I will not name) gave my name and number out as a joke. It wasn’t funny then, but I think it’s hilarious now.

3. I got some happy mail today! I love happy mail, and I’m excited to try a paper planner for a bit. As my to-do list grows, I feel like it might be a good way to keep myself organized. I’ll never get away from my iPhone calendar, but this will help me organize my weeks a little better. I’m working on a few new things, and I don’t want to drop the ball anywhere.

4. The VBS Baby Gray is attending. This week is taking up an offering for missionaries. I love that we have a tangible way to explain that since Mr. Gray has been to the Ukraine and is headed to Haiti next week.

5. I’ve decided to write at least one note to someone a week and drop it in the mail. I’d like to do more than that, but one is a start.

6. I love small towns. They have so much to offer. We always find neat restaurants and shops when we take time to explore.

7. I usually start Christmas shopping in June or July (don’t call me crazy). I love having just the right gift for everyone, and I’m off to a really good start this year!

8. We got to have some much-needed friend time this weekend. I was so glad to cook, entertain, visit, and enjoy! I love having people over!

9. I hate that when baking with bananas their ripeness determines the success or failure of the finished product. I need to be a better initial judge of ripeness.

10. I said I was going to workout during swim lessons. I better get to it before my “pick up” alarm goes off. (Yes, I have to set an alarm to remind myself to pick up my kid. It’s better than being late. Don’t judge.)

Adoption/dreams/goals/happy mail/purchase with purpose/Purpose Box/subscriptions

Life with Purpose

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

I joked a bit about my secret-keeping abilities last week, and then I promptly spilled the beans via social media. Are you in on it?

I’m pretty sure my love for subscription boxes and happy mail is no secret around here. I’m also a huge fan of supporting organizations that have a purpose–adoption support, clean water, clothing and shelter for those in need–any purpose really. So, Purpose Box was born.

What is Purpose Box?
It’s a bi-monthly subscription box that will contain “purchase with purpose” items. The story for each organization will be included along with ways to follow and support them through social media. Additionally, the proceeds from each box will have a purpose as well. It will vary with each shipment.

What now?

Go check out Purpose Box on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Tell your friends!
Let me know your favorite “purchase with purpose” shops, from big companies to the mom down the street selling bows to bring an adopted child home.
Sign up for the wait list and be the first to know when the inaugural box goes on sale!

So, that’s it, the cat’s outta the bag. Exciting, huh?

grammar/swimming/tacos

That’s My Jam

Posted on July 17, 2014 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

I’ve always loved that saying, but I never can quite pull it off. I’m going to go ahead and force it. Just this once.

Swimming boys are my jam.

Matamoras is my jam.

Post by Matamoros Taco Hut.

(Not the closed part; I do not love when they’re closed. Also, it’s okay if you didn’t laugh for as long as I did when you first saw it. I won’t judge.)

Grammar is my jam.

What’s your jam?

Baby Gray/lunch/motherhood/parenting

Mommin’ It

Posted on July 16, 2014 by Mrs Gray / 7 Comments

Around here, we do a lot of things just the boy and me. Most of the time, this works just fine. Then there are the times you finish lunch and have three drinks, leftovers, and your pastries (yum) about the time a bathroom break is necessary. What’s a mom to do? Take it all into the germy restroom with us? Leave it and risk losing it all to the bus boys?

Nope. Write a note!

We’ll be right back! : )

I mean, what else could I do? I just had to mom it! Then, of course, I had to snap a photo when it was successful. Livin’ the iPhone photo life, that’s me. The boy was so excited that the note worked. I was just thinking about all the things moms just have to do on a whim. Don’t know what to do? Just make it up.

Right before I sat down to write this, I read about a mom with her kids on a blanket in the trunk at a rest stop while she made sandwiches. That’s mommin’ it! We utilize our surroundings to the best of our ability to make it work. Remember my kid in the stitched up, backwards jammers? Mommin’ it.

What have you done to mom it lately?

bike/date night/go/hair/happy mail/Instagram/move/purchase with purpose/Tuesday 10/Tuesday ten/water

Pink Hair, Don’t Care

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Mrs Gray / 3 Comments

1. I lost my largest skillet at some point in the move. It’s just gone. Lost forever (or something like that). I don’t even know what to think. Who loses a skillet?

2. I left our house on my bike yesterday evening headed to meet the boys at the park. Luckily they took a little loop to look at steers on their way. This enabled them to pick me up when I started dying because I forgot it was completely uphill! Yikes! (Yes, I just admitted I’m a quitter on the ol’ World Wide Web.)

3. I did it. I finally did it! That colored hair I talked about? It’s on my head.

4. We have sure missed our regular date nights around here–the boy included! He misses his scheduled “date nights” with his friends, too. Luckily, we get two this week! Hopefully when we get in a good groove we will find a family to trade with again.

5. My car is so ridiculously dirty. When one lives down a gravel road and has a black vehicle, I’m not sure there’s any way to win.

6. We managed to pack our only three trips for the summer into three consecutive weekends. I can finally unpack our bags for good instead of having them half-packed waiting for clean laundry. (Until football season, of course.)

7. If Instagram would kindly offer a way to toggle between accounts, those of us who use it for business and personal purposes would be ever so grateful. #socialmediamanagerproblems

8. Water and I go way back. I don’t really care for water. Never have. I try to drink water at restaurants. Sometimes it’s just so terrible. Like last night, I got some water with my meal, and it tasted like metal. Straight metal. Ugh. How do people like that stuff so much? Bleh.

9. I got a fabulous little box of happy mail filled with pretty, pretty papers yesterday. Be checking your mailboxes because I’m going on a mailing spree!

10. Speaking of happy mail, I’ve got a little secret. I don’t do well with secrets. Well, my secrets–especially if I’m excited about something. I’m great at keeping them for other people. I’ll pretend like this one is someone else’s for now. Be on the lookout for something awesome!

faith/risk

Make a Splash!

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Mrs Gray / 0 Comment

Sometimes you just have to make the leap, take the jump, put it all on the line.

So that’s exactly what I’m doing! It’s time to make a splash!