S Club Mama

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of the American Cancer Society. Those are fighting words (pun intended). Cancer is no something to be silent about or to sit idly by and watch people die from. Not that everyone can be a doctor or medical professional or scientist, but we can help! The American Cancer Society (which turns 100 on May 22, 2013 - happy birthday, ACS) is going to start this really aggressive and historic research study: Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3). It's going to help us understand how to prevent cancer, which will save so many lives. They have this goal of 300,000 adults from every racial/ethnic background from everywhere in the US by the end of 2013 (and you know how fast years go by). My Grandma Kay had ovarian cancer. She died of complications of numerous things, that being one of them. That affects me every day. I don't get to write my grandma letters or call her on the phone to tell her about Moose and Squirt or my running. She n

I almost think I needed this Kids Kit from We Choose Virtues almost as much as my sons. I mean, check out this list: patience, kindness, obedience, diligence, forgiving, attentive, etc. I have such problems with patience and attentive (anyone else get distracted by stuff online?)! So I know that it's important to teach these virtues to my children, too (and learn alongside them). Jesus was patient, forgiving, obedient, diligent, forgiving, attentive, self-controlled, content, etc. We are supposed to imitate Jesus and so I thought this was a good way to help me teach them how to do that. image from the WCV website Like I said, I reviewed the Kids Kit. It came with a Kids Virtue Poster (that tells all of the virtues & sayings that go along with them), one Fan Poster (your choice; a large poster that shows one virtue and saying), Virtues Clues & a clear acrylic card holder (business card sized cards with one virtue per card), "I'm a Virtue Kid" button, The

Although my children are His miracles as well, this post is not about my bundles of joy (who aren't really bundles anymore, huh?). No. Today God worked a miracle! I have not been able to run for about 4 weeks without severe pain in my right foot (muscle overuse...go figure). Today I walked 10 minutes. Then I ran 10 minutes. No pain. Not even a little except my legs which said "hey I thought we were biking?" I was floored! Those 10 minutes were miraculous. Yes, there was much work put in by myself, my wonderful chiropractor (Dr. L), and ice. But myself, the doc, the ice does not work miracles. God heals. God works miracles. As I'm thankful for my doctor's work and wisdom, I know God is the Healer, the Great Physician. And I'm so thankful to Him for healing my foot. Tomorrow I will try to run 4 miles. I may make it without pain. I may not. That does not distract from today's miracle. Then God worked another miracle by allowing my 3-year-old to live

Command center. What a silly name, right? But it seems to be all the rage on Pinterest. I've seen several tutorials on there of beautiful command centers. What is a command center? A place of organization where your house comes to thrive! I love organization. I've never been to Ikea or Pottery Barn (scratch that, I've been to PB...I think), but I imagine it'd be a little slice of Type A heaven for me. After seeing all of these lovely organizational pretties online, I decided a little DIY was in order in the S Club. After scouring online for hours...yikes...I decided on simpler (and cheaper - whoa prices can skyrocket on organizational items). Below is the main part of our command center. The largest frame is one we had an engagement picture in where everyone wrote well-wishes on a mat. I got a poster board from Dollar General and put a generic calendar on there (no numbers, just days of the week). Then I use a marker board marker to write up our schedule. The file folde

I run. I love to dress up. Why not look fashionable while I run? That's the basic idea behind Ellie : fitness meats fashion. It's simple , really. Two ways to sign up: non-member or Fit Fashionista Club Member. Non-member. Shop the Ellie tops and bottoms, collections - to your heart's content. Your pieces usually arrive in 5-7 days and you're ready to break a sweat in style. Fit Fashionista Club Member. Sign up . Choose any two pieces for $49.95 each month. That's $25 per piece (top & bottom, two tops, two bottoms); hard to find that price really, especially on bottoms. FREE shipping, no matter how often you order. Priority access - get the pieces you want before collections are released so they aren't sold out before you get to them. Access to exclusive things like flash sales, discounts, etc. No hassle guarantee. Don't like something? Doesn't matter the reason; return it for something new and get free shipping both ways. That's

I think I've been ignoring God. Not to say this has been on purpose (hence the 'I think' part), but He has been glaringly clear about the pride in my life recently that I think I must have missed His whispered warnings prior to this scream. I gathered a few weeks ago, reading in the gospels, that I may have a pride issue. Oh, that was probably one of the aforementioned whispers. Crud. Anyway, I thought about it a bit and well...thought process was all I got around to. We had a leadership meeting last Monday at church. It's a lovely time of a light supper (always delicious), a message (either from our pastor or a DVD series or something - usually growth producing), and then ministry teams meet (I flit between missions team and children's church). Well, this past Monday, God decided to have the pastor speak directly to me. Not literally - wouldn't that have been freaky, "Randi, you have pride in your life." - but indirectly. He spoke about a book he&

I'm intrigued by apologetics (which is fancy talk for defending your position - usually in regards to faith, as in this case). Last year, Big A & I facilitated an apologetics study for church called The Truth Project (super good!). As Christians, we should be able to defend our faith. Childlike faith does not mean blind faith; Jesus said if we ask, we will receive. That is in regards to wisdom and knowledge, too. I think it's good to ask questions and keep seeking truth. As I learned from our class, the truth will always lead you back to God. "God's Not Dead" by Rice Brooks was right up that alley of truth-seeking/faith defending, so I broke it open and absorbed. image via Book Sneeze I did not like it to begin with. I was thinking from the introduction that there would be more scientific, fact-like evidence. The first few chapters seemed more like "he said, he said" conversations with atheist point of views contradicted by Christian point o

I love Easter! I love any holiday that gathers my family, but I especially love this one because it's a continual reminder of the importance of Christ's Resurrection (He rose from the dead, beat death! That's amazing and shows His authority as God over death and sin. It allows us the free gift of salvation. And I love free things, too!). Our Easter almost didn't happen - the gathering part. Big A and I were sick Thursday. I was sick Friday and ended the day with chills and a temp. I woke up Saturday and felt much better - still weak, but better.  Good enough to join the kids at the local egg hunt. Almost every close up of this kid has snot coming out of his nose. Ugh. Allergies. Moose in all of his glory. He does this with his tongue so much... Spider-Man and Star Wars (below) are a large part of our conversations these days. This mama loves it!!  Star Wars Legos!! These have been a fun (and frustrating) part of our da

Just in case I forgot about autism in our family, today Moose decided to throw a tantrum as soon as we got to school. He'd been playing/reading just fine - full of energy - at home and as soon as we walked in to school, "I feel badly." What? He says he's sick (no symptoms, although I've been ill). Sits on the floor outside of his classroom. I ask Squirt if he can walk to his classroom by himself today. Surprisingly, he says yes and does it so well (after he gets his hug and kiss - what a big boy). He's heavy and we stand him up a few times. We being the IRC (not 100% recollecting what that means but basically special education) and his regular classroom teacher and myself. OK he's not that big but when a 60 some pound kid decides to not stand, it takes a bit to get him up. I think we got him convinced to stay at school but my cell phone is ready for the call "he threw up." Happy Autism Awareness Day - when you remember that your child ca