This Is Kristin

From the cutest puppy, frog and power ranger that there are!

~The two boys were sitting at the kitchen table, my two year old looking intently at his fingers. He looks at his brother, holding up his hand and says, “so you are 5…..and I am 2.” The 5 year old responds, “yep.” My two year old looks back at his hands and says, “Dang!”

~For more tiny talk visit Mary@notbefore7

~ There are two separate women dying of cancer now, in the area I live, and although I do not know either one very well, they are still on my heart and mind a lot lately. I know their friends, and after receiving the updates last night, I was saddened by the news and frustrated with my lack of being able to help in any way. It is hard to watch anyone die, young or old, but there is a greater confusion and sadness to the fact that these women are both in their thirties with young children. Please pray for them, for their families, and for their friends.

“To many people are not living their dreams because they are living their fears.”
~Joyce Meyer

“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.”
~George Moore

I’ve spent the last month single parenting my children, and missing my husband and best friend terribly. The kids and I had a good time, and my husband and I have stayed in touch pretty well over the distance. I don’t know how I could handle not being able to talk to him a few times a day, and e mail, text message. It makes me think of military wives who go months and months without seeing their husband. They have to sit at home wondering if their husband is even still alive, let alone know how their day is going. I don’t know how they do it.
I am glad that he’s coming home for a few days.

~He’ll return to find the kids are a little taller, the weather is a little cooler, the living room rearranged to suit a baby whose learning to stand up, (and fall) and there’s a strange musty smell in this house I can’t seem to get rid of…. but he’ll find us very happy to have him home!

~ Last night I went to check on my boys after they were asleep, like I do every night. This night was different, because at first glance, I couldn’t see my 5 year old. Upon closer inspection, I realized that he was not under the balled up comforter, but inside it. Yes, buttoned up inside the duvet cover, fast asleep! Once I got the top unbuttoned, I carefully pulled him out, along with two pillows, my husband’s sweatshirt, a baby blanket and a toy alligator.

It is up! Go check it out…. here!

~Kat has been working hard on her idea of this Inspired to Action site. It is going to be a really great thing, so I encourage everyone to check it often, and to get involved!

I asked my son what he learned in sunday school today, he said, “The 10 commandments.”
I asked, “what are some of the 10 commandments?”
He said, “Like, no lying, and no whining, stuff like that.”

~This week I am spending time focusing on getting articles written and edited for….. this new site created by Kat! This will be an amazing site, (which launches the 24th!) Be sure to check it out, and if you’d like the button in your sidebar, go to Kat’s to get the code.

I am a major multi-tasker. It’s almost a challenge for me, I begin the day with a to do list and fill up an entire sheet of binder paper and try to highlight each thing off by the end of the day. I love to do craft projects, and try to squeeze those things in amongst all my other “to do’s.” The problem is, that the more kids I have the more things pop up, un-planned through out the day. I get frustrated that my things aren’t getting done, or that I am up late into the night, and I end up having a lot of unfinished projects.

Someone told me the other day that they needed to have five paintings done for a show in a week. When I asked how that was going, they said that they’d started three. It was obvious to me, for them, that they should’ve been focusing on one at a time, because one finished painting is better than three half done ones.

It also hit me the other day, that when God created the world He did one thing each day. He didn’t create part of the ocean, and part of an animal, instead He focused each day to a specific creation, and then took a full day to rest.

I have been trying very hard recently to focus on one thing at a time, and if that is my child talking to me, then I will stop what I am doing and look them in the eye, and I will listen. I am trying to look at the interruptions throughout the day, as opportunities, and that they have a point. Whether it’s a chance to teach my kids a lesson, or hear something I would normally ignore. My point is, that I am trying to be more aware of my priorities, that crossing off the to do list is not more important than listening to my kids, and also that I am pointedly having less on my to do list in order to focus on one thing at a time.