Laughter and little pretzel dogs

True confessions - I LOVE shopping during the Christmas rush. Cassie does not. Let me digress for a minute.
Now in case you missed it, here's a recap of my morning:
It's a lovely vacation morning, which means I am enjoying a Coke and Christmas Tree brownie, soaking in the steaming tub, sipping on an ice-cold Coke. (I only drink Coke at Christmas because Santa approves and who am I to argue with Santa?) Cassie is on her way with her weekly laundry.
LOUD BANGING ON DOOR
Me: Come in, you know where I am.
BANGBANGBANG
Me: CASSIE!! Don't make me get outta this tub...
Bambambamm
Me: USE THE FLIPPING KEY!!!
BANGBANGBANG
Me: OH MY GOSH. I'M COMING! And you're going to wish I wasn't!
Get to the door to see the workman next door running back across the yard....
🙊
So after this occurs,we decide to brave the crowds and shop in the beautifully decorated and peacefully quiet stores. (Right?! Right...) I need a good deal on a large purchase, so I put on my "I'm a 30-year-old professional but I'm off today" outfit, while proselytizing to Cassie on how much better I am treated when I am dressed professionally, or at least semi-professionally. (Oh the irony) In an attempt to make things go faster, I go to Best Buy Mobile in the mall, presuming she can take the kidlets to the playplace while I attempt to snag a "too-good-to-be-true" deal. Hagen shares his momma's dislike of the hustle and bustle, so about 10 minutes into my haggling, the boys and Cassie come to check on me. They are all contentedly munching on tiny pretzel dogs. I promise them it will be a few more minutes and they mosey on out. After those few minutes, it becomes apparent that it is indeed too-good-to-be-true for this broke millennial, so I am scurrying out of the store with my bruised dignity. Just as I reach the mall entrance, I slide across the floor into a bin of discount cell phone cases and catch myself about 2 inches from the floor. I yell, "Whaaaat was that?!" and look down to see - a tiny pretzel dog! The attendant rushes up and begins apologizing and I'm trying desperately to flee with the shards of my dignity. I get to the entrance of the mall and absolutely lose it laughing!! There was a time when I would have bawled over any of those isolated, silly incidences. But oh my golly friends, it was just so funny! The whole thing was such a comedy of errors - priceless!! Laughter is a much better response than bruised pride that leads to anger and regret. Laugh on my friends!!

(And, for what it's worth, I left Kohl's with 5 gifts for $53 and $10 in Kohl's Cash. I "saved" $79, so it was still a great day! ;)

A Love Letter from a Savior

This past month or so, I've been searching and studying my identity in Christ. I've known for a WHILE that I just didn't see myself the way I should, but it took a life-changing weekend in New Mexico with Living Life by Design for me to finally begin to figure it out. Tonight, I was summing up one of my goals, which was to research 30 identity verses and claim them as my own. I want to see myself as God sees me, not the twisted view I've created. At the suggestion of my fabulous life coach, Dr. Shawn Lenhardt, I began writing the verses in first person. It was a GAME CHANGER y'all. SERIOUSLY. Try it. So after rewriting them all in the order I found them, I begin listing the "gists." Here's what God's word says - with a few conjunctions by Courtney. 😊

I am salt, light, a supported servant.
I am confident and unafraid, no longer inferior, called to be free.
I am a child of promise named My Delight.
I have overwhelming victory and God approves of me without my earning it.
I am no longer condemned, but a friend.
I am chosen and sealed with His holy spirit.
God has made me who I am, one of a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
I belong to God because I am born of God.
I have the mind of Christ because I am so miraculously and wonderfully made.
God made me and I am His.
Through Him I am being built in His spirit, the child he loves.
He has made me complete in Christ, a branch of the true vine.
For I have died and am hidden with Christ in my Father. There is therefore no condemnation for me.
I am God's chosen one, appointed a prophet to the nations.
 I am one with him in Spirit, because I am His masterpiece, created to do great works He has planned for me.

Wow God! What a love letter!

My View

I will admit it. I'm a sucker for 30-day challenges. (Well, maybe not workout challenges, but all the rest.) I psych myself up, gather my supplies, make a cute countdown calendar, and anxiously await day one, until day one arrives... Then I'm usually paralyzed by fear or perfectionism or writer's block or I-forgot-and-now-it's-too-late-because-nobody-starts-a-30-day-challenge-on-day-2!! Or even better, I make it through Day 1 and 2 and 3 and maybe even 7 and Saturday comes and I forget or I don't want to or blah blah blah. I annoy myself, trust me!!
So this year, I did complete the 30 day Thanksgiving Scripture plan, albeit not all on the days that I was supposed to. I am feeling fabulous about that, so I downloaded a plan for the Christmas challenge. I also decided to do the #illustratedadvent Bible Journaling challenge, which has been a blast. But I digress. I saw where last year I had begun a 30 day photo challenge intended to help me savor the season. Oh, I started with good intentions friends. I think I made it to day 11, which was impressive. I thought, hey, why not add this in? So tonight's prompt was "My View." My little nephews and company were visiting, and while my sister was putting the little piranha fish W to bed, H and I were watching the Polar Express, munching on chocolate chip cookies, and decorating the tree. Sounds PERFECT right? Except that there was an orange cowboy boot (always a single, I don't know why), a Ninja turtle sock, a cat toy, a juice box and a towel in the floor. H wasn't wearing any pants and was walking around with my phone in one hand and a clutch of tiny treasures in the other, with chocolate chips smeared all over his face. There was a load of unfolded towels on the couch, a pile of books strewn under the tree, and every pair of shoes in this house piled by the door. One cat had knocked the blinds askew and the other was noisily slurping the nastiest smelling cat food ever while purring contentedly at the top of his lungs. H was chattering on about the movie we were watching and the "racecarsharkship" he wants for Christmas, except he really wants me to get it now, C'mon here's your keys, Oh my gosh look at that TRAIN! The washing machine was whirring, the heater was sending dust bunnies flying, and I was wearing the red dress tshirt I wore to school and snowflake blankie pajama pants. It was CHAOS to say the least. And it was absolutely perfect. So I will upload a beautiful-ish picture of my tree, which is sans all my WWII Shiny Brites and is fairly lopsidedly decorated, and remember

tonight. And I will give myself grace to enjoy and cherish this season of anticipation without the pressure and polish.