My friend Kitty has a blog – a great blog where she talks about everything from kids to ministry to freezer cooking.  She recently did a post called “My Favorite Things” and I loved hearing about fun, new things that are working for her and her family.  I agree with her that we as a family fight hard against consumerism – so this is not meant to be a “you need what I have” post.  However, we have found a few things that work for us, so I thought I would share.  Consider this the things I am loving at the moment.

1.  My mom introduced me to Mary Kay when I was a teen and I lived by their products for the longest time.  Then, after getting married and having to pay for everything on my own, I switched to the cheaper “drugstore” cosmetics.  I recently made the switch back to Mary Kay, because, if I am honest, for me, it works better, and that is worth the extra cost.

For the longest time I have been wanting to try Proactiv to see if it would work for my acne, but it wasn’t bad enough for me to fork out the cash.  When I saw Mary Kay had an acne product line, I was so excited to try it.  After hearing from friends about how well it worked, I couldn’t order it fast enough.  I recently started using them and let me tell you, this stuff works.

I was told that my face could get worse before it started getting better, which meant it was working.  That has happened, but let me tell you, I can tell such a difference already I am excited to see what happens when it really starts working!

2.  A friend recommended this kid’s Bible to me, so we bought it for Kinsley for her birthday.  I know there are lots of kid’s Bibles out there and we have quite a few of them.  What makes this stand out for me are the questions and activities it gives you at the end of each story.  They are great questions to help kids understand the story and the Gospel, and the activities give them something fun to do to relate.  I might like crafting, but I am not creative – I am the “do it like it is done on Pinterest” kinda person – so this Bible having it all spelled out for ya is right up my alley.

3.  This lady right here rocks my socks off.

We have had the privilege of living life with her the last few years here in NC, and she is a treasure to our family.  Not only does she do a great job of loving on our community group, praying for us faithfully, loving on kids everyday in her job as a 4th grade teacher, but she serves our family and many others in so many ways – from fixing us meals, to encouraging me in motherhood and in Christ, to watching our kids for us to have date nights, to coming over when Ed is on campus in the evenings to help me get all three kids fed, dressed, and ready for bed. Such a privilege to watch her serve others as Christ served and for my kids to consider her family.   So excited for her to have her own little grandbaby to love on soon!

4.  Friends, Parenthood, and now Downton Abbey.  What in the world to do when all my shows go off the air?  Find a new one, of course.  One night, while Ed was on campus, and I was doing some work, I turned on The Voice for background noise.  After it went off, I kept the TV going and a show called “The Night Shift” came on.  It takes a lot to get me hooked on shows I have never heard about before, especially from just halfway watching them one time.  Well, I am definitely hooked.  So hooked, I went on Amazon and watched all the shows I had missed.  It is medical drama and life drama all in one.

5.  The past few weeks, my kids have been able to go outside in the backyard and play all by themselves (it is fenced in, they can’t get out, and I do leave the door open – just in case you thought I left them to “fend for themselves”).  Normally, that just means they wander around for a few minutes and yell “Mom, can you come push me on the swings” or “There’s a lizard in the playhouse – come get it out!”.  But lately, thanks to my parents’ brilliant Christmas present for the kids, my kids can entertain themselves a little better.  Let me introduce, my sanity-saver:

Seriously, this see-saw/teeter-tooter/up-and-down thing is phenomenal.  Not only does it go up and down, but it spins around and around in a circle.  They ask to play with this every single day and for the most part, it is an argument-free toy.  Don’t get me wrong, they still love to play with momma, but when dinner has to be fixed or baby has to be fed, this thing is a good fill-in.