Life – Page 4 – the Spiff

Links to Make Your Life Spiffy

May 5, 2017 1 Comment

mom life, knoxville mom, mom fashion, mom style, how to organize a diaper bag, how to choose a diaper bag, coach diaper bag, skip hop diaper bag, mom blog

A good weekend to me is equal parts relaxing and productive. So…maybe a 4-5 episode binge on Gilmore Girls followed by a good closet clean out (and when I say “4-5 episodes” I really mean 4-5 seasons).

This week I cleaned and organized my closet which has me on a cleaning and organizing high – WHAT ELSE CAN I GET MY HANDS ON. So we’ll see what all I get to in the next few days.

Today, I wanted to share some fun links with you that I hope will help make your life spiffier and help you feel like you’re able to take on the world come Monday…

Cleaning:

As I said: my closet – done! Now I need to tackle our master bathroom and figure out a way to keep all my hair products out of reach from little hands. This inspiration from Real Simple will help me do just that.

Shopping:

If you’re out and about browsing the stores this weekend this closet staple will help you look pulled together in an instant! Always be on the hunt for a good one, no matter the season.

Cooking:

The Farmer’s Market has started up where I live WOOO WHOOOOO!! And I’m determined (bolded and italicized as a self reminder) to buy more produce and eat it this year. I work from home now so my lunches can theoretically consist of straight up veggies every dang day. Let’s do this with these sheet pan recipes.

Aand as a bonus…Here’s a great article I read recently on managing money. Sure it’s not the first thing you want to read heading into the weekend, but that’s when being aware of these things matters the most. I like the idea of going one whole day without spending – I try to do that myself! (Notice, “try” – thanks a lot Amazon. *rolls eyes).

I hope all of this helps to make everyday a spiffy day!

Life, Spiffy

Thoughts on Believing God for a Baby

April 18, 2017 No Comments

believing God for a baby, mom life, mom blog

You’re not alone.

I had a dear friend tell me that recently – she wanted to let me now I wasn’t alone. After she said it, I thought those have to be some of the most uplifting words in the English language. To know that you don’t have to go through something alone is invaluable.

I just want to share my thoughts and some of our story. I wish I had a formula that you can follow and suddenly the strip turns positive. But then we wouldn’t get to sit back and watch God’s plan unfold.

It’s a process. It takes faith in God’s timing. It takes patience – which as my Pastor preached recently is, “the ability to stand and not give up.”

You may be surrounded in pregnant women. Stand. Don’t give up.

You may see people who aren’t trusting God with their lives, suddenly get pregnant. Stand. Don’t give up.

You may have the last 10 months of period start dates memorized. Stand. Don’t give up.

I think about this subject every year on Good Friday. It was Good Friday 2014 that I miscarried for a second time. I didn’t have a good doctor and being a fiercely private person, I hadn’t shared any of what we were going through with anyone. So the feeling of being alone was real. Of course I had my husband, who I’m extremely thankful for. He held me up and we stood in faith together.

I’m sure the monthly melt down when I’d get my period and come to him crying and holding a tampon wrapper got old for him. But he was always there to be my cheerleader.

Who is your cheerleader? If you don’t have one, get one. It needs to be someone who is going to pull you up off the floor, dust you off and get in your face every time to tell you, “God is faithful. He never fails.”

The thing I’m meditating on and purposing to do right now is to rest in His timing.

We decided in 2012 that we felt the time was right for kids. Jackson was born in 2015 and you know what? He couldn’t have been more perfectly timed. I’m serious.

Sure it didn’t happen when we thought it should, but my goodness it was perfect in ways I never could have thought of myself. Which is why He’s God. (She reminds herself).

Besides having a cheerleader, the things that got me through it was speaking the Word.

Exodus 23:26
There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land, and will give you long, full lives.

Psalm 127:3-5
Children are a gift from The Lord; they are a reward from Him. Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands. How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them!

I knew that children were a blessing from God because His word says so, which meant the doubt in my mind that said we were never going to be parents had to go.

The next thing I consciously did was choose to be thankful.

Thankful for silly things. Like being able to bop in and out of stores with ease, or thankful that I could just walk around and not have to carry 17 pounds of stuff (babies require A LOT of stuff, turns out). In doing so, it helped me two fold: it helped me appreciate the time of life I was in and not waist it wishing I was doing something else. And it helps me now as I carry 27 pounds of things (it doubles eventually) – I can rest knowing I had a great time as just a girl (woman, whatever) and now I can have a great time as a Mom.

Finally, I took steps of faith. Besides speaking the Word over and over and over again, I did everything in my power to prep.

I bought up clothes that could be worn with a belly. I lost weight so I would be ready for extra pregnancy pounds. I wore maternity pants. In fact I wore those pants so long, that I stopped thinking of them as maternity (LORD are they comfortable…I mean were comfortable as in past tense like I don’t wear them now that would be silly…*nervous laughter). One day I put them on over my pregnant belly and was wearing them around the house when I realized – there was finally a baby in that pouch. I pointed it out to my husband and we both just cried in thanks to God.

I know being in the middle of waiting it feels like a mountain. I know it can be frustrating when it’s happening all around you. I know it feels frustrating when you realize you’ve started menstruating. Those are the facts, but they’re not the truth.

The truth is that God has good plans for you. The truth is that faith is the evidence of things hoped for. The bible says – your faith has given you the title deed. I like to think of it this way – my faith has given me the birth certificate for that baby.

God has such good plans for you. Just lean back and trust Him.

You’re not alone. Elizabeth@thespiff.com

Life

Risen.

April 14, 2017 No Comments

Today is Good Friday.

This day holds some significance in my life (more on that Tuesday).

In more ways than one, I’m thankful that Sunday came and that my Savior rose from the grave.

I wouldn’t be nearly the person I am today if it weren’t for my relationship with God. I mean it. I would have no peace, no joy.

But because of Him I can rest knowing I get to live in freedom, forgiveness and grace.

Go to church this Sunday. Celebrate. He’s not in the grave anymore!

Redemption Church

Life, Spiffy

How to Get it All Done {My Sanity-Saving Tip}

March 10, 2017 No Comments

mom blog, how to get it all done, knoxville mom, mom fashion blog, mom fashion blogger, mom life, how to get it all done, juggling work and motherhood

Ten words is all it takes to help you get it done.

When those ten words are repeated out loud ten times, I’m telling you, it makes all the difference in the world. I’ve conquered seemingly impossible to-do lists with the help of those words.

But before I get into that…

Right now, make a mental list of all your titles. I thought about giving you mine, but I didn’t want to sound like I was engaging you in a busy badge throw down.

Even if you have a short list like: “Mom” or even, “Human Being”, there is plenty enough on your plate.

I keep mental lists of all I want to get done in a day. Are those lists I’ve created for the super-human me who thinks that life is a TiVo box and can be paused for me to get massive amounts of things done in a small amount of time? *Deep breath* Yes. Yes they are.

Sometimes I drop the child off at my mother’s so I can attempt to pause life and catch up on things like the blog and cleaning. The other day as I drove away from the house, I started making that list. I kept thinking of things that were time sensitive and HAD to happen in the three hours I had to myself.

Then I stopped and realized – it was only three hours.

Instead of letting the weight of all I had to do (seriously, the list was long and non-negotiable), I started repeating something I read about.

Last year I read the book, “The Power of Positive Thinking” by Dr. Norman Vincent Peal. This book, I kid you not, is a game-changer.

It has changed my life in so many ways. I will read it again this year.

In it, he talks about the power of starting your day by repeating things out loud. One of those things is Philippians 4:13…

“I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.”

Repeat that to yourself 10 times. It helps that there are ten words in the verse, so I go through and emphasize each word till I get to the last one, that way I know I’ve said it ten times.

You may think that sounds silly. But, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

First, “And hearing” is mentioned twice, so you know it’s important. Second, how can you hear something unless someone says it out loud? You are the someone in the room. Say it out loud.

What was the result for me? At the end of my busy long to-do list day – I got everything done and then some. AND THEN SOME (if you didn’t catch it the first time).

Hey, you can’t make it a spiffy day if you’re frazzled and overwhelmed. So I’m here to help with that.