Weekend Update

February has been fun! Filled with many great days and also some not so great days, but everyday has been an adventure and a learning experience, and I look forward to what is ahead. I have been trying to focus on the positive and be present in every moment!

I really enjoyed studying the scriptures on love this month. I learned so much. It just goes to show, that you can never stop growing in the Word. I feel like some of these scriptures, I have read a dozen times, and every time I take away something different. I wanted to share with you a few important take aways that I learned this month.

first. You can't truly love others the way God wants you to, if you don't love who you are! We simply can not treat others the way we want to be treated, if we don't respect ourselves.

second. Really loving someone means putting their interests above your own interests and stop trying to make a point or be right all the time. 

third. Anyone can do anything just to say they did it or to make themselves feel better, but if it was done without love, it means nothing.

fourth. Love doesn't cost anything, it is absolutely free and Jesus has plenty of it with no strings attached! We love because He first loved us. We have the choice to love others everyday in all that we do. I know it's not easy sometimes, but thats why we pray for His strength!

fifth. Perfect love casts out fear. God's love is perfect and He continues to perfect it in us as we grow in His knowledge and let the Holy Spirit fill us with His inner strength. Love conquers all.

There was a whole lot more, but these were the things that really spoke to my heart as I studied the scriptures. 

One of the scripture verses really stuck with me and so I rewrote it according to how I felt God speaking to my heart. This is what I feel God was speaking to me as I read these verses.

The Way of Love

Love doesn't rush others or get frustrated having to wait. Love thinks about what it says, before it says it. Love encourages and breathes life. Love is always grateful for what it has, while maintaining humility, knowing that it all came from the Lord. Love does not think of itself better than anyone else or treat others disrespectfully. Love is selfless, lets others go first, considers itself last, and doesn't always have to be right. Love doesn't get annoyed with others. Love understands that we all have our faults and doesn't bring up past offenses. Love doesn't like evil and rejoices when the truth comes out. Love admires honesty and endures all things. Love puts up with the worst of times but never loses faith or hope because of His promise to us. Love always wins!!

I hope that you will join in with me for my next topic. I have decided to skip the month of March, with Easter coming up. I have a special devotional that I will be reading this month. Check back at the end of the month for the new packet on our next topic, anger and gentleness.

I leave you with our weekly truth and the past few week's Pinterest projects that I have completed. Although, the paper Dahlias proved to be way too hard and time consuming, so I just had my talented friend whip me up one. I love what she created! It's so much better than what I would have done.

7. Paper Dahlias mine is a lovely felt dahlia wreath my friend made for me.

8. Upcycle cans with twine I decided to upgrade my plastic plant pots by adding some rope twine.

5. Anniversary heart map frame  These are all the places we have gone for each anniversary!


Many Blessings,

It's Okay To Parent A Little Different Than Everyone Else

I don't want this to come off as mean or insensitive, it comes from a place of good, but there is just no other way to put it.

Can we stop judging?!!!

Please! Parenting is hard work! Extremely hard, and we certainly don't need the opinions or glances from everyone else, making us feel that we are doing things wrong. There is no perfect way to parent.

As long as you are feeding your children, keeping them clean, making sure they get their rest, and loving them with all your heart, you are doing things right! How you manage everything else in between is totally your choice and there is nothing wrong with that.

I think the key factor here is that every child is different. Each child has a different personality, a different style of learning, a different attitude. We are all different. This means that, what works for one child, or family, doesn't mean it's going to work for someone else's.

Here are a few things that we let our son do.

We let him play on our iPhones sometimes. Actually, it's more than sometimes, but I don't care. He has actually learned so much from the videos he watches on You Tube Kids. The thing is, I know what he is watching and sometimes, when I am trying to make dinner or need to get something really important done, I let him watch videos. I let him go on the iPhone when we are out to dinner. I would rather have my son sit at the table, behaving, rather than screaming and running around the restaurant, ruining everyone else's dinner. I know that some people may not agree with this but it works for us. I still read to my son, play games with him, go for walks, and he also spends a lot of time playing with his toys too!

We don't always give our son the healthiest meals and most of the food is not organic, but I will tell you what, he is a great eater. He eat's a variety of different things and I am so grateful for that. I wish I had more time to make really healthy meals for my entire family, but sometimes mini tacos from Trader Joe's, that I can just pop right into the oven, are the best option! I have also been known to give my son chocolate at breakfast, because I did not want to go into this big ordeal over trying to get him to let me change his diaper. I've learned to choose my battles, this was not one of them. I am so glad that phase is over!!!

I have also, on several occasions let my son sleep in bed with us. I am not sure when this became frowned upon, but I don't really care if it's something that I am not supposed to do. When it's 4am and all you want to do is sleep because in an hour an a half you have to get up for work, chances are you are just gonna let him sleep in bed with you. I am not saying this happens every night. My son does know that it is important for him to sleep in his own bed, but sometimes you just have to go against the rules!

photo by Sarah Ann Photography

These are just a few examples! I could go on forever, because the truth is, there are so many aspects to parenting and there is no one perfect way to do it. People may not agree with how we parent and we may not choose to do things the way others do! I am confident that I am doing the best I can in raising this precious soul. I love him more than life itself. I'm doing my very best (with the help of my husband, and my heavenly Father) to teach him what's right and wrong,  how to love others and to know who Jesus is. I am gonna mess up, I already have I'm sure, plenty of times, but my son knows who his mama and daddy are. He is learning how to love and respect others and what is good behavior and what is not. I feed him, bathe him, and make sure he is rested!

Everything else, can we please just stop judging each other for??! Don't be ashamed of how you parent! I know that you are doing an awesome job!

Many Blessings,

Weekend Update

It's been a long week.

It just seemed to be one thing after another, and there were lots of emotions flying around. It wasn't even anything major that happened. It just seemed to be the timing of everything, on top of us trying to do too much. Add that to each one of us not feeling well at some point during the week. Not to mention two blog posts that were publish without being finished. That was nice!

I don't like when these weeks come around, because they are draining on us, mentally, physically, and emotionally. When Saturday came along, I didn't want to do anything!! I had no energy and the couch looked like a great place to spend the day. We had plans to go to a marriage workshop at church around 4 and I was hoping by then I would be feeling better, because I was really looking forward to it.

Well, it turned out to be these best thing! It was just what I needed. There was so much good stuff jam packed into those three hours, I left feeling so uplifted and so apologetic to my husband for anything I did that wasn't loving over the past week. I plan on sharing some of the info next week when we finish up our devotional on love, so make sure you check back!

It's so crazy that I chose love as the topic for this month, because it seems to be the one thing that keeps coming up everywhere. I just can't get enough of this love!! Maybe that's why it's the greatest commandment!

I realized once again, that while I can do anything, I am not meant to do everything and that goes for you too! Realize your strengths and learn to appreciate others.

Oh yeah, I definitely did not have time to do my Pinterest project for the week, so maybe next week, and if not, it's not going anywhere!

Have a great week and try not to do too much!

Many Blessings,

Weekend Update // Happy Valentines Day

Weekly Truth

I have really been learning so much about our monthly devotional topic, love and compassion. I thought that I knew ALL there is to know about love, but it turns out there is so much more. These verses have really helped me dig deeper and learn what God's word says about love and compassion. I am halfway through the scriptures for this month and I am really taking the time to explore my heart on this topic.

So far the one common thread that has been weaved into all of these scriptures is this....

It's true.  Love does conquer all things and the more you show it and accept it, the easier it is to understand how powerful it is. 

On this Valentine's Day, don't push it away. Don't shut it out. Let His love in. Let it change you. Let love show you what it is capable of, because without it, we are nothing. 

I hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day. My treat to you today is this 'Love Conquers All' print. All you have to do is sign up --> here with your email to receive my blog posts.

Would you like to join in with me as I study different topics of the bible? This month is on love and compassion and next month, scriptures are all about anger and gentleness. You can learn more about this devotional by reading this post, Explore My Heart.

Pinterest Project Week #6

This week's project can be done in many ways, depending on your style. Below is the link for where I got my inspiration, although my flower tie is quite different. 

6. Flower Curtain Ties

Here are the ones that I created out of some old garland I had.

           

              

You can really create curtain ties from anything. I personally thought that the one from Pinterest looked a little more difficult to make. These ties are just a bunch of pieces of garland cut and the tied together. I then wrapped some thin twine around them and the curtain together to hold them in place. To finish them off, I added a piece of cream lace ribbon to cover the twine. I really love how they turned out!

Many Blessings,

Teacher's Pay Teachers Facebook Page

I had mentioned on Sunday to check back on Monday for the latest and greatest items I had created for my Teacher's Pay Teachers store. Well, Monday I was sick and then yesterday I had the greatest idea ever! Why not create a Facebook page for my store?!! And so I did! I don't know why I didn't think of this before. It didn't take me long and it is just what I need!

I plan to use this page to promote my new materials/activities. I want to use it as a place of communicating and sharing ideas with other SLPs, and I want it to be a place where parents can contact me and utilize some of the great resources that I post.

I am super excited! Won't you take a quick minute and stop on over? It would mean so much!!

click the link here -->  Kessler's Creative Corner

I currently have listed all of my latest items and my best seller. I am also working on something really big, that hopefully will be finished by next week! For now, here is a sneak peek......

Please feel free to share my page with anyone you think might be interested!

Many Blessings,

Weekend Update & New TpT Materials

So this morning this post was published and I didn't even get to finish, so I apologize if you were here and this post wasn't complete.

Weekly Truth

I need to always remind myself of this. We all need to be more gracious to ourselves and let go of the idea of perfection.

Pinterest Project

This weeks project was a fairly simple one. I have not found a place to hang it yet, so when I do, I will definitely post a picture. 

For now, here is where I got the idea from with a link to how to do the project. 

5. Anniversary Heart Map Frame

What's New on TpT

I am not sure if you all know, but I have a little store on Teachers Pay Teachers, Kesslers Creative Corner. I had a few things on there for about a year, but just recently, I have been working really hard to add more materials. I am a school-based speech language pathologist and I currently work with Preschool through 4th grade students. Prior to this job, I worked with students from Kindergarten all the way through high school. I really love what I do and I am so excited to have my own store where i can create things that I love and then share them with you! Be sure to stop by tomorrow on the blog. I am doing a full post on several of my new materials and what I have planned for the next few months. 

Many Blessings,

The One Goal I Didn't Want You to Know About

On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is a spotless house to you?

Most of the time for me it's always gonna be a 10. That's just who I am. I very much dislike mess. It's not even about the floors being clean or the shelves dusted all the time. It's the random toys on the floor in every room, clothes laying around, instead of being hung up in a closet or folded in a drawer. I can't stand when my house is not in order and most of my time, in the past, has been spent on tidying up everyday.

Not anymore! You see, when I chose to be more present in all things this year, I knew that this meant letting go of some of my old ways. In order to be present and fully involved with the situation, I can't be focused on other things. This means no multitasking or allowing other tasks, like tidying up, to come before spending time with my family.

One of my goals this year that I didn't share, is to be more messy and to be ok with it. The first part has been ok so far, but I am really struggling with the second half. It is so hard for me to look at something that needs to be straightened up and just leave it there, but I am working on it! Time with my family is way more important than a spotless house! My house isn't going anywhere and most of the time the only people who see this mess is my family! I spend too much time on straightening and organizing things. It's time to be more messy!

Many Blessings,