June 28th

3 Gifts Eaten

1-Banana after a very hard run, I was so tired today!


2-Eggs and  Toast with my Lady

3-A sandwich while out looking at Homes...we were just going out for fun...I love looking at model homes.















June 27th

3 Gifts  Framed by a Frame

1-Today was the last day of VBS and the kids made little frames as thier craft for today.

2- 1st year anniversary gift to Devin.

3- I loves this last, We have it in the hall and I love the reminder that God is pleased with his children!

 

June 26th

3 Gifts in Fabric

1-My Running clothes are great and feel so comfortable!!

2-The blanket on my bed to snuggle with when i go to sleep.

3-A fresh towel to dry off with after the shower.

June 25th
3 Gifts in someone older than you

1-Wisdom: I enjoy learning from moms who are a few years ahead of me. I always walk away with a different perspective.

This was from our Engagement Photos, we need some more pics taken.

2-Inspiration: Devin is a constant inspiration to me when it comes to writing. He has faithfully worked on his novel and he is nearing the completion of the Editing process!! His dedication and discipline are a great example for me to follow after in my own writing endeavors.

3-Love: I know this might be sappy, but Devin is older than me and he loves me! 




June 24th
3 Gifts in Water, Written, in White

1-Water: A cup of cold water after being outside on a hot day!!

2-Written: Devin wrote up a 'formula' for me to help me hash out my story idea. 

3-White: My friend has a white suburban and she has picked us up all week to take the kids to VBS!

June 23rd
3 Gifts Around the Table

1-Knowledge: The kids and I do their "school" work at the table.

2-Nurishment: This is where we eat. Tonight was breakfast for dinner :-)

3-Laughter: I love having snack or lunch with the kids at the table. They can say some of the funniest things. 

June 22^nd

3 Gifts That are Difficult

1-Cleaning up when you want to do nothing because a clean home feels so good!

2-Giving up sleep to comfort a sick child.

3-Letting go of my fears so someone else can have a fun. 

June 21^st

3 Gifts Found in Light

1-Beauty I love sunsets they are so beautiful and remind me of God’s love for me and his creativity.

2-Warmth: The lights went out today and there was a vacancy in the apartment and the kids were running around trying to turn on the lights asking what happened.

3-Truth: Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Light. His is the Light to my path.   

June 20^th

3 Gifts Bent, Beautiful, Loved

1-Bent: The bend the pipes that bring water to my home.

2-Beautiful: The voices of my kids laughing and playing together.

3-Loved: Devin whom I have been married to for 5½ years today!!

June 19^th

3 Gifts you became today in Serving 

11- A mother: I feel like this is me most of the day getting things for my kids, but to do it with a heart of Joy can be difficult at times.

22- A wife: I love being able to serve my Love, especially when I can listen and pray for him.

33-Humble: Serving others is humbling because it lifts my eyes off of me and puts them on others.

June 18^th

3 Gifts From Your heavenly Father

1-Friendship: I love that God is my best friend!

2-Love: I KNOW I am loved by God.

3-Joy: He has given me life and with him I can live it with joy!

June 17^th

3 Gifts in your Dad

1-Athletics, He sparked my love for running!

2-Laughter, always ready to tell a joke.

3-Giving

June 16th

3 Gifts Moving

Her tongue makes her look like she lost her front teeth. lol

1-My Children, they are always on the move!

2-Time: Some days I want it to stand still or slow down, but I am glad that it's always on the move. Because with time I have opportunity to see dreams come true.

3-God: He is always moving on my behalf. I so thankful that He is my Father and cheers me on!

June 15th 
3 Gifts in His Word

This was taken when I was in Croatia almost nine years ago...

1- Encouragement: I love how God uses His Word to encourage me.

2-Power. To save, heal and set free!! I stand amazed that the WORD became flesh and died so I can live!

3-Direction: With His word and the Spirit I know that my path is made straight and I can have peace in the decisions that come up in my life. :-)


More than anything I love that God teaches me through His Word no matter where I am.

June 14th

3 Gifts Unexpected, Unwanted, Unlikely


1-Unexpected, going to the Zoo this morning. It was a great day to go too.

2-Unwanted, Conviction...I do not like to see my faults, but I am so glad that God points them out so I can be refined into the image of His Son.

3-Unlikly, Saturdays are long run days this week was 3.5miles, I thought that was going to be really tough, but I finished and made it to 4 miles today!!

Waving goodbye to the train, his favorite!!

June 13th

3 Gifts Smelled

1- The fresh air during my run in the morning! It was absolutely beautiful outside!!

2-Sunscreen. It always reminds me of summer and all things hot.

3-BBQ another sign of summer. We passed one on our way home from the park. Smelled so good!

June 12th

3 Gifts Full

1- Three little faces full of smiles.

2- A Full dishwasher of clean dishes.

3-Fulling a dream of running a half marathon one step at a time.

June 11th
3 Gifts Painted

I had to think about this for a long time as we do not have that many painted things (apart from the kid's art work :-). But here are three that I am very happy to have. 

1-When we got married Devin and I went to Color-Me-Mine to make a plaque. On it we wrote all the things we want to have in our marriage.

2-On our 1st Anniversary we made a vase.

3-The lion was for our 2nd Anniversary, it was my gift to Devin.

June 10th
3 Gifts at 8, 12 and 2

They are so cute holding hands

1-Eight AM: Little Lady wanted to go out in the cold rain, instead she took a warm shower and pretended to mix pancakes with her measuring cup, bowl and spoon that I gave her to play with.

2-Noon: We had a dance party!

3-Two PM: It was nap time for two out of three kids!

June 9th

3 Gifts that made me SMILE

1- Devin playing with the kids after he came home from work

2-Little Lady hiding under a pillow with her legs sticking out, but thinking we can't see her. (I'll have to get her to reenact it and get a picture.)

3-My boys who love to laugh at each other.

3 Gifts Empty

My blue laundry basket I have had since 2002 at Lake Tahoe!

1- An empty dirty-laundry basket! Thanks to My Love for working on it so hard today.

2-An empty plate after eating a great dinner.

3-Time to empty my thoughts out while running this morning!

It is strange because when one thing is empty something is filled in its place. no more dirty clothes, Lots of clean ones. No more food, Full tummy. Less thoughts of my worries, more of God's heart

I put this up because there is so much green around here and I see it while I run :)

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June 7th 

3 Gifts in What You are Reading

I enjoy reading, but have had little time recently, but I have gotten the following out of what I have read.  

1-Encouragement when I read Guidepost: I love this gift! My Grandma gave me a subscription a number of years ago. Every month I receive the magazine. I always read His Mysterious Ways and What Prayer Can Do first.

2- Laughter when I read children's books. They are funny and playful.

3-Wisdom. The times I do have a chance to read I have been reading the Well Trained Mind. I have learned a lot about educating my kids. 

June 6th
3 Gifts that are "Ugly-Beautiful"

1-When I first thought of this I was trying to find an image that would match "ugly-beautiful", but all I thought of was a bug and the truth is I don't think any bug is beautiful to look at. Still they are Beautifully created by the Creator and though I do not like to have them in my house, and thankfully I haven't seen any today, I know bugs are vital to what God has made.  So thanks God for the creepy crawly bugs.

2- With a house full of little feet, the rooms are always an ugly mess, but I can look at them instead as a beautiful reminder of how blessed by God I am. (I will spare you all a picture of their bedroom. :-)

3- I think the greatest gift that is "ugly-beautiful" is me. The fact that God still loved me when I was like a filthy rag and now because of His grace I am declared clean! Me, an ugly mess can stand before the Creator of the world because He has made me beautiful! How amazing is that?!

June 5th
3 Gifts of Peace, Hope and Love

1-Peace: I was able to get a nap!

2-Hope: This challenge gives me hope that I will learn to have a deep joy in my heart as a mother.

3-Love: This was super easy. Devin is the best gift in this world I have ever gotten and he was given to me by my Greatest Love. So there is no topping it.  

June 4th
3 Gifts Found in Christ

1- Salvation: Without this I would not be the person I am today. It is through His sacrifice that I have gained the greatest friend I could ever have: God. He always has my back and knows everything about me. I love that! No matter what I know I can go to Him and He will always accept me because I am His and He is mine.

2-The Holy Spirit: I love that Jesus left us the gift of the Holy Spirit. Everyday is a chance to listen and obey. Without His guidance I would be lost!

3-Eternal Life: This is amazing! Though Christ I will spend eternity in heaven with God! Wow, I truly cannot grasp that. The other day I was thinking about what I would want to do in heaven. The one thing I thought of was sitting in God's lap singing praises to Him. My hearts longing is always to be close to Him and through Christ that is possible!!

June 3rd 
3 Gifts From Conversations Today
 
1- Normally I have great conversation while running with my friend, but today I was on my own and had to get encouragement from my own self talk. "You've got to want it to win it and we want it more," was going through my head around a mile and a half into my run. This kept my feet moving and I was able to reach my goal of two 10min miles! 

2-While eating our oatmeal Little Lady sat on my lap with her spoon and me with mine. She introduced her spoon to mine and we talked. This is something she loves to do. I thought that this moment was simple and precious. One that I hope I will remember all my days. 

3-"Mommy, I love you."  Some of the sweetest words to grace the lips of humanity.

 

This blog is about living with Joy despite life circumstances. For the last few years I have stuggled to see the Joy in life and to live it. 


I am a wife to my husband of 5 years and a mother and the woman who wants to be perfect, but falls short every day. Most of all I am a daughter of the King of kings. And He has my best at heart all the time. Which is why I am doing this blog. As a mother of 3 young children I know God wants me to have joy in the midst of whining, screaming, changing diapers, loads of laundry, sleepless nights, cooking, endless dishes, dirty floors, bubble baths and hearing my name called 100's of times a day. I NEED JOY in my life like I need water and the only way for that to happen is to CHANGE what I look at. I tend to be negative so to do the opposite is to look at the positive. All the beautiful, wonderful gifts God has placed in my life.  

My hope is that by being thankful I will learn how to live with Joy everyday. I will be doing the Joy Dare Collection by Ann Voskamp. She has a wonderful website for those who want to know more at ANNVOSKAMP.COM. She also has a book called 1000 gifts. I started reading it about a month ago and thought this would be a great challenge for me.  My goal is to write about or photograph the 3 Gifts of the day and post them on here. A gift is simply something I am thankful for no matter how small or insignificant to someone else.  This is a year long challenge. So this is what I am thankful for:


June 1st 
3 Gifts Orange


1- The orange candle in the bathroom. I love the smell
2-Goldfish Crackers, my Little Lady loves to eat them all the time so they make me think of her. 
3-Orange race tracks for hotwheels. These are my husbands. As strange as it may sound we have had many great times racing cars on the tracks at night and I am so glad they provide a stress release for My Love.

 
June 2nd
3 Gifts Funny

This one is easy, I have 3 children and they all make me laugh. Bubba is always quoting movies, Little Lady loves changing her outfits a million times a day and Little Man loves to dance to music, rocking his little hips... They are so funny! I love to watch them interact with one another.