Show Mercy!

My son is learning to be a giving little man and I love it. I am so proud of who he is becoming, he has so much compassion and love for other people. He attends a Christian school and is learning how to use Christ in his daily life. His teacher is amazing, she helps with a christian mission organization that feeds the homeless on our own city streets. She started off by encouraging the kids to make care packages for the homeless, so on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentines day instead of the parents sending in 'party' stuff for them each family donated an item to pack a bag lunch for thirty homeless men. Caleb was so encouraged to know that even at his age he could help someone in need. His desire to help others has blossomed, and with the encouragement of his teacher we were invited to hit the streets and serve dinners and pray with people and encourage them; really just be there friends! I have to admit, taking my boy to the streets in the dark made me a little nervous but I had been searching for a place for him to start serving and learning to help others and then it hit me this was our chance.
We prayed in the car on our first trip and I just took a minute to remind him they are just like you and me but down on there luck. They deserve to be loved, helped, and treated with dignity and respect. We got out of the car and it was like he belonged there. No fear, talking to people, telling jokes and laughing was really a melt my heart moment.
Long story short we had the chance to go back last night and I tried to talk him into staying home, I was tired and had things to do, but I took a deep breathe and remembered that this was a blessing and I should thankful that my son wants to help others. So we took Kylee to Grandma's grabbed a quick dinner and headed to Charlotte; just like the last time it was like he belonged there. Laughing and talking with these guys passing out socks and dinners with a smile on his face. I am asking that you pray for Caleb and his heart, his giving heart that God would lead him to something GREAT with this new passion of helping others. To top off my Mom fail this morning he was leading chapel at school and he wanted to make a 'sign' with card board in the garage ( Let me tell you mornings are crazy around here trying to get out of the house) so I argued with him for a bit and finally was just like 'fine' take it!
I was blessed enough to attend chapel this morning and see Caleb's vision come to life. He took the cardboard and wrote in black letters 'SHOW MERCY', and I had a flood of guilt but it was over powered  with pride for my boy, he gets it I thought to myself. I was grateful for the reminder myself. Sometimes life gets crazy and we can get stuck in ruts and we can feel like we are just living for ourselves but always remember there are people out there that are in real need and even if you don't have lots of extra money or time every little bit can help.
If you are interested in donating items for us to take please let me know. They take socks, coats, backpacks, men's and woman's shirts and pants. If you take anything from this, remember to Show Mercy on others.And remember to listen to your children, it might not always be what you want to do but its what you need to do.
I am excited to continue this journey, to watch Caleb grow and to grow as a family!
So Blessed!
Xo,
Kat

Parenting with Tough Love

I read a great article the other day that my Mom sent to me, it was about teaching our kids about failure. At first thought I was thinking I don't want my kids to fail and then it dawned on me that it is because I have lived failure in more than one sense. Friendships, love, education, tests, and the list goes on. However if we as parents don't allow our children to learn how to cope with failure how will they cope when they are adults?! Most likely they would grow up blaming anyone and everyone and thinking that the world owed them something. So with this article I realized that I want my kids to live life and all that goes with it including failure, whether its self inflicted or caused by something worldly. Life will be full of choices for them, you make choices everyday and all the choices we make have a consequence whether they are good or bad. I want them to learn to make the best choices but the reality is in order to learn to make the better choice they will have to make the bad choices that in return could cause failure of some kind. This is tough because with failure comes the emotions that lead us to question our ability to do things, it can rock us to our core. I am being reminded that through the eyes of my son that sometimes failure can be sad and can cause defeat and doubt in oneself. My job as his Mom is to remind him that with hard work, effort and dedication he can achieve any goal and over come any obstacle if he puts his mind to it.

As parents with need to remind ourselves that we are not here to provide our children with all the luxuries in life and make them as comfortable as possible. Our job is to provide them with there basic needs and show them love and guide them into growing into the young adults we know they can be. Every age, event, triumph, heartache, loss, and even failure will mold them into who they will become. I feel positive that with a lots of guidance and resilience children can overcome anything.

I do not want to raise selfish children; I want to raise confidant, caring, honest, hard working and resilient children that will grow up knowing how to face failure and any other challenges that come their way.

I know this phase of change is just beginning for my house and I am interested in seeing how life progresses and the things we will conquer as a family!!

The best advice I can give myself is to keep the faith, pray, encourage each other and love everyday! And to remind myself that I too I am only human, I too have bad days and cry and yell but at the end of the day its all going to be okay and the best part is that tomorrow is a new day for us all! So here is to what I learned yesterday, lived today and whatever tomorrow will bring.

Xo,

Kat

Confessions...Honesty at its finest!

Alright I haven't done this in a while so here it goes...

1. I have been doing a cleanse, clean eating, no eating I am doing great on this program but let me tell ya I am feeding my kids crap food! Need to get better with that but lets be honest the thought of cooking a meal while I am drinking liquid hasn't been a high priority for me = Mom Fail
2. Spring sports are back in full swing and I am already OVER driving all over town 3 nights a week!!
3. Caleb was out of school for two days sick 2 weeks and we are still making up school work= Makes me want to pull my hair out. 
4. I think every bath towel and dish towel in our house is dirty at the moment and I have contemplated just going to buy more instead of doing the laundry, then I realized that will just be more laundry...Boo!
5. The block feature on Verizon is an Awesome feature, no more info required :)
6. Saw Bon Jovi in concert this week... LOVE him!
7. Forcing my kids to eat breakfast is exhausting... so I have resorted to giving them a complete sugar high; Chocolate Crescent rolls thanks Pinterest!
8. School Uniforms are great until you go on Laundry Strike! Blah
9. I hate Kylee's hamster... and hate here is an understatement. He bites, eats and poops! Oh and my fav is his odor!!!! Someone said give him a bath?! What?! No way that would require holding him..No thanks. Anyone want a hamster named George?! Anyone?
10. Projects for Elementary children are really designed to see how much hair a parent can pull out over the course of 2 months.... Large map, state flag, alliteration booklet, 3 page research paper (Really?! Cause ya my ADHD kid can read a book, take notes and write a 3 page paper on his own, NOT!) Then he has to prepare a food dish popular in the area and dress up like he could be visiting there! Seriously I know more about Utah then I ever cared too, so that I can 'help' write a paper with Caleb. Middle school is just going to SUCK!!

I feel a little better, I guess I am going to go home and do LOTS of laundry tonight since its uniform free day at school tomorrow, getting my priorities straight! On the bright side they will have clean shirts next week.

Happy Thursday!

7 pounds in 4 days Cleansing.. Are you curious?

This week began the next chapter for me. I had been following a lady on facebook who sells a product called Isagenix.

This is a cleanse product that can be found here http://www.isagenix.com/us/en/home.dhtml

This is a cleanse to rid your body of toxins and bring out the best you possible!

I have been on this program for 4 days YES only 4 days and I feel amazing.

This product has helped my overall mood and lets be honest I am not just saying this, today is my 2nd cleanse day for the week and I haven't consumed any food in a day and a half and I feel great!

This product is known to:

• Energy Boost
• Consistent weight loss over time
• Reduced cravings for unhealthy food
• Improved muscle tone
• Balanced digestion

I think I have heard the word cleansing a lot in the social media world lately, it seems to be all the rage.

Since I suffer from IBS and typically have a hard time cutting out certain items from my diet so I was hesitant. But since we are being honest there was A LOT more that I should have cut out a long time ago that I didn't so I made the leap. And so far so good.

The purpose of cleansing the body....

To dissolve and eliminate toxins and congestion that have formed inside your body.

To cleanse the kidneys and the digestive system.

To purify the glands and cells throughout the entire body.

To build a healthy blood stream.

To keep youth and skin elasticity regardless of our years.

To lose excess weight.

To increase energy, and mental clarity

Please check out the website and if you have any questions or would like to try the product let me know.

This is still new to me but I am telling you I have never felt better, In just four days I went from hitting the snooze button four or five times in the morning to waking up almost an hour before the alarm goes off and feeling energized and ready for the day. And the best part is I am on NO CAFFEINE!! No headaches or shakes or tummy issues. Just lots of water.

Here is to the next 26 days...stay curious!