It all started a few months ago with a simple prayer, “Jesus, teach me more of this resurrection life.” And so He has. Each time I can steal a few minutes away with Him, he has been showing me resurrection everywhere. I don’t have more words to share quite yet, because I sense that I am at the beginning of this journey towards living fully in His resurrection life. But Easter, there is no better diving board into resurrection than Easter.

This year we got to celebrate Easter with some of my family joining us at our house. We Fieleke’s, we Easter real hard. Its a huge deal, this Jesus being alive business. So I thought I would share a bit of our weekend memories…

 Grumpa and Grandma brought their new fifth wheel to Clinton lake and we got to spend some time hiking in the woods where they were camped on Friday night.

Easter egg dying was surprisingly un-messy and non-disastrous. Grandma Fick read Bub all the books and he was real happy about it. Of course us girl’s decided the Easter cupcakes needed some fondant decorations so we got to work. Wanna talk about resurrection? How about my amazing parents who put the past behind them long ago and decided, by God’s grace, to be the some of the world’s most amazing grandparents who hang out together! Goals, people – follow their lead! Grandpa Alan read us The Garden, The Curtain, and the Cross on Saturday night as we all adored Jesus and this amazing gift of new life. 
Wanna talk about more resurrection?!?! One of our favorite women on the entire planet, Micah’s birth mom spent the whole morning with us. When many would have suggested ending life, she chose to bring new life into the world and Micah’s life has brought more joy to our family than words can ever express! Also, we are obsessed with her and forever grateful that she lets us be a part of her life. (Her story belongs to her so I don’t share pictures of her on our blog for her privacy)

The most handsome Easter Bunny of all time. ever. 
They were so proud of their full buckets and are still sneaking jelly beans around the clock. Time for a Resurrection Day feast! The girl’s were so excited to set the table and decorate with their newly painted Easter eggs. 

 Thanks for looking through our Easter memories. I can’t believe how fast these three are growing up!

[ He Is Your Life ] So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Colossians 3:1-2 MSG

“It’s urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive. Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself. And he has given him the authority, simply because he is the Son of Man, to decide and carry out matters of Judgment. “Don’t act so surprised at all this. The time is coming when everyone dead and buried will hear his voice. Those who have lived the right way will walk out into a resurrection Life; those who have lived the wrong way, into a resurrection Judgment. John 5:27-29 MSG

Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah! Romans 5:9-11 MSG

 

 

 

Easter. Oh gracious, I love Easter. My tables are covered in flowers, eggs, and bunnies. “He is Risen” is the banner over our kitchen table and our hearts as we get ready for our favorite day of the year.

Lately, I’ve been hearing God remind me at all hours of the day, that if I look for resurrection, I will find it everywhere. New life where flowers were once dead. Buds blooming from trees and the broken old rocking chair we adorned with new paint and a paisley cushion for our front step. Resurrection. King Jesus is alive and all of his creation is shouting it.

In years past we have celebrated 10 days of Easter as a family and it has been so sweet for us to remind our kids that the Risen Lord Jesus is a really big deal and such a reason to celebrate.

Our toddler activities can be found here.

Our preschool activities can be found here.

This year, I wrote a new family devotional for our kids. Every morning for the 9 mornings leading up to Easter and on Easter morning, we will (attempt) to wake up early and gather around the breakfast table, open our Bibles, and talk and pray together about how Jesus changes everything for us.  Each day has a coloring page to go along with the devotional so that our kid’s busy little hands can keep moving while we chat and pray. (I should note that this will indeed take a miracle because breakfast at our house is usually dry cereal and chocolate milk in sippy cups, while we snuggle in Mom and Dad’s bed, trying to wake up without fits and tears!)

Heres the plan: I pre-make bags for each day with each kids name on it, kind of like little presents. Some days, I will just include a devotional print out and coloring page in each kiddo’s bag. Other days, there will be additional surprises like Easter books, stickers, jelly beans, or other fun goodies. I usually spend about 3 hours prepping for the 10 Days of Easter and then everything is set to go! We will have a large jar of colored pencils and crayons on the kitchen table so that the kiddos can work on the small coloring pages while we cover the material and eat breakfast. I’m really looking forward to seeing their masterpieces.

We would love for you and your family to join us! Here is a link to our FREE 10 Days of Easter family devotional:

10 Days of Easter – Because of Jesus

Thanks for stopping by! Comment and let me know if you are joining in this year! On instagram use the #10daysofeaster and we can follow along.

Love, Maddi

My favorite little loves & our spring photo shoot

photo by: Devon Garton Photography 

Last weekend was our 9th Annual Palace Reunion. I met my best friends in college and we lived in a house we named, “The Palace”, because we were daughters of the King and that made perfect sense to us!  Unfortunately, like most college houses, it was more of a dump than an actual palace. All of our parents have since told us how disgusted they were by the whole house. Looking back the mouse poop in the cabinets and the birds living INSIDE the third floor bedroom might have been red flags…

These yearly reunions are so special to us. We rotate visiting each other’s homes so that we can share our home towns and get a little taste of each other’s lives. This year was Kendall’s year to host so we took the road trip of the century to Knoxville, Tennessee. It was a loooooonnnngggg trip but we carpooled and got extra time to catch up.

Let me introduce you to some of my favorite ladies of all time (from left to right):

Stephanie is fiercely loyal and absolutely hilarious. She is an amazing photographer who lives in KC with her hubs and two kids. I love Ste’s heart for loving people and serving them. She is a phenomenal wife and mom – I am always learning from her. I love that Ste doesn’t need the limelight to shine, she just puts her head down, and serves anyone and everyone with joy.

Cindi has the voice of a mouse and the soul of a saint. When you are around Cindi, you are loved well. Its just who she is. If there are ever tears being shed, she joins in because she feels so deeply with people. When you chat with her, you can’t help but feel the tender love of Jesus. Cindi, her hubs and 3 kids are moving to Rogersville this week and when she opens her etsy shop back up, you can buy her amazing baby products.

Ashley lives in St. Louis and has the cutest house you ever did see. She is wise beyond her years and has a trusted, well earned, voice into many women’s lives. She loves Jesus with her heart, soul, mind and strength. I always leave conversations with Ash having learned from the way she presses into Jesus and His character. And her one liners will have you keeling over laughing.

I’m me. Let’s have coffee.

Whatever Deb’s is doing, she does 100% and with excellence. So if she is being funny, she is being THE FUNNIEST.  Her passion and zeal for the people she loves makes her an amazing wife to J, mom to two littles, and friend to us! She loves Jesus in the marrow of her bones and the last few years, I have watched her face trials with amazing faith and endurance.

Kendall is always up for an adventure. We met Kendall on a Cru summer trip in East Asia and convinced her to move to Missouri and be our roommate in a ten minute conversation! She was even up for hosting a group of 7 while being almost 37 weeks pregnant with her second little girl. After 10 minutes of knowing her, you would know she is a safe person – she can handle the best of people and the worst of people and still adore them all the same.

Bekah lives in Nashville and runs the amazing High Fancy Paper.  Bek’s attention to detail makes her fabulous at her job and helps her to see the world in lenses most people don’t have. Whatever is making you happy, sad, or anxious, you can always know that Bek will take notice and enter in with you. She loves God and people with intention and care.

Seriously, how great are these women?!?!?!

We always wrap up our trip by going to church Sunday morning together and its one of my favorite memories every weekend. I love standing with these sisters and singing to the One who has knit our hearts together in friendship. We say we are thick as thieves. Basically, we fight for each other. Occasionally, with each other. We are always saying yes to a friendship that can withstand being in different states and often very different life seasons. We grieve together, pray together, laugh together, often pee our pants together, and our group text thread is often eating up every ounce of memory on each of our phones.

Next year will be year TEN. How that many years have gone by is insane. But to say I’m grateful for each year would be an understatement.

You can catch up on a few of our old reunion posts here & here.

Some of my favorite bloggers frequently document a week or a day in their lives. And some of my all time favorite memories are documented in our blog over the last 5 years in the small, mundane details of our lives. So I’m starting a little series I will update a few times a year called “A Week in Our Life” I just can’t wait to look back in 5 years at all the little day to day details that I will have long forgotten and remember how sweet our time together as a young family really was.

So here it is – A Week in Our Life from January 25, 2017 through February 1, 2017.

Wednesday Jan. 25

8  am – out the door to get Ruth and Bitty to school. Run by a quick doc appt. and then Micah and I hung with my friend Jenny and her twin girls for a few hours.

11:30 am – pick up Bitty from school and head home for my “Mama time off”

12-4 pm – Blog, rest, read my Bible and prep for my Cru talk Thursday night 

4pm – Ruth out the door to gymnastics

5 pm- Josh and Ruth home. Dinner as a family and play time together. 

7pm – Surprise visit from sweet Is while her parents went out to grab some much needed alone time and I ask Josh to take a million pics of her and I so she will know how much she liked me when she is older.

10 pm – in bed and fast asleep!

Thursday Jan. 26

8 am – Ruth out the door to school and plop kids down in front of the tv to clean, clean, clean my messy house! A few snuggles and lots of play dough playing trickled throughout my cleaning breaks

11 am – I convince the kids to go to TJ Maxx with me and I buy one too many goodies. Oops. Always happens at TJ Maxx.

12 pm – Visit from Kristi and her littles – so fun to watch Lydia run wild with Hadley.

3:20 pm – Pick up Ru from school and bring home Brooke, Baya, and Aaron (aka my other 3 kids)

4:30 pm – Rebecca swings by to grab her 3 kiddos and I talk her into staying for a quick cup of coffee.

5 pm – dinner as a Fam (Every Thursday night is breakfast for dinner)

6:30 pm – I’m out the door to head to our Cru weekly meeting on campus while Josh does bedtime with the kiddos.

8 pm – I taught out of 2 Timothy at Cru and loved meeting lots of new students!

10 pm – in bed with my love after a loooonnggg day

Friday Jan. 27

8 am – Ruth and Lydia off to school. Micah and I grab coffee and go to Jenny’s new house and dream up decorating ideas with her. It’s going to be so great!

11 am – Run by chiropractor because my kids ninja kick me all night long.

11:30 am – Micah and I pick up Bitty, head home for a lunch with Daddy.

12:30 – 1:30 pm – Meal prep and shop for 12 students and staff for their overnight leadership retreat. Sidenote- I wish I could make a job out of grocery shopping. I love it.

1:30 -3 pm – help Josh pack up (the kids and I are staying home this time) and get out the door. My Mama, aka JuJu, shows up!

3:20 pm – Pick up Ruth and SURPRISE JuJu is waiting for her at home. Also, go back to grocery store because I don’t have groceries of my own for dinner.

4-8 pm – Play, play, play like wild monkeys because, did I mention JuJu is here?!?

8 pm – Kids are in bed and I show my Mom IMOMSOHARD videos on youtube and we both end up laughing so hard we are crying .

10 pm – attempt to go to bed, play musical beds because my KIDS NEVER SLEEP.

11 pm – go to bed, for real.

Saturday Jan. 28

The day got away from me because, JuJu was in town and I felt complete freedom to be a lazy mommy. We ran errands. Lydia asked if Juju would buy her a toy, so Target was a must. Micah drank yogurt smoothies all day. And Ruth insisted on playing 39 rounds of Ruckus. Also, Rebecca texted and asked what I was up to, so I sent her a selfie of me relaxing because I could – GRANDMA IS HERE!!! WOOOO!

3 pm – Josh got home and he was exhausted but he said our students are awesome and they planned exciting outreaches on campus for the semester.

3:45 – We had an appointment for our first ever couples massage with a gift certificate someone near and dear to us had given us for Christmas. It was amazing.

5:30 pm –  I packed up Ruth and we took her to her first ever sleepover birthday party (we didn’t do the sleepover part, I brought her home at 9) but I did shed a few tears because she is just so darn grown.

6 pm – Home for dinner and Josh said an Elder from our church saw him out buying pizza and grabbed our check. I love our church and I love our people so darn much.

8 pm – I leave to go get Ru, Josh puts Micah down and crashes for the night. Juju puts down Lydia and I decided we need a live-in nanny/gma.

9 pm – Juju and I make a Ruth sandwich and make her tell us every detail about her fun big girl party.

Sunday Jan. 28

8:30 am  – Josh woke up early with the kids and wakes me up with coffee. I swoon.

10:30 am  – bye bye to JuJu and out the door to church.

12:30 pm – lunch at home as a family and meal plan for the week

1:30 – 3:30 pm  – I’m out the door to grocery shop

3:30 -6 pm – cook my tail off for Sunday Night Dinner

6 – 10 pm – watch 30 or so college students trickle in and out while they grab dinner, laugh a lot, jump on the trampoline with our kids, and get to know each other better

11 pm – Josh and I are in bed, falling asleep before our heads hit the pillow.

Monday Jan 29

8 am – 11 am – Run Ruth and Lydia to school, Micah and I head home to meet Josh. Josh grabs Micah and takes him to get a haircut at the Barber. I switch laundry loads, clean last nights dishes and paint in the quiet.

11 am – Rebecca runs by and we catch up and go get Bitty from school while Micah naps and Daddy works from his home office.

12:30 pm – Lydia wants to make muffins so we decide to make a double batch. We pray together that God would bring someone to mind we could share our muffins with.

1:30 – 3 pm- Micah and Bitty snuggle and watch a show while I clean more. IT NEVER ENDS. OUR TOILETS ARE SO DIRTY.

3 pm – A friend from church posts on facebook that another mom from church ran out of food and needs some help getting by. We tell God thank you for providing and run over some muffins and groceries on our way to pick up Ruth from school.

4-5 pm – Cook and visit and laugh at my crazies who decided none of our current seating options were ideal.

5 pm – 8 pm Brooke and Baya come over to Babysit our oldest two while Josh, Micah and I go to church small group at the Gilliland’s. We are gearing up to study Judah Smith’s Life Is:  

8:30 pm – Kids in bed, Burgess girl’s home, and Josh and I crash in bed.

Tuesday Jan. 31

8 am – Ru to school, clean dishes, catch up with Josh for a few minutes

9-12 – Staff meeting at our house while Ali babysits and the kids try to convince her to spend the entire morning outside.

12 – 2 pm convince Lydia to relax with me while Micah naps and realize somehow I am once again out of groceries.

2-3 pm – Lydia, Micah and I go back to Aldi’s then get Ru from school.

3-5 pm – cook dinner, catch up on laundry, and answer a few work emails.

6 – Out the door with Ru and Lydia for dance – it’s picture night. Ruth orchestrated some of the other older siblings into a cartwheel competition.

7:30 – Home with girls, snuggle sweet sleepy Micah to bed and head out the door for a quick girl’s night with Kristi – who I happened to dress exactly like. Ha.

9:30 – Home in bed and catching up on life with Josh.

Well, there ya have it – A Week in Our Life.

I wish I could look through a week in your life too and I am really impressed if you made it all the way through Our’s! I know it is busy, chaotic, and full to the brim, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey it’s me, Maddi, the crazy plant lady. Oh you didn’t hear? This month, I am putting potted plants in ALL the cracks and crevices in our home because IS IT SPRING YET?? No, it’s just January? Oh. Bummer.

I have hated winter for as long as I can remember. Usually, I get anxious, stir crazy, so sleepy, and fearful in the winter. Picture a bear that didn’t go into hibernation like it was supposed to and then, picture said bear trying to run a home with three little bears running around like crazies. Yep.

But God. He has been so gracious to me this year. So far, I haven’t felt much of those all too familiar winter blues. Last week though, every day was grey and I had on a wool sweater, fur slippers, and I carried around a space heater like it was my job.

Just in case some of you are like me, I thought I would share some of my tips for fighting off the winter blues:

I keep my Bible out and open as much as possible in the winter. I find a ton of peace and joy in God’s word. So, if I leave it open on my kitchen island or coffee table, I am much more likely to grab it and read instead of scrolling through my phone. If you don’t know where to start, I suggest Psalms, Philippians, or John!

Josh and I realized a few years ago that I really need to adjust my winter schedule to deal with those pesky blues. In the winter, I make sure to leave my house every day and get some fresh air. The longer I stay hunkered down, the more I want to CRAWL IN BED FOREVER.

I also take 3-4 hours every week for a sabbath. Our schedule (the schedule of anyone in full time vocational ministry) is nutty. We often work nights and weekends. And we love it but I am already more drained than normal. So Josh and I worked out time each week for me to be off the grid. Sometimes I read, sometimes I window shop, I occasionally grab a meal with a friend, and I even jump in bed for a nap sometimes. I just hope you other mamas are fighting for your sanity this winter and giving yourself the time and space you might need as well!

For an extrovert like me, winter means a little more isolation because people tend to be less mobile in the cold months. Podcasts are one way I recharge during winter. I love listening to the conversations and learning new things. My extrovert tank fills up at the sound of other adult voices (and all the extrovert mamas said AMEN!). My current favorite podcasts are: Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey, Glorious in the Mundane with Christy Nockels, America’s Test Kitchen Podcast, Off Camera with Sam Jones, and The Atypical Podcast.

Besides my ideas, I have heard that sun lamps, working out regularly, and eating healthy foods in the winter works wonders for seasonal depression. And of course, keep the options open to take medicine if your body needs some extra help! 

For this afternoon, I am taking my sabbath and thinking of all my Mama friends kicking winter’s butt, loving our families, and working our tails off. I drew my girlfriend and I some Mama coloring pages a few months back and I am just now getting around to coloring mine while I catch up on some podcasts. So of course, I want to share them with you! Print them off and color them during  your kiddo’s nap time, bring them to a tired friend with some chocolate and wine, or print them off for co-workers to doodle on during lunch time!

breathe-mama

i-really-meant-to-excersize

yall-gon-make-me-lose-my-mind

i-heart-whole-30

thank-you-jesus-for-bedtime

Enjoy, friends, and good luck in fighting off those winter blues! Love, Maddi

 

Each year for the last few years, I have asked the Lord to speak a word to my heart, a word that is true to His Word, that I can focus on for the year ahead.

2015 – He spoke the word “Thanksgiving”

2016 – He spoke the word “Rhythms”

2017 – He spoke the word “Rejoice” – specifically he spoke Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”

I am assuming that a huge reason God has told me that my word for the year is rejoice, is because the verses following address anxious hearts, and Lord knows that in this season of motherhood and life, I deal with an anxious heart.

Philippians 4:6-7 “do not be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Rejoice is a verb. It means, “feel or show great joy or delight” It can also mean, “cause joy to” or “take delight in” How can I worry my days away when I am busy rejoicing? I have a feeling that this year will be a year of great joys and great hardships but I am ready to lean into Jesus and practice my rejoicing.

Dad was with our students in Denver from Dec 27-Jan 4 so the girls and I kicked off the new year with pedi’s using the last of our Christmas money. Bonus, Grandma and Grandpa Fick stayed home loving on Bub : )

Dad’s home and that is surely cause for rejoicing.

Micah’s biological Grandmas came to visit and brought some Donut Man DVDs for the kids and my kids are entranced. Anything with donut in the title, causes lots of rejoicing in the Fieleke house.

My man built me a real pantry because he didn’t approve of my rubber maid shelving.

Date night. Yes, please.

This weekend, weather permitting, our Bitty has her first dance show. And I will be rejoicing my butt off because this girl is a treasure and the delight she shares when she’s dancing is unmatched.

(I ordered my bracelet at mudlove and I LOVE IT.)

I would love to hear what your words for the year are or ways that you are helping remind yourself of areas to grow in 2017!

I am a last minute kind of girl. My hubs is too. We used to stay up late the night before papers were due in college and binge watch 24, while cranking out 1 page each during commercial breaks.

This year, I am cranking out advent plans for our family at the last minute. We love love love advent. Advent simply means ‘coming’. This morning, my girls and I were snuggled up on the couch, talking about how we are the People of Advent – the Church – His Bride. I reminded them, as I often have, that we needed a rescuer so very badly. And Jesus came at Christmas to be our Rescuer, our Deliverer, our Savior. And because He came once, we can spend time ‘adventing’ each year while we remember his first coming and long together for his final coming. I love the leaning in that we do as a family – the quieting of our chaos to make room in our hearts for Jesus to come.

This year, in our house, we are going to be studying 25 names of Jesus for advent. Each morning, the littles will color and hang up an ornament with a different name of Jesus found in scripture. We will read the passage His names are found in and pray together. I’m really looking forward to it. And of course, I drew the ornaments THIS MORNING because I’m a last minute kind of girl.

If you and your kiddos want to join us, you can print them for free here:

advent-names-of-jesus

And if you are interested in joining in on Advent this year, here are a few other links for free devotions that you (and your family) could do together:

http://www.paultripp.com/advent

http://www.growinghandsonkids.com/advent-activities-toddlers-preschoolers.html

http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/holidays/advent-calendars/all-the-colors-of-christmas-advent-calendar

http://www.desiringgod.org/books/good-news-of-great-joy

If your not all about devotionals, just please, for the love, download this cd and play it on repeat all season long. It is just so good!!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-thrill-of-hope/id1163664101

Looking forward to adventing with you. What other advent ideas do you have, I would love to hear them!

 

 

Not going to lie, I am totally the laziest aunt of the Fieleke Family. I’m not exactly proud of this realization but I like to live in reality, so here we are. After family dinners, I mosey over to a comfy chair and glance up to see all of my sister-in-laws serving with joyful hearts by cleaning the dishes. I *usually* hop my tail right up and follow their lead.

Also, *if* I remember to send birthday presents, they are often months late.

One sis is bringing HOMEMADE GINGERBREAD HOUSES for 10 kiddos to decorate this thanksgiving weekend. I flippin’ adore her. Seriously, I married into an awesome family. I am easily the most crazy, spastic, LOUD auntie. I can’t help it, my Fick family roots run deep! Ha! I blame my mom, Aunt Cindy, and Aunt Tania for all those canoe trip shenanigans : )

I adore my nieces and nephews. They are seriously so cool and funny. I just can’t for the life of me get my ducks in a row. ever. I also love that my sis-in-laws (mom-in-law too) and I can cheer each other on in what each of us are good at. They are just dear.

But, you know what I can do? I can draw and bring coloring pages for my nieces and nephews to color when we mamas want a few minutes of quiet.

So here you go friends, if you want to follow my lead and bring some coloring pages for your nieces and nephews to enjoy this weekend, here are some free downloads I made:

thanksgiving-coloring-pages

(Also, sneak them candy and you will be in their hearts forever.)

Happy Thanksgiving Friends!

Here’s the deal. I hate failing. I hate big fails and little fails. I wish I responded perfectly to the chaos that each day ushers in. My failures highlight my weakness in such obvious tangible ways to the watching world.

Yesterday, Micah threw such a loud fit at Hobby Lobby that people left their aisles and carts to come find the sound of the human who sounded like he was getting his leg sawed off. Nope, I just wouldn’t let him buy the $6.99 rainbow ball. The looks I was getting were a mixture of severe pity and severe judgement. I would have given my right arm to know how to parent him perfectly in that moment, but instead I nervous laughed and held him while he slapped my face. Not kidding, wish I was, but not kidding.  Also, he plays in the toilet on a daily basis and gets whatever he wants. But he is just. so. cute. and sweet. and snuggly. ha.

One of our daughters went through about a solid year of refusing to wear underwear…with her dresses. The embarrassing situations I got myself in and the amount of times I screamed in public, “NOOOOOO!!! You aren’t wearing panties today!!!” was tragic.  My decision to major on the majors in parenting my strong willed one forced me to decide panty wearing was not a major. In hindsight, panties might need to go on my list of battles worth fighting.

Josh was in pain from pulling his back out horribly a few weeks back. He was having back spasms that hurt so terribly, they brought tears to his eyes. The amount of times I have seen my husband of almost 9 years cry in pain is exactly zero. So I did what all loving supportive wives would do, and I started giggling uncontrollably. Who. Does. That???

But I was designed with weakness woven into my very being – by the One who promised His power is made perfect in my weakness. I’m fragile, and on my best days, I can pretend I’m not. But on all the others, I am forced to stare my fragility in the face and accept it. Because I am a great mom, until I’m not. And I’m a good wife, until I’m not. And I trust Jesus, until I don’t.

I love the idea of counting my blessings but I am often too lazy to look past the surface of my life. It’s easy to say thank you for a warm house,  two working cars, a husband I adore, and awesome kids who He’s entrusted me to mother. But the truth is, God could take any one of those things away from me and His goodness wouldn’t fade. There has got to be something more than surface blessings for me to rejoice in. What if I rejoiced in my weakness and gloried in His grace?

This Thanksgiving week, I am thankful that He is faithful when I am faithless. I am thankful that though I have limits (that I don’t like to admit), His love and power and generosity is limitless. I am thankful that I am weak and He is strong. I am thankful that when I fail the people around me, I can point them to the One who has never and will never fail them. I am thankful that in my brokenness and anxiety and utter exhaustion, I can lift my eyes to the One who promises that He longs to be gracious to me.

Thanks for reading! What are you thankful for this year?

Here are some snapshots into our chaotic lovely life lately that I am utterly grateful for…

Last night was movie night with 4 of our 6 kiddos. We made cinnamon bread and watched Santa Claus 2. And all my kids snuggled Aaron the whole time because they adore him. 

Dinner snuggles. Loving my new book! The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp. Date night at Jackie and Chad’s rehearsal dinner. 

The beautiful bride. We love love love Jackie! Anya girl came with her Dad and Mom and snuggled us for a few days during all the wedding festivities! When people are staying in our house, and we are doing life together, I feel like I get a little taste of Heaven. And sweet Isabelle had her first playdate at our house last week. I made her brownies : )

Because this is the best pic I can get lately and I love it!

Anyone else feel like their head is spinning trying to figure out how it is already November? I feel like I blinked, there went September. I blinked again and October was long gone too. (However the dumb Kansas weather is refusing to accept the fact that it is NOVEMBER and my kids were still in tank tops today and I’ve had allergies for the first time in my life that are driving me INSANE!!!)….whoops sorry for the detour…

Since time just won’t slow down, this week is Parent Teacher Conference week at Ruth’s elementary school. I’ve been thinking of Ruth’s teachers and Lydia’s preschool teachers today and my heart just wants to explode into pieces when I think about how grateful I am for them.

Do you know what Ruth told me happened the second week of school? A student puked on the teacher’s desk. Just for the record, that’s disgusting. And her teacher didn’t up and quit! She loved on the little lady and sent her home. Lydia’s precious preschool teachers help three year olds go potty all day. The required salary for me to help three year olds go potty would be one million dollars a year with bonuses every time poop is involved. But these amazing teachers do it all day for WAAAAAYYYYY less than that and they still take time to grab my girly in their arms and say, “Jesus loves you and so do I!”

My friends who know me well, know that my heartbeat is to make sure my kiddos’ teachers know how much we Fieleke’s appreciate them. There are just things in life you don’t skimp on; and loving on the people who love my little people is just one of those things! I think my mama taught me well – I remember in third grade, my mom hand painting Keds for each of my teachers. Pretty sure Keds were like 90’s teacher crack. And these weren’t just any Keds, these were Keds painted to look like Watermelons. Let’s just say, I was one loved on student when I got to hand out those snazzy shoes! Ha.

Listen, I know you are busy. I know that we mamas and daddies do an insane circus juggling act of balancing all the things all day long. But seeing as how our a lot of our kid’s teachers spend more time with them each day than we do, I think they deserve for us to take that extra few minutes to write them a note, send them a gift card, and tell them “Thank you.”

Here are 5 ideas to help us love our kiddo’s teachers well:

1. Every year, I ask my kid’s teachers what their favorite drinks are. So once a month or so, we swing through Dunkin or Starbucks and bring coffee and sodas to school and hand deliver them to the kid’s teachers. It takes about 5 extra minutes out of my day and about 5 extra dollars, but I hope that what it speaks to the kid’s teachers is, “I see you and I am crazy grateful for the ways you go above and beyond to help my kiddo day in and day out.”
2. Are you headed to help out at a Holiday Party? Grab a ten dollar gift card to a pizza place and bring it with you to give the teacher. Because while you are dropping everything to sit at your little one’s holiday party, their teacher is missing her own kid’s parties and it would probably mean a lot if she got to show up with surprise pizza for dinner!
3. Ask your kid’s teachers about their family – acknowledge that they have lives that exist outside of helping meet our needs. Tell them you are praying for their husband’s surgery or ask if their college kids are home for break. Just tell them you care! So many parents act like they are entitled to teachers who live to help their kids get ahead. Break the mold. Acknowledge that these men and women are doing impossible jobs for very little money and that we are insanely grateful.
4. Involve your kids in the process. Help them think of ways to honor their teachers. “Hey, lets run into the store this morning and grab some flowers for your teacher! That would help her (or him) know how thankful we are for the way they serve your class. Would you like to pick out the flowers?”
5. Don’t show up to parent teacher conferences empty handed! Bring a card letting your child’s teacher know how grateful you are for him or her. Bring a coffee because you understand its going to be a long night for that teacher and some parent is probably going to take out some frustration on them. Bring flowers or wine or a three dollar gift card to sonic. I don’t think the size of the gift matters. Its the stopping to say, “What you do matters so much to our family and we are grateful for every way you love our child!”
   I chaperoned Bitty’s school Fall Party. They sang songs at a nursing home and Bitty was all, “nope.” So we watched instead : ) I went straight from Bitty’s party to Ruth’s Fall Party and helped 24 first graders do a creepy craft. After the parties, I came home and crashed hard because being with that many kiddos for a few hours is exhausting….THAT IS WHY TEACHERS ARE MY HEROS!!!!!!!!!!!!!