My Lil' Firecracker

This crazy, little girl has a lot of energy! She was already jumping her little heart out this morning. Even though she challenges me to new parenting heights EVERY day....I am completely in love with her. She brings us so much joy and laughter. So, so blessed!

FAITH

If you look up "faith" in the dictionary, it says the word is a noun. But I would like to disagree. I would like for there to be a secondary definition to show that FAITH is an action, aka- a verb. The definition says: confidence or trust in a person or thing... but with God, we know that He may appreciate the sentiment of confidence or trust in Him, but what He really wants is for His children to show their trust in Him through obedience and actions of love. It's so much easier just to say it, than it is to do it. Holy Cow. Faith is hard. But Faith will change your life. It can change who you are.

Living above and beyond our means

WARNING! WARNING! This is confessional in nature.....perhaps humiliating, but once again, serving as Free therapy! :)

"Not until the pain of the same is greater than the pain of change will you embrace change." Dave Ramsey

God is performing a revolution in my life. And as with many revolutions, there has to be some casualties. Some sweet-smelling, beautiful and pleasurable things will have to die .

I, Michelle Marie Lively Skow, have been living above my financial means for many years. I have tried to mask this sin by gifting, bargaining, couponing, and justifying...but the truth is, I have lived in such a way that was not wise. It was and is not God-honoring.

I am a measure-er....a compare-er. Unfortunately, my mind automatically quantifies things as much as I can. And when stacking up the blocks, my lifestyle has always seemed pretty meager to me.....comparatively. My desires have been simple. All I ever wanted to do was to shop the Clearance racks at Target, buy myself a Sonic drink during Happy Hour, have an air-conditioned car with power locks and go out to eat every Friday night. That's not extravagant, right? I have always felt I have deserved that life. That was my American Dream (that I bitterly vented about a few weeks ago...but now realize that it's not the Dream's problem....it's mine!)

However, God is bringing me to a place where I am beginning to recognize my irresponsibility and my indulgences. And more importantly, I am realizing what all of those small, temporary pleasures have cost us. Not in money, but in opportunity to do more for God.

We are sitting on the doorstep of two INCREDIBLY HUGE movements of God. And Dawson and I want, more than anything, to be able to take part in these movements. We want to participate in God's work, and have a ring-side seat to the divine action. But the thing is....we can't afford ring-side seats. In fact, we can't afford a seat at all.

So, now what do we do?

It is NOT the time for pity-parties and regret, but it IS time for action!

The answer is.....sacrifice. Even typing it makes me uncomfortable. Yuck! We know that we have to make amends for our mismanagement in the past, and move forward in a different way. And we have to decide what KIND of SACRIFICES God wants us to make. Is it time? We work more. Is it luxuries? We trim the fat, and figure out what we really NEED. I know it is some combination of both, but right now we are trying to find the right combination. We know that it would not honor God to sacrifice our convictions, our marriage, or our family. So, we want to be diligent in protecting the time, energy and attention that needs to be devoted to these.

God led me to James 5 today, as well as Luke 12, and both of those are pretty stern warnings about how God expects us to handle our money. We are praying. We are seeking wise counsel. We know God is good. And we know God CAN change people. HE can CHANGE habits.

I praise God for a husband who has always valued relationships over money, and who is humble enough to change with me.

Alright, let's see what happens!!

GOD IS SO GOOD!

Yall!!--(I know I'm not actually talking anyone) I am so excited!! God is doing MIRACLES in the lives around me. I LOVE HIM! I LOVE getting to see God work, and put puzzle pieces together. The way He intertwines lives, creates relationships, and makes peoples' paths cross at divine appointments is SO COOL! AND--He is always so many steps ahead of us! He is always working things out for His glory, and it is just so exciting, and beautiful when you get to see a glimpse of His plan. There is NOTHING on this earth like it. I'm so humbled......so in awe of Him. Just couldn't contain it!!

Love, Love, Love

This month is proving to be quite a paradox. It's already been full of so many blessings, much goodness and overflowing love, but it has also had more than its fair share of discomfort, sadness and sacrifice. In this short entry, I'm going to memorialize the first half.....

There are the turkeys that I spend my days with....such an absolute hoot EVERY day!

Last nap in her crib....hard for me to believe my baby is getting so big

sweet, sleeping baby

My sweet mother, making one of her magical pies.

This boy holds a special place in the heart of his Pawpaw, and vice versa

First day of Mother's Day Out or "Big Girl School" as it is known at the Skow house!

He has such a sweet, sweet love for his baby sister

Best Brother EVER

Last weekend, we went back to the Kolache Festival in Caldwell. So, so yummy!

We got to see our favorite band again....The Hobo Shiner Band

We danced with the kids, and had so much fun!

Memaw treated the girls to some pony rides! So fun!

So fun, and so hot!

Caleb chose something a little more thrilling! He was so cute...Caleb told the guy in charge that this was on his bucket list!?! :)

Really important stuff....Hair update

The final moments.....straightened for the cut

The sawing off...seriously, Ashley had to make three or four cuts to make it through my crazy, thick ponytail

The new, short hair

The side view....just for documentation. :)

Dumb Hair

This is totally dumb. But I am scheduled to get my haircut tomorrow. This is the haircut that I've been working toward now for almost 2 years. I have been growing my hair out so I can donate it. My mom and sisters have all done this before, and I thought it was an admirable thing to do. But my hair is crazy. It is super thick, and frizzy, and huge! It's what earned me the nickname of "Chia pet" at youth camp. Ha! I had forgotten about that until just now.... Anyway, I finally decided to commit to this "project." I want to give a small part of myself, so that someone else can enjoy some "normalcy" that they might not have had otherwise.

Now that the haircut is looming, I'm feeling nervous. I'm almost sad....which is so dumb. It's only hair! And it grows back! I am almost embarrassed to admit these feelings, because they seem shallow and egotistical. But I am going to get over it. And to document, I wanted to have some "before" pictures, and then an "after"! That makes it kinda fun, right?

OK...so be nice. This is without ANY product in my hair....so it looks kinda.....yuck. But here is the back view...

The longest my hair has been since I was in 9th grade!

And it's 11pm, AND I have no make-up on...but wanted to document the front too. :/

I was feeling really stupid doing this....so I decided to make myself feel more normal.
And by the way, welcome to my bathroom!! :)