from Kassie's heart {a guest post}:

Today I want you to meet one of my sweet bloggy friends, Kassie.

She is seriously one of the most encouraging and affirming friends I have made through blogging. She always leaves a comment or sends an email to encourage me. :)

(thanks girl!)

She blogs here, so go meet her yall.

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Hi, I'm Kassie and I blog over at K plus J equals love where I write about my love for Jesus, being a wife and mama, my fears, struggles, passions, and whatever else is on my heart! I'm excited to be on Sarah's blog today! I love reading her words and seeing her life on this blog. She's such an encouragement to me!

Lately what's been on my heart is this pregnancy (I'm at the end of my 27th week as I write) and all that it means. It means a lot of change, which I am excited for. I am so excited to meet sweet little Maeva that is growing inside of me. I cannot wait to see her face and hold her. I look forward to seeing her with her daddy and her brother. I know it will be a joy!

You know what else I know it will be? Exhausting!

I am already feeling pretty darn exhausted having to chase around a toddler, but I know its not even the beginning! It's one of the changes I'm most nervous about actually.

I fear that I'm going to be so exhausted that I won't be able to get out of bed.

That I won't be able to function or enjoy life.

I fear that I am just going to be so tired and I really hate being so tired.

The other night I was talking to my husband about this fear and how, really, I am afraid that I can't do this mother of two thing.

He told me that God knows I can do this because He is giving me another child.

So encouraging to me! So I am reminding myself right now (and will continue to) that God knows that I can do this. He will be the one to carry me through becoming a mother of two. He will carry me through the exhaustion and all motherhood entails. As long as I read His word and lean on Him, I will find rest! Coffee may help too! ;)

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Thanks Kassie, for sharing your heart.

We can do this mother-of-two thing together, girl!

it IS exhausting at times, but it is also the best thing ever...I'm so happy for you friend!!

Look forward to hearing about your journey in it!

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WINNER (chosen by random.org) of the beautiful Stella and Dot necklace:

Brooke!!!

email me girl, so excited for you!! :)

Thanks again Becky for giving it away...and yall, don forget to come shop her beautiful stuff!

"running"...a guest post

Good Morning!

My dear friend Sarah (great name, right?) :) has agreed to "guest post" here every other Sunday

just sharing her thoughts about becoming a woman of God.

She is a woman, wife, and mama full of wisdom and love, so I'm honored for her to share her words with us...

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"So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should."

A couple of years ago, two friends and I went to run the Dallas Race for the Cure. I was pumped. I had always wanted to run in races and this was my first step. Knowing nothing about racing I assumed that they were all the same. You line up, they start the race, and you run. Stupid, stupid assumptions. My two friends that ran with me were hesitant at best and only their undying love for me got them up at the ungodly hour of 5am to join me. Imagine their delight when we discovered that we would not be running but merely strolling through Dallas with 250,000 other people. I was livid. I had come to run a race not have a chatty stroll behind a herd of people!! I will leave the rest to your imagination but let me assure you I did try to run. I almost took out a few baby strollers and recovering cancer patients in the process, but try I did.

Joking aside there is a point to make. We need to run the right race.

If we are women of faith, we need to recognize there is a race laid out before us. This race has a rich history in humanity and there have been many incredible men and women who have traveled it before us. Men and women who had such incredible faith in God that they did unthinkable things.

They go before us and they root us on.

In a day and time where finding good advice for marriage and parenting is an overwhelming avalanche of opinion, we need to align our lives up with the Word of God. We need to be very careful what opinions and ideas we are allowing to guide us.

This thought keeps pounding through my heart lately: if you took away my church attendance, my Facebook postings of favorite verses, and even my faith filled words on a blog, would someone who has never met me know that I loved God?

God, in all his amazing power, holds the world in his hand and yet sees you. He sees you and he loves you. He loves you with an engulfing, freeing love that is hard to fathom. He has a race set out for you. This race is at times exhilarating and at times difficult. It often goes against human understanding.

However, I am so thankful for the peace and joy in my life, that I keep running. And I want you to know that there is a precious gift of peace and joy waiting for you.

Come, run with me.

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Thanks Sarah.

And that so speaks to my heart behind this blog, and the name of this blog...

Hebrews 12:1, which talks about running this race, remembering those who have gone before us, and keeping our eyes on Jesus, who is the author of our faith.

I love that we get to run this race together, sister.

grace for the new mom

I am SUPER honored and excited to be guest posting today

over at one of my very favorite blogs, Top of The Page.

Leslie is one of the first blogs I ever read and I admire her SO much.

She asked me to share about "grace for the new mom"...

Mommyhood was the hardest adjustment I have ever had to make, and only by His Grace have I gotton through it....and part of my blogging journey is to share that with you.

So go check it out HERE.

{and you should get to know Leslie and follow her blog if you don't already -

she is a treasure.}

Oh, and come back tomorrow (Friday) for a fun giveaway from one of my real life besties!!

love yall.

Becoming a Woman of Old - guest post

I have a good friend, Sarah, who is

just one of those women I not only love as a friend,

but look up to as a woman and mother.

(she has 5 amazing children!)

Our families have been through quite a few crazy seasons together

and we have lived by faith side by side,

encouraging each other and learning what living life with each other truly means.

I am THANKFUL for her.

I've asked her to share here about her heart and passion for living

as a woman of God.

Trust me, she is a woman of wisdom who has a lot to offer.

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As a young wife and mother, I was overwhelmed with all the information available to becoming a great wife and mom. If you go to the bookstore, the shelves are lined with advice in both categories. Looking around my world it seemed that every family was doing things differently and adhered to their own brand of family.

Overwhelmed, I started praying a lot and reading through the Bible. I had made a decision long ago to live my life as closely to scripture as possible. When I read the Bible, I try to imagine I am alone on an island and that the only way to read the Word is by taking it at face value.

While reading through the scripture, I stumbled upon 1 Peter 3:5-6:

"This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They trusted God and accepted the authority of their husbands. For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, and called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do."

I long to be counted among the “holy women of old.” Have you ever read their stories? Miriam, a leader of Israel who was so passionate and fiery. Or how about Deborah? She was the ruling judge of Israel that led an army into battle. What about Esther? She was a beautiful queen whose actions saved people of Israel. And so many more.

When becoming like the holy women of old, two requirements seem to stick out to me. First, you have to live full of faith and trust God completely. I don’t know another way to live without fear as the verse requires. Second, we have to accept the authority of our husbands.

This little command is such a stumbling block. I know. It makes me stumble. A lot. But, I believe that it is a hidden part of the recipe that enables us to have successful marriages, peaceful families, and become the amazing leaders that God desires us to be.

This journey to be like Sarah and the women of old is not an easy one. But, I have seen such amazing fruit in my life that I cannot depart from this path.

And I can’t wait to see what is around the corner.

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Thanks Sarah. I love you!!

Tune in every other Sunday to hear Sarah's heart about

becoming a "woman of old".

You will be blessed. :)

Ashley's leg of the race . . .

Each week, I've been having some of my sweet friends share with you

about what "leg of the race" of life they are in...

So that we can all realize we are running it together.

So today, meet Ashley... :)

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Hey y'all! My name is Ashley and I blog over at

5ohWifey: life as a mommy and cop's wife.

I am amazed every day by what God is doing in my life. I am a southern girl now living in California against my will. I am the wife of 5ohHubby who is a police officer and wonderful man and no that's not mutually exclusive.

I am a stay at home mom to an amazing little girl I call 5ohBaby and she is my whole world.

We have probably the cutest, ugly dog out there (5ohPup).

I try to blog about what I know.

I try to keep it as real as possible. I blog about everything from holding on tight to my little one to the time I accidentally fed her jalapenos.

I write about both the joys and the stresses of being in a police marriage.

I love to cook and even make my own baby food. Sometimes I get a little crafty and dabble in fashion posts.

I want my blog to be a place where we can laugh together, cry together,

and just be real with one another.

And if I'm being real, this is a busy leg of my race

and I'm honestly trying to figure out who I am in aside from this whole motherhood thing. For the past 11 months, ok, since I was pregnant, I have been trying to figure out how I was going to be a mother. I was nervous, excited, terrified... all usual feelings for a mom. But from the moment I held her in my arms it was right, and it wasn't hard.

She is honestly the best thing that ever happened to me.

A few months ago, I had almost every single day of our week planned. Monday we had playgroup, Tuesdays I volunteered running a first responder ministry and we had small group, Thursday we had girls/guys night... we had a rhythm going and it was good.
But times, they are a changing my friends. Due to a whole slew of circumstances all we have still is playgroup and I'm not even sure what day that will be on. The next few weeks are sooo busy for us. The first week in march I am going out of town for 4 days (ah!),

the weekend after that we are moving,

and the weekend after that is 5ohBaby's birthday AND 5ohHubby

is putting on a charity event.

I feel like everything is kind of a mess... sometimes in a bad way and sometimes in a good way.

Lately, I've been thinking about the things I need to get through this leg of the race.

I feel like I need to just soak in all the advice I possibly can from other experienced women. That is one of the things I love about the blogging community.

Although it would be nice to have a mentor, I kind of feel like all my fellow bloggy friends (Sarah included) are such a spiritual inspiration to me.

I read about how other women are running their race

and I feel encouraged, supported, and heard.
I realize I'm not running the race alone.

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Thanks girl. Love you!!!

Oh, and Happy Leap Day everyone!