Most embarrassing moment of my life!

I had a normal morning - everything going along at the normal pace, but I was running a little late to drop the boys off at preschool and Grandma Sharon's....

Seriously, I was 2 BLOCKS from dropping Big Boy off at school - my last stop - when I saw it.

Too late.

Check my rearview - yup -

BUSTED................

So where do I end up pulling over to greet my lovely police officer friend, so that he can write me up a ticket?

Right in front of Big Boy's preschool.

If that wasn't enough, I appeared to be one of the first mom's there (of course, I was the only one RACING to get there!). So I got the luxury of watching every mom come, drop their kids off and give me the "I feel so bad for you right now" look as they waved and drove by.

Every single one.

It's not even 10:00 am yet - gripes, what a day.

It's a heart issue

Have you ever experienced a moment in your life where someone captured words that expressed exactly how you were feeling? That happened to me so unexpectedly last night. On the eve of a day that celebrates love, friendship, and happiness. I ran smack dab into something I've been trying to grasp for sometime now.

The heart.

All it's detail, mystery, and empty parts - why is it so hard to define all the feelings that come from this essential part of our bodies? God obviously had many reasons why this organ was to be so important, not only to our survival, but to the core of our being. I wrote in my journal a few months ago that sometimes I think that I FEEL too much. Empathy is at the top of my character chart, they are telling me in a new study I just took on finding our strengths. The funny thing is that I always thought of empathy as a weakness - for that very reason, "feeling too much." And in feeling too much I feel unable to use the wings he's given me to fly - and instead I sit with wings bound watching and waiting for my moment to soar.

Is that how Jesus felt? Overwhelmed by all the hurt and brokenness around him; too unstable to move a square inch because it hurt too much? No, he moved with grace, confidence and complete empathy for those he met (and those he didn't).

It's amazing how one slight shift in perspective brings us back to what's real - God's love, and God's heart. It never fails us, it never leaves us hanging wondering if He cares about us. I am finding that Satan uses confusion, miscommunication, basically the unknown in our minds to bring dissention among us causing us to stumble and stay on the ground.

This is where I struggle. Why? Because I am a people pleaser through and through. If I feel a cord is broken between me and a friend it kills me to the core because I cannot control their reactions to me. But I am reminded that God gave us relationships as a privilege and not as a right. But he made us relational people - and that we function best as a body of believers if we are of sound mind and body. God speaks it so much better than I ever could, and this is what He says:

"be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor, giving preference to one another" (Rom. 12:10)
"be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tender-hearted, be courteous" (1 Peter 3:8)

Did you know that the Bible refers to the "heart" 876 times? God knew we would need instruction on this important tool, otherwise why would He mention it so much in His word? I just wish sometimes we had a book to refer to, like "a guide to using our hearts for dummies" or "learning to fly again is easier than you think," or something like that!

I think that once we surrender our hearts to our Father and creator, we gain a new freedom to trust those who maybe broke our hearts in the past, or let us down. We can't control how others treat our hearts, but we can trust He that controls our future and has our hearts in His hands. Did you know He sings over you? What would that song sound like...

I want you, if you've waded this far through my lengthy blog post, to check out the article that I read last night that summed up what God has been whispering to me for quite sometime. I warn you though, you will be blessed, and maybe faced with a truth that will unexpectedly enrapture your heart. Check it out here.

Teddy Bear Tea Party

Big Boy's preschool rocks! I just LOVE his teacher, Mrs. Blair, she does a fantastic job of teaching our little guy his letters, and stories about Jesus. It is such a precious time in his life right now, I feel like I am trying to squeeze every ounce of pleasure from each moment. Today was his last day before Valentine's Day, so it was obviously a great time for a party; hence the title of this post! That's right, it was a teddy bear tea-party, AND pajama day all in one! They got to wear pajamas today because the letter of the week was "P"- I love it!! So cute.

About every month the little kiddos get to go on a field trip to meet different "people of our town" and today they got to meet Grandma Gee (Mrs. Blair's mom) who's an excellent baker. So, she came to school and helped them all make the most adorable heart shaped cakes! They even got little chef hats and homemade aprons and baking goodies like cookie cutters and spatulas.

Is it weird that I get excited on field trip days because of all the cool stuff Big Boy gets to bring home? I think I look forward to these special days more than him because of all the fun little surprises! (can we say easy to please?)

So, we also got to make out little Valentine's Day goodies for the other little boys in his class - and that always brings back fond memories of getting to make Valentine's Day boxes at school to hold all of our little treasures in...

I love that I get to share this time of year with such wonderful men in my life! I'm such a lucky girl indeed. Especially when my little guy brings home a chocolate cake... Ok, so I may have some serious chocolate issues, but it's ok to splurge on V-Day, right?

Happy Love Day! Go make yourself some heart shaped cookies with lots of frosting and sprinkles! Oh, and don't forget the chocolate kisses :D

Big Boy modeling his new apron, baker's hat, V-Day cake, and teddy bear (from his little "tea party") I love this kid!!

And the winner is...

Over the weekend, Hubs and I got to work at the coffee bar at church for their yearly "customer appreciation day" which is put on by the chamber of commerce. We worked at it last year, and it was alot of fun - getting to meet people from our community, and to walk around to the different 100 businesses that had a booth there as well. You are always sure to find fun giveaway stuff for the kids - and this year some fun samples for us too! I think my prizes were a new toothbrush, a t-shirt from last years "race for the cure" and some coupons... The kicker to this whole event is the door prize drawings they have for both adults and kids that you sign up for in hopes of scoring something cool like a bike, or something like that. We usually don't stick around for the name calling when they start giving out prizes because there is usually a million people there and the chances just aren't that good for being picked...

That was until we got a call saying, " A--- Kinney has won a digital camera, a very nice one in fact, and it's at the church for you to pick up!" Oh happy day! We began to ask ourselves how nice a digital camera for the kids drawing would actually be - so we reserved our emotions until after the pickup of the camera in question.

Let's just say I'm signing up next year for the kid's drawing!

The camera is nicer than our "fancy" one we bought a few years ago - and I googled it to see how much it would cost to go buy in the store...$150!! Nice job baby! Not bad for your first door prize :D
The fancy new camera!
The boys loved the firemen hats we got from the local firefighter booth at the show
The boys and I went for a bike ride later that afternoon - it was SO beautiful outside! And I had every good intention of going for a really long bike ride, but due to lack of physical leg strength, our ride was cut a few miles short...