The Simple Life

"STOP trying to work things out before their times have come.  Accept the limitations of living one day at a time.  When something comes to your attention, ask Me whether or not it is a part of today's agenda.  If it isn't, release it into My care and go on about today's duties.  When you follow this practice, there will be a beautiful simplicity about your life: a time for everything, and everything in its time.

A life lived close to Me is not complicated or cluttered.  When your focus is on My Presence, many things that once troubled you lose their power over you.  Though the world around you is messy and confusing, remember that I have overcome the world.  I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have Peace."

Jesus Calling

A simple morning of Hot Wheels with my son was on the agenda the other day.

I didn't clutter up my time with doing laundry in between races, dishes after track changes, or phone calls while it was his turn.  We just sat and played and it was so fulfilling. 

Why don't I do that more often?

Happy Weekend!

I'll see you Monday for another Make Out Monday date night challenge for the month of April!

The Simple Things

As an adult I wouldn't dream of laying down at the splash pad!  But for my son it was a simple pleasure - laying down on the fountain with a truck!  It is the simple things in life that make it so special.

A Pretty Picnic

Marriage is hard. It gets even harder when children come into the picture. Once children come along, it is very easy to put our focus on the children, simply because they need us so much. But the best gift we can give our children is to love our spouse and make them our #1 priority. This takes a conscience commitment and effort to spend time alone with our spouse and remember that he is our first priority before the children.

Rebekah over at A Bit Of Sunshine (one of my favorite blogs) knows this truth and has made the commitment to have a special date night with her husband once a month – at home. “Dinner At 8” is her way of being intentional with her marriage and she threw out the challenge to her readers as well. Each month there is a theme to follow for your date and for July the theme was “A Pretty Picnic.” I was excited to accept the challenge and take my husband on a romantic picnic - in our backyard!  Here are some photos of the fun

After we put the littles to bed, I sent my husband away while I raced to prepare our picnic. 

I placed a card table under our plum tree.

What's a picnic without yummy food?  I tried to make some of our favorite snacks.

Our menu: Balsamic Watermelon Skewers (recipe on the right), prosciutto wrapped asparagus, prosciutto and melon (my husband loves prosciutto!!), herb toast, a cheese plate with French pickles, rosemary almonds, and herb goat cheese,

and some curry chicken salad with pretzel bread.

As it got dark, our little plum lanterns (DIY project) lit up so beautifully!

And so did our table.

We topped off the evening with ice cream bon bons and I have to say, it was the best date we've been on in a very long time!  Thanks Rebekah for the wonderful encouragement to date my husband!

I encourage you all to do the same.

I'm also linking up with The Simple Things because truly, a simple picnic at home with my husband was something that made me smile all weekend!