useful [and a little non-useful] information

Today was a good day.  Well, except for that part when I woke up at THREE A.M., and I didn't think I would ever fall back to sleep.  But I finally did [fall back to sleep] and woke again at seven.  I immediately grabbed the book I needed to read a chapter of for today [more about this in a minute] and enjoyed my first cup of coffee.  By the time I needed a second cup, I'd finished my reading.

I'm currently making my way slowly through the book Adorned by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth.  For lunch, we [Abbey, a sweet friend Kristy, and myself] met in the church lobby at the tables by our bookstore, ate lunch, and discussed the chapter.  I love these ladies so much!  I am so thankful for their friendships and that we can laugh and be completely honest with one another about hard things, and that we can pray with and for one another. 

I've said this so many times, but it bears repeating.  Growing up, I struggled with friends.  As in, I didn't have many.  It was HARD.  The ones I did have were not the greatest, and I am sure because of that and some really poor choices I made, my parents might have grayed a little prematurely.  [I need the laughing face emoji here.]  But really, it wasn't funny.  It was sad and unfortunate. 

BUT GOD.  He knew that all of that would go down exactly the way it did, and He had a plan already set in motion in for my life.  When He grabbed hold of me and my heart, He knew that in later years, He would restore to me what I had always missed out on.  Friends.  The true ones, that love Jesus with all of their heart. 

Now, I'm not saying to attend church services to gain friendship, but once you become involved and start meeting people, those are who you end up wanting to be around the most.  And while on that subject of church, commit to going all the time.  If you are a mom of little ones, I honestly cannot imagine what raising kids without godly people around you at all times would look like. 

We live in such a different world than the one I was brought up in.  Friendships are developed on social media these days, instead of around a table, and our views of what  a real life friend looks like has become skewed.  Nothing replaces face to face relationships, and time spent with those friends.

I could go on and on, but you get my drift.  Today just made me extra thankful.

Moving on, now.

Today I changed up my quiet time spot, in preparation for when the Christmas tree gets put up!

See that wall space to the right of the fireplace, where the lamp on the desk currently is?  Well, that desk will get moved out of the room, and the tree will go right there in its place.  I love that spot, because it can be viewed and enjoyed from all over the living room, the room we are in the most.  There is nothing as peaceful and joyful [to me] than having quiet time by the light of the tree. 

I can't wait to decorate!  We do this on Thanksgiving night. 

Also, I can't wait until a good portion of my family arrives from Colorado!  They get here Saturday, and I am counting the minutes until I get to squeeze on these lovies.

And on that note, here is another piece of useful knowledge.  Someone I follow on Instagram gave a little tutorial for a new-to-me app yesterday morning, and I checked the app out, read some of the ratings and noted its five stars, then installed it to my phone.  It's an app that allows you to write on pictures.  It's called Phonto, and it's easy to use.  It allows you to either take a picture, or use the pictures on your phone, and then you can click the little icon that looks like a pen to start writing.  You can pick the font, the size, and even the angle of the writing.  You can move it around or tilt it a little.  Then, when you're done, you find the option to save, and it saves to your phone.  From there you can share to social media.

It sounds rather complicated, but it's not.  I love it!  I made this little collage last night on a different app [PhotoGrid] and then saved it, and used that collage on the Phonto app.  I love playing around with pictures and such, and this one of the baby girls makes me so happy.  I seriously cannot wait to see them!

Well, this was an odd time to write a blog post, and because of the time of day, I most likely won't write again until Thursday or Friday.  So, thanks for reading!  And see you later in the week.  Love to all!