I just want to choose khakis or jeans.

Sometimes, I want to be Ron and live in his brain for a day. He has neat and tidy compartments that have high capacity. He is not void of depth or multi-tasking. It’s just more simple and sane.

He has khakis or jeans. And brown shoes or black shoes. And I have black pants or leggings or jeans that fit and jeans that don’t or a skirt or a dress or tights or yoga pants or skirts. And every color of every one of those.

So, today you will see all these thought bubbles in one woman’s brain. They are all popping up at different times. And because you are a woman, you will COMPLETELY track with all of them. I will not lose you. You will be able to jump from planes to passions. We are made this way. Thanks for letting me swipe my list clean. I will move past these and start a new list. Some people journal, I blog. Some people let these thoughts pass – I stew.

Am I the only one?

25 Thought Bubbles That Need to Be Popped

Another plane. Headed back from Orlando to Texas today. Just locked up my house and signed the papers with the moving trucks. All my belongings are packed and headed to our new house in Texas. We close Friday! yay! We have been in a corporate apartment since August so excited to start our new routine and new home. Was just waiting for our house to sell and it did. Bittersweet but mostly SO grateful for what God did in that town. Say YES to God – you never know the people you will meet or the books you will write.

Confession. You probably assumed, but Ron’s new job came with some serious flight privileges for our family so I need to be sure you haven’t awarded me wife of the year. I FOR SURE had a change of heart and felt God shifting my heart to follow and support Ron – however, let’s be clear. This is quite a perk. Grateful for this gift – especially for what I do.

Grandmother Goals. Meese had a birthday this week and had all six of them together. I love to watch her in action. I am fully taking notes. I want to be just like her. And I want her to be the “flower girl” with Grammy at the girls wedding. Hilarious. Look at these two going viral – source of photo, People Magazine.

Gratitude. Think about gratitude and combine that with the idea of love languages. Some of our friends or family need to hear we are grateful for them.  But how do we tell them? Through words? Gifts? Acts of service? All over social media? Like it or not – some people DO LIKE it when we tell the world how they matter. It’s like the words of affirmation folks (who me?). It feels good to read all the reasons you are loved. For others, that doesn’t matter. It is a face-to-face conversation with a private moment. Know your people and give them heartfelt gratitude – the way THEY most feel loved. Sometimes, social media works -but sometimes it cheapens it and it’s quick and easy.

Stories. Do you know why Love Does by Bob Goff struck a chord with so many? It was the stories. So, whenever you have a big day like Veterans Day or 9/11- make sure you show your kids a story that will have them relate to it. Tell them about someone you know that fought for our country or find a video about one of our soldiers. The stories resonate. And stay with them. Make it tangible. Same reasoning for Bible stories and our faith stories. For veterans – watch medal of honor videos like Bruce Crandall. This 9/11, I was so moved by this one.

Turbulence. My kids have been flying with me and I watch them look at me across the aisle for how we are going to react when the bumps come. I just smile and nod. “You’re good. Look at the clouds! Just getting through them!” And I have had so many strangers commenting how calm they are now through the bumps. They have had much experience – but they react by looking at us. If your face screams fear – their face will too. If you’re excited to move, they are excited to move.

Jokes. If I think I am funny – you will know. I’ll post it on more than one social media platform. To get a rise/like/giggle out of as many people as possible. Pathetic. For example, this one made me giggle at myself yesterday so twitter and facebook got the line… “you know you’re a mom when you rock your grocery cart. wait, i don’t have a newborn.”

Social Media Quitting. Essena teen australian social media girl. I get you. Don’t respond to any of the criticism. Well done.

Depressed? Wondering about anti-depressants and how to get out of darkness. RUN RUN RUN and listen to this series right now. Especially this one by Louie. His new book on the topic.

Comebacks. Need inspiration of people that have COMEBACK after hard times. Incredible. Listen or watch here.

Death. Children dying like Elijah is just beyond my comprehension. Heart is breaking. Becky was my sorority sister at Auburn. I have only messaged with her a handful of times but we are all mourning for her. Just can’t imagine. Phi Mus. We are sending something together – see my note on Facebook about it.

FOLLOW your heart. I love when God nudges me. Every time it’s on point. I thought of Karen Ehman three times in a day. She just released the book Hoodwinked. I thought it was weird I haven’t heard from here via email or haven’t received the book because we are actually friends. So instead of going all 8th grade and getting my feelings hurt – I picked up the phone and called to check on her. I asked how to help her – how it was going. How she was really. At the end, I casually mentioned needing the book to read so I could write something and we realized the errors. Wires and mailing addresses totally crossed. Follow your heart. Know your people. Support your friends.

Speaking of people. I love that Lysa gets more beautiful almost every day. It’s Jesus overflowing out of her every pore. Out of her EYES. Look at this. Chills.

Who is going to reprom? I’m begging Ron. Check it out.

Christmas gifts. I started a stocking stuffer list right here because I feel like it’s important to get something comical and necessary like poopourri. Someone on this plane needs Subtle Butt.

I’m not in control. I have developed the next version of ABC Scripture Cards and they aren’t here yet. And I REALLY wanted them to be ready for you for Christmas time. Oh well – the 2015 version of me will not flip out over things I cannot control. I’ll just briefly pout. You could put a photo of them in a box? As soon as I have the GO – I will put them up with the images. You will LOVE.

New house. Moving in Friday. So pumped. So pumped. Anisa Darnell is coming to help me in December make it so pretty then I’ll post lots of photos for you.

Under Our Skin. Benjamin Watson’s book is going to be a game changer. Get it for everyone on your list.

Let’s party. For my 40th birthday Ron – can you ask Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake to come over? And Chris Stapleton can come too.

LIGHT EM UP!!!! Y’all. The video is almost ready. I think I am more excited this year – more than ever. This program is my heart. I love love love what God does with our families through kindness. People are changed. Every year. Here’s the page for now.

How’s Texas? Y’all it’s so soo great. What a state. This place is dreamy. The flights are making me calm. I can get to my people when I need to. The girls are WAY happy in their school. Ron is incredibly busy but loving his job. I am praying I meet some “go on a walk” kind of friends near my new house. Hoping to do a bible study at my house and want to find a sweet group of moms to host there.

Knowing my God. I have been alone so many days in Texas during the day and that would’ve previously freaked me out. I can’t tell you many days I have listened to a podcast or a praise song or talked to a friend and learned something new about Jesus. I feel like he wants me to grow more and more. To know him like never before. And it’s exciting. I don’t want to travel and lift up moms from a stale faith. I want to be deep in His word – so I’m overflowing content from what He is teaching me not pulling from other people’s content. It makes the days mysterious and exciting. Learning new things like this.

Keep Writing. If you are writing and you don’t think you’re reaching anyone – you just never know. I was sitting with a friend today that told me how this post rocked her and what she did after. She never told me until today. You never know how God is working things behind the scenes. Just share from your heart – how He is working in you and He will use that. Share more from your struggles than anything. Everyone relates to struggling.

Laughter. I saw several of my buddies yesterday in Orlando and they make me laugh. And I like laughing. Find people that make you laugh. And find time with them – even just a few minutes. The other day – Kelsey and I did laundry and swept and cleaned our kitchens for about an hour. I was in Texas and she was in Florida. Every wife needs a wife. We can multitask.

My Business. I’m still praying through some tough decisions on the future. Just because we could, doesn’t mean we should. The truth is there isn’t much time in the day. And once homework is done and we get kids in bed. The day is over. There’s probably no real announcement coming. It’s just a constant dialing down in areas. A daily practice of putting them first and a daily discipline to say NO even when I want to say yes. I will miss out on some opportunities but I will be present with these kiddos. For those that do what I do – just don’t forget that your areas of works (speaking, products, writing, blog, website) take up a lot of brain power. Even though you don’t “work” on them for many hours during the week – they are always looming, always there. So, if you can turn that dial down to low or off for a season. Would it give your brain and heart space to grow and mature? Would it give you space to even discern what God has for you?

And that is all. Thank you for your time. I can now move about my day like a cleaned out inbox. How is your day? What bubbles are floating around?

What questions do you have for me?