Quiet Time is Not so Quiet Anymore

I received this sweet email from my friend who was in our small group. Once I started typing my response I realized this would be a great post for anyone else wondering this same thing!

Hey Megan,

I hope you and your precious family are doing well! We're getting settled here...just some frames left to put on the walls! it's  certainly busy up here and you have to plan any outing around traffic. Thankfully Target is like 10min away and they have a full grocery section too, so I'm set :)

I wanted to seek your advice on something. I have really been struggling since the move, well really since Noah was born, to spend time in the Word. I will admit I feel that I've never had the Bible Study life I strive for, but even just spending 10 minutes has become harder and harder for me. Honestly, a lot of time I forget; a lot of time I feel my days are spent monitoring Lily and caring so much for Noah, I just don't know when to do it with balancing all the other house tasks. I know I have to prioritize it more and just find time to do it.  You seem to have always done well this, from what I do know about you and FB posts and such, and you have 4 kids! I was hoping you could give me some advice :)

Thanks so much & have a great night!!
Miss you guys!
Jennifer

Well to say I thought this was the sweetest email was an understatement. I kept thinking, "Wow, I must have everyone snowed!" But then I sat down and thought honestly about it so here's my response...

Hi Jennifer,
We miss seeing you guys so much and hope you're settling into your new home! Thank you for your sweet note! I want to start off by saying there are lots of days I don't get it "right" when it comes to devotions, but here are some things that I have done that have helped me stay focused more on the Lord each day.

1. I put bible verses every where in my house! Yes, sometimes the day is so crazy and out of control that picking up a bible and getting ten minutes to read it is really hard. So surrounding yourself in scripture keeps your mind focused on him, especially in the heat of the rough moments with your kiddos.

2. I put bibles every where too. I have two bibles that are almost the same and I have one on my nightstand and one in the living room. I even keep one in the car! That way I can't use the excuse of walking upstairs and having to leave the babies alone to have quiet time. Put a daily devotional, pen, paper, etc with each bible also.

3. Next, make the kids a devotional basket. For little kids this could be picture bible, bible story books, even blocks or little people they can play with. While you sit on the couch with your bible, feeding the baby, you read the Psalm and the Proverb matching the date or pick a book of the bible. While you just READ the older child can play in the devotional basket that is only for that special time when mommy is reading her bible too. See where I am going with this? You're teaching Lily that there is time in the day to just sit and be with God. She won't learn this if you are only doing your devotions at night or during nap time. And to be honest, I just started doing this a year or two ago. And now my big kids that can read will go grab their bibles too. It's never perfectly timed every day. Some people can schedule their days to the minute, I've never been able to. But there should be an ebb and flow to the day where there is some moments to just sit in quiet. No t.v. or any electronics!

4. Give up the perfectionist notion that you will get an hour every day to journal and read your bible in absolute quiet and concentration. It's just not going to happen very often. When it does TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT! But for the regular crazy days your goal is to keep scripture and prayer at the forefront of your mind with whatever means necessary!

5. Every once in a while (maybe once a month), ask hubby to watch the kiddos so you can go sit at Starbucks and work on some quality bible study alone and with caffeine!

6. My favorite bible study right now is at shereadstruth.com There is now an app for your phone and it is awesome. They have not asked me to endorse their product this is just my unsolicited opinion. It's perfect because the scripture, the devotional, and the online forum is right there on the app for each day! You can be cooking dinner and doing your devotionals on your phone or Ipad. This is a HUGE help for me!

All in all the the new attitude is "Being with Christ throughout the day." Versus a long scheduled time of quiet. Those days will come back eventually!

Well, Jennifer I hope this helps! I definitely don't have it all figured out and I am still working on it myself. This is just my opinion and what has worked for me! Take what you need out of it and adjust however it fits for you!  Just know that the Lord is with you all through the day! He will take whatever minutes you can give him!

Love,
Megan

This is how we school.

Sometimes school is just the princess writing her story for CC and mama putting her feet up.

***This picture was taken as proof in the unlikely event it ever happens again.***

THE Georgia Tech Game

Living in the Virginia Tech area, my honey doesn't get to see his team play very often. But every other year GT comes to Bburg to play VT. And this year Shane and I went to the game for a date. In the past we have taken friends, family, even our kiddos. But this year it was just him and me. And it was AWESOME! Why? Because GEORGIA TECH WON! We went with very low expectations. Every year since we have lived here GT has lost. So when the game seemed to be going in our favor we were floored. And quite possibly the only people besides the parents of the GT players up on our feet screaming our heads off. Thankfully the VT people were very kind and allowed us to celebrate.

 This guy was lots of fun and actually taught me some of the game. Which is hilarious because when they are losing I am not allowed to talk because I frustrate him. So I got to finally use up my daily word count!

 When the scoreboard got to this we were starting to really freak out.

 And here we are celebrating after the game. I convinced Shane to go around the stadium to where the players were and guess what? It paid off! Here we are with DeAndre Smelter who has to be one of the nicest college football players. He took the time to talk with Shane about the game and even took pictures with us. Seriously this kid (I can say that now since I am old) had a great game and was really fun to watch.

 Then we went and hung out where the players get on the bus to go home. I hung out with Justin Thomas' sister, who was also very sweet. You can tell they are so proud of their quarterback. And Shane thinks he's awesome. It's fun to see him excited this year after mourning the loss of his favorite player Godhigh.

 And surprise we saw Paul Johnson too. I am pretty sure Shane was floating at this point.

 Here comes Justin Thomas.......

 It is tradition for GT to steal the T from opponents signs. One year Shane had decided he was going to do it. I reminded him as an elder at church and the father of four children that it was not an option. Leave that to the young whipper snappers! And it looks like somebody got the T again. (not Shane)

When it was all said and done it was an awesome day. Like besides our wedding and the birth of our kids... it was rated up there pretty high. 

Fall Y' all!

Yeah! Fall is here. I have a love/hate relationship with fall. Summer is my first love. And Fall is second. the big comfy sweaters, uggs, pumpkin everything. The problem is that Fall inevitably welcomes in Winter. Who is my absolute nemesis! But I have decided to live in complete denial that Winter is coming and embrace that absolute awesomeness of Autumn. So with my new found attitude and outlook on the season I set out to surround myself in all things pumpkin and apple.

First up! Baked apples, applesauce, apple everything. This was a genius plan on my part. The kids did so much of it! And they all got along. No fighting! Score! Avery wanted to wash all the apples. Ellie was in charge of "moving" the apples, and Reece was the apple corer. Because of course anything involving machinery is HIS. So two hours later we had a house that smelled like apple pie. Yum!

The awesomeness in all this is our "new"kitchen. We finished the kitchen when I was 9 months pregnant. So last Fall we really didn't do too much. But just this week we have worked the heck out of my island. Seriously love her. She's like the best assistant ever. She holds all my stuff, gets beat up constantly, and never complains! All four feet of her glorious quartzness!

Anywho I digress....

It wouldn't be a post about this time of year without a little shout out to my new love, the pumpkin spice chai. I can't tell you how many I've had in the last two weeks. Probably too many. But this new discovery has rocked my world. And guess what????? Target has pumpkin spice chai in their TAZO section. MIND BLOWN! So yes, my pantry has been stocked to last me until Spring.

We started Road Trip USA... again. It seems we have started it three times and had to cut it out various year for different reasons. But now all three of the oldest kiddos can do it so we are going full force. It will work great with our cycle 3 in Classical Conversations this year along with the Sonlight Core D readers we are reading.

Here's my man showing off his Five Guys cheeseburger and apple cider. Why you ask? Because the first state we studied last week was Connecticut. And who knew that CT was the birthplace of the first cheeseburger. We also learned that colonists often drank cider and beer because they believed water was bad for them. And no we didn't have beer. Just straight up convenient and very OK tasting apple cider from Target.

Here's a free little grammar lesson for you. Please see the below pic for the correct contraction of you and all.
YOU + ALL= Y'all

You're Welcome!

That's just a pic of my new favorite obsession. It will be so sad when I have used up all of my starbucks giftcards!

So far...

Our school year looks like this... 😧

A Little Randomness from the Summer

Sissy snuggles

 I've been knitting lots of coasters.

 Water day with the two littles.

 Reece's new hat.

 Reece building a table.

 Attempted to curl my hair. It lasted four minutes.

 And just for some cuteness.

Their Story...

I'm guest blogging over at JourneyGuy today! Thanks Pastor Jeff for the opportunity to write a little piece of my story.

For the Single Ladies

When I thought about who might be reading this and about all the people in my church, I knew I wanted to tell a part of my story that would resonate with all the college students. Especially all you single ladies. (Are you singing Beyonce’s song now? Sorry about that.) So all of you 18-24 year olds that aren’t married yet. Guess what it’s ok! And here’s why.

I swore I would never be one of THOSE girls. You know the boy crazy kind. All they do is talk about their man and how great he is. Their every waking moment is about some guy. But when thinking over my life one of the most defining moments of who I am today is when I met my husband. There I said it. So much for being an independent woman.

Here’s my story…

Read more at 

http://www.journeyguy.com/their-story-megan-carver/#szqoIDf8rCkUXfMA.99

This Week

I Love summer food! This is a go to dish for us. Chop, throw in dish, drizzle EVOO, salt, pepper, Italian seasonings. SO GOOD!

First time Lorelai didn't cry on the swing.

These brownies were amazing! A new staple in our house. I buy it in bulk off o amazon. I added Nutella icing on top. They were gone in a minute!

Ellie is back in gymnastics and LOVING it. She slightly scares me how brave she is!

Hit up Barnes and Noble for some reading for the very LOOOOOONG flight to Australia. 

I'm in a new club.

This morning as I was making my bed I glanced out the window and saw three women -very pregnant, walking dogs, and pushing strollers. And I realized I'm in a new club. I'm not in the "young" mom category anymore. Now you're probably thinking DUH you have four kids. But we all have that moment. The one where you don't see yourself in with that group anymore.

I'm now in the "had four not gonna have more" category. The "no way I am not going to be pregnant ever again". Now I wasn't sad. I don't want to suddenly get pregnant and have another baby to be back in the group, but it was definitely defining for me.

I suddenly felt older.

Wiser (well maybe not that). ;)

And I started thinking about 7 and 9 years ago when I was in that stage. I loved it. But you know what else I love. The fact that I have a son who can take out the trash. I have a daughter who loves going with me to get pedicures. I have another daughter who crawls on my lap and tells me I'm her bwest fwend.

I do miss feeling that little kick inside my tummy. And being in awe and overwhelmed with all things new regarding motherhood. The big round belly with the tiny human growing inside.

Hey- maybe tomorrow I'll load up my brood and head out on the walking trails. With my new group. They're pretty cool too. And they're all mine.

End of School Celebration!

The Carver kids have completed another year at Brooklyn Academy! Woohoo! This mama is ready to not be the teacher and just be that "fun- mom- that- takes -us- on -cool- summer adventures"! SO we started it out with a yes day. I told them we were off to Target for groceries but we actually got some of those dollar spot build and paint wooden crafts. They had a blast putting those together. Now we just need to find a little creek to test our new sailboats.

First up.... PIZZA!

And then off to Bubblecake for some deliciousness!

Ellie just finished her second year of preschool so we will start K4 here at home with her in September.

Lorelai even got a little cupcake.

My handsome little man Reece finished up first grade. He is awesome at math. And we finally figured out that his lack of wanting to read (he can read just didn't want to do it) actually stemmed from needing glasses. His vision is almost perfect but has astigmatism in both eyes. He has been a different kid in school now that he is sporting those!   We picked up the LEGO movie too and that was our afternoon rest time activity.

Avery Elizabeth finished third grade. She excells in reading. I am guessing she's on about a sixth grade reading level. She's started to read everything in sight. And I can barely keep up with her on her kindle. In January she was struggling so badly with math we actually switched programs and started at the beginning. So she will be doing math through the summer to catch up.

The whole crew!

And a few of this precious baby. She loved smearing icing all over the place.