Extra in The Ordinary

Do you think stress is good for you, or bad for you? Does thinking about stress, stress you out? Hang with me. There's an awesome TED talk video below about stress that will totally relax and excite you. But first- what is stress? Stress is a mentally or emotionally disruptive or upsetting condition occurring in response to adverse external influences and capable of affecting physical health usually characterized by increased heart rate, a rise in blood pressure, muscular tension, irritability, and depression.  In our fast paced world, full of changes and advancements, stress is here to stay. We need to understand the psychological stress response and how to make it our friend. Here is Kelly McGonigal on stress, one of my new favorite thinkers and speakers: After watching it, what did you think? Can you think positively about stress? I know I will from now on. I love the idea that we can help our body have a response of courage just by the way we perceive

These days our family is busier and busier. Finding time to sit down each weekend with the girls and still have "Tea Time" has been a challenge, but when God's in charge, really cool things happen. I was praying to Him that I felt like I was in a Tea Time funk, and I wasn't sure if I was still supposed to write the Tea Time devotional book, and God basically said stop being lazy and write out a few good ideas. I did. Here's what happened.... This weekend we created The Heart Board Tea Time!! Some of you have done a "Dream Board". I like them, my kids have done them, but they can be worldly if you or your kids get too focused on tangibles like cars or clothes or food, etc. So, we decided to make a Heart Board this week during tea time. The only things allowed on our heart board are pictures that remind us of spiritual truths, family members, God's creation, good, noble, righteous things, God's word, etc. I wanted the girls

Mister B is the best. On Friday afternoon I had a random thought that I might stop to get flowers to put in the living room. I've wanted to add a dash of color to our blah creamy beige theme. But, I decided to stay focused and went straight home to start dinner and get the girls from school. Then an hour or so later..... He, Mister B, walks in with 18 beautiful roses. He had no hints, just said he had me on his mind today. Me plus random roses (first time in years!!) = happy wife.  I was so excited to have the beautiful roses in the house. It motivated me to make the rest of the house prettier and get ready for fall. I pulled out the fall decorations and then filled the freezer with an italian beef stew .  Now I just need a cool breeze to really get in the fall mood, but I guess I shall wait prayerfully for a few more weeks. As a special thank you to my special man, here are 18 colorful reasons (one for each rose!) why I love him: 1) He buys me random roses. 2) He loves