friendship sweaters

when you saw the title of this post, did you form an image in your head of myself and a friend in matching hideous sweaters? just me? 

well, onto the point: i told you that you'd be jealous. 

aren't my gifts from my accountability partner fun?

she's a keeper...because of her presents...and um...oh yeah...her godly wisdom. yeah, that too.

i received these on saturday and am half-way through "7" by jen hatmaker. i want to be her friend. i might knit her a sweater or make her a friendship bracelet. that always works for me, in case you're wondering how to win me over. that, and aprons. and vintage linens made into lovely gifts... and... you get the idea.

now onto folding laundry and watching bad tv on hulu.

peace out, playas.

i like gifts...i mean...it's the thought that counts...yeah

 oh dear friends, you are going to be SO jealous. i don't mean to brag, but i have the best accountability partner in the history of the world. the world. no exaggeration.

amanda jo and i met up this weekend while our family was visiting dallas for the state fair. 

we met at my family's church garage sale, where they also have bouncy houses and sell hot dogs. they are multi-taskers and we appreciate that about them.

so her family and my family got together, bounced, ate, played, threw pecans at one another, and all that fun normal stuff families do together.

you don't throw pecans at others? no? you're strange. but we can still be friends. 

and then....she gave me the greatest gifts i could ever ask for:

an apron, a book i've been wanting, and an embroidered lovely gift! 

pictures will come soon... i know... pins and needles, people.

i think i'll just point all my family and other friends in her direction and say, "let her pick out my presents for you" because she was dead-on. 

love love love.

at the state fair, we ate girl scout cookies, fried girl scout cookies, fried s'mores, hot dogs, fried onion strings, and other fried things. 

"fried" is the main ingredient in state fair foods. don't knock it. it rocks. 

and here's the wee cutie patooties lookin' oh so sweet. they can't help it. they're just naturally adorable.

and i'm gonna need you to bear with me, because i, being the un-trendy one, have just discovered the joy of instagram for myself. i knew what it was, liked what i saw, but never used it. maybe i should have just called my blog "behind the curve."  so as i play with photos, you get to see what 99% of the united states discovered years ago. 

hi, i'm maggie may and i'm un-trendy. 

ignoring children. just for fun.

so our adventure-telling begins, my friends.

don't worry. there were no karaoke horror stories to retell during this trip. 

shame, really.

we headed up to hang out with my parents and dear, old friends before we drove the long, arduous drive to kentucky.

up first: amanda jo.

we have been friends for-ev-er. 

back when her room was mint green and we listened to eve 6 and made jokes like, "your mom's a venereal disease." -true story. classy. don't judge.

but now we are accountability partners and hard-core pinterest fans (even though i'm not actually on pinterest. gasp! say it ain't so! --yep. true statement. don't cry.)

we've come a long way.

and now we have 5 kids between the two of us. she's contributing 1 to that mathematical equation. i feel like an overachiever.

hey, it's what i do.

anyway,  the kids and i stopped by her home to visit with each other and ignore our children while we discussed deep, philosophical issues such as, "oh my gosh where did you find that fabric it's adorable and i want it and can you make me a pillow like that?"

it was a refreshing and wonderful time. 

i love her and her family.

below are our beautiful children.

-not troublesome in the least. just sittin' there. minding their own business. chillin', if you will.

i'm pretty sure after this picture was taken, someone got poked in the eye or took something from someone or some such drama. but at this moment, peace reigned in the land.

and are you ready for this cuteness? can you handle it? 

amanda jo made the boys pillow-case-travel-bags. color-coded. with their initial on it.

bam.

cuteness.

 in the big pocket you put your pillow and in the smaller pocket you put your coloring books and loud, annoying devices to irritate others while riding in the car. 

may i suggest a whistle or rain stick. perhaps a shrill bird?

it was a lovely gift. and she pretty much rocks my face off with her awesomeness and craftiness and thriftiness and unicorn statues. yep. you read that right.

good times.

accountability while raising wild banshees

each week my accountability partner and i get on the phone with one another and hash out our lives.
our time is supposed to be divided up into segments (but we only came up with this idea last week or so).
a mock-up of the schedule goes a lil' something like this:
20 minutes: how are we spiritually/what's new
10 minutes: how are you serving
10 minutes: recite memory verses/discuss
20 minutes: confess any sins to be held accountable, discuss prayer requests, and pray

i love our time together because when we follow-up every week (and sometimes we DO miss, because life happens and what can yah do...) we really get to know the ins and outs of the other person's life. we get to encourage one another and hold one another accountable. we should make up a fun name for this. encountable? accountourage? maybe i should quit while i'm ahead. let's just call it
awesome-fun-happy-time.

this last week, i told amanda jo that i was really struggling with my temper with the kids. and the fact that at times, i just want to give up. --not like "i'll leave and never come back. i'm movin' to tahiti kids, tell dad i said bye" kind of give up, just the kind of giving up where i stop trying so hard to teach and work on things with them that they are taking (in my humble opinion) flippin' forever to learn!
example: "let's not hit our brother when he makes us mad. let's use our words," and i say this about 75,372 times a day, and then i think, "ugh. i quit."
at one point i think i said to the children, "fine. you win. you can grow up to be banshees who howl and scream and wrestle with anyone you come in contact with and everyone will say, "holy cow, those boys are wild!" and you can say it's because y'all decided to disobey over and over again and momma just got tired and stopped trying and hid in the closet and talked to herself and her hair fell out."
amazing parenting, right? i should write a book. "what NOT to say in the heat of the moment when you want to close yourself in a dark room and not come out because you're digging a hole out of the house you are being held captive in by several short people who won't listen or obey." would you buy it?

so amanda jo, being the encouraging, loving friend that she is, did NOT say, "what the crap is wrong with you? God loves you. be nice to your kids. gosh, get your bum in gear."
nope.
she instead gave me this reference (she's pretty godly, huh?)
galatians 6:9
"let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."

and then that was convicting. (ah, the fun of accountability) so i looked up several verses on enduring, perseverance, etc.
and i found one i really enjoyed. it's now over my sink, where i can look at it for long, long periods of time doing my oh-so favorite activity: dishes.
romans 12:12-13
"rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality."
--now i know that this doesn't say, "hey, love your wee ones and be patient with them." but it sums up the areas where i think God is pushing and pulling me to grow.
so i've been dwelling on this and am prayerfully hopeful that God will continue His good work in me and grow me to be a joyful, patient, prayerful woman of God who ministers to those of the faith in my community (specifically my family) and those in my community who do not yet know Christ.
so look! accountability is good. if not for amanda jo and the grace of God, i might be in a dark room right now muttering to myself trying to dig through carpet and concrete with a spoon. but instead! look! God has shown me that i am not alone. i have His guidance through the Holy Spirit, His wisdom in His Word, and accountability through my dear friend. God's got me covered.

i encourage y'all to get an accountability partner for yourself because
1. they hold us accountable (it's a given. it's in the name. did you miss it? if you did, i just spelled it out for you in a ridiculously long and painful way right here in these parentheses)
and 
2. sometimes they make you fun, lovely gifts.

you should probably do it because of #1, but #2 doesn't hurt, either. you might get a lovely dishtowel or picture frame out of the deal. ;)