You CAN Teach an Old Dog New Tricks: Thanks, Nature's Recipe®

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NutritionWorthWaggingFor #CollectiveBias

It's been a long time since we've allowed dog toys IN the house, but in the last year or so, we've noticed a huge incline in missing KID toys. Our Golden has always been the stuffed animal lover, but all of a sudden our Chocolate Lab decided he was going to be in on it too. Except because we haven't really had pet appropriate indoor toys, they were running to our toddlers' instead! I do mean literal running too; we would come home from work and they would bound to the kids' toy box, which houses eight square fabric bins. They always go to the center basket, and grab with their mouth whatever is on top: stuffed animals, plastic toys, dress-up shoes, ANYTHING! 

We figured it was about time that they deserved something different. Elsa our Golden is nine and Humphrey, the Lab is ten. They've welcomed each of our children home from the hospital so greatly, but well, quite frankly, we can't afford to keep buying new toys for our KIDS. Ha!

Well, also in the last several years Elsa has started to really itch and scratch at her paws. I've always known she has some slight allergies and have really wanted to explore new food options. We've been a little concerned that grain free dog foods just wasn't something we could regularly budget, so we were thrilled when a friend told us of the brand Nature's Recipe®. It is a highly affordable pet food with very high-quality ingredients AND we just discovered that Kroger, our continuous go-to grocery store, carries it! There are many options to choose from and each one contains NO artificial colors or preservatives, and is an all natural food with added vitamins, nutrients, and minerals.

My husband and I decided that while training our dogs to fetch the toys that they are ALLOWED to, we'd also hopefully better their lifestyles with a switch in food. I put together a super simple tutorial for y'all to create your own pet gift basket, and I promise, your pups are going to love it.

1. Choose a basket that is simple to your needs. We had an extra wicker one lying around, and the dogs know how to meticulously pull these from the kids' toy storage box WITHOUT destroying them--so we went with what they already knew.

2. Our dogs are Retrievers, so fetching is obviously in their nature ;) I can't tell you how long it's been since they've fetched a frisbee, but oh my goodness they were SO happy when they saw these!! At nine and ten, we are very thankful that they are still healthy and active.

3. Choose toys that you know they'll gravitate towards. Funny side story: Since she was a puppy, Elsa has always been obsessed with lamb stuffed animals. We always call them her "lambie" and she will make them last for MONTHS. My mom typically sends her one on her birthdays and Elsa will carry it around wherever she goes, resting her head on it and legit cuddling the heck out of it. Eventually she'll rip the stuffing out though, so it's been since September that she's had one. Notice the 'lambie' in this photo and just wait for the photos below. She's still obsessed.

4. Select a couple of items that are good for your dogs chew play. A little fetch, some tug-o'war... they'll be thrilled!

5. Put it all together and you have yourself (and the dog or dogs) quite the gift! 

6. This is the formula of dog food we chose to go with: lamb meal and rice recipe. This is largely due to the fact that their current food has lamb and rice involved in the ingredients so hopefully it won't taste too different to them. You'll see on the labeling that there are no corn, wheat, artificial colors or flavors and that it is high in quality protein. We chose this as the final gift basket item! 

I wish I could have gotten Humphrey (the Lab) to cooperate for some photos but he was WAY too excited and couldn't be still long enough. I've always called Elsa the model dog; sorry Humpty, I love you just the same!! 

All of the toys pictured were also found at our local Kroger, so we were able to purchase the food AND these treats all at once--win win! Nature's Recipe isn't a new product, but it IS new coming to Kroger retailers, and I want to spread the word for all my dog loving friends and family. You can follow Nature's Recipe on Facebook to stay updated on their newest recipes and coupons too!

What fun changes have been inspired by YOUR furry friend? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below, and you can use the hashtag #NutritionWorthWaggingFor

See which toy Elsa gravitated towards? CALLED IT! Also: we went to the gym this evening and came back a couple hours later; Humphrey was the first to bee-line it to the basket (which we had put in the kids toy bin) and he came bounding at us full speed, with the rope ball from the photos above. I am SO happy we did this, these sweet pups absolutely deserved ALL of it.Below is where you can find Nature's Recipe dog food at Kroger stores, ours was in aisle 14 with the bird seed + dog food and as you can see, there are a lot of great options!

Boy Scouts and What it Means to be a Lion Cub

This post was compensated by the Boy Scouts of America, but all views are my own.

Several months ago I was checking my e-mails and there was one that really caught my eye. It was an invitation to attend a Boy Scouts club meeting. They wanted to know if my son and I could check out their newest pilot program: Lion Cubs, to see if it may be anything he'd be interested in joining. I did a little more research, and learned that the the program is for kindergarten boys who are interested and looking for after-school activities. Five year old children can often join sport leagues and teams, but previous to this piloted program, they weren't able to yet join Scouting. Being a Lion is all about exploration and making new friends. Their vision is to expand imaginations as well as to help spark new interests and creativity.

I didn't really have to think twice about this partnership because it was obvious my son would benefit from attending. Weeks before the meeting I showed Pierson some videos and photos of the Boy Scouts and some of the things the boys did and do. We are friends with some guys who grew up Scouting and they had great stories to share about their hikes, camp outs, and the car races--which my son was SUPER intrigued by. Lucky for us, the event that we attended WAS the car race: the Pinewood Derby, and he loved every second.

Dawn, the Cub Leader, was wonderful to introduce us to every person, and to also bring the Lion Cubs around Pierson to share their stories with him. He was completely enthralled; being surrounded by other similar aged peers who were listening well, being attentive, and making him feel completely included, like he was actually one of THEM, how FUN right?

Dawn had a whole box of cars that Pierson could choose from, so that he can try out racing it firsthand. He was ecstatic when he saw the track, and when they let him place it at the starting point, his excitement was so contagious. I mean, here I am, completely new to an event such as this, and I was PUMPED for him to 'race' his car. The Lion Cubs actually surrounded him at one point and cheered him on, even though him doing this was simply for fun. They would actually be the ones participating in the car races, but they were so sweet and inclusive.

When the time came for the 'real races,' Pierson was SUCH a trooper about sitting on the sidelines to watch. We did the Pledge of Allegiance and he stood so proudly with the other boys, like he had been doing this his whole life. Do your little ones ever just completely amaze you at their sincerity? Watching him be a part of this made my heart just swell, Y'all.

We cheered the Lions on and met some fantastic parents. Pierson went over to the car check-ins and studied every single car with a glimmer in his eye. He was excited, supportive, and was building friendships in the mere hour that we were there! I know the goal of the Scouts is to teach boys courage, compassion, positive attitudes, cooperation, honesty, and SO many other characteristics; and seriously, these were all very evident and sweetly displayed by the boys present. And at the very end, Dawn knelt with Pierson and even gave him his VERY own certificate; he was SO happy! It was very considerate of her to do that, and we are so appreciative of her generous heart.

Obviously Pierson and I were honored to go check out this new program, go #scouting, and to see what this was all about! Dawn gave us tons of great resources and helpful information, and we are very strongly considering signing him up in the fall when he starts kindergarten. Pierson came home and told his sister Reese ALL about his afternoon, telling her that "he won" the race and that he had made a ton of friends. Excited is an understatement for how he felt about his day!

So we want to say a HUGE thank you to the Boy Scouts for having us, and to the super sweet Lion Cubs who made us feel incredibly welcome there. I think the new Lion Program is a wonderful idea, and they're doing a great job weaving traditional Scouting concepts of character development into these age appropriate activities.

If you are interested in signing up for activities, I encourage you to check out your local Cub Scouts or Boy Scouts. You can search here for scouting units in your area. I really don't think you'll regret it!

Have YOU been involved in the Scouts? Don't forget to share your #scouting experience on Facebook and Twitter!

Better to be Loved than Admired

Have you read or finished Present Over Perfect yet? If you haven't grabbed a copy of this book, PLEASE do yourself a favor and fix that. I was screen-shotting and typing out ginormous passages, texting them to my friends and family every other day while reading this. The chapters are all heavily underlined, and so many of the words are forever imprinted on my brain because honestly, being present is something the Lord is earnestly trying to teach me. 

I had a massive break down last month; desperately feeling alone, seeking words of affirmation from family members and really feeling as though on so many levels, I just wasn't connecting. I was getting overly discouraged when Instagram posts weren't doing as well as others have in the past [like, how did I ever get 3k likes on ONE photo? That will NEVER happen again!] And that sentence and realization RIGHT there, is what this post is all about. Whose likes matter? Why do they matter? What is the POINT of social media? There are so many different lessons I want to tie in to what I'm trying to say, but I'll try to take it slow so that I don't completely overwhelm (or bore) you. 

In a podcast listening to Lara Casey share her story [another author I highly encourage you to get familiar with!] she encouraged her listeners to STOP searching. She said, "Imagine your followers to be real life people, because they ARE, and imagine them being at your dining room table. If you even have ten followers, ten people, that's actually a LOT of people to be hosting in your home. So it's not necessarily a good thing trying to find MORE followers, more people who aren't presently with you in this season, because then you are distracted and not pouring in to the people who ARE at your side." That may have been terribly paraphrased, but her point was to be content with the people in your life, and to check yourself to see how you are trying to invest in THEM. With 13k followers, that's a crap ton of people; people who wouldn't actually FIT inside my home or at our dinner table--but that is thousands of people I get to semi interact with and influence with my words via Instagram. Do all 13k SEE my posts? No, of course not. But many do! So what message do I want to share with them? And beyond that, with 13k followers, how many do I ACTUALLY have a real, meaningful relationship with? How many of us can say that we have one at all? You can have hundreds of THOUSANDS, millions even, of quote on quote followers--but are they who at the end of the day, matter? 

Going back to Shauna Niequist's book, she has an entire chapter dedicated to "It's All Right Here." Let me share with you my most convicting points (pages 110-114): 

• -Making someone feel loved in an instant is SO much easier than showering someone your love OVER AND OVER, day in and day out. 
• -It feels good to be good at something, to master something, to control something when marriage and intimacy often feel profoundly OUT of our control.
• -Little by little, we tiptoe away. 
• -The distance seems to always create space for another person, and then there's a whole new level of pain and violation. [YES, because this has happened TO ME]
• -When things are hard and painful and barbed at home, what a LOVELY thing it is to be loved at your work, right? What a lovely and DANGEROUS thing. 
• -It's EASY to be liked by STRANGERS. It's very HARD to be loved and connected to the people in your home when you're always bringing them your most exhausted self and resenting the fact that the scraps you're giving them isn't cutting it. 
• -It is better to be LOVED than admired. It is better to be truly KNOWN and seen and taken CARE of by a small tribe than adored by STRANGERS who think they know you in a meaningful way. 
• -People out THERE are easier than the ones in here. 
• -It's ALL in here, NOT out there. 

I'm here to tell you as a person with thousands of followers [and embarrassingly enough, as an "Influencer" this does not necessarily *sound* like a large number to me]; it doesn't matter, because you can and will still feel lonely. In another podcast listening to Dale Partridge talk with a Pastor, the Pastor said something along the lines of, "No matter the number, your feelings will still be the same." He said he had always imagined that when his church got to 500 members, that would be it, and he would feel like he had arrived. And he now has a church with over 40,000 people attending his different churches each week. The same goes for  many of us in our 'following.' [If you can't relate, bless you, but perhaps you still do with feeling fully loved and cherished inside your own walls.] I LITERALLY remember 10k being "the magic number" on Instagram. "Oh once you hit 10k, big things will start happening," I was told. Well, let me let YOU in on a little secret. That's not exactly true. "Maybe when I hit 15k?" I've thought. Or 20k? But honestly, I follow a LOT of 'mommy bloggers' and women who have an incredibly large following, and do you know what I hear as the common thread? 

That they can still be lonely. That they can still spend too much time on social media, that they often fall short of comparing themselves to other, to doubting whether or not they should just walk away, and so many other similar thoughts that I, a woman with 13k followers, have as well. Why? 

Because our love is not OUT there. 

Because our tribe is INTERNAL. 

Because the ones who not only KNOW us but LOVE us, are sitting AT our table. 

Because the children we are rolling around with on the floor, and the husband we hold hands with on the couch--they, are who matters. 

Sometimes this realization is scary. I've had lots of doubts about posting, sharing, writing, conversing. But a quote from Shauna sums my heart up so well, and I am guessing yours too: 

"Sometimes brave is being quiet. Being brave is getting off the drug of performance. For me, being brave is trusting that what my God is asking of me, what my family and community is asking from me, is TOTALLY different than what our culture says I should do. Sometimes, brave looks boring, and that's totally, absolutely, okay" (126). 

"...Getting off the drug of performance," yes. Do I need to post a picture every day to be loved? Maybe, to be admired. But deep down I know that relationships are not virtual; they are physical. I love the groups I'm a part of on threads on Instagram. I've gotten close with women in Colorado, California, Illinois, Canada, Oregon, North Carolina, and SO many different states. I'm thankful for them and I long to one day create an IG meet-up! But these relationships are not ENOUGH to BE enough. Do not second guess yourself because of your social media presence, do not doubt your identity based on the thoughts, moods, and opinions of others. 

It is better to be LOVED than admired. And friends?

You already are.

When You Don't Feel Ready

How did you know you were ready?

Have you heard that before? In relation to having children, or settling on your degree, or getting married; this is a common question I often hear. And honestly? It's a question I still ask myself in relation to a LOT of things. 

I recently listened to Dale Partidge's Startup Camp podcast and he was interviewing Pastor Steven Furtick. I had a long drive from Louisville to Wilmore, Kentucky and I turned it on right as my behind was getting super sore, my eyes a little fuzzy, and when I needed a boost of energy for the miles to go. 

'You will NEVER feel ready', was one of the many quotes that I audibly and to myself, agreed with. Dale related this to the day they were being released from the hospital with their first child and I laughed. My husband and I often remember this exact day and moment for us with our first born, Pierson. "We get to just take him HOME? And no one is going to stop us?" We felt slightly panicked and nervous; there was no user manual or 'one right way' that we would parent this boy. We didn't know anything about breastfeeding or burping or which of his cries meant what. We just had to DO it--be parents. Day by day, hour by hour, and as we buckled him in the carseat [seriously SHOCKED that no one was standing by to ensure that we were doing it correctly], that was just the beginning of the scares and thrills of parenting we'd endure. He hasn't even started kindergarten yet, I can only imagine the things we are about to experience. 

How did we know we were ready to have kids? We didn't. Because we still aren't ready. We aren't ready for the failures we'll endure, the heart ache they'll go through, or the immeasurable amounts of money that will be spent on them as the years pass by. We don't feel ready, but we can still trust. And I think God says, sweetly, not vindictively, "Daughter, just you wait." 

Beyond children and the typical scenarios this question is most often related to, in my heart of hearts there's something that I don't quite feel ready for--even though I'm already doing it: 

this. 

This season of quiet; this season of being still. The waiting, listening, praying, and being more present and open than ever. 

When I talk dreams to my husband, I tell him that it's like having a million little houses placed all around my brain. There's the photographer house, blogger, writer, mom, wife, teacher... the travel house, michigan house, and horse farm house. And just like that, they keep multiplying. A visionary is a much nicer label for what someone like me IS, but really and truly, I'm a dreamer, and it's not always a good thing. It's like God gave me all of these things and right now, I can't for the life of me figure out what the ONE thing is. But at the same time, I do. 

For an entire year, God blessed me with amazing clients and some really awesome collaborations. Why? Because I asked Him to. I wanted to take some time out of the classroom to stay home with my kids before our son starts kindergarten (which is in a mere six months, choking back tears here!) While I was teaching, I was basically working seven days a week with the photo sessions and product photography and blog posts that I was getting paid to do. So all of that honestly felt like extra; on the side, abundant, excessive, and really pretty awesome. And now, here I am. Home. The money is all in our savings, every other week my husband pulls what I need as a 'paycheck' to cover our expenses and bills, and I'm here. I am not what you would call 'hustling.' The emails are few and far between, photography sessions are kind of stagnant, and I went from doing it all, to feeling like that's almost vanished. My brain is spinning and I have a lot of questions, but I can faintly here the whisper again, "Daughter, just you wait." 

'You don't have a lot of vision when you start,' Steven said. 'But the challenge is believing when you see nothing,' he told Dale. Right now, Motherhood is calling. I asked to be MOM, and to have that be my sole responsibility, and God answered. But I don't have a lot of vision for this coming year or what life will look like. I don't have people knocking down my door to take pictures or to write for them; I don't have huge companies asking for a partnership. And I think that's because God is asking me to water what I DO have, even though I'm not sure what will come up. We've been looking for a new house for TWO years, y'all. That is a VERY long time. My heart is quenched with thirst for land and open space. I want to see horses in our backyard and actually, I want to SIT with my horses IN my backyard. While I drove through Versailles and into the cute and quaint Wilmore, Kentucky, tears swelled in my eyes. Foals ran next to their mothers, horses were rolling on their backs in the morning dew, some were sleeping lying down and I said aloud, "This, God. This is what you created me for." 

But my 'visionary' self isn't always very realistic. If I could sell my house and move to the middle of nowhere and not worry about jobs or money or bills and budgets, I would. Because in my fantasy world, I'd put on a cotton dress, hang our linens on a clothesline, pick fresh eggs from the chicken coop with my children, play tag in the pastures with our horses, and it would all be perfectly peachy keen. And then I would end up in JAIL because I wouldn't be able to make payments on our car, student loans, house, or medical bills. Thank God my husband can simultaneously push me forward to keep dreaming, as well as draw me back into patience and prayer.

There's a process here, and even though on quiet days it's sometimes the hardest to hear, I am being told, "Daughter, just you wait." 

If money were no object, I would own a horse farm and do equine therapy with troubled youth and special needs children. I would use our farm to bring fellowship and community throughout whatever zip code we lived in. Asa and I would love people, raise our children, and ride horses. I would do photography whenever I wanted, write all the time, and it would be simple. 

But money is obviously something that *most* of us do have to factor in. So while I have a huge chunk of freedom not working five days a week, I'm going to try hard not to worry about why things are quiet, and instead thank God that they are. My days consist of mothering and shepherding two young souls; a strenuous yet magical task. Whatever the Lord tells me next, I have a feeling it's going to be beautiful. Ready or not, He WILL pave the way, and He will make our path known. When you don't feel ready, just trust.