Friday, August 19, 2016

How can I HELP Louisiana Flood Victims?

Driving through Lousiana on our way home from Destin earlier this week was just... pretty unbelievable.  The flooding devastation is BIG TIME and intense and WIDESPREAD.  I have felt that SURELY there is something more I can do than just donate some money... but what I have found in researching how to BEST provide for the greatest needs in Louisiana is this:  MONETARY donations are actually preferred (to avoid the labor & expense of transporting/sorting/packing/distributing.) Here are a few organizations accepting donations to directly aid the THOUSANDS of flood victims:
 
To donate money to United Way of Louisiana, you can text LAFLOOD to 313131 or visit cauw.org.
  
To donate to the Red Cross, visit redcross.org, or call 1-800-RED CROSS or text the word LAFLOODS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
  
Second Harvest Food Bank says they will distribute thousands of pounds of food, water, and supplies to flood victims, and are asking supporters to donate here.
  
The Gulf Coast Floods Children’s Relief Fund aims to provide support to specifically help children and families with emergency assistance. Donate here.
  
The Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana has established a relief fund to assist teachers with classroom supplies, which you can donate to here.

Thursday, August 18, 2016

RealLife with RoxyB: Momlife. The REALlife version.




As school is beginning and the CRAZY is hitting the FAN... I hope you find this to be an encouragement... and permission to just... do ya thang!
 
This is ‪#‎momlife‬. (And ‪#‎dadlife‬ too😉💗👨‍👩‍👧‍👦).

Whether you have 1 kid or 12.
Whether you're trying to take a photo on the beach or getting everyone to sit still enough for a prayer before dinner.
Sometimes we're on POINT.
Sometimes we're a hot mess.

And that's okay!  I think one of the coolest things I've learned through motherhood is that we each get to paint our own picture of what "successful" parenting looks like. The fundamentals are the same... Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.   I'm sure we could throw a few others in there too...

But that looks different on all of us!  We have parts of that we're AWESOME at.  And then there are areas we kiiind of struggle.  I'm definitely weaker in some areas than others.  Husband is the strong one in the areas I fall a little shorter. And my kids? Well.  From one day to the next you JUST never know.   But!  Jesus closes the gap between our imperfection and that standard we all seem to strive for that NO ONE will ever reach. There is just SO MUCH PEACE... and LIFE... in the knowledge that we get to wake up every morning with a fresh dose of grace and mercy and forgiveness. A clean slate to make life that day as full and fruitful as possible. 

Some days that means DOing a lot. 
Some days that means a whole lot of REST. 
And some days... It's just a crapshoot haha. 

But that is the beauty of ‪#‎REALLIFE‬, my friends. 

I hope we can ALL know (but really EXPERIENCE) the truth of that every day!😊💗🙌 

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