Sunday Devotions 12/27/15

Hey yall!

I would like to add some different features to the blog and the first one I want to add is Sunday Devotions. I want to talk each Sunday about the devotions I read the past week and what I plan to read the upcoming week.

I’ve been fairly slack this week regarding devotions and it’s shown in my stress levels. I only managed to read one from Our Daily Bread with my husband on Christmas Day. I really need to get back into the habit of reading a devotion and the Bible every morning.

My husband and I read Our Daily Bread from October 2013. The devotion was titled Immeasurably More and the Bible verses to go along with it were Ephesians 3:14-21. It really was what I needed to hear at that time since I was feeling a bit down.

I plan to start reading Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young. It’s a 365 daily devotional that I’ll start on January 1. It looks interesting and it’s a very lovely book with leather cover. I’m hoping it will help me to start my days peacefully.

What are you reading for your daily devotions? Do you have a book? Do you use an app? Do you use Our Daily Bread like my husband?

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My 30th Birthday

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Hey yall!

I just celebrated my 30th birthday yesterday! My birthday was wonderful. I celebrated with my family at Olive Garden and had a delicious dinner. I received many wonderful presents from my family. My husband gave me a Yeti cup (THE BOSS 30 oz.Vacuum Insulated Stainless Steel Travel Tumbler) he had cerakoted blue with my name stenciled in silver. My mom, of course, gave me a book - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: The Illustrated Edition (Harry Potter, Book 1). It’s gorgeous! All the pictures are so well done. And the details are amazing! Everything - the characters, places, settings - it all looks more like what the book describes than the movies ever managed. Then you get spreads that take two whole pages like Newt Scamander’s Guide to Trolls during the Mountain Troll scene. The whole book is just beautiful! I also received a gift card to Amazon that I’ll be using to purchase the book The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) that I mentioned before. I’m hoping to really transform my whole outlook after reading the book.

I used to think being 30 was old and my life would be over. Now, I believe my 30s will be even better than my 20s! I’ve got my Thrive to help me feel amazing and my Le-Vel business is just getting started. My marriage is in a great place and I’m looking forward to seeing what my daughter comes up with next. Overall I feel fantastic. I think I’m coming into the best season of my life.

What I'm Reading: December 12, 2015 Edition

Hey yall! I mentioned before that I was reading A Christmas Carol, well, I changed my mind. I just can’t manage to sink into it and get lost in it like I normally do. So, I gave up on it. But that’s ok because I’ve read it before, it may have been years ago, but I’ve read it. This week I found myself gravitating toward self help books. Mainly Marie Kondo’s The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and the Make Over Your Mornings ecourse by Crystal Paine.

One of the first steps in the MOYM course is to tell someone you are committed to doing the course at a certain time each day. Well, I’m letting everyone reading this know, I am committing myself to reading the workbook and watching the videos for the next 14 days each evening at 8:30, or as soon as I put my daughter to bed.

I’ve also been reading other people’s blogs about blogging so I could become better at blogging. Let me just say, there’s a lot of good information out there and a lot of underdeveloped information. Some people would say you need to do things, but not show you how. But I did find some really good blogs, especially The Budget Mama. She may be known for writing about financial matters, but her posts about blogging gave me some really good insights.

The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) by Hal Elrod was recently recommended to me. I’m adding that to my list of To Be Read. In the meantime, does anyone have any comments about it? Also, I’m open to any suggestions to add to my TBR list.

Christmas Stories to Put You in the Spirit

Hey yall! Today has been crazy busy and I still have much to do once I leave work. My daughter wants a Barbie Dream House (the medium one mommy!) for Christmas so I need to convince her in the meantime to get rid of some toys. I hope to do that tonight. And I need to do some deep cleaning in preparation of Christmas parties.

I'm still working on overcoming my writing block. I don't have much to say but I wanted to share this with you. I mentioned in my last post I love to read Christmas stories and if you do too, here's a wonderful post with some truly inspirational non-fiction Christmas books: 7 True Holiday Tales to Put You in the Christmas Spirit. Let me know in the comments what your favorite Christmas story is!

What I'm Reading

Hey yall! I hope everyone is having a wonderful day! I thought I'd let you know what I'm currently reading.
Right now I'm in full-swing Christmas mode, so it's back to the classics with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.


For my Bible study group, I'm reading The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst.


I haven't gotten very far in either, so I can't give my opinion yet. But I'll definitely let you know what I think! If you've read either, let me know what you think!

So, I've been writing this post for several days and I've come to the conclusion, I no longer know how to write longer than a Facebook post. It hurts my English major heart to know I have this block. I'll just have to retrain my brain so I can come up with some good posts for yall.

Thanks for reading!
Bryanna

Welcome!

Hi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Bryanna. I'm a Thriver, a Christian, a wife, a mom, a planner addict, and a book worm. My life is busy and I wouldn't have it any other way!

I'm new to blogging, so have patience with me please. I'll do my best to update a few times a week. I plan for this blog to be about my life, my planners, the books I read, and the Thrive experience. Who knows, I might even throw in some recipes and some random interesting facts (I'm full of them!).

I welcome comments and positive suggestions, but please, no negativity! Like Mama said, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.

Thanks yall!
Bryanna Smith