Guest Post, Helen's Habitat

I'm so happy to have another one of my blogging buddies helping out today!

Update: We made it to Tucson and in our new but empty house, 

our things come tomorrow but we'll still have lots of furniture shopping to do.

Lovelies, where's your favorite place to buy furniture? 

Helen from Helen's Habitat, which has great ideas and tips on coupons for saving a bundle!

(I really need to use coupons more!) 

Make sure you check her sweet blog out. 

The Joy In Play

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We were lucky to have my Mother-in-Law stay with us over Mother's Day weekend. She lives on the East Coast, so we don't see her as much as we would like. We were all invited to a wedding party on Saturday and since the couple was planning a trip to France, we tried to get French themed gifts. My Mother-in-Law got the best one-a French version of Monopoly! When we looked at the back I recognized a word for 'play' which in French is 'Jouer.' I then said, "My French is bad but I know that word. I think it's easy to remember because I see the word joy in it."

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Do you see the joy in play? I do-I have always loved games of all kinds. It started when I was a kid of course but what stands out to me now is this memory of my book of games. The book had a picture of some bipedal fish playing Kick the Can. I remember being totally confused but in awe of these fish getting together to play Kick the Can, Lol! I bet just thinking back to when you played Red Light, Green Light and Simon Says will bring a smile to your face!

Joy and play are gifts from God. When you become an adult and try to be mature and responsible, you may lose sight of how to enjoy these gifts. I want to encourage you as a single person, a wife or husband, a parent-wherever you are in life right now to really take inventory of how you are having joy in your life. Really take some time to consider if you are getting more joy out what the modern, mainstream culture is offering you or if you get more of your joy like a child through simplicity and play.

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What they say children get out of a family game night is developing skills in areas like communication and negotiation or building self confidence. They say children need that time to do something that isn't passive and that gives them time connect with their families. Aren't those things that we could use at any age? I encourage you to take one night a week to do a game night. Give yourself permission to get joy out of play. I mean if some fish are walkin' around playing games why can't you?!?! 

Matthew 18:2-3

" . . . And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

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I love this! We have game nights all the time with my family and Kevin's family and many times just the two of us! In fact, we're planning some game nights with our new neighbors. Just out of curiosity, what your favorite game for family night? Mine is Ticket to Ride. I'd love to hear yours!