Tessa's Travels - Summer 2013 Edition

Well, the summer of 2013 has come and gone. This is going to be my last summer-related post for the year, so I thought it would be fitting to let Tessa take over the blog today. She's been begging me to let her show everyone the places she went and the things she saw during her first ever summer, so here goes....

 

In July, I saw the mountains for the first time. I went and spent a day at Waterton. 

Here's me at Cameron Falls...

Then, I went to Cypress Hills. My mom says this is one of her favorite places. It's alright.

I checked out the lake and spent a week at camp and met lots of new people.

 

 In August, I took my first plane ride to Victoria, BC.

 I kept pretty busy in Victoria...

I went on a boat for the first time and saw some whales in the ocean...

 I checked out Butchart Gardens (got photobombed too!) and played with flamingos and butterflies at the Butterfly Gardens.

 I saw a bunch of old buildings...

    And hung out for a bit at the BC Parliament Building.

Yay government!

I went for a hike and enjoyed some nature...

...stopped for a while at this waterfall and thought about my life.

I relaxed in the hotel pool

And got to drive a pretty nice car!

I think it's been a pretty great summer! Already working on some big plans for next year.

What did you do this summer??

L-O-V-E

     The first assignment for this year's Compassion Blog Month is the following question:

If you could go back and give your childhood self a little advice, what would it be?

     I thought about it for quite a while. It's so hard to narrow it down to just one or two things. I also tried to look at it from the perspective of a mom and tried to think of some of the things I want to teach my daughter...again, there's SO MUCH!!

      Of course, there are the obvious things that every parent wants for their child - Be confident. Be kind to others. Be honest. Don't be afraid to try new things and make mistakes. Don't worry so much about what people think. And so on....

    But, as I continued to think about this over the past few days, one word kept coming back to me over and over:

 

    
     I want my life and the lives of my children to be characterized by love. And I don't mean fluffy, feel-good, fairy-tale, puppy love. Real love - the kind that makes you do things for others you might not otherwise do. The kind that requires sacrifice and is sometimes really, really hard.

     This is the way that we are loved by God - with a perfect, self-sacrificing, unstoppable, unconditional love. There's no way that we, as imperfect humans, can consistently emulate this kind of love, but we can sure make it our goal and strive to show this kind of love to others as often as our imperfect, selfish hearts allow.

     So, if there's one thing I would go back and tell my childhood self, and if there's one thing I want my daughter to know more than anything else, it's this: You are loved beyond anything you can imagine by the God of the universe, even when you don't deserve it. Love Him back with everything you are. And then take that love and share it with others, yourself included.

     We have so many opportunities to love others if we're really looking for them. One way is by sponsoring a child through Compassion. We are blessed with warm, safe homes, more than enough food and clothing, and almost everything we could ever want. Would you consider sharing from your abundance, opening up your heart and loving a child through sponsorship?

     Click here to get started today...

Exciting Things Ahead...

     Wow, I can't believe it's September! The summer literally flew by. It was a great summer though, and I still have one or two more posts in the works highlighting some of my favorite parts, so I feel like I can still hang on to the last bit of summer before Fall really hits!

     I've always loved Fall and (when I was still in school) heading back to school with my new clothes and pencils and notebooks...there's just something so fresh and exciting about Fall. I don't know why I still feel this way...it's been 3 years since I've been in school and it'll be another 5 before I have kids going back to school. I guess there's just something about Fall and the feeling of change in the air that gets me excited for new beginnings and all that's to come.

    
     So I wanted to write a quick post with some of the exciting new things I'm working on for the month of September and through the Fall. Of course, I'll be continuing to write mostly about my experiences as a mom and providing updates about Tessa and our family, but over the past month, I've also had the opportunity to connect with some new people in the blogging and online world and to get involved in some exciting stuff!

     First, I'll be participating in my first ever Cara Box Exchange through one of the my favorite blogs I've discovered this summer. Sign up starts today and goes through the week, so if you're interested, click on the button below and find out what it's all about (you don't have to be a blogger to participate in this either!).

     Second, I'll be guest co-hosting one of my favorite blog hops later this month and will also be working on (hopefully!) getting my first giveaway up and running. Stay tuned!! :)

     Finally, (and this is the thing I'm most excited about) I've found an opportunity that allows me to use my blog for a bigger purpose than just sharing my life with the internet. I've joined the Compassion Bloggers Network and since September has been declared "Blog Month" by Compassion, I thought this was a great time to get started. For the month of September, there will be weekly "assignments" where a writing prompt is given and bloggers are encouraged to write a post with the goal of getting children sponsored through their blog. Compassion has set a goal of 3,160 new online sponsorships through the month of September - hope you can join in and help reach that goal!

  
     I've been a Compassion sponsor for over 10 years and love the work they do with children and families around the world, so I thought this was a perfect fit for my blog. I want to be able to use this platform and the tiny bit of influence I have to make a positive difference in the lives of children living in poverty. So, I hope you can join me by spreading the word about Compassion and Blog Month and maybe see if you can make it work to sponsor a child (or two!). Starting today, you'll see a Compassion button in my sidebar - you can click on this at anytime to link directly to Compassion's website where you can find out more and choose a child to sponsor. I'll be sharing more about this through the month, so keep checking back!

     Also, I now have a blog Facebook page! I know that not all my Facebook friends are interested in reading the blog, so this way I can update those who do want to follow without pestering everyone else. :)

     In offline life, Tessa and I started a mom & baby stroller fitness class today. I actually won 50% off this class through a draw I entered, so I figured this was a good time to start back to some kind of workout routine. I haven't done much of anything since Tessa was born, and it definitely showed this morning! One of the leaders had a 4 week old (no, that's not a typo - she had a baby 4 WEEKS ago!!) and she kicked my butt! Definitely motivating! I didn't have my camera along, and even if I did, I was too busy trying not to die on the side of path to get any photos. Maybe I'll take it along one of these days and get a shot of what we're doing. It was a challenge this morning, but I think it'll be good and I'm looking forward to seeing my progress over the course of the class. It's also another opportunity to connect with some more moms and maybe make some new friends.

Soaking up the last days of summer before the beautiful colors of fall surround us...

     So, there you have it. I feel like I have my work cut out for me and that a couple of these things may be a bit challenging, but I'm looking forward to the challenges and excited to push myself in new ways.

     How about you? What does Fall hold for you? Any new challenges or goals you have for yourself? I would love to hear about what lies ahead and what you're most looking forward to this Fall.