what's going on here.

Goodness Gracious, these have been some full days. 

Here's a little of what we're up to. 

A. If you're a gal in your 20s-30s that lives in Charlotte, NC - I'd love to see you tonight! I'm speaking at a multi church women's bible study called Friends in Grace. This is a pretty sweet group of almost 300 women who get together once a week to study God's Word together. If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, tonight is totally open for all to come! I'd love to see you! 7pm at Westminster Presbyterian Church

B. We're working on getting lots of our new canvases out the door! If you're wanting to order one in time for Christmas, you have to place your canvas order by 5pm THIS Wednesday, the 10th. 

C. Our fan is slowly settling in to advent. You might think that we're the Kings and Queens of celebrating advent, what with our calendar - but confession, this year has been HARD. We've had a lot on our small business plates and a lot on our church planting plates and we're just trying to grab corners of celebration and run with them! 

D. As we're working so hard to get all these orders out, it's so fun constantly having people in our home to ship and package and work on the business. Our workdays are so fun with our team member Jaceys & Meghan around! 

E. Hayley and I finally got our book proposal finished. Woosh. I had no idea what an emotional and spiritual hurdle that would feel like. Now, it looks like a lot of hurry up and wait as the proposal is in the hands of those much wiser than us. I am genuinely so excited to see what God does with those words and ideas. Also, what do the white horses have to do with the book proposal? Why am I so obsessed with them? You'll see soon enough! :) 

F. Continuing on with the Wild & Free theme, Hayley and I are teaching back to back classes via The Influence Network next week. On Monday I'll be teaching about how to be a wild mom & the next night, Hayley will be teaching on how to be a free mom. We're fresh off writing a lot, lot, lot about wild & free so we'd love to share with you all! 

What about you? What are you up to? 

Don't forget to check out our Twelve Days of Christmas deal below - we're giving one customer who spends over $30 today, the scarf of their choice from She Does Justice!

Last Friday's winner of the Love Does book is Lara O! 

tips & tricks

Hey ladies! I'm back (and so are Hayley and Casey) with follow ups to our "day in the life" posts. We want to share a few tips + tricks for how each of us makes our life work for us. The hope is that there being three of us, you'll get a wide range of encouragement and tips and find something that is helpful for you. Here are just a few things I rely heavily on to make life work with a few different businesses, a few different ministries, a few kids and a busy husband. 

- I absolutely try not to compare myself to other women. For good or for bad. Most of my real-life friends have no clue the scope of what we do online and I have a feeling - I have no clue about the secret things they have on their plate. So I don't feel shameful that my kitchen floors aren't clean and theirs are. I don't judge them if they show up at church without lipstick on. I don't feel intimidated if they grind their own wheat for their bread while I'm making boxed macaroni and cheese. I just don't do it. We are each called to our own things. We each have our own sized "plate" of what we can take on. I listen to the Lord and my husband about what can go on my plate and I don't feel bad about what isn't supposed to be on it. 

- I over-communicate with my husband. Y'all. We talk a lot. We talk about every minute detail in our schedule so stuff doesn't sneak up on us. I tell him when I'm overwhelmed. I tell him when I'm excited. I tell him when I feel encouraged and when I don't. He tells me everything. He tells me when he's worried, he tells me when he thinks I'm working too hard. He tells me when he is frustrated and he tells me the details of his ministry. We have to be on the same team or no one will be on our team. And we have too many things spinning to not constantly communicate about what is going on and where we both are. My relationship with Jesus is the most important, but Nick is a close second. If things are out of whack with those two in my life - everything is out of whack. 

- Schedule everything. This doesn't work for everyone, but for me - it's a lifesaver. I schedule my blog posts about a month out. I make at least one to-do list everyday that includes EVERYTHING (do laundry, wipe down kitchen, order new homeschool supplies, send that network email, write post, take pictures, call mom, etc.). Nick and I meet once a week to totally thoroughly schedule out our entire weeks down to what we'll eat for dinner and when we'll give the kids baths. My motto is - plan EVERYTHING you can, and then hold your schedule loosely with grace. If it has to change, it has to change! No big. Also, I never get my entire to-do list done, ever. So I'm not a slave to it. But I do have to be as organized as possible concerning what needs to be done. 

- I admit when I'm wrong. When I'm late on projects, when I drop the ball, when I take on too much, when I snap at my kids, when I whine too much to my sister - I'm quick to apologize. I think the scariest thing about being a woman is the idea that I could get to the end of this life and tried to DO ALL THE THINGS WELL and be so terrified of being wrong that I just keep going the wrong way. If you're going to be a wife, a mom, a business woman, a blogger, a shop owner -- you're going to mess up every single day. And that's where God's grace abounds. Love His grace and walk in it and try again when you mess up. 

- I know what sacrifices our life calls us to and I try not to be bitter about them. We don't really have free nights where we just fold laundry + watch tv or read books and do crafts. I can't ignore "work emails" for the weekend. Trust me, people be getting feisty. I can't air my dirty laundry or real, personal hurts on facebook or my blog. I don't get to rest when my kids rest and my job is far from done when they go to bed. But you know what? Our lifestyle comes with LOTS of benefit and freedoms, so I refuse to let myself feel bitter about the small sacrifices we have to make. 

- I wear yoga pants a lot, a hat about twice a week, I cry in the shower once a week when I'm overwhelmed, and my kids watch tv. I'm just saying all this to say - VERY human over here. I do not have it all together. I am not super mom or super woman. 

 - Lastly, I have allies. This is something I'm really trying to work on, but I really believe in it. I think real gospel community (hey! that's the name of our church) means that we get weak with people and we let them in to our weakness. I have a handful of online friends and a handful of real life friends that I let in to my crazy. I ask for their help, their prayers, I tell them my goals and my fears and I try to be there for them in those things too. 

Hop on over to hear from Casey and Hayley about what works for them! I have a feeling it will be super different from me and you'll be incredibly blessed by it! 

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Today's #12deals of Christmas deal is HUGE. 15% off everything in the shop, sitewide! Take 15% off EVERYTHING. Our last coupon code we'll offer till the newyear and only a few more days of ordering in time for Christmas! What are you waiting for?! 

sick day + sweet deal

I'm taking a blogging sick day, but wanted to share our Naptime Diaries deal of the day and give a few reminders. We will stop taking orders to be shipped by Christmas on December 18th at 5pm EST - so you have SIX DAYS left to order. 

We extended our Christmas Card sales through that day, so you can continue to purchase Christmas cards through the 18th! Today, our #12deals of Christmas deal is one free Coconut Robot/Naptime Diaries wooden print for one of our customers who purchases today! 

Hop on over & finish up your Christmas shopping and you might win one of these cuties for yourself! 

tales from the flu.

Things I didn't know until yesterday: 
- The stomach bug, the stomach flu, and Influenza all mean very different things. AND - the best part is, it's totally possible to catch all three separately in a three week span. 
- If you take two members of your family to the ER because of their incredibly high fevers + dehydration and two more members of your family start feeling ill while you're at the ER: the on-call doctor might look at your sweet eight month pregnant self and say - it's gonna be a long week. 
- If your whole family comes down with influenza, after just having recovered from the stomach flu, after just having recovered from a stomach bug -- it'll be ok. Really. 

Here are my tips to surviving this phenomenon: 
1. Praise God that influenza doesn't involve throwing up. Chocolate milkshakes all around!
2. Pull out a fancy platter and put all your sick week goodies on it. All the meds, tissues, thermometers, and medicine dispensers right where you need them. 
3. Grab all blankets and pillows needed from upstairs and gear up for a long day week of cuddling and movies and resting. 
4. Again, praise God for no puking. 
5. Text a few family and friends some scary looking pictures of your daughter's flu ridden face. Because you have to get your jokes in somehow. Don't post that picture on your blog because you want your daughter to still like you when she's 16. 

In all seriousness -- this is just a post to say, God is good. 
Monday night when we were at the emergency room, all I wanted to do was pitch a huge hissy fit. I wanted to yell and scream and say WE CANNOT BE GETTING SICK AGAIN and I CANNOT GET THE FLU WHEN I'M EIGHT MONTHS PREGNANT. But you know what? We can. And I can. And God is still good. 
And a lot of people deal with a lot worse. And He is still good. 

And when it comes down to it - we can call off everything for the week and cuddle and talk to our kiddos and hold them. And Nick can run the shop from the office and I can send the emails from the couch and pray that this will be the last time we go through a family epidemic of illness this winter. 

And I hope you're not sick on the couch with sick kids today -- but if you are, I highly suggest a good episode of Dora the Explorer and a 5 year old, 4 year old, 3 year old to cuddle with. And a chocolate milkshake. 

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We may be down for the count but the #12deals of Christmas goes on! 

Today is A HUGE DEAL. One customer from today will will a $50 Amazon giftcard! 

Finish up your Christmas shopping and win a little something for yourself! 

((a day in the life))

A few weeks ago - Casey, Hayley, and I were discussing how one of the emails/questions we all get asked the most is the very thing we'd like to share with other women like us: Women just beginning to blog or in the thick of it. Women still dreaming of an amazing small business idea or lost in the execution of it. 

The question is: how do we, as essentially stay-at-home moms of multiple children, manage our homes + family and balance all our other endeavors. I think first of all we'd all say, with lots of trial and error and grace and failure and grace and trying again. None of us are doing it perfectly or easily, but as we build The Influence Network (and our other separate brands) - these are exactly the kinds of tools we want to equip other women with. 

So! We thought we'd do a little segment this week. Today we'll share a play-by-play of a normal day in our lives and Friday, we'll come back to share some tips + tricks and take aways from each of our own perspective. Make sure you check each of their days out too - since we're each really different ladies, with different lives, and different schedules. 

Without any more jabbering - a normal Tuesday for the Connollys: 

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snack + exercise, bible time + breakfast, scheduling the tweets

7:30am we wake up, all of us. Listen. I wish it was earlier. It used to be. Maybe when this pregnancy is over and life is a little more structured, I'll go back to being a wake-before-my-kiddos-for-quiet-time mama, but the truth is, the past month or two - I don't consistently wake up till they do. 
8:00am I quickly put on some sweats + brush my teeth, and head out to walk with a friend. Combining things is key for me. If I can combine community + exercise, hooray! 
8:45am I'm back, Nick has started kids breakfast, gotten dressed & is having his quiet time. I eat a quick breakfast with kids, spend some time in the Word, and give them about 30 minutes to play while I answer emergency emails, plan my day, schedule my tweets for the day, and make a quick to-do list. 

homeschooling, a working lunch in the office 

9:30am -12:30pm We're homeschooling. Elias does his work and I help him. Glory + Benj are playing, doing worksheets, coloring, etc. During this time - I also do my hair and makeup at the kitchen table. Again, combining is key. I may answer a few business emails or texts, but mostly try to stay kid-focused during this time. 
12:30pm Make a quick lunch for kiddos + do a quick clean up. Think ahead to dinner and feel super relieved when I remember it's taco night, which means no prep-work. 
1pm It's my workday and the sitter comes. I love our babysitter/friend, Kayla so much and the kids do too. She is a blessing beyond blessing. Take my salad to the office, spend a few minutes praying over my workday because I'm usually pretty anxious about how much I have to get done. Start some music, make a list and go at it. I work pretty straight for 4 hours. No answering my phone or texting unless I have a business call. Nick handles all of the shop business so I focus on emails, the network, planning our next SheReadsTruth plan, and finishing up a few other things. Sometime during this time, Nick finishes with church meetings, goes on a Naptime Diaries post office run & comes back to work in the office for a little. 

quick pre-dinner business meeting, fish tacos!, bible time on the iPad

5pm Take another minute to pray and choose to not stress about how much is still on my list to-do. Few deep breaths + go relieve Kayla. Quick cuddle with kids and about 30 minutes of clean up/chores around the house together. 
5:30pm Start prepping dinner and enjoy the distraction when Hayley's husband stops by and we all talk business for a couple of minutes. We don't live nearby, but he's in town for work and it's good to catch up for a minute. 
6pm Say bye to Mike, finish prepping my part of dinner and take kids upstairs for baths while Nick makes the fish for our tacos. He's way better at fish and our kids are super dirty. 
6:30pm Dinner together. Phones/emails/texts forgotten. Just Connolly time.
7:15pm Bible time together on the couch. Lately we're loving the God's Love Bible App for the ipad. Talk a little about advent, pray for the kiddos, and put them to bed together. 

8pm Worknight starts! We work Tuesdays, Thursdays, either Friday or Saturdays (we always take one night off), and I write after church on Sundays. Monday nights are always free and Wednesday nights we have discipleship + community group. We make a fresh pot of coffee, I get a big cup of ice and we go to town. Nick packages orders, I work on other stuff. 
11:30/12 Worknight over. We take quick showers and hop in bed, spending a few minutes to connect and talk about the next day and what's ahead. Nick reads on his ipad for a few minutes and as of late, I watch a show or two on hulu or read a book - because pregsomnia is taking over my life and I'm having a hard time shutting my brain off. 
1:30am doze off and feel grateful for rest. 

Other days looks different. Errands, church stuff, more homeschool sometimes, big cleaning on Saturdays. But those are the nuts + bolts that make it all up. 

Family, work, ministry, pregsomnia, lots of ice, laughing, emails. 
We could probably use a little more rest + a little more cleaning - but all in all, super grateful for what we're working with. 

What are your days like? Don't forget to check out Casey + Hayley's days and come back on Friday for some more life-scheduling-balance talk. 

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Todays' #12deals of Christmas deal: 20% off all BUNDLES 

(buy 3 get 1 free, buy 5 get 2 free, or the 15 print bundle) using

coupon code BUNDLES in the shop. 

make a statement.

Just popping in on a Sunday to quickly share our #12deals deal for the day! 

Do y'all know Natalie of NSPottery? If you don't, she's a girl to know. 
#1. She makes the most beautiful pottery + pottery based jewelry. 
#2. She is incredibly loving + kind
#3. She is offering her own #12deals special! You can find out more on her facebook or twitter! 

#4. She's teaming up with us today to offer a sweet giveaway for one of our customers!
From all orders placed today in our shop, all customers will be entered to win a giveaway of an NSPottery statement necklace in the color of their choice! Here are just SOME of the color choices.  

If you've been holding out on an order, why not today? 
Get one of these to wear for yourself on Christmas or to give as an ultra-special gift to someone you love! 

We'll email the winner of the giveaway tomorrow morning! We've already notified the winner of the $50 Starbucks card and their giveaway item goes out tomorrow! 
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She Does Justice

Hi, friends! I am so excited to have this opportunity to share about She Does Justice with the Naptime Diaries crew!   I am Megan.

 

I am a wife. A mother of four. A lover of Jesus. I love to plan. I love to create. I believe in the importance of community. I am an advocate for orphans and for the poor. I want every single person to know that they are loved and important. I aim to act justly. To love mercy. And to walk humbly. When we started the process of adopting our daughter from Africa, I started selling handmade items as a fundraiser. The shop was far more successful than we ever anticipated and have watched it continue to grow. We are still working to get her home with us and I want to use this platform of She Does Justice to love others in a practical way. I want to share my passions. My passion for life. And family. And Jesus. And justice. So I started She Does Justice.

She Does Justice is an advocate for those who need one. It is a space where organizations who are working for the good of others are recognized. It is a community of people who want to show love to the 'least of these'. A place where we strive to show those in need that they are known and loved. I have made it our mission to support organizations who are working to reach those in need, near and far. It doesn't matter how big or small the organization, if I believe in its mission then I want to help support it. 

Each month I will spotlight an organization or individual. At the end of the month I will write a check to that organization taken from the overall sales in the shop that month. Each month I will donate at least 10% of our gross profit to an organization to help further their mission. Our Holiday Cause is a family who is in the process of adopting their sweet baby girl from Taiwan. Check out their story on our blog! The shop is focused on items that work with your lifestyle. Most of the items are handmade and are made by me or other small business owners who have partnered with She Does Justice. 

These items are made with you in mind. I hope you love them just as much as I do! The shop operates as a boutique in how I make and stock items. The fabrics are special ordered so the scarves and headbands are offered in limited quantity. If you see something you like, don't hesitate to purchase it because once it sells out I may not be able to reorder the fabric. New collections will be introduced throughout the year, so check back often! 

So enter in. 
Join me on this journey. 

My hope is that you come alongside She Does Justice, partner with us, to make much of Him and to show love to the least of these. Thanks so much for listening to a bit of my story! I want to extend a special offer to all of you. When you place your order from the She Does Justice Shop, use the coupon code 'NAPTIMEDIARIES' and you will receive 10% off of your order! The coupon code is good through midnight on Monday, December 10th. I hope you'll check out She Does Justice soon!  

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Our #twelvedeals of Christmas are still going strong! Today, for anyone who places an order - you can choose one additional print of your choice and write in the notes of your order which one you'd like! We'll add it to your package for free!

Head over to the shop to take advantage!  

anticipating + celebrating

Advent is in full swing. 

We're buying gifts. Doing our little activities. 

Saying yes to some fun things, saying no to some fun things. 

Celebrating. 

Repeating to our kiddos - 

"Why is Christmas so awesome? Right! Because Jesus came + rescued us!"

I'm reading the SheReadsTruth advent plan and being shocked (like I always am) that a plan I helped write can still feel so fresh and applicable. 

I thought I'd do a little check in and share how advent is going for us as we are trying to be intentionally intentional and grace-filled all at once. Did you like that sentence? 

the first day of advent we went to cracker barrel for breakfast. it was great:)

the second day of advent we bought gifts for kiddos who won't get toys this christmas

the third day of advent, we dropped off said gifts + got frozen yogurt

the fourth day of advent, we had daddy's special fish tacos (our fave) and a special bible time

the fifth day of advent we made salt dough ornaments with friends

the sixth day of advent we had special ipad bible time and cuddle session

I will say this - this devotion by my sweet friend Raechel is probably one of my favorite ever devotion days I've ever read. Ever. In my whole life. She opened up the SheReadsTruth advent with a huge whammy. I sat reading it with tears in my eyes and highly suggest reading it. (sidebar: we mostly keep who writes what anonymous - but I'm just really thankful for Jesus in Raechel and those wise words that day) 

For me, the idea that the Father provided protection-deliverance-interference between me and the enemy of this world through His son in the form of grace was a refreshing truth that I needed to be smacked with. Especially in a season where we are anticipating the coming of Jesus - His first and His next - and this is a season where I would like to eradicate grace from my own life. As a woman, I want to do all the things and be all the things and yet my loving Father sent His son precisely so I didn't have to make my ownself well or good. Precisely because I couldn't. 

So for me, to celebrate Jesus this season is to celebrate His great grace. 
His greatness in light of my great need. 
Him being enough where I never will be. 

And that news isn't sad or defeated or self-deprecating. 
It's worth decking the town in tinsel, cutting down 607 fresh trees, and stringing miles of twinkling lights. 

He is so worth celebrating, how have you been doing it this week? 
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It's our third day of our twelve days of deals in the Naptime Diaries shop! Today is for all you cuties who don't have your Christmas cards yet! I'm offering 30% of my christmas card designs today ONLY so hop on it and get yours! 

Twelve Deals of Christmas!

It's getting close, guys. 
As far as Christmas shopping goes, I don't mind telling you - the Connollys have barely started. I love the fact that I genuinely believe there is something in our shop for everyone on your list. I hate the fact that I can't give our prints to everyone on my list because I think they'd all see that as an easy out:). If you haven't already - now is the time to check out our gift guide and peruse the shop! What last minute gifts can we help you fulfill?! 

BUT. On top of the gift guide - we've decided to run one last big promotion and I have to say: the boss (Nick) is feeling super generous! Every day (beginning today!) for the next twelve days we're going to run some sort of quick promotion in the shop for you to benefit from. There might be discounts, free gifts, giveaway, collaborations with other shops, gift cards, etc - etc - etc! It's going to get CRAZY. We want to end 2012 with a bang and this seems like the best way to do it. 

How do you find out what the promotion is each day? 
a) check here every day and I'll have a little graphic at the bottom of each post. 
b) make sure you're following Naptime Diaries on facebook and/or twitter to hear the promotion each day. 

Trust me - some of these you are NOT going to want to miss. 
Let's start today off with something we've NEVER done. 
FREE SHIPPING - SITE WIDE. 
Use coupon code SENDITFREE to get anything + everything in our shop shipped for free to you! And of course, in plenty of time for Christmas. 

a note on coupon codes: in our shop, the coupon code spot is AFTER you enter your paypal information. that occasionally throws people off, so don't worry - it is there before you check out - but it's the very last step. 

Each deal will only last twenty four hours and then we'll release a new one! 
Woohoo, let's do this thing!