Good Morning Girls and Women Living Well

So this may be a bit more than I can keep up with but I am currently involved in two different Bible study groups and am SO excited about them both so I wanted to share.

The first is by a blog called Good Morning Girls and this is something I've taken part in before. It's an online study which is great for me as a working Mom because I can't get to the Ladies Bible study at my church like I would like to. I've been part of Good Morning Girls off and on for the past couple of years. You can follow along through their blog, and also I'm part of a Facebook group where we discuss the passages each day. The best part about this study is that it helps me be focused on reading from the Word every single day. Even though some days it may only be a couple short verses, it's getting in the Word every day.

And this session, which is about to begin {TOMORROW morning!!!!!} is called Intentionally Focused! I feel that the Lord had already placed the word Intentional on my heart before I heard about this study, then when it was announced it was even more confirmation that this was what I needed to be learning about and focusing on. So I am THRILLED about the topic!

If you are interested in joining, please go to the blog and SIGN UP! You will get emails which include all the study materials, you'll get blog posts, videos, etc. It's all included and I can promise it will be a BLESSING in your life!

Here is a little bit of how I set up my study materials. I use a basic spiral bound notebook and of course, if you know me at all, you know I have to 'pretty it up' a bit. {The second notebook is for counting 1000 Gifts, I could write another whole blog about that so I'll save that for another day!}

I printed out the reading schedule and taped it in my notebook:

Then I printed certain pages from the study guide where there are specific questions to answer or verses to memorize. Other than these few pages, the rest of the notebook will be filled with writing out and 'SOAPing' my passages each day. 

This is the first page in my 1000 Gifts journal, hoping to count to WELL OVER 1000 this year! 

And the second study I'm working on is from one of the author's over at Good Morning Girls - her name is Courtney and she blogs at Women Living Well. She wrote her first book last year and I bought it over Christmastime - I'm about 4 chapters into it now and really, really loving it. It's such an encouragement for every area of the Christian woman's life - The tagline is 'Finding Joy in God, Your Man, Your Kids and Your Home.' 

You know a book is good when I have highlighting on just about every page! 

So Courtney has also started a study to go along with the book and those materials are also available to print out for free! I printed out the schedule, then each of the pages that has discussion questions for each chapter ... so far I am really enjoying reading the book and following along with the questions. If you're interested in jumping in on this study, check out Courtney's blog and order your book today! {I got mine from Amazon and it was very affordable! It's an easy read so I'm confident you could easily catch up even though you missed week one.} 

So that's what I'm up to lately. Many mornings having my quiet time and study time is a challenge as I'm trying to get the girls up and ready for school as well as getting myself ready for work and out the door. But I've been trying to set my alarm clock at least 15 minutes earlier and also stay OFF the computer in the morning. And if I don't finish it all in the morning, then I try to work on it when I get back home on my morning work break.

All of this doesn't make me superMom or superChristian - in fact I'm just a sinner, saved by grace who needs to keep learning and growing each day to become more like Christ. I feel like you can never know enough and always have to strive to grow more and more each day.

Are you currently doing either of these studies?? I'd love to hear from you!

The Transition from Homeschool to Public School - part one

So many people have asked me how our year went since we sent our girls to public school after 5 years of homeschooling. I have SO many thoughts on this so please bear with me as I try to put them in to some semblance of order.

The easy answer is WONDERFUL. The transition wasn't much of a transition at all and the girls adapted fabulously to their new surroundings. We are thankful and blessed that things went better than we could have ever hoped or imagined. Praise God for that!

Now let's back up. Our daughters both attended 2 years of Christian preschool. Then our oldest attended one year of public school. In the midst of her year there I was just not very impressed with the class environment. I went in to help many times and it always seemed there were so many distracting things happening in the room and my daughter didn't seem to be challenged much. That year I began to think about homeschooling. At first I was overwhelmed with the idea of it and really felt I wasn't sure it was something I could EVER do. But I decided to spend the rest of the year praying about the decision. My husband wasn't completely in love with the idea at first either, so we committed to praying and just waiting to see where the Lord would lead.

By the end of the year we felt the Lord assuring us and we had decided that we would keep her home the following year. One huge deciding factor was my husband's schedule, and the fact that once she was in school all day/every day they would hardly ever get to see each other. By the time she was home from school, he would be off to work. By the time he was home from work, she would be in bed. Being that we're such a close family and love spending so much time together we just knew it wouldn't work well.

So beginning with first grade we started homeschooling her. The following year when her sister started kindergarten we decided to just keep her home as well. So for 5 years we homeschooled. It was great and we had lots of fun but as with anything there were challenges. Some of the many bonuses were countless hours together as a family, making our own schedule and going on trips/vacations whenever we felt like it because no one else was in charge of our scheduling. It really was wonderful and we have SO many great memories from those 5 years. I also feel blessed that we were able to do it while the girls were young and so impressionable.

Last year, near the end of the school year our oldest started asking if she could go to public school in the fall. She was finishing her 5th grade year and would be entering middle school. In our town there are 3 elementaries but only one middle school. So 3 of her best friends from church would also be attending middle school with her, even though they had been in different elementary schools. Basically, she wanted to go to school with her friends and also began saying she just wanted to see what it was like to go to 'real' school. She really didn't remember much about kindergarten and her school experience and wanted to see what it was like.

Our youngest on the other hand, is most definitely a Mama's girl. And I don't say that to shame or embarrass her - it's a wonderful thing to be close to your Mom {or Dad} and she had really never known anything else as I had been her only teacher {other than preschool}. She would have told you last year that she was perfectly happy staying home with Mom for school for ever! That being said, she and I had almost daily battles over school work. As much as she loves me, it's hard to take direction from the one who you also live with day in and day out. Her struggles over spelling put both of us in tears on an almost daily basis. There were countless times I would cry out to my friends on Facebook for prayer to just make it through another day of homeschooling. So even though I LOVED having my girls home with me, it was definitely very hard at times and put a strain on our relationship at times too.

When our oldest first started asking about going to school, my first answer to her was 'nope!' When she asked why I said simply 'because that's not what the Lord has led us to do'. Unfortunately I hadn't actually sought the Lord about it in a long time. I had gotten into a comfortable groove where I felt that *I* knew best. See I am one of those control freak Moms who likes to think I have it all under control and that *I* am the only one who knows whats best for them. {I'm just going to put this out there and say that I see A LOT of well-meaning Christian Moms who try to control TOO much of what their children do - friends, we need to allow our kids to make their own choices and decisions and yes, even learn from their mistakes! Not saying we give them all power to choose everything in their lives, but still, we need to give up this false sense of security we call control!} **stepping down off soapbox** =)

Anyway ... so my first reaction was NO. Do you know why? Fear. Plain and simple. All those what ifs were slamming through my head ... all those ideas of all the 'bad' things that could happen or all the bad influences I thought they would have in public school allowed me to live in a state of fear. And fear is what made me keep them home! It wasn't at first, when we began our journey of homeschooling we truly did seek the Lord for the decision and felt truly at peace with it. But when was the last time I had honestly sought Him lately? Was I still listening to see what HE wanted us to do with our girls and not just what *I* wanted to do?? Or was I allowing my own irrational {OK, some things ARE legit} fears to guide our decision making?

So the more she asked questions about wanting to go to school, the more I was reminded that I needed to pray about it. Just as we had made the decision to bring them HOME after much prayer, we also needed to give the idea of sending them back to school much prayer. We also began to have LOTS of conversations with the girls. Almost daily we would talk about the pros and cons of each school environment, we talked with lots of friends who go to public school and we even went and visited both schools. We met with the principals and guidance counselors and took tours. Our oldest even got to go shadow a 6th grader for an entire day so it would give her a better idea of what a typical school day would look like.

Then one day I came across this blog post - When Fear is removed. I would highly encourage you to take a few minutes to read it, but basically it's about a woman needing to make a big decision and her friend encourages her to take fear out of the equation, then make the decision. It really began to sink in with me that I was allowing my fears to keep us paralyzed, where I kept the girls home with me citing that I know best when really if I took fear out of the decision I knew deep down it was probably best for ALL of us if they were given the opportunity to spread their wings.

Another line from the post hit me right in the gut "In its unhealthy form, fear is, at best, an obstacle … at worst, it is an agent of paralysis and atrophy. When removed from the equation, fear is left without power and the right choice rises to the surface." There it was. That paralyzed state of continuing to do the same thing year after year not because it was the best thing, but because I was too afraid to do anything else. I was paralyzed. Trying to maintain CONTROL. Choosing my kids friends, choosing their curriculum, choosing how their day went, all ME - making all their choices. Thinking I was in control.

I'm sure you already know this, but it took me awhile to learn. We're not REALLY in control of our kids. The Lord is. As much as we're given the chance to think we are, from choosing breastfeeding or bottle to what their first food will be, to what their bedtime will be - it's still the Lord above who ordains their steps and orders their days. Shocking, right? He's given us the amazing gift of being Moms and even allows us to make those all-important choices {how fun is it choosing a new baby's name?!?!} but He's still the One in charge when it comes right down to it.

Needless to say, after reading the blog post on fear, praying a LOT and even a whole bunch of tears we began to shift our thinking. Instead of an instant NO answer, we began to say 'OK, we'll pray about it, research it and see where God leads'. We asked our very closest friends and family to pray with us, as I mentioned earlier we visited the schools and we just kept the conversation and prayers going. Some of the events during this time we believe were absolutely God-ordained like when we went to the Board of Ed to ask some questions and it turned out that the Middle school orientation was set for the VERY NEXT night. Had we waited a few days we would have missed it. But the Lord planned it perfectly so we could attend and find out more information and our daughter could see many of the other kids who would end up being her classmates in the fall. There were several things that happened just like that where it just seemed that the Lord was opening doors and leading us through them. The timing of it all could not have been more perfect and again we felt these events were the Lord leading us to trust Him and see Him leading us towards this decision.

We still had our fears about our youngest daughter. Our oldest is quite confident and our youngest is much more shy and reserved. Would she get eaten up by the wolves in school?! ;) Would she be OK without Mom? Would she even WANT to go to school?! At first she was hesitant. Each time we'd ask her she'd say 'I don't know.' She couldn't express her feelings towards us about it and we worried about pushing into something that would overwhelm and upset her. But little by little she also came around. I know it may sound funny, but knowing our daughter's personality you have to understand how huge it was for us when instead of saying 'I don't know' she began to say 'well I MIGHT want to go to school'. For her, this was a HUGE step and for us it was a HUGE relief. No Mom wants to worry that they are pushing their child to do something the child is absolutely petrified of doing. And in her own little way she was showing us her confidence in making this decision and even her excitement when one day she began talking about having her own locker and what kind of backpack she wanted to get. ;)

And so with much prayer we made the decision that they WOULD attend school in the fall. In many ways it was such a relief to have the decision made and in a whole world of ways it was just the beginning of all my worries. But I knew the Lord was asking us to trust HIM and Him alone and that was what we were going to do. Little did I know that trusting God isn't just a one time thing - it's a constant choice we have to make every single day ... and there would certainly be times in the coming school year that would bring me to my knees and cause me fear and challenge me to recommit myself to trusting God, over and over again.

But this is getting VERY long already, so I'll close for now and share part two with you another time. =)

InCourage In {Real Life} Meet up day

So the creators of the blog In{Courage} held their second world-wide meet up day called In{Real Life} ... it was like a women's conference where you didn't have to travel or spend money to attend. Women all over the world hosted gatherings in their homes and invited friends to join in on the fun. When you get together you tune in to watch live video streaming from the InCourage bloggers.

 

I hosted a gathering and it was such a wonderful and encouraging day! The InCourage blog had lots of resources available including printouts for discussion and printables for your home. I printed these out, mounted them on cardstock and stamped the date on the back so each woman who attended could take one home as a bookmark to remember the day by.

 

 

 

My home just needed some fresh flowers and having friends over was a great excuse to pick up some fresh tulips!  You also always need chocolate on hand when you have girlfriends coming over. ;)

 

I had a few small and simple crafts planned - things that we could make and either keep for ourselves or use to bless someone else. Because the main theme was 'community' I wanted a way that we could think about reaching out to other women - even by sending them a simple card or dropping off a small, heartfelt gift.

These are the lovely ladies who attended!

And my friend Jackie brought her super sweet baby girl along too.

 

 

Sweet baby girl! She was so good the whole day!

 

We took old Mason jars and decorated them with ribbons and/or Washi tape - then added a gift tag so we could fill it with something special and give it as a little gift to someone else.

Everyone brought some food to share ... it was all SO good, we had Veggie and Egg Casserole, Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins, Baklava, Spinach & Strawberry salad, Cool Veggie Pizza, Cheese and Crackers, a veggie platter, fruit salad and of course coffee, tea and lemon water. 

 

Lovely ladies ... sisters in Christ ... Godly women ... I am blessed to know each of them!!

 

 

 

I had even stuck up a little sign in the bathroom by the sink. Everyone needs a little encouragement while washing their hands, right?

 

My friend Pamela took some photos too ... each friend took home a few goodies at the end of the day.

 

 

I was so blessed to share this time with each of these lovely ladies ... we talked a lot about every day stuff like running and kids and food and such but we also talked about Community and how sometimes it's so hard when life is busy and it can be tough to make time for friendships. It was such an encouragement to my heart!

 

I am so thankful that the ladies of InCourage planned this meet up day and put so many hours of hard work into making it special for all of us women. I am already looking forward to being part of it again next year.

 

If you click over here you can check out more gatherings that happened all over the world. 

Introducing .... Shine Like the Son

Yes, I've changed my blog name ... again! I know this is like the 3rd or 4th change I've made, but hopefully this will be a lasting choice. I still feel like my life reflects the song "Just Another Day in Paradise" by Phil Vassar BUT really felt like I wanted the blog title to reflect my faith more. So I've been looking up scriptures and songs and trying to find something that struck me just right. I LOVE Philippians 4:13 and thought about calling the blog 'I can do all things'. But then I came across this image on Pinterest and fell in love...

{image credit: Care to Look} 

We have Psalm 37:4 written on our chalkboard wall right now and it's always been a favorite of mine.

And it's also on the cover of my prayer/Bible study journal ...

 

 But, I also love the rest of it where it talks about how we will 'shine like the dawn, our vindication like the noonday sun'. So I decided on SHINE LIKE THE SON for a new blog title. Sort of adapting the verse and making it SON instead of SUN because I want to shine like the SON - Jesus Christ - in everything I do.

Here is a song by Matt Mahar called Shine Like the Sun - I love the lyrics!

 

Psalm 37:4-6

New International Version (NIV)

⁴ Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
⁶ He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.

 

 

I hope that my life reflects the light of Jesus, I pray that I will be joyful and full of SUNshine and also SONshine in everything I do. And i want my blog to reflect that so welcome to the new and improved blog and thanks for stopping in and reading.

 

 

Community

Yesterday I had the wonderful privilege of speaking at our MOMS group at my church. I have to say I do NOT feel like a gifted speaker, however the topic I got to speak on was something that has been on my heart for almost a year now, so since it was something I felt passionate about I truly felt the Lord blessing it and giving me strength to face my nervousness and fears. A friend asked if I could post what I talked about here on the blog which I think is a fabulous idea! So if you don't mind reading the longest post ever, here we go ... {some of this is slightly tweaked from what I said in person, but this was basically the notes I spoke from.}

*Another quick thing to note, this whole topic was born because of the blog (in)courage and last year the writers at (in)courage hosted what they called the (in)RL {In Real Life} conference where women all over the world met together in each other's homes one day for a virtual conference. I was so impressed with the topic of community and our need for it that I purchased the DVD and Study guide from that conference and began studying more about the topic. (in)courage is hosting ANOTHER (in)RL conference this year on April 27th, so if you'd like more information about it, please click over to their blog here and find out more.*

Good Morning! My name is Kathy and I have been married to my husband Bob for 16 years, we have two beautiful daughters – Hope is 11 and Joy is about to turn 10. And I am BLESSED to be here and to be part of this COMMUNITY of MOMS. But it wasn’t always that way for me. I moved here when my husband and I got married, 16 years ago. But I was coming from a place of wonderful Christian community since I had been attending Bible College for the previous few years. In Bible College I lived in the dorms with a hundred other like-minded Christian girlfriends and we bonded day and night and built amazing friendships and connections. But then I married and we moved here, where my husband had lived all his life and had built his own community of family and friends – but I had no one. Well, not exactly no one, I had my in laws and I had a job where I met people and made friends – but it was NOTHING like the Christian community that I had come from just the year before and at first it was very lonely.

Now don’t get me wrong, my husband is my best friend and we certainly enjoyed our marriage and our time together and like I said, I DID make some great friends at my job. But when it came to Christian girlfriends I was struggling. We came here to this church, but as you can tell it’s a big church. It was hard to find my place and make connections in those early years of marriage!

When I got pregnant with my first daughter, about 4 years into our marriage, I finally connected with a couple of other Moms who were also pregnant and due around the same time as me. After my daughter was born, I quit working to be home with her and I began to attend Ladies Bible study and MOMS and have playdates with other Moms and their babies and I FINALLY began to feel that sense of Christian community that had been lacking for several years. Does that mean I’ve never been lonely again? No way, in fact I find that even in this season of life, where I am blessed with MANY wonderful Christian friends, I STILL go through seasons of loneliness.

So this morning I want to talk about this concept of community and how we as Christians, as Moms, as women can find the connections and community that our hearts so often desire.
{We watched a portion of the video from the (in)RL conference.}

Let’s talk about your thoughts on community – what’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word ‘community’? {the women shared some ideas}

The dictionary defines community as: a group of people who reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage; a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests.

So what are some of the communities you are a part of?? {several women shared}

{Neighborhood, church, Bible study, MOMS, school, family, friends, homeschooling, sports team, etc}

Sometimes even though we may be ‘connected’ with several different types of communities, we can still feel overwhelmingly lonely, right?

How often have you felt like the Mom who is just stuck in the house, raising your kids, cleaning your house, doing the daily things you need to do – yet so desperately thinking ‘gosh, if I could just go grab a coffee with a girlfriend today, with NO KIDS, how wonderful that would be, how refreshed I would feel as a mom!’ I just want to encourage you that we’ve ALL been there! I know we all adore our children and see them as a blessing from God, but it’s OK to want a break and to desire a little time away every once in a while!

So what holds us back? What are the obstacles that get in the way of us having deep, meaningful friendships and not just having the friendships but making the time to foster those relationships?? {again, the women shared their thoughts}

1 Corinthians 12:12 says ‘The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.’

This verse illustrates the unity of believers, though we are all very diverse and have different backgrounds or Spiritual gifts – we are created to work together as one body, just as an arm is incomplete without the rest of the body. The Lord created us for community; His desire is to see us work together as one body. He didn’t create us to be alone; He created us to need each other!

When was the last time you joined another group of women {or just one other woman} to do something together? What was it? How did you feel afterwards? {several ladies shared}

IT FEELS GOOD! I LOVE the time I get to spend with my girlfriends and I come away from those times feeling refreshed and happy and full of joy.

Have you ever thought about reaching out and seeing if a few other women would like to join you in doing something you all enjoy? It could be as simple as grabbing a cup of coffee, or doing some exercise together, or cooking together or doing a hobby like scrapbooking … You might be surprised if you took the initial step to reach out, that you might just find a couple or even a LOT of other women who would love to join you!

If this is something you’ve had on your heart but were always too afraid to step out in faith and do, start praying about it today! Pray that the Lord will bring that friend into your life. Pray that YOU can be the kind of friend someone else might need today. Holley Gerth says, ‘Prayer connects us, it’s the shortest distance between two or more hearts.’ Pray for friends and pray for the friends you DO have. Some days I get a text from one of my friends with just a quick ‘would you please pray for me today?!’ plea and I always try to reply right away so she knows I’ve got her covered – then stop what I’m doing and pray for her right away. And I love that I have a few friends who will do the same for me. It’s so important to lift one another up before the Lord!

Let’s talk for a bit about the excuses, the reasons why it won’t or doesn’t work out for us.
 

I showed this photo on the screen {it's from a couple weeks ago at a local Starbucks and is my friend Pamela's picture}

 

I want you to see this photo of these lovely ladies … you will recognize many of them from our MOMS group and a few may be unfamiliar … I didn’t get to go to this gathering because I had something else going on that day – but this was just an informal thing that Pamela put together where she basically made an open invitation for anyone to join them at Starbucks this day. I just LOVE the diversity of this group – we have young moms, older moms, single ladies, women with little children, women with adult children, women who homeschool, women who send their kids to public school and on and on it goes! But what I love most, is the fact that each of these ladies got up that morning and didn’t make excuses for why they couldn’t go … perhaps they didn’t know any of the other women that would be there, perhaps Shirley or Jane may have thought, ‘aw, my kids are grown, how will I fit in this group?’ or Maria may have thought ‘well I’m not married and I don’t have kids so surely I won’t fit in’ … or maybe Jessica thought about backing out because she was the only one who had to bring her little one along – but guess what? Not one of these ladies used those excuses! They showed up and were blessed! And I know I said I wasn’t there, so how could I possibly know they were blessed? Because Matthew 18:20 says ‘For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.’ When we show up, when we reach out, when we build a community of Christian women, we are BLESSED! The Lord delights in these kinds of gatherings! We find connections with women we might never have thought we’d be friends with! All it takes is a small step of faith!!   

A few years ago I had to take one of these huge leaps of faith. I was supposed to go to a Christian Camp for a women’s retreat with some of my friends from church – but as the week of the retreat rolled around my daughter Hope was VERY sick {and turned out to have pneumonia} so I had to cancel and stay home. This came at a time when I desperately needed the connections and time with other women and just a chance to ‘get away’ for a weekend and I was sorely disappointed when I couldn’t go. But my Mom ended up offering to pay my way so that I could go to a different ladies retreat which was a month later at another Christian camp. The only hitch was I’d be going alone. My mom would be there on property, but she’d be working in the kitchen and staying in the staff housing and I would go as a regular conference attendee and share a room with women I didn’t know. I’ll be honest, I almost said no. And the week leading up to the retreat I was filled with anxious thoughts and thinking I might just back out! But I made myself go and it was hard. I felt silly and uncomfortable at first because I didn’t know who to talk to or what to say. I didn’t know who to sit with at dinner or in chapel or how I would feel sharing a room with 6 strangers. But that night as the ladies and I settled ourselves in our room we found out that we had ALL come by ourselves. The camp had wisely placed us all together since we had all come as ‘singles’. And what a relief to know we were all feeling just a bit out of sorts for the same reasons. We ended up sitting together at every meal, worshipping together at every chapel session, playing late night board games in our room and forming a great bond over the course of the weekend. It didn’t matter that we had come from all different walks of life, it only mattered that God had brought us together and by stepping out of our comfort zone we had opened ourselves up to community.

Jen Schmidt says ‘Sometimes we use our busyness and our crazy schedules to say we don’t have time for community.’ I feel like this is where I’m at in this season of life. My kids have many activities in addition to school and church, we have family obligations and church or ministry obligations and quite honestly it just feels like life is BUSY most of the time. Sometimes it IS hard to schedule ‘girl time’ with my friends. Sometimes it takes many, many emails or texts going back and forth in order to find a date that works for everyone. But I also know that even little emails or phone calls or encouraging texts from my friends can really boost me up when I’m feeling lonely. One of the ways I connect with my friends during busy sports seasons is by chatting during the girl’s practices. During soccer season my daughter would have a an hour and a half practice so since my friend’s daughter was on the same team my friend and I would walk laps around the fields and talk while the kids practiced. It was a great way to get exercise AND fellowship time! {or while the kids are at Awana night we might go out to grab a bite to eat while they are at Awana for 2 hours} Sometimes you just have to get creative with ways to get together and make time for your friendships!

So … I want to encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, open up your suitcase, as the woman shared in the video, be willing to share your ‘stuff’ – the good, the bad and the ugly! We all have tough things, we all have baggage, we all have struggles. By opening yourself up and allowing yourself to be vulnerable you just never know what can happen and it could be the start of a very beautiful friendship!

Also, I want to let you know about a few ways you can connect before you leave this room today. Pamela has planned another ladies get together for NEXT Friday – if you would like to come and join us PLEASE be sure you stop and talk to her at the end and get the information. Also, in April, the makers of the blog (in)courage are having another (in)RL meet up day and I am going to host it in my home. That day they will be showing more videos on live streaming and we plan to have food and fellowship time. If you are interested in this please come see me after and I will take your email information so I can get you connected with this. We’ve also placed some papers and pens on the tables today because we want you ladies to take down each other’s phone numbers or email addresses – we want you to connect outside of this room when you go out from here today. We LOVE this community of MOMS here, but if you leave here today and still feel lonely and disconnected then we have failed in our mission of building community. 

 

Now here is the video for the (in)RL conference for this year ... if you live locally to me you are MORE than welcome to join us, please contact me!

 

Work vs. Laziness

Ok friends, I've had a lot of my mind lately so please bear with me as these thoughts COULD be all over the place!

Recently the Lord has been using MANY, MANY different people and experiences to show me what a lazy sloth I have been. I'm not going to go into how much I feel guilty and horrible about failing at motherhood because of my laziness, but just know that I have been convicted real good on this topic and have spent some time in prayer asking forgiveness.

I'm also going to point you to several links, hopefully when you have some time you'll get to read through them all. These are bloggers and friends and people who I KNOW the Lord placed in my path in order for me to learn this difficult lesson.

So yes, I have been lazy. I have made excuses why I couldn't/didn't exercise because 'my life is too busy as a homeschool Mom.' I have made excuses why my scrapbooks are 3+ years behind because 'my life is just too busy for that right now.' I make excuse after excuse after excuse ... YET!!! Yet, I ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS seem to have time to browse blogs, facebook, email, pinterest, etsy, etc sometimes for SEVERAL hours a day. I have allowed the internet {which can be a good thing} to RULE my world. See this post from Rachel at Finding Joy about how Social Media can rule your world.

I've been thinking on this for days now, and it's funny how the Lord plops many different things in front of me to solidify this conviction. Here are a few:

Take time to live intentionally  ---- hmmm, guilty there, I'm certainly not being intentional with my time when the internet is sucking every minute and ounce of energy out of me!

Jessica's post about laziness in our generation because of the internet. And I quote: "Watching that show has made me think a lot recently about how hard previous generations worked all day long (I’m talking physical labor). They didn’t sit around during naptime spending two hours on Pinterest. They worked hard and then earned the right to relax."

Mindy's post about how days with her Grandma make her realize how much harder the previous generations worked. How they ironed and cooked and cleaned and took care of their home and families. Mindy says:
"i thought about how, as home makers...i truly believe that many of us have gotten lazy...and that we don't take our job seriously enough. after all...it is one of the most important and rewarding jobs on the planet."

Yesterday at church the message was amazing ... guess what it was on? WORK! You guessed it! Once again I was convicted and challenged to take a good hard look at what I'm doing with my time. The message really showed me that no matter what job you do, being a stay at home Mom or a business man on wall street - you need to take your job seriously and work at it WITH ALL YOUR HEART, as working for the LORD, not for man! {Colossians 3:23-24}

God created us to work, He gives us each unique talents and abilities to do the job He's called us to. It's up to US to do that job well, whether we get paid or not!

My final 'conviction' if you will came in the form of a little study on discipline that I'm doing right now. I mentioned it last week, it's the 5 Disciplines in 5 Weeks challenge from Courtney at Women Living Well. This week, would you believe it, the challenge is about TIME MANAGEMENT! How fitting ... wow Lord, you really know how to beat me upside the head when you know I need it!

So what does all this mean? Well as much as I LOVE the internet, pinterest, etsy, blogs, facebook, etc. It means I've got to get control over those things and not let them control me! I'm not sure yet what that means or how it plays out just yet. But just know that I will be praying about this and figuring out a better way to use my time.

The other thing it means is ::::: I need to get my BUTT moving and GET BUSY again! Stop being lazy and making excuses and START finishing those projects around the house, keeping up with my house, working hard on teaching my kids instead of just handing them the school books and letting them figure it out alone, scrubbing those nasty corners that have gotten yucky, exercising and moving my body, cooking and prepping healthy meals, doing those fun things with my kids that I always say we should do, working on those scrapbooks and crafts that I never seem to have time for, reading all those books I say I can never get to, on and on I could go! There's so many GOOD things in my life that I need to do and want to do - it's time to start DOING them!

Okay, deep breath, prayers for discipline to carry all this out and ready, set, GO!!!!!

We're melting ....

And I'm NOT just talking about the snow outside!

Today was a rough day. It started out good. In fact, after I had my quiet time I logged on the computer and checked FB and a very sweet friend sent me a message saying 'not sure why, but the Lord brought you to mind today and just wanted to tell you I'm praying for you.' Awww, I was so touched. I jokingly messaged her back and said it was probably because I've had such a lack of discipline with my exercise and eating well lately!

Little did I know ....

Fast forward a couple hours. During school time we ended up with one girl in meltdown mode today. Crying, refusing to do school work, carrying on for HOURS.

Now, a lot of times I don't talk about the struggles of homeschooling. Many days homeschooling is a JOY, but I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that we have some REALLY hard days too.

There are a few reasons why I don't talk about the bad days much.

First, we ALL have bad days, and who really wants them documented for all the world to see? I mean, I'd much rather my kids remember the great things about their childhoods and not have to read about their every bad behavior on my blog.

Second, I sometimes feel like I'm throwing my kids under the bus when I complain or talk negatively about them. They're old enough now to know what I say or read what I write and just like I would never bad talk my hubby on here, I don't think it's fair to bad talk my kids either. I think it would shame them and make them feel bad and that's certainly not the intent of my blog.

Third, there are so many nay-sayers when it comes to homeschooling. Sure I've thought about calling up the school and sticking my kids on the bus at times - but in general this is a path that we believe the Lord has led us to take. So even though we have bad days and many times I might question what we're doing - it doesn't mean I'm giving up on homeschooling!

Anyhow ... the thing about homeschooling your kids is that you constantly question yourself. When they struggle with school you worry and you wonder if you're doing the right thing, if you chose the right curriculum, if you just don't have the ability to teach them. It all comes down on YOU.

I cried about it today. Sat right there on her bed with her and we both cried. It's hard. It's frustrating. I want to help her, I want to make school fun, I want to make life easy for her ... but having an EASY life isn't always part of God's plan.

Later tonight we had some time to talk and snuggle. I explained to her that life IS hard sometimes. We have to do things we don't want to do. We have to struggle through things in order to learn and grow and be stretched. We had a great talk. I'm so thankful that tomorrow is a new day.


And so thankful that the Lord KNEW how my day would go and placed my name on my friend's mind ... that HE cares so much for little ol' me and goes before me and orders my days is simply amazing! {And of course, thankful for wonderful, praying friends!}

January Challenge{s}

I have two things that I would LOVE for you to join me in this January.

The first is The Gentleness Challenge from the WomenLivingWell blog. And basically we are taking the month of January to focus on dealing with our children in a gentle manner. I know I have been guilty of getting angry and yelling SO often and I know it doesn't help the situation AT ALL when I do. I am going to do my very best this month to model the fruits of the spirit to my girls, because how can I expect them to be patient, kind, gentle, etc ... if they don't see it modeled by me?

Have you ever noticed how Michelle Duggar deals with her {19!!} children? She is always so kind & patient and uses such a calm, quiet voice with them! And they LISTEN TO HER! I am always impressed by her. I would like to parent just like that.

The next challenge I'm taking part in is 31 Days to Pray for your Spouse Challenge. Here is the link to find out more. I am guilty of not praying for my husband nearly enough and would like to take this month to be better about that.

So how about you? Would you like to join me and many other women in becoming more gentle with your kiddos and praying for your spouse daily? I feel like this will be such a big month of change for me and I'm very excited about it!

Grief, Loss & Finding the way to Joy again ...

As I look back on the year of 2011 I can't help but see two things ... a year of loss and grief AND a year of finding joy and contentment. Now honestly, if I were reading this I'd be like 'you're crazy, the 2 cannot be intermixed!' But they can ... and this year I found out firsthand exactly how.

First, a quick run down of just a bit of the grief we have gone through.

*the end of November last year Bob's Grandma died
*early in January my friend Jen's husband died, leaving a young wife and 2 young boys behind
*in the spring we had to put our beloved dog down after 12 yrs
*in the summer we learned that some of our closest friends would be splitting up {much more heartache involved in that but I would rather not share any further details of it}
*also in the summer Bob's Grandpa died, just about 9 months after his wife
*in September a lady I knew from camp growing up died from breast cancer, leaving her hubby and 10 kids behind {5 biological and 5 through foster care adoption}
*in the fall a lady we knew through college friends died of breast cancer - leaving her 5 young daughters and less than 2 yr old baby boy {and husband} behind
*and then the week before Christmas one of my hubby's childhood friends died, leaving his young wife and 2 young children behind.

And that's when I fell apart. For about 3 days straight I cried off and on throughout the day. I would pull myself together anytime someone saw me or when I needed to take care of my kids. But whenever no one was looking my eyes would fill up with tears and my heart would fill up with pain and sadness and grief.

And even though I have never, ever questioned my belief in God, or wavered in trusting Him ... during that time I will admit that my faith was shaken. And I cried out to God asking WHY?! How dare you? How could you? Why would you think that these young children and these young wives/husbands would be better off WITHOUT their mother or father or spouse here in this life??

At that point it would have been so easy to run from God, turn my back on Him and blame Him for all the sadness. I could have said 'I can't do this anymore' and walked away. I could have chosen to give up on church and following the Lord. But I decided to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and that included going to church that following Sunday.

Now you have to know {if you haven't already figured this out by now}, I'm a very emotional person. And even going to church on a normal week makes me emotional at times. The worship music will often make me cry, just being overwhelmed with emotion of what my Savior has done for me. So heading to church this particular Sunday was going to be tough. I knew they would say something about this friend of Bob's who had died because he grew up in that church and his parents still attend there. I literally came to church with my purse full of tissues {just in case}.

Yes, our pastor did talk about the young man who had died. Yes, I cried a little. But then things took a different turn as this week's sermon was about "The Gift of Joy". {Isn't it wonderful how the Lord orchestrates these things, HE knew this was a sermon that I and many others would need to hear on this exact day!} Here are a few things I noted about the sermon that day ...

* We need to realize and recognize the true source of JOY. It doesn't come from US, it comes from God. Back in the fall when I did the whole month series on being a Joyful Wife and Mother I think I really missed the mark on this point. I noted far too many times that joy is a choice WE make as if it fully depends on US. However, I think I failed to point out that true joy comes from the Lord. From knowing Him, following Him and having a relationship with Him. HE created JOY, HE gives us JOY.

* Joy is not dependant on what we DO. It's based on what He's already done! Our Heavenly Father created this amazing world and gave up His only Son to die in our place and that alone should bring us JOY! Joy should not depend on how I feel today or what I have or don't have ... it should be a gracious acceptance of this amazing gift the Lord has given to us.

* In the midst of sorrowful times, I need to pray 'Lord, give me joy ...' And He will. He knows our hearts, He knows our pain and He is faithful to bring joy into our lives again.

* Don't trade joy for amusement. Sometimes I'm guilty of making this mistake. I confuse good times or fun events for joy. And even though those things can make me happy and bring fun and laughter into my life - they may not be sourced in the true giver of Joy - which is Jesus. Ask yourself, is my joy sourced in Jesus?

* I need to find my joy in Jesus ... even when other people might seem to have it better than me. There will always be someone who is thinner, prettier, has a bigger/better house than mine, etc. But if I'm hanging my joy on those things than I will ALWAYS fall short.

Nehemiah 8:10 says, "The joy of the Lord is your strength."

So this year, I pray that I will learn to find all my joy from the Lord. To accept His gift of salvation and grace and gratefully remember that HIS joy will be my strength, no matter what events happen around me, no matter how I feel, no matter how much grief comes into my life.

It doesn't mean this life will be easy. There will ALWAYS be pain, sadness and grief. I don't understand it. I don't know why the Lord allows these things to happen. But I DO choose to keep trusting in Him.

Jesus says in John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

I could choose to walk away from the Lord and blame Him for all the pain in this life ... but where would that leave me? Angry, bitter, dwelling in grief.

Or the alternative is to trust God, follow Him and have true PEACE and true JOY and know that I have the HOPE of eternity in heaven to look forward to - where I will JOYfully be reunited with all those beloved people who have gone before me. And that my friends, is what I choose.

I pray that no matter what 2012 holds for you {and I} that we will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our Heavenly Father loves us and will take us through those painful times and will be by our side through it all.

Jesus Calling

I am reading a fantastic little devotional called Jesus Calling. It's written as if Jesus is speaking to you each day. There have been SO many days when I open it up and it's exactly what I needed to hear that day. This morning it was so good, I wanted to share what it says:

"Everytime something thwarts your plans or desires, use that as a reminder to communicate with Me. This practice has several benefits. The first is obvious: Talking with Me blesses you and strengthens our relationship. Another benefit is that disappointments, instead of dragging you down, are transformed into opportunities for good. This transformation removes the sting from difficult circumstances, making it possible to be joyful in the midst of adversity.
Begin by practicing this discipline in all the little disappointments of daily life. It is often these minor setbacks that draw you away from My presence. When you reframe setbacks as opportunities, you find that you gain much more than you have lost. It is only after much training that you can accept major losses in this positive way. But it is possible to attain the perspective of the apostle Paul, who wrote: Compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, I consider everything I once treasured to be as insignificant as rubbish."

Then they give you a couple of references below the devotional.
Col. 4:2 and Phil. 3:7-8

Devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Philippians 3:7-8

Have a blessed day friends!!

“Between” Girls Devotional

This year for our school Bible time I got this great devotional for the girls to use. It’s called Between God and Me and it’s by Vicki Courtney. The one I bought is a study of the book of Proverbs.

I had to write about it because we are loving it SO much and I didn’t want to keep it to ourselves! It’s set up to look like a fun, vibrant, girly magazine and it’s chock full of great information.

I love that they help interpret the strange wording of the Bible in a way that young girls can understand.

I love that there are practical applications with activities and questions.

And I really love that the topics covered deal with typical tween girl issues like friends, bullies, being honest and truthful and listening to your parents instructions.

 

Here are the girls with an activity they did the other day … I love that our school is named after this verse “Above all else guard your heart, for it is the Wellspring of life” Prov. 4:23 … the girls made a picture of their guarded heart.

So if you have young girls I would HIGHLY recommend checking this great devotional book out! We found ours on Amazon.com.