Friends, remember when I encouraged you to Fall in Love With the World Next Door for Valentine’s Day? And you all blew me away by stepping up, reaching out, and donating thousands of dollars of the Maubane Community.
Well, today I have a lump in my throat and goosebumps as I get to write this post and show you the pictures of the completed Water Project and Vegetable Garden…
Talk about love in action! Aren’t those pictures just incredible? {You can see more pictures of these projects here.}
It just thrills my heart to think about all the hundreds of people who gave $10 and $20 — or whatever they could squeeze out of their budget — and collectively, this is what happened! Just beautiful and breath-taking.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your heart for the Maubane Community. Your generosity touches me and inspires!
Today, I’m also coming to you to ask that you consider helping finish funding the Maubane Community Kitchen and Welcome Center. It’s only $4,000 away from being fully funded!
Would you prayerfully consider giving $10 or $20 or more today to help fully fund this project? I’d LOVE to see the whole project funded by tonight! Wouldn’t that be fantastic??
If you can only give a dollar, give a dollar. If you have more wiggle room in your budget, would you prayerfully consider giving whatever amount it is that you can give?
And if you don’t have any extra wiggle room to give, would you consider sharing this post or Lisa-Jo’s post with your friends or on your social media channels?
Special Bonuses
1. Give a donation of at least $20 and I'll send you a copy of my book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode. Just forward the email you receive after you donate to crystal@moneysavingmom.com and include the amount you donated and your mailing address and I'll send you a copy.
2. Give a donation of at least $40 and I'll send you a copy of my book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, and I'll buy you a copy of Lisa-Jo's book, Surprised By Motherhood. Just forward the email you receive after you donate to crystal@moneysavingmom.com and include the amount you donated and your mailing address and I'll send you a copy of my book and buy you a copy of Lisa-Jo's book.
Thank you so very much for being apart of this project that is so near and dear to my heart! I can’t wait to get to show you pictures of the completely finished Maubane Community Kitchen & Welcome Center! Thank you for partnering with me to change lives!
Note: I always hesitate to share honest posts like this because I don’t want it to come across that I’m complaining or whining about my life. I’m incredibly blessed and I know that many of you are going through crazy hard, overwhelming, and massively discouraging life stuff right now and would give anything to be dealing with these types of “problems”. At the same time, though, I’m committed to being authentic in this space. And this is just my real and raw thoughts tonight…
It’s past 8 p.m. and I’m finally getting this written.
I’ve meant to do it since 8 a.m. this morning. But today was just one of those days.
It wasn’t necessarily a bad day. But it was just an exhausting day.
There’s a lot going on with the business right now. I’m writing a book. And I’m learning how to juggle homeschooling three kids for the first time.
All three of these things combined together makes for a LOT in each day, especially as we jump back into the school year.
I’m not complaining because I’ve chosen this life. And I know that it’s exactly where I’m supposed to be. I also know that this is a short season with a lot of responsibilities and it will definitely be slowing down in another month or two.
But that doesn’t mean that it’s always easy. Or that I don’t ever longingly consider alternative choices.
Like maybe lounging on a private island with complete quiet and a good book??
Yeah. That sounds about perfect right now after such a long day of business projects, emails, writing, and hours of homeschooling kids who weren’t all that thrilled with today’s assignments. Ahem. 
But the good news? Homeschooling is finally finished for the day (as of about 10 minutes ago), I kept my commitment to not yell or be angry with my kids throughout this whole long homeschooling day, we made some really good progress today, one child just made me a bowl of fruit and gave me a love note, and all the kids just asked if they could snuggle with me once they were ready for bed.
So yes, even if we had a lot of rocky moments throughout the day, it’s ending well. And for that, I’m grateful!
Today’s Rise & Shine Assignment
I thought it was perfect timing that today’s Rise & Shine assignment was about being a Calm Mom. Oh how I needed this reminder!
Because the truth is, this momma here has been struggling to be calm and to respond with grace, kindness, and patience. Simply put: my attitude and words haven’t been all that pretty in the last two weeks.
In fact, on Sunday, I came to Jesse and asked him to please keep me accountable for responding calmly to my kids instead of yelling or getting irritated this. I think, for me, just being honest about my struggles and asking for accountability has been a great help. And praying and asking God to infuse me with peace and kindness when I don’t feel peace or kindness.
Another big help has been to think about what kind of example I’m setting before my kids. How do I want them to respond in stressful situations in life? I need to model that behavior before them.
By doing these things and really reminding myself over and over of my intention and desire to respond calmly, it’s made a big difference. And I hope I can keep this going!
This Morning's Report
- Got up at 6:00 a.m.
- Made the mistake of checking my phone and got sucked into going through and answering about 20 emails. Gratefully, I’m pretty quick at email and this only took me around 15 minutes. But still, not a recommended way to start the day!
- Made coffee. Read my Bible and devotional books. Prayed over my day.
- Opened the laptop, answered emails, answered comments, and scheduled some posts. Worked on some business projects that ended up taking me a lot longer than I expected.
- Unloaded and re-loaded the dishwasher.
- Started some laundry, and got the kids up and helped them get ready for the morning. The kids got up and, after a quick breakfast, I had them head straight to their homeschooling since I knew they had some extra projects to do today.
- I taught Silas Kindergarten, switched the laundry, answered a few emails, and then sat down to help the girls with their school.
How was your morning? What helps you to be a Calmer Mom? I'd love to hear!
