Welcome to my weekly post where we take a break from money-related posts and I share about what I'm loving right now and give you a little peek into our life from the past week.
What I’m Reading
Right now, I'm reading: Fragments That Remain, Cleaning House, and God's Whispers in a Mother's Chaos.
I'm also reading The Upstairs Room aloud to the kids at night and we're really enjoying it. Note: We’re really loving this book, even though I think the writing could have been tightened up on it for it to be even better. However, it totally caught me off guard that it had language in it that I never would have expected for a kid’s book and I’ve had to edit out a few words here and there.
This past week I finished reading A Secret Courage. I had high hopes for this book since I’ve loved Tricia Goyer’s WWII novels. But this one fell flat for me. It felt like it lacked character development and depth and I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters. So yeah, I was sad because I really wanted to love this book.
{See my Reading Goals for 2017. Also, see the 47 books I've read so far in 2017 here.}
What I Watched This Week
So, I fell into the hole that is Dude Perfect. Oh yes, I did. And I may be the last person on the planet to have discovered them, but now I understand why people love their YouTube videos so much!
This week, I also went through the Pinterest Group Board Master class and found it so helpful. If you are a blogger who is wanting to up your Pinterest game, I highly recommend this course!
What We're Celebrating
Her pregnancy and birth were my hardest (I had to be hospitalized & induced early because of anemia and low platelet counts.)
She was born during one of the darkest seasons of our marriage. (Jesse lost his job and couldn’t find another one. I had raging postpartum depression and threatened to leave him multiple times because I felt so angry and scared and desperate.)
But this girl… she brought so much light in the middle of despair. And she continues to fill our life and our home with beauty!
She’s had amazing resilience and tenacity almost since birth. She learned how to roll over when she was 2 weeks old and she’s just never stopped moving since then.
She’s a whirlwind of creativity and is always experimenting and teaching herself some new kind of art — whether that is trying new baking recipes, new hairstyles, new eye makeup looks, new slime recipes, putting together new outfits, designing her future room, new sewing projects, or new ice-skating or gymnastics moves.
Every day is an adventure in creating and discovering.
She teaches me to appreciate and see beauty I never would have noticed.
She never lets fear of failure stop her. She just jumps out and tries whatever the next thing is that she has set her mind to.
And if that doesn’t work like she hoped, she gets up and tries again — or she picks another thing and jumps in wholeheartedly on that idea.
We love this girl more than words can express and can’t believe she’s 10 years old!! Happy Birthday, Kaitlynn!
What I Am Learning
I haven’t told you all this yet, but we have dubbed this the Year of Chores.
Last year, I realized that Silas and Kaitlynn hadn’t gotten as much “chore training” as Kathrynne had and were not as apt to take initiative or just automatically pick up after themselves without being asked.
So since the beginning of the year, we’ve been working on making responsibility, picking up after yourselves, diligence, and a servant’s heart a priority.
And it’s made a BIG difference in our home! (And hopefully it will make a big difference in their future success, too!)
We didn’t use some incredible chore chart or system, I just kept it simple by a) Explaining to them why we were making the change b) Taking personal responsibility for the fact that I haven’t taught them as much in these areas as I needed to c) Making this a priority every day.
Change in our lives and homes doesn’t always have to involve some a complete overhauling of our approach or a sophisticated new system. It might happen just by acknowledging the issue, taking personal responsibility for what we need to, and making it a priority.
Those simple steps can lead to life transformation… one little decision at a time.
What I Am Pondering
“Something has changed with in writing…” I’ve heard this comment over and over again the past few months.
Yes, something has changed — not just in my writing, but in my heart. 🌻
Last Fall, I started a 9-month Discipleship Program at our church. I knew that the program was not your typical Bible Study, but I had no idea that it was going to be like 9 months of intensive counseling!!
One of the biggest aha! moments for me was the section on idols. I discovered I had a major approval idol and that it was driving my decisions, ruling my parenting, and hurting all my relationships.
I’d always known I struggled with being a people-pleaser, but I had no idea how deep my need for others’ approval ran nor how it was wreaking havoc in my life.
As a result of that discovery, I started paying close attention to the why behind everything I do.
“Why am I stressing about my response to her? Why do I feel like I should invite her over? Why do I want to make sure she knows xyz about me? Why am I feeling the need to explain or apologize or hold back information? Why am I scared to be honest and vulnerable?”
And on and on I questioned myself, only to realize that most of my decisions were ultimately being made thinking of other people’s approval — and often, it was people whom I didn’t really even know well!
I’m on a journey of inward healing and transformation and I’m learning to bask in the truth that my Heavenly Father loves me. As I am. Right now. Period.
When I rest in His love, I can live as loved… without having to stress over what someone else thinks of me.
There’s so much freedom there! I can love my husband, parent my kids, invest in relationships, post on Instagram… and bring my true self — the raw, the messes, the real, the beautiful — without having to agonize or stress or expend energy worrying how I’m being perceived or what others think.
So there you have it! If you’ve noticed a difference in my writing online, that’s why. And whether or not you like it, I’m okay. Because my Heavenly Father loves me, these 4 wonderful people in this picture love me, and that’s enough.
