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Bleeding Out
Yesterday was a bloodbath. The kind of day that leaves you feeling like you’re bleeding out in the trenches. The kind of day where you don’t have any more to give and you can’t catch a break. I felt like I started the day with no energy and no resources and yet my family kept demanding more of me. It’s been a rough week. My husband has been at work a lot, which most of the time is harder than when he’s gone entirely, because I have to take care of the kids and everything else and I have just gotten the kids to bed and got everything cleaned up…
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A Hard Story to Write
Writing is good for me. It invigorates me and helps me process and share my experiences. It’s not always easy, though. Sometimes the words just flow. Other times I have to drag them out or I get stuck and never finish. And more often than not, what I end up with is not what I set out to write at all. What I really love is having written. When I’m done agonizing over the words and second-guessing myself a hundred times and finally just hit “publish”. I have always loved writing and sharing my story but also I am deathly afraid of people seeing it. I want people to read…
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Distracted
Sometimes I wonder if we’re all just living from one distraction to the next until we die. It’s so much easier to spend my time on something that entertains or distracts me from real life. And I’m disappointed in myself and the people around me for not just falling for, but embracing one of the oldest tricks in the book. The enemy doesn’t have to defeat us when he can simply distract us. Oh, look, a squirrel! And off we go chasing down a rainbow, moving from one distraction to the next and never even knowing what we’re missing out on. It’s easier to watch a show together instead of…
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My Experiences with Cloth Diapering
After moving to Washington State and becoming more conscious of recycling and reducing waste, I found out I was pregnant with our first child. I’m not sure how or when cloth diapering came up, but since I was going to be a stay-at-home-mom, I figured, “why not?” I did some research (jk, I did A LOT of research, it’s my M.O.) and decided to go with traditional cotton prefolds, snappi fasteners and PUL diaper covers. (Now that we’re going plastic-free as much as possible, I’d choose wool soakers, but you live and learn). Cloth diapers were a bit of a learning curve but when you realize that you’re literally throwing…
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Easy Kindergarten+ Curriculum for Under $100 that Takes less than 1.5 Hours a Day
We live in such interesting times. Technology is amazing…until it’s not. It seems like everything is moving to an online version, however, do we really want to be glued to our screens 24/7? Online school is a great solution, unless you have multiple children, trying to learn and use multiple platforms with multiple assignments… After talking to my sister-in-law, who is also trying to work from home while moderating all this online school for her three kids, I realized there had to be an easier way. I had already been researching homeschool curriculums for kindergarten, since my oldest will be turning five this summer, and having been homeschooled myself, as…
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Four Tips for Staying Home with Young Children Without Losing Your Mind
In case you missed it, about 18 months ago I wrote a post about how God was teaching me how to stay at home. And now here we are and everyone has to stay at home. Who could have known? God. That’s who. I am very grateful to have had almost two years of practice to teach me how to be happy at home. I’ve been rather surprised by the fact that this quarantine-like situation has not rocked our boat at all. I have learned ALOT in the last 2 years of staying home, but here are the things that I feel have made the most difference: The Game-Changer: Figure…
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You Don’t Have To Do Everything
“I can’t do everything!” Samuel flopped down on the bed dramatically. I was folding laundry on the bed and Samuel was supposed to be helping, but instead, was getting distracted, snuggling with the warm clothes. (It is a rare occurrence when the laundry gets folded while it is still warm, which is probably why it was so enticing.) I had asked him to find the sock matches and he had also volunteered to fold his and his brother’s underwear. He was wallowing in the clothes when my reminder to him of his assigned task prompted this dramatic scene. “You don’t have to do everything, you only need to do what…
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What Really Matters
More than I want my kids to get a good education, I want them to love learning and learn how to think. More than I want them to be smart, I want them to be obedient. Not because it makes my life easier (although, admittedly, it does), and not because it will make their life easier (although it probably will), but because in the end the only thing that matters is that they trusted and obeyed God. (Yikes, am I even living like this is all that really matters??) More than I want my kids to be happy, I want them to be content. No matter what their circumstances. More…
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Another Lesson from the Preschooler
“You were so busy trying to get your brother to obey, you weren’t obeying either. You need to obey first.” ——————————————————————————————————————– No matter what my husband or anyone else is doing or not doing, I am responsible to obey God and do what I am supposed to do. These are the hard lessons.
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Generous God
In the last couple weeks, Samuel has had a really hard time sharing anything. To the point where he doesn’t want Malachi to touch any toys even if he is not currently playing with them. We talked about how being generous and sharing makes you happy and makes others happy and we watched VeggieTales “Madame Blueberry”, but he still shouted “Mine!” whenever Malachi came close. I told Samuel, “The toys aren’t yours, they are mine and I share them with you. So you can share with your brother.” And, wow, I did not see that coming. All the money we have, all the resources we have are God’s. And because…
Learning How to Love God With All My Heart, Mind, Soul & Strength