Our Ordinary Life

Funny title, I know, but I didn't really know how else to get started but to just say it. I have been a mother for 10 years now and I'll just be honest and say, there is A LOT of things that is difficult about kids in general. The weight we bear as parents to guide, teach, disciple, and just keep alive sometimes, on the daily is a huge task. I take this responsibility very seriously as this is what I do all day every day as a stay at home mom. Some days it gets to me where I'm almost too invested and small things become big things. I forget that they are people and lose perspective, actually that happens more frequently than I would like to admit. So is it difficult to parent them, yes, for a lot of different reasons and maybe that can be a different blog with more grace and Jesus emphases, but thats not what I find to be difficult ABOUT them. I have loved every stage that my kids have gone thru. But to be honest, I don't love it at the start of one. A new stage means ...

You know how when we plan out our day, expecting it to go one way and expecting to get certain things done on that day we planned out? Well that was what I had planned out for today. I had made a mental list of the things I wanted to get done at home and the places I needed to go. I know I have to get out of bed by 7:30 to have enough time to get the boys sandwiches and lunches made, fill out any papers and last minute stuff done before I send them off to school. So at about 7:25 I rolled over and tell Bryan that I was getting ready to get up and he, in a very sleepy voice says, “Just so you know, school was cancelled today. I will probably work from home today too.” What!!?? Wait, I find I am both excited and kind of frustrated with that news. I love snow days, it means we do things we don’t normally get to do like stay in our pjs, watch movies, play in the snow of course, and maybe (if I’m feeling ambitious) a game or a craft. But it also means that everything I had planned goes out...

We went to the store today and an older lady stopped to talk to us. I could tell that while she was talking to me and about my baby, she was thinking back to maybe her daughter. I asked her if she has ever had any kids and she said “yes, a daughter and I did her hair the same way. Oh the memories this brings back!” We finished up and on my way home it got me thinking. Through the course of my thoughts process I landed here:  Why does the older generation often times not take the time to pour into us younger generation? It’s biblical!! Is it because we are closed off to them? Is it cuz we don’t want to know what they think? Or is it out of fear, on both sides? I have heard the different reasons from both sides. I am only going to speak for me, cuz I can’t speak for anyone else in my generation, but as someone who hasn’t figured most things out, I would love to be guided, mentored, taught, and share in your wisdom. You have so much to offer us. I know that we can come off as stubborn...

Last year we made plans to get away for our big 10 year anniversary (a small milestone but kind of big) BUT plans changed quickly when we had to take our almost 6 month old to the ER as she had gotten very sick and I didn't want to leave her.  So we decided that even tho this year is not a "big" milestone, we still need to get away, even if it was for just one night.  Guys!!  This man I married rocks it every time we plan to do something.  He surprises me and knocks it out of the park!  We went to a cabin in West Virginia. Can I just say, that to have an evening and a night where my littles aren't running around and needing something from me every 3 minutes was amazing!!  To have the undivided attention from my husband was amazing!!  To enjoy a jacuzzi bath was amazing!!  To be able to have time to read with my hot coffee in the morning was amazing!!  I think Moms feel guilty writing stuff like this (I'm fighting the guilt right now) bec...

This will be a challenge!!  This feels a little daunting.  I know that I already post a lot of my life on Instagram but I have never posted every day!  A couple of my acquaintances or people that I follow have tried to do this, and I have always been intrigued to do it, but out of fear that I wouldn't be able to follow thru with it, I would get intimidated and decide not to do it.  Not this year of 2018.  Why not this year?  I don't REALLY know other than a few things that seem to be standing out to me.  A big one is that I'm really getting into my camera!!  I want to use it every day.  I want to learn how to capture the little every day stuff in my life and the big moments, things with my kids and our ministry.  I'm as beginner with my camera as they get!  So often i'm unhappy with how a picture turns out or the lighting wasn't quite right or Adelyn didn't stay posed the way I wanted her to (hahahaha), so to all you camera profe...

Enough.  "I am not enough!"  I am not enough is a lie that runs rampant through our churches, our schools, our relationships, our work, our home life, our marriages, our parenting, and it is one that I struggle to fight every day.  Why?  Why is this lie so hard and one we so readily believe?  Because we want to feel more valuable?  We have a desire to be in control?  We want to measure up to someone else or someone else's standard?  We feel pressure to fit in?  I'm going to open myself up and let you into a day that this lie is the hardest to fight.  Oh Sunday!  This is a day where most people have off work (not everyone, I understand) and most people enjoy the day with their family.  It is a day where in my circle, people go to church to worship with the body.  Most people come away fed and encouraged, whether they served or consumed, they feel good about themselves.  But Sunday, for me, is a very different story ...