Joy in the Journey

It was going to be epic... My oldest child will be turning 12 this week.  If you've been reading this blog for a while or know me in person, you know that I love to throw BIG birthday parties. I feel like a birthday party is not just for the birthday kid, it is also celebrating the wonderful people in her life and thanking them for being a part of it. I want it to be fun and special for everyone. My mother-in-law has become a big part in planning and executing the birthday parties and because the last two years my oldest daughter has had pretty low-key parties, she and my daughters have been scouring Pinterest for ideas. We had planned a medieval feast and archery contest. Because there are no indoor facilities available, we had gathered up enough pop-up canopies from friends to lash them together and make a pavilion for the feasting. We were planning the decor and costumes. It was going to be so fun! I went shopping at Hobby Lobby and got her some nice fabric to make a beautiful d

Growing up, Thanksgivings were usually spent with my dad's side of the family. My grandma lived about a 10 hour drive away, so we left on Wednesday and usually stayed with her a few days. They were fun memories of food, football, and hanging out with family I didn't see very often in a place I didn't go very often. It was an adventure. When I became an adult, my grandma moved 2.5 hours from me, so it was easy to keep up the tradition of spending Thanksgiving with her...unless a member of my family had some kind of sickness. She was on oxygen the last five years of her life, and sometimes we had to miss the holiday with her in order to protect her weak immune system.  I don't need to talk more about that. It is a concept that has been preached and mandated on us by those in authority over us all year. And I'm not going to offer my opinion on the subject.  I will say, however, that Oregon's mandate of not meeting with more than a total of six people from no more t

You are one-of-a-kind. You are amazing. Yes, you. It doesn't matter if your house is a wreck. It doesn't matter if your kids have been living off graham crackers and string cheese all week. It doesn't matter that you feel like you are failing at everything you do. You are unique. You are special. You were created for a specific purpose. You are no accident. Don't hate me, but we are totally in Christmas mode at my house. I know, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but this family LOVES Christmas. There is no stopping us. We traditionally start watching Christmas movies on Halloween night (they are just so much better than Halloween movies, sorry, not sorry).  Have you ever watched It's a Wonderful Life ? I'm a classic movie buff, and it's one of my all-time favorite movies.  I cry buckets of tears throughout the whole movie. From the opening scene, when everyone is saying their prayers for George, to the closing scene, when he is standing in a room f

I turned 32 on Sunday... THIRTY-TWO! Does anyone else go "What? I'm what age?!" every year or is that just me? I had a nice birthday, despite having limitations on what we could do. We made it work and it was special. (Thank you to all who gave me birthday wishes as well, that was very sweet!) As I reflected the next day on being 32, I remembered another birthday that didn't seem that long ago, 23. I remember going to the coast, I remember the little photo shoot that was taken. I remember I got not one but two rainbow umbrellas for my birthday that year because I loved over the top color. I was colorful, carefree, loved Africa and art and having fun. Me at 23 I'm 32 and I'm a wife, a mother of three, I homeschool and blog. I still love Africa but I'm a whole lot less carefree and colorful at times than I used to be. I live a very different and beautiful life but that's not the biggest difference between me and the girl I was at 23? The biggest differe

I was up earlier than I wanted to be today. My toddler is struggling with a cold and even when he was brought to me in bed he was begging for Daddy who had to go to work. It was sad. I pulled out his favorite show Blippi and we cuddled awhile in bed before my husband came back home... To take care of our son? Nope! He wasn't allowed to go to work because he had some covid symptoms and was sent home (he was negative). However, it was a school day and I wanted to start the day and week off right so I sent the toddler downstairs with Dad (normally my oldest takes him) and I got on my leggings and began my exercises. First, core and stretches designed to help strengthen and maintain my back so I can do normal daily activities. Next, the treadmill and a YouTube show for my 20-25minues of walking and hand weights.  Photo Credit: healthfitnesscritique.com When I finished I drank some more water, stretched a little more, and got in the shower... All this takes time and I honestly skip cert

This blog post is not about current events.  Well, not about anyone else' current events. It's about life with my baby right now.  The past six weeks have consisted of breaking his first molars through, then two weeks of a head cold, then breaking his canine teeth through, then a week of horrendous diaper rash (he accidentally was given wheat, it was such a sad, bad reaction!), and now the past few days he has been acting like something else is not making him happy. Another cold? More teeth? I don't know... I've never been able to get this kid to take a pacifier or a bottle. He occasionally drinks from his sippy cup, but when he is not feeling well, he just wants mama. Mama, mama, and lots of mama. Pretty much 24/7. You guys, Mama is exhausted! image from livescience.com Physical touch is not one of my major love languages and I can easily feel "touched out" after a marathon of being pawed and nursed on so frequently.  "I just need a break. I just wish

My three children are currently two, eleven, and almost thirteen. I don't know what was in the water this week but it seemed like everyone's moods were heightened and not in a good way. By the end of the week things were starting to fall apart. My eldest was dissatisfied and upset about every bump in the road and when I corrected her for jumping in front of the camera when I was trying to get a video of her little brother, things went downhill fast. She got up mad and stormed off. I called her back but she wouldn't come. Next, she then fought me over doing her chore and when she told me not to "yell at her" when I was using a stern voice, well, I started to yell! I was ticked about her response to correction. I was frustrated by her lack of incentive on her chore, and now she was asking me "not to yell" when I wasn't yelling (even though I felt like it).  I yelled a little and then brought up how frustrated I was with her response to "Don't

We've been working a lot on honesty with our kids lately... For several years now to be more realistic. It's a challenge. How to discipline and train and encourage when dishonesty comes into play. How to encourage honesty while making room for normal mistakes and slip ups that happen.  There's been a lot of "Are you being honest?" and "Is that the true?" and "Thank you for being honest, I appreciate that." lately. I guess my two year old must've been absorbing some of all this because he recently completely surprised me with an honest answer. A little back story.  My daughters got slime making kits from the library. They made slime with the understanding of sharing it with their little brother. Little brother got some on a fuzzy blanket that I just  cleaned and it DOESN'T come off.  So, when I saw slime on my new rug, I was upset.  "There's slime on the carpet" I moaned to my husband, "And it doesn't come off!&quo

My husband got a new job! Not just a new job, he pretty much got his dream job. The story is amazing to me. He has always loved computers. When he was 6 years old his aunt brought him a broken VCR and he took it completely apart. Thus began his love of all things electronics. It continued through his childhood and into teen years.  Then he did something stupid. He actually tried to steal computers from the school. He got caught. He got kicked out of school. He was running with the wrong crowd.  Thankfully he was moved to my small town. He met Jesus and cleaned himself up. It's a good thing, because I don't think I would have found him very attractive if I had met him when he was living his former lifestyle. But we fell in love and got married almost 15 years ago.  Before we got married he got a job at RadioShack. Though the job was mostly retail, he enjoyed the work of fixing electronics that people would occasionally bring in. But RadioShack, as some of you probably know, was

  The pain is back! I noticed it 3 weeks ago one morning in bed and I sadly told my husband, "It's back. The pain is back." I went through ovulation, which for me is normally accompanied by burning and pressure, and I was in bed with pain meds it hurt so bad.  Photo Credit: fcionline.com That was a week ago. I'm still a week before my period so no pain from that should be felt... But the pain is back. I've struggled with period pain since I was sixteen years old when I was bedridden one period and my mom was literally doing Labor Breathing with me to get me to not just cry through the pain. Every year or so I would have another debilitating period. My aunt told me I could go through labor unmedicated if I could handle that type of period. It was that bad. Then it got worse a few years ago. Every  period I was bedridden for at least a part of a day and usually weak for a few days after. Ovulating was nearly just as painful and sometimes even more. I went to ER dur

My husband and I have been struggling with having enough time spent together since moving in, there's just SO MUCH to do. His biggest project is building his shop on the back of our eighth of an acre and weather plays a role in that so it's very time sensitive. I've been missing him. He's been missing me and we're not firing on all cylinders and it's definitely effects the kids as well as us. I thought this picture was pretty funny. Our feelings pre-trip We had a really  rough day as a family and the next day I really wanted to find something nice to do with the kids... but one of us needed to drive an hour and a half away to pick up the French doors we're installing in our bedroom (YAY!). I didn't think I could hold it together if I got stuck in the truck with my three often bickering, whining, and hyperactive kids. I didn't want to go. I wanted to go to something else but when push came to shove, we needed time together more than anything. I decide

I saw the longing in his eyes. It was a higher pain day for me, so I decided to do something with my girls that wouldn't require standing or movement. We got out the nail polish. My oldest had gotten two huge packets of really fun nail stickers for her birthday last year. I chose deer horns and flowers and greenery for myself. My younger daughter, of course, chose rainbows and bright colors. My oldest was all about the earth tones.  My 4 year old son watched with the greatest of interest. And I made a decision. "Would you like these cars on your nails?" His whole face lit up. He was so excited to choose stickers for his nails. And he wanted Santa and snowmen on his toes. His innocent enjoyment was heartwarming.  My mom would never have put nail stuff on my brother. Many people in today's society would say that my son wanting to decorate his nails has something to do with his sexual identity. Hogwash.  It has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with him be