Joy in the Journey

It's Christmas Day so I'll try and keep this short. I just want to wish you a Merry Christmas!! What I want to remind you of this Christmas is you are a gift , to your family, to your friends, to the ones you love most. You are specially designed, perfectly you, on purpose, to live a life of beauty and purpose. You are no accident. On Christmas, with all the gifts, cleaning up wrapping paper, spending time with family, I just want you to remember you've done good. You've worked hard. You made it! Take a deep breath. Give yourself a break and drink in these moments watching your kids delight on Christmas morning. Photo Credit: thesun.co.uk Last but not least, I can't help but say to remember Jesus today. It started with Jesus those 2020 years ago (give or take) and it's why we are here today. Though the holiday is far from that first Christmas (imagine having a baby in a dirty stable with animals?!), let's remember and be grateful that the greatest gift of lo...

Goodwill thrift shop is my place. I love going to Goodwill and searching for finds. I grew up Thrift Shopping and my love for finding nice things at a fraction of the price hasn't changed. I took my middle child, my ten-year-old daughter, with me to Goodwill the other day and we were having a good time looking at shoes. She wanted some new shoes and I was handing her options when I came across these adorable, old-fashioned heels that would've been my dream shoes as a child. I handed them her way to try on "just for fun" and went off to look at baby clothes. Next thing I know I see my adorable girl clip-clopping her way across the store in the old-fashion heels I had handed her. Her face was alight as she somewhat awkwardly walked towards me. "I LOVE them!" She exclaimed and I smiled. "Can I have them, please?" She begged. I didn't say "no" right away, but she knew I wasn't on board. I hadn't even thought of buying th...

A New Holiday Tradition I feel like I learn something every Christmas about my family and what works best for us during the holidays. Our first Christmas together we wanted to have Christmas morning together at home so we planned all other family gatherings on the days before Christmas. This was good in theory, but we had so much going on in the days and week before Christmas day that when it came, after all the presents were opened, we were exhausted, depleted, and drained. Our second year we decided to do something different. Christmas morning with our extended family and not  do a lot in the days before Christmas. This was much more enjoyable and sweet and we weren't left so drained. In the following years we have always been with our extended family on Christmas morning but opened gifts with our kids before leaving for our family's house to celebrate with them. Last year, I decided to try something different. Instead of waiting till Christmas morning, h...

How Minimalism has effected my Christmas I've shared about how I've minimized the stuff in my house, worked to be more intentional about my time, and simplified my schedule in an effort to be more intentional about my purpose in life. So how does that work at Christmas time when everything says more, more, MORE!!!!  First of all, I resisted all urges to participate in Black Friday. I've never been one to go out shopping on that day but I usually get caught up in the online sales, at least a little bit. A screen and invisible money on my debit card is a weakness of mine. I resisted this year because a blog Becoming Minimalist   helped encourage me to look bigger than buying stuff. Secondly, simplifying has effect my peace with Christmas. I always enjoy giving to family and friends but there is a certain level of stress with finding and buying and budgeting for Christmas. It is 21 days till Christmas as I'm writing this, and honestly, I haven't even start...

Take Time Wonder A walk on the beach Good morning Beautiful Mamas, My family and I got to go camping this past weekend. I was thinking about what I wanted to share with you while I was away. I figured it out at the beach. I looked around and I started taking pictures of the beauty in the rocks and in the tide pools. I thought "That's it! I'll take pictures of the beauty and share that with the moms."  So that's what I did. I got out my camera and started taking a picture of every beautiful thing I saw so that I could share it with you. What amazed me is, as I looked for beauty, I saw it EVERYWHERE!! All this wonderful creation, the tiny details, the sky and ocean, everywhere I looked I saw pieces of love from a Great Creator that loves us... and this is what I saw: A bright green and yellow leaf caught in the sand. Bright pink algae clinging to a tide pool changing it from grey to rose colored.  A beautiful array of colors in t...

Motherhood has a lot of small in it. My baby being in a miserable stage for most of the past two months makes things so hard. It's isolating and discouraging and the sleep depravation often lends itself to a bad attitude. It makes the small world of mothering a baby feel even smaller... and the hard things feel much harder. But in the world of small things, there is also small victories: MY BABY SLEPT LAST NIGHT!   That small victory feels so big and really awesome to me. All of a sudden my mood has lifted. I feel stronger, more capable of dealing with my emotions and difficult situations. I feel rested instead of exhausted. I can do more during the day because my baby is not feeling bad and is not as clingy. He's sitting on the floor playing instead of crying and clawing at my legs.  I made it to my mom's group today. I had to leave quickly to get home to put the baby down for a nap, but I made it and it was wonderful! Getting to connect and talk to oth...

Have you heard the saying "If Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy"? I've heard it before but didn't give it a lot of thought until my husband mentioned something similar. My husband talked about it differently. About me, the Mom, being the heart of the home. Being a leader of the attitude of the home. I hold a special place of influence when it comes to my home's flavor of interactions. Why was my husband speaking this to me? Because I'd let other's negative opinions effect my outlook and, as a result, my mood. Instead of leading my family in gentleness and with love I was harsh, irritable, and impatient. Because of my special role as "heart of the home" my whole family was effected as I put a negative attitude forward. My kids felt pressured, frustrated, and worried. My husband was tense because I was unhappy. Our hearts are intertwined as a family and the Mom, typically, leads that heart. She is of great influence in the way ...

Do you read books? I know, having little ones is like a anti-book-reading potion. I used to read a lot more. I've read parent books and marriage books. I've learned a few good things here and there but I've never had a book change me... Years ago, like 8 years ago, I began to hear a lot of talk about a book called "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. I heard it was impactful and even had been life changing to some. So eventually, long after I heard about the book, I got a copy. I read it slowly, and to be honest, I never finished it. However, her beautiful description, her list of gifts, and her story of freedom through gratitude was striking, compelling, and very inspiring!  I decided to give it a go. So on July 19, 2014 I started my 1,000 Gift List in my journal. Counting each one by number. #1 Windows down, sunshine, country music, two precious darlings in the back seat, hair flying. #250 That, because of God['s provision], I get the honor of ...