Tag Archives: 2015

faith, home, mommyhood, My Big Jesus, my journey as a mother, pregnancy, random thoughts, women

Top Posts of 2015

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Well, 2015 was a landmark year for me as a writer. I was published on three sites other than my own, and even paid for my work! That’s something that I never thought would happen, and I’m so proud of myself, if I’m allowed a little pat on the back.

gold-2015-clipart-1

So, in honor of a successful year of writing, AND because tons of my blogger friends were doing this, here are my top five posts from 2015! Thanks for reading, commenting, sharing your lives, caring about mine, and contributing to my success!

Things I’ve Heard at 33 Weeks Pregnant – a hilarious account of all the things that strangers tell you when you’re very obviously pregnant.

10 Tips for Soon-to-Be Moms – a first installment of a series (the second is here!) of tips and tricks for moms, soon-to-be moms, and friends of moms.

Why I Decided to Stop Breastfeeding (and You Can, Too) – my breastfeeding journey with D

Accidental Announcement – that one time I told y’all I was pregnant, but I didn’t mean to.

An Open Letter to Friends Who Don’t Invite Me to Stuff Just Because I Have Kids – because I have feelings, and I still want to hang out!

What were your favorite posts of the year?

faith

God Still Parts Red Seas

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Each year, the pastor at my church chooses a scripture that will be preached on and spoken to each member of the church individually, as a blessing for the year. It’s a really wonderful thing that they do: speaking positivity and truth into each and every person’s life through the course of one morning. Speaking blessing and encouragement into people who may not get it from anywhere else. It’s awesome.

Last night, I went with the other members of leadership to be blessed for 2015. The Blessing Sunday is a really busy time for worship leaders, pastors, deacons, and others who are leaders in the church, so we all get blessed with our families the previous Wednesday at a service together. As I went with Hubby to take communion and pick up the kids for the blessing, I was overcome with excitement. This is gonna be good! I thought. And it was. Our venue pastor Brandon was one of our “blessers”, along with a lady that I hadn’t met before. The scripture for the blessing was this:

Exodus 14:13-14 (NKJV)
And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

Stand still. How often are we told that? Maybe if we’re having our picture taken, and that’s about it. Otherwise, it’s “come here” and “do this” and “go there” and “finish that”. It’s never “stand still, and let the Lord fight your battle for you”. How much better is that? How much more successful will He be at fighting my battle?

See the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. He WILL accomplish it. No question. He HAS accomplished it; His salvation is already ours! Amen, y’all!

You shall hold your peace. Hold… your… peace. Hold it. YOUR peace. That peace is yours for the taking, for the holding. That peace is in the security of knowing the Lord is fighting for you. FOR. YOU.

Our “blessers” spoke wisdom, peace, encouragement and security into our lives for 2015. They spoke to us as husband and wife, as parents, as workers and doers and believers. They spoke in love, and in the Holy Spirit. I’ve been thinking about it all night and all morning, how encouraged and positive I feel! A little encouragement and a word from the Lord spoken straight to me can go a long way.

If you need this encouragement, this love, this word, and you’re in central NC, then be at Reynolda Church, EPC on Sunday morning at 9:30 or 11. It’s gonna be good, y’all.

mommyhood, random thoughts

A Line-Up of Mock Resolutions

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Growl less. Trumpet more. Figure out what the fox says. Reach higher. Drink milk. Sums it up, right?
Growl less. Trumpet more. Figure out what the fox says. Reach higher. Drink milk. Sums it up, right?

A few days ago, I posted about my New Year’s “Resolution” that wasn’t really a resolution. I tried to go along with the “one word” for 2015 thing that I’ve seen becoming a trend (I think it actually started last year, and I can’t even remember if I got on board – oops). As you might recall (or as you might be hearing for the first time!) I have decided to “Embrace It” this year. Embrace what, you ask? Embrace motherhood. Embrace messes. Embrace hardships. Embrace family and friends. Embrace life and all that that entails. I will make the choice, whenever possible, to not complain about my circumstances. If I choose to be positive, to make lemonade from lemons, and to make good opportunities arise from situations in which I could sink to the floor and give up.

I’m not saying I’ll always make the good choice. If I hold myself to that, I’d be more disappointed than any other resolution I could’ve made. But I’m saying I’ll try. I’ll try for me, for Hubby, for the kids, for my family and my friends. I’ll give it my best shot. So if March comes along and I’ve already forgotten, someone remind me, okay?

Anyway, in light of New Year’s and resolutions and moms (and the combination of all of that) here are some hilarious and impractical resolutions that I could have picked to make instead:

1. Put a stick figure family on my minivan.
2. Get the minivan mentioned in #1.
3. Monogram the back windshield of said minivan.
4. Get over the hangup about the minivan I don’t own.
5. Decide to never get frustrated with my children.
6. Clean more, so that I have a lovely, guest-ready home at all times.
7. Clean less, so that I can spend more quality time with my kids.
8. Get reusable bags for my groceries, and use them. Because I would always remember, right?
9. Practice random acts of kindness… such as not yelling when messes are made or punching Hubby when he snores.
10. Get back into yoga… because it makes me yell less.
11. Clean the leftover sweets out of the house, because I’m upset about how much junk food I ate during the holidays, then go to Starbucks and order a venti sugar bomb.
12. Stop eating fast food, so that I’m a little more stressed about making sure we have enough groceries and time to make three meals every day.
13. Stop spending so much time on my iPhone, because no one wants to see pictures of my kids or talk to me when they call. My relationships can WAIT!
14. Get more sleep at night. Because my kids made that their resolution also, of course.

And one that I really am going to try to do, even though it is a lot, and sort of a funny one:

15. Continue writing down all the hilarious things my kids do and say, because I know at some point during their lives, they’ll like hearing the stories.

What resolutions did you make? Do you have any hilarious ones to add to my list of “fake” resolutions?

faith, mommyhood, random thoughts

2015 – Embrace It

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Image from www.123newyear.comImage from http://www.123newyear.com

So, I’ve never been one to make a resolution and stick with it. I typically don’t make resolutions at all. Have you ever done it? Have you even come close? I’m not great at setting goals… I know, that sounds silly. I’m afraid I’d just fail at it, get discouraged, get depressed, and then it’d be all over. I just do what I do, and try to do it well. That’s a goal, right?

Well, I heard a few things this year about resolutions not really being a thing any more, but having a quote or even just one word that you live your year by instead.

I read this post on My Big Jesus (here it is!) by a lovely woman I know, and she had a great take on a New Year’s “word”. She chose “ordinary”. That may seem like underachieving, but truly, it’s providing a blank slate for God to create something really beautiful, wonderful, extraordinary, that’s He has ordained, not me. Not something that I that I’ve heard other people did and thought it might look nice on my social media when you read it.

Leaving myself open to God’s plan isn’t always easy. His road is rarely freshly paved, with wide lanes and glorious views. It can be tough, windy, hilly, and we can feel like we’re low on gas.

But I think I’m gonna intentionally choose to embrace where I am in 2015. I jokingly say sometimes that I feel like I’m constantly on the crazy train, and I should just embrace it because it isn’t going anywhere. But seriously, I want to embrace the crazy – embrace it because it is my “ordinary”. I won’t set unattainable goals, lofty and numerous. I won’t even try my hardest to do what I want to do. I’m just going to pray more, and let His Spirit lead me. Saying “yes” to His will is the biggest “resolution”, or “word” to live by. The best part? There will be grace when I fail. There will be forgiveness when I’m not following. There will be room for growth, no matter how I’m doing. And that is where the true blessing is.