great resource

Hey y’all, Happy Monday! Unlike most people, I love Mondays.  I didn’t used to, but now Mondays are Jamie’s half day, so we get to hang out all morning.  And this particular Monday is exciting because Jamie comes home from Costa Rica!! Yay!! He has been having an awesome time with the Youth Team and doing some scouting for 2010.  And last night he even led a man to Christ! I’m so proud of him, he’s just awesome! And he comes home today! WooHoo… (can you tell I’m excited?! LOL).

Well, the past few days that Jamie has been in Costa Rica, I’ve had Charlotte all to myself.  Granted I’ve had A LOT of help from my just amazing “mother-in-love”, but I’m tired, haha! I have a couple posts in the works for ya, but I’m really wanting a little nappie time, so I’m gonna give you a really great resource, and save the meaty posts for later this week.

One of the best “women in leadership” books I have ever read is “I’ll Have What She’s Having” by Bobbie Houston.  Bobbie is the wife and co-pastor of Hillsong Church’s Brian Houston.  The book is really great! So you should go get a copy, and if you wanna borrow mine and wouldn’t mind all the notes in the margins, you can borrow mine! Happy reading…

a new direction

One of the turning points in my life was on my first mission trip.  While at an orphanage in Mexico, Pastor Micah pulled me aside and told me to “prepare myself” and then took me into the nursery of the orphanage where the infants were.  There was one little boy with whom I bonded instantly.  He was probably about 9 months old, and when I had to leave, he cried and cried and kept reaching his arms out to me.  It broke my heart.  And as I processed that grief with God, I realized that if for no other reason than to spend a few minutes with that little boy, to hold him, to give him love that he rarely received, that the whole trip was worth it.  And if all the heartache I’ve been through in my life could help encourage and change just one life, than it was worth it.

Being a stay-home mom has really begun to change my views on life.  I used to take a lot of pride in my knowledge, education, work, etc.  I’m a fairly intelligent person, I did very well in school, and I think I was good at my job.  I enjoyed having conversations with people when I knew what I was talking about.  I liked being the one who knew everything (but you’ve probably already guessed that if you know me at all).  But this whole mom business … I don’t have a clue!  Its so different than anything I’ve ever done before.  And I don’t feel like I know everything, or even have a slight idea about what things are.  So I’ve been soaking up as many resources and blogs and books as I can to try to learn what I don’t know, to see where I want to go and learn how to get there.

As I’ve been reading those blogs, I’ve begun to ask myself, what am I offering in my blog? What am I teaching, who am I encouraging? I know I can’t talk about mom stuff, or crafty things, or anything like that because I don’t know enough.  So I began to ponder, “what do I know?”  One thing that came to mind was that I am a pastor’s wife.  So I wondered, are there any blogs out there about that? There are, but mostly they are in very different denominations than I am, so their struggles are a little bit different.  On that note, I am going to begin taking a new direction with this blog.

As I said, if the things I’ve dealt with can help just one person avoid the heartache I’ve expereinced, then it was worth the tears.  So I want to share my journey as a young pastor’s wife, as a woman in leadership, as a mother in the spotlight, as a Christian in a glass house.  Some of you that read my blog may lose interest and others may find me because of this change.  But like I said, even if I help just one person, it’ll be worth it.

Here’s to a new start…

rhythms of life

Human beings are made up, in majority, of schedules, rhythms if you will.  Sleep and Wake.  Day and Night.  Work and Play.  Birth and Death.  Most of these rhythms you aren’t really aware of, you just do them.  For example, everyone has a bathroom routine.  Mine is as follows: turn on water as hot as it will go, brush my hair (keeps so much from going down the drain!), get in shower w/o touching the water, turn it back about half way, test it, turn it, test it, turn it, get in water, shampoo, rinse, conditioner, shave, wipe down shower/tub (might as well clean while I’m in there!), rinse, wash, rinse, turn off water, get out, dry off, lotion, brush hair, brush teeth.  Its a detailed routine, but I do it without even thinking, it just happens.  Like when you are driving somewhere familiar and you realize you don’t remember the last half mile… its on autopilot.  And many routines don’t develop out of conscious choice, but just out of one day leading to the next to the next.

But what happens when you get into a bad rhythm?  That’s when you have to consciously make a new rhythm.  I know I’ve talked a lot recently about Karen Jasmine’s class, but its just that good.  The thing we are learning and working on this week is to get ourselves into a new rhythm.  Not just letting our food choices happen, but making a thought-out decision about what to eat and when to eat it over the course of a whole week.  And one week becomes two weeks becomes three weeks becomes a month becomes a lifestyle.  That’s the goal.  A new lifestyle.

I noticed this morning that Jamie and I have developed a day-off morning routine that I’m starting to really really like.  I wake up with Charlotte at 7am, feed her and play until 8:30 when she goes down for a nap.  Then I go back to bed and Jamie gets up with her at 10am and plays with her until I wake up at 11am.  That way we both sorta get to sleep in.  I’m liking it. Granted, its not something we can do every day, but once a week ain’t bad!  Its the little rhythms, the little things in life that make it so sweet.

Does your family have any special rhythms?

simple love

I’ve had all these ideas to blog about, but nothing seems to form a complete thought, a complete sentence even.  But, not surprisingly, thats how my brain has felt lately.  Dull. Boring. Broken phrases. I seem to have hit some kind of mental road block, or maybe I just stalled out in the middle of traffic.  And I think the best way to get past it is to throw it into neutral, get out, and push.  To do that, I think I just need to start writing.  So if you will bear with me, this might actually end up with a coherent thought.  Then again… maybe not! Hehe!

Life feels like its in a holding pattern right now.  There are so many things on the horizon, but the horizon isn’t getting any closer.  Having the house on the market is great and exciting, but keeping the house in spotless condition is tough.  I feel like I can’t do anything.  I don’t want to get out the sewing machine and start any projects because I don’t want to have to rush to put it all away if we get a call from a realtor to show the house.  I feel like I’m living in someone else’s house.  Which I guess it kind of is since we want someone to buy it, lol.  But maybe I’m just using that as an excuse.  If I didn’t have to keep the house spotless and I could leave a sewing project out on the table for a day or two, would I? Or would I find some other excuse not to create.  I joke that HGTV is my creative outlet.  How sad is that? That I must live out my creative life vicariously through some stranger on tv?! I read all these blogs about all the wonderful things people are creating.  Why am I not doing this too?  I want to, I have ideas of things to do, I have dreams of things I want to create … so why am I not?

I just finished reading a really great book called “The 4:8 Principle”.  It talks about changing your habitual thought patterns to make your life more joyful and successful.  One of the things Tommy Newberry said was to visualize yourself doing what you dream of doing.  If your vision for your life is not crystal clear, then your brain doesn’t start taking steps to make it a reality.  Your brain doesn’t distinguish between vivid fantasy and reality.  So if you can visualize what you want your future to be in a clear and vivid way, then your brain thinks its reality and starts clearing mental road blocks and opening up “lost” information to make it so.  He suggested that you create a personal mission statement.  What do I want my life to look like in 5 years?  What do I want my family to be in 5 years?  What will I look back on 5 years from now and be grateful I did?  When I look back, what will I wish I hadn’t wasted my time on?

I love music, I really identify with emotions and life through that.  I heard a song recently by Allison Kraus called “Simple Love”.  It said, “I want a simple love like that, Always giving never asking back, When I’m in my final hour looking back, I hope I had a simple love like that”. Well, see for yourself…

I think thats a good place to start.