My Home Sweet Home: Decorated with Family, Faith, and Photoshop

Decorated with Family, Faith, and Photoshop

Some Hope for Moms on a Thursday Afternoon

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I Can Do All Things

This week has been rough. Not only am I battling allergies, but a few days of sleeping with my head propped up by three pillows has left me missing my chiropractor. Let’s just say I’m operating at less than a hundred percent. And everything I touch seems to fail. It’s only Thursday and I’m already stunned at the number of things I’ve messed up this week.

Look out weekend!

This morning when I realized two things I thought I’d done right—good things, intended to be helpful—had flopped, I hit enough of a low point that my kids noticed. Before they left to visit my dad and stepmom, my 18-year-old daughter gave me a 30 second hug and handed me two sheets of handwritten paper. After they left, I had a chance to read it.

The first page contained a list of Bible verses related to peace and trust (John 7:37, John 14:27, Philippians 4:6-7) and the second page began with what I sometimes call my life verse: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7, KJV) and continued with a list how God would meet my fears, followed by a list of my great blessings.

When did my child become so wise? Today it seems our roles reversed.

Raising kids is hard. No doubt. I see friends with little ones or moms trying to survive a trip to the grocery store and wonder how I managed all those years with so many little people. Answer? It was my life. I just did it.

Life stages are different and parenting stages are too.

Sometimes it feels like you’re talking to a wall. Sometimes you want to beat your head against that wall. Is anyone actually listening? If you have the I don’t listen when you lecture (them) / But I’m not lecturing (you) conversation another time you’ll scream.

But sometimes they surprise you, both the big ones and the smalls ones, and meet your weakness with compassion, like today.

So I took a shower, long sniffs from bottles of essential oils known for peace and grounding, and then added the Loyalty blend—because loyalty is one of my superpowers and hopefully something I can’t mess up today—to my diffuser necklace. I love my people and God is good.

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If this is the time for you to get started with Young Living, there’s a great special that ends tomorrow, Friday, July 20th: sign up with a Premium Starter Kit wholesale membership and get a second diffuser and two bonus oils for an addition $38.25. (The Dewdrop Duo Premium Starter Kit can be found in the “Other Premium Kit” section during enrollment.) I would love to add you to our wonderful community of oilers; there’s much support and friendship to be found as you learn more about the gift of oils.

Dewdrop Duo

A Question We All Need to Ask today at (in)courage

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A Question We All Need to Ask

While scrolling through Facebook recently I came across a post from a twenty-year-old young lady, a former student of mine from the Classical Conversations program where I teach tenth graders once a week. Although I didn’t know the young man she wrote about, I could tell he was a dear friend of hers who had passed away in an accident. Later when his phone was returned to his parents, they discovered an alarm on it that asked, “Who did you help today?”

It seemed that this hidden prompt, a daily for-his-eyes-only reminder to evaluate how he was living and serving others didn’t come as a surprise to those who knew him. It made an impact on many, and my former student shared a photo of its impact on her — those words tattooed on the inside of her wrist.

Though I didn’t know him, his story impacted me as well.

I have three alarms set on my watch, inspired by Stephanie Bryant’s devotional in the first (in)courage book, Craving Connection. In it, she encourages readers to set prayer alarms throughout the day. The idea really spoke to me, and since then, my watch quietly nudges me at 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 8 p.m. each day.

Sometimes I stop what I’m doing and pray. If I’m really busy I may get no further than a simple Thank You, Lord. My favorite is when I’m in the middle of devotional time and the alarm syncs with what I’m already doing; it prompts me to dig beneath the words on the page and connect deeper. Lately, I’ve been challenging myself to pray big prayers because I worship a big God.

But now after reading such a small piece of this young man’s personal story, the question on his phone alarm left an impression on me, someone he never met. I’ve renamed my 8 p.m. alarm. It’s no longer labeled Prayer, but rather, Who did you help today?

Who Did I Help Today?

Please join me today at (in)courage for the rest of the story as we think about how this question might affect us and how we live our days.

A Question We All Need to Ask

Download Your July Desktop Calendar!

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July 2018 Desktop Calendar

We watched our oldest son’s dog last week while he and his wife had some work done at their new house. One afternoon when I took the dog outside to do her business, I stood under a tree during a light rain and saw several caterpillars, mostly clustered, on a branch.

{My husband later pointed out that they had eaten all the leaves off the branch.}

I went back inside for my camera and took some photos of them (see below), and then stopped and got the desktop calendar photo on my way back inside. I love the look of raindrops in photos and have even taken a spray bottle outside to fake that look, but this was the real deal.

caterpillar

See the streaks of rain?

Take your camera outside to play in the rain (I used an umbrella) and capture some raindrops this summer!

Download July’s Desktop Calendar

Enjoy!

June’s Desktop Calendar—better late than never!

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June 2018 desktop calendar

I didn’t want to leave you without a June desktop calendar! I’ve been out-of-town most of the month, but I put this together for you on the road. The small size is in the usual proportions but slightly different than the norm. Just try the larger size if it doesn’t work for you.

These wild daisies were on the cover of my first book, The Beauty of Grace. They were picked in our neighbors’ backyard (with permission!) and didn’t reappear the following years.

They made a grand entrance just for the book!

I hope they brighten your desktop. Wishing you a lovely June!

Download June’s Desktop Calendar

Enjoy!