Tired

Can I just be honest here?

I'm freaking tired of this winter.

And I say that in the nicest way possible. I LOVE WINTER! I love the chance to slow down, to rest, to stay indoors.  I love snow. I love bundling the kiddos up to send them on their merry way to romp in the snow. I love wiping up the melted snow.

But now, I've had enough. I'm sick to death of that pile of winter clothes at my back door that is creeping into the living room. I'm tired of the puzzle pieces. I'm tired of Trouble. I'm sick of the endless papers and crayons and markers all over the place. I'm tired of stepping on blocks. I'm tired of nagging the kids to put their stuff away when they are done with it. I'm tired of teaching school. I'm tired of preparing meals. I'm tired of the dishes. I'm fed up with being inside.

I have found myself snapping at the kids; having a short fuse and getting irritated at every turn. I've found myself having curse words at the tip of my tongue because I'm just sick of it!

And you know what? I'm not the only one. The kids can feel it, too. They feel the monotony of this day-in and day-out life. My dear, sweet, girls who typically get along so well, have hit, squeezed, yelled, shouted nasty words, and cried all so far this morning. So right now, they are outside. I have to make lunch. I have to clean up the table from school. I have to pick up the puzzle pieces all over the place. I have to finish throwing away markers that don't work and crayons that are too small to use *on the sly, of course, because those little hoarder kids of mine WILL pull them out of the trash*.  And what am I doing? Ranting here on my blog.

Despite these weary days I have been experiencing, I know there are brighter days ahead. And I know that I have much to be grateful for.  Since I am an optimist by nature I don't often know what to do with negative feelings. So, here is my go at what I can do.

Choose joy.

Choose to be grateful.

Give thanks.

And now that I've vented my anger, I will do the above three things.

Choose joy: during school today Baby Carrie laughed. She smiled her sweet baby smile and had a nice little laugh at the /p/ sound.

Choose to be grateful: Baby Carrie sleeps ALL NIGHT, every night. She is pretty much the perfect baby. She is sweet and happy and a good sleeper. She hardly ever cries. I have done absolutely NOTHING to deserve this - I'm not a better mom than anyone else that I have such a lovely baby, so I can be grateful to God for her. I am grateful for our big house and yard. We have this amazing unfinished basement that I have sent the kids down in to ride tricycle when they just have too much energy and I can't take it anymore. I sent them down yesterday to blow bubbles. We have a great yard for the kids to run around in and dig holes and find worms and burn off energy. I have an amazing husband who supports our family Spiritually and financially. He is wonderful. I'm grateful for him.

Give thanks: I give thanks to my amazing God, author and perfecter of life. I would not be here but for His amazing grace, so I give Him thanks.

And just like that, my spirit is lifted. I think sometimes I focus too inwardly and begin to think selfishly. When I begin to do this, I get the "woe is me", "my life sucks" mentality. When I focus my eyes on Jesus, I too am lifted.

Now, I think I'll make lunch.

How to Create your Picture Wall

Let me just start this post by saying that I thoroughly enjoy Pinterest. Idea sharing it much easier these days. However, I think it probably has some drawbacks as well, in that some people don't necessarily WANT to share their ideas. I admit to feeling that way on occasion when I spend a lot of time creating a new design and someone wants to use my exact design to make their own signs. However, I'm sure I have done the same thing to other people, whether I tried it or not. So that being said, let the idea sharing begin!

Many of you were interested to know how to create an interesting picture wall in your home. I don't claim to be anything like an interior decorator, but I am happy to share with you what I came up with for a picture wall.

This is a long wall in our master bedroom, but a similar idea would work well in a living room, hallway, or really anywhere that you have a fair amount of wall space. The colors I am working with in our bedroom are gray, white, black, and yellow.

My sister-in-law gave me three beautifully matted and framed photographs of Trent and me from their wedding. There were an addition two pictures that she wasn't sure that we wanted framed, but gave us the prints. These photographs were so lovely and symbolized the great love that Trent and I have for each other. It was a neat series of photos taken at their "photo booth". In the photos I am grabbing Trent's jacket and pulling him in for a kiss. And then there is a nice shot of the two of us smiling.

So, I had three frames given to me. After looking on Pinterest I knew I wanted to add some color with a yellow & white chevron pattern with an "H" in the middle. I went with a black "H", but debated for quite awhile if I should do gray or black. (I made this myself - but I charge $25 for this size/design)

I wanted to add interest with a different shaped mirror. I really thought a scroll-pattern antique looking mirror would be neat, but I couldn't find one. I found the round mirror at TJ Maxx for just $15.

I needed more frames to go with what I had. I really didn't want to mat them all myself, so was looking for some already matted frames. Originally I had planned to use a mixture of frames. However, I was able to find a pack of seven frames of different sizes and shapes already matted at TJ Maxx for $30.

The "Hess Family" established sign is another work that I created. These are available as custom orders for $30.

The yellow table was a great find! I purchased it off the Lancaster County Furniture & Vintage site from the sweetest of women. It was $75.

 
"Grow old with me" was a design I created that I absolutely love! I wanted a more unique love-saying to go in our room. I absolutely love old poetry, and came across this line from one of Robert Browning's poems. This is especially fitting for Trent since he always claims he can't wait until he is old. This sign is available as a custom order for $35.

To the left of this table I would like to add a comfy reading chair.

There is still a lot I would like to do with our bedroom. I'd like to add a comfy reading chair beside my yellow table. We only have one hand-me-down dresser that we squeeze both of our clothes into. We have random books and photo albums and my scrapbooking stuff just piled in one corner of the room. A bookshelf or two would be lovely. But, one thing at a time. For now I am enjoying this extra pretty spot in our room!

Our bed!!

Keeping it real - that is the corner of the room where I put all our boxes and stuff I don't know where else to put for the time being. 

I hope you enjoyed the little tour of my bedroom. It was a joy to share it with you all!

What I Wore Wednesday

Across the blogging world women write these "What I Wore Wednesday" posts. I don't claim to be anything like a fashionista, but I decided I'd participate this week.

I'm getting back to my regular clothes after Baby #4 who is now 9 weeks old!!
 

Jean Jacket - H&M// Dressy Jeans - Banana Republic

White Shirt - H&M// Black Heels - TJ Maxx

"Mint-2-be" Nail polish- H&M

Necklace-Old Navy// Shirt detail- H&M

Hair piece (borrowed from my daughters) - Crazy8// Earrings-Gap

Special thanks to my four-year-old photo loving, daughter, Abigail who took most of these photos.

Giving Up

Most of the time we think of "giving up" as a negative term. However, I want to share with you today how "giving up" saved my life.

I had started to share many months ago about my Spiritual conversion, but sort of chickened out because of my pride.  Recently I have seen and read many articles about gay marriage, homosexual relationships, ordaining ministers who are openly homosexual, etc. Most of these articles have been well written. I wonder how many people really change their mind after reading these articles, or if they only cause them to stick to their guns more tightly and cling to their previously held beliefs?

I can't remember how long ago I read the article in WORLD magazine, but it was something that stuck with me. It has clung to my brain more than the philosophical, biblical, amazingly balanced, well written articles that I have read since then (and I have read a lot of them).

If I could find a link I would link you directly to the article.  In the meantime, I'll give you a general overview. The article was written about a practicing lesbian who had a spiritual conversion. She was attending church for quite awhile while in this relationship, but her partner never attended with her. At some point, she came to the conclusion that in order to grow spiritually she needed to get out of this female-female relationship, but it was hard. So she started asking people in her congregation, "What did you have to give up in order to come to Christ?" And their responses amazed her. From the outside she was seeing these Christians as people who were "practically perfect", involved in church, soccer moms, homeschooling moms, hardworking dads, and the list goes on. Yet each one of them had something they had to give up.

I have many sins that I could list here from prior to my spiritual conversion (and after). However, if someone were to ask me directly, "What did you have to give up to come to Christ?" I would say sexual sin. The way that I filled the void of my Heavenly Father was through intimate connections with men. Am I just as much of a sinner as any homosexual? Yes. This is the main reason I never get into arguments or "discussions" about such topics. I know who I am, and where I once was. Do I agree with their lifestyle? No. Do I agree with anyone having sex outside of marriage? No. Was I once that person? Yes.

The reality is that I had major sin in my life before coming to Christ. I gave that up to come to Him. Was it easy? NO! Especially when I started dating again after my Spiritual conversion. It was tough! Do I still have sin in my life? Yes! However, when I look at where I was ten years ago (I just celebrated my 10th Spiritual birthday last month!!) and where I am now I am continually grateful for the grace God has shown me and the ways He has worked in my life.

I still have "sins of the heart" as my preacher-husband likes to call them. Anger and pride are the two that I work on the most. Self-control falls in there somewhere, but it is usually accompanied by anger or spurred on by my injured pride. And this is life. We are all running in the race, whether we know it or not. Whether we are going toward Christ or away from Him.

I hope this has been an encouragement to you all to remember where you once were, and where you are now. Whether that encourages you to keep fighting the good fight, or to get back in the race, or to give up whatever it is that is holding you back from a closer relationship (or any relationship) with our Heavenly Father.

Grow in God's grace.

Homeschool Love

We have been having some severe weather here in the northeastern part of the United States. We have had heaps of snow (yay!!) along with some frigid temperatures. Schools have closed for both of those reasons. I don't remember ever having school closed because of how cold it was outside, but it has happened multiple times this winter. When the windchill is -20 (or whatever it was), I can't blame schools for closing and delaying. I remember waiting for the bus in the cold as a kid and it certainly wasn't the most fun I've ever had in life. (Although if we're being really honest here, it was more like me running to the bus stop before the bus pulled away. Still not a morning person.)

Facebook is alive with angry parents: some angry because school is closed, some angry because their kids are driving them crazy, some angry because their kids will now be in school past the originally scheduled end date, and some just angry.

Before I continue, let me say up front that I know homeschool is NOT for everyone. So, what I am about to say are just my opinions which are biased and potentially flawed.

As a homeschooling mama I love snow days. Winter can be long and hard. Snow days are so joyful. I find it beautiful that my kids can do their schooling, then bundle up and play in the snow. We still accomplish the schooling that needs done, but can enjoy the fun six inches of fluffy white stuff.  Now, the negative degree days were a little more difficult. We did our schooling, but going outside wasn't nearly as enjoyable. I have the privilege of having an unfinished basement that I sent the girls down in to ride tricycles and run around to burn off some energy. And the truth is - I did send my girls out on some of those really cold days. They were appropriately dressed and I only let them stay out for about 10-15 minutes, but it was worth it.

Have you heard of Common Core? I don't know much about it, but what I do know I don't like. You can follow this link to view a fabulous example of a Common Core math problem for a fourth grader.  http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/22/heres-another-impossibly-stupid-common-core-math-worksheet/

I think that article speaks for itself.

Up until we started homeschooling I would have said it was not for me. Now we are halfway through our first year and I love, love, love it!

2014- The Year of Joy

In 2013 we had a theme for the year, something we had never done before.  Since 2012 had been a very stressful year we had concluded that our goal for 2013 was to be the "Year of Rejuvenation".  Throughout the year, we continually reminded ourselves of this and sought to rejuvenate our minds and bodies.

We found this to be such an amazing way to focus our family and spur us on to positive thinking.  As we look ahead to what 2014 may hold, the word that continually came to mind was "busy". Trent continues to have significant responsibility at work and at church, both of which require a fair amount of his time.  I have the girls to teach, a baby to care for, and my small painting business that I hope will grow this year. 

We have decided that our theme for 2014 will be "Joy". This word came to mind because regardless of how busy we are, we can always find time to be joyful.  This will certainly be a good reminder in these first few months of 2014 where winter can seem to drag on and on and on. When the girls are restless and I am frazzled, I can and will find joy. And in those beautiful, beautiful Spring and Summer months when life is bliss, and it is easier to find joy, I will hold on to those moments to get me through the long and dreary days.

I hope you all have a joyful year and have found a way to focus your thoughts and energy into positive thinking! One sure way is to look to our Heavenly Father and bring praise every day and in every situation. the "sacrifice of praise". Cheers to another beautiful year!

Four Daughters

Four daughters. Four precious little women. God has given me a huge task in giving me these four ladies. Raising four girls in an American culture that screams at them: DIET, EXERCISE, ORGANIC, GLUTEN-FREE, YOU'RE FAT, YOU'RE TOO SKINNY, DON'T EAT THAT. Not to mention the images of women that will be portrayed to them through media; magazines at the check-out counter, the internet, movies. And of course, the most influential and damaging of all, friends and family.

We love our family. Really and truly, we do! But even the most loving family member can say words that can injure a child, especially a female child. Some things that I have heard said to my children are, "You're too skinny, you need to eat more." "Look at your fat belly."

I then heard my child repeat those things about herself. "I'm fat." And I run in and try to do damage control. NO, you are NOT fat!! You are three-years-old!!

We live in a society obsessed with body types. Thick, thin, skinny, fat, obese. Any of these can be unhealthy.

For two years I lived in Mississippi, the "fattest of the fifty states". While living there I became disgusted with a culture of gluttony and all-you-can-eat buffets. Then I come back to living in Pennsylvania, and many of my Facebook friends are the complete opposite - super-skinny, gym obsessed females.

I am trying to teach my daughters that there is a happy medium between these two extremes.  I try to feed my children healthy food, a variety of fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy, and grains. But we also eat fast food on occasion, and we eat something sweet after almost every dinner. Moderation is key.

Also, please don't pick yourself apart in front of my children. If you are really that concerned about your "chub" sticking out over your pants, do something about it. Don't mention it in front of my little girls. I have no desire to have my six-year-old stay in her size 6 pants. She is growing! She NEEDS to find that her clothes are too tight or too short so that she can grow appropriately into a young woman.

What are ways that you find helpful to raising daughters to have a healthy body image?