I decided today that I am going to challenge myself to be shopping-free for one month. This means I am only allowed to purchase food and gas. No trips to Target, no picking up a magazine at the grocery store, nada!
I really think I'm going to have a problem doing this but I want to try. I am very bad about grabbing little things because they are cute and only 99cents.
Wish me luck! This is going to be hard.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Joy
"Don't let anxiety steal your joy." This was a quote in a book I recieved shortly after becoming a mother. This was the quote that helped pull me out of my postpartum depression, well the quote and some zoloft (sorry Mr. Cruise but sometimes you just need some drugs.)
I still recite this quote to myself on a regular basis at times when the kids are fussy, I'm exhausted, and my husband is hours away from the end of his work day.
Motherhood has so many joyful moments but sadly it is very easy for us moms to get caught up in all the things we must do, or rather the things we never get done and then anxiety builds.
Playing in the backyard with the water hose and sunshine is what we did yesterday and I had to try as hard as I could to not think about the pile of laundry, floors that needed swept, and countless other things that I should be doing. Instead I got out the camera and celebrated the joy that comes with being a mommy in the spring time.
I think the hardest part for me in keeping my joy is when I am up all night (as I was last night) with a very fussy and sick child. I must admit that it is very very hard to find joy in that.
I'm not sure we can always win the battle against anxiety, but as long as I'm trying i am certain I will be in a better, more joyful place.
Joy is the weekly theme over at mamasaysom
I still recite this quote to myself on a regular basis at times when the kids are fussy, I'm exhausted, and my husband is hours away from the end of his work day.
Motherhood has so many joyful moments but sadly it is very easy for us moms to get caught up in all the things we must do, or rather the things we never get done and then anxiety builds.
Playing in the backyard with the water hose and sunshine is what we did yesterday and I had to try as hard as I could to not think about the pile of laundry, floors that needed swept, and countless other things that I should be doing. Instead I got out the camera and celebrated the joy that comes with being a mommy in the spring time.
I think the hardest part for me in keeping my joy is when I am up all night (as I was last night) with a very fussy and sick child. I must admit that it is very very hard to find joy in that.
I'm not sure we can always win the battle against anxiety, but as long as I'm trying i am certain I will be in a better, more joyful place.
Joy is the weekly theme over at mamasaysom
Thursday, March 8, 2007
currents
We are being pulled through and I can decide if I want to drop anchor right now and hold on or go with it. It's a choice that I have every day. To throw a fit over my current position or to find a blessing and be joyfully thankful in exactly where I am at, knowing that in an instant the currents could pull me along somewhere else. I was just in a discussion last Friday at my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group. Being content with exactly where you are. We talked about how to do it, and it's not easy. I think it's a different journey for everyone and I don't believe there is any simple 5 step plan to it.
I have to say that for the most part now I am content. I became content in the strangest place, my two bedroom, itty bitty, expensive, dog barking next-door, crowded apartment. It happened after living in a house, after we got rid of all our precious "stuff" that didn't fit. Lots of our friends were buying houses, it seemed almost everyone I knew was buying a house. We instead were spending more on our rent then they were on their mortgage.
So how did I become content? I'm not exactly sure I can put it down in words but I will try. Mostly it was lots of praying, and then one day I realized that I had exactly what I NEEDED. Not only that but anytime I NEEDED something I received it. Now, sure I wanted things and didn't get them all the time, but when I needed it I certainly had it.
I decided it was OK to have a tiny apartment because inside of it was peace and calm and it was filled with the people I loved.
It's so easy to say "I will be happy when I have X" but the truth is that we need to figure out how to be happy even if we never get X.
The funny thing that happened to us next was that a few short months after I became content and fully willing to live in that apartment forever we were transplanted out of the blue.
My husband was offered a new job, a new city, a new salary. In the span of a month we went from thinking we would spend 2 more years (at least) in an apartment to living in a 3 bedroom house with a great yard and even a gardening area! (also clean air, and it looks like a photograph!) I literally couldn't have come up with a place this good on my own.
The Lord without a doubt changed the currents of our life and I know he purposefully waited until I was content with little before he blessed us with more.
This is my thoughts from CURRENTS see what other mama's thought over HERE .
I have to say that for the most part now I am content. I became content in the strangest place, my two bedroom, itty bitty, expensive, dog barking next-door, crowded apartment. It happened after living in a house, after we got rid of all our precious "stuff" that didn't fit. Lots of our friends were buying houses, it seemed almost everyone I knew was buying a house. We instead were spending more on our rent then they were on their mortgage.
So how did I become content? I'm not exactly sure I can put it down in words but I will try. Mostly it was lots of praying, and then one day I realized that I had exactly what I NEEDED. Not only that but anytime I NEEDED something I received it. Now, sure I wanted things and didn't get them all the time, but when I needed it I certainly had it.
I decided it was OK to have a tiny apartment because inside of it was peace and calm and it was filled with the people I loved.
It's so easy to say "I will be happy when I have X" but the truth is that we need to figure out how to be happy even if we never get X.
The funny thing that happened to us next was that a few short months after I became content and fully willing to live in that apartment forever we were transplanted out of the blue.
My husband was offered a new job, a new city, a new salary. In the span of a month we went from thinking we would spend 2 more years (at least) in an apartment to living in a 3 bedroom house with a great yard and even a gardening area! (also clean air, and it looks like a photograph!) I literally couldn't have come up with a place this good on my own.
The Lord without a doubt changed the currents of our life and I know he purposefully waited until I was content with little before he blessed us with more.
This is my thoughts from CURRENTS see what other mama's thought over HERE .
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