Whatever Is Lovely

Alright you beautiful mama's. There's something serious we need to chat about. It's something we all face and it's useless. "What is it?" you may be asking. It's Mom Guilt. If you don't know exactly what Mom Guilt is, then apparently you're the most secure and confident person in the world. Mom guilt is when you do something as a mother that you feel guilty about, or someone else does something which in turn makes you feel an overwhelming sense of guilt. We all experience it in our own way. I'm going to chat about a few things over the years that I've experienced Mom Guilt with in hopes to shed some light on a very dark subject that has caused me real pain in the past. Mom Guilt #1 Breast vs Bottle Let's go ahead and get the elephant in the room out. Breastfeeding vs formula feeding. When I was pregnant with Westyn I desperately wanted to nurse him. I had heard moms talk about the amazing bond they had with their children through bre...

As I look around my house I see tiny hand prints...everywhere. On the walls, on the floors, and I'm pretty sure every single window. Being a person who is slightly type A, this drives me nuts. As soon as I get one thing cleaned I turn around to find Lincoln dumping his apple juice onto the floor and then splashing in it. I have a slight internal freak out moment before remembering he's only 17 months old and he can't possibly be trying to purposefully sabotage me. Right? It's so easy for me to go around and point out all these tiny hands and forget that those hands are attached to something amazing. Those hands can teach me so much if I just take the time to pay attention. So far these hands have taught me that it's okay to get dirty. Sounds simple, except for me it isn't. I don't usually allow my boys to purposefully get dirty. When I see the joy on their faces it makes that extra bit of work I'll have to do all worth it. So far these hands ha...

Something that has been set on my heart recently is a simple question.  Are others better because of me? Sounds simple right? Except it's not simple. It may be the most import question you ask yourself, and it's something I desperately want to achieve. I guess I've started thinking about this more recently because I took on a new leadership role within my church. I've never really led anyone before and was concerned I wouldn't be good at it. I had faith that God put me in this position for a reason and if He has enough faith me in to lead some of His people, then I should honor Him enough to have faith in myself. I still wanted to make sure I was the best person for the position. I started preparing by listening to Leadership Podcasts and taking all the advice I could by those around me. What I began to realize is that it isn't really about me and my abilities at all. It all comes back to Jesus (but doesn't everything). If I can do my best to act in a ...

Do you ever have those days? The days where you feel like you've completely failed as a wife and as a mother. The days where you go to bed praying to God that they don't remember that day when they're older. The days where you've snapped so many times at the people you love most that you simply can't bare to think about how awful you are any longer. The days where you feel so burnt out and used up. The days where you're counting down the minutes until your husband gets home, only to receive a text saying he's running late. Well today was one of those days. When a day ends like this and I'm lying in bed wide awake praying, I can't help but think, why? Why do I act this way towards the tiny humans who I would gladly give my life for, and towards a husband who has done nothing wrong expect get home from work at exactly the wrong moment? Why do I let a four year old get so far under my skin that I can't shake these feelings off? That's when it ...

When you become a parent no one tells you about the constant struggles you deal with or the many, many decisions that have to be made. It seems like every day one of the boys are hitting a new milestone in life which comes with its own set of struggles and decisions. It was doable when we just had Westyn, but now we have two different kids going in two different directions. Literally. Outside playing today Lincoln was running towards the road while Westyn was going towards the woods. All of a sudden I had a choice to make. Which kid to physically stop and which kid to ask to stop. Luckily, this decision was easy. Obviously, I ran and grabbed Lincoln before he could get smashed by a car and I yelled at Westyn to wait. This got me thinking though. As a parent there is going to come a time when we have to move beyond being able to physically stop our children when they're making poor decisions, and move more towards having a conversation with them. I feel like with Westyn, my four y...

Oh how different our lives might be if we could learn to take captive every thought we have. This may be my biggest struggle in life. I allow my mind to run away. It's not always bad. I sometimes have very in depth conversations with myself (kind of scary). Most of the time though, I allow myself to dwell on things that are out of my control. For example, I have a big problem letting other people watch my children. I make up these scenarios in my head of Lincoln getting a hold of a knife, or Westyn running off into the wilderness. Those are just some of the mild scenes that play out inside my brain. Example two, when Joe suggests that we should go on a cruise. My mind immediately goes to the hundreds of sharks that will be constantly circling our ship just waiting for one of us to fall into the water (I realize I might sound a bit crazy, but I'm just being real). I allow fear and anxiety to overrun my life and I'm robbing my family...