Mundane Monday

I have not written a "Mundane Monday" post in a while and today is definitely a day that it is needed. Yesterday at church, the youth pastor reiterated what my husband always talks to me about, especially when I have a poor attitude. That is how we need to be thankful and how that will change our attitudes drastically. It isn't an "instant fix" of course, but it does help so much.

Thoughts on Breastfeeding

I had someone recently ask me if I was breastfeeding and it then lead to a short conversation about women breastfeeding and how some think they are unable to. It sparked a ton of thoughts and it was such a brief conversation that I didn't have the time to explain some thoughts I have on the topic, so I thought why not write a whole post on it?! lol First, these are my opinions. I am not a doctor--though I have done a TON of research online and read a lot of books from medical professionals on the subject. But again, just my opinions and there are definitely different cases where someone truly just could not breastfeed.

Crying Babies and Awesome Church

So, I never want to come across as fake. I want to be honest and talk about the wonderful....and the not so wonderful. I want people to know I am real. That my family and I do have struggles. Not every day is smiles, snuggles, and just warm happy feelings; some days are just plain rough! Sometimes it helps to know others have those rough days too and that you are not alone. Maybe that is one of the reasons God blesses us with “rough” days is so that we can in turn be a blessing to someone else in their rough days and be not just sympathetic, but empathetic. Either way, today was a rough day. Let me tell you a bit about my day.

Is it Possible To Micromanage as a Parent?

The other day after coming home from the library, I was mentally exhausted. First, I am so thankful for a husband who is patient with me especially when I try to communicate...sometimes it takes a very long time. :P But anyways, that is another blog post. The reason I was so frustrated and mentally exhausted was because the whole time we were there, I felt like I was constantly telling Levi not to do something.

The First Few Years of Marriage Rollercoaster No One Warned Me About

Once again, I want to share the "real" us. The first year maybe the first two years of our marriage where such a  rollercoaster ride. There were definitely highs and we were madly in love, but the lows--the bad times--were really bad.

The Death of an Amazing Woman and it's Impact

I am going to be upfront with you. Death scares me; so does heaven.

Do Not Grow Weary in Well Doing

First, I apologize, I have not been keeping up with my blog like I would have hoped. I could name all sorts of excuses, but it honestly just boils down to time management issues. My hopes or rather my goal is to write at LEAST one blog post a week. I really want to write more, but right now I think that is a realistic goal and if more posts get written, wonderful!

Anywho, so I have been reading a lot about parenting the past few weeks. I am delving into “The Faithful Parent” by Stuart Scott and Martha Peace and also reading from the blog GirlTalk on all their parenting posts. Let me say, both of these resources have been such a huge, huge comfort to me. This toddler stage has been trying for me. My husband on the other hand, loves it. He does great and is savoring it. For me, I am struggling with all the energy, noises, testing, and mainly with how do I preach the gospel to myself and to my toddler? This has been such a daunting task for me. I have been thinking it has to be so complicated and elaborate, but as have been reading from “The Faithful Parent” I was reminded that our goal as parents is not to be perfect, but to be faithful; we are called to be faithful to God and to His word. That should be my biggest goal. How “Un-complicated” is that? Is it always easy? No, but it sure isn’t complicated! Me and my silly woman brain wanting to make things harder than they need to be.

In the blog posts I have been reading, one other theme kept coming up, obiedience in the gateway to the gospel. I feel like right now I am just managing my little one. There are no heart to hearts, no explaining that He is in need of a Savior just barely over 4 word sentences that manage. But I was reminded that this is crucial. He needs to learn to obey. This will begin the process of opening the gateway of his heart for the gospel. He will sin, I do every day. He will fail, I do every day. But in this failing and sinning we are pointed back to the cross. We are reminded of the gospel. What I am doing now is laying a foundation for more “crucial” stuff later on.

God is sovereign. On days where we sit at the table for over an hour working on obeying mommy and daddy and swallowing our food (and boy do we rejoice when that food is swallowed despite the tears and frustrations and sinning that happened just moments earlier....by both of us), or days where there is testing to see if I am going to be consistent in my discipline, or when there is the never seeming to end whining, I can know that these are opportunities for me to rejoice and realize I am laying a foundation. “Obedience is the gateway to the gospel.”

My new life verse for this season (one I wouldn’t mind incorporating into a tattoo somehow as a reminder like my 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 one) is Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.” (Emphasis added.)

I would implore you to do a few things my friend if you feel as if you are growing weary of well doing. First, run to God. Second, meditate on this verse. Post it all over as a reminder. Third, check out this wonderful treasure of a book. It is short and sweet and offers wonderfully practical advice on specifics of what to do with each age. And lastly, check out the girl talk blog under the children/parenting category. And now I must go, my toddler woke up from his nap.....crying very grouchy like. :P “Do not grow weary”