WELCOME!

If you're reading this, you may not know much about me, my blog, or how this whole thing got started. Well, to find out why I started blogging, read this post. But if you want to know why I KEEP blogging, read below.

First of all, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am married to "my man," a flannel shirt, stained jeans kind of executive who builds houses for a non-profit organization you may have heard about - Habitat for Humanity. We have been married for eleven years and we have two beautiful daughters, to whom I lovingly refer in my posts as E, or my big girl (6 years), and G, or my baby girl (4 years).

I have held more jobs than I want to list here, but my only "career" job has been in children's ministry. Until that time, I had never done anything that required more than I was naturally able to do. But I was confident God called me to that ministry and He used various Scriptures to assure me that He would supernaturally equip me for the task, which He did. Unfortunately, that which I began in the Spirit, I tried to finish in the flesh, and by the end of my service there, I was worn thin. I was almost relieved when I felt God speaking through 1 Timothy 6:20 to tell me that I was to stay home after having my first daughter and that my full-time ministry was then to become my family. Church ministry was a huge responsibility, and when I quit relying on God's empowering it drained me. But little did I know being a full-time momma would be by far the hardest thing I had yet been called to do.

So - fast forward a lot - in March of 2012 I began blogging. I had hoped to offer encouragement to other mommas by being real about my struggles; I had hoped to remind other mommas of the truth...

All moms are not feeding their kids home-grown, home-cooked, whole, organic foods.

All moms are not doing beautiful crafts with their kids on a daily basis.

Some moms allow their kids to watch - heaven forbid! - more than two hours of TV a day.

Some moms cry over spilled milk.

Some moms raise their voices when the kids tussle over a toy.

Some moms do not keep a perfectly clean and organized home.

Some moms just don't have it together every day.  

Since beginning this blog, my purpose has changed a bit. I'm not really blogging for mommas anymore. No offense, I'm blogging for me. Because sometimes I just need to write things out in order to process them. Sometimes I just want to journal the things God is teaching me even if I haven't completely grasped the full force of the lesson. Sometimes, no, a lot of times I am still wrestling something out with God and writing it seems to organize my thoughts.

Also, I've realized that there are far worse struggles than what to feed my kids for dinner. My biggest struggles are getting out of bed in the morning to have quiet time before the family wakes up, remembering to turn to God in the midst of the chaos, remembering to give Him a sacrifice of praise. The real problem goes far beyond mothering, and straight to my inconsistent walk with Jesus. When I'm in step with Him, He gets bigger and the worldly struggles become smaller and manageable again.

The real struggle throughout our whole life is staying connected, seeking Him first, wanting Him most, loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  The world will throw everything in our path to detour us from our destination: Jesus.

This blog is about being real...

...about my struggles to stay focused on Jesus...
...about the mundane activities (cooking, cleaning, laundry, homework, bedtime routines) mother-heroines must navigate on this epic adventure of a Christ-centered life...
...about the lessons God is speaking to me...
...about the lessons I want to pass on to my beautiful princesses.

Thanks for sharing this journey with me. It's beautiful and devastating, inspiring and humbling, joyful and painful. But as we stumble on together...

...we'll remember we are more than victorious (Romans 8:37)...
...we'll encourage, share, listen, and pray (Galatians 6:2)...
...we'll go from strength to strength (Psalm 84:7)...
...we'll keep lifting our eyes to hills (Psalm 121), to the Light Who casts out darkness, and looking forward to that day when our hope becomes reality.