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Moms - What you are doing IS ministry.

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My faith is important to me.  Or, let me clarify; my God is important to me.  So much of what I talk about, busy myself with, learn about, surround myself with...etc is connected to my faith and my relationship with God.  To be honest, it's the thing I am most passionate about.  I LOVE to talk about God with others.  I love sitting about and sharing faith stories and pulling apart a verse from the Bible.  I love hearing other's insight into what that verse is teaching them.  I'm a pretty laid back, even keeled person - but when conversations turn to God - I get excited.  I remember the first time I realized that talking about God and being comfortable with that, excited even was on my very first mission trip as a teenager.  I was 15 and we were in a community center at a homeless shelter in Boston.  As a young child and teenager and sometimes even now - I tended to be very quiet and shy.  At school I was not the one raising my hand and answering questions (unless I w
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When winter wants to be friends.

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If I'm really honest, winters are not my thing.  I'm more of a summer girl. I like the sun and the sand and swimming and spending my days in a bathing suit instead of a winter coat.   Winter is hard.  The cold is hard.  The darkness is hard.  Most days when it's this frigid, I really just want to sit on my couch wrapped up in a blanket with the space heater on full blast aimed directly at me.  Because I don't like the cold.  Winter and I aren't good friends.   Well, we're not good friends until those days that winter tries to persuade me that we could be friends, maybe.  Like those days that I walk the dog and breathe in the cold air but for a few moments there is actually something refreshing and life giving in those cold breathes.  Winter sometimes gives me those moments.  You know the ones - when your face is so cold but the coldness feels...  invigorating?  Sometimes.  Not always, but there are moments where I want to be outside exploring whil
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Chores for Kids

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I posted on Facebook the other day about this chore chart that I made up for my kids and there were quite few people that wanted to see more or had questions about it - so I'll share!   First a confession.  My kids have never had a set chore list.  There, I said it.  Does that make me a bad mom?  Maybe..  They get asked to help and do specific things as they come up, but no set chore list.  Mainly because I'm terrible at follow through.  And, I would forget.  Don't think less of me..  mmkay?   BUT, I'm at my limit with house work and other responsibilities and my kids are becoming too whiny when asked to help and as they get older there are more fun things and privileges for them, so I'm committing to sticking with some chores and responsibilities for my kids.  And, it's way past time.   I made it mostly for when they get home from school, before they start asking about screen time.  I handed it to them at the beginning of the week and the
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The Marie Kondo Movement.

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So, I've jumped on the bandwagon and starting watching Tidying Up on Netfllix..  and I'm pretty much hooked.  Marie is so adorable and kind.  I mean really.. . who would not want her to come help you tidy up?  But is her method really practical?  Doable?  Maybe and.....  Maybe not.  I have been saying for years..  over and over again - My house is a mess, there is too much stuff, I need to clean out..  WE need to clean out!!!!  But, aside from a few things here and there, so much of the junk just stays.  And this year, I'm declaring it's the year of "Tidying UP"  I figured I'd start with something easy: My Wardrobe.  I can pull all my clothes out.  I can go through them one by one.  I try to regularly clean out my clothes but there are definitely pieces that I've held on in hopes that one day...  I piled them up on my bed, empty drawers, empty closet (aside from everything else that was in the closet!) and I looked at my pile, took a deep breat
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Violin lessons

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I want to remember these days of him learning to play the violin.  The squeaky notes, the look on his face as he concentrates, every time he hits a wrong note and he stops and says nope and then corrects the note.  I want to remember it all.  Even if there are days where it's not pretty, where my ears hurt because always my heart wants to burst and my eyes laugh.  Because he's learning and he is taking pride in that. I want to remember how his face looked when he concentrated.  The way he named the notes out loud and hummed the tune as he played.  I want to remember the way his lips were crooked when he focused.  The sweetness of working hard.   I want to remember his eye lashes and all his freckles and the roundness of his face.  And that indentation in his chin which is just like his daddy's chin and his nagi papa's (grandfather) chin.  The way it creases in there and makes his lips look more full. I want to remember. the chubbiness of his li
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A new kind of News Years Resolution.

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It's a new year and of course that means Resolutions.  Right?  I'm not a big goal setter and in years past I may have come up with some resolutions and quickly forgotten them by the second week of January.  I mean - who really wants to focus on how many ounces of water you drink in a day or counting your vegetables?  Not me!  So this year - I'm going about this in a different way.  This year - instead of trying to guilt myself into drinking more water, eating better, exercising more, cleaning my house more often...  I'm going to focus on these things..  * Being more present with my kids.  Playing more games with them, going for more walks, being silly with them and not being so tied to what I want to be doing.  * Spending more time with friends.  Both - just as a girls night out - but also inviting families over to spend more time together.  Building relationships and then investing in those.  Enjoying time together with others.  * Getting away.  More day trips
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HOPE

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It's a new year and to be honest, I love new beginnings.  I love finishing off things - like the cereal box or a notebook.. - anyone else get some satisfaction over using something up?  But I also love the start of things...  beginning of the school year, the starting of a new program, the first page of a new book - there is something so Hopeful about new beginnings.  And this new year is not without that Hope.  Last year I joined the movement (per se) of choosing a word of the year.  That word was Believe.  This year I have wondered if I'd have a word again.  Tossing around lots in my head - but nothing seemed to settle with me.  Then..  it came.  Written at the end of a talk I'm doing for a MOP's group next week.  I talk about Surrendering.  And no - that's not my word, although it's a good one!  I end my talk by saying that Surrendering brings HOPE.  And I read it again, and it resonated with me.  Not just because it's my talk and my words, but becau
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