Spice of Life

When I was in college, I believe it was the beginning of my second year, I suffered from anxiety.  All throughout adolescence people would always call me "skinny" but it was never because I didn't eat and no matter how much I was teased I never suffered from any kind of eating disorder.  Yet when I began to feel extreme anxiety in college, I could hardly eat.  I would go on dates and be scared to eat, I would be at home with my friends and had no appetite.  At school basically the only thing I could get down was salad and the only time I felt comfortable and relaxed enough to eat was with a very special friend.  Talking with her about what I was going through and just being with her was very calming to me and would ease my worries.  To this day I honestly don't know what was causing this nearly debilitating fear and worry but thankfully it was only for a season and while I of course have many worries and fears now (I mean I am a mom after all), it has not a...

Ever have a realization that smacks you upside the head?  You feel satisfaction for having realized it but also utter stupidity because it took you this long?  Yeah...that is me tonight.  I've been reading For The Love by Jen Hatmaker and I tell you people, it is exactly what I needed at this stage of my life.  Tonight I read this about "calling", " To Mama at home with a bunch of littles, you can live a life worthy right now.  You calling is today.  God makes you worthy as you desire goodness for your children, meeting needs and nurturing little souls.  No future calling is any more important than your current station.  Every good, meaningful possibility is yours today.  You have access to the kingdom now: the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  That is every Christians's calling, and the gospel is perfectly demonstrated through the daily labor of parenting."   The ironic ...

We have lived in Seattle for 7 years now, longer than I've lived anywhere except for where I grew up.  I've come to realize something though..."Home" is not where I grew up or the place I've lived the longest... I got this for Norm months ago when we first started talking about feeling God calling us to Michigan.  For a while we were putting a huge effort into finding jobs before moving thinking we had to have "all our ducks in a row" before we went because hey, no one will rent to us if we don't have jobs and it's just too scary to move somewhere like that, I mean "what if"?!  We have had many ups and downs in the whole process and this past week we decided to just go for it, to "step out of the boat" if you will and trust that God will take care of us.  Since we made that decision and gave notice at work, the support we have received from our Michigan community (yes we already have one there) has been amazing.  The fr...

Like I have said before the statement "it takes a village" is completely true when it comes to raising children.  We have definitely experienced this with my mom living with us, having her around is priceless.  I have also learned to include fellow mothers in this "village".  It might look like a quick text of encouraging words, accepting an offer of help or kids' clothes, commiserating about a really hard day over coffee (or wine) and the list goes on...I have come to think of these women as sisters and an integral part of my life.  Some have kids that are older and can offer wisdom from their experience and some are in the same stage of life we are in.  These women have given us countless bags of clothes and baby paraphernalia (when we found out we were having our surprise baby and had given everything away).  Zoe has received basically her entire wardrobe from them.  One friend put great effort into brainstorming how to make life easier for me after...

Today we went to the park and everyone was enjoying themselves until the meltdowns began.  Someone got hurt and needed an ice pack, the other one couldn't concentrate on the monkey bars because his sister was singing.  I mean, really people?!  WOW.  Anyhow, we eventually left and Kieren was angry so he started kicking my seat and throwing things.  He often says "don't make me angry" (sort of like the Hulk) and I try and explain that he is in control of his own body, his responses and actions.  He wasn't at a point where he could listen to me though, he was too absorbed in his anger so I immediately pulled the car over.  I said "get out of the car and go stand on the sidewalk until you are calm".  We sat there for a while and I would ask him occasionally "are you calm?" to which he would emphatically respond "NO".  He got in the car and was still super angry so I decided to try out a little "Love and Logic" (super awesome boo...