Tag: blogging

And So She Writes:: A Girl And Her Blog

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No matter how far I stray.

No matter how much I neglect her.

No matter how long it’s been since I’ve hit that “Publish” button.

No matter the seasons of my life that come and go, she is steady. She’s always there waiting for me to come back to her. To spend time with her.

My trusty keyboard.

On many days it’s my spiral bound notebook. Or take your pick because I have many spiral bound notebooks.

I need time to stop and a bit of quiet. Believe me. That bit of quiet is rare these days. But when I do have it, all the words come tumbling out onto the page. Today it’s the computer screen.

And somehow from this jumble of words, thoughts, questions and feelings, I piece things together. They begin to make sense. The root of what’s been churning in me, troubling me, begins to come clear. That brilliant idea that’s been trying to surface begins to emerge. What’s been making me anxious, once it’s written down in plain sight, is not so scary as my head was making it out to be. God reveals those deep and quiet truths and my praise and worship back to Him take form in writing.

I just need to write.

I still need people to talk to.

I do.

I have this trusty and loving handful of souls that listen patiently.

But when my insides feel jumbled or I have big things to work through, writing it out has always been my way of sorting all my stuff. It’s how I best process my thoughts and feelings. And sometimes I share those thoughts and feelings with everyone, for some crazy reason.

Maybe because I know others need to hear that they aren’t the only ones who are grappling with life. Maybe because there is a connection people feel to each other when we share and see that we aren’t so different after all. Or maybe we are different and that’s what makes like so beautiful and interesting. Different often lends perspective.

For me I just say it so much better when I write it. I say things through the tapping of the keys and the scratching of the pen that I just can’t say out loud or face to face.

That’s why coming back to this space again and again is something I cherish so deeply. Sometimes the space is my trusty ol’ notebook that no one will ever see but me; and other times it’s right here on this screen. I’m so thankful for a place to share, a place to create and hopefully encourage. I’m equally as thankful for an audience, big or small, who keep reading.

Thanks for reading,

Jen

 

Smelly Cars and Dust Bunny Tumbleweeds:: A Lived In Life

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The other night my sister and I went to the movies and afterwards she drove me home. For a fleeting moment I felt a twinge of jealousy. I was jealous of her clean car.

Her car shined. I mean, it literally gleamed.

As I slid into the front seat I noticed how good it smelled. There was not a trace of dust, the odd shoe or run away basketball to be seen.

My van on the other hand is….. what’s the word I’m looking for? Well, let’s just say it looks “lived in”. I guess that’s two words.

Of course, I realize we are in two very different stages of life.

My sister’s kids are grown and no longer living at home. She’s the only one who drives her car. She has a little bit more time than I do to do things, like clean her car.

My van takes kids to soccer games and dogs to the vet. It makes beach trips and serves as a truck for our frequent trips to home depot as we are (forever) working on our house. It carries other kids. It takes our own hungry kids through the drive-thru. It carts around groceries, muddy hiking boots and library books. Lots of library books.

We drove home from the beach not that long ago and our van stunk! It reeked of wet dogs, and sea shells. Trust me on this one. Those two smells are not a pleasant combination.

I’m sure my sister’s car did the same thing back in the day.

Lately, I’ve realized that no matter how much planning, picking up, or new housework routine I employ, my house and life (and van) continues to look “lived in”. There are brief moments when my living room looks like the ones I pin on Pinterest. These moments are fleeting, though, and only last if no one is actually at home. And while I keep trying to fix that “lived in” look of my life, I think I’ve finally realized that a life lived is going to look lived in.

So, I’ve really been trying to change my perspective. Because while there is not much in life I can control; my perspective is one thing I can.

Here we go then. Let’s give this a try.

The van full of sand and dog hair = Fun trips to the beach, priceless memories made, and happy pups.

Basketballs rolling around the back of the van = Watching my kids play basketball on Saturday mornings and enjoying the fact that they are healthy and happy.

The colossal tumbleweeds of dust bunnies under my couch = I haven’t spent all my time cleaning and have spent some time snuggling on that couch instead of cleaning underneath it.

Shoes in a pile by the front door= All those shoes belong to my loud and energetic kids. One day the pile will be very small and the house will be much quieter. I will miss those fun and chaotic days. (Ok, I’m crying now. Happy?)

Smudges on the sliding glass door= We have a back yard that we enjoy relaxing in and the kids love playing in. Those hand prints and puppy nose smudges mean we use the back yard a lot.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for keeping a tidy home. I’m an avid believer of having a clean sink before I go to bed. A clean house is good, most days. A perfectly clean house at all times, well that’s just a lot of work and quite frankly, exhausting.

Nobody’s last words as they lay on their death bed were, “I wish I had mopped my floor more.”

If my house looks lived in that means I’ve been out enjoying my life. (It could also mean I’ve been binge watching Netflix; but you get the point.)

My Word For 2018

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So, 2018 is already a quarter of the way done. What????? How did that happen?

Normally, I would publish this sort of post in January; but the “new” blog was still under construction. So here I am, 3 months plus into the new year, really thinking about and processing through the word I chose 3 months ago.

The word I chose for 2018 is FOCUSED.

In a way, this coming back and reevaluating my word 3 months later has actually been the best thing. Have I kept my word in mind as I plan out my days and weeks? Did I pick the right word?

My answer is: Yes! I’m so glad I picked this word and I think it’s the best word for me right now.

I’m a big fan of lists and setting goals and making plans. I don’t always follow through with said lists and plans. I don’t always accomplish said goals. But I try.

At the end of 2017 I went over all the things I had wanted to accomplish over that previous year, personal goals, house project goals, etc. And though my year was very busy and I felt like I had done a lot of things, I had not marked many things off my list. It was rather disheartening. Why? Why had I felt like I had been doing, doing, but not accomplishing anything?

I think it’s because I’m like Buddy the Elf, “Ooh shiny bins!”

I like shiny bins. I get distracted by things that at the moment seem good to do and often times “seem” important. It’s not that I don’t work hard. Being idle is not a problem for me (or most moms for that matter). Doing what is most important and not getting caught up in the urgent is where I struggle. Can anyone else relate?

So I’m FOCUSING this year. I’m not focusing so I can get more done. It’s the not amount of things I do that is the goal. I’m FOCUSING on fewer things and trying to DO THOSE THINGS WELL. And those fewer things are things that I’ve thought about and have prayed over and feel are most important right now.

So, what am I focusing on?

In keeping with my word and my goal, I’m keeping it simple.

I’m focusing on 3 main things this year: My Home, My Homeschool and My Heart.

I’ll go into these 3 categories in depth in future blog posts; but for this post I’ll keep it brief.

HOME:: A stay at home mom is part of my job title; but the day to day realities of being at home and taking care of my home can be a struggle for me. Cooking. Keeping up with laundry (Bleh!) Cleaning toilets. I know some people enjoy those things. In all honesty, I don’t. I’m sure I’m not the only one. I love keeping my house tidy, decorating and gardening. I love being home. But, I knew that I was letting areas and responsibilities slide because I just don’t enjoy them and I wasn’t physically home enough to actually do them. So, I’m focusing on what it means to really take care of my home. Note that I didn’t say have a “sparkling clean, looks like no one lives here, iron my sheets” kind of home. Ummm……no. Not eating out as much and making sure Andy always has clean underwear is where this mama is starting.

HOMESCHOOL:: I love homeschooling. I’m so glad God called me to do it because that was definitely not the road I was heading down. I really enjoy having my kids home with me, choosing what they will learn and how it is best for them to learn. I absolutely love the flexibility of our schedule. Homeschooling takes a lot dedication and discipline, though. It takes me, the mom and teacher, being focused. It takes priority over a lot of other things in our family life because it is my kid’s education. And while I know my kids are learning, progressing and are happy, I feel that in the past year our homeschool wasn’t taking as high a priority as it should have been. Some of the reasons for this were out of my control; but some were just me getting distracted by the urgent. So, I’ve reprioritized.

HEART:: Honestly, I was trying to keep with the “H” theme here. This just means taking time to do things that make my heart happy and fill my bucket. As moms, we get so caught up in everyone else’s needs and sometimes forget what reenergizes us, what inspires us, what gets our creative juices flowing. For me it’s writing and working on this blog. That is my creative outlet and I wasn’t giving it any time at all. It made me sad. So I decided to make time for it. This means saying no to other things sometimes; but it’s worth it to me.

Can I add a bonus H here? My HEALTH. I think moms can be the number one culprits of ignoring health problems and not taking care of themselves because we don’t have time. The truth is we don’t have a lot of time. The truth is we need to make the time. I have things I need to take care of to feel better and this is my year to do it.

Now, I know there are times when we all need to reevaluate and even change our goals.They don’t have to be set in stone. Life has a way of throwing your plans out the window sometimes. I realize I need to be flexible.

While I’m focusing this year on my family and home, my homeschool and my personal goals of blogging and getting healthy, I know how much I tend to doubt myself that I can actually make these positive changes in my life. I’m excited and motivated (at the moment); but can I actually accomplish them? Am I brave enough to make big changes? Can I not get distracted by the shiny and urgent in order to do the most important?

With God’s help, ABSOLUTELY!

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Psalm 46:5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.  – This is my personal favorite and verse for this year.

I’ve also claimed this quote as my personal mantra for the year. If I go into a situation thinking I cannot succeed, I won’t. Positive thinking goes a long way.

Would you like this printable? Click here for the below version and……………………………………….

 

and click here for this version or……………………………………………………………….

here for this final version.

What are your goals for 2018? Small or big. Simple or completely daring. I’d love for you to share it in the comments below.

The Accidental Domestic Gets a Facelift

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Happy 2018! If you’ve followed my blog for any amount of time you may have thought I had quit blogging. It’s been quite some time since I last posted. My only reason for being MIA is…life. It’s been busy and blogging had to take a back seat for awhile. Priorities have to shift sometimes and things we really love to do have to sit on the back burner……..for awhile. I was still blogging in my brain. In fact, I wrote many stellar posts in my head. Trust me, they were amazing.

We had horrific fires here in my hometown. If you are a reader who doesn’t live in California, I’m sure you watched (or least heard about) the wildfires in Northern California last October. Many friends and even family lost their homes. Entire neighborhoods and historic landmarks burnt to the ground.

October was a hard month.

When your life gets turned upside down, it’s hard to get back into any kind of normal routine. We didn’t lose our home but our city has literally been through hell and it took all of us to rally around and help each other.

You may also notice that the blog looks different. I was really wanting to change things up. You may also notice (or maybe not) that parts of the new blog are not quite working. I switched to a different hosting platform and I haven’t brought all my old posts over yet. I’m working on it. But honestly, I’m really, really bad at technology in general. Please bear with me.

I’m still working on setting things up the way I want them. I kept waiting until I could get everything perfect to begin posting again. I realized if I waited for that I would never start blogging again and all these ideas in my head would remain just that- ideas. So I decided, with the constant prodding from my husband, to just go for it. Jump back in with both feet. And so, I’ve jumped.

I have posts lined up to publish. I have a million other ideas in my head just waiting for me to stop rewatching episodes of The Office, sit down and get to writing. I have a vision of where I want The Accidental Domestic to go and I hope you come along on the  journey with me.

 

If you subscribed to The Accidental Domestic when I was on my previous platform, I would love it (really, love it) if you would subscribe to this blog. You can subscribe in the box right up there in the right hand corner. You won’t be getting any other notifications from that blog anymore as I will be posting here from now on. If this is your first time visiting me ever, I would love you to subscribe, too. You’ll get a  notification in your email when a new post is published.

To say Thank You! for subscribing I have a free printable to download. They are verse cards of powerful verses to pray over our kids. These can be for your own kids, your grand kids or given to someone who you know needs them. (That would be every parent who has ever lived!)

 

 

It feels good to get that first blog post under my belt. Until the next post………