Catching Up: Weeks 9-11

Posted on by Mary
Catching

Well Hello There

Today we are going to do a little catching up! I can’t believe that it has been three weeks since we last did an update. Life has been a whirlwind of busy here.

October wasn’t necessarily supposed to work out the way it did- but it was amazing. And that’s ok. It was super amazing really! I have no complaints other than the month of October was complicated by hubby catching a cold (He has to do some work in the cold rain and he paid for it).

But let’s get on with the Update,

Choosing Courage 100 day Writing Project

Today is day 79!!!! I can’t believe it! It’s been a whirlwind. When I started this Journey I was so stressed about it- I have received so much flack about my writing. Now it’s just part go my morning. I have hit a few rough patches though where Satans lies start echoing in my brain.

I have also hit and” I don’t want to stage”- “I’m too tired”. This really came up over the last few weeks and that really had a lot to do with some stuff my body was going through physically. I fought through and basically that is why I had to let go of the “extra” posts during the month of October.

I did accomplish all 31 days of the Write 31 Days writing challenge. WHICH WAS HUGE!! That was 31 days of writing something HARD every day. Thankfully it fit into the 100 day Project.

Little Old Me

I mentioned above that I hit a snag in the Challenges where my body and mind said “I don’t want to do this anymore”. I am so glad that I have a team behind me now. Just as those thoughts started entering my mind they would send me a text saying how encouraging the posts were. They didn’t know the struggles. It was the shot in the arm I needed to push through. I am also glad a had a few blog posts done ahead so I could just do a little writing and the posts that were already written would go live.

Testing for Celiacs

At the beginning of October I was told I needed to go back onto gluten so I could be ready for a double scope that was scheduled in December. (They put me on a cancellation list so I had to be ready for at least 2 weeks but ideally 4). Well gluten makes me feel like a slug and also affects my iron levels- My iron has been in good place since August so yeah slug-like is a great definition of how I felt.

Then one night I was sitting at our kids soccer game and I got a call- Can I do my scope next week. YEP. So then that last week I ate as much Gluten as I could and was just a couple days shy of that four week mark. I still don’t know the results yet but it feels good to be off the gluten.

IVIG

The week before the scopes I had my first dose of IVIG. It’s a dose of Immunoglobulin I get via an IV infusion. Basically I have an autoimmune issue that keeps my body from making enough antibodies so I can spend much of the winter sick. And as we discovered Vaccines only work a little bit.

I had gotten two infusions of iron in August and those were easy. 45 minutes and I am done. HOWEVER IVIG took 3 1/2 hours. I was a little nervous about getting antsy. I don’t sit well. It wasn’t as bad as I thought I read half a book, ate breakfast (yeah that was a neat surprise) . I went home and was fine. Until the next day.

HOLY NAUSEAUSNESS.

So now Zofran is my new best friend for the two days afterwards. BUT I have been living on allergy medicine for a while with huge sinus headaches. Guess what I don’t have anymore?!?

Even in the middle of hubby catching his cold and then our daughter being next and taking care of them I only had one day I was iffy. THATS AMAZING!

Hubby

My poor hubby has been run ragged over the last month. But it has been a good month for him as well. I wish I could say November was going to be different but likely it won’t be.

Hubby Taught his first of two Old testament survey classes (The other is Next weekend). This has always been a dream of his and he is so good at it. He has been working on the class between the two sessions as well prepping for the next in person session grading assignments and the like. He has also been working his construction job and working part-time for the church we attend,

Not to mention the various church interviews, applications and questionnaires, phone calls and emails and all the other stuff that comes with The looking for a church process.

Plus he has been working to finish up some other jobs that were not supposed to take that long but goodness it has been a wet summer and fall. It has been crazy to fit it all in. All the while taking time to make memories with friends and evening hiking in the Adirondacks with his brother and our oldest 2 kiddos

The kids

The kids are almost to the end of their first quarter of school. They are doing well but I think that Thanksgiving break is much needed.

The older two just finished their soccer season and both of their teams finished very well.

The younger two have just enjoyed life. All four kids are enjoying Youth group at our church and all four are actively serving Sunday morning in our churches kids ministry. It’s so exciting to see them take off on this new journey.

Anticipation

I cannot believe that we only have 4 weeks lefs in this 100 day writing project. As we enter this last month I will be making some decisions about what blogging looks like going forward. I can tell you it won’t be 7 days a week. As much as it has been good it has also been stretching in the schedule department.

I will let somethings go- as I have learned over this last month. I can’t do it all (Oh wait THAT has been something God has been teaching me my WHOLE life!). I don’t quite know what that looks like yet but this updates will be coming soon.

I don’t like catching up- I don’t like feeling like I am so behind. I won’t be “Catching up” on the Joy Dare posts I will just be doing this weeks gratitude prompts.

Thank you for doing me today

Catching up can sometimes be arduous so I hope today wasn’t too long ! I’m so very thankful that you are invested in this journey with me.

What to know what this journey is all about? You can check out this link that takes you all the way back to August!

Hello November -Happy Homemaker Monday

Posted on by Mary
November

Happy first day of November everyone! I am excited to be back to Happy Homemaker Monday! I was hoping to be able to stay with Happy Homemaker Monday through the month of October as well as doing the Write 31 Days writing Challenge (If you missed my series on the Power of Your Influence You can check it out here.) October was a busy month! It was also a very exciting month!!!! (More to come on THAT in the next few months)

Ok Let’s jump into it!

♥♥The Weather♥♥

We have finally reached normal fall weather here in the Northeast. It has been an unusually warm fall (Loving it NOT complaining in the slightest!). This week will be pretty much in the 40’s during the day. We only have one day of rain (Tuesday) which is good because we have had a very rainy year and flooding is a real issue here in NY right now.

♥♥How I am feeling this morning♥♥

I’m feeling really well minus some sneezing (fall allergies- it’s an every morning thing right now!

 ♥♥On my mind♥♥ 

I have a lot to do right now. Homeschooling reports are due next week. I have my second dose of IVIG- it’s going to be a very busy few months for sure

♥♥On the breakfast plate♥♥

Cup of coffee with caramel syrup and almond milk. A banana. And probably some yogurt with granola or egg whites (Honestly it is too early to decide!

♥♥Right now I am♥♥

Working on this post, Listening to the dogs snore and the youngest doing his devotions in the other room.

♥♥On my reading pile♥♥

I will be finishing up James and I will be spending more time in Philippians and Colossians over the next month.

We will start our Nate Saint Biography during our morning basket routine at breakfast today.

I will *hopefully* wrap up Get Out of Your Head, Hello Fears and Practical Dreamer this month as well.

♥♥On today’s to do list♥♥

  • Dishes
  • Table needs to be cleaned off and moved back into place
  • Laundry
  • change our sheets
  • Weekly planning(I really REALLY need to get back into this on Saturdays)

 ♥♥On my tv♥♥

Nothing really at the moment- though we are working to finish Promised land and different Strokes as a family in the evenings

♥♥On the menu this week♥♥

Monday – Pasta Bake and Salad. Tuesday – (Family Night). Make your Own Burger Bar and Fries (this is a pastor’s fault as he mentioned “Supreme Burgers” in his message yesterday)
Wednesday – Chili and Biscuits
Thursday – The kids will have Sandwiches/Subs they can eat on the go and Hubby and I have dinner with our connect group
Friday – Venison BBQ and mashed potatoes
Saturday –  Breakfast for dinner
Sunday –  Loaded Baked potatoes

♥♥From the camera♥♥

Our girl doing what she loves! She loves sports!

♥♥Looking around the house♥♥

Honestly Let’s NOT talk about it (LOL)

♥♥New recipe I tried last week, or one that we really enjoyed♥♥

I didn’t try a new recipe this week .  However I did cook a recipe slightly difeferent than I usually do. I made the kids Chicken Bacon Ranch casserole and instead of making it Sunday morning (Because I would have to get up way to early for that nonsense) I did it Saturday night and let it cook on low til after church on Sunday. It was the best I had ever made.

♥♥To relax this week, I will♥♥

Read and exercise

♥♥On my prayer list♥♥

  • Friends and family with COVID and other sicknesses.
  • Wisdom
  • Friends going through some hard stuff right now
  • my own personal perseverance and patience (On many levels)

Thanks so much for Joining me today for another happy Homemaker post! You can find more Happy Homemaker posts and join in on the fun by visiting Diary of a Stay At Home Mom.

A Very Influential Challenge

Posted on by Mary
Challenge

Welcome to Day 31!

We have officially made it to the end of the Write 31 Days Challenge!!! (And today is day77 of the 100 day blogging challenge I started way back in August!!)

We have discussed a great deal about influence- both godly influence and negative influence. I am not going to hash out all that we have learned over the last 4 weeks. What I am going to do is give you a challenge. The challenge comes from the summer after my last write 31 days challenge. I had only written 18 days about influence.

I was taken to our camper and dropped off for my week alone at the Bible conference we attended as a family. Now I have no recollection of who the speaker was-see when my hubby dropped me off we didn’t know I was SICK- He would have to come back early and get me because I had Pneumonia.

But before I left…

The speaker challenged us to say thank you. Thank you to those who had been a godly influence in your life.

Despite being sick this concept stuck in my head. I couldn’t shake it. So when I was fully recovered I decided I to write to four or five people who really influenced my faith journey.

I poured out my gratitude for what each of these families had done for me.

I knew that because of these amazing people and their willingness to live out a godly influence I had been loved to a point of changing , It was their love, their joy, their peace, their patience, their goodness, their kindness, their faithfulness, their gentleness and their self-control that pushed me to be the woman God created me to be (even in the middle oof my mess).

And something happened-

Saying thank you really does change a person. I had been practicing gratitude for a long time, and gratitude changes a person. It’s humbling. Because it takes our eyes off of what we do and it puts our focus on what others have done. Specifically God and then others.

So I wrote 4 (maybe5) letters very specifically thanking the families or individuals for their godly influence in my life. And all of them wrote back. They didn’t have to. I just wanted to let them know that they were seen and appreciated and that their influence didn’t go unnoticed and unappreciated.. I saw the investment and hard work they had invested into my life.

So now it’s your turn!

This is your final challenge here in the Influence subject. I want you to pray and ask God to show you who has impacted your life for the better. Ask him to show you those people who chose the harder path to live like Jesus and be the hands, feet and mouth of Him in your life. And then write to them. Sharing with them how they ministered to you and changed your life. And know that your gratitude is influencing them as well!

Well it’s been a blast!

My prayer for you is that you aren’t just satisfied with being a positive influence but that you would seek to be a godly influence. Seeking to grow In the fruit of the spirit and choosing to love like Jesus! I also pray that you would accept this challenge and fully embrace it!

Thank you for joining me on this journey!

Feel free to check out the links below and we will see you tomorrow as we resume our regular blogging schedule for the next 23 days.

And let me know what you learned during this series that you never really thought of before. And please introduce yourself in the comments below.
Write 31 Days 2018 Influence Posts

Choosing Courage 100 Day Writing Project

Write 31 Days 2021 Link up List. (Scroll to the bottom)

The Powerful Influence of Children

Posted on by Mary
Children

Children, they have no filters. The open their mouths and usually wisdom comes falling out- usually with a tinge of harshness-or-a whole lot of harshness. Sometimes it’s a well placed question. Sometimes it’s a passing comment.

It catches us off guard and it can sting a lot- or it can make us laugh until we catch the brevity of it later.

A few examples

We have watched our 3 year old boldly proclaim that the nice stranger in the Chinese restaurant needed to know Jesus and invited him to come hear his daddy preach (talk about no inhibitions)

We have had to answer hard questions after someone was harsh with a child of “why doesn’t so in so love me?” (See even the smallest of child gets that harshness isn’t a loving thing to do).

We have had to explain why bad things happen to good people.

We have had t listen to teenagers vent and struggle through mistreatment and misunderstanding of them and their peers. (They get it). They dropped some truth bomb about people they knew their whole lives that left hubby and I with our mouths hanging open completely speechless.

I had a child (after witnessing some mistreatment of a sibling walk right up to the culprit (an older man) and ask him straight out why he didn’t like our family. (I had to pick up my chin off the floor). He wasn’t being mean or rude. He just wanted to know why.

This was a hard day

I mentioned a few blog posts ago that one teenager that lives in our home made the connection that people can talk a good talk but when their actions don’t line up with those words they aren’t the believers they claim themselves to be.

We were able to use these insights to help build character with our children and flip it so they could learn what not to do.

Children are able to tease out truths that adults have let the world cloud over in their own minds and hearts. It’s funny because it is so plain to children sometimes. They are left saying- but this just makes sense.

Faith like a Child

And Children’s faith- there is a reason Jesus used them as an example. We as adults want to be “realistic and not get our hopes up.” While Child #1 stands out front of our house waiting for the bus one morning hearing me tell him about an early season snowstorm. To which he bursts into prayer asking God for 18 inches of snow. Me in my realistic mindset says “oh honey it’s too early for that kind of snow”.

Twenty-four inches of snow and a snow day later I was eating my words. The lesson I learned from my 10 year old son Pray and believe that God is going to do what you prayed for. BOLD faith taught to a parent who has been a Christian for over 20 years schooled in faith by a 10 year old.

Or how about the words of wisdom spoken by a 15, 14, 13, and 10 year old as we shared with them God’s prompting to move from the only church they had known for the last 12 years. I wish I could go into the wisdom and insight that our kids showed during this time. It was such a godly influence on Hubby and I. It seemed like every morning was a new perspective one of them had gleaned.

Unintentional to the core

And in all of these anecdotes (and trust me there are countless more) never once did our kids wake up and day “Today I am going to influence my parents”.

They live their lives in honesty, speaking truth albeit sometimes not is a loving way. (That takes time and training). Kids are naturally genuine- we teach them not to be for fear of how we will look (GULP).

Sometimes we get angry with them because they drop a truth bomb right between the eyes. Yes it’s hard but sometimes it’s exactly what we need to hear. Yes they need to be taught about gentleness, kindness and love. BUT LISTEN. Not just assume you know their heart. But listen to how they feel and what they see. I have been amazed each time I remember to really pay attention. Their insights will amaze you, even though it may sting .

Teachable moments

It’s important though that we teach our children to use their influence with the godly influence traits found in Galatians 5 (aka The Fruit of the Spirit) and train them to see the warning lights of the Negative influence traits (the opposites of the fruit of the spirit.)

Our role in the faith and influence

Finally we need to be extremely careful (and gentle) when in these training moments with our kiddos. As they are learning and growing in their faith and learning how to be a godly influence they need tender cultivating.

When we choose to jump to conclusions and be harsh, unloving, and have a complaining spirit we are damaging other people and especially kids. I have seen it time and again that teens will walk away from church and their faith because someone said one thing and did something completely different. Their walk didn’t match their talk. We commonly call this hypocrisy.And is damaging to everyone

A mini Challenge.

I want to challenges to be people of our word – to follow it through with our actions. To listen and be slow to anger (and slow to jump to conclusions). I need to get better at this too! Sometimes we are so quick to demand our respect that we lose sight of our testimony and who we represent (PSSST- It’s Jesus). Remember it is our goal to be the hands and feet (And mouths) of Jesus!

Thank you!!!

Thanks for joing me today for our second to last day of our #31days2021 writing challenge. I don’t know about you but I have grown leaps and bounds through this journey!

I would love for you to check out some of the links below and don’t forget to introduce yourself in the comments below!

Tomorrow we will wrap up the Power of Your Influence with a very special challenge. Stay tuned.


Write 31 Days 2018 Influence Posts

Choosing Courage 100 Day Writing Project

Write 31 Days 2021 Link up List. (Scroll to the bottom)

Breaking the Generational Bonds

Posted on by Mary
Breaking

Breaking Generational bonds- I don’t know if I have just coined a new phrase or not. But as I work with and care for various different age groups I have witnessed something that breaks my heart. And that is generational bonds. Now don’t think for a minute that I am going to stand (ummm sit ) here and point the finger at some generation telling you it’s all their fault.

It’s no one’s fault in particular- but it’s all the same problem.

Safety- we love to feel safe. And we feel most safe when we are in groups of like-minded people. We don’t feel judged (or at least not to the same degree), we feel accepted and comfortable. We build walls around our age groups and then we ostracize those we don’t belong to.

This doesn’t just have to do with generations, I know that. It can be all sorts of things. It can be as ridiculous as sports teams, but I do NOT have time for that nonsense. The short version of this is if you are building walls to make yourself comfortable and feel “safe” than you aren’t being a godly influence, you are a negative influence!

Side Note

I want to be EXTREMELY clear on this- there is a very very fine line between condoning sin and loving people despite of their sin. THAT is the line of influence Jesus walked. He loved people as they were but he loved them so much he couldn’t let them stay in their sin. He was gentle and kind and loving. Just because we disagree with someone does’t mean we have the right to be mean. We are COMMANDED to LOVE our neighbor as ourselves and then we ask who is our neighbor?

EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. Whether you like them or not.

How do I know this? The Good Samaritan!

We read the account in Luke 10-

Basically a Jewish man was nearly beaten to death. He needed help. He laid on the side of the road battered and Bruised AND NAKED! He needed help. Now two people walked by him. actually one person a Jewish priest crossed the other side of the road as not to even be close to him (He was worried about his religious standing). He could not risk being made unclean by the man (Blood).

Let’s come to a screeching halt right here

Now before we get all high and mighty on this priest I KNOW this is still a practiced within many churches today! I have seen it happen with my own eyes. Ever since I was little.

People come to church and they look different or they act different They don’t look like us and that makes us uncomfortable and we walk right by. We might even give them a sideways glance We refuse to help them because they have made wrong choices or they have no money (they must have surely caused that themselves). We deem them not worthy of our time and they might “stain our reputation”. Don’t say we aren’t all guilty of this at some point or another. WE ARE!

The temple assistant

This one gets me- he walks up to the Jewish man and he studies the situation. I often times wonder what was running through his head. I mean the priest it’s kinda obvious if you know Jewish law (AKA the Old Tesament)

But the temple assistant? He could have easily had the same reaction as the priest- afraid of becoming unclean and being judged. BUT that wasn’t his concern. His concern seems like he was assessing the reward vs. the risk. Like he was asking “how much was this going to cost me?”

And apparently we get the answer- The reward didn’t outweigh the risk.

I have see this so often too. It was taught to me not all that long ago via a book. We are faced with these opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus but we are taught to run these opportunities through a mental checklst….Do I have the mental and emotional capacity to handle this? Do I have the financial means to handle this? Do I have the physical ability to handle this….BLAH BLAH BLAH. I am not telling you to go out and donate a million dollars to some charity. I am telling you that sometimes like Amy Carmicheal or Hudson Taylor OR Corrie ten Boom that we need to step outside what we can afford, or what is safe and help the people God has placed on our path despite what the outcome might be.

Enter The Good Samaritan

Now this man was despised by the Jewish people. Because the Samaritans were of mixed race- part Jew and part Assyrian- but it wasn’t just that (though that was huge) they also worshipped differently (but we aren’t diving into that!!!)

The Jewish people HATED them. They ostracized them. And this Samartitan KNEW that and STILL had mercy on this man. He didn’t see a Jew, he saw a man in desperate need of help. So he set aside the cultural boundaries He nursed the wounds, put the man on his own donkey, and he took him to an inn and spent his OWN money and told the innkeeper he would pay whatever else was spent when he retuned He didn’t even consider the cost).

He didn’t check ANY boxes…NOT ONE. He didn’t seek out to find out if the man deserved his help. He didn’t take into account his own comfort. He saw a need and met it.

The point of this story

This story is one of the many parables Jesus told to make a powerful point. A Jewish lawyer’s quizzing Jesus to catch him in something he might say that went against God’s word.

He asked Jesus who was his neighbor. And Jesus told this parable to make a point. In the end Jesus answers this man’s question with a question. “in this story who is the man’s neighbor?” The Jewish Lawyer answers “the one who showed the man mercy.” Jesus’ simple reply “Go and do likewise.”

There were no specifications….No guidelines…no boundaries.

YIKES.

That means NO walls. That means BRIDGES. MERCY is the bridge.

Back to Generational Bonds

When we build walls we are imprisoning ourselves. We think we are keeping ourselves safe BUT what we are really doing is creating our own little prisons.

Think about an island in the middle of a raging river. You have no boat. You have no way across this treacherous river. You could attempt to swim it in your own stregthit but everyone who has ever tried drowned after only entering the river a few feet from shore.

If you don’t leave the island you are going to die of starvation. You have sucked the life out of the island because you have consumed all the usable food sources. The only other nourishment is on the mainland. But that is scary, uncomfortable and unknown.

You can choose to whither away or to take a step of faith and build a bridge. That bridge is going to take a lot of work. It’s not going to be easy. But in the end it will be worth it. You have a decision to make.

The proverbial island in real life

Just like that decision we have a choice to build bridges between generations. We can tear down the walls we have built around the generations in church and start building bridges between the generations. We need to tear down the walls of our preferences…music, dress, socio-economic status, position, and so on. And we need to start building bridges of mercy and love.

A HUGE Step

We need to stop posting degrading things on the internet about millennials, and Gen-Zer;s. We even need to stop posting things about Karens and snowflakes. Hubby and I are odd one’s out. we are born in the awkward years where we just plain don’t fit. So then we have to take a long look at the actual list of traits of the two generations (the actual traits not some opinions imposed) and see where we fall (I’ll let you in on a secret- we both are millennials). And there isn’t anything wrong with that. Though facebook posts might tell us otherwise.

But when we take and post degrading things about other people- DONT really care who it is we are building walls not bridges. We are choosing harshness over gentleness. You can go right down the list of Negative influence traits we talked about last week and check them all off.

Burning bridges

And when you seek to build bridges and then because something strikes you as funny we click the share button….and with one little click we burn that bridge. Our testimony and our godly influence falls right into the river and is washed away. Choosing t be devisive is Not a godly influence trait NO MATTER the topic!

  • One little overheard gossip
  • A snarky comment.
  • One opinion given off the cuff
  • One moment of selfish ambition
  • One off color joke about someone or some circumstance.

We all love to demand respect because we deserve it. Respect is a two way street. Treat others how you want to be treated

In light oof this….

Tomorrow we are going to discuss the Powerful influence of our children. And how as parents and grandparents and spiritual parents and grandparents we can be impacted by our “kids” and their influence. AND how if we aren’t careful we can destroy their faith by the negative influence of our words- When our walk doesn’t match our talk.

A Big thank You

Thank you so much for joining me today. This subject as been a point of passion since I was in Bible College and I heard one of my professors preach on bridging the generation gap. It’s time we break these generational bonds that hold us captive in our own personal prisons. Let’s tear downs these walls and start building bridges- It will save the life of our dying churches and families!

If you are new WELCOME! Feel free to poke around and check out the rest of the blog!

Check out these links below to get caught up.And introduce yourself in the comments below!! I would love to connect with you there!


Write 31 Days 2018 Influence Posts

Choosing Courage 100 Day Writing Project

Write 31 Days 2021 Link up List. (Scroll to the bottom)