Hello June: Happy Homemaker Monday 6/6/2022

Posted on by Mary
June

Hello Friends and Happy June! Lonf time no see! Its been a whirlwind of a couple of months. We have moved (Kinda). We had to put our furry friend Rosie down. I have severly injured my ankle and a host of other craziness. Over the next few month we will also be blogging our journey of transforming a barn into a house!

So far it’s been quite the adventure! A very good adventure. We are enjoyig the whole process. . It is challenging at times but for the most part we are having fun!

So let’s Jump into the firt June Happy Homemaker Monday

♥♥ The Weather ♥♥

Monday –  80 and sunny
Tuesday – 72 and rain  Wednesday – 74 and rain
Thursday – 71 and mostly sunny
Friday -73 and mostly sunny
Saturday – 71 and ra
Sunday -in 72 and rain

♥♥  As I look outside my window ♥♥

beautiful warm sunny day with kiddos playing hockey in the church parking lot

♥♥  Right now I am ♥♥

sitting in my hubby’s office typing away. It’s been an absolutely nutty past week (more on that on Thursday)

♥♥  Thinking and pondering ♥♥

The purpose of this last week. It has been stretching and exhausting in so many ways. Most of the time in a negative way.

♥♥  How am I feeling ♥♥

Good but exhausted

♥♥  On the breakfast plate ♥♥

egg whites.      

♥♥  On my reading pile ♥♥

  • I have some counseling books to finish
  • Hello Fears
  • the book of Romans

♥♥  On my TV this week  ♥♥

Nothing

♥♥  On the menu  ♥♥ 

Monday – Beef Stroganoff Tuesday- Sloppy Joes and baked Poatoes Wednesday Soup
Thursday – Taco Salad
Friday -Mashed Poato Sudaes
Saturday -Grilled Chicken and Rice
Sunday –  Pasta and Salad

♥♥  Looking around the house  ♥♥

Ahem…Camper…A few dishes to be done. I still need to work on my closet and the kitchen table

♥♥ To-Do List ♥♥–

Packing, though we are running low on boxes

♥♥  From the camera  ♥♥

The New View

♥♥  Devotional  ♥♥

Thanks so much for joining me today! For more Happy Homemaker Monday Posts Check Out Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Broken Places

Posted on by Mary
Broken

Broken Places, we all have them. Maybe we don’t want to admit that we do. Maybe just maybe we don’t really know those places are broken. Maybe we have already worked through a process of forgiveness, letting go, or dealing with grief. It can be anything really. Then one day Jesus shows up (ok so he’s always here but for the sake of my connection let’s roll with him showing up) and says oh yeah that thing you stacked away in the closet, et’s deal with that, NOW.

If you are like me, I was dumbfounded. Lord, I’ve dealt with that. We are all good.

Enter the Woman at the Well (John 4:4-42)

Now my story and her story are not the same at all….or is it?

Well for starters, I have only been married once. So if there are any questions along those lines I just took care of them. When the woman went to the well that day, she had no idea she was going to encounter the one who knew all of her deep dark secrets, or not-so secrets/. She had a reputation.

When I woke up a month ago with my mind racing with all sorts of scary emotions I had no idea that deep in my heart Jesus was going to say “ok today is the day Mary, let’s put it all on the table”

The Woman at the well became a point of fascination a few months ago. I couldn’t tell you why at the time. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I don’t know why I was reading about her, I don’t even know when it was. I just knew I was drawn to her. I have snippets of notes that really at this point mean nothing to me. I just know that I connected with her on a whole new level.

And if you have been around here for very long you know when that happens a Coffee With Friends Post is born.

And here we are….

I want to give her a name because the Saratan woman or the Woman at the well doesn’t seem personal enough for a Coffee with Friends post. So I am going to call her…Sophia. (Please know that this isn’t her real name. It’s just for the sake of this post.).

Jesus went to that well to meet Sophia, and Sophia went to the well to get water. She went there in the warmest part of the day to ensure she wouldn’t hear the whispers and see the glares and feel like she was being judged. Jesus knew that because Jesus KNEW Sophia. He knew everything about her! He especially knew what she needed and it wasn’t the water from Jacob’s well. He knew she needed him and what he had to offer- living water that becomes a fresh bubbling spring that will give them eternal life (verse 14)

Now, go get your husband… GULP.

Oh to not be in her shoes, UH I don’t have a husband. GULP.

Jesus said yep you are right, you have had five husbands and the dude you are with now isn’t your husband DOUBLE GULP!

AND SHE STAYED

Goodness friends if I were her I would have been gone. A dude I have never met is telling me all about my life. It freaked me out bad enough when my pastor said a few things about me that I had never put together. (I did some gulping of my own!!!) And here she is just being present

AND Then she changes the subject….common we have all been there done that. We don’t want to deal with the pain we have in our hearts. Whether it’s sin, grief, abuse, broken relationships, YOU NAME IT WE WILL AVOID IT…like the PLAGUE. We don’t like to be uncomfortable.

The funny thing is Jesus humored her. He didn’t go back. to her sin. He answered her questions and in the end, reveals he is the Messiah.

The disciples come back and Sophia rushes off to tell everyone she knows about Jesus. and how he has told her ALL she has EVER done!

She uses her testimony with Jesus and many f the villagers run to meet him and believe in him in the process.

Her willingness to stay present with Jesus led to her life being changed. She could have stayed busy and filled her jug and been on with her daily chores.

WOW!

How this relates to me

Well like the woman at the well I too have broken places. Places in my heart that I have neatly placed the “dealt with pile” and I closed and locked the door. They were considered off-limits to even me. The problem is I still knew they were there. So I began to distract myself from them. My number one choice of distraction…PEOPLE. I can care for people. I am a pretty good listener, unless I have b]my earbuds in and then well everyone wonders why I’m not paying attention. (I put them in when I am “in the zone”.). I never really set boundaries. It was always easier to help people with their hurt and pain because it distracted me from my own.

But then all of a sudden there were no people. I was sick. Then we left our church and there were even fewer people. I was broken in so many ways. I was strong for hubby, the kids, and for anybody else who came to me. And I began to hide behind my phone. I knew I was distracted but I didn’t know why.

That morning I woke up I was face to face with Jesus- I had removed the phone issue. Within a week’s time, I was face to face with that closet full of broken places. Broken relationships, painful memories, wrong choices, failures, hurt I sustained at the hands of others and what those things had done to me. The reality is I hadn’t dealt with them. Yes, I had forgiven those involved. No, I wasn’t harboring anger towards anyone, BUT those things had created walls. Walls for people who weren’t even involved. They were walls of fear, and anxiety and had tainted how I saw myself. Some of that is still so startling to think about

Pefectionism creot in

See I was SOOOOO afraid of being in trouble that I tried to make sure everything was just right. I checked off this list of how to love people (ahem that would be 1 Corinthians 13). This is a whole other blog post in and of itself. But I had a mental checklist of bible passages.

BUT sometimes even when you love someone with the whole list they don’t do the same for you- it’s one-sided and you kinda just start believing you aren’t worth it. That it really doesn’t apply to you. Boy, I had no idea that was the path I was on and it shook me to the core. I was afraid of everybody. Even my poor hubby – I didn’t know it. We have been the best of friends for over 20 years (wow that makes me sound old).

I knew I could trust someone….my dog Rosie. for 9 years she laid at my feet in my craft room/ office. She sat next to me on the couch and would listen to me talk myself through whatever struggle was going on. She never talked back, she never ignored me, she didn’t judge, or roll her eyes.

She saw me cry and didn’t say, Get over it. I chuckle as I write that. She was my best non-human friend. She kept every secret. She would even smile. But then this week I had to say goodbye. To say it was difficult is a gross understatement. But as I processed this on Monday I realized something. I need to be more active in the just being department.

To let myself feel and think and process. I don’t do that well. I always have stuff to be done. Keeping busy is what I am good at. so I made a choice.

I actively chose to BE.

Now I was still doing something, but it was different. I hadn’t picked up my art supplies to use since the end of October minus a coloring book. Not the same thing for me. I finished inktober and moved on with the holidays. Because when I slowed down and stopped the mental “doing” my mind drifted to places I didn’t like it to drift.

I knew that we would be spending the day at church on Tuesday. I started thinking about all the things I needed to do and I stopped myself and said No Mary tomorrow you are just going to be still. I picked a room that was away from everything else with comfy chairs. I popped my earbuds in with our family playlist of worship music, some peppy some not so peppy and I let those words flow through me and out my brush.

Here’s what happened

I started out with an idea for my April bullet journal page

And from there I redid an inktober pen sketch from 2020. It was just a fast sketch I did originally,, but I wanted to do a better job on it this go around.

The next three are just simple little expressions. It’s not ever about doing fancy art. Sometimes it’s just about taking the time to use a passion God has given you. It’s not about being very good. It’s not about impressing other people It’s about just simply being and taking part in the process, thinking, praying, and worshipping. For each person that’s going to look a little different.

When we choose to let Jesus in to work on our heart stuff, (and yes it is our choice) he doesn’t promise it will get easier- but what he will do is transform it into something beautiful. It won’t be according to how I think it should be used, or not used, but rather what will bring him the most honor and glory. I just love how Jesus redeemed Sophia’s story. He didn’t publically humiliate her. He met her where she was at. She chose to stay and listen and in the end ran to the very people she was trying to avoid in the first place to share about Jesus. I can’t imagine anything more beautiful than that!

So will you join me on my journey of giving God my broken places?

You can check out the other coffee with friends posts here

A Not So Happy Homemaker Monday

Posted on by Mary
Happy

Happy Monday friends. I’m writing this post today Sunday because I do not know what tomorrow holds. I have this wonderful pooch who is not doing so great. She turned 13 on Friday and we know she has been declining over the last year but this last week she took a big nose dive. At this point we are taking it moment by the moment. We know that she s failing fast.

She has been with our family for 9 of her 13 years and she has been amazing! I love how dogs know when you are going through stuff. And she has been no different. Her sweet smile and her constant companionship has been a hue blessing! And I am rejoicing in the blessing have having gotten to call her mine for so many years!!

♥♥ The Weather ♥♥

As of right now it is cold and snowy! But starting tomorrow we will be in the mid and upper 40’s with days in the mid- 50s scttered in the week as well. Tere isn’t a whole lot of sun in the forecast jus pretty much the typical gray of April in central NY

♥♥  As I look outside my window ♥♥

Gray skies and snow

♥♥  Right now I am ♥♥

Typing this post while listen to music in my ear buds ( I have discovered this is a fabuous way for me to focus while I am writing. I am often distracted by background noise no matter where I am writing.

♥♥  Thinking and pondering ♥♥

At this point I am trying not to think and ponder too much. I am trying to keep my mind focused on being busy. I ave an incredibily active imagination.

♥♥  Homemaking tips ♥♥

♥♥  How am I feeling ♥♥

Sad. For some odd reason we lose pets after soe big emotional experience. I am not sure why. This is the second dog I have lost. I was telling hubby the other day I’m going to end up with a complex. 2 completely different circumstances and really BAD TIMINING

♥♥  On the breakfast plate ♥♥

coffee

♥♥  On my reading pile ♥♥
  • 3 more counseling books (they are short little things just shy of a hundred pages each
  • The Book of Acts
  • The Life Giving Home (Finish March and April)
  • Starting Point (for mentoring)
  • Hello Fears
♥♥  On my TV this week  ♥♥

nothing

 ♥♥  On the menu  ♥♥ 
  • Monday- Pizza and salad
  • Tuesday-Hamburgers and French fries
  • Wednesday- Tater Tot Casserole
  • Thursday- Chili and Bread
  • Friday-Beef Stroganoff
  • Saturday BLTs
  • Sunday- Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
 ♥♥  From the camera  ♥♥

I saw this from the Women of Faith Facebook page and knew I needed to share it. We all desperately need this reminder, sometimes on a regular basis.


♥♥  Looking around the house  ♥♥

This is going to be redundant over the next few weeks. Boxes, cleaning, organizing downsizing …Need I say anymore?

♥♥  To do list  ♥♥

See above

♥♥  Devotional  ♥♥

Colossians 3:12 NLT

 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

Thanks for joining me today I pray that you have a fabulous week! For more Happy Homemaker Monday Posts check out Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

You can check out some of my Happier Happy Homemaker Monday posts here

Gratitude in the Middle……of the Mundane

Posted on by Mary
Mundane

The mundane, the day in and day out. The mundane can be as some put it…BORING. It’s the washing of the dishes for the 4,503rd time. It’s also doing the laundry for the 15,450th time. If you look at it as just the act of doing, yes it seems so mundane and even boring.

Change the narrative

what if we changed the narrative, first in our heads and hearts, and then what comes out of our mouths?

So much of our day-to-day life is affected by what we think and then what we say. And then what we say influences those around us.

My question is what if we stopped looking at those very acts as mundane and instead looked at those tasks as gifts?

I struggle with this. A LOT. My brain gets distracted and bored easily. I’d much rather be…..you name it but I need to be responsible too

Negative self-talk makes us see life in a negative light. And that goes for the mundane as well. When we change the narrative we change the perspective.

Changing the Perspective

Much like the choice of changing the narrative we can choose to change the perspective we have on what our day looks like. Yes, our day can be absolutely rotten. But we aren’t talking about the rotten, that’s coming. Today we are talking about picking up the toys, checking the mail, washing the dishes, throwing a load of laundry in the washing machine, forgetting to move it to the dryer yet again, and hitting the repeat button like a teenager playing the same song over and over and over again. You love the song at first BUT over time it loses its meaning…..or really we lose sight of its meaning. We just get cold to the meaning.

So let’s change our narrative and our perspective!

We have some Choices to make

Let’s start by thanking God for those tasks and our ability to do them.

I know this first hand because there are a couple of things I wish I could do BUT I can’t. And as Can’t I mean I physically can’t….one is actually illegal for me to do!

I cannot drive (though I was once almost mistakenly given a driver’s license a story for another time). I know that I never got to experience the mundane of driving kids here there and everywhere. But I ask you to see what a gift it is. Time with your kiddos. rocking out to their tunes and sharing yours, singing out at the top of your lungs, or having heart conversations.

Be grateful to God for what you have. Just like I am choosing to be grateful for what I have….a unique relationship within my family. I Have to rely on my hubby. If I have to go somewhere I don’t go alone. He’s with me. We have more conversations in the car just because that’s the time we have.

So now it’s Your turn

What’s something that you maybe view as mundane or take for granted that you can choose to change the narrative and perspective on this week? Can you look at that through the eyes of someone who may have different circumstances than you?

Let me know how you intend to change the narrative and/or perspective this next week in the comments below and have a great week!

You can check out the rest of the Gratitude in the Middle posts here

Meet the Team

Posted on by Mary
Team

Happy Wednesday Friends! I have been waiting on the edge of my seat for almost two weeks to introduce you to my prayer team. In reality, these sweet women have been praying for me a lot longer than when I asked them to join me on my journey. They are the only other 2 people on this website who I will use their real first names. This is just another baby step in me letting go of the “mental chess game” I have been struggling with for some time. And in giving up the game I am going to share about these two very special ladies. I can honestly tell you that without them the 100 Days of Choosing Courage blogging project I did this past August-November would have never been finished!

Why A Team

We were never meant to do life alone. We were made to need each other. This is something that God has been teaching hubby and I for some time now. It is why we chose the church we chose. It’s not just about just having a team either. It’s about having the right team. One that loves unconditionally and cares for each other and seeks the others best interests and growth over their own.

Who they are

Meet Beth and Steph! These two women! they amaze me. Each of them has quite the stories of their own. The really held me up last December when my health was turned on its ear. They checked in, they sent encouraging texts, and really listened when I was struggling.

Beth has been a LONG TIME friend of hubby’s family. Beth’s two sons played with Hubby and his brother at the same bible conference we have attended for many years. And now Her grandkids and our kids run and play in the same places their dad did over 20 years ago. Beth and I have connected deeply while at the Bible conference and our friendship has just grown over the last number of years. When hubby and I told her and her hubby that he was resigning from his position they came to us and we had lunch and talked. If ever I’ve had an iron sharpening iron friendship this is it!

Steph and I have been friends since college albeit not as close as we are now. We reconnected through a mutual friend and our friendship has grown deeper as well. We have kids the same age. Our families have a great time together and Steph has been a real light in some struggles we can often be found texting each other about some insanity one of our crazy children has done! A few times she has talked me off the ledge of frustration.

Why a prayer team

BECAUSE I NEED A LOT OF PRAYER! Actually, I was chatting with another friend who is another author and she mentioned she had a prayer team. We talked about what that looked like and the why. That was a number of years ago and I was not in the place to have such a thing. There is A LOT that goes into this but it just wasn’t the time.

Fast forward to this past August when I attended the Global Leadership Summit with hubby. To say I was sick at the time was an understatement Anxiety was an all-day everyday experience I was barely functioning on extremely low iron. Actually, the second day of the conference started out with my first iron infusion But during that conference, I heard a speaker talk about her 100 days of facing her fears. AND AT THAT MOMENT I KNEW…I had to face a fear…YES, ONE…..BLOGGING! weird right? I have been blogging for this insane amount of time and I was afraid of it. Well, that’s because I have been roughly criticized by people who I counted as friends. Those hurts caused me to nearly quit but I have this pretty amazing hubby who wouldn’t let me do that. Enter more mental Chess.

Actually, I had to face two fears. I knew I was going to need accountability and that was going to require me asking someone….and EVERY other time that happened it ended with me getting hurt HORRIBLY. To say I had trust issues is an understatement.

So I prayed and asked God who could serve as a prayer partner for this journey I was about to undertake. Steph was the first person I would ask and then a few weeks later I would add Beth. I created a text thread that introduced the two of them and the rest is history.

The Journey

I cannot tell you the number of times I hit a roadblock and one of the two of them OR BOTH would text me and tell me what the last post had meant to them. It would give me the shot in the arm I needed to keep going.

If I happened to be struggling with a topic or something I could shoot some thoughts off of them. And when that journey ended in November we still kept in contact via that text thread and we still shared prayer requests frustrations and other things.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. I had a rather nerve-wracking meeting scheduled for a Tuesday morning. God had really made some things come to the forefront in my life and it needed to be dealt with as much I didn’t want to. I needed prayer. I knew Hubby would be praying for me but I knew that I needed o contact Steph and Beth and asked them to do the same. And they said they would…..but they like the amazing friends they are didn’t leave it there! They checked in later that night.

AND ALL I HAD TO SAY WAS……

“I wish I could have coffee with the two of you.” Their response was Let’s make it happen and within 10 minutes we had a date time and place. And this past Friday it happened. Steph and Beth had never met each other. It was amazing. I had never had something like that happen. And I spilled my guts. They listened. They loved, We laughed and we grew together. They know there are going to be some challenging posts coming down the line. I don’t know when. But I know that I can count on them to pre-read and pray me through and help me fight off the mental chess games I apparently love to play.

When It comes down to it these two ladies have challenged me to be the best me I can be. When I asked them to take on this role I had no idea what path I was going to head down next. I am a fairly content person. I am not looking for the next cliff to leap off of because we ALL know how I feel about Heights!! ACK!

But as We wrapped up Friday’s meeting I had something rolling in my head. Back in September Beth had read one of my Posts “When You Lose Yourself” and she said she thought it would work great as a book chapter (Beth has known for a long time that this is a HUGE dream that not very many people know about). She said she felt like it was the beginning of a book….and as I sit here re-reading that post I am dumbfounded. She saw something I didn’t and now….now I have more to add..more I didn’t know or maybe understand before

As a matter of fact, as I have sat here scrolling the text messages over the last 8 months a lot has happened. God really is so amazing at how he orchestrates things.

Thank you Ladies

Thank you for embarking on this wild journey that NONE of us fully understand we are on!

Thank you for dropping everything for me!

Thank you for your shining example of friendship and Jesus’ unconditional love.

Thanks for checking in!

Thanks for reading!

Thank you for making me laugh!

Thanks for helping me become a better Jesus follower and communicator!

And most of all thank you for praying!!!