I want to write a blog, but I have no idea what to write about

SO, I want to write a blog, but I have no idea what to write about. LOL. Have you ever had days like that. I feel like there is so much in my brain, but I cannot wrangle enough of it together to form complete, much less understandable, thoughts. Sigh.

The joys of mommy brain

So, I guess today I will just make fun of myself. Nothing like a good old dose of “Oh don’t worry we are laughing WITH you, not AT you… “Yeah. Right. We all know that when people say that they are laughing at you. What a cop out. Next time someone says that just punch them, then laugh, and say the same thing. At least that way you got the last laugh. HEH.

Stupid things Emily has done:

1) Run smack into one of those poles in the middle of Target. You know those support poles? In all fairness, I was looking at my 2 year old and trying to get her to stop throwing a fit over not getting to go in the bra section to get a hot pink bra with neon stars. I will just blame her. Yeah. Sounds good. LOL.

2) Run into the screen door, thinking it was open. Yes. I did. Just like those birds on the windex commerical. Sigh. I am sure there was a kid to blame in this somewhere as well. I just cannot remember. I think the number of times I have run into things is starting to effect my memory… What day is it again? Is it Christmas monday?

3) In pregnancy: Put milk in the cupboard, dirty dishes in the fridge, and snacks in the dishwasher. Yup. And all in one trip to the kitchen for that pregnancy craving. HA. But see? A kid? to blame. Again. I am starting to see a trend…

4) I walk a little crooked, and end up pushing people off the sidewalk. haha. Maybe I am slightly disproportional? LOL.

5) I called penguins, flamingos. Twice. LOL. In front of my mother in law and all the fam. Yeah. Haven’t lived that one down.

6) I missed an exit to my besties house here… even though we have lived here about 4 years… and this was like uhhh last month. HA. Again. Blame the kids? They were yapping and I was not paying attention? LOL.

7) I pretty much run into things at least once a week. HA. I should video myself then submit it. I may win something… other than the most number of bumps and bruises, though I may win that too. I always have bruises and can’t remember what I ran into to get the, haha.

Ok. I know there are more stupid things that I have done, some probably more so than what I wrote, but my mommy brain (or perhaps the brain damage from running into things) is getting to me. I am sure my husband could add a few stories. LOL.

Reasons I get tired of Facebook, and reasons I have a hard time saying a total goodbye

So, I have written a couple of blogs about Facebook. READ HERE and then READ HERE

Today, I am just going to share some things that really aggravate me about Facebook. So, I apologize in advance for this rant of a blog, though I DO think they are things to think on (myself included) and to think about before we post things.

My hormones are a raging today, so you may wanna stand back. LOL. So, I am sure my raging pregnancy hormones have something to do with how emotional I get over some things, that, and I am super sensitive like my daughter Katie. Hmm. I wonder where she got it from. SORRY MOM! I realize how challenging it can be raising a highly sensitive child now! LOL.

However, I also have reservations totally shutting down the whole operation. Why throw the baby out with the bath water right? Maybe I should just drain some of the nasty water out? Maybe add some pretty pink bubble, or foaming bath soap instead? Or how about some lavender bath salts!? OHHH that sounds nice… Too bad our water pressure SUCKS and I can’t take a bath, unless I want to wait 10 years for the tub to fill up, and by that point the hot water has run out. HAHA. Yes. we WILL replumb the house. Eventually. For now, a shower works ok…

Reasons I get tired of Facebook:

1) It is not a competition — I get so tired of the posts I see that are CLEARLY made to puff up people’s egos. I am sure the way I have posted at times, it may seem I am doing the same. I am sorry if I have ever made anyone feel this way. I do try and be careful though. Life is not a competition bro. We all have our own unique abilities. Let’s embrace those, rather than making others feel bad cause they can’t do the same “kick butt thing” that you posted about on Facebook.

2) Grumpy Cat — ok Shoot me. I guess I am grumpy, but really. They are STUPID and I hate them. If that makes me grumpy like grumpy cat, so be it, but you won’t see me post the same picture of myself with a different tagline multiple times a day.

3) Selling this product or that product — OMG. I could care less about your product, to be honest. Now, I am not talking about the people who do an occasional post here and there about what they are selling, or friends who have a facebook page for their product and will post a link saying, hey check out my page. THAT is totally cool! Also, things the person HAND MAKES is different to post about, imo. I am talking about the ones I see that pretty much their entire timeline is splattered with product information, why you should buy this, or that, or use this or eat that. My product will make you fly like superman kind of thing. You know, those pyramid type companies. People, PLEASE, if you have that much to post get a Facebook page for your product and stop clogging my newsfeed. I have many friends who sell things and they HAVE made a separate page for it. GOD. BLESS. YOU. ALL.  To be honest, I have opted to take some people off my newsfeed for this reason. No offense, I just don’t think it appropriate to use your timeline as a way to make money.

4) Getting random messages from people who have not talked to me in YEARS. Seriously, YEARS… saying things like “oh I know you are as stay at home mom and probably need money. Join my team and sell my product to make money.” Please. You don’t care about me, or the people that you do that to. Think about it. How would you feel if someone who has taken no interest in anything else in your life, randomly, out of the blue, wrote you asking them to join their team selling such and such? You would probably feel used and like that person just wanted to use you to get ahead and make more money for themselves. It appears selfish. Sorry. That is harsh, but it is the truth. That is exactly how those types of  messages make me feel.

5) TOO MUCH POLITICAL CRAP — enough said.

6) Food battles — I am not talking about a Facebook edition of Food Network. I mean the whole foods vs convenience foods battle. I have mentioned before we are doing what we can to eat healthier, more REAL foods, less processed junk. However, I will not go off the deep end. We will do what we can, and do the best we can. THAT is the bottom line. I am tired of all the articles and findings and research about how everything will kill you or make your hands and feet fall off one phalanges at a time. I have seen rude comments, things like “people who feed their families processed foods are lazy and don’t care about their children” — WOAH. TIME OUT. Enough with the cut downs and judgmental assumptions. You don’t know those people, you don’t know what they are dealing with, how much money they have, or ANY of their circumstances in life. People have said comments of the like to people who use formula, how is has all this bad crap, GMO, stuff that makes your child die, etc. HMM what if they CANNOT breastfeed? I have tried twice. and failed. twice. My first daughter was failure to thrive. My second daughter threw up. CONSTANTLY. Being a parents is hard enough without posting all this fear mongering stuff. If you have a LEGIT study? post it. But you have to remember that OF COURSE some studies are going to be biased. A Study from someone who hates steak will be biased toward steak and how bad it is for you. So, just give it a rest and stop judging. I have 2 words for you. GLASS. HOUSES.

7) Fake — I have said this in a previous post, but come on. People post highlights of their day, which again, can lead to mothers and other people just feeling like a giant ball of horse poop. Facebook, as much as people SAY they are “real” let’s be honest. It isn’t.

8) Meanness — People think because they are hidden behind a computer screen they can type whatever they want, say whatever they want, however they want, with no regards to peoples feelings or struggles. Newsflash. Typing is still using the tongue for evil. Proverbs it. Yes I said “proverbs it.” you know, we say google it, well I say go to proverbs. It has quite a bit to say about the tongue and just because your mouth may be silent, your fingers are still doing the talking. So, think before you type. Read it and think again before you hit enter.

And now, why I cannot completely say goodbye to Facebook, though I am close.

1) I enjoy seeing pictures of old friends and their children

2) It has gotten me back in contact with old friends

3) It is a great way for my family, who are ALL in different states to see pictures and read about the girls

Hmm. My list of pros is definitely A LOT shorter than my list of cons. Something to think about…

Shark week is a priority.

I think it is high time for a nonsense blog. I have been kinda serious lately. I know, geez. I am such a debbie downer, making everyone think and all. GOSH EMILY! So, today, I figured, it is Friday, do something silly. Not that Friday’s really matter when you are a mother, but hey, whatever makes you happy, floats your boat, gets your panties out of a wad, or whatever stupid cliche keeps ya going… I still say

TGIF!

Today, I am just going to share something funny. Well, I thought it was funny, perhaps mommy humor doesn’t carry over to other mommies. Maybe it is one of those things where things are only funny to the mom of the kid who said it, but I don’t care. I am sharing it anyway.

This is from my daughter, Katie. She is 4.5 years old. She is weird, like her mommy, which I find awkwardly comforting and makes me just a little bit proud. Hey. Being weird is awesome. Totally better than “normal” (*insert eye roll here) I mean, really, who wants to be plain old, mind numbingly dull, NORMAL? NOT ME!

Those who know me know that I have a strange fascination for things that can kill you. Great White Sharks, snakes, spiders, etc etc etc… My children have had this awesome gift passed down to them. Hey, you say creepy and sick, I say awesome… We are trying to save some moola, cause I mean who isn’t these days,  so we decided to cut cable. Again. Why we got it again in the first place is another blog. LOL. I guess I missed HGTV, but now that I have seen all three new episodes, they are back to reruns, soooo anyhoo….

Well, we used Christmas money to get amazon prime membership. It is a one time payment, and with it you get things similar to netflix. Ya know, instant streaming kinda thing. We have a ROKU, we got the previous year for Christmas, hooked up to a computer monitor in the basement, so the girls watch that sometimes down there while I am cleaning or making dinner etc. Well, when I told Katie we were having to cut the TV (ie her disney shows) she first asked why. I told her we needed to save money and she goes…

“Mommy. We will still be able to watch shark week!? OH and shows about snakes and spiders!?”

Yes. My 4 year old has her priorities in order I tell ya. I mean, who doesn’t want to see a meat eating fish rip the face off a seal or a huge snake squeeze the life out of a poor lemur or a spider cause someone’s flesh to slowly rot off!?

When I told her that yes that is on Amazon, she had this huge look of relief, and even sighed then said:

“OH, well as long as I can watch Shark week, I don’t care. That’s fine mommy. We don’t need Disney channel”

Yup. That’s my girl!

…hopefully this is not cause for alarm. Should I be concerned? Well, I like that kind of thing, and I turned out ok.

Or did I?

hmm…

 

disConnected: and how it effects our children

A few days ago I wrote a blog about how I think we can tend to disconnect by connecting… meaning we disconnect from the World around us, our children included, by connecting to technology. If you missed that blog, READ IT HERE

I was mainly focusing on Facebook, as I think we can tend to look to that to fill voids, relationships, etc, rather than getting out and serving others and getting to know and love on those around us. I think any form of “social networking” can do this though, whether it be Facebook, Twitter,  or all of the games we play on our phones, or through Facebook, etc. Any of these things can become addictive and cause issues, if we are not careful.

I am going to continue some thoughts and convictions I have had on this. I am not doing this to bash anyone, judge anyone, or bash social networking sites (or any other form of technology we use to escape the real world) but rather challenge you to take a deep, hard, long look at how much time you disconnect by connecting.

The Bible says that children are a blessing.

“Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him.” Psalm 127:3 (NLT)

I believe that when we, as mothers especially, connect to technology too often, or get onto social networking sites too much, it causes us to lose site of the powerful truth of this passage. There are several reasons I think it causes this

1) Connecting to social networking sites increases anxiety in our hearts.  — When we are constantly connected, reading other peoples highlights, because let’s face it, not many people put up negative things, such as “Woah, I totally lost it with my kid 5 times today” or “I don’t know how to cook anything and I feel like a complete loser” – people post things to make themselves LOOK better to everyone else  (not all, some people I know are real, but even in being “real” I don’t think we REALLY tell it like it TRULY is the majority of the time) SO, what happens ? We think what people post is real, everyday life, therefore we start comparing, therefore we start feeling inadequate or like we are worthless. We can also get angry, upset, or outraged over things we see that cause us to be anxious. Neither one of these are helpful. Both cause us to be anxious, and our children pick up on our anxiety, and begin to start thinking they have to be a certain way, do certain things, etc to be important.

When we feel anxiety or compare ourselves to Sally Sunshine or Suzy Homemaker, what happens to our relationship with our children? We start thinking we are not a good enough mother, we get anxious, worried, and upset, therefore we may snap easier, lose patience faster, yell more, or feel as if we “can’t take another day” more often. I know this is true for me. The more I am on Facebook, if I am honest, the easier it is for me to get more easily frustrated with things my children do, even when they are age appropriate things, or things they are doing that cause no harm.

2) When we focus on what everyone else’s kids are doing, we start thinking something is “wrong” with our kids. We compare our children’s strengths and weaknesses. What!? Bobby can count to 20, my kid can only count to 5, something must be wrong with him, I must be a horrible mother… so we begin to pressure not only ourselves, but our children as well. We are not viewing them as the gifts they are. Each child was made by the Lord for a unique purpose. Each child is precious. Each child was made different and each child has a purpose planned for them by God. When we compare and pressure our children to be like others, we lose focus of the amazing things God created them to be.

3) When we are connected too much (social networking, TV, phone, e-readers, whatever) we are not paying attention to our children as we should be. If we are honest, many times we are neglecting them. We are missing out on their lives. They grow fast, we need to not take that for granted. Being a mother is a job that the Lord gave us, and we need to do it with excellence. If we are constantly connected, we are definitely NOT doing it with excellence.

*note: I am not saying our children need our undivided attention 24/7, or that checking your mail, or facebook every so often while your children are playing is wrong, but there is a limit. There is a point that it is too much. If you ever feel convicted about time spent on it, wonder if you are on it too much, or get defensive when someone says you are on it too much, you probably are (spoken from experience)

4) Connecting too much robs us of the joy of motherhood, therefore robs our children of joy. They see us parents. They see that we are not paying attention. They are not stupid. If they see us connected too much they will begin to feel as if they are not good enough, we don’t care about them, or that what we are doing on the computer is more important than them. I never want to hurt my children in this way. Shame on us. I remember the turning point for me… my oldest daughter, who is 4, told me she gets sad when I am on the computer too much because it makes her feel like I love that more than her. Woah. Causing our children to feel this way is NOT treating them as the blessing and gift they are.

5) Connecting too much can make one go into survival mode. It makes one want to just “get through another day.” It makes one wish time away, or wish they were not in this phase, or that phase, or whatever else. It makes one see the negative, rather than enjoy the positive phases that come with each age. Each age has their struggles. We live in a broken world. However, each age also has amazing, wonderful, and glorious things about them that create beautiful memories… IF we take the time to really see, rather than just do what we can to get by.

We all have bad days here and there. I get that. We all have days we need to disconnect, and on occasion  that is ok. I usually have one day a week that we have a down day. We each kinda do our own thing for a period of the day. It is beneficial for everyone… but not every day. That can cross a line. The are days I cannot wait for nap time. LOL. Some days are just ROUGH and I would be lying if I did not admit this…

but I love my girls, and they are growing way too fast, so I never want to “wish time away” because I know that all too soon I will be wishing for it back.

God is our Father, we are their mother

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you…” Isaiah 66:13

I love this verse. It is so simple. So true. What a beautiful picture of what we, as mothers, are to our children. God, our Father, blessed us with our children, He loves us, He comforts us and He is who we should look toward to know how to parent.

Mother’s wear many hats. We clean.  We comfort. We cook. We chauffeur. We fix boo boo’s. We chase away the boogie man. We dance with Cinderella or fight dragons with a knight. Maybe sometimes we ARE the dragon or the evil stepsister. We break up fights. We hug and kiss and repair broken hearts and repair hurt feelings. We wipe tears. We wipe eyes. We wipes noses. We wipe….bums. We clean puke off the sheets, the favorite teddy bear, and ourselves at 3 AM in the morning. We do our best to remain calm when all we feel like doing is screaming to PLEASE STOP NOW to the non stop whining or demands or fighting. We sometimes do yell and have to say we are sorry. We chase butterflies. We search for bugs. We are an exterminator… and so much more.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control;against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

The fruits of the spirit are vital to motherhood. They are important to have in order to parent the way God parents us. Jesus, God in human form, exhibited these to all those around him. If I am honest…

I am not always loving.

I am not always peaceful.

I am not always patient.

I am not always kind.

I am not always showing goodness.

I am not always faithful.

I am not always gentle.

I do not always have self control.

Though I fail, God does not. He gave us the children we have and HE will change us from the inside out, so that we may parent as he parents us.

God will help us be loving even when our child talks back, rolls their eyes, or refuses to do as asked.

God will help us have joy in the mundane, the mess clean ups, the accidents to mop up, the puke to wash out and the hard times of discipline or teaching hard lessons.

God will help us have peace even when we are worried about our children, they go off to school, they seem to turn away, or they are distant from us.

God will help us have patience when we just can’t take the whining anymore, or we hear “Mommy will you….” for the 500th time in 1 hour.

God will help us show kindness even when are are too tired to think and the demands from motherhood are weighing us down.

God will help us strive to model goodness in our attitudes and our words.

God will help us remain faithful when we feel we cannot take another step, deal with another mess, wipe another snotty nose.

God will help us show gentleness, even in times of teaching life lessons or disciplining.

God will help our hearts, attitudes, and tongues have self control, even when we feel we have to take a bajillion deep breaths, or our heads may explode.

Mother’s have a job. Mother’s have a blessing as well. Motherhood is not easy. Motherhood is not always pretty, or restful, or glamorous. Motherhood is exhausting at times. However, even in these times, look to God. God is our Heavenly Father. He loves us. He is there for us. He gave us a gift. Motherhood is a gift.

Thank you to all you mama’s out there. You are beautiful. You are amazing. You are a blessing… and you are appreciated.

 

3.0

For those of you who do not know already…

Baby 3.0 is due September 23rd, 2013!!! AND….

IT’S A BOY!!!!

We are very excited. The girls are BEYOND thrilled. They have been talking about their baby brother NON STOP today, and everytime they do, they happy dance, grin ear to ear, get the sweetest, most excited expression and SQUEAL. Holly (2.5 years) has informed people it is HER baby in my tummy and that it is for HER and HER baby brother. HAHA. Katie, at the sonogram today when the sono tech announced it was a boy, said “I KNEW IT! I TOLD YOU!!” So. stinkin’. cute.

I am blessed.

The baby was healthy and all appeared great! The little stinker would NOT TURN so the nurse could see his back. I did exercises, toe touches and walked around, not once, but TWICE before he finally moved. I think it was because of Katie. She walked up, touched my belly and said “baby brother you NEED to move. They need to check your back” LOL — I guess it worked

We do have one prayer. Many of you know that Holly was born at 35 weeks. She had a partially collapsed lung and was in the NICU over 2 weeks. Katie was born full term, 37 weeks. My OB is not worried and is really certain Holly came early because my body knew she was in trouble. She had the cord around her neck. READ HER BIRTH STORY HERE. 

BUT… please pray that little dude stays put until full term. I would prefer AT LEAST 38 weeks, and my due date would be amazing. I am pretty small, so my ob does tend to think 36-37 weeks may be my “full term” — but let’s all pray for 38-40 weeks! Also, little dude was measuring EXACTLY what he should, which is a surprise. LOL. I have always measured smaller… so maybe little dude won’t be so little?

We are so very thrilled. We covet and would appreciate your prayers for all to continue smoothly and for little dude to stay put

disConnected

We live in a world where you can connect to technology pretty much anywhere. anytime. anyplace. Many places, like Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, and even the ATT wireless store boast of free wifi access for those who carry a smartphone so you can be connected without having to pay data costs. Pretty swanky huh? I think this is great, fine, well and good. I have enjoyed a few times alone in Barnes and Noble on my Nook (that I won free because I entered an online contest), or Samsung Galaxy S3, because my amazing husband told me to go sneak a few moments for myself. I have appreciated being able to browse the bookstore on my nook while drinking coffee, without being charged.

However, when do these tools, or things we do to take a breather, become a time waster? When does it cross over into the line of this:

“Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” Proverbs 10:4

or this:

“She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.” Proverbs 31:27 — (meaning we ARE being lazy, or idle, and not tending to the ways of our home or family as we should)

How often do we get online just because we can when there are other, more important things, we could be doing. How often do we hang out on Facebook while the children play, rather than playing WITH them, or watching them, admiring them, or enjoying them? How often do we use Facebook, or other things, to escape motherhood and the important job God has given us?

I have had some pretty strong thoughts and convictions that I have had recently that I want to share with you. This is not an attack on smartphones, Facebook, computers, or technology in and of itself, nor is it an attack on those who use it. They serve good purposes much of the time. They are helpful a lot of the time. What this post IS, is a challenge. I want to challenge you to look at how much time you are disconnected by connecting. When I say this I mean, how often are you disconnected from the world around you, your children, your family, etc, because you are connecting yourself to technology, or Facebook, or the television, or staring at your little smartphone screen without so much as looking up when someone tries to get your attention?

My focus today will be primarily on Facebook, because THAT is what I think I am connecting to TOO much, therefore disconnecting from those around me. From life. From my children. From my husband. From my community. From needs that need to be met. However, ANY form of technology has the power to do this. The Devil can use any and every single item that we use to connect to the WWW or disconnect from the “real world” so to speak, as a way to keep us from serving the Lord and fulfilling His will. In fact, that is what he WANTS.

I am a stay at home mother. I enjoy it. It is tiring, yes, but it is a wonderful job and a blessing. I am thankful to be able to do this. However, this does not give me an excuse to be at home all day, be a hermit, and use Facebook as my primary means to “get out there”, have relationships, and meet people. Yes, it can serve that. I am thankful for SO many I have connected with through Facebook. I am thankful for the mom group I am on. However, those relationships can only go so far. We were made to need real interaction. Eye contact. Face to face conversations. Hugs. Emotional connections. Physically helping, serving, and loving others. I think sometimes we use motherhood as an excuse to say we NEED Facebook because otherwise we would have no friends.

However,  do we have no friends because we are on Facebook too much, therefore not getting out and meeting people? I think sometimes the answer is yes. I know it has been for me sometimes. I spend all my energy on Facebook, and then am too tired to meet needs of those around me. Yes, I have children. Yes, sometimes it is hard to get out. That is not an excuse though, I don’t think. We can still get out there, show love, serve others, help others, meet people, and share God’s love, and yes, even WITH our children. I think we should. I think we should be getting our children in on the action! Yes, our children are our primary ministry, but we can be getting out and about, doing daily tasks, and share the love of Christ, no matter WHERE we are or WHAT we are doing.

A wonderful example of this is with my 4.5 year old daughter. We were at the zoo one day and there were some special needs children. What did Katie do? She looked me in the eyes and told me that God made those people special, just like us. He loves them, and we should love them too. What did she do? She smiled, talked, and waved to each one of them. Those kids smiled back at her and she just smiled bigger. She showed God’s love. There was one little boy in particular who could not speak or make any sounds. He was talking to us through gestures. Katie (even Holly, my 2 year old) picked up on this and started talking to him the say way. They were giggling, the little boy had a smile ear to ear, and pretty soon, they were all pretending to be different animals together. It was amazing. When we left, Katie said. He was such a sweet boy mommy, God sure loves him. Yes, Katie.  He does, and you showed him God’s love by taking the time to love on him. She did this again at the park when there was another group of special needs children. She told me no one was playing with them and everyone needs friends. She asked if we could go be their friends. She marched over, and started swinging on the swing next to a girl. She then went and talked to the other kids, and BOY did they love it! It was awesome.

How can we do these things if we are always at home, always on Facebook, or watching tv, etc? We can’t.

The girls and I were not doing anything special. We went to the zoo. Something we do many times. We just did our best to show God’s love no matter where we were, what we did, or who we came into contact with. THAT is something your children can do. Motherhood is not an excuse to sit at home because you think it is too hard to get out… and I admit. I used this excuse a lot. I didn’t FEEL like it. I didn’t FEEL like getting the kids in the car.

Now, I am not saying you have to go out EVERY. DAY. HA, that would kill me. However, I think we could do it more. I think we could spend more time with our children, getting out together, and being a light for Jesus.

Yes, we can share things on Facebook, and use it to talk of God’s love, but let’s be honest. I am not saying it CANNOT and I am not saying we should never take advantage of using it. It can be a TOOL. BUT… It really just does not work the same as talking with someone face to face. It is not the same as using your hands and feet and serving those in need in your community. In fact, Facebook can get us in trouble! You cannot read tone or someone’s heart, therefore arguments break out, debates start, people get angry, upset, and are pushed away, and that is not doing anyone any good, and it sure isn’t helping the efforts for the kingdom of God any either. In fact, sometimes I believe it can do more harm than good. I am learning this. I have been convicted of this.

If you have a heart for teen moms, great. Don’t simply post articles about them, get out there and find a way to love on one. Have  a heart for those with depression? Don’t just post about depression, get out there and help those who are hurting. Have a heart for teaching girls about modesty and teaching them about purity? Awesome. Stop simply posting about it and get out there and be a light for it, help young girls understand their value. Have a heart for speaking out against abortion? That is great! Don’t just post anti-abortion articles (though they can bring awareness) get out there and serve. Donate money or time to a women’s home, donate money or time to a crisis pregnancy clinic, find a way to serve, even if it simply going to the place you have a heart for and praying over it (I want to do this with the girls) We can get our children involved in prayer, and I think we should.

This post is getting long. I will continue other thoughts another day. For now, that is my first thought and conviction.

We tend to hide away on Facebook rather than serving those around us. We can use motherhood as an excuse to say we NEED Facebook, therefore become addicted to it (yes, we can become addicted to Facebook), again, not getting out and serving those around us.

Facebook friends can be awesome. I have several, as I stated before. I love them and love keeping in touch with them, but folks… we are called to be a light. We are called to be that light on a hill for our communities. We need to get out there, IN PERSON. We need to get to know those around us, our neighbors, and see how we can love them, serve them, and help them. I think we can get our children involved! What better way to teach your children about serving as Christ did, than to get out, and do it together as a family?

More thoughts to come this week. Again, this was a challenge. I am challenging myself as much as you. I hope it made you think.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14