CONTEST NOW CLOSED – I will be announcing the winners shortly! Thank you to everyone who entered – reading your dreams were such a blessing!! 🙂

Stop the presses!! (I’ve always wanted to say that!) 😉 No but seriously…I have a HUGE update on my giveaway!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it!!

After reading and being inspired by so many awesome dream ideas…a wonderful angel (who would like to remain anonymous) felt God calling her to help in this giveaway and donate another 10 copies of Holley’s book!! Can you believe it?! I know…I can’t either!

So needless to say 13 wonderful dreamers will be blessed with a copy of this book!! WOO HOO! So what are you waiting for friends?! Get to entering!!

(Original post)

If you don’t know my friend Holley or haven’t visited her blog….well you should! Holley is a writer and encourager and has put together this lovely “dream-team” that I am involved with. And she has written this amazing book – “You’re Made for a God-Sized Dream”

I had the chance to order a copy before it is released to the public and decided that it would be even more fun if I gave a couple of them away here to share in the love!! YAY!

So in honor of Valentines Day I am loving on 3 lucky people with a copy of Holley’s book! Entering is simple….just leave a comment below sharing a dream you have had for yourself! I will pick the winners on Monday February 18th!  Or and make sure to leave me your email address if it isn’t in your sign on so I can contact you if you win! 🙂

And even if your day isn’t filled with roses, chocolates or a singing barbershop quartet…remember that you are fully loved by God – with a love greater than any earthly gift you can receive…be filled with that truth today!!

CONTEST NOW CLOSED – I will be announcing the winners shortly! Thank you to everyone who entered – reading your dreams were such a blessing!! 🙂

Stop the presses!! (I’ve always wanted to say that!) 😉 No but seriously…I have a HUGE update on my giveaway!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it!!

After reading and being inspired by so many awesome dream ideas…a wonderful angel (who would like to remain anonymous) felt God calling her to help in this giveaway and donate another 10 copies of Holley’s book!! Can you believe it?! I know…I can’t either!

So needless to say 13 wonderful dreamers will be blessed with a copy of this book!! WOO HOO! So what are you waiting for friends?! Get to entering!!

(Original post)

If you don’t know my friend Holley or haven’t visited her blog….well you should! Holley is a writer and encourager and has put together this lovely “dream-team” that I am involved with. And she has written this amazing book – “You’re Made for a God-Sized Dream”

I had the chance to order a copy before it is released to the public and decided that it would be even more fun if I gave a couple of them away here to share in the love!! YAY!

So in honor of Valentines Day I am loving on 3 lucky people with a copy of Holley’s book! Entering is simple….just leave a comment below sharing a dream you have had for yourself! I will pick the winners on Monday February 18th!  Or and make sure to leave me your email address if it isn’t in your sign on so I can contact you if you win! 🙂

And even if your day isn’t filled with roses, chocolates or a singing barbershop quartet…remember that you are fully loved by God – with a love greater than any earthly gift you can receive…be filled with that truth today!!

** I am linking up today with Kasey (a sweet dreamer-friend) to discuss “Marriage and Mommyhood – finding grace in the balance”.  Unfortunately (for me) I seem to have a lot of “material” in this area…so I am excited to join in today!**

Parenting/Motherhood is HARD. Can I get an Amen?! 😉

Seriously though….have you ever met a mother that says parenting is the easiest thing she has ever done? I have not…and if I did I don’t know that I would believe her!

I think, in the beginning, that I blissfully thought my children would be angels, sleep through the night at 3 weeks, would always share their toys….and the list goes on and on.

Boy was I in for a surprise! 🙂 My first didn’t sleep through the night until he was 3, my labors didn’t go as planned, nursing was awful for the first few weeks and I was an emotional wreck most of the time.

That was my reality….and it wasn’t pretty.

Don’t get me wrong though – my kids are awesome. Dominic and I say all the time that they are the best things that we have done together….they are kind hearted and hard working and caring….

But they are kids – and all kids have their moments….and Karlena had one today.

I got that dreaded e-mail this morning….the one where your wonderful daycare provider has to tell you that your child has hurt someone.  Apparently my sweet princess, 2 year old daughter had pushed another little boy so hard that he hit his head/lip into a bookshelf…was bleeding and now has a fat lip.

Sigh….

And in walks “Mommy guilt”.

Do you know this feeling? The whispers that tell you “if you had been a better mom then this wouldn’t have happened…”, “This behavior is a direct reflection of you”, “How come the other daycare moms don’t have to get these kind of emails?”

Oh that Mommy guilt can be nasty….and if I am not careful I can fall into that trap hard and fast!

So in these times…these not-so proud mama moments….I need to remember that my child is a child of God. Created in His image….

Should I expect them to be perfect?

Absolutely not!! Am i?! (insert lots of laughing and a few snorts here!!) Um NO!

I can use these moments to continue to reinforce the “good” behavior and try and discourage the “negative” behavior.

While I am not proud of my daughter’s behavior today…..it doesn’t make me love her any less. And it is a reminder to me of how much our Father loves us…imperfections and all.

Motherhood is hard…especially in those tough moments where a situation is less than ideal. But keep at it. There are great days around each corner. Proud mama moments that make you forget all the frustrating times. And those moments are worth more than anything!

Love on your kiddos today and remember that if you find yourself in a situation that makes you want to hang your head….there is probably another mama out there feeling the same way. We are not alone in this – don’t ever forget that!! 🙂

I am a “people pleaser”.

Always have been….I am always worried about how my decisions etc will impact those around me. And while this can be seen as something positive about me….it can turn into something negative when I can’t say no and over-commit to everything.

As a FT working mother of 4 kids, I HAVE to be able to say no to things. But it doesn’t come easy to me.  When we lived in SD I found myself in a situation where I had committed to too many things at once. Dominic and I were involved in our church, had various commitments almost every night of the week, time with extended family and then I had volunteered to help with a project at Isaac’s school.

I got involved after a plea for help from another parent when I realized that no one else was signing up….of course I decided that I would be the “rescuer-er”. So even though I didn’t have time, didn’t have a passion for the project, I agreed to help anyways.

And I was sinking.

I found myself frustrated and resentful that I “had” to be involved. And while no one made me sign up….I was angry that I had put myself in that situation. I went to a good friend and shared my predicament.

And she told me that I needed to back away from the project. “But I can’t do that…they are counting on me…how will that make me look?!”

And she told me that I was doing it for the wrong reasons, and that the other people involved would understand.

And so I backed out. I explained where I was at and prayed for grace and understanding. And you know what? I got it!

And it was as if a weight had been lifted….

Sometimes we find ourselves trying to do it all, handle everything, that we don’t leave any room for our God-sized dreams. Sometimes we have to say “no” so that we can say “yes” to the plans that God has for us.

But it is hard and what if people don’t understand?!

I have discovered in my own life that people are MUCH more gracious and understanding than I give them credit for. And when you share your heart with others….you will usually get grace in return.

So start praying about that Go-sized dream of yours…and be willing to let go of the things that are holding you back. It won’t be easy at first, and you may get some resistance….but I have found that when I am doing those things that God desires for me….the right doors open and it becomes less “work” and more fun! 😉

Do you have a hard time saying “no”? What stops you?? I’d love to hear how you plan to start saying “yes” to your dreams!

Linking up with Lisa Jo again this week to participate in Five Minute Friday. I love this because it is just a commitment of five minutes of unedited writing….we can all do that can’t we?? So if you haven’t started this series yet…today’s the day!

Today’s word is BARE – ready, set go –

This goes against what is most comfortable for me…in all honesty I wear a mask much easier than I bare my “real” heart.

You see I have always struggled with the need to be perfect. Or at least the need to make you believe that things are perfect in my life….that I have it all together.

I want you to think that my children are perfect angels, or to think that I always have a countenance of peace and joy. But the truth is, like everyone, I struggle at all of it! 🙂

There are Sunday mornings when Dominic and I are not getting along on the way to church…yet I put on my smile like all is well with the world.

There are morning that I get frustrated and short with my kids….and then apologize as we are driving to school so they won’t have a bad day….

It is the “ugly” truth of who I can be sometimes….and it is difficult to bare that here…be real and transparent and hope for grace.

But God doesn’t call us to be perfect people…..He wants us to be perfect IN Him.

Why do I forget that? Why do I think that you all expect me to be perfect because I write about God here in this space?

I am working through this refining process…learning who God really is to me. Learning that my own worst enemy is me…and that I keep myself at a distance from God’s graces because I place these impossible standards on myself.

But God wants us to approach Him in our barest form….open to being changed and molded into His likeness.

“Take me and mold me, use me, fill me

I give my life to the Potter’s hand Call me,

You guide me, lead me, walk beside me

I give my life to the Potter’s hand”

This is my prayer today…that I be open and transparent and willing to be “seen” by the One who can shape me into the woman He desires me to be.