The Saving of Many Lives

I've had this on my heart this week and wanted to share it with you.

Do you have struggles in your life? Duh, who doesn't, right? My struggles may look nothing like your struggles but we all have SOMETHING.

I really believe God puts these things in our lives not only to help us grow but to help others as well. Who can relate to someone facing bankruptcy other than someone who has been there? Who can counsel a wife in a miserable, failing marriage better than someone who has gone through it? Who can cry with a woman in the midst of infertility other than someone who has felt that pain?

There are SO many things that we all struggle with daily. For the most part, they are different but you are not the only one to ever go through that struggle. Aren't there times when you think, "Gosh, I wish I had a mentor or someone who truly understood what I am struggling with?" For those of you who are blessed with such a person in your life, be thankful because they are few and hard to find.

It's not that there aren't women out there. There just aren't enough women out there willing (or maybe it's able) to share that part of their life.

I think for a while, we (as a society) went through a period where you just didn't talk about the hard things in life. You needed to keep up your perfect appearance and not "let anyone see you sweat." I still think we are a society that is struggling with that but I also see a break in this perfect facade. I think there are women willing to step out and talk about the hard things.

I think we are finally starting to come around and see that perfection is over-rated and SO not real. I think we are seeing the benefit to exposing ourselves and letting healing come, not only for ourselves but for others.

I know in my own life, I have really started to open up and share some of my struggles. It has been healing and hopefully in some small way, helpful to others. If I can let some other mom see that they are not alone in what they are dealing with and that there is someone else out there that knows, REALLY KNOWS how it feels, it is worth laying down my pride and sharing myself.

I would encourage you to think of your struggles as opportunities to minister to others. Obviously, you may be in the midst of it right now and thinking "Ha, I need to be ministered to right now; I can't even think about helping someone else." I get that. There will come a time though when the pain has lessened, maybe you have been victorious in overcoming this particular struggle, or you come to peace with your situation.

When that day comes, think about reaching out and helping someone just like you. You could make such a difference in the life of another.

I think of Joseph and his story. Man, he went through struggles. They weren't fun or enjoyable but God used those situations to put him in a position to help countless people.

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives." Genesis 50:20 NIV

Let's try to think of our struggles the same way. Give them over to God and pray that He would use them for His good to help others. Doesn't it all seem worth it then? It still stinks, but when you keep it at the back of your head that maybe, just maybe you are dealing with this so that you can help another woman someday, it doesn't seem so wasted, does it?

God will bring you through it. He has a plan for your future.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Let's be the generation that breaks the perfection cycle and starts the healing cycle! God doesn't want us perfect, He wants to see us healed.

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Please know that you can come to me in confidence anytime you are facing a struggle and need prayer or a listening ear. You don't ever have to feel alone. I wish someone would have said that to me years ago ...

You are special. You are cared about. You are loved.

Resurrection Eggs

Today my sister, Kelly, has written a guest post for us just in time for Easter!

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A couple of years ago, my sister in law Hope gave me this wonderful book along with a carton of plastic eggs. The book is called "Benjamin's Box" and the eggs are called Resurrection Eggs.

I think this is one of the best ways I've seen to explain the Easter story to your children.

It's the story of a little boy named Benjamin and his treasure box. Benjamin was given a box by his grandfather filled with nothing but straw, straw that came from a manger bed of a king named Jesus. Benjamin had heard that Jesus was coming into town and so he begins his journey.

As you turn each page, you and your child take a journey with Benjamin picking up treasures along the way to put into their own treasure box.

Each page of the book corresponds to a plastic egg. For example, during Benjamin's journey he hears a rumor that the priests have offered money for someone to betray Jesus. Benjamin warns one of the men following Jesus and the man tells Benjamin he will take care of it and hands him a denarius not to repeat it to anyone else. Benjamin thanks him and asks his name...his name is Judas Iscariot. Benjamin adds the coin to his treasure box.

You can start the book 12 days before Easter and read 1 page per day. You also open 1 egg each day allowing your child to place the item inside their own treasure box. {You can also do it all at once or make it part of an egg hunt }

By the time you reach the end of the story, the glorious resurrection of King Jesus, your child will have heard the entire story of Jesus' journey to Calvary. At the end of the book when your child turns the last page and its Benjamin praying and thanking God for sending Jesus, you open their last egg. Inside they see a picture of themselves and you can explain that Jesus did it all for them because He loves them so much.

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Thank you, Kelly! This is such a great visual for kids to help them understand what Easter is really about.

Nothing is Wasted

Friday night I had the privilege of seeing Jason Gray in concert. He sang this song and I had never heard it before. I thought it was beautiful.



Nothing is Wasted by Jason Gray

Banana Bread

This is my sister's recipe for banana bread. I made some today and simply substituted light butter for regular. I couldn't taste a difference and was amazed at how low the points plus were per serving. I have never really baked with the light butter before and now I am definitely going to try it more.




Banana bread

2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. light butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/3 c. mashed overripe bananas (5 lg. bananas)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture just until moistened. Pour batter into pan.

Bake 350 degrees for 60-65 mins.

Cool for 10 mins.

Enjoy!!

12 servings = 4 pp each

recipe courtesy of Kelly

Forgiven and Free

I've mentioned on here that I've had an amazing year this past 12 months and that I hoped to one day share my testimony about it. I REALLY wanted to share this unbelievable experience I had but the problem was that I really couldn't put it into words. I still don't think I fully understand the remarkable change I've experienced but I did have a breakthrough over the weekend and feel like I can start to share it with you.

On Sunday, Pastor Geoff spoke on Forgiving Yourself. I've heard that phrase before. It's not a hard phrase to understand but it's a difficult concept to grasp, I think. After hearing his sermon, I realized “Hey, that was part of my year of healing! I think I finally have started to forgive myself – like really forgive myself.”

We are taught to forgive others. "Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you." Colossians 3:13 As hard as that is, I think it's much easier to forgive others than it is to forgive ourselves. At least for me it is. I have high expectations. I've come to realize that others are not going to live up to my high expectations but when it comes to me (and my family – gulp), I still expect “perfection.”

When I was young, it wasn't too hard to live an easy, close-to-perfect life. As I've gotten older and gone through more life experiences, I've struggled. Sins I've committed, mistakes I've made, simply not living up to my perfect expectations. All of these things started to add up, weigh on me. I asked forgiveness of God, of others, but never forgave myself. God forgave and forgot. I just wasn't able to forgive myself and in turn, thought others felt as horribly about me as I felt about myself. Maybe some of them did. But for the most part, I'm sure it wasn't what I did that drove people away but how I dealt with it or couldn't deal with it.

I was bogged down with the weight of every bad decision I ever made on my shoulders. Now I'm not talking about killing people or robbing banks or other crazy bad things. It was all of the little things that added up and I just couldn't let go of. I always thought, “I'm better than that. I know better.” Mistakes weren't an option.

Pretty soon I found myself not being the wife I should have been, the mother, the daughter, the sister, the friend, etc. I had ended up letting down people all around me in mostly small, insignificant ways. If you were to ask those others, they would probably not even remember or had not noticed to begin with but I knew and I wasn't going to let myself forget it.

I started to pull in. The less I put myself out there, the less I had to admit I was less than perfect. I started to hide things so people couldn't see the mess that was my life. I became miserable.

Starting last year, God started an amazing work in my life. He overwhelmed me with His love. Over and over He poured out His love on me. He showed me that there was nothing I could do to earn His love and there was nothing I could do to stop it. He just LOVED me. I've always struggled with feeling like I need to earn the love of others (and probably myself). As He made me realize that I was worthy of His love no matter what, I realized that I was worthy of loving myself no matter what.

It opened me up for so much. I was able to develop new friendships and renew old ones as well. I was able to respond to the voice of God and follow His leading. I was able to feel freedom – freedom in Christ. God broke the chains of “unworthiness” in my life and replaced it with freedom. Freedom to be who God wants me to be in all of my imperfection. It feels so good!

I still have my days and I still don't always enjoy my less than perfect life but I'm much more ok with it. I am able to remind myself that God loves me despite all of my faults. He is able to use me despite my imperfections, and maybe even because of them.

Please do yourself a favor and forgive yourself. You will never be perfect. I know we live in a society where perfection is the goal. We should all have perfect homes, perfect children, perfect marriages, perfect looks. It's unrealistic. We can't be fully perfect. Jesus is perfect and He is all the perfection we need!

Forgive yourself and live in Freedom! It's a great place to be! :)

Fancy That Design House & Co

I'm so excited to tell you about a brand new Etsy shop that was started by my friend, Stephanie!!

It is called Fancy That Design House & Co.



Stephanie is a mom to two adorable little boys and has been blessed with such a creative gift. She designed all of the amazing graphics for REFRESH and now you, too, can own one of her designs.

"We offer a collection of art prints to brighten every room in your home, letterpress stationery to make you smile and soon we'll have seasonal wood block prints to make every holiday a little more special." -Fancy That Design House & Co

Please check out her Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/FancyThatDesignHouse.

Congratulations, Stephanie! I think this is so awesome!!

On My Mind ...

I have so much on my mind these days. SO much. They are mostly good, exciting, wonderful things. Some, not so much, but I know God is in control and I am learning to lay it all at His feet - the good and the bad.

Some obvious things are the fact that we are expecting a new little bundle in approximately 2 trimesters. Yes, folks, tomorrow starts my 2nd trimester. Yippy!

I'm excited, nervous, anxious, impatient about our upcoming ultrasound next month. For the first time, we are going to find out what we are having before the baby is born. I'm dying to know but, more importantly, I also want to know that the baby is healthy and growing properly.

I found out this pregnancy that I am AMA (advanced maternal age) because I am delivering at the ripe old age of 35. Because of this I have to have a special high-risk ultrasound. That's just great ...

I'm also thinking about the fact that I will be
welcoming a new baby,
and sending my (hopefully potty trained) just turned 3 year old to preschool one morning a week,
my 5 year old to kindergarten and a new speech teacher,
my 8 year old to 3rd grade,
and my oldest daughter to middle school for her first year (and we don't even know which one yet)
... All.At.The.Same.Time.

Although this is exciting stuff, it also kind of stresses me out. This fall is definitely going to be a new chapter in our lives. It's a lot to think about and prepare for.

To top all of this off, I have another really exciting new thing on my mind that I am dying to share but can't quite yet. It's really great and I can't wait to fill you all in but for now you'll just have to wait and see.

So my mind is a jumble right now. I can't put together a decent blog post to save my life. :) I'm really trying though, I want you to know.

Don't forget to "spring ahead" your clocks Saturday night! That extra hour of sunshine in the evening is also heavily on my mind and the fact that the next week's weather forecast looks amazing!!

Have a super weekend and go kiss your kiddos!


"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Help Wanted

Calling all amazing moms (pssst, that's you) ...

I'm looking for moms who would be interested in writing a monthly or bi-monthly (does that mean twice a month?) post for The Mommy Years. Is there something you love to do or work on or think about? 

It could be fun craft projects you're working on, recipes you've tried and loved, or maybe you are passionate about decorating or party planning. 

Maybe you'd like to review children's books (that's right up my alley ;), family movies, or awesome worth-your-money children's toys or products. 

I think it would be great to hear from some of you once in a while. I also know that you all have special talents and interests that I don't and you could be of great help to me!   

Think about it. It might be fun! It's not a huge commitment and you can write about what you like! 

If you are interested, please email me or leave a comment. I look forward to hearing from you! I really think with your help this could be amazing!!  

Learning To Be the Light

Learning To Be The Light by NewWorldSon

March Calendar Coloring Sheet

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/calendars/ig/March-2012-Calendar-Pages/March-2012-Print-and-Color-Sha.htm

My Life As a Praying Mom

Before I introduce you to this month's guest blogger, let me write this disclaimer. I am forgetful these days. I forget everything, all the time. Ok, not everything but usually the most important things. I apologize if this ever affects you directly. I'm trying, but this thing called pregnancy brain is making me a very un-thoughtful person. I have to admit, I don't like it either. I try really hard to always consider the feelings of others and be a thoughtful person but I'm failing these days. I try to laugh about it but it annoys me and I hope I don't annoy you with my scatterbrainedness, too.

All that to say, I forgot to post Friday's My Life As a Mom post. It was totally my fault. Becky was awesome and got her post to me last Sunday - way ahead of time. I forgot to post it Friday and just realized it this afternoon. Oops!

I am happy to re-introduce my friend, Becky Boggio, to you as this month's guest blogger. She has written other posts for this blog in the past. She is a super mother and a really neat person. I am very glad I've gotten to know her better.

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I have worked full-time for the majority of my children’s lives. The major chunk of their days have been with other people who mold them and teach them. I agonize about how can I protect them from these people who may not be teaching them God’s way, disappointments, “friends”? Most days I want to lock them up so nothing will hurt them.


When my son, Rocco, was a toddler and we would be shopping, he would sit in the cart and say Hi to everyone that we passed. It was incredible to me that some people would actually not respond to his cute little Hellos. I wanted to grab them by the collar and say “My son just said Hello to you, please have the common courtesy to reply!” Back then I wanted everyone to talk to him.


In Fall, he is heading to middle school. My supervisor told me that at her kids’ middle school/high school orientations they are told how drug deals happen right at the lunch tables. The option to home school seems so great right now and I haven’t even been to an orientation yet! How do I protect him from these situations?


When they were in daycare, we ensured that the center was meeting the state regulations, and that the teachers are nice. That went okay until Amy, my daughter, was about two. We ended up pulling her from her daycare because she was bitten over a dozen times by a child/other children in her class. We could never find out who it was, what discipline occurred due to privacy laws but we had to take action, the victim, to ensure it didn’t happen again. It didn’t seem right. We could remove her from this harmful situation but now I can’t protect her as she makes friends at school. I hurt for her as she has one girl in her grade who she adores and calls her best friend but from Amy’s reports this “friend” has done nothing to reciprocate Amy’s friendship with her. Every action I am told of is something a friend would not do. How do I protect her from these situations?


How do I protect them? I pray. I pray a lot. And then I wish I could pray some more. I have to leave up to God. That what we are teaching them at home, and what they learn in church is that God will always be there for them and is always there to guide them. Praise God He is always there. Praise God He protects us in all situations. And moms, we can pray for each other, right? Pray for wisdom and protection of all our children. God made us sisters through Him. And as the saying goes, it takes a village. I am here for you too. Ask my assistance if you need to or send specific prayer requests and consider it done! This is why Jamie created this blog. We don’t have to go it alone.

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Thank you, Becky! Our kids need our prayers so desperately in this crazy world we live in. And I apologize for forgetting about your post on Friday. It'll never happen again ... Ok, it might, but I'll try real hard not to. ;)


If you are ever interested in writing your story for a My Life As a Mom post, please let me know.

It's Been a BRAT-filled Week

We've just recently experienced the stomach flu in our house. Groan. It actually could have been MUCH worse but God is merciful and only gave us what we could handle.

My little guy suffered the worst. He is still not 100%. Without going into too much detail, I'll tell you that we have had to carefully watch his diet this week.

That got me to thinking. Do you know about the BRAT diet? I did but I did NOT know that it has now changed to the BRATY diet. Now, this has nothing to do with the attitude of your sick angel but rather tells you what is safe to feed a "tummy sick" child.

B is for bananas.

R is for rice.

A is for apples or applesauce.

T is for toast.

Y is for yogurt.

These foods are safe to eat and actually should help improve their digestive state.

Another thing I found out about at the doctor yesterday was a product called Florajen for kids. It is a capsule that contains more than 6 times as much live probiotic culture as a cup of yogurt. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about it the next time your kiddos are having troubles.

It is super easy to administer, too. For little ones, open the capsule and sprinkle into cold drinks or soft food.

I gave some to my son last night and he seems better today. Thank goodness! It's been a long week ... with lots of laundry ... and not a lot of sleep.

Ahh, the life of a mom ... :)

Toll House Cookie Recipe

Ok, I know this isn't my usual healthy-tasty type recipe but I couldn't come up with anything and so I figured I would a) go with what I know and b) go with what I love.

These cookies were a huge staple in my house BWW (before Weight Watchers). Nothing else could make me smile like the sight, smell, taste, sound (my kids come running every time they hear the mixer thinking I am making cookies) of these cookies. Personally I prefer them in bar form, slightly undercooked and oh-so-ushy-gushy. That is our name for them - ushy-gushy bars (it's a family thing).

However, when I started WW and began the trek toward healthier eating, I realized I needed to stay far away from this recipe I could recite in my sleep. I have really done SO well in avoiding them. I think I've made them maybe 3 times since last Easter. Most recently was last week in order to use up some margarine that was expiring soon. Oh, and to make my kids happy. ;)

While I was making the cookies, I decided I would figure out the points plus value for a cookie. They are only 3 points plus per cookie which surprised me. I thought they would be way worse for some reason. So I could cautiously partake and not feel too guilty. I thought I would pass on this huge fountain of knowledge with you. I believe knowledge is power and gives you the ability to make smarter choices. :)

I also scooped all of the dough into balls and froze most of them. Genius! Now, I can make a dozen or so at a time and no one can go overboard with their cookie fix (like me). I didn't really lighten up the recipe besides cutting the amount of chocolate chips in half but I've always done that. No one needs that many chocolate chips in their cookies. I don't add the nuts either.

Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large egg
1/2 (12 ounce) package NESTLE® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Gradually beat in flour mixture.

Stir in morsels.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.


My scoop produced 1.1 oz dough balls. Each cookie = 3 points plus


Enjoy! Oh, and try the ushy-gushy bars! You won't regret it. Mmm-mmm!