Keepin' it Real

My Many Imperfections:  Day 10 Sinner in need of Redemption Alas, the last day has finally arrived!  It's been an interesting journey writing these blog posts!  I've had a lot of great feedback from women that are happy to have me listing my many imperfections on social media and a lot of women who could totally relate to what I was posting... which made me feel better too! Recently, I've been really starving for some genuineness and vulnerability!  I've had some great conversations with wonderful women and we all feel the same!  Why are we competing?  Why are we putting our best face out there and not being transparent with each other?  Why is it difficult to have relationships that are not about comparisons or "one-upping" the other person... even if in an ever-so subtle manner? I hope that through these posts, and through the conversations we've had these 10 days, that you can begin to see yourself as God sees you and you be confident enough...

My Many Imperfections:  Day 9 Eye Contact Another really dumb thing I do is avoid eye contact with people I "know" when I'm out and about in town.  I put "know" in quotations because if it's someone I am very well acquainted with, I definitely go over and cheerily chat it up in any aisle of the grocery store.  However, if it's someone I only "know" because I see her at MOPS sometimes or she's in my yoga class (former), I usually just avoid eye contact and act like I don't see them!  UGH!  I'm frustrated with this as I'm typing! I'm a very outgoing person, but I'm realizing more and more that I definitely still have my insecurities!  Some reasons I avoid people I only kind of "know" is because I'm afraid I'm remembering their name wrong and it would be too embarrassing (spelled it wrong again) to ask, or because I'm worried I'll go say hello and they won't have a clue who I am, or I'...

My Many Imperfections:  Day 8 Motivation minus action So, lately, there is one woman at our church who I haven't seen in a while.  I asked Josh if he knows why we haven't seen her in a while and he told me that she was in church on Sunday so I missed her.  I keep thinking about her and thinking that I miss her and would love to see her and chat with her. However... I've been thinking about her for a week now and haven't done a thing!  Why am I so slow?  I have motivation to see her.  She is very enjoyable to be around!  I WANT to see her.  So why haven't I done it?  I feel like this happens to me a lot... God is putting someone on my heart and mind and I pray for them, but I don't act in any other way. Could this be telling me that I'm too busy, or too lazy, or too insecure?  Maybe all of the above.  So, I hereby vow to check in on this lovely woman asap! Motivation, but no action has to stop!  Go Me!

My Many Imperfections:  Day 7 Stress & Irritability This morning Josh was taking one kid to the grocery store to get groceries and I was taking 5 to church with me to make a bunch of copies of things we need for our MOPS retreat today.  Josh carefully showed me which of his keys would get me into the church door and I laid it on the counter.  Josh left for the grocery store while I was chasing my 2-year-old around the house trying to get him dressed while my daughters were trying to convince me to let them wear the same outfit that they were wearing yesterday and slept in...  I was flustered!  I got them all in the van and went back into the house to get Josh's keys.  They were not on the counter.  I started searching everywhere frantically (anyone who is a mom knows that you only have a small window of time before the kids will start returning into the house wondering what you're doing.)  I ran out to the van and asked the kids if any of t...

My Many Imperfections:  Day 6 Oh, Facebook. Ok people.  I spend way too much time on Facebook.  This is a serious confession because I don't like that I do that!  I always make excuses because I say that I need to be keeping up with the people in my congregation, I need to be a part of MANY planning or informational groups, I need to see what people are doing to pray for them. What if I just called people up from the congregation and, I don't know, had a CONVERSATION with them?  What if I spent less time sharing my opinion in planning groups and spend more time with my kids so I can at least be walking the walk?  What if I just called people up and asked them how I can pray for them... if I had to call them and tell them I've been praying for them and need an update instead of just watching and waiting on Facebook? It's so bad that I realized that if I grab my phone to check my calendar or the weather, my finger automatically unlocks my phone and pu...

My Many Imperfections:  Day 5 Food This one is going to be short.  Today, we had MOPS and we had a talk on nutrition. I am currently feeding my children trail mix and blueberry oatmeal muffins for lunch. #sonotperfect #lazy #justeatitalready #goingforease

My Many Imperfections:  Day 4 Impatience... Oh man.  I am so impatient!  Believe it or not, I have improved in that area, but I'm still a pretty impatient person.  Here is an example... This morning I was pondering and grieving the fact that Abbie can't talk to me.  She can't tell me the little things about her day, she can't tell me if she's sad about something, and we don't get to enjoy each others' conversation...  Then about an hour later, I was making muffins and Malachi WOULD NOT SHUT UP!  "Muffin Mommy!  Chair Mommy!  Bird Mommy!  Monkey Mommy!"  Ahhh!!!!  So, one hour later, I found myself saying, (yelling)  "Malachi!  Can you please just stop talking for like 1 minute?!?!" Now, how crazy does that make me?  I'm grieving the absence of one child's voice and cursing the other's voice.  Ugh, I'm not good at balancing and I am so impatient! I have a magnet on my fridge that says, "I don't have...

My Many Imperfections:  Day 3 My Hair Ugh, my hair.  I feel sorry for anyone who does an amazing job on my hair.  I am awful at doing my own hair.  I go get it professionally done, and then I try to do it myself at home and it never looks nearly as good!  It kind of reminds me of those pinterest fails you see on social media... Beautiful salon lady's work....                            My attempt. Seriously, how do they make it look so easy??  Of course, the picture on the left is my profile picture... but most days I look like the picture on the right.  Someday when I'm rich I'll hire someone to do my hair every morning... or at least when my daughters are teenagers... :) Messy hair... I totally care.  :)