• Faith,  Life

    Why We Are Choosing Not To Celebrate Halloween Anymore

    It was a really hard decision but we decided this year that we will no longer be celebrating Halloween. Both Tommy and I grew up celebrating Halloween and we have since dressed up Shane each year since he was born. (Or most years anyway.) Last year was the first year that we brought him trick-or-treating though. We had a blast. It was such a good time, which makes this a harder decision to make. But it doesn’t make it any less important to make sure that we are doing the right thing.

    Last year was the first year that I had learned that celebrating Halloween was even a little bit controversial as a Christian. An author/speaker that I follow on Instagram started speaking out about her convictions around the holiday and it made me a little nervous but honestly I didn’t take the time to sit down and watch what she had to say. I was curious but I sort of knew that if I took the time to listen that I would end up feeling convicted that I too shouldn’t celebrate. So I looked away, and prayed, and decided it was fine. Everyone else I knew celebrated anyway.

    This year though, she started speaking out again and I knew I couldn’t ignore the call to listen again. I didn’t even listen to the whole Instagram Live and I knew that what she said just made too much sense to ignore. (If you’re interested in listening as well, you can watch here and here.)

    Basically the reason behind why we no longer feel it is okay as Christians to celebrate Halloween is that the holiday originated from a place of worship of other gods. Mo goes into detail about how most Christians arguments for being okay with celebrating is that because of Jesus, we are permitted to do as we please essentially. That Jesus redeemed the holiday for us and we are free in him to celebrate as we want. However, this is not true because we are called to rebuke things that are not of God.

    Halloween and it’s origins were never from God so there is no way to redeem it. We must rebuke the holiday completely. We can redeem the day but to be associated with any practices that are tied to the holiday would be wrong. If you’re interested in learning more about the origins and what type of evil practices that are still done on this day, this article really opened my eyes.

    It can be easy to just go with the flow and not question things but I want to live a life that is honoring to God. God calls us to be set apart and this is just one of those ways that I feel we must be as Christians. I also had to remind myself that God doesn’t call us away from things because he wants us to miss out on fun things. He loves us too much to let us settle for less. God’s ways are higher than our ways and he calls us to better things.

    We decided to bring the boys to the store and let them each pick out a big bag of candy and we had a little family game night that turned out to be really fun. They were thrilled to get to enjoy their candy and spend time together as a family. In the end it really didn’t feel like we were missing out and had a good time.

    What are your thoughts on Halloween? Have you looked into the origin? Do you feel it’s something that Christians should be celebrating? I’m interested in hearing your thoughts.

  • Faith,  Home,  Life,  Self Care

    The Lie/Pressure To Do It All

    As I mentioned in my post about my social media detox (an update on that soon), at the end of last year I was really discontent with where I was when it came to a few of my dreams and goals that I had. More specifically, I was really discontent with where my blog and Etsy shop were.

    I have had big plans for both this blog and my Etsy shop over the years but I haven’t really felt like I was able to focus on them as much as I wanted. Like I mentioned in my post about taking a break from social media, part of the reason was because I wasn’t giving myself the space to really be able to focus on them. I was spending too much time on social media.

    Something I realized during my social media detox was that I had felt this pressure to “do it all”. I felt like I needed to be the one responsible for everything that came to running our home, doing my part in taking care of Shane, and also be able to make a full-time living from home.

    That’s a lot. And I know that I’m not the only one who feels this pressure. Our culture basically tells us that if we are a stay at home parent, we aren’t as worthy because we aren’t bringing in money. And if you aren’t bringing in money, then your work isn’t as important.

    The way that I was dealing with this lie was to tell myself that I needed to handle it all but I also needed to be successful at making money from home. Because then I had it all. I was doing it all and that would mean that I was enough.

    It’s tough too because when you logon to any social media platform — whether that be Instagram or Youtube or any other place, there are countless pages where everyone is showing you what they are doing well. And when you combine them all together (say after scrolling for 20 mins), it now feels like everyone is doing everything. People aren’t talking about what they aren’t doing, or not as much as they are talking about what they are doing. It put this pressure on me to do it all and do it all really well.

    Not only do I need to be responsible for meal planning and grocery shopping, but I need to plan the healthiest meals and then grocery shop myself. Not only do I need to be the one who cleans the house, but I need to have a very specific cleaning schedule where my house is spotless all the time. Not only do I need to blog and create new Etsy shop items, I need to be blogging regularly and every season need to be putting out new items.

    I got each of these pressures from other people that I follow and felt that I needed to be as good as each of these people in each of these areas. That all takes a lot of time, never mind the mental energy each of these things take on any given week.

    Back in the beginning of my social media detox I was having a conversation with my husband about how I was not content with where I was with blogging or with our Etsy shop. I was mostly just not content with how consistent I was being with each of these things. I knew I could do more but wasn’t understanding why I wasn’t.

    I was mostly just venting about not feeling like I had the time. He told me that he would support me and take care of Shane if I needed a few hours here or there. Basically he was (lovingly) telling me that I just needed to make it a priority and he would do what he could to help. It was then that the words, “I just can’t do it all then” came out of my mouth.

    It was like it finally hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn’t be the one to be responsible for all of our home responsibilities, also spend however many hours a week was needed to grow a blog and Etsy shop, while also taking care of a two year old. I needed help.

    I needed to stop buying the lie that I had to be good at everything. I quickly realized where I needed help the most and asked Tommy to start helping me with that. For me personally, it was grocery shopping and cooking dinner. It just felt like too much to be the one to plan and cook each one of our meals. Tommy eagerly agreed to help and things have been a night and day difference.

    Before I was trying to do it all well and instead wasn’t doing anything well. It’s true when they say you can only pick a few things you want to do well. Allowing Tommy to share the load of grocery shopping and meal planning with me freed up my brain with enough energy to be able to focus on other things. I can now see things more clearly because I’m not trying to focus on it all.

    I wanted to share this because I thought maybe that I might not be the only one who felt this pressure to be responsible for it all. I believe that if we spend too much time on social media that we start to believe this lie that everyone we follow is doing everything really well.

    I think limiting our time on social media and then stopping to realize what parts of our lives is causing us the most stress and then asking for help in those areas if possible can make all the difference.

    What about you? Can you relate? Do you put pressure on yourself to do everything well? Is there something you can ask for help with? I’d love to hear your story if this is something you have ever or are struggling with now.

  • Faith,  Life,  Self Care

    90 Days of No Social Media

    Hi friends, I wanted to stop in and share a challenge I have decided to start now that it’s a new year. At the end of last year I was feeling like I had a lot of dreams and goals that I wanted to do but wasn’t getting anywhere with. This in turn created a lot of really ugly feelings. Deep down I knew what was causing these feelings.

    Social Media = The Problem

    Social media: mostly Instagram and Youtube was the problem. I’ve come to realize slowly over the course of the last year or so that wasting too much time on social media caused me to feel paralyzed in my own life and goals. It had reached its height towards the end of last year so I decided to cut it out cold turkey. (!!)

    The Rules

    1. Absolutely no time spent on social media of any kind.
    2. Spend more intentional time reading my Bible.
    3. Spend more time journaling.
    4. Spend lots more time reading.
    5. Blog twice a week.
    6. Create new products for Etsy.
    7. Spend more time with others – book time at the library, playgroup at church, etc.
    8. Start doing yoga 1-2x per week by the end of the 90 days.

    The Results

    The hope is that taking a break from social media will cause me to feel less paralyzed in my own life because I won’t be constantly comparing my life to others and feeling like I don’t measure up.

    It will also create a lot more time in my schedule. This will help with finally finding the time to work on the many goals that I’ve been wanting to meet.

    If I’m being completely honest: I am very nervous to start this challenge. I’m worried about how hard it might be. I know that some of the goals I am reaching toward are pushing myself outside of my comfort zone but I know in the end that it will be good for me.

    I will be checking in once a month to share how things are going.

    Have you ever taken a social media detox? How did it go? What did you learn? Can you relate to any of my feelings caused by social media? I’d love to hear how you work through them. 🙂

  • Coffee Dates,  Faith,  Self Care

    Let’s Have Coffee | Vol. 16

    Long time, no talk friends! Welcome to my new (old) blog! I changed the name of it officially woohoo! This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time but was intimidated by it to be honest. I finally bit the bullet and decided to do it and I’m so glad I did!

    All of my content will basically be the same, I just wanted a name that I felt better suited what I was writing about. I plan to continue writing about motherhood, faith, and lifestyle. So let’s jump into today’s post shall we? Let’s have some coffee (or tea) and chat about how things have been going! It’s been too long!


    If we were having coffee, I would share with you that I’ve been deciding whether or not I even want to continue blogging. I’ve definitely decided to keep it around and just share when I feel like it instead of pressuring myself to blog because that makes it not so fun for me and then I just don’t do it. I’m hoping with a different attitude maybe I’ll want to show up more often but if not I decided that’s okay too.

    If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that Shane has been learning so much since his first birthday! He’s started walking and talking since then. It’s been so exciting! I really want to share a post soon about him and how much things have changed since his last update. He just turned 16 months old!

    If we were having coffee, I’d share with you how God has really been teaching me how important it is to have a thankful heart even when things are hard. Or not how you want them to be. For me it’s so easy to think about how I want things to be and get impatient that they aren’t like that yet. And then soon my attitude is not one of thanksgiving, it’s one of impatience and frustration. God has really been helping me to find the joy in this season. Even when things are hard. Or not the way that I would want them to be.

    If we were having coffee, I’d also share how I’m trying to find hobbies! Sounds random and funny almost. I realized the other day that I don’t really know what I like to do for fun. So I’ve been trying to think and try new things. I bought a book on how to make soap and am going to try that. It sounds super fun so I’m excited. I’m genuinely curious though, what do you like to do for fun??

    If we were having coffee, I’d want to know how you are really doing? What are you celebrating lately? How can I pray for you? Please share in the comments! 🙂

  • Baby,  Faith

    How Waking Up Before My Son Changed My Life

    This may be a little bit of a premature post to write, as I’ve only been waking up before Shane for three days. BUT I am so confident and have already seen the craziest results that I still feel pretty confident writing this.

    Before Waking Up Early

    Before I started waking up before Shane, I felt stressed and overwhelmed most days. I used to feel like there wasn’t enough time to get what I needed to get done. I felt like I was always trying to squeeze in having some downtime and also trying to be productive around the house. Some days I managed to find the balance well. Most days though, I felt like I either was super productive all day and exhausted by the end of it or like I rested the majority of the day and had gotten nothing done.

    My Daily Morning Schedule Now

    6:30am – Wake up
    6:40am – Spend time with God
    7:00am – Read blogs, watch Youtube videos, have some “me time”, etc.
    8:00am – Have breakfast, possibly write a blog post
    8:30am – Shane wakes up

    This is honestly just a rough schedule and each day might look a little different going forward but really the point is I get to fill my own cup before pouring myself out for my family for the rest of the day.

    You Can’t Pour From An Empty Cup

    I’m sure you’ve heard the quote, “You can’t pour from an empty cup”. And that is essentially what I felt like I was trying to do when I’d wake up at the same time as Shane.

    I felt like there was never enough time to really spend with God, and also take care of Shane and the house. I almost always felt like I had no patience and I hated that.

    Having the time in the morning that I can dedicate to whatever I want to do and not feel guilty about changes everything for me. I feel like I have so much more to give to my family. It leaves me the rest of the day to “work”. During Shane’s nap times I can get some housework done, spend time with Tommy, blog or work on Etsy.

    Getting My Priorities Straight

    I think the biggest change and the real reason why I feel like my life has changed though is because I’m putting God first. Having a baby shook my world up in ways I am still processing and it definitely shook up my relationship with God.

    It took me a lot longer than it should have to really get back into spending quality time with God, but I’m so glad that I finally did.

    Timing Is Everything

    For a long time I imagined a time when I could wake up before Shane. When he was waking up in the night to be fed there was no way waking up before him would be healthy for me. So this had to wait.

    I just wanted to give a little disclaimer in case this may be you too. There will be a time when you can wake up before your baby. Sometimes it feels like it may never come, but I promise you it will. Give yourself grace in the meantime. ❤️

  • Faith,  Life

    Currently, January 2019

    c h o o s i n g

    To let God fill in the gaps. I am such a level 10 perfectionist and hate relying on others so I try to do everything myself and I try to do it all perfectly. God’s really showing me how much I can’t do on my own or perfectly and how I need to trust that he will take care of what I can’t.

    t i d y i n g

    All of the things. Honestly though. I have been purging all of the things from our house. It was completely unplanned too. One day when I was dusting I just started throwing everything out. Our house feels so much better because of it too. I can’t wait to finish the rest of the house I haven’t gotten to yet.

    e x p l o r i n g

    Currently exploring all of the party isles of all of the stores. Shane’s first birthday and party is on Saturday (!!!) and I am currently in preparation mode, buying all of the party supplies.

    r e s o l v i n g

    To waking up before my son each morning. I did it this morning and it is so life giving. There’s just something about waking up and collecting yourself before tending to the needs of a baby. I’m going to be trying to do this every day.

    r e f r e s h i n g

    Our home. While I was tidying up and purging I also moved some furniture around and our house feels so refreshed because of it. I love moving things around every little while. It makes it feel like you’re living in a whole new space.