God Knows What's Best For Us, Even When We Think We Know Better

This week there was a major brush fire on the road where we’re building our house.

Evacuations occurred and the surrounding area was closed off for a few hours. Thankfully everyone was found safe & no structures were harmed.

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the acreage that burned. It was the property we wanted. We put multiple offers in and eventually just lost out. We were crushed. We knew it was THE place for us to build our forever home.

Had we won the bidding war, it’s possible the last 10 months of our home building would’ve went up in flames. Literally. (Luckily our soon to be neighbors haven’t started building their home yet).

Our half built house is still standing, entirely untouched just down the road on the land we ended up buying, by nothing but the grace of God & the manpower of some amazing firefighters.

It’s funny how God works. I’m constantly amazed by His omniscience and grateful He knows what’s best for us, even when we think we know better.

This post originally appeared on Facebook.

How I Fought My Joy Stealers: PPD & PPA

I feel like an imposter writing this.

Then I thought about how I saw a quote earlier in the day that said, “Somebody needs the part of your story that you’re ashamed of.”

And, well, here we are.

I didn’t realize I suffered with anxiety most of my life until after I had my son. I thought the way I worried and constantly over-analyzed everything was completely normal. Now I’m glad I know it’s not and I’m grateful I have the knowledge to help combat those thoughts.

Six weeks after I gave birth to a bouncing baby boy, we packed up and moved 10 hours away from almost everyone and everything I knew. It was a breaking point (but now I view it more so as a turning point) in my life. Postpartum depression hit me hard. I didn’t know how to cope.

Read the rest of my story here at Knoxville Moms.

Things I Want My Daughter To Remember

Be nice in high school. No one will remember accomplishments; they will remember how you made them feel.

Do what makes you happy, just make sure it also pays the bills.

Follow your gut. Intuition is usually right.

Grudges are a waste of time. Forgive. Move on.

Be the bigger person even when it’s hard.

Everyone changes their major in college. It’s fine.

Love takes many forms. Just because you express it one way, doesn’t mean another person’s love language is the same.

If you’ve got the cash, then buy the shoes.

Be gentle with yourself. There’s only one of you. Please remember that.

Cheer for everyone. They deserve it.

Boundaries are good. They are healthy. They are necessary. They are also very hard.

Read the rest over at Knoxville Moms.

Simple Yoga: Reduce Your Stress With These 10 Poses

It’s no secret that the past two years have been stressful. There are numerous factors within each of our lives that have us all walking on eggshells, our minds overwhelmed, and our anxiety piqued. Do you have your jaw clenched right now? Is your tongue at the roof of your mouth? Are your shoulders tense and hiked up toward your ears? Then you need to relax. 

Enter: Yoga

Whatever fancy yoga fitness photo you’ve seen on the internet that has someone looking like Elastagirl from The Incredibles — I want you to forget it for now. Sure, a well practiced yogi can pop into these poses quickly and properly (and those poses and photos have their places within yoga!), but that’s not where I want to take you today.

The poses below will focus less on the “fitness” aspect of yoga and more on the meditative and simple stretching side of things. All yoga poses play a specific role, and they are all wonderful in their own ways, but these are just a few you can turn to when you find yourself feeling stressed, defeated, overwhelmed, or anxious. The goal with these 10 poses are for you to find a stretch and to focus on breathing.

Breath is the most important part of yoga (if you ask me).

Deep, intentional, and focused breathing can calm your busy mind. Add in a simple muscle stretch and you can also find relief in your tense muscles.

Head over to Knoxville Moms to find the list of 10 poses.

Here's What Few People Tell You About Three:

Here’s what few people tell you about three:

It’s hard. It’s way worse than two.

It’s saying no and pushing boundaries. It’s meltdowns of epic proportions. It’s assertiveness, wanting more independence, and fighting bedtime. If two is terrible then three is a tornado.

Three doesn’t care. Three makes me want to lose my mind.

And here’s the but - - - three is wonder.

It’s asking why 567 times a day. It’s finding obsessions on the tiniest scales. It’s learning routines and what to expect. It’s finding joy in things I’d normally overlook. It’s having zero concept of time or money yet asking for more and less of each consistently.

Three is joy, passion, and fun. Three is something we all need a bit more of inside ourselves.

One day this boy won’t ask as many questions. He won’t drag out bedtime just for more snuggles. He won’t have meltdowns over what song is on the radio that I can’t control. My hugs may not fix problems at four, 11, or 27.

Three is about to leave our house and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t partially looking forward to it. I know I’ll always miss parts of three, of who he used to be.

But, y’all.

I can’t wait to see what three turns into.

This was originally published on Facebook.