prayer | Living My Full Life

After Niva’s brownie mix eating antics, I went into cleaning mode. The couch cushions were deep cleaned with this amazing machine, the floors were scrubbed, bedding was washed, windows wiped, and laundry done.

During my cleaning spree, Niva jumped off our bed and pretty much ran Sadie over at full speed. I heard a loud thud and then a cry. Poor Sadie was bleeding from her nose and mouth and pretty upset at being knocked down.

She took a nap soon after and woke up looking swollen, black and blue, and downright puffy. I called our pediatrician’s office, and the nurse said the doctor might want to have x-rays taken of Sadie’s nose but would call me back with a sure answer after she talked with the doctor.

I was supposed to head out for a work meeting, but wasn’t sure if we were going to need to take Sadie to the doctor’s office or somewhere for x-rays, so I stayed home. After about an hour, the nurse called and told me to keep an eye on her to see if the swelling increased or if she was having trouble breathing through her nose. If anything gets worse, they will want to have x-rays performed, but for now we’re just going to monitor her.

Whew. It was just one of those days with one thing after another. After the cleanup and nose incident, Jimmy realized I washed his AirPods that were in his shorts pockets. Then Malcolm puked on the table while we were eating dinner. Then Niva knocked Sadie over again.

When hard days happen, I do a few things to try and get through them:

Pray. For patience, a better attitude, contentment, thankfulness etc.
Talk to someone. For me, this is usually my sister, mom, Jimmy, or someone from our church.
Get outside. Something about fresh air always helps my attitude.
Reflect on what I’m thankful for. Shifting my focus from what’s hard to what is good is a game changer.
Spend time in God’s Word. Often, I can look back on hard days and realize I hadn’t spent enough time in my Bible that day.
Laugh. Sometimes you just have to laugh at the craziness and remember it’s not forever.

Something that made my day yesterday was a surprise package from my mom! She sent me this shirt and it came at just the right time. Thanks mom! You are the very best 🙂

It’s a new day and Sadie woke up looking less swollen. Niva only ate a box of tissues in the night instead of a box of brownie mix, and I haven’t washed any electronics. I think it’s going to be a good day 🙂

What helps you on hard days?

Heeey there! It’s been about two weeks since I last blogged… weird! It’s also been about two weeks since I deactivated my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts. During my little hiatus I learned a lot about what’s important to me in life and how I feel about blogging and social media in general.

Why I took a break from blogging and social media:
-I wanted to strengthen my relationship with God.
-I wanted to truly focus more on important relationships in my life.
-I felt like my blog was becoming too “me” focused and selfish.

How I felt:
-At first I felt almost panicked, like I was missing everything going on in the world.
-After a few days, I felt very free because I wasn’t “available” 24/7.
-It was amazing to spend less time staring at my computer and phone.
-It was also great not to read blogs and compare myself to others (I know I have the choice not to compare myself to others, but I often feel like it happens almost automatically for me).
-I felt out of sorts at times because I was so disconnected from people that I regularly talk to via blogging and social media.

Other thoughts:
-Spending less time blogging and using social media helped me become a better listener and gave me more free time to do things for others.
-I’ve learned that social media/blogging can be great, but can also take my attention away from more important things in my life if I allow them to.
-I’m struggling with feeling like I must have a blog or Facebook account in order to connect with people and learn about what’s going on in my friend’s lives. Ugh.
-I’m likely going to be reading blogs and blogging a lot less. I want to blog on my own terms–for the enjoyment of it instead of feeling like I have to document every aspect of my life and keep up with every blog out there.

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Whew, it felt good to get that off of my chest!

So, what have I been up to for the past two weeks?

Vacation Bible School at my church was great! I worked in the kitchen and Hannah and I were puppeteers.

I competed in a sprint triathlon and placed third in the 19-29 age group.

I harvested zucchini from my garden, Jimmy and I made chocolate chip and raisin zucchini bread, and I began working for my parent’s real estate brokerage (more on that in another post).

I bonded with Hannah and Felix and went swimming at a local lake.

And last but not least…

I had my wisdom teeth removed on Friday morning.

My dentist told me to have them removed a few years ago but I kept putting it off. They started hurting me earlier this week, so I went to the oral surgeon on Thursday and less than 24 hours later I was in surgery. The doctor said my something was wrong with my heart during the surgery, so I have to see my regular physician on Tuesday to figure out what’s up with my ticker.

I’ve been laying around on the couch eating soup and jello and popping lots of Advil. It’s nice being babied by Jimmy, too. We rented Despicable Me last night and it was such a cute movie! Here’s to hoping I can heal up quickly with no dry sockets!

What’s going on in your life?!