Just goes to show...

I started this blog almost a year ago with the full intention of writing you (my sons, your future wives, and my hopeful future daughters) to show you who I really am now- while you are young.  So what the heck happened?!

Life.

It has been a long year.  You boys (Rhythm and Lion Cub) are a handful- especially Lion Cub!  I was also put in charge of a new blogging program for a ministry that I love- which has been INCREDIBLY time consuming.

Then there has been the prolonged postpartum depression.  For the longest time I didn't even really think that was what it was.  But as the days drug on and my motivation and energy failed to return and anger continued to be an over-riding emotion in my day-to-day, I began to realize that this was, indeed, what I was dealing with.

In some ways it was freeing to put a label on it.  To say, "Ok- that is what I've got.  Now that I know what it is I can work to fix it."

It still isn't easy.  I have my good days and my bad.  It's a struggle and I want to be better.  But I know it will take time and lots of prayer.

I think for a long time I was trying to fill myself up- busy myself, focus on myself, figure out what it was that I needed/wanted.  What I found was that this only made things worse.  As I focused on myself there was no choice but to put you boys and your father on the back burner, so to speak.  Bitterness began to meander here and it became ugly.
Eventually I realized that the time I spent focusing on the three of you actually made me feel better.  When I focus on you guys I am doing my job- what I am supposed to be doing.  More importantly, what God has planned for me to do.  And well, you're always happier when you are doing what God has planned for you.

A lot of it is just about being present with you guys- being attentive to your needs and not getting caught up with what it was that I was wanting to accomplish.  I'm such a task oriented person that this doesn't come naturally for me but I am trying.  I'm laying out my priorities and it is helping.
In the midst of all this I have had to step back and do some serious re-evaluating of my blogging.  Over at Mama Kenz Studio I feel like I have lost much of the heart of blogging- writing- and it has become more about reviews.  While I love the free products, it just isn't what I want my blogging experience to be.  The World According to Them has been desperately neglected and I have so much back-logging of pictures and life that it is a little mind-numbing.

For now I just need to do the catch-up.  Bring you boys' blog up to speed and then see where this blogging journey is taking me.  I have devoted a lot of prayer to where it is I will be going.  It may be on entirely new blog all together, just to gain a fresh start.  I struggle with loosing my readers, but I know that if I am following what the Lord wants, then He has the ability to do much greater things with the new blogging ministry He sets me in.  For now, I am waiting on Him.

So, whether I continue here (or really start, practically) or move to a whole new space, I do intend to at least make The Research Years a feature.  I truly want to have these letters as a legacy for you- a treasury of sorts, but it just obviously isn't working right here. 

Lots to think about.  I'll keep you posted.  :-*

A Hope Chest for your Daughter-in-Law-( for my readers)

Along with having a lot of things I want to remember to say to my future daughter-in-laws, there are also a lot of things I want to remember to give to them- things that have impacted my life that I hope to share with them as well.  I don't have a chest yet, and mostly only have ideas of what I want it to contain, but over the years I hope to collect a variety of things that will be not only sentimental but helpful.


Here are just a few ideas of things that you could include in a hope chest for your future daughter-in-laws:

• Special books that you have enjoyed or found helpful (such as The Love Dare)
• A special or homemade tablecloth & napkin set
• A cute, handmade apron (this one I plan to make once I meet her someday so it fits her style!)
• A vintage floral vase
• A journal for her to write letters to her future daughters or daughter-in-laws
• A family cookbook (okay- so this one will be covered by my blog, but you could also do a nice handwritten version, or a nice box of family recipe cards)

Obviously, this is just scratching the surface- there are so many more ideas I am sure you can all come up with!  As I think of things I plan to put them in the sidebar so you all have ideas always at your finger tips (right over there --------->).  I would also love if you would share some of your ideas with me (and the rest of my readers) in a comment!

The Best Morning Gift! (TYA)

Alright you guys- this one goes for you and your spouses!  Do you know what the single best gift you can give yourself every night before bed is?  Well, I will tell you (and by the time you are reading this it is hopefully already engrained in you if you have been living with me up till now!)!

Empty your kitchen sink!

Clean before bed...

You will be amazed how dramatically different this can make your mornings run!  I can wake up to a train wreck of a house, but if my sink is empty and shiny all the rest of the mess seems, some how, so much more manageable!  I don't know all the psychology behind it, but it works!

... morning bliss!

Do I always manage to do it?  Well, no.  But if I don't, for whatever reason, in the evening (like being exhausted... or wanting to blog) I always regret it in the morning!  So, do yourself a favor, and just do your dishes!

Want another little tip?  Clean as you go!  If you wake up in the morning with a clean sink, try to keep it that way all day!  Just rinse your dishes off as you dirty them and even as you cook.  This way your dishes are much easier to clean than if you wait to do them all before bed AND it is much more manageable to throw 2-3 dishes in the dishwasher right before bed, when you really don't want to, than having to attack an entire sink-full (and sometimes counter-full)!

And boys, if your wife is especially tired (or you just want to show her how much you love her)- DO THEM FOR HER!  Don't do it as though you are trying to show her she has failed in some way though.  Make it clear that you love her and appreciate what she does so you genuinely want to give her a break!  Make me proud boys!

And you can all thank me in the morning!  :-)