8 Days of Finding Joy During a Pandemic

8 Days of Choosing Joy During a Pandemic

Have you had to look a little harder for joy over the past few months of pandemic? Do you find the coronavirus and the news to all be a little discouraging? Feeling down and being in a place of seeking joy has happened to me many times over the years, not because I am totally Sadness all the time because I am not. It is just that hard times call for digging a little deeper, and we are definitely in difficult […]

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My Brilliant Plan for How to Plan

**This post does contain affiliate links, which means that when you purchase through links on this page, April collects advertising fees from Amazon.** Was I always a little flaky? I don’t know. For years, I could get away with being very loosy-goosy with my planning because I was a stay-at-home mom of preschoolers. We moved all the time too, so by the time people developed expectations of me, we were off and away to the next town. Over the years, […]

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A Place to Write Out Answered Prayers

Yesterday we sang this song at church. I wish I could remember the name of it, but it was something like “Do you remember?” I could not stop my tears while singing this song. Sometimes, I have this problem that once my water works start it feels impossible to turn them off!! All of a sudden, I lose all ability to be tough or cool. I become total mush. Does that happen to you? It’s embarrassing, but it’s healing, and sometimes […]

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An Unexpected Blessing and Friend

Something special happened to me this week. We have been on such an emotional roller coaster this year, and we’ve had new obstacles to manage the past couple of weeks. When one member of a family meets a set-back, the whole family meets it too because we are each other’s support. I cannot write about it because it wasn’t mine to write about, but I felt it almost as much as he did. Don’t worry. Everyone is safe and sound, […]

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10 Things to Try When You’re Feeling Achy

    Have you ever felt old before your time or just achy all over the place?  I keep wondering. Is this just getting older? Or is this a problem that can be fixed? And how do you know which is which? Several of my readers liked the video with the stretching tips for hip pain, so today I’m including a stretching video for heel/foot pain and swelling. This is another nuisance that I deal with that I think is […]

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My Chronic Pain Battle: Fake Sciatica, Tendonitis, Muscle Strain, Whatever

Note: Chronic pain blogs are mostly only interesting to other people with chronic pain. We eat this stuff up. Soooooo, friends, do not feel like you have to sit through this one.  Ha! Or feel free to scan and read only the one line paragraphs. I do that a lot too. My Chronic Pain Battle: Fake Sciatica, Tendonitis, Bursitis, Muscle Strain, Whatever it is! The first time I developed “sciatica”, whether it ever actually was sciatica or not, I have […]

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Summer Updates: Sunburn, Confessions, & Pictures. This is the rest of the story.

Sometimes I mention things on my blog, and then I never come back and tell you the rest of the story, so today I’m going to just do that. Here’s a little update on things I’ve mentioned, with lots of cute photos thrown in. I told you that we packed up and headed South, but did I mention that Daniel is my #1 packing assistant? He is a hard worker! He’d pack one suitcase with me, and I would want […]

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One Simple Lesson That Brought Joy Back to My Life

We look super happy in this photo, didn’t we? We were sort of happy, but we were stressed. Alan has enough school and family work to fill his plate, but he does well. I’ve already said a thousand times that the first year of home schooling has been a huge challenge for me. I was surviving, really. There was more stress than joy in my days. I was living frustrated. I ran into a mom that I sort of know at […]

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When I’m Feeling Blue: A Poem on Motherhood

When I'm Feeling Blue: A Poem on Motherhood

Sometimes I feel so blue I don’t know what to do Go to my room and pray Sometimes I forget to listen God always has something to say I open my Bible and read I promise He tells me to make coffee Yes! Why didn’t I think of this–yummy! Exactly what I need! I go downstairs and see them All sitting so sweetly in their chairs Their faces so sweet and chubby Their hearts so clean  and innocent Their hands […]

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Breaking into the Home-School World

I just spent an hour typing out a blog post that I was unusually happy with. I thought my computer was plugged in and all was well. It wasn’t. I thought, “No big deal. It automatically saves…..” It didn’t. You will be happy to know that I did not panic. I felt sad, but I internalized all of my bad feelings rather than annoy anyone by “venting” my frustration. That’s right. You can look for an April explosion from this […]

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