And yet, Alan and Daniel are the only two still standing. It starts as a scratchy throat, then it is sore. Snot kicks in, and for Caleb and me there is a cough. You can see why we worried it was covid or strep, but it is not.

I have been up half the night coughing for four days now, and it feels like I keep getting worse. I think I am currently fighting off bronchitis.

So yeah, we have been better. I have spent a great deal of 2021 sickly.

I know you did not come here to read about our medical problems, though, and we are waaaaaaaay overdue for an update-on-life post, so let’s just do that.

Quite a few things have happened since last we talked.

1.) I got to be on my first podcast. FUN!!!!!

My podcast episode is already recorded, but it is not published yet. Or wait, if it is a podcast, do they say published, or more like released? Anyway, you can rest assured I will be letting you know on here and all my social medias when it is available.

What in the world was I on a podcast for, you ask? Raising boys? Army life? Moving expert?

Haha! No!!! Wedding dresses!!!!

I once wrote this article about my fascination with wedding dresses. The funny thing is that when I looked back through this blog I discovered that I have actually blogged about wedding dresses several times. It is the ultimate pretty dress, okay?

So there is this podcast channel that is devoted to all things wedding gowns! It is called Choosing Your Reflection.

In the show, I got to talk about exactly what you’d expect, my wedding dress, what it meant to me, and the tragedy that eventually befell the dress. Granted, this channel may be a little girly for some of my readers (*cough* Dad), but I thought it was a fun thing to be a part of. Check out their channel here, and keep an eye out for when my interview is released!

#2. Glorious surprise that’s also kind of funny:

Now in our defense, there are TWO trashcans in the photo, even though you only see one well. You see? If it were put up properly, it would not stick out like a sore thumb.

The boys usually handle trash duty, but two days ago I had a bag I actually took out to the can myself, and I was delightfully surprised by this row of hot pink azaleas lining the trash can spot on the side of our house.

I love how beauty can thrill the soul, and pick you up when you are suffering from not-the-COVID. But then there is also a hilarious out of place trashcan to say….there’s always real life stuff to deal with, like trash.

#3. On days when I did not feel like I was resting on death’s doorstep from not-the-COVID, I have been ORGANIZING.

OUR HALL TREE BEFORE:

AND AFTER:

I literally just now noticed the blue post-it note on the mirror. Ha! I don’t even know if I did that or John David.

Yes, it would look better without the masks and Alan’s running gear, but you see those are daily use items. Empty hooks may be prettier, but we are in a phase of life where we actually NEED to use the hooks.

P.S. The storage bin part of it is now minus about ten hats and three purses. Plus, I even cleaned out the purses.

Organizing is my happy place.

Just imagine how organized my house would be if I did not have people to take care of. When I was a kid, I used to regularly re-alphabetize and group my book collection over and over again. There is something about having this one small space that you can feel hyper-in-control of.

You know why? I think it is because most of life is completely out of our control. One never knows when one will get sick with COVID or not-the-Covid. Fires, moves, sick family members, job changes, rain, consequences of decisions….You never know what will show up on your doorstep on any given day. Sure, you hope it’s just your Amazon package, but some days it’s more like a pesky sales person who talks you into buying something you did not even want!

We are trying our best though.

Some exciting things were accomplished in April. I got myself a Good Housekeeping magazine subscription, completely cleaned out two kitchen drawers and four cabinets, and re-organized the entire living room. Next time maybe I will post some more before and after photos of all that!!

I had this giant box all ready to collect donations for Goodwill, but instead I ended up filling up like three bags of trash. Most of what we were keeping was completely useless.

Hmmm…trash just keeps coming up today.

In fact, if you come over and catch this not-the-Covid from me, you too can feel like trash.

I’m super happy about how much decluttering was accomplished though, and there are about ten Target bags full of donation items in the garage now.

#4. How did I get on this whole donating/tossing things kick?

One day, back before I got sick again, I was feeling bummed. That’s a feeling I’ve gone back and forth with for a while now. The year of rona was not helpful for mental health.

Anyway, I was in the laundry room, feeling especially uninspired by my daily tasks. I cracked open my computer, which I rarely even use lately. Then I went to YouTube because they make a video for everything these days.

In the You Tube search bar, I typed in “How to better manage your time as a mom and house keeper.” (or something like that)

This came up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWstD4NB4CY

She is called the Minimal Mom. Decluttering and getting rid of tons of stuff is something all Army families do over and over and over again, but it has piled up on me, and I needed to do this again. I find her very relatable. She also has four children, so I knew her advice would make sense to me!

I loved her “decide on one most important goal for each day” rule.

#5. One last funny!

Alan took Daniel and JD camping, and this is a little snapshot of the inside of John David’s suitcase. This isn’t even all of it, but it’s just so funny what a seven-year-old boy thinks is important to pack.

Also, y’all, there’s a Bible in there because this boy is a man with a plan. His current plan is that he is going to go to seminary after high school, be a pastor, and live down the street from me in Alabama, where I will also go to his church. That really gets you in the feels, doesn’t it? I mean I’m not too sure his future wife will love the idea of living down the street from us, but I plan to be on my best behavior so as not to prevent this dream from coming true!! Love it!!!

So life in 2021 has its ups and downs as usual.

What year doesn’t? The boys are sort of enjoying being back in school. One of them stayed home, but he will go back in the fall.

If we can just all get well, I feel like things are about to get good. I have fun things planned for the summer.

Don’t forget to catch me on the podcast at Choosing Your Reflection! I will let you know when it becomes available! Y’all, stay healthy! After a year at home, I don’t think our immune systems are as awesome as they were before.

The post Life in 2021: The Podcast, The Decorated Trashcan, & They Say it’s Not the Covid. appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

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 places these days. There have been months where I sat down and searched out instances in the Bible where it mentions joy, just to teach myself and help pull out of the funk from moving year after year after year as an Army wife.

That is why I was excited to write out this booklet to share with you what I have found in my own joy-quests. Each of the eight days focuses on easy ways to refocus your mind to a calmer, more joyful place. 

And yes, of course, 8 Days of Finding Joy During a Pandemic is free for all my readers. It is an easy read too, at only 25 pages long.

Here is an outline of what you will find in this booklet:

• What do you enjoy?
• The Importance of Joy
• One Simple Lesson that Brought Joy Back to My Life
• What are you focusing on?
• What is it that we long for?
• Don’t let your joy rest in the hands of others.
• Thinking Positively When You Feel Surrounded by Negatives
• Don’t let the news drink your coffee.

Save it to your desktop while you go through the chapters this week to make it easier to find each day. I decided to give you the whole thing at once because who wants eight separate emails? 

Now, of course, we are not about to solve all your problems with a booklet.

…But I am hoping it will be a pick-me-up/encouraging read for you.

I would love to hear from you all about your answer to the Day 1 prompt, so if you’d like to share, send me an email or a blog comment, and tell me what it is that you enjoy doing.

To download the Choosing Joy booklet, sign up below, and it will be delivered to your email:

And of course, if you are already one of my newsletter subscribers, I have already sent this out to you. Check your inbox!

The post 8 Days of Finding Joy During a Pandemic appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

When this whole crisis home school fiasco started, John David, our resident first grader, sat down beside me and laid out exactly how his school day usually goes. He fully expected our distance learning day to mirror the way things run at regular school. Oh, boy, was he set up for disappointment or what? However, this did give me good ideas. This year John David has a teacher who makes school very fun, so she is someone I should be copying.

J.D. explained that every single day they start school with a fun game and going around and sharing about their lives in general. This teacher created such a friendly environment. No wonder he loved school so much. We all live together, so the sharing thing did not work out as well. They get all silly and giggly and really manage to say nothing at all, but the game thing has stuck– like glue. You won’t catch our younger two boys picking up a pencil until they have had their mandatory morning game session.

Game time in the morning is a great idea, and this is why:

1. It promotes a fun, happy atmosphere right off the bat.
2. Kids are actively learning when they play games. They learn skills as well as sportsmanship.
3. What else do they have to look forward to with everything closed? This gives them something.
4. Love grows when you are having fun together.

The boys have several official rules about game time too that I, sometimes begrudgingly, have to stick to:

1. No board games
2. No video games
3. No Go Noodle– That’s supposed to be popular with kids, but my boys hate it.
4. Absolutely NO educational games. No adding sight words, study questions, or math problems to the game. (You know I’ve had to be reminded of that one several times.)

So without further ado, here are a few games we have enjoyed. These are good for all ages, I think, but the ages at play in this house usually range from first through sixth grade.

#1. The floor is lava!

I set up old papers and chairs across the floor. Each player rolls the dice to see how far they get to advance forward to get from start to finish. This was such a big hit that we played about five rounds.

#2. Human board game

We have a ceramic tile kitchen, so we use the tiles as you would the tiles on a traditional game board, like Sorry or Candy Land, only we are the game pieces. I cut out squares of paper and wrote game play instructions on each one like, “Move forward 2, Move backward 2, Move forward 5, Switch places with another player,” etc. Then I shuffled the cards, and on each turn the boys would take the top card and follow the directions. I shuffled the deck each time we finished all 10 so each person didn’t always end up with the same cards.

#3. Hangman

This is one we do most often because it is easy to do. I think of a name of a book, character, or movie, and just play the regular old version of Hangman with a wipe-off board.

#4. Hide and go Seek

….when my feet aren’t hurting too badly

#5. Making Cards

They don’t love it, but sometimes we make birthday/graduation/thank you cards instead of a game. I haven’t paid money for a card in ages. I feel like this should be a natural benefit of having young children.

#6. Hot/Cold

They love this one, and I do not because, well I don’t know why because, but it isn’t my fave. We hide an item. Then they have to come in and find it, using our hot/cold instructions. They will play it over and over again, and I have no idea why they like it so much.

#7. Mad Libs

I love mad libs, but only one of my boys loves them. We’ve only done this one once.

#8. Charades

Well, you all know how charades works. The boys like this one, but I have to be careful to come up with very easy ones for our six-year-old, or he gets upset and gives up. This one can be super fun if you include people that everyone in the game knows and you have to try to act like them. Hilarious!

#9. Pictionary

I haven’t actually done this one yet, but we are planning to try it.

#10. Simon Says — or “Mom says”

Everyone knows how to play this one.

#11. Bingo

We only do this every once in a while because they have this firm belief that the winner should get a prize, and I find that annoying, but I do enjoy Bingo. Maybe just say up front that the prize is a bag of cereal. Haaa!

Free Printable Bingo Cards Here

#12. Twenty Objects

The boys like this much more than I thought they would, probably because it was new and challenging. You put twenty random items on a tray or large plate. Cover it with a dish towel. Start a timer for one minute, and take off the towel. Tell everyone to memorize what is on the tray. When the timer goes off, put the towel back over the tray, and put the tray away. They have to list as quickly as they can everything they can remember that was on the tray. It’s surprisingly challenging!

#13. Four Corners

Another popular one. They love this. One person, “it”, closes their eyes and counts to 10 while everyone scrambles for a corner of the room. Then “it” calls out a corner number. Whoever is in that corner becomes “it.”

This is an easy game to turn into an educational game because whoever is in the corner you call out can answer a question, but in the mornings I am forbidden to do this…

#14. Balloon toss

This is literally just bouncing a balloon around the room.

#15. Monkey in the Middle

You play catch with a third person in the middle who tries to snatch the ball as you toss it. This can get messy in our house, so we really need to do it outside.

or Bonus #16…Trampoline WITH Mom.

If I jump on the trampoline with them, they will count that as a game, but of course, not everyone has the benefit of a trampoline in their backyard, so I didn’t include this one in the fifteen list.

I hope at least one of these ideas will help you bring more joy to your children and your day as a whole. We all need all the joy we can get, right? I am always on the hunt for new game ideas, so please share your own favorites in the comment section below!

The post 15 Fun and Simple Games to Start Your School Day appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Remember when you were a child, how exciting birthdays were? In my 8-year-old world, birthdays were the best event of the year. A whole day of presents, cake, and friends? What could be better than that?

In fact, I remember turning eight especially well. That was the year I had chicken pox. The party had to be moved to a week later. My poor mom probably had to call everyone. Kids these days do not know how good they have it with their chicken pox immunity. Mom had planned this big party for me at Bob-a-lou, one of my favorite places on earth at the time. Bob-a-lou was the local roller skating rink, and you know what a big deal roller skating was in the ’80s.

Not only was it supposed to be a Bob-a-lou party, but Mom also made me the best cake of all time. It was one of those birthday cakes with the Barbie doll in the middle, so the cake was her dress. Looking back, I am even more impressed with my mother’s handy work on that now than I was then! As Barbie’s biggest fan, I was so excited about this thing. We even had the scary/hilarious moment when we lit the candles and Barbie’s hair caught fire. Barbie never fully recovered, but I played with her anyway.

This all makes me smile because it makes me think even more about how blessed I have always been to have such an awesome mother. Thank you, Mom!

But then you know, as you get older, in your 20s and 30s, birthdays become less and less of a big deal. In fact, most years I have trouble remember what age I am even turning.

But not this year! This year we are making thirties birthdays great again.

Birthdays in your thirties can be fun too. I am old enough now to know what I like and make plans for that. Life doesn’t just happen to me anymore. I can make things happen, right? Why be ordinary when it can be fun instead? Why stay home when I can go visit people, have lunch with Alan, and take my kids out to dinner?

Let the birthday week fun begin!

We got a new basketball goal! This wasn’t actually for my birthday, but it did happen this past week. We wanted a second one so that John David could practice at home with a shorter goal. We have one on the street, but it is adjusted at full height. The back patio is a small space, but it isn’t quite as small as it looks in the photo. It is working out quite well. I’m thankful we did this.

I drove to D.C. and had lunch at Vie de France. It was delicious, of course, but more importantly it was so nice to get to sit down with Amy for a couple of hours. We go way back to 2011, and when you move as much as I do, keeping a friend that long is a much needed accomplishment.

When I met up with Amy I told her that today I was dressed all career-like, as she always does, and that I had decided to pretend like I belonged right there on Capitol Hill. It was delightful. I must have been pretty convincing. Two different men in suits stopped to ask me directions to the Rayburn Building. When the first guy I asked me, I had no idea, but then I passed the enormous Rayburn building, so I was able to seriously look like I knew something when the second dude asked later on. haha!

The Case of the Single Soaking Wet Glove

I thoroughly enjoyed walking around Washington, D.C., and I parked so far away that I got to walk both up and down Capitol Hill. My feet are still mad at me, but it was well worth it. D.C. is a city like no other. I dropped one of my gloves near the Dept. of Education building, and I was disappointed because that is my favorite pair of gloves. Well, on my way back by the building, an hour or two later, I FOUND my glove, sitting on a concrete corner piece, soaking wet. (It was raining off and on.)

I gasped and grabbed my black and pink cottony glove. I said out loud, “Oh yea! My glove!” you know, just in case anyone thought I was just weirdly picking up a nasty glove for no reason. Isn’t it funny how much attention we bother with giving to how we are perceived? Just then, a police man popped out of a room that I didn’t even realize was there, but in D.C. police or other agents are watching your every move. He asked in an upbeat voice, “Is that your glove?”

“Yes! I was so excited to find it!”

“Yeah, I found it lying on the sidewalk over there, so I put it up there just in case.” I think he was quite happy to have reunited that runaway glove with its proper owner.

I thanked him profusely and went on my merry way. I love D.C. Did I mention I love D.C.? I also went way over on my parking limit and did not receive a parking ticket. That’s always a nice bonus. You can never bet on that.

The next day I had lunch with Alan, at a restaurant I had never eaten at before. It is right on the Chesapeake Bay in Aberdeen. The view was so much better in person, and at one point a real life bald eagle flew right overhead. Perfection!

After lunch, Alan took a 15-minute power nap in the car before his next meeting. He has no idea I took this picture. I hope he doesn’t make me take it down. Napping pictures are so funny to me!

Yesterday I drove to Springfield, Virginia, to have lunch with my old after school club. We jokingly called it a club. It was really just a group of moms who sat at the same table to pick up our kids everyday. On the drive, about 10-20 Maryland state troopers passed me with their lights on, and then every single overpass bridge had police or firemen lined up on it. Some of them were standing on their firetrucks, looking down on the cars on the interstate. One of the last groups had even hung up this flag. Try, as I might, I could not find out what exactly they were honoring. It was quite a display. I’d love to know what it was about.

My friends really spoiled me with all this attention. It was so much fun though. I wish I could have seen ALL my Virginia friends while I was over there, but I will have to save some of my other group reunions for next time.

Keeping up friendships is so important. People are sort of like pack animals, you know? We solidly need each other. Everyone in this post has been a huge part of my support network, and it has been so refreshing to see you all this week.

The girly balloons were a nice touch, don’t ya think? When you have all boys, you don’t get to participate in many frilly glittery events and eat pink things so much.

Now this may seem all a little frivolous and silly, especially when you see the crown picture here in a minute, but that’s not all it was, I promise. Maybe it was 50% ridiculous and 50% good solid sense. Most of the time I am extremely practical, and over the years I have paid very little attention to my own birthday. But why skip an excuse to celebrate?

I viewed my birthday as a valid excuse to schedule some fun things for myself and my family. Stacie and Amy had both already been to my new house to see me, but I had yet to go back and see them. I knew that would be a fun thing to do for all of us. Always look for reasons to make life fun. Life is so short. It is a gift we don’t want to waste “living like a thrown stone.” What is our hurry?

There are still two days left in “birthday week.” Tonight I am going to take the whole family out to eat at my favorite restaurant, which I think has something that each of them will enjoy. Tomorrow I get to go to a fun dinner event with Alan and our church friends. They are bringing in the pastor brother of the Duck Dynasty crew to speak. I have only seen that show a couple of times, so I Google-d him. It should be good. We are looking forward to that.

I hope you all have a happy weekend!

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9

The post Birthday Week 2020 appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

The doctor said not to walk and to rest my feet this week, and I really like it.

Is that funny that I like it? Am I not supposed to? Does that make me sound lazy? I’m not lazy. I’m quite industrious here on my sofa. Yes, I do admit to spending way too much time reading Facebook yesterday. Way too much time, but that aside, I’ve been productive. According to my Fitbit, I still managed to get 4,000 steps yesterday. Maybe this is what it’s like to have a desk job instead of being a homemaker.

I have blogger friends who do this everyday. They work on their writing, promotions, and blog work all day long, and they are far more successful than I am with their websites due to their consistency. Maybe I should do this more often. I love it.

What do I do all day?

For this entire week, I am sitting on my sofa doing things on my computer.

First, I get the boys off to school. The middle schoolers don’t need anything from me, but I chat with them while I drink my coffee. Then we wake up the younger two. I fix their breakfast, boss them around, and then I walk them to the bus stop. No one ever told me when I was just a 6-year-old bossy know-it-all-little-girl that I could use that for my motherhood gig. Ha!! I’m kidding. I direct the children. Does that sound nicer?

Then I come home and eat breakfast while I check the messages and see if there’s anything new and interesting on social media. I’ll call my mom or text my husband. I look over my checking account and pay the bills.

Once my feet get too cold to sit any longer, or my sciatica kicks in from the sitting, I get up and do a few chores while I listen to a podcast. My current favorite is the Thankful Homemaker. She’s a little older than me, and her stuff is so wise and Biblical.

Then back to my sofa I go to create pins for Pinterest, read other people’s blogs, and work on writing new content and fixing up old posts as well. Today I learned that broken links are bad for search engine optimization. Yipe. This website goes back to 2014. I have about a billion broken links, especially since Top Mommy Blogs shut down, which I was a very active member of.

At 3, the boys come home. I do more chatting, and we work on studying and homework. Caleb has been walking down to the bus stop and picking up the younger two for me while I’m down. Around 5 or 5:30, I whip together a dinner. Alan comes home around 6 or 6:30, and we usually all eat together. Then we wind down and spend two hours getting our kids to bed. I know that’s crazy long, but I like to read with them.

Do you know what this week taught me?

God provides exactly what we need. This has forced me to sit down and work on something that I actually love to do. It’s a gift. Too often I don’t work on it because I feel guilty to be blogging when there are bathrooms I could be scrubbing, and even … well… I hate to admit this. I judge people for doing this very thing…. There are still blanket Christmas lights on three bushes outside in my front yard, and here it is already January 15th!! Alan took down all the lights that were up high, but he left the ones on the bushes for me to do, and I haven’t done them. At least I did unplug them around January the 5th.

So see, there’s always something, with a house full of people, that needs to be done, but this has forced me off of my feet and onto my laptop. I couldn’t walk around all day if I wanted to. It hurts too much.

It’s funny how our disadvantages can become our blessings.

That’s how it is with my sore feet. Here is this unexpected free pass to stay home and write and edit to my heart’s content, and so for that I am thankful. Yep. I am thankful for bad feet!

What are you thankful for today?

*Linking up with Finish the Sentence Friday on tamaracamerablog.com.*

The post It’s funny how our disadvantages can become our blessings. appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Now that may sound funny to some of you who have achieved home perfection, but rest assured, even after preparing all week, there will be no home perfection. But yes, if company is happening on Friday, it takes me all week to get ready for that, especially Wednesday through Friday.

My solution to this was, “After Friday, I can blog again, and everything will be calmed down and back to normal.”

Haahahahahahahaha

Does life truly ever calm down? Maybe for a minute or two. Maybe. But I already am tracking the next life stressor, as all good and bad events bring some sort of stress.

That’s when I realized how silly I’ve been to put off working on something I enjoy because “things are busy right now,” and they are truly hectic. It was the first week of school, first week of youth group, first week of Awana club, and I’m still figuring out how to arrange everything in this new house, besides all the mess and work created by 6 people. Since company is coming, our current level of tidiness (or lack thereof) simply will not do.

This house must be cleaned and decorated so that we can fool people into thinking we have our acts together!! Ahem. I mean so we can make our guests comfortable, yes, of course, that’s what I meant.

I told Alan I would eat all of his Mike and Ike’s if he didn’t hang wall art last night and vacuum the living room this morning. haha! I’m kidding. No, I did actually insist that he do those things, but I only ate the Mike and Ike’s because he offered them to me. I did not demand them. I normally despise Mike and Ike’s, but he bought these sour ones which were surprisingly satisfying.

No matter how much I am able to improve our house, tonight will be fun, people will eat food, and life will go busily on next week as usual.

Only there is no usual, not really.

There’s always something going on for everyone, not just us. Everyone is busy with something. There are surgeries, health scares, new jobs, new schools, baseball games, solo parenting weeks, exams, holidays, conflicts, plans that don’t work out, plans that do, etc., etc. Life is never la la la happy-go-lucky for long. Normal? There is no normal.

With that said, I might as well sit down and blog for a bit. Read the book. Bake the cake. Run. Go ahead and squeeze in that thing you enjoy. You’re going to have to sit down and recover at some point anyway. Life is short. Make time for the good stuff, right?

Thanks for reading, y’all. It makes me so happy when people bother to read my blog. I hope you all manage to make time for the things you enjoy doing today, even if it’s just watching Downton Abbey.

Happy Friday!

“Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingnesss is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.

~2Corinthians 8:11-12

The post There is no normal. Just ask Rosie. appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

It is so important to start your day off with positivity!

The news, your Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, those things are all iffy. Let’s talk about a better way to start your day.

Every morning I wake up, and I do the same first few things.

In the summer, I sleep a little later, and I still kind of zombie-walk down to the kitchen, pour my coffee, and plop myself down on a sofa.

Sometimes, on my way to the sofa, I have to fix breakfasts for small boys. Other days, they’ve figured that out for themselves already. I can tell they have helped themselves by the spots of milk on the table, bowls in the sink, or still on the table, and the chair by the cabinet.

Everyone who lives in our house knows that you respect coffee time.

Once Mom sits down with her coffee, no one is allowed to need anything from Mama until coffee time is done. (Ha! Sort of. It really isn’t as rigid as I make it sound.)

There I am just me, my fuzzy brain, and my highly creamed beverage. I always have my phone with me. It is so tempting to go straight to my Jeopardy app (we have a club) or to check the news or Facebook. Email isn’t the least bit interesting to me. My inbox is almost 100% junk and advertisements. I detest email, but that’s another story.

I must stay strong though because I know that this time is sacred. The minute that mug is empty, there are expectations. My time is limited.

The six-year-old frequents my seat to check how close I am to finishing that cup of joe.

You see, I get lost in playing Jeopardy over and over again. Time will fly. Inevitably, I will lose. Then I will feel a bit like a failure, and on top of that, my cup will be empty, and there will be my sweet children, impatiently waiting for me to get up and going.

Jeopardy just drank my coffee. Drat. Plus, I have gained nothing positive to start my day on.

Or sometimes I get sucked into the news stories of the day. That’s the worst of all because there are rarely any positive stories. “This politician is crooked.” Yes, probably so. “Child murdered.” “Is War Looming?”

Just like that, not only has the news drank my coffee, but it has given me negative thoughts and sadness to start my day with. Booooooo.

Facebook isn’t much better, I enjoy it, sure, but I can end up scrolling for an hour probably, if my kids would let me.

And just like that, Facebook drank my coffee. It is gone, and I’m left feeling many emotions all at once.

“Ew. Gross. I didn’t want to see that.”

“What? That can’t be true?”

“Another political ad? Really, Jen? Are you working for his campaign?”

“They go to Disney World 3 times a year? I will not be jealous. I will not be jealous. I will not be jealous.”

With any of these scenarios, I’ve let the world around me set the tone for my day instead of me setting that tone.

The narrative in my head, the things I think about, are now set by a news or social app. The results are not helpful at all.

There is a better way, where I drink my coffee and fill my mental and spiritual tank up at the same time.

Yeah, this is me writing, so you know I’m going to say Bible. I have an app on my phone, and I have a small collection of actual Bibles. But either way, for starting out the day, I know I have to feed my own soul before I can feed the 4 young souls entrusted to me.

I just finished reading the book of John, and I like to read a chapter from Psalms and/or Proverbs too, depending on how much time I have.

When I start the day with the Bible, I’m reviewing new concepts as well as learning new ones. I’m praying for my family and friends and being reminded of how life should be lived.

My focus moves to what is eternally important.

Instead of pointing me to feelings of jealousy, desperation, inferiority, or fear, the Bible directs me to love, joy, peace, patience. kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

God’s word reminds me to trust Him, to teach my children to do the same, and to love others and forgive.

Now don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean I live a sinless day. No. I still lose my temper if the dog has an accident or the boys are fighting. Nothing irritates me more than brothers fighting over an Xbox. I say things I should not say, and maybe I don’t always look so very righteous.

But I’m trying. I know that starting my morning in God’s Word equips me with something that I need that day, if I’m paying attention.

I like to write down verses that speak to me on sticky notes and place them around the house to remind me all week long.

Most importantly, it sets the narrative for my day. I’m not doing the dishes thinking, “What is the world coming to? Hide your wife. Hide your kids…etc.”

Instead, I am now thinking about the practical things that need to be done in my actual life. After all, the best way to overcome evil is by doing good.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t read the news either, okay. I do still look at that app as well, only not everyday, and not first thing in the morning, but several times per week. Being informed is good, but don’t set the tone for your day with bad news. It will drink your coffee and leave you feeling like you had Benadryl instead.

Here are a few verses I’ve found helpful recently:

¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. ¹² This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

~John 15:11-13

³² Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his ^[e]own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³ These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you ^[f]will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

John 16:32-33

The Lord is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,
And with my song I will praise Him.

Psalm 28:7

How do you start your day? Feel free to share in the comments below.

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