By His Grace I Can.

Imagine yourself at the bottom of a deep dark hole.  At the top you see an often blue sky, puffy clouds, sunset and sunshine.  Yet regardless of your seemingly constantly efforts to get out of this pit, you never are able to.  Sure the pin light perspective of nature brings you hope and moments of happiness, but you feel so far removed from it.  Your tireless attempts leave you exhausted, irritable, frustrated, discouraged, doubtful and depressed.  Within ear shot you hear so many others who are loving life, but regardless of what you have, your blessed circumstances or even who loves you, you just don't feel it. Though you want nothing more, you simply can't understand how the sunshine feels. Through a series of promptings from God, you & your husband take a leap of faith and move your family of 6 across the country, in the middle of the COLD Midwest Winter.  You find yourself much CLOSER to home, but still 3 hours from family and feeling very much alone and isolated.

Do any of you remember my post about the Father's Workshop? (Read full post here )  Well it was just about a year ago that I felt inspired to start this blog and since then I have very much felt that this is a project that God has called me into His "workshop" to do together. For months my blog was dormant, nothing came for me to share.  But within the last month I feel God beckoning to me to come, work with Him, follow His promptings, learn from His wisdom, hone my gifts, try my hand at new ones, share what He puts in to my mind & heart and spend time with Him.  It has been a sweet sweet time. I'm amazed at how ideas will just flow as I sit down to type.  I am learning just as much as I am sharing.  If I ever seem extra enthusiastic about a concept, allegory, perspective or paradigm shift it is because God is the one teaching them to me and I feel the power of what He is showing me... and can't help but share it with you! :0) With that in mind, along th

Several hours after I gave birth to our most recent child, I was finally getting out of the hospital bed to get cleaned up.  It had been a rather traumatic birth and I had needed that time to hold my new son and let my body rest. I lifted off the hospital blanket and slowly eased my way to the edge of the bed.  I felt like a deflated balloon with no strength, stiff and sore, my tummy covered with stretch marks, both old and new.  The very first thoughts that came were of shame, weakness and ugliness. BUT I quickly countered them with my own-- how proud I was of my body, nine long months of discomfort and pain, all that it had endured to bring this baby in to the world.  What a miracle and blessing. Yesterday morning while sitting in bed nursing my baby, I caught a glimpse of myself from across the room in our bedroom mirror.  My messy bun had reached a new level of messiness, my two-day old mascara was amplifying the bags under my eyes and my shirt had spit up on it.  By th

Hey All!  Happy Friday. I just wanted to drop in and share some feelings from the last little while... 1. Artistic- We got to attend our postponed water color class.  LOVED it! 2. Pampered- My hubby watched the kids while I tucked myself in bed, ate chocolate and sped read an AWESOME book in time for a book group. (More on that book later.) 3. SUPER frustrated- I wear Vionic orthaheel flip flops around the house because I have plantar fascitis and our puppy chewed up my new pair!!!  Arrgh!  I thought she was laying on our bed, but before I knew it she was under the bed chewing away.  Insert tears. 4. Enlightened- A morning that I had a special experience regarding each of our unique gifts and ability to shine God's light.  I took this outside the temple before going inside. (It was so powerful! Read about it here .) 5. Challenged- Some really difficult moments with my son with ASD.  I was praying to understand him better and that I could identify what I was feeling. 

This morning, in conjunction with seeking light & inspiration at a nearby temple (of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), I had a very sweet and powerful experience.  With it being the weekend, I was going to wait and type it up next week, but when I saw that it was International Women's Day, I knew I needed to take the time to share this TODAY. While driving away from my house this morning I had the idea to text a song to a friend of mine.  I've learned to as-immediately-as-possible follow through with the whisperings of God's spirit, so I pulled over and sent the text.  Next came the thought to tell her how amazing she is, that she is just the way God needs her to be (strengths, weaknesses, insecurities and all) and that He works beautifully through her. That phrase made me think of a prism and how it refracts light.  The words came to me, "We're each unique prisms (with the different faces & facets of our personalities and testimonies

My sister-in-law recently asked for advice on how to stay calm with her young kids. I am no expert and still have a ways to go, but I've come a long way. So I'll share what tips work for me in case they come in handy for you. This morning reminded me of where I try to start with creating calm in my home. My son has sensory processing issues. As I've seen what textures, temperatures, sounds, and tastes affect him, I've been increasingly aware of what affects me. I've come to realize how little seemingly insignificant inputs can add up to disrupt my day. Take this morning for instance. My kids all seemed particularly grumpy about getting ready for school but I noticed I was more irritable than the situation would typically merit. So I took a self assessment. How did I feel? I quickly realized that... My cuddly PJs were great for sleeping but were now making me hot. Feeling too warm instantly invites irritability for me! (As a side note, I have foun

⭐The giveaway ends tonight, 4 March 2019, at 11:59PM MST.  So get in your likes, comments, shout outs, reviews, suggestions and shares! ⭐ To officially enter please leave a comment on this post (or similar posts on my Facebook page or Instagram) by tonight, 4 March 2019 at 11:59PM MST. Include what you did to participate and how many points it earned you. Example of entry: 10-likes (10 points) 5-tagged friends (25 points) 3-comments on posts (30 points) 1-review and 2-watched videos with comments left (60 points) Total: 125 points I'm having you tally up your points so that none get overlooked AND because you don't want to rely on my math skills 😉 Good luck! The winner will be announced Tuesday 5 March 2019 at 10PM MST.