The blog is moving...

Hi friends! 

This is the last post on Rustic Views. I decided to move to Wordpress in order to have more creative freedom. From now on, should you choose, you can follow along here. Thanks for sticking with my random posting. Hoping to bring more consistent content on my new domain.

Best wishes!

All the feels..

Lately it feels like my emotions have been all over the place. Despite the way I feel I've been trying to focus myself on remaining steady. Yesterday ended up being a hectic day and I actually didn’t get to read my daily chapters in the Word. I was up from about 2:30 on last night though and I decided to catch up on yesterday’s chapters, as well as, read my chapters for today out of the One Year Bible. One of the chapters I missed was Genesis 45 and this verse stuck out to me “But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.”  

To put this all in context, this chapter consists of Joseph (sold into slavery by his brothers, had a coat of many colors) meeting his family after many years. At this point Joseph is now the Governor of Egypt and in charge of distributing food during the famine (that Joseph foretold). I started putting myself in Joseph’s shoes. I’m face to face with these men (family no less!) that completely betrayed me and they’re asking me to give them food. Their life is literally in Joseph’s hands and what does he do??  He shows compassion. He sees the bigger picture God orchestrated. He CHOSE to see the good instead of the overwhelming evidence against his brothers. I love that.

I love that the Lord knows just how to speak to our hearts. Anything I’m facing completely pales in comparison to what Joseph went through.  It feels big because I can tend to overthink things, but really all I'm responsible for is me. I say this all the time but perspective.is.everything.

Nostalgia

Do you ever catch yourself looking around your house and something catches your eye and you think... I want to remember this forever.  That's what this picture means to me. It seems at face value that it's just a mess in the corner, but I see the boy that this mess belongs to.

My son, Ian, is 11 years old, and he has been playing baseball since he was 3.  He has grown up devoting his Spring, Summer, and sometimes Fall to practices and games for a sport he loves.  The fact is that it's not just him that devotes time to it but his entire family.  Our summers are pretty much filled with practices and ball games and over time, as much as we feel like we'd really rather be doing something else out of sheer exhaustion, the truth is that we love it just as much as he does.

I'm super sentimental when it comes to my kids as it is, but knowing that my son is a year and a half away from being a teenager causes me to hold tighter to him. I know that once he's a teenager those years are going to fly by faster than the 11 we've already had with him. So when I see this mess in the corner, I get to remember him as a little boy that doesn't think about much outside of baseball, football, and video games.

One day my boy is going to set his sights on other things and I know I'll be wishing for the days spent on the dusty baseball fields and the 100 degree temps. So, for now, I'm not going to fuss about the mess he left in the middle of the floor. I'm going to savor the moment.

2017

I have begun to embrace the term "seasons" as it pertains to life. If there is one thing I wish someone would have told me going into adulthood it's that you go through life in stages, but those moments, though seemingly long, won't last forever.

When I look back on my 20's I see it broken up in seasons. There was a season of creating a family, there was a season of change (moving from house to house, city to city, etc.), there was a season of self discovery. There are busy seasons and there are quiet seasons. 

Chris and I are going into our 13th year of marriage, and we no longer have babies in the house. I've been asked how you know that you're finished having kids and my response is always "you just know". It feels like there's always a longing in your heart for one more little baby, and then you just reach a point where that's not there anymore. You just know that everyone who is supposed to be in your family is here. Then you close the book on that chapter.

So now, we begin another season.  To see these little babies into their own adulthood.  I'm at a place now where I'm beginning to have more free time and I'm looking forward to devoting more time to this blog. I've looked back through previous posts and it's more than a little embarrassing, but I've grown as a person. You have to start somewhere..

I'm looking forward to what the year 2017 holds for us. I have huge expectation in my heart and I look forward to sharing with you as it all plays out. Cheers to the new year!

Essential Oils

Hi readers!  I made it back….only took me a year!  One of my goals for this year is to try to pick back up with my blogging.  My youngest  child is now 2 and I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  She still follows me around like a shadow, but she’s becoming more independent and that’s freeing me up little by little.

To update you, life has been pretty much the same since we last spoke.  This year I have made some deliberate decisions to effect a change in my life.  I haven’t been unhappy with life by any means, but there were things that I wanted for myself that I wasn’t seeing.  You always hear that every single person has 24 hours a day.  I started looking around at what other people were able to accomplish (some with more kids than I have!) and I started thinking….me not having the things I want lies solely on my shoulders.  The only person keeping me from exercising is me, and the only person keeping me from being able to read a book I want to read is me!  So I simply made the decision.  I cut down on the “relax in front of TV time” and decided to “relax in the bed with a good book”.

Another decision I made was to pursue a more natural lifestyle.  Eat as organic as possible (cut out processed sugars, sweeteners (including Splenda), spend more time outside than in, find more natural ways to cure ailments my family encounters.  I have kept no secrets that I firmly believe that God is our healer.  I also feel like we have to be responsible with the bodies we’ve been given.  I prefer to treat our bodies (to the extent possible) with natural products. 

 That being said, I decided to dive in head first with Essential Oils.  If you’ve never heard of EO, they are 100% organic oils that you can apply topically, put in a diffuser and inhale, and put in your food/drinks and consume.  The plants that these oils are distilled from are grown on soil that has never been chemically treated.  The extent that Young Living goes to to ensure that their products are 100% organic is pretty incredible and makes it easy to trust them with the health of my family.  You will probably see me plug EO many times in the future.  I just can’t say enough good things about their products.

I hope that your year is off to a great start friends.  I trust that your expectation for this year is through the roof and that you receive all that you desire in the months to come.

Talk to you soon!

Simplifying Life

Psalm 90:12 (NKJV) “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Steven Furtick of Elevation Church was speaking on Psalm 90:12 during his Times and Seasons series and he said a couple of statements about this passage that struck a chord with me.  He was trying to clarify what David meant by saying “teach us to number our days.” He said “Teach us how to correctly number our days”; “Teach us how to count what counts, so that we can make the most of the time we have”; “Teach me how to know what moments matter”; and “Teach me how to keep what matters most first and foremost, so I can make the most of the time I have.”

Near the end of the year last year I found myself very overwhelmed with life.  I felt unhappy and really just truthfully felt hopeless.  There are certain things about my life that I wanted so bad to change (nothing immoral – and it’s none of your business J).  I really lacked any type of vision for my life whatsoever.  During 21 days of prayer and fasting that was just my main prayer “God give me vision for my life, vision for my family’s lives, vision for our future.”  I firmly believe that having vision constantly before you is what keeps your motivation to succeed up.  Constantly being reminded of why you do things, and everything you do serving a purpose keeps you engaged in life.  I realized that I was doing (and still am to a degree) so many things just really for the sake of doing them.  So things piled up and piled up and suddenly I was doing so many things that I was overwhelmed.  I was stressed and unhappy and felt like that was carrying over to my home life.  I was physically and emotionally worn out and just tired, tired, tired when I was home.  I knew that wasn’t fair to my family and really not fair to me.  I was not enjoying my life.

Along the way I’ve been making little tweaks here and there.  Backing off from meetings and appointments where my presence really made no difference whatsoever, cancelling my Facebook account, I stopped venting personal things in my life to people who could not help.  The older I get the more I see how exhausting chatter for the sake of chatter is.  It may not even be audible chatter.  Constantly checking in to Facebook to see that someone liked some random photo that belongs to someone I don’t even know (WHAT SENSE DOES THAT EVEN MAKE???  WHY DO I CARE?? I DON’T!)  So I cut those things out.  I see the value of using social media for “marketing”…totally get it, but I honestly feel like it’s such a dangerous thing for personal use.  It sounds extreme…but the stress that constant chatter causes just isn’t worth it.  This girl’s brain can only take so much.

I also took some time to plan out how to readjust my priorities.  “What are my main priorities?  MY walk with God and my family.”  So I’ve made it a point to keep those my priorities.  I’ve just realized that there are different seasons in life.  Right now my kids are getting older, they are in a place where having my husband and I around is important.  We need to be available to impart things into them while our opinion matters J.  We need to be PRESENT (and not tired) as much as possible.  Our two oldest are school-aged and face things at school that sometimes require us to be there for encouragement, give them direction in how to navigate, etc.  It’s now that we are setting the tone for our relationships with our kids for years to come.  It’s now that we are able to create that safe place where our kids feel comfortable venting when they grow to be teenagers.  It’s taken me realizing that there will be times when I can be available again for things outside of our home, but what matters now is home—creating a safe place for my husband after a long day at work, being there to raise my children and give them (hopefully) a magical childhood. 

It has taken some time to readjust to not having somewhere to be all the time or not thinking about projects all the time.  I can honestly say that I’m a happier person though.  There’s just something comforting about recognizing seasons in life and realizing this particular season is only going to last so long.

New Year!!

Well… after almost a year, I’m back!  2013 was a very hard year for me and it honestly was just hard to put the effort into my blog posts.  I thought about it A LOT – and I missed it.  I have very few followers so I knew it wasn’t really an issue.  I do these posts as a way to get the words out.  I have no main focus…just use it as an outlet to talk.

2013 in hindsight was a great learning experience for me.  The year started off with the passing of my grandfather—which was really hard.  I’ve never had a member of my family that I was around a lot to pass away.  It was so nice though to learn more about him after his death though.  It’s honestly such an honor to have had him as a grandfather.  That’s the only way I know of to put into words how I feel.  He was a man that cared so much for his family – every.single.member.  I still cry when I think of him, but it’s not out of sadness.  I’m just grateful to have had the privilege of knowing him.

In 2013 I grew as a mother.  I have a daughter that is 6 going on 13 and that has provided its own set of challenges this year.  I honestly feel like I am the least qualified person to raise daughters… and somehow I ended up with 2.  If you know me, I am an information hog.  I’m constantly reading blogs and reading other peoples perspectives on life issues.  I’m open-minded and follow blogs of both christian and non-christian mothers.  I’m in a unique situation.  I don’t have any close friends that have kids in the same order I do: boy (8), girl (6) and girl (18 months).  I’ve found myself really needing help navigating situations with my oldest daughter, but no one I’m comfortable talking with would understand.  I can’t just talk with other mothers that have 3 kids because their kids don’t follow in the same order.  Having a middle child that is a daughter is hard.  I constantly find myself thinking about how to approach things where she won’t get her feelings hurt.  My son, he’s a breeze.  Nothing bothers him – really ever.  He cares very much about obeying the rules and getting the approval of his parents.  Even when he’s in trouble, he learns from it and shakes it off.  We have to handle our daughters with more care though.

I grew up in how I handle my relationships in 2013.  I became choosey in who I share information with.  I can really only think of 2 people that I really share details of my life with.  Talking about any issues with people that really don’t understand, and offer generic advice, makes no sense.  Now don’t get me wrong…I have many friends and I value those relationships VERY much.  I’m just talking about being choosey in those I trust with information.  I think it’s important to be that way.  I’m not interested in feedback from someone who has no experience in my situation – because they just don’t know….and that’s okay!  THIS was the hardest challenge for me.

I ended the year on a great note though!  My heart has been so full of expectation for the upcoming year.  I walked through a test the last few months and once I felt the release in my heart I was just immediately full of optimism for the new year!  I truly felt like I shut the door on the last year and was able to shake it off the second the new year began.  It’s honestly THE absolute best.feeling.ever.

At our church we are currently in a time of fasting – 21 days of fasting and prayer.  I have looked so forward to it because I truly believe the Lord wants to give direction for our family this year.  There are things in my heart that I have been mulling over and I’m just so happy to get some clarification and direction.  I truly believe that there are some big things on the horizon for our family this year and it’s exciting!  I’m not the least bit nervous or scared – just excited. J

So here’s to a new year sweet followers!  Believing your 2014 is the best.year.yet.

Much love!

Jen