When I wrote the post What I Didn't Know About Miscarriage Until I Had One, I talked about the fear of pregnancy. I talked about how pregnancy after miscarriage would never be the same. I was just predicting, and I wish I could say I had been wrong. But I was right. This pregnancy is very different because of my previous loss. How Pregnancy After Miscarriage is Different "No, it's my second." You wouldn't believe how many times people ask if this is your first pregnancy. To strangers, I just respond yes. I don't want them to feel awkward or uncomfortable by bringing up a sad subject. Continue Reading
Controlling Our Fear
This post about fear is sponsored by Illustrated Faith. All opinions are my own. FEAR. It sneaks up on me sometimes. I'm all, "Yeah, I'm trusting God ... la la la..." and then bam, fear strikes! I find myself scared or nervous or worried. (Or all three!) Perhaps, in those moments, I don't really trust God as that much as I thought I did. Fear is a totally real thing, and it can strike at basically anytime. Whether you saw something on the news, or got a phone call with bad news, or perhaps you just started daydreaming about all that could go wrong. Fear and worry go hand-in-hand, and we all Continue Reading
2015 Word of the Year
This post contains affiliate links. For my full disclosure policy, click here. Are you one of those people who chooses one word to represent the year ahead? I like to do that, and I've been doing it for the past few years. I remember that my word for 2013 was Love. And my word for 2014 was Explore. This year, I am doing something a little different. Instead of choosing one word to represent the coming year, I am choosing two. That's right. I'm totally breaking the rules and choosing two words for 2015. This year is going to be so full of so many things that two words are needed. Brave Continue Reading
Ways to Sleep Better + A Bedtime Prayer
When my husband was gone for a month of training, I spent a lot of time with family in other states. But the days I did spend at home alone, I had the hardest time sleeping. It wasn't just that I missed my husband laying next to me, it was also the fear of having no one to protect me. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever felt so much fear before -- which was silly because I was safe in my locked house. I honestly believe Satan was throwing his flaming arrows toward me (Ephesians 6:16) to prevent me from receiving God's peace and getting a good night's sleep. Fortunately, I had many ways to help me Continue Reading
9 Tips for Searching for a New Church Home
Church is important to me as a believer because it's a place I can go to learn more about God, worship God, fellowship with others, serve others, and reach out to the community. For the past year, Travis and I have been attending a very large church that we both enjoyed. But last week, I looked around as I sat waiting for the service to start and I realized after an entire year we still didn't know anyone. Part of that is our fault -- we could have tried harder to get involved and been more forward about meeting people. But at the same time, we tried joining a small group but couldn't find Continue Reading
The Strive for Hospitality
I have a desire to be hospitable. I would love for people to know me as someone who opens her home to others, someone who bakes treats for others just because, someone who makes you feel welcome, and someone who helps and serves without being asked. I want to strive for hospitality. I honestly long for the opportunity to host get-togethers and welcome friends into our cozy apartment. For months, I'd been wanting to take baked goods to our neighbors. It just hadn't happened. I could tell you it's because I was just so busy or because I always forgot to buy the ingredients at the store or Continue Reading
Overcoming Fears & Living
There are two things I've always wanted to do, but at the age of 25 I still hadn't done them yet. I had even gotten the opportunity to do one of them a few months back, but because of fear I chickened out. I wanted to shoot a gun. Travis took me to a shooting range and I was excited to try it for the first time. But as soon as we got in the room, fear overtook me. I'm embarrassed to say so, but I didn't even touch the gun that day. I waited in the car. At the end of April, I went home to Indiana to spend a few weeks with my family while Travis was out in the field for training. During a Continue Reading
Look at the Rainbow
Last week I was on a mail kick. I love getting mail -- let me clarify, I love getting mail that is for me and is nice. Bills and junk mail do not count as nice. But whenever I receive a card, a letter, or even better a package -- I get SO excited. And almost as much as I love receiving mail, I love sending out mail. I could stand in the greeting card aisle for hours! It gives me joy to send some upliftment out to others. My computer is telling me "upliftment" isn't a word. So I declare it a word right now, and it basically means encouragement. So last week, I sent out several cards and Continue Reading
Great and Mighty Things
Pray about it. Dream big. Then write it down. That's basically what the new book I'm reading said. The book is called Intentional Blogger, and the authors wanted me to make goals for my blog. I'll be honest with you ... I thoroughly read that chapter on setting goals twice. I skimmed over it another two times. I printed off the printables they included for the goal setting chapter. And I sat there and stared at them for quite some time. Writing out my goals for this blog was difficult for me. I went back and forth in my mind. I asked my husband for help. He said my goal should be for Continue Reading