An Exhausted Mother's Prayer

After a couple days of little sleep because of a baby with a cold...here I am. Can you relate?

To hope in You is all I have. Lord I am tired, short tempered and exhausted. Lord, I love being a mom but some days it feels so heavy, like I am never going to make it through. Then there is You and this Holy Experience called life. This job, as a mother, needs to be drilling out of me the all revealing selfishness I see so often. So much it's sickening. To be a mom, to be a follower of You, is to lay down my life moment after moment. To follow You, to feed Your sheep. That means Caroline.
Am I exhausted...yes. But, I can pull from Your strength. You promise in Isaiah 40 that You are everlasting. You will never grow tired or weary. And You tell me that if I simply HOPE in You- I will be strong again. You will give strength to the weak and rest to the weary. You will make me mount up on eagle's wings.
So Lord by faith, I hope in You. I hope you will refuel me. I hope you will strengthen me to be a better mom for Caroline. I hope you will calm me. You promise these things if I simply hope in You. So today I do just that... and I will rest in Your arms.

It's Quiet Here

There are times in my day, where it is quiet. Not often... but every day I have moments where the sweetness is sleeping and I am left to a quiet house. Normally I would clean or do something but today, with the rain falling outside, I just sit here and enjoy the silence.

We are a week away from Thanksgiving. (My second favorite holiday of the year) I have been reading peoples post on Facebook about what they are "thankful for". All sweet things like family, homes, health, happiness and etc. etc. I love hearing people's innermost thoughts on Facebook, some people don't, but I do. And I have enjoyed the "thankful for's" but after reading this, I am silently processing if I really am all the thankful myself.

It's easy to be thankful when things are going good and your not stressed out. But this past year, learning how to become a mom, has been somehow a painful process for me. From the lack of sleep, crying fits, sacrificing most me time, the change in our marriage, separation anxiety and now the disciplining I have constantly been on my knees before the Lord asking for help. But very rarely, if ever, did I just go before Him to say "thank you". Of course I have been thankful for my little girl...I mean she really is the best thing that has ever happened to me outside of my salvation and my husband.  But I haven't really truly been thankful, to the fullest extent. Because isn't to be truly thankful you need to be thankful for all things? I believe that the answer is yes and thought provoking all the time. Because this powerful lesson has to press you further into the goodness of God in everything. Even the painful things.

As I think about it now...these are some of the things I am thankful for.

A BIG mess to clean up.

 Toys all over the floor all the time.

 Leaky sippy cups.

A mischevious chocolate faced little girl.



These aren't terrible things, but they are things that I have let get the best of me sometimes. My house is messy. Clothes needed to be folded and put away. I need to go grocery shopping. Dishes need to be done.
Life is messy, but God is faithful. I choose today to accept His grace and be thankful.

Hebrews 12:28 "Therefore since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe."

As we enter this first bit of Holiday season, let the power of who God is wash over you. Choose to be thankful in the things that don't make sense. In the everyday things that we let stress us out. In the marriages that seem to be falling apart before our eyes. In the family situations that prove difficult day after day. In your sleepless nights. In the unanswered prayers... be thankful because He is God and He never stops working. EVER!

Utterly Thankful for Him,
Lindsey

I love blueberries!

Just a fun post today...a video of my sweet one enjoying some sweets of her own~ Blueberries!

Laughing all the time with her,

Lindsey



Losing the Baby Weight

OK...so we are a year post-baby and unfortunately my body still reflects much of my pre-baby weight. I am not really sure if it will ever look the same again, but I think its about time I try. When Caroline was about 6 months old, I started going to a gym here in town and was doing pretty good about working out regularly. Unfortunately, the child care did not live up to par when I walked into the room and a strange woman who was not a childcare worker was holding C. I guess you can only imagine how I reacted, never to return to that gym again.

So in the ever quest to lose this baby fat, I have heard a lot of women talk about how great the Jillian Michael's DVDs were...especially the 30 day shred. I decided it was worth a try.


I purchased mine off Amazon (click the picture to take you there) for real cheap. After looking at the video, I like it's format. If you are like me, you never really know how long baby will nap for. In the case of this video, there are 3 workouts all 20 minutes each. 20 minutes... anyone can do 20 minutes right? I am not going to lie... after the first workout my arms feel a little like Jello :) but I did it.

So you are asking what's the point. Well the point is I need accountability. So I am sharing with you over the next 30 days what the results are. I will do Jillian every day in the month of November. I am going to gear my calorie intake somewhere between 1200 and 1500 calories a day. I will share my weekly meal plan with you and at the end of the 30 days let you know the results.

If there is anyone out there who would like to take this challenge with me...let me know. I am hoping for some good results as I am tired of this inner tube around my waist! HA!

Hopeful,
Lindsey