Tag Archives: happiness

Enjoying life with a large family

Posted on 10/23/2013 | 7 comments

My husband recently started a new job, but with starting a new job comes all the stress of being the “new” guy. My husband is a pretty resilient man, he just usually rolls with all the “cheap shots” geared towards the new guy. Well, when you have a large white 15 passenger van that you sometimes drive into work, you know the ridicule is going to be magnified. “Don’t you know how to stop that? or “Wow, really having 10 kids, that’s insane, if my wife wanted me to have that many, I’d divorce her.” or “You really want to go nowhere fast!”

sad….sad….sad…cheap shots made from the world.

One thing that I do know from living life is that when people are uninformed about something, they usually think its a bad idea. Just because they don’t know any better.

And most people are misinformed about large families.

My husband is a very wise man when it comes to speaking what he believes. After enduring some ridicule last week at his employment, he laughed them off and just went with all the “shots” and then he turned to one of the workers and said, “Do you love your child?” The guy kind of hesitated and stopped for a second and said, “Well, yes I love my child.” My husband then said to him, “If you can imagine that little amount of love that you have with your one child, I have that multiplied by 10! Why would I want to deny myself all of that love?” He said the guy kind of stopped in his tracks for a minute and then was quiet.

People in the world don’t realize why they do what they do. Most people are on this hamster wheel of life, that just keeps spinning around and around and around. With no real directions or destinations of getting anywhere in life.

They continue with life, doing what their parents did–get married, have 2.1 kids, what society has told them to do–goto college, find a job, work 9-5. It is a continuous wheel of never ending sameness. They don’t really get anywhere they just kind of “blend” into society.

Society doesn’t want you to go against the status quo—for fear of disrupting it or creating disharmony.

One of my husbands favorite quotes is this:

“Most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in them.”

Henry David Thoreau

We want to live life to the fullest. Having a large family has filled our life so full of love that it is indescribable. Now is that for everyone? No, I don’t believe God has called everyone to have ten children. God has called US to have ten children and love them and bring them up as unto the Lord. We love our life, we love our crazyness, we love being together doing things together every moment that we can.

Most every weekend and night is spent doing this…

Children playing, being children. Isn’t this what life should be all about?

Letting our babies enjoy watching leaves float down the river. Enjoying the simpleness of life.

Whether you have a large family, or small family, or no family at all, get outside this fall and enjoy some of Gods natural beauty. Find a local park and start exploring. We have come across many beautiful scenic areas, just by visiting the different parks in our area. Pack a lunch or take a dinner, just enjoy being outside spending good quality family time. Be unplugged from the world get back to fun, talking, and knowing your children or spouse. Do things like you used to do before life got a hold of you?

So what are you going to do? Are you going to jump back on that hamster wheel, or step off and start enjoying life with your family?

Be simple, be basic, no big packing, no big fancy foods, just jump in the car, grab a diaper bag for little ones, some peanut butter sandwiches, apples, and water. That is all a person needs–simplicity. Go have fun, enjoy, live life the way that God has intended you to.

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Posted in influencing others, positive living, self help

Tagged happiness, influencing, large family, outdoors

The ugly side of beauty….

Posted on 08/05/2013 | 2 comments

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.

Confucius

Beauty….now there is a powerful word. If you ever ask a girl, any age, what they think is beautiful, most remarks will have something to do with being skinny and look like a certain celebrity. If you ask them if they think themselves to be pretty, most of the time they will say no. They want this or that changed about themselves. Where do we get that from??

There’s no denying that our media and culture are obsessed with women’s looks. Magazines have weekly features with names like “body watch” that criticize female celebrities for being too heavy or too thin. TV and movie stars showcase unrealistic body types that most girls can’t copy without hurting themselves. Ads tell girls that, with the right beauty products, they can get their hair or makeup just right.

But another big influence on our daughters lies with us. How many times do we complain that we look too fat today or need to lose a few more pounds? Do we complain about getting older, or look into the mirror in disgust? I know as a woman, I am guilty of falling into that complaint trap of “Oh, I just need to lose a few more pounds until I can get into this or that.” Or I need some makeup before we go out to “perk” up my face. How much of that is my daughters listening to? All of it.

Sometimes it can be very hard to love yourself especially when you don’t think you are beautiful. Everywhere you look we are sold the promise that if we are beautiful our lives would be so much better. That we will make more money, have better status, and have everlasting happiness. Is it possible that beauty is just an unending lie, just propaganda? Why is it that we are listening to an industry that is fueled by money in order for us to be more pretty? We need to stop letting someone else tell us what we need to do to be more beautiful. We need to find the beauty that is already there.

Everyone has something unique and beautiful about them.

We need to do more of the things that we love, things we are good at, things we enjoy doing. We need to put that smile on to bring instant beauty to our faces. We need to stop funding the cosmetics companies with billions of dollars of sales money on cosmetics and beauty treatments, that are unsafe for us. (Take a look at the chemicals in beauty products, not on the labels as it won’t say anything, but do a google search, to see what type of cancer causing agent you are smearing on your faces and maybe your daughters lips everyday.)

Most importantly we need to take a look at what God says about our appearance and re-evaluate ourselves.

The Bible tells us that we need to take a different approach to appearance than fitting into society’s idea of beauty.

What God Finds Important

God doesn’t focus on our outward appearance. It is what’s on the inside that matters most to Him. The Bible tells us that God’s focus is on developing our inner beauty so that it can be reflected in everything we do and what we are.

1 Samuel 16:7 – “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

James 1:23 – “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror.”

Unfortunately we do live in a superficial world where people do judge on appearance. We would all love to say that we are not in the majority, and that we all look beyond what’s on the outside, but virtually all of us are influenced by appearances.

Yet, we need to keep appearance in perspective. The Bible tells us that it is important to present ourselves as nicely as possible, but God does not call us to go to extremes. It is important that we remain aware of why we do the things we do to look good.

Ask yourself two questions:

Does your focus on your appearance take your eyes off the Lord?
Are you more focused on your weight, clothes, or makeup than you are on God?
If you answered, “Yes,” to either of the questions then you may need to take a closer look at your priorities. The Bible tells us to look closer at our hearts and actions rather than our presentation and appearance.

Colossians 3:17 – “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (NIV)

Proverbs 31:30 – “Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting: but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”(NIV)

Are you this imperfect specimen that the advertising industry says you are or are you beautiful and just don’t know it.

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Posted in influencing others, positive living, self help

Tagged beauty, happiness

Grace………..

Posted on 07/24/2013 | Leave a comment

Wow it has been a few weeks since I have been on here, the Lord dealt swiftly with my wrong doing and I am thankful that he gives me grace to learn from my mistakes.

I was feeling guilty that I wasn’t doing what I was 1st called to be—a wife. I was putting all my selfish desires above my husbands and I was in the wrong.

The Lord knows that sometimes I don’t listen so he was able to have my laptop, actually both of our laptops be broken during this time, so that I was in no way going to be able to do my blog no matter what. Thankfully he is showing me His way, not my own.

I plan to ask the Lord before I “assume” it is what He wants. Seeking Him in prayer each and every day about how my day should unfold.

I failed………I failed as a wife……I failed as a child of God.

but God is so wonderful in his infinite power and wisdom to allow me something called

Grace

Grace for another chance……grace to say its okay we all make mistakes, and grace to say tomorrow is another day.

Let’s learn from this and move on. Being ready for the next.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will
boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

“Mom, I am bored…..there is nothing to do” part 2

Posted on 06/29/2013 | 1 comment

Yesterday we talked about viewing discontent in our own lives and building that as an appetite for our children to think that they need this or need to be doing that to be happy. I also mentioned to take a media fast to foster some creativity. Children will never jump in and learn skill sets if the other option is media. We need to remove that, if only temporarily for them.

Children need to be taught to use their time wisely and pleasing to the Lord. Yes, there are many activities that do no harm, but we need to think is this the best possible way to use our time? Putting our children in this fast paced world, they are naturally going to want thrills. That is what our society is made of. The shock and awe of amusement parks, movies, even teen youth nights is what our children are being taught to crave. We need to train them in a more simple path of life, or as adults they will struggle with discontentment.

Now worldly amusements may not be all together wrong, we just have to ask the Lord, “Is this activity going to be pleasing to you?” Or is this activity going to benefit my future?

We as parents need to offer constructive activities for our children.
The following is a list of things we can teach our children that will be of value to their future.

* Sewing
* Gardening
* Cooking
* Baking
* Craft making
* Wood working
* Small engine repair
* Basic car maintenance

There are a thousand other skills to teach them and yourself if you don’t know how to.

Key is to teach them to be industrious, to enjoy working, and to be good stewards if their time.

The next time your children say, “Mom I’m bored”….start thinking creative pursuits instead of let’s go out and do something. Teach them that living a plain and simple lifestyle in the end will bring much more happiness and contentment to their souls.

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Posted in positive living, raising children, self help

Tagged happiness, raising children, self help

“Mom, I am bored….there is nothing to do” part 1

Posted on 06/29/2013 | Leave a comment

Have you heard these words come out of your child’s mouth lately? I know with the summer break from school there has been more free time in my children’s day. That has led to more discontent, more arguments, and more “Mom, I’m bored, there’s nothing to do…” syndrome. Really??!??!! With 8 other children home all day and your bored???Makes me want to turn from vacation and head straight into a new school year. What’s a mom to do?

Well I could quickly rewind their life. Taking away all media influences which means no TV no internet no cell phone. I put them in a box and never let them see the outside world again. Yeah that will never work .

or I can take a step back….

I need to exam my life and see if I am struggling with discontent in any area. Do I struggle with unrest? Do I need to be constantly amused with the latest movies, newest music, or that top-selling christian book? Do I have to be involved in numerous activities that take me outside of my role as mother? Do I feel I deserve a vacation or time away each week with friends?

All these things show discontent in my life. I am not happy in my calling so I need to fulfill it in other ways. What will I be teaching my children?

What kind of appetites will I be creating in my children that they will carry into their adult lives? Do I want them to constantly feel that they need free time and social time with friends/media?

Of course not I want my children to learn happiness in the home. Quietness and simplicity are very healthy appetites to encourage in our children. I want my children to value and enjoy the pleasure of simplicity, to enjoy the ordinary tasks in life. Instead of always looking for the extraordinary.

Our modern society provides many quick escapes from boredom,. In movies, internet, games, and social media circles these have all replaced simplicity in the home. We need to remove these escapes to allow for a bit of boredom, to foster some creativity in our children.

It’s amazing how numb our culture has become to the simplicity’s of life. Our children need to be taught to be bored, to foster creativity in their lives.

After about a few days of media fasting your children will begin to play together, create together, and will look forward to spending time with one another.

Look for part 2 tomorrow to see how we as Mothers can help spark that creativity in our children