And The Counting Begins...

And so, it's January 2nd.  If you make resolutions, then you have likely already done so.  I usually make resolutions (I call them goals).  I rarely stick to them.  I need to lose weight, save more money, eat at home more...blah...blah...blah.  These are the same goals I set for myself every year.

2012 was a hard year in so many ways.

Stress...Sadness...Heartbreak.  I'm not sorry to see it go.  I'm ready for a new year.  I'm ready to see where 2013 will take me or if it will keep me where I am.  Time will tell.  

This year, I feel different.  I just want to be more kind and gentle to everyone around me and especially to myself.  I tend to beat myself up for the mistakes I make and the outcome is overeating and overspending in many cases.   I don't want to do that anymore.  I want to face things as they come head-on and feel each and every moment.

It's not that I don't have goals and dreams for the upcoming year because I do.  I want to finally find a church home, I want to make some new friends, I want to travel, I want to finally decide on a writing project to pursue, I want to read substantial books that make me think about life and our world, I want to learn about other cultures and how people in other parts of the world live and I want to figure out what to do with all these digital photos I have, I want to begin volunteering again and I want my marriage to be better.

Mostly, though,  I want to savor all the minutes of this year.  The boys are growing up so fast.  I'm getting older.  It seems like time is racing.

So, I AM going to set one goal this year.  I'm going to to Count My Blessings.

Literally.

Each day, in my journal, I am going to write at least one thing I am Thankful for.  I hope to write more...I expect to write more.  But one grateful thing is okay.  Sometimes I will post them here. 

I'm starting today.

Blessings to all of you!

Summer Journaling...

The unofficial start to summer is here.  School is out and the weather is warm.  It feels and looks like summer here in Mid-Missouri.  We just have a few plans this summer.  We hope to do a lot of outdoor activities like fishing, swimming and picnics.  I hope to be able to pull the boys away from riding bikes and skateboards and hanging out with friends and do a little journaling with them.  They both like to write and enjoy taking pictures so I'm hoping we'll be able to work it in this summer.  If nothing else, I hope to fill my own journal with thoughts, dreams, photos, magazine cutouts and sketches...just like I used to do as a young girl.

However, I'm not a young girl anymore as my 25th high school reunion is this summer...GASP...how can that EVEN be possible?  With age...and responsibilities like kids, a job and a house to run it's harder to feel those carefree summer feelings that I had when I was younger.  Summers were magical and really seemed to go on forever.  I hope to capture some of that in my journal this summer.



Here are some summer journals that are inspiring me...

Summer Planning...

Great Idea For The Boys...

Garden Journaling...

And Writing...

---jackie

Why I Write: National Day On Writing - October 20, 2011

The 3rd Annual National Day on Writing will be held this Thursday October 20th.  Here at the University of Missouri we will be set up on campus and recruiting students, faculty and staff to participate in writing marathons throughout the day.  Our writing marathons will be led by faculty, museum curators, landscape designers and students.  They will walk us to three locations on campus and we will have short writing sessions using our surroundings as inspiration. It's fun organizing an event like this, but I'm especially looking forward to some new writing inspiration as I participate in one of the marathons.

Everyone can participate in the National Day On Writing.  Besides the writing I will do at the marathons I'm thinking about writing and posting to the blog on one or more of the following topics:

• Why I Write
• My Thoughts On One Of The Quotes From My Finding The Faith Board on Pinterest
• A Heart-Breaking Incident I Witnessed This Morning
• Thoughts About My Grandma
• Peace and Quiet

Will You Participate?  I look forward to reading blog posts on Thursday and writings posted in the NDOW Galleries.

Write On...

Jackie

Have You Checked Out Pinterest Yet?

I got my invite for Pinterest yesterday and I have had so much fun pinning photos today.  You see, regular readers probably already know this, but I'm the girl who tears things out of magazines and glues them into my journal, pins them on my bulletin board, and sometimes just hang them on the refrigerator.  It's one of the ways I'm inspired creatively in decorating my home, gardening, fashion, etc. However, this little tearing and gluing habit of mine has gotten less attention in the last couple of years since I've been spending more and more time online. I have bookmarked and Delicioused so many websites just because of one photo and then I have a hard time finding it again once it's bookmarked.  Pinterest solves that for me because everything is grouped together so nicely and that makes the photos (+ their website) easy for me to find later.  It's a lot of fun to get inspiration from other boards as well.  

Go...Check It Out...Request Your Invite...You won't be disappointed!

Jackie

Finding Your Glass Half Full...or...Half Empty?

Are You A Glass Half Full Kind Of Person?

Or A Glass Half Empty Person?

What am I?  Well, I can fairly easily be a {glass half empty} type of person.  I recognize it and I work hard...strive...to be a {glass half full} type of person.  I work at it.  I seek out joy everyday.  I try to start my day on a positive note by ignoring the news and the internet for as long as possible.  I enjoy the beauty of the outdoors.  I read devotionals and positive affirmations before I start anything else for the day.  I pray.  I journal.  I take notes in this and carry it with me. All of these things help to start my day on the positive and if the day takes a left turn towards the negative I have tools to pull myself back. 

Here are some of my Tools...

>>Your Best Life Begins Each Morning: Devotions to Start Every New Day of the Year by Joel Osteen

>>The Message//REMIX Solo Pink: Breast Cancer Awareness Edition 

>>My favorite journal...Ecosystem Author (lined version)

>>The Absolute Best Email I receive Everyday comes from Notes From The Universe.   I intentionally read it first each day when I open my email.  

 

 

 What are your tools?  Please share...

 

Thanks For Stopping By...

Jackie

**Blooper Photos from the Fathers Day 2010 Photo-shoot

Taking Time to Comfort...Me!

I've had a struggle this winter with taking time for myself. Specifically, taking time to enjoy my coffee, journal and prayer early in the morning...before everyone awakens in my house. When everyone else wakes up, I have to put myself aside and take care of their needs. Working full-time, taking care of my family, taking care of my home and other responsibilities leaves little time for me...to connect...with me. I know this. Yet, I've continued to to neglect this time that I need. The rest of my life has suffered, in a way, this winter because I've neglected taking this time for myself. Oh, I've gotten up early in the morning like I always do but I have found myself doing laundry, checking face-book and email and even mopping floors and then before I know it...it's time to wake up the kids and get myself and them ready to head out the door for the day. I've been frazzled...less patient than normal...and stressed.

However, for the last month I have made an appointment with myself around 5:00-5:30 a.m. I don't turn on the t.v. or the computer. I don't open my journal, devotional, bible or whatever book I'm reading or studying. I light a candle before I even turn on any lights and curl up in my chair with a comfy blanket and I am Quiet.

I Breathe.

I Connect with Myself.

I can Think.

When I am Quiet, I can truly focus my prayers, what I read will be more meaningful and my journaling will reveal my true feelings about what is happening in my life. It's easy to lose myself in the busy-ness of my life and my role as a Mom. I need to reconnect with myself daily and then I do a much better job in all areas of my life.

My Comfort Basket**. This little basket holds my journal, bible, devotional and a candle. I carry it to wherever I want to spend my Quiet time each morning.

Little touches of Spring-time inside my home.

**Believe it or not...I made that little basket more than 10 years ago at the House of Mary B. in Arrow Rock MO.

Self? Where are You?

I found out who I am through writing.

I started writing (journaling really) many years ago in my early 20's. I didn't know it then but I was trying to find my own voice. I never thought of myself as a writer but I needed to make sense of everything that had gone on in my life up until that point. I was working through a workbook which required that I do some writing exercises. I'm pretty sure I didn't finish the workbook but I continued with the journaling. For a long time the only time I pulled out the journal was when I needed to scream. Saying it out loud wasn't quite as effective as putting pen to paper for me. I released a lot of frustration, anger, sorrow through writing....no one ever saw it but me.

At some point I learned to pray through writing. I never prayed much except to ask God for something like a new job, help with my debt or a plea for healing when someone was sick, usually me. I never praised Him for what I already had. I didn't know how to do that. I didn't think I knew how to pray and that maybe I wasn't good enough for God to listen to anyway.

What I know now is that when I write I can talk directly to God. I read somewhere to write a letter to God as a way to pray. My early letters were something like this:



Dear God,

I don't really know what to say because I don't know bible verses. I never really went to church as a kid and I never memorized the books of the bible. Anyway, I'm really mad at Pat right now, please change him, he really needs to change. I'd like a better job, I'd really like a house and help me get rid of all of this debt.

Thank You.

Amen.



It was a start. I was really stuck on that bible verse thing and for the record I still don't know the books of the bible by heart. I cheat and use tabs on my bible. I also found out that I can't change my husband and that nothing I do or say will make him change anything. It's between him and God. Oh, and I write all over my bible too, it's kind of like another journal for me. The letters to God have certainly evolved and I continue to write them to this day. I am now able to thank God for my blessings. I can see Him in even the darkest areas of my life and I can thank Him for all the joys I have. Through writing I can make some sense of what is going on around me.

Along the way I realized that I have such a hunger for wisdom of something greater than myself. I have learned much through reading and studying the bible, personal reflection and listening to people who I admire.

I hope the hunger is never satisfied.

Writing saved me. It was (and is) my escape.


For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Journaling...

I journal.

I take my journal with me wherever I go.

I write in it every morning and throughout the day and night.

When I look at my well-worn journal with every page full of my thoughts, prayers, plans, etc. I know I've come a long way since that first empty page.

I found a great resource today on Holy Experience. The post is about Journaling as a Spiritual Discipline: How To Setup and Organize a Journal. There are some great ideas in this post. I hope you enjoy it.

What about this blogging thing anyway?

Over a year ago I started my first blog. I barely knew what a blog was, but the blogs that I had seen at that point looked really interesting to me because many of them looked like journals. Well, I've been journaling for more than 10 years. I've done all kinds of journals and I continue to write in one almost daily and sometimes more than once a day. Journaling has really helped me to find my relationship with God, prioritize my life, find out things about myself and make decisions. Journaling has also been a way for me to express joy, anger, sorrow, grief, sadness, happiness...you name the feeling and it has probably been in one of my journals! Basically, journaling is how I ground myself every morning and if I miss a day, the whole day just feels "off" somehow.

Anyway, back to blogging. What started as basically an online photo album to share with family and friends has turned into something else entirely.

What is funny and interesting about my blogging experience is that, with the exception of my sister (Hi Chrissy), I don't think anyone from my family or any close friends really read this blog, even though the intention was for them to keep up with our life. That's okay, I call and tell them what is going on whether they want to hear it or not...I think they do.

What is AMAZING though, is that people who I have never met in person are, at least, somewhat interested in what I have to say. I'm still shocked when people comment on a post or send me an email.

What makes this story even better is that through this community of bloggers I have found people who have the same interests as I do. This is something I have never completely found in my "in-person" friends. Most of my friends don't journal and don't understand why I do it. Many of them would never go to a flea market and most of them decorate their homes much differently (read expensive and contemporary here) than I do. Over the years I have heard myself say things like, " I only paid $5.00 for that" or " I got the best deal at the flea market on this old thing". Some of them totally understand that I love that kind of thing and others don't get it. That's okay! Opposites attract, right?

However, I am thrilled to find these bloggers who feel the same way I do about so many things! I am getting so many ideas from you in many different areas and it's really exciting. I'm learning from you everyday. I'm reading about your joys and your pain. I've cried a few times when I've read what you're going through, I've laughed at some things you write because I identify with it, you have helped me to revive my love for crafting (something I have let go over the years) and I'm finding women who are struggling with balancing full-time work and family life just like I am. Although this online community won't replace my "in-person" community, it's still community nonetheless, right?

The reason for this post? Someone asked me why I blog and I didn't have a good, concise answer. I had to write in my journal to figure it out (of course!) and now I know why and so do you!

Thanks for reading!!