How to Stay Motivated to Pursue Your Calling

So I totally had a different blog post planned for today, but I’m going to push that out until next week because I feel like maybe a lot of us need this reminder.

It’s no secret that I’m busy and it’s a love/hate relationship. I love the things I’m doing, but I cringe when people start off a conversation with me by saying, “I know you are so busy…” It feels like it’s supposed to be a compliment, but how do you respond to that? “Thanks…you’re busy too? Everyone who isn’t busy is a lazy butt?” I really don’t want to glorify busy. I love down time, and I’m doing all these things right now so that I have more opportunity to slow down in the near future. It’s not easy, it’s stressful, and I look forward to graduating in three more semesters so I can have some study-free evenings with my kids and Netflix and chill with my husband.

And I literally mean Netflix because I’ve seen like three movies since we had our first daughter and we have a lot of catching up to do.

Meme Generator

You can help Congress help children and families

You guyyyyys!

It’s time for applications to Strolling Thunder 2019!

That means it’s time for families all across the country to tell their state representatives about their personal experiences of what impacts their children’s ability to thrive.

Who the heck doesn’t want to do that? And what the heck is Strolling Thunder? Take a look:

How to Get Rid of Mom-Guilt with one word

Mom guilt is stupid.

Guilt alone isn’t a terrible thing. It helps us recognize that we’ve done wrong, because we feel wrong. That’s human and that’s healthy.

But that’s not what people mean when they use the term “mom guilt.” What they mean is a mixed up bag of gendered emotions, expectations, shortcomings, failures, stereotypes, and people-pleasing tendencies.

It’s shame for not being whatever picture-perfect image of a mother you have in your head. And every mother experiences it to varying degrees. No matter how much you love being a SAHM or a working mom or you have one kid or ten kids–we all know what it feels like to not feel good enough in our version of motherhood.

My 2019 Phrase of the Year

I am a total dud on New Years. We were in bed at 10 p.m. and it was lovely.

When your kids are up at 5 more often than not, midnight is nothing special to stay up for.

But I do love New Years.

I love taking down Christmas and realizing that my home is 5x bigger than it felt like with the tree up. I love reflecting on the year and imagining what is coming up in the next. I love the feeling of a fresh start.

And I’ve just got a good feeling about 2019. I don’t know what it is, but I feel like we’re going to be moving forward with some of our plans and creating better habits for our future. A few things that I have in mind for this year are:

A Mom in Grad School: What Really Helped the First Semester

I cried a little when I saw my grades from this semester.

Surprise, surprise, right?

It’s not like I haven’t had all A’s before. I did well in undergrad and would’ve gotten into grad school before if I had continued on the route that I had originally wanted.

But it was way different this time. Now I’m married with two kids and work full-time. We haven’t gone more than two weeks without someone in our house being sick. My daughter had another set of PE tubes put in, a tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, with an absolutely heinous recovery, and started play therapy to help with some resulting behavioral issues. We were at an awful daycare that stressed me out every day for five months until we could get into a wonderful new one. We flew out to Arizona for a wedding at a bad time in the semester. Some sleep regression for the baby and many sleepless nights for us. I was never on time for work.

It was crazy. With everything going on, I didn’t do my readings for probably the last three or four weeks of classes. And that Thanksgiving week flu really put me in a bind at the end of the semester. I turned my final paper in 5 minutes before it was due. But I loved what I was learning and felt like school helped me to stay somewhat grounded, even though it added more to my to-do list.

So when I saw that I ended up with an A in my hardest class, of course I cried. While I know that I could have done better and have some plans for improvement next semester, I’m pretty proud of myself. Here are a few things that helped me to have a successful first semester and what I’m going to work on for the next.

19 Awesome Gifts for the Working Moms in your Life

Can you believe Christmas is next month?!?

It still feels like we just moved to Utah, but this will be our second Christmas here. My baby will be 18 months old, we’ll have a 3 ½ year old, they’re practically in college already and it’s all going by so fast.

That’s why I like the holiday season, it gives some time to slow down and focus on things that are meaningful to us. Jesus, hot chocolate by the tree, and paid time off family time.

I’ve never done a gift guide before, but I’ve had several friends tell me they want one for working moms. And I aim to please.

So, if you’re looking for a gift for the working moms in your life, or you’d like to give some hints to people shopping for you–this one’s for you.

Monday High-Five, week 14

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Okay, so this morning was one of those Mondays. But I’m a pretty #blessed woman, and have been reminded of that a lot today. I’m still trying to figure out a blogging schedule that’ll work with school, but I wanted to get in a Monday High Five since it has been a while and my Mondays have been lame lately. Let’s get the gratitude flowing!