Sharing My Jennarocity

Welcome to Tuesday! Since it is Tuesday, we will be talking about our next "Inspire Us Tuesdays" topic: The Womanly Influence: What woman has been your biggest influence of your Christian walk and how? OR, what woman do you turn to when you need guidance or Christian encouragement? I would say that the answer to this question, for me, is that there is no one in particular I turn to for Christian guidance, I feel like I turn to alot of different women whom God places in my path. I have been fortunate enough in my life to be loved on by so many women of faith, who've loved my family and looked out for us in so many ways. I feel like God surrounds me with Godly women at work, at church, and in places we've lived in the last few years, almost as protection. You know, sometimes when you open your eyes and let God take care of you, you would find Godly women in the strangest of places. I really try and seek out women, and open my eyes and heart to women, that God has...

During my 20s, I was addicted to partying. I was addicted to fun, and social events, and being around people, and not always people who were good for me. We would literally work a shift a work (I was a waitress), then spend almost all the money we made going out after work, that same day. I still don't know how I paid bills. Oh wait, I didn't always pay bills. I just wanted to be free, to do what I wanted to do, go where I wanted to go, buy what I wanted to buy, and live where I wanted to live. I didn't care about consequences, I didn't heed the warnings of my parents or consider their feelings. I certainly didn't care what God had to say. There were many times I just took off on my own, then after I had made enough horrible choices and I needed someone to bail me out, I would call my mom and dad for help. When I was 19, I just decided I was going to move out of my parents' house and in with some friends from work. I literally moved my stuff out and didn...

Isn't she adorable when she's sleeping ?   This child. This tornado of a child.   These were her mood swings, and this only describes about 10 minutes: She didn't want an apple. She did want an apple. She didn't want to ask nicely for a piece of apple. She wanted apple sauce . She wanted apple juice. She didn't want apple juice. She wanted to feed herself applesauce. She spilled applesauce. She couldn't get applesauce off her hand. Bella licked applesauce off her hand. She had to go potty. She didn't want to go potty. She wanted to jump. She didn't want to jump. She was mad she couldn't jump higher than she could jump. She hurt her foot jumping. She wanted to watch Tangled. She didn't want to watch Tangled. She wanted to watch Tangled and Shrek at the same time. She only wanted to watch a minute of both, then came to jump on me. She was mad I wouldn't let her jump on me. Any of these small things could result in a massive, oversiz...

Today we start our "Inspire Us Tuesdays" series ! (We postponed it today for those who wanted to participate in Kelly's Korner's link up yesterday). I am so happy to be getting this going and I certainly hope you all participate! (To see a complete explanation of this link up and the upcoming topics, click here ). If you do not have a blog, please leave your story in the comments section! Our first question is "Witnessing to a Friend:" Has God ever called you to witness to a friend? Were you were afraid?"   It seems that the topic of God seems to come up alot in casual conversations I have had in my life. During my 20s, when I wasn't walking close to God, and I was questioning alot of what I believed, God still seemed to come up alot in conversations. I wonder, sometimes, how those conversations must have come off to the people I was talking to. I was being "open-minded" and probably didn't lead people to believe I was actuall...

Good morning!   Today was supposed to start our blog challenge  "Inspire Us Tuesdays," but Kelly's Korner is doing a series entitled "Build Em' Up" and I thought today's topic on her blog was a good segway to our series, so we will postpone our Inspire Us series till tomorrow.   Kelly's Korner asked us to talk about "Friendships: Making them and Keeping Them." I thought this was such a great topic and I have alot to say about it!   Making New Friends   Even for the most extroverted people, making friends is often difficult, especially as adults. I am an incredibly outgoing person and I have no problem speaking with new people, but speaking with new people and making new friends are two entirely different things. Not only is it difficult to find friends as an adult because we don't always put ourselves in positions to meet new people, but I would say making friends in a church environment can be equally as difficult....

In the last 15 years, our class of people from church have gotten together to reminisce. It was really just any of the girls in our group of friends that could come. Over the years, it grew to guys also (just because we married a couple of them, ha ha). Well, we started having kids and those get togethers slowed to nothing. Four years ago was the last time we've all gotten together. I called up my friend Tanna and said, "We really need to get together again." She said, " I was just thinking the same thing the other day! I can get a bounce house and we can have it at my house.." then we decided on a date, and put an invitation out of Facebook. Then, we decided to spread the word to any other youth that might like to come. Then, we decided to spread the word to any of our leaders, Sunday school teachers, parents, or D-Now host homes that wanted to come. Within minutes, the invite spread to over 90 people! We've decided to make this either a yearly or semi-yea...

Hey All!   I would like to try something on my blog that I haven't really done before. Having been inspired by my recent church retreat to insire other women, I have really wondered how I can go about doing that. I think the answer is: inspire women to inspire other women. And so on, and so forth! Well, I know many of you reading my blog have your own blogs and I know most all of you are women. So, I am looking for those of you who will participate with some upcoming link ups! These have not worked well in the past, but I am hoping God will move through us this time! The goal here is to spur questions and discussion that will help you find where your mentorship would fit in your church and in your life.   Every Tuesday, beginning next week, April 23rd, for the next 8 weeks, I will ask you to write a blog post answering a specific question. Then, I will ask you to link up to my blog, in an effort to inspire other women in their walk with God! I am calling it "Inspire U...

Any moms out there will know that kids, under the age of 1, have coordinating outfits. Usually, you get a top and a bottom that are designed to go together, and they are connected at the store by hangers. After we got these outfits home, I usually would have these outfits folded together in Avery's drawer, so as not to cause any confusion. I would say, "Jason, can you go get Avery dressed?" Of course, he would, but Avery would come back in not just uncoordinating sets, but clothes that didn't even match. I am like, "how did you even decide to put those two things together?" He could dress himself all day long, but can't put together a kid's outfit to save his life. Me being the mom I was, I had so many cute outfits for Avery to wear when she was a baby, that it was really important to me that she look cute every day, with a matching bow in her hair, even matching socks. When Jason would bring her out, dressed in clashing colors, it just urked me. I ...

Isn't my daughter beautiful in the mornings?     Our sick day...   Gigi and Pops, Avery, and the Croods. I know, it's hard to see Pops in there. (Ha ha, dad!)      Have a good Tuesday!

There are quite a few take-aways from my retreat that I will be sharing with you this week. Shirley Moses , our speaker, talked to us about being influencers/mentors to other women. She shared her testimony of becoming a Chrstian later in life, in 1991, and was immediately called to begin leading her Sunday school class. She said she didn't even know where most of the books in the Bible were, and had to turn to the table of contents most of the time to find out. She said she didn't have knowledge, but she had a love of women.   She talked about how most of us feel very inequipped to help other women learn about Jesus' word. We are afraid to be in front of a class of women because they might, gulp , ask us a question that we don't know the answer to. She also told us that women have a way of making themselves feel like they shouldn't be a leader because of mistakes we've made in our past. But God uses our pasts to help someone's future, so the very fact ...

  We went and saw this today and what a treat it was!   I do not think computer animated = good, funny, wholesome kid movie. There are a few that I've seen that have questionable content, where the jokes fall flat or are based on crude humor, or are just not good over all. But in this case, I was thoroughly entertained from beginning to end.   First and foremost, this is a movie for kids, so let's go through the movie from a parents' perspective on content. I am the type that can not stand when writers put in words like "butt" just for a cheap joke, so words like that just make me cringe. I didn't hear one word in this movie, not one "fart" joke, not any situations that were inappropriate for kids. I believe the only word I heard that gave me any pause was "sucky," which I believe was referring to the situation they were in, but even that didn't bother me. The dresses were not inappropriate or show anything revealing. There...

We had our Ladies' Retreat for church this weekend. It was a wonderful time and experience for me. I've really been needing to be "fed" lately with the Word and this was a great time for that. We had lots of good music and a wonderful speaker. The theme of the weekend was "Be Inspired." We talked about being a mentor to other women, and being mentored by other women. Shirley talked about the two qualities you should have when being a "mentor" - love and acceptance of others. And of course, the person who kept coming to my mind, who just embodied those qualities of love and acceptance, was My Miss Kay.   Of course, I call her "My Miss" Kay. She is married, so not technically a "miss" but every woman  at Baptist churches is called "miss" and she isn't "mine," but she is so dear to my heart, that I like to claim her as mine.   Miss Kay is one of the most beloved people I've ever known. The ...

I take back everything I said about women carrying their placentas around in a bag . I told you I would put my foot in my mouth on that one. And the reason I take it back is because after reading the story I am about to talk about, women who love their babies so much that they would carry around their placentas in a bag if it was the best thing for them, suddenly seem incredibly sane and normal compared to Kermit Gosnell .   It's hard to write about a person, and a situation, that is this horrifying, but I am going to try. Kermit Gosnell (if you click on the link above you will get a much more grusome and detailed description), is a "doctor" who operated an abortion clinic in a low income area of Pennsylvania and performed illegal, late term abortions on 1,000s of babies, and who is alleged to have killed 7 babies born alive after the abortion "didn't take." He is also on trial for the murder on one of his patients during a botched abortion. The ONLY re...

I have had the most horrible case of writer's block lately! With that said, I saw this article on Babycenter and I just had to write something about it.   So, we've heard of the trend of eating the placenta after birth . We've heard of the trend of putting them in pill form to get the nutrients . But this? This to me, is just the craziest of them all.   As a group of beings on this planet, I've never seen any other mammal who evolves to get to a certain place, then de-evolves on purpose, to be more "natural." I am sure I am seriously about to put my foot in my mouth, I am sure there are (some) people out there that I might offend with my "closed-mindedness" on this topic. But this is just, well, ridiculous to me.   Basically, after the placenta comes out, instead of cutting the cord and detaching it from the baby, you leave the placenta on, they salt it to help with the decomp process, add rosemary (I am guessing for the smell?), then p...

I have to be honest. I don't know how to properly load a dishwasher. How many of us do? Today, I was unloading the dishwasher (I had loaded it before) and my dishes were not super clean. We have a good dishwasher, good soap. When my husband does it, they all come out clean. So, I had to assume it was user error.   That got me to thinking of common household cleaning that I don't do well or might not know how to do. I went to the experts at Good Housekeeping and found this online article on tips for loading a dishwasher...   Dishwasher Tips     Then, I went to Kitchen and Residential Design and found these fun things you can wash in the dishwasher besides dishes and things you could wash in the dishwasher but shouldn't ...   Do you have any tips for us for loading a dishwasher?    

We have had the kids alot in the last two months. It's just worked out with Spring Break, and weekends, that they've spent alot of time with us. I have always struggled with being a good step-mom. Always. I think when you are helping raise someone else's children on an ongoing basis, it's incredibly normal to question yourself and wonder if you are doing things right or wrong. In fact, I probably question my parenting to my stepkids more than my parenting to my daughter.   I have kind of changed my mindset about my stepkids. I think I have been harder on them then I should have been at times. I've expected things I shouldn't expect, or wanted them to be something that they weren't. As Jordan is getting older, it's becoming less and less important to me to feel like the need to correct everything he does and more important to create a relationship with him where he likes me and wants to be around our house, and most importantly, his dad. I know if I ...

Kelly's Korner is asking us to talk about the kids our books read !   Since the kids love books and Avery has loved to read ever since she was little (click here for some pictures of her reading!) I figured this was a good topic!   I have several teachers as friends or family, and my sister-in-law sells Usbourne Books (click here for her online link!) so we have no shortage of kids' books around my house.   Avery has been through many different ones, but lately her favorites are...       And any book that has...     Sophia is into any book with animals, and this one was her favorite for a very long time...     and...     Jordan is into...     C.S. Lewis...     And these...     I am so glad the kids like reading!!

Happy Friday!   I got to thinking today of TV's guilty pleasures...what are yours?   Mine are...   Many sitcoms from the 1980's:         A sitcom from the 90's...     And one from the 50's...     And a few from now...         What are yours? Just curious!

  I read an article on Baby Center today, about a blogger with no children, who wrote a commentary about being a parent . Hmmm.   I couldn't help but remember the good old days, about, oh, four years ago, in which single Jenna had the market cornered on being the perfect mom someday. I'd seen many episodes of Supernanny. I was surely a pro. I was the one who always heard screaming children in Target and said, "Why can't they do something about that screaming kid! If it were me, they'd be getting a swat right now!" or "My kids would NEVER act like that." Oh, Jenna. You and your naive ways.   Don't get me wrong. My kid doesn't scream in Target for half an hour with me ignoring them completely. And even though she's tried it once, she never hit me again, like I've seen some kids do repeatedly. But aside from that, the whole "parenting" image I had before of me being the perfect mom went out the window the second k...

Avery will be 2 1/2 this month! I just can't believe how big she is sometimes.   Avery is very much in the stage of 2 year old, going on 3 year old. Her disposition is different from day to day. Some days, she wakes up the sweetest, kindest, loving child you can imagine. She is cooperative, obediant, and wonderful. Other days, she wakes up difficult, defiant, pouty, and ornery. It just depends!   No matter her disposition, she always pushes her limits and tests her boundaries. She loves to say no. She throws toys on the floor when we tell her to put them away. She refuses to eat dinner. She runs away (all the time) when we tell her to come here. She can sometimes say mean things (mean for a two year old) to us, like "stop it" or "get off of me" when you are hugging her or trying to change her clothes. Mostly, we just try to ignore it cause we know it's a phase and we don't let her get to us. Sometimes, it's really hard not to laugh becaus...

Good Monday morning!   I asked my friend 1st grade-teacher-friend Kate over at MyMooPoints (can you tell she is a Friends fan?) to write a guest post for my blog. After she opened her cabinet in her house one day, and I literally saw over 40 mugs in it, I said, "You like mugs, do ya?" to which she replied, "These are all gifts I've received from kids in the last few years, and this isn't even all of them!" And we thought, what a great post! Since the end of the year is coming up, and there is always an occasion to give gifts to our kids' teachers, I thought Kate would be a great resource for us on what to give, and what not to give, teachers! Take it away, Kate!   Joey : Wow, Monica runs a pretty tight ship around here, doesn't she? What are you doing? Chandler : Monica has a secret closet and she won't let me see what's in it. I have a secret closet.... and it is filled with mugs and plaques with cutesy teacher sayings! I ...