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mamakay

managing a household of 10 by the grace of God

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How Yoga Helped Me Fight Depression

December 7, 2020 by mamakay Leave a Comment

yoga depression

Three years ago, on a dark Thursday evening in November, I walked into a community room in the back of the library and joined a beginner’s yoga class with 3 other people. I was so nervous. I knew I needed to take care of my body and I decided that Yoga was a good place to start. After 19 years of being a mother to 8 babies, I finally had the space to do something for myself. My youngest was nearly 3 years old and I had just had a miscarriage (my 3rd one) and was finding myself spiraling into a bad space. Something had to change. That something was me.

Jessica was a wonderful instructor. She was patient. She taught me to breath. She taught me to work hard but knew when she has pushed me far enough. And at the end of class there is time to just be. To melt into the floor. To breathe. To pray. No one to poke me or ask me a question or disturb me in any way. The smell of essential oils on my palm ties me to the feeling of peace as we end the class. And Namaste reminds me that there is a light in me just as there is in everyone I meet.

When I think back to that first yoga class it brings tears to my eyes. It was there I began the journey to rediscover myself. It was there that I began to value time spent in my body. It is there I learned to pay more attention to myself. To breath. To correct my posture. To look for the light.

My struggle with depression is not over. It comes and goes. My life has changed in so many ways since that night. I now have a therapist and take medication to help me. I regularly have time to myself to write and work through my thoughts and ideas. I have learned to speak up more instead of shutting down. I am a part of a class at church that is helping me face my challenges and learn to grow as a part of a group. I still have a long way to go but for me that first step was joining a yoga class.

Three years later, I still love going to my yoga class almost every week. Jessica now has her own beautiful studio. The class is still small. Sometimes, I am the only one there. Week after week, she challenges me, helps me to improve, strengthens me. And at the end of class we take a moment to melt, to just be. Oils that linger on my hands remind me of my time in class. Once again, I am reminded that there is light in each one of us.

Namaste.

http://mamakay.com/WordPress/2018/02/what-is-saving-my-life-february-2018/

Filed Under: Blog, general thoughts, Health, self-care Tagged With: depression

What is the Best Way to Practice Advent?

November 17, 2020 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Christmas

Do you find yourself frazzled in the busyness of December? There are so many extra activities and preparations to be made for Christmas. How can you possibly do one more thing? you may be asking yourself.  Our family has found that practicing Advent is the answer.

Advent is not about doing one more thing. It is not something to be checked off your list. It is about so much more. There has never been a year that we have done our Advent things every single day. It is an invitation to meet Jesus here and now as we anticipate not only Christmas Day but his return to this Earth.

We have found that tying our Advent traditions to habits we have already established we are more capable of accomplishing them. Here is what works for us during this season:

Mornings

Each morning as the kids eat breakfast we sing the Doxology (we do this all year long), then we read the Scripture for the Advent Readings that day, and then before they go to school or work we pray together. This takes less than 10 minutes each morning.

Evenings

After dinner is cleaned up we gather together in the living room, sometimes with a fire lit, sometimes not. Then we light our advent candles, sing 1 song, read aloud a chapter from our Jesse Tree book and then hang up the corresponding ornament. This takes between 20 and 30 minutes depending on how often we have to stop to correct the littles and let’s be honest sometimes the bigger kids too.

Adding Advent to your December days is doable! And so worth it! It can take as little as 10 minutes a day. Some days you have more time and can spend longer but each moment you spend bringing God’s Word before yourself and your children is such a blessing!

You are not behind! Just do what you can and know that each time you spend with your family drawing close to God is an investment that will never return void.

Filed Under: Advent, Blog Tagged With: advent, Christmas, family life, Jesse Tree, Jesus, seasonal living

Amazon Prime Days 2020

October 13, 2020 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Here is a curated list of deals I think you might like for Amazon Prime Days this year. If you buy anything from my links I will get a small commission that helps pay for this website. I really appreciate your support!

Book Deals:

Amazon is having a Buy 3 for the price of 2 Book Sale. This is a great way to get some cookbooks! Just add 3 books to your cart and then proceed to checkout. The discount will automatically be applied.

Here are a couple of my favorite cookbooks:

I love my Kindle Paperwhite. It is so lightweight and easy to carry in my purse or even some of my pockets. It is great to read at night with the non-blue lighting. I love being able to have so many books where ever I might be. They are on sale for $80 plus you get a $5 Kindle book credit.

Kindle Unlimited is also on sale. With millions of books to choose from you are sure to find books you want to read. This service saves me so much money every month!

Check out the list of books I have read this year to find books you want to add to your TBR list: http://mamakay.com/WordPress/2020-book-list/

If you like Audio Books (which my husband really does) they are having a sale for $50 off a year subscription for Audible and you get all 12 credits up front.

We love our Echo Dots! I use them for music, announcements, timers, alarms, reminders, weather reports and more!

Cooking Deals:

Instant Pot: The latest version of Instant Pot is on sale for $49.99! I love my Instant Pot and use it multiple times a year.

I absolutely love my bench scraper. Not only is it wonderful for cutting dough but I use it to clean off my counter. It removes all the stuck on goo so easily! This is an essential kitchen tool and its on sale for just over $5!

Silicone Mats make clean up from baking so easy! I highly recommend them in every kitchen! And for $8.69 this is a great deal!

I have had this exact dutch oven for 11 years now and it is wonderful! This time of year is perfect for pulling out this sturdy pan for soups, stews, roasts or frying. I paid a lot more than $25 for mine!

I hope you find some wonderful deals during Amazon Prime Days. Thank you for supporting this website. It really means so much to me!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

What I Learned This Spring 2020

June 1, 2020 by mamakay Leave a Comment

spring
What I Learned This Winter 2020
Reflect on What I Learned This Fall ~ 2019
What I Learned This Summer 2019

Filed Under: Blog, Spring, whatilearned

Favorite Family Read Aloud Books

March 21, 2020 by mamakay Leave a Comment

family read aloud

Family read aloud books are such a wonderful way to spend time together as a family. Our family rules are that you have to be in the same room and you can do something quietly but not use an electronic device. Some of our kids knit, others draw, color or paint, the younger kids like to play with legos or lincoln logs.

I would love to read every night but that just doesn’t work out consistently so I have had to let myself be content with reading as often as we can. As we gather together to read we always ask what happened last time before we read the next chapter. My goal is to read one chapter per day but if it is compelling and everyone is still engage we will read another chapter or two depending on how long the book is.

We have read so many books over the years. These are our top 10 favorites. To qualify it has to be a book that the majority of us have enjoyed from younger kids to adults and that we would enjoy reading again.

  1. The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  2. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
  3. Little Pilgrim’s Progress by Helen Taylor
  4. The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson
  5. The Hobbit by JR Tolkien
  6. Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
  7. The Trumpet of the Swan by EB White
  8. Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
  9. Little Women by Louisa Alcott
  10. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome

During this crazy time of COVID-19 isolation having a family read aloud time is a perfect activity for everyone. If you do not already own the book it is easy to find any of these as ebooks through your library or purchase them from Amazon. They are also available through Audible if you would prefer someone else to do the reading.

For more book ideas check here: http://mamakay.com/WordPress/?s=books

Let’s make use of this time we now find ourselves with and put down our phones and devices and spend time together having family read aloud time.

MamaKay

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: family activities, read aloud

What I Learned This Winter 2020

March 9, 2020 by mamakay 1 Comment

What I learned this winter

I love linking up with Emily P Freeman each season to reflect on what I have learned. This winter went by much faster than the last several years. I think part of the reason for this is that we had a very mild winter. We had a couple of snow storms but each round only lasted for a week or two. We had lots of sunshine and mild temperatures between the freezing cold. January did seem to last forever but then February seemed like it was only a couple of days!

My list is short and sweet this year.

  1. I can actually read at least 1 book a week most weeks! I actually ended up reading 7 books in January! Which is good because I only made it through 3 in February (due to the fact that I was sick for a week and couldn’t read much at all).
  2. I really enjoy teaching a class of 10-15 people. I had the opportunity to do this and it was a wonderful experience.
  3. Exercising in the morning gives me energy throughout the day! I’m sure you’ve heard this before but I didn’t believe it until I tried it. I signed up for the Daily Burn 365 subscription on Amazon and it has been great for a morning workout with my husband for less than $15/month.

I think it is so important to take some time to reflect on what I have learned at the end of each month, each season, and each year. It is amazing to recognize what each particular season has meant to me in terms of growth and changes.

Here is a link to my list from last year: http://mamakay.com/WordPress/2019/02/what-ive-learned-this-winter/

Did you take time to do this lately? I would love to hear what you have learned over the course of this winter!

Mama Kay

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Filed Under: whatilearned, Winter Tagged With: what I learned

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So glad you stopped by. I am a Christian wife and mother of 8 in the middle years. My kids are aged 4 to 20 and just about every 2 years in between. I write about our life as a big family, what God is personally doing in my life, food and books.

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