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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

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

What Is Saving My Life Right Now 2020

February 3, 2020 by mamakay Leave a Comment

Saving My Life with Morning Routines

Every year I enjoy linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy to reflect on what is saving my life right now when we are smack in the middle of winter. Although this year has been a little different. We have hardly had any snow so far this winter (although it looks like winter this week). I’ve been in a pretty good place so far this year but maybe that’s because of the things I have been practicing.

  1. Reading! I have really upped my game the last couple of years and read a lot more. It inspires me, encourages me, and entertains me to read a variety of different books. And this year I have made it a goal to read one book a week and to mostly read books I already own. I am keeping a book list of the books I am reading this year. Here is the link if you’d like to check it out: http://mamakay.com/WordPress/2020-book-list/
  2. Exercising in the Morning with my husband. I can’t believe I’m going to say this but truly, I feel more energetic when we do a 30 minute exercise video in the morning. We got a subscription the the Daily Burn channel on Amazon and it has been a great fit for us.
  3. Joining Online Coaching Groups. I joined this group by Crystal Paine and it has given me so much focus and energy to pour into my online work. If you work online I highly recommend doing this! (Registration for this group ends tomorrow, Feb 4th, so hurry if you want to join.)
  4. My morning time. I have had to be flexible with my time but the more consistent I am with doing it, the better my days are. I plan my day, read my Bible, copy a passage and write a prayer in my Write the Word journal and read from a spiritual book. (Right now I am reading Beholding and Becoming by Ruth Chou Simons.)
  5. Baking bread is saving my life right now! I always used to bake bread but had let the busyness of life get in the way. This year I want to reclaim my love of baking. My favorite things to bake are bread and cookies. They are a way I can use my hands to do physical work and my family feels loved (and less hungry) when I make these things for them.

What is saving your life right now? I would love to hear!

Filed Under: baking, Blog, Seasonal Living, Winter

Reflect on What I Learned This Fall ~ 2019

December 3, 2019 by mamakay 2 Comments

reflect on fall

I believe that taking time to reflect regularly on our lives is vital to good mental health. Emily P Freeman offers the opportunity to join her and others do just that every quarter. I am linking up with her once again to name what I learned this fall.

  1. Quiet is good but I get antsy if it is too quiet. I also am more overwhelmed by the noise levels when everyone comes home.
  2. I need more active steps in my life. Now that the weather has changed going for walks doesn’t work out so much for me and I have already become more sedentary. I made it a baby step goal to stop at the gym after dropping off my preschooler and do a mile on the treadmill at least 2 days a week. It takes less than 20 minutes so I still have time to do other things but at least I get some movement into my day.
  3. Some friends introduced me to Marco Polo and I love using it to keep in touch with my sisters. We had been texting but I just love getting to see their faces and their lives since we live so far apart.
  4. I need accountability! When I signed up for the Monetize Your Blog course I paid extra for a one month long accountability group. I made more progress in that month than in the 6+ months before that!
  5. Monday mornings at home are necessary for me to get my act together after the weekend. I use that time to regroup, do laundry, do dishes, meal plan and check in with our budget on YNAB. I also get a lot done on my blog work. Mondays are my most productive day of the week.
  6. I prefer going to the morning Ladies Bible study instead of the evening one. Driving in the dark has always been harder for me so the mornings work out much better. I can run a couple errands in town afterwards. Plus it is just much less stressful than adding one more thing into our busy Wednesday schedule.
  7. I’m not there yet and that’s okay. I always want to rush through the hard parts to get to the finished product but I’m an enneagram 9 and slow is a fact of life for me. I am working to be content plodding along. As I reflect on this, I just need to stay consistent and keep moving forward especially when it is taking longer than it is fun.

Do you take time to reflect regularly in your life? What have you learned this fall?

MamaKay

Past Link ups for What I Have Learned: http://mamakay.com/WordPress/category/whatilearned/

Filed Under: Blog, Fall, Seasonal Living, whatilearned Tagged With: reflect

Our Favorite Christmas Books

December 1, 2019 by mamakay 1 Comment

books

All through the year our family tries to gather together after dinner to read together. We can’t manage it every night but we come back to it time and time again. There is something special about a shared experience reading a book together and it is so simple to make it happen.

Here is a list of our favorite Christmas books with links to Amazon in case you want to add them to your collection too. (I receive a small commission if you buy through my link. Thanks for your support!)

For our Advent readings our 2 favorite books are: 

Our favorite chapter books for reading aloud as a family are:

Our Favorite Picture Christmas Books:

These are wonderful for young children but you might be surprised how much you and your older children will enjoy these beautiful books.

And here is a link to here James Earl Jones read The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Tommey to you. It is the best! 

http://www.candlewick.com/Toomey/

I am not a crafty person but I sure love a good book to read as a family. What are your favorite Christmas books?

MamaKay

* This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through these links it costs you nothing and it helps to support this site.

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Filed Under: Advent, Blog, Christmas, Holidays Tagged With: advent, Books, Christmas

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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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