Joy Leanne

I had a couple posts planned but last week but life happened and they just didn’t. Last Sunday I sat down to write about my Birth Story  for another blog I write for. The Motherhood Collective is a great Mothering Blog. I am definitely different from most of their writers, which is one of the things I love about writing for them. I like getting to be a voice from another point of view, and love that they encourage that and seek to minister to and build up moms from all walks of life and parenting philosophies. It was an interesting process to look back and work through what was going on in my mind that day five and a half years ago. All of that was definitely still fresh in my mind when we met with my doctor on Tuesday to discuss C-section number three. We were presented with a LOT of information on repeat c-sections and consecutive pregnancies.  There was a lot of information and suggestions to processes and I think that's what I spent most of last week doing. Most of my brain p...

Matthew 24:6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. This verse was running through my head over and over last week as facebook, twitter, and the news media were flooded with speculation and misinformation. For most of the week I was able to avoid the chaos. I stayed in the loop enough to know what was going on, but for the most part was able to avoid the rumors and conspiracy theories. That is until Thursday, when I ended up at my husband's work for roughly 6 hours with new channels playing non stop and fellow car sales men discussing the case every free minute. The same day my facebook feed seemed overflowing with every one's opinions, thoughts, and theories. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. The thing is, most of what I was reading, was RUMORS. Rumors mostly based on fear. People I know to be normally sane and reasonable were blaming every one from the media, to Russia, to our ...

  Lately I've Been: Watching: Eureka. I only have a couple of episodes left and then I will have to find something else to watch. I will miss it. Listening to: JJ Heller station on Pandora. LOVE her and the stuff it suggests along with her. I really need to get some of her CDs. Reading: Jesus Calling Lusting after: The Spring and Summer issues of Artful Blogging. And the new Susan Branch Book of Days. Working on: Organizing all my photos, getting them onto Snapfish and Shutterfly . Getting prints ordered. Compiling books. All in all trying to be a bit better at documenting our lives so my children has something tangible to hold on to down the road. Creating: Random little pieces of pretenses. Hair clips. Scrabble tiles. Washed necklaces (which I was very unhappy with) Thinking about: Being filled with Christ. So often I feel like I am running on empty. It's only when I am truly filled with Christ that I can be the mother, the wife, the sister, the friend, the woman that I wa...

                It is so easy to look around at our life and think "This isn't what I signed up for" or "How did I get here?" We look at our big plans. We look at our facebook feed. We look at our favorite blogs. We wondered what happened. We wonder why we don't have the life we so desperately want when every one else makes it look so easy. The funny thing is, I think if most of us slowed down and looked around we would realize that we are in fact living the life we wanted. Our lives, for the most part, aren't that different from the blogs we drool over. We bake, we take walks, we go for ice cream, we do special activities with our kids. The difference between our lives and the lives of the people on the other side of the glowing screen and polished blogs is documenting. The ONLY way that "other" woman is different from us is that she taking the time to notice, document, and dwell on the little moments. She takes time to make much the life'...

John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. How interesting that Christ should compare himself to bread. It is such a simple food. So basic. Some grain, some water, some fat. I am no scholar and, I am sure many people, much wiser than I am have, written things far more in depth than this. But these are my thoughts. Of all of the food Christ could have compared Himself to He chose bread. He chose a basic, humble food. A staple. A food so lowly that it is what prisoners are given. When cupboards are bare and piggy banks are empty there is always bread. Like air, like water, bread meets our most basic of needs in a direct and simple manner. Just a day before Christ makes this statement declaring he is the Bread of Life he meets the crowds basic need of food. With bread. And they are back. Wanting that same need met again. And here He offers to meet an deeper need, a need that makes all ...

This post started out as a Facebook status. But it was just too good not to blog about.  I am sitting here at the computer bemoaning the cold weather when my 3 year old looks out the window. Maddie: "The snow melted!!! Now we can have Easter!" She was so excited, so full of hope, so full of life. I wondered if that's how the women felt when they realized Jesus was no longer in the tomb. "The darkness has passed! We still have hope!" I was so ready for spring. For warm weather. For sunshine. For hope. For life. When we walked out of church Palm Sunday and the snow was falling I was crushed. I remember cold Holy Weeks, but never quite THIS cold. Never SNOW! It also seems like there is so much turmoil around us in general right now. Facebook feeds are full of friends on opposite sides of the same issues calling for action, for boycotts, for their right to be heard. And I think back to how confusing, and conflicting, and cold that first "Holy Week" must ha...

We went to get our measuring/gender ultrasound. It was supposed to be in the morning but due to an 6 inch snow fall it got canceled. Thankfully we were able to get it rescheduled for later in the day! I'm not sure why it was so important to me except that things are a little stressful at home. Snow this late in spring is not good for car business. Especially car business that's already slow. I keep thinking about a phrase my dad shared during his Christmas sermon. "It wasn't a good time to bring a baby into the world. It's never a good time to bring a baby into the world." Which is so true. And yet, the worst times to bring baby's in to the world is when we tend to need them the most. Some how seeing that little baby girl on the screen seemed to make everything so much easier. I don't know what the future holds but I know this baby is wanted and loved. Today is my mother's birthday. She shared her birth story on her blog today. Once Upon My Story. ...