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Would you be my friend?

Growing up, I wasn’t always on the “in crowd.” Well, I suppose I was on the fringes of the popular group where I would walk around with the super fly girls with my tight rolled jeans and Aquanet plastered bangs flopping in the wind at recess, but not a full fledged   B.F.F. with golden heart locket carrying member. In 6 th grade I remember really longing to be invited to a birthday party plus pillow fight inducing sleepover of the “double threat girls,” wielding both brains and beauty. But, alas I did not have the coveted handmade invite slipped into my knock off JanSport inspired bookbag. As if it wasn’t painful enough, on Monday morning I would hear all about their life-altering facemasks and prank calls to the cute boys, with jealousy swallowed down hard. In my heart I longed to be in their inner circle of friends, but in the midst of my pain, the Lord gave me beautiful, lasting friendships with fellow like-minded, and faithful young ladies. So why did I so desperately want the inv
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You're Awesome

Have you ever just longed for an encouraging word? Felt so discouraged in your soul, that you just pray that God would put someone across your path to lift you up? “Please, anyone, I need a word of encouragement!” I inwardly cry out, without verbalizing the need to anyone in the flesh.   At times when I’m feeling weary with the sleepless nights of young motherhood, long days of working, and juggling all the balls we juggle as parents, I just ask the Lord to give me a word. Just anything that is a message from Him, to me, through a fellow human on earth. I must admit that Sunday mornings can be trying times as a mom with a quiver full of 4 adorable, yet challenging young ones. With my husband serving on the greeting team at church from set up around 7:30 am til tear down, mid afternoon, that often means that I’m on my own to get our 4 kids (did I mention we have 4 kids? And yes we know where babies come from) fed, dressed, and out the door. On time…well that’s the goal anyway. So
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Parenting is hard.

I love being a mother. As a young child people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I would often say without hesitation, "I want to be a mommy when I grow up!" I meant that truly. It did not mean I didn't have aspirations for any other things, but to me that was my highest calling. Motherhood. Fast forward 30 years later and I am a mother of four beautiful children, ages spanning from 9 years to 4 months old. The Lord has blessed our family immensely. They are so precious and healthy and well, in fact, that I often feel like I don't have the right to even confess or utter some of my own struggles of motherhood. Lately I've run into fellow frazzled mothers that are trying so hard and wearing  themselves out in their parenting years. It is all consuming. Nursing around the clock and feeling like a human pacifier,  separating fights among siblings like a WWE referee, making nutritious meals like Rachael Ray, doing laundry at midnight so your child can
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Just Do It

Forgive me Blog Followers, for it has been 5 months since my last confession aka blog post. In the hustle and bustle of life as a mother, it's amazingly difficult to carve out turkey, no, time for the things you personally enjoy. Let me use my most convenient example, with whom I should not get into too much trouble with, myself. I really do enjoy writing. I was terrible at it as a young person, I do believe, but the longer I've been married to a particularly hilarious man (sorry Love, anyone that has met you knows it's true), the more I pick up on his humor, and the cadence and timing of what makes something ironically funny. I guess this may have translated into an interesting writing approach that may or may not resonate with you. Either way, it appears that God could have given me a little gift. Or my friends and family are playing along with this charade that they are actually reading what I am writing. "Sure, Rachel, that was...good! Keep it up. Onward ever. Do
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So many hats, and only one Mommy.

The longer I have held the honorable title of, "Mommy/ Mama/ Lady who feeds me," the deeper my understanding of the sacrifices that my own mother made for me and my siblings. It's pretty easy to play the armchair quarterback role regarding motherhood, before you are one yourself. You often think, "Well, you are doing a pretty good job, but you may have fumbled the ball here and there." And once you become a mother yourself, you may very well say, "Oh, NOW I see why she did that!" After this realization you may proceed to mutter to yourself, I mean Siri/ smartphone, "Please make a reminder for tomorrow at 3:30 pm to write Mom a long, long apology/ thank you/ How am I still alive?, letter. Thanks." And Siri replies, "Your wish is my command."  In our grand country, many young Americans have fairly ideal childhoods. (Of course there are exceptions, but we are celebrating the victories here today folks! ) These small and curious creat
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Mama Said There'll Be Days Like This

You know when you just have one of "those days"? I feel like I say that almost daily, but then when you actually do have one of "those days," you realize that the other ones really weren't that bad.  Well, as you can probably guess, today was one of "those days." My day actually started, impressively well. By boys were at school on time, and I was feeling quite proud. I attended a ladies' Bible study on the military base where I live, and it was a fabulous time of singing, food, and fellowship. I even told a fellow Bible study friend, "That was such a great lesson today!" I guess those were my famous last words, or the beginning of the end for my practically perfect in every way, day.  I am always procrastinating on my kids' doctors appointments. I honestly had not remembered that my son had his 4 year old check-up due, until last week when his teacher asked if that is why he missed a day of school. (No, it was because I was s
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Rose Colored Glasses

Welcome to "Military Monday!" Credits go to my friend Stephanie, a fellow military wife for this scathingly brilliant idea...  I'd like to think that my identity goes beyond my military family lifestyle. But, who am I fooling? It's pretty much a game changer, in how I view the world and the circumstances in it. If, "Holding down the homefront," is on your list of skills on your resume', then you can probably relate to this blog post.  During the refinement process of becoming a seasoned Marine wife, I have unknowingly had a paradigm shift in how I look at life as a whole. A paradigm shift, as you may know, is an often gradual transformation in the way you think, or view the world in which you live.  Before becoming a military wife, I saw life through my pre-military wife lenses. (Naturally.)Now that I have been, "Married to the military," for nearly 10 years, I have slowly but surely changed the way in which I look at life.  Here
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