“Beyond”

Go:

Beyond tired.  Beyond hot.  Beyond the potty chair.  Beyond cleaning the potty chair.  I like changing diapers–the world stopped while I wiped butts and made funny faces at my kids–connected with them.  Changing diapers can be a beautiful moment.  I am beyond the physical part changing diapers but emotionally I wish I still had those moments each day with my kids.  Now I have a potty chair to empty–so not the same.

STOP.

So, set your timer, clear your head, for five minutes of free writing without worrying about getting it right.

1. Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking. 2. Link back here and invite others to join in. 3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you & encourage them in their comments. Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community..

OK, are you ready? Please give me your best five minutes on:::

Beyond…

My best picture

I’m not the best photographer.  But this idea I love–we were all on the beach and I noticed that my littlest and his shadow where the same size–so I took pictures of all the kids holding hands with their shadows . . . then I had this big idea–if I take their picture with them all holding hands then they will look like paper kid cutouts!  I think it turned out really cute–even if my arm is in the photo.

What if I were holding a pair of scissors that were the same size–like I cut out the shadows.  The possibilities are endless with this idea.

I will be linking up with WIP Wednesday, A Wise Women Builds her home, Women Living Well Wednesdays, and Works for Me Wednesdays.

Finding My Purpose

I’m the baby in the family.  I’m the only girl.  I waited the longest to get married.  I had my kids later in life.

I’ve been defined by others my entire life.  Sometimes I have enjoyed the roles, other times not.

One morning (in my mid-40’s) I woke up and everything seemed different.  I wanted to be me.  I wanted to create my own definition of myself.  What do I love?  What do I want to be?

Who am I?

Fast forward a year or two!  Why should it take so long to figure out who I am?  It bothered me that I had so many conflicting feelings about what I wanted to be and who I was.  It is a process isn’t it.  It is my own journey to find myself, to make myself the best that I can be.  My process is guided by my faith.  As I begin to understand that God has a plan for all of us–I have begun to surrender the past.  To live in the now–not what I used to be or what I hope to become–but now.

I’m working on moving forward to find my purpose.  A friend told me yesterday that I need to just focus on my own writing and not read others or compare myself.  Ouch.  If I don’t compare myself how will I measure my worth, success, my impact?  How will I validate myself?

I realized at that moment a deeper part of my purpose.  To share in my own way my journey–without comparing myself with other writers.

Today writing became much easier–my own conversation with my “friends” who read my blog.   I’m no longer trying to be everything to everybody.  My purpose is to inspire, motivate and create a space for a sisterhood where we can support and encourage each other–even on our hard days.

Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little BlessingsFinding Heaven