Weekly Recap + Update + ROSES!
What's been going on around here...
Hey guys! It’s me! I’m back!
Quickly, here is what you missed this week:
On Monday we released Episode 43 of Glory Revealed Musings Podcast with Young Life Director Jeff Johnson. We discussed how you can lead your teenager to Christ, and Jeff shares truths and a few regrets from his 35 year tenure of working with teens. Listen 🔊HERE.
Also on Monday, our paid subscribers received a PDF: Prayers and Verses I Pray For My Teen. We’ve included scripted prayers and verses you can claim over your children. This type of contemplative prayer has really helped me as I spend a portion of my prayer time in the morning praying for my children and claiming God’s promises over them. If you are not a paid subscriber you can become one HERE.
‼️ We have a 30 day free trial happening right now!!
Looking ahead 👉🏻 This coming Monday’s Podcast we are blessed with a visit from Nick and Stephanie Holden {Honey Holden to all of you long time people}. They share their heart on marriage and how they have managed build a beautiful life after a rough start as teen parents. They are truly the sweetest couple and I want to clone Nick! ha. Additionally, all our paid subscribers will get some extra Bible study notes and videos from Pastor Nick, which is such a blessing!
Action Item needed 📌 Please subscribe! If you love the podcast and find it helpful, it would mean so much to me if you would subscribe to my feed wherever you listen to podcasts. You just hit the follow button and we’ll be sure to show up every time we post an episode. We’d also LOVE for you to leave a review of the podcast so other people looking for new shows to listen to will know what to expect. And of course, share the show with friends if you feel it’s helpful.
👉🏻You can follow HERE, HERE, and leave a review HERE. Thank you!
Now an update…
As I mentioned in this post, I was taking a little unexpected intermission to spend some time with family and work on a few things behind the scenes. Additionally I’ve had some loose ends to tie up from my previous life…I haven’t spoken much about this, but finishing my divorce was the first step in much of my legal journey. Summer of 2022 is when I first hired my lawyer to help me reorganize Evy’s Tree, which as you all know was not possible; the company was too encumbered to reorganize. I can’t believe it’s been nearly three years later, but alas it has… and I am just now closing that chapter.
It truly is much better to do things right the first time because fixing things is long, takes time, is extremely exhausting and I am not kidding when I say, it will try to kill you. I mean that, it really will. If I could go back…way back… before my dating years way back, I would do things so very differently. Hindsight is always 20/20, so march on we must. I found this quote from Queen Elizabeth -which, if you didn’t know, like every good British child I’m named after {Amy Elizabeth😜} - and it really resonated with me:
With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all.
-Queen Elizabeth II
“Not at all”. Boy. Not at all. So much of my life I would not have done. At all. BUT… you can’t go back. Part of my journey has been learning to love those very poor decisions because they are showing me who I really am, which for some reason I struggled to find so long ago. The real me is showing up in my mid life, and I really like her. A lot. And for that I am so grateful.
Tomorrow I turn 49.
Not that it’s much to talk about but since this is an update I guess I better squeeze it in. Instead of saying I’m 49 I find that I’m telling people “I’m almost 50”, which is true in theory but it is sure going to make 50 a whole lot longer of a year. So I’ve got to stop that. I am 49. The last year of my forties. And if I’m being completely honest, this is first year of my new life. Boy am I grateful.
This year my birthday, as happens from time to time, falls on Mother’s Day. A good reminder I guess. As I start my new life, I cannot forget that God has blessed me with two beautiful children. Helping my children navigate what has happened to us has not been easy, and I’m going to confess that I’ve messed up more than I have succeeded {in my opinion}. This has been hard. Children should not have to suffer through divorce. But it happens… and I don’t say that flippantly. Just matter of factly. In my situation, I had to become both the mother and the father, and that is a job too big for any woman. Truthfully, this has felt overwhelming and more than I can bear most days. But I am still here, and still fighting for my family even if it seems confusing and lost and broken beyond measure. I know God has a plan and I am standing on His promises to finish that plan.
My girl is sixteen…
She was born six days before my birthday and she has always been such a gift. This past week she celebrated with friends - boy does she have a great group of kids around her. I’m so thankful for that. She gets her license this week so you can pray for her… and me! 🤪
This will be my last week driving kids to school and I honestly feel such a strange mix of emotions. A lot of change happening around me and I’m finding myself feeling those mother empty nest feelings. It comes at a time where I am already trying to sort myself out and this change tends to be one more thing to navigate that is emotional. On one hand, I feel like I will have so much more time on my hands, which truthfully I desperately need to work and keep our family afloat, but on the other hand I will miss my time on the road with my kiddos. I keep having flash backs, as I am sure all parents do at this time in life, of my two babies in their car seats laughing and talking and sometimes fighting. Those long drives keep popping up in my mind… you know, the ones where you thought you would never survive? The ones where I was stuck in traffic and Evy would scream her head off and Jake would try to make her laugh and I would just grip the wheel praying for patience.
Wow. Isn’t life weird? Thank you, Lord, for beautiful memories.
Side note… for any young parent sitting in the car gripping the steering wheel…it really does go so fast and it will pass. Hugs.
It’s Rose time!
If you have been doing life with me for any length of time you know that my roses are a huge part of my life.
My first flush usually arrives the weekend of Evy’s birthday but I pruned them a bit late this year and my first flush exploded mid this week. They are beautiful, but guys… I’ve never had this happen… they aren’t fragrant!!! I keep thinking it’s my nose but everyone else agrees with me, they just don’t smell. Does anyone have any experience with this? Ever happen to you? I’m hearing Phosphorus is needed maybe?
That’s it for me today. I look forward to connecting with you next week. Hugs friends!