Are you putting limitations on yourself?

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Godspeed Pictures, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #wherehopegrowsmovie http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV
"I'm just a mom." Have you ever found yourself saying that?  I know that I have caught myself saying that phrase... More than once this year even!
My primary job for the past 16 years has been that of a stay at home mom.  I graduated college married with a toddler and despite the degree with the fresh ink, we had decided that I would stay at home and be the primary caregiver of our children.
One child, turned to three {how does that happen?!} and I loved my role as a mom. Though there were times that I felt like I was saying no to God and opportunities that He had given me because of limitations that I was setting on myself. I was in a season on life that placed limitations on my schedule because the kids were young and I was the primary caregiver, but as the kids got older, I realized I started hiding behind those limitations and using them as an excuse.  Thankfully, our perceived limitations do not stand in the way of God's purpose.

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Letter Writing Tips for Writing to your Sponsored Child

One of the best parts of child sponsorship is the ability to have communication with your sponsored child.  I had the opportunity to meet one of our sponsored children this past summer in Uganda and seeing him in his mud hut holding onto a stack of letters that our family has written him over the years was heartwarming.  This family lives in a very small space and only has room for the most basic items.  To see that they had made room for the stack of letters that were written to them by a family they didn't even know, made me realize how much they do cherish that communication.

Child sponsorship is near and dear to my heart. To find a child to sponsor or learn more about child sponsorship, visit here.

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This is not where I belong

The older I get, the more I realize how dependent my mood is on the weather.

I realized pretty early on living in the Seattle area that I needed to get a break during the dark dreary months and find some sun.

I spent nearly a week in Cancun, Mexico last week soaking up sun and enjoying rare one on one time with my husband and loving every minute of it.

One of our favorite things to do to start the day is to get out and run. I don't necessarily love the running part, but being outside, being active and exploring the area is a great way to start the day.

One of the songs that came on on my iPod as I was running was Building 429 "Where I Belong"

If you haven't heard it, or just love the song and want to hear it again, here it is.  It's a great one.

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What is our common denominator?

I'm not much of a sports fan.  I follow along enough to make occasional comments, but sports just aren't that fun for me when I don't actually know the people that are playing.  

source 

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Am I the only one wearing workout clothes to actually work out in?

Now that the kids are back at school, I have gotten back into running errands. Sue me if those "errands" include a trip to Marshall's, TJ Maxx and Target. There are a few obvious themes this time of year. The most obvious one is getting back in shape and hitting the gym. There are racks full of work out gear front and center in every store it seems. I haven't bought any new workout gear in over a year and thought that it might be time to get a few new shirts, you know, while everything is on sale and all.  But then I was hit with the reality that I don't think that people are actually buying these workout clothes to wear to workout in.

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Uganda-one month later. A reflection on my time in Africa.

It's been a month since I spent two weeks in Africa. It was an amazing trip and I can still hardly believe I went to Africa. Africa people.  Seriously!

I have traveled a lot, and actually really love to travel,  but suddenly now that I have taken my first trip out of this continent,  {can you believe that?! My first trip out of North America!} I feel like the world is wide open. So here we are, one month later and I want to share some of the things that I have reflected the most on.

Before I left, I shared with you that God gave me the word excess to dwell on. I wasn't quite sure what God wanted me to do with that word while I was in Uganda, but man, now that I am home, holy cow, is that word all too prevalent!
Yesterday, I cleaned out our pantry. We had 10 boxes of cereal open. Seriously...10 boxes of cereal. And they were all different kinds. First off, who knew there were even that many kinds of cereal. I sent my husband a text as I was cursing open cereal boxes everywhere and wondered why the heck we had so many boxes of cereal open. Well, the father of my children apparently mixes THREE different kinds of cereal together everyday. If God wanted cereal to be mixed together, I'm pretty sure he would have put the cereal together in the first place. Before he had three seconds to text back, I consolidated those boxes together into a great cereal mix off. Happy hunting. Excess.
I have produced three children. Our family of five is considered a big family by American standards. I am happy driving my mini van and make no bones about it. That is, until I saw a boda boda. There isn't anything that won't fit on a boda boda. This man had his whole basket back stock and a driver on his boda boda. I saw families of five, four grown men, full size beds, couches, you name it all on a boda boda. I'm thinking of getting a boda boda. If only it didn't rain so much in Seattle.

Call it poor timing, but having just come back from a country that struggles to have clean water I was having the hardest time wrapping my mind around the ALS ice bucket challenge. It was a genius fundraiser that not only brought awareness to a quiet disease but brought in a crap ton of money to an organization that hasn't seen funds pour in like that in like forever.  But the chain letter type nominating and waste of water...clean, pure water...had me having a hard time jumping on the bandwagon. Not to mention ice.   Ice is a luxury.

I was sitting in the lobby of one of the hotels that we stayed at in Hoima,Uganda in the only spot that got wi-fi {I can't complain, we had wi-fi.  In rural Africa. Blows my mind.} and the TV happened to be on to an MTV like channel.  One of the announcers was doing an advertising spiel about how warm coke is better. If you don't have electricity, you don't have a refrigerator, so your option is drinking warm fizzy coke. I tried it.  I didn't like it. But I digress... This week, my oldest son is turning 16. Holy cow! When did that happen! The only thing that has consumed his mind for the past six months has been getting a car. In the past two weeks, he's been thinking of nothing more than having the freedom to drive around in his own car. By himself. The begging is out of control. Sure, the child has money saved up, and he would like to purchase a car, but what he can buy with his funds would probably not be street legal. His begging, whining and pleading isn't getting him very far because let's be honest,  I just got home from Uganda where I saw stuff. I saw kids that were over the moon excited about clean water. I met kids who were beyond thrilled at the opportunity to go to school. I played soccer with kids that had never seen an actual soccer ball before. Their soccer ball made out of banana leaves and twine was enough. This boy pictured below is called Stephen. He was almost exactly my son's age. I asked him why he wasn't in school and he said because he had been sick. The reality of it is, boys Stephen's age are not encouraged to go to school. They need to start generating income for their families. My guess is, having a third car for his family wasn't the motivation he needed to get out and work in the fields that day.

America is a country of excess. My life is a life of excess. I see evidence of it every day. I decided to take some of that excess and donate $35 more each month to sponsor another World Vision child named Sheila.  In the same area of Uganda that I just visited. I've already written Sheila two letters because I am so darn excited to hear from her! Excessive? Maybe. Have you thought about child sponsorship? There is a child waiting just for you. Find him or her today!

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My word for my Uganda trip is Excess

At the beginning of the year, I saw a lot of bloggers coming up with words for the year. The purpose of choosing a word was to announce to the blogging world and their readers what they would spend the year focusing on. My Pretty Pennies chose courage

I loved the word gaudeamus {let us rejoice}

that Surviving Our Blessings chose.

In preparation for my vision trip to Uganda with a team of 12 from our church, our team leader asked us to come up with three goals for our trip.  A spiritual goal, a behavioral goal and a knowledge goal.

I spent some time praying for God to make those goals clear to me because on my own, I was coming up empty handed.  He gave me one word.  Excess.

By definition excess is an amount of something that is more than necessary, permitted or desirable.

Pretty much sums up everything about America to me.

Pretty much sums up everything about my life.  

I have closets full of clothes and shoes.

Pantries and cupboards full of food.

I see a good deal and I can't just buy one, I have to buy multiple so that I don't miss out on a good deal.

Excess.

I have the same 24 hours in the day as everyone else and while I sometimes wonder where my time goes, I do still have plenty of excess time in my day that I fill with TV watching or piddling on the internet.

Excess.

I'm praying on this word.

I'm seeking out what God wants me to learn about it and how excess pertains to my life and what I can do to change my behavior.

I know that the people in Buliisa, Uganda will teach me a thing or two about excess.

I'm looking forward to it.

In the meantime, will you continue to keep me in your prayers as I travel and learn and listen?

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