Archives for October 2015

10-06-2015

The SC Flood Rages On: How You Can Help

Yesterday’s post was all lighthearted and fun but today’s is a bit more somber. And even though I woke up planning to write on A Servant’s Heart in Marriage for my series post, I just couldn’t. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. Right now, there are people losing their homes because of the floodwaters in our state and my heart breaks for them.

The people of Columbia, SC need your prayers. Really really badly. The latest count was at least 18 dams have been breached. People’s homes are being destroyed by floodwaters and their lives will forever be altered. I’m sure they are thankful for the skin on their backs but I can’t imagine what life would be like if you had to start over from scratch. Which reminds me that whatever physical comforts we wrack up, all of it can be gone in the blink of an eye.

And here in the Lowcountry, we do have flooding but, in my opinion – me with the dry house & simply a soggy yard, our woes are nothing like Columbia where rivers are spewing and many have no drinking water and others now have no home.

Beltline Rosewood Dr rescue (Source: WIS)

{Beltline Rosewood Drive Rescue: Source: WIS}

So even though Day 5 of kids at home again may seem rough at first, I’m reminded the importance of perspective and how thankful I am for a home not standing in water, for safe kids, and for the gift of time to be with them when they still want to spend time with me.

If you want to help the victims of the #SCFlood you can partner with either the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, or The United Way.

Most of all, please pray that those in danger could be rescued safely. The rivers are continuing to rise and may not crest for a few more weeks.

jessica

{Today is day 6 of the series 31 Days to a Servant’s Heart that I am writing for #write31days.}

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Filed Under: Life, write31days Tagged With: #scflood

10-05-2015

Photojournal of A Flooded Lowcountry Experience

The governor calls it a once in a thousand year rain deluge.

We call this whole thing deranged, us with our restless kids, antsy to do something other than endure another day long marathon of PBS Kids.

So this morning again, rather than stick to the Servant’s Heart topic for #write31days, I thought I’d share photos of all the flooding we’ve been wading through over the last 5 days.

Enjoy!

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Filed Under: Family, Life, write31days Tagged With: #chsnews, #hurricanejoaquin, #lowcountry

10-04-2015

A Prayer for A New Heart

{Day 4 of #write31days series 31 Days to a Servant’s Heart. Click here to see a listing of all post in this series.}

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Filed Under: Faith, write31days Tagged With: #servantsheart, #write31days

10-03-2015

What is a Servant’s Heart?

{Day 3 of the 31 Days to a Servant’s Heart series. Click here to see all series posts.}

Whispered worriedly in my ear are the words of a precocious little one “Mama, I’m sorry I used up all your dental floss, but I just had to make the Orb’s golden silk spider web”.

The cords of floss thread in and out of every crevice in his room, making a spider web for this animal loving boy of mine.

It doesn’t matter how simple the task of navigating the spider web seems, I can’t do it without getting tripped up in the floss. And I’m reminded of just how often I get tripped up in this whole serving others thing.

I set out to serve with a gracious heart but instead I get so caught up in keeping track of all ‘my good’ that any love I started out with is gone before I’ve done more than just think about serving someone else.

So what is a servant’s heart and why in the world does it even matter?

A servant’s heart is bent towards gratitude that they are able to serve instead of resentment that they have to serve.

It’s all about perspective, isn’t it?

So easy to grumble that my kids are legions beyond stir crazy as another 24 hours of flooding rain continues here. But when my perspective changes, I find myself thankful I have a roof over our head, no floodwaters are entering the safety of our home, and my kids are healthy & thriving based on the high decimal level echoing through the house.

Perspective changes my heart from…

…I HAVE to make dinner yet again to I GET to provide a healthy nutritious meal for my family

…I HAVE to fold the never ending pile of laundry to I GET to provide a clean house for us to find rest in

…I HAVE to wash those dishes, bathe those kids, the list could go on & on….

But there is always time to take a step back and retrain my thought process to focus instead on the positive and the blessings I DO have in my life.

So that’s what I’m working towards this month.

Working to change the whispers in my heart from
I have to
towards
I get to.

{Written as part of the #write31days challenge. My entire series 31 Days to a Servant’s Heart can be found here.}

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Filed Under: Confessions, Faith, Family, write31days Tagged With: #aservantsheart, #givingthanks, #joydare, #perspective, #write31days

10-02-2015

10 Fun Filled Activities for Rainy Days at Home

Despite all my best plans, today’s #write31days has not gone according to plan. So we are deviating away from A Servant’s Heart and I’m simply writing with the time I have available.

That is what happens when your school district decides to close school because there is a rain storm on the way.

Yep, you heard that right.

We had no school today because of potential flooding.

As of 3:43pm this afternoon, it’s rained a total of .0000001 inches. I’m just not sure how those kids in the Pacific Northwest ever get any schooling since I’ve heard it rains all the time there. {I’m sure you couldn’t hear the sarcasm in my voice there, could you??}

In reality, I get that downtown Charleston is quite flooded. But the suburbs…not so much.

And the funny part is people think the rain has something to do with the hurricane. It doesn’t. Not one inch.
The hurricane is 556 miles away battering the poor people in the Bahamas. But us in Charleston, it’s doing nothing. I’ve even heard that Florida weather looks pretty great today!

So on to something meaningful…here are 10 ideas on how to spend a rainy day with stir crazy kids at home. Most include stuff you already have at home, proving that for kids {and adults} fun is not dependent upon dollars spent.

1. Shaving Cream Fights
Put your kids in the shower {or tub} and let them go to town with some bottles of shaving cream. The cheaper the stuff, the better.

2. Build a super duper fort {with an air mattress for even more fun}

3. Splash in puddles {i know, not very original, but a childhood classic}

4. Have a mud flinging contest {we are a bit of a messy family, if you can’t tell!}

5. Make yummy desserts {I hope to post recipe next week!}

6. Make lego creations solely to be entered into the Lego Club Magazine

7. Make a shaving cream {snow} village on your kitchen table

8. Build spider webs with dental floss or twine. Then try to walk/crawl through without falling. I’ve never
made it through one without getting twisted up.

9. Make really weird stuff with modeling clay

10. Bring out the science experiments

STAY DRY!!!

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Filed Under: Family, Life, write31days Tagged With: #hurricane, #hurricanejoaquin, #rainydays, #write31days

10-01-2015

31 Days to a Servant’s Heart

Today {October 1st} is the beginning of a personal journey and challenge for me.

You see, I’ve said yes to a dare to #writefor31days!

Years ago when I first heard of this blogging challenge I thought it was crazy. Writing should be about quality, not quantity, right?

But as time fades into years rolling by, I’ve come to realize that these thoughts in my head aren’t going to write themselves. And as with most things in life, if you rarely practice at something, you never get any better at it.

So here goes nothing!

My topic for this challenge is all about having a servant’s heart.

And not because I succeed at that. Oh no!

My serviceing heart is more closely aligned to feelings of resentment, keeping score, and making sure others know just how great of a sacrifice I made.

But in all my Bible readings, that description doesn’t really fit with how Christ lived his life. So if my purpose in this thing called ‘life’ is to live more like Christ, then serving other’s as He did seems a good place to start.

Since solely writing about a servants heart is quite a bit daunting, I’ll also have days where I share cooking tips or simply photojournal my families life.

Want to journey with me on this dream to have a more gracious #servantsheart? Click here for a listing of my post each day or here to see what others are writing about.

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Filed Under: Confessions, Faith, Life, write31days Tagged With: #incourage, #morechristlike, #servantsheart, #write31days