I have felt the desire to share with you all a few transitions that will be happening here on The Confident Mom blog. As with anything in life there are times of transition. I felt that leading last year when I shared how I would be using this space to help moms on a variety of areas close to my heart. My bottom line goal here with this blog space is to:
1. Glorify God in all that I do.
2. Help moms by empowering them with practical ideas and strategies.
3. Use my mistakes, successes and journey to inspire others to a place of hope.
4. To be generous, authentic and transparent in what I share.
5. Create a place where relationships can happen, because bottom line, this whole life is all about relationships.
6. Share my battle with depression, my journey living with Lupus and the different seasons of motherhood experiences I have had.
Blogs can either stay just the same or change over time. I could certainly look to keep things just as they have been for years, or desire to change when I feel like I am being led. I am and have been in that space for quite some time, a feeling of change. I know God has big things in store and has already shown me BIG things with what I’ve shared here on these pages and those I have touched. :-)
Being true and authentic can be scary – it can be frightening revealing the times that I am human and make mistakes or yell at my little one 0r talk about my issues with pride. But you all have been gracious and kind and I feel comforted knowing you are on the other side with an open heart. I am encouraged all the more to share deeper.
I began this journey blogging as a method to coach other moms in parenting as well as managing their homes. To be quite honest, I have felt very unsatisfied with coaching in the past year and felt God was leading me out of that season. I have chosen to only take a few individual coaching slots and am doing no more personal coaching outside of those. I am relieved and feel at peace knowing that something that was so exhausting for me can be put to rest for awhile. I love helping, but truly feel the coaching I was doing was not helping as many as it could.
So what will be here on the blog? What will be my focus for the next year or so?
I will be sharing what I am passionate about and what I feel God is leading me to talk about in an effort to Glorify Him in it all.
Compassion Child Sponsorship
We have three girls that we are sponsoring through the amazon affiliate commission that comes in from YOU, right here on the blog. Yep, this is a passion of mine. I have been blessed with this space, so let’s do something to make a difference together. Every little penny makes a difference in their lives, just remember to click on the banner graphic located on my bottom right side bar on the home page before you shop on amazon.
Natural Living and Health
It is no secret that I am in love with Young Living essential oils – my life has been forever changed because I chose to step out of my comfort zone and try something completely new. I was a skeptic and am not afraid to admit it, but oh, how I my eyes were opened.
I cannot even begin to express how blessed I am with how I’ve learned to manage my chronic depression with prayer and the use of essential oils, as well as my Lupus symptoms that were very debilitating. I plan to share more on what Lupus is, what I do to help myself keep going and how others might find help too. Lupus is a fairly mysterious disease to so many, and I feel God is leading me to share my journey in hope of helping others.
I have so enjoyed learning together on my Private Facebook Page for my oily community and seeing so many other lives changed. In addition, many moms who just began using the oils for their own personal use {ahem,… like me!} shared their story with friends and now have a little income coming it to bless their family. I love supporting these moms and mentoring them, taking a passion of mine and using to HIS GLORY!
Remember, it is all about relationships for me and my heart feels so full in so many ways with this new journey the Lord has me on helping others live better.
Online Book Studies
This all began last fall, after I came back from attending She Speaks, a writing and speaking conference. I knew I was to lead online book studies, but not sure how to do it or what it looked like. Well, we’ve done three so far and I am still learning! I want to create a space to share and learn from each other. I love the conversations on the Facebook pages and the relationships that develop. I have made some incredible relationships all over the country with some amazing moms, and even in the world – which still amazes me! I plan to facilitate three studies a year and see how it goes.
Healthy Eating
I have transitioned over the past two and a half years to a more ‘real’ food diet with less stuff I don’t need in my diet. I am in no way a dietary pro or a chef. But I will be sharing things that have helped me, short cuts and be sharing meals and recipes that my family enjoy. Making motherhood a bit easier is a big deal to me and when I can share something that helps me – it’s all good!
My Personal Story
There are so many good things I am experiencing that I want to share with you. I am so thrilled I could finally share my entire story of our foster care and adoption journey – God is amazing and I would never in a million years thought I would ever have an adopted little boy – but I do! I also would have never guessed in a bajillion years that I would be mentoring and leading a group of fabulous ladies on their own journey of growth and passion by sharing Young Living. I have an amazing team that I am being called to lead and I love the challenge.
God is amazing and each time I turn around there is another blessing just waiting. I thought I gave up traveling when I left my 20 year career as a flight attendant, but this year alone I have been fortunate enough to travel to Hawaii, Salt Lake City, Spokane and in November – Ecuador all expenses paid because of my obedience in following His lead and stretching outside my comfort zone. I want to share and include you all in it – God has amazing plans for you too, sometimes we just can’t even fathom it.
Resources for Moms
I love creating pin-pointed products that can help you in your everyday life. The Weekly Household Planner is a huge hit and because of some of the other things I do here on the blog I can offer it for FREE and will continue to offer it for FREE in 2015!! I love providing the Summer Survival Calendar and other ebook resources to help tackle struggles you face day in and day out. I hope I can create more in the near future.
I also love sharing resources outside of what I make – more of items and systems that I use that I find very helpful. You will find that here as well and you can always know that I will never recommend something I do not use already. Things like Stitch-Fix, Emeals and other things I think moms will find handy and not just a waste of money. Remember I am frugal at heart and watch our money too!
Simplifying
So to be quite honest, all this takes a lot of time!!! I can be passionate and blessed, but I also have to know my limits – which can be really hard for this gal full of tenacity! I am driven and stubborn, but I know that I must cut back in a few areas and learn to guard my time. {Yeah, I wrote a bit about this on Monday!} So with that being said, I am going to begin posting only two days a week here on the blog, unless I have something special going on that needs to be posted or we are in the midst of a book study.
I also will be cutting back on social media positing, mainly Facebook. To be honest, it is hard to say that, but I know that I need to be careful with my time and posting there to get a few “likes” just doesn’t seem to matter in the big picture. God doesn’t really care about the likes or the statistics of my Facebook page – so just know I am still here, but just not focusing on being there as much as I once was. I much prefer Pinterest and doing a few Instagram pictures here and there – so you can find me there as well.
I pray that you will continue to find refreshment here on the blog and ideas to help you everyday. That is my desire and my heart and always welcome your suggestions too! Feel free to contact me and share your heart.
Sharing My Heart is a post from: The Confident Mom