Mrs. Rogers Neighborhood

What has changed since I last wrote?  I looked back to see lots of posts revolving around what I was reading (which I would love to continue to document here or you can follow along on Goodreads because I log everything there!).  I posted about food often as well.  I was forcing myself to think of this space as "themed and content" driven, but what I really want/need is a journal type format to mind dump.  I have a lot on my mind!  I know people will read these words (maybe just a handful of people, but people still the same!) and my new goals are simple vulnerability and honesty.  Please read with grace for a person in process.   I think the biggest thing I am learning in this season is if something is a priority, you make time for it.  If it is not, you won't.  I have had quite a few people ask me how I have time to read with 2 little kids and a farm to manage and I tell them, I just do.  I just read a little bit here and there and listen to audio books while I am

We had another baby in May (SO much more on that later) and blogging has obviously taken a back seat, but I am still reading for pleasure and have managed, in my sons first four months of life, to complete these 8 books!  Y'all, I remember a time when even completing 2 books a year would have sincerely sounded daunting, much less with a newborn.  If you want to read more, you can find the time!  Take stock of your days and see where you are wasting hours.  For some of these, I listened to the audio book while I was pumping or watering the garden.   Rather than give you an individual breakdown of each of these books, I just want to report I found them all incredibly enjoyable.  A total cross section of a food memoir to a psychology deep dive to nature centric novels, I would recommend them all in different capacities.   We have fallen a bit behind on our Bible reading, but we WILL finish by the end of the year. You do not make it to September

This book impacted me deeply - Brene Brown's insights into vulnerability and courage were astounding in so many ways.  I am still processing it all, but I find it coming up in conversation often, which shows how applicable it is to any and all people.   I fully intend to read (and purchase) every other book she has written, as I believe I would refer to them often and I am so grateful for the research she has done and the impact it has had on many.  I also have on my to-do list to watch her Netflix special and TED talk.   I cannot recommend this book enough. The first of two books I read for book club this month, this one left me tired at the end of the journey.  I often felt like the subject could not catch a break and there were parts that were really difficult to read.  However, I liked the unpredictability of it and I liked that it wasn't all buttoned up and felt raw and realistic, even if some of it was far fetched in theory. Since reading this I ha

Delay of Gratification is defined by encyclopedia Brittanica as the act of resisting an impulse to take an immediately available reward in the hope of obtaining a more-valued reward in the future. The ability to delay gratification is essential to self-regulation, or self-control. Bill and I have been discussing this idea quite a bit lately.  How our culture has become a culture of immediate gratification.  If we want something, we buy it.  Everything is available at the tip of our fingers.  When birthdays or the holidays come around and I am asking what people would like, no one needs anything, they just want more things or more stuff.  Some don't even have anything they want because they wait for nothing.  We purchase to excess.  We cannot fit our stuff in our homes and they take over our garages.  One of the biggest items looked for in new homes in storage. However, this goes well beyond material possessions.  If we want something specific to eat, we just go buy it

23 Years Old and so Insecure - 10 Years Ago I have felt compelled to write about something lately, and been shying away from it, which is not my typical style.  As I look back over my life, I have recently realized that I finally feel like "enough".  I know my worth is in the Lord and I know I am beautiful and worth people's time, but that has not always been my story.  Far too often from the ages of 12 to 30, I defined my worth by whether someone was interested in dating me or not and after I got married, whether people "liked me" and wanted to be my friend or to hire me.  Was I pretty enough?  Interesting enough? Worth someone's time?  Talented enough?  Smart enough? etc... Recently, as pictures pop up in my Timehop (an app that shows pictures taken the same day as far back as it can reach through social media and the camera roll on my phone), I distinctly remember feeling like I was either fat or unattractive in most pictures.  I remember being

I recently finished a book by Brene Brown titled, DaringGreatly .  It really moved me, and I am definitely still processing it. At the beginning of the book I wasn’t resonating deeply with the topic of vulnerability, as most people will tell you I am an “open book”.  I will answer most questions without holding back and love to deep dive into good conversation.  However, what I came to realize through her many examples is that we all wrestle with vulnerability, guilt and shame throughout this book even if is more momentary than constant.  I gleaned SO MUCH from this book that I did not anticipate, and I thought I would share this Parenting Manifesto that she put right at the end of the book.  I am printing it and framing it for our nursery, as I think it communicates some deep parts of my heart cry for parenting my kiddos well. I hope this resonates with someone else as much as it did with me.   I needed these words to remind me that parenting is not a checklist,