Human Hamster Wheel

 As I was flipping through tv channels last night, I came across a news segment that caught me off guard. Two men living in a human hamster wheel for 10 days.  They eat, sleep, poop, read, watch tv, etc on this wheel. 

Seriously, why would anybody want to do this?  I think I would last 24 hours before snapping. The biggest thing that gets me is that if one person needs to do something then it takes both of them walking in this hamster wheel to get to that object.  It's like, "Dude, wake up! I gotta pee. Start walking so I can get to the bathroom."  That's all I picture happening in my head in this scenario.  Seems interesting but what's the point in this entire experiment? 

Watch the video:

Would you live in a hamster wheel for 10 days?  What do you think about this experiment?

Love Mercy

Mercy House is in Kenya and helps provide resources for pregnant women. I wanted to do something to help such a great organization. When I saw that they were asking for fundraiser volunteers, I couldn't resist!
Help them by purchasing a Love Mercy Bracelet for $10 each. 100% of the proceeds go back to the Mercy House. I have 49 bracelets to sell and only 20-something days to do it in!

-Paypal ehermesch@gmail.com the $10 (add $1 if you need it shipped)
-Choose "Family/Friends" option
-In the note section, put "Mercy House"
 
I will be sending a check straight to the organization at the end of the month.

Lets provide Mercy House with the support they need to speak love to the women in Africa. Every dollar counts!

*When I have a bit more time, I can go into detail about why this means so much to me. My heart always goes back to Africa when I think about traveling, if I ever adopt a child, and the African culture. Mercy House stands for the same foundation and beliefs that I embrace too.

Love,

Elizabeth

Another parenting milestone!

1,161 days of diapers

Months and Months of Training & Tears (from child and parents)

LOTS of bribing going on

First POOP in the toilet today!

Whoever said potty training would be easy and quick was joking.  It is cruel to make a first-time parent think that it's going to be rainbows and butterflies.  I took the tough route. No manuals, no 3-day training, nothing of that sort. Winging it was my idea of potty training.  I totally had this in my pocket! Just plop our little man on the kiddy toilet and let him work his magic.... 

I WISH!

We spent MONTHS of little man going potty in the toilet 1-2 times a day.  He never had a dry diaper. I begged. I bribed. I did everything short of crazy to talk him into being a 'big boy'.  I tried to then focus more on the pooping part and encourage him in that avenue.  My son just wanted to hide in his closet and poop in private. If I came anywhere near his room, it's a major fit of slamming doors and yelling at me to get out. So I went back to the peeing part of training and focused more on that. At least there was some progress there...

After a few months of this, I figured "oh what the heck. Lets put him in underwear! He's got this down. He pees in the toilet 1-2 times a day. He's ready!". WHAT WAS I THINKING??!!! One day of underwear and I gave up on it... 4 wet undies within an hour and 1 messy poop.  Back to square one.

For a few weeks I have not pushed Joshua to do anything. Pretty much gave up and told myself we'd start over during Spring Break. 

As I am talking on the phone today, my big boy runs up to me, butt-naked, and screams, "I POOPED on the potty!"  Seriously?! That was completely random. Kids have a mind of their own. They will do things at their own timing and when they feel like it. No matter how much insisting on your part independent kids will do it when you least expect.

I still don't understand the ins and outs of potty training, but somehow he FINALLY caught on.  We are soooo proud of him. We reached another milestone in parenting and survived :)  Now we just have to work on continuously using the toilet every time, and get him in big boy underwear.

Thank God he won't be going to college in diapers!

Next time I have a child, I will be reading Potty Training books-- that's for sure!

*The snail photo actually does go along with this post, believe it or not. I gave Joshua 2 snails a few weeks back, and told him that when he poops on the potty he will get the next 2.  He was soooo happy to have an entire collection after his efforts today! Yup, I am a bribing mom. I told myself that I never would be THAT kind of mom, but you take things back when you actually have children.

Cara Box Reveal

CARA BOX REVEAL

 Life here has gotten quite crazy these last few months. I need to get my blogging mojo back. We are getting into the holiday season, and couldn't be more excited to start some new family traditions... On that note, our new family traditions would make a great future blog post.  Our little man will be turning 3 on Christmas Eve. With the holidays in full force, my  Origami Owl business has been keeping me on my toes as well!  During the busy month, I was able to participate in the Cara Box Exchange:

The blog Wifessionals does a gift exchange throughout the year. This time around was the Fall theme--which I love!!!  Anything to do with Fall I'm all over it!  I was partnered up with 2 wonderful ladies, both of whom got married within the last month.

My other partner, Betsey, sent me these awesome items!!! 

~A recipe book filled with Fall recipes (my favorite! very thoughtful)

~Tazo Pumpkin Spice Chai :)

~Rice Krispy treat owls (perfect for craft day with my toddler)

~Cute Mug

~Monster Bash treat book

~Chicken Soup for the Soup (I used to read these as a teen! love inspirational stuff) 

I sent Danielle some Fall goodies, which you can view at  Sweet Southern Girl.

 

At the Well

Centuries ago, there was a Samaritan woman who would travel to the well to collect her water. During those times, the women of that region would travel together during the cooler parts of the day, gather their water, and travel back to town. The Samaritan woman was in no place emotionally or mentally to travel with these ladies. There were experiences in her life that led her to believe that being surrounded by these other women would only lead to ridicule, judgement, and "looks".  She had been married 5 different times, and her husbands divorced her. During that time, this was often unheard of. Now she was living with a man that was not her husband....an even bigger no-no during that time. For a lady to be married this many times and be disowned by her husbands meant that she was unclean, unworthy, and unwanted. It was very much frowned upon by that society. 

The Samaritan woman traveled to the well during the hottest part of the day to avoid the chastising. Who wants to feel like they are unworthy of love and are ridiculed by others?  So to avoid the "heat" from others, she decided to travel alone. Alone--to think about her problems and to replay those negative thoughts of being unworthy of love.

When she arrived to the well, she was surprised to see another person there--a man. Most men during those times were not the ones in charge of going to the well. I believe they left that job for the women. The Samaritan cautiously gathered her water until this man approached her asking for a drink. She asked him how he could be talking to a Samaritan when he was evidently a Jew (Samaritans and Jews NEVER conversed with each other. Not only that, but a man to be openly talking to any woman was also unheard of). This man's boldness and lack of what society would consider okay was shocking. He did not care. This man invited the woman in conversation and would ask her personal questions. He knew she had been married 5 different times, he knew why she was there alone, he knew the pain and ridicule this woman had to confront on a daily basis. He comforted her. He provided answers to how she could be free from the pain of shame. This man was Jesus.

Jesus meets you where you are today. Just like the Samaritan woman was dealing with the shame, fear, and sadness of her life, Jesus met her where she was. He provided her an opportunity to know Him and to show her that He loves her unconditionally. She does not have to live in the bondage of shame and guilt anymore.

While doing the study A Confident Heart by Renee Swope, the story of the woman at the well stood out to me. I have heard this Bible story many times while growing up, but this time it impacted me even more. There are many times when I think that I am alone in my struggles, and there is no one that would understand. These last few months, God has shown me that I am beautifully and wonderfully made and that the more I depend on Him, the more love and acceptance I will feel. I get that from knowing Jesus, and I can rest in the fact that I can accept myself. I don't need to doubt myself anymore.

The author of A Confident Heart shared in the book something that stood out to me: "Oh how I longed for someone to see past the exterior facade and look into the secret places of my heart. I wanted to be known and loved for who I was. Yet if I let my guard down, I was afraid someone would say I was too sensitive or too serious. It had happened before. So I pretended everything was fine. With each attempt to keep others impressed and distant, I stepped further into the shadows of doubt. Even though I was surrounded by people, my insecurities convinced me I was all alone."

Renee Swope talked about her relationship with her father as well, and I could relate oh so well. Many things I do in life are to find acceptance from others because I did not get that from my own father. Throughout my life I have doubted whether I am good enough. I doubt my capabilities. Some of that stems from the relationship I have with my father, while it's also how the world has impacted me. The good news is that God is really showing me what perfect love is right now. There is no need to be inflicted with doubt anymore.

Love,

Elizabeth

If you would like to join A Confident Heart book study, click on the photo below.

Oh boy! I was gone for a long time...

Hello, Friends!

I took a pretty long break from the blogging world. It's tough to keep up with it on a daily basis, and find motivation to write about interesting topics. I have come to the point now that I will only write about something that touches my heart. Otherwise, it's a struggle to be authentic and the post will come out mediocre. I don't want that.

There has been A LOT of good things happening in my life these last few months. For most of you that have followed my blog or know me personally, you know about my struggle with anxiety and depression. There were a lot of things contributing to my anxiety that I needed to get a handle on. It was starting to become easier to be mad and have a woe-is-me attitude.

Now there is joy in the journey. These last few months I surrounded myself with support groups, counseling, new friends, and people I can trust. My journey is not yet over, and I will continue to better myself. I have learned more about myself these last few months than the 27 years of my life so far.  Today I am thanking God for my pain. If I did not go through the hardships of not having a loving father, of failing at being a first-time teacher,  experiencing having hardly any close friends and feeling lonely, I would not be where I am today. Today I am happy that those things happened because it forced me to reach out. As a result of reaching out and plugging myself into numerous groups, I have made a great group of friends, I have FINALLY figured out that getting approval and acceptance from others is not what matters, and I have worked hard on being positive.  I have been given MORE than I could have ever imagined. I pray to God to allow my hurts and disappointments to not be in vain. To allow my hurts to reach other people. Maybe there is someone struggling with something similar and needs encouragement. To go through all of this is shaping me into the person I was meant to be. When I quit teaching, I felt mediocre. To be a mom made me proud and happy, but I always felt like beyond mommyhood there was something more. I can be a mom, a wife, a friend, and still have more to give. Still not quite sure what the whole plan is or where I am headed, but the journey is exciting now. There is not as much fear taking hold of me and holding me back. Someone once said to me "the puddin' ain't set yet". We cannot see the entire picture right now. Little by little we might notice our calling or niche in life. Sometimes I think as we go through seasons of life our niche can change. I always thought being a teacher was the ONLY thing God wanted me to do. Boy, was I wrong. There is a lot more that fulfills me and gives me purpose. God has a big plan for each of our lives. We just need to be willing to experience the hardships so we can be refined and reach our full potential.

We go through what we go through to help others go thorough what we went through. - Kathe Wunnenburg

Premonitions

Do you believe in premonitions? According to the dictionary, it's a strong feeling that something is about to happen, especially something unpleasant.  I honestly did not start believing in premonitions until recently.  A few weeks ago I shared with ya'll about a dream I had that had elements of true events that actually played out the next day... You can read about that here.  To me, that was a funny, weird thing to happen but I brushed it off.

Last night, my mother was digging through her dusty journals. She came across an entry that stopped her in her tracks. Mother asked me if I remembered a dream I had as a teenager about 15 years ago. My dream consisted of me waking up in the night to realize that our house had caught on fire. Opening the bedroom door, there were flames everywhere. I tried to scream to warn my family, but it seemed as though I had lost my voice completely. In an attempt to save my family I turned on the radio full blast to wake them up since my voice was subdued. Trying to save my life and free myself, I broke the window and became bloody in the process. I escaped.

When I had that dream as a teenager I woke up the next day and divulged it to my mother. Unbeknownst to me, my mother had a similar dream a few nights after mine. This is what she confided in me last night:

Mom's dream was very similar to mine. She dreamed that a fire had woken her up and she was trying to warn us kids.  She opened the bedroom door and there were flames preventing an escape. She also escaped through her bedroom window and found us kids waiting for her outside.

Mom then informs me that soon after we both had these dreams, she heard loud popping noises coming from the garage. Not thinking much of it she ignored it and continued her crafting project. Later that day, my father came home and said that the hot water heater had a big black streak across it. Apparently it had caught on fire.... (that was the popping sound my mom heard earlier).  My mom had this nudging feeling to get it checked out.

The plumber arrived and insisted we get an electrician out immediately!  The wiring was jerry-rigged... not a huge surprise since our old house had problem after problem. The electrician arrived and had a bizarre event happen. He was checking things out and found that not only did the hot water heater have a fire cause the black streak across it, but it actually had 2 other fires/electrical issues inside the heater previously. While he was checking things out, the wires started sparking and he had to run out to the electrical box and shut everything off. 

My mother said that if our dreams did not happen that it would have been easy to ignore the hot water heater and not insist on a electrician to survey it.  What an eerie thought that maybe our dreams were warning us of something???  

Also, not even 24 hours before the hot water heater caught on fire, my father had moved a bunch of spray paint away from the hot water heater....

There are just way too many things here to not think that Someone was watching out for us.