All posts by Janna

On the Other Side of Moving

Just My Thoughts

We’ve been in our new house for nearly two months, and to be perfectly honest, it feels like we’ve always been here.  And now, on the other side, I can sit in the peace and reflect.

Packing felt stressful, it felt like too much.  I think now that it wasn’t, it just all goes.  It all goes in a box, gets labeled, and goes.  Unpacking?  That sucks.  Do I want this?  Do I need this?  Where do I want this to live forever and ever, amen?  Can’t it just stay in a box in the attic? (I have an attic … Read the rest

Moving Stress

Anxiety, Kids, Parenting

movingWe’re moving.  Maybe you didn’t know that.  Here’s a brief run down…
July 30: house on the market; 8 showings in 4 days, 3 offers, sold August 3; 3 weeks of packing like crazy, then a bad inspection and a buyer backing out.

Oh, and we were preparing for a 13-day cross-country vacation.

On the day we left for vacation, we put the house back on the market, show-ready, and let our realtor do his thing.  We just drove away with headaches, stomach aches, heart aches.  We came back on a Tuesday, house sold on Saturday, September 10.  Back to … Read the rest

God’s Love Is

Faith

“Don’t be anxious,” I tell myself.  When my mind starts swirling about the to-do lists or the future or the present or this overwhelming task of parenthood, or the fill in the blank.  Don’t be anxious.

Then I try to remember about what follows in Philippians 4, what I’m supposed to think about instead of those worries: “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy.”  Yes, those sound so much better than my worries.  What is true in this situation?  What is lovely?  … Read the rest

Reflecting on Our First Year

Homeschool

Year one is under our belts!  I’m so proud of us.  I guess technically the year isn’t entirely over, they are still doing math and cursive 3 days a week, but it’s pretty much done.

I’ve been getting asked a lot how our first year was, and I’m so happy and thankful to say that it was great.  It was even better than I thought it would be (not that I knew what to expect).  I didn’t know how much I would love it.  So as I sip my coffee in the wee hours, here are some reflections on our … Read the rest

Seeking Spiritual Healing

Faith

Waiting for God to move is hard.  Trusting that He will is not so bad, but waiting on his timing is killer.

I’ve been in a journey – waiting, offering suggestions (cleverly disguised as “Do you want me to…?), praying, getting impatient, begging to feel better.  You know.  God has made progress in me for sure, but I’d like the process to just be done already.

Lately I’ve had thoughts just itching at me, telling me I need to do something.  Do SOMEthing.  Anything.  Surely I’m supposed to do something.  Anything.  But I haven’t been feeling confirmation from God either … Read the rest

Finding an Answer to the Anger

Anger, Parenting

I’ve written (and written and written) about Eli’s anger, sorry if you’re sick of it.  I am too, honestly.  But praise God – we’ve found answers!

After a particularly rough patch with Eli, our pediatrician recommended moving from seeing a counselor to a child psychiatrist.  We went, he listened, and very quickly and confidently said Eli has ADD (not ADHD), it’s 90% chemical, and he was on the wrong medication.  “Get him on the new meds and you’ll see a difference in two hours.”

I was elated, Chad was skeptical – spot on for both of us.  We ended … Read the rest

Our First Homeschool Christmas Break

Homeschool

First let me tell you that when we were a public school family, I fell into the “go back to school” camp during any kind of break.  So I wasn’t sure how our first Christmas break would go this time around, now that we homeschool.

Much to the dismay of my children, we did school the first three days of “break”, because we don’t have to follow the school schedule.  Or so I’m trying to tell  them.  Then we traveled to see family for 4.5 days.  Then we were sloths for a week.  By Friday the second week of break … Read the rest

30 Days Free From Facebook

More About Me

I decided to log off of Facebook for 30 days this fall.  I was hesitant – What if I miss important life events?  What if there is news?  How will I know what’s going on?

When I logged back on, I discovered I hadn’t really missed anything.  At all.  Don’t hate me – your lives are important to me.  But the conversations I got to have with some of you were better I think because I hadn’t been keeping up on your lives via the internet.  I didn’t already know what you did last weekend.  Instead we got to actually … Read the rest

Ode to a Shower

More About Me

Our home has always been loud.  From having three in diapers to now three (almost) tweens.  We’ve got some volume going on.

On a not unrelated note, these children have never been allowed in the bathroom with us.  There needs to be one place I can go, in my home, alone, and experience some quietness.

The shower.  Oh the shower.

I don’t just listen to music in the shower, I will spend as much as five minutes choosing just the right playlist for my mood.  Oldies?  Led Zeppelin?  The Head and the Heart?  Let iTunes decide?  Gah, let me look … Read the rest

Growing Weary of Anger Management

Anger, Parenting

I started writing about parenting Eli’s anger a year ago.  A YEAR.  Quite frankly it’s wearing me down.

It used to be that he would keep it together all day at school, then come home and just fall apart.  But now we homeschool, and he doesn’t have to keep it together (I keep reminding myself that’s a GOOD thing).  So he yells at me for rather small things…
– there isn’t any meat to put in his scrambled eggs
– his math is too hard
– his math is too easy
– the milk was put away when we should … Read the rest