SUNDAY FAQ + THIS WEEKS FAVE FINDS

Thought I might give this weekly “FAQ” thing a whirl and see what happens… Every Sunday on my INSTA STORY I will be putting up a FAQ POLL, you can submit any question you have, over any topic! Marriage, Faith, Kids, Life, ETC. Can be super deep or can also be something as simple as “Where is the shirt from you had on Tuesday?” (Example) Thought this might be a fun way for you guys to get to know me a little bit more and a way I could answer some questions some of you might have.

If it goes well and you guys like this I hope to keep it around, I’ll be “testing” it out for the month of March so make sure to submit your questions! I am also going to tie in weekly finds with the FAQ so I can share some of my fave finds for the week + items I got in or ordered, etc.

Hope you enjoy!

FAQ

• HOW DO I FEEL ABOUT DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME, SINCE NOT ALL PLACES IN THE WORLD PARTICIPATE?
  • So, being born and raised in Texas it’s just normal for me. It takes a little time to adjust, but after a month or so you honestly just forget it happened. Losing the hour is harder on me than gaining the hour, like this one will be harder to adjust to than the other. But no doubt my kids are still waking up at the crack of dawn. #momlife
• How did I pray for guidance when it came to how many kids to have and when to be done?
  • Man this one is tough and might take a minute. To be completely honest I didn’t grow up with this huge desire to be a mom. I didn’t hold a baby until I was in my 20’s. I wasn’t the girl down the street you asked to babysit. I remember getting the desire to want to be married and have a baby in my 20’s, but before that I was young, wild and reckless. (Not my proudest days) Ricky and I had been dating 7mths when we found out we were pregnant with Preslee. I was TERRIFIED. I truly didn’t think I could do it. Everything changed the moment I held that baby girl though, I instantly knew I was born for this. Preslee was 10mths old when we found out we were pregnant with Blain, they’re 18mths apart. Both of them were completely unplanned, but God had a plan. I believe God used Preslee to reveal a better plan for my life, I was beginning to get pretty heavy into drugs right before Preslee. The moment I found out I was pregnant I just cold turkey quit, I have never touched drugs since (2007) After Preslee was born I never touched drugs, but quickly went back to drinking. I began drinking at the age of 14, I grew up with it being “normal.” To me it was just what you did. So being a Mom now I would work hard during the week and party as hard as I could on the weekends. 10mths into that I believe God used Blain to remind me, this was not the path He had for me. After having Blain we really thought we were done having children. I mean everyone told us we had the perfect scenario, a girl and a boy. We honestly agreed. We began to grow in our relationship with the Lord in those years and Ricky quit his job and came home to work from home with me. He was gone for everything with Preslee and Blain. He missed them walk, talk, crawl, he missed it all. Since he had become a work from home Dad we began talking about having another baby so he could actually be there for it all. We prayed and tried for a whole year before we finally got pregnant with our sweet Kanon Kash! Few years go by and again, we thought we were for sure done. But, once you cross the threshold of two kids, it’s kinda just like… ehhh… what’s one more? LOL, kidding… kinda. I had always said I would be done having babies by the time I was 30. I wanted to be a young Mom and a prayerfully somewhat young Grandma (not too young though) Kanon was 2 or so when I began to feel this calling to foster to adopt a baby. I had friends around me in that season doing it and it just felt right. I just couldn’t think of a reason to not help add value or possibly save a life. So we actually began that process. The day I got the foster to adopt papers I also got a positive on a pregnancy test. I had been telling Ricky something was off, but he thought I was crazy because we were definitely NOT trying to get pregnant. With that positive test though we decided we needed to pause on the foster to adopt and focus on a pregnancy. A few weeks later I would miscarry, you can read all about that journey HERE and PT 2. HERE. After feeling the joy from getting pregnant we decided we wanted to have another baby. So we waited a few months, prayed harder than I have ever prayed, and tried again. We finally got pregnant again, but lost that baby too. You can read that heartache HERE. After we had lost the two babies I’ll never forget Ricky saying, “We are done” Miscarriage is SO hard. Ricky couldn’t watch me go through it again, it tore me up, as it would anyone. So we laid it all down. Decided to quit “trying” and just live. Then one night, we did what it takes to make a baby, I looked at Ricky and said “Well I’m pregnant” Pretty sure he said hush and go to sleep. 6 weeks later there was our sweet Rush. The answer to our prayer. After we brought baby Rush home Ricky went to see the doctor, if ya get what I mean. I always had spoke over myself “I would be done having babies at 30” Wouldn’t you know Rushs birthday is December 23rd, 7 days before I turned 31. We just knew after him that he would be the last baby we birthed. I say that because I still feel this burden to foster to adopt. I don’t know what that looks like, I actually have all of the papers sitting on my kitchen counter as I type this. It’s something I am really praying on and asking God for guidance with. I have so many worries when it comes to it all. From my own heart, to my childrens hearts, their safety, etc. So, we shall see. As far as praying and guidance, looking back and even typing this all out I truly just see God holding our hand through it all. Each child, even those we never met, drew us closer and closer to Him. I would keep having babies, I love labor and delivery, but Ricky said “We done” SO I let him lead. Because I would just keep having them. 🙂 I have never heard anyone say “I wish I wouldn’t have had all these kids” I hear people say all the time “I wish I would have had more” SO, I LOVE our big family! It’s perfect for us and I believe His plan will always prevail and it will always be better than ours.
• Do I still get emotional and think about my miscarriages? What gives me peace?
  • Oh goodness, absolutely. Typing the above brought me to tears actually. When I sit still long enough it’s the first place my mind will wander too. I have had a vivid dream of my babies holding hands and playing ring around the rosey in the most beautiful field. So, when I think of them I try to make my mind go there instead of to the pain. There are actually so many visual things that trigger thoughts, it’s too graphic to explain, but there are certain things that I just can’t look at now and not think of my miscarriages. I sometimes wonder if people get tired of me talking about that season, I speak of it a lot! Especially in our homegroup, they have never made me feel that way. I just always wonder if people are like “MOVVE ON” already. But, honestly I buried two children in less than a year, that will never leave me. I will never NOT be able to not talk about that. I have been able to use my story to help so many other women through that season as well. So it’s this massive hole in my heart that will never close and I honestly hope it never does. Those two babies make me long even more for the day we get to meet Jesus and all is made new! I can’t wait to meet them! My peace, truly only comes from Him and that promise. I cannot imagine if I would have had to walk through that season before I was a believer. I don’t know how I would have made it. In my miscarriage blog posts I talk about the scripture Romans 8:26, it’s why Rushs middle name is Roman, it talks about how the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we don’t have the words. That scripture and many others were what I held tight too in that season and they’re the first thing I share with women that are in the midst of it. I also am grateful through those seasons we had our Homegroup and other people love on us in the middle of it all. It’s truly something that can make people really uncomfortable because you don’t know what it’s like unless you’ve walked it, no one can say anything to make it better, and no one can fix it. If you have a friend in this season I encourage you, LOVE ON HER! You don’t have to have any words, honestly she probably just needs you to sit there and hold her hand while she bawls her eyes out. You will be surprised how your silence but presence will mean the world to her! Gods word, His people and promises are truly the only places I have found peace through all of that heartache.
•  Will I re-share the snakeskin top and ways to wear it? 
  1. Yes! I will get that on my story tomorrow! So sorry for the delay! I need to make sure it’s still available! It’s one of my favorite UNDER $20 tops I own! SO breathable and great for Spring/Summer time! PS – Snake print is popppin this season! Shop the look HERE!
• Have I had any bad scenarios or worry about my kids being in my online space?
  • Thankfully no bad scenarios, but 100% YES on the worry. That’s actually why you don’t see them a ton on my page. It’s just my personal preference and opinion. My kids are getting older and are out in the world in their own little spaces, so I am more cautious with them being on my page, especially our daughter. We have been out and about and people have stopped them and said they knew them from Facebook or Instagram, so we have had very important conversations about safe people and safe places. I think when they’re babies it’s a little different, I mean Rush is attached to us right now so I share him more than anything, but as they are growing and out about in the world Ricky and I just want to do our best to protect them. I personally am not trying to be known as a “Mommy Blogger” either, I’m not knocking that by any means, it’s just not my personal goal in this space. So, if we get really cool family collaborations Ricky and I will discuss how we feel about it and go from there. We turn down a lot because honestly they haven’t been worth the stress of getting all the kids together for the photos/content that is needed. I would encourage anyone to pray about it and really weigh the odds. I will sprinkle them in here and there, but honestly that will probably fade even more as they continue to grow up. Again, this is all my opinion.

Decided to just do 5 questions tonight since some were longer than others. Here are a few things I picked up this week or have in my cart! Click the arrows to scroll through.