WOW can you believe it that today is day 93! After I hit publish on this post we will have exactly one week- SEVEN DAYS in this 100 day Blogging project left!!!
A Lot has Happened in the last 100 days. My head swims with all of the emotions that have come and gone and come again. I wish I could share them all with you BUT that will have to wait for another post!
Choosing Courage- 100 Day blogging Project
This past week was a nice change of pace after blogging everyday through the month of October on a serious subject. It took a lot of work and brain power but it was good. So last weeks less intense pace was a nice break!
The mini-series was a struggle- actually just one day was but in the end I was really pleased that the struggle brought out the post I was hoping for if not a little better!. (It’s always neat when those things happen)
I have one more post in the mini-series and that will go live tomorrow!
Moving forward
This week my major blogging goal is to tease out the new blogging schedule that will begin next week though I think hubby thinks I should take a mini- break. I will see how that goes. I don’t want to undo the habits and momentum I have gained over the last 14 weeks (Or at least that is what it will be next Tuesday).
Hubby
Hubby made it through his CRAZY weekend and he is still alive PTL!!
It was a great weekend overall for him and for us!
The Kiddos
They have been jumping into the second quarter of school. Everyone one has recovered from their colds and we are just moving along looking forward to Thanksgiving next week and a much needed longer break!
I hope you all have a wonderful week. Let me know in the comments below what you are up to! If you are new here WELCOME!!! Please introduce yourselves in the comments and I would love to connect with you!
You can check out the other posts in the choosing Courage -100 day Blogging Project here..
Have you ever asked yourself “what was I thinking?” That is definitely what I am asking myself this evening.
At the end of last week I had planned to write my “DIVIDED” miniseries this week. Specifically starting today…Today was my second IVIG infusion. Yep I came home and slept AND still woke up with a dull headache and heart racing. I had to leave very early this morning as I was a little shocked on Friday when I realized that IVIG was scheduled on the day hubby needed to be at church! UGH AGAIN what was I thinking! It led to rather complicated day and I spent a bunch of extra time at the hospital but it all worked out.
So IVIG-
Today I had a little more of a reaction on the first day. The last time I didn’t ,the reaction came the next day. But have no fear ZOFRAN! I am not nauseous. Just a dull sort of headache.
Hubby
Big week for him this week. It’s his second of two teaching weekends teaching Old Testament survey class
AND he is filling in for our pastor this week so he will have the new adventure of being simulcast to our other area campuses and do two services back to back. I know he is nervous but I also know he will do great!
The kids
Today wraps up the end of their first quarter of this school year! They have been working hard and enjoying life. I love hearing their happy chatter each morning and learning about other Christians who have gone before us!
We checked off a family bucket list item we have always wanted to do- We sponsored a Child through cCompassion International. Its not just something hubby and I wanted to do but our kids have ALWAYS had a heart for this kind of ministry so we surprised the kids this last week with it. (Something I didn’t have to ask myself what I was thinking!!)
They now refer to the little treasure as their sister in another Country….Not just one or two of them BUT ALL of them!
Choosing Courage- 100 day writing Project
How can we already be to day 86? My head is spinning with the idea that we have 14 days left! THAT”S ONLY 2 WEEKS!!! WHAAAT??
I know that I said I was going to start the “DIVIDED” series today but that is just not going to happen In the future I won’t be scheduling or planning any bloggy things on IVIG days.
Thanks so much for joining me on this journey and I pray that you all have a blessed week! And I will see you back here tomorrow.
If you are new here please introduce yourselves in the comments below and feel free to check out the other posts in the Choosing Courage project.
Today we are going to do a little catching up! I can’t believe that it has been three weeks since we last did an update. Life has been a whirlwind of busy here.
October wasn’t necessarily supposed to work out the way it did- but it was amazing. And that’s ok. It was super amazing really! I have no complaints other than the month of October was complicated by hubby catching a cold (He has to do some work in the cold rain and he paid for it).
But let’s get on with the Update,
Choosing Courage 100 day Writing Project
Today is day 79!!!! I can’t believe it! It’s been a whirlwind. When I started this Journey I was so stressed about it- I have received so much flack about my writing. Now it’s just part go my morning. I have hit a few rough patches though where Satans lies start echoing in my brain.
I have also hit and” I don’t want to stage”- “I’m too tired”. This really came up over the last few weeks and that really had a lot to do with some stuff my body was going through physically. I fought through and basically that is why I had to let go of the “extra” posts during the month of October.
I did accomplish all 31 days of the Write 31 Days writing challenge. WHICH WAS HUGE!! That was 31 days of writing something HARD every day. Thankfully it fit into the 100 day Project.
Little Old Me
I mentioned above that I hit a snag in the Challenges where my body and mind said “I don’t want to do this anymore”. I am so glad that I have a team behind me now. Just as those thoughts started entering my mind they would send me a text saying how encouraging the posts were. They didn’t know the struggles. It was the shot in the arm I needed to push through. I am also glad a had a few blog posts done ahead so I could just do a little writing and the posts that were already written would go live.
Testing for Celiacs
At the beginning of October I was told I needed to go back onto gluten so I could be ready for a double scope that was scheduled in December. (They put me on a cancellation list so I had to be ready for at least 2 weeks but ideally 4). Well gluten makes me feel like a slug and also affects my iron levels- My iron has been in good place since August so yeah slug-like is a great definition of how I felt.
Then one night I was sitting at our kids soccer game and I got a call- Can I do my scope next week. YEP. So then that last week I ate as much Gluten as I could and was just a couple days shy of that four week mark. I still don’t know the results yet but it feels good to be off the gluten.
IVIG
The week before the scopes I had my first dose of IVIG. It’s a dose of Immunoglobulin I get via an IV infusion. Basically I have an autoimmune issue that keeps my body from making enough antibodies so I can spend much of the winter sick. And as we discovered Vaccines only work a little bit.
I had gotten two infusions of iron in August and those were easy. 45 minutes and I am done. HOWEVER IVIG took 3 1/2 hours. I was a little nervous about getting antsy. I don’t sit well. It wasn’t as bad as I thought I read half a book, ate breakfast (yeah that was a neat surprise) . I went home and was fine. Until the next day.
HOLY NAUSEAUSNESS.
So now Zofran is my new best friend for the two days afterwards. BUT I have been living on allergy medicine for a while with huge sinus headaches. Guess what I don’t have anymore?!?
Even in the middle of hubby catching his cold and then our daughter being next and taking care of them I only had one day I was iffy. THATS AMAZING!
Hubby
My poor hubby has been run ragged over the last month. But it has been a good month for him as well. I wish I could say November was going to be different but likely it won’t be.
Hubby Taught his first of two Old testament survey classes (The other is Next weekend). This has always been a dream of his and he is so good at it. He has been working on the class between the two sessions as well prepping for the next in person session grading assignments and the like. He has also been working his construction job and working part-time for the church we attend,
Not to mention the various church interviews, applications and questionnaires, phone calls and emails and all the other stuff that comes with The looking for a church process.
Plus he has been working to finish up some other jobs that were not supposed to take that long but goodness it has been a wet summer and fall. It has been crazy to fit it all in. All the while taking time to make memories with friends and evening hiking in the Adirondacks with his brother and our oldest 2 kiddos
The kids
The kids are almost to the end of their first quarter of school. They are doing well but I think that Thanksgiving break is much needed.
The older two just finished their soccer season and both of their teams finished very well.
The younger two have just enjoyed life. All four kids are enjoying Youth group at our church and all four are actively serving Sunday morning in our churches kids ministry. It’s so exciting to see them take off on this new journey.
Anticipation
I cannot believe that we only have 4 weeks lefs in this 100 day writing project. As we enter this last month I will be making some decisions about what blogging looks like going forward. I can tell you it won’t be 7 days a week. As much as it has been good it has also been stretching in the schedule department.
I will let somethings go- as I have learned over this last month. I can’t do it all (Oh wait THAT has been something God has been teaching me my WHOLE life!). I don’t quite know what that looks like yet but this updates will be coming soon.
I don’t like catching up- I don’t like feeling like I am so behind. I won’t be “Catching up” on the Joy Dare posts I will just be doing this weeks gratitude prompts.
Thank you for doing me today
Catching up can sometimes be arduous so I hope today wasn’t too long ! I’m so very thankful that you are invested in this journey with me.
What to know what this journey is all about? You can check out this link that takes you all the way back to August!
I cannot believe that we have just finished week 6 for this writing project and that we are SUPER close to being half way done. (Today is day 44- we are one week away )
Blogging Update- Here’s What to Expect in October.
Up until this point In the writing project I have been just diving in head first, gaining courage. I have checked off a number of the blog posts on my VERY lengthy post idea list. There hasn’t been a theme at all really, but I knew that once we hit October I was going to change paces and revisit a theme from a few years ago. I wanted to finish what I started . I have the content it just never made it into posts.
Behind the scenes I have been doing some in depth planning. I knew that when I participated in #write31days a few years ago that is was said to be the last year. I don’t know why I stopped posting at Day 18 but for whatever reason I did.
So when I took this writing project on I know that October was going to be dedicated to this theme I just wouldn’t use the hashtag and I wouldn’t be “signed up” but hey I am writing for “31” days in October anyway. Then I started seeing emails flood my inbox sharing about the procedure and prompts and stuff like that- Well I am not really interested in the prompts but I can still write about whatever I want and I can link up.
So Starting October 1st you will see that hashtag and title pop up and hopefully we will get some more friends to join us along the way but the only difference you will notice is an ongoing theme.
And the theme is……
INFLUENCE
I told you I was going to finish what I started! So if you haven’t read the first 18 blog posts you can catch up here.
Like I said before this was a part of my plan to begin with way back in August when I started this journey. I think the interesting thing about all of this is that over the last 6 weeks as I have prayed about this topic and as I revisited my post list I already had I began to see that certain posts would fit into the whole influence topic. I began to mark them with a highlighter and added them to my list.
But what about the other 13 days?
Saying that just sounds ridiculous to me- I mean really? This is day 44 and I couldn’t finish out 13 days ? But I have to remember I was in a difference place and a different time. I have changed a whole lot since 2018.
About a month ago I realized that the post list I had made wasn’t still in the planner from that year. So I began to pray and ask God to help me find it.
As I decluttered a bookshelf in out bedroom I found the list tucked in the back of a stack of papers on a clipboard.! I couldn’t believe it. So then I began working through them.
What I saw were some posts that I wasn’t ready to write then but I am now. Now those posts have some different perspectives that can be added that I did not have before and after six weeks of writing I no longer have the fear to write….ok maybe a smidgen but it’s not going to stop me.
As for the other weekly posts I know at least Tuesdays and Sundays will get two posts. And that’s the weekly update and the A Time to play posts. But those aren’t hard. They are both just sharing the week. All of the work is done. The other two might be hit or mis.
I am so excited
Words cannot express just how excited I am to embark on this journey to finish what I started. It’s been nagging me for 3 years and I am going to fight for completion this time. And I am excited for you to join me on this journey!
Thanks for joining me for My Choosing Courage 100 day writing project.. You can check out all the other posts by clicking here.
Good evening friends- I cannot believe it is time for the week 2 update! And I most certainly CAN”T believe this is my 16th blog post in a row! This is supper exciting I am two weeks into building this habit! I know I can’t keep up this pace forever but I need to finish this journey and build this new habit.
Reading Update
If you haven’t seen a few of my earlier posts you know that we started school yesterday. I spent last week setting up computers and the like so reading was at a minimum last week and even the beginning of this week. So I don;’t have any updates from the book (don’t get me wrong I have still been reading, it has just been smaller chunks and there hasn’t been as many journaling spots so by next week I should have a bunch to share with you.
Blog Posts Update
I think I have settled into a routine with the posts. I have a schedule of arts-
Monday- Happy Homemaker Monday
Tuesday- Weekly Update
Wednesday- Blog post from my lengthy post list I have been making for sometime
Thursday- One Thousand Gifts JoyDare (Gratitude Post
Friday- Whatever suits my fancy
Saturday- From the blog post list
Sunday- A Time to play Post
I am excited to see where this all goes. I do have to go back and do some fixing on some blog posts I had some pictures that wouldn’t load properly and other technical issues.
The Struggles
There were some days this last week where I felt overwhelmed and tired. I could have talked myself into taking a night off but the reality go the matter is this habit and practicing my writing is super important to me. In the past I would have given up too easily. Through the last 9 months God has really convicted me of taking the easy way out. It’s hard watching people take the easy way out. And all I keep hearing roll around in my head is “anything worth having is worth fighting for”. I want to use this time fore growth- my growth both in courage and intentionality (intentional is my word for the year) is definitely worth fighting for.
So I fight
I fight through the struggles and the temptation to give up. I fight for the habit. I fight for having a purposeful blog. I fight for my growth. both in discipline, skill and diligence.I fight for perseverance. I fight for and choose Courage!
Will you Join me?
For more of my Choosing Courage Blog posts Click Here
Oh and one more thing….We are going to finish ESTER!!! I had put the liist of post ideas away for “SAFE KEEPING” (HA) and I found them yesterday so expect those to show up soon! I am SOOOOO excited!
