Hello 2021!

I know for many people, leaving 2020 feels like a relief. 2020 was a challenging year for sure! However, I am choosing to look for the silver lining. 

Let’s go back a year to January 2020. No, even further than that. June of 2019. I celebrated my 28th birthday and was getting ready to deliver my 5th child (getting ready? Who am I kidding? I WAS ready!!). I was feeling, shall we say, overwhelmed! I started realizing I was being pulled in too many different directions. I have 6 siblings and we grew up as a super close-knit family. They are an AMAZING blessing but I realized I had never made a clear transition from being the big sister who lived at home to the big sister who had a husband and kids of her own. I was still trying to be as involved in each of my siblings’ lives as I had been, trying to be everything to everyone. I realized I had been prioritizing my siblings over the needs of my own little family. 

I prayed that the Lord would guide me to make the right decisions and find balance. (For more on making good decisions, check out Melinda’s blog here)

The Covid pandemic actually aided in this focus. With everything shut down we spent a lot more time with just our family. The kids and I built a significant amount of fence, gardened together, raised ducks, irrigated, put up hay and worked on our yard landscaping. We played a lot and spent a great deal more time studying God’s word together. 

There were still many situations that arose and we would have to prayerfully consider the options, through the lens of family time.

Looking back, I can clearly see the Lord’s blessing over our endeavor in so many ways. Some of them seemed incredibly stress filled and painful at the time, but I can now see that God’s hand was in it all. 

After much prayer we have decided our focus for 2021 will be Family Meals.

To some of you this may seem easy and almost silly, but to me, this is a real struggle. Trying to make sure I am fixing 3 meals a day and making those meals as healthy as possible pushes me to my limits! Too often I don’t prioritize meals. I am busy working on other things and don’t stop to cook. I have found a few things that I know are gonna help me succeed!

1. I want my kids to learn how to cook so we are building off of something we started last year.

Thursday nights we plan to always be home and spend the night playing games or watching a movie together. Every week, one kid plans the supper and the activity. They choose the meal and do most of the cooking. Obviously, the younger ones have lots of supervision. This was fun last year and we look forward to expanding the tradition. The reason we chose Thursday nights was because the weekend evenings is when most other events are planned. We knew there would be more times that we would have stuff we had to do on the weekends so we chose to set ourselves up for success. We still have times we have to say no to things, but it’s usually things that are not as big a deal.

2. Making some meals ahead of time.

Crock-pot, instant-pot and freezers are wonderful time savers! There are so many meals that can be thrown together in the morning in a crock-pot. There are also many wonderful meal plans out there with grocery lists already put together. I especially love this blog The Family Freezer. She has lots of great ideas and meal plans. It is so nice to grab a bag out of the freezer and throw it in the crock-pot or instant-pot, knowing it is a healthy, delicious meal you prepared ahead of time.

3. Breakfast is the hardest meal for me!

Especially on school mornings. I have been trying to be very intentional about having SOMETHING for breakfast. Even if it’s just oatmeal and toast. An easy thing to do is cook up (Or buy pre-cooked) breakfast meats. You can refrigerate and reheat them very easily and quickly on the stove. Even if you have cold cereal but you add a side of bacon or sausage, that at least adds protein!

These are 3 things I have already implemented for the year. I would love to hear what ways you are looking to change or improve this year!

I also wanted to leave a list of resources that greatly helped me this past year to keep my ultimate life focus, to serve the Lord.

1. The Armor of God study by Priscilla Shirer

This study is FANTASTIC! I highly recommend this. The best part is that she has resources for adults, teens, older kids and younger kids so the whole family can be working on the same study! You can find her books on Amazon using this link. We may make a commission if you use the link at no extra cost to you. Thank you!

2. Focus on the Family app

This app is one I have enjoyed for years. They have so many helpful resources and broadcasts that can really encourage you whatever season of life you are in.

3. Daily Audio Bible app

This is another excellent way to get a daily dose of God’s word! This app has really encouraged me throughout the year.

4. Prayer Journaling

Prayer journaling is something I have done for about 10 years, and it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly helpful this one small thing is.

I’ll end by saying that life is certainly uncertain. Even when we think we have a clear plan and path for our life there are so many things that can change it. This scripture is one that I keep at the forefront of my mind. Jesus says in John 16:33 “These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Meet Mollie

Mollie is a lover of Jesus above all. She loves her husband and family and enjoys gardening, teaching, piano, riding, and farming. She lives in SW Colorado with her husband and five kids.