Inspire Me! Monday: God First

Welcome to the first post of Inspire Me! Mondays! I am so excited to begin this Common to Moms tradition. Don't forget to share a comment below letting us know what has been inspiring you this week!

The other day, I went out on my porch for a few minutes while Christian played with Melody inside because I felt like my brain was overwhelmed. Thought after thought, idea after idea collided and conflicted in my head until I just needed space to breathe. I pulled out my journal and started to write but quickly realized that everything I was writing was about ME. My ideas. My thoughts. My solutions to life. I was driving myself crazy.

So I prayed… God, YOUR will be done. I tried to take a deep breath and let God speak. I don’t even think I made it to cracking open my Bible. I didn’t need to. What God was trying to tell me, I already knew by heart.

God quietly reminded me of how HIS world works. How He created life to work in a specific order. And I couldn’t help but notice how I like to mix that order up.

It sounds too simplistic to me to say that God’s order is to PUT GOD FIRST, prioritize my husband second, my daughter third and everything else after that. But it’s true. God gently reminded me that putting life into His fulfilling order really is that simple.

When I looked at my list though:

1. God first,
2. Christian second,
3. Melody third,
4. Work, Volunteering, Writing, Friends after that.

I realized that on any given day or in different seasons of my life, I tend to reorganize this list as it suits me or based on my stress level!

Even today I would say it’s hard not to want to make my list look like this.

1. Work and Writing first
2. Melody second
3. Christian third
4. God after all of that

Here is an example of how I sometimes think about things, since my procrastinating personality wants to deal with the things that have deadlines first:

Inspire Me! Monday is coming up and I have work with my business to do, so I should do it first today to the exclusion of everything else.

Except when Melody needs me.

Christian is slightly more patient than Melody (but not by much), so I will put off working with him about his priorities until he is really frustrated with me. Then I'll help him because I really do want to, I'm just having difficulty juggling everything.

God seems to be the most patient of all. Waiting patiently (I hope) for me to come around to Him. He will be the least angry with me when I finally get around to having time with Him later tonight or maybe tomorrow or...?

But functioning in this way is costing me something, isn’t it?

Let me add a little clarification here also.

Putting GOD FIRST, could look different for each of us in different seasons of our lives. I remember a time when Melody was born when I knew God wanted me to be with Him throughout the day. Just to breathe and feel His presence constantly with me without necessarily sitting down every day to read the Bible and study. I knew He wanted me to enjoy motherhood- to appreciate this role He had given me. He was molding me for a season and a lifetime of enjoyment with Him and with my daughter.

NOW though, I know that God is trying to mold INTENTIONALITY in me (as I shared here). I know without a shadow of a doubt that He wants me to sit with Him on purpose, out of my own choice, and choose to come and be with Him.

He has blessings of knowledge and wisdom He wants to give me and in this season, I can only receive them by taking a 'Mary' approach and sitting at His feet.

I also know that putting my husband second looks specifically like serving him. Washing dishes, making food, folding laundry, vacuuming and dusting. His love language is “acts of service” (if you know about Gary Chapman’s book Love Languages at all) and it is all too clear exactly what Christian needs me to do for him to feel loved by me.

As I face this last week of Lent, I can’t help but notice that letting my priorities get out of line is costing me in every area of life. It is costing me peace, joy, rest and I am pretty sure it is costing me success and favor in what I do. I am not saying I think God is punishing me, I am saying that working out of God’s way of doing things just generally doesn’t work… At least in my experience this has always been true. So here I am, the last week before Easter (my favorite holiday!), desiring to align my heart in God’s way and not my own, trying to focus on following through with my original fast because I know God has good things for me when I do. In short, I am trying to surrender my stubbornness to do life my own way.

Here are the articles that have been INSPIRING and ENCOURAGING me when it comes to putting God first in my daily life.

I hope they are an inspiration for you as well!

9 Ways to Keep Your Devotions Vibrant

Will it Matter

Where Do You Find Your Identity?

24 Ideas for Connecting with God when Your Brain Won't Quiet Down

6 Keys to Dealing with Emotional Funks

I hope you will join me again next week for Inspire Me! Mondays! Be sure to let us know what has been inspiring you this week. I would also love to know...

What does putting God first in your life look like for you in this season of your life?

I think a change (a change)... would do you good!

Is Sheryl Crow stuck in your head now too? Good. :)

Welcome to the last installment of Blogiversary Week!

In my last post, I promised to reveal some upcoming changes for the blog, so let's dive right in...


Common to Moms is not about being "common".

It's about the fact that we have "common experiences" in life as people and particularly as women.

Remember that verse in Ecclesiastes, "There is nothing new under the sun"? Someone has been where you are. You are not the only one going through what you are going through. I truly believe that when we function as community we can glean experience, knowledge, support and love from one another no matter what we face.

Woah... that was an intense start. I'm not sure if I meant to do that. Let's do a wiggle dance now to lighten up the mood. You dance, I'll wait...

Go ahead... wiggle, wiggle...

One more time- Get your wiggles out...

Okay... I'm feeling better. How about you?

What I mean to say is that the "common" in "Common to Moms" is about common experiences. As I stepped into celebrating one year blogging I began to really question what this blog is about. Why do I spend my time writing here? Reading others blogs? What keeps drawing me back to the online community?

And then I found it.

The obvious answer.

I am an inspiration junkie.

Confused? That's okay... Allow me to expand on that thought. I personally have a mental block on most daily life things. Folding laundry, washing dishes, stacking blocks and singing "wheels on the bus" is just not very stimulating or exciting. I know in my head these things are important for my family, but sometimes just knowing that it's important in the moment isn't enough to keep me going. I need... INSPIRATION!

OR... I have deep desires that will also bless my family. Desires to decorate our home, to make it beautiful and clean and a place to invite others in. Again, I need.... INSPIRATION!

OR... Sometimes I am selfish, going through a hard time, confused about God, in need of a friend- whatever it is internally- so I go on a search, a bit of a quest (without leaving my seat of course!) for motivation, answers and... you guessed it... INSPIRATION!

And that's where Common to Moms fits for me. The connecting thread to everything I write here is my personal quest to find inspiration from others who have been there and have come out where I want to be.

I am excited to finally see the clarity in this for myself, because now my goal- Common to Mom's new focus- is to turn that around back to you. My mission, my desire for this blog is to offer writing and resources that serve as inspiration for daily life to you!

Since I am apparently in a list making mood this Blogiversary! week, let me show you in list form some of the changes that will be happening (or have happened) here at Common to Moms. (I am so giddy about these... there are butterflies in my stomach!)

The Blog Itself...

• Have you noticed the new mission-type statement at the top of the page? Take a minute to read it- it has changed! This is the FOCUS of what Common to Moms is about now. Basically, Common to Moms is less about me now and more about you.
  
• The 'About Me' page. Not for narcissistic purposes, but to let you get to know a little bit about the person behind the writing. Seeing info about me in one place makes me feel the blog is a bit more organized.
  
• The 'About Common to Moms' page. (This will be coming soon.) Common to Moms has changed a lot in the last year and in the name of organization and efficiency, I think it will be helpful for you to have one place to read about its beginnings and where it is now all in one place.
• A FACELIFT! (Coming soon if it's not already here by the time you read this post.) After a year of the same colors and backgrounds, I figure it is fitting to try out some new "cosmetic" changes to go along with the new focus and ideas that are coming! Disclaimer: I love change, so I reserve the right to change the look of 'Common to Moms' at a whim!

The Writing...

• I am excited to announce "Inspire Me, Mondays" where I will compile inspiring posts from across the blog world to give you a lift for the beginning of the week. (Don't we all need one of those?) However, I may use some creative license here, so it could look different from week to week (Examples, I may use only one story or personal events to "inspire" you on any given Monday.) But basically the gist is, you can stop by Common to Moms each week to fight your "case of the Mondays".
• Books! They inspire me, whether they are fiction, non-fiction, self-help, whatever! I am excited to begin sharing them with you (without overwhelming you- Common to Moms will not be turning into an all about books blog!) and to encourage sharing inspirational writing with one another.
• A more clear focus in general. It is so much easier to write knowing what your purpose is. I am just plain excited about that!
  

The Money...

• Okay... this is a bit of an awkward subject, BUT- hear me out! I am pretty sure I have made the decision to monetize the blog. This won't happen right away (I kind of want to make sure it is worth the trouble first), but since I really want to offer writing that is focused and intentional, I think this is an appropriate move. Here's the thing though- I WILL NOT be bombarding you with ads. And this will be a GRADUAL change. (I really don't know much about the whole advertising thing so I will be learning as I go.) Basically, the blogs I am personally inspired by to the right of your screen- those are my role models for monetizing. I would be blogging whether I made money or not (which I haven't for the past year, since I'm not monetized now and never have been- so you know I want to be here!), so I want you to know my intention is simply to give myself the option to make a teensy bit of money for my writing efforts. And if for some reason it turns out to be a waste of time for Common to Moms, I will happily return to the world of blogging solely for personal motivation.
• Part of wanting to monetize is my desire to use some of that money to turn around and sponsor some Give-Aways! This is an aspect of a lot of blogs I love since it allows us to give something back to the readers. I know that often you don't have to pay for your own Give-aways, but just in case I can't find people in the next few months to offer items to you for free (or I am too chicken to ask a company, etsy shop owner, etc if they want to sponsor one), I have no problem sponsoring them myself to give a little something back to you. I'm not sure when these will begin to happen, but you will obviously be aware when they do!
  

What will stay...

• Of course some things will stay the same here on the blog. I still want this to be a blog you as readers feel comfortable to share your ideas and your own inspiration for life.
• Sharing about my family- particularly my daughter. I still plan to chronicle life at home with my family and share things that I think are fun. Inspiration often comes from family!
• ME! I am the same me whether I am focused, monetized or anything else. Sharing from my heart is what I have been doing and what I hope to continue to do.

Now, after the longest post in the history of posting... What do you think? Did you actually read all of those lists? Do you like the new look?

Love, Rachel

PS. A little foot-note about spirituality for those that are wondering. Obviously I am a Christian and God inspires me, but I have a bit of writer's block when it comes to sharing about God and my faith sometimes. Know that He is my ultimate Inspiration, but I often find that difficult to put into words. So even if I am not saying it outright, it is there. Any inspiration I find in the world, I believe it is God created and rooted in His Goodness.

Flowers, Diet Coke, Cookies and Ferraro Rocher

I just realized I added another March birthday/anniversary to my life. Not only is my birthday, my daughter's birthday and our wedding anniversary in March, but now Common to Moms Anniversary (Blogiversary!) is in there too!

Here's the run down of how 4 celebrations occur in an 8 day period in our household:

March 20th
Happy Anniversary to Common to Moms!

March 24th
Happy Anniversary to Christian and me! (5 yrs)
Happy Birthday to Melody! (2yrs)

March 28th
Happy Birthday to me! (28 yrs)

My gift to myself is a broken toe. (A couple of days ago I tripped running toward the 30 year mark... that was a [bad] joke.) I really did break my pinky toe on Monday though... It is surprising how much a broken toe really hurts. As I write this, I am realizing this is also my first broken bone... random!

Even though my birthday was today, I still worked baby-sitting during the day and then taught dance tonight (hobbling around in the studio was more like it, tripping some more and generally looking older than my 28 years).

In spite of working, I tried to take some time to enjoy myself by (get ready for another list again) ...

* making chocolate chip walnut oatmeal cookies with one of the kids while the other little ones napped away. (recipe found here)
* made a banana smoothie for lunch
* made a diet coke ice cream float during kids naps
* getting surprise flowers and Ferraro Rocher candies from my husband after he got home from work.
* reading all the Happy Birthday messages on Facebook
* getting an impromptu Birthday serenade from the girls at the dance studio and lots of phone calls and text messages from friends! (Thank you, friends!)
* choosing books off of amazon to order with birthday money from my parents. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) I think I am buying 8 or so?

All in all, it was a great birthday.

Thank you to everyone for making it a great day! Thank you to God for making bananas that made my smoothie and all the ingredients to make those cookies, the makers of Diet Coke and Ferraro Rocher, Facebook and of course my wonderful husband, my daughter and all of my friends!

A Good Old-Fashioned List

For some reason making a list on the blog makes me excited. To me, it's as though by writing things down and sharing them with the world, the things on the list are more likely to happen. (I know it's really up to me to make these things happen, but a girl can have her warm fuzzy moments, right?) So in a throw back to this list from several months ago, I'm creating a new one. Think of it as a preview to coming attractions on the blog in celebration of Blogiversary Week!

Here's what you can expect to see in the next 3 - 4 months on Common to Moms.

Some Exciting Changes!!
Including but not limited to a stronger focus for the blog and a little bit of a face lift. More to come on this later in the week!

Melody's 2 year birthday celebration
It was great last week-end! Lots of fun, family and friends!

Guest Room/Play Room Transformation
I was not able to complete this in time for Melody's birthday party, but I am definitely excited to keep moving forward with it.

Make my own summer dress
So excited to attempt this!

Keep De-cluttering
I will be continuing on this adventure as always.

Spiritual Bathroom Art
I've got you hooked, don't I?

Attempts to Save Money on Groceries
You've already seen my small attempts at couponing here and here. I also have some other ideas that I can't wait to try and then of course, share the results!

Book reviews of some kind?
I put a question mark there because I'm not sure what this will look like. I love to read, and while I don't want this to become a blog all about books, I would love to find a way to recommend some to you and also find out what you are reading also!

I'm not sure where all of this energy is coming from, but I am so excited about tackling some new projects this spring. It must be all the warm weather and sunshine going to my head! I am also giddy with excitement about the new focus for the blog that I will be sharing with you at the end of the week. It will be an exciting reveal, so stay tuned!

What projects are you tackling this spring? Spring Cleaning? Painting? Something else?

As always, I can't wait to hear from you!

Love, Rachel

Common to Moms Blogiversary Survey!

Wow!! Can you believe it?! March 20th of last week marked one year of blogging!

First off, a thanks is in order for all of you reading along! (I think there are 10 of you?:-)) I know I can be pretty scatter-brained and sometimes inconsistent, but I love that you check back in with me, leave comments and contribute your insightful thoughts to the discussions here. Without you, I would write to a blank cyber-space style wall... which would still be therapeutic, but not nearly as fun.

I am also aware that there are a few of you who read that I know in "real life" and a few that are blog friends (Lindsay calls them "blends"). Some of you even fall into both categories!

So in honor of one year blogging, I would love to hear from you! (Since I am usually the one rambling on!) I know there will only be about 2 answers to this post (one of which might be my sister), but still, I would love for you to leave a comment answering a quick five minute survey... That way I get to know you and you also get to know each other! To be fair, I am answering these questions too.

Here are the questions:

1. What is your name? General location? Field of expertise? (i.e. banker, stay at home mommy/writer, etc)
I'm Rachel (as you hopefully already know) and I was raised in Kentucky but now live in Virginia. I am a part-time nanny, ballet teacher and a mommy. I majored in French in college and still love the French language.

2. If you could change one thing about your personality what would it be? (Don't think too hard about this one... think interesting tidbit- not soul searching, otherwise you might get too psyched out to leave a comment!)
I would be more driven to achieve goals and accomplish things... oh and I would be more organized for sure! (... that is technically two things... oh well!)

3. What is your favorite part of your personality?
That I am laid-back (well... sometimes) and like to enjoy a slow pace of life. I am able to enjoy the moments in life as they come without rushing them. (Interesting how the thing I love about myself and the thing I would change are a bit at odds. I guess finding the balance is difficult for everyone!)

4. What are your THREE favorite blogs/websites to find inspiration for life?
AHHH!!! Just three?!?! That is so hard to choose! Every blog I have listed over on the right is one I have gleaned something from so you should definitely check them all out one rainy afternoon when you have nothing to do... But the 3 I find the MOST inspiration from life about would have to be Young House Love, Bower Power and Little Bit Funky.

So now it's your turn! Add a comment with your answers to the survey. I can't wait to hear more about each of you!

Love, Rachel

$9.83!!

That's how much I was able to save using coupons at Target tonight!

After checking out this website and reading WAY too much info about coupons, I took the plunge and went shopping for my daughters birthday party. While I was at Target I stacked my coupons (that's official coupon lingo right there) and got some great deals on Country Crock Margarine Spread, Scrubbing Bubbles and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! They were all things I was out of and needed to replace anyway and now I am stocked for the month. Saving money is a good feeling.

One note about coupons though...

It is definitely easy to go overboard. Staying up late and checking out every new site, trying to figure out how many stores you can do this for... not that I've been doing that or anything (cough, cough)... it is definitely something you can get lost in!

So I'm going to try to stick to printing coupons from coupons.com and target.coupons.com once a week. In the meantime, if I'm really wondering if there is anything new out there going on, I can check Hip2Save's website quickly and let her do the work for me. After all, that is the whole reason the author has a couponing blog, is it not? Oh yes, and convincing the hubby to get a Sunday subscription to a newspaper may also be on the list of things to do to save more money.

I also have some hopes to one day add CVS to the list of stores I learn how to save at, but I am just not super confident in my ability to make the ECB (more coupon lingo) roll the right way to save money.

Right now though, I think it is important to be satisfied with a little bit of progress and to be content in taking baby steps to save my family money on food. As I alluded in an earlier post this week I am excited to try some new things to save money on grocery shopping very soon in addition to learning all about coupons. I will keep you posted! (punny, punny!)

As a side note, the lady in front of me at the check-out in Wal-Mart today saved A TON of money using Wal-Mart's price matching policy. She had tons of fliers in her hands and had to have a manager come approve everything. (Who knew so many stores had lower prices than Wal-Mart?) Then, she used coupons at the end of her transaction on top of the money she had already saved. I was in awe at her mad money-saving skills!

What have you been saving money on lately??

Do You Coupon?

I never really have. In fact, when I have mentioned it, the hubby has declared it a waste of time. However, reading over at Little Bit Funky has peaked my interest. (Click over to Crystal's blog on the right.)

So today I started small. Super small. I went over to Coupons.com and browsed. I found a handful of coupons for my favorite items.

Examples:
Country crock margarine
I can't believe it's not butter
Silk soymilk
Scrubbing Bubbles

I know that often times store brands are cheaper than brands + coupons, but for those few items that I prefer a specific brand for (like those mentioned above) a coupon is a nice thing to have!

I have been thinking about lots of ways to save on food lately, so I will be sharing them with you as I go. Coupons is one thought I have, but I plan to start (very) slowly.

So how about you...

Do you coupon? Where do you find coupons? Online? The newspaper? Blogs? I would love to hear about your sources!

P.S. Can anyone tell me what doubling your coupons really means? Does it mean you can have double the savings on one item? Or does it mean you can by many items using the same coupon? I have a lot of confusion in the coupon world!