What an exciting week we’ve had at our place!
Over the weekend we added chicks to our family. Six little gals named: Sugar, Nugget, Oreo, Red, Golden (chick), and Brownie.
We’re looking forward to watching them grow and having our own organic, free range eggs in the future. :)
As you can tell from the photos above (a little snippet of life cut out from my instagram feed) we’ve had a wonderful time watching the chicks and introducing them to Scrappy (who, btw, is a very good big brother).
Then…
On Monday I hit some kind of wall.
Or to be more precise, as seen in the top left corner picture, I hit the bathroom floor – hiding away from everyone for just a few minutes to get some quiet, alone time.
Tuesday went downhill from there.
And Wednesday took a major nosedive (the reason for no Photography Wednesday post).
Fortunately, I feel the upswing coming… I’m sure it has quite a bit to do with two early nights for the boys, a thorough house straightening, a little Love and Logic, and an air purifier sucking up the pollen that has been torturing us for weeks on end.
Interestingly enough, during this CrAzY time I’ve been reading an extremely appropriate book for my situation: Grace for the Good Girl by Emily P. Freeman.
I’ve learned that my life, while quite full of faith, is also quite full of fear. Fear of all kinds of things…
Fear of being seen as a bad mom.
Fear of *being* a bad mom.
Fear of what others will think.
Fear of letting people down.
Fear of how my boys will turn out.
Fear, fear, fear.
And my response to that fear is to fight. To become defensive. To drive myself and others to do better. To do the exact opposite of what love and grace do.
You see, fear drives but love draws.
Love draws us in and opens us up. Love extends grace to those around (even to ourselves). But fear drives… driving everyone in it’s path to perform, perform, perform. And if that performance isn’t perfect, fear continues to drive.
Oh, what a great reminder Emily’s book has been to trust God fully and rely on Him. To lay down my expectations to be all that I think I “ought” to be, or think that others expect of me, and to trust.
I pray He will continue to teach me and mold me. To use days like these to remind me that I am far from perfect and that’s ok. He is perfect and that’s all that matters.
To follow Christ’s example and not worry about what others think, or what impression is being made.
To let go of my fears and fully embrace His peace and love. Oh, what joy awaits us when we do that!
If you’d like to delve into this subject of fear more, my sweet friend Stacey of 29 Lincoln Avenue has just started a great discussion on the book What Women Fear by Angie Smith over at her FB page. It’s open to all and I hope you’ll consider joining her there!
Have a puppy,
and seven chickens…
