As part of our ongoing Moms in Progress series, we will be taking some time this summer to chat with our blog team writers – to hear more about their daily lives as moms and about what God is teaching them. Today I am excited to hear from TtT founder and editor, Michelle Warner!
Thanks, Katie! I’m excited to share today. I’m not usually on this side of the text so this is fun.
To get us started, Michelle, could you share a recent photo of your family and tell us a little about it and them?
Well, I’ll be honest, I had to dig a little to find a recent family pic! 🙂 That one is a photo taken of us at Spring Break in Florida. My husband and I recently celebrated our 11th anniversary and my girls are 6 and 4. It has been a bit of a stressful time in the last few months (more on that in a minute) so when I look at this picture, it reminds me of how important it is as a family to put aside work and house projects and phones and just connect. I’m hopeful for a lot more of that this summer!
That sounds like a great summer goal! How is summer going so far?
It feels like it is just starting! My daughter’s last day of kindergarten was later than a lot of the schools around here so I feel like we’re just coming into summer. We are also in the process of moving so summer has definitely revolved around cleaning our house for showings and moving things over to the new house and making renovation decisions. My husband and I just talked about surprising our girls in a few weeks with a trip because we need that time like I mentioned earlier to just connect.
Moving is such a stressful time! So much to do! Have you been able to listen to or find any truth (in a podcast, quote, conversation, etc.) this week to help you?
I’m going to be super honest here. I have found that when life is really busy for us (which is now), I don’t take time to breathe in good truth. It’s like I’m just trying to keep up and do the next thing. I’m focused on keeping one foot in front of the other so I’m sadly not spending enough time listening and reflecting. And it means instead of reading in my spare moments, I’m scrolling Facebook or watching HGTV just to check out. I know that doesn’t feed my soul like reading would but I’ve realized checking out is a default behavior for me during stressful times.
So when I saw this question, at first I wanted to rack my brain of something that stood out to me the last couple of weeks and just gloss over the truth. But this blog is all about being real, right? So here ya go – I haven’t read any good books or articles recently and haven’t even listened to a podcast in much longer than I want to admit. I’m embarrassed to say that but maybe a mom needs to hear this “confession” so we can encourage each other. Some seasons are just crazy and maybe what we need more than anything is to ask again for Jesus to fill us up and accept the huge heaping serving of grace He offers us. #preachingtomyself
For sure! I think we can all relate to those busy seasons where we are just trying to stay afloat! And let me just say it’s ok! Sometimes you just can’t add anything else to the circuit boards, if you know what I mean.
Yes…and I said that about grace above because I can tend to beat myself up over not doing all of the “right” things that I “should be.” I’m learning over and over to give myself grace and stop “shoulding” on myself. 🙂 This is a crazy season for us. Yes, I want to be more intentional with my time and not just check out when I finally get a moment to let down. But you know what? It’s not always going to be like this. Hopefully soon we will be settled into our house and the big renovations will be behind us (and maybe some day we’ll sell our other house!!) and I will have more mental energy to prioritize the things I have let slide.
And back to the circuit board comment, I’ve been saying recently that I feel “over capacity.” And you know what? I think that is actually good because it makes me a lot more dependent on God because I literally can’t do it on my own. The one verse that keeps coming to my mind in this season is one of my favorites – “My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) Paul answers that by saying, “Therefore I will boat all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me…For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (12:10)
Life will return to normal soon and there will be plenty of podcasts to listen to when you are settled in your new place! Such a helpful perspective to remember about a temporary season in life! In this season, what is currently your hardest parenting struggle?
Hmm. I could answer this in many ways. 🙂 I just have to pick one? I’ll pick the thing that we dealt with this morning and that is the girls nitpicking about little things at one another. Some moments they play so well, and then other moments they compete and intentionally do things to aggravate each other. Oh, and then tattle tale!
I was just praying about how I can help foster teamwork between my girls and hopefully this summer will have moments of working things out together in the midst of the other real stuff. 🙂
Sounds familiar! Oh, the joys and complexities of sibling relationships! What is going well currently?
Again, I’ll be honest…with so much going on, I feel like I’m not giving enough intentional time to my girls. I’m trying to keep it on my radar but sometimes it just feels like even with the best of intentions, house projects still eat up the time. But all of that to say, my husband and I have started one-on-one date nights with our girls again. And they have loved it. It is reminding me all over again why these times alone when them are so important for growing our our relationships and feeling connected.
So true. Do you have any other thoughts you want to share?
Hmm, I’m not even sure if I have coherent thoughts to add right now. 🙂 ha. One thing that just came to mind is that I have been doing some reading about the Enneagram. Well, I should say a couple of months ago I was reading about it 🙂 but it’s stuck with me. And it’s been really helpful for me to know more of myself and especially my pitfalls. It said on my results that in stressful situations I can tend to be controlling. I have been thinking about this a lot in our current season because I admit that I have been more controlling than I wish I was. It’s caused me to pause in some of those moments and think about why I am acting a particular way. I’m looking forward to doing more reading on it when I have more capacity but I’d love to hear if any of our readers have gotten into the Enneagram. And specifically if they have any podcasts or resources they have enjoyed. 🙂
Understanding ourselves better can be so validating (and sometimes a bit convicting ?). I’m sure when this season has passed you’ll have more time to explore that!
Oh, and last thing –
Of course! Lay it on us!
I do want to add how thankful I am for this blog team. You all have been such an amazing team to work with. I feel like after our Lent break, we are being a lot more mindful about what our priorities need to be and how we can use our gifts well to make that happen. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such thoughtful women and moms to process life with!
And we are so blessed to have you as our leader! We are all so thankful for your honest perspective in the midst of this season of change and the stress that accompanies it (even when we know it’s good). Thanks for sharing with us today, Michelle!
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