I’ve kept the questions I’m answering today in their original format. Thanks for these!
I do actually. I would love to put to use the masters degree that I have just hanging around. But when we decided that I would become a SAHM, it was because it was what God had provisioned for my family. As we all know, things can change at any moment. I might have to go back to work sooner rather than later, but whatever God has planned for me, I know it will be for a reason. I’m just trying to enjoy the season I’m in now to its fullest.
Some people think that since I’m a stay-at-home-mom that I have all sorts of free time on my hands to volunteer outside of my home, but free time is just not a luxury I have. It would be very hard to volunteer on a regular basis with a small child in tow, and soon to be two! Do I believe that giving of my time for the glory of God is vital for my daughter to see? Absolutely! There are so many ways to volunteer, and we have our lifetime to serve. How we serve looks different for everyone, and that I truly believe.
Motherhood is my ministry right now, first and foremost. I also try to be the best wife that I can be. I attend Bible Study at my church, and I write this blog to encourage women to live a life full of grace. That is me volunteering my time, too. So far my daughter loves all creation, knows Jesus, knows the church, and knows how to pray. I hope and pray our efforts as parents to teach our child (and soon to be children) what it looks like to have a humble, serving heart will pay off in the long run.
Being Catholic, I believe in formal prayer, but most of my time spent in prayer is very informal. I pray ALL THE TIME. Each day I wake, I throw myself into prayer, and throughout the day, I constantly converse with God. I pray for not just myself and my family, but I also pray for my friends, the world, and the lost. We pray together as a family before meals, and we pray together before we go to bed. Prayer is the only thing that gets me through some days, and I’ll forever be grateful for it.
Now on to some lighter material…
My beauty routine is pretty simple. I do my own nails sometimes, and when I can, I love to get them done at the salon. It’s definitely a treat to go, but when I do, I love Shellac on my fingernails. However, since Shellac or gel is such a pain to get off, I’ve been opting out of that route lately (it’s also more expensive). As fas as my hair is concerned, I get it done twice a year. I must dye my hair! I have so many gray hairs, and it makes me so embarrassed. For makeup products, I’m pretty simple in that department, too. I did a post on all my beauty favorites here. New products I’m loving are Garnier BB Cream, Maybelline Fit Me concealer, and the lipsticks I mentioned in this post. I should probably do a new blog post with my all of my favorites, because there are too many to list! Most of them are drugstore buys, too.
This question gets asked a lot, and I more than likely will do a new post about how I edit my photos, but here’s the gist of it. I take most of my photos on my Canon EOS Rebel T5, and then I upload the pictures I take to my iPhone 6 by using my FlashAir wireless SD card. I use AV mode when shooting, and I typically have to bump up the brightness between 1-2. I strive to shoot in bright, natural lighting, but that’s not always possible, especially in my house! We have the worst natural lighting in most rooms, which is why you see my kitchen, Charlotte’s room, and her playroom the most because they have the best light.
When I need to brighten an iPhone photo or a dark camera photo, I’ll use my favorite editing app PicTapGo. I’ve created multiple recipes to enhance and brighten the photo. THEN, I use the Instagram edit options to get the photo just right. I brighten, bump up contrast, and sharpen. For all of my favorite photo editing apps that I’ve used since last year, you can check out my tutorial for it HERE. A new app that I’ve been loving is Facetune. You can add the brighten filter, adjust, and then erase on people to not make them look like ghosts, leaving the background alone brighter. Yep, I’m going to need to do another tutorial.
And to be perfectly honest, I curate my Instagram feed to look bright, clean, and clear. What does that mean? I plan out what my Instagram will look like by using a new app called Planoly. I love it! It pulls your last 15 or so Instagram photos, then you can upload new pictures and move them around to see how they’ll look in your feed. I spend way too much time planning out what my feed will look like.
We strive to cook five days out of the week. Each week, we make a menu, and we eat at home as much as we can. I’m very fortunate and have a husband who loves to grill. He also makes the best breakfasts ever, so sometimes we’ll have breakfast for dinner, too. We do love to go out to eat, but we budget weekly for meals out, and we try to plan according to that.
So I can’t help but laugh at this question. Sorry. After asking my sister and husband, they both agreed that I’m not as Type A as I thought I was. My husband is more Type A than I’ve ever been in my life. Long story short, a long time ago, I thrived on having control of every situation. When I put my mind to something, I did it and did it well. I’m more of a planner to be exact. I love lists and having an agenda (hence my love for planners). However, over the course of my life, I’ve learned that I just have to let some things go. As much as I want to have a clean house at all times, and as much as I’d like to think I’m Type A, it’s just not happening. I have a little person who begs and needs my attention at all times, and I have a feeling it’s only going to get worse. And when I share pictures of my house in its natural state, it’s to show that I’m human just like everybody else. My life is not always as pretty as my curated Instagram feed. I clean when I can, organize when I can, and I love having a clean home, but it isn’t always that way. I’m okay with that because that means I’ve been tending to other things. I’m not superwoman or superwife or supermom. I do my best and do what I can when I can. In the meantime, I’ll continue to beg for a maid fairy and more square footage to store all of these dadgum toys.
I read this question to M when it came in, and we both looked at each other and laughed. Because perfect is far from the truth! We do in fact argue; are there marriages where the husband and wife don’t? Over the past five years of marriage, we’ve definitely improved in how we argue though. Our disagreements are usually about the running of the household, finances, and parenting. When we have a disagreement, we both try to communicate our needs to one another and try to be as respectful as we can. Of course, we’re not perfect, and we’re constantly a work in progress, but our marriage is rooted in God and in love, so we try our best to make things work. But we do love each other fiercely. We’re each other’s best friend. We both know that God created us specifically for one another, and when we focus on that, we remember that we can get through anything.
This was a fun question! I haven’t put our proposal story in its entirety here on Seven Graces, but you can read the entire story on our wedding page we had many moons ago. M even wrote some of the story. You can read the whole story here. I just re-read it, and oh my word. To be young again! Lol.
The book I always recommend to anyone and everyone is The Shack by William P. Young. It’s had its fair share of controversy, but the book is about knowing God during our darkest of times. To me, it personifies God and the Trinity the best I’ve ever seen. As a fiction book, it makes knowing Him real, and that is something worth reading and relishing in.
If I didn’t get to your question today, it might be because I plan on doing a full-blown blog post on the topic or answering it in another Q&A post. Thanks so much for asking some great questions! If you have any other questions, I’ve opened up the question pool again. You can ask them here or email me at sevengracesblog@gmail.com. Just remember, I’m a mom with feelings who isn’t perfect trying the best I can at life. Please give me a little grace if I don’t get to one of your questions or if I choose not to respond due to the nature of the question. Thanks a million, doll face!
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Ha! I love question 7. :) You can definitely be organized and yet have plenty of mess in your home! I am that way. It’s important to learn to just let some things go.
Thanks so much for sharing more about yourself! I admire your faith and also really liked your photography tips!
http://www.myplotofsunshine.com
Loved getting to know you! I can relate with you on soooo many levels! Thank you for sharing!
I love this! I am in the market for a new camera for my blog – headed to go check that one out!