All items in blue are from Carrie Pratt's Mentor Mom's materials and are used here with permission.

I posted on my personal Facebook last night and said, "Some days your brain and body tell you, in no uncertain terms, you're done for today. ‪#‎mommymeltdown‬ ‪#‎cantdoitall‬ ‪#‎exhausted‬"

I hit my wall of mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted by dinnertime.  I don't like that feeling, and it comes more often when I am in a hashimoto's flare (I have been battling one since late October).  My body is forcing me to do some self-care and I have to listen.  Here's how I combat the exhaustion....

Mentally -  make lists and don't overthink things.

Physically -  rest if/when I can, take plenty of breaks, SUPER HYDRATE, eat smart, C-O-F-F-E-E!!

Emotionally - music therapy and happy thoughts; this is when funny friends and quality Facebook feeds help a ton

Spiritually - scripture, scripture, scripture!  Dig into that favorite book of the bible.  Google passages to read when you are feeling [fill in the blank].  Do a devotional.  Then pray and mediate on what you've read.  Lay it all at the feet of Jesus and ask him to release you from managing this burden.

DECEMBER 18TH

Family Scripture Reading: 

Psalm 100:1-5

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs."


Family Discussion Suggestion: 

Prepare your hearts to worship the Lord with joy and song at your local church tomorrow.

Advent Activity: 

Arriving shortly..... stay tuned!


DECEMBER 19TH

Family Scripture Reading: 

Mary's Song - Luke 1:46-56

"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior"

Family Discussion Suggestion: 

Discuss the faithfulness Mary must have had to fully accept what God wanted to do in her life. Are we willing to do the same?

Advent Activity: 

Song Writing

Today we read about Mary and her "song" or poem to the Lord. Ask your children to write one or two lines of praise to God and to Jesus for who they are and what they do in our lives. If they would rather, they can draw a picture expressing their praise. They can display their work of art (song or picture) on the fridge or hang it on the tree as keepsake ornament.

Because of our fear of enduring another miscarriage, hubby and I had been very careful to avoid the fertile time in my cycle.  One day, I realized that we had been unsuccessful in avoiding it and I was immediately overcome with fear.  Fear, however, does not come from God.  Fear only entered the world along with sin and brought company like shame and doubt.

As I have been learning to do, I began to seek out scriptures to calm my heart and find out what God wanted me to know.  One thing I did was go on Facebook and post the following:
"If you can see this please pick a number between 1 and 1,138 - go high or low. Then say a prayer for me. I'm wrestling with something tonight."

Over the next few days friends from all over the country, who had no idea what I was struggling with, began picking page numbers.  I read each one diligently seeking the truths God had waiting for me.  Not all of them were applicable, but most of them lead me to read more and seek more.  A few were obvious messages from the Lord.  From all the reading I did over the next few days, these verses were illuminated for me, in exactly this order!

Getting into my bible and reading this morning was challenging.  I was so deep asleep when my alarm went off that I forgot to take my thyroid medicine.  Thankfully a still, small voice reminded me when I woke up otherwise the next few days were going to be BAD!  You have to take thyroid medicine on an empty stomach and wait 30-60 minutes after taking it to eat/drink anything.  That meant I had wide awake littles wanting morning beverages and cereal before I've had a drop of coffee.  o.0  I am lost without coffee, it's like my brain is stuck in neutral until I've had several hours to slowly come awake.  Never the less, it was my time to get into my Bible study and not even my decaffeinated brain was going to stop me!  It did slow me down though. I had to find some study guides online to help me start really processing what I was reading.  The cool thing was, the study guides I found actually gave me some insight that I didn't have before - like recognizing the description of God's shekinah glory in Chapter 6.

Do you know loosing Blueberry probably saved me from years of wondering what was wrong with me?  When I got pregnant with Blueberry, my OB discovered that my Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) was low and he put me on a synthetic thyroid hormone.  In case you don't know, a developing baby doesn't have it's own thyroid until much later so that itty-bitty needs yours!  If you aren't producing enough thyroid hormone on your own... it can cause issues. When we lost Blueberry, he started to suspect that my thyroid and the miscarriage were related.