Beyond the Garden Gate

Yesterday during my morning journaling I was exploring how I was in need of a break, my soul was begging for connection, motherhood even though it is  satisfying it can be draining and I was looking forward to a mom's night out.  And then life happened, I drove around delivering flowers, playdate at the splash pad, drove over an hour for an ER dentist visit to fix a broken tooth, and when I got home all I wanted to do was plop on the couch and space out on my phone.  But thanks to my years of inner growth I realized that would have been what I call a "faux pleasure" - some thing that feels good in the moment, going with our mood, but is not necessarily good for us or truly satisfying in the end, and leaves us feeling guilty and blah ( like when I eat the whole pack of oreos, feels good in the moment but not so much after) instead of a "true pleasure"- when we follow up on what our soul is really asking for, what is good for us, what will truly satisfy (most time

A peek inside my journal today... this page is a little pep talk after I wrote down all the things that are making me anxious and realizing how most of them I have no control over, so they have been placed in God's list now.  This year is deffinitelly a year of growth for me, one giant "Holy Assignment" (like I like to call tough situations God places in our lives for us to grow) where I am being stretched in unimaginable ways, sending me on my knees over and over as it reminds me to surrender and trust... "Be still and know that I am God"  psalm 46:10 I remind myself that Being still isn't about relaxing, it's about resting our anxious hearts.  It means to let go, relax our grip, let that some thing fall of our hands, to let go of our plans and embrace His, trust He will hold us through it all I can relax my white-knuckled grip, need to control, wanting to do it my own way, relaying on my own strenth, and lay my burdens at the foot of the cross, to trus

Today I am cultivating joy by spending time with our aunt! We are swapping recipes, drinking iced tea, and sharing funny stories and laughing until our bellies hurt! I have been thinking a lot about her lately because it's summer... the time when the sun shines brightest and the days are longer, when we get to spend our days playing outside, wear shorts and sun dresses, weekend picnnics and bbq with friends and family, sunscreen and pools, you know the time of year we look forward to all winter long. Except for our aunt, she has a rare skin condition that won't let her be out in the sun or she gets sick, so she misses out on all the summer fun, she has to stay inside from April until November 😕 could you imagine that? being stuck inside all summer with the shades closed?)  So I decided I would spend some time with her, I think she probably gets sad and lonely not being able to leave the house, I know I would. And after spending a few hours (time flies when having fun) when I l

Hello everyone, I have decided to re-name my blog to "Cultivating Joy" because as I was looking for a better way to describe my purpose I opened the dictionary and read the definition for cultivate and I knew that's exactly what I would like to inspire cul·ti·vate /ˈkəltəˌvāt/ Learn to pronounce verb verb:  cultivate ; 3rd person present:  cultivates ; past tense:  cultivated ; past participle:  cultivated ; gerund or present participle:  cultivating 2. try to acquire or develop (a quality, sentiment, or skill). "he cultivated an air of indifference" synonyms: try to acquire,  pursue ,  court ;  try to develop, work hard at,  foster ,  nurture ,  encourage "her father had cultivated Maud's friendship" And just like my Instagram it will be a life style blog mainly targeted to women because we can be so hard on ourselves, tend to feel stuck in life like we are living ground hog day ove