The Saturday 7
1. I went to the doctor this week to discuss my depression. I've been on Paxil for 8 years, originally as a remedy for anxiety. It worked wonders for my anxiety, but hasn't been cutting it for the newfound depression. My doctor was sweet and assured me that the reason my depression has intensified since having kids isn't because I hate my kids or am not cut out to be a mom, but because my hormones were disrupted and haven't settled back into their pre-baby norm. That's probably just psycho-babble totally unfounded in science, but successful in relieving my anxiety and depression about having anxiety and depression. Lol. The good news is she switched me to a new drug (Prozac) and upped my dose. Give me a couple weeks, and then I'm going to be all rays of sunshine and dancing butterflies. ;-)
2. More good news: our house appraisal went through!! We were a little worried it wouldn't appraise high enough. When we re-financed two years ago, it appraised for $20,000 less than what we just "sold" it for. Thank the Lord for a renewed economy! Now we're just waiting on the title company. As of right now, we're still hoping to close on October 27, as long as the title company isn't too far behind. I don't care when we close as long as it's before November 16, when the next house payment is due. Haha.
3. A couple great blog posts I read this week:
Young Woman, I Am So Sorry - another one from my favorite blogger, about how women are taught by our culture to place beauty above all else. I was especially struck when she shared a link that shows how different women look with makeup than without. I see those types of things on Pinterest all the time and always think, "Man, I wish I could do my makeup to look like that." But Jess says this about it: "[the world will] teach you how to do your make-up so that you cease to look like you, and start looking like a generic, photo-shopped mannequin of a person, with no pores, melanin, or hairs out of place." I've never thought of it like that: doing your make up in such a way that you cease to look like you.
In 2048 When I Look Back - this is from a woman at my church. She writes about the characteristics Paul outlines in Timothy's epistle that a Christian widow should have. I always skim those verses because I'm obviously not an elderly widow, but Cali looked at it more as characteristics of an elderly Christian woman - whether or not she's a widow - and came at it with the perspective of, "When I'm 60, will I be able to say I have these characteristics? That I've spent my life doing these things?" It was both encouraging and convicting (as the best articles always are. :-) ).
4. I've been reading Jeremiah in my devotions and have been struck by how grateful I am that God saw fit to include Gentiles in his plan of salvation. I feel like it's something we don't talk about very often in church. But throughout the whole Old Testament God obliterates entire nations and repeatedly refers to the Israelites as his chosen people. If not for his grace, I'd be included in the "other nations" and have no access to Jesus and his salvation. Darn Dutch blood.
5. This may come as a surprise to you, but I am not a lover of nature. Haha. Every year when the fall color pictures start to flood my facebook feed, I always say, "Wow. Trees. Thrilling." But this year, for some reason, I'm loving it! I think it's partly because Lucy has taken such an interest in the trees changing colors and loves to point them out to me as we're driving. I decided to take some pictures of the view from our deck, and realized that I've taken pictures from the same vantage point in a few different seasons and thought I'd share them all side by side.
6. A few pictures from my phone for the week:
7. Big news everyone: I have been Dr Pepper-free for 5 days! I weighed myself on Monday and was shocked by the number. I haven't seen that number outside of pregnancy. So I decided to stop buying Dr Pepper. I can drink it if we go out to eat or something, but I'm not going to have it at home anymore. It's actually been going surprisingly well. I've been adding an afternoon cup of coffee so I don't get caffeine headaches, and I've been drinking sparkling flavored water so I still get my fizz fix. Eventually I'm going to have to start counting calories or exercising or something, but for now I'm just taking one small step at a time.
2. More good news: our house appraisal went through!! We were a little worried it wouldn't appraise high enough. When we re-financed two years ago, it appraised for $20,000 less than what we just "sold" it for. Thank the Lord for a renewed economy! Now we're just waiting on the title company. As of right now, we're still hoping to close on October 27, as long as the title company isn't too far behind. I don't care when we close as long as it's before November 16, when the next house payment is due. Haha.
3. A couple great blog posts I read this week:
Young Woman, I Am So Sorry - another one from my favorite blogger, about how women are taught by our culture to place beauty above all else. I was especially struck when she shared a link that shows how different women look with makeup than without. I see those types of things on Pinterest all the time and always think, "Man, I wish I could do my makeup to look like that." But Jess says this about it: "[the world will] teach you how to do your make-up so that you cease to look like you, and start looking like a generic, photo-shopped mannequin of a person, with no pores, melanin, or hairs out of place." I've never thought of it like that: doing your make up in such a way that you cease to look like you.
In 2048 When I Look Back - this is from a woman at my church. She writes about the characteristics Paul outlines in Timothy's epistle that a Christian widow should have. I always skim those verses because I'm obviously not an elderly widow, but Cali looked at it more as characteristics of an elderly Christian woman - whether or not she's a widow - and came at it with the perspective of, "When I'm 60, will I be able to say I have these characteristics? That I've spent my life doing these things?" It was both encouraging and convicting (as the best articles always are. :-) ).
4. I've been reading Jeremiah in my devotions and have been struck by how grateful I am that God saw fit to include Gentiles in his plan of salvation. I feel like it's something we don't talk about very often in church. But throughout the whole Old Testament God obliterates entire nations and repeatedly refers to the Israelites as his chosen people. If not for his grace, I'd be included in the "other nations" and have no access to Jesus and his salvation. Darn Dutch blood.
5. This may come as a surprise to you, but I am not a lover of nature. Haha. Every year when the fall color pictures start to flood my facebook feed, I always say, "Wow. Trees. Thrilling." But this year, for some reason, I'm loving it! I think it's partly because Lucy has taken such an interest in the trees changing colors and loves to point them out to me as we're driving. I decided to take some pictures of the view from our deck, and realized that I've taken pictures from the same vantage point in a few different seasons and thought I'd share them all side by side.
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| Instagrammy |
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| This picture cracks me up. |
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| Esther bought me mascara for my birthday! Don't worry, though. Still embracing my freckles and ginormous eyebrows. |
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| Speaking of ginormous eyebrows. This girl definitely inherited the unibrow. It doesn't detract from her cuteness! |
7. Big news everyone: I have been Dr Pepper-free for 5 days! I weighed myself on Monday and was shocked by the number. I haven't seen that number outside of pregnancy. So I decided to stop buying Dr Pepper. I can drink it if we go out to eat or something, but I'm not going to have it at home anymore. It's actually been going surprisingly well. I've been adding an afternoon cup of coffee so I don't get caffeine headaches, and I've been drinking sparkling flavored water so I still get my fizz fix. Eventually I'm going to have to start counting calories or exercising or something, but for now I'm just taking one small step at a time.
Are those your natural brows? They are gorgeous! Seriously can't believe you don't even fill them in. You know big brows are a big trend now, right? :-)
ReplyDelete1. I wonder if the thing about hormones is true though! I have felt all out of whack since having Cecelia and it feels like hormones... but it could just be the drowning under children thing. Regardless, I hope the new meds make a positive difference!
ReplyDelete5. Your back yard is so beautiful!! I love your pictures.
6. You are inspiring me to finally go get my eyebrows waxed... yours are so pretty.
7. !! Small steps can make a big difference. Good job :)