Welcome to the Daybook Journal. A weekly post here at The Littlest Way where I gather all the ordinary things that happen or are happening in my day to day. Things like what I’m reading or listening to, eating, cleaning, and learning. These are the small moments that make up my blessed daily life and I want to remember them. My prompts may change depending on season and circumstance.
* I’ve written an ebook to guide you through the whys and hows to get started with Bible Journaling, Bible Journaling Tips, Inspiration and Permission, and to encourage and inspire you in your Bible journaling!
Thanking God for…
::walks in the field with Chris and any children that decide to come along–even if it’s the little boys and they’re noisy
::all the lovely women who are joining together this Lent for our Lent Devotional for Women
::cleaning the fireplace doors with an ice scraper…who would have thought
::a lovely friend here at The Littlest Way talking to me about strengthening my believing muscles–it’s soooo HARD and it hurts!
::Sunday nap
::Anna making Trim Healthy Mama treats for the week
::meeting most of my January goals with 2 days to spare
Praying…
I feel like I’m drowning in older child motherhood right now. Seriously. It’s hard.
Pondering…
“Your worrying about it is assuming that God doesn’t know what He is doing.”
•Toby Mac Speak Life
“Do not let your heart be troubled.”
•Jesus Christ
Listening to…
Right this minute, nothing. My head is too busy and chaotic–see ‘Praying’ and ‘Pondering’ above.
Reading…
The One Year Bible – Catholic: NLT
This is my “quantity” Bible to make sure I get the Word inside me each and every day.
Catholic Journaling Bible
This is my study Bible.
Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done
The Take Up and Read Team just sent me their Lent Devotional, Above All. I just received it today so I haven’t had a chance yet to flip through it, but my first impressions are how beautiful it is and how substantial.
The children and I have been reading through 33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat In Preparation for Marian Consecration in the mornings after our Saint of the Day.
Bible Journaling…
Tomorrow the new Illustrated Faith Bible Journaling Kit is being revealed. It’s called ‘You Are Loved.’ I am always looking for creative ways to use these Bible Journaling kits and if my children were in school, co-op, or daycare, I would absolutely take the Tip-Ins, hole punch them for Valentine’s and stick a sucker or a pretty pencil in the hole for a Valentine’s gift for friends and teachers.
Around the House…
I am loosely following Kathryn on Instagram and her Organized Simplicity challenge. She’s doing it in 10 days; I’m taking longer I think. Also, I bought new dishes! I have wanted some pretty dishes forever! I’m also at the stage where plates still get dropped–Why? And I don’t want to get upset or frustrated when that happens, so I resigned myself to the ugly Melamine dishes I already had, which wasn’t enough if we had guests…until! Sam’s has some really pretty new dishes, and they’re Melamine and Chris told me I could go buy them, so I bought 2 sets! With Anna’s help I chose the dark blue and the red medallion, although I had the turquoise in my cart at one point as well.
In the Kitchen…
I ordered some boneless, skinless chicken breasts from Zaycon the other day and I cannot wait for March so I can pick them up–all 40 beautiful pounds of them! This is how I use chicken breasts, always in the crockpot or Instantpot, very rarely I will bake them, but I never fry them–I can’t stand the smell. I’ll put some in the crockpot or Instant Pot with Italian dressing, some quartered potatoes, and some parmesan cheese–Yum! I’ll put them in with barbeque sauce, onions, and pepperoncinis for BBQ Chicken Sandwiches. I’ll put some in with taco seasoning and make spicy chicken for tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, and nachos. I’ll put some in with beans, salsa, tomatoes, and seasonings and make chicken chili. Try WELCOME99 or 99CENTS as coupon codes to see if they are still active for .99 cents a pound!!
Self Care
Y’all, I have consistently walked, done a Fitness Blenders toning, stretching, or light weights video on Youtube almost every single day for the past month–so going back into December even! This is huge! I feel good! I feel stronger! I owe it all to my FitBit. It made me conscious of how much or little I was moving and motion created energy. Sidenote, I set a goal to do 10, girl push-ups this month. I surprised myself by being able to them at the beginning of the month, but man it was hard! As the month has gone on, they’ve gotten easier. So tonight I thought I would try to do a buy push-up. Can’t. But that’s ok because my goal was 10 girl push-ups and I can do them! I tell you all that to say, my fitness goals are not huge, just hard enough to make them eventually doable.
I’ve started using a Bullet Journaling system I discovered from Life In Grace. It’s not fancy at all, but very effective. My sister and Anna have started using it. I paired it with my new and only planner. I have found planner peace, finally and for real. I bought it at the airport as Anna and I were buying way overpriced water waiting for our plane on my birthday. It’s by Christian Art Publishers. I love it so much I am selling all my other planners. For real. I can’t find the exact one I bought, but this is the one I will buy for next year. All the heart eyes! You can see a peek inside in this Instagram post.
I’m also still diffusing my ‘Momma Blend’ of Frankincense, Peppermint, and Lavender. (You can read here why I purchase my essential oils from Amazon or Edens Garden instead of a distributor. If you’re not an Amazon Prime member with FREE shipping, Edens Garden has FREE shipping all the time in the US.)
And one more thing, we are on a daily regiment of Elderberry because the flu is so widespread. Google the benefits and you’ll start taking it proactively as well!
The Littlest Way
2017 A Daybook post–um, apparently I need to go back and read the post before it because here’s a snippet of what I wrote in the ‘Pondering’ prompt, Pondering…
Those of you who disagreed with my last Daybook and took the time to let me know how, what, and why I am wrong, let me tell you a few things about myself:
::I absolutely dislike confrontation…but if faced with it, I will not cower.
::I am a Choleric, Introvert, 45 year old who has overcome many struggles…honestly and in all charity, you don’t bother me.
::You will never get back those precious minutes (hopefully it was only minutes) you spent telling me off…for that I am sorry for you.
::We don’t have to agree, but mutual kindness is an absolute…if you are unkind, I will delete your comment before it ever makes it online.
::This is my blog and I have final say on what is kind or not…that’s just the way it goes.
::I never intentionally offend…I always have the intention of speaking God’s truth in all kindness…sometimes I fail and believe me, I confess that failure and resolve to try again.
::I may cry fairly easily…it’s a strength, not a weakness. (*To clarify, comments don’t make me cry. See the part about me being a choleric, intovert…I’m just generally mentioning that fact about myself.)
2016 Sweet Spaces
2015 A Mantle of Love–I forgot how much I liked this post♥
Our Domestic Church…
We are in the season of ‘Pre-Lent.’ And if you’re Catholic, Friday is the Feast of the Purification or Candlemas as it’s also known. Check to see if your parish blesses candles on this day.
Saving Money…
See the 40 pounds of chicken I bought for .99 cents a pound above! The cheapest I can buy it around here is 1.89 cents, but rarely!
Captured…
Lynn says
How do you use, or why, a planner and a bullet journal? I can see one or the other but was interested to see you use both. (Can’t find the bit about bullet journals on the Life in Grace site for some reason).
Jenny says
Try Googling ‘Bullet Journaling for Mamas.’ and see if it will pull up . Once I use mine a little more I’ll post a video showing how it’s working for me.
Lynn says
Thanks so much, that was a big help. Not sure why I couldn’t find it before. I like the idea of using the bullet journal in a more casual, easy way like she does, instead of the artwork you see on Pinterest. I like having a planner to put things in and having a calendar, and I am using a regular size Happy Planner for scripture writing, and a small one for day to da stuff and notes I want to keep, etc, but I am not really busy enough to need a weekly spread every week. The way she uses it I could keep all my notes in it and still use a small monthly calendar to keep track of appointments etc. I look forward to seeing how you use yours.