Category: Uncategorized

Travel is SO much fun! Moving across the world is definitely the most exciting thing we have done as a family.

Here we are, 7 months in and we know this was the right move for our family. However… the honeymoon phase is definitely over.

Life is life. And life is a challenge. Money is a challenge, parenting is a challenge, finding time for fun is a challenge, ADULTING is a challenge.

You know what’s different in a new country? NONE of what I just mentioned, lol. But what is different… driving on the other side of the road, the kids going to school, no grandparents or family close by, the COST of living in Auckland, malls, grocery stores, gas prices, no dishwasher, no central heat and a/c, no Amazon two day shipping, the list could go on.

Life is back to life, but we have a few more challenges in the mix. We absolutely LOVE where we are right now, but the new and shiny isn’t so new and shiny anymore.

So what has this done for us? It has pushed us to work HARD towards our goals. See, even just visiting family would cost us about $20,000. Which means we have to have that in excess! So not just $20,000 and then we will spend every penny we have, but $20,000 is the extra. And WOW that is a massive goal for us.

Josh is working hard at learning more about business so that we can start a few more businesses. Josh has also joined me in Young Living so that we can start reaching ranks faster to be able to give us more options. We are working SO hard to not feel like we are penny pinching just to get groceries.

But MAN this is exhausting!! Success does NOT come easy and people who think that is does are idiots. THE END.

I am about to publicly step into some new territory up in here…

 

Guys, spiritual warfare is a real thing!

 

This morning, when I woke up, I IMMEDIATELY was hit with insecurities and doubts about a certain situation in my life. The whispers started a negative spin cycle for me during my morning routine.It seemed like EVERYTHING was more challenging this morning… From Jessalyn waking up at 6am and interrupting my morning routine, to not being able to find my workout pullover, and even my phone was having technical difficulties and not playing the song that I was trying to listen to for my run…

But I kept fighting through… I didn’t WANT to get up at 5am, but I did… My mind was saying, “just skip your run this morning, it really doesn’t matter,” but I ran anyway…

The choices I made this morning instead… Take Jessalyn potty and put her back to bed. Wear a cotton t-shirt instead of the “tech” material t-shirt. Listen to the song I was searching for on youtube and just not lock my phone during my run…

 

But something happened while I was running.

 

I started thinking about which things this morning actually were a spiritual attack… Sometimes I think we give Satan too much credit, or we don’t even bat an eye to realize when he is attacking.

Was my t-shirt accidentally getting put with the girls clothes an attack from Satan?

No…

Was Jessalyn waking up early from him?

No…

Was my phone’s technical issue Satan?

Doubtful… (however, I’m still holding ground that technical issues might be influenced by him, lol)

 

But you know what WAS Satan’s influence??

– The immediate thought of insecurity when I woke up.

– The thought of being annoyed at Jessalyn for waking up to pee.

– The whisper, “just give up for the day, don’t go out and run.”

 

Spiritual warfare was real this morning, for all the simple things of life… But it is the choice to not give in… to pour into scripture and read into what God says is TRUTH about you… and to “Sing in the middle of the storm, LOUDER AND LOUDER!” (Raise a Hallelujah, Bethel)

 

Am I in a storm right now?… not as bad as some of the storms I have been through. But I see what God is doing in and through our lives right now and I feel the spiritual battle trying to lodge itself into my mind and make me believe the lies…

 

But today…Today I am going to play that song on repeat, put on my oils, and pray as often as needed because my Jesus has my back.