What I’m Into {January 2015}
I’m interrupting our regularly scheduled program of Weekend Links with a post to tell you what I’m into right now. My friend, Erin from The Humbled Homemaker, talked me into it after she posted her update from January.
I love reading about what is going on behind the scenes of other blogger friends, especially the ones I’ve been following for years. Therefore, I hope to post once a month about what I’m into so you can get a look at behind the scenes in a more personable way.
On a side note, don’t you miss some of the “old school” ways of blogging? I do. So without further ado, here’s what I’ve been into lately.
What I’m Reading:
– I picked up this book for my relationship book of the month. With all the talk about Fifty Shades of Grey coming out in theaters, I decided to arm myself with truth. This book came highly recommended to me, and I personally have a lot of respect for Dannah Gresh and her ministry. I’m only a few pages in and I already know it will be a good, convicting read.
– I snagged this set for my Kindle for just $1.99. I never read them as a child. I’m not sure why I didn’t, but I’m thoroughly enjoying them now. I’m trying to read more fiction, and this has been a great re-introduction to an old love of mine. Reading for fun and not just for knowledge.
You can see more of what I read in January here.
What I’m Watching
As I’ve been recovering from a miscarriage and preparing my home to move across the country again (tell you about that in a second), I’ve found myself stress-paralyzed. It’s a thing you know?!
When I’m stress-paralyzed, I tend to gravitate toward totally mindless activities. I learned it’s part of my personality. I didn’t know that about myself, but it makes sense.
Anyway, we’ve been thoroughly enjoying this series for it’s happy vibe and comedy.
What I’m Listening To:
I’m not a huge music buff. I also prefer silence. Complete silence. However, my children love music and I try to fill our home with good music from time-to-time. 😉
– My kiddos love this album. I recommend this album in my Fruit of the Spirit Curriculum for Toddlers. My oldest has many of the songs completely memorized, and my littlest loves to dance when I turn it on.
I have found that music makes independent play much more frequent. If I need to get something done, my children will rarely play by themselves. However, if I turn music on, it seems to distract them from needing Mommy’s attention. Has anyone else found this to be true?
– Another one that we listen to a lot with our children. We’ve been really slacking on Family Devotions lately. I’m grateful that we can still work on the catechism through song.
– I listen to their station on Pandora. I love their Cross centered worship music. I discovered them at the True Woman Conference a few years ago, and I’ve been hooked ever since.
– My husband is a huge Garth Brooks fan. I enjoy his music as well, but I’ve never been a “fan.” I’m not one for bandwagons of any sort. Growing up, I remember people loving him, and I stubbornly didn’t listen to him. Other friends loved Michael Jordan, and I stubbornly chose a completely different team. I like to be different on principle. I’m weird. Again, part of my personality.
However, one cannot deny Garth’s incredible talent and so I happily listen to his music when my hubby gets an itch for this album, and I’ll gladly go to his concert in a couple of weeks. We have great tickets after all. 😉
In Our Home:
We’ve been on a whirlwind of emotions and activities lately.
A few weeks ago, we found out we were expecting our third baby. We were all so excited, but our joy lasted only a week before our baby went to Heaven to be with Jesus. You can read my miscarriage story here.
We’re sad, but filled with hope and trusting God’s perfect plan.
During all of this joy and sorrow, the Lord moved in our hearts and lives in a big way. After many discussions, tears, and prayers, my husband and I made the decision to move back across the country to live near family and friends. With the loss of our baby, I’m even more excited to be near family.
We’ve never lived near family. When we got married, we were six to eight hours from either of our families, and then we moved 1,500 miles across the country to follow God’s call to live among the 90% unchurched.
I’m eager to learn from our family and friends in Virginia and be a servant in any way God chooses. I don’t love moving, but I love following God.
Right now, we’re packing our belongings, giving away as much as we can, selling off even more, and making plans for a departure date of March 1. We hope to be in Virginia by mid-March. My mother-in-love said, “Wow. When you say you’re making a change, you mean NOW!” Yes. The Baby Dutts are fast and furious in everything we do. I sure hope they’re ready for our crazy family.
In My Heart:
I’ve eluded to my personality several times. I’m a big fan of the Myers-Briggs personality profiles. For someone who has felt weird and really different most of her life, it has helped me to truly understand why. Not to mention, exploring our personalities and the way God made us has strengthened our marriage in so many ways.
I’m an INTJ personality type. Less than 1% of women share this personality type, which will explain why I got along better with boys as a child. I struggle with processing my feelings and logic is my go-to of comforts. Most people misunderstand me, assuming that I’m cold and aloof when really I’m just clueless when it comes to feelings.
Since everything these last few weeks have come with BIG feelings, I’ve been really lost. I’m not sure how to respond, feel, act, or even be. My brain, which works in systems and processes, is computing “error – process not found.” I’m learning in a deeper way how to trust God in the chaos and trials of life.
Hiding Place by Steven Curtis Chapman has been a balm to my soul these last few days.
“When the waters rise and I run to hide, in You I find my hiding place.”
Right now, I just want to hide. I want to nestle under the wings of my Father and recover. I’m not sure how that looks in the doing of things that need done, but I’m trusting Him to guide me.
On the Blog:
I had no idea what this year held for Intentional By Grace. I’ve been blogging in this little corner of the internet for nearly four years. I entered this year with a plan and vision from the Lord, and a hope that Intentional By Grace would be able to reach more people in 2015. I am humbled at the Lord’s work over here.
My 7-Day Scripture Study is available to purchase here.
I’m continually amazed by the testimonies of people who have walked through the study. I pray it continues to bless and encourage you in the months and years to come as you seek to live intentionally for the glory of God.
Popular Posts in January:
I’m Not Reading Fifty Shades of Grey
Dear Mom in the Church Nursery
And that’s what I’ve been into lately! What have you been into? Do you like these type of posts?
I’m linking up with Leigh Kramer to show what I’m into lately!
Fellow female INTJ here. Maybe that’s why I enjoy your posts 🙂 We live next door to my parents and it has been such a blessing to have them near. To have my mom make dinner after the birth of my kids and for my dad to stop by the yard to chat and play with his grandsons almost every day in the summer has been wonderful. I also feel lucky that we are able to do that while still respecting each other’s privacy and space.
As for the music, I prefer complete silence as well. My three boys (oldest will be 7 in a couple months, 4 year old and 15 month old) are actually relatively quiet kids that play independently very well. But they like loud music. Preferably ACDC or Def Leppard or Bryan Adams. They raid their daddy’s cd case and blare it! I try to switch to softer praise music or children’s Bible songs and they just switch it back. So I let them do their music in the morning and turn it off at lunch time.
I took a blogging break due to some health issues but have been feeling more called to go back to old school blogging that doesn’t require perfect seo and links and Pin worthy photos. I’m glad that other bloggers are feeling the same pull.
Ohhh!!! I love “meeting” other INTJs. 🙂 One of the many reasons I love social media.
I love hearing how much you love being near your parents. I look forward to being in the same town and just doing life together with my hubby’s parents. I grew up with my grandmother just around the corner, and it had such a profound impact on my life. It is my prayer for my children that their grandparents will do the same.
I’m just waiting for the day when my boys will ask for different music. For now, Mama gets to choose because they don’t know any better. 😉 Although it’s tempting to pull out the Bryan Adams (one of my favorites).
And yes, you aren’t alone in the draw back to “old school” blogging. It’s interesting to watch blog world grow, evolve, and develop. I started blogging before Pinterest existed. It’s been hard to keep up with the newer blogs who have Pinterest as their sole source of traffic and income. I’m GRATEFUL for Pinterest though. It certainly has aided in helping IBG in a lot of ways. However, sometimes we do have to just let it go and have a little fun without worrying about doing it all just right. I’ve found that Facebook traffic is far more reliable and relational, which means I’ve found it to be longer lasting. Anyway, I just love blogging and the people who come by here every day. I’m grateful for the opportunity to use my gifts even if I have to make pretty photos every now and then. 😉
Been enjoying your blog for a couple years. Love and prayers to your family!
I really enjoy these types of posts too. I love how they help blogging stay personal and relative.
We live near my husband’s parents and love it. They are only twenty minutes away and attend church with us too. They are believers who genuinely love us and our children and I couldn’t be more thankful! (Okay, I probably could, but that’s saying a lot! ;-)). When we first moved here, we lived with them for almost five months. It was wonderful and hard at the same time. Not surprisingly, the Lord’s providence was so good because I became pregnant while living there and I was so thankful for help with my toddler and a break from daily cooking duties.
What part of VA are you moving to? We live in NC so we’ll be almost neighbors. If you like camping, we’ve gone to Grayson Highlands in VA and loved it. There are wild ponies in the park and it’s just an all around beautiful place to hike and camp.
Thank you for sharing this personal post. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am also unemotional for a woman and might need to check out the Myers-Briggs Personality test! My family recently moved and we spent one year living in my in-laws basement. There were parts of it that were very difficult, but my relationships with my in-laws came out stronger as a result of it, by God’s grace. (And, you can survive without a kitchen! If you have a microwave, crock-pot, electric fry-pan, utility sink, toilet, and a bit of humor you will survive!) Having family near-by is so important! God has been laying you on my heart for prayer for the last few weeks as you grieve the loss of your precious baby, and I will continue to pray for your move. May God bless you and keep you!
I’m an INTJ too! I’ve always been better friends with boys but never equated it with that. Married now though so no more friends with boys for me. Also sorry to hear about your miscarriage. I had one last year at 10 weeks and it was very difficult.
OMgoodness, I LOVE “Questions With Answers”! I am so impressed by Songs for Saplings’prolific scripture-true songwriting abilities. The music is so well done, and while I love silliness and silly songs (we are doing a songwriting challenge with my girls right now, and they are mostly very silly, LOL), I find such sweet value in their singing “there is only one true God” rather than the quite meaningless “five little duckies in a pond”-type songs that children normally get offered these days.