My Second Homebirth

I did it again. I can't believe it. Up to the last week before I had my second homebirth I was contemplating how great it would be to get an epidural... My little loves due date came and went. November 30th my baby was due and I kept saying: "plan for December 6th". Well, guess what? My little baby girl, Chloe Marie, was born on December 6th at 12:05 a.m.!

It was a Friday. My day began with story time at the library. Me, my sister and her kids and my four littles walked over to the library across the street at 10 a.m. and participated in story time/craft time. On the walk home with my sister I said: "Man, sorry I'm walking so slow these contractions are holding me up." They didn't feel like "real labor" contractions... but they were enough to make me want to walk slow.

The rest of daylight was pretty uneventful. Minor contractions when I moved around a lot, but nothing consistent....UNTIL about 5 p.m. I was making the kids some food and pausing for contractions. I told Scott: "Hmmm, these ones feel different..." His excited response: "Well, is it the real deal?!" Me: "Nah, I doubt it." He went to the gym. I texted him and said: "I think we are going to have to cancel dinner with that family...I might go into labor tonight!" He wrote them and they were understanding :)

At about 6 p.m. I called my inlaws and asked them to take the kids. I was starting to think "tonight's the night" but still afraid to completely admit it. Scott took the kids to his parents house and I vacuumed :)

At about 8 p.m. I still "wasn't sure"... why do I do that?! I just don't want to get my hopes up I guess.

I started singing during my contractions (something I used to make fun of). Here is a video of me singing to my sweet Chloe out of the womb the same song I sang to her during labor. The verse of this song was perfect because it takes about 45 seconds to sing and that's how long my contractions were and besides that I love that song, it ALWAYS ministers to me.

Scott would come in and be like: "This is it right?!" Finally, around 9 p.m., I said "Yep! My water just broke!" At the peak of one of my contractions I felt this crazy POP and my water broke. I texted my midwives and let them know and told them I would text them when things got crazy... but they decided to come anyway (and I'm glad they did!). They arrived at about 9:30 p.m.

Daddy got to hold her right after they cut the cord.

a picture of me holding Chloe moments after birth.

First picture of all five children together.

I continued to sing through contractions and labored in my bed in the dark. It was peaceful. At about 10:30 p.m. I decided it was time to get in the tub (which is code for: "I can't handle these contractions anymore without the warm water!"). I got in and felt immediate relief. In my first homebirth with Charis I didn't say one word to my midwives the whole labor... I think because I was in such shock with how terrible it was... it was my first full natural birth (I labored 12 hours with Rhea with no epidural but the labor overall was 18 hours). With Chloe's birth though I knew what I was in for and I talked to my midwives in between contractions asking: "What do I need to do to get this going faster?" They told me the more that I got out and walked around the better. They also told me to sit on the toilet backwards and rest my head on a pillow on the back of the toilet...ay-yi-yi... ouchie...hurt...pain... you get the point. Those contractions threw me into throwing up mode and made my whole body shake. Not fun, but they made things go faster. Mission accomplished.

At about 11:45 p.m. I was ready to start pushing. I expected it to go EXACTLY like it did with Charis (Don't do that with birth... ever, ever, ever...just like children, each one is unique and different). It felt like I was pushing against a brick wall... like something was blocking her... the midwives thought maybe her arm was positioned above her head... not sure. It was WAY more painful than my pushing was with Charis. My midwives were champs and helped me all along the way and little Chloe bug entered the world at 12:05 a.m. on December 6th! She actually came out and didn't breathe for a bit so one of my midwives did mouth to mouth on her a couple of times and she perked right up. One of my very favorite things about homebirth is the lack of chaos... the calm... the flow... I have a feeling if I were in the hospital there would have been major panic.

I got to hold her for quite a while (lost track of time) until they cut the cord (another thing I love about homebirth is how long they leave the cord attached!). Afterwards I got to get in my own shower and go to my bedroom where they weighed and measured her (8 lbs 12oz, 20 in.) and I got to go to bed IN MY OWN BED!

Birth isn't fun. But since it is inevitable when having a baby I will choose to have them at home :)

Are You a Martha or Mary During Christmas Time?

Read with me the classic story of Mary and Martha and ask yourself who you are more like during Christmas time (verses in italics):

"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him."

Martha often gets a bad wrap. But this verse gives the first insight into why we shouldn’t think too poorly of Martha. She opened her home. She was practicing hospitality which is actually commanded in the New Testament. She was also a servant. But some let their gift of service become a source of irritation for them rather than a gift for others which we will see Martha demonstrate in a couple verses. Do you serve but find you are often irritated with the "burden" of it?....

^"She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said."

Imagine Jesus is coming to your house. Kind of a big deal right? The Savior of the world coming to eat at YOUR house?! You would probably appreciate a little help right? Nowimagine your sister comes over and just plops herself down in front of Jesus feet while you are trying to serve and make food for everyone, including Mary!

"But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made." (Let’s pause there). This part of the verse is the main reason I chose this passage. The ESV says: But Martha was distracted with much serving. Anything strike you as peculiar about that?  She was distracted with SERVING. Seems like a pretty good thing to be distracted with if you ask me. I would like for you to ponder what distracts you from time with the Lord? What keeps you out of His Word? Are there even some good things you can think of that maybe aren’t the best things? Are there some obviously bad or not beneficial things that distract you that you can easily get rid of? What distracts you during this holiday season? The very season that is supposed to be all about Christ...

This word for distracted is perispao in the greek and it means: to draw around, to draw away, to be driven about mentally, to be over-occupied, too busy, about a thing. I love that definition! Something fascinating about this word too is that this is the only place it is used in the bible! Let’s look at that definition again: to draw around, to draw away, distract to be driven about mentally, to be over-occupied, too busy, about a thing.

Our minds are so full they distract us from God’s true purpose for us. It’s like our thoughts are driving us around distracting us from Him. The last part of the definition is “over occupied and too busy”. That pretty much describes everyone. It takes great intention to not over occupy ourselves or be too busy. Especially now a days. 1 Thess. 4:11 says to "make it our ambition to lead a quiet life and mind our own business"… I have a feeling that if we did make this our ambition our lives would be much less complicated and distracting.

Let’s continue with verse 40. “She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” Not sure I have words for this one. How can you use the word Lord and “tell her” in the same quote? Martha is clearly what we call a Type A personality. Focused and determined and bossy or maybe even controlling. Some may relate to Martha more than others. She seems to be focused more on the physical than the spiritual and she also pictures the opposite of that gentle and quiet spirit. Does your family see you like this during Christmas? Let’s see how the Lord responds in verse 41:

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

This is how the Lord would respond to us as well. I can just picture Him saying to me Katie, Katie you are worried and upset about many things…. During the holidays it seems we become even more worried and upset about MANY things. Jesus probably doesn’t care about most of those things that are distracting us. He is probably calling us away from those things and convicting us to choose the better thing. He says there are a few things needed, indeed only one and that Mary chose what was better. She chose Christ. The question is are we doing that? In the midst of much planning and organizing and hosting and cooking and prepping and crafting and decorating and shopping are we choosing, moment by moment, the better thing? Are we distracted from the world and looking to Christ or are we distracted like Martha and looking to things that draw us away from Christ?

In the midst of holidays it is good for us to remember Col. 3:1-2 which exhorts us to “keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth…”

Practice sitting at the feet of Christ like Mary by setting your minds on things above the temporary things of this earth. When we practice Col. 3:1-2 we are choosing the better thing. We are choosing Christ. In the commotion of this time of year I hope you will remember what I have shared and ask the Lord through out your days if you are being more of a Martha or a Mary.

My First THM Pregnancy

I have some pretty difficult pregnancies because I struggle with what is called hyperemesis which is a fancy word for terrible, all day, "morning" sickness. With my first three I was so sick I was hospitalized with ivs because I was throwing up, on average,  12 times a day. Because of this we decided to stop at three... and then we reversed our decision and I was filled with anxiety and excitement when I got pregnant.

My pregnancies are manageable through two things: zofran (a chemo patient drug that helps chemo patients with nausea) and FOOD. I eat up to three bananas a night throughout the night to fight off nausea and I have to eat with my eyes closed and no movement to keep myself from throwing up. I have to lay in bed eating until I feel the nausea has subsided enough that I won't start throwing up and then I make my way to the recliner where I spend the next few hours eating and waiting. I am not usually able to move until about noon. My days, for the first 20 weeks or so, consist of constant eating and laying around which is a perfect combo for gaining lots of weight fast.

With my first "reversal pregnancy" I gained 60 pounds, which was average for me. I lost it all before getting pregnant again but I was still overweight. I started my second reversal pregnancy at the same starting weight that I had started my first reversal pregnancy. I wanted to try out Trim Healthy Mama (THM) but I was finding it nearly impossible to keep anything down except bananas and other simple carbs. I gained 20 pounds in five weeks and was pretty discouraged. As my nausea subsided, around 20 weeks, I began to incorporate THM snacks and meals into my diet. It started getting easier as time went on and by 30 weeks I was doing mostly THM with a few crossovers a day (like combining 2% greek yogurt with cottage cheese and berries and not keeping track of the fat, protein and carb count or like having an apple with peanut butter or bananas as needed for nausea). Even with all those crossovers I only gained 10 pounds the rest of the time!!! I can't believe it! THM helped to cut my weight gain in half! I am 3 days past my due date and I have gained 30 pounds total! Hopefully this encourages those of you who are like me and can't stomach much meat/high protein meals during those highly nauseating months. You can just start a THM lifestyle when possible and still fin dit helps a lot!

I am so looking forward to continuing THM afterwards and hopefully getting well below my pre-pregnancy weight. My pre-pregnancy weight was still about 50 lbs overweight... so I have a ways to go.

I should also mention that for the last three months of my pregnancy I have been doing 30 minutes of moderate cardio (on our elliptical machine) 4-5 times a week. 

Some of my favorite/go-to THM meals and snacks are:

Snacks:
*slice of turkey wrapped around a piece of string cheese (fp).
*romaine lettuce leaf with a smidge of ranch and slice of turkery wrapped up. (fp).
*chocolate peanut butter squares-taste kind of like butterfingers. (s)
*Different variations of MIMs (muffin in a mug). (s)

Dinner:
*Chicken breast-that I cook at low heat (300 degrees) with chunks of onion, garlic salt, drizzled with olive oil and after cooked I top with a low carb marinara sauce and thick sliced Parmesan cheese. (s)
*Salad with bacon, chicken, parmasan, a few tomatoes, and "guacomole ranch". (s)
*The pizza made with cauliflower crust. (s)
*Broccoli and cauliflower au gratin. (s)
*Chocolate peanut butter "frosty". I put almond milk in my ice cube trays. I use about 6 or 7 almond cubes, a cup of almond milk, a tablespoon of dark unsweetened cocoa, 2 tbsp of chia seed, stevia to taste, a scoop of protein powder, a 1/4-1/2 cup of cottage cheese, 1 tbsp all natural pb, cinnamon and a 1/2 tsp of gluco. (s)
*Salmon with a side of sauteed cabbage and/or zucchini. (s)

Lunch:
*usually the same as my dinner meals. Although I often have eggs and bacon :) Yes... I am too heavy on the s meals and working on liking the e meals more... just like everyone else :)

Here is a picture of me at 38 weeks pregnant.

Breakfast:
*Peanut butter oatmeal (this is one of my crossovers) with almond milk. You can use PB2 though and have it be an E meal. Click here to see where I get mine.
*Almost every morning I have 1/2 cup fat free of greek yogurt with 1/2 cup cottage cheese,  2 tbsp of slim belly jelly (recipe in book) and 1/2 cup raspberries.
*Pancakes! (with pb or sugar free syrup)

Dessert:
*The skinny chocolate pb bars I mentioned earlier. (s)
*different variations of low carb cheesecake. (s) 
*Variations of the chocolate shake I make sometimes for a meal. (s)

Now I know that sounds way simple... and pretty boring, but I like it that way. I do eat some other things but these are the most common things that I eat. I am not one who has to have a lot of different meal options, but when I do desire something new there are PLENTY of recipes online! If you need a place for recipe ideas check this out!

Are You Depriving Your Husband?

 
"For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control." (1 Cor. 7:4-5)

When you got married you signed over your body to your husband. Yet another reason for you single ladies to be VERY PICKY about who you say "Till death do we part" to. When you said "I do" to your husband you were also saying: I give you authority over my body. Single ladies, be warned, who you marry will have authority over your body. This verse can be scary for some women no matter who they married. But regardless, you are called to satisfy your husband sexually.

The passage goes on to say: "Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a LIMITED TIME, that you may devote yourselves to prayer...." Let's dissect that a bit. Notice the first part which pertains to the title of this post: "Do not deprive one another". More often than not, this is an issue for the man feeling deprived and not the woman (I do know of some cases personally where it's the other way around, but by and large men feel deprived more often than women). The bible COMMANDS US to not deprive our husbands "except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer." I have yet to see this lived out in my 8 years of ministry/marriage counseling. Usually it's just the wife depriving her husband because she doesn't want to give of herself to him sexually. I have not heard of a married couple coming to an "agreement for a limited time" so that they devote themselves to prayer. But those are God's instruction for choosing to not be sexually active with your spouse.

When we as wives choose to deprive our husbands sexually by telling them no or giving them the cold shoulder or another excuse, we are depriving them of a very really need and in so doing Satan tempts them because of a lack of self control! Our husbands will stand before God accountable for their actions but do you want to be the one that contributed to Satan tempting them?! When we deprive our husbands their lack of self control grows.

Think of it this way: "Just as your body tells you when you're hungry, thirsty, or tired, your husband's body tells him when he needs a sexual release. Your husband's sexual desire is impacted by what's around him but it is also determined by biological factors, specifically the presence of testosterone in his body.

Immediately after sexual release, men are physically satisfied. But as their sexual clock ticks on, sexual thoughts become more prevalent, and they are more easily aroused. The physical need for sexual release intensifies as sperm builds up...

The best way for a woman to understand this dynamic is to relate it to another physiological need. If you've had a baby, you may relate to the experience of milk building up in your breasts a few days after giving birth. The buildup of breast milk becomes annoying (and even painful) until the milk is expressed." (a quote from Focus on the family)

When you turn your husband down time and time again you are depriving him of a very real, physical need. Married men should not have to tell themselves no because their wives are too selfish to give of themselves physically. We are setting our husbands up as bait for Satan to tempt in all sorts of ways when we deprive them.

If this post has convicted you because of your lack of response to your husband's needs (or because of your outright rebellion to these verses) please respond to that conviction and recognize that you no longer have full authority over your body. Your body is a gift to your husband. Don't deprive him of it any longer. Bless him in a way that only his wife can knowing full well that God is pleased with what you can give him!

Lastly, sexual issues can play a very significant part in the marriage relationship. Don't be ashamed! Seek out godly counsel. Contact your church and let them know you would like counsel if you are not sure how to deal with the different issues that are involved in your sexual relationship with your husband. There is nothing to be ashamed of. God created sex as a blessing for the marriage relationship!

Are You Too Messed Up To Be Used By God?

Are you feeling "too messed up" to be used by God? Feeling like you never "measure up"? Well, that's a good place to be. God uses people like that the most! It's the prideful and the "I've got it all figured out" folks that are difficult to use.

"And He has said to me (and He says the same to YOU), 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.'" (2 Cor. 12:9)

Think about what God is really saying there. He is saying WHEN YOU ARE WEAK YOU ARE STRONG. When you feel strong and confident in yourself you are really weak. Your strength is to be found in Him alone. He works best in weakness and He uses those who are desperate for Him not independent of Him.
Our Creator doesn't choose the powerful and wise and perfect. He chooses the weak and the messed up so that they have nothing to boast about except Him!

"For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, 'Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'" (1 Cor. 1:26-31)

Thank the Lord that He chooses the foolish! Thank Him that it is only because of Christ Jesus that we have any wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption! He is able to take fallen men and women like you and I and turn us into men and women of God not because of our own doing but because of what He has done and can do.

He is able. Are you willing?

Oh that believers could be like Isaiah and say: “Here I am! Send me.” I love the section of scripture in Isaiah 6 where this quote comes from! First Isaiah sees the Lord, then he recognizes how unclean he is, next his guilt is taken away and his sin atoned for and he is able to say: "Send me."

That should be the process that takes place with every believer. We all must come to the end of ourselves, recognizing how unclean we are, look to Christ to remove our guilt and atone for our sin and then we are able to say: "Send me."

Don't wallow around in your guilt and shame. Don't whine and complain about all your weaknesses. Don't find your confidence or lack of confidence in your ability, personality or skills but find your confidence in God's ability to work in and through you.

If His work in our lives were dependent on us we would be in big trouble, but His work is always dependent on Him.

"...looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2)

"God—not humanity—is always the Hero." -Preston Sprinkle

Thank God that you don't have to be the hero, you just have to be willing like Isaiah... David... Abraham... Paul...

Don't wait until you are "worthy" to be used. If you are in Christ, then you are already worthy.

Get over yourself and let God use you today!

Our Family's Daily Routine

This is a simple version of our family's daily routine. We are a homeschooling family with four kids seven and under and we have a little one due at the end of the month.

Between 7:30 & 8:00 a.m.-Get up and have breakfast. I usually read my bible while kiddos eat. We eat the same thing: oatmeal or cereal.

Around 8:30 a.m.-Scott usually leads us in a family devotional before going to work. 

9:30 a.m.-I head downstairs with all four kids. Our cardio machine is in the same room as the kids school room and toys so while I do cardio (for 30 min) Ricky and Rhea work on some schoolwork that they don't need my help with and Johnny and Charis play with toys. After I finish cardio I finish up school work with Ricky and Rhea.

11:30 a.m.- Go upstairs and have lunch. Ricky and Rhea do their piano practice after lunch.

12:30 p.m.-"Clean up parties" in different rooms in the house. My goal is to have each room picked up before naptime at 2. After all the rooms are cleaned up I let the kids go outside and play or read books until naptime.

2:00 p.m.- All four kids are down for naptime (even my seven year old, who falls asleep every day!). Sometimes Charis only makes it to 1:30 p.m. I much prefer having a mid day break like this than having my kids go to bed early. It is a great way to break the day up, it also helps with our schedule since we do a lot of things in the evening and an early bed time would be inconvenient. I also think it keeps my children's immunity stronger because I have noticed on certain days when they are fighting a cold they nap a lot longer and they rarely get sick. I often lay down for about 20-30 min. with them. After that I shower and get dressed. This is also a great time for me to do blogging, facebook and reading or extra clean up.

4:30 p.m.-Kids are up and I am getting dinner started.

5:30 or 6:00 p.m.-We eat dinner.

6-10 p.m. We often do ministry stuff in the evenings (this week we have something planned 5 nights out of 7). On the nights that we don't have ministry/an event we do more school work downstairs to make up for the days and weeks when we can't (because of sickness, vacations etc.) About once a week we have family movie night where we will watch an episode of Little House on the Prarie and eat popcorn. My kids go to bed between 9:30 and 10 and Scott and I go to bed around 11.

How about you? What does your routine look like? Do you have any questions about the details of our day? Leave them in the comment and I will answer them.

8 Practical Ways To Beat the Winter Blues

 

Winter is coming. Some people are stressing about the inevitable "winter blues". I hope this practical post gives you some ideas to implement into your winter agenda that will help beat the blues! Maybe this list is overwhelming? Try to implement one a week and see how much each one helps rather than trying to do it all at once.

#1 Clean. Sound weird? It's not. A messy house and clutter are linked to depression. The more you sit around in your mess the more likely you will feel the affects of it on your mood. GET UP and CLEAN UP! The cleaning will distract you and the finished product will be much more enjoyable to be in. Since we spend a lot more time inside during the winter doesn't it just make sense that the cleaner your surroundings the less likely you will feel down?

#2 Listen to Christian Music and Audio Bible. While you're cleaning (or doing anything really) be sure to listen to Christian music AND SING WITH IT. Nothing fixes the blues for me like singing to the King of kings! We are constantly thinking all day and singing forces our minds to think about something else. If you are singing worship music it takes your eyes off your self and onto Him and thinking about Him and praising Him is a natural anti-depressant."fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith." (Hebrews 12:2) Listening to the bible is also a great way to fix your eyes on Jesus and think about spiritual things rather than temporal things. 

#3 MOVE. Your body was made to move. Winter time can leave us wanting to hibernate and lay around all day. Not good for the blues. Your body releases natural "happy brain chemicals" called endorphins when you move. The less you move the worse you feel. I am only doing 30 min. a day 4-5 times a week and I see it make a tremendous difference. Look for some piece of simple exercise equipment (used!) and save up to get it and then most importantly use it. Maybe you already have a piece of equipment? Dust it off and use it! OR you can get different workout videos through your library for free to change it up a bit! Get the kids involved and have PE every day. They'll enjoy it too! And on the days when it's not raining, GET OUTSIDE. Being outside, even when it's overcast, is a great mood booster.

#4 Get enough rest. I take a nap about 5 times a week on top of going to bed around 11 and getting up at 7! This may seem excessive but I think it helps me greatly in fighting depression. I see a direct link between me being "overly emotional" and not getting enough sleep. There are so many things that tempt us these days to not get enough rest but by saying no to those (and yourself) you are doing yourself a big favor! 

#5 Take Care of Yourself! #3, #4 and #5 kind of go together. Part of taking care of yourself is getting enough rest and exercise. Another part to taking care of yourself is: Eating well, drinking well and supplementing well.

*First, eating well. To put it simply, I think the best way to eat is to refrain from too many carbs (especially simple carbs like white bread), eliminate as much sugar as possible and consume lots of vegetables. I do think that the Trim Healthy Mama diet is good not only for weight loss but for mood as well! One reason I think that it is good for our moods is because blood sugar is directly related to how we feel. People who eat lots of carbs/foods high on the glycemic index often ride a roller coaster of emotions as their blood sugar fluctuates through out the day. The Trim Healthy Mama diet really helps to keep your blood sugar levels consistent without that roller coaster effect.

*Drinking well. Believe it or not, getting enough water influences how you feel emotionally as well as physically! I try and keep my mason jars with ice and water full all day for me to sip on. Drink water. Also, you can try out a couple of my "energy drinks" and see if they help with your mood!

*Supplementing well. In addition to eating and drinking there are so many things you can supplement to your diet to help with your mood! There are many herbs, vitamins and minerals that are conveniently ready for us to consume to help us attain optimal health and mood! The basic ones that I take every day are: Emergen-C (which if you do subscribe and save is only 23 cents a day and I also split one package up between my four kiddos during the winter in their smoothies), Iron (again, I do the subscribe and save to save money) and vitamin d. These are the only three that I supplement with but they seem to work for me! I take 200% of my daily value of iron a day and 300% daily when I am struggling with postpartum depression. Keeping up your immunity is also a natural way to combat depression. In fact, the next time you are "feeling down" take note and see if you get a cold in the next day or two. When your immunity is down so is your mood. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.

#6 Create a Schedule/Routine. This is especially applicable for stay at home moms. The more "out of sorts" you feel or the more chaos around you the more out of control you feel and the more out of control you feel the more your mood feels out of control. Create a daily routine and/or schedule and stick to it. Children thrive off of routine and so does your mood. When you lay around a lot because you "aren't sure what to do next" this may feed your feelings of hopelessness. Sit with your husband and kiddos and figure out a daily routine. This is also very important if you are like our family and limiting the television and electronic gadgets, you need to have a plan for what you are going to do with your day. Children need direction. The less direction they have the more likely they are to drive you and your mood crazy.

Here is a sneak peek into our family's daily routine.

#7 Think about others. One of the best ways to "get over yourself" is to think about others. Who do you know that is in the hospital? Who do you know that is struggling in their marriage? Who do you know that has children who have strayed from the Lord? Who do you know that is struggling financially? Pray for these people and write them a note. The act of praying and writing them will help you to focus on other people's problems rather than your own.

#8 The best way to beat the blues is to keep an eternal perspective. No matter your mood, remind yourself that it's temporary. This life is but a blink of the eye compared to the eternal glory that awaits us. "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.…" Col. 3:2-3 Always remember true happiness is found in Christ. Seek Him in the Word and set your mind on things above.