Parenting from a place of rest

A snapshot of one of my weeks from my Erin Condren planner (you need one of these planners in your lives!) 

Last Friday I listened to this podcast where writer, momma, and homeschooling parent Sarah Mackenzie talks with Tsh Oxenreider about an interesting concept: teaching from a state of rest (side bar: two posts in a row referencing Tsh Oxenreider...does that make me creepy??). I certainly agreed with many of Mackenzie's thoughts on this topic, but I found myself thinking more about what this means for me as a mother. I wondered how my parenting would change if I parented from a place of rest. As I've thought on this for a few days, I keep coming back to two questions:  What does parenting from a state of rest look like for me? Is this concept even possible?

Favorite Things

I stole this blog idea from one of my new favorite podcasts by Tsh Oxenreider. At the end of each podcast episode, she asks her guest what is making him/her happy. I realized that hearing these is a nice break from reality.  Sometimes I feel consumed by the crazy--by getting kids to where they need to be, by home improvement projects, by work, by helping our kids adjust...I wondered if making a list of what's making me happy, of my favorite things from time to time would help remind me that, among all the crazy, there are a host of "things" I enjoy. So, here goes....my first list of favorite things:

We're a high-needs family

Yesterday I exchanged texts with a fellow foster-adoptive momma who also has high-needs kiddos; she swore she was going to get a tattoo that reads, "If foster parenting is so much like standard parenting, why haven't you done it? I'm not asking for your pity so stop providing your less than helpful encouragement!" We commiserated together at the insensitive things people have said when trying to use empathy, and mostly it made us laugh and helped us relieve some tension. So today I'm thinking about what parents of high-needs kids need....

On Rejection

I spent nearly five months writing, revising, and editing a piece that was organized into 17 vignettes about our experiences adopting our children. The piece was difficult to write because my goal was to keep it honest so I could inform folks about what it's like to adopt children from the foster system and to come to foster-adoption through infertility and failed infant adoption. Out of all the thousands of pieces I've written, this was by far the hardest to write because, quite honestly, it just hurt. It required me to relive our infertility, the little boy we almost brought home and then lost, and remember our kids' broken lives and the struggles we've had and still have because of their pasts.

Book review: "Notes From a Blue Bike"

Seriously, I love public libraries. No matter where I've lived or what stage I've life I've been in, I've always found a use for my local public library. I've found some of my favorite books in the stacks at the library, learned about the services each community has to offer, and it's been a quiet place for my kids to enjoy. Whenever we move, the library is one of the first places I explore. It was no different when we moved to Grand Island. The library here has an awesome kids area and a great variety of books. During our last trip to the library, I ran across this gem (among a few others!) in the form of an audio book, and it's been keeping my company on my commute home from work each day.