Themes

Faithfulness

/ katiemjenks / Leave a comment

“We are not here to be successful, we are here to be faithful.” -Mother Teresa

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This has been a theme in my life, especially in my married life. I feel like it consistently comes up in conversations between Noah & I as we think about how our life has been, how it is right now & it comforts us with our future. His faithfulness in our lives is etched in like a marble memorial. It is set in stone, never changing. Without Jesus, we would be a hot mess. Don’t get me wrong, I am a hot mess all on my own some days, but boy… I would be SO much worse without Jesus. Noah & I both would be. In our marriage, these last 8 1/2 years, faithfulness has carried us, washed over us & sealed us with a grounded foundation knowing that we WILL make it. That we are taken care of. Day in, day out, with whatever life throws at us, we know His faithfulness is never failing.

Here’s a laundry list of faithfulness in our life:

-Traveling the world

-Asking for specific jobs & getting them every time

-Asking for specific cars & getting them every time

-Buying our first home

-Being healed from cancer

-Adopting Eliana & having a beautiful relationship with her birth family

-Being able to get pregnant even after cancer treatments

-Traveling to Europe

-Giving birth to Cora

-Selling our first home for more than double

-Buying our second home in our desired neighborhood

-Traveling with our kiddos & my parents internationally

-Giving birth to Sebastian

-Continued health for each member of our tribe

-Food on our table

-Time together as a family every summer & at holidays (Thank you for being a teacher Noah!)

I could go on & on. I actually keep a list in my phone of things that I am grateful for, so inΒ  a moment when my heart squeezes with gratitude I can write it down to remember. All of those things remind me of His faithfulness & how blessed I am. It’s a wonderful thing to acknowledge the fact that being alive is a gift & that it is FULL of GOOD things. I am so grateful!

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The definition of faithfulness according to the dictionary is as follows: the quality of being faithful; fidelity. As much as I can go on forever about the faithfulness of our God, in the same breath it is a theme for myself as well. I want to have the QUALITY of being faithful, I want to be that way for myself & the people around me. I want to treat ALL of the things that I participate in with faithfulness. I want to do my job as a parent, as a spouse, as a teacher, as a reader, as an athlete, as a cook, as a traveler, as an artist, as a researcher, as a homeowner, as a human being, etc., – faithfully. I want to be faithful in all of those things & more. I want faithfulness to MARK my life. I want to be known by it.

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On days when I am worn out (which is a lot lately due to a 3 month old who isn’t sleeping through the night yet), I know that it is beneficial for my spirit to be renewed by the beauty that finds its way into each & every nook & cranny of my life. Part of the way that I do that is to reflect on His faithfulness & how it carries me. It also draws me into a deeper desire to exemplify that for those around me- for my husband, for my kiddos, for myself. I want to be faithful. I want to say something & follow through. I want to manifest faithfulness in a tangible way for my littles, so they know that they are carried in our family as well as carried by our beautiful King. I want them to grow up & have faithfulness be a theme of their lives.

“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” -Mother Teresa

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It’s a great thing having it be a testament in my own life, in my story. I can’t edit it out without LITERALLY changing the outcome of where we are now. If it weren’t for His faithfulness, I would not be here today, I am confident of that. So faithfulness brings me hope, brings me peace, & pushes me to reach higher, go deeper, be better. Because I know. I know that I know that I know that He is faithful & always will be. And because He has already won, I win. It’s awesome.

“Kindness & faithfulness keep a king safe, through kindness his throne is made secure.” -King Solomon

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So I’m speaking to myself- today, as I sit here feeling a bit worn out, I will take some deep restorative breaths & reflect. I will look at today & know that it has already been taken care of & that whatever comes tomorrow or the next day will be fine because He already knows & his faithfulness abounds. His grace is sufficient in my weakness & I will rejoice evermore in my partnership with Him. I am grateful & I will CHOOSE to be faithful.

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“Faithfulness lives where love is stronger than instinct.” -Paul Carvel

P.S. All these photos are from a family (my mom + my sister + her 3 girls + me + my 3 kiddos) field trip we took to Columbia State Park earlier this week. πŸ™‚

 

Cheers,

Katie.

 

 

Sebastian William

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“The very first moment I beheld him, my heart was irrevocably gone.” -Jane Austen

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HE is here! We had a son & his name is Sebastian William. He is such a gift.

I wanted to reflect on his birth & share his story, so here we go.

On Monday, June 19th, I had my 39+ week check up & little one decided to be head up for the 4TH TIME. So my incredible doctor flipped baby right there in the office & sent me over to the birth center to be induced & monitor baby to make sure the flipping (for the 4th time) didn’t cause distress & that baby would stay head down. We sent out a text to our praying friends to pray with us that baby WOULD JUST STAY HEAD DOWN! They wrapped me with 2 different belly braces to “help” baby stay in position & induced me with a low dosage of cytotec. Low & behold, just a few hours later with my labor starting slowly, baby decided to bring head back up towards my ribs. My doctor flipped baby for the 5TH & FINAL time (Praise the Lord!) & baby stayed head down which allowed me to have a natural vaginal delivery! The 5 times of flipping baby was a hospital record & my doctor should have a trophy in his office for his mad baby flipping skills. We are so grateful & appreciate him so much!

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Monday afternoon & evening progressed slowly, my mom & sister came to join us & they broke my water that evening hoping to get things to move faster. This didn’t pan out like I had expected, after my delivery of Cora, this was a WHOLE different experience. We had lots of laughs as I scooted across the floor in our room with a towel under my feet as my water continued to take its sweet time “breaking”. This continued all through the night, I was awake walking back & forth trying to get my labor to progress, Noah, my mom & sister were able to sleep off & on. I was tired by the early hours of the morning & by then was having steady contractions two minutes apart. When they checked me, however, I was only at a 2, which is disheartening when you start feeling exhausted & are starting to feel more pain with the steady contractions. At that point, they started me on pitocin & increased the level consistently, which made my pain level increase as my contractions progressively intensified.

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At about 10am, my doula arrived & by then I was having back labor. She was INCREDIBLE. My team of people in that room were INCREDIBLE. They prayed, we had worship music playing, the nurses & my doctor were full of kindness & encouragement. I labored in several positions & by 11am I couldn’t stand up during the contractions anymore. I sat on the birthing ball at the bottom corner of my bed & rested my head on the end of the bed. My doula sat behind me for HOURS & applied the perfect amount of pressure to my low back throughout each contraction while my husband & sister took turns squeezing my hands throughout each as well. These two things paired together were beautiful & essential for me.

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The REALLY rad thing about my labor occurred during the hours of intensity with those growing contractions. I hadn’t taken any pain meds & didn’t throughout the whole labor & delivery which was my goal & I feel SO great being able to say that I did it. So with that, my pain level was high. I vomited everything in my system I think 12 times & I had a hard time sipping water. BUT THEN- Sitting there on that ball, with my head laying facedown on that bed…In between each contraction I had a moment of rest. TRUE rest. I literally felt like I left my body each time, it was a truly supernatural, amazing, BEAUTIFUL experience. In the midst of that pain, I felt the Lord take me out of the current moment & wrap me in His arms. I even FELL ASLEEP a few times! It felt like I was seeing everything in watercolors, like I was floating through the room. It was an out of body experience as I floated with the sounds of music & intercession in that place. I FELT Him wrap himself around me & it was incredible. I’ve had very few experiences that were that tangible with His presence & oh my goodness, it was beautiful. It was worth every one of those contractions. It was just Him & I. I felt so loved, so worth His attention. It was like nothing else in the whole world mattered & He was just there in that room with me. Gosh guys, I hope you get to experience something like this for yourselves in its own form, just you & Him some day! I am excited to know that every day is new & that I will get to experience His presence like that again sometime! Maybe even today! It is always life changing. There is NOTHING, nothing sweeter than His presence.

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By the time I felt the need to push, they got me back up on the bed & checked. I was only dialated to a 7! This was at 2pm. My doctor said to call him in an hour & walked out of the room. At this point, I was laying sideways holding onto my doula’s hands as she helped me breathe rhythmically to help me not push until the right time. Within 10 minutes, I was at a 10 & the nurses ran to call my doctor back! I started pushing & 10 minutes later delivered him at 2:16pm! They held up our SON & with giant smiles told us we had a BOY! He was finally earthside. Noah laid his forehead on mine & cried tears of joy as they laid him on my chest. It was a beautiful moment. Noah was able to cut the cord & baby Sebastian William snuggled up to me & latched on easily within the next 10 minutes or so. He weighed 8lbs .09oz & stretched out at 20in long! We counted his fingers & toes, rubbed his sweet head & kissed him SO many times. There is absolutely nothing on earth that compares with giving birth & holding that baby close to your heart for the first time. Goodness. It takes my breath away just thinking about it.

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That was that! We rested & bonded with our new sweet little one for the next two nights & days in the hospital while they monitored my recovery. Sebastian was born on the summer solstice, which is super duper rad because I am born on the winter solstice! He was also born during a heat wave of 106 degree temperatures that whole week, so staying in the hospital was a welcome respite from that heat. We had family come visit & meet the wee one & we slept & ate & just stared at Sebastian’s perfect little face. When we headed home, his first evening was spent being held under our AC blower because it was SO stinkin hot. I won’t ever forget that. He is now about 2 1/2 months old & still isn’t the biggest fan of heat. I can understand why! It has been a blisteringly hot summer.

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So here we are now. Seb, SebiCakes, Sebastian, Baby Bastian, Bash, Little Squish, is growing & changing every day! It is crazy how fast they grow! He sleeps & eats well, he loves to smile & coo, he is just starting to laugh. At his 2 month check up, his pediatrician said he is a perfect baby, right on target for height & weight, responsive & adorable. He is our little joy! Our girls are totally smitten with him, as are we. It seriously took almost 2 months for us to switch our vocabulary to include “he” & “him”. It is exciting having a boy! He has already flown on a airplane halfway across the country (which he ROCKED, by the way), dipped his toes in a mountain lake, taken a nap under towering pine trees, road tripped for 12+ hours, has been on lots of family walks & been smothered with countless kisses. Β I would dare to say, that his life has been pretty rad so far. FULL of love & laughter & life. The way it should be. πŸ™‚

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I am one blessed Mama.

“Little boy, you remind me how so much depends on days made of now.” -Alison McGhee

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Cheers,

Katie.

 

Cora Kinsey turns 2!

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DSC_9661Dearest Cora,

OH sweet girl! I can’t believe that you are TWO! I also can’t believe how much I love you more & more each day. You are such a treasure my little one. Dada & I keep saying to each other how beautiful & BIG your personality is becoming, how funny you are, how excited you are, how sweet you are. You are full of tenderness & fierceness. I love watching you grow! This past year of life with you has been full of JOY. You bring so much color to the world, my little rainbow! Every single day you make me feel so many ways, I laugh & smile, my heart wants to explode, I am in awe of who you are, you challenge me & help me grow as a Mama, you calm my stressful moments with your sweet embraces. You speak new words & seemingly out of nowhere know new things, your development & brain are incredible! You are smart, silly, kind & tough. I love how you love the moon & stars, the way you sing & dance, your affection for all animals, the way you show compassion. I love your spunkiness & incredible laughter. I love watching you read & spend time in your own world as well as watch you play with Eliana & so many others. I love that you absolutely love baby Jesus & can’t get enough of Him, I know you are going to spend your life loving Him. I love how you nurture & take care of babies & that you always want to dress yourself in blue dresses. I love your independence & determination. I love that you potty trained in a week! You are becoming such a big girl. I am so proud of you, Cora. I am reminded each day how blessed I am to be your Mama, that Dada & I have been entrusted with the privilege of raising you on this earth. I love watching you & Sissy be one another’s companions, you are a perfect picture of sisters! You love each other so much, even in the moments when you need some space apart, it is evident that there is no one else in the world you would rather have as a big sister. You are each other’s champions & greatest friends. Dada, Eliana & I adore you, sweet girl. Thank you for being you! There is no one else in the whole wide world just like you & I am so happy that you are ours. “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.” Cheers to you, Peanut! Happiest 2nd Birthday!

With all my love,

Mama.

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To celebrate this sweet girl’s 2nd birthday, we decided that the perfect “theme” would be the moon & stars. She LOVES the moon. She points it out every single evening & wants to go outside to see the stars. A little lover of the night sky, a little golden child who can find the moon wherever it may be. I love this about her. So, following suit with what we did to celebrate her 1st birthday alongside her twin cousin, Riah Joy, we did a combo party again. It has been a delight to get to continue the celebration of these two littles, the way we have celebrated them from the day my sister & I both found out we were pregnant together. We invited our family & some dear friends & I had the joy of hosting another party (Noah’s 30th was the first.) at our new abode.

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We decorated simply, with LOTS of glitter covered stars & moons. My island still has glitter in the grains of wood. Good times. We bought each girl a giant #2 balloon & I made crowns with moons for all of the kiddos who came. We sang, opened gifts, took cute pictures, ate chocolate cupcakes, the kiddos ran around with their crowns blowing bubbles & playing inside & outside, we ate watermelon cut in star shapes, cheese cut into moon shapes, had star cookies, popcorn, & iced tea for the warm May day. It was a perfectly wonderful celebration with lots of kids. The girls loved it. Especially the cupcakes.

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I’ve said it before, but celebrating the gift of life is not to be taken lightly for me. I KNOW that my children are true gifts & I never want to “skip” celebrating them with intention, showering them with love & affection, attention & praise. Birthdays are an essential part of that for me. They are a perfect opportunity to make a big deal that my little ones are treasures. I spend the rest of the year doing the same thing, but for that one day each year, I think it is a beautiful thing to show intentionality & make it extra special, even with glitter. This doesn’t mean that I go out & spend an arm & a leg to do so, it simply means that TIME slows down for that day to shower love, affection, attention & praise. It is also an opportunity to pray over our children with others as they embark into a new year of life. That is the best part of the whole day. Bathing them in prayer. So with that, I wanted to share one of Cora’s life verses.

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, the cheerful heart is a continual feast.” Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β -Proverbs 17:22, 15:15

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We love you sweet girl! To the moon & back. Truly.

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Cheers,

Katie.

 

Eliana turns 4!

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“Our birthdays are feathers in the broad wing of time.” -Jean Paul

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It is amazing each & every day to me, what a GIFT being a parent is. It is so stretching, so rewarding, SO much more than anything I could have ever imagined. I dreamed my whole childhood about being a mama, about having little ones to care for & squish with hugs. It is WAY more than anything I daydreamed about all those years.

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My oldest, Eliana Marie, just celebrated her 4th birthday! This past year has been incredible with her, watching her take the world in & grow with such strength & understanding. She is inspiring. As per tradition, I love writing my kiddos little love notes on their birthdays to share with them how much they are loved & valued & to highlight what is amazing about them at this particular time in their young lives. So with that, I love you Honey.

Dearest Eliana,

Oh my heart! I love you from the tippy top of your curly head right down to the bottom of your beautiful strong feet. This last year of life with you has been a joy for me, it has taught me more about motherhood & how I can be a better Mama to you & Sister. It has been a year of you showing up daily with determination, newfound knowledge, incredible laughter, an explosive imagination, deep tenderness & an insatiable curiosity for all things. I watched you out the window yesterday riding your little scooter with a puffy dandelion in your hand, riding around the driveway in your rainboots, singing & in a world all of your own. It was beautiful. It was a perfect picture of what you being 4 looks like so far. You are the best! I enjoy so many things about you, watching your personality grow & develop, your heart deepen, your knowledge about the world around you expand. I love that I get to spend each & every day with you, teaching you, snuggling with you, reading with you, laughing with you, imagining with you, learning from you. It has been a delight for me having you truly understand this pregnancy & feel the baby kick & move in my womb, talking to the wee one. I know that they will love you right from the start once they are earthside! It is also one of my deepest joys watching you & your relationship with Sister. The way you play with her, love her fiercely, want to spend each second of the day with her, take her on imaginary trips, read with her, sing & dance with her. She adores you & it is clear why. You are your Dada’s girl! As much as I claim you as mine, I know you are his too. The way you jump into his arms when he gets home from school each day, the love in your eyes as you give him hug after hug, the way you just want to BE with him as much as possible. It is so beautiful to behold. You bless your Dada’s heart. Bug, you are a dream come true. You are treasured! You are ours! I am grateful for the gift of being your Mama & for the gift of getting to love you. Happiest 4th Birthday to you, sweet girl. I love you forever.

All my heart,

Mama.

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On Eliana’s actual birthday, we were blessed with having our new home filled with family! Sister got to wake up & get donuts with Dada, blow out a candle on her donut cake, go the park & pick out a giant balloon & birthday cereal with her Uncle RyRy & Auntie Dace visiting from LA. She got to have her Auntie Mimi & cousin Riah Joy visit from Kansas City, her Grammy & Grampy Jenks visit from Oregon & the rest of us here too. She picked out cheese pizza as her birthday dinner of choice & Dada made a delicious lead cake for dessert. We surrounded her with love & multiple rounds of Happy Birthday & just enjoyed our day together as family. It was a good day.

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The following Saturday we had a small friends & family celebration for her at Twain Harte park on an absolutely PERFECT spring day. We had balloons & fresh wildflowers, chocolate cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting & strawberries. There were yummy snacks: popcorn, cuties, chips, strawberries, veggies & more. Eliana loved playing with her friends & the bubbles we gave all of the littles was a hit! They spend probably an hour blowing & chasing bubbles across the grass. She opened her gifts, we sang to her & all of the kiddos had incredible chocolate covered faces after devouring the cupcakes. It was a great celebration & I know that Eliana’s wish for her birthday came true: a party with friends at the park with chocolate cupcakes & strawberries. Win! Park birthdays are seriously the best for this age group! We have already done two & I know we have plenty more in store for the future with our wee ones.

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“The more you praise & celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” -Oprah Winfrey

I am happy to celebrate many things. I think that each year, each birthday is absolutely worthy of celebrating, whether it is big or small. LIFE IS A GIFT! I am grateful that I get to celebrate our beautiful daughter & that this is just the 4th year of many to come. She is worth celebrating! Her life is a gift to us & to the world. We were able to visit with Eliana’s incredible birth mom just days before her birthday. It was SUCH a delight to see her! She is amazing. We also got to visit with Eliana’s half sister, her cousin & we got to meet her birth grandma! It was a treat! We love open adoption & all of the wonderful things it gives Eliana, us & her birth family. It is a beautiful thing to have as part of our story & I am so grateful that we get to have relationship with each other! We are family! That was the icing on the cake for me this year with celebrating our daughter. It felt FULL. I know I keep repeating myself, but I promise it is in complete sincerity. I am grateful! I love Eliana Marie to the moon & back. Happy Birthday daughter!

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“The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility & the wings of independence.” -Denis Waitley

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Now I’m off to make a plan for how to show her with actions & words how loved she is, every day of the year. And to hug her. Because it is the best.

Cheers,

Katie.

 

On days that feel like a thousand years

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“God already knows what we are made of, but perhaps He wants us to learn what we’re made of. I think that we would all agree that we learn more from our tough times than from our easy times.” -John Bytheway

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Wow.

Today has been another one of those days. This week has been weird. Two days ago was one that qualified as all sorts of bad stuff hitting the fan. The first part of the day was great & in the afternoon everything just broke loose. Including the skies. I was subbing a class at the end of the school day during which a supersized storm hit. We had to make sure we didn’t let students leave the room because of lightning strikes not far from campus & the torrential rain & hail that fell in a matter of 30 minutes was INSANITY. Further up the hill we had a tornado (A TORNADO!!) which is not something that happens in the sierra foothills, touch down & rip trees apart. It was just crazy & that was just the beginning of a nerve-fried rest of the day. On my way home I passed an accident that I could have been part of if I’d left the school 5 minutes earlier & then I passed a tow truck pulling a car up from a cliff that it had apparently gone over in the rain. Once I got home we found out that our house had FLOODED. Not throughout the entire downstairs, but all the way through the living room, entry way, closet & den. Basically across the whole front of the house we had a stream of water pouring in, soaking multiple rugs, my record collection, shoes, all the stuff in the closet, etc., etc., etc. There was a lovely 6 inch long earthworm that had managed to get swept into the house waiting to greet us along with the rest of the chaos. After that, it was just little thing after little thing, but when you are that fried from all of the “bigger” things, those things feel gargantuan. We hung up rugs in front of our brand new wood burning stove with industrial fans blowing on them & Cora almost stuck her fingers inside but Noah saw & stopped her right in the knick of time. No pun intended. After lots of other little things including our ear-piercing smoke alarm going off while I took our burned brussel sprouts out of the oven, we decided to just go outside. In doing so we let the girls puddle jump & play in the mud & piles of hail & in the process they became wet & cold & more upset. So we went inside in tears & headed up to read & go to bed. After everything, Noah & I both said it felt like we had just lived through a whole week, not just a few hours. Oh my goodness, if only it could have been a Friday.

With all that being said, I slept GREAT that night. Ha. I was so exhausted from the stress of those few hours. It gives you perspective on people who undergo stress like that as part of their jobs each & everyday. I applaud you, if that is your situation, because I could not handle it. I was NOT designed for high intensity.

Anyway, the next afternoon was WONDERFUL. It was a complete opposite experience of the day before. All of us were full of peace, tired, but full of peace. The girls both took extra long naps after doing really well during our school time in the morning. I was able to do a great workout, read my Bible, sip tea & watch Andy Griffith with Noah. We had a delicious & easy dinner & I even managed to make a few loaves of zucchini bread. The girls had their baths & we got to enjoy our nightly worship time as a family. It was a true gift after the day before.

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Today has been a bit more like Tuesday, but my nerves don’t feel raw yet. What I have realized as the last few days have unfolded is that life is nuts sometimes. It’s not always predictable or easy. But ultimately, it’s still our decision to pick which pair of glasses we are going to look through at the world around us & see it how it is, either with all the bad, or with the good thrown in too. What is wonderful in getting to look back & see the good things that come out of flooded houses & almost chopped off fingers. It makes you laugh (a little) & makes you grateful. I am grateful to know that the rest of our house didn’t flood, that Cora still has all of her fingers intact, that our smoke alarm works INCREDIBLY well, that we had food to eat & even burned brussel sprouts can taste good. I am grateful that we can go outside whenever we choose & that our girls can laugh & get soaking wet while puddle jumping & that we can walk down our lovely street with neighbors & chat about life. We REALLY are blessed friends. Truly.

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“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” -Confucius

As for today, I am claiming that I WILL see the good. I will not let circumstances rob me of my joy. I will smile; I will laugh; I will rejoice. Because life is quite the ride & today I want to remember as one that I chose to conquer with hope & peace.

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If you are having one of those days or weeks, take heart. I’m right here too friend. And when in doubt, bake some zucchini bread & watch Andy Griffith. It DOES MAGIC. Remember it’s your choice which glasses you put on to see today with. Here’s to today!

“If we could all just laugh at ourselves, in hard times or good times, it would be an incredible world.” -Jena Malone

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Cheers,

Katie.

5 Years Cancer Free

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“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13

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Highest praises!

There are endless words of gratitude that pour off of my lips straight from the deepest wells of my heart after each & every 6 month check up. But THIS one. 5 YEARS! You guys. 5 YEARS! That means so much. The recurrence rate drops significantly, my check ups go from twice a year to just once a year & it means I am halfway to a “full” recovery from my cancer journey. HOW RAD IS THAT?! HOW GOOD IS OUR GOD?! I am FILLED with thanks. Filled with praise. Thank you Lord.

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So much has happened in our lives in the last 5 years. We have LIVED. We have chosen to be intentional & make our lives valuable for the world around us & well as rewarding for our own joy. There is something weird to be said about going through a very near death experience & the way it highlights the extreme beauty of all areas in life. With that, it is easy (most mornings) to wake up & smell the roses, to notice the birds singing in the trees. 5 years in & I still feel BRAND NEW because I am healed! I am alive! As much as I don’t want a single person in the world to go through cancer, there is so much beauty that comes out of it. I AM GLAD it is part of my story, part of my journey. It has helped shape my outlook on life, given me scars to rejoice about as my little ones trace over them with their fingers, given me a testimony of healing & of the King’s hand in my adventure. It has reminded me again & again how fragile & therefore how special, how significant the gift of health & life really is.

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Not every day has been peachy, that’s for sure. We have continued to go through suffering & sadness as the years unfold, but who doesn’t? Suffering is a guaranteed part of being on earth. Even with that, our FOUNDATION is made up of joy. It is solid because of the Rock we stand on, the hope we have for this earth & for heaven & the peace we carry gets us through even the toughest of times. After shipwrecks we still end up on land guys. We brush ourselves off & get up with breath in our lungs!

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For today, I am choosing to focus on the beauty of being healed. Of having a healthy body & a happy heart. I am grateful to my Jesus, to my incredible team of doctors at Stanford Medical Center, to my mom & dad, to my husband. To everyone else in our family & community who walked through the fires with us for 6 months of chemotherapy treatments & homeopathic care leading up to that moment in time 5 years ago when I was declared cancer free. THAT, my friends, was a sweet sweet day. I couldn’t have done it without everyone who fought alongside me, without the prayers of people from across the globe, without strength from the Holy Spirit, without my own stubbornness & positive attitude. So thank you friends, thank you for being a part of my story! Today is a celebration for you as well! Go fist pump & jump around, go tell the world that there is GOODNESS on this earth, that HEALING still happens. That we are not forgotten, or insignificant, or just one of many. Each of our stories matters & I am so glad to say that today I am shouting my healing from the rooftops because it is GOOD TO REJOICE.

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Hooray for today, Hooray for 5 years ago, Hooray for 5 years from now.

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I am healed! I’ve got a river of life flowing out of me.

Thank you for joining in my celebration.

 

Cheers,

Katie.

Loving Well

/ katiemjenks / Leave a comment

“After you are gone, people may forget most of what you have said & done. But they will remember that you loved them.” -Steve Goodier

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February is often known as the month of “love”. I think it is really beautiful to celebrate love, both during this month as well as year round. It really does make the world go round, if it were not for LOVE, life would be bitterly devoid of color & vibrancy & emotion & basically all the things that make living worthwhile. I thought I’d share some ideas on how to love others well today, as we look beyond ourselves into the world around us. We ALL could use a little more love (& kindness & hope & joy) in our lives.

“Love is donating a chunk of your life to patch up holes in the life of another.” -Richelle E. Goodrich

  1. Smile at the people you pass by in the car, in the grocery store, in your neighborhood, in your workplace, with your own kiddos. MAKE EYE CONTACT & SMILE. Make it evident that you are intentionally choosing to acknowledge others & that they are worthy of that smile.
  2. Have a day of saying YES. I know that this might sound odd, but being a mama bear of a 3 year old & a 1 year old, saying YES is not nearly as frequent in my vocabulary as “no” is, sadly. There are definitely days where I feel as if “no” has been the only thing I have communicated with my girls, which is not the way I want to do this parenting thing. There is a time & place, yes, but saying yes is so much better. Just take one day & say YES to everything (within reason & safety, obviously), but push yourself to have a bit of freedom & fun for your littles & for yourself. Giving yourself a day of YES is also a good idea if you tend to deprive yourself (again, within reason) but allowing yourself to take a nap, or read an extra chapter of your favorite book, or eat some chocolate, or go on that hike you’ve been putting off, pulling out your art supplies while the dishes wait in the sink, or whatever, just allow yourself some freedom. Love yourself.
  3. Donate your time. VOLUNTEER at your local homeless shelter, food closet, high school fundraiser committee, wildlife organization, church nursery, etc. Babysit for free for a young family so the parents can go out on a date, sign up to drive for an elderly group home, go visit folks in group homes, pick up trash with a local community aid organization, etc. Do something. The options are endless.
  4. Bring your neighbor or someone who is ill a bouquet of flowers or some home baked bread. Get to know them & share your kindness with them.
  5. Read extra books to your little ones. Put your phone down, get down on the carpet & read until they are satisfied. Then act out the stories together. It will be a kick in the pants & that laughter will be SO worth it.
  6. Go support local artists. Go to their shows, invite your friends, have a great time, invest in your community & local talent.
  7. Skip a coffee a week & instead sponsor a child through a program like World Vision or Compassion International. Not only will it provide medical care, education & support for a child somewhere in the world who needs it, it will benefit yourself as you grow in your global outreach & understanding. It will be sweeter than that cup of coffee, for sure.
  8. Super simple, but essential for life: TELL THE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE THAT YOU LOVE THEM. Tell them verbally & SHOW IT. Be intentional, be honest. Be true.

“You can never be poor by giving & showing love to others.” -Kemi Sogunle

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There have been times in my life where other people, whether stranger or friend, have shown kindness & loved me well. When I was doing my cancer treatment at Stanford, there were different people who came through the cancer ward & played the harp, guitar, taught painting classes, did group crafts, etc. We had a family make a home cooked Thanksgiving dinner & spend their Thanksgiving in the hospital with us, eating their turkey. I received countless hats, blankets, cards & well wishes. It was a season where I was loved well, by all of the people around me, stranger or friend. That is just one example from my own story where LOVING WELL was evident & SO needed. Even just recently, we have moved into our new home & it has been a season of chaos, exhaustion & stress but that has been alleviated a bit be some of the most beautiful souls we have had the privilege of knowing. They have come to our aid in the form of cookies, art, salt & pepper shakers, wine, cards of congrats, & groceries on our shelves in the pantry that I am still trying to figure out. You all know who you are, so THANK YOU. You, have loved our family well & we are grateful.

“Our joy in life is inexorably determined by the degree to which we love.” -Seth Adam Smith

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A few weeks ago in our preschool routine, Eliana learned the “golden rule”. It is always a good reminder, so I thought I’d share it here as well. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” With that being said, it’s never a great idea (in my opinion) to ever do anything with the sole purpose of than receiving like treatment. If your heart is not in a giving place, simply to BE giving, with no strings attached, it has the potential to cause bitterness within yourself which is just not great. BUT- treating others with kindness, LOVING WELL, with open arms & a heart of joy is such a great foundational way to exist. It makes life more than existing, it moves it into THRIVING. I want to thrive, I don’t want to just exist. I want my life, my love, my response to the people around me to be of GOODNESS, to be noble, to be pure, to be praiseworthy. I want people to feel valued, seen, heard. I want to LOVE PEOPLE WELL.

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Will you join me? Beyond just this season of the year where love is celebrated with chocolate, flowers & cards? Will you choose to make your life a celebration of LOVE everyday, being intentional to love the people around you? Will you not just choose love, but will you choose to LOVE WELL? To give of yourself & say YES? I hope you will. This is a rally cry for myself as well as others, so know that I am preaching to myself. I am simply choosing to share my heart’s desire to GO BEYOND myself & LOVE better. Let’s do it friends. I know we can.

“Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.” -Lao Tzu

 

Cheers,

Katie.

Fall celebrations

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“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” -George Eliot

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It is that time of the year again! My favorite. I can’t believe that it is already here & in full swing again. Fall. Beautiful, GLORIOUS, perfect fall. I truly feel that this time of year is a time of reflection & a time to be grateful. It feels as if nature itself turns itself over to us for this very purpose, to see the splendor of the changing leaves, the fire that they light the world with before they say goodbye & fall to the ground for their eternal winter sleep. It’s as if the world around us is calling out for a final push before the winter, a timely opportunity to make the most of our days & light a fire in our souls. So with that, I thought it would be worth sharing some of my favorite things from this season, that are simple, but a good start at living WELL each day. A few things that help us celebrate this season as a family. Enjoy!

“I trust in nature for the stable laws of beauty and utility. Spring shall plant and autumn garner to the end of time.” -Robert Browning

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree…” -Emily Bronte

  1. Leaf Garland tutorial.
    • Step 1: Go outside! Find leaves from your neighborhood, or your backyard, or if you have to, buy some fake ones from your local decor/craft store. That will work too! This is the second year that we have done this activity & without a doubt it is being established as a family tradition for fall. I blogged about my experience a year ago about creating these, but this time I wanted to share pictures so it’d make it a bit easier to do for yourself if you are interested. Make sure you grab an ample amount of various leaves so as to have a bunch of color & different shapes to work with.img_5110
    • Step 2: Get a needle & thread. It can literally be whatever color you have! If you have a tiny sewing kit you commandeered from a hotel, use that. You really don’t need much. Grab some scissors also.img_5111
    • Step 3: Find a comfy seat & spread out your treasures!
    • Step 4: Thread your needle & start adding one leaf at a time, poking it carefully right in the middle, so as to not hurt yourself or break your leaf.img_5114
    • Step 5: Keep going! Make it as long as you want. (It helps if you have a space in mind to hang it.)img_5113img_5112
    • Step 6: Take pushpins, or tiny nails, or whatever you fancy & hang it up for all to see. πŸ™‚ Make sure it is out of reach for little wee fingers & animals who might crush or ruin your fabulous garland.img_5126img_5125IMG_5149.JPG
    • Make more! Give them away! Hang them in all the rooms of your house. Whatever. Have fun.

2. THE BEST Double Chocolate Pumpkin cookie recipe EVER.pumpkin-cookie-pic-2

(Picture credit: Janssen at Everyday Reading blog)

  • I found this recipe on Pinterest & so want to thank Janssen at her Everyday Reading blog for providing this goodness with the world.
  • http://www.everyday-reading.com/2013/09/double-chocolate-pumpkin-cookies.html
  • I am copying the exact recipe from her blog for you below. ALL the credit goes to her!
  • Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

    (adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe)

    MakesΒ about 2 dozen

    1 cup all-purpose flour
    1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
    1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    1/2 teaspoon salt
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    1/16 teaspoon ground cloves
    4 ounces semisweet chocolate (I just used chocolate chips)
    1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into large pieces
    1 1/2 cups sugar
    1/2 cup pumpkin puree
    2 teaspoons vanilla

    Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

    In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Set aside.

    In a small saucepan (or in a microwavable bowl) over low heat, melt the chocolate and butter together until smooth. Don’t Β let it burn. Set aside to cool for a couple of minutes.

    While the chocolate cools, use the attachment paddle on a stand mixer to beat together the sugar, pumpkin and vanilla. Add the chocolate mixture and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat until evenly mixed.

    Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone liner, and scoop golf ball-sized balls onto the cookie sheet, leaving about 2 inches of space between each one (they spread a lot).

    Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges look dry and the tops are cracked. Let cool for 10-15 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

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    (Picture credit: Janssen at Everyday Reading blog)

3. Paint a pumpkin.

For those of you with 3 & unders like myself, or any age for that matter, this may be something that is more appealing for you than carving your pumpkins. Still messy, but in a different way.

Step 1: Get a pumpkin.

Step 2: Set up a paint station with newspaper, paints, brushes & child. (I prefer to keep Eliana shirtless so as to avoid even more of a mess.)

Step 3: Paint away! Let it dry & then put it on display. Wallah.

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4. Sunset walk.

  • After dinner (if you eat early) or pre-dinner (if you are running late or have a quiche baking in the oven), head out the door. Grab your sweater & wagon for the little people, a cup of tea & walk.
  • Take a jaunt around your neighborhood & look at the sky. REALLY look at it. Look at the trees changing colors. Look at the combination of the trees & the sky. WOAH.
  • Make sure you have your favorite people come with you & hold hands. πŸ™‚
  • Ask your wee ones about the different colors they can see & talk about the beauty of nature & the creation we get to enjoy.
  • Take some deep breaths of the chilly night air & reflect on your day.

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“There is a harmony in autumn, and a luster in its sky, which through the summer is not heard or seen, as if it could not be, as if it had not been!” -Percy Bysshe Shelley

“Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.” -Jim Bishop

There you go! I hope you can get at least one idea to try. These are some of our favorite activities, but we have lots more! Simply put, it is a GOOD THING to enjoy nature. To enjoy the season that the world is in. For us, right now, it is autumn. A time to both push for our best as well as reflect. A time to shore up before winter & to relish the days. A time to set our souls on fire. So I will do my best at enjoying all that this incredible season has to offer.

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ALSO, I didn’t add this into the list but it is just as amazing. Go find yourself a copy of Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery from the library, a thrift store, online, whatever. READ IT. October hit & I immediately made the decision that my autumn read would be Anne of Green Gables. I just finished it & it was INCREDIBLE. If you haven’t read it, it will be one worth your time. After this, I’m off to start the next one in the series!

“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.” -Stanley Horowitz

Cheers,

Katie.

 

 

 

KINDNESS.

/ katiemjenks / Leave a comment

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” -Aesop

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For months & months & months, this word has been etched on my heart, on the back of my eyelids, on my mind. KINDNESS. I have had conversations about it with some of the people closest to me & I know that it is time to share about it in a broader context because I can’t get it out of my head! This subject of kindness, is something I hope to be improving on for the rest of my life. It is so so worth it.

kindΒ·ness
ˈkΔ«n(d)nΙ™s/
noun
noun: kindness
  1. the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.
    synonyms: kindliness, kindheartedness, warmheartedness, affection, warmth, gentleness, concern,care;

    consideration, helpfulness, thoughtfulness, unselfishness, selflessness, altruism,compassion, sympathy, understanding, big-heartedness, benevolence, benignity,friendliness, hospitality, neighborliness;
    generosity, magnanimity, charitableness
    “he thanked her for her kindness”
2. a kind act.
plural noun: kindnesses
“it is a kindness I shall never forget”
synonyms: kindliness, kindheartedness, warmheartedness, affection, warmth, gentleness, concern,care;

consideration, helpfulness, thoughtfulness, unselfishness, selflessness, altruism,compassion, sympathy, understanding, big-heartedness, benevolence, benignity,friendliness, hospitality, neighborliness;
generosity, magnanimity, charitableness
“he thanked her for her kindness”

(Thank you Google.)

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There is just something about kindness. There is something significant & profound about it. The way we choose to USE it, to SHARE it, to FEEL it for ourselves will literally change things. I know it has for me. I feel like for the past several months this has been a theme for me. I have quietly operated in it, trying to practice it on my husband, my girls, myself & on others. Others, being simply, neighbors, strangers, friends. And let me tell you, I have failed miserably. I have also succeeded, but it has definitely been a mixture of both. I still feel like I am barely scratching the surface on what kindness is & all that it means.

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear & the blind can see.” -Mark Twain

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Have you ever spent much time contemplating kindness? Have you ever taken a season of life (or even a DAY for that matter) to PRACTICE kindness? I honestly hadn’t. I would consider myself a kind-hearted person, someone who typically acts with kindness. But still, to actually practice it, to meditate on it, to discover it in motion… It is quite revealing! I have learned over the last few months about my kindness towards myself & others, how it is affected & how it causes effect on the atmosphere around me. I have learned that, while I am indeed a kind-hearted person (because only Jesus could have made me that way), I still need to CHOOSE it. Oh it can come more “naturally” on really rad days, but on the average day & on the not so hot day, it is ESSENTIAL to choose it. It makes a world of a difference.

“A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve.” -Joseph Joubert

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Let me tell you. Being a mom is hard. WAY harder then anyone can ever try to explain. Motherhood is ALSO the most REWARDING thing. But kindness is crucial to help get to the rewarding part. I know. I’ve been practicing, remember? Lol. I know that when I am not kind, when I choose to operate out of something or a whole lot of somethings OTHER than kindness, my children bare the brunt of that. They are living in the atmosphere that I help create on a daily basis & when that atmosphere is full of say, frustration & exhaustion & short tempers & little patience, I can tell that that is not an environment that they thrive in. It’s like they are plants & they suck it in & breathe it back out. When KINDNESS steps in though, WOW. It is incredible seeing & experiencing the fruit of that in my little ones as well as in myself. And let me tell you, those days, those moments, make the whole of motherhood worth it. Kindness really is a game changer.

“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds. A good deed is never lost; he who sows courtesy reaps friendship, & he who plants kindness gathers love.” -Saint Basil

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Another area where the fruit of kindness is so obviously GOOD, is within myself. I think that is the hardest part for me, choosing to treat myself with kindness. I’m just being honest. The change that kindness brings within my own heart is tiny, miniscule, on some days. But on other days, it can be like life or death! Speaking kindness over myself as a woman, as a wife, as a mom, as a daughter, a teacher, a friend, an advocate, a believer, is like eating Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter straight from the jar. It is ALL sweetness. And just a little bit, really does go a long way.

“Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Lastly, I want to share about kindness in the world. This can look like a SMILE as you drive down the street & pass the neighbor walking his dog. This can look like choosing to bake cookies with your daughter even though it makes the kitchen such a mess. This can look like not getting fiery with someone over the current state of politics & ripping their view apart, instead it can look like choosing to stay off of social media, PRAY & stay friends with your friends, regardless of who they are voting for & why. It can look like bringing in the newspaper for your elderly neighbor or volunteering to babysit for a young family so the parents can go on a date. It can look like picking up those pieces of garbage on the sidewalk that you didn’t put there, but throwing them away anyway. It can look like making EYE contact with the cashier at the grocery store & really asking them truly if they are having a good day. It can look like holding the door open for someone. It can seriously look like a million different things. However it ends up though, kindness is a good decision.

I heard somewhere once, “throw kindness around like confetti.” I couldn’t agree more.

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I hope that this helps move you in a direction of choosing kindness. For yourself, for your family, for the world around you. We really all could use more of it!

“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” -Scott Adams

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Cheers,

Katie.