Lisa Jacobson's Blog, page 15

4 Solutions for Homemakers Who Have Schedule Rebellion

It seems to be a common struggle. You create a beautifully, laid out schedule and get motivated about following it and finally bringing some order to your home. You also become excited about the things you will get to do because they are “scheduled in”. It works awesome the first day. You stay busy, you accomplish a lot, and you end the day with great peace.

The next day comes around and it’s not as easy as the first. The third day gets even harder and you become discouraged. Before you know it, the schedule has phased out of the “implementation phase”. You’re defeated almost as soon as you begin. Why does this happen?

What is Schedule Rebellion?

As a planner and major planning junkie, there are times even I rebel against my own schedule. Sometimes it’s simply because I want to do my own thing and not want to succumb to something telling me what to do. But really, that something is me! I was the one who planned it out in the first place in order to put an end to all the chaos and put some structure in our days.

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How to Enjoy Perfect Peace No Matter Your Life Circumstances {Real Life with Lisa}

Maybe your life is different than mine.

For some reason, things go as they should and everything just seems to fall into place.

But that’s not been my personal experience.

It’s not that I don’t try either. I try – try real hard – to solve problems, establish order, and generally keep up on stuff.

Yet I often have the sense that I’m in a little over my head. Sometimes even way over my head. And I simply can’t keep up with it all. Responsibilities, relationships, and hardships.

Then my heart starts doing funny things. It gets all twisty turvy. Upside down and slightly nauseous.

Fluttery and distressed.

But I’m telling you,  I do not want to live that way.

And I’m almost certain that you don’t either.

Who wants to go through life always feeling a bit off-kilter?

Not me. Not you.

But did you know that God doesn’t want you to feel that way either? That His intention is for you to walk through life enjoying the kind of peace that doesn’t make any sense – given the circumstances.

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“What Am I Doing Wrong?”

I had to hear it through a half-dozen other mouths before I realized it’d been in my head first, and for possibly years.

“What am I doing wrong?”

It’s the mother whose child isn’t sleeping, and the wife who’s husband isn’t emoting, and the daughter who’s father is still in rehab and the twenty-five-year-old who is still in the same cubicle, with the same title, three years into her job who are all saying it.

Haven’t we all said it? When was the last time you did?

The Wrong Question We All Ask

We brought our second two children home from Uganda (which meant we were now parents of four) and this question roiled around in my head at 11 pm, just hours after another child’s meltdown. This was the first time they’d known the safety of a Daddy’s strong-arms, but my husband’s arms still seemed to feel anything but safe. This was the first time they’d known family dinners and full bellies and rhythm, yet here I was staring at their sobs and asking that question: what am I doing wrong?

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Five Foundational Books for Newlyweds

I turn to good books to navigate change.

This summer, I entered a new life stage when I became a newlywed on June 11th! In the months leading up to and since my new marriage, my to-read basket has held quite a healthy pile of Christian relationship books.

Below I list the five that have proven the most pivotal to my growth as a young wife, the titles I heartily recommend to those engaged or just married.

Although this list could certainly be read after ten or twenty (or more!) years of marriage and still encourage both husbands and wives, I’ve found them to be especially helpful as my husband and I lay the foundation now for years to come.

So if you’re like me and you find some of your wisest mentors on the pages of books, scroll down to see what titles I’d recommend to newlyweds. (Or perhaps you know a newlywed to whom you could gift one of the books below!)

The Mingling of Souls: God’s Design for Love, Marriage, Sex, and Redemption by Matt Chandler

I listened to The Mingling of Souls the audiobook via the Christian Audio app.

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Saying “Yes” to God in the Hard Things

It was just a few days before I was scheduled to board a plane and head to Uganda for 12 days with an organization, offering hope and freedom from foot-related diseases. I was excited about this opportunity but there was no doubt that I was going to miss the comfort of my life and the faces that make my days complete.

“It’s only 12 days.”

I kept reminding myself.

So, as a family, we sat around the kitchen table to go over the details of my trip. The floor was open and as I suspected my 4 daughters had a lot of questions…

“Mommy, how long is the flight?”

“Where will you sleep?”

“What will you do there?”

“Can we see pictures?”

One by one I answered each question carefully. I pulled out my laptop and showed the girls pictures of maps, the guest house I would sleep in and images of the children and families I would get to meet while serving with Sole Hope.

It felt good to connect as a family and in some small way this little Q & A brought comfort to my heart and theirs.

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How to Find Courage When All You Feel Is Fear {Real Life with Lisa}

Strange to think such a significant season in my life could slip from memory.

But wasn’t until I got her phone call that I remembered what it was like.

You wouldn’t think you could forget such paralyzing fear, would you?

But I hadn’t thought about it in years.

I never talked about that time with anyone – mostly because I was too embarrassed to say anything.

After all, I was a grown woman. A wife and mother of two small children.

It’s not like I was simply a five-year-old who was afraid of the dark.

But I might as well have been.

Too old to be so afraid. Too grown-up to struggle with panic…..bordering on terror.

But there I was.

Afraid. 

And this was the kind of fear my friend was admitting to me over the phone. She sure took a long time to get around to it though. To get down to what was really bothering her and keeping her from moving forward.

She didn’t need to be concerned, however, because I got it.

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A Practical Back-to-School Tip for the Busy Mom

With a full house of six kids, getting ready for school each morning often presented more challenges for me than I was ready to handle before the sun came up. I’m not a morning person, so I struggled just to be alert and patient with hundreds of questions and complaints filling the air.

Even moms with half the kids I had feel like track athletes bounding out of bed, racing to stay ahead of the demands and needs nipping at our heels every morning.

Back-to-School Tip

One of my practical solutions was allowing my kids to make their own lunches while I worked on breakfast.

Starting in second grade, they selected a bag of chips, a drink box, another item, and then made a sandwich. Yes, the pb&j sandwiches needed some adult help, but the youngest ones felt all grown up making a lunch like their older siblings.

Now my oldest daughter who has five boys in school has taken it a step farther and made the process even better.  Each of her boys has a cardboard box or a plastic container with their name on it.

You can let them decorate their containers for more personalization.

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Fighting Mundane: 5 Simple Ways to Keep Marriage Fun

I was young when I got married.  Barely 21 years old, some of the traits I considered valuable in a spouse were superfluous and of little importance when looking for a partner to take on the rest of my life with.  I had no clue.

And while I find that early list of qualifying factors slightly embarrassing, I’ve come to understand God’s abundant providence and the answer to my own parents’ fervent prayers.

Through my husband, God has given me so much more than I ever thought to look for in a spouse.

In my dating years, fun was always high on my list of priorities.  I knew I wanted a spouse who was fun. A spouse who liked to go fun places, do fun things and prioritized enjoying life.  While I sometimes laugh a little at my naive priorities as a young woman, I’m beginning to realize that fun might not be as naive as I once believed.

This week my husband and I are celebrating 15 years of marriage. We’re knee deep in the day to day of raising a family, the stage of life where each day is a new adventure, often an exhausting one. 

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4 Books to Help You Successfully Thrive in a Broken World

I tend to measure my life seasons by the books I read during that time-span. Maybe you do, too?

Fiction was my high school companion, a respite from the textbooks.  Massive piles of pages to read in college meant I exclusively read only the required words (and sometimes didn’t even manage the minimum).

Early in my professional life, I focused on only reading riveting, easy fiction as I recovered from the reading load of college. Navigating relationships and engagement and marriage meant my booklists were heavily focused on self-help.

My current season?  Reading to positively impact my heart, mind, and world.

Not quite self-help, these books are filled with guiding principles for successfully thriving in a broken world.

4 Books to Help You Successfully Thrive

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie may be widely known as a businessman and inspirational speaker, but his principles have positively impacted my marriage as well as my professional life. In reading How to Win Friends and Influence People, I cynically expected cliches and trite answers.

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Chinese Meatball Sliders

It was smoldering outside and bright.

I recall worrying about the air conditioning keeping up with the hot temperatures outside as I settled into the bed. The nurse beside me worked to get my hand hooked up to an IV so the liquid in the little plastic bag could begin the process of letting my body know that it was time to bring my baby into the world.

This was not my first time being induced – it was my second time and I felt like a pro, thinking I knew exactly what to expect and vaguely remembering the way my body would respond to the medication – slight cramping that would intensify so much that my body would begin to shake with each contraction.

I assumed my body would just take over like the first time and I would have no need for the Pitocin and the nurses could turn it off with plenty of time for me to have an epidural. I don’t like pain (who does?) and while I didn’t relish the idea of getting stabbed in the back again by a large needle, I knew I would be more comfortable than the alternative.

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