I have been honored and blessed to be a part of the Raising Godly Boys Series over at Intentional In Life Blog. 

Every day this month, moms of boys have been sharing their insights, wisdom, prayers, and struggles as they have walked the path of raising their boys to become godly men.

Since the Lord has given me the official platform of "BOY MOM," giving me and my husband the hefty role of raising 5 boys in a world that wants the opposite for them than we do, we are grasping at every resource and opportunity to join forces with others walking this line to raise godly men and godly leaders...both in their homes and in the world around them. 

Many moons ago, I was a substitute teacher.

It was a great gig during my single/newly dating (my now husband) phase of life.

I could pick and choose the jobs I would accept, and if it didn't work out, I wasn't obligated to return the next day.

An art position opened up one day, and I quickly jumped on it, even though the school was pretty far from my house...this one sounded interesting. 

After showing up for what I thought was a "day" job, I later realized, the art teacher needed someone to cover for her for several months!

And the best part, I was able to create and implement my own curriculum (within certain guidelines of course).

My idea: Art Journals.

Each week, we'd study the artist, talk about one of their famous pieces of artwork, and then, in our own way, recreate our own version of the original.

Georgia O'Keeffe was one of our journal entries. I had been introduced to her artwork from a family I had nannied for and I just loved her viewpoint on taking a close up of flowers, and focusing on the details. 

So, when education.com contacted me to see if I'd be interested in featuring one of their activities for kids...I was ELATED to see that Georgia O'Keeffe was their focus!

I have used activities from education.com for YEARS for my oldest son, as we explored homeschooling and educational summer activities, and I'm thrilled to be able to feature one of their activities here: 

Its seems as though, no matter who you talk to, regardless of time of year, or season of life, everyone is going through a season of transition.

Whether you are transitioning from 1 to multiple children or becoming empty nesters,

transitioning to having your kids home to now going to school,

transitioning to a new job or choosing to stay at home with your kids,

transitioning to a new season of health issues or trying to start a new healthy path,

or transitioning to a new home or new place or just remolding your current one...

Transitions are happening all the time.

I've shared about the big decision we made this year to move our family to Boone, NC from my home, Jacksonville, FL.

Over this past year, we were in a season of transitioning from 2 to 4 boys,  having our oldest start Kindergarten and homeschooling him part time, my husband learning a new job that comes with some travel, learning a new city, finding a new church home, AND remodeling our house.

And just recently, we were SURPRISED to find out we were expecting BABY BOY #5!!!

Talk about UNEXPECTED transitions!!!

Before the chaos of our move,

Before the moving truck arrive to load up the only life we knew,

We found ourselves in a season of surviving.

​Just trying to make it to the end of another day.

But we soon realized, we can't live in that season for too long.

We needed to look around at or circumstances, meet the Lord where He had us, and learn to THRIVE in the midst of these big transitions we were living in.

Since I can remember, all I've ever wanted to be was a wife and a mom.

It took a little longer than MY TIMELINE had mapped out, but in those years of singleness, the Lord was building up the man that He had in store for me. 

Now, almost 10 years later, this man has walked hand in hand with me through everything life has thrown our way...

through the trials that challenged and strengthened our faith,

through loss that brought more tears than I knew I could shed,

through joys that allowed us to truly celebrate life,

through decisions that ultimately taught us rely on each other and the Lord,

and everything "mundane" in between.

This guy has my heart for as long as the Lord has us here on earth.

And I couldn't think of another person better suited to lead me and our 4 boys. 

HOWEVER, somewhere along the way, the mundane things of our life slowly began to take up all the space in my mind that my husband used to occupy. 

​The dirty diapers, the piles of dishes and laundry, the grocery list, the screaming baby, the routines...they all seemed to win my attention and we went into survival mode! 

Just a year into our parenthood journey, I found myself  feeling like I was just working by my husbands side...trying to make it to the end of our day with the end goal of keeping our son alive and happy until bedtime.

Our son and our newly found "survival mode" kept me from taking the time to focus on all those things I once held dear about my husband.

Yes, we were side by side, but not always hand in hand. ​

I needed to refocus my thoughts on my husband.

I needed to see him as "Husband" and not JUST "helper".