Have you noticed how much dissension, crankiness, and general meanness seems to be happening on social media lately? Or is that just me?! It makes my heart feel heavy to read so many hate filled words. In light of this, I have been wanting to challenge myself to spread love to other people in a creative way. I thought about making up my own challenge until I came across a post from BoHo Berry on Instagram about InCoWriMo...and I thought what is this weird combination of letters? I read through to her blog post and found out it stands for International Correspondence Writing Month which is in February. It's an international challenge to write one letter by hand and mail or deliver it every day in February.

I was thrilled! This was exactly what I was looking for: a way to spread more love and kindness! And it's with words, cards, and pretty mail. All things that I love! What's even better is that I have a list started of people to write cards to and a secret board called "Happy Mail" already set up! It seemed like the perfect way to show love in a way that brings joy to me and to others, because who doesn't love receiving mail?!

Interested in joining me in this challenge?? I hope you will!

The Basics of Participating:

1. Write a letter by hand (has to be by hand!) every day in February
2. Hand deliver the letter or mail it

Sounds pretty easy right? If you want all the details of what it is, how it started, or how to get an international penpal check out their site: InCoWriMo.org

Finally a use for my washi tape addiction! 

Supplies I plan on using:

-#InCoWriMo Tracker from BoHo Berry
-Cards from the Target one spot
-Washi tape
-Scrapbook paper packs
-Calligraphy pens

I have decided to make my Happy Mail board public to share my inspiration with everyone. Be sure to check it out on Pinterest here.  You can also look up the hashtag: #InCoWriMo2017 for even more inspiration and to see what other people across the world are doing during the challenge.

Of course, the letters don't have to be beautifully decorated, the words and heart behind them are what's most important. And if you are in it to spread love and kindness then it will already be beautiful.

Will you be joining #InCoWriMo2017? Let me know and we can send each other some handwritten love!

10 Inspirational Reads for 2017

Books and I have had a long love affair. I can remember begging my mom to order Hooked on Phonics for me when I was a kid because I wanted to learn to read so badly, I didn't want to wait until I went to school. (Any 90’s kids remember those commercials?!) 

Since the moment I could read for myself, I haven’t stopped. Books have been my companions, my escapes, and my agents of change. They just have a life-changing magic or at least I tend to read ones that inspire me to change or make me think in a different way than I did before. 

I have kept a list of books that I want to read in my bullet journal but I was inspired to share them by Gretchen Saffles of Life Lived Beautifully. She wrote a post called “Read A Mentor” that I highly recommend for even more great reads.  A valid point she made in her post is that while books can be very helpful in our spiritual life, the Bible should always be our main source of wisdom. Another friend put it this way: the Word is our main source of food and everything else is a supplement. 

Here are the inspirational supplements I plan to read in 2017: 

1. Triggers: Exchanging Parents' Angry Reactions for Gentle Biblical Responses by Amber Lia

2. Giddy Up, Eunice: (Because Women Need Each Other) by Sophie Hudson

3. Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living by Shauna Niequist 

4. Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions by Lysa TerKeurst

5. Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food by Lysa Terkeurst

6. Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely by Lysa TerKeurst

7. The Broken Way: A Daring Path into the Abundant Life by Ann Voskamp

8. Let’s All Be Brave: Living Life with Everything You Have by Annie F. Downs

9. Without Rival: Embrace Your Identity and Purpose in an Age of Confusion and Comparison by Lisa Bevere

10. Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds by Jen Wilkin

I have a few of these requested from the Library and I can’t wait to get them in my hands! I love learning from other people’s experiences. 

There were a few books that I read in 2016 that majorly impacted my view in life, they were:

1. Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton: Her raw honest thoroughly gutted and inspired me. Reading this book is what has made me feel so passionate about pursuing honesty in my life and relationships. 

2. The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst (basically I want to read everything by her!): She brought up many great thoughts that had me reconsidering how I was spending my time and ultimately my life. I am very thankful for her words.

Please share any impactful books you have read or plan to read in 2017! I am always looking for a good book! 

My New Year's Reflection

I love the New Year. I love new starts, I enjoy beginnings because they start out so pure, so innocent. It’s beautiful. This makes me a sucker for New Year’s Resolutions. I rarely stick with mine because they always include things like no more soda or lose 20 pounds. Let's be real, I love diet coke and food too much to follow through with that nonsense.

This year I wanted to take a different approach. I am an avid journaler, not just a bullet journaler. I have one where I write down all my feelings and the things I normally would never say out loud. I decided to look through it from all of 2016. I broke it down by month and picked out what I had been learning. Then I looked through all my pictures on Instagram to see what kinds of things my family had been doing the past year and I wrote down our milestones. Once I did that, I looked at my year as a whole and thought through how I wanted to do my life differently. It sounds like a long process but if you like reflecting like me, then it’s very enjoyable and interesting. 

There were some things that I forgot I learned and some things I would rather forget, but reflecting through them all gave me a fresh perspective on how I want to change my heart rather than just make a change in how I look. Based on this exercise I came up with six New Year's Resolutions:

-Be Present in my life. I tend to check out when things get tough or zone out on my phone. I want to make a real effort to bring myself back to what’s going on at the moment. One thing I realized is that I spend a lot of time worrying and that has prevented me from being present.

-Be honest in my relationships. I am a people pleaser, I want everyone to be happy but that usually comes from me not saying what I want or how I feel. It sounds like a selfless thing but it’s not. I’ve realized that its lying and I don't want to lie. I want to be authentic and that means saying how I feel. 

-Do Yoga! I love the meditative exercise that yoga can be and how it brings your body and mind together. It’s a way to relax, which is what I need more of in my life!

-Study the wilderness/desert times of the people in the Bible. I think there is much to be gleaned from them and I want to grasp it as I go through this dry season in my life. I want to stop grumbling and start learning!

-Stop comparing myself to other people. This has been a struggle my whole life and it is really self-defeating, I’m currently brainstorming ways I can combat this…I’ll let you know if I figure out some good ones because this is easier said than done. 

-Be a fun mom! I want to spend more time playing with my kids than worrying about how big of a mess we are making. 

Those are it! I feel excited to work on these things this year. Have you spent time reflecting on 2016? Did you make any New Year’s Resolutions?