This is my 100th post on Coffee With Jen! I can’t believe that it has been one year ago this month that you and I have had our first cup together! I feel that I have grown so much on this journey. You have graciously allowed me to find my voice here. Thank you, friend, for listening to my heart and encouraging me.
A couple weekends ago I was given a gift. A gift of rest. A gift of time to reflect. A gift of having my cup filled. A gift of seeing the fruits of a ministry that I love!
I was having coffee one day with my sweet friend, Becky Shaffer, a few weeks ago when she invited me to a weekend retreat. She is the director of a beautiful ministry in NWA called Saving Grace. Their mission is to provide life skills training, mentorship, and Godly healing for young women who age out of the foster system.
Last weekend I attended #AWBU which my first blogging conference. I have been a member of Arkansas Women Bloggers dating back to my time with Mosaic of Moms. This was my first time to meet a lot of these women in real life. Some have been a part of my blogging community from the beginning. What joy it was to hug the necks of so many of these women who have been just thumbnail pics for years.
My dear friend, Katie Reid, has started a series on her blog called Open Hearts. She when she asked me to be a contributor for this series, I prayed about what to share. With the passing of Robin Williams shedding light on depression, I felt lead to share my experience with Post-partum Depression. Depression and anxiety are no strangers to me. I have struggled with anxiety my entire life and with depression for large portions of my adult life. It was no surprise to my doctors or to me when PPD became my reality. My long battle with PPD not only affected me, but it affected my family and friends. It was one of the hardest seasons in my marriage.
Would you please support me as I open my heart to Katie’s readers? Click here to read and please leave a comment. Then come back here to enter the awesome giveaway below!
In my journal one a year ago this weekend, I wrote: “The LORD is so loving to confirm His leading in tender whispers.” That is when He started teaching me about the small life.
“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” John 6:9
My life is a small life. I live in a small house. In a small neighborhood. In a small town. In a small state.
My husband and I have a small bank account. A small budget.
Just about every weekend someone e-mails me asking about tips for local day trips. So I decided to start blogging about those ideas. I have been working all summer to blog about just a few of the attractions we have available in Northwest Arkansas. As the blog grows, I will continue to add to this category to help you explore NWA to the fullest.
I wanted to create a way for you to be able to access these great ideas in a user friendly way.
I am so excited to announce the new Interactive Day Trip Map.
By NWA Day Trips I mean anywhere you can travel round-trip on one tank of gas from Northwest Arkansas. There are so many family fun activities available to us! And although NWA is growing at record speed, we don’t have everything. Fortunately, the things we do lack are usually within a few hours and a tank of gas from us. Sometimes we skip over to our neighboring states of Oklahoma or Missouri. I have already shared a couple adventures in Oklahoma, and today I am sharing another Tulsa adventure.
The one word prompt this week: Change
Five minutes on the clock…ready…set…Go.
“Time is the measurement of change.” That was the definition that Dr. Manor stated during my Survey of the Old Testament class seventeen years ago this Fall. We were discussing Moses and YWHW.
Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12
Last summer my daughter turned down every opportunity to go down a water slide. She allowed the fear of the unknown to hold her back. I was so shocked and proud when she had her first chance to try this summer. She boldly marched up the two flights of stairs and made her decent on the winding slide. I have never seen such bridled triumph true to her stoic personality. She repeatedly traveled down that slide with confidence!