The Mooney Clan

Stay in your lane. Don't look at other people's papers. Those couple of lines jumped out at me as I read Maria Goff's book " Love Lives Here" It reminded me that we can't all live the same life. Comparisons hold us back and discourage us like nothing else. We have fears of being different when we are SUPPOSED to be different. I grew up trying to fit in and not doing a very good job at it. When I was in my teens I thought I'd try a new approach so I started trying to be the opposite of what I was because I thought that is what everyone else wanted me to be. I am chatty and energetic and I tried to be dainty and quiet. I didn't do a very good job of that either. Yikes. Trying to be someone we're not is exhausting and it doesn't work. We seldom fool anyone or achieve the goal we thought we wanted. What we all really want I think, is to connect with one another and to matter. As an adult I have had goals and held them up against other p

How in the world do you teach your kids about the poverty in the world and here at home when they have so much more than they could ever need?  I don't have some big philosophical answer to this. I just know we have to start somewhere. So, for our Family Joy Project we sat down and reminded the boys about how JOY comes in being Generous and in doing things for others. We tried to explain what life is like around the world.  And we showed them a youtube video called  Generation Hope . It's the most recent mini movie made by Mary's Meals.  Basically what they do is provide one meal a day to children - at school. They purchase the products from local farmers, etc. and hire local people. The best part - with my canadian dollar - I can feed one child for a year with $16. Seriously? An entire year? And it means they get to go to school? And grow up to go to college and have jobs and give back. Oh my goodness.  We have supported Mary's Meals ever since I stu

So, did you know that exercising regularly can help you have more energy!? Okay, so did I. And did you know that eating healthily also helps with that? As does going to bed at a decent time at night? I guess we all know that but I haven't been good at acting like I know that. I was getting frustrated. I was just so tired in the evenings. I wasn't having the kind of quality time with my kids or my husband that I wanted. I didn't feel like going out with friends in the evening. I was okay during the day but that's not when I am with my people, for the most part anyway. Sometimes, I would fall asleep on the couch before my kids bedtime!! If I wasn't asleep, I was lethargic and unmotivated. Just not the me that I wanted to be. It doesn't sound like much, but I just couldn't stand wanting to be intentional but not having the energy to do the things that mattered to me. And my kids are 9,9,9 and 11. That's old enough that I can't use the

I am a grown up woman. So, when I was reading about vision boards I kept hearing "That's for teenage girls!" in my head and "Go vacuum the carpets or something!". I kept telling myself that cutting out pictures and quotes and gluing it to a piece of bristol board that I have for the kids' school projects isn't something real adults should be doing. But still, I really, really wanted to do it. So, I put in a load of laundry, took some meat out to thaw for supper and I started working on my very own grown up lady vision board. It really is a fun and creative way to remind yourself of what matters and gets you thinking about where God may be trying to lead you.  This is not my board but a cute example of one. Vision Board from  crossfitroundrocktx . com The important part of a project like this is taking the time to figure out what actually does matter to us, what our goals actually are. Here is a list from a book I read recently (I can't

You have to say goodbye to some things to be able to invite other things in. That applies to material things, things that require your time and so much more. Our family is in the process of deciding what we want and what we are willing to get rid of to make room / time for what matters to us. Minimalism is a way of thinking that really speaks to me. I've always struggled with feeling like we have too much, are doing too much, are doing things because others think we should or are not doing things because others don't think it's a good idea. It sort of drains my energy. We have so many messages coming at us all the time that I believe we don't even always know what we really think about what we are or aren't doing. We forget to stop and look; to decide intentionally. We maybe don't pay attention to the very life we are living every day. Each day just goes by in a blur. We end up being run by our habits instead of deliberately choosing how we spend our time

I love, love, love books. I love reading for so many reasons. Sometimes, I love to travel to another time or place, to learn, to grow, to put myself in someone else's shoes. Sometimes, it's just a good laugh or a great mystery that I get to enjoy. There are so many gifts within those pages. Books will be on every gratitude list I make! My friends and family have probably noticed that I'm always asking what they are reading because it is like searching for a treasure. You know there is more gold out there so you keep an eye out. If you have favorite books that are treasures to you, please tell me about them in the comments. Share the Joy! I joined the 'goodreads' app's 2018 challenge and challenged myself to read 50 books. That's one of my goals for the year. I want to blog about goals later too.  It'll be nice to write about what some of these authors and youtubers recommend for how to set goals and how to follow through with them. This season in