Thankful November 1

November 1st:
I am thankful for...
Life.
Yes, the ins and outs, the ups and downs. Life in general is something to be thankful for. The ups are amazing, as anyone will say... but the downs? They grow and challenge us. They make us stronger and even the downs make life beautiful.
Life is hard. Especially these days. I say that, but you know what? Life was hard before we had technology, before media had so many outlets. Life was hard before the improvements in medicine, before electricity. It's ALWAYS been hard. It always will be.
But the moments in life that challenge us are the scars that we learn from and that help us improve and grown. They are beautiful, and strong, and amazing.
So yes, I am thankful for life. For ALL of our lives. I'm thankful for the struggles, even as they are happening. Because once I see the light at the end of the tunnel, the struggles are worth all of that and more.
Give thanks. Even for the rough times in life. Those are the times we need to give thanks the most because being thankful about the things that hurt and anger us, that's forgiveness, it's healing. It's strength, and it's powerful.
So with that said...
"Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son
And now let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us""
For the intro post I share a great Jamberry wrap. If you like it, check it out. These wraps make great presents for birthdays, Christmas, and just because. Also... What a great way to tell a lady in your life "I am thankful for you." Then by getting them this awesome wrap: Give thanks- https://katieblack.jamberry.com/…/en/s…/products/give-thanks
Also, This months essential oils for being thankful: Wild Orange, the oil of abundance.
Immortelle, the oil of spiritual insight.
Elevation, the oil of joy.
Today I want to talk about Wild Orange. It's one of my favorite oils. It smells so good and in all honesty when I've diffused it, I've felt at ease, calmer, and just happier, uplifted . We're coming in on the time of year for SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) Seasonal Depression. The time of being thankful is overshadowed by this gloomyness. Put some Wild Orange Essential oil into your diffuser and that should help.
Herb to help with Stress and Anxiety: Ashwaganda. I'm a little biased when it comes to this herb. With good reason. Ashwaganda is said to help with blood sugar, has anti cancer properties, and is a GREAT herb for thyroid health. It also is said to help with lung issues! Well, another thing its good for is stress and anxiety. It's the holidays! Don't even try telling me you don't get stressed or anxious during this time. Christmas shopping has begun for some and for others it's about to. Most people aren't completely done until December 24th. Even with all that help from Santa... ;) Christmas can stress even the calmest of souls. People get MEAN too. I can't tell you the amount of carts that have been purposefully barreled into me because I stopped to look at something and was in an impatient persons way. I WANTED to yell, I wanted to hit them back with a cart, but I figured if they had the gall to do that to me they'd be the person to try and press charges on me to retaliate. So I shake my head and move on... after I'm done looking :P I might even take longer! lol just kidding. Seriously though back to my point, I have been taking Ashwaganda for several months now for thyroid health and I'm calmer, I'm happier, and my thyroid is SO much better. It's an herb I most def recommend!


Alright I've taken enough of your time for the day. Sorry if the length annoys you. I hope you learned something new and helpful and maybe even found a Christmas present you want or want to get someone else! haha Then you can give thanks for this post! ;) Have a great day and I'll see you tomorrow!

Here is the writing prompt for the day also

 

Theme Months with A Twist

So,

A few years ago, in 2013 I did an entire year of THEME POSTS. Facebook was my main outlet though I used the blog for some as well.

It's time to do that again, so I am starting again with Thankful November and Devotion December  and will be going through all of 2018! This year will be a little different.

My life has changed in the last few years. In 2013 I was doing part time mostly volunteer work, no significant other and not many other responsibilities either.

My friends and I were all on different paths in life.

Now, I am a bonus mom, a wife, and a professional cleaner. I also have an book under my belt. That's right, I'm a published author as well now!

I am also hoping to become a wellness advocate for doterra when things line up just a little better.

So that's what the changes involve. My best friend is a Independent Consultant for Jamberry, and so I'm hoping to tie in some of her products to my themes because I believe in saving and budgeting and Jamberry is a great way to ultimately do both AND have a great product.

The DoTerra part comes in because there is literally an oil for everything. That's right, each theme will also have an oil or oils that will go hand in hand.

I will focus on spiritual, mental, and physical health throughout the year with these posts and I look forward to growing together with some of my readers from 2013 but also with the new people in my life!

I'll be using Instagram and twitter more with this theme year as well.

That being said. The Thankful month will be relatively easy.

I'll be focusing on things to be thankful for, and I'm also going to incorporate my bonus kids pumpkin lady. She'll be leaving special notes about thankfulness for the kids, and I'll be posting them as they come.

In December I will need YOUR help. So get a list of things for me to pray for. I will be vague in the posts unless asked to do other wise (or to not talk about it at all.) But this is all about YOUR prayer requests. So send them in. I'll also be posting different devotions each day that I write or have already written so GET READY! :)

I am so excited about doing this with each of you!

Happy Theme-ing! lol
-Lynnea

ReCOOPERating the Coopers Part 2: The Love Story

With the help of my friend Stephanie who posted the page for us on You Caring I'm currently trying to raise funds to help us make the money for our newly acquired and very expensive hospital bill.


So to make this a little more personal to those who may want to donate I thought that I would share our love story with you. A love story bigger than just a Daniel and a Lynnea.

When I was 5 years old I made friends with a little girl in Kindergarten. Her family was kind as was mine. Then I switched schools a couple of years into elementary and didn't see her again until High School. Once in High School I returned to the schools in the same county as her and we became friends again. I count this young girl among one of my closest friends. She asked me when we were about 16 (after my father died) if I would like to go to etiquette classes her church was doing with her. I said sure.

If you know me, you know I have never  liked new situations. I was nervous and her older brother drove us to this class. He knew me slightly but we weren't friends or anything. He'd graduated in 2001. So when we got there he went inside and helped me until I was comfortable. Then he left to come get us later. That was one of the last times I remember seeing that young man but he'd left an impression.

Fast Forward a few years. Sept. 2012 to be exact and I'm sitting at home bored on facebook and his name flashes through my mind. So I look him up! lol.

To my surprise I find him, we become friends on facebook and start messaging each other back and forth. He was kind, and he was also now living in Ohio. By this point he'd been married and was now divorced, with 3 kids. He told me about them. Asked why I hadn't gotten married yet. lol.

So here we were two people burned by love in different ways, both convinced that we wouldn't be experiencing long term love. We quickly became friends. This man is a workaholic but he found a way to talk to me almost every day. It wasn't until May 2013 that we hung out in person. He introduced me to his kids and the 5 of us had a blast. Life was good apart from me being about to have my 4th knee surgery. I was about to experience Nashville TN with one of my best friends.

We still talked almost every day, and then a couple of days before I went to Nashville we decided to start texting. Texting became calling and we continued that for over a year.

This guy is stubborn. Even though we could tell we liked each other he wouldn't date me. He didn't want a serious relationship, he was afraid that I would hurt him and the kids. But the kids and I had already gotten close so finally in Feb of 2015 this guy decided to give me a shot. We traveled to see each other in Ohio and KY, and swiftly began to love each other. I was also starting to love the kids. We did so many fun things together, hiking, going to lakes, caves. We just love adventures.

Then in June 2016 after a little over a year this guy proposed to me. He'd decided that not only was a serious relationship okay but that he wanted to marry me. The kids even said they wanted me to officially be their step mom. (We now use the term Bonus Mom) I'm friends with the kids mom even, and so is Daniel. Which is great. But anyway, in October 2016 I married this family of 4 and we became a family of 5 in this household.

We love one another but money is already tight. We have a ton of bills, cost of living isn't low.

We now have a hospital bill. A BIG one. And we NEED help. Anyone that knows me, and that knows Daniel... knows we don't ask for help very often. It's hard for us to find the words. So my friend Stephanie found them for us and I am forever grateful. We've already made a little bit on you caring but we need more! So please pray, share, and donate! Let others know why our cause is important to you and PLEASE help us.

Our love is pure and strong, I wanted you to get to know that side of us. But right now we need more than our love. So please find in your heart to help.

It's 8,000 If just 10 people give 100 each that's 1000 right there, so if just 80 people gave 100 that would cover it right there! If 160 people gave $50 each that would cover it! If 320 people gave $25  we would have it. If 800 gave 10 we would have it. If 1,600 gave $5 each we would have our $8000 needed for this bill! This is a small world. There are more than 1,600 people in this country! I have 1,400 friends on facebook. If my facebook friends shared with their friends... We can do this! We already made a little bit so PLEASE help us meet our goal.


Thank you for your time. Please help the Coopers ReCOOPERate.
ReCOOPERating the Coopers

"ReCOOPERating the Coopers"

Hello, Dear readers!

So somethings have been happening since my last post. The most recent and... also life changing is the fact that my husband Daniel just had surgery. I thought this was the best place to tell you about that.

Monday of last week my husband started having horrible pains in his stomach. He was at work when these pains started and came home for lunch around noon. From noon to one he was home, didn't eat just spent the time throwing up but felt they were gas pains so that's what we were treating. He went back to work around 1 and was back home and sick by 3 pm. We both were trying to figure out what was wrong when suddenly the pain was ONLY in his lower right abdomen. I begged my normally stubborn husband to go to the ER. He chose Urgent Care, Urgent Care quickly sent him to the ER which was thankfully just down the road. The ER took one look at him, just like Urgent Care and while they couldn't diagnose we were all pretty certain this was appendicitis. It was around 9 when they told him he would be having surgery either first thing in the morning or he would be the next surgery (they had 3 other people ahead of him who also had appendicitis) ... Minutes later they told us he was going back in 10 minutes. It was bad!

Around 11:30 is when he actually finally went back. At 1:30 his surgery was over. It went well. They had to cut him open instead of doing the lap scope though. Which means a bit longer recovery. The doctor told me that had they waited much longer his appendix would have ruptured. They went in just in time.

However, with surgeries and hospital stays comes hospital bills and as we are a family of 5 with other bills, we are in great need of help.

Enter in: A friend of mine decided to help us by starting a You Caring Page for fundraising. So this is where my wonderful friends and readers come in.

First and foremost we ask for your prayers. Prayers for continued recovery of my husband and also prayers that we are able to raise the money for the hospital bill.

2nd: Share Share Share! Please PLEASE share the page with your friends and family on social media and just in general.

3rd. If you  can help please do. My husband and I aren't people that ask for help often. We need it now though so please if you can donate know that we appreciate every little bit from every person willing to give.

The page is: ReCOOPERating The Coopers- Please Donate

Thank You
Lynnea and Daniel

Hello Hello

It's SUMMER!

That means, I have been SUPER busy. Seriously, I haven't actually been long enough to do much of anything on the internet. Been taking care of my family and getting lots of things done.

I've got a few things coming up, hoping to release my next book SOMETIME this year, if I can get a moment to sit down and finish it that is.

Been working on a couple of other projects as well. If things every settle down in other parts of my life, this blog will see a lot more Essential oil posts!

I'm also embarking on a further journey into my health. Part of that is of course essential oils but I'm also taking more vitamins and have changed my eating habits.

Over the last 4 years I've had no choice but to completely cut out gluten. I can handle some dairy but I also learned I have a sensitivity to eggs, tomatoes and... ONIONS! Seriously. So I've been cutting those out as well. Not much else to eat after all that BUT I feel so much better. I'm learning about leaky gut and I'm trying to fix that issue so that I can be healthier for my family.

Now that I'm feeling better thyroid wise I'm even starting exercise more again and that's helping also.

Why am I on this journey of health? I want to feel better for me but also so that I can take care of my family to my full ability. So that I can help them in their lives.

I'm happier, healthier, and hopefully soon I'll have more to show for that to you, my readers! I can't wait to share more!

Thanks for checking in,
-Lynnea

I Believe

I believe.

These are words that are relevant  at different times in our lives.

When we are children and we reach an age where we are told Santa and the Easter Bunny (or even the Tooth Fairy) aren't real.

We have a choice, Do we believe?

Yes. I believe.

I'm 31 years old and I believe in Santa, I believe in the Easter Bunny. I Believe in magic. Not in the same way as I did when I was a child. I believe in the magic, in the spirit, in the MEANING of these things. I believe for my children, I believe for myself. I believe.

More than that, I chose to believe in God long ago. I was 8 years old when I asked Christ into my heart when I got the question "Do you Believe?" and I said "YES!"

I was recently introduced to a movie called Do You Believe and it forced me to look at my life, to answer that question of belief.  I answered Yes. With all of my heart I believe. No matter what, I BELIEVE.

Through out my life there were smaller questions of belief.
 These are the questions I want to focus on today.

I believe everything will be okay. In this life... well... LIFE HAPPENS. Things go wrong, struggles appear, yet everything SOME HOW will be okay. Why do I believe this?

When my father died, I thought my world was ending. He was the parent I was closest to. We rarely clashed and I loved him very dearly. I entered a depression that I thought I'd never leave. I wanted to die. Then little things woke me up. Some more amusing than others.

I went to the hospital after Dad died, problems with my healthy, and my mother and I were awakened by something. The hospital had not just my father marked as dead but when he died they marked me as dead too! I was quite literally a "Dead girl walking" They fixed it quite easily but the point was that it woke me up and made me realize I didn't TRULY want to die. I still had someone to be there for, my mother. who would be crushed if I left her too. I laugh at it now, I laughed at it then, but it still woke me up!

In the midst of it all, I was being bullied at school, by students and teachers. I needed out. I had befriended a person that was homeschooled. I decided to be homeschooled for a while too. Being homeschooled for nearly a year and a half, getting a different experience, woke me up.

Years later I was diagnosed with a disorder I had since birth, all the while being told I would amount to nothing.

I've overcome many things my disorder could keep me from. I got a college education, I found true love, I have 3 wonderful step children. I amount to many things, I'm also an author. Everything has turned out just fine. AND My mother is now my best friend!

So yes, I believe. I believe strong.

I also believe in more than just doctors. My experience of doctors says that they don't care like they used to. They think more about being a liability and less about helping their patient. My Aunt Liz and I both say something "They treat the symptoms not the cause of the symptoms. Not the real problem." That is our experience and the experience of many others.

So myself and others take things into their own hands. Not badly, research is done. I started using Herbs a few years ago when I had horrible migraines and none of their prescription meds were helping. I took feverfew and it was the only thing that helped. So what do I believe in? Natural remedies.

I've recently discovered essential oils and we use them in our home, diffuse them, use them topically but it's helped with our sinuses, headaches, and insomnia. 

My husband who has tried many things for sleep has found that essential oils are the best thing for him.

I believe in the big things and the small things. I believe that essential oils are good for health and cleaning and a little bit of everything.

So I declare this about all that I believe.
"  Yes, I believe
I believe with all that is in me
Yes, I believe
Though the world rises up against me
I will be faithful
To the choice I have made
I am determined
I will not be ashamed
To live so the whole world can see
That yes, I believe" -Yes, I believe by Point of Grace.

Love or... not?

Alright so I had fully planned on saving this post as a joint thing with a couple of my friends from college. I still REALLY want to do that but this subject has come up again a LOT and it's time I touch on it even a little bit.

It's no secret I'm a newlywed. 6 months into my marriage and I love my husband more every single day.

Do we fight? Of course! It would be unhealthy if we didn't!
Do we disagree? Honestly, we disagree MORE than we fight! lol
Do we have our problems? YES!

Do we let that get between us? NO.

If you think this is one of those marriage advice blog posts you are one of the few people that don't know me who read this. Keep reading, I promise it wont be that bad!

So I'm a newlywed, what do I know about seasoned, weathered marriages? A little more than you may think. I'm a proud people watcher, I'm also a proud learner from my own mistakes as well as the mistakes of others.

My dad used to say "There are too many mistakes to make in this life to make them all yourself. Learn from the mistakes of others as well as your own." I have taken that and run with it.

There is more. I went to a Christian University. Yeah, I know what some of you are thinking, but it was required that we take Marriage & Family. I learned a lot from that course.

But in my short time as a married person I've learned a lot more about love than I could ever imagine.

That brings me to this point, way too many people are getting divorced because they "fell out of love."

Love is not a cloud, or a staircase you can fall from. Love is LOVE. It's an action and a CHOICE.

Do you wake up one morning and say "well it's time for a divorce, I don't love my spouse anymore?" If so... there is a problem here.

What about the marriage vows? In sickness and health? Till Death do us part? Do ANY of these ring a bell? What do they mean?

They mean that it is a PREREQUISITE of marriage to love your spouse no matter what.

Okay, things happen, cheating, abuse... things that shouldn't happen. THOSE THINGS ARENT LOVE! Those things break the marriage vow as much as falling out of love does. Those things are also a whole lot harder to fix, since love IS a choice.

Are there times I want to yell and scream and just go off on my husband? If there wasn't I wouldn't be human. But what do I do instead? I choose to calmly tell him how I'm feeling, and we sit down and talk it out. There is closure and we are fine. I don't stop loving him, because we just fixed the issue.

Know what else I do? Every day I wake up and say "What kind thing can I do to show my husband how much I love him?" It could be something as simple as the dishes, cleaning a room in the house, making him a yummy meal or dessert (my husband likes to fix dinner), I may set up his favorite video game as I hear him come home or attack him with nerf darts. One time I had a candle lit dinner waiting for him, the house spotless, started throwing nerf darts at him when he came in, and had music playing so we could just dance.

And because I make these efforts, so does he. He'll leave me my favorite candy bar with a note where I can see it, he started getting things that I enjoy, as presents for the bad days, just to cheer me up. I was sad over the death of my grandma and he put in Ugly Betty (her favorite show) and watched it with me for like 4 hours!!

We choose to SHOW love every day and because of that we continue to love with a fierce awesomeness.

Please don't fall for the myth that falling out of love is way out of marriage. Sure it is, but is it a good idea?

Trials happen, trouble is around every corner, but you got married, you CHOSE to love that person, keep choosing it!

I hate hearing about divorce but I'm not going to say it shouldn't ever happen. I have known people that were abused for years, and they stayed with the person but it never got better, it only got worse and then they finally got that divorce. It was the best option at that point.

Even with cheating, that's a LACK OF RESPECT for your spouse.

There needs to be two BIG things in a marriage.

LOVE and RESPECT
With that love and respect there should be other big things.
Love and Respect should have communication, trust, kindness, understanding and PATIENCE. (yes faithfulness falls under the trust thing. To have trust there needs to be faithfulness)

There is a biblical scripture. It's said at many weddings and for the Christians reading this I will post it as a reminder but for the non-Christians. 

The recipe that I just gave you is a great thing for a healthy marriage. That being said... sit down with your spouse and make a list like the one above, of the qualities and values that are important to you in a marriage.


Okay so maybe there WAS a little advice. But I wanted this to be more about what I HOPE to see.

I want to see more marriages last. I want others to realize that love is a choice, that falling out of love is just a bad reason for divorce. It just is. If people keep up at this rate, and divorce every time they fall out of love.... pretty soon we'll ALL know 10-12+ friends and family that have been divorced 5+ times just because they fell out of love.

Give love time to grow, because it WILL.

This is love:

1 Corinthians 13
New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Excellence of Love

13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body ^[a]to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, ⁵ does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, ⁶ does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; ^7 [b]bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
⁸ Love never fails; but if there are gifts of ^[c]prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part; ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I ^[d]became a man, I did away with childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror ^[e]dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. ¹³ But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the ^[f]greatest of these is love.
^From BibleGateway

Hopefully my friends and I can join together. They have both been married longer than me so I'd like to get their takes on this all too important subject as well!