JennieGScott.com - Page 8 of 22 - Enjoying the Journey
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16.01.2017

  My cell phone rang, and when I glanced at the caller, immediately my heart began to pound. The illuminated screen showed the caller was the school district I had just interviewed with, so the news would be either very good or very bad. Either they wanted me or they didn't. This call would tell the tale. I needed a job, and I needed it badly. Years before, I had taught 7th grade English full-time, but when my children were born, I left work to mother them full-time. I loved every minute of being home with them, but my impending divorce and new status as a single mother demanded a paying job. And it demanded it now. I picked up the phone and squeaked out a "Hello" through my quivering voice. The principal I had just spent time with spoke, thanking me for my interest in their teaching position. Then he spoke the word "But," and I knew I wasn't their choice. He kindly explained they had chosen a candidate with more experience, and he wished me luck in the future. I managed to disconnect the call before I burst into tears. Then I wept uncontrollably. The previous eight weeks had been the most excruciating of my...

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13.01.2017

  People on the ol' internet are so clever, y'all. Whenever I see a hilarious meme, I marvel and think, "How did they come up with that?" Clearly, I don't excel in the humor department, so I just appreciate it from afar. Here are five memes that made me LOL. Literally - I chuckled audibly. And finally, my personal favorite: Gotta love them! Enjoy your weekend!...

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11.01.2017

  At 36, my childhood feels like it was a zillion years ago. I remember playing in the creek with other neighborhood kids for hours at a time, heading home only when darkness enveloped the skies, and I remember the hours I spent playing with my Barbies. My childhood included lots of time outdoors, lots of time reading, and lots of fights with my sisters over the bathroom we shared. The world of the 1980s was drastically different from the world around us today, and when I compare my life then with kids' lives now, there are more differences than I can count. I can't help but wonder how different the world will be when my children are adults. If I'm honest, it scares me half to death. I don't want to look back with rose-colored glasses at my childhood and pretend the world had no problems then. Certainly it did. There were actual wars and a cold one, drugs on the streets and blatant discrimination. I remember a hurricane destroying part of my state and a space shuttle exploding before our eyes. People's lives were hard, and the problems they faced then hurt just like the problems we face now. But the world feels more complicated now, doesn't...

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06.01.2017

  Each Friday, I'll be writing a short post sharing five (and only five!) ideas with you. Today is one of my favorite topics - books! (This post contains affiliate links, which help pay for this site and its content.) Here are five I want to read this year: Water from My Heart by Charles Martin. I just finished another of Martin's books, When Crickets Cry, and I LOVED it. I don't know how I haven't read him before! I discovered When Crickets Cry when Kindle had ebooks on sale over Christmas break. I paid just a couple of bucks for it, and I could not stop reading it. I stayed up past midnight and almost woke my husband up with my sobs. I won't ruin it in case you want to read it, but good grief. SO. GOOD. Water from My Heart has a half-star higher rating on Amazon than When Crickets Cry, so I can't wait to read it! Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight. This might seem like an odd choice for me, but I love reading stories of people who been successful in their field, and I can't think of a better example...

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05.01.2017

  We are now a few days into the new year, and I've let the resolutions craze pass. I didn't come up with a list of 20 drastic changes I want to make in this year, and I didn't decide to overhaul my entire lifestyle in one fell swoop. I've done that in the past, and I've always ended up feeling defeated and frustrated. Instead, I'm easing into the new, praying about how I'd like to be different, and asking God to tweak me to be more useful to him. That's it. Sure, I have goals I'd love to see materialize in 2017, and certainly I have habits I want to change, but I'm not falling for the lie that 2017 must be different in every way from 2016. I'm not going to pretend that I have to be a completely different person because it's a new year. I didn't expect to wake up on January 1st and be transformed. A thought that occurred to me as the calendar changed is that while we humans place enormous significance on a new year, God is not limited by our earthly calendar. Our years are days to him, and the stroke of midnight changes nothing about him or...

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03.01.2017

  My daughter hates it when my husband kisses me. Or hugs me. Or dances with me in the kitchen. She huffs in exasperation and always tries to climb between us, saying, "No! My Mommy!" She pushes us apart, rolling her eyes, and is completely disgusted by our physical affection. We think it's hilarious. (So naturally we do it on purpose and make sure she's watching.) I hope it's always like this, with her trying to weasel her way between us as we snuggle and pretending to vomit when we kiss. I'm not sure there's much more I want her to remember from her childhood than that the adults in her house loved each other greatly. My daughter is a child of divorce, and I worry so much about how it will affect her. She was small when it happened, and she and her brother have been incredibly resilient so far. She doesn't remember much from when her dad and I were married, but she's going to remember everything about her stepdad and me. So we're doing all we can to make her memories good ones - including grossing her out when we kiss. I didn't grow up in a demonstrably affectionate family, and I want my kids to...

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01.01.2017

  In my house live a stubbornly independent 11 year old and a precociously rambunctious 10 year old. Add in two set-in-their-way 30-somethings, and you have a delightful recipe for some conflict. We’ve moved past the days of children flinging their food on the floor and splashing in the toilet for fun, and they’ve learned not to hit and bite, but they’re still kids. And that means occasional disobedience, rowdiness, and talking back. The kids act like kids sometimes, so that means they misbehave. And when they do, I feel exhausted and depleted. I feel defeated and ineffective, and I feel like I still - 11 years later - don’t have a clue what I’m doing. (Don’t ask me where I got the idea that raising children would be picturesque and easy - I grew up in a house with four children, and our lives were never reminiscent of Mary Poppins. I guess I thought my unrivaled mothering skills would raise children who were practically perfect in every way.) On the days my children do and say things I’d rather them not, this is what goes through my mind: Um, for real? Have they not lived here their entire lives? Do they think the rules...

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27.12.2016

  When the clock strikes midnight on December 31st, I will have read the entire Bible from beginning to end this year. I made the commitment to stick to it no matter what, and if the last few days of 2016 don't throw me a crazy curve ball, I will have done it. I'm not some kind of super-Christian, and every day hasn't been a gloriously amazing experience where I heard angelic choirs singing as I read. Some days, I wanted to skip it. In some books (Leviticus anyone?), I wanted to pull my hair out. I seriously looked at my husband some days and said things like, "I cannot read one more genealogy. I don't care who begat whom. Why do I need to know the dimensions of this building? How do you pronounce Beninu?" There were days I got frustrated. Times I began to daydream. Moments when I questioned if there was any application to my life. But now that I'm nearly finished, I'm so glad I stuck to the task. Here are some things I learned while reading the entire Bible this year: It's not like reading any other book. Duh, I know, but the app I used skipped around sometimes, and there...

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13.12.2016

  I tell myself I'm a really bad mom because:   I don't make homemade bread for my children's lunches. I didn't deliver my children naturally or without drugs. I don't feed them only organic food. I don't use only natural cleaning products in our home. I let them watch TV so I can have a moment's peace. When they ask if they can have a silly string fight, I say no because I don't want to clean up the mess. When they ask if they can have ice cream after school and before supper, I say yes because I'm too tired to care. I don't force them to make their beds every morning. I make them wear the same pants two days in a row because I forget to turn on the dryer sometimes. I sit on the couch and ask them to bring me a drink. I forget to move the stupid elf. I make them clean their own toilets. I don't give them an allowance. I don't check their homework unless they ask for help. I only breastfed 50% of them. I let them sleep on their bellies as babies. I let my son stay up past his bedtime to...

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13.12.2016

  If you're looking for gift ideas for a book lover this Christmas, look no further! Here's a list of books I have loved. (Some were released this year, and some are oldies but goodies.) Fiction Choices: Sue Monk Kidd's The Invention of Wings - I could not put this one down! Historical fiction centered around slavery in Charleston. Kelli Estes's The Girl Who Wrote in Silk - historical fiction about a Chinese girl's secrets. Fascinating. Page-turner. Loved it. Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale - historical fiction in WWII. I have told everyone I've ever met to read this book. Believe me when I say it's amazing. Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove - an old man alienates and endears his neighbors. I still can't believe how much I liked this one! Kristin Hannah's Winter Garden - the story of sisters who learn about their mother's past when they come together to care for their dying father.   Nonfiction Favorites: Jerry Sittser's A Grace Disguised - perfect for someone who has faced a tragedy and needs a reminder of hope. I wept while reading it. Jessica Turner's The Fringe Hours - for those busy moms who can't find time for themselves. Super practical tips. Sarah...

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