She Speaks! Really?

I have always had a dream. A dream to write.

From the moment I won a strawberry-shaped notebook for a second-grade essay, I was hooked.

But speaking in front of people? That was something I never contemplated for one moment growing up.

Writing was easy. It came naturally to me.

Speaking? That would push this natural introvert (with some extrovert characteristics) out of her comfort zone into the harsh, scary spotlight. I’m much more comfortable waxing poetic behind a computer screen, thank you very much.

So, naturally, God clearly called me to add speaking to my ministry about 10 years ago. What was He thinking?

Thankfully, He was merciful to open opportunities gradually – small, informal groups and Bible studies. Receptive, friendly audiences that were too gracious to tell me how lousy I was.

Over the years, the opportunities have grown slowly, along with my confidence level. Sure, I still feel like I’m going to have a heart attack every time I get behind a podium, but I no longer keep defibrillator paddles handy. So that’s progress.

Today, God’s nudging (shoving) me out of my comfort zone in a big way. I’m going to She Speaks, a conference led by Proverbs 31 Ministries for women speakers and writers.

I have to give two short talks in front of professional speakers. And they'll critique me. Gulp.

But something God gave me to say in one of my talks has been giving me some mojo and reminding me what my ministry is all about:

What He calls you to do will always be beyond your abilities. That way He gets the glory.

That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

(I'll probably be in a busy, stress-induced conference haze for a few days, but I will catch up on visiting your blogs when I get back next week!)

Five Reasons I Won't Be the Next Reality Star

Lights. Camera. Action.

Those are three words you won’t be hearing around my house.

Lights? We definitely got ‘em because no one ever turns them off in my house, but at the same time, no one ever admits to leaving them on. Curious.

Cameras? If you count my teenage daughter constantly taking pictures for her Facebook profile, then yes, definitely got them.

Action? I have children. Hello?

But that doesn't mean I'm ready for my closeup. Nope, the in-development reality show Project Mom is not for me. Here are five very good reasons why:

5. Watching me blog in the morning before hair care and sans makeup would be known as a horror flick. That’s a frightening dose of reality no one needs to see.

4. Heidi. Spencer. Enough said.

3. My kids could turn into the Kardashians. And I already have enough trouble "Keepin’ Up" with the drama around my house.

2. With a teenage daughter and a boy about to hit puberty, I’m usually looking to escape reality.

And the Number One reason I won’t be the next reality star is …

I’m already the star of my children’s hearts. (Every teenage girl idolizes her mother. Duh.)

Although reality TV isn't for me, I know so many awesome mamas that are auditioning for Project Mom and I wish them the best! (Theta Mom and Mommyfriend Lori are two that immediately come to mind that would be fantastic representatives of mom bloggers.)

But after witnessing some reality show nightmares over the years, I am concerned about how producers will approach this project and how it could potentially impact the featured bloggers and their families. I love our mom blogging community and hope and pray it turns out to be the realistic, positive, uplifting project that the many amazing mom bloggers – and their families -- deserve.

By the way, you'll want to read my bloggy friend Michele’s post on this same subject (we each wrote about it without knowing the other was) at The Professional Family Manager. She has a very insightful and interesting viewpoint!

Tweet Me Tuesday: Monitter Key Word Search Tool

Don’t you love it when you meet someone who speaks your language?

You know what I mean. You meet someone and soon find you have common interests and enjoy talking about the same subjects.

Well, I’ve found a very cool Twitter tool that helps you find those kindred spirits!

Monitter is a key word tracking tool that you're going to love. All you do is type in key words (for example: parenting, perfectionism or motherhood) and Monitter will show you a live stream of all the Twitter peeps who are currently talking about those subjects. Then you can jump in on the conversation!

It will also show you what key words that are really "hot" at any given moment.

Monitter allows you to even narrow your tracking so you can see the people in your area who are using your key words in their tweets.

There are several reasons why tracking key words can be valuable:

1.) As mentioned above, it can help you find new peeps to follow.

2.) If you regularly jump in on conversations about your areas of interest you build your name recognition and blog recognition on these subjects. This contributes to building your “brand” and perception as an expert on these topics.

3.) It’s helpful in attracting quality followers and building a receptive, target audience for your tweets and links. This can also be very helpful in building your blog following.

So go and give it a try! It’s super easy to use, but I’ll warn you: This may feed your Twitter addiction. ;0)

Okay, now on to Tweet Me Tuesday...

• Tweet this post! Then visit Kristen at MamaBytes. (Her blog has a new name and look! It's fabulous!) She is my wonderful co-host in this Blog Hop!

• Link up a post you’d like Tweeted using Linky Tools below. It can either be your most recent post or an older, favorite post you'd like to share with a new audience.

• Follow me and Kristen on Twitter! (if you’re not already)

• Visit the links below and Tweet as many posts as you'd like (linked below).

• Follow as many of these bloggers as you’d like on Twitter. (You can follow their blogs, too.)

• When you Tweet a blogger’s post, leave a comment telling them you tweeted it as part of Tweet Me Tuesday.

If you tweet at us/about us/for Tweet Me Tuesday please use the hashtag #TMT. It makes it easier for us to find your tweets! Not sure about hashtags? See Kristen's post.

Finally, please remember that Tweet Me Tuesday is about Linky Love! Please don't just leave you link and fly off! Visit as many of the others listed as you can. The more you interact with others, the more benefit to everyone.



<a href="http://parentingconfessions.blogspot.com/2010/03/tweet-me-tuesday.html"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Fvw3azj43OY/S3v5FXmOuoI/AAAAAAAAAmo/bv0vPeeZoQI/S1004-R/tweet-button.png" alt="Tweet Me Tuesday" width="178" height="170" /></a>



Alright -- get to tweeting!

Hooked on a Feeling

“This is the worst day of my life!” My teenage daughter was at the brink of despair. What inspired gloom of such apocalyptic proportions?

Brace yourself.

The airplane we were taking to our fun-filled vacation didn’t have Wi-Fi.

Earlier in the week, she could barely contain her excitement and spontaneously declared me to be “The Best Mom in the World.” What stirred such unrestrained elation and adoration?

I told her I’d buy Quiznos for her and her friend.

Emotions can be so unpredictable and irrational. It occurred to me recently that they’re a lot like that leaking oil well in the Gulf. They can explode spontaneously, are difficult to contain and have the power to create a mess that can cause irreparable damage and is nearly impossible to clean up.

And teenagers aren’t the only ones who have dizzying, inexplicable swings of highs and lows.

Although I won’t go all Lindsay Lohan on you, I have a hard time containing my emotions, too. Since I’ve become a parent, I’ve found that children can inspire a wide range of emotions all within about a 10-second period. And emotions are a wonderful thing. Life would seem pretty dull and meaningless without them. Where it can get dangerous – especially in parenting – is when we’re led by our emotions.

Emotions can lie to us and cause us to act on things that aren’t true.

Here are a few of the emotions that bubbled up and caused some messy cleanups in my family:

Fear. I think this emotion is the most common one moms experience. We worry about our kids. Fear for their safety. But, if we’re honest, most of us have a fear of losing their love – even for a moment. That fear has led me to say “yes” to things I should have said “no” to – and I’ve paid the price for that more than once.

Frustration. Everyone should do things the way that I do them. My kids have never quite jumped on that bandwagon. So Little Miss Perfection here has had to learn that children have their own unique personalities and do things their own way. And they're prone to making mistakes. Which is how they learn.

Embarrassment. I used to go a little bonkers when my kids embarrassed me in public. For me, anyway, this was a little something called PRIDE. I was far less concerned about my kids’ behavior as I was about my “image.” People will think I'm a bad mother! As God changed my perspective, I quit worrying so much about what people thought. It was NOT an overnight process. I had to admit my pride problem, pray A LOT and ask forgiveness – from Him and my kids when I messed up.

Finally, ANGER. I learned through a wise counseling friend that anger is always a secondary emotion. Anger is usually spurred by the primary emotions of hurt, fear and frustration. When we acknowledge and address those emotions, we are much better at taming our anger. That has certainly been the case for me.

We’ll never completely tame our wayward emotions. But we can learn to recognize when they are unhealthy and choose not to act on them. Although I still struggle, I’m living proof that progress in this area can be made with God’s help.

He’s the Master at containment and cleanup.

I'm the Featured Blogger at Theta Mom!

Welcome fellow ThetaMoms! Come on in, relax, put your feet up and let it all hang out! I sure do. Every parent deserves a safe place to confess their shortcomings without fear of being put in “time out.” If you’re in need of a parental pep talk and some cathartic confessing, then you’ve definitely come to the right blog.

Heather of ThetaMom is all about being authentic, too. So, I was thrilled and honored when I got an email asking me if I would be this week’s TMC Featured Blogger!

Heather is one of the first moms I “met” on my blogging journey. I immediately connected with her mission and honest revelations about the challenges of motherhood. ThetaMom and the awesome community she has created has been a huge encouragement to me over this past year, both in blogging and motherhood. She is incredibly deserving of her explosive success!

For those of you who don’t know me, I thought I’d highlight a few of my “confessions” over the past year:

1. The Shirt Heard ‘Round the World (or at least the neighborhood). I always thought I’d give my kids the shirt off my back. Apparently not. At least not one I haven’t worn first.

2. Finding Community at Kmart. An embarrassing parenting failure led me to finding grace and community in the unlikeliest of places.

3. Christmas in July? I love Christmastime. I’m just not very good at it. Could planning ahead save me from a repeat of my family’s infamous “shoebox incident”?

4. Pardon the Interruption. I recently ate lunch with a table full of men that did not include my husband. He didn’t mind, though. Sometimes you have to just stop and smell the roll-ups.

5. 5 Ways My Teen Girls Has Saved Me. Teen girls can get a bad rap. I’ve found a few ways the beautiful, but challenging, girl in my life has actually saved me from fashion faux pas and other imminent disasters.

6. My Miracle Boy. Ten years ago, I didn't know what the future would hold for my little man. But God's blessed us with an amazing decade with our boy.

I’d also love it if you’d check out my weekly blog hop Tweet Me Tuesday that I co-host with my blogging buddy Kristen from MamaBytes! You can link up your posts and get them tweeted, as well as gain new Twitter followers. Kristen also hosts a great new meme called Facebook Friday that will help you gain more Facebook "likes"! Plus, she's just an awesome mama ... you should check her out!

I'm so glad you stopped by! Please be sure to leave a comment so I can return the favor!