Negative Nancy

Ahhhh people.  Don't you just love them?  Most of the time, I do.  I really do.  I love getting to know people, hearing their stories, making friends, everything.  But every once in a while.  Every once in a while, you come across someone who just ruffles your feathers a little.

That's what I'm feeling right now.

I came across this blog today, and it just isn't sitting with me well.  Before I begin, let me clarify, my intention is not to badmouth someone else.  My intention is just to make you think about the things you say or the attitude you have, and really the affect they may have on those around you.

Anyways, back to the blog.

It starts by saying, "For all you ladies out there trying to get pregnant, stop!  Pregnancy is nothing but horrible and it takes up all your energy."  Immediately, I was annoyed.  But I thought maybe there was more to the story.  So I kept reading.

It goes on to talk about the weight that's been gained.  The uncomfortableness that she feels.  And that lack of sexy that she's bringing to the bedroom.  <--- (A little too personal in my opinion, but hey, that's just me ;)).  She ends by saying to be weary of being pregnant, because it's not the bees knees.

Ok.  I get it.  Being pregnant may not be the most comfortable, fun, or attractive thing you can experience as a woman.  But I guarantee you that someone *raises hand*, somewhere would gladly take the weight, the discomfort, and the unattractiveness that 9 months brings if it meant that they could bring a sweet baby home at the end of it all.

Again, my point is not to demean her or say that she shouldn't feel a certain way.  But it is an eye opener to me, to her (if she ever happened to read this for some reason), to everyone.

It's SO easy to find the negative in a situation.

I wish S and I hadn't been in an accident.
I wish our car wasn't totaled.
I wish he wouldn't be working ridiculous hours so I barely see him.
I wish we didn't have loans to pay off and bills that never seem to end.

Do I wish things were different?  Sure.  Of course!

Or.

Or I could say, I'm thankful that despite our accident, we were both ok.
I'm thankful that despite our 7 month old (to us) car being totaled, we've been able to get a new car in its place.
I'm thankful that despite S working long hours so I barely see him, we're blessed he has a job at all.  I'm thankful that despite the loans and bills we have to pay, at least we have the money to pay them every month.

There's always somebody out there who will have it "worse."  I would give more than anything to be sitting here 23 weeks pregnant instead of having to say 4 months ago I lost my baby.  But that's not my reality.  That's not my story.

This is exactly what I've been working on lately.  Finding the positive in any given situation.  I may not love all the things I go through, the experiences I have, but I can find something, no matter how small, in every situation to be thankful for.

Just remember, every time you complain about something, there's somebody out there who is wishing that was them.

Here's to starting a new week and learning to be thankful in everything!  (Philippians 4:6)

Love,

Mrs. Seidler      

Crash the Chatterbox

Have you ever seen, done, or read something that you felt like you just had to share it with other people?  When I moved to NY and found a hair salon I loved, I felt like I needed to share it.  With everyone I know.  And now, when other wives ask where's a good place to get their hair done, because let's be honest, we all know the importance of a good hairdresser, I tell them.  I don't keep it a secret.  I want everyone to know and love it as much as I do.

I've missed a couple Sunday's at church the last few weeks, and I was feeling like I just needed to hear some good ole fashioned truth preaching.  I have listened to Steven Furtick from Elevation Church several times in the past, so I went right to him.  I came across his most recent series that's going on now, Crash the Chatterbox.  The intro to the series immediately spoke to me.

"We live in a world full of chatter. Lies of condemnation, fear, insecurity, and discouragement bombard us every day. These lies keep us from hearing God's voice and realizing the full purpose He has for our lives. But what can we do about it? How can we silence the enemy and discern God's voice above all others? In this series, we'll learn how to crash the Chatterbox with the promises of God, and embrace the freedom found only in Him."

Without knowing too much more, I sat and listened with tears rolling down my cheeks to 45 minutes of good, solid truth.  I wanted more though.  Not that it wasn't enough.  It was!  I just wanted more of it.  It was that good.  

So today I bought his book, appropriately titled, Crash the Chatterbox: Hearing God's Voice Above All Others.  I was only 6 pages in when the first tears fell.  One line, seven words.  That's all it took.

"But God is faithful to speak too."

The premise of the series and book is that we constantly have chatter going on inside us.  Lies, fear, insecurities, discouragement, negative thoughts.  We are in a constant battle of keeping ourselves afloat among all of this, but often times failing.  Drowning in the negativity that we allow ourselves to believe.  

In the book he talks about his flight landing in the city where he was starting his new church.  There was a sunset that, as he puts it, "Was a glowing visual that set the scene for God to speak to my heart."  He goes on to say, "The part I'm sure of is that I heard God encouraging me at a time when I really needed it."  I thought back to almost four months ago, as S and I left the hospital following the news of a miscarriage and there was a rainbow in the sky.  In that moment, God knew just what I needed.  Even to this day it is a reminder to me that something beautiful will come out of that tragedy.  God was faithful to speak that day.  No, it was an audible voice.  But it was enough to reassure me that God was there, and He had a plan.  

Since that day I have struggled immensely with negative thoughts.  Allowing myself to believe that I will never have a baby.  I will never get to be a mom.  I will never get pregnant again.  The list of reasons why is numerous.  The words that I listed to in those 45 minutes during the first part of Crash the Chatterbox helped me to see that not only are they lies, but that I don't have to believe them.  One last quote from the book helped solidify that idea.  

"Yet everything changed when I began to realize God has given us the ability to choose the dialogue we believe and respond to."

We are constantly fed lies about ourselves, about others, about everything in life.  But we don't have to believe them.  Once we choose to believe truth, our lives will be forever changed.

Happy hump day!

Love, Mrs. Seidler

R.I.P. Hyundai Sonata

It's been a tough week around here.

I was hoping that with a new year, and a much better January than last year brought, that 2014 would be a good year.  Unfortunately, so far, we're off to a rough start.

On Monday night, in a series of unfortunate events, our night resulted in getting into an accident.  We were driving down a road when another car pulled out from our right side to make a left hand turn in front of us.  The results were two very banged up people and one very banged up car.  Sadly, we just bought the Sonata in January.  Needless to say, this is basically the last thing we wanted to happen right now.  As many people keep reminding us, thankfully, we both came out mostly ok.  For that we know we are incredibly blessed, but nonetheless, it's been 4 days of bad news.

Yesterday we were able to see our car for the first time since Monday.  It didn't look as bad as we thought it would, but with both airbags having deployed, we're being told we should probably expect it to be totaled.  Nothing official has been done yet though.

We're praying that this all works out, and that this won't put us in debt even further than we were.  A huge thank you to everyone who has offered help, kind words, and prayers over the last several days. We're so thankful for the support system we have!

Love,

Mrs. Seidler

New e-mail, new blog

Well.  I'm really sad.  My old blog is gone.  I had to get a new e-mail, and in the process gmail makes me lose my blog and all things associated as well.  <insert sad face here> But, life goes on.  So I made a new blog, and we're up and running again.  It's actually perfect timing, because today has been a good day in the Seidler household.  

Starting a new blog this year is ironic, because at almost this exact time last year I was starting a blog about the upcoming deployment.  I can't say for sure, but I can almost guarantee it was a sappy story about not wanting him to leave for 9 months.  It seems fitting that the new blog starts off on a happy note!

Last week I had entered a contest to win a prop for newborn shoots.  One of my friends had tagged me in the post knowing I'm a photographer.  Yay for friends looking out for each other! :)  

Well.... I WON!  And I never hardly ever win anything.  Seriously.  It works out perfect too since I'm waiting on one of my client's sweet baby girl to be born in the next few days!

Then S came home to grab something at lunch and said he is getting an award for everything he's been doing this past week at work.  So proud of that husband of mine!

And lastly.  There has been a campaign ad going on in Times Square for Axe body products called Kiss for Peace.  People could send in their pictures, and they would be displayed for everyone to see.  One of my client's sent in two of her family's pre-deployment pictures that I took!  It was really incredible to be scrolling through Instagram and come across this!  I feel famous.  Well.  Not really.  But I was SUPER excited!

Happy Monday :)

Mrs. Seidler