It's Official!

It took a little bit longer than I intended, but my new blog is officially up and running. I will not be moving my archives from Naturally Chic Mama over to the new space, but I will be leaving this blog as-is, so if you have bookmarked any of my previous posts, you will still find them here, although comments will be closed.

So without further adieu, I invite you to join me over at my new home on the internet...

Always, Amanda

Time for change...

I have been blogging here at Naturally Chic Mama for over two years now. When I started this blog, I was entirely new to the world of blogging – both in reading blogs and having one of my own. This blog has been a journey of self-discovery in many ways. I’m a born people-pleaser and have always gone with the majority on most matters in life.  I have never been one to speak my mind or offer an opinion, so this blog has been a place where I have felt safe to explore my passions and express my uniqueness. At 31, I have finally started to grow comfortable in my own skin, and feel like I have a good understanding of who I am as a person.

As a blogger, I have struggled to find my niche.  If you look back through my archives, you can see my blog content often changing from Natural Parenting to Green Living to Homeschooling to Decorating to Crafts and DIY’s to Faith and then back again. I have a Type A personality and I love categories and nicely organized compartments, and have tried very hard to figure out into which one I best fit. In doing so, I have learned a lot about my strengths and my weaknesses, my likes and my dislikes.

I have learned that I am not a photographer. I have finally accepted the fact that I will never have a beautiful lifestyle blog on Typepad. Other than taking pictures of the little things in life with my iPhone, photography stresses me out. I do not enjoy posting DIY’s, recipes, etc. because those involve a lot of step-by-step photography and I do not have the patience. Although I am homeschooling, I do not enjoy blogging about the details of homeschooling life because I can barely plan out our own weekly learning experiences much less resource everyone else with great printables.  (I hate printables anyway.) And although I try to live green and natural, I am not original in this and most of the things I do can be found on other natural living blogs, so I do not feel the need to reinvent the wheel.

So that leaves me with words. One thing I have learned through all of this is that I love to write. I have always loved reading and fell in love with writing in college, but other than journaling and a few short stories, I never really considered myself a writer. But as I have been blogging, I have discovered that writing is my favorite part of the blogging experience. I love to process my thoughts and organize my ideas. I love to sit in bed at night with the computer on my lap as I tap away at the keys.

Jeff Goins says that Step 1 of “Mastering the Habits of Great Writers” is to declare yourself a writer. So that is what I am doing here today.

I am a writer.

And I am excited to announce that I am currently in the process of moving this blog over to a self-hosted Wordpress site. My blog will have a new name, because although I love the name Naturally Chic Mama, I sometimes feel trapped by it, as though I only need to blog about Natural Living and Natural Parenting. Those are both very much a part of who I am, but just a part. What is true of the whole of who I am is a passion for intentional living in all areas of life, so that will be the common thread woven throughout my new blog.  I have many ideas for posts and series scratched into my notebook, as well as some other big dreams that I will share with you someday soon.

So this site will be quiet for a week or two while I work on getting the new blog ready for you. In the meantime, I have went ahead and changed my Facebook page from “Naturally Chic Mama” to “Amanda Medlin”, and changed my Twitter name from @NaturallyChic_ to @AmandaMedlin_. (Hopefully someday Twitter will release the unused account @AmandaMedlin, but until then, I will live with the underscore.)

If you are a subscriber to Naturally Chic Mama, your subscription should transfer over. (Fingers crossed!) If you have my site bookmarked, I will give you the new web address soon, so that you can bookmark it. If you keep up with my posts on Facebook or Twitter, you won’t have any problems because you will simply be clicking on the links I provide.

I will let you know when the new site is ready, and invite you over to check it out. I am very excited to embark on the next chapter of this journey and I hope that you will stay along for the ride.

Always, 

Amanda

Why Hello There!

So it's been almost a month since my last blog post. It's funny, because if you look back through my archives, you will notice that I always seem to disappear around this time of year because our summer schedule is pretty crazy. But I just wanted to say hi, and give a little update of what we have been up to.

Phillip went on a 10-day mission trip to Jamaica a few weeks ago. It was the longest he has ever been away from me and the boys, and we sure were happy to have him back.

We picked him up on Thursday and then packed up and headed to church camp that Sunday. The boys had a blast. We packed Buddy's scooter and Little Man's fire truck and they rode those things all over the campground. We went swimming everyday and they hung out with the little camp girlfriend.

I was in charge of camp "craft" again this year. Since it is high school camp, I try to come up with things they will think are cool in addition to teaching them a skill that they can take back home with them. This year we made jersey knit bracelets, and they were a huge hit. 

At camp I was able to catch up on some summer reading. I am going through a fiction phase right now and read all three novels by Kate Morton. I absolutely LOVED The Forgotten Garden. It was one of the best novels I have ever read!

We came back from camp that Friday, got a little rest, and then headed up to Tennessee on Saturday to move my sister and her girls back to Georgia to live with us. We turned our large playroom into an apartment of sorts, and we are so happy to have them sharing our home. My sister is my best friend, and her girls are the only cousins my boys have. Every morning the kids wake up so excited to go see if their cousins are awake yet so they can start another day of endless imaginative play. The house is loud and messy and fun, and I love it! I know you are probably curious as to how we arrived at the decision to invite them to move into our home, and I promise I will share that soon. 

After we got them unpacked and settled in, my sister and I decided to have a yard sale this past weekend to get rid of extra things that both of us had, and to make a little money to fund our "natural" kitchen makeover. For a while, I have wanted to get rid of all of the plastics in my kitchen and my non-stick cookware. We did well at the yard sale and already purchased new stainless steel cookware from IKEA and found a nice KitchenAid Food Processor on Craigslist. I plan to reuse glass jars for food storage and for smoothies. Have you seen these adorable mason jar tumblers on etsy? These are definitely on my summer DIY list.

We also made a kitchen compost bucket using these directions and an old animal cracker container from our church nursery that I had been saving for some crafty project. We do not have an outdoor compost bin yet, so right now we are using the dig and drop method behind the shed. Between recycling and composting, using real dishes instead of disposables, and cloth napkins and rags instead of paper towels, it is amazing how long it takes to fill up our kitchen trash now. I think we only had one bag go out last week. 

Saturday we pack up and head to Virginia for a week for our annual youth summer mission trip to work with Hope Charitable Services. Where we are working is only about 45 minutes from VA Beach, so we head over that way anytime we have a break, so it is also kind of feels like vacation. (Except for the 45 minute drive from the beach back to the hotel in a musty church van filled with wet, sandy teenagers.)

So that's a quick update of some of the things we've been up to. I'll try to get back here on a more regular basis when things calm down a bit. Hope you are having a great summer!

Always,

Amanda

I want to be a dangerous woman!

A few months ago, I discovered Lynne Hybels and she has quickly become a woman that I greatly admire. You probably have heard of her husband, Bill, who is the senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church, which happens to be one of the 10 largest churches in the United States. I can only imagine the pressures and expectations placed on her as the pastor's wife of such a large congregation.

She actually writes about her struggles of living a life she thought God demanded, her husband wanted, her kids needed, and her church expected in her book Nice Girls Don't Change the World.

Her book encouraged me so much, because if a pastor's wife of that magnitude can break through ministry stereotypes and expectations to be the unique woman that God created her to be, then surely I can as well!

Her definition of a "nice girl" is one whose behavior is often safe, passive, and people-pleasing. A woman who lives out the script she learned as a child - a script too often grounded in powerlessness. A woman who tends to live according to the will of others.

She writes that the opposite of a nice girl is "a downright dangerous woman. A woman who shows up with everything she is and joins in the battle against whatever opposes the redeeming work of God in our lives and in our world. A dangerous woman delves deeply into the truth of who she is, grounds herself daily in the healing and empowering love of God, and radically engages with the needs of the world....From college students and empty-nesters. Young moms and grandmothers. From women crossing lines of age, race, and culture. Women mentoring one another and sharpening skills. Women volunteering time. Raising money. Thinking creatively. Taking risks. Reinventing their lives. Following their God-given dreams. Dangerous women. World-changing women."

Last week, I wrote about how God is slowly stripping away my image of a "godly woman" and replacing it with His own. She looks a lot like this dangerous woman that Lynne describes.

So today, I join Lynne in claiming her Creed for Dangerous Women.

Dear God, please make us dangerous women.  

May we be women who acknowledge our power to change, and grow, and be radically alive for God. May we be healers of wounds and righters of wrongs.  

May we weep with those who weep and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.  

May we cherish children, embrace the elderly, and empower the poor.  

May we pray deeply and teach wisely.  

May we be strong and gentle leaders.  

May we sing songs of joy and talk down fear.  

May we never hesitate to let passion push us, conviction compel us, and righteous anger energize us.  

May we strike fear into all that is unjust and evil in the world.  

May we dismantle abusive systems and silence lies with truth.  

May we shine like stars in a darkened generation.  

May we overflow with goodness in the name of God and by the power of Jesus.  

And in that name and by that power, may we change the world.  

Dear God, please make us dangerous women. 

Amen.

Lord, please make me a dangerous woman. Amen!

Always, 

Amanda

What Exactly Does a Godly Woman Look Like?

For as long as I can remember, I have prayed "Lord, make me into the woman that you want me to be."

And for as long as I can remember, I have tried to make myself into the woman that I thought the Lord wanted me to be.

And for as long as I can remember, I have felt like a failure at being the woman that He wants me to be.

And I have recently figured out why that is.

This "godly woman" image that I had in my head, wasn't based on the the Word of God as much as it was based on the women I saw around me. And what I saw around me were beautiful, classy, talented, Southern Christian women. And for as long as I can remember, I have felt like the ugly stepsister trying to fit my big toe in Cinderella's tiny glass slipper. And the shoe just never has fit.

Blame it on my Northern roots...I never have been able to perfect the sweet, Southern drawl.

I'm a low-maintenance, no-bling kind of a girl who prefers thrift stores over Macy's.

I do not sing solo's nor do I play the piano. (Major pastor's wife foul!)

I'm not really a fan of praise and worship music or women's devotionals. I like indie bands and books on theology.

I can't cook a casserole to save my life.

I hate to speak in front of crowds.

I really hate to pray out loud.

Please do not misunderstand me. I do not have a problem with women who are like this. I personally know and have been blessed by many of these women. I am just not one of them. And for a long time I thought that I needed to be.

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There is this wall in the back of my kitchen dining area that was paneling that has been wallpapered and then painted over several times. I want to paint the kitchen, and Phillip has mentioned that we probably need to strip the paint and wallpaper off the paneling first. Ugh. That sounds like a miserable project to me. I would rather just slap on another coat of paint and call it a day. But there are seams in the wallpaper, and parts of it are bubbling. And no matter how much we paint over it, those imperfections will show through.

****************

I feel like my image of a "godly woman" is kind of like that wall. It is layers upon layers of ideas and pictures that have been wallpapered and painted on by the culture around me - American, Christian, and Southern culture. Once again, not bad things, just not necessary things for me to emulate in order to be the woman that God wants me to be.

Over the last few years, I feel like God has patiently taken on the tedious task of stripping away those layers to reveal to me His image of a godly woman. And do you know who she looks like?

Not a woman in a dress suit and heels.

Not a woman who sings beautifully into a microphone.

Not a woman who prays eloquently in front of crowds.

Not the Proverbs 31 "Super Mom".

This woman that God is revealing to me...

She looks a lot like Jesus.

And I desperately want to look like Him.

Always,

Amanda

Sow. Weed. Water. Wait.

As mother’s, we have a tremendous responsibility before us in raising our children. When they are babies, it seems so simple. Hold them, feed them, change them, love them. As they get older, we have to start teaching them right from wrong. Figure out what behaviors we will allow and which ones we won’t allow, and choose how we are going to discipline them for the latter. We start to think about what and how much media we are going to let them be exposed to, and worry about the values we may be teaching them if we let them play with certain toys. Then we began to feel the even deeper responsibilities of passing on our faith and values in an authentic way.

...continue reading at First Day Walking!

Always, 

Amanda

Safe Jesus...An Oxymoron?

You may be wondering what it is that I have been talking about when I have been saying things like..."surrender every area of my life to His Kingdom."

What? Aren't you already a Christian? Isn't your husband a Youth Pastor? Aren't you the Director of Ladies' Ministries at your church? So what big, bad things have you been doing that you need to surrender?

And that's where it gets a little fuzzy in the Christian community. You see, I haven't been doing anything that one would consider "bad" or "rebellious" as a Christian. I have just grown a little too comfortable in my safe and controlled life. I'm afraid that I fit the "Profile of the Lukewarm" that Francis Chan lays out in Chapter Four of Crazy Love. 

"The goals of American Christianity are often a nice marriage, children who don't swear, and good church attendance. Taking the words of Christ literally and seriously is rarely considered. That's for the 'radicals' who are 'unbalanced' and who go 'overboard'. Most of us want a balanced life that we can control, that is safe, and that does not involve suffering."

In that last sentence, I think you could also replace "suffering" with "sacrifice". It seems like it is much more popular these days to talk about how much God wants to bless us, rather than to talk about the things that He is asking us to give up. 

I've had a few conversations lately and it's amazing how tense a conversation can get the minute you start talking about "radical" Christian living. Topics like sharing your home with others, serving the poor, not destroying your body (aka "God's temple") with toxic chemicals found in processed foods and our everyday household products, not destroying God's creation with our overuse of packaging and disposable items, looking into whether or not some of my American conveniences are made possible by the overworked and underpaid in third world countries?  Yeah, talking about those kinds of things will get you some weird looks and will make some people really defensive. And trust me, getting into debates over Scripture on these topics are not my intent. But I'm allowed to wonder and to ask questions...right?

I'm just tired of being too safe and comfortable in my Christian walk, because the Jesus that I read about in the Gospels was not safe, nor was His message one of a comfortable lifestyle. In fact, some of Jesus' teachings were so hard that many disciples turned back and no longer followed Him. (John 6:60-66) 

Derek Webb talks about this on his album called "The House Show". My paraphrase...Often we try to make it our job to make the Gospel easier for us to preach, and easier for other people to hear, in order to not get into trouble, in order to not be confrontational. But you just can't preach the Gospel and not get into trouble, because the cross is both beautiful and offensive, and it must be both. So if we seek to dress it up, or neuter the Gospel, robbing it of it's great offense and therefore it's great beauty, we are not doing anyone any favors. It is not safe to boldly preach the Gospel. This Gospel that we are told will literally set mother against daughter, son against father, not bringing peace but a sword. Dangerous work that we're in as believers, not safe work. Safe is not  a word that should characterize Christians, Jesus, or the Gospel, if it is, then it might not be the Gospel that we are preaching. 

He goes on to talk about Aslan the lion who is the Christ-figure in C.S Lewis's "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". The children go into town to inquire because they are frightened by the sight of Aslan the lion. They ask if he is safe. The response that the children receive is not, "Yes, he's safe. In fact, he's safe for the whole family." :) The response is "No, no he's not safe. But he is good and he's the king."

Jesus is not safe. He is not manageable. He's a wild lion. You can not tame Him. He is not safe. But He is good. And He is King. And you can trust Him. You can trust that He will provide for you what you need as you go out an you seek to tell people about Him. 

The Gospel that we carry is not safe. It is not manageable. It is not efficient. Loving people is not efficient. The Gospel is not safe, but it is good, and it is true. 

Remember how I said that God was replacing my version of what a godly woman looks like with His much more beautiful and complex picture. Well, let me tell you, she is a dangerous woman. 

I'll explain what that means tomorrow...

In the meantime, I encourage you to think about your life. Are there areas where you have grown too comfortable? Is there nothing that you really need to trust God for right now? 

To quote Francis Chan once again...

"Lukewarm people do not live by faith; their lives are structured so they never have to. They don't have to trust God if something unexpected happens - they have their savings account. They don't need God to help them - they have a retirement plan in place. They don't genuinely seek out what life God would have them live - they have life figured and mapped out. They don't depend on God on a daily basis - their refrigerators are full and, for the most part, they are in good health. The truth is, their lives wouldn't look much different if they suddenly stopped believing in God."

If this is you, as it is me, I invite you to take a walk on the wild side.

Always, 

Amanda