This week, I swapped questions for Ask Away Friday with Rea, who blogs over at Blissful Snapshots. She is a blogger who lives in Cebu, Philippines and enjoys photography. You won’t be disappointed! She is very interesting and her page is beautiful. When you get done here, hop over and check out the questions I asked her and how she answered.
To learn more about Ask Away Friday, or to join in on the fun if you’re a blogger, check out the Facebook page.
1) How long have you been blogging? What do you think is the most important thing you’ve learned through blogging? I have been blogging for about 5 months. I started my blog back in September of 2014. I think the most important thing I have learned so far is how to actually start a blog! I use self-hosted WordPress, and although I have heard it is one of the easiest platforms, I had a hard time figuring it out at first. I was almost in tears a couple times! But I pressed on and got it figured out. Somewhat. There is still quite a bit I don’t know and I’m sure I’m not using it to it’s full capacity, but the important thing is I am learning. I’ve already learned so much these last 5 months that would have been mind boggling to me a year ago. I like that I am learning and improving instead of just staying stagnant in my knowledge and skills. Plus blogging has given me the creative outlet that I craved for so long.
2) What is something you don’t like about blogging? I think I would have to say all the technical aspects. I would love to just sit and write and have someone else deal with plug-ins and design and all that fun stuff. But like I said it is a learning experience!
3) You talk about essential oils a lot on your blog. What made you so drawn into them? My son and I were both having some health issues last year-mine related to pregnancy and his related to the seasons-and after much research I decided to give essential oils a try. Since then, I have been using them for almost everything and been able to replace so many chemical substances that we were using in our home and putting in/on our bodies. I am still regularly amazed by how well they work! Like, I will try an essential oil for something new, and then want to tell everyone I know how well it worked, because in the back of my mind I still don’t expect them to, even though I know better. In the past few months it has turned into a business for me, which has grown out of just sharing my love of these oils with people I know and the online community. For years I had been looking for a way to bring in some extra income for our family, since we have been a single income family for so long while I have stayed home to raise and homeschool our children. At first, it was just sharing with a few people a month, which enabled me to pay for my oils, and recently I have even started making more to begin to profit from it. Young Living is such a great company, and there is huge income potential here as it is a rapidly expanding business! And I have found it to be a great way to monetize my blog, with a very generous commission. It has helped my family health wise and finance wise. If there is anyone reading this that would like to know more about essential oils either for personal use or business, please contact me and let me help you to change your life for the better!
4) Complete this sentence. I wish someone told me that motherhood is ________________. So hard! In every way possible. And I don’t mean just because of the constant messes to clean up and fights to stop and meals to cook. I mean it is hard way down in your heart and soul. I am always worrying about whether I am doing it right, and if my kids are going to be psychologically damaged because of mistakes I made raising them. Am I teaching them everything they need to know to get by and be successful in life? Am I being too hard on them? Too soft? Too distracted? Too indulging? Most importantly, am I raising them in such a way that they will choose to live their lives for Jesus and discover what He has for them? Am I instilling enough love and courage to get them through the hard ships they will face one day? Will they look back on me and know I loved them and did my best or will they see only my failures? These are all thoughts I have daily and I just hope I get it right. Or right enough. I pray for Jesus to fill in the areas I lack, I know there are so many!
5) With 5 kids around, I bet it’s tough to do things at home. What activity do you never procrastinate on? Grocery shopping. 5 hungry mouths make for 5 cranky kiddos!
6) What does a normal day in your house looks like? Depends if it’s a good day or a bad day! On a good day, I get up about 5:30, spend some time in my Bible and prayer, then do a few blogging related tasks, start a load of laundry and decide what to make for dinner all before the kids get up. Then I’ll be ready to serve them breakfast around 7, and we will do some chores and start school by 9. We usually have snack about 10:30 and I let the kids play outside for 20 minutes, then we finish up school and lunch around 12. After lunch we will read from our chapter book, and then the little ones go down for nap and mommy and the big kids have quiet time, which depending on my energy level I will either read, blog, do chores, or take a nap. I pick my teenager up in the afternoon, and then the rest of the day we hang out, do chores, and prepare dinner. Usually my husband and I watch a show together and go to bed around 11.
On a bad day, all that is thrown out the window and I’m flying by the seat of my pants. Bad days usually happen when the baby decides night time is for play and not for sleep, so mama is TIRED in the morning! Then we get the minimal amount of school done, I do enough housework so it’s not gross in here, and life just kind of happens. I definitely prefer the good days!
7) What song reminds you of your teenage years and why? I really don’t know how to answer this. So many songs elicit so many memories of that time. I can tell you that if I ever hear Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Tom Petty, CCR, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Eagles–no matter the song, a flood of memories fill my brain. And no, I’m not that old! I was just really into classic rock when I was a teen. If you really want to know how old I am, I’ll just say Spice Girls, TLC, and Hanson!
8) What is something you are tired of seeing online? All the 50 Shades controversy! Never read the book, have no desire to see the movie, and I really don’t care about whether everyone else in the world has or has not. There are way bigger issues people! Christians are getting beheaded in Egypt. Babies are being aborted around the world at an alarming rate. Our governing officials in our FREE country seem bound and determined to strip away our rights, one by one. Way bigger issues than some B-grade book and movie. Let’s just all agree to move on from this!
9) Which bible verse can best sum up your life as it is right now? “Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.” -Proverbs 14:4 -No, I’m not calling my children cattle. But seriously, if they weren’t around, my house would be sparkling! But I wouldn’t have all the joy each day to look into their faces and share their lives. I am definitely fine with having toys everywhere and the constant laundry pile and several mouths to feed, because without it all, my heart wouldn’t be as full. Still, I often find myself repeating this verse, especially as I’m scraping noodles off the wall or digging through the trash for my keys.
10) What temptations would you be better off removing from your life? Facebook! Such a time waster. Don’t you agree?
I hope you enjoyed this little snapshot into my life. I’d love to hear your answers to some of these questions in the comments section!
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