Have you ever noticed that sometimes you feel super motivated to do ALL THE THINGS and like you can conquer the world… only for all that motivation and enthusiasm to drop off a few weeks later? That’s normal! When I was seventeen, I was in a Lifeway bookstore and happened to come across a book that mentioned cycle syncing. All these years later I remember one thing it said: Two weeks after your period you will feel more outgoing due… Read more »

I always suffer from a large dose of nostalgia around New Year’s. Can you relate? This year on New Year’s Eve, I grabbed my scrapbooks, settled beneath the Christmas tree, and started flipping through them. After I looked through my 2015 cruise scrapbook and then my 2017 Branson scrapbook, I realized that it would have been so cool if I had taken a big vacation in 2019 and scrapbooked about that- just to keep the pattern of going on a… Read more »

Believe me?   I don’t blame you if you don’t haha!   I keep claiming that I’m starting blogging again, and each time I claim this I stop again.   It’s a horrible cycle. One I want to break out of.   I have 12 more days until I get out for summer.   Once June 1st hits, I’m cleaning off the desk in my room that has been collecting clutter ever since I moved and setting up a blogging-haven…. Read more »

I feel guilty about not blogging. I haven’t blogged on a consistent basis since July 2018. That month I had planned to write a bunch of blog posts and schedule them out for that fall… but then my best friend’s apartment burned down and my focus turned from blogging to being with her during that tragic time. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, I’d be worried if my focus had been on blogging rather than on my friend. However, after… Read more »

The lid opened with that delightful “pop” sound and I took a big whiff of the Yankee Candle in the middle of a crowded Walmart. Mmmmm. It smelled so good! I smelled nearly every candle on that aisle and then settled on a coconut one that smelt like summer. I wasn’t allowed to have candles in my on-campus apartment during the school year, so I figured I better enjoy them during the summer. ‘Twas only logical, right? When the school year started again, I… Read more »

When I was in high school, I really liked dystopian novels. You know, like The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Maze Runner, and Delirium (just to name a few). Now that I’m a college grad, I find that my favorite genre of fiction is fairy tale retellings. Yup. You read that right. Fairy tale retellings. Whereas I once loved diving deep into a new sort of society and learning why it was so dysfunctional, now I love returning to the classic stories I… Read more »

Is it just me, or is looking for a modest swimsuit the WORST?! All the modest swimwear tends to play hide-and-go-seek whenever I walk into a store. Seriously! Swimsuit shopping is terrible! For one, finding a suit that fits well is difficult. For two, finding a modest swimsuit is next to impossible nowadays. However, it is not completely impossible, so stay tuned for my best advice about how to stay modest at the pool. First off though, I want to… Read more »

Presently, I am a high school Spanish teacher and I also teach kindergarteners once a week. The other day when I entered a kindergarten classroom, one little five-year-old ran up to me, smiled sweetly, and then exclaimed, “You look fat!” My first reaction was to look down at my clothes, thinking, “Oh no! What am I wearing today?” I saw myself in a pair of navy slacks and a blue shirt with a pale yellow cardigan. An outfit choice I… Read more »

Hey friend! I am so excited to announce that this Wednesday is the start of a 40 day long Facebook live series!! :) This series will cover topics such as prayer, worship, reading the Bible, singleness, dating, sex, etc. I don’t want to give too much away in this post, but I’m super pumped up about it! I will be going live on Facebook around 5 p.m. CST every day Monday-Saturday starting this Wednesday and going until the Saturday before… Read more »

Fun fact about me: I LOVE surveys! I love taking them and hosting them. So thus I take several reader surveys throughout the year. This is Joy Because Grace’s end of the year survey, and I would love, love, LOVE it if you would take a second to fill it out :) The results will let me get to know you a bit, as well as know how to plan out 2018 for Joy Because Grace. You can take the… Read more »