Rejoices over you with singing

 "If you base your value on how you compare to others, you essentially deafen yourself to His voice who “rejoices over you with singing.” Don’t look to the right or left. Look at your Dad up there singing your praises like a crazy person."

~Jennifer Jill Schwirzer

Hello~ It has been a long time since I have had a chance to check in. So on this overcast Friday morning, while my grandson sleeps, I thought I would take a few minutes to say Hi! Things continue to be busy here - We are still plugging away at working on our new chicken coop. We did find out this week that it will probably be February 2023 before we get our baby chicks - but at least we will be prepared.

I have been struggling a bit with depression- it has seemed. I have had moments of overwhelming sadness and feeling very emotional. SO I had to get proactive. I prayed about it and asked God to help me and He encouraged me to do a few things -

• Get better sleep ~ This means make more effort to get exercise every day if possible.
• Start doing a "health bounce" every day~ This means getting my mini trampoline and setting a timer(for now) for 5 minutes and bouncing and moving on it. This is very good for your lymphatic system and working my core and so much more. He has brought this instruction around to me several different times over the last few months and so I am planning to do it every evening for 5 minutes for the month of November and will work up to doing 10 minutes a day in December. I have high hopes of what this will do for my health and fitness.
• Getting to bed earlier~ I had let my bedtime slip too much and had to pull it back. The sleep before midnight is 2 times as important to your body than the sleep after midnight. So going to bed earlier will help.
• Trying to eat healthier - getting more fruits, veggies, beans, legumes, nuts, seeds and grains. When we do this our bodies function much better and our overall health improves and so does our mood. We need nutrition and eating a lot of highly processed foods does not give as much nutrition as what the diet that God has provided. Getting a good amount of fiber is very important for our health and eating more fruits, veggies, legumes, and beans each day helps with this!

These are just the basics of what I have put into practice and this week has gone much better- well once I got past Wednesday. As is usual when you try to follow as the Lord leads - you will probably be attacked and sure enough Wednesday morning was rough. I asked for prayers and thankfully was able to get on track and made the changes necessary to make Thursday and Friday more successful.

Anyway I hope you guys are doing well. If you, too, are having a rough time - take some time to ask God to lead you in what you should do. He is faithful to give us the wisdom we need - we just have to ask and listen. Don't forget to listen. :O)