Emily Groth

Emily is a Pastor’s wife and they are headed to the mission field in Belize. She has four children which she homeschools. Outside of blogging her other hobbies include coffee, yoga, hiking, music and dance, although her 8-year-old thinks she is too old to dance, she shows them otherwise. Emily has a love for words and you can find her blog at proverbiallyemily.com.
Not going to sugar coat it, when it comes to Holiday Traditions I’m one cynical sister. At least the ones that come with large consumeristic attachments…these ones often leave us wanting more before we’re even grateful for what’s set before us. Holiday traditions can also carry an emotional weight when we’ve experienced something tragic in and or around a holiday.

Perhaps it’s a first holiday, with holiday traditions that someone isn’t there for. Or perhaps it’s a love gone wrong that leaves us cynical about that holiday for years to come. Maybe it’s a bit of a mixture of all of them.

There isn’t one holiday tradition that I’ve clinged to year after year.
I’m a sucker for those cute signs one hangs in their house, like; Home Sweet Home or Home is where the heart is…but those signs, as cute as they are, are just one more thing.

In all seriousness, what does Home Sweet Home mean to you?
What do you define as home, where do you define as home?


These days those signs might be more accurately read.

Home is where all my stuff is.
Home is where I hole up after work.
Home is where I binge watch… and the like.
This is what I’ve learned about marriage in my 13 years as a spouse. It isn’t always easy.

You take two people from entirely different backgrounds and place them into a home together. Each has a different job, social circle, friends, and hobbies before entering each other’s orbit. You have two separate lives coming into one. That is supposed to be picture-perfect and run smoothly. According to the world, yes.

The world tells us it should be easy, and if it’s not…

Well, if it's not perfect you can just try again. The world will tell you it’s okay, give up
It was time. I could sense myself getting overwhelmed in life. To the point that I’d turned to mindless scrolling to curb the overwhelming feelings I was having.

Sometimes when I have too much on my plate I can’t pick a starting point. Or, I start everything on my list and end up in bigger chaos. This past November, we had a lot going on with interviewing for future jobs post-seminary (my husband is a 4th year student). We were in a busy time of year with homeschooling and Jason’s class load being heavy, in addition to our outside meetings.

I just started to feel the pressure of the pile-on. So, I
Anxiety is the same for every person. At its core, anxiety is the feeling of uneasiness, a worry of the unknown. However, anxiety can manifest differently in each person, as we are all created differently, and it makes sense that we would all deal differently as well.

I can’t speak for you, but I’ve noticed that I myself tend to deal with anxiety in a worldly way.

We can google just about any situation and have an answer pop up within seconds. While this may give us a momentary relief or answer, how are we to know this is an answer that is indeed intended for us?
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I struggle to pray. I am easily distracted, also known as a person with attention deficit disorder. I also have four children ranging between the ages of 4 to 11 who take up about 98% of my time.

I’m also a perfectionist. It helps control my ADD tendencies with lists, timelines, and order. All of this to say, prayer is hard for me.

The perfectionist in me says it has to be done properly. Properly to me is that of Matthew 6:6 ~ But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
If only parenting came with a “how-to” manual or a training guide. You can read all of the books out there on the market, and yet when that day comes, you may remember a nugget or two on the “how-to” that you’ve pocketed for later, but most likely, you’re going off of instinct. You start to just do. It’s trial and error day by day. This is what comes naturally.

However, there will be days you may think to yourself “Oh my goodness” …

-I totally failed
-That did not go as planned
-I’ve messed this kid/these kids up
I don’t know about you, but I tend to live life to the fullest.

Or rather, I fill my life too full. It’s an auto-pilot thing for me.

If I’ve got time, I’ve got space to fill that time.

Maybe you can relate, or maybe you view busyness in a slightly different way, but would still like to let go of some of what holds you captive. I mean, keeps you busy…

I once would have told you “There is no such thing as being too busy” or that “multitasking can add