7 Quick Takes--Reader's Choice!

Thank you, as always, to ConversionDiary for hosting 7 Quick Takes!!

Welcome to a very special edition of 7 Quick Takes, which I have decided to dub "Reader's Choice"!

My friend, Kate, at The Imperfect Catholic and I have been e-mailing back and forth about life as a blogger. We're both fairly new to the blog scene and have been discussing the challenges posed with putting yourself "out there" in plain view. I blog because I WANT to bring a message to the world. The problem is, I'm not always sure WHAT that message is. And I'm not always sure HOW to deliver it.

So today's special edition of Quick Takes is an attempt to build my blog, and to get some input from my readers on what THEY want to hear more about in the life of a "Whatever Works" Mom. Please take the time to comment after and let me know which of the 7 you'd love to hear more about! So, here goes nothing...

~~1~~

Yesterday I participated in a poll with a group of moms I belong to and have "known" (online) for almost two years. It was about the work-life situation at home. (You know, are you a SAHM or a WOHM or a WAHM... how many hours? Is one of you a student? Does your husband WOH, SAH, etc.) I had to create a special category for myself. Out of the almost 100 women who participated, I was the only one who works full-time and has a spouse who works full-time AND part-time. I got a few comments such as, "That makes me exhausted just thinking about it!" Yeah, me, too. But it's how life has always been for us, since day 1 of our marriage (well, sort of--I worked only PT until Bebe was 2). Would you like to hear more about how daily life in such a busy household works?

~~2~~

I'm just emerging from over a week of "food burnout." As I've mentioned in passing, I deal with A LOT of food allergies. (All the Top-8 allergens, plus random ones like squash and green beans, plus I can not eat any raw fruits or vegetables except olives [but are olives even a vegetable?].) Food burnout is pretty common for me and happens every few months. I just wind up eating the same things over and over again, and then I get bored and need to challenge myself to make/try new things (or start making "old" things again). Would you be interested in hearing more about life with so many food allergies, and the answer to the often-asked question, "So, what do you eat??"

~~3~~

I seem to have a mission in life. I mentioned it above when I explained why I started this blog. My mission in life seems to be to use my own life as an example so that others feel as if they're not alone. When I became a youth minister, it was because I wanted youth to feel like just because they were lost and confused, it didn't mean they were bad and faithless. I did that because I had been lost and confused, and I had come out of the darkness. I've participated in a lot of outreach experiences, and I've blogged in the past, all with the same thought in mind: If just ONE person came across my blog, or ONE person interacted with me, and walked away saying, "Hey, I'm not alone," then my mission is accomplished. Because so many times along the way I have felt alone. Would you like to hear more about my "mission"?

~~4~~

During my senior year of college, I was recruited by my hometown parish to run a weekend Confirmation retreat for 10th and 11th graders. I was so excited that I actually CREATED a retreat from scratch, based on Stephen Curtis Chapman's song "The Great Adventure." During the course of the weekend we created maps to document our faith journey. Last night I was thinking about what my "map" would look like today. Would you like to see the map of my faith journey and learn what got me here today?

~~5~~

Besides in my description of D, I don't know if I have mentioned this much, but D is not an American. He is a full-blooded Italian, born and raised in Brazil. I don't think I realized when we were dating, engaged, or even as newlyweds, how that would influence our lives even to the present day. There are challenges that come with being married to someone whose experiences are rooted in something so deeply different than yours, and there are also wonderful blessings that come with an expanded worldview. Would you like to know more about how D and I met, and all of the beauty (and challenges) that have come from being married to a foreigner?

~~6~~

Do you have a "five year plan"? I have always looked at life in terms of "five year plans." I ask myself often, where do I see myself (and us) in five years? There haven't been many times when I have seen our lives as drastically different in five years as I do right now. Would you be interested in hearing about my "five year plan"?

~~7~~

And then, of course, there's faith. I talked about my faith journey in #4, but this is a different spin. I've mentioned my busy life, I've mentioned how my faith has changed in recent years... what I haven't touched much on is how I live my faith in the present, amongst the busy-ness. Would you like to read more about the elements of faith I really enjoy and find easy to incorporate into my life, and the things I struggle with most on a daily basis?

I don't have any comments yet (since this isn't even posted!) but I'd just like to say THANK YOU to everyone who is reading this, and to everyone who replies and gives me a little help along the way. 

And as a reward for reading this far, here's an adorable baby panda...
for no other reason than because it's so cuuuuute!