The Best Way to Start a Revolution

You want to be a rebel?

You want to start a revolution?

People need purpose.

Without purpose people perish or get “judge-y” and uncool.

Your purpose doesn’t have to be the axis of a major market or the defining word on federal law. It can be as simple as selling boiled peanuts at the Piggly Wiggly in the backwoods of Alabama. Worth, real worth, is not measured by monetary value or pedigree, class or corporate status. Rather it is determined by how much of ourselves we are willing to surrender to our commission, to our daily, boring, ordinary jobs. Worth is, or at least should be, measured by our faithfulness.

10 Attributes of the Fierce, Fearless Femina

10.) She’s meek.

She’s powerful, but self controlled. But her whit and wisdom keep her power in check, she keeps a tight reign on her force. She understands that power restrained builds empires, where unleashed force can only destroy.

(Didn’t you see Frozen? Yeah, don’t let that go…)

9.) She has a plan.

She’s not out there living willy nilly, hoping that good things happen. She knows what she wants. She has goals, a vision and nothing is going to stop her. She has an in-writing, achievable timeline for getting what she wants.

Where is Somewhere?

Posted by Olivia

After writing, From a Homeschooler Who Obviously Survived, I’ve received a lot of commentary on the subject of life after schooling. My favorite comment so far has been this:

“What I want to know is does the author have a real job, with benefits that’s going somewhere?”

When I read this, I was excited for two reasons. Firstly, it gave me reason to reevaluate my plan. My 5 year and 10 year plans are detailed road maps to my somewhere. While my two jobs (between 70-80 hours a week), two bi weekly cleaning jobs, monthly non profit work on the board of directors of a crisis pregnancy center and my other ventures may not seem glamorous right now, they are in fact a calculated, well thought out part of my plan.

From a Homeschool Victim Who Obviously Survived

Disclaimer: This post is not meant to discredit real abuse. Real abuse happens within all walks of life. It does need to be addressed and dealt with - with punishment for the offender and healing for the very real victim. But this post is a satire about a life that often seems hard and unfair. What child does not think life is unfair at times?

Six years have passed since I graduated from what I have been trained to call formal education. I was taught that education was about more than the books and grades, so we called our curriculum, our scheduled learning, “formal education”. It is all documented in those records we kept, just in case anyone accused us of not doing real school.

Cloaks of Piety and Weeds that Kill

A little honesty and a confessing of sins from Olivia. She gave me permission to share this publicly, because this is something we all struggle with!

Long week. Discovered (again) it isn’t the grand stand, the ultimate martyrdom that’ll kills you. It’s the hundred little battles, fought daily, mostly unseen and unheard; those little battles lost.

The devil is a patient adversary. He knows it’s the tiny trips, the secret sins that do you in. They break you. A little jealousy here, a little lust there. “I’m not hurting anyone…” Secret sin. Hiding under a cloak of piety.

5 Generations in a 90 Year Span

This is my grandmother and her great-great granddaughter.

There is a 90 year life span between them.

Olivia took a bunch of wonderful family pictures yesterday as we try to capture some fleeting time.

Newborn babies and old age… they are sobering to this fast-paced life we live.

These feet, these beautiful feet!

They already bring Good News, news that God is faithful.

THIS is How You Teach Skill and Confidence

Last Saturday morning Jeff and I, along with my mother and grandmother who are visiting for a couple of months, received these special invitations on the piano.

Olivia and the children went shopping and when they got home they required us to stay in a bedroom for a few hours. So I piled up on the bed with the laptop and made the best of the afternoon.

THEY WERE SO EXCITED as they worked!

No More Wasted Years - Olivia Brodock

You’ve graduated….now what?

Maybe you are about to graduate, but you know college is not for you… and it’s not for most of us!

As a single young woman are you searching for where you fit in your family or community without compromising Biblical convictions?

Are you constantly asked, “So now what are you going to do?”

Don’t settle for normal. Don’t waste your time.

Pizza Paloozza - A Sister’s Competition

Emma challenged Olivia in a homemade pizza competition.

Remember…Emma lives across the road with her new husband, so that makes these spur of the moment get together’s possible.

(Emma’s toppings)

So the sisters got busy, making up dough, each in their own kitchens. They made their sauces and started chopping fresh toppings.

Olivia and Cherish harvested some fresh herbs from the herb garden.

I wish I would have known…

As a writer and speaker I have heard ladies say so many times, “I wish I would have known …(insert regret)… when I was younger.”

Oh, and how often I have said that myself, especially since I was not raised in a Christian home.

I always have this feeling that I am making up for lost time, for things I was never taught as a girl. But mostly I feel like I am swimming upstream as I am working at changing my worldview. Learning new skills are not near as difficult as breaking loose from faulty thinking.