Brenda Rodgers

Category: Just Me

  • When You’re About to Have a Baby

    When You’re About to Have a Baby

    Tonight I went to get take-out for dinner for our family. All the way home I cried. Not just a trinkling of tears but tears that cloud your eyes and make your shirt – or in my case belly – all wet. It could have been the song “I Will Never Leave You” on the CD I was listening to that a friend just gave me at my Baby Sprinkling.

    It could have been that two weeks until my due date I can’t walk up stairs without having to stop, my toddler can no longer sit on my lap, or a deep fatigue has set in like I could sleep for days. Or it could have been that I was anticipating what’s to come. The pain. It’s going to hurt. Bad. And that’s scary.

    When You're About to Have a Baby (more…)

  • Being Bold and Standing Up Against Abortion

    Last Tuesday morning I turned the corner onto the street leading to our local library to take my toddler to storytime, and this is what greeted me.

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    It caught me so off guard that I did a quick U-turn in the middle of the street to go back and make sure I saw what I think I saw. That’s when I stopped to take this picture.

    Twenty-seven weeks pregnant myself, I literally started hyperventalating. My whole body shook, I gripped the steering wheel, I couldn’t breathe, and tears barreled down my face. “Oh, Jesus! Oh, Jesus! Come today.” That’s all I could say. (more…)

  • Why We Give Our Daughters Three Names

    You may have gotten a small word that a few weeks ago Prince William and Duchess Kate welcomed their second baby. And like monarchs previous, the new princess received three names – Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.

    Last week we, too, named our second daughter due October 1st. She also has three names and so does our first daughter. Of course in our minds our baby girls are ever as much princesses as Princess Charlotte, but that’s not why we gave them three names. Frankly, our reason is much less romantic than following royal tradition.

    WHY WE GIVE our daughters three names (more…)

  • Egg Salad, Azaleas, Ferns, and the Masters

    This past weekend possibly ended John’s favorite weekend of the year. That is if you don’t count every weekend in the fall that UGA is playing football. Masters weekend.

    For those of you not from the south, or who aren’t remotely interested in golf, the Masters is arguably the most prestigious, and most beautiful, golf tournament of the year. It’s in our home state of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia, where my sister-in-law lives, nonetheless, and in encompasses pretty much everything southern. Including egg salad, azaleas, and ferns.

    Egg Salad, Azaleas, Ferns, and the Masters

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  • What is Your #OneWord365 for 2014?

    A few days ago I was driving in my car listening to the radio. The DJ came on in-between songs and said something like, “Have you heard of choosing one word for your year instead of setting New Year’s resolutions?” It was crazy to me that a movement, I thought started in the blogging world a few years ago, is now on nationally syndicated radio.

    By now you’ve probably heard of #OneWord365 – where you choose one word or one theme for your upcoming year. Maybe it’s something you need to learn or something you want to become or how you want to grow. (more…)

  • The Post Where I Quit {I Mean Surrender}

    I have a problem. I want to do it all. When New Year’s Day approached, and I saw all the wonderful studies and groups and challenges other bloggers were hosting, I wanted to be a part of them too. And in this post I listed all of my challenges resolutions for the year in hopes of doing it all. Sure, I hid them as challenges to not sound so cliché to have resolutions, but that’s exactly what they were – resolutions.

    The day after “New Year, New Challenges” posted I remembered that I have a two month old baby. My first two month old baby.

    And I remembered that we live far away from family and friends, so there’s not a whole lot of help around here.

    And I remembered that my carpet hasn’t been vacuumed in a month. And I barely take a shower everyday. And I’m surviving on only a handful of hours a sleep a night.

    And I remembered my One Word (which I have yet to announce to you because blogging has taken a backseat this week) is Surrender.

    OneWord2013_Surrender

    This year, after my year of Focus in 2012, I am going to Surrender.

    So today, only ten days into the new year, I quit my challenges. Or let’s say I surrender them. Because I can’t do it all.

    Surrendering anything in my life is hard for me. I like to hold on tight because I think it’s my job to do it all, make it all right, fix myself and my surroundings. This is where I try to get my worth.

    I am starting with surrendering my belief that I can do it all or that I have to do it all in order to be worthy.

    This is a lie from the enemy and one that I want demolished as a stronghold in my mind. My worth is not dependent on how many books I read this year or whether I only eat whole foods or even if I read the entire Bible or memorize 24 verses.

    My worth hangs on the Cross. The Cross that Jesus endured. That’s how worthy I am.

    And I surrender any thoughts that tell me otherwise.

    Do you have a One Word for 2013? Please share with us in the comments!