Hi, Love.
I’m Andrea. I’m eclectic and quirky, vintage obsessed, empathetic and a deep feeling human. I’m a mama and wife. I’m also so passionate about how we manage and use our time. Especially when finding your way through motherhood can be so overwhelming.
I grew up near Kansas City, Missouri but now call Grand Junction, Colorado home. I miss the Missouri trees (and all the humans I love there) but the mountains make my heart happy.
My husband and I met at a summer camp in Missouri as counselors. He’s from Australia and yeah, it’s kind of like a cheesy summer romance movie. He’s the love of my life and we recently added this cute little bean to our lives. We are obsessed.
Motherhood has given me so much joy, (and so many bags under my eyes) more joy than I ever thought possible. I’m stronger than I thought, and have been given a purpose I never knew I was searching for.
But it hasn’t always been joyful…
the world needs a you.
I haven’t always had that strength and joy. There have been some dark days, months, years. I’ve always struggled with confidence and knowing where I belonged in the world. Can you relate? One summer, introverted me, decided to apply to be a counselor at a summer camp. It changed my life. God changed my life. I could be silly, I was heard, I was supported and I had value. For the first time in such a long time I could be myself. A Christ-centered community based on intention will do that for you.
I still spent a lot more years in darkness doubting my gifts. Always wondering if maybe God just forgot to give me any at all? Recently I found notes I’d kept from college. All of them were filled with affirmations and encouragement. Filled with people telling me to seek leadership roles, that I was wise and beautiful and worth knowing. It was like my heart was so blocked up with self-doubt that none of it even sort of made it in. I lived a double life for a while… happy and free in the summers on staff at camp and lonely (yet surrounded by beautiful friends) and struggling when I returned to school.
I still haven’t got it all figured out but God has heard the cry of my heart and honestly, finding purpose in loving and encouraging others has done more healing than anything. And of course God had the answer all along:
28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’[b] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c]There is no commandment greater than these.”
Once I became a mother I found the tiredness, the mama guilt, the loneliness and anxiety of not doing enough to be overwhelming. I began to retreat to mindlessly scrolling through my phone or watching Jim and Pam get engaged for the 700th time on Netflix. I felt lost and guilty… but somehow that made me retreat more.
I realized I couldn’t be alone and after talking to so many other mamas… I’m not. You’re not. So, I decided to work on time management and find specific times in my week where I would put away my phone and intentionally do something Christ-centered with my son. No matter their age, I think children soak in everything. I wanted him to soak in the discipline of focusing on God without distraction.
So I’m sharing with you, my dear sweet soul, the time management that can lay a foundation to joyful motherhood. More time with family, less time running around being frazzled and reacting to life. You’ll be a woman with a plan.
To supplement your new found days that are planned out and full of joy I offer activities I’ve created to teach your little ones about our amazing God. It takes a village and The Lovely Adventure can be a part of yours. I’d be honored.
Dear Mama,
