Joy in Jen Hatmaker

Ok y'all can I just pretend that I'm a southern belle for hot minute? What is bringing me SO much JOY right now is listening to my gurl Jen Hatmaker (you can find her here) on her blog or her podcast on Spotify which is titled,
 FOR THE LOVE.
I stumbled upon her podcast the other day when I was scrolling Spotify, and whimsically looking for some funny talkers. The title of her podcast just struck a chord of joy in my heart so I gave it a listen.  She arranges her podcast in FOR THE LOVE series like; For the Love of Faith Icons, For the Love of Power House Women,  For the Love of Finishing Strong etc.  The first podcast I listened to, and the one that caught my attention right away was her recent interview with the beloved Beth Moore. Beth is a bible study teacher from way back when, (another Southern gal)  that I have gleaned so much from over the years. The interview, well as the southern would say, "it just dilled my pickle!" From that podcast on I have been in full blown stalking Jen Hatmaker mode... not really just on social medias and books, and I promise I won't end up outside your house Jen... unless you invite me to, then I'd gladly sit down with you on any given Sunday and share a cup of.... well, anything your drinking girl, cause I like your Kool-Aid !! As I quickly discovered Jen has been "busier than a moth in a mitten!"  She is the momma of 5 kids, pastors wife, speaker, writer, non profit organizer, and funny all around southern belle, etc.  As, I dug a little deeper into the vortex that is Hatmaker, Jen INC.  I found out that I had known of her and her work many moons ago. Little did I know, or remember but, I had actually read one her books titled  Seven An Experimental Mutiny Against Access, many many, suns and moons ago when we lived in Redmond Washington in an 800 sq ft cabin and I was desperately looking for ways to minimize. Do y'all remember that phase in the Scofield story book? Well, let me remind you it goes something like 6+6+ 800 sq ft = ADVENTURE TIME!! That's the trimmed down version if you remember or lived that time with us just skip ahead, if not here's a more detailed account; When one lives 12 miles outside of Seattle, one tends to find the activist books, the revolutionary ways of life, the culture of recycle, renew, repurpose quite easily. I believe I bought her book in a book store because... Amazon prime was not even a thing yet, and the reason I found it was because the category and department I was shopping in those days was all about REDUCE, REUSE, RECYLE, or something like that.   Boy howdy did that book challenge my sox right off to downsize and re-prioritize our little(no so little) family of 6... that's right  S I X people living in only 800sq ft.  Sidenote- I still can't believe that we lived in that tiny cabin for 4 years and I double can't believe that the last year we added 6 more, that's right I said S I X more.  We added 6 to our already overcrowded 6 humans. We had a DOZEN, 12, TWELVE, ....  people sharing 800 sq ft. and one bathroom, on a septic tank, no dishwasher, and one source of heat, an old wood stove.  To be fair to the sanity level of us all Moses and Dan did build a beautiful outhouse for us all to partake in. If you don't believe me or remember this season here's proof... it really did happen.  Oh how beloved that outhouse became ...

Those were the days!! (insert wide eyed emoticon here) After I devoured her book and gave her props for taking her Texas style life down a notch,  I passed that book on to my sister and then had forgotten about her entirely. Shh... please don't Jen because we are quickly becoming BFF's in my mind.  The book Jen and I are going thru together right now(did you like that, we are in this together) is brilliantly titled, Of Mess and Moxie. Every night, you can find me cozied up in bed with this book and laughing with Jen about her beautiful life. Y'all this book has made me happier than a hound dog with TWO tails ! Speaking of hound dogs tell me your thoughts, about a coon hound puppy making it's way into my life right now? This is just a short and sweet update of what is bringing me buckets full of JOY right now, so if you are looking for a lil sweet, crazy funny, pure JOY too,  give my gurl a lookie Lou, and tell her I sent you right over like Red Rover.