That's So Handy

If you're a mama, make sure you subscribe to my blog 💜 I f you're nosy, you can subscribe also 😜 Hi, I'm Crystal. Happy New Year to you, or maybe you can only resonate with that post floating around social media that just says "Year" cuz 2025? Yes, we are grateful for making it to a new year, but some of us just showing up. We might be lacking "Happy". For me, 2025 was crazy for many reasons. Daily I would internalize everything and feel like I wasn't doing enough, in any area, including motherhood. I couldn't keep up with anything. There was too much work, too many dishes, too much laundry, where are matching socks. Did I discipline right, did I say the right thing, are they in enough activities, was there enough vegetables, did they get enough sleep, enough hugs, enough 1-4-3s, enough food, too much food, too much yelling, I can't! There's fulfillment, there's love, but there's also exhaustion, and where's Happy? It was t...

    One of the best things about being God’s daughter is that none of my rebelliousness makes Him abandon me. I’m still His princess. I was fortunate to be raised in a healthy church, and even when crazy things were going on in my life, I had enough sense to go to church when service was scheduled even though I didn’t want to be there.      My godfather baptized me at age 6. When I made the decision to be baptized . One of the elders came to my parents house and talked to me. He asked if I knew what it meant to be saved and baptized. I absolutely knew. And I wanted it so bad that God put a little tune in my head and I would always pray that tune, “I wanna be saved”. So much so that one time in Children’s Church, I stood up and sung it OUT LOUD, “I wanna be saved”; there were blank stares everywhere, and the worship team didn’t know what to do so somebody just started singing the song “I’m saved, I’m saved….through the storms of life, my soul keeps singing ...

You know the crazy thing about trends? Most people, if not everyone, are trend-followers. Either ... 1) you're too afraid to be a leader, to leave familiar territory (or be alone), to accept that not everyone likes you, to see people you've been good to switch up on you and disrespect you, to know people have negative opinions about you or   2) you think you're sooo  elite, sooo unique that you label yourself a trendsetter when, in fact, you are STILL a trend-follower! The thing about God is that God is not too heavy on groupthink . Yes, God wants us to disciple others and fellowship with like-minded individuals, however, the "like-mindedness" really means "all of us congeal because we all want to do God's will". (we're like-minded because we're Christ-minded) #thatsitthatsall So why do we abandon who & what we literally were created for in order to impress other creations who also abandoned who & what we literally were created for. ...

I've been wanting to make some healthy changes for a while now. But lately, I've been feeling the need to make a specific change much sooner than later. It's a very difficult decision so I shared with my line sisters for accountability purposes. I was confident and excited about my decision that I was going to make by Easter Sunday. Then boom! YESTERDAY Every thought yesterday made me wanna go back to the old me. I was getting ready to give up on my whole goal; I kept telling myself that I wouldn't succeed in it so I might as well stay where I am. YESTERDAY I had a moment where I walked past the mirror and said to myself, “You don’t like beautiful”.  When I went into the living, my husband said to me, “You look beautiful? I knew God was telling me that this wasn’t me! This this was my fork in the road. Was I going to choose to really go all in with Christ and be who He wants me to be, or give up and choose hell? NO SERIOUSLY! This is where I was. Was I going to stick wi...

Saturday, March 29, 2025 Today was a lot. My back has been hurting so bad, I have so many thoughts but we’re taught to just keep rolling. Go through it. But let the record show that I’m tired. But, I’m reading this book Black Minds Matter: Realizing the Brilliance, Dignity, and Morality of Black Males in Education by J. Luke Wood, Ph.D. The seven chapters are ordered so strategically that they start with titles that identify the problem/injustice; very negative. Yet, as soon as “Black Morality” appears, the chapter titles switch to more positive, uplifting titles. This act in and of itself is symbolism - as it demonstrates the importance of morality- whereas, an acceptance of the tremendous effects of racism on Black folks in the past, present, and future (in individuals as well as systems/organizations) has to be acknowledged as fact and as morally wrong before longevity of true change can increase with fidelity. I’m literally trying to attack everything that’s coming against my p...

The long awaited break was finally here. I made it to the most wonderful time of the year where the only thing on my lesson plan is guilt-free breathing, fun, relaxation and spending time with my family. This Christmas also came with a surprise. One of my presents came as soon as the break started. Friday, December 20, the last day of school for the year, I got some new luggage to carry - Perfect timing for traveling through the holiday season. I began enthusiastically making plans and envisioning the future and I couldn’t wait to share news of the luggage I was carrying with my husband. The next day, one of my line sisters noticed my new luggage and I giggled with joy. I still only shared it with two other people who are also carrying new luggage. Then boom, throughout my holiday travels, I lost my luggage. I had not planned on losing my luggage just a week after finding out about it to begin with. I planned to go back to work next Monday and everyone would eventually know why Mrs. Ha...