God Archives - Sunshine and Holly

10 Ways to Fight Postpartum Depression

By sunshineandholly on July 9, 2017

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*I am not a medical professional. Please talk to your doctor if you are experiencing postpartum depression.*

I’ve mentioned before that I experienced postpartum depression after each of my children were born.

Postpartum depression is something that isn’t talked about enough in our society and something that a lot of people still don’t understand. It’s not just feeling sad and crying all the time. It’s a medical condition, usually caused by a combination of imbalanced hormones, lack of sleep, stress, and lack of support. A mom suffering with postpartum can’t just “cheer up” or “get over it.” Something is wrong in her mind, and being judgmental about the condition will only make things worse.

If you feel like you might be suffering with postpartum depression, please please please reach out for help. Reaching out for help is the hardest part. Once you’ve asked for help (from someone who will take you seriously) everything gets easier from there. It’s scary to admit that something is wrong because of the attitude our culture has regarding depression and mental illness. But for your sake, and for your family’s sake, please get help.

That being said, I wanted to share 10 things I’ve found helpful in my battle with postpartum depression.

10 Ways to Fight Postpartum Depression

Our Easter Sunday

By sunshineandholly on April 18, 2017

We had such a busy Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday | sunshineandholly.com

Lots of driving, church, food to organize, an egg hunt to prep, a couple of Easter baskets to fill, all on less than 5 hours of sleep. (Where’s that Easter bunny when I need him? I could’ve used a little help!)

Easter Sunday | sunshineandholly.com

Add all of that, on top of all our normal activities and chores, and needless to say – I was one stressed out mama.

Easter Sunday | sunshineandholly.com

So although adorable, these pictures won’t tell the true story of our Easter Sunday.

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So Blessed

By sunshineandholly on April 24, 2012

Yesterday, I was standing at the sink in the kitchen, rinsing out a dish, and staring out the window into the backyard. The magnolia trees were swaying in the wind, the sun was shinning, and the grass looked soft and green. I started imagining a little boy or girl running around out there, playing with the pups, smiling and laughing. It reminded me of how blessed I truly am. I’ve always wanted to be a mom, and I’m so excited and amazed that in a few short months, my baby – MY baby – will be here. A baby I can hold and snuggle and care for and love as much as I want. I’m just so blessed.

God is so amazing and I’m so thankful for this little one growing inside of me!

Update

By sunshineandholly on February 8, 2012

So other than the Italy posts, I’ve been really slacking on the blogging. Work’s been super busy, church has been keeping us busy, and life in general has been crazy!

Here’s a quick update:

1. I started taking violin lessons. 🙂 I played in the orchestra in middle school and high school and I was pretty good by the time I graduated. Since then, I’ve played a little here and there just for fun. And I’ve really missed it. So I did some Google-ing and found a place near my work that offers lessons to people of all ages. And I signed up! I’ve had 2 lessons so far (they’re once a week on Thursdays) and I’m loving it! I’ve been pretty good about practicing on my own too. Yay me! Hope I keep it up!!

2. Josh’s brother, Jordan, found out he’s going to be deployed to Afghanistan on Feb 16th. We went up this past weekend to spend time with him and the rest of Josh’s family before he leaves. We’ll all miss him while he’s gone. I know God will keep him safe while he’s there. But if anyone out in blogger world is reading this, please keep Jordan in your prayers. I’m also praying for Josh, his mom, dad, sister and brother. I know they’ll be having a hard time while Jordan’s gone.

3. Work has been SO BUSY. I know I haven’t really blogged about work recently. That’s because it’s been going really well. In fact…and it is so weird for me to be saying this…I actually LOVE my job now. And if you’ve read my early blog posts, you know that I’ve got a lot of…”baggage” that goes along with my career. But I’ve been in this position for over 2 years now, and I really like it. The people in my department are great – they respect me and support me. And I just feel so much more confident in myself and in my work. I’ve been debating going back and deleting some of my old posts about work. But part of me wants to keep them to show what I’ve been through and how I got to where I am now. I can’t decide…

4. My friend Kara is pregnant and due at the end of the month! We had a shower for her – it was a blast! I need to post some pics soon. Can’t wait to hold that little baby!

5. My niece had her 7th birthday. Can’t believe she’s already 7!!

6. My friend Erin is back home. This one’s a long story that I want to devote more time to with another blog post. So I won’t go into it here. But I’m glad she’s home! We’ve been spending lots of time together!

So yeah, I’ve been pretty busy. And I know it’s not going to slow down any time soon. But I’m loving life!!

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God | job | Uncategorized | work | workplace

Work Hazards & Servant Leadership

By sunshineandholly on August 3, 2011

I just got antibacterial hand gel in a paper cut – ouch! I have such a hazardous job. 🙂

It does remind me of the time I hurt myself pretty bad out at Stone Mountain where I used to work.

It was summertime. Maybe in ’06 or ’07. I was outside, working, doing my thing, talking to guests, etc, when it started to rain. I took shelter underneath a porch with a family of guests – a mom, a dad, and two little girls. It was really starting to pour, and it didn’t look like it was going to let up – it wasn’t a normal Georgia afternoon shower. The little girls were obviously getting bored…and I started to feel bad for them. I knew we had some toys in the breakroom, so I decided to take a chance in the rain and make a run for it to grab the toys. I took off my slipper-like shoes (didn’t want to ruin them!), hiked up my hoop skirt and off I ran!

All went well, until I was on my way back to the family, running like crazy, trying to get out of the rain. I slipped, but caught myself and didn’t fall. Score! My foot hit the side of the building, but I didn’t think anything of it. I got back to the family and showed the little girls the toys. We played for a little while…but then my foot started hurting…BAD. So I looked down – and I was POURING blood from part of my foot and my toe! “Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness. Don’t freak out…don’t freak out…” I didn’t want to scare the family, so I politely excused myself, and ran back out into the rain, and back into the breakroom.

I called my boss (a very kind woman who I’d know for a few years by then) and explained to her what had happened. She told me to come over to the farmyard (yes, there was a farmyard a this “unnamed attraction”) and she would bandage me up. (She used sterile items from the veterinary area of the farmyard.) So back out into the rain I went, limping all the way. When I got there, she sat me on a stool, washed my foot and bandaged me up. I didn’t get in trouble – she didn’t even lecture me about safety and the importance of wearing shoes at work.

But I learned my lesson. Don’t run in the rain. Especially barefoot. 🙂

Yep, that’s me – walking in the rain. At least I’m wearing boots!

Pretty amazing, hu? What boss do you know that would wash and bandage your nasty bleeding feet? I still think of how incredibly kind that was of her.

The company I work for is based in the principals of servant leadership. In fact, there’s a statue in our hallway of Jesus washing the feet of a disciple.

That day, my boss def took those principals to heart. I always think of her whenever I hear about servant leadership.