Come On, Follow the Dyers

I, Brittany, have been blogging for quite some time now. Mostly, I blogged to keep our family and updated while we live overseas, but lately it has become more of a passion of mine. I love to blog and share ideas I come up with. Honestly, I believe it is a passion God has given me to be able to share with others out there how to be a parent, wife and Christian while living overseas in a country that is only 1% Christian. I want to share with you because I believe I can share things with you that I have learned in hopes that you can learn something too! And share with me some of the things you have learned!

If you want more info on how our journey to get here began, check out an old post here.

So, I am trying to take my blog to the next level. I am trying to share with you mom, with you wife and with you woman of God my experiences along the way. There will also be post written by my husband that will have more of a manly feel to keep that perspective as well, but the posts will mostly be written from my stay-at-home mom/semi-ministry worker point-of-view!

Josh and Brittany

I hope you find this blog helpful and a place where you can relate. Since my former life included counseling, there will be more expert advice and opinions on those topics as well! My mine goal is for you mom, wife and church lady to feel supported as you journey in this crazy world we live in.

I will also share some of the adventures we have in life here in Bangkok, Thailand, and I hope you can enjoy those too!

I would love it if you would follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest as well. You can also follow our blog to get blog updates. You can also sign up for e-mails that will come from us too! And please feel free to share any of our posts on your social media sites as well.

I would be honored if you would Follow the Dyers on our life adventure of raising our 2 beautiful children and living a life devoted to God!

And feel free to ask any questions along the way. I would love to answer them on our blog too! So let’s get started with this, what would you like to hear about on this blog?

Thanks for following!

The Dyers

Sharing Some Stencil Love

I recently received some stencils for my daughter that I wanted to share with you all! She loves the stencils! It comes with stencils, paper, coloring pencils and a pencil sharpener, which is great for us because we were in need of all of those things! Ha!

My child using a stencil

If you know anything about me, you know I don’t love for my kiddos to watch TV and be on electronic devices very often. I think they need to grow their physical and relational skills instead of having a show or game teach them how they should talk, act or respond to certain situations. I would rather them develop their own sense of creativity rather than someone else tell them how to do it.

Anyway, I received this amazing stencil set, and my daughter loves to play with it! I have been in communication with the creator of this stencil set, and she has given me so many ideas of how to use the stencils. (*Note she is in no way commissioned off this post, and she doesn’t even know I am writing it! I just really like these stencils and want to share with you how much fun we have been having with them!)

They are packed in an easy to carry package with a handle, so we will be able to travel with it on flights and long car rides too! They seem pretty sturdy, and the creator assured me as my 3 year old daughter gets older, she will be able to do many more fun things with them instead of just drawing the outline provided by the stencil! One fun thing she shared with me is making puppets out of the stencils after cutting out the drawing by glueing it to a popsicle stick or something similar! Fun!

Her Facebook Page has lots of cute ideas too, and you can get a preview of the stencils as well. The thing I love most about it is it has so many stencils to choose from!

I would say the only downfall is it’s a bit pricey, but it seems to be worth the money with all that you get! Some of the reviews I read said it is not easily usable for children under 5 years old, but my 3 year old didn’t have any problems using it. However, she has been using other stencil sets for a while now.

My daughter loves stencils and will sit for hours using them. It increases her creativity, which I am not always very good at fostering because I’m not the creative type myself. She has learned to draw the stencil and cut it out, like on the cover of the set, and then uses her imagination with whatever object she cuts out.

My son, who is almost 2, loves to scribble with the stencils too, so I am sure he will enjoy it as he gets older too! It also has letters, shapes and animals, which could allow for recognizing and naming games too! Nonetheless, it is a great gift idea for both boys and girls and really for all ages as they can grow into using the stencils as the child grows.

My kids enjoying their stencils

If you are interested in buying or just checking out this stencil set, here is the Amazonlink to do so!

*This post has affiliate links. Click here to see my Disclosure Statement .

Tips for Spicing Up Your Bible Study

A Bible Study reality is sometimes we get in a rut and a routine. We get in a perpetual habit and sometimes it becomes boring. No one wants a boring Bible Study, so here are some tips on how to spice up your Bible Study routine.  

Start by making a comfortable place for you to read your Bible. Make a serene place to study the Bible. Find a nice chair with a table beside it to make it more comfy. Grab a beanbag to sit on. Make a pallet in the floor or closet. Sit in a chair on the front porch with a warm cup of coffee. Wherever you feel comfortable to spend time with God, make it happen.

Maybe it could help to sing a worship song to get you focused. Correlate your worship song to what you are studying if possible. It does not have to be out loud; it can be in your head just between you and God.

Create something to correlate with what you are studying to help your Bible Study come to life. Take pictures on your phone of what you think the scripture is trying to tell you. Make a meme and share it with your friends. Paint a picture of what you believe God is trying to tell you. You don not have to be an artist to do this, because it is the intent and learning method that matters.

I think it is a great idea to choose a verse to memorize from the scriptures you are reading. Write it on a sticky note and post it where you will see it every day. Make it a screensaver on your phone. Choose a way you can memorize scripture and write it on your heart.

It is even great to listen to other sermons or watch videos related to the scriptures you are studying. This is a good way to look at scriptures from others points of view and dig deeper into the message of scriptures.

It can also be beneficial to relate your Bible Study to current events. Does what you are reading pertain to anything going on in the world? How can you see God working currently through the scriptures you are reading?

Pray. Use different postures of prayer. It is fine if you are sitting in your chair or beanbag or wherever you choose to pray, but sometimes the Spirit may lead us to pray differently to God-to take a different posture of prayer before God. Kneel before God if you need to do so. Stand with your hands outstretched to God if you feel lead to do so. Bow down before God if the Spirit leads you in that way. There are many different ways that prayer can take place, but be sure to listen to the Spirit’s guidance on how he wants you to pray.

There are so many ways to increase your Bible Study to keep it from getting stale and boring. Make sure you are giving your full attention to God when you are studying the Bible. When you need to spice up your Bible Study, try some of the tips listed above!
I hope you enjoyed these quick tips! What other ones would you add?

Life as “MOM”

A few weeks ago at one of our MOPS get togethers, I came up with a list of questions for us moms to answer. I thought I would share the questions with my responses to them.

*Note, these are only my opinions and are not based on any facts.

1. How do I measure success as a mom?  I keep the children alive. No, but really, I measure my success as a mom by how much I can influence my children about God. My husband and my primary goal in raising our children is for them to “Love God and love people”. So at the end of the day, if I feel like I taught them these 2 things, I feel like it has been a pretty successful day. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are many days I fail at this goal (I lose my temper, etc.), but I strive to do this everyday.
2. What did my mom teach me about being a mom? I only had my mom in my life for 7 years before she died, but the most important thing I remember my mom taught me was to be fair. She treated my brother and I equally. If one got a toy, the other got a toy. We both always knew she loved us just as much as the other.
3. What is your favorite part about being a mom? I have 2 kiddos and my favorite part about being a mom is hearing them laugh, especially to hear them laugh together. There is nothing that makes me happier than hearing my children laugh. They both have such great laughs too!
4. What advice would you give another mom? Don’t parent based on others judgments and don’t judge other parents. Parent your children the way you know you need to parent them. Each child is an individual and each household is different, so parent how you feel comfortable. Don’t base your parenting on how other people are parenting. You will only end up in a world of confusion. And you are a great parent to your child!
5. What is the biggest surprise about motherhood? It is harder than it looks! When I was younger, I thought parenting was a piece of cake! I was even the person I just mentioned above, judging all the other parents out there-I mean, get it together; it can’t be that hard! But yes ma’am it is! But it is sooo worth it! To hear those giggles and feel those hugs and kisses. To hear the “I love you’s” and pitter patter feet. Yes, it is truly worth it.
6. Who is the mom you admire the most? My grandmother is the lady I admire the most. She not only raised her own 3 children, she also raised my brother and me. She has had more loss in her life that I have time to tell you about, but she picks herself up everyday with dignity and continues to live life to it’s fullest (she’s vacationing in New York as a type this). Her influence over our community astonishes me, and she is always willing to share a piece of her heart with everyone around her. I still am perplexed by all the things she has managed to accomplish and will not allow change to keep her down! She is my rock, and she continues to teach me how to overcome all of life’s disappointments with dignity and grace.
7. What is the hardest thing about being a mom? Being a brave parent is hard. Raising a brave child might be even harder. We foster our children to be brave and try new things. We want them to be brave now, so they will be bold in the future to share the Gospel. We do try to protect them, but finding the balance is hard! We try to teach our children how to be brave, but also how to be smart while being bold.
8. What is your biggest worry concerning your children? Speaking of being brave…honestly though, my biggest fear, especially for my daughter, is something might happen to her-being kidnapped, molested, something along those lines. We live in Thailand and our children are very different looking from Thai children, so that is one of my biggest fears. I pray about it ALL. THE. TIME. It is irrational, I know, but in the back of my mind it is still a reality. I’m a work in progress!
9. Who has helped you the most as a mom? I think my husband has helped me the most as a mom. He supports my decisions in parenting, which helps me feel more confident as a mother. He also backs me up when I have to be the “bad guy” and make tough decisions. He’s my parenting rock!
10. What is your biggest pet peeve about being a mom? See #4. My biggest pet peeve is other judgmental moms! I really don’t understand why it is necessary. Look in the news today and you see it all over the place! Ugh! It is truly heart breaking! It’s really no one’s place to judge another mom, as long as no one is getting hurt, the child is getting his needs met and the mama is loving her baby!
11. What is something you have learned from being a mom? Hugs cure all things for both child and mom. And patience, patience and more patience. Hugs and patience all day long.
12. What has changed the most since you have become a mom? I have a new respect for all moms. I have a new respect for my mom and for my grandmother. I now know how much I was and am loved as a child and even now as an adult. But even more than that, I can begin to understand a little more about how vast God’s love is for me. When I look at my children with an overwhelming unconditional love, I can on a small scale begin to understand how much God loves me and all His children.
13. How do you handle tantrums? Consistency. When my daughter throws a temper tantrum, she is always asked to go to her room to calm down. Once she has decided she has calmed down, she can come back to whatever she was doing before the tantrum began. At this point, we ask her why she became upset and try to talk about the situation. If she throws a tantrum in public, she is asked if she needs to go to the bathroom to calm down. She typically calms down pretty fast after being removed from the situation. However, this does not mean I am perfect and my nerves don’t ever get the best of me because believe me they do. Sometimes, my first result is getting upset or wanting to spank her. Let’s be real, sometimes I want to throw a tantrum myself! Ah, the calm down method works best for both of us!

I hope you enjoyed the read. Please feel free to share any of your answers in the comments or post the questions to your blog or other writing outlet, but don’t forget to tag me and my blog, so I can check out what you have to say as well!