Hannah O'Connor

[Mother Grundy @MotherGrundy]

Living in a small space with many small humans at different levels of rationality, self-government and personal hygiene can be your own personal slap stick pageant. You don’t need to stream a comedy series! If you can manage your raging cortisol in a mature and self-disciplined way, you can mostly enjoy the high-spirited antics of your progeny.

“But Mother Grundy,” you say. “They are literally destroying me. One of them just sliced my cornea with her baby fingernail. Oof, there goes my back - someone sweetly jumped on my sacrum while I was lying down reading to another of them. I would apply for worker’s compensation but I don’t think our HR department even offers that. Bleaugh, I just threw up in vengeance because I was asked what was for dinner in the wrong tone of voice. You know the one!”

Ah my friend. Rest your head on my lap while I pet your brow. You are not imagining it. You really have torn something in your lower back. I am very sorry, the Lord works in mysterious ways. It’s probably to discipline you for spending too much time on the internet instead of baking pies for these little people. It’s probably to keep you from being insufferably proud because of that one time you packed everyone bento boxes. I don’t know. But let’s talk about how to deal with being so cranky.

First let’s just acknowledge that you are cranky because you are EXTREMELY WEAK. Have you watched any Navy Seals training videos? You haven’t? You are NOT like those guys. Think they want to hyperventilate when other people spill things again and again like it’s a conspiracy to create a bioweapon by soaking the carpet in various substances and leaving it to ferment? Ferment or foment, your choice! No they do not, is the answer. Because war hardens the heart.

They do not cry in the bathroom when someone balances on a basketball in their peripheral vision. They do not text their friends this emoji 😵‍💫 or this one 🫠 when multiple musical instruments are being abused while you are adjudicating a conflict about Lego with people who can’t even speak English correctly.

They (Navy Seals) have perfect mission clarity and they know that cauterising all their nerve endings was exactly what was necessary to give them the edge over their over-stimulating enemies.

Now that you’ve acknowledged that you are weak, you need to embark on a training programme - oh surprise, you are already IN the training programme. It’s the toddler attached to your face and the infant attached to your breast and the eight year old that is reading Lord of the Rings instead of tying his shoelaces so you can leave the house. Well, good! Resilience is inevitable if you don’t quit the training programme but you have to make sure you don’t die before you graduate.

We will now discuss strategies.

Problem: more stimulus and shrapnel directed at you than a Navy Seal will ever experience;

Solution: simply learn to love stimulus and shrapnel; KYLO REN “MORE” MEME printed out on your fridge. You are antifragile. You are becoming immune to noise, to chaos, to entropy. You are rising above it because maybe you are actually having a near death experience, I don’t know. Anyway, visualise an amoeba engulfing detritus and growing stronger! That’s you!

Problem: cortisol is making you prematurely hag-like which makes you resent the kids;

Solution: flat out repentance, you vain old hag! Add to this Ashwaganda and strength training.

Problem: I am just one person and there are six of them;

Solution: Pray for God to send help. Then accept the help He sends, even if it’s the postal worker who rings the door bell when gastroenteritis is tearing through your house. Just pull 'em in and hand them a receptacle, tell them it’s the Lord’s providence and they may not argue with God.

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@MorganaNoire @Lexy_Sauve I have used this one before too and liked it. However, I feel like every time I run out i try a new brand 😂

[𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 @homemakinghunny]

Raising babies in the winter builds character.

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@Lexy_Sauve Thank you! Just ordered!

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@Lexy_Sauve I was already a listener of bright hearth but now I am binging all of @Brian_Sauve sermons as well, thank you!

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@Brian_Sauve Just listened to this last night with my husband. I have honestly never heard anyone preach on head coverings before but always wondered about this passage. Awesome sermon, thank you!

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@Lexy_Sauve I have 6 and same 😂 i either shower the night before, wake up early or baby is in the shower with me.

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@New_Christendom @Lexy_Sauve I just got my book a few days ago and started reading it today! I have really enjoyed how straight forward it is so far! Will definitely be recommending!

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@Lexy_Sauve I normally do half hard red and half hard white for my sourdough breads. Sometimes I will combine other grains with it as well but that has tended to work out pretty well. I have been milling for a couple years now but still have a lot to learn when it comes to tweaking recipes.

[Lexy Sauvé @Lexy_Sauve]

Most women don’t need practical advice to get through challenging seasons. Most genuinely *know* what needs to be done. What most women need mental encouragement to run the race well, with endurance, and cheer.

This requires older and/or qualified women to not be fussers themselves. That way when someone comes to you in need of help you can say, “Been there, sis. It was hard, but God is good and He *will* get you through. Now hop to it!” And they can believe the same grace is available to them as well.

This doesn’t quite hit the same when all you have to offer is a pile of cleaning backs, an easy menu, and your favorite brand of electrolytes to offer.

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@Lexy_Sauve Awesome! Just about to place my order! Love the podcast and all of the practical advice and wisdom you both share, thank you! 💕

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@jtfollowsjc I just found your channel through this podcast. Now I’m going down a rabbit hole 🤣

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@jpoconnor717 Happy birthday!🎉

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@jdnoc @soren_iverson Is there something you wanted me to see/learn? 😆

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@jdnoc Not the youngest anymore haha.

[Jordan O'Connor @jdnoc]

If you want to be free in your mind, read this:

Forgiveness is the most underutilized ways to become untouchable, and thus unstoppable.

It is incredibly effective for moving things forward in your life, rather than always getting stuck in the past.

When someone wrongs you, it's normal to be affected emotionally. You get mad, sad, depressed, down and out, all negative things.

Typically, people will hold a grudge, thinking this is to give the other persons "what's theirs".

However, that grudge, that resentment, that hate, only truly affects you and your mindset.

It lives rent free in your mind. You brood on it. You meditate on it. It makes your heart cold.

It makes you sad. It makes you angry. It makes you depressed. It bleeds into every aspect of your life and causes you to halt on all fronts, and even move backwards in some areas of your life.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

With radical forgiveness, forgiveness that doesn't even make sense, forgiveness for people who have wronged you that don't even know they've wronged you and have never asked for forgiveness or apologized, you can free your heart and empty your mind of the negativity and continue to make progress in life.

When you embody forgiveness as a default, you embody progress as a default.

When you get to the point where no one can affect you, you become invincible.

Where anyone can wrong you and you are totally unbothered. Where someone can harm you and you simply continue doing what you were doing. Where someone can take from you and you know things will work out in the end.

That place is internal peace. It's a breeding ground for progress. It's the way to move forward, to move past anything that holds you back from your past.

Chew on this. Think about this. Are you holding on to resentment towards another person? Are you holding grudges against another person? Did someone wrong you so bad that you'll always hate them?

If so, it's truly only affecting you and how you carry yourself in life.

If you want more energy, more peace, more patience, more steadfastness, more love, more happiness, consider adopting forgiveness as a default trait in your life, and you'll be able to let it all go.

You'll be free. Free to love, free to roam, free to move forward in your life.

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

I took all 4 kids grocery shopping at Wegmans today. One man stopped and asked if I ran a daycare, then asked if they were all mine and then lastly asked me if I had twins. Other than that I think I got stopped by at least 4 other people letting me know I had my hands full.

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@BiblicalBeauty I have also read that farmed fish have artificial dyes in them.

[Hannah O'Connor @hannahoconnor94]

@BiblicalBeauty We live in NY and found some Amish that sell us raw milk and fresh eggs. Our kids have loved it so far. We also switched to milling our own wheat berries into flour which has been amazing. Hope you enjoy your milk and kefir, how far did you have to travel to get it?