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Melissa Mulvaney

Finding Meaning, Joy & Purpose in the Chaos & Crazy of Life...and Helping You Find Yours Too!

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Hi Friend!

I'm so excited that you've found my little corner of the interwebs! I hope you will find encouragement, hope and joy here. My strongest desire is for us to find our meaning, joy and purpose together. I don't know about you, but mine is wrapped up in a bunch of chaos and crazy (a lot of my own making!) and most days, I wouldn't have it any other way! Read More…

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Season of Love

Coming Out of the Dark

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You Don’t Have to Try So Hard, Really

Savor the Nights in the Family Room

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Copyright © 2020 · Genesis Framework by StudioPress Themes · Blog Set-Up By Blogelina

melissa.mulvaney

Helping you find the Meaning, Joy & Purpose
in the chaos & crazy of life & glorify God while doing it!
💗Wife
🏈 Mom
👗 Cancer Survivor
💻VA in Detroit

How we lunch on Sundays during football season. No

How we lunch on Sundays during football season.
Not only are charcuterie boards pretty, they’re fun to put together. Most importantly, they make it easy for each of us to graze as we watch the game.
Deciding to make charcuterie boards on Sundays with whatever foods we already have is a way that I’ve decided once and can now go into autopilot every Sunday after church. It’s a great tip I learned in the Lazy Genius way book by @thelazygenius.

What’s a decision that you can make once to make life easier?

#thelazygenius #lazygeniusway #worksmarternotharder #charcuterieboard #whatsforlunch #sundaylunch #sundayfootball #findingmeaningjoypurpose #lovebiglivesmall #smallmomentsmatter #momentsthatmatter

Still wrestling through the fact that this is the

Still wrestling through the fact that this is the world we’re living in.
But on a positive, related note...I’m still cancer free!
26 months and counting! Praise God!

#ovarcomer #ovariancancer #ovariancancerawareness #ovariancancerawarenessmonth #ovariancancersurvivor #cancersurvivor #findingmeaninginthejourney #findingmeaningjoypurpose #findingjoy #findingjoyonthejourney #findingjoyinthejourney #lovebiglivesmall #covidaftercancer #henryfordhealthsystem #facediaper #cancerfree #delightinthesmallthings

How abundantly loving is our God! Yesterday after

How abundantly loving is our God!
Yesterday after taking dinner to a friend going through a difficult season, I shared with her some amazing news I had just received. She turned around and grabbed these flowers off her counter and insisted I take them. That my news needed to be celebrated.
This dear friend showed me the heart of God in that moment.
I had come to give her a sacrifice of my time and effort to bless her, and out of the overflow of love in her heart, she gave generously to me, blessing me all the more.
God continues to remind me how very much He loves me.
He loves you too. More than you can ever imagine. Take heart friend! God knows. He sees. He is working on your behalf. He loves you so very much.

#findingmeaningjoypurpose #outoftheoverflow #jesuslovesme #findingmeaning #findingjoy #findingpurpose #beablessing #givegenerously #delightinthesmallthings #themomentsthatmatter #dreambiglivesmall #smallmomentsmatter #livebiglivesmall #ovarcomer

The sky is as gray as I feel tonight. Today I’m

The sky is as gray as I feel tonight.
Today I’m really feeling sad.
I miss my boys, I miss my family being together. I miss our home being full of laughter and craziness.
Tomorrow Jack will go fully into boot camp and I don’t know when we’ll get to talk to him again. Much less see him.
After 5 months of the whole family being together, this adjustment is hard. I expected it to be. And it’s ok that I’m struggling.
It won’t stay that way forever, but tonight for the first time since he left, I cried.
It’s ok that I’m sad. That I cried. That I don’t want to be home because it’s so. darn. quiet.
I won’t feel like this forever. But tonight, while I sit outside under the gray sky, I’m sad.
Naming my feelings and allowing myself to feel them is growth for me. Not getting busy doing little projects to distract myself, to numb myself.
I’m thankful for the ways I’ve learned to be more myself. For the ways God has revealed Himself to me and allowed me to understand myself more.
And one thing I’m sure of, no matter how I feel, is that I am loved and I am never alone. And tonight, that is more than enough.

Do you struggle to name your feelings? To sit in them even when it’s uncomfortable?
I encourage you to try it the next time you don’t feel like yourself. Take a break and ask God to show you what’s going on inside you.

I promise it will be worth the effort.

#feelingblue #newnormal #idontlikethenewnormal #ovarcomer #missingmyfamily #namewhatmatters #feelyourfeelings #findingmeaningjoypurpose #findingmeaninginthejourney #dreambiglivesmall #motherhoodmatters

I just finished this beauty, and I have to say, if

I just finished this beauty, and I have to say, if you feel like you need to work on goals and routines, this is the book for you!
Kendra (aka @thelazygenius) writes with authority that will boss you in the best of ways. She teaches you how to realize what matters to YOU, not anyone else, and be a genius about those things, and lazy about what doesn’t.
I normally wouldn’t read a ‘self help’ book on vacation, but I couldn’t put this one down, because it’s more ‘love yourself by realizing what’s important to you and let me help you figure out how to do those things well’. But that’s a long category, so ‘self help’ fits ok. 🤣🤣 It’s also full of humor..I giggled so many times I lost count.
I am all about how The Lazy Genius Way will help you create a life that you will finding meaning, joy & purpose in.

#thelazygenius #thelazygeniusway #imalazygenius #findingmeaningjoypurpose #whatmelissasreading #vacationreads #beachreads #coronavacation #itscoronatime

One of the proudest days of my life! I’m so exci

One of the proudest days of my life!
I’m so excited to share that as of today, we have a soldier!
The Mulvaney’s are Army Strong!

#loudproudArmymom #armystrong #armymom #findingmeaningjoypurpose #findingmeaninginthejourney #motherhoodmatters #bluestarfamily #armyfamily #goarmy #alwaysmybaby @cody.snell.311 #whatsyourwarrior #futuresoldiers #soldiers #USArmy @jackman_5172 #GoArmyMichigan

2 years. 2 years ago today I got the worst news.

2 years.

2 years ago today I got the worst news. Which turned into fantastic news.

2 years ago today I woke up from surgery to the news that I had ovarian cancer. It was devastating. Ovarian cancer is rarely caught in the early stages, and the statistics are often bleak.

What we came to learn a few weeks later was that not only was my cancer discovered in the earliest stage, no treatment was recommended for me.

July 28, 2018 was the day we learned I had cancer, and because of the surgery that confirmed it, also the day that I became cancer free. The day I became a survivor.

I continue to be monitored, and from a medical standpoint, won’t be called cancer free for 3 more years. But I have decided that until a doctor tells me that I have had a recurrence (which there has never been evidence that that is true for me) I will continue to believe that I am cancer free.

I will live my life with faith in my healing. Faith for my future. Faith that God will see me through whatever He allows or leads me to.

2 years ago I couldn’t imagine this day. I couldn’t imagine that I might be here. Smiling. Full of joy. Witnessing the legacy of my boys becoming men who love and follow Jesus.

This journey has been difficult. I have fought for my life when depression, anxiety and PTSD tried to take over.

It has taken a little white pills, therapy and a whole lot of prayer to be where I am, the loving support of so many people who lifted me up when I couldn’t even get out of my pajamas.

But God.....God has been faithful. He has been right there all along. Through the sleepless nights wracked with anxiety. Through the moments I didn’t know if I would ever laugh again. Through the moments that I didn’t know if I had a future on this earth. He has loved me. He has comforted me. He has been my constant companion.

I don’t deserve this life. None of us do. But I’m so damn thankful for it!

To God be the glory that I’m here, full of joy on my 2nd cancer-versary.

I am thankful.

#ovarcomer #ovariancancer #ovariancancersurvivor #togodbetheglory #wearesurvivors #iamasurvivor #cancersurvivor #findingmeaningjoypurpose #findingjoyeveryday #godisgood #cancerversary #cancersucks

“Legacy. What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds

“Legacy. What is a legacy?
It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.” -Hamilton

I can never thank God for allowing me to begin to see the legacy He has created in my life. I’m thankful He’s let me see the start of the garden He’s helped me plant.

A life I don’t deserve. A life I never could’ve expected. A life full of ‘yeses’ even when they might not have made sense.

I will never regret the times I’ve said yes to welcoming others into my life. God has been so kind, so faithful, so loving to me to allow me to be a part of the legacy in the lives of these amazing men.

#findingmeaningjoypurpose #creatingalegacy #legacy #tripleboyblessedmama #motherofboys #mobsociety #findingjoy #blessedmom #lovemylife #imsoblessed #longestseniorskipdayever

A tiny bit of normal in a very unnormal time. It f

A tiny bit of normal in a very unnormal time.
It feels good to be sitting in Starbucks, and also sad. This season of life sure if full of ‘and’, isn’t it?

Good and sad.
Celebration and mourning.
Thankful and questioning.
Calm and anxious.

I’ve felt all the feelings these last months. I’m sure you have too. But giving myself permission to feel all of them, often at the same time has helped me weather this emotional storm better than I would’ve expected.

So how are you doing? Are you in the middle of ‘and’ too? Or does one emotion outshine the others?

#permissiongranted #findingmeaningjoypurpose #findingbalance #seasonofand #thisandthat #smallmomentliving #motherhoodmatters #delightinthesmallthings #ovarcomer #tealtuesday #starbucks #itsbeentoolong

Happy Friday! Are you smiling this morning? May t

Happy Friday! Are you smiling this morning?

May today be a day that you see God at work in your life. I hope it makes you smile!

I’m keeping my eyes open today to see the many small things in my life that are really big things thanks to the love and grace God has given me. That practice always makes me smile.

What makes you smile?

#findingmeaningjoypurpose #findmeaning #findjoy #findpurpose #smilemore #playfulpaper #smilingismyfavorite #keracolor #lovebiglivemsall #delightinthesmallthings #motherhoodmatters #payattentiontothesmallthings

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