Wild Haven Sanctuary

11/04/2026

Day 3 of Thankful GrAttitudes…

Despite the glitch with every photo from today unable to download but this one I JUST took 🙄🤔 I’m still going to share the things

#1 EnJOYed a long overdue visit with some of our other friendly neighbors today who took time to fit me in before they headed out. Appreciate them bring so thoughtful! 💜

#2 DeLIGHTful though brief, short distance and beautiful fall color walk with the dogs - trying to soak in as much good weather as possible before rain comes in (or cold fronts).

#3 YAY! Our new wing back chairs that double as recliners arrived and my eldest put them together for me In preparation for a guest visiting tomorrow - who also has spinal issues (boy, how this neck pain has changed how I consider furniture style AND function .. and our guests!!! 🤪)

#4 Plus, a new “couch” bed for our 11yo senior dog, too. She deserves it! 💙

11/02/2026

Day 2 of Thankful GrAttitudes:

#1 Finding fun in seeing how my engineer hubby likes to balance out the egg carton, and how I like to change it up!

#2 eating leftovers that coax me to reminisce last night’s dinner with wonderful neighborly friends (only took a year to coordinate our schedules) who also helped us move things around to prepare for our new chairs coming soon!!

#3 pleasantly finding that the bench crafted by my aunt and uncle with my grandpa‘s hand hewn barn remnants was the perfect height for our island!

#4 enjoying my coffee in a mug made by a friend and the cuttings of our mum beautifully contained in a vase, also crafted by the same friend!

#5 looking around and seeing so many things crafted by and/or gifted by friends and family that make my heart glad and feel like a hug in a way. 🥹






😘

11/02/2026

If you haven’t gotten the chance to get outside, I hope you get to very soon.

My favorite kind of day. Sunny but cool with a slight breeze causing the fall leaves to fall like gentle snowflakes or rain. This is my kind of “snow” ❄️ or “rain drops”💧.

Whether you can or can’t get outside, I hope you’ll take these 30 seconds to pause, to listen, to look, and to see the beauty captured in this brief 30ish second video… notice what you notice in your thoughts, your body, your breath.

Feeling both your feet on the ground, the seat beneath you, and your hands in prayer form or 1 hand on your belly and 1 hand against your chest feeling what you feel for a moment as you check in with your feelings (your body, your thoughts, and emotions) for a few moments

Then, inhale gently “I am thankful I have breath in my lungs” and exhale (maybe a little longer) any feelings of pain/tightness/stressors you maybe didn’t even notice in your chest, neck, shoulders, or jaw, with “I release my (anger, fear, sadness, perceived control, hurts) in this moment.”





with Trish

11/01/2026

First off. Do you see a duck 🦆 or a bunny 🐰 first in the first photo?

It’s November, and with every thing going on, I want to be intentional to be thankful and thought MAYBE this could encourage others as well. I may be over achieving as I’m not good at posting daily, but I’m hoping others will help me stay accountable by sharing your own thankful thoughts or photos with me in the comments. Honestly, it would be encouraging to me, too, seeing meaningful and fun positive content as the days get colder and more gray.

I’m going big today in sharing 2 photos and a resource, but please, how about we agree to not expect each other to go big every day, ok? Ok.

#1 I love seeing the creativity of the mind when we see into things - like seeing a bunny and/or a duck in the wood walls of our home!

#2 I’m thankful that I was FINALLY invited (and thus inspired) to open my Bible in a way that didn’t involve any pressure or expectations.

#3 Referring to the same photo- I’m thankful for a Bible that invites me to color (esp when I don’t know what to think, write, or pray in that moment and coloring helps me digest and process it) and journal within it when/if I’m ready that I look forward to reflecting upon and remembering where I’ve been when I come upon it again.

#4 Grateful for resources that connect with me and help me continue to see into things what I may miss when the world is loud or the pain feels too great.

#5 I am grateful for each of you and your encouragement, too - bringing positivity to social media and to my life at the same time.

#6 Right now, I’m in the perfect position to pray for you, too. I’ve got plenty of time to do so. Please DM me or put it in the comments, too. I’m not one to say I’ll pray and not do it.

#7 Our family is being reminded that we need to celebrate the small things … ESPECIALLY BECAUSE of all the big, hard things going on.

10/30/2026

Grief rewires your nervous system… now what?
This … this is what was happening today that I wrote about in my previous post. It’s so clear!

Thanks Fresh Journey for bringing this post to my attention, too. 💜

10/29/2026

Only God Could Have Known…
That I would mention just last night to my hubby and this morning to my son that my pain is equivalent to or worse than birthing a baby, all naturally with water broken from the get go. (Been there, done that… so I can honestly say that.)

And that I would be walking the dog this afternoon a short distance and then squatting in both birthing position AND Elijah’s praying position as I listened to this devotion.

Only He could knowingly and so gently, kindly, and timely show me that He sees me in my pain. And lovingly tells me that these aren’t pains of punishment, but He is allowing it to hone me in, to invite me into something he is birthing in me and eventually through me … even if I don’t exactly know how, what, or when. To encourage me to wait expectantly for what He is creating and growing …

I didn’t know how much I needed to know He sees me, and needed Him to intimately speak to me in ways only He knows how to get into me. His good good nature is always revealed to me when I am in nature. And listening for a word distinctly from Him.

I too often forget, being in His presence and being seen and known by Him is enough for this quality time love language gal.

I’ve been feeling lonely frankly - even in a house of people poking their heads in occasionally to check on me (obviously feeling awkward about how to help me). I’ve also been trying to plan for the future through the lens of “what ifs” instead of “even ifs” (aka worried) about my future health, the future of my healthcare if this lasts longer than expected (which it has already, honestly), and the future of WHS.

These devos today graciously reMINDed me, I’m seen, I’m loved, and I’m known. I am not alone. If the God who cares for and provides for the flowers of the field in all their glory for a short time, how much more does he care for me for an everlasting lifetime?

And if the God who created the world, and split the seas for His family of children (which I am adopted into) … takes the notion to notice me, see me in my birthing prayer position at the exact moment that the devo spoke of Elijah’s posture of prayer … and makes a way to notify me that he had already known and prepared for that very moment FOR me bc he knows our hearts, our every movement, down to our single moment of breath, what, when, where and how we will do it… so that He perfectly times His message for me when I desperately need to know he sees me and loves me enough to orchestrate it all so perfectly. Just for me, in that exact moment in that exact posture after another extremely painful night of what felt more like natural birthing pains x2 shooting through my back and arm. (If ONLY it would pop out, in essence, and produce something as beautiful as a newborn baby. 😘😅)

Thank you, Jesus! That you notice and you orchestrate a very special moment to be with me so intimately- so meaningfully - that The King of heaven and earth would meet with me - to ensure your daughter (in a sea of millions) would know that you see me in my pain, you hear my groans - Holy Spirit interceded prayers, and you SHOW me in a very special way that you make time for me, and meet me where and however unruly I am … reminding me it’s about relationship, not religion.

Bonus photos of what I’ve begun reading. And I’ll be re-studying/updating my Trauma Sensitive Yoga certification, too. Been on my list for a while. No time like the present 💝 Refocusing on what I CAN do.

At this point, I don’t know how to NOT give God the glory! I can’t make this stuff up! I can’t plan and orchestrate this stuff so well. 🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

😳🫣And this is why I can’t be on IG, I have too much to share! More than 2,200 characters most of the time! 🤣 and often more than 5 😮‍💨
🥴

10/28/2026

Worth the share. Love learning from and serving alongside this servant hearted leader who practices what she preaches - I’m still working on the smart phone thing. Sounds wonderful, may just have to put it into practice, too as a posture of trust. 💜

I live as if my phone is still screwed to the wall, like the one I grew up with. It's never attached to me, it lives on airplane mode more often than not, and in the evenings I shut down my computer and unapologetically enjoy the rest of the day.

Life is too loud.
I relish in the quiet whitespace, where I can let my breath slow, in through the nose, all the way down, and out again a little longer than the in, and simply be with the One who made me.

Rest isn't something I squeeze in once the list is done. It made God's Top Ten. (See Exod. 20), and He commanded it because He knew we'd never stop on our own.

So every evening when that screen goes dark, I'm trusting Him. I'm telling the Lord the world keeps turning without my hands on it, because it's held in His.

Stretching Your Faith is my invitation to practice that kind of rest with your whole body, breath and all. I tell about a lost girl that God quite literally rolled up His sleeves, reached down and pulled me up out of my pit where I laid flat on my face.

Tonight, friend, let's put the phone down together and breathe. He isn't asking you to earn rest. He's asking you to receive it.

In Him, Michelle

[Purchase wherever books are sold, including Amazon : https://link.amazon/B02wSmNdd or Signed copies in the store at yogafaith.org (50% right now) https://yogafaith.org/product/stretching-your-faith-paperback ]

10/28/2026

If you’ve ever questioned whether you can practice yoga in alignment with your Christ-centered faith, here’s an opportunity to better understand why I practice what I have come to embody as “postures of prayer” or “postures of the heart” surrendered to Christ and later became a YogaFaith yoga therapist … and you can, too (even in your PJs like I do every morning - even when I cannot move my body, I can breathe, meditate, and pray in whatever posture my body CAN do)

I invite you to our YogaFaith page, too: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1C9tSBzRWZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

10/26/2026

Does Sue Fitzmaurice’s quote resonate deeply within anybody else but me?