Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
LIFE CHANGING
"A wise man once distinguished between 'the noble art of getting things done' and 'the nobler art of leaving things undone.' True wisdom in life,' he taught, consists of 'the elimination of the non'essentials'. "
"What are the nonessential things that clutter your days and steal your time? What are the habits you may have developed that do not serve a useful purpose? What are the unfinished or unstarted things that could add vigor, meaning and joy to your life?"
Some of you will remember this quote from Sister Beck's talk in the General RS meeting. I just read it yesterday in my Conference Ensign and LOVE it! So, as an exercise, I want to make a list of things to leave undone and habits that serve no useful purpose:
1. Checking my email 400 times a day. (surfing the web for cute Christmas clothes and searching random people on facebook fall under this category as well).
2. The idle chatter that accompanies my endless telephone calls (not to be confused with purposeful phone calls to check on loved ones or accomplish some task.)
3. Staying up after I'm tired, after the work is done, and doing essentially nothing.
4. Running to Walmart every other day instead of making a complete list so I can get everything in one trip.
I'm sure the list could be much longer. These are just off the top of my head. Anyway, the second part of the quote is the really important part: "What are the unfinished or unstarted things that could add vigor, meaning and joy to your life?" I have only one suggestion...
A few weeks ago I was talking on the phone to a local friend (NOT idle chatter because it inspired me to be better). She mentioned in passing that she gets up everyday at 5:30am to be showered, dressed and ready before she wakes her children up and gets them off to school. The thought was so foreign to me! What?! Some stay at home Moms aren't still in their pjs at 11? I was so intrigued that I decided to try it. It has been LIFE CHANGING! Now, I only have to get up at 6:30 to be dressed and ready before I need to wake my children up, but still. I have noticed such a difference in myself and the way the morning runs when I'm not dragging around in pjs and sweats trying to get my kids together. I forget less, I am more patient and pleasant, AND somehow, we have more time for important things like family prayer and a little pre-school conversation! My house is clean and together earlier in the morning, I'm out and about running errands and getting things done sooner, it's just great! This is one thing I have started that adds vigor, meaning and joy to my life. Don't knock it until you've tried it!:)
What are your ideas?
P.S. Thanks for the ideas with the kids. And, Christa, we ARE the noisiest family in the ward.
"What are the nonessential things that clutter your days and steal your time? What are the habits you may have developed that do not serve a useful purpose? What are the unfinished or unstarted things that could add vigor, meaning and joy to your life?"
Some of you will remember this quote from Sister Beck's talk in the General RS meeting. I just read it yesterday in my Conference Ensign and LOVE it! So, as an exercise, I want to make a list of things to leave undone and habits that serve no useful purpose:
1. Checking my email 400 times a day. (surfing the web for cute Christmas clothes and searching random people on facebook fall under this category as well).
2. The idle chatter that accompanies my endless telephone calls (not to be confused with purposeful phone calls to check on loved ones or accomplish some task.)
3. Staying up after I'm tired, after the work is done, and doing essentially nothing.
4. Running to Walmart every other day instead of making a complete list so I can get everything in one trip.
I'm sure the list could be much longer. These are just off the top of my head. Anyway, the second part of the quote is the really important part: "What are the unfinished or unstarted things that could add vigor, meaning and joy to your life?" I have only one suggestion...
A few weeks ago I was talking on the phone to a local friend (NOT idle chatter because it inspired me to be better). She mentioned in passing that she gets up everyday at 5:30am to be showered, dressed and ready before she wakes her children up and gets them off to school. The thought was so foreign to me! What?! Some stay at home Moms aren't still in their pjs at 11? I was so intrigued that I decided to try it. It has been LIFE CHANGING! Now, I only have to get up at 6:30 to be dressed and ready before I need to wake my children up, but still. I have noticed such a difference in myself and the way the morning runs when I'm not dragging around in pjs and sweats trying to get my kids together. I forget less, I am more patient and pleasant, AND somehow, we have more time for important things like family prayer and a little pre-school conversation! My house is clean and together earlier in the morning, I'm out and about running errands and getting things done sooner, it's just great! This is one thing I have started that adds vigor, meaning and joy to my life. Don't knock it until you've tried it!:)
What are your ideas?
P.S. Thanks for the ideas with the kids. And, Christa, we ARE the noisiest family in the ward.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
IDEAS
So, um, sorry I missed my devotional last week. I guess Heather was right, I'm not righteous enough to pull it off every week. But I'm back this week. What does that mean, Heather?
A couple of weeks ago Matt and I went over to a friend's house for dinner. We got to talking about family traditions, in particular father's interviews. So, she pulled out her old family videos (now on dvd) and we watched her Dad giving her and her siblings father's interviews as children. I was RIVETED! Matt actually does interviews, but I had never seen it and it was fascinating to watch this total stranger interact with his kids. They prayed together, memorized a little poem that taught a lesson, talked about how things were going in the kid's life, and he told them how much they meant to him. It was incredible, really.
It's a tough world our kids are growing up in. How can we help them to make it through without too many permanent scars? We need ideas! Things we can do, traditions we can start, that will help our kids through the rough times. An extra coat of armor. So, here are a few of mine. I'd love to hear yours!
1. Old standbys, I guess, but the Prophet thought them up (or the Lord) FHE, Family Scripture Study, Family Home Evening.
2. Father's interviews. (I also do "Mommy time" where I spend a little one-on-one time with each kid before bed just talking and even playing with their favorite toy.)
3. Matt and I have bought a set of scriptures for each of our kids. I read through the Book of Mormon and mark it in red, then Matt reads it and marks it in Blue. When we're finished, we each write our testimony and glue it in the front cover. I'm not sure when we'll give them to them. Maybe their missions or when they graduate from highschool. We're done with three sets (not finished with Norah's yet). Hopefully, it will strengthen our kids to know their parents believe in the Book of Mormon. And I mark according to which kid's scriptures I am doing.
4. I haven't put this into effect yet, but I think it would be cool to let each kid choose a scripture that is "their scripture" something they can memorize and use to define them in a way. This could also work with a hymn. They choose it and then I would frame it or put it in their room somehow. Still working on this one...
5. I loved President Monson's talk about service. What a cool idea he shared about asking "what did you do for someone today?" at family dinner. That reminds me, family dinners are a great idea...
6. I've been really thinking about the principle of work lately. Are we teaching our kids by example to be hard workers? The scriptures often interchange the word "wicked" with "idle". It makes me want to implement hard work at home. I love living near so many farmers! These people know how to work!
I guess this gives us something to think about. I would love some comments with more ideas!
Oh, and P.S. I would love some ideas on how to keep kids reverent during church. Ideas I don't want to hear:
1. NO toys or snacks --tried it.
2. LOTS of toys and snacks---tried it.
3. Take them out an punish them---tried it.
4. Keep them in no matter what--tried it.
5. Have FHE/mulitple discussions about the importance of reverence and why we should be good in sacrament meeting--tried it (Joel yelled "I don't want to think about Jesus!" when I shushed him during the sacrament last week.
A couple of weeks ago Matt and I went over to a friend's house for dinner. We got to talking about family traditions, in particular father's interviews. So, she pulled out her old family videos (now on dvd) and we watched her Dad giving her and her siblings father's interviews as children. I was RIVETED! Matt actually does interviews, but I had never seen it and it was fascinating to watch this total stranger interact with his kids. They prayed together, memorized a little poem that taught a lesson, talked about how things were going in the kid's life, and he told them how much they meant to him. It was incredible, really.
It's a tough world our kids are growing up in. How can we help them to make it through without too many permanent scars? We need ideas! Things we can do, traditions we can start, that will help our kids through the rough times. An extra coat of armor. So, here are a few of mine. I'd love to hear yours!
1. Old standbys, I guess, but the Prophet thought them up (or the Lord) FHE, Family Scripture Study, Family Home Evening.
2. Father's interviews. (I also do "Mommy time" where I spend a little one-on-one time with each kid before bed just talking and even playing with their favorite toy.)
3. Matt and I have bought a set of scriptures for each of our kids. I read through the Book of Mormon and mark it in red, then Matt reads it and marks it in Blue. When we're finished, we each write our testimony and glue it in the front cover. I'm not sure when we'll give them to them. Maybe their missions or when they graduate from highschool. We're done with three sets (not finished with Norah's yet). Hopefully, it will strengthen our kids to know their parents believe in the Book of Mormon. And I mark according to which kid's scriptures I am doing.
4. I haven't put this into effect yet, but I think it would be cool to let each kid choose a scripture that is "their scripture" something they can memorize and use to define them in a way. This could also work with a hymn. They choose it and then I would frame it or put it in their room somehow. Still working on this one...
5. I loved President Monson's talk about service. What a cool idea he shared about asking "what did you do for someone today?" at family dinner. That reminds me, family dinners are a great idea...
6. I've been really thinking about the principle of work lately. Are we teaching our kids by example to be hard workers? The scriptures often interchange the word "wicked" with "idle". It makes me want to implement hard work at home. I love living near so many farmers! These people know how to work!
I guess this gives us something to think about. I would love some comments with more ideas!
Oh, and P.S. I would love some ideas on how to keep kids reverent during church. Ideas I don't want to hear:
1. NO toys or snacks --tried it.
2. LOTS of toys and snacks---tried it.
3. Take them out an punish them---tried it.
4. Keep them in no matter what--tried it.
5. Have FHE/mulitple discussions about the importance of reverence and why we should be good in sacrament meeting--tried it (Joel yelled "I don't want to think about Jesus!" when I shushed him during the sacrament last week.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Good Times
In all my life, I have had very few friends to rival my brother, Joel. We were close as children and inseparable as teenagers. There were a few years there where we had very little contact (missions that overlapped by only 2 weeks). When he left on his mission, I was just graduating from highschool. When I got home from my mission, Joel was married with a kid! And we're only 18 months apart in age! Anyway, besides that little gap, we have been close our entire lives. When Melanie entered the picture, I just adopted her as my new best friend--a big plus for me! So, you can imagine how excited I was to have them stop by for a little visit on their way to Seattle this week. They were here for 36 short hours and we packed in the fun!
Melanie and I went for a nice walk in the morning, and the men went golfing in the afternoon. We took some much needed family pics, took the kids bowling and then went on a wonderful date and left the 10 kids (under the age of 10, mind you) with 2 sweet teenage babysitters. It was so fun!
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