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Perfection: The Art of Time Management

March 19, 2012 in Attitude, Change, Perfection, Raising Children with 0 Comments

Time management. Enough said right? I have always been a person who manages their time and tasks right down to the tiniest detail, and then I became a mom and that particular quality has been challenged. I am sure you know what I am talking about right? Our jobs as mom are a 24 hour a day job, I literally can not have every moment of every day planned nor can I expect it to happen perfectly according to my agenda. Plus, I have to take a moment and look at the entire picture… yes I might need to dust, the folded laundry might need to be put away BUT my son also needs my attention as well when he is bringing me books to read or puzzles to put together. I have had to learn to “manage my time” so that those precious moments of reading books, finger painting and trips to the park don’t go missed. It can be easy to feel like we are not getting our jobs done as wife and mom when our attention is being pulled in nine million directions. But, that is not the case! Spend a little time putting laundry away and then dedicate all your attention to a fun book to read, save the dusting for another time. Not everything has to be done at once, take joy in the things accomplished in that day and not focus on the “failures” of what was not accomplished. Housework will always be there calling our names, how long will our children be little? Not long! Basically I think the biggest thing I have learned and would tell other moms experiencing this challenge is that “time management” as a mom is more about learning that not everything must be done right this second and that our children don’t stay little forever.

Photo Credit: Sean McGrath

Change: Let’s Be Honest

January 23, 2012 in Accountability, Change, Passion, Raising Children with 0 Comments

Every parent wants the best for their children in all aspects of their lives, including the safest and healthiest products for them. So many items on the shelves are believed to be good, safe products for our children but in reality many times that is not the case. All parents have to decide what they will do about that situation, for some it could be homemade baby food, organic food, cloth diapers, all natural soaps etc. Just last week I stumbled across a new company founded by Jessica Alba (who is also the spokes person for the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families organization). The company is The Honest Company. Their products are natural, safe, eco-friendly and affordable! The bonus is that they are delivered right to your door! I haven’t tried the products yet, but intend to, I just want to make sure to pass on any new information I get about affordable natural products to other parents who might be interested, because if your like me I didn’t even know about this new company until someone told me. Check out Green Oklahoma‘s page for an article I have written about The Honest Company and be sure to check out the company’s website for a free trial pack and please comment any time you come across new products, let’s share the new information with each other so we can all be aware of our choices!

Fun for Mom: Smile Pretty

January 17, 2012 in Blessed, Change, Fun For Mom, Love, Raising Children with 0 Comments

“Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.” Walt Disney

I love to take pictures. In high school I practically always had a disposable camera in my purse and when I went on trips I was picture crazy. I had so many picture frames in my room, plus a bulletin board filled. I still love to take pictures, however now we have a digital camera like so many people do. Our digital camera is great, it’s the kind that snaps quickly like disposable cameras do, you don’t have to wait the five million seconds it takes for other digital cameras to actually take the picture. It’s also big and bulky, but its awesome. I love having it. We did so good taking pictures once a month for Eli’s baby book, I have some in the baby book but still need to have several printed, but at least they are taken and on my computer.

Is it just me or do pictures with a digital camera tend to stay on a computer rather than getting printed? I get my pictures printed less often than I ever used to now that I have the digital camera. I take the picture, load it onto the computer and then tell myself I’ll print them later and then many times I don’t or at least it’s WAY later when they get printed. I don’t ever want to pay to have one or two pictures printed, I always want to wait until I at least have a dozen to make it worth it, so they tend to sit for a while. It’s even worse now with the camera phones. Half the pictures we have of Eli aren’t even with the camera, they are with our phones. Yes you can have those printed, but I’ve already mentioned that process. While I love the ability to delete pictures that didn’t turn out good and pick and choose what I want printed, sometimes I think that it was a little easier to have the disposable camera because you have to get them printed to see anything, there was no uploading to a computer first. Am I the only one who takes forever to have pictures printed?

Photo Credit: Bailey Weaver 

Change the Cycle

January 4, 2012 in Attitude, Blessed, Change, Legacy, Prayer, Worship with 2 Comments

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 (NIV) 

Today has been the day for us to get back into our usual routine after the holidays. We have either had family in town or was out-of-town ourselves. It has been a great time spending Christmas and the New Year with family, Eli even took his first steps while we were visiting Chase’s grandparents! Today while Eli took his nap I took down the Christmas decorations. Is it just me or does the house seem really empty when the tree gets put up for another year? It’s like there is a giant empty spot now in my living room that is usually there unless its December and the tree is up. As I look at that empty space I am trying to figure out what to fill it with but I know I will do what I always do… nothing and eventually it will look like normal until it is time for the tree to go up again. It’s a never-ending cycle that I am sure I am not alone in. While I am sitting here writing, something came to me about this cycle, it’s a lot like life. How so? Well if your like me there are some days where you feel like you don’t have enough minutes in the day. (I know I was that way Christmas Eve… trying to clean, wrap gifts, do laundry etc.) Then there are other days where you might find yourself with a few extra minutes. What do we do with those minutes? Turn on the tv, play on the computer, read, call someone or probably any number of other things and so we fill up that extra space of time until we are full and can move on with our day and then the cycle continues again. Today while I was thinking about all this I decided how great it would be to break that cycle! What if instead of filling up our every minute of every day we take those extra precious moments and praise God, read his word, listen to Him and even just rest… yes I said rest, sometimes resting is what we need too. It doesn’t have to take long to say a prayer or even listen to a favorite worship song. What can we teach our kids when we live our lives in a way that shows that we don’t constantly have to be entertained by something but yet using the time given to us wisely and in praise of our God!?!

Photo Credit: Leland Francisco

Accountability: New Year’s Resolutions

December 29, 2011 in Accountability, Change with 2 Comments

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

With this year coming to an end and the new year right around the corner a lot of people are thinking about new year resolutions. I myself don’t have any this year. The reason for that is a few months ago I made a 30 before 30 list and a lot of the things that are on there would have been things that I would have used as a new year’s resolution. Instead I will just continue to work on my list and cross things off one by one. The item on my list that comes to mind for a new year’s resolution is reading the Bible all the way through. I have heard many resolutions to spend more time in the Bible and more time with God daily. I agree with those resolutions, in fact those are great ones for every Christian to have each year. I have been finishing up a devotional plan from Youversion and come January 1st I plan to open up to Genesis and start my journey reading through the Bible. I don’t know how long it will take me, I don’t have a certain timeline in place for when I want to be done. I plan to just enjoy God’s word and see what He has to show me as I read His word all the way through. I look forward to my “resolution.” Do you have one?

Photo Credit: Ian Bailey-Mortimer
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