I Think I'm Gonna Need My Lip and Eye!

We aren't even through November yet, and I am already exhausted from looking at my December calendar.  Best case scenario MAKE A PLAN and BE PREPARED!  The next best thing is my lip and eye cream from It Works....and YES it works!  It helps to reduce puffiness and dark circles from under the eyes.  Who wants to show up at a Christmas party looking tired and frumpy anyways!  The best part is that it is made from natural botanicals!  :) 






Here are some of the amazing results!  This is the link to order some for yourself!    www.naturallywraptastic.myitworks.com

 

Am We Reallly Thankful?

I love Thanksgiving because I am thankful for just about everything in my life and if you read my previous post, I am even thankful for my problems!  I complain about having to get up and go to work, but really that job is a blessing in so many ways.  I get frustrated with the laundry that never seems to be caught up, but I wouldn't have the laundry if I didn't have my sweet little priority blessings!  Amidst my frustration with the fact that we rarely savor this important time of the year to remember our blessing and be thankful, I tried a holiday craft that I found on the internet with my kids.  It is a simple "thanksgiving tree" made from twiggs and cut out leaves.  Each of my children got 3 leaves and they were to write one thing that they are thankful for on each leaf.  Little did I know that this project would come with a huge eye popping realization.  They had a hard time thinking of things that they were thankful for beyond things like toys and TV.  Nobody said friends, nobody said family, nobody said school or an education and when I said "What about church and God?"  their response was an overwhelming...YUCK!   I get it they are kids, and that is what kids do, that is how they think right????  I am not okay with this though!  Their little lives are so comfortable that they don't know what a blessing it is to have a nice house, warm clothes, good friends, a loving family, to be able to go to church and Worship God and to go to school and get a good education! 

I am certainly not thinking that we can go without dinner so that they will know what a blessing it is to have food, but maybe I have failed to model this for them successfully!  Although in my heart, I feel blessed, but my family see's me being overwhelmed and frustrated more.  I didn't make too big of a deal about it, because after all, they are kids BUT I will make sure my joy far exceeds my stress.  I will talk to them more about how blessed they are in an attempt to  instill in them a spirit of thanksgiving all through the year, not just at Thanksgiving!

This is similar to the tree that we made.  I was not able to upload a picture of the one that we did, so I posted a picture from the sight that we found the idea.    They did include things like toys and TV but they also added some of the good stuff to their list too.  We had a super good time doing it! 

When Failure and Mediocrity Is No Longer an Option

As I was cleaning out my filing cabinets and desk drawer, I came across my prayer journals from previous years.  In addition to prayers, I also include goals and action plans to accomplish these goals.  It is something that I take a lot of time to do.  As I read through these journals, a realization hit me pretty fast and hard.  My goals are the same now as they were 5 years ago.  That's right 5 YEARS AGO!

I also noticed a pattern to my "journaling".  I would set a goal, and work hard for a little while, then slowly compromise on the action plan and before I knew it, my life was back in chaos!  I am pretty disappointed at myself for this, especially because I know that the quality of life that I can provide for my family can be drastically improved if I could just get my act together and meet some of these goals.  It makes me sick to think about the time that I have wasted! 

That is when I decided that failure and mediocrity is no longer an option.  I thought I was doing pretty good, but there really is no excuse to have not accomplished goals that big for that long!  My family deserves so much more from me!  They do not deserve to have a mommy that is struggling to keep her head above the water.  They can be blessed so much more by my discipline and determination. 

The saying, "If you do what you have always done....you will get what you have always gotten" comes to mind.  It is time for me to step waaayyy out of my comfort zone and do what I think is best, and not what I am comfortable with.  When I journal this time, I am not only going to set  realistic goals and an action plan, focus more on how far I have come and not how far I have to go.  I will also review my progress and PRAY over these goals daily.

 Proverbs 16:3 says, "Committ your actions to the LORD and your plans will succeed".  My ambition is to no longer just get through the day, but to prosper in all that I do!  Failure and Mediocrity is no longer an option for me or my family!

Here it is...this is what I will be using to track my progress and hold me accountable to meeting my goals for me and my family!

I am thankful for my problems!

You read that right, I am thankful for my problems.  Let me explain!  Several years ago we went through a really difficult time.  When I say difficult, I mean I felt like we got one sucker punch after another for months/years on end.  We were praying and working hard to improve our situation but every time we turned around we just couldn't get out from underneath of our situation.  No matter how discouraged I got, I knew in my heart that if I continued to do the right things and keep my motive for change pure, than God would be able to use our situation for our good!  I will not lie, sometimes it was a daily struggle to come to that perspective and live life by making the most of every opportunity.

 Finally, after much prayer there was a break through in our situation!  The answer to our prayer came in the form of a move though.  After we moved, a relative uploaded a picture of the beautiful fall foliage at our old house to their Face Book page.  I looked at the breath taking colors of the trees that surrounded our home and was shocked to see that it was at our house.  I was so surprised because I somehow failed to notice it for myself, even though I drove by those same trees 2 (sometimes 3 or 4 times a day)!  The more I thought about it over the years, the more I wondered how many other subtle opportunities I have missed to watch my God wow me in everyday life because I was too focused on my problems.  It makes me regret wasting my thoughts and energies on all of the crud that was going on around me.  And when I really think about it, did it solve anything?  NOPE not at all!

 It was a huge blessing to finally see some answers to some of our problems and move forward in our lives, but truly the real blessing was in how those problems developed our character and brought us closer together as a family.  We emerged stronger and better because of our challenges. More importantly, those challenges increased my faith in God as He is the only person to have opened doors for our situation to improve.  I can actually say that I am thankful for those challenges.

Whenever I get discouraged, I remember that my God is so much more powerful than our problems.  I try to be more intentional in taking a break from daily struggles to notice the simple things that are going on around me and I remember that with the right attitude, pure motives and my God anything is possible.   As you enjoy the spendor of fall in these next couple of weeks, think about challenges that you have had in your life or about a challenge that you are currently going through.  Be thankful for those problems because in the end, the real blessing is the change that occurs on the inside of us!