Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year! I love the New Year. I love getting rid of all the merry making and going stark, clean and minimalistic. I love the hope of spring eventually. The promise of change. I am a theme girl. A good theme helps me to focus and direct myself. I have been trying to come up with a good theme for 2012. Something that rhymes or is catchy. Nothing has come to me. Then looking through the paper and ad's today I saw the theme for the Young Women in our church. "Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations." D&C 115:3. If it is good for the YW why not for me. And although it was super difficult for me to arise this morning for 9 am church. I have found my theme. I love that there is action involved. First we have to get up, then we have to shine forth. That means not being sullen or fearful. Shining is bright, hopeful and full of light. The light of God.

Today Mr. M talked in church. He talked about looking upward instead of sideways. He told the Max Lucado story "You Are Special" about the Wemmicks who put stars or dots on each other depending on how good or bad they are perceived by others. It is only when we turn to the Master and realize that we were created to just be ourselves when we focus on what the Master thinks more than on what others think that we are truly able to let the praises and critiques of others mean little to who we really are. It is in that moment that we are truly able to Arise and shine Forth.

May you all have a Bright and Joyous New Year!

Sunday Thoughts

This past week I went to a church workshop. I went mostly to get out of the house and have a few minutes to myself. It had been a day full of stress. I had yelled at my little one when he almost broke my car window, then again when I went up to my bedroom and found my once made bed in pillow piles on the floor and two baskets of clean folded laundry know strewn from one side of the room to the other, it looked like a tornado had hit inside my room. I had missed taking Lego Man to Scouts completely forgot about scouts because we were supposed to be at Swim lessons too. Which also meant I had forgotten to pick up another boy in the neighborhood who rides with us.

So as I sat down at the workshop and realized the topic was Charity, I almost got up and left. I wasn't feeling charity for anyone and didn't want to feel the guilt trip I foresaw coming on. But I stayed.

The presenter discussed the scripture in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6
She listed out what Charity is:
Charity is....
the pure love of Christ
suffereth long, and is kind
envieth not
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up
doth not behave itself unseemly
seeketh not her own
is not easily provoked
thinketh no evil
rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth.

The thing that really captured my attention was the realization that as I thinketh evil of myself, by comparing and criticizing who I am, I end up not being able to accomplish any of the other aspects of experiencing the pure love of Christ. It really is a reciprocal thing as we learn of Christ, and try to become like Him, I think we start to see in ourselves what He sees in us. We therefore see ourselves and are able to become like Him, and so we look for ways to show Charity to those around us. I left feeling like I needed to change but not knowing how.

The next morning I had an email from a dear friend who sat by my side during our workshop and could tell I was struggling. She in her loving amazing way told me how she sees me and also sent this little bit of inspiration here. I realized that it is an every day choice we make to be patient, to be loving, to let others grow and make mistakes. It is an every minute choice to be tolerant, to not allow a problem to outweigh our love for others or ourselves.

I would love to say I had a perfect week without getting upset or being provoked by those who frustrate me. I didn't, but little by little I feel myself trying to make the choice of Charity become who I truly am.

I loved this quote that our presenter gave by Bruce C. Hafen "Charity is not developed entirely by our own power, even though our faithfulness is a necessary qualification to receive it. Rather, charity is bestowed upon the true followers of Christ. The purpose of the endowment of charity is not merely to cause Christ's followers to engage in charitable acts toward others, desirable as that is. The ultimate purpose is to transform His followers to become like Him."

In my ongoing quest to live a provident life, to find joy in my journey and to simplify my life I think this is a starting place. It seems that if I can become more like Christ than I will turn my life towards the things of purpose and therefore find the treasures for which I search.

Running My Own Race

Sometimes when I get up in the morning and things are more clear from a good nights rest I will have the most amazing epiphanies. This morning I had a beautiful thought and wanted to share.

I am fairly competitive in just about everything I do. So often times when I view the world I view it as a race. However lately I've been thinking that we don't always start at the same point as everyone else. Example: I know people who were raised in loving homes and that from a young age their main focus in life was to thrive in the world where they were placed. They had people to guide and direct their life, and help them to see there great potential. They seem to have started out ahead a bit in the race. On the flip side of that I know several people who grew up in homes that were merely about survival. From a young age they were in a daily situation of self preservation for their emotional and physical selves. They didn't have help at home on homework or science fair projects. They merely hoped to make it through another day and often times to remain as invisible as possible another self preservation tactic. From my race view of the world I have thought well they started behind the others. So my rationale for a few weeks as been that everyone is starting from different places and will therefore get to the finish line at different times.

Today my big breakthrough was that we aren't running a race against others at all. This life granted to us by a loving Father in Heaven is not about competing with others, it is all about our own individual race. In high school I ran hurdles. I was okay at them, and mostly ran them because my dad had run them when he was in high school. As I tried to beat other scores and compete with those on my team and others I often felt discouraged. But as I practiced and put in the effort and focused on only me and what I was going to achieve I improved. I didn't improve to the point of winning every race or even placing most times, but I improved enough to run at Region as a sophomore a huge accomplishment for me. I realized today that in my own personal race it is all about personal bests.

I am running my own race on my own course. My course can be on level ground sometimes and many times it includes steep inclines, grueling obstacles and often times stormy weather. But I'm not competing against anyone. I am fighting for my own personal best.

I look at those who started out on bumpy courses and see the strength that they have as they continue to race the good race. To continue to get up when they have fallen and to achieve their personal bests.

As a mother I have learned this lesson over and over again. When I compare myself, my children or my marriage to others and then try to compete with what I see of others lives I only seem to feel more discouraged. Mostly because it seems that when my course is particularly bumpy I often look over and think "oh so and so is doing so well" thinking we are running the same race when that person might just be on a level surface of their current race.

When my competitive streak is directed toward myself is when I see the greatest actual achievement versus when I am trying to best someone else I usually don't do as well. When I focus on where I am on the course. What I am facing, and how best to get through the next section and improve my own personal best is when I seem to find contentment, real improvement and success.

So here's to running our own race and besting our own personal best whatever that maybe.

A Gift for Me and Something Extra for Another

Check out this video:

We had a family celebration on Sunday and part of that was an early celebration of my birthday. I have been wanting a pair of TOM's shoes for awhile and so my family gave me $ to put toward them. I am super excited to own my new TOM's shoes....plus I love that when I put them on, somewhere in the world a child will also have a new pair too. I love this concept of making a quality product and then making a difference albeit small in the life of someone else. If you're interested in checking out these shoes go here.

The Power of a Sixth Sense and the Power of Contentment

A few weeks ago Mr. M and I went on a quick date. We have been trying to go out weekly. Which can actually pose many challenges. This particular week I had scheduled a babysitter for a week/school night and so we had about 1 hour. I thought maybe a yogurt and a trip around the block and back home again. Mr. M had another idea...the library. It was such a fun date, even though we ended up spending most of our hour individually perusing books in different sections of the library. It was on this library date that I found a golden treasure. It is a book called Hannah Keeley's Total Mom Makeover: The Six-Week Plan to Completely Transform Your Home, Heath, Family and Life. It screamed at me to pick it up and I have been working on my total transformation for the last few weeks. I could go on for several blog posts about how much this book as truly benefited my life and helped me to create a clear vision for my career choice of motherhood.

Today however I want to share one of my exercises for today because it was powerful. She was talking about including your 5 senses in your home and increasing the beauty and peace you find. Then she came to what she turned her "Sixth Sense" " More information is communicated through your sixth sense than through all your other sense combine3d. Your environment can look taste, smell, sound and feel great, but if you don have a spirit of gratitude, something will feel a bit off."

And here is my favorite part..."You bless your home in powerful ways when you first consider it a blessing to you and your family. Even if it is not your "dream house," begin right now to appreciate those wall that enclose you and the roof that keeps you sheltered.....Let your gratitude permeate every nook and cranny of where you life, and it will light up your home with beauty."

I sat reading today and realized how powerful this statement truly is. I can decorate and fill, beautify and improve my surroundings but until I can recognize the blessings and focus on my gratitude I will not truly be comfortable or content where I am.

For me this rings true. I have a small home with many people. I often view this as a challenge instead of being thankful for the opportunities my children are learning to share and become closer together. Of the skills I have learned in organizing and simplifying. Of the considerably lower mortgage payment we have which will hopefully help us to better achieve our financial goals. I live on a busy street and don't feel comfortable letting my kids play in our front yard by themselves and because of my location we do not readily have lots of kids nearby. Again I realized I could see the blessings in my children learning how to work on friendships and find creative things to do in our home and our backyard. They are diligent about not going in the road and have learned how to be observant when they are out in the front. All skills that are useful and will benefit them in the future.

There is great power in using our sixth sense. Power in finding contentment even in not so desirable circumstances. How do you find gratitude in your surroundings? I would love to hear your input.

For more information on Hannah Keeley go here.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Emily

Leading Men in the Love Stories of Our Lives

I love to read. I love to read Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte...two of my most favorites. One of my favorite books of all time is Jane Eyre. As I await springtime and try to make it through the gloomy days of January, February and many times March I try to choose books that are "Old Friends." These "old friends" bring me happiness, and help still my restless soul. I enter a world where life always ends happily, and strong people conquer all. I have been spending my reading moments this month with Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester. Let's face it one of the reason's I love these books are the leading men. I love how all my favorite leading men are Mr.'s. Mr. Darcy(Pride and Prejudice), Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre), Mr. Knightly (Emma), Mr. Thornton (North and South) the two exceptions would be Captain Wentworth (Persuasion) and Gilbert Blythe (Anne of Green Gables). As I read these books as a younger woman, I found myself caught up in their words and visualizing them as perfect men. As I read these books now I see that they are men with flaws. They are strong willed, and proud, often they don't know how to say things correctly the first time..hello Mr. Darcy's first proposal. They really struggle to understand the women in their lives. And they often times say and do dumb and stupid things. They also rise however to the occasions placed before them and become the men they need to be. I think this is what Real Men are. Flawed at times and yet they rise to the occasions of life. My favorite leading man of all time is my own Mr. McAllister. He is most definitely a Real Man. He is flawed. He has never written a love letter like Captain Wentworth, but he does leave me notes on the backs of receipts or on scrap pieces of paper that say , "I Love you. And hope you have a good day." Or silly pun's that make me laugh. He doesn't always remember to whisper sweet nothings to me, but he always rises to the occasions that make him a leading man in our lives. Last night Mini B. started puking in the middle of the night, really the early morning. He ran to her room and was already holding her hair before I could get there. He lovingly rubbed her back and told her everything would be okay. While I helped her clean up he cleaned her entire bed and room which were literally covered in a horrible stench of vomit. He didn't complain or go back to bed. He took on the task and came to check on her and I with positive and caring affirmations. I can't imagine even the worthy Mr. Darcy doing that. We spent most of our evening in separate parts of the house. I comforting Mini B. and he trying to get Thing 2 back to bed, since he had woken up in the commotion of the sickness. Yet I felt so close to him, so loved and so blessed to be married to my own leading man....Mr. McAllister who always rises to the occasion,to show real love. I look at the world around us and realize that their definition of love is so different than the real stuff, which is really to go above what one wants...to be in the service of someone else. Real leading men are hard to come by. As I read about Mr. Rochester again and my beloved Jane I realize how real love seldom comes packaged in the perfect package. Some time it is wrapped in plain and simple wrapping and the gem lies waiting inside for us to discover. So here is to leading men. Real men, who look their best in pajama's holding their little girl's hair while she pukes. Have a wonderful day.

The Invisible Mom

(Picture downloaded from Flicker-taken by Teresa Flanagan

it is of the Holy Name Cathedral - Chicago)

This is a very touching and sweet story I have heard several times. I don't know the source but a dear friend gave it to me last year and then another dear friend sent it to me today and I thought it would be a great thing to post. This is to ALL those who sometimes feel invisible as they go about doing Good Works.

The Invisible Mother
It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, "Can't you see I'm on the phone?"

Obviously not, no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I"m invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?" I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?" I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."

Some days I'm a crystal ball: "Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?. What's for dinner?"

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature -but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package and said, "I brought you this." It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: "With admiration for the greatness of what you are building when now one sees."

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour- the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
2)These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
3)The made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
4)The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it." And the workman replied, "Because God sees."

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. I twas almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does."

No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on. The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My Mom gets up at four int he morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the lines for the table." That would mean I'd built a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, "You're going to live it there!"


As mother's, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be see if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.

May you all have a wonderful day!!

Emily

A Good Quote....Praiseworthy Inspiration

A friend of mine sent me this email today with this quote in it. I was supposed to forward it on to eight people. I figured I would post it on my blog instead. It has some good words to practice.

"May today there be peace within. May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. May you use the gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us." - author not known


May this be a mantra today.


Emily