Take Time to Celebrate

The Autumn bug has bit!

We have had only a couple cool days but it is so refreshing. 

On the first day of Autumn I try to make apple cider doughnuts to celebrate this wonderful season.  I did it again this year.  My kids enjoy them but I realize that I really do it for me!  I want to mark this wonderful time of year and since I am a baker and I REALLY like good food it was an easy to put the two together and start a family tradition. 

I made these apple pies today because we are going over to a friend’s house for dinner tonight.  Again, I wanted to celebrate the season.  We are also celebrating the Lord’s Day tonight.  It is my family’s tradition, as well as many of our friends to celebrate the Lord’s Day by starting it out each Saturday night at dinner.  We gather as a family or with friends to “break bread” together and thank God for the blessings of this past week.  It is a really great tradition which strengthens the bonds of friendship and family.

We are also recognizing God’s provision for us and resting in order to be ready for what He has for us in the coming week.  We have some formal prayers that we say but you don’t have to.  Just try going around the table each Saturday night and tell how God has blessed you this week.  It doesn’t have to be profound.  My son used to thank God for “apples” for weeks before he could come up with something else to say.  We can thank God for safe travels, for someone we bumped into this week, for our health and even thank God for some of our trials!  We sometimes learn alot through trials too!

We have alot to be thankful for.  Let’s set aside one day a week to dwell on the good.  Take the time to celebrate our rich and full lives!

Sandra’s Story

Sandra Forbes was an increasingly frustrated mom who had a lot of dreams and ideas.  From the time of the birth of her first son it became increasingly evident that she had to stay organized in order to follow through on her dreams.  As each subsequent child was born it became harder and harder to find the time to do anything other than take care of the children and the regular household duties.  She knew there was a better way.Who Is Sandra Forbes Click here to read her story

Everything is yelling at me!

I am getting a slow start this morning.  Everywhere I turn there is something yelling at me.  The phone is yelling for me to answer it, the house is yelling for me to pick it up and there are projects everywhere to do. 

Do you ever feel this way?

There are some things that don’t take any thought.  The baby needs to be fed.  That is a clear priority.  Then I get into the wishy washy area of what to do first.   It can be paralyzing! 

This is why it is so important to have set up an order for each day.  You can feel free to say NO to things.  Your time map helps you see that the laundry is going to get done during your laundry time, the projects can wait until the project time that you have set aside.  Yes, the bathroom needs to be cleaned today but you see that it is on the schedule for tomorrow so it can wait.  Slowly, all those things that are yelling at you to get done gets put in their place and it is easier to see clearly what needs to be done today!

Use your time map and experience the freedom and QUIET.

Make Time – Not Take Time

It’s all about attitude.  Check your attitude about your obligations in life.  Are you making the time or taking the time? 

If you take time for something like organizing or putting the kids down for bed you are, in essence, stealing time from something else you would rather be doing.

This hit home last night as I was putting my 15 month old down for bed.  I was sitting in the dark with him holding him and rocking him.  He was relaxed and laying his head on my shoulder.  Then he just out of the blue lifted his head up and pressed his lips to mine and started babbling as 15 months old do.  He was smiling and so happy to be with me.  We then continued to give each other what we call nose kisses as we press our noses to one another and nod our heads back and forth as we laugh.  He then layed his head back on my shoulder and went to sleep.

What a moment!  I so often dread putting the kids to sleep because it takes time from all the other things that I feel are pressing.  The raising of my children is oh so important and I want to MAKE the time and give them my all when I am with them. 

It is only then that I can enjoy such moments as the one I shared with my son last night.

Staying on the Path

As I was walking this morning over our well worn path that goes from our house to our church and school I was thinking about our life’s path.  The grass has been worn away by many shoes walking over it.  There isn’t much time for it to take root and grow before we trample it again.  There are several craggly roots that jut across the path which can’t be removed but we have to be watchful of so we don’t trip over them.  The neighbors have taken care to uproot the poison ivy so we don’t rub up against it unknowingly.

So it is with our Walk in LIFE. 

If we are consistent in the way we walk there isn’t enough time for bad thoughts and actions to take root.  We must be purposeful in the path we choose and be watchful of small obstacles and temptations that might try to trip us up.

Be thankful for others that have gone before us clearing the way and helping remove the other irritations that can try to distract us.

The analogy works for household management and financial management as well.  Conistency is often key to success any many areas of life.  Conistency helps keep us on the right path.  Consistency helps keep weeds from growing and slowing us down to distract us in dealing with the weeds instead of heading for what is ahead.  Pray that God will help you be more consistent.

On this cold beautiful day I am rejoicing in the life we have!  We just completed the Laura Ingalls Wilder series which talks about the difficult pioneer life.  Even though many of us are affected by the hard financial times we are having it is nothing compared to the challenges the early settlers faced.  I am reminded of the bounty we now enjoy and how little we really need. 

Have a thankful heart and your outlook on each day will be dramatically changed.

Christmas Decorations

I was walking by my neighbor’s yard right before Thanksgiving and I noticed that she had already put up her Christmas lights.  There is alot said for planning ahead.  I often want to wait until it gets really close to Christmas before putting out my lights and it is always FREEZING out.  Doing it early makes alot of sense.  She can get it done in the cool nights of early November (I obviously live in Virginia and not in Minnesota!) and not put them out in the freezing cold. 

Just because you put up your lights doesn’t mean you have to light them up.  You can choose to turn them on whenever you feel like it is appropriate for you.  Light strands can hardly be seen in the bushes during the day.  If you put lights out on garlands it would be harder to put them out early.  I tend to wrap the gardlands in the light strands inside and then hang them.  This makes it alot easier and quicker.

Enjoy this special season!  We should always be preparing our hearts for the Lord!

Holiday Guests

I love the holidays.  I live a long way from family and I love it when it works out that family can come for the holidays. 

Here are some ways to prepare the house for those special holiday guests:

Prepare the guest room

1. Put fresh sheets on the bed
2. Have an easy to use alarm clock near the bed
3. Have an extra blanket and pillow available
4. Make there is drawer space and hanging space for guests’ clothing (including empty hangers)
5. A waste basket and tissues

Many of us don’t have a special room reserved just for guests.  We have to convert a child’s room or a family room with a pull out bed into a temporary guest room. 

I think the best way to make someone feel welcome is to create their own special space without having family members walking through all of the time.  If you use a child’s room for the guest room take out the clothing and any other necessitties for the following day so the guest won’t need to be interrupted.  Let that space show that you have prepared for them and you want them to be there.  Nice extra touches are a small vase of flowers in their space, a small bottle of water and perhaps a small chocolate treat.

Unwanted catalogs

I ordered a sweater from a catalog once and then all of a sudden I started getting all kinds of clothing catalogs coming in the mail!  I know I didn’t ask for them or subscribe to them but how were they getting my address.  You guessed it.  Often companies sell or give your name and information to other companies.  You can call each catalog and ask to be removed from their mailing list and put on their do not sell list or you can go to this website I found.  It is http://www.catalogchoice.org/.  You have the opportunity to say which kind of catalogs you want and don’t want and they will do the calling for you!  Nice.

Managing Email

 

In a study last year, Dr Thomas Jackson of Loughborough University,

England, found that it takes an average of 64 seconds to recover your train

of thought after interruption by email (bit.ly/email2). So people who check

their email every five minutes waste 81/2hours a week figuring out what

they were doing moments before.

It had been assumed that email doesn’t cause interruptions because the

recipient chooses when to check for and respond to email (bit.ly/email3).

But Dr Jackson found that people tend to respond to email as it arrives,

taking an average of only one minute and 44 seconds to act upon a new

email notification; 70% of alerts got a reaction within six seconds. That’s

faster than letting the phone ring three times.

 

 

Keeping control of the inbox

If you find your mouse straying towards the “check email” button far too often, try these tactics:

- Turn off intrusive alerts. Anything that pops up, flashes, or goes “ding!” will interrupt you when you’re trying to focus and will trigger a response to check your email.

- Set your email client to display just the title and first few lines of the email, so you can easily decide if it is important enough to deal with right now.

- Use other tools. Twitter and instant messaging (IM) are better for asking short questions of chosen groups. Wikis are better for collaborating on documents. Blogs are better for publishing information and having informal conversations.

- Send fewer emails. Do you need to hit “reply to all”?

- Schedule your email. Set aside time each day to deal with your inbox and ignore it for the rest of the day. Most people check first thing in the morning and late afternoon.

Suw Charman-Anderson is an expert in collaboration and communications

This entire excerpt was taken from an article entitled Email becomes a dangerous distraction by Suw Charman-Anderson September 9, 2008