Holiday Fun

The school holidays are here.  Two weeks, four boys of different ages who are now into different things, higher chance of wet or wild weather makes for stressful times.  Unless..........  you organise things.  I have been talking about getting organised for the holidays each time they roll around.  It is on my choices for April.  I have pinned numerous ideas and never got on to them.  Until now.   Sure I would love to do everything and have it sorted.  But if my word for the year is enough then that is all I need to do or I do nothing.  Take one idea and get it going.  Then do the next thing.  It always works and yet I don't always follow my own advice.

So here is the list of what I thought about doing.  We are heading away for some of the holidays and like to catch up with friends so it will be good to have some ideas for the inbetween moments.

Book Club

Whenever there is down time we tend to gravitate to watching a movie or going on the computer. It would be great to have an incentive for getting into books.  Both my husband and I love to read and want to do more to get our boys enjoying it to.  There are so many great titles out there.

Science Experiments

One of the boys has a science kit.  A great opportunity to get it out and use it as well

Sports

My usual holiday thing especially in the cooler months is to make sure we get out and enjoy the outdoors when we can.  So this will help with getting us motivated.

Bored Jar

This one comes up a lot especially as we have such a wide range of ages in our house.  Most of the time it is simply a case of not knowing what to do rather than not having something to do.

Game Jar 

We already have a box with ideas of all the activities inside and out that they can do.  It needs a bit of work to make it more interesting and useable

Art Day

The boys Aunty works at an Art Studio and has also invited them to spend a day with her

I will keep you posted on how we get on.

I choose - April

I choose

The most significant achievement for me from my choices last month has been establishing what is enough for me in my daily routine.  I have an ideal in mind of how I want to start the day.  What actually works has been to take things in little steps.  I think I need to write more on this one.

I have put together the photos I want printed and need to do the final check before sending off the order.  Because I have had other projects on the go it hasn't been needed.  I am looking at doing it in the next week though as there are a number of photos that I want to scrapbook.

With the weather getting cooler by the day, I have also had a re-sort in my wardrobe.  It gave me a chance to pull out some of the things that I don't wear and add some new pieces to some things that mean I am now wearing them.  Again another post in the making.

I mentioned last month that I felt like I had been doing more.  What was holding me back was all the everyday things that tend to drag me down because no matter how often you do them they are back again the next day.  I feel like I have really been off my game.    I have started to work through this and will be putting together the ideas to share.

My intentions from One Little Word for April is 'Share enough'. As I have been working on the changes to my blogs I have been looking at how I want to use them.  I have also been thinking about how my word 'enough' came about.  It was not long after sharing my message that my father passed away and with Christmas, birthdays and the new year starting school among other things it is certainly time to get back together with friends.

Choices for April

Pack away things from summer

Finish cleaning the house

Set up for the school holidays

Write the blog posts that have been waiting to be written 

Put together the plans for the studio ready to start seeing what is available

Make dates for social events

I choose - March

I choose

I know, I know,  March has come and gone.  My choices for this month have been somewhat of a carry on from last month. With February being a shorter one I realised that I wanted to do more than I was able. While I thought that I would be able to get onto things that I wanted to do the change of pace with having boys in three different places has been a lot to keep up with.

I am pleased with the progress that I made with the changes to my blog and am looking forward to continuing the set up of how I want to use it.  I also joined two study groups through church and am enjoying going deeper in the word and being a part of supporting others.  Leading the team at Mainly Music has also been a big part of this month as we are setting up for the year and making changes to the session.

While I never got onto finishing the last of the projects for the Big Picture Class Home Blessings that I had taken earlier in the year, I have been completing other projects that have been in the to do pile.  This has allowed room for sorting the photos that I want to get printed.  I am really enjoying my creative time with the changes that I made to my space.

So with my intention being to do enough it seems I have been doing more.  What I realised is that I know what it is that I want to be doing.  The struggle comes in working through the other things that hold me back from doing them.

My intentions from One Little Word for March is 'I am enough'. With so many things from the media that influence my thinking about who we should be and how we should look this is something that I continue to work on.

Choices for March

Establish a good morning routine

End each day with a nightly routine

Order photos and supplies to set up my Project Life album

Re-evaluate my wardrobe

One Little Word - February

 

The prompt for February was to create a vision board. I have read about these and it was fun to take up the challenge. It didn't necessarily have to follow with your word but I found that as I pulled together the pictures that caught my attention I found they were in direct reflection of what I have been trying to bring about with my word for the year - enough. I have had my pictures for some time and every so often I have added a bit here and there. With everything else that needed doing aside I put some time aside to put it together. 

I created the board around my focus picture - the ripple in the water.  It is significant for me as I used the illustration at my father's funeral.  One drop can cause a ripple and effect so many.  What is enough for me that I can have an effect on others?  Each of the other pictures flow from this.  About life slowing down, enjoying moments, giving thanks and loving life.  Love how it came together.

Summer is coming to an end

Summer is coming to an end.  While it is still hot at the moment, who knows how many more visits we get to the beach?  On a previous visit I was captured by something we do often when we go to the beach.  When my boys are little the waves are always a little daunting so we go close to the sea and dig a pool to sit and play in. To be successful the trick is to dig as close to the shore line as possible without the tide destroying the pool as it washes over the side. Digging further away seems fruitless as bucket after bucket is tipped in and drains away.

It got me to thinking.  Life is a lot like this.  With our own efforts we try to do the best we can.  We dig a hole and can fill it as many times as we like and the water just sinks away.  We look for the next big thing in life that will fill us and make us happy.  It isn't until we go to the source and dig deep that the water stays in the pool.    God is the source of our strength.  We need to lean in to him and dig deep into his word, holding on to his promises.  And he doesn't just fill us.  He fills us to overflowing (Psalm 23:5).  The more we give the more we receive.

At church we have been working through the book of Matthew.  I have been challenged by this verse:

 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 10:39 (NIV)

As I read this post at To Overflowing I am reminded that it is not about me.  Less of me and more of Him. Because in doing this I discover what it means to really live an abundant life .

Growing in his grace.

Losing myself in His love

 

Rest

After an extremely busy day I am exhausted.  God is so good.  I found this gem from Brave Girls in my in box.


Dear Tired Girl,

It is SO GOOD to do GOOD things, so good! It is so good to make things happen and to help others and to cross things off of our lists and to seek out more of everything that is good.

There is a time to stop and rest, however. Rest is good. Rest is one of the very good things in life to do. Our bodies need rest, our minds need rest, our spirits need rest, our relationships need for us to be rested. Our jobs need for us to be rested. The GOOD GOOD things in the world that we do need a rested BEST of us.

Rest does not need to hold hands with guilt. We do not have to pay for rest when the rest is over. Rest is an investment and makes everything we do better, more valuable and more meaningful. WE MUST REST. Please, dear friend, let yourself rest. Rest physically by going to bed. Rest emotionally by letting go of expectations. Rest spiritually by turning over your worries, problems and anger.

In your quest for all that is good and true, decide TODAY that rest is one of the best and truest of all things. Our bodies were designed to rest. We are being true to who we are when we take the time to truly truly rest. Hear it, sweetheart?

You are so loved. Now go get some rest.
xoxo

 

Just what I needed to keep going.  I have several posts that I have been wanting to write and they haven't happened.  And always many things that I just haven't got to yet.

Looking forward to some time to rest and restore.

Hello Mornings

I started.  Back to school, back to routine.  Time to do what I have longed for.  To establish a good morning routine.  It sets the day.

It was a beautiful one. 

My aim was for 7.00

My journals and books ready 

and then........

while it would be awesome to be up and to study and pray {let alone exercise as is suggested},  it is enough that I am up.  It is going to take time to get to where I want to be.  While I am waiting I do the next thing.  For now that is being up by 7, reading my Word for Today, focusing on what needs to be done and what I want to get done as I start the day.  I have been reading my study book Desperate and keeping up with where the study is online.  Next is to write about it.

I keep burning the candle at the other end.  Staying up late trying to get more done.  What I realise is that to set the day up right would mean that I am able to do what I should be because I am not trying to catch up.  The start of the year is always full on with starting back to school and everyone's birthday between December and April.  Something I keep having to remind myself of.   I have lots I want to accomplish.  I can't do it all so I need to start with what is important.