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LIVING WELL / MOTHERHOOD
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the power of words. Not only things that are said out loud, but times when I hold my tongue and don’t offer my thoughts. Or the words that are swirling around inside my head that I’m saying to myself. Or the words that come out of my mouth to my children….
At my last Bible study of the year, we passed around a basket full of rocks. On each rock one of my friends had painted a word. Each rock in the basket had a different word and we closed our eyes and drew one out of the pile.
The word painted across my rock was
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the power of words. Not only things that are said out loud, but times when I hold my tongue and don’t offer my thoughts. Or the words that are swirling around inside my head that I’m saying to myself. Or the words that come out of my mouth to my children….
At my last Bible study of the year, we passed around a basket full of rocks. On each rock one of my friends had painted a word. Each rock in the basket had a different word and we closed our eyes and drew one out of the pile.
The word painted across my rock was ‘WAIT’.
At first I couldn’t think of any way that that little word applied to me. I didn’t feel anxious about anything. I wasn’t jumping into any decisions. I wasn’t rushing anything.
But later that night, before we left, I started to share a few things I hoped my friends would pray about on my behalf. Patience. Wisdom about the things that came out of my mouth. That’d I’d be able to take a deep breath before reacting to emotional situations (Ummm, hello parenting of a preteen?) That I would think before I spoke. And in that instant I knew what my word would mean for me. WAIT. Wait for the right words–or at least better words. For more gracious words. For words that come from thoughtfulness not reactiveness.
So I’ve been thinking a lot about words–the ones that come out of my mouth, or don’t. And the ones that consume my thoughts.
I keep a board on Pinterest called ‘wise words‘. And it is a place I visit often–scrolling through the images and text. Some speak to me in that moment in ways they didn’t several weeks ago. Some seem to take anchor somewhere in my heart and I need to write them down or print them out and tack them to the wall.
So I thought I’d start this year by sharing a few of my favorites with all of you. May your new year be filled with words that are sweet to the soul, healing to the bones. Happy New Year, friends. xo.
family / holidays / HOMESCHOOLING
Hi friends! It is SO good to be back here after taking what was initially an unintended blog break, that turned into a much-needed and enjoyed sabbatical! This is one of my favorite times of the year, much like the beginning of the school year–a chance to start fresh, reflect, set new goals, and buy a new calendar and journal, of course!
We’ve been talking a lot about resolutions at the dinner table–just two days ago my kids learned that they are not, in fact called revolutions–though it might be interesting to start a few of those. Each night it seems like there’s a new round of “I want to’s…” shared at the table, so tomorrow I’m going to get the kids to put pen to paper and write down some of their thoughts.
Just tonight, Mary told us her resolutions were to
Hi friends! It is SO good to be back here after taking what was initially an unintended blog break, that morphed into a much-needed and enjoyed sabbatical! This is one of my favorite times of the year, much like the beginning of the school year–a chance to start fresh, reflect, set new goals, and buy a new calendar and journal, of course!
We’ve been talking a lot about resolutions at the dinner table–just two days ago my kids learned that they are not, in fact called revolutions–though it might be interesting to start a few of those. Each night it seems like there’s a new round of “I want to’s…” shared at the table, so tomorrow I’m going to get the kids to put pen to paper and write down some of their thoughts.
Just tonight, Mary told us her resolutions were to Learn more wacky tricks. Improve her British accent. And work on better comebacks for her older sister. All admirable things–especially that british accent–but I’ll be curious to see what happens on paper tomorrow.
Like the worksheet we fill out at the beginning of every school year, I feel like these are precious little time capsules of my children’s lives. They are a snapshot of what’s important to them, where they are, and where they want to go.
I will most likely follow suit. I have several resolutions swirling around in my head, but think I need to put them down on paper before we turn the page on a new year.
I’m sharing our blank resolutions worksheet with all of you, too. There’s room to write in your own prompts or let your kids come up with their own–what we will be doing is above. Simply click on the first worksheet image to download a pdf copy!
And that beautiful Anne Frank quote…it’s definitely a good thought to start off 2014.
good finds / holidays / link love
I always feel a little sorry for Thanksgiving. When I walked in to Starbucks this afternoon (my mobile office on Tuesdays and Thursdays)–I was bombarded by Christmas. What happened to Thanksgiving? It seems like the moment we turn the page on Halloween, Christmas gets permission to take over the retail world.
And while my family may be guilty of a few Christmas songs over dinner last night, I LOVE Thanksgiving and I like to give her her moment in the spotlight.
Several weeks ago, I was asked by the lovely, Sheri, to be one of several bloggers to preview and play around with a brand new site from CafeMom called The Prowl.
It’s a place to gather and curate all kinds of lovely finds, grouped together into boards–much like Pinterest. But what I love about Prowl, is the community aspect that isn’t present on Pinterest. Users can ask and answer questions.
For example–before I headed to SanFrancisco, I asked for some suggestions of “statement” necklaces that would go well with a chambray shirt I was planning to wear. Boom. I got awesome suggestions from other users on The Prowl. For Christmas this year, I want to get everyone in the family a funny mug. I asked on The Prowl and got bombarded with ideas–some great, some not so much (I’m talking to you, “tooting” travel mug.).
It’s a combination of your
I always feel a little sorry for Thanksgiving. When I walked in to Starbucks this afternoon (my mobile office on Tuesdays and Thursdays)–I was bombarded by Christmas. What happened to Thanksgiving? It seems like the moment we turn the page on Halloween, Christmas gets permission to take over the retail world.
And while my family may be guilty of a few Christmas songs over dinner last night, I LOVE Thanksgiving and I like to give her her moment in the spotlight.
Several weeks ago, I was asked by the lovely, Sheri, to be one of several bloggers to preview and play around with a brand new site from CafeMom called The Prowl.
It’s a place to gather and curate all kinds of lovely finds, grouped together into boards–much like Pinterest. But what I love about The Prowl, is the community aspect that isn’t present on Pinterest. Users can ask and answer questions.
For example–before I headed to SanFrancisco, I asked for some suggestions of “statement” necklaces that would go well with a chambray shirt I was planning to wear. Boom. I got awesome suggestions from other users on The Prowl. For Christmas this year, I want to get everyone in the family a funny mug. I asked on The Prowl and got bombarded with ideas–some great, some not so much (I’m talking to you, “tooting” travel mug.).
It’s a combination of your girlfriends sitting on your bed helping you pick outfits that look good on you and those people on the internet who always seem to find the best stuff–all rolled into one.
Back to Thanksgiving….this past week, I’ve joined up with The Prowl and Target to create a board of some of my favorite pretty Thanksgiving kitchen accessories and you can check them all out here. It’s been tons of fun curate my own favorites for one of my favorite times of the year.
So if you haven’t checked out The Prowl, go poke around, ask a few questions, check out the questions I’ve asked, and make sure you find me!
*Full disclosure: I recieved compensation for my work with The Prowl + Target, however they did not ask me to share that here on my blog. But I think it’s worth sharing with all of you!*
