10 Random Things You Might Want to Know – or Not

Just thought I would share some random observations with you.  These are not verified, scientific or even facts – just observations.  Grab that grain of salt….

1.  Trying to find a spot in a coffee shop next to a plug-in outlet for your laptop is as likely as finding a snowflake in hell.

2.  The  moment you sit down for quiet time in the Bible, the phone rings or your child awakes from his nap wanting a drink of water.

3.  When you actually are looking forward to dropping your child at the sitter’s, they cling to you.  When you would really rather prefer to have them with you for the day, they can’t wait for you to leave.

4.  Praying for patience is really asking for it.  And I mean REALLY asking for it!

5.  When you pray for patience, also pray for restraint.  The two are not the same!  You can be patient while slapping someone up side the head!  (You know, for those certain days of the month!)

6.  Supervising a craft project, throwing together a pot of soup, getting the permanent press from the dryer and talking on the phone all at the same time gives you a tremendous sense of accomplishment!

7.  Cleaning up the craft mess and catching the soup ladle as it flips out of the pot and splatters on the fresh permanent press from the dryer is a catalyst for a meltdown.  I’m just sayin’…

8.  My son always has a slight scent of vegetable soup.  Even when he hasn’t had it in weeks.  I love it!  (And before you ask, yes, I bathe him!)

9.  God is not just loving, compassionate, merciful, gracious and forgiving.  He is also holy, just, jealous and righteous.  These traits are compatible in Him alone.

10.  People crack me up.  Catch them watching you and they act like they weren’t.  Catch their eye again and smile and they look at you like YOU are the crazy one.  Try it!  Freaks them out every time!  Just some fun on a cold, rainy day in the local coffee shop!

Settling In for a Long Winter’s Nap

Now that the cold is settling in, I’ve been trying to plan some things for the long winter ahead to keep my sanity.  Here are some categories for you to consider to keep the doldrums at bay:

• how to keep the kiddos occupied indoors (other than tie them to a chair!)
• what books to read (I’m reading “Don’t Make Me Count to Three!” so I DON’T tie my son to a chair!)
• what hobby to learn (I seriously do not need to take up a new hobby!  Unless it’s one called “more sleep”!)
• what new recipe to try for Thanksgiving (Wonder what Cracker Barrel is cooking up new this year??)
• starting Christmas shopping (CHECK!  I’m actually almost done!  Yippee!)
• etc., etc.

I’d really love to hear from you because I need some ideas!  What is on your list now that we are all headed indoors for a long stretch?

You Never Know What You’ll Find!

I think these link love posts are some of my favorites because they give me permission to go off on bunny trails and see what I can find to share with all of you!  These are some that caught my eye this week:

• Helping your kids journal is such a great idea and this site has an awesome starter journal.
• Catherine Martin shares my passion to help women with their quiet time.  Her site is FAB-u-lous!
• I cannot say enough about Heart of the Matter Online!  As a mom, this has so much info that I need in one place!
• Heard of Mary Kassian, writer of Conversation Peace and Vertically Inclined (among others)?  Hers is a wonderful ministry site that I highly recommend!

I hope one of these becomes one of your favorites!

Friday Fill-Ins

I’m participating in a Friday Fill-In:

1. Sweet dreams are made of these, who am I to disagree (WOW, showing my age here!).
2. Soothing hot chocolate at midnight especially for me.
3. Silliness + laughter = contentment .
4. I hope it doesn’t rain this Halloween.
5. Outstanding or not average.
6. Complete character development and skills to follow-through is what I want right now!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to SLEEP, tomorrow my plans include clearing a space for my son’s craft projects and Sunday, I want to chill!

Have a blessed weekend everybody!

The Domino Test

I often coach women that simply have too much on their plate and feel overwhelmed by their “to-do” list every single day.  Here is a simple tip that I share with my clients that, when applied, has impressive impact and results.

Look at your “to-do” list in the morning and pray for wisdom.  Then evaluate each task and ask yourself, “If this does not get done today, what will it impact?”  If that task is a critical domino, then move it to the top.  If not, move it to the bottom.  Don’t let your thoughts run wild either!  Not cleaning the toilet today will not expose your family to the Ebola virus!  Simply move it to the next day (but yes, you do eventually need to clean the toilet or at least outsource it!).  Giving yourself some breathing room in your day allows you to be able to catch those moments that will have a lasting impact – a special chat with your child, snuggling on the couch with your hubby, helping a friend in need, etc.

Make some space in your day!  You really do not need to do it all!

Bloggers on the Radar

I’ve always wanted to explore the blogosphere and discover some previously-unknown-to-me fantastic bloggers but I never took the time to do so until recently and I have had a BLAST!  I have come across some wonderful bloggers out there and today, I will share three with you and encourage you to check them out!

(In)Courage – This isn’t a single blogger but a community of incredible, transparent and gifted Christian bloggers that continually post about things that hit right at the heart and usually about something that I am currently dealing with.  They always make you ponder or laugh or cry or even hit your knees with conviction or profound gratefulness to our Father!  After only reading a handful of posts, you will feel like you have found a warm home where you can curl up and stay awhile.  And that is exactly what I do on a daily basis!  Join me!

Carla Anne Coroy - Carla Anne’s blog Married Single Moms is one that I came upon during one of those bunny trails that we so often follow when roaming around on the world wide web.  I happen to think that this particular bunny trial was mapped out by God because her blog stopped me in my tracks!  Her writing style paired with the openness and honesty of being married yet parenting as a singleton struck very close to home for me.  Even so, her writing speaks to more than those in the same family situation.  In particular, her posts “I Know That I Know” and “Waiting for Beautiful to Happen” have had a profound effect on me, prompting some pretty intense journal writing!  While I have never met Carla Anne, the revelation of little pieces of herself in her writing makes me suspect that we would be great sisters of the soul and I suspect you will feel the same way.

Leigh Ann Napier is a Certified Life and Marriage Coach for iBloom as well as a new blogger!  She currently contributes to Everyday Christian and the iBloom blog while working to get her personal blog up and going.  I wanted to highlight her because her passion to help women be the wives that God calls them to be radiates from her heart and infuses her writing.  Her disarming wit and ability to strip down a situation to its bare bones is a rare and refreshing find!  Bookmark her blog on Everyday Christian and iBloom and I will share with you when her personal blog is up and going (no pressure there, LAN!).  I am honored and privileged to call this remarkable woman a friend and sister in Christ!

Share with me your thoughts on these blogs and make some suggestions of blogs that I should check out!  I’m always on the lookout!

Rest? Who Needs It?

Apparently, this is a week for personal confessions!  So today, I confess that I only get about 6 hours of sleep per night.  That has been the norm for about six months and I thought I was functioning just fine, thank you!  Until……

The Wake-Up Call

My wake-up call came in the form of a near black-out while driving 65-mph down the interstate during Friday evening rush hour with my singing two-year-old in the backseat.  If I didn’t believe that God has me under the shadow of His wing, I certainly do now!  Miraculously, I was able to pull off to the side of the ride and slowly exit the interstate.  I was in a state of confusion from the “episode” and near panic with the thought that we would be on the side of the road with me unconscious and my son in the backseat and no one would know.

The Diagnosis

Fast forward three weeks and I have undergone multiple tests including rounds of blood work, EKG, EEG, chest X-ray and MRI which have all been normal.  Of course they were!  Nothing can be simple where I am concerned!   And in the meantime, I had a repeat “episode” this past Sunday morning at 4:30 AM!!  I followed up with the neurologist who is convinced that these episodes are related to the quality of my sleep as well as the quantity.  Apparently my brain is sending strong signals that all is not well in Tara-land and that it is not getting the rest it needs to function normally.

So what?

We’ve all heard it said that we need our rest.  This is usually referring to physical rest and I can certainly attest to the truth of that statement.  But what about spiritual rest?  When was the last time you took the time to simply rest in God?  I know the phrase “Quiet Time” has the connotation of rest but when we do quiet time, we are “doing” quiet time.  We are reading, journaling, studying, praying, worshipping, etc.  What about rest?

How do we do that?

²⁸ Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” – Matthew 11:28 NLT

Jesus says, “Come to me and I will give you rest.”  We won’t find rest by sending up a prayer now and then as we go about our busy day (although there isn’t anything wrong with that).  I seriously doubt God will chase us down to put His light and easy burden on us.  No, in fact, He says, “Come to me.”  Going to Jesus means we have to stop what we are doing, hand over our burdens and busyness, and sit still.  Not forever but long enough to actually get the rest that our spirit needs. It may be difficult at first to just sit and relax in His presence without DOING something.  I know it isn’t easy.  But for your spiritual health, it is a necessity.

You don’t want a spiritual blackout, do you?

DayPlanner Time Travel

I confess… I am not a very disciplined planner. I so wish that I were but I’ve admitted that shortcoming to myself and now to the whole blogging world. Part of the problem I can blame on my sanguine personality but planning is a skill that can be learned. Don’t get me wrong, I can make lists. I can wallpaper my living room in lists! It’s the follow through that bogs me down because I get easily sidetracked.

I am also a dreamer.

I love to brainstorm new projects, new books to write (even book series), new activities for my son, even how I want my next home to be decorated!  But again, if I don’t have a plan to follow, these awesome wonderful things remain just dreams.  Hmmmm, maybe I should start a “dream tank”!  But then again, I want these dreams to actually come true!

So, I have to plan the dream!

For accountability purposes, here is what I am doing.  I’ve taken out my planner and made a list of all the projects that I have come up with and am doing a little bit of time travel to the future.  By the end of 2010, I have a goal to have the following completed:

• Online 60-day group coaching program for Christian moms of children ages 0-10
• Personal blog up & THRIVING
• The first three books in my e-book series completed and available for purchase
• Locate, move into and make a new home for me and my son
• Lose 100 lbs

So, OK, apparently, I need to get my bootie in gear (and not just to lose the weight!).  But what will help me progress is to pick one of the three business projects and focus on that for a set period of time, develop a timeline and checklist and complete that one thing.  So here is what the rest of 2009 looks like for me (keep in mind that I can only devote two full days a week to these projects as I work my paying job at night after my son goes to sleep):

• Continue/complete blog internship
• Decide format for the group coaching program
• Determine timeline for program completion
• Develop checklist of tasks for program completion
• Complete those tasks
• Lose 20 lbs.

Is it really the middle of October?  Sheesh!  But as a Life Coach, I am giving my own bootie a swift kick!  I do not want time to continue to travel forward and not accomplish what is burning in my heart!  I’ll update you all as we go along.

How about you?  What do you want to accomplish by the end of 2009?  What about 2010?  Do some time travel of your own and plan the dream!

A Princess Parable

If you have not yet heard or read this “A Parable About the King” by Beth Moore, I invite you to take 8 minutes and listen to Beth read this short story.  I promise you won’t regret it!

Do you see a little bit of yourself in this princess?  I know I do ~ in too many ways!!  If you can relate, please share!

Bookmark Crazy!

These are just a sampling of some websites and blogs that I love!  Perhaps you will want to bookmark them too!

If you have toddlers and you want to engage their minds and hands with something other than TV and mischief, visit Pamm’s House.

Curious to know how much time you spend doing different things throughout the day?  Then sign up at myHours for free and start tracking!  You can then submit an itemized bill with the precise billable hours documented to your husband and children!    Seriously, you can track any number of activities.  For instance, I am tracking the time I spend doing the blog internship, how long I spend doing my night job, how long I spend on social networks (uh-oh!), etc.  It is very eye opening and allows me to become focused and dedicate a set amount of time to the things I need to do.

The ladies at Girl’s Gathering Place are kicking off a series to help us Plan Our Best Holidays Ever!  The first post has so many great ideas!  And I don’t have to tell you that the holidays are practically here!  The Christmas decorations are starting to squeeze out Halloween candy on the store shelves!

Even if you are not a “Married Single Mom”, I know you will love this post “Waiting for Beautiful to Happen”. It hits so close to home!

Which of these did you bookmark??

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