Download Day – Be the Peace

Peace is an interesting word with many connotations as well as denotations.  Perhaps you first think of it as being the converse of war.  Or perhaps the first thing that comes to mind is holding up two fingers in a “V.”  For me, peace is a sense of being.  There have been many times in my life where I have not felt peace – after Jason’s car accident when he hovered near death then spent 13 months in the hospital, coupled with years of intense rehabilitation and surgeries – it was a stormy, rocky time.  Peace was not easy to find.

However, since experiencing something often helps us to understand the opposite of it better, times of distress have only helped me to more fully recognize and value the concept of peace on a personal level.  For me, peace is a state of being.  It is a sense of calm that is possible even when chaos surrounds me.  Whether it is in the busyness of life in general, health issues, a family crisis or anything in between, peace is possible.

When Jason was in the hospital, I went with my sister’s family to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for a week.  I had no responsibilities and my sister was truly creating an escape for me.  As I sat on the beach with the ocean breeze blowing the sea grasses and the picket fences lining the walkways, I found peace in the middle of my personal storm.  It was one of the most treasured gifts that I have received because in that moment I learned that peace was possible despite my circumstances.

Now, it would be nice if every time I felt stress I could head across the country to the ocean for a moment of meditation.  But that’s not reality and so I had to learn how to create that feeling without the waves crashing on the beach in front of me.  It’s a mental thing.  So whether it’s through exercise or listening to music, crafting, reading, going to church or spending time with family, we all have things that help us feel more calm and settled.

One way to feel peace, that I believe is true for everyone, is to choose not to be offended, let go of grudges and see the best in others.  Criticism and finding fault in others, in life, or in ourselves is a guaranteed way to drive away inner peace. This is the message that we learned more about at a Women’s Conference that I attended this weekend.  James Ferrell, author of “The Peacegiver,” spoke to us about the sense of peace that comes from each individual’s choice to see the good in one another.  This is the activity that we are doing for the month of February in our “Every Needful Thing” program.  I didn’t have anything to do with planning it (ahh…bliss!) but it is certainly part of helping us determine what is “needful” in our lives.

We received the following message at the conference:

If we want peace in the world, we can create it by having peace in our thoughts and hearts, in our words and in our actions.  As we develop a more peaceful home, that attitude will ripple out into our communities and then out into our world.

If not Me……who?

If not Now……when?

If not Here……where?

We can create individual peace in our lives and it often starts in how we choose to approach our relationships with others.  Chaos is inevitable.  Hardship is unavoidable.   Stress is just a part of life.  But peace, in spite of it all, is still possible.

Be the peace you want to have in your life and enjoy the download (with 3 color choices!) to help you create that.

Daily LIfe

Another day to love Project 365.  Nikki, Cole’s babysitter and my friend, snapped this photo while Coleman watched the kids play from his favorite spot at my office window.  Not much could be better than a sippy cup, a sunny day, and a window that is one foot off the ground.  Although I didn’t take the photo personally, it’s going right into my Project 365 album for the year.

This is daily life.

Let’s Do a Stamp Giveaway

I have received my shipment of the latest batch of clear stamps at AC Moore stores that I designed.  Don’t feel bad if you don’t have AC Moore near your house – the closest one to me is 1547 miles.  I don’t think I’ll be able to make it there this weekend…

So, if you’re like me or even if you have an AC Moore nearby, you will probably be interested in our giveaway today.  I have an entire collection of clear stamps right here, ready to be sent to a random comment-leaver.  Here’s what you’ll get and remember, each “set” has different designs so this is a TON of stamps:

• 16 sets – Valentines stamps
• 16 sets – St. Patrick’s Day stamps
• 16 sets – Easter / Spring stamps

Whoa!  That’s a lot of stamps just waiting for you to create fabulous projects with!  Most of them were designed by yours truly, but a few sets were from some friends of mine – you’ll love them.  This is how Cole uses them (don’t worry, I pulled your set out of his collection already).  I’m sure you will be inspired by his work of genius that you see here.  He’s already showing signs of amazing creativity, don’t you think?

This is what we’ll do:

Think of at least 3 people you can forward one of my blog posts to.  It doesn’t have to be this post – it can be any post from my blog that you think is interesting or funny or useful to someone in your sphere of influence.  Then come back here and leave a comment that you have done it (we’re going with the personal integrity approach).  That’s makes you eligible for the fabulous stamp giveaway.

I’ll give you some time to pass the blog along so comments will close the evening of Tuesday, February 9.  Then whoever wins can send me their address quickly and I’ll get the stamps out to you right away – hopefully in time for Valentines day.  But to be honest – many of the Valentines stamps can be used all year long because they are full of hearts and love and hugs and kisses!

XOXO to all of you!

Bonus Download – Nutty Advice

I’m pretty used to Jim’s comments and most of them go in one ear and out the other these days.  Sorry, Jim.  I know you think we hang on your every word while we are lifting serious weights and doing an obscene amount of sit-ups.

However, the following bears repeating.  I don’t really know what to say about it other than this was the statement that we got from Jim while we resisted his constant hounding to RUN from exercise to exercise.  As we walked…somewhat briskly (sort of)…then we got this profound quote of the day from the mouth of our wise leader:

If you scurry like a squirrel then you’ll be skinny like a squirrel.  -Jim

I couldn’t help myself.  I just had to make a bonus download from it.  I hadn’t realized that squirrels were all that skinny but the idea of scurrying is certainly sound advice when you’re trying to exercise…I think…

So our motivation today is a tiny woodland creature who seems to have skinny-ness all figured out.  I’m almost certain that the only resemblance I have to a squirrel is packing away tasty nuts.  Yum.

Party Like a Rock Star

Party, Party, Party!

Since our Every Needful Thing Kickoff Night was on Cole’s birthday, we finally had his birthday party on Sunday night.  All of Jason’s and my family who live nearby came to celebrate.  I love getting our families together because they are all easy to get along with and it helps us connect.  My mother-in-law knows my sister and brothers’ kids and asks about them.  My siblings know who I’m talking about when I share news about Jason’s family.  I love the connections.

I have learned some things about in-laws and families joining together through marriage.  I know many people who don’t get along with their in-laws and I never understood that.  First of all, Jason and I feel very blessed to have in-laws who have welcomed us in like we were their own children.  But it’s a two-way street.  Everyone has to decide that they are going to accept and get along with their new family members.  It doesn’t really work if it’s just a one-sided effort.

Yes, traditions and habits and opinions and behaviors will be different in each family.  That’s the point.  Our job, as in-laws, is to welcome the new ideas and blend the families together.  Jason’s family always has something yummy called Pumpkin Dessert for Thanksgiving dinner.  I have spent many Thanksgivings with his family because my parents have lived out of the country for many years.  I was surprised the first year that we didn’t have an array of pies like my mom always made.  I thought everyone did it the way we did it.  I happened to mention what my mom usually did about the pies to my mother-in-law because she asked about our family traditions.  The next year there were a variety of pies to choose from.  Sophia made the effort to help me feel at home by allowing my family tradition into their family celebration.

I’ve learned over the years that families become a way to interweave people and experiences.  We get to choose if those connections are positive.  There is give-and-take, making concessions for differing ideas and habits, and everyone has to work together to make it happen.  I hope you get to have in-laws that you love as much as I love mine.  Parties are always better when we can all be together.

Now that I feel confident using collage storyboards, I’m trying my hand at using digital elements for scrapbooking.  In the above pages I used parts of the Shabby Princess “Happy Go Lucky” collection.  And to make it better – the collection was free!

Also, we just got word that our winning essay for Ferring Pharmaceuticals is up on their website – a perfect way to celebrate our one-year-mark with this little miracle.  (click here to see our essay)

Download Day – ENT Kickoff Night

What a night!  Our “Every Needful Thing Kickoff Night” was one of my favorite two hours ever.  As the women kept coming in and we added more and more chairs, I was thrilled to see so many people there.  Having these women use their valuable time to come together for this event meant that we were meeting a need.  I love that and I think that it was the perfect way to kick off the theme for the year.

Our ENT title poking out of the flower balls is just stuck into a wire photo holder that came from my desk. The tablecloth is a quilt my mom made me using fabulous Amy Butler fabric. Use what you have in a new way to create decor ideas.

Here’s what I learned:

ESTABLISHING ORDER: When it comes to organizing our lives, our goal is to create a sense of peace in our lives even though we are busy and active and have challenges to overcome.  As we create order, we create that peace so that we can focus on the things that are truly needful instead of frantically going from one task to another.  Kathleen taught us that this “order” comes from having a clean home, meals prepared, and all those domestic things that once they are in place, we can feel a sense of peace that helps us not feel so overwhelmed.  Order is the “needful” foundation for us to be able to then tackle all of the other things that come with being a woman and mother.

USING THE SPIRIT: What is “needful” for one person may be completely different than what is “needful” for another person.  Melisa taught us that one way we can determine what is needful in our own lives is by following the Holy Spirit as we are guided through those decisions.  At one point in our lives we may make a decision to do one thing whereas another point in our lives we need to head a different direction.  The more we are in tune with our own selves and the Holy Spirit, the better we can determine what is important at each phase of our lives and for our individual families. (See the first half of this talk to gain more information about this topic.)  This is the quote card that we gave the women that relates to this idea.

please click on image to download pdf

GRATITUDE: Gratitude is a vital tool in helping us determine what is needful in our lives. The more grateful we are the more the less important things fall away to leave room for what is truly important in our lives.  We are able to see things more clearly as we use gratitude to help us sift through our wants vs. our needs.  Our attitudes change and our hope for the future is brighter the more grateful we are.  As Staci taught us, “Gratitude is not just a tool, it’s a POWER TOOL!”  How true that is.  Gratitude brings us power.  It replaces despair with hope and defeat with strength.  Deciding what is needful in our lives starts with being grateful for what we already have.  We used the quote from President Henry B. Eyring to support this topic in our notebooks (see notebook downloads here for that excerpt or click here for the whole talk).

An easy centerpiece idea - use glass bathroom blocks in stacks and tie ribbon around them. We will use these glass blocks in many ways this year as a pretty way to add height and levels. We added chocolate to the bowls because everyone knows that chocolate is truly "needful!"

Here’s what I loved:

1.  So many women participating in making the event happen.  Thank you to all of you on the committee as well as those who aren’t but were willing to help us!

2.  Having to keep setting up more chairs because women just kept coming!

3.  Helping the women in our neighborhood feel successful with a craft that is beautiful and useful and will help them all year long.

4.  Listening to the women who gave messages that were exactly what we were hoping they would say and teach.

5.  Lingering to chat and socialize when it was all over.  That’s the sign that everyone wants to be together and are enjoying themselves.

6.  Women compiling and then taking notebooks to their neighbors who weren’t able to come.

7.  Our “Post-it Girl” marketing strategy – it was a hit!  Who wouldn’t relate to this????  Thanks for taking the photo, Rachel.  And Tanya – you’re now famous even though you don’t want to be!

8.  We tried a new thing – each of the committee members helped to kit the project and they put their notebooks together before the event.  That way we had multiple people who knew how to do the project and were invaluable as they wandered the room, providing one-on-one help as all of the women created theirs.

9.  I loved that we also pre-made notebooks for our Relief Society Presidency to allow them to be free to manage the personalized notes that went to everyone as well as being available to nurture and minister to the entire group.  It was a huge help and as I was teaching the project I kept thinking how grateful I was that they were free to help in this way.

10.  I love knowing that it is possible to have an activity full of inspiration, coming unto Christ, craftiness, and laughter all in one.  It was the perfect evening together.

Here’s what we ate (which is also something I love):

BEST EVER APPLE PUDDING

(from the kitchen of Kolette’s Mom)

CAKE

2 c. sugar

1/2 c. margarine

2 eggs

2 c. flour

2 t. baking soda

2 t. cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg

1/2 t. salt

6 large, peeled, grated apples (Granny Smith or other tart version is good)

Mix ingredients with beaters.  Pour into a greased & floured 9×13 pan.  Bake @ 350 for 40-45 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pan.

SAUCE

1 1/2 c. butter

3 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. evaporated milk

1 1/2 Tbs. vanilla

1 Tbs. nutmeg

Melt butter in saucepan.  Add other ingredients and bring to a boil.  Boil over low heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring often.  Pour sauce over cake to serve and watch everyone lick their plates!

One More Thing…

It was brought to my attention that I have a typo on the scripture quote that we are using for Every Needful Thing.  Thanks, Connie for catching that!  I have now fixed it and you can see it here.  Plus, I have had a request for this scripture in sepia tones so I am offering that as well.  You’ll find it below.

Consider taking the downloads and the information I have provided here and adding it to your ENT notebooks.  We will do this all year long and end up with a wealth of tips and information that all of us can use to help us determine what is “needful” in our lives.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Cole!

Hi, Birthday Boy!  Today is your lucky day, little one.  At 4:50 am you turned into a 1-year-old, with lots of energy and curiosity to go with it.

These days we call you “chicken” because you are nervous to take your first steps on your own.  You are good at using the safety of someone’s hand or Dad’s wheelchair or your shopping cart walker to hang onto as you walk like crazy.  Actually, you use anything that can slide as a walker – chairs, bar stools, toys that are supposed to stay in one place…anything.  You are getting much more confident (and fast) cruising around but not quite enough to venture out by yourself.  Sometimes you don’t realize that you are standing there on your own but as soon as you do, you plop down where you think it’s safe.

You have reached the “open every door and empty every drawer phase.”  I have stashed your toys in various places around the house and you go from one area to another and take everything out.  I don’t worry about cleaning up till you’re in bed at night because you’ll just get it out again.  My latest shipment of stamp samples kept you occupied for a long time as you took out one package at a time from the boxes.

You are still a happy camper and your favorite thing to do is be around people, especially going to Nikki’s house and playing with all the kids.  She had to put a gate up, too because you can climb stairs with the best of them.  The only problem, of course, is getting down safely.

You laugh your head off when you play catch with Grandma Hall and have figured out how to hand Dad the ball so he can get it.  I am always amazed at how you two work out your own systems to accomplish whatever it is you want to do together.  It’s one of my favorite things to watch.

You like blueberries, bananas, strawberries and pasta but your favorite snack these days is string cheese cut up into pieces.  You have pretty much moved from a bottle to a sippy cup and like to drink water with your meals.  You are taking one long nap a day but eating small meals about 4-5 times a day.  That’s healthier for anyone to do so we’ll go with it.

Cole, you have definitely reached the clingy stage.  You have never been much of a snuggler but right now you just want someone to pick you up – only to want down the next second.  You have perfected the “whine at Mom’s feet and cling to her legs” maneuver, just like everyone said you would.  It’s good to know you are normal.

You have two new teeth – one on the top and one on the bottom.  So now you have an asymmetrical grin with three teeth up and three teeth down.  We called Grandma Judy in the Dominican Republic to tell her the news.  She and Grandpa Coleman are busy helping the people in Haiti after the earthquake so they like the little rays of sunshine that you bring them either through text videos or emailed photos or phone calls.  They like seeing everything you are doing and feel closer to you because of all this great technology.  We feel blessed to be able to communicate with them so easily even though they are all the way across the world.

One of our very favorite things you have learned how to do is wave when someone says, “Hi.”  Those fat little fingers spread out and wave back and forth no matter what else you are doing.  Even though you like to sit and watch things going on before you dive in to participate, you are very friendly and happy to be with anyone.  You’re always eager to cheer and clap when you do something great….or not so great.  You’re just really into clapping for yourself right now.

We finally had a Christmas card with a little munchkin on it!  Coleman, these have been the best 12 months of our lives.  Even when you whine or don’t feel well, we still think you are pure joy to have around.  “The Lord has promised good to me” are words from the hymn Amazing Grace.  For us, you are the good the song is talking about.  We can’t wait to see what is in store for 2010.

XOXOforever,

Mom

Download Day – Happy Valentines

I went shopping the other day and saw the aisles of pink and red valentines, ready to fill your child’s box at school.  Since I believe we are never too old for a valentine – here is a download for you to use in your holiday frame or to make valentine cards of your own.  Or better yet – give someone a framed valentine and teach them how to change out the image on Download Day.

So many possibilities.

Enjoy!

Every Needful Thing – 2010 Activities

I will go into more detail about each activity we have planned throughout the year but here is an overall list of what we are going to be focusing on as well journey along our quest for “Every Needful Thing.”  One thing is for sure, we cannot cover everything that is possible so we are choosing the most needful things and working on those.  If this gets carried over into next year, we’ll tackle some more topics.

As has been commented already, this theme is very open-ended.  It can be taken many different directions, according to what you want to have happen.  We are going to work on increasing our “life management” skills because that is what our group seems to need right now.  You will see that reflected in our plans for the year:

• “Every Needful Thing” Kickoff Night
• Organization Fair (time management, cleaning tips, simple organizing ideas)
• Favorite Things Dinner (celebrating each other and what is needful in our lives)
• Pantry Meal Kits (learning and creating meals from items you have on hand)
• Book Club Melting Pot (individuals read a life management book of their choice and share ideas from them)
• Girls Night Out (dinner at a restaurant – we all need fun and food)
• Cannery (dry pack canning and food storage)
• Recipe Exchange (easy freezer meals, crock-pot recipes or other simple meals)
• “Every Needful Thing” Craft Day (making projects that support our theme and can be used for Christmas gifts, etc.)
• “Year in Review” Night (photo and memory management + learning how to make a “Year in Review” photo book, review the things we learned this year)

Kickoff Activity

So let’s talk about our first activity: “Every Needful Thing” Kickoff Night.  It will be held January 27 and we have a lot planned for the hour and a half.  Here’s the rundown of what is happening:

1. theme introduction (talk from the president of our group)
2. slideshow of all the women (songs: “Smile” by Uncle Kracker and “Daughter of a King” by Jenny Phillips)
3. “how to use the holy spirit to help us determine what is needful” (talk from one of the women in our group)
4. “how gratitude helps us decide what is needful in our lives” (talk from one of the women in our group)
5. notebook introduction (discuss activities for the year, the gratitude journal and purpose of the notebook)
6. notebook instruction (putting together their own notebooks that we have kitted for them)
7. dessert (we’ll bring that out while they are finishing their books – socializing and eating…a perfect combination!)

I’ll share photos and more information from the activity after we have it.  In the meantime, I better do my part of the getting the kits ready!  It’s going to be a fabulous year, everyone. I can’t wait to share all of this plus so much more with you.

Enjoy!

Step by Step

This is a winding road in Park City, Utah.  It goes in a loop around my in-laws home and is mostly uphill.  It is exactly 3 miles and now it is covered in snow.

I ran this loop over the Thanksgiving holiday.  Twice.  With the hills and the higher altitude, it was hard.  I had been running 3 miles about three times a week up to that point but this was a tough one for me.  But I did it.  And miraculously, when I returned home and did my normal 3 mile run it seemed almost easy.  The next time I ran I did 5 miles.

Then I made a decision.  I signed up for a half marathon in May.  Wait…did I just say that?  Yes.  I signed up for a half marathon.  I can’t believe that I have actually paid good money to run 13.1 miles.  True, you get a t-shirt – but come on….is it really worth four and a half months of work?  I seem to remember, not so long ago, being shocked when Jim at Jim’s Gym challenged me to run a 5K.  That’s just over 3 miles.  I run a 10K on a regular basis around my neighborhood these days.  How did that happen?

I come back to running the loop in Park City.  True, it was the same distance that I had been running for a few weeks before, but something changed after those runs.  Because they were more difficult to do, because of the hills and higher altitude, it pushed me to do more than what I was used to.  This allowed me to break through the 3-mile barrier that I was up against.  All because I had to work a little harder.

Now I’m on my way to 13.1 miles.  I am up to 8.1 miles on my long run each week and I still take it slowly.  I’m working on increasing my pace from an 11 minute mile to a 10 minute mile.  But I have four months to do it.  The first 3 miles are still the hardest, then I get into a rhythm and it becomes easier.  Mile 7 seems to be the easiest, amazingly enough.  I have always heard runners say things like that and I never believed them.  Now I am the one saying the same things.  I’m shocked at myself, if you want to know the truth.  I never imagined being able to understand what it felt like to have this particular goal and believe I could actually accomplish it.

You all know how I started at rock bottom when it comes to exercising (click here if you want to see how it all began).  I couldn’t run a half mile, much less a half marathon!  Now, four and a half months later, I feel like I can do this.  Thank you for your encouragement along the way.  I am proof that anyone can do this.  Step by step, it’s possible to accomplish something that might seem impossible at first.

So, a new countdown begins and the goal is 13.1 miles on May 15.  Here I go!