A Child's Ten Commandments for Parents!!!

This is an excerpt from a book by Kevin Leman entitled "Getting the Best Out of Your Kids". It is called "A Child's Ten Commandments to Parents", and it struck a major chord with me. So much so, that I wanted to share it with you here.

1. My hands are small; please don't expect perfection.
2. I haven't seen the world; please don't restrict me unnecessarily.
3. Housework will always be there; please take time for me.
4. My feelings are tender; please don't nag me all day long.
5. I'm a gift from God; please discipline me in a loving manner.
6. I need your encouragement; please go easy on the criticism.
7. Please permit me to fail so I can learn from my mistakes.
8. Please don't compare me with my brother or sister.
9. Please don't be afraid to leave me for a weekend together. It's a great way to show me your marriage is very special.
10. Please take me to church regularly, setting me a good example to follow.

I have printed this out for myself and post it in several places around the house. I'm feeling gently reprimanded and humbled by the Lord.

Thank you, dear Lord, for these precious gifts that you've given to me in these children. Please help me to raise them as you would have me raise them. Help me to be the mother that You want me to be.

I love these and wanted to share it with all of you - just a gentle reminder as a mom of all that we have in our kids.

Have a GREAT day!!

Mandi

Prayer...

I found this on a blog I follow and wanted to pass along.. I thought it was a good read and so true...

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 4:6-7 ESV)

For the anxious mother, God has provided a solution in His Word.

It is simple: Pray. Give Thanks. Repeat.

It covers all of life: Don’t be anxious about ANYTHING. Pray about EVERYTHING.

And it comes with a promise: God’s peace will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Yet I sometimes treat prayer as if it doesn't work. I do this by not praying or thanking but by worrying instead.

“I’ve tried praying before,” I excuse myself, “and God’s answer was different than what I asked for. So what’s the use?” Or, “I tried praying and didn’t feel more peaceful. I must not be doing it right.”

But the peace of God is more than a flimsy feeling of peace. It is a knowing, a settled confidence in the sovereign goodness of God that will guard against all anxious feelings.

As we pray and give thanks IN EVERYTHING, our trust in God deepens and His peace pervades our lives. Anxious thoughts don’t have the same sticking power, and eventually, they go away.

So lately I’ve been trying to simply obey God’s Word in Philippians 4. I still have a lot to learn about prayer, but I can tell you this: my faith, peace and gratefulness to God have grown, and my temptation to anxiety has decreased.

Scripture is true, and as anxious mothers, we would do well to believe and obey.

27 Fun things to do in October!!!

I recieved this and thought I would share... I want to try to do many of these with the family this October... Life tends to get too busy... We all need to take a step back and enjoy the little things God has given us!!!  Enjoy!!!

October is finally here and for most of the country that means we’re finally starting to feel Fall weather. Some of us even have to wear sweaters! We’re all about being intentional and we know that sometimes  ideas and activities for creating memories for and with our families takes a little bit of thought and effort. We’ve put together an amazing list of memory making ideas for you this month so you don’t have to! All you have to do is choose one (or ten!) from the list and concentrate on making those memories. Have fun! Every MOMent counts!
1.  Celebrate National Dessert Month, National Apple Month, and National Pizza month on Sweetest Day (Oct. 16) by making a Taffy Apple Pizza .
2.  Bake Apples (The easy way and without tears)
3. Take a nature walk with your family and collect colorful leaves, acorns and twigs. Fill a wooden bowl or basket with your fall treasures, small gourds or mini pumpkins and sprinkle in a little fall-scented potpourri.
4. Invite a widow or older single neighbor or friend to join you on a trip to the pumpkin patch or orchard. Take lots of pictures of your little pumpkins enjoying the produce!
5. Take a snapshot for your family Christmas card and develop early to beat the holiday rush and get early bird specials.
6. Design a photo calendar for yourself or grandparents for Christmas gifts.  Websites such as Vistaprint, Snapfish, Lulu and many others have fun backgrounds and are easy to upload and design.

7. Serve  Hot Spiced Cider with your popcorn on your family movie night or after raking leaves.
8. Honor your mother-in-law with a letter thanking her for the gift of her son and give it to her on October 24, National Mother-In-Law Day.  Put aside any differences you may have and focus on her positive attributes:  an attentive grandmother, that great pumpkin pie she makes, her loyalty to her family.
9. Raise awareness for the fatherless by planning an Orphan Sunday event for November 7^th at your church, with your small group, or your family.  Visit the Orphan Sunday website for ideas and resources on how you can speak up for the fatherless.
10. Celebrate the Statue of Liberty’s birthday on October 28 with a fun crown and torch craft and Lady Liberty cupcakes.
11. Take a leisurely scenic drive.  Visit America’s Byways for a map of different routes near you, festivals and travel tips.
12. Plan a weekend away in a remote cabin with your husband to unwind and enjoy nature.  Make sure your cabin has a fireplace and don’t forget the hot chocolate!
13. Give your kids a stack of fall leaves and encourage them to design a picture around the leaves.  Does that leaf look like a bird wing?  Or the feet of a deep sea monster?
14. Tailgate in your driveway or living room.  Make the great tailgating food but avoid fighting the crowd with young kids.
15. Pull out your slow cooker and try some new recipes like Slow Cooker Taco Soup or Slow Cooker Tapioca Pudding.
16. Wrap a glass vase with twine, using spray adhesive or a hot glue gun to secure.  Fill the vase with tall wild grasses or twigs with colorful leaves still attached.
17. Tie twine or cotton string to the end of several fall leaves and hang at varying lengths across a window by taping the other end of the string to the top of the window trim or tying to the curtain rod.
18. Introduce your family to the seasonal joy of pumpkin ice cream!  Visit your local ice cream vendor, buy Edy’s at the grocery store for a limited time, or make your own!
19. After the nature walk to collect leaves, make crayon rubbings by placing the leaves under the paper and scribbling back and forth with crayons until the imprint of the leaf is revealed…the kids will think it’s magic!!
20. Put leaves and crayon shavings in between a folded piece of wax paper, iron on low heat , it makes a “stained glass” effect.
21. Rake the leaves together as a family and enjoy jumping in them together… take pictures and video.
22. Find a favorite spot where the colors of fall are beautiful, create a tradition and go there each year to take photos of your kids/family… before we moved, we had a special “stump” that we went to each year.

23. Make Dinner in a Pumpkin.
24. Bake pumpkin seeds with lots of butter , salt, a little garlic salt….200 degrees keep an eye on them for how long it will take to slightly brown
25. Make individual pumpkin pie in a cup with your kiddos
26. Make cards of encouragement with your kids and deliver them to someone with breast cancer.
27. Get a Mammogram.

So Inpirational!!!! We can all achieve whatever we set our minds too...

Learning to Dance In The Rain ~ A great reminder of our blessings.....

Learning to Dance In The Rain | Learning to Dance in the Rain Movie

Wake up story!!! A Must See!!!

A Wake-Up Story from Healthy Child Healthy World on Vimeo.

We should all start our day this way!!! :) Love it...

How to Help Kids Be On Time

7:45 am, “Kids, please be ready to leave in 10 minutes.”
7:55 am, “Kids, go get in the car and buckle up.”
7:55 am, Notice son scrambling to find his shoes:  “Son, I told you to get in the car.”
8:00 am:  Loud honking in the driveway while son is still in the house searching for shoes.

This is a typical scenario in our home.  I have a child who is always late.  I have to give him instructions at least three times before it becomes an action.  And I am as much to blame.  Sometimes it seems easier to yell 3 times than take the time to address the heart issue of obedience. Once I finally realized my part in enabling the disobedience, we decided to sit down together to correct the issue when it happens.

We begin with prayer, asking God to forgive my hasty words and my son’s disobedience and His help in correcting the issue.  We pray that my son will recognize my voice to listen and respond quickly to instruction.  That he will also recognize prompting from the Holy Spirit to obedience.

I also realized that I need to help my son understand honoring others.  When he is habitually late or ignores instruction, he is putting his desires before others.  His time and agenda become more important than theirs.  I need to help him develop good habits now as a young man.
Some of the tools we have established to help him:

Tool:  Being Prepared

Thinking ahead to make sure he has everything he needs for the next activity several hours or the night before (sports equipment by the door or school bag packed and clothes laid out).

Tool: Remembering Tasks

• A checklist of what needs to be accomplished before leaving in the morning (making bed, teeth brushed, pajamas put away, etc.).  Once his checklist is finished he may spend the remaining time before leaving doing an activity he enjoys.

• Sticky notes with reminders or charts around the house remind him that he needs to practice his Tae Kwon Do before watching television (sticky note on the TV) or what his chore after dinner is (chore chart on the fridge).

• When I give him verbal instructions I have him repeat them back to me.  This forces him to pay attention and helps him remember.

Tool:  Staying on Task

• A kitchen timer is great for an easily distracted child.  We set the timer when playing video games or watching television, for showers that tend to last too long, and to remind him when it’s time to come inside.

• Realizing that my son is easily distracted, we turn off any electronics (computer, TV, etc.) when he has a task to accomplish.  Sometimes I also suggest that he “whistles while he works.” Literally.  This helps him tune out other distractions.

Tool:  Listening

• When my son is focused on something he enjoys, he tunes out everything else.  So if I expect him to listen, I need to place my hand on his shoulder to distract him.  He has learned that he needs to immediately turn and give me his full attention.

• He has also learned that when someone is speaking to him, he needs to look them in the eyes to stay focused.

• We have lowered the volume on our electronics.  Too often the TV, computer, video games are much louder than they need to be.  I don’t want to shout to communicate!

As so often happens, as I was brainstorming with my son my own bad habits came to light.  Too often, I’m fifteen minutes late because I “just needed to… throw some laundry in the washer, check email, unload the dishwasher, etc.”  My to-do list was more important than others.  Time to take my own advice!

Have a Great Day!!! ~ Mandi

Action vs. Self-Delusion by Jim Rohn

Knowledge fueled by emotion equals action. Action is the ingredient that ensures results. Only action can cause reaction. Further, only positive action can cause positive reaction.

Action. The whole world loves to watch those who make things happen, and it rewards them for causing waves of productive enterprise.

I stress this because today I see many people who are really sold on affirmations. And yet there is a famous saying that "faith without action serves no useful purpose." How true!

I have nothing against affirmations as a tool to create action. Repeated to reinforce a disciplined plan, affirmations can help create wonderful results.

But there is also a very thin line between faith and folly. You see, affirmations without action can be the beginnings of self-delusion. And for your well-being, there is little worse than self-delusion.

The man who dreams of wealth, and yet walks daily toward certain financial disaster, and the woman who wishes for happiness, and yet thinks thoughts and commits acts that lead her toward certain despair, are both victims of the false hope that affirmations without action can manufacture. Why? Because words soothe and, like a narcotic, they lull us into a state of complacency. Remember this: To make progress, you must actually get started!

The key is to take a step today. Whatever the project, start today. Start clearing out a drawer of your newly organized desk-today. Start setting your first goal-today. Start listening to motivational programs-today. Start a sensible weight-reduction plan-today. Start calling on one tough customer a day-today. Start putting money in your new "investment for fortune" account-today. Write a long-overdue letter-today. Anyone can! Even an uninspired person can start reading inspiring books.

Get some momentum going on your new commitment for the good life. See how many activities you can pile on your new commitment to the better life. Go all out! Break away from the downward pull of gravity. Start your thrusters going. Prove to yourself that the waiting is over and the hoping is past, that faith and action have now taken charge.

It's a new day, a new beginning for your new life. With discipline, you will be amazed at how much progress you'll be able to make. What have you got to lose except the guilt and fear of the past?

Now, I offer you this challenge: See how many things you can start and continue in this, the first day of your new beginning.

 Have a great day!!!  ~Mandi

A Little about me.....

I'm married to a wonderful man for almost 11 yrs. We have 2 wonderful kids. We have been a part of our team for several years. I have been home with my kids for over 10 years now, I really wanted to do something to help out my husband.. I wanted to be able to work from home, pay off our debt and have true financial security. I really didn't think I could find a legitimate way to do that, however, I'm happy to say that I have with this team. I am so proud to be part of something that truly helps families in so many ways.

~Mandi 

Words of Wisdon...

I love everything she says. I also know that we can learn a lot from our elders.

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio

“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written.

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and
parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.
8. It’s OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.{amen!!!]
11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.
12. It’s OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don’t worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t   save  it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.
35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d
grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come…
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift