It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I knew it was supposed to be warm today, I just didn't realize how warm!  Let's face it, we haven't had much of a winter this year.  Normally this would sadden me.  I've always liked snow, at least up through February, but I just don't handle the cold as well as I used to.  It seeps into my bones and I feel like I can never get warm.  But, it is nonetheless still winter, so I couldn't believe it when I looked at my thermometer and saw that it read 69 degrees!  "Holy Cow!  What am I doing inside?" I thought. 

So, I grabbed my tennis shoes and Grace's and said, "How about we go for a walk?"  "Yay, Mommy! A walk!" said Grace.  I grabbed the moby wrap (lent to me by my good friend, Sarah), tucked Norah inside, and off we went.  I couldn't believe how beautiful it was outside!  Ok, the ground was soggy, the grass was brown, but the sun was warm and the breeze felt and smelled so good!  I hadn't realized how much I had been longing to be outside.  One of the worst aspects of winter is being cooped up in the house. Grace must have felt the same way because the second we got outside she took off running and jumping down the sidewalk.  "C'mon, Mommy!" she kept yelling...I couldn't quite keep up with her while toting Norah. 

And, speaking of Norah, her reaction was probably the most beautiful part of our journey outside.  She was looking around like she'd never seen the world outside before...and, I guess, essentially she hadn't.  She was born in October, and although we've been on several walks since then, she's always been bundled up and shut inside the stroller without much of a view.  Today, though, she was taking it all in.  Every time we walked under a tree she would just stare up at it with her big blue eyes.  And, every time the wind blew, she would gasp and then give a huge drooly grin.  It was priceless! 

I had such a wonderful time outside with my girls.  Thank you, Jesus, for days like today.  I'd be totally okay if spring was here to stay :)

The Power of Positive Thinking

Anyone who knows me well can tell you that I'm a natural born pessimist, a bit of a Debbie downer, if you will.  I like to think of it as being "realistic" or "practical."  Whatever spin you put on it, though, I typically see the glass half empty.  I've known this about myself for a long time, and it's not something I'm proud of.  In fact, I really wish I was more of an optimist.  Let's face it, optimistic people are typically much more enjoyable to be around and usually find more overall joy in life. I've been working on being more optimistic for a while now but have been falling miserably short.  I always chalk it up to my personality or say, "That's just the way God made me."  But, I've been realizing that it is possible to become more optimistic and find more joy in the circumstances around me.  This, however, does not happen on its own or even easily.  Rather, it takes a conscious and concerted effort.

So, I'm on a quest to become a more positive thinker. This started a couple of weeks ago after the "favorite things" edition of my MOPS group, where each woman shared something she found particularly useful or enjoyable.   One woman mentioned a devotional book that had really spoken to her about being thankful for all of the gifts God gives us.  To be honest, I don't even remember the name of the book, but it was one of the items in the raffle that was held at the end of the session.  While I didn't win the devotional book, I did win a small journal that went along with it.  On the front of the journal is the Bible verse, "Every good gift and perfect gift is from above," James 1:17.  I took it home and didn't think much about it...until later.  That same afternoon, Norah had her worst afternoon to date.  She started screaming at 1:30 p.m., and no matter what I did  (feed, rock, sing, change her diaper, etc.) she WOULD NOT STOP!  This went on for over 4 hours.  By the time Jeremy got home from work I was a wreck.  I had even put earplugs in to try to block out the screaming and keep myself sane.  I had been wanting to get my hair cut for a while, so I told him, "Your turn," and went to the salon to free myself from the chaos.  Needless to say, I wasn't feeling very joyful or optimistic at this point.  As I was waiting at the salon, I picked up a magazine.  I think it was Family Circle, but I don't remember for sure.  It was the January edition, so it was discussing ways to a healthier, happier you in the new year.  One of the tips it mentioned was writing down 3 positive things that happen to you each day.  "Interesting," I thought.  That night, after I got back from Great Clips (which, surprisingly, gave me a very nice hair cut for only $12 as opposed to my usual $60 salon trip- but that's another story), I saw the journal laying on my nightstand and immediately flashed back to the magazine article.  And that's when I made the decision.  I was going to write down 3 positive things that happened to me each day in that journal.

For the past 2 weeks (and hopefully for the rest of the year), this is what I've been doing. It has been a wonderful discipline for me.  Some days I think, "well, there was nothing positive that happened today!"  But, then as I sit and think about it, I realize that many positive things happened.  Sometimes it's just small things, like- Grace didn't throw a fit at nap time.  And sometimes, it's more exciting, like- Norah slept 12 hours last night- or - I got to go on a date with my husband.  Whatever the case, this journal has forced me to focus on the positive things in my day for at least a short while.  Even on the worst of days, I realize that God always gives us something to be thankful for.  He has given me so many wonderful, positive things in my life if I could just take the time to recognize them.  Already this has helped me be a little less glum and a little more joyful.

So, I'm working on seeing the glass half full...or at least seeing those pretty frozen berry ice cubes floating inside.

Simplifying

So, I've come to the realization that I need to do something to encourage more smoothness in my days- less agitation and frustration, more calm and peace.  Some days I feel so frazzled and bent out of shape, and I can't even figure out how I got to that point.  I should start by explaining two things.  First, I am an anxiety-prone control freak.  I like it when things go a certain way (which is always my way, of course), and when they don't, my adrenaline starts pumping, my heart starts racing, and the anger starts boiling.  Second, the transition from one to two kids has been much more difficult than I expected.  My two-year-old has always been rather high-strung and demanding (hmm...wonder where she gets that from?) and I now have a high-needs baby who is fussy much of the time and just as demanding.  I feel like I'm being pulled in forty different directions and find myself often saying, either out loud or to myself, "I'm only one person!  I can't do it all!"  Well, duh?!  No one person is meant to do it all.  Maybe I am just trying to do too much (definitely part of it, I think) and maybe I'm not bringing alongside the Person who promised to help (yup, think that's part of it, too).

Our life group is currently going through the book of Colossians.  And, for once, I actually participated in part of the study this week (after feeding and rocking a fussy baby and finally getting her to sleep).  The passage we were looking at was Colossians 3:1-17.  At one point we split into groups and had to define the various traits we are to clothe ourselves with in verse 12: "...clothe yourselves with with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." We then had to share which attribute we struggled with the most and pray for each other.  Well, for me it was a no-brainer.  I struggle with patience...every day...which, in turn, causes me to lack gentleness, especially when dealing with my kids.  The study this week has really challenged me to work at being more patient.  But, I've realized that it takes more than just saying "I'm going to try to be more patient today." I've realized that I need to take some practical steps in my day to help towards that end.  

So, I'm trying.  The one part of my day that has always been exceptionally stressful (as most moms, and even many women who don't have kids but work, can relate to) is dinner time.   Finding recipes, planning meals for the week, making grocery lists, actually going shopping, and finally preparing meals can be so stressful for me.  Every week I felt like I was spending hours poring through cookbooks and magazines looking for easy recipes to make that week; but after coming up with little, would end up just buying whatever at the store, which subsequently resulted in me staring at my pantry shelves blankly during the week trying to come up with some wonderful idea for dinner, and feeling like I failed miserably.  So, after joining (and becoming rather addicted) to pinterest, I found a wonderful idea for a menu board that I immediately made and now use each week.   I think it's FABULOUS, and it has really simplified dinner time for me:

The menu board has a clothespin for each day of the week to which I attach a self-laminated card with the name of a meal on the front and the ingredients needed for it on the back.   I now have about 20 (and hope to compile more) meal cards that are my "go to" meals for most days of the week.  This has taken the guesswork and extensive planning and prep out of my dinner-making each week and made shopping much easier, too!  As mentioned, I got this idea from pinterest, so I cannot take credit for it, but I LOVE it!

This is just the first of hopefully many steps I can take to simplify my days and hopefully encourage more patience in my attitude.  I'm definitely on the lookout for other practical things to help me in this endeavor. Obviously, I know that the most important thing I can do is to keep looking to Jesus for help.  I know that without the Holy Spirit working through me, I can never accomplish the goal of a patient spirit.  But I'm working on it...and learning as I go.  So, here's to more patience!  And, if anyone has other brilliant ideas of ways to simplify life at home, I'm all ears!