March 21: Refresh (Chapter Eleven)

This post is part of the Balanced challenge with Tricia Goyer—and you can join, too!

Don’t think balance will happen overnight—or even over an eleven-day challenge. It takes practice, and practice takes time. Spend a few minutes reviewing what you’ve learned throughout this challenge and what you hope to continue implementing in your life. Then blog about how you can keep persevering and working toward balance after the challenge has ended. Share encouragement for those who might feel they’ve failed at balance.

As I'm sure you've discovered the dream of a completely balance life does not exist. Life is a series of constant changes. Some days you'll feel like you've achieved balance only to have disaster strike the next day. You're not alone. Dare I say, you're even normal.

Over the past eleven days I've had my ups and downs. I had days that I could write and write and other days I wondered why I signed up for this challenge. In the end, I am glad that I've taken the time to do each challenge. I've learned a lot and I hope I maintain most of that knowledge. I thought I'd finish up with a brief overview of my Balanced Challenge.

Day 1
Make your family a priority. Take a look at what is most important to you as a family. What do you want to accomplish as a family? Where do you see yourself in five or ten years? For my family, I hope that we be close as the kids grow older.

Day 2
Find ways to make working at home work for you. Create your own space to work in. Make it comfortable, inspiring and functional.

Day 3
How can you get your kids involved in what you do? Get inspiration from your children or ask them for ideas. Explain what it is you're doing.

Day 4
Believe God. God made you uniquely you. He gave you gifts that no one else has. Believe that God gave you these gifts for a reason and use them for His glory.

Day 5
Create a schedule by ranking your priorities. What is truly important? What has to be done? What are you doing just because you think other's expect you to?

Day 6
Do what you can. Use those small windows of time to be productive. Sweep the floor, fold a load of laundry, fill the sink with soapy water for the dishes to soak.

Day 7
Seek Support. It's okay to ask for help. It's even okay to hire help where needed. The upkeep for a family is a lot of work and doesn't need to fall on the shoulders of one person.

Day 8
Make your day amazing! Give thanks to God for your blessings. Sing His praises. Take the time to appreciate each member of your family for being unique. I had a mini dance party with my 6.5 year old daughter.

Day 9
Find inspiration and rest. There is F.R.E.E.D.O.M. in following your dreams. I am finding peace and joy in researching my dream!

Day 10
Eight. What are your eight life themes? What matters most to you? Music. Family. People. God. Friendship. Play. Laugh. Appreciate.

Day 11
Know that there will be ups and downs. True balance comes within. Let go of the things that really don't matter in the long run. Remember to go to God first instead of as a last resort. Spend quality time with the people you love and delegate whatever you can. Live in peace even through the chaos of our every changing lives.




March 20: Eight (Chapter Ten)

This post is part of the Balanced challenge with Tricia Goyer—and you can join, too!

Read chapter ten and come up with your list of “eight.” Then write down those eight themes on a pretty piece of paper and post it somewhere you’ll see it often (bathroom mirror, refrigerator, bulletin board, etc.). Then take a picture of it and post it on your blog.

Music, singing, worship. It's how God reached me and music is what kept me coming back. I was not blessed with a beautiful voice, but I love to sing. So I do. All the time and I think it brings joy to the Lord.

Family is what you make it. There are those you're born to, those you are drawn to and those you draw to you.

People matter. Get to know the people in your community, whether that's at work, at church or in your neighborhood.

Serving a higher purpose. There's nothing more rewarding than knowing you've positively affected someone else's life.

Friendship is a gift. Treasure your friendships. Nurture your relationships so they can blossom and grow as you change throughout life.

Take time to play. You're never to old to have fun. Always be young at heart. Life is short.

Laugh at yourself. Laughter is the best medicine. Have you ever done something ridiculous or really embarrassing? The quicker you can laugh at yourself the better you'll feel. Don't waste time scolding yourself - it'll only bring you down.

Be thankful. For all the little things. Those are what you miss the most when they're gone.

March 19: Inspiration and Relaxation (Chapter Nine)

This post is part of the Balanced challenge with Tricia Goyer—and you can join, too!

Give your mind a rest and a dose of good, old-fashioned inspiration. Carve out some time today to implement one of my tips about finding inspiration and enjoy the feeling of creativity. Then come up with your own list of ways you can find inspiration and share those on your blog.

Find time to spend with God. This is an area I continually struggle with. I find I have been talking to God more lately and that's progress from where I was a couple of months ago. I definitely need want to carve out time in my day and dedicate it to quality time with God.

Research the area you want to pursue. I've started doing this. I keep collecting information. I've amassed so much that I need to find time to sort through it and keep what's good and get rid of the rest.

Expect to make adjustments to your schedule. I'm married, have three kids and work full time...I definitely expect to make adjustments to my schedule, especially since I want to start my own business. Research and planning is all done in my spare time.

Enjoy the process of striving toward your dream. I admit that this is an easy one. When I do get some solid time to work on my dream I find it completely uplifting. I do get a little frustrated when I don't get as much time to work on things as I'd like. I need to go back a step and expect to make adjustments.

Develop relationships with others who share the same talents and goals. Relationships come naturally to me, although I do find it difficult to purposely network in real life. Online is so much easier and yes I suppose safer as well. No doesn't hurt as much while online. Although I have also met some amazing people online who share similar talents and goals.

Openly communicate your dreams to your family, and ask them to share theirs. I try to be as much of an open book as I can be. There have been times when I've had ideas and friends or family have shot those ideas down. Yes, maybe some really were ridiculous. Some of my dreams however could have been worth following. Would they have taken a lot of work? Absolutely. Is there risk in following your dreams? Yes, of course. Can I accomplish my dreams? I can, if it's part of God's plan.

Make daily appointments with God to ensure you are on the right track. I often forget to consult with God and when I do everything seems to go askew. I wanted to come up with the right business name. I couldn't move forward until I had the right name. I made several attempts. A few times I thought I had it right. And then I got God involved and suddenly a couple of words popped out at me and I was able to put something together. I'm still not 100% sure about it as the name, but I know the words I found are going to be the foundation of my business. I know it will be a solid foundation.


How do I find inspiration? 

I find inspiration in my day to day life, in the people I meet and the things that happen from one day to the next. Music helps a lot too. Listening to loud music and singing along is my happy place. When I do come up with ideas I have a friend that I run to for advice on whether it's good, bad, just plain crazy. The best part is no matter how ridiculous my ideas are she's always honest and encouraging.

As a side note I also tend to get my best ideas while in the shower or while washing the dishes. I'm not 100% sure why that is. I assume it's because I don't need to think about the task at hand and I can let my mind wander. All I know for sure is it works.

I'd love to hear about ways that you find inspiration!

March 18: Make Today Amazing (Chapter Eight)

This post is part of the Balanced challenge with Tricia Goyer—and you can join, too!

Take one of my tips to make today amazing (toward the end of the chapter in Balanced) and implement it today. Did you notice a difference in your attitude? What changed? Blog about it!

Oh, Tricia continues to stretch my limits with the Balanced Challenge. I'm expecting that monthly visitor and it's been quite difficult with today's challenge. Here are the highlights:

• I sang Psalm 51 while in the shower. I actually sang it off and on throughout the day. It's such a blessing to have a song of God in my heart!
• I had a nap in my car. Yes, this was a highlight. It was quiet, peaceful, and warm (heated seats).
• I took a few minutes to listen to Furious by Jeremy Riddle (Bethel Church). Okay I played a couple of versions and replayed them a couple of times. God loves us furiously!  
• I took a few minutes to lay on the couch with my head on my husband's lap.
• I hugged each of my children and told them I love them
• My kids put away their clothes and the boys did the dishes!
• My daughter and I had a mini dance party

The mini dance party is really what made my day truly awesome! May I suggest your own mini dance party?

 

 

 

Here's what I was singing in the shower this morning:

 

Have Mercy on Me, O God

Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin

You cleanse me from my sin

 

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy,
the joy of your salvation.

 

O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise

O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise  

March 17: Teamwork (Chapter Seven)

This post is part of the Balanced challenge with Tricia Goyer—and you can join, too!

Many hands make light work—and moms, you shouldn’t feel the need to do everything yourself. Schedule a quick family meeting today to talk to your kids and spouse about the responsibilities you all can share to make your load a bit lighter. Blog about what task was given to whom.

Well, it's our wedding anniversary today so our schedule this evening was totally off. I drove home from work to pick up the kids and my husband. We dropped the kids off at the in-laws and went for a lovely dinner at East Side Mario's.

By the time we got home it was after 8 so I got my six year old daughter to bed. The boys, however, I asked them to clean the kitchen. Of course, I got the usual hesitations.

So, I took some time to talk to them about how we are all a part of this family. We're a family of five living in a nice home. If each one of us helps out around the house it benefits all of us. We keep trying to give them a specific "chore" but this doesn't always work out so well. Instead, we're just all going to help with what is needed.

Tonight, what was needed, was the kitchen to be tidied up. The boys did a great job of doing the dishes and making sure the kitchen was presentable. I'm sure tomorrow morning will go more smoothly having a clean kitchen!

Good night and God Bless!

March 16: Do What You Can (Chapter Six)

This post is part of the Balanced challenge with Tricia Goyer—and you can join, too!

Do you have an extra fifteen minutes before you need to hop in the car to pick up your kids? Make the most of them! Do a little laundry, organize a stack of papers, do a quick sweep of the kitchen. Those five, ten, and fifteen minutes add up throughout the day! Take advantage of them today and write about your experience and all you got done in today’s blog post.

Well, today is Sunday so it's already a little less harried than a regular week day. I woke earlier than I usually would and decided to stay up instead of going back to bed for an hour since I did get enough sleep. Today was weigh and measure day for the Isagenix program that I'm following. So, I did that first thing. Then I organized the mess in the kitchen so at least the dishes are soaking and the kitchen looks clean. By this time the kids woke and I set them up with some cartoons. I have a friend coming for dinner tonight so I've taken the meat out of the freezer. Brought up the clean laundry and started the washer to rewash the forgotten load that was in there. Now I'm back to organizing my workspace again. We got a new desk and I now have a real space to work at. I managed to get some of it done, but I still have some stuff to go through.

And now we're off to church. Have a blessed day!

March 15: Rank Those Priorities (Chapter Five)

This post is part of the Balanced challenge with Tricia Goyer—and you can join, too!

At the end of chapter five, there’s a ranking system to help you form your calendar before you fill it. Using the ranking system, revamp your calendar, then take a picture of it to post on your blog. Write a few sentences about what you’re giving up to fill instead with what’s truly important.

It took me quite a while but I managed to put together a schedule. I usually fly by the seat of my pants. And I can tell you it's not working. So, when putting together a calendar for this challenge I really thought about how I want my days to look.

First things first. I have to work. If I have to work then I have to get ready to go to work. I love how Tricia gives examples of each rank and that bible study and prayer are thing that you have to do. And she's right. Can I go to bed at a decent time so I can get up 30 minutes early? God willing, I'm going to give it a try this week!

I often struggle with getting sidetracked and losing track of the time so the kids don't always go to bed at their allotted bedtime. I included time for each child to get ready 15 min before bedtime.

I want to read the bible with the kids but I always put it off. So, in being realistic my goal is to do this with the children twice a week.

I'm sure my calendar will change and grow, but this is a pretty good start.

March 12: How Your Work Benefits from You Being at Home (Chapter Two)

Chapter 2 - How Your Work Benefits from You Being at Home
What can you do or change to make working from home actually work for you? Creating an office space? Cleaning up that office space? Looking into finding a babysitter for a few hours a day? Take the first steps in making the change, then take a photo of your progress and post it on your blog.

I truly tried to do this tonight. While I did end up with a decent workspace it did not come easily!

My workspace is in my living room. The computer is set up with the tv. The idea is to send the kids upstairs for a certain amount of time while I have quality work time. Before I could get to work though I needed to organize my clutter.

 
The box if full of papers, books, taxes and a skirt that needs to be sewn. Beside the box are two baskets of yarn and crochet accessories. Okay there's a lot here, but if I just prioritize then I think I can get it done. What the priority here? Oh yes, my skirt so I can wear it to work tomorrow.

And then I realized I needed to wash my comforter so we can use it tonight. Off I go down the stairs to start a load of wash. Only, there's a load in the dryer and the washer already. I finish switching over the laundry and get my dirty sheets and comforter into the washer, make the bed with clean sheets so now all it needs it the comforter. Then I remember how disgusting my bathroom is. So, I cleaned it and pushed all the dirty laundry into the laundry room, gathered up all the garbage in the basement, and brought up some dirty dishes.

Now I'm upstairs. Back to sewing my skirt. Wait my sewing box is broken. I need something else to put this stuff in. Somehow, my vitamins and medications got organized and I eventually found something to put my meager sewing stuff into.

Crap. It's later than I realized and my daughter needs to go to bed.

So, I did managed to sew my skirt while watching a couple of sitcoms. Finally, I managed to go through my big box of stuff and organize it into tidy little pile. Here are some pictures while going through the worst of it.

 

 

 The final product and I have a feeling tomorrow will go a lot more smoothly as a result!



In the round table is what's left of my pile. I still have lots of crochet stuff, but it's easy to hide. I need it accessible so I can complete a blanket I'm working on.

Overall, I got so much done tonight, even if it wasn't all on my radar. I felt a little it like I fell down the rabbit hole and couldn't find the right way out. So, I think it will be a lot less stressful when I sit down to work from here on out.

Today's challenge...accepted and completed!

This post is part of the Balanced challenge with Tricia Goyer—and you can join, too!

March 11: Family Priorities (Chapter One)

Welcome to Chapter one of Balanced - Finding Center as a Work-at-Home Mom, By Tricia Goyer.

Determine what your priorities as a family are. Ask yourself a few questions:

What do we want to achieve as a family?
- To have dinner together as a family
- To spend quality time together

What will matter five years from now—ten years from now?
- That my children have a close relationship with one another
- That we're a close knit family who enjoys each other's company

What will mold our children into God-serving adults?
- To take turns praying at dinner
- To spend time reading the bible together
- To connect and serve in our church and community

What will bring peace—not stress—to our home?
- That my children will learn to be a part of the family unit and that chores help the whole household
- To look at what God is doing in our lives and the lives of those around us

So, that's my answers to the questions of chapter one. There are some things I need to implement like the praying and reading the bible with the kids. We do eat dinner most nights as a family, but there's definitely room for improvement. Stay tuned for Chapter Two tomorrow!

This post is part of the Balanced challenge with Tricia Goyer—and you can join, too!

A Mass Update - Writing/Isagenix/Balanced Challenge

Balanced Challenge
I've been reading another Tricia Goyer book, Balanced - Finding Center as a Work-at-Home Mom. She's such a fantastic writer and so down to earth. Tricia really is my kind of woman - completely imperfect but she is an inspiration because of these imperfections. This book isn't just for the work-at-home moms. It's really for any parent who is trying to find that balanced life.  For the next eleven days I'll be posting my personal answers to questions from each chapter.

Writing Challenge
So, for those of you who are keeping up...Yes. I am doing a challenge within a challenge within a challenge. (31 Days of Writing Challenge, 12 Week IsaBody Challenge, and 11 Day Balanced Challenge) This of course is on top of all the other things I do...I work full time, have three kids and a husband. Plus there's church things, and a board of directors I'm involved with. Plus there's the mystery thing I'm working on too.

I'm starting to think I may need to scale down on some things.

Hmm.

Isagenix Update
I have to say today's been a pretty amazing day. I was pretty tired this morning, but I've had so much creativity today it's insane! I spent my 30 minute lunch break working on my mystery project. And the creativity just keeps on coming. You know the last three days I've actually done a little bit of house work. Yes. For me, that IS a big deal. It's not even like I set out to do these extra things on purpose. I've just been doing them. It's like I'm seeing things differently. This is pretty fantastic.

Isagenix where've you been for the last 9 years?!

Where were you....?

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And the Emmy Goes to....

I am happy to announce the winners of the Love Finds You in Glacier Bay, Alaska Giveaway! I hope you all enjoyed the first ever Being eLLe giveaway, I know I enjoyed hosting it! 


Congratulations:

AKhuskergal 

Jasmine A

The winners will receive a copy of the newly released Love Finds You in Glacier Bay, Alaska by Tricia Goyer and Ocieanna Fleiss. I just know you will enjoy reading this book as much as I did!

Wait.

Don't leave just yet. 

I have a gift for everyone! (No, it's not more copies of the book - sorry.) But I do have this cute little bookmark for you! 

Download your free gift here via Google Docs. (If anyone has trouble downloading please email me and I'll send it to you directly.)  

And don't forget to come back and visit!

Only Two Days Left to Enter for Your Chance to Win!

Just two days left to enter for your chance to win a copy of Love Finds You in Glacier Bay, Alaska by Tricia Goyer and Ocieanna Fleiss! To enter for your chance to win please post a comment here or Like us on Facebook.

Being a part of the Book Launch Team, posting a review of this book and hosting my first giveaway has been an amazing experience. I'm excited for the increase in traffic to Being eLLe and mostly just happy to be blogging again. Words can't express how much I've missed writing. Someone remind me next time I take a "break" from writing?

Review: Love Finds You in Glacier Bay, Alaska

Tonight I have a very special post for you. I had an opportunity to review a book before the official release date which is January 1, 2013. 

Before I get to the review of the book I wanted to share a little story of my own on how this came to be. A couple of years ago I attended a women's retreat and had the pleasure of meeting an amazing woman and international speaker Heidi McLaughlin. After the weekend I was researching Heidi and discovered a radio show that interviewed her. That radio show was none other than Living Inspired with Tricia Goyer. I found Tricia fascinating and of course started to follow her blog. The rest, as they say, is history. 

About the book
Singer Ginny Marshall is one signature away from the recording contract of her dreams—a deal that would guarantee success for the former foster child, who still struggles to bury the memories of her painful childhood. But Ginny needs advice from the one person who will look out for her best interests—her former fiancé, Brett Miller. She travels to the remote town of Glacier Bay, Alaska, where the town’s colorful characters and stunning scenery provide respite from LA’s pressures.
 
In Glacier Bay, Ginny discovers a box of old letters and is swept up in the love story between Clay, an early missionary to Alaska Territory, and Ellie, the woman who traveled there to be his children’s governess. When Ginny is reunited with Brett in Glacier Bay, will she discover—as Ellie did—that healing and love are sometimes found in the most unexpected places?

My Take
On Christmas Eve I received my copy of Love Finds You in Glacier Bay, Alaska by Tricia Goyer and Ocieanna Fleiss. I have to say this was a wonderful Christmas present! I worked the evening on Christmas Day and I just couldn't put it down. I devoured this book as though I was starving and hadn't eaten in days. It took me less than a day to read. Tricia and Ocieanna really dive into the rich history of the land and paint the beautiful picture that is Alaska. I was on the edge of my seat and had to know what Ginny would do next and what the outcome would be for Ellie, the woman in the letters. Reading about the two completely different time periods was fascinating. I love the way the authors developed both love stories simultaneously and ended it beautifully! What really touched me was seeing Ginny's faith blossom through reading the letters and spending time with both Grandma Ethel and Brett. Any story that makes me laugh and cry out loud, regardless of my surroundings, is a best seller to me!  

Giveaway Hop 

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