Pure Enjoyment

I just spent the afternoon with my 2 preschoolers at a birthday party at the local craft store. First, I was unaware that you could have a party like this and second, what a great opportunity to watch my girls creativity. The greatest was having the mess away from home. I think I will have to consider this for future parties. My daughter's both created a ladybug jewelry box to bring home and proudly show their papa what they made. Supplies needed: a small round box with lid, red paint, black paint, a paint brush, black foam stick on material, 2 eyes, glue and a large green leaf

The greatest thing about this is that life has allowed me to take the time out to enjoy these precious moments with my girls.

Handling Conflict

Unfortunately, we are often surrounded by conflict. Whether it be with family, friends, co-workers, spouse, etc. The ability to deal with conflict helps us to resolve the issue easier, accept fault and move on.

In continuation to our class we talked about the art of communication. We came home with an exercise to talk about our feelings more, and more importantly to listen to our partner's feelings without interrupting, criticizing or offering advice. This is hard to do if one of you always wants to give advice, and tell the other what to do. Try it! You will be amazed at how often you interupt when you are having a conversation. I think we can all work on our listening skills just a little.

Our class talked about the Four Principles for Handling Conflict:
1.Expressing our appreciation for each other
2.Recognizing our differences
3.Negotiating areas of conflict
4.Learning to pray together, or for each other

Quoted from the Marriage Course

The last may be difficult for some to do if you are not comfortable with prayer. I am sure at times we want more for our partners whether it be strength, guidance, or support.

The best thing about the class is we get to take time out of our busy schedules to have a date, have supper prepared for us, meet new couples and to spend time improving our marriage.

The Art of Communication

Effective Communication is the key to life. Without it you are left in the dark wondering what went wrong and assuming the worst. Effective communication involves 3 key factors, the message, the sender and the receiver. As we go through life we encounter many barriers within these 3 that get in the way of effective communication. We get upset, we back away, we point fingers, we lay blame, and we often forget to look at ourselves and how we can improve in communication.

To improve, it is best to look within, change our unlikable behaviours and LISTEN. Life can pass us by when we are not listening and we can miss the most important lessons. We all have bad habits that stop us from being good listener's. Such as, interrupting, giving advice, reassuring, intellectualizing, and making the situation about us. Maybe the other person just wants us to listen! Try it! You may be surprised.

Something to ponder.

It is amazing in life how things often get in the way. This quote was presented to me tonight in a training and how true it is. Have you ever let procrastination get in the way of your goals? I know I have......


"Procrastination is the Assassination of your Destination" .
John Consentino

It is amazing with team support and encouragement what you can accomplish. It leaves little room for procrastination and a lot of room for growth. A big thanks goes out to an incredible member of my team today for all of her support. :)

Love

Last night we started an 8 week class on strengthening and building a healthy marriage to last a life time. We joined 8 other couples, we were served dinner, met new people and then watched a video. Over coffee, dessert and candlelight, individually we discussed some great questions that helped us take stock in our marriage.

The first session was about building strong foundations. I wanted to share some tidbits:

Love is more than feelings
*a definition of love - meeting the needs or desires of another, sometimes at a cost to ourselves
*the greatest need of our husband or wife is to feel understood and loved

I came away remembering it is best to be proactive versus reactive when responding to any relationship.
*Proactive-focusing on each other's desires
*Reactive-focusing on each other's behavior

What a great way to spend an evening with my husband. Stay tuned for the Art of Communication!

Cherishing Every Moment

As life moves forward, we often find ourselves on a fast moving train that goes around corner's, up and down hills, through dark tunnels and beside beautiful clear blue lakes. For many, it is difficult to see the beauty this train ride brings us every day because we are focusing on what is at the end, who was right or wrong about the direction or how to make it stop. Often it takes a loss, a scare, or a tragedy to make us slow down and cherish the important things in life. As we have recently been hit with some scary realization that life can be cut short, it forces you to take a step back and say, "what can we do differently in life to not miss the important things." Fortunately, this was only a scare to make us take this step back to cherish family and friends who are near and dear to our hearts and value each and every relationship.

The excitement in NEW

The smell of a:
newborn baby!
the spring!
the rain!

These are just some of the things that bring a smile to my face. I am always excited to try new stuff and to experience new things. I attended Launch this weekend and they launched new and exciting products to simplify life. It always helps to have life simplified a little.

Proud moments!

I wanted to take a moment to celebrate a very special person in my life. First and foremost she is my sister and in April 2005 she also became my business partner. We often joke about her getting started to help her little sister and that I saw the potential for a great business partner. Boy did I know best this time! She has taken every day as a new day and grown her business to new levels. I learn something new from her every day and more importantly I get to talk with her everyday. Despite the many miles between us, I often feel very close to her and her family. Our business has helped us grow within ourselves, gain and learn new leadership, build new relationships with business partners around the country and value the most important things in life, family.

Hat's off to you, sis! I am so proud of you!

Keep up the great work!:)

Family Photo

It is a New Year and it was time for an updated Family Photo. So off we went. We got 3 children all dressed up and set off for the photo shop. On the way, we promised the children if the photo went well we would take them out for dinner. We got to the photographer's early and were done our session by 2 minutes after our appointment. As we were closing out our session, our oldest commented, "Do we get to go for Chinese Food now?" Best bribe I have given my children. We were in and out within 15 minutes, had 2 photos taken and I did not have to make dinner.

Planning ahead often helps us to be more successful at what we do!

Goals for the New Year!

As I take a moment to sit and contemplate what the New Year has to offer, I first must reflect on 2006 which has been a wonderfully successful year in many ways. New jobs, the start of Kindergarten and preschool, relationships with family and friends and health.

2007 is already beginning to be a great year with new job growth within our family and our home based business.

With every New Year comes resolutions as we reflect on the past and on the future. We set short term goals and long term goals that we can work towards as we grow as individuals and as a family.

My goals for the New Year are:
To embrace all the joy and challenges of parenting my two young girls.
To continue to be a support to my husband and my family.
To grow my business.
To help my business partners achieve their goals.
To establish a excersize regime that I can maintain.
To enjoy every day.

Wishing you all the success and happiness in the New Year!

New Beginning's

It is the New Year and time for New beginnings. I have stepped into the world of blogging.