We both showed up with our cute notebooks - they asked us to bring them so we could take our own notes. There were no handouts. I showed up with pencils (I have turned to loving pencils, just like my mom). But when Sarah rolled out, literally rolled out, her fun pens...well heck, the note taking got so much more fun. The pens are on my Christmas list.
My problem is that I get absorbed in the discussion and talk that I forget to write things down. Or I think a one-liner will remind me of all these powerful thoughts but really, my notes just stink. And I am disappointed in myself. However, this morning she posted a quick list of her take-aways. And as I read them I remembered ALL of these discussions and even some of the most little details. SO THANK YOU SARAH! What a gift!
So here are her take aways! Thanks Sarah for sharing. She noted that her list consists of some larger ideas or feelings and other points are more concrete ideas.
My take away...
-We miss the joy in life when we are overloaded. Rid your life of "joy suckers."
-Be Deliberate ... spend one hour each week deciding what is important and preparing for the week
-I set the tone for our day
-Two dinner time questions... What was something you learned today? What did you do for someone else today?
-We DO make a difference in how our children turn out
-Motherhood is NOT a chore to be endured but a gift to be cherished
-What children see reflected in our eyes is how they fell about themselves. Do your eyes light up when they walk into the room?
-Mind Organization for Moms System... an entire life organization model
-An effective family is like an organization with a purpose, leadership, an economy, rules/guidelines, feedback and a culture/traditions.
-If things are important to your spouse than they should be important to you!
-Sit down with your husband and decide what and who you want your children to become. Let this guide all of your parental decisions.
-How to create and run a family legal system... sounds kind of stuffy but is awesome!
-A 2 years olds cognitive ability comes before their will power.
-Expect arguments to happen with children. Between 2 and 4 years children, on average, argue 6.3 times per hour.
-How to run an effective family meeting.
-What a Family Economy is and what it teaches children.
-How important a Family Culture is. It is what bonds a family together and builds confidence.
-Traditions should be simple, deliberate and an important part of a family culture.
-No one is PERFECT but you are the PERFECT mom for YOUR children!
I do plan on sharing my thoughts and ideas on all of these take aways and whatever scrambled notes I have in my notebook. But I am taking it slow. I am savoring all these thoughts because many of them need to be thought out to be implemented. However, some are just a read and think - duh. Like the 2 year olds cognitive ability comes before their will power. Changed my whole thinking about our ripped furniture incident. And the Halloween candy situation taking place right now.
Have a great day ladies.
Oh, and on a totally different note: Your email inbox. TOTAL JOY SUCKER! Are you like me and have over 20,000 unread messages? If not, good. for. you. Please share how you keep your email inbox from being overwhelming. I want my inbox to only have what is vital and needs a response. I am so bad at deleting what doesn't need to be kept. What's your strategy?
Today:
-ECFE class this morning with my littlest tribe members.
-Laundry folding (I'll race you Heather, whoever gets their laundry folded gets a Snicker bar...or heck with the laundry, let's email and eat the Snicker bar instead.)
-Sydney is officially crawling - so the "Miss Sydney is moving proofing" needs to happen - FAST. Legos, crumbs, cords, ugh. She finds the littles things and investigates and then starts them for her mouth. And if you take them away she lets you know how mean that is. So, I would like to avoid the tantrums and just walk around with a vacuum at all times. This has to be the priority today.
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3 comments:
Yay for Sydney crawling. That's exciting!
Do you have a gmail account? They have a "mark as spam" that you can click whenever you get a junk email...then it will send everything to the SPAM folder that comes from that address. I have two different accounts and use my second one (that I haven't looked in for probably a year) whenever I have to give an email address for soemthing online or from a store or somewhere that I really don't want to get any email from but they require an email address. I use my regular gmail account only for email from friends, Eli's preschool, and my online bills/shopping (& Shutterfly...they send out the best email deals). Yeah...I'm probably missing out on cool sales and such...but my inbox is always orderly. Gmail also has the cool "labels" feature that allows you to archive email. I usually only have 10-15 emails in my inbox at a time since I get very little mail from companies/stores. And random side-note. The bottom two emails in my inbox are from my hubby. Each sent the first day he went back to work after each of the boys were born. They are so kind. I love to leave them there. I only read them every 4-6 months...but when I do I feel loved, valued, and empowered to be the Mommy I want to be. So, girl...empty your inbox. Start a new account and just send your new address to people who will email you and the few organizations/businesses/bills that need it. :)
I'm off to steal a few pieces of Halloween candy before the boys wake up. This reminds me why I try not to ever keep candy in the house because I have very little self control with chocolate. Haha!
I try to go through my inbox and either delete something or move it to a folder each day. Just seeing all the messages in the inbox, even if they are read, really stresses me out. I have a hotmail account and they are pretty good about routing a lot to a junk mail folder - I do have to check it though because stuff like blog comments from new people end up there.
I am really loving all the snippets about your weekend trip. I am definitely going to check out their website when I have time. I love that quote about motherhood not being a chore to be endured - such a great reminder for a stay at home mom who is on the edge of madness most of the time - LOL!
Love this post. So many wonderful things to think about. Some days I just need to remind myself of all of these things.
I file emails into folders "pure love" (emails that I go back and read because of their awesomeness), "travel" (reservations, idea emails), "kids" (meeting times, pto dates, etc.) I have about 10 folders and every now and then I go through and delete the outdated stuff. I try to never have more emails than will fit on my screen at any given time.
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