Hello Mornings!

Have you ever noticed how much more you can accomplish in a day when you get up early?  I've been making an effort in the past few weeks to get up at the same time every day, and to get up early.  I started the habit when I was in college this past year and needed that early time to squeeze in some studying before I headed to classes and work.  When I finished finals, I started my semester off from school and starting getting up at different times.  I felt awful, so I went back to my old habits.

This past week, I read about the Hello Mornings challenge over at Inspired to Action.  You can click the button below to find out more...



I'm very excited about this challenge!  I think it's going to solidify my commitment to being an early riser, and help me carve out a little more time for exercise, which I haven't been able to add to my morning routine yet.  (I work out three times a week at the gym where I work, but I want to add more cardio at home...to be more specific, more Zumba!)  I love the fact that I'll have accountability partners (via Twitter) to check in with each morning.

My plan is to get up at 5:45 a.m. (eventually 5:30 a.m.), which means that I'll need to be in bed by 10:30 every night.  That's going to be hard for me...I'm a night owl!  I'm also going to gather up what I need each night - Bible and notebook, Scripture commitment book, iPod, etc.  I'll find out who accountability partners are soon.  Finally, I've already picked my songs for my morning worship music: Speak to Me, Lord by Rebecca St. James, Beautiful, Beautiful by Franchesca Batestelli, and Alabaster Box by C.C. Winnans, along with a couple of awesome songs from a church that is part of a ministry in Haiti that we support.

I'm looking forward to what's going to happen in the coming weeks.  Anyone ready to join in with me?

Do I Make You Proud?

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you make them feel. - Maya Angelou

I'm amazed at the baggage that we, as women, so often carry.  I work with women every day, and I hear story after story of abuse, abandonment, failures and tragedies, but most of all, I hear stories of feeling inadequate.  I really think that all of us, to a certain extent, don't feel "good enough" - but for some women, it becomes a huge struggle and a lifelong attitude.

My job at a women's gym exposes that mentality even more.  As I train women and encourage them to meet their weight loss and health goals, I realize just how much their self-image has suffered over the years.  They have heard for so long, "You can't do it.  You'll just fail again.  You're not good enough."  I'll never forget the woman who told me when she joined, "I know I'm not pretty - I've always been told I'm ugly.  Even my mother told me that."  When I told her, "I don't think that at all - I think you're very pretty," she started crying.  I'm not sure if she had ever heard that before.

I want to help women lose weight.  I want to help them be healthier and look better.  But most of all, I want them to be proud of themselves.  When they walk in our doors, I want them to know that the people there are proud of them.  I want them to feel good about themselves.  I want them to know that this is one place where they won't be criticized, judged or put down. 

That's really my goal in life...as a pastor's wife, as a mom, as a trainer, as a person, I want the people around me to know that someone cares, that someone is proud, that someone loves them.  Everyone needs that.  I hope that's the kind of legacy I'll leave behind, because if I do, then I'll feel like I've made a real difference in the world.

Take It Slow

Okay, so this wasn't a Wednesday post (I posted it yesterday) and it doesn't fit with any of the Working Mom Wednesday prompts, but I thought it was appropriate...

There are a million things I need to be doing...dishes, laundry, cleaning.  But priorities shift, if only for a few minutes, when my youngest wakes up and wants to cuddle on the couch.  I treasure it, knowing that, at five years old, he's not going to want to do this much longer.  Later, than night, I find myself sitting on that same couch, exhausted and discouraged after a long day, fighting back tears.  I've accomplished nothing, I've yelled at the kids, I've been too demanding...I need to slow down.

It's so hard.  Even with this semester off from college, I find myself feeling like I need to rush, to do more and be more and finish more, when what I really need is to slow down.  I need to focus, to be quiet, to pray, to sit in peace and solitude, to breathe, to rest.  Why is that so hard?

In a journal entry almost three years ago, as a newbie working mom, I wrote... "What I want to be is a Supermom. I want to be able to work and take care of my family. I want to be a loving mom, creative homeschool teacher and children’s church leader, great assistant manager, good housekeeper and good cook, and caring and available pastor’s wife. What I can’t figure out is how on earth to do it all. What I am is tired and defeated."
I think realizing that we can't do it all is one of the hardest parts of being a working mom.  As much as we all want to be Supermom, she doesn't exist.  So we have to learn to balance, juggling family, home, work, and more.  We learn that balance isn't the same for everyone, that it looks different day by day.  We learn to slow down, to appreciate the little things in life, to breathe and rest and relax.  We have to slow down so life doesn't slip by us while we chase an impossible dream.  We have to learn to love our life, no matter how crazy and complex it is.  And that can be one of the hardest lessons to learn.

Getting Organized with FlyLady

Last month I blogged about how I started using my Cozi calendar and the FlyLady system to get my home organized.  My goal is have my home running smoothly by the time I start dental hygiene school in July.  I promised an update each month as to my progress.  So here it goes...

The House Fairy didn't drop by, wave her magic wand, and clean my house for me.  (If anyone sees her, please send her my way...I'm hoping she just took a wrong turn.)  But things are definitely better.  There are still piles of laundry in our bedroom, but my kitchen is staying a lot cleaner.  The kids are helping more.  I'm beginning to see a change.  It's a gradual change, but it's change nonetheless.

One big change I'm making this week is introducing chore charts for my kids.  They already do chores, but I have to nag them to get them to do their everyday tasks, like brushing their teeth and putting their dirty clothes in the hamper.  I typed up a chore chart for each of them from Lisa Whelchel's website, and I'm going to put them in page protectors.  The boys can mark off their jobs with a dry erase marker when they're done.  I'm hoping this step will really us get the chaos reigned in.

My other goal is to start working on Mt. Laundry-Pileup every night for 10 to 15 minutes.  I know I can't get it all taken care of in one night, but within a few days, I should see a big difference.  That laundry is probably by biggest stressor right now, so tackling that will make me feel much more in control of the situation.

I Thought the Chaos Was Over...

I thought things would calm down after Christmas.  After all, I'm out of college for a few months, all of our Christmas activities and parties are over, and everything should be settling down.  I told myself I'd have time to read lots of books, deep clean and organize my house, start running again, and relax more..so what happened?

January has been chaotic for us!  When you work at a gym, it has a tendency to be a busy month.  Pair that with a death in a co-workers family, switching over to a new software program, and adding even more new classes to our new Zumba workouts, and it's been totally insane.  It's a good kind of crazy - a "business is booming" kind of crazy - but crazy nonetheless.  I'm coming home from work every night exhausted.

Actually, I'm beginning to wonder how I did anything else when I was in college...I think that's because I'm scheduling all the appointments and errands I put off during college.  Long overdue appointments for the doctor and for new contacts and glasses, shopping for things we've needed for months, and generally playing catch-up on life.

I am trying to slow down and enjoy things a little more, though.  I'm playing Band Hero (a family Christmas gift) with my kids (and playing some mean lead guitar if I do say so myself!).  I have gotten a lot of reading done (when I should have been cleaning the house).  And of course, I'm catching up on all those appointments.  At least it keeps me occupied as I wait for those letters to go out from the dental hygiene program.  March seems so far away right now.

10 Things I Believe About Life as a Mom

Welcome to Working Mom Wednesday!

Today's writing promts are...

#1. 10 things I believe in

#2. I trusted my gut when...

10 Things I Believe About Moms

1. Motherhood is the hardest job in the world.
2. Nothing can prepare you for being a mom.
3. Sleep deprivation is a way of life.
4. Dryers really do eat socks.
5. Miracle Grow must be an additive in children's food.  (My oldest once grew through three shoe sizes in six months!)
6. Cloning should be perfected and offered to every mom, because we all need several of us to get through the day sometimes.
7. Being a mom teaches you more about God's love than you ever knew before having kids.
8. We may not actually have "eyes in the back of our head," but we come awfully close.
9. Moms are the closest thing on earth to real life superheroes.
10. Being a mom is one of the best, most amazing and incredible things that has ever happened in my life.



A Foot In Two Worlds

I was reading through some new-to-me blogs a few weeks ago on Working Mom Wednesday when I came across a great quote on The Working Homekeeper.  Mary Ellen described being a working mom as "having a foot in both worlds."  It's such a perfect description, because finding balance as a working mom is so hard!  We truly do have a foot in at least two worlds - sometimes more!  We have to balance our jobs outside the home with our jobs at home.  We balance full-time employment with full-time motherhood, trying to accomplish twice the work in the same 24 hour time period.  We're all chasing the dream of being Supermom.

I recently read an article from Working Mother magazine that said that although 2/3 of working moms are primary or co-breadwinners, they are still the ones who do most of the housework and most of the childcare.  That's a huge role to fill.

My typical day involves my job as a manager at a women's gym.  I love what I do, but it's not a low-stress job.  Most days, I'm on my feet the majority of my 6 to 8 hour day.  I come home late and tired to a hungry family, so I cook dinner and attempt to clean up afterward.  Sometimes I help with my kids with their work, or I grade and file tests and record scores for our homeschool.  Once I get them in bed, I do my own schoolwork.  The days when I have both college classes and work are even harder.  What makes my schedule even crazier is that my husband is a full time pastor.  Our church is almost large enough to start adding staff, but until we get there, I help him on my days off (Wednesdays and Saturdays).  I'm never home, so it's really hard to get things done.

The truth is, there aren't enough hours in a day.  All we can do is to do the best we can and know that God will use us, regardless of where we are in life.  I truly feel that I am making a difference at my job, one that I could not make if I didn't work outside the home.  Sure, there are days that I wish I could go back to being a SAHM, but I've found a lot of joy and a lot of amazing opportunities in my role as a working mom.

20 Steps...

20 Things I Can Do To Make 2011 Better!

1. Start each day with my Bible and a cup of coffee
2. Stress less
3. Worry less
4. Eat dinner at the table with my family every night (or at least every night I don't work late)
5. Exercise every day
6. Watch less TV
7. Drink more water
8. Journal more
9. Talk less
10. Listen more
11. Take more pictures
12. Be all there - whether it's home, school, work, or church, be 100% where I am and what I'm doing
13. Spend more time connecting with friends
14. Keep a list of everything I'm thankful for
15. Get a massage every month (Not going to happen, but a girl can dream can't she?)
16. Get my home organized
17. Follow FlyLady's plan to keep my house clean and CHAOS free
18. Have more patience
19. Prioritize
20. Focus on my priorities

Making a Habit is Hard

I'm struggling with forming my new habits.  I blogged a few days ago about my goals for the year and about making new habits.  Making a new habit is not an easy task.  I've set aside daily time to work toward my goals.  I've printed off a 100 days calendar from A Holy Experience to help me.  I know what I want to do...but it doesn't make it easy. 

I think the hardest part of making a new habit is breaking the old habit.  It takes discipline to wake up in the morning and focus on my Bible reading and Scripture memory.  There are days when, honestly, I want to curl up on the couch and watch TV while I drink my coffee, or when my to-do list is demanding my attention right away.  I don't always have my quiet time first thing...some days I have it later in the day...or not at all.

But, as I wrote last week, it takes persistence...so I'm persisting.  If I miss a day, I forge ahead the next day.  I'm keeping my Scripture memory book in my DayPlanner - which goes everywhere with me - so I can pull it out whenever I have free time to review and study.  Starting today, I'm marking my 100 days calendar.  I can do this.  I will do this because the new habits will be well worth it.

All the Dirt...at Work

1. Do you (or is it appropriate to) talk about your kids/marriage/dirty laundry at work?


2. A favorite recipe

One of the things I love about my job is that it's very relationship-oriented.  Really, that's one thing that sets our gym apart from others - it's personal.  Our members form close friendships with the staff and each other.  Their time at the gym is for working out, but it's also for destressing, "girl talk," and getting things off their chest.  We often joke that it's not just a workout, but a therapy sesson, too, and for some members, our gym is the only place they get that time to talk with other women.

Because we are so close, we talk about our lives...a lot.  What it boils down to is that we're all in each other's business!  My boss and I were laughing just this week about how much we all know about each other.  With that kind of platform, I do share a lot about my life.  The members, and my coworkers, have been my cheerleaders through the ups and downs of returning to college.  A few ladies that I'm very close to have also been sounding boards and prayer partners for the situation with my parents that I'm dealing with.

That said, although we are very open, there are some things that are off limits.  I don't get too personal when it comes to my marriage - for instance, I don't walk in and tell them if I had a fight with my husband that morning.  I'm also closed when it comes to discussing church or work issues in any way.  I don't share a lot about that, just very, very general information.  As a rule, I try to stick with life in general, college, and my kids...trust me, they provide many entertaining stories that keep the women at work almost rolling on the floor with laughter.

I think it really depends on where you work...in an atmosphere like the one I work in, you're almost expected to share all your dirt.  In other places, it's totally inappropriate.  I'm really glad that work can be a sounding board for me.