Project-Fail = Life-Win

This lovely jumbled pile is my stash of journals (and I think I've even missing a few).  My whole life is contained in the pages of these lovely books starting from when I was just 4 years old...

On Friday we found out that ldsjournal.com is closing down and I was instantly stressed. I have many many entries that are only digital and are not found in these physical journals. Thankfully, the owner of the site is allowing our journals to be downloaded as a pdf.

But then, being the organized person that I am stressed again. Some of these journals (like maybe one or two) I transcribed to ldsjournal....but not all of them! My digital journal must be all formatted perfectly, right?

Well, so began the frenzy of frantically typing up my journals....because ldsjournal will be up and running until April 30.

I soon found myself in over my head though. What I thought would be a quick and easy project took hours on Friday and Saturday...and I made it through almost 3 journals. I had to take a reality check and realized that if I worked for hours on this project every day, I might, just might be able to finish by April 30. But did I really want to spend every waking minute at the computer typing and stressing? I have worked so hard the last few months to "de-stress" my life and become physically and emotionally happy and healthy....

By the time I was driving to the General Women's meeting on Saturday night, I knew that this was just a tricky ploy to get me off course. Most of the time we are not tempted to do great and grievous sins...sometimes, very good and noble goals and aspirations can be used to throw us off balance in life. And so when I returned home, I tucked my journals back into my dresser and closed the drawer on that dream.

I smiled and congratulated myself on this "fail," because really, it was a win.

Last year, at this very time, I didn't learn this lesson. I filled my plate much too high with noble and worthy endeavors and sacrificed my happiness and sanity in the process. But this year, I didn't make the same mistake. It was a bit hard to let go of this dream, but I know deep down that it was for the best. And if we are in tune with the Spirit enough, He will let us know when our lives are heading down the wrong path.

But nothing is wasted. And those 3 journals that I typed up were a pure delight to go back and remember the little girl I was at 4, 5, and 6---and in elementary school, middle school, and junior high. I started at the beginning and that's how much ground I covered in 3 journals. I don't think I've ever sat down to read my journals and it was enlightening to submerse myself in my childhood and see my children in so many of the things I said and did and wrote...

So for the record, I'll chalk this up to a Project-Fail, Life-Win. Someday I'll begin the process of typing up my journals again...but I won't give myself a timeline of 20 days.

And as for now, I will continue my healthy, happy, positive life and use my small, personal free time for reading my pile of half-read books, planning our 8th anniversary, and planning our summer. My season of "being" for this year is coming to an end, and with the advent of summer my season of "doing" will begin. I start with 3 photo sessions in just a few weeks and our summer will blast off from there.....not stopping until the end of August.

So may you feel peace for these last remaining weeks of Spring and savor this time to read and plan and just "be" in preparation for the whirlwind that always accompanies summer...

Living in Harmony.

So I've been trying a new experiment for my "year of connection."  I started with a renovation of my daily rhythm (which happens every so often as the little ones get older and present different needs) and the result has blessed my life immensely.

My morning rhythm is much the same...my personal getting ready time, personal scripture study, family prayer, getting Patrick and Easton out the door, breakfast, getting the 2 little ones ready for the day, cleaning the house, and doing the laundry.  Then I set in "liquid stone" time to have preschool and playtime with Tate.  I call it liquid stone because it's set in stone, but the liquid stone is kind of like corn starch...it can be hard or soft.  Therefore, if something comes up on a given day, liquid stone will allow me to be flexible.  (It's just an image for my mind to process consistency with flexibility).

After we pick up Easton from the bus stop, we make lunch, eat, and clean up.  Then the boys have their playtime together while I play with Maylie (for roughly 30 minutes) {This is also set in liquid stone.  In fact the whole afternoon is...}.  Afterwards, we read stories together (another 30+ minutes) and then we put Maylie down for her nap.  The boys and I have Mommy Playtime and we switch off doing activities that they choose with ones that I choose (usually super easy and fun ones that I've found on Pinterest).  After that they get their free time to either watch a movie or play a game on the Wii or iPod.  Then we do a quick pick-up of the house and make dinner.

During dinner we have family scripture study (which is a great way at this stage in our lives to combine the daily bread with the living bread).  Afterwards is clean-up, the boys get ready for bed, and then they get to have special time with Daddy.  They switch off the things they do each day.  Some days they wrestle, or play the Wii, read stories, or play board games.  While they have time together, I finish up any chores or tasks I didn't get finished during the day, or relax for a few minutes.

This rhythm has been the most successful one yet.  It's as if a light finally went on and every day is a celebration!  Celebrating my children, celebrating every season, celebrating their talents and interests, celebrating learning, celebrating fun, and most of all, just celebrating us!

After two weeks of implementing our new rhythm, I read a quote from my Simple Abundance book that summed up exactly what was happening:

"Harmony is the inner cadence of contentment we feel when the melody of life is in tune.  When somehow we're able to strike the right chord--to balance the expectations of our families and our responsibilities in the world on the one hand with our inner needs for spiritual growth and personal expression on the other."   --Sarah Ban Breathnach

I now have a word for the feeling that has descended on my heart--it's harmony.  And though the times and seasons will inevitably change, I know that with the Lord's help, we can achieve harmony with every change.

Journals...

Inspired by President Uchtdorf's most recent general conference talk (which is all about slowing down in periods of high stress and busyness and focusing on what matters most), along with "The Water Secret" (by Dr. Howard Murad which is a book I highly highly recommend), I decided to create for myself some regular down time each night before bed.  It's a time to unwind and reflect upon the day by jotting down a few things in one of my 8 journals.  I spent one day last week mod podging beautiful scrapbook paper on the outsides of plain composition notebooks.

Here is what they started out looking like:

And then here they are drying:

These are coordinating bookmarks