Little Things Mean the Most

It really is the little things that mean the most to your heart.

A few months ago I received an email from a friend thanking me for buying her a drink at church during a children’s worship team practice. I really didn’t think anything of it. She didn’t have any cash on her & I had extra so I bought her a drink. In her email she was explaining how much it meant to her and what a blessing it was that I would buy her a drink and how she has a hard time expressing in person how she felt. I also understood that my friend had some other difficult issues going on and I was glad to be able to show love & kindness by a simple little drink. I honestly did feel blessed that it meant so much to her.

Last night at Upward practice I was standing in the hallway with a friend looking for a phone number that I needed. As we were standing there her husband walked by and was getting ready to buy both of them a soda (of course I call it a pop, being from the mid west). As he was walking to the “pop” machine he called back and asked if I wanted a soda. I can not express how that made me feel. It would have been very acceptable for him not to offer to buy me a drink. Under no circumstances would I have expected him to buy me a pop, because he was buying himself and his wife a soda. Of course, I declined the offer. The truth is I really wanted a pop last night, but I am only allowing myself to have one on the weekends. The offer itself was such a blessing to me and made me feel the connection of friendship to this couple. Because of previous get together his couple is going from being church acquaintances to friends in our lives and I feel blessed to know them. When I got home and shared with John, my husband, about the offer he felt the same blessing that I did.

It really is the simple things that cost so little that mean so much to friendships. We never know what small gesture of kindness will do to someone else’s heart. So I just want to ask anyone who is reading this right now to maybe take $1 and spend it on someone outside of your family. It may only cost you $1, but it might be worth $100 of encouragement to someone else.

Until Later,
Betty

SMART Habit Saturday

Well it's that time again. It's SMART Habit Saturday. This is where we pick a new habit or a goal you want to form into a habit and you work on it all week and then report on your blog how you did. If you are not participating it is not too late to join. Just go to Lara's site and join in with the group. There is a group that will support, encourage, and keep you accountable to meet your goals. It's great so just go here.

This past week my new habit was to do some type of exercise everyday this week. I must tell you that this was HARD! I did do some type of exercise everyday, but there were several days that I did not want to do any type of exercise. However, knowing that I had to report about it here and because I wanted a check mark and point at Joe's Goals I exercised even when I didn't feel like it. :)

As for the other weeks goals - I am still working on them to develop into a habit.

• Week # 1 - Clean kitchen sink before going to bed. I did do this all, but one day this week.


• Week # 2 - Drink 64 oz water everyday - I missed one day this week ( because I forgot to take my water to church with me) The fact that I put it off most of the day has nothing to do with it. lol :)


• Week # 3 - Exercise everyday. As hard as this was I did exercise everyday this week.

My new habit for Week #4 is going to be to read my Bible everyday. I notice that I struggle with this from time to time. There are times when this is not a problem for me and I do my daily devotions. Then there are times when I can't seem to get into my devotions. I feel like God is laying this on my heart to make this a daily habit.

I am realizing that making these goals really is affecting my daily life and making a difference in me. I always struggle with self - discipline and being apart of this group is really helping me in more ways than just the goals I am listing. If you are not doing SMART Habit Saturday you really should give it a try. If you don't want to be apart you could just send your support and encourage those who are in the group. All you have to do is visit The Lazy Organizer.

Until Later,

Betty

Exercising Goals

Well as I stated in my Smart Habit post I am trying to exercise everyday, thanks to a friend of mine who called and gave me the challenge to exercise everyday this week. I must say that it was the push that I really needed. I know that I need to exercise more, but in all honesty I did not want to start. Monday night I so bad did not want to walk, but I did. Afterward I felt great, because I said no to myself and showed some discipline and did what I needed to do. I really want to make some changes in my life & I believe this time I am actually going to accomplish what I know to do and really want to do.

One tool I will be using to accomplish these goals is by using the goal tracker I added to my blog to the right. Thanks to Becky & Lara for the suggestion to use Joe's Goals. This is really neat. You can set up as many goals as you want. You add check marks to the goals that you have accomplished for that day. I have added this to my sidebar in order to help me stay accountable. You are welcome to click on it and see how I am doing and to check it out to use yourself.

A couple of other sites are encouraging & helping me to stay focused and accountable to my weight loss goals and those are The Amazing Shrinking Mom and Motivation Moments. If you have not checked these out, let me encourage you to try them.

I hope everyone is having a good week.

Until Later,
Betty

S.M.A.R.T. Habit Saturday Update

*** Updated at the end ***

Well I’m late again on posting my SMART Habit Saturday update. However, I did have most of it written on Friday. Then my husband switched out our computer that I had my post saved to, then went into a busy weekend and on & on & on… you understand right?

Well without more delay here is my update. This past week I made a goal to drink 8 glasses of water a day. I really thought this was going to be very hard since I don’t like water. It really surprised me that I have drank at least 8 glasses everyday this week. There even were days when I drank more than 8 glasses. I know I can’t believe it either. I had a big container that holds 64 oz. I filled up with ice every morning and kept it on my kitchen counter. As I went through my daily activities I would just go and take a drink. When we would had to go somewhere, Upward, Church, or the store I would take my container with me. Before I knew it the water would be gone. When I would notice that not much of the water was gone I would purposely drink more so I would reach my goal. It worked!!!!

I also continued on cleaning my kitchen sink every night. Because I knew I would have to report on that I kept the sink clean. There were a few nights that hubby took care of the dishes and I’m counting that too – I did over see the job :) lol . Because I have set this goal and want my sink clean when I go to bed I notice I will do as much as I can earlier in the day to help me accomplish my goal. It is working!

I do have to admit that I did not keep up with the sink so much this weekend, but I have caught up and starting again.

For this next week I am going to just keep working on these two habits, because I want to make these a lifetime habit. I need all the help I can get, especially with the water.

I will start a new Habit next week. Thanks Lara for hosting SMART Habit Saturday. Please visit Lara to join in on SMART Habit Saturday or just visit others who are participating.

***Update *** A friend of mine just called me and challenaged me to do some kind of exercise everyday this week. She did not even know about what I am trying to accomplish through SMART Habit Saturdays. Therefore I am going to go ahead and add a new goal this week - exercising at least once a day. I guess I knew I should have added this goal, but I was chicken that I wouldn't accomplish it. But I'm going to take the challenage and go for it. We will see what happens.

Until Later,
Betty

New Colors

So what do you think of the new colors on my blog? I like the colors blue and maroon and trying to find a way to use them together. I also changed some of my sidebar elements. I want to use my sidebar to keep track of my goals. I think I am going to order a blog design from bluebird designs, but there is a 6-8 week waiting period. So until then I am going to try this or I might change it again.

Let me know what you think.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Friday Feast

Appetizer

Which television shows do you just refuse to miss?

House - I put the girls to bed early on Tuesdays and my hubby & I watch it together. Then I love 7th Heaven - I'm never home on Sunday nights when is on, we just got a DVR so now I can watch it when we get home.

Soup

Who did you last speak to on the telephone?

My Hubby

Salad

How many pillows do you keep on your bed?

4

Main Course

Name one addition to your computer (software, hardware, etc.) that you'd love to have.

Some kind of budget software, but I was just IMing my cousin yesterday who I have not seen for about 5 years and just started getting back in contact with each other and we were discussing getting a mircophone or web camera so we could actually talk to each other for free.

Dessert

What is your favorite foreign food?

Mexican

For more Friday Feasts you can visit here

Until Later,
~Betty~

Thankful

I'm thankful for my husband. Tonight I just needed to unload somethings that were bothering me and he so patiently listened to me. I know he could not relate to most of my feelings and did not really understand, but he did listen to me. I know most men want to fix the problem, not just to listen, which is what we women want most of the time. After 11 years of marriage my husband is learning and has many moments when he will just listen to me. (Then he trys to fix the problem lol :) ). I am thankful that he TRYS to understand me and he PRETENDS to understand me even when he doesn't have a clue. We do have those moments when I want to say "I JUST WANTED YOU TO LISTEN TO ME," but tonight was not one of those times. He just listened to me!

After fighting with my kids all afternoon and feeling like a failure, I can go to bed being thankful for the husband that I have.

More importantly than my husband, I'm thankful for a heavenly father who offers unconditional love to this imperfect mother, women, and friend who is just "on the journey to victory!"

Until Later,
~Betty~

Prayer Request

I'm not sure what to blog about today. I think my life has become boring, well maybe it has always been boring I'm just realizing it. lol I am still working on my organizational & weight loss goals. I am still working on a test blog to see about making some changes to this blog. I want to use this blog to list my goals and to keep me accountable to accomplish these goals. I thought I would have it ready for today, but because of other time commitments that came up the blog is not ready. However, it is coming. I know you all just can't wait to see it. lol.

As I have been talking to others my heart breaks with some of their situations that is happening. I want to share one situation and ask for your prayers for this family. A friend of mine, Lisa, is going through some tough times and I feel so helpless. She was admitted to the hospital last night after being at the ER on Saturday night with kidney stones. She is in so much pain and they can't seem to control it with medicine so she is having surgey this afternoon (as I type). They have 3 children whom she homeschools from the ages 7 - 13 years old. She will be in the hospital for the next several days. A mutual friend of ours, Alice, is taking care of her girls right now and will take them to the hospital later to visit her. Another mutual friend has been at the hospital the whole day to support her and her husband. Because of my child care business and my schedule I don't feel like there is much I can do to help. I have been praying for this family and want them to feel loved and supported and I'm glad to see people who are able to step up and be there are doing it.

Please be praying for this family. They have a lot of issues going on in their lives (that I won't be blogging about here). I sure would appericate your prayers.

Until Later,
Betty

SMART Habit Saturday Update

I have completed my first week of SMART Habit Saturday hosted by Lara, The Lazy Organizer. Knowing I would have to give an account of how I did really seemed to help and motivate me to stick to my goal. My goal this week was to clean my sink every night and go to bed with no dirty dishes in the sink. Because I wanted to make a good impression and look good for the first week and try to fool, I mean impress people who really don’t know me I cleaned my sink every night before I went to bed this week. So now make me feel good and tell me you’re impressed. If you are not impressed you can still tell me you are, I won’t mind – really! lol :). (Side note I’m trying to add some humor to my posts, which does not come naturally to me. How am I doing?)

Okay Okay, back to my new SMART Habit. In all seriousness, which is more me, there were several nights this week that I really wanted to forget about my sink and just go to bed. I even gave up some blogging time to make sure my sink was clean – now you should really be impressed! I did learn that because I knew I wanted to succeed this week and have a good report that I was able to make my goal happen even when I didn’t FEEL like it. One change I noticed is that I planned ahead, which is not normal for me. When I knew we were going to have a late night, I tried to get the dishes done before we left or as many as I could. There were some nights that I just knew I wasn’t going to get them done before we left. On those nights as soon as we came home instead of sitting down and watching TV or going to blogging I finished the dishes right away and what a difference it made. I also realized that with the dishes done at night the next day went a lot better, because I didn’t have the dreaded thought of the dishes to do running through my head.

I am going to continue working on this habit this week, but also I’m going to add a new one to work on. My two goals this year is to loose weight and to get organize. Because I want to make changes for a lifetime I am trying to accomplish this at a slow pace. Therefore, I am thankful that Lara had the inspiration, desire, and idea to start this SMART Habit Saturday. Last week I worked on an organizational task, this week I am going to work on a healthy habit. As I am going to dread this, my new goal will be to drink 8 glasses of water everyday. As I just reread that thought, that’s not a real good attitude to have in order to accomplish this goal. But can you tell this will be a tough one for me. In the past I have been able to drink water when I really set my mind to it, but it just doesn’t last very long. In order to get ready for this new goal I have started to drink more water this week. I realize there are many benefits to drinking water and I do feel better about myself when I drink more, therefore, I just need to make the total commitment and make it a habit – my goal for this week and the next three. My plan is to daily fill a large cup that holds 8 cups of water and drink from it as I go through my day. I am not going to allow myself to drink anything else until the water is gone. We will see how it goes and I will let you know next week. If you have any suggestions about drinking water let me know.

If you are not participating in SMART Habit Saturday and would like to please visit Lara. I am looking forward to seeing how everyone else did.

Until Later
~Betty~

Organized Junk Drawer

Well I took Laura at Organize Junkie's advise. I cleaned out my two kitchen Junk Drawers and organized them. I was suprise it did not take me a long period of time. I even sat boundaries for the stuff and used small containers. "Hoooly Toleeeedo, who organizes a junk drawer?" was my husband's remark when he opened the drawer looking for a battery. He can say what he wants, but he found the batteries in no time flat. The drawers look wonderful, if I did not know better I would think I was an organized person. Seceretly, I have been opening the drawers just to look at the organization. lol. It makes me feel like I am looking in someone else's drawers. lol.

Until Later,
~Betty~

SMART Habit Saturday

Setting goals, making plans, and making changes to be a better person is very common at this time of the year. I have been thinking about things I want to change and what I want to do differently. I guess the new year brings that out in all of us. It is a NEW Year and it is a chance to start over and to regroup in our lives. I have several goals I have set for this year and things I want to change. Most of my goals are things that I have already been working on, such as organization and weightloss. I really want to accompish my goals and not just set them beacuse it is January of a new year. My plan is to use this blog to help me stay accountable and to accomplish my goals. Therefore, I am working on some changes to this blog. Stay posted for the changes.

Along with the changes I am joining SMART Habit Saturday with Lara @ The Lazy Organizer. I know it said Saturday and this post is late, but it is to good of an idea for me to skip over because I was late. SMART stands for: Saving Money, Associations, Resources and Time. You can visit Lara here for more indepth details of each catagory. Lara is encouraging us to weekly pick one daily habit we want to develop and then post about it. Then we need to link back to her site and visit & encourage others who are also participating. You are welcome to join in if you want.

As I stated my goals this year relate to organization and weightloss so I have had a hard time which one habit to pick. My first step in weightloss would be to drink more water, however I chose to pick organization. I have been reading flylady and like the idea to getting organized by developing routines. Therefore, I want to start implementing some of her ideas. My SMART Habit will be, the 1st step in her program, to keep my kitchen sink shinning & clean. Every night before I go to bed I want to make sure my sink is empty of dishes and the kitchen is clean. I will let you know how I do this week on Saturday (hopefully - Maybe Sunday or Monday - but I will let you know). I'm also going to work on drinking more water, but will consentrate on keeping a clean sink.

Until Later,
~Betty~

Weekend Reflections

Stepped back into reality this week. We are back into the schedule of school, child care hours, and John is back at work. However, the break has been very good. I can sense just in my attitude and mood that I feel refreshed and renewed and ready to get back into my normal life.

Before the holidays I was not overly anxious to fill the 2 openings I had in my child care business. I have considered stop doing child care and finding a job outside the home. However, I can't find a job without applying for one(ha ha) and we need the income so I am continue doing child care and trying to fill my openings (at least for now). There is still a strong nudge in me wanting to stay at home. After having a break I feel uplifted and renewed about my child care business. Therefore, I put a sign out advertising about in home child care and have had several calls about it. This week I have been able to fill one of my openings and had a promising interview for the other. It looks like I might have the last opening filled by next week. I feel good about this right now and believe this is what God wants me to do right now. I was nervous about filling the spots, but I have been praying that God would send the right families that would be a good fit for both them and myself. It has been neat to hear about how God is using the timing of me putting up my sign at a time when those looking for child care need it the most. It has been a reinsurance of God saying He wants me to continue child care for right now.

First day of Upward Baskestball & Cheerleading was today. I posted about it here. I was nervous of how the Cheerleading would go since I'm the adult couch for Jody's squad. It has been awhile since I have been in a leadership role outside of my home & I feel a little rusty. Overall it went good. There are a few things that I wanted to try and will do differently next week. We have spilt the squad into two teams and each one cheers for a seperate game with the option if any of the girls want to cheer to both games they can. I planned on letting Jody cheer for both games, but realized today that is too much for her at one time. The first game she did great. She was cheering, jumping, yelling, and having a good time. She was awarded the Gold star for best spirit. During the second game she was too tired to cheer. Therefore, next week I will not encourage her to cheer for both games. Bethany played basketball and she loved it. She made three baskets for her team. The couch was telling me that Bethany was putting forth a lot of effort and really trying to learn the game. It was a good day!

Also this week I have been working on my different organizational projects and have had a chance to spend time with John and some other friends. It has been a good week.

I like doing these weekend reflections that my blogging friend Judi has created. I hope you enjoy reading these every week. It is a chance for me to record what happened this week and to concentrate on the good things that happen in my life.

Untill Later,

Betty

Upward Sports

My children are not in a lot of activities such as sports, dance, music lessons, and ect. We basically have them involved in church activities - Caravan(Christian Scouting), Bible Quizzing, and Praise team - stick ministry & puppets. My reasons for not doing the other activities are not because I have anything against them, I just choose those things that will enhance the values I am trying to teach my children and those things that fit into my budget. This is one reason why I am so thankful that our church (and many others) have chosen to do Upward Sports. Last year was our first year participating in any Upward Sprots and we are doing it again this year. Upward Cheerleading & Basketball have started at our church this week.

Last year Bethany did cheerleading, but this year she is playing basketball. She has had her 1st practice and has her 1st game on Saturday. She seems to like her coach and is excited to play.

Jody has signed up for cheerleading and looks so cute in her uniform. I'm not sure how well she will know the cheers, but she has the cuteness down.

I am the adult coach for Jody's cheerleading squad. There are 3 other teens that will teach the girls the cheers and I will handle the devotions, dealing with the parents, behavior of the cheerleaders, and the administration stuff of the squad. I'm looking forward to it - a little nervous, but expecting it all to go well and to have fun with it.

John is doing the announcing and running the sound for all the games. He will have a blast with it.

This all means that our Saturday's from now until March will be full & busy. However, I am at peace about giving up my Monday's and Saturday's for practices and games and am looking forward to this Upward season.

Untill Later,
~Betty~