Stop Reading this Right Now! - Courage to Continue to Change #3

I am the queen of overplanning and thus I am also the queen of becoming easily overwhelmed, putting things off, and easily giving up when things don't go according to my precise plans.

I keep telling myself that I will:

1. Do amazing character training activities with my kids right after I make perfect lesson plans for each day of the summer that include all of the possible elements that anyone could ever want.

2. Pray and read the Bible with my kids consistently every night right after I find the perfect Bible devotion book and make cute prayer cards and corresponding questions for nightly study.
3. Do number one and two right after I get my to-do list done, house cleaned, de-cluttered, and reorganized and begin following my amazing cooking and cleaning checklists and schedule.

Do you see the flaw in my over planning, and putting off things until I have all my ducks in a row?

My darn ducks are never going to be all in a row!
I am never going to get all of this done especially if I am just sitting in front of this computer blogging.

So here is what I am going to do:
1. I am going turn off this computer and the list in my brain that is continually reminding me of all the things I am never going to get done. 
2. I am going to get down on my knees for a few moments and seek God's guidance for:
    a. What he would like for me to do as special time with my kids right now, and
    b. then where he would like for me to begin to glorify him in my other daily tasks.

Let me also encourage you not to wait for those darn ducks!
1. Stop reading this right now!
2. Turn off your computer and seek God for what He wants you to do to glorify Him in your home and grow closer to your children right now!

My Native American Name is...... - Courage to Continue to Change #2

     My husband encourages creativity with my girls by coming up with random dinner table conversation. One evening, a couple of years back, he suggested that we make up Native American names for ourselves.

Summer decided that since her favorite color at the time was red and she liked flowers her name would be "Redflower".

Kyah was still too little to talk at the time, but her name means diamond in the sky, and she truly does brighten our home, so we dubbed her "Shining Star".

Well, I am way too particular and not as clever as my husband, so he decided to help me since I was having trouble thinking of a name for myself.  To tease me and give the girls a good laugh, Micah decided my name should be, "Screaming Bear"!  The girls loved this one, and I have to admit it was pretty funny. We laughed for awhile over this one, and all enjoying doing our own impressions of a screaming bear.

Sadly, the reason the name "Screaming Bear" was so funny was because it actually did describe this Mama Bear pretty well, and still does at times. However, I can gladly say that I don't scream as much as I used to. I still have lots of room for more improvement, but I am headed in the right direction.

In order to keep my temper in check I have to remind myself to:
1. Keep things in perspective.
2. Remove myself fom a situation and cool off at times.
3. Seek God's help through prayer and Scriptures such as, "...be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger" - James 1:19

I am glad this name for me was just a joke and did not stick.  Make up positive Native American names for your family, and just think about what your kids or husbands might say would be one of your main weaknesses. How can you strive to overcome this weaknesses?