Celebrate Good Times

“We’re gonna have a good time tonight. Let’s celebrate. It’s all right.”

I think Kool and the Gang said it best when they gave people permission to celebrate.

Sounds dumb for people to need permission to have fun, but personally I find this difficult at times.

I work hard. I work hard at being a mom. I work hard at my job. I work hard at living a healthy life in front of others, which helps me in my job.

But at what point do I get to the finish line and feel accomplished? Or is it ALWAYS working hard with no achievement?

I tell you having kids changed all that for me. We celebrate EVERYTHING with kids. Yay! You went potty! Yay! You put your socks and shoes on BY YOURSELF! Yay! You said a FULL sentence consisting of three WHOLE words!

I do these things daily and it doesn’t seem to get a rise out of anyone. As an adult it seems we have forgotten how to celebrate success, big or small.

This hit me over the weekend as we celebrated Halloween with our kids. To be honest this is one holiday I never really “got.” It’s a holiday centered on eating endless amounts of candy that in turn kicks-starts the unhealthy holiday habits that I help people reverse come January. Of course being the wholesome, healthy individual I must model for others, I cannot take part in such shenanigans.

Well this year I decided to dive head first into the awesomeness that is Halloween, for the kids of course, and for the sake of firsts. And you know what? I totally enjoyed it. ALL of it.

I let them eat as many pieces of candy and their cute little ninja turtle hearts desired. Each and every house was “open this” “open that.” And I did. And it was awesome.

Watching their faces light up as they laughed down our friend’s neighborhood streets with their best buddies and eat treat after treat just filled my heart with joy. The warmth and hospitality of their neighbors combined with the wonderfulness that is the Reese's peanut butter cup just gave me a whole new perspective on celebrating life.

The kids rarely eat candy so a whole night of it was fantastic. We all ate and ate until we could eat no more. When the night ended we left with fond memories and tiny belly aches. But it was all worth it.

I did leave the remainder of their conquest that evening at my friend’s house because, let’s face it, I’d devour it all by myself and what kind of example would that be?

It does make me excited for Thanksgiving, though.

A group of us have been training for the 5-MILE Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning for months! You can bet when it’s time to eat, I will be having all of my favorites: Mac and Cheese, Stuffing, Pecan Pie AND Pumpkin Cheesecake. I may even eat the dessert FIRST!

I’m not letting months and months of running end with, “So how about that Marathon?” And I doubt my husband would let me. No. We are all in for each and every holiday coming up. And I believe that’s how life is intended to be.

Celebrated. 

Finding Rest in the Small Things

Activity is often unrelated to productivity and busyness rarely takes care of business-Gary Keller

Today was Sunday. The Sabbath. A day of rest. These days, rest for me isn't laying around watching endless hours of my favorite show, nor is it napping most of the day to catch up on sleep. For me rest is a break from the day to day routine and a time to help myself feel caught up for the week ahead. It’s a day of personal refreshing so that I can pour into the lives of others, my husband, kids, clients and friends. The weeks seem busy, well full, as I like to call it. It’s a constant giving out to people and I find it hard to be an inspiration to others when I don’t take time to rest.

So here’s how today and most typical Sundays start out for me.

Wake up too late because I went to bed too late and refuse to get less than 7 hours of sleep on a weekend. It just seems wrong.

Get myself dressed for church before I get our youngest dressed because, let’s face it, once the kids are up and around time to get myself put together has ended.

Head downstairs for breakfast, which my husband has graciously made for me and our oldest, after getting him and the 3 year old dressed and ready to go.

Grab my iced coffee mixed with a scoop of protein powder, which my good friend refers to as her “wake up juice” and head out the door, in the truck for church.

I like going to church. It always leaves me feeling a mix of refreshed and challenged. There’s just so much about Jesus’ life and the way he was with people that make me want to be more like that. But if I think about all the ways in which I come up short daily to live up to Jesus’ life, I begin to feel overwhelmed more than anything. Where do I begin to live the grand life He did when my life seems small at times? How do all the small things even add up to big things? 

I heard a quote today by Winston Churchill-“Character may be manifested in the great moments but it is made in the small ones.” I’d like to think that the small things do matter, so today I started with One Small Thing.

In an effort to alleviate some of the frustration of trying to be the best stay at home mom half the day and working mom the other half, I decided to spend some time in the kitchen this afternoon preparing this week’s meals. Now, you should know that I don’t claim to like cooking. I’ll bake all day long, cookies, cakes, brownies. But cooking is a chore to me. Making dinner before I leave for work in the afternoon feels like just another thing on my list, and I dread it most times. The days seem full with the kids, and I’m usually exhausted by the time I get to work. 

In a moment of inspiration this afternoon, I decided to spend some focused time doing nothing else but cook the meals I had planned for the week and put them in the refrigerator ready to bake each day. This moment was not for doing laundry AND cooking, or cleaning the kitchen AND cooking. No multitasking. Just one meal at a time. As soon as I finished one I moved on to the next. Since there was no baking time, the prep and actual cooking didn't take me long at all. I finished the dinner for tonight, and meals through Wednesday in about 2 hours. And shockingly I enjoyed it. I had such a feeling of accomplishment, but mostly I knew how this one small thing was going to help me and my family in a BIG way this week.

Tomorrow when it’s time for me to get ready for work in the afternoon, I can get ready for work. No getting ready AND cooking. No getting the boys a snack AND cooking AND getting ready for work. All that “multitasking” leaves me feeling drained at the end of it anyway. I don’t really feel accomplished as much as I just feel busy. Sure I check off a lot on my “to do list” but I don’t really get to relish in my accomplishments. They mostly just feel like chores. 

Today I’m relishing. Relishing the fact that tomorrow I can have peace of mind. That my family will be well fed, on time, and that I didn't have to stress about it.

Seems my small thing wasn't so small after all. Here’s to a week of many more Great Small things!