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Being Together!

Being Together!
All of us!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

A Better Day!

Yesturday was a complete No good, very bad day
I have these every once and a while. You know the kind, the one where nothing seems to go your way, and really it doesn't matter what did go right, you wouldn't recognize it anyway?  That was the day I was having.  I am hopeful that today will be better.  Because Today I will remember to write in my gratitude journal, I will remember to get the sleep I need and I will remember to stop comparing myself with others around me.  I will work on being the best version of me I can be and I will focus on the good and the positive.  There is so much of it.  I will remeber the lessons I have learned over the past few months and put that knowledge to work. 
Yes, today will be a better day, and I am looking forward to it!
I hope you have a better day, I know I plan to.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Time to be Grateful

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends!  I guess it is official and I can decorate for Christmas!
We had our real first snow fall last night.  I have admit that I love the white stuff.  I love watching it fall, cozing in by the fire, playing in it and the way that it changes the light in my house when it is on the ground.  So thank you mother nature for sending it my way!
There is so much to be grateful for right now.  I am excited for the season, my warm home, my dear children and dear husband, my health, my chickens (heehee), food on my table, my sight that I can see the beauty around me, my hearing that I can hear Jacob's giggles, my legs that allow me to get out and enjoy the weather, my voice that I can be heard and sing carols...I wonder if others are grateful for this ;)
The list could go on and on.  I love Sarah Ban Breathnach's book Simple Abundance.  She suggests that we all keep a gratitude journal. It is a great way to see the joy in your life.  She has a website too that I will add to the side bar.  She shares a quote by Melody Beattie, who also has a great blog that I will add.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow."
-Melody Beattie

So I challenge you all to take a look at what you are grateful for in your life.  It doesn't have to be anything huge. I came across a gratitude journal I had started when my children were babies.  My lists include things like, my dishwasher, my bed, my family, nap time, warm apple pie and fitting into my old jeans! It is usually the simple things that bring the most joy
Hey and check out these other sites!
I hope you have a happy, grateful day, I plan to.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Just Be Still

Since coming home from my visit with my Dad, I find I am filled with a great sense of contentment.  I have always been the one who has tried to prove I could 'have my cake and eat it too'.  I took the statement, "You can do anything You put my mind to", very literally.  I have always fully believed that to be true and have spent the first 30 odd years of my life trying to do it all. 
In high school I was involved with basketball, yearbook, students council, badminton, cross country running, S.A.D.D, (but I think it was called something else), and somewhere in there I managed to pass my classes, hold on to a boy friend, attend most football games, carry a job and hang out with my friends. I remember my dear mother trying to tell me that I was doing too much and something would have to give...hummm, maybe I could have earned A's instead of B's and C's...
Then I moved away from home, got married and had three wonderful children. Still trying to help out at church, have wonderful birthday parties for each one of my sweet darlings, babysit other peoples children, write, keep up with laundry, and occasionally homeschool my children, work full time, take care of chickens and sheep, remember date night, renovated our home, attend all of Jacob's Dr. appointments and be a good wife, mother, friend, daughter, sister, aunt and neighbour.
I have always been on the watch for the next project, something I could throw myself into and feel I was doing enough.  Something that would fulfill my need to prove I could do hard things. 
I am still working through why I have felt this way and what has changed.  But what I want to share is the joy that comes from just being still.  Still enough to listen and to hear what it is you really want to be doing.  What is it that really brings you joy and contentment?  If we stop running around in circles trying to keep busy, doing what we think others want or need us to do, if we can carve out some quiet time in our lives where the T.V, MP3 players, cell phones and computers are turned off, we will be amazed at what we hear. 
I have spent the last few weeks creating a chicken coup and yard.  I have calmly and quietly, built the nesting boxes out of old 2X4's and have enjoyed every minute of it.  My family is still alive.  They have eaten and have clean clothes on their backs.  Because you know what?  When we stop and listen to that inner voice and do what it says, we have more energy and desire to do ALL that needs doing.
I have signed up for an online writing course.  It feels so good to be taking another look at my book.  I love reading others ideas and suggestions about ways I can improve it.  It feels great to be taking myself seriously.
I have spent some mornings just standing watching my chickens...I LOVE my chickens!  They make me so happy!
I have just about finished organizing the basement and the laundry is all caught up!  I feel I am doing less and getting more done.  I am NOT trying to accomplish someone elses To Do list, just my own  and it is working!
There is a power in trusting ourselves.  I think for a long time the world has been telling us that we should have it all, do it all and be it all.  I believe we can, but not the way the T.V commercials show it to be.  We can HAVE all we need to be happy today, just by opening our eyes and seeing the blessings that are right in front of us. 
We can DO all we need to be content if we stop trying to keep up with everyone else and begin living our own life. 
We can BE our very best self when we take the time to be still and find out what that looks like and trust ourselves enough to follow through.
I have never been happier!
I hope you can take the time to be still day!  I plan to.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Musings of a Happy Chicken Owner!

I have to tell you, I am in love with 31 beautiful hens!  We have adopted them from two different friends of ours who had to give them up for various reasons and we are glad we did.
I get up every morning, get the kidlets out the door to the bus, come in for breakfast, tidy up a bit and then I rummage around my fridge to see what looks wilted or past it's prime.  I take it to the cutting board where I chop it into chicken bite size pieces and fill my #10 can. I then slip on my rubber boots and head to the beloved chicken coup.  I open the Door and there are 31 beautiful ladies happy to see me, yes I guess it could be the can full of food, but I like to think it is me! 
The best part is that I don't have to be out there at the crack of dawn because they need time to lay their eggs.  That fits perfectly into my day.  Just about everyday some of them get out and we have to go out and put them back in. But secretly, I love watching them roam around the yard.  Today I found two perfect brown eggs tucked away in a thicket behind the coup. 
If you have ever dreamed of owning your own lovely hens, do it!  They are wonderful!
I hope you have a cheery day, I plan to!