by Tessa | Personal Development
The best goal setting book I have ever read is The Power of Focus: What the World’s Greatest Achievers Know about The Secret to Financial Freedom & Success
, by Les Hewitt, Mark Victor Hanson, and Jack Canfield. I have been using the outline in that book for my business and life plan, on and off, since about 2005. I love how it organizes goals into 7 main target areas: financial, business/career, fun time, health/fitness, relationships, personal, contribution/spiritual. I have tried to keep all these areas in mind as I set my goals and figure out my priorities for 2014. I have also tried to keep in mind the different roles that I fill: child of God, wife, mother, homemaker, entrepreneur.
I’m going to admit that I don’t have a personal (or family) vision or mission statement. I’m sure that goal setting would be a lot simpler if I had one. One day I’ll write one up. For now, I’m borrowing an idea that I saw on a blog just over a year ago: a one word yearly theme. 2013 was Peace. My family desperately needed peace and we sought it and managed to maintain it, in spite of the move and new farm set up (and more recently a new baby). We praise the Lord for that!
One word for 2014: Pursue.
Definition: To follow in an effort to overtake or capture.
I have felt called to pursue God in a way that I never have in the past. I also want to teach my children to pursue Him. I want to pursue my husband. I want to pursue my children’s hearts. And I want to pursue my God-given dreams.
My goals will revolve around this theme and be broken down into monthly habits/routines that I want to instigate. I am working on making a plan to apply this in the 7 main target areas of my life and the 5 major roles that I have.
I have been spending a lot of time in prayer about where I’m currently spending my time and effort. Some things I have figured out and other things I am still waiting for guidance on. I’m planning to talk to some mentors in my life (including my husband) to ask their advice in certain areas. Only time and the Lord know how the next year will play out, but I’m excited to enter into it with a clear picture of where my focus will be.
I’m also excited to be sharing this journey of Personal Priorities: 2014 Edition and want to say a big THANK YOU to Tammy from Creative K Kids for organizing this wonderful way to stay accountable to these goals and priorities. Make sure you hop on over to the other blogs participating in the 2014 edition of Personal Priorities.
Grab the button from the sidebar and join me on this journey. Link up the LAST Friday of the month at any of the participating blogs and let’s help each other stay accountable to have an unstoppable 2014!
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by Tessa | Homemaking
One of our household mantras go like this:
How do we behave?
Polite and Gentle and show each other Love.
We first started this when my oldest was learning how to properly pronounce an “L.” It encouraged him to repeat words with the “L” at the beginning, middle, and end of the word. It was an added bonus that it also included a character lesson.
In spite of the fact that my boys are typically less rambunctious in their play than one would expect from boys their age, we do have a tendency toward more intensity when it comes to emotions. With the addition of another little boy to our family last week (more on that later), we are in the midst of the extra dose of fatigue and attempts at finding a new family rhythm. Gentleness is a habit that we need to get back into.
One of the things that has helped serve as a reminder for gentleness was to light a candle and say a prayer for my home. C and Biscuit help me light (or remind me to light) the candle and I explain why I’m lighting it and pray out loud for peace in our home and gentleness toward each other. I love having a visual (and scented!) reminder and we hold each other accountable treating each other with love. Yes, I allow my children to call me out when I treat them unacceptably.
I know that there are a lot more ways to increase the habit of gentleness but I’m starting with my candle and prayer. It’s simple. And, with a newborn in my arms, simple is about as good as I can do!
Do you have any other simple ways for increasing gentleness in yourself and your children?
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by Tessa | Faith
Welcome to this week’s Word on Wednesday post. Join me for a reflection on a piece of scripture and how it can be applied to our daily lives.
There are so many wonderful disciplines that Christians can benefit from but the most important Christian discipline is to “read your Bible, pray every day and you’ll grow, grow, grow.” Do you remember that kid’s song? It constantly runs through my head when I start to wonder how people develop such a strong walk with God. It’s such a simple instruction and, yet, so many of us don’t do it. In fact, studies show that more than 80% of Christians don’t read their Bible daily. I wonder, if the same people were polled, how many would admit to reading the newspaper or their Facebook or Twitter feed daily?
If you want to read your Bible in a year, it would take less time than watching your favorite show every day or staying caught up on your social media or current news events. It really comes down to choosing your priorities. A simple 15 minutes every day in the Word can revolutionize your faith life. It’s not the same as an in depth study but it’s a great start. Even a baby step forward is better than no steps forward at all.
Up until a couple years ago, nearly the only time my Bible was ever opened was at church. I tried to read it more often but it was never really high on my priority list. According to this verse, God could have given me over to a depraved mind. I’m glad that, instead, He safeguarded my heart and mind! It’s taken me about two years to get into a really good habit of staying caught up on my Bible reading plan. Now it’s time for me to look into doing a more in depth study of the Word. And to set up my children so their minds are safeguarded through scripture intake as well.
If you’re ready to make God’s word more of a priority, here are a couple of great sites that can guide you:
Good Morning Girls: Good Morning Girls exists to inspire, encourage and equip women all over the world to get into God’s Word through our online community. GMG has multiple online Bible studies, resources and videos created with YOU in mind and all for FREE!
Rachel Wojnarowski: To inspire you to live out extraordinary faith in Christ by providing everyday real-life solutions. To encourage Bible reading and prayer in personal relationship with God and to recommend tools and technology that will grow your faith, as well as the faith of your children.
YouVersion Bible App: YouVersion is a simple, ad-free Bible that brings God’s Word into your daily life. Read the Bible, study the Bible, subscribe to Bible plans, and take the Bible with you.
For those of you who consistently get into the word, what are your favorite resources or methods when it comes to Bible reading?
If you’re still working on making this a habit, what is one thing you can do to take a step forward in this journey?
by Tessa | Faith
Welcome to this week’s Word on Wednesday post. Join me for a brief reflection on a piece of scripture and how we can apply it to our daily lives.
I read a lot. The Bible, blogs, articles online and in hard copy, books, text books, and nearly anything I can get my hands on. Mostly non-fiction at this point in my life. I always have enjoyed reading. I love how it relaxes me and works out my brain muscles all at the same time. I love learning new things through my reading and feel like I’ll never be able to read enough to fill up my mind.
It seems that King Solomon had this thirst for information as well, in spite of the wisdom he was granted from God. Apparently it is a natural human tendency. We want answers. Well, this verse holds the answer. You can seek all the knowledge and information in the world but there is really only one final result of this quest: the number one thing we can learn to do is to fear God and keep His commandments. That is the purpose of life. Such a simple conclusion, and yet, such a complex command. So we need to read God’s word to find His commands so that we can fulfill our duty.
by Tessa | Motherhood
My interpretation of unschooling is that it is a form of learning from life without imposing a specific curriculum or forcing a specific method of teaching on my children.
A lot of information about unschooling that I have read talks about how it is just letting life teach your children the things they need to know to live and thrive in this world and culture. This method of learning has always made perfect sense to me. If you need a skill to survive in your current role or career, you find a way to aquire it. Sometimes this is done through extensive reading and research, other times through hands-on trial & error, and other times it requires us to take a course specifically set up to give us the proper qualifications and information. At the end of the day, the outcome is the same: the new skill is learned because you chose to learn it. Why should it look any different for our children?
Many radical unschoolers forgo the practice of schedules or parent-imposed learning or even restrictions on anything that many other children have limits on. While I understand how this can work really well for some families, I feel that unschooling gives my family and I the opportunity to set up our household in a way that works for us. My family runs better when we have a regular rhythm to our days. This also means that we require certain things from our children and have certain rules for them.
Here is a bit of a framework for our family:
* We require our children to participate in the family, including the family work (household as well as farm).
* We expect them to show the love of God through their actions and attitudes. We do no allow them to disrespect us or each other.
* We believe that our children must respect us as authority figures (which, in turn, means that we must prove ourselves to be an authority worth respecting).
* We teach and expect them to treat their bodies as temples of God, which includes healthy eating habits, an active lifestyle, and healthy sleep habits.
* The condition of their heart takes precedence over all else.
Those are some of the boundaries and expectations that we have in place for when our children live in our home.
The Alberta School Act even states it’s goal for students become a “self-reliant, responsible, caring and contributing member of society.” It seems that even the Alberta government believes that character is important. Many employers realize that while skills can always be taught, character cannot. In fact, out of the 46% of job failures that happen within the first 18 months, 89% was due to attitude issues, only 11% was due to lack of skill. So, in order to give my kids the best foot forward, our main focus will be to develop their character. We believe that these things are essential to our children becoming capable and well-adjusted adults. And isn’t that what unschooling, or any other educational method, is all about?
