Search Results for: blog the blessings box

Balancing Blogging and Mothering

I squinted to make sense of scattered letters through the glare on my screen.  Focused attempts at deciphering HTML became distracted by bursts of giggling from the other side of my window.  Rejoicing from finally making a text box that scrolled, I missed a small excited voice asking me to “look at me”.  Dripping hair and sopping wet footsteps ran inside to beckon me to join their mini water park complete with a blow up monkey pool.  Promising just five more minutes I shooed away wet fingers from my computer.  Next I looked up and the time for sprinklers, popsicles, and water slides … Continue reading →

The Blessings Box

After Thanksgiving and before Christmas: it’s a time of year to count our blessings. But what do you mean when you say that you’re counting them? Are you actually taking time to think about your life, reflect, and think specifically and gratefully about the blessings that it holds? While I regularly feel grateful about my life, like other feelings, the feeling passes, the moment moves on, and I get right back into the swing of doing whatever it is I am doing. I don’t pause and reflect and stay grateful for long, sad to say. So I’m thinking of creating … Continue reading →

Not Taking Life For Granted, But Finding the Blessings

In Lauri’s media blog she talked of Anna Quindlen and ‘A Short Guide to a Happy Life’ and the importance of taking note of what is happening around you and how it is ‘a great reminder to not take life for granted, to notice those moments and even to purposely make room for them.’ Really, it’s all about noticing and finding the blessing of each day. This is by no means comprehensive but only a select few blessings I found to thank God for this week. 1. A week filled with music – from the hymns and spiritual songs in … Continue reading →

Notebook of blessings

A comment on my last blog and a visit to Courtney’s blog inspired me to think about a notebook of blessings. I hope as you read you will be inspired to create your own list of blessings. I praise God for: The gift of love – that of my husband, family and friends and especially God’s love as revealed to is through Jesus and his death on the cross for my sins. The beauty of creation. We have not long returned from a walk down by what people here refer to as a lake but it is actually St Georges … Continue reading →

Counting Blessings – Kerry Blair

Best-selling LDS fiction author Kerry Blair tries her hand at nonfiction in “Counting Blessings,” a newly released collection of thoughts and musings from Kerry’s creative brain. I had the opportunity to pick up a few copies at my local bookstore before they were even on the shelf – they had to go get them out of the box for me, they were so new. We start the collection with “It’s About Time,” as Kerry thinks about her upcoming birthday and the significance we tend to put on time. “My Mother’s Days Are All Wet” tells us of the experiences she’s … Continue reading →

Starting Preschool

We thought the time had come to start school and enrolled Jessie in the nearby Montessori school. I was so excited about this school. I thought Montessori was the right method for Jessie. We paid the enrollment fee and had the tuition ready. When the school sent out its calendar with the start date, I decided that neither Jessie nor I was really ready for her to start school. She was only two. Jessie was still receiving services through ECI, but those services were ending when Jessie turned three. Then she was supposed to start receiving services, if she qualified, … Continue reading →

Patience at Christmas

One quality needed in any marriage is patience. Especially at this time of year patience is a necessary ingredient when instead of showing love, many people seem to be impatiently pushing past others and not wanting to take time to talk because they are so busy. On Friday afternoon Mick and I decorated our Christmas tree. We put the wreath on the front door, the nativity scene in the window, a Christmas tableaus sitting on the coffee table and a few scattered baskets of tinsel and pine cones, but hadn’t done anything about lights. Come Saturday Mick and I decided … Continue reading →

Choosing a Christmas Tree

Choosing a Christmas tree sounds like a simple exercise, but sometimes it is not. First there is the decision about whether to have an artificial tree or a real tree. For me there is no contest. The real tree wins hands down. Yes, I know they drop pine needles and you have to get rid of the dead tree at the end of the Christmas period, but it is worth it for that smell of Christmas that comes in with the pine. Since we are in summer in Australia there’s no point buying a tree too early, even though the … Continue reading →

Frugal Living Can Be a Blessing

We all have different reasons for trying to save money and live a frugal life. But too often, we focus on the deprivations of living frugally, such as not being able to eat out often, or living without cell phones and cable television. But this is the wrong attitude. Frugal living is a blessing in many ways. It fosters appreciation Just the other day, my family and I were at a local park and everyone was having a great time. I felt completely blessed to have this great free resource nearby. In the past, before living frugally, I wouldn’t have … Continue reading →

Teaching Preschoolers about Money

In my opinion, it is never too early to start teaching your children about money. While you do want to shield your children from any stress or negative financial realities, at least while they are little, it is good to start teaching them the basics of managing money. Money is a huge part of our society, and it always amazes me how kids can no clue how much of the system works. For a young child the best way to teach about money, its uses as well as your own values concerning it is through example. If you go out … Continue reading →