Time Out For Women

I need to do something about my current blog situation. It is getting to the point where I feel I am so far behind it is overwhelming and I am trying to ignore it. That is never a good thing, I know! It is kind of like the pile of papers in the kitchen that will soon be larger than the counter. I just keep thinking that if I ignore it long enough it will go away! I know better than that, but I just haven't pulled myself out of that funk yet. So, I thought I would start with the blog. I know deep down that if I just devoted 10 minutes a day to this (and the pile of papers or whatever other disaster is waiting for me) that I could catch up and all would be good. So here is my attempt at that.


I was blessed this weekend to be able to go to Time Out For Women. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a weekend away from kids and husbands (not that we don't miss them the whole time). It is a weekend of fabulous spiritual enrichment and enjoyment. I came home this weekend just feeling so full -spiritually and mentally. We actually had a group of about 10 go from our ward. I drove a few of us up. We left early Friday morning and went to the Temple before our classes started that night. Then we went all day on Saturday and drove home that evening. I wanted to write a couple of things that I know were meant for me.

Cheiko Okazaki spoke first. She talked about how she taught school for 20-something years. One of the things that she said that really hit me was that after you teach a correct principal to your child you must then let them govern themselves. I know that I spend too much time "helping" my children and not enough time letting them solve their own problems. Sometimes it is because I can "get it done so much faster", or because I want to show them how to "do it right". I am pretty sure that I hated that as a child. So, I have vowed to let my children make their own decisions (within reason) and do things for themselves. One thing we always struggle with is Lexy getting ready for school in the morning. We probably tell her 20 times to get dressed and 20 times to eat faster because she is running out of time. So Monday came and I told her that I know that she is old enough and responsible enough to get all ready for school without me telling her what to do. She did really good except for brushing her hair. It was really hard for me not to tell her to brush her hair. I did suggest that she look in the mirror and see if there is anything else that she needed to do to be ready for school - she got it and brushed her hair (phew). This morning she wanted to iron her shirt. She has ironed a couple of times with my supervision. I know she can do it, but I am just too afraid of what could happen. So this morning I decided to let her do it by herself. I even walked out of the room. I am making progress!

Emily Watts was the next speaker. She had two things that were really good for me to hear. 1. She posed the question, "What if the fruits of my parenting has less to do with how my children turn out than how I become as a parent?" She said when we view it this way, it doesn't matter what mistakes our children make, what matters is how we deal with it. 2. She also said, "The fruit of your life is You - not your children, your job, or your accomplishments. What matters is who we serve and who we become". I hope that I can keep this close to my heart and think about it the next time I am about to lose it with my children.

The following are a few simple statements that I liked by the other speakers...

**Don't be consumed with the Gotta-do's and the Oughta-be's - just focus on Christ.

**When we strive to walk on water by ourselves we will sink, but when we allow the Lord to hold our hand we can walk on water.

**Even when life is hard, God is good to us.

**Ingratitude is like a carnival mirror that distorts our reality.

**Gratitude opens the windows of heaven....it is a saving principle because is saves us from ourselves and our negativity.