At the beginning of the year God gave me the word "focus". Focus on my relationship with God. Focus on my marriage. Focus on my family. Focus, focus, focus. This past weekend I attended a wonderful Hearts as Home women's conference in Bloomington, Illinois. I came home with yet another word..."reclaim". Reclaim my marriage. Reclaim my children. Reclaim my time. Do not mistaken this reclaim as a wimpy verb. No, this reclaim is filled with power, determination, and dedication.

Maybe you're wondering if I have lost my marriage, family, and time. Well, in one sense, no, yet in another sense, yes. I still physically have my husband, family, and time. It doesn't appear that I have been robbed of any of my precious loved ones. However, if you look a little deeper you'll see...just as you will in so many other households in this country...robbed!

Work, finances, and lack of communication have robbed me of my marriage...BUT God has told me not to allow these worldly things to weaken my relationship with my husband. Go after him, pursue him, and don't stop until the devil's grip on my marriage has loosened and we are once again completely in God's grasp. The grip is loosening. With God's help, I am reclaiming my marriage!!

TV, computer games, and video games have robbed me of my children...BUT God has told me to fight off these worldly influences. Put an end to depending on electronics to entertain when I need a helping hand. Rather, encourage the children to dive back into the precious appreciation of God's blessing of nature and all of its wonders, strengthening relationships (face-to-face, not virtual), and allow the children to rediscover self entertainment. What wonder it has been over the past couple of days to see my children lavishing themselves in God's wonders of nature and people! With God's help, I am reclaiming my children!!

Staying too busy, spending wasted time on the computer, and answering the phone impulsively rather than screening calls have robbed me of my time...BUT God has told me to redeem my time. Quit wasting time running in circles trying to please everyone (especially those outside of my family), stop wasting time on the computer (bye-bye Facebook), and take advantage of Caller ID and answering machines. By taking these simple steps over the past couple of days I have:

• Taken a long walk and played "freeze tag" with my kids outside.
• Enjoyed, really enjoyed the wonder of God's world outside...again. There is nothing better for the soul than spending some time outside in the warmth of the sun with a fresh breeze surrounding you.
• I watched the kids ride their bikes and had a little bit of time to sit with Grace and have a sweet chat while the youngers peddled their hearts out.
• I've even given a little more attention to our sweet dog, Maggie.
• I've been able to focus on my kids so much more...especially in the area of disciplining with patience.
• I was able to do school with ALL FOUR kids! Yes, even my dear little Claira. The younger two and I read/rowed Make Way for Ducklings and learned a little about Boston.
• I helped Della plant tulips in the front yard. She purchased them with her money while we were out today.
• I took Grace to the pet store so she could purchase a cage that was on sale for her future ferret that she is diligently saving up for.

With God's help, I am reclaiming my time!!

It is so easy these days to numb ourselves to the realities of this fallen world. Then before we know it we are crying, "I've been robbed!"...and we've enabled the robber to violate us! We've opened the door, let him in, and even directed him to our family members...without realizing what we are really doing. We must snap out of it and become proactive...reclaiming our marriages, our children, and our time.

I know this is a rather heavy post, but this is also a heavy revelation.

As for the Hearts as Home (HAH) conference, I want to encourage every mom to visit the HAH website and even investigate what the conferences are all about. What a treat this two day get-a-way is! It is encouraging, fun, and so well rounded. I walked away feeling honored to be a mom, not alone in my struggles, and filled with hope, information, love. I encourage you to visit a fellow mom's blog, Radically Blessed. Tricia has a great post on this WONDERFUL event and all the fun we had. If you have questions about the conference or are considering going, please let me know! I sense God has encouraged me to share this incredible conference with other moms and encourage them to go...I am also willing to go again if anyone wants to give this jammed packed fun and encouraging weekend a try.

Choice is a word I use often with my kids.

"Be sure to make good choices."

"Did you make a good choice?"

"Was that a wise choice?"

"It's your choice."

Recently I've realized that God is asking these same questions and making these similar statements to me. So what in the world is a choice anyways? I looked it up, didn't really feel like I was getting a good definition, then looked up choose and, BINGO, found it.

Choose- to make a deliberate decision to do something

This is exactly what I was looking for; after all we know what a choice is, but to actually see the definition really hit home. Read the definition again and really let it sink in.

You see, we have so many choices to make in a day, hour, minute that we become almost desensitized to the fact that we have choices to make. Think about it.

We have the choice to over eat or not.

We have the choice to lose our temper or not.

We have the choice to lie or not.

We have the choice to love or not.

We have the choice to forgive or not.

We have the choice to use our time wisely or not.

We have the choice to break the law or not.

We have so many more choices to make that if you were to list the choices you make in a day it would probably overwhelm you. Granted, some choices we can literally make without really thinking. I know I tend to automatically stop for a stop light without questioning if I should obey it or not. I tend to feed my family at the appropriate times. I tend to smile at people I pass while walking in a store. Those choices could almost be considered no-brainer choices.

On the other hand, we have choices that require our brains to consciously operate. Over the past couple of weeks God has been revealing some of these conscious choices to me, and they are not always easy to face. Here are a few conscious choices that God has exposed to me lately:

• The choice to love. I never in my wildest dreams would have ever thought love was more than just a natural emotion. However, it doesn't surprise me either because a couple of years ago God began revealing to me the lies emotions and feelings can feed our hearts. That old saying "Listen to your heart" is such a lie and can actually bring much heart ache. I've been reading that there are times that we need to lead our heart to love rather than simply following our heart. Read that again and let it sink in. When our children make bad choices, we have the choice to love them or not. That is a rather easy choice to make usually. But what about the impatient person standing in line behind you complaining about the slow service? What about the friend who let you down...again? What about the spouse who has fallen short of your ideal? We have a choice...to love or not. Sometimes we may not feel like loving, this is when we must choose to lead our hearts into love.
  
  
  
• The choice to give our all. Tonight I read an email from one of the editors at Take Root and Write, a Christian Women's E-Magazine that I write for. She spoke of the choice we have...to go through the motions or to give our all to whatever we do. Hmmm...this one got me thinking. I admit that I've been in a slump for the past month or so. I've been going through the motions, doing just enough to get by. It is so easy to live "going through the motions" when we are bogged down with life, overwhelmed with caring for the family, and trying to keep our priorities in their right order. Our brains numb themselves and we forget that we have choices to make. We can choose to give our all or just enough to get by. I'm thinking God favors that we give our all...even when we are tired and worn out. He will be our All so that we can give our all. (Please be sure to remind me of this from time to time.)
  
  
  
• The easy choice vs. the right choice. I don't know about you, but when I have a choice to eat a chocolate mousse dessert or not it is definitely easier and, at the moment, more satisfying to choose to indulge myself. To let the smooth and creamy delight rest in its spot is so hard for me...but there are so many times that it would be the right thing to leave the dessert alone. As humans it seems we tend to lean toward the easy choice and steer clear of the right choice because it takes purposeful effort to make the right choice. We all know that there are times that making the right choice is hard, painful, and sometimes doesn't even make sense to others, but we shouldn't let these things persuade our choices. Easier said than done, I know. So, how do we make the right choice rather than the easy choice? It involves getting down on our knees and asking our Father for guidance, strength, and wisdom.

I challenge you to munch on the word choose and it's definition. Crank up your brain and take note of the choices you make, the deliberate decisions you make. Will your choices encourage or damage? Will your choices leave you regretful or at peace? Will your choices be mindless or mindful?

Have I told you lately how much I love our NERF days? What a great break from the norm.

It's Monday. We can all use a little encouragement to get us through the week! I've got three sources of encouragement to share with you.

1. A good friend of mine has just entered into the blogging world. I've been patiently waiting for a l-o-n-g time for her to finally announce her reveal. I was so excited a few days ago to receive an email from her sharing that her blog is now launched! I want to encourage you to visit Tricia's blog, Radically Blessed. The title of her blog says it all. Her March 1st post will help you to understand how she can exclaim that she is Radically Blessed. I hope you'll drop by, leave a comment, and be radically blessed as well by Tricia's writings.
   
   
   
   
2. I have discovered an awesome CD. (Now mind you, awesome is a word I use in a reserved way.) If you saw the movie Fireproof then you were probably touched by the song "While I'm Waiting" by John Waller. I know I was strongly touched by that song. I found and checked out his CD from our local library...and I will be keeping it for the allowed 6 weeks...guaranteed. John's CD "The Blessing" is packed with praise music that will not allow you to listen quietly or in a stationary position. This CD will have you praising God from your heart using your voice and body. Yes, it's that good. You can be sure that when I have to return this CD that I will be heading directly to the Family Christian Store to purchase my own. Just in case you didn't see the movie, aren't sure what song I'm talking about, or, like me, just love to listen and watch the video, I'm putting the "While I'm Waiting" video at the bottom of this post. And if you've not seen "Fireproof"...Go Rent It! Better yet, purchase it...I'll be doing that as well soon.
   
   
   
3. Don't forget to check out my new blog, Focus Findings. This is a place to come to to find the mysterious, blunt, and humorous ways God reminds us to focus on him.

This is TJ's first year in Cub Scouts and he is really enjoying himself. Tom is TJ's den leader (Tiger Den) and I think he is enjoying scouts as much as TJ! The Pinewood Derby seems to be one of the scouting events that many of the boys (and dads) look forward to. Tom and TJ worked for the past month getting TJ's car just right. They decided on a Batman design...it was one cool looking car!

Secret Codes

We learned that secret codes were an important tool used in the war. So we decided to become spies in the Civil War!

• The kids had to choose if they were going to be on the Confederate or Union side, then they whispered in my ear which side they were on. No one knew which side the others were on.
• The kids were given the task of writing a secret code. The challenge was to write it so that no one could break the code since no one knew if the others at the table were friend or foe.
• I was able to break Grace's code, but not Della and TJ's...see for yourself.

• When you're right hand is pointing in the direction to where the sun rises, that is the east.
• That means that your left hand is now pointing to the west.
• This also means that north will always be in front of you when you are standing in this position.
• Finally, when standing this way, south will always be to your back.

Civil War Music

We had so much fun listening to the music and songs from the Civil War era. We even found a great video with actual photos and great music of what the soldiers would have heard while on duty. Here is the video. As you listen to the drums and bugles that these field musicians played its easy to understand how these sounds may have "pumped up" the soldiers for battle.

Grace also played "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" for us on the piano.

I am so excited to share with you a new blog that just launched today! It is a blog focused on focusing on God. It is a blog that God laid upon my heart to create. It is a blog that I believe will be a place of encouragement, hope, and wonder as we strive to keep our focus on God. Drop by and check out Focus Findings for yourself!

I'm hoping to get my Civil War post up tomorrow...

Friday is our weekly and much needed NERF day. I am looking forward to it. This past week has been so busy and crazy. Not that Friday won't be just as busy and crazy, because it will, but to have all the distractions that electronics bring into our life eliminated for a day is like a breath of fresh air. Ahhh...

I am looking forward to posting sometime this weekend, however. We studied the Civil War over the past couple of weeks and did some fun activities along with it. I look forward to sharing this with you. Until then...I'm shutting down!

Have a great Friday!

If you should be eating lunch with your children and find that you need to have a heart to heart over your meal with your oldest daughter {who by the way decides that soup and crackers will not fill her up so she puts some bread in the toaster oven while you continue to eat and talk} be sure to mind the toaster!