new years

I Love new years goal setting time.  Here is what I think about goal setting. You really miss out if you do not set goals for yourself.  Sure, you might fail sometimes. Maybe you will even fail every year.  If your goals are lofty and help you improve it is worth shooting for the stars! That being said, I like to focus on one or two important things rather than have a list of goals, otherwise I get too distracted and overwhelmed. I figure if I do one good thing a year I am moving in the right direction and if I live a while longer I will be making steady progress.  When my Mom was dying of cancer one of the things she hated to hear most of all is "oh, it's too late to change."  As one who had only a few months to live, my mom thought it was preposterous to hear people say it was too late to change when they did actually have the time to make it happen.

"I'd rather attempt to do something great and fail than attempt  do nothing and succeed." Robert Shuller

"The credit belongs to the man in the arena whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs, and who comes up short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause. The man who at best knows the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, fails while daring greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold timid souls who never knew victory or defeat." Calvin Coolidge

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." Thomas Paine''

Like these guys said -- the very worst kind of failure is not trying at all!


This years goals:
1. Finish the ward scripture reading program with Calvin and Clare. Our bishop put together and amazing scripture reading program that runs from Jan 1-Easter to help us know our Savior better. It is about 15 minutes/night. So far, it is great. If you want to check it out here is the link.  

2. no yelling. I am a yeller. I am feisty   I could do better if I use a gentle voice more often. One of my friends said that years ago she was talking to her kids about yelling and her kids told her she yells too much. She is not a yeller, but they lived in a big house and she'd often yell upstairs to tell the kids to get up or come downstairs!  She was shocked to find out that her kids thought she was a yelling mom!  I loved that she decided not to yell when she heard this. It was years ago and she is a great example of mothering to me.  This year, I am going to work on not yelling (as much)!   I want to have a more peaceful house and I know that this starts with me. I have some super sweet soft spoken friends whose kids are soft spoken and it is absolutely amazing to me.  Though we will never be THAT soft spoken I want to use more gentle words this year and walk around my big house if I need something rather than yell. (hey, it'll be good exercise too).  I want to save the real yelling for when the kids really need to be scared into stopping (like running into the road or doing something really dangerous). 

Here is my quote to go along with that "Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible."

Keeping this in mind I am trying to find alternative ways to talk to the kids when they make me mad, don't obey and fight with each other.