Encouragement

Here is a great post about attending a Power of Moms Retreat...worried about attending, too pricey?? Read this article.

Professional Development

*After some feedback I am adding this disclaimer...this is about my choice for my family and my life. It is in no way being judgemental about your choices and your family. If you have made the choice to work outside the home that is your prerogative and I have no problems with others choices.

I am a stay at home Mom. This is not by default. This is a choice I made many years ago before I ever had a baby. Even as a young girl and as a teenager I knew I wanted to go to and graduate from college and get an education, but I knew I wanted to be a full time Mom.

When I was dating, one thing I was looking for in the guys I dated as prospective husbands was someone who shared my philosophy. Someone who felt as strongly as I did that the best thing for our family was for Mom to be in the home full time with the kids. My husband said that is one thing that attracted him to me was that I felt so strongly about that.

I graduated with a degree in early childhood education. You see I wanted my education to assist with my chosen career path. I worked as a preschool director for a few years before children and on a very part time basis as an instructor at a junior college after we had our first baby. But for most of the past 12 years my career path has been Motherhood. It was a deliberate choice.

It is not easy, it is exhausting and draining and I am certain I have lost brain cells and my sanity along the say. It has involved sacrifice....my time, my body, material things, my own ambitions and desires to some extent. However it is also the most fun, most joyful career I could have chosen. I wouldn't give it up for anything as I consider it to be the "ultimate career".

However along with the path I have chosen it can feel isolating and difficult as there is not a lot of opportunity for "professional development". There are very few opportunities to get together in an organized manner to visit with other Moms and learn together.

I am so excited to announce that there is a wonderful opportunity coming up soon onApril 20-21st in Las Vegas. It is a Motherhood Retreat put on by the Power of Moms website. I love the Power of Moms, it gives mothers a place to gather and connect with each other. You can read essays from other Moms as well as learn and grow through their various programs. I have been wanting for a long time to attend one of their Motherhood retreats as the ones I have read about look wonderfully uplifting and chock full of information and ideas. Plus you get to hang out with other like minded Moms and make new friends. Please consider attending as I know it will be great. I will be there, and if you want to go together that would be great! Here is the registration info. You may think it seems pricey, but if you look at any other professional or motivational training and the costs involved, this is a bargain!

Let me know if you decide to go!

2.62

I am certain you have seen these stickers on peoples cars. It indicates they have completed a marathon. Running 26.2 miles is quite the accomplishment and they have earned bragging rights as far as I am concerned.

I just went on a fabulous cruise with my parents, siblings/spouses. It was so fun, but the best part was being together. One day my brother pulled out his 26.2 sticker which he has earned by running a marathon, but he also pulled out a sticker he had altered that said 2.62. His lesson in all of this was to strive for our best no matter what that might be. For some of us, 26.2 is our goal, but for some 2.62 is what we can do right now.

For me to run 2.62 miles would be AWESOME and would feel like a huge accomplishment. 26.2 is absolutely out of my reach currently. I am proud of myself for working hard over the last couple of months. I can now run over a mile without stopping, that is huge considering when I started I couldn't run a block. My goal is to run a 5K, but 2.62 sounds pretty great too.

A blog post I read today really struck me. You can find it here. It talks about being enough. That we need to strive for our personal best, but not compare ourselves to others. We need to realize when we are doing our best and not beat ourselves up when we aren't perfect.

I work hard on keeping a clean house. But it never is. I could walk into other's clean homes and feel bad about myself for having a cluttered home. But I choose not too. I work hard at it, I do my best and it is good enough.

I could feel bad about all my friends who literally run miles around me, but I choose not too because I am working my hardest and I have improved greatly from where I was.

When we compare ourselves to others, or when we don't give ourselves credit for what we are doing well and what we have improved upon we rob ourselves of JOY. Feeling badly about ourselves, feeling guilt and never giving ourselves the benefit of the doubt rob us of true happiness.

What are you doing well? What have you improved upon?