The Tuesday Review: Liberty Rising

In light of what has happened over the past week, I thought that Liberty Rising: The Story of the Statue of Liberty would be the perfect book to highlight.

The idea for the Statue of Liberty was born in the heart of Edouard de Laboulaye, a French law professor, who had studied our constitution in great detail.  For America's 100th birthday, he hoped to create a gift that represented freedom, as France had helped America to win independence in 1776.  Laboulaye saw this as a gift from one people to another.  The story that unfolds in amazing and inspiring!  I highly recommend you read this book!  It may be a children's story book, but it can be as informative and influential to an adult as it can be to a child.  

I personally have never seen The Statue of Liberty, though I do hope to in the not too distant future. Through it, I feel that we have a connection not only to France, but to upholding FREEDOM on our shores and abroad.  I'll leave you with the last paragraph of the book, which seems very timely at this moment.

"The dream of many people is to breathe free.  

The Statue of Liberty represents this dream. 

 Let her inspire the world to give and to cherish the gift of freedom."

The Tuesday Review: Meg Meeker, M.D.

There are some days on the Tuesday Review that I will talk about specific books.  Other days I will highlight a specific author.  Today I am so excited to be able to do both!  

Dr. Meg Meeker is a pediatrician, mother, and best-selling author of six books.  She is also what I consider to be one of the nation's leading authorities on parenting and children's health.  I'm about half way into one of her books, Strong Mothers, Strong Sons, and so far I have been challenged and encouraged by what I have read! I don't know about you, but I need help, insight, wisdom, and encouragement on this journey of raising my boys to be extraordinary men! I would highly recommend you check out this book!



I also wanted to highlight something that Dr. Meeker has started, called The Strong Parent Project. The Strong Parent Project is a digital course that walks you through how to be a better parent! We could all use a little help in this area, don't you think? Neil and I just signed up and haven't had a chance to start into the 12 Principles yet.  But I am ready to dive in and learn how to be a better parent and mom!  I'll keep you posted! Until then, I encourage you to check it out. To learn more about The Strong Parent Project, or about Dr. Med Meeker, you can visit her website at https://megmeekermd.com/ 

**We first heard Dr. Meg Meeker speak at a SMART Conference!  She joined an amazing group of leaders from many different industries for a day full of challenging and equipping in the areas of money, marriage, parenting, personal development and retirement.  It was excellent!  If there is one near you, you should check it out! Click here to find out more!

Just Because

I love this on so many levels.  Today, I'm thankful for those who reach out and intentionally encourage me!  May we all keep our eyes and hearts open for ways that we can encourage those that we do life with and encounter on a daily basis!  

Expectations: Not so random thoughts about the day

Sometimes I just have to laugh at myself!  Especially when I catch myself in the middle of having unreasonable expectations of myself.  Tonight, I am hosting a Noonday Collection Trunkshow, which I am super excited about!  (I don't purchase jewelry and accessories often, but when do, I want it to be from a company that cares about those that it works with and supports them with a more than fair compensation for their product!)  Oops...back to the topic at hand.

Anyway, in preparation and anticipation of having friends in my home this evening, I had put crazy ridiculous expectations on myself.  Let me just spell it out for you.  I wanted to have my kitchen painted, completely finished and decorated, complete with new light fixture, pictures framed on the shelf, and my wall finished with our school map framed, a new white board up, some fun family photos framed, and the magnetic display board up.  Hello??!!  What was I thinking??  The painting did get done. And the map is on the wall.  But that is IT.  Oh, and it doesn't stop there.  I wanted to have a new mirror up on our mantle, photos updated in the family photo frames, and a coat rack up in the hallway. Of those things, the coat rack is the only thing that was accomplished, with the help of my awesome husband! (Thanks, Babe!)

Why do I do this to myself? Why do WE do this to OURSELVES? Why do we set ourselves up to be disappointed in ourselves?  And possibly make others around us miserable in the process??? Why do we think that things have to be perfect?  What really matters through all of this?  People.  Relationship. And for me personally, having a home that is welcoming and genuinely full of love!  That said, my home will be relatively clean, but it will not be perfect.  I will not have done all that I had hoped to do.  And that is honestly OK with me!

I hope you have a GREAT day and that you will be loving and accepting of who YOU are at this very moment!

Freedom and the 4 M's

If you have followed me for any length of time, then you know that I am big into Essentialism.  I want to live with joy and purpose, and if the things that I own, or the ways that I choose to use my time or gifts, don't bring joy and purpose, then I need to move on from those things.  I've highlighted this book before, but for a bigger picture into this, check out Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown!  It is an excellent book, and touches not only on your personal life and the stuff that you own, but also on your professional life!  I recap all that to say that lately, when it comes to how I have been managing my home and the stuff that I own, I have not been living out my beliefs.  I'm busted! I haven't been putting into practice many of the things that I know to do. So, to keep myself accountable, I'm just going to lay it all out and walk this journey right here.

The reason for this journey is FREEDOM and it's based on what I'm calling my 4 M's. I want to MANAGE the MINOR things in my life so that I can MASTER the MAJOR, or important things in my life.  So often, I let the minor things, the house cleaning, the chores, the grocery shopping, the piles of stuff, etc, master my life. Instead, I want to learn to manage those minor things to a point that I can move on and master the major things in my life. The more that I can do this, the more that I can pursue freedom in my life to be who I was created to be.  It's all about FREEDOM. This isn't anything  new or ground breaking.  And I understand that the "majors" in all of our lives look different. For that matter, freedom will look different for all of us. But I believe that there is power in sharing our story and I hope that you will be encouraged by mine!

Along the way, I'll also share some favorite resources, books, and websites that have been a help and encouragement to me!  I hope you'll follow along!