1. Curiosity and interest in the world
2. Love of learning
3. Spirituality, sense of purpose and faith
4. Gratitude
5. Appreciation of beauty and excellence/awe
Here is a list of all 24: http://www.authentichappiness.org/Strengths.html. You will also find a bunch of other quizzes at the site.|||109077635805343867|||Authentic Happiness
Can't get out of the city? Try RelaxingTV|||109072351137995822|||Hammock
|||109063240171229901|||Virtual Assistant
At home we made a cherry pie. I was so excited because cooking is not what I am best at. But, the pie turned out excellent! We also made some sour cherry freezer jam. That will taste good this winter. |||109063186929907076|||Cherries
While my son is at his grandparents, I've been spending extra time with my daughter. One of our favorite things to do is a penny walk. We take a penny and when we get to an intersection we pick two choices. For instance, Heads left, tails straight. Or Heads right, tails left. She tosses the coin and we walk where the penny points. We get to take different routes then we are used to. On our last penny walk, my daughter found $5 on the ground near a parking lot. Walks are fun with her because she is so observant. She shows me all the bugs, pretty flowers, and unusual rocks she finds.
Maybe today, you can go on a penny walk or take a different route somewhere. A whole world is out there to see!|||109063141505508326|||Penny Walk
I am pooped. We spent the day picking up last minute things, putting gummy frogs into ice cubes, making chocolate toads and flies on a log, printing out loads of things for decoration, tic, frog, turtle, pin the tail on the alligator, cutting out lily pads for the relay and getting things together for the frog rock. The kids arrived at 7:00 and it had cooled down enough to let them paint the frog rocks outside. We actually planned more things to do than we needed. I was surprised by how much fun they had playing things like tadpole, tadpole, frog (duck, duck, goose) and the tic tac toe game with frogs and turtles. So we just let them play till they were tired of something.
The quickest things to get eaten were those chocolate toads (gummy toads with melted chocolate chips and butter painted on).
The kids had lots of fun and lots of energy. When their parents came to pick them up at 9:00 they asked to stay longer, so I told my daughter she could consider her party a success. She actually paid for it with birthday money and money she had saved from her allowance and she planned all the activities and food. See both my kids' birthdays are in July so we have parties every other year. This is her brother's year who is having a laser tag party in a couple weeks. I told her this wasn't her year, she had paint-a-pot last year. But, she was determined to throw a party. I told her I would help her with it and take her shopping if she paid for it and planned it. And to my wonderment, she did!
How about you? Do you have anything in your life that you really want to do, but looks impossible? Can you break down a door, go around or think of a creative solution?
|||109063097544859518|||Party's Over
|||109020494953261468|||Camping Checklist
Camping...
4 generations around the campfire roasting marshmallows,
kids catching bug after bug to look at,
then looking up the creatures in their new bug book,
finding a frog with a big X on its back called a peeper,
hiking up the dunes and seeing the beauty below,
viewing birds through the glass at the nature center
and seeing dunes above and below,
realizing that there are some people who have never seen the dunes,
an outdoor worship service with my Dad preaching,
walks in the woods with my husband,
wild raspberries,
sap dripping from the trees,
dipping feet into ice cold Lake Michigan,
listening to a powerful storm as we slept snug in our tent,
playing Boggle with my kids and my Dad,
Mom's poison ivy,
viewing pictures of the wedding day of a girl I used to baby-sit,
potluck dinner under different awnings when another storm came by,
remembering times past when I was fearless,
getting comfortable with sitting and doing nothing,
no computer, no phone, no work,
renewal.
|||109020357876119003|||Camping
The new newsletter is up: http://www.encouragingcoach.com/newsletter-July04.htm. This month's article is on personalized simplicity.
|||108993532198852777|||Simplicity
Pope John Paul II
Evangelium Vitae
Recapture the Wonder by Ravi Zacharias is the latest book I am reading. I've always been interested in wonder. My husband laughs at me sometimes because I can become fascinated with the smallest things. Nowadays cynicism and sarcasm have replaced our childhood wonderment. And even our children are getting cynical at a younger age.
What are you fascinated with? What scene makes you stand still in awe?
So far my kids have retained much of their wonder. The picture below is of them in our backyard.
|||108983214428819503|||WonderWe have been planning birthday parties since both of the kids' birthdays are in July.
Here's a couple of good birthday planning resources:
Planning a birthday party on a budget
Party Checklist|||108977280128750428|||Children's Birthday Parties
I brought a water bottle with me as I was running around church making sure everything was going well. Here's a chart to fill out if you or your family are working on drinking 8 glasses of water a day: http://www.chartjungle.com/8glassesofwaterchart.html|||108949494642415896|||Drink Your Water
I ran across a wonderful list of papers you should keep and for how long: http://www.davidco.com/tips_tools/tip19.html.
I also read a tip that you should use your left hand for the mouse. Since there are less keys on the left side, the arm doesn't have to move as much and it is better for you. I am trying it out for the first time today. Maneuvering with my left hand was a little tricky at first, but I'm amazed at how fast it started to feel normal.|||108908359197725122|||Retention Chart