Mothers Who Know

I read a talk given by Sister Beck today that I just love. One thing she said I esp. loved:

"Mothers Who Know Do Less...

Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world’s goods in order to spend more time with their children—more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power."

I think that we as mothers have to be so careful not to get distracted by GOOD things in life that there is no room for the ESSENTIAL things. The most important thing for me to be doing is to be spending my time (as Sister Beck said) with my family...eating together, working together, reading together, laughing, singing, and exemplifying...etc. That is how my time should be spent. And I love that is how my time gets to be spent. I love that my time is spent nurturing and loving my three sweet girls and striving to keep my home a temple. I love that quote and want to always remember it so when I am tempted to add more to my life of good things, I'll remember that the simple life with the essentials is what is important.

I have found throughout my life that in order to obtain my goals and aspirations in life, I need to be organized with my time. Personally, if I don't have a scheduled time for me to spend one-on-one time with my girls and set aside to teach them the things I would like to, I don't think it would get done (this goes for all my goals). I love my winter schedule I have had with my girls. Because I love time management/organizing..I want to record this for my own sake (and I know my sister, Michelle, and I like to compare notes on organizing) to reflect later. How I organize my time:

- Each week I print out a sheet with my regular morning schedule and then a weekly calendar where I can add additional notes for morning schedules and plan the afternoon out. On my weekly printout, I also include the tasks that I strive to get done each day. Here's my printout for this past week that hung up in my pantry:

What my schedule says on the right side:

Regular Mornings:

5:00 – 5:30: Scriptures/plan for the day
5:40 – 6:20: Run 4 miles
6:20 – 6:40: Get ready
6:40 – 6:50: Tidy House
6:50 – 8:00: Ready/Bus (I love health so every meal I make I strive (I'm not really strick about it, but I love striving to be healthy) to leave out processed foods (I really don't like my family eating cold cereal (any kind) for breakfast...so during this morning time (and all the meals) I try to focus on healthy homemade meals with whole grains and lots of veggies and fruits)
8:00 – 9:00: Ang Preschool/Devotional (scripture study and stories, gospel topics, etc.)
9:00 – 9:15: Em Preschool
9:15 – 11:45: Get Out
Mon – Music Makers/KS
Tues – Costco/Sprouts
Wed – Story Time/Robbs
Thurs – Piano/Play date
Fri – Dance/play date

After school Agenda:

· Exercise for Girls/park
· 1 hr. learning time (Carolyn's homework/additional learning activites I put together)
· Devotional (We discuss stories from scriptures, memorize scriptures, gospel study)
· 30 min. reading together (Seriously, one of my favorite things to do in the whole world)
· 30 min. clean up (I do my chores/girls do their chores)
· Talent Time (Time for the girls to work on the talents they are striving to develop)
· Cook/Bake/Clean

NIGHT:

7:30 - 9:00: Work on YW Lesson 9:00 - 10:00: Andrew Time

Afternoon Additional Tasks:
MONDAYS:
- 30 min. additional Clean up
- Fold Laundry
- Iron

TUESDAYS:
- Organize
- Finances
- Practice Piano
- Gymnastics

WEDNESDAYS:
- 1 hour YW lesson
- Misc. YW stuff
- Deep Cleaning

THURSDAYS:
- Zoo/Playdate
- Laundry
- Blogging/Journal

FRIDAYS:
- Big Bake/Cook Day
- Project Day
- Play date/Zoo

SATURDAYS:
- Big Cleaning day/Laundry
- Taebo with girls
- zoo
SUNDAYS:
5:00 – 7:00 AM: YW Lesson Day Time: lots of family time, journal writing as a family, gospel study, reading, games, etc.