This has been an interesting week for our family. We have both worked very hard on projects at the office and our children have had a wonderful Spring Break vacation at 'Nana's Resort & Vacation Hide-Away' in Alabama! I am not even sure they missed us, what between all of the riding bikes, going shopping, playing their Nintendo DS's, watching fun kid movies, and drinking all of the Orange Fanta and eating all of the ice cream a kid could EVER want! I am thinking that maybe Joe and I should go to Nana's vacation hide-away for our next big trip! Anyway, I digress....
They might not have missed US, but I must admit that we have missed them, though the silence HAS BEEN golden!! This week reminded me of the '7 Habits for Highly Effective People' class that I took last Fall. It was a GREAT class that helped me analyze what is really important- our outlook on life, our goals, our priorities, etc. It was great... NOT that I am highly effective all of the time NOW, but that is not the point of this post.
One thing we learned was that so many times we say things like 'I have to do so and so...' or 'We have to go here or there...'. The reason this is so key is that we need to have a positive outlook and say 'We get to do so and so...' or 'We get to go here or there...'. This all started me thinking about what we didn't HAVE to do this week versus what we didn't GET to do this week....
We didn't HAVE to....
- Wake up 2 sleepy children each morning.
- Argue, uh, I mean debate, with my daughter over the clothes she will wear to school.
- Make lunches each morning before school.
- Wash 6 loads of clothes this week.
- Answer the proverbial question, 'What are we having for dinner, tonight?' the MOMENT we pick them up from school.
- Make sure they finished their homework.
- Drive them to T-Ball, art class, or dance class.
- Remind our children to put their shoes up and their clothes in the hamper each night.
- Give anyone else a bath.
- Tell anyone to be quiet, quit fussing, or SHARE!
But, on the flip side, we didn't GET to...
- Get BIG HUGS each morning while our children were just starting their day.
- Sing with them in the car on the way to and from school.
- Watch them run down the hall to give us a BIG HUG when we pick them up from school.
- Eat dinner with them and talk about the kind of day they had.
- Cuddle up on the couch with them to read some good books.
- Laugh with them when they tell us the silliest, craziest stories.
- Watch them learn new things as we help with homework.
- Hear them tell us that we are their heroes, which makes a bad day at work simply disappear!
- Worship with them at church.
- Pray with them before bed each night.
- Tuck them in and tell them how much we love them.
- Sing 'Amazing Grace' to them just before the last goodnight kiss.
- Feel their small, sweet arms wrap tightly around our necks and hear them whisper in our ears, 'I love you!' for the tenth time before leaving their rooms.
We sure do miss them and now we can't wait to do all of the things we didn't GET to do last week, even the 'HAVE TO's'! I think I am going to try to look at things in new light and try to see everything as a 'GET TO' instead of a 'HAVE TO'! Try that for 1 day... don't say 'I HAVE TO..' for an entire day. Change your words to 'I GET TO...' and see how your outlook and attitude changes. It is amazing!
We know what we will 'GET' to do with our family this week, what do YOU 'GET' to do with YOUR family this week??