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What do you "GET" to do??  

Posted by Cyndi Lou

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??

This entry was posted on April 19, 2008 at Saturday, April 19, 2008 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

7 comments

Good (and timely) reminder. It seems my attitude goes south much quicker these days.....where's the more positive attitude of my youth?

I get to go to church tomorrow.

I get to welcome my husband home from a much needed time of R&R.

I "get" it, we're blessed!
Shana

Sat Apr 19, 10:30:00 PM 2008

What a great post! I'm going to think this way for the rest of the night and tomorrow and then maybe I'll have enough space in your comment section to come back and post all my "get to's"!

Nice one!

Sun Apr 20, 09:06:00 PM 2008

Chelle,

I would LOVE to hear all of your "get to's"! I will be looking for them by Tuesday! :) Now, I need to go. I 'get to' fold another load of laundry, since I am blessed to have a family of people who prefer wearing clean clothes! :)

Love you,

Cyndi

Sun Apr 20, 09:18:00 PM 2008
Anonymous  

NaNa vacation house is always open and I want to let you all know what wonderful GRANDCHILDREN God has blessed me with of course with a little help from Joe & Cyndi..

Love to all,

NaNa

Mon Apr 21, 12:07:00 PM 2008

Thanks Cyndi, that's just what i needed to hear after a restless night's sleep with a sick child, a fight(oops, debate) with someone over what they wanna wear today, and 3 lunches, snacks and drinks packed for the day. Not to mention-the extra trip to school to take Dad the things that he left at home this morning. I got to see him in the middle of the day, right? See, I'm learning.
hugs,
Terri

Mon Apr 21, 02:56:00 PM 2008

great reminder! Now I get to go cook dinner and then I get to fold some laundry while I get to keep reminding the children to take showers and get ready for bed - all because we are blessed to have running water, washing machine, food to eat, a roof over our heads... the blessings just go on and on!
Thanks for the word Cyndi.
Love ya,
Marilyn

Tue Apr 22, 06:27:00 PM 2008

What a great reminder! It is so easy to forget in the midst of daily life, but we do have so many things that we "get" to do!

I get to go to lunch with my fabulous husband and my 2 sweet girls today!

I get to go to choir practice tonight and be surrounded by a wonderful church family!

I get to leave tomorrow to spend the weekend with an incredible group of ladies!

And on and on!

Wed Apr 23, 11:46:00 AM 2008

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