The Annual Update

Yes, it's December and my birthday is in July, but since my last entry was almost exactly one year ago, I figured I'd include one photo from the year--my 30th!! Last year our friend, Mark Foster, set up this blog for me, and I haven't been heard from since. However, I've been viewing some fun blogs lately and I think it will be a fun way to document life--since I've slacked on my journal writing, this may take its place. Perhaps writing things down will arouse my brain a little so that its data includes more than Buzz Lightyear quotes and the operating instructions for my washing machine.

We have been living in Steve's parents home for a little over a year now, housesitting while they serve a mission in the Marshall Islands Mission. I'm now 7 months pregnant with our 4th child and in the midst of preparing to move to our new home after Christmas. Life is busy and joyful, and I'll be excited to have a spot to "honker down" and journal bits of our days.

BEHOLD, THE POWER OF OUR INFLUENCE

I'll start with an amazing quote I read yesterday that I must share:

THE POWER OF LEADERSHIP--J.W. GOETHE
I have come to the frightening conclusion...
That I am the decisive element.
It is my personal approach that creates the climate.
It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.
I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration,
I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.
In all situations, it is my response that decides
whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated,
and a person is humanized or de-humanized.
If we treat people as they are, we make them worse.
If we treat people as they ought to be,
we help them become what they are capable of becoming.

I love this!! It puts into perspective the huge power our influence can have on the world around us. My favorite is "It is my daily mood that makes the weather." Hmm...will I choose to be sunny today or bleak with overcast?...There's that old saying, "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy." Isn't it true? I'm learning this with my children. My reaction to their actions can and will make or break a moment. Those times when I fiercely bite my tongue so as not to say something unnecessary, and we calmly work through a hard situation, I sit back for a second afterward, so thankful for that moment of restraint! "If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming." I'd like to remember that sentiment on a daily basis with my kiddos--to remember whose they are, where they were before they were in our care, and their endless potential. Those little spirits are latter-day warriors, mightier than I.