She’s just one little ball of perfectness and has captured my heart.
I don’t think I can get enough of her…
1
Author Archives: Amanda
Just a Motivating Monday – Kindness
I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE grab the button and link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!
Next week I’m going to be talking more in depth on Kindness for Just a Motivating Monday. This week, I’m sharing a simple, powerful quote on kindness. Something that will get you thinking. I’d love to have other posts on kindness linked up next week!
“Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have known. Kindness is a passport that opens doors and fashions friends. It softens hearts and molds relationships that can last lifetimes.”
–Joseph B. Wirthlin
It’s just a RED Craftastic kindof day
Today we’re making homemade Valentine’s. I shot these pictures of Ella making a Valentine for her Uncle Mitch.
My Heart is Opening
I have always been very stingy on my love with family. I hold myself back and feel weird about relationships that weren’t always there.
It’s absolutely a HUGE downfall of me.
I’m trying to change though and I think through all of my growing as a person I’ve been doing this past year I’ve gotten to the point that I’ve needed and wanted to get to.
This is me with 2 of 3 my sisters from my father. The one in the middle, Alyssa, I’ve been fairly close to the majority of her life. She’s the third of my dad’s. She’s the one sister from him that I had somewhat of a bond with. Then the one all the way to the right is Tiona. Tiona is only 12 and is my dad’s youngest, and while I’ve been around for the majority of her life past 2, I never allowed my heart to open up to her. Brittney isn’t in this picture, because she recently moved back to Tennessee, but I’m thankful to have started a relationship with her as well.
I’m being honest here, and sometimes honesty isn’t pretty.
I never claimed these girls as my sisters. I never had that “bond” that we’re supposed to have with sisters. I only claimed Jessica, my mom’s daughter. I felt awkward when these girls would call me sister and tell me they loved me.
I’m changing and I’m growing, because my heart is starting to open. These girls are my sisters. We may not share the same mom, and grew up in the same home, but they are my sisters. Maybe it took Jessica cutting me out of her life for me to realize this, but I am happy that I did.
With my family being in such turmoil lately and relationships falling apart I’ve made it my goal to reach each individual in my family that I’m not close with and learn about them, and grow our relationship.
I’m starting with these girls ~ my sisters.
Simple, Refreshing Beauty
My days have been blending together and I wake up and accomplish not even a portion of my to do list and then it’s time. Time that I should be turning into bed and getting the recommended amount of sleep I need in order to wake up and do it all again.
I’ve been finding myself staying up later and later though. The quietness at night while everybody is asleep has become intoxicating. It’s during these late night hours that I find myself drawing out my dreams and goals. It’s when I organize my family’s memories.
It’s when I work on editing beautiful pictures like this ~
Such simple, refreshing beauty this little baby girl has.
The Official Diagnosis
Last Sunday I packed 2 of my kids up in the car and drove 3 hours away to do something that’s needed to be done for a very long time. I’ve blogged many times about my concerns with Jayden and autism. I’ve blogged about taking him out of school, because he’s socially awkward and was being picked on.
I had an idea of what to expect. 10 hours at a facility meeting with specialist after specialist searching for some sort of an answer for what has been going on with my son for years.
I walked in expecting to hear the words that no mother wants to hear. The words of “Yes, your son is autistic. Yes, this is something he will live with forever.”
I didn’t hear those words.
I heard something equally heart breaking, but I didn’t hear the word autistic. I heard that my son has a communication disorder. I heard that my son has ADHD. I heard that my son has Sensory Processing Disorder. But I didn’t hear the words autistic.
Jayden has a communication/language disorder called Semantic Pragmatic Disorder. Here is a snippit from Wikipedia to give you an idea of what this disorder entails:
Pragmatic language impairment (PLI) is an impairment in understanding pragmatic areas of language. This type of impairment was previously called semantic-pragmatic disorder(SPD). Pragmatic language impairments are related to autism and Asperger syndrome. People with these impairments have special challenges with the semantic aspect of language (the meaning of what is being said) and the pragmatics of language (using language appropriately in social situations).
I feel like a failure of a parent. I always knew that something was different…. not by any means in a bad way, but just special. I never knew the extent that Jayden struggled to understand at times what people meant. When he said “I don’t understand” he really didn’t understand. Why didn’t I pursue this sooner?
When we walked out of that all day appointment I looked at his sweet little face and I swear my love for him grew even more…. which is something I never thought was possible. This innocent, sweet little guy was made in a way that he can’t be tainted by this cruel world. He truly doesn’t “get” a lot of things. He needs his mommy in ways I never knew he needed me. And my heart is aching in ways I never knew it could.
He doesn’t “get” it when kids joke around with him. He’s so literal that his feelings get hurt and I’ve always wanted to just protect him and keep him close to me. This whole thing makes me feel THAT much better about my decision to homeschool him. I can’t fathom throwing him out on the recess field now and expecting him to understand what the kids are saying and doing to him, when he LITERALLY can’t.
How did I not know this? How did I not have a light bulb go off after the millionth time of him saying, “I just don’t understand.” I thought it was Jayden trying to get out of things or his sensory overload taking place….. I never thought that he was struggling to understand the meaning of the things I was saying. This picture I took of him the other night which was him not understanding and getting his feelings hurt. Talk about heart breaking. And even more heartbreaking is the way my heart feels for every time I got annoyed or frustrated at him for not “getting it”.
I’m taking a deep breath and being thankful that at least I did pursue it. We know what we’re working with and now we start therapy. We’re going to get him into an Occupational Therapist to work with him on the Sensory issues and a Speech Therapist to work with him on the language disorder. With the ADHD I’m currently experimenting with a drink called {Celsius}, which has ZERO sugar and has caffeine and B vitamins. AND it’s working! I’m noticing that when he drinks the drink before it’s time for school work that he’s MUCH more focused!!
I have to move on from here on out and not dwell too much on what I should have done. I guess the bottom line is at least I finally figured it out right? I don’t know if this is even possible, but I swear I walked out of that appointment loving my little buddy even more.
Aboutone Winner!
The winner of the Aboutone year subscription according to Random.org is #19
JEN
Jen said: This would save my life from the mountain of papers and receipts in our house. Awesome giveaway
Congrats, Jen!! I will email you and you have 48 hours to respond before I draw another winner.
Just a Motivating Monday ~ Forgiveness
I LOVE inspiring things to motivate me and I thought what better of a day to read inspiration than on dreadful Mondays. If you would like to write something you think will inspire or motivate others PLEASE grab the button and link up!! I’d love to read your words and I’m sure that others would as well!
This week I’m stealing from myself. This post has a portion of an old post that was originally posted for Just a Motivating Monday back on November 16, 2009. I stole the main jist of it and am going to add a different, updated final thought at the end. With that said……..
Everybody has been hurt by someone they love. Or maybe you hurt someone you love. The point is… we have to be able to forgive in our heart.
President Hinckley of the LDS Church once said in an article:
“Somehow forgiveness, with love and tolerance, accomplishes miracles that can happen in no other way.”
I know it is so hard at times to forgive people, but are you perfect? Have you gone through your whole life not doing a thing wrong to someone? Have you been forgiven? Forgiving somebody, especially yourself can be one of the hardest things in this world to do. But if you are virtuous and want to be forgiven, you yourself MUST do this.
Tips to Forgive~
- Pray to Heavenly Father and ask Him for His help. He can soften your heart and help you to forgive.
- Get rid of the bitterness. If you’re still plotting out ways to get even the forgiving process is no where near.
- Once you have forgiven, let it go. Don’t hold on to it, because that’s holding a grudge… which does not mean you have forgiven.
- Don’t focus so much on the negative things that have happened to you. If you are focusing on the positive things in your life, and the positive things people have done for you, you will be able to forgive the negative things easier. There’s no point in holding on to negativity when there’s so much positivity to welcome into your heart.
- You need to remember that when you are forgiving, it’s for you. It’s not for the person that did you wrong, but it is for you and your exaltation. It’s a process you must go through, and you will be forgiving others for you.
A very good friend of mine… you can find her on twitter @jenhoehne contributed to this post by saying:
“I think that forgiveness is one of those words like “love” that people use loosley. To truly forgive someone means you have let go of any ill will and no longer harbor feelings of anger or angst toward another person.
Forgiving ourselves goes hand in hand with forgiving others. We are often times harder on ourselves than the person or people we have wronged. Forgiving others means letting go of hurt they have caused you and forgiving yourself is learning to love yourself after you have caused another person pain. Both are crutial in the eternal realm of this life and critical to our salvation and prosperity hereafter.”
My Final Thoughts ~
I have people, very close people, do me wrong. They’ve said things to me that stabbed me in the heart and at one point I thought I’d never want them back in my life again. Reading my final thoughts from this post back in 2009 made me smile at who I’ve become and grown into. I have a lot of forgiveness in my heart, because I know that I’m not perfect. I know that horrible things can be said and done ~ but today can also be the first day of the rest of your life. Today can be a fresh start with a clear heart. None of us are perfect. You are not perfect. I am not perfect. We can grow from our mistakes, and we can start fresh today.
That is the beauty of forgiveness.
I’m traveling down a road of forgiveness and it feels so good. I’m even letting go of hurt feelings that I’ve clung onto for many years towards my dad. I’m forgiving and growing my relationship with him with a fresh slate. It feels amazingly wonderful.
I hope that this post in some way will inspire you to start on the road of forgiveness ~ most importantly for yourself.
2 Months
Today my precious grouchy pants is 2 months old.
It’s so amazing to see differences in your children’s personalities even at a VERY early age.
Aliyah is definitely my grouchiest baby yet.
Don’t get me wrong, she’s an absolute joy to be around…. but she’s grouchy! She’d rather put on her angry face than smile.
We even call her Rumple Grumpy Pants at times…….
OH but let me tell you…. her smile will warm you to the very core!
Digitally Organize Your Life with AboutOne {GIVEAWAY!!}
One of my weird guilty pleasures is watching the show Hoarders. I cringe when it’s over and rush to whatever things I’m hoarding and start throwing it all away. Well, that is until it
comes to all the paper stuff. You know, the kids’ artwork, the awards my son received from school, the papers the pediatrician gives me after each doctor’s appointment informing me about where my children are on the charts. These types of things I hoard. I’m here to come out and admit… I’m a hoarder.
I know I’m not the only one, because YOU…. yes, YOU reading this right now… I know you have artwork of your kid that you’re clinging onto because it’s JUST TOO CUTE to toss. You, my friend, are also a hoarder.
Can you believe that there’s hope for us? I came across About One a few days ago and I’m not over exaggerating when I say MY LIFE HAS CHANGED. I have been scanning, and uploading and TOSSING. I’m scanning things like my son’s awards he received when he was in public school, artwork that I just can’t part with, our birth certificates so that they are ALWAYS accessible. That’s just the beginning. I’m uploading these things in the most organized way I think I’ve ever seen.
AboutOne.com is a secure online service that makes it easier for moms to manage family life by providing one convenient location to quickly and easily store and manage family memories (text, photos and videos) and household information (health, possession, and education records, contacts and more) and providing the ability to access this data, at home or away, with a computer, cell phone, or other web-enabled device.
AboutOne is much more than just a digital filing cabinet. It also makes your information useful on a daily basis with time saving features like automatically created family newsletters (including text, video, and artwork) and caregiver instructions, paper greeting cards that mail themselves, and more.
It was designed to save time through fast and easy data entry with your phone, a scanner, or computer. There’s no need to enter history. You just open your account and, in seconds, enter info as life happens – document your baby’s first steps, scan a household receipt, record an idea in your gift log. Plus, AboutOne serves as your organizational GPS, guiding you along the path to organization with advice and suggestions.
With AboutOne, you’ll also have the information you need, right at your fingertips, to make informed decisions and respond quickly to a medical or other emergency.
This short video shows why moms love AboutOne.com: VIDEO
My Favorite Features:
You can create files for all of your friends and contacts and upload documents to them. You can also create a gift log for them, and keep track of gift ideas you have for them throughout the year. Major bonus in this is you can create files for all of your stores you go to, and then scan your receipts into the documents section and TOSS THAT RECEIPT!!!! Tossing makes this hoarder HAPPY!
With one click of the mouse a monthly newsletter can be created to send or email to your friends and family. This newsletter compiles all the information you fed into your profile for the month including pictures, milestones, memories, basically whatever you choose to share and sends it off to your friends and family to keep them in the loop of your life.
Aboutone can automatically make a hardcover memory book including pictures, memories, and milestones. This is my DREAM! I love the idea of doing a yearly scrapbook, but I’m busy and it just doesn’t happen. And Christmas cards? Um… woops didn’t send any out this year. Yup, you can have Aboutone take care of that for you. You just pay for the stamp and the card.
My daughter has a heart condition and in order for us to leave her with anybody I have to write out this long spill about what to look for, her cardiologists information, her pediatrician’s information, oh and all the information about the medication that she has to take every 8 hours. Aboutone has a printables section that will print all of that information out for the babysitter. Actually, Aboutone gives even more information than I ever would have thought about.
SECURITY
At first I was a little hesitant about putting so much of my information online, but then I read on their site: We use the same technologies and practices that banks and other financial institutions use to protect customer information.
That is just the beginning. I highly suggest going and reading about all of the amazing steps Aboutone has gone to secure your information. It honestly has me feel secure enough to upload copies of my social security cards, birth certificates, and other highly confidential documents. You can read all about it {HERE}
When I read all about Aboutone I instantly thought it was going to be at least $100/year… honestly. I think it’s a dream come true. So when I read that it’s only $5.00/month or $30.00/year I called my husband at work stumbling over my words with excitement. Aboutone will even give you a 17 day FREE passport to try it out. People…. this is a STEAL!
Even better than that…… I have an annual subscription to giveaway to one of my readers!!
TO ENTER GIVEAWAY:
All you have to simply do is leave a comment
EXTRA ENTRIES {Make sure you leave an extra comment for each extra entry}:
Become a fan of Aboutone on {facebook}
Follow Aboutone on {twitter}
Follow Enchanting Havoc blog
Become a fan of Enchanting Havoc on {Facebook}
Follow Enchanting Havoc on {twitter}
You can tweet about this giveaway once a day
Enter to win a year subscription to @Aboutone from @Enchantinghavoc. http://tinyurl.com/4l83deh Digitally organize your life!!
THIS GIVEAWAY ENDS AT 11:59PM PST ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 30, 2011. I WILL DRAW A WINNER ON JANUARY 31, 2011.
** This is what is working for me ** Linked up for {Works for Me Wednesday}