The Payment of Motherhood

The Highest Payment of Motherhood

When I think of a love as pure as that our children, it brings tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. I am awestruck at a love as innocent, as pure and as deep as theirs. For most of us, we are compensated in our lives through a career, a place we go to grow, learn, apply our god given talents and climb up the endless world of opportunity in dollars...salaries, financial and personal reward, right? And, there are some of us who work for free, volunteer their time to contribute for the compensation of very little to for some, nothing in return. However; either way, it seems for most, we are on a journey of doing things in this world for some payback, and I don't mean that necessarily in money, some of us don't expect anything in return, yet there is still a return... its a self gratification of helping others and for some its a compensation of a salary for a job performance.  What makes this transition in us? Is it a natural thing that happens in each of us as we grow older, the need to survive kicks in, the desire to be successful, healthy and create abundance?

I think of all these things and wonder, when does this shift happen? Our young children know nothing of the "workforce" out in the world to earn a living. They learn that from us as their guiding leaders.  When they do things for us like make us a pretend cup of tea in their tiny little teacup, or draw us a masterpiece of art to display in the public eye, what do they expect in return... LOVE! They expect love, gratitude and praise! Just take in the pure and innocence in that. For me, when I look at my kids and either my husband or myself receives a gift,  their eyes glow with excitement, they are SO excited about giving, SO excited about how much I am going to LOVE the cup of tea, SO excited about getting a hug and praise for the GREAT job they did today! I see it, I recognize it, I know that for them, they are deeply satisfied with LOVE in return!

Truth is, most of us head of into the workforce to earn a living each and every day. For some we get the opportunity to stay with our children, or others children and that still is a full time 24/7 job.  Realize,  I do believe it is crucial to the development of children to be taught the significance of a dollar,  hard earned rewards and dedication of commitments. I am simply encouraging us as parents to take a step back and disconnect from the world and treasure our children's expectations of love, make notice that the payment of pure love and joy can truly be the greatest reward of our commitment and dedication to our family. What an honor to be a mother and a father to a child and an honor to fill our hearts with love!


I invite you to love greatly and deeply in everything that you do.

Multi-tasking Mom's

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

- Proverbs 22:6

Every night after dinner with my family, my husband and I carve out a few minutes to breath out and listen to each others day. Although we are BLESSED to work together in the same office / same line of work, we encounter different experiences each day and we don't always see each other.  It is nice to be able to empty out our minds and have someone to listen on the other end. I'll admit that it doesn't always go that way, there are plenty times where days get spilled over cooking dinner, table setting, kids talking and dogs barking... yet for the most part we plan for quiet times to have these talks. 

Just yesterday I had one of those rare moments where I just started to spill my day to my husband over the phone on my way to pick up my oldest from school. I went on to explain that it was a good day, all that I was able to accomplish and how our 2 year old, whom came along with was good while mommy did all her work. When I mentioned that she was "good," my husband replied "yeah?" as if there was a question, so without hesitation I went on to explain how she had sat for most of the day and watched Blue's Clue's, I took some time to sit with her and have lunch and talk to her and she played with her toys in our office right beside my desk and didn't even bother me..." I paused and he paused on the other end... Then I got this: "Isn't it funny how we judge our kids behavior based on if they bother us or not...?" "huh" got me there, yet I tried to back pedal, "Well what I meant was she just was so happy today no tantrums!" To comfort me he softly said "Yes, I know babe I'm just saying it's pretty funny that is how we base their good days and bad days!" You know what... he was SO RIGHT. I mean from time to time I think about this as I sulk in the motherly guilt moment yet to hear it was like a wake up call! I judged my TWO year old's day, by how she didn't bother me... what a selfish judgement I passed. In that moment in the midst of conversation with my husband about how our day was, I was experiencing an awaking moment of the value of time. I'm one lucky girl to have a husband that I get to have conversations like this and grow with! 

Is multi tasking effective for me? The answer is NO! I learned this from a very inspirational leader of a man, CEO and growth machine in business that multi-tasking is simply NOT effective. Whether it be watching your kids and doing paper work to having conversation while watching Property Brothers. People who "try" and multitask are often easier to distract because they have more trouble filtering out irrelevant informtion. In fact, when it comes to distractions, muti-taskers can be their own worst enemy spending an average of 3 minutes on any one task before moving on to another, while it takes 11 minutes to refocus. That also means that while your brain is starting the timer for the 11 minutes to get re-focsued at 3 minutes your distracted!!!  AHHH what a vicious cycle! So in a world of constant distractions,  phone calls, Facebook, emails, to do lists, changing Blue's Clue's videos and getting more apple juice, we are not focused on one thing at a  time... hardly ever! 

My daughter didn't feel that she had a bad day with mommy, she isn't even aware that I was basing her behavior status on how little she interrupted my tasks, no for her, she had a fun day at the office with mommy, got to watch Blue's Clue's, eat lunch with mommy, play with toys and color and I know this because that's what she told my husband she did!I love being a mom, everything that I get to be, do and experience as a mom... I LOVE! What a great awareness this has brought to my love for motherhood a realization to cherish each moment of time spent with our children is. Is it easier said then done, no, stop making excuses and become intentional about cherishing those moments! We are all trying to be the best mommy, wife and women we all know how to be, learning each day, my guess is that if we can be real enough, raw enough, open to change, and come from our hearts, our growth is limitless and everyone wins when we grow!  I get to choose to be aware of how I influence my daughters day, how I get to be a part of empowering her to grow and learn and simply be a 2 year old making memories. I'm not a perfect mom and were not a perfect family; however we are an imperfect family COMMITTED to improving!! 

Come from Love

Oh beautiful souls, what a gift we have been given, to be able to love one another.  This opportunity that we have all been given to feel the pure bliss of love in our hearts for another, as well as from one another. A place of love can provide optimism and bring about great relationships in life and who wouldn't want that? A whole new perspective on friendships, families, colleagues, even strangers when we can just love people through whatever it is that they may be going through. It isn't always easy and sometimes we loose sight of this yet when we really give someone our unconditional love, we allow ourselves to an inner peace and even greater, we allow God to work through us being his disciples as he has called us to do. 

We as parents, adults, leaders and inspirations out in the world, we are the examples our children, our next generation is looking up to. Our children should be taught how to think not what to think and that will come through our examples that we are setting. So go out into the world and set the example of compassion and true care for one another :)

James 4:12

"There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?"

"When you pass judgement on another you don't define them, you define yourselves!"

- Wayne Dyer

Ephesians 4:29

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

With a grateful heart,

Danielle

My Dear Sweet Cupcake

It's no secret that I am a girl who LOVES cupcakes and I've never met a cupcake I didn't like. The path straight to my heart is though a cupcake. Now just to add, that the only thing that is slightly better than just a cupcake is the process of baking them, decorating them and then eating them.... Ohh-la-la!

Today was a Cupcake kind of a day, well what day isn't? I made a homemade vanilla cupcake topped with a vanilla icing and dusted with an edible glitter. My  girls helped all the way and the best part was they each got to decorate (4) cupcakes and had a blast. As a mom, I love watching them decorate and get a little messy having fun. Their creativity and focus is so cool to watch. They each picked out a color they wanted their frosting to be and went to town!  After the taste test the conclusion is HEAVEN! As such, I am naming them Angel Soul Cupcakes. Enjoy.

Angel Soul Cupcake ingredients:

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick) at room temperature
½ cup sour cream
1 large egg at room temperature
2 large egg yolks at  room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl until mixed well. In a separate bowl, add butter, sour cream, egg, 2 egg yolks, and vanilla; beat with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth and satiny, (about 30 seconds). Slowly add Flour mix, until smooth and no flour pockets remain.

3. Divide batter evenly among cups of prepared tin. Be careful not to fill liners more than half way so you have a flat perfect height cupcake. :)

Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean, 18-20 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from baking tin and transfer to wire rack. Let cupcakes cool to room temperature before frosting. 

Frosting:

For the frosting although I usually make homemade, I used Pillsbury Vanilla Frosting, I added in my baking colors to each bowl, depending upon the color that the kids chose. I used Edible baking glitter from a cake decorating store. Have fun! 

Bake at 350

Lightly Golden Brown

VOILA! 

Pursue your wildest dreams

What would the world look like if we were each an unstoppable force, pursuing our passion and living out our life purpose? Greatness and success is possible, anything can be yours if you truly want it. If you truly want it, you will go out into the world each day focused on your end prize, visioning yourself already achieving it, courageous to stand your ground when the enemy tries to tear you down, faithful to your strong tower who gives you strength. How could your legacy be defined if all these things  were in action? 
Maybe you would be an inspiration to a stranger who passes you by, an inspiration to a friend, colleague or leader in your life, possibly to your spouse or children whom you set the example for each day. For each and every one of us, whom we impact will vary, our story will be different, our life, our values even our mission... Yet living out a life of purpose, pursuing passion to create a legacy and inspire others, together we will share one thing in common... PERSEVERANCE.

perseverance {noun}1 steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.


I choose to persevere in this life I have been given. Steadfast on my mission to impact the lives of others through my story, my faith and my belief that we are all created for Greatness, it's up to us to choose to succeed at the highest level.  

I've shared a link to a video below called "Dreams" I stumbled across it on YouTube, I hope you enjoy.
CLICK HERE - Dream Motivation - Pursuing your dream

Empowerment and Forward movement through "Choice"

Giving our kids choice can be significantly empowering to the development of confidence, leadership, problem solving and self expression, to name a few.  As adults every day when we wake up, we have a choice of how we want to live out our purpose, our mission that day. It may not always go as planned AND we still get the choice of how to move forward. That's what we do as human nature, we make choices, day in and day out. Kids do the same, the key is our role as a parent to coach them through their growth as responsible decision makers.

Ill share a story of my 2 year old, who is just beginning to learn the phrase "choice."
Now, she likes her sissy's IPod and every now and then, when she can get her hands on it, she goes for her little games and plays away. This evening while in a rush to walk in the door, give a quick kiss to my husband who was out the door, deciding on dinner and attempting to do a quick cleanup of the house, my toddler found her sisters Ipod and began to play quietly... Within a few minutes she decided to taunt her older sister, who was reading on the couch, with the iPod.  Consequently, mommy came and took the IPod away, dropping to her level to explain. Immediately tears welled up in her eyes and she burst out in a loud cry, carrying on for what seemed like hours, was really about 10 minutes. I carried her over to the stairs, sat her down and amidst her crying explained that she could stay on the stairs and cry OR she could come help me make dinner and not cry. It took a few minutes before she made her way to the kitchen, standing by my side and in a whispery soft voice said "I don't want to cry more!" 

VOILA!! It was like magic... I wanted to jump up and down because I was shocked at how quick that had propelled her to make a different choice!
I opened my arms and picked her up and hugged her tight as she wrapped her arms around me and wiped her tears on my shirt. I whispered in her ear "so what are you feeling right now?" As she lifted her head she whispered "happy" 

Wah-Hoo!!!!!! I was so proud of her choice to move forward and feel happy vs. sad. 

I could literally see the energy shift within her when I clearly laid out her choices and she got it! 

Empowerment is received though many things, choice is just one of the many. Every child will experience it differently and grow differently. Giving choices can be a healthy confidence builder and while learning the concept of  decision making. Your also engaging your child into solution instead of just telling them what the solution is, which as  their parents we get to make the choice of the times at which this is needed.

There may be times when your child will resist and not want to choose. When this happens there is still a choice they have... YES, it would be "do you want to choose OR would you like me to choose for you? They key in this, stick with it and continue to follow through with your mission. 

May you always be blessed and encouraged to choose to take a chance to the possibility of changing your life and thrive. 

-D-

Confession of the day

Today's confession:

Avoid shopping in a craft store during your lunch hour. You know your a craft-a-holic when, you walk into a craft store, on a lunch hour break, knowing what you intend to purchase and you find yourself browsing down every single isle. Today in this case I went into my local Joann's for 2 yards of a jersey knit fabric to sew a Maxi Skirt and subside this desire to make my own Maxi's matching with my two little girls. Well, what happened on my lunch break you ask?! I'll tell you, I walked in! That's what happened. Yes, I walked in settled my purse in a full size shopping cart and proceeded down every single isle in Joann's. In addition, as I wandered the isles I also began to grab things from the shelf's and craftisize (combination of Craft and fantasize)  ideas in my head of projects I could begin. I noticed an oncoming feeling of excitement and brainstorming going on as I constructed dozens of new gifts, home decor, jewelry and cakes I could create in my mind.

Now lets be honest, you know as you are reading this that you too have had of this same experience.  I must admit to that, I had a slight bit of guilt for being lost in Joann's for now about 45 minutes and also a peace of happiness knowing that a craft store is right where I belong.
After I had my 2 yards of plum jersey knit fabric cut i headed to check out and got out of there unscathed from the monster pile of projects composed in my mind.

Now I'm looking forward to Maxi skirt making for myself and my two girls.  I'll be posting photos of end results :)

-D-