How I Found Calm Among the Chaos

 

A week ago Sunday, I learned that a teenage girl I know had left this world.

It hit me hard.  Another young girl gone.  Just like my niece six months ago.  Why?

It makes so little sense to me.  Yet, I trust in Him.  I know He offers mercy, grace and healing.

So, after crying for a short period and praying, too, I carried on with Mom duties -- duties which precluded further obvious mourning since my young children did not need to learn about the suicide.

Inward mourning is hard, though.  So, the next day, despite the fact that we were visiting my husband's family in another state, I asked him if I could go to a church for a short while to be alone.

Love that my husband is, he agreed.  He knew that as much as he wanted to be with his earthly father, I needed some time alone with our heavenly Father and His Son.

So, off I walked to a church that we had been to on past visits.

While I walked, I passed a football player who was running to catch up with his team, a band and color guard group that was being berated by their leader and a man who was peering through a fence at a girls soccer game.  

I wondered if the football player would be teased, if the band leader's bark would be the last straw for one of the teens he was yelling at and what the relationship might be between the man who was surreptitiously watching the game and whichever girl he was there to see.

As thoughts crossed my mind, I prayed.  May light, love and hope reign in all these people's lives, not despair and negativity.

Then, I arrived at the church, where I was chagrined to find chaos, not peace.

Extension cords propped the doors of the church open, powering loud machines which battered and buffed the stone exterior of the church.  Inside the church, obvious work was in progress, too.  

I wondered if I would even be allowed to enter.

A workman told me I could go in.

I did.

Pews were askew.  A large portion of rug was ripped up.  Things were sticking out of the bare floor.  It was such a mess.

I had time finding the tabernacle. 

I thought it might have been moved to a small side chapel that I had once been to daily mass in, so I went to find the door to that chapel.  

There was no lit sanctuary lamp there and the noise and chaos of the church construction seemed to be increasing.  So, I went to leave church by a different door than I came in -- one that had no extension cord trailing through it.

As I made my way to the door, a prayer card caught my eye.  I stopped to look at it more closely and saw that the solitary card held a prayer for mourning. 

I smiled in thanksgiving as I picked the card up, walked back to the main part of the church and prayed the text written on it, finding some solace in the prayerful solitude, even if no quiet was to be had with the hammering machines outside.

Shortly thereafter, I spotted a candle burning behind the main altar of the church.  Moving towards it, I noted a beautiful mosaic above a small tabernacle.

True calm among chaos.   

I knelt.  I cried.  I prayed.  I felt comforted. 

Then, later, when I went to exit the church, I noticed that the sanctuary lamp was burning directly across from the door that I had initially entered the church from.  If I had just looked along a straight path instead of being distracted by the chaos of the pews and rug ripped up, I would have been able to see direct to Jesus waiting to calm me.  Hmmm...

Might I focus on seeing (and walking!) the straighter path?  Might we all?

Can You Really Find Balance and Calm in 7 Minutes a Day?

Order, balance and calm play peek-a-boo in my life.  So, when I was given a chance to try out the The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner by the The 7 Minute Life in exchange for an honest review, I said, "Sign me up!" 

What Is The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner?

Part agenda, part life coach in spiral bound book, the The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner is a 90-day time management tool that aims to help users unlock their purpose, potential and passion through clarifying priorities and goals, establishing and committing to realistic written action steps and implementing techniques to reclaim productivity aligned to priorities on a daily basis.  True to its name, the planner aims to do all this in just seven minutes a day once a habit of use is set.

What Is Included?
 

In the 7.3″ x 8.5″ spiral bound, plastic covered book that is The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner  you will find:

• 15 pages of preface and introductory materials that are not to be missed
• a worksheet for helping you define life priorities
• a worksheet to guide you in delineating your purpose
• a worksheet to help you discern the best use of your time right now, at this 90-day period in your life
• a page declutter your brain by listing home and work tasks  
• 2 pages to note 90-day personal and work goals on
• a page for financial goals
• a page for life goals
• 6 pages to list unfinished home and work teaks
• a page to list home repair contact information
• a grocery list
• 2 pages to list contact information and comments
• an annual calendar at a glance
• a page to list annual projects and tasks
• 4 90-day-at-a-glance pages
• 12 monthly-calendar-at-a-glance pages
• 5 pages for meeting planning
• 90 days worth of daily progress reports
• 3 monthly progress reports
• 6 pages or notes
• a year-at-a-glance exercise progress report
• 2 heavy cardstock folder pieces at the front and back in order to tuck loose notes into       

These all add up to a system that can help you prioritize, organize and simplify your life if you use them with care and consistency.

How I Succeeded (and Failed)

When I received the planner in the mail, I got right to reading the introductory pages in it, which not only tell you how to use the planner, but why you might want to. 

In doing so, I found myself highlighting passages right away:

"Life is about choices.  If you want to be different tomorrow than you are today, you must choose to be different."

"Part of what draws people to the 7-minute system is celebrating tiny 'wins' of actually reaching their daily goals.  Daily, small achievements are good for you."

"If (all your goals, tasks, accomplishments are written down in different places), you run the risk of feeling scattered and becoming disorganized -- chief ingredients to chaos."

"...you may want to schedule your 'Focus Time' to be held in a different location from your daily environment." 

"You may be surprised to learn that you are squeezing out those things most important to you, while lavishing huge amounts of attention on unimportant things in your life."

"There are four primary causes of mental clutter.  They are avoidance, procrastination, distraction and indecision."

  
These passages and others struck chords with me because some convicted me while others affirmed directions my thoughts had already been heading in.  Together with instructions on how to use the following pages and segments of the planner, the passages I highlighted set me in motion to start prioritizing, organizing and simplifying my days by completing the priorities and purpose worksheets and beginning to delineate goals and tasks.

Then, it came time for me to use the daily progress reports, which, for me, did not end up being daily.

I truly struggled to get into the habit of pulling out the planner each morning and night and found myself occasionally marking more than one day, using the blank line section on the second page of each 2-page daily progress report spread to make notes on the "missed days", but then forgiving myself for "failing" and moving forward with planning and assessing the day at hand.

Regardless of whether I used the daily progress reports for a single day or multiple ones at a time, I wrote a lot of personal information on them, thus, I am not going to share snapshots of my "used" pages.  Rather, I will share generic blank photos and explain a bit how I used each section of the daily pages.



I did not need 25 lines for "Daily Contacts", so I sometimes used the first few lines of this section to list the blogs I commented on (which is something I am trying to remember to do - comment on posts I read instead of just hitting and running with them!).  At other times, I listed people I wanted to call, email or get together with for personal, professional and homeshooling purposes and then checked of when I did.  And, at still other times, I simply left a lot of lines blank.

In the "What I will do... 5 before 11 section", I listed tasks and chores I needed to get done before 11, or before leaving the house on any given day.  I kept these small and manageable and found that listing them, and checking them off really did help start my day off well!

In the "7 Minute Life" Connections section, I sometimes listed people I wanted to see face-to-face, sometimes listed people I needed to connect with by phone or email and sometimes listed a reminder to myself to spend 1:1 time with my children.

I used the "Unfinished Tasks" section both to list truly unfinished tasks as well as ones I had already accomplished during the day beyond my 5 before 11.

I rarely logged "What I Spent" because, well, some habits are harder than others for me to get into.  I am working on this one.

Another thing I am working on is building better personal time habits and, related, building the habit of evaluating how I am doing on these habits.  It became obvious to me that I need to do this when I found myself rarely remembering to check off each time I drank water; found marking how many hours I slept discouraging, so stopped; did not even begin to mark exercise, because my life at this point does not allow much consistent personal exercise time; only sometimes checked "reflection" upon completion of my morning prayer time  and only sometimes logged my reading.  

Further, though I did begin to use the meals and snack boxes first for planning meals and later for marking down what I actually ate, I found the boxes for doing so frustratingly small, so stopped.

Thus, it was hard for me to check many "yes" boxes with the question "Did I do what I said I would today?"  Not a good thing!

On the second page of each 2-page daily progress report, I used the "Appointments" section as intended, listing my appointments.  I also went back and filled in other tid bits of what I actually did during the day at the end of the day on some days, and often found myself wishing the times started at 5 or 6, not 7.

Since I don't get a ton of Voice Mails each day, I sometimes left that portion blank and sometimes used it to write blog or homeschool notes.

Under "Thank You Notes" I wrote the names of people I remembered to reach out to with gratitude via phone, email, Facebook or pen and paper.  At other times, I listed personal gratitude notes for myself.  At all times, I was happy for the reminder to be thankful!

Finally, on the blank lines I listed homeschool notes, personal thoughts and sundry other details and truly appreciated having such an amount of blank space to write daily thoughts, ideas and notes on bound to my planner and goals instead of doing it on scraps of paper that get lost!

Likewise, I found myself filling the blank note pages at the end of the planner quite quickly with notes from books I am reading.  (I am a blank note page sort of girl, I guess!) 

Final Thoughts


"Did I do what I said I would do today?"

No.

I did not do it for the entire period I was reviewing The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner, for, although I wanted to use the planner with full consistency to its utmost potential, I failed to build the habits I needed to do so. 

But, was it a complete failure? 

Not at all.

I made inroads with habits, clarified some areas I need to work on, affirmed some things I am doing well and, thus, appreciated the opportunity to test the The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner as a tool for proactively deciding where my focus will be and how I will live the days of my life.

Although the pages of the planner were not a perfect fit for me, they proved a worthwhile tool to help me determine where my strengths lay, where I need additional work and how I turn ideas into action and plans into purposeful reality.  If you're looking for a resource to help you kick start a more prioritized, organized and simplified approach to time management, The 7 Minute Life could help.

Find Out More 

• You can currently purchase The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner for only $24.95, or sample the system with free printable time management strategy tools and get started on better time management by visiting the 7 Minute Life website.

• Contact The 7 Minute Life at:

• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/The7MinuteLife 
• Twitter - https://twitter.com/allyson7minutes 
• Pinterest - http://www.pinterest.com/the7minutelife/ 
• Google+ - https://plus.google.com/+AllysonLewis7/posts 
• You Tube - https://www.youtube.com/user/AllysonLewis 

• Watch many SHORT videos about The 7 Minute Life and The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner which can help you prioritize, organize and simplify your life.

• See what other homeschool parents thought about the The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner by reading the many reviews linked at the Schoolhouse Review Crew.

What tools and tips help you find calm and balance in your days?  Might The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner help you, too? 

3 Last-Minute Ideas for the Exaltation of the Cross

This post contains affiliate links to Holy Heroes and Amazon for your convenience.  Should you choose to click through them to make any purchases, we may receive small compensation.  Thank you.

 

We just got back from a trip to see my in-laws, so I was ill-prepared for today's feast day.

Credit: Holy Heroes

Thankfully, the children at Holy Heroes were more prepared than me!   Over breakfast, we enjoyed the free video clip and coloring pages they have available today.

 

We also read the Saint Helen page in Picture Book of Saints and, later in the day, will be reading the St. Helen story from Story Library of the Saints.

After Mass, we may also revisit a fun sensory craft that we enjoyed last year: packing peanut crosses and sculptures.  Or, we may enjoy some of the other activity ideas and prayers shared at Catholic Culture.

There are other simple ideas over at Catholic Culture.

What are some of your favorite activities, prayers and traditions for celebrating the Exaltation of the Cross?

  Please feel free to share about them in comment here or on our Training Happy Hearts Facebook page.  If you leave a link to an idea, I will pin it on the Training Happy Hearts: A Call to Faith Formation in Young Children Pinterest board. 

 

Win a Family 4-Pack to the Fabulously Fun King Richard's Faire!

 

 
As soon as my youngest saw the billboard signs go up for this year's King Richard’s Faire, he began asking if we could go.  His siblings were equally eager to enjoy King Richard's Faire again this year, so I was thrilled to receive complimentary tickets in exchange for an honest review and promotion.  

My delight doubled when I discovered that I could offer a family 4-pack of tickets to the Faire to one lucky Training Happy Hearts reader.  (Scroll down for the giveaway!)

What Is King Richard's Faire?

The Faire is a FULL day of fun! (Note the long shadows in this photo.  Having arrived before the Faire gates opened.  We enjoyed a full day at the Faire this year and caught the queen on the way out as the Faire was closing.)

King Richard's Faire is a fall tradition of Renaissance-inspired merriment that has been happening in Carvershire (Carver, MA) for 33 seasons.

In 80 acres of enchanted forest, guests can mingle with the King, his royal court and noble (and not-so-noble!) subjects, as well as talented performers and fellow Faire-goers.  

The kids - with their frightening faces! - prepare to help sword fight on stage.  

Guests can browse and shop in a 16th century-inspired village with unique wares and artisans.  They can fill their bellies with period fare.  And, of course, they can enjoy entertainment:  Knights joust on horseback.  Talented musicians play instruments and sing.   Amazing performances present interactive entertainment for all ages.  

At the very first performance we enjoyed this year, Daddy was called up to help prep for an impressive stunt.

Stunts, songs, storytelling, acrobats, jugglers, giant life-sized puppets, liger cubs and more beckon from eight stages throughout the Faire and more happens in the Gaming Glen, on the jousting field and along the footpaths.

Daddy and "a game guy" help Jack make a lucky shot!

Fun.  Food.  Games.  Shopping.  Entertainment.  It can all be found at King Richard’s Faire.


Family Highlights from This Year

Shortly after arriving at King Richard's Faire, we walked about so the children could decide which games and activities they might want to spend their budgeted funds on.  Luke immediately spied the cannon game, which he'd been waiting an entire year to play!

Daddy acts as Luke's first mate... (Luke's shirt is on inside out on purpose, by the way.  he wanted it all gray like knight's armor.)

Then, we made our way over to see one of the kids' favorite performers from last year...

This impressive stunt was just a warm- up one.  Wow!

 
A bit later, each of the children took a turn trying to get a ring from the dragon!

After Nine and Luke just missed the ring, Jack did the amazing!  He got it and was knighted!

Then, it was off for more show-watching...

Sometimes, I enjoyed watching my husband and children marvel at the shows as much as I enjoyed the shows themselves.

The children were spellbound watching the juggler/fire-eater again this year!

"Let's not try this one at home."

Later, they found a new performance favorite, who we watched on two different stages...
 

The children loved this pair's juggling, contortionist tricks, other circus tricks and good, clean jokes!

The children also enjoyed helping one another test their own skills.

It was so cute to witness Nina helping Jack the Archer!

I so enjoyed noticing the gamut of expressions King Richard's Faire elicited on my children's faces.   

The kids react to Star and Lightening on stage.

From laughing delight, to mesmerized states, to full-out looks of concentration, each expression was so precious to behold!

 

After watching Luke choose archery and helping Jack with his bow skills, Nina decided to use her own money to shoot some arrow herself.

I also appreciated that there were spaces for the kids' to chill when they needed some sensory down time.

 

Luke regulates himself with some free Lincoln Log play in the children's area...

In fact, there were even little nooks where the kids could get away from everything, shutting themselves up into a happy little world of imagination...

All of the kids' spent time playing and hiding in this tiny castle turret.

And, after such quiet times, of course, it was back to the merriment and action!
 

Giant bubble play made waiting for the second (for us, third, for real) joust of the day easy!

As the day drew near its end, Luke was not so sure he wanted us to sit in the same place we had for the first joust we had watched as he was wondering if another knight would win and wanted to align us with the winning man...
 

Would this knight prevail during the joust to the death!

We persuaded Luke to do so though, and lo and behold, our knight was victorious!

Luke happily pointed out that victory was afoot!

For me, though, the knight's victory was not the biggest victory of the day.  

Nope.  

This year at King Richard's Faire, my happiest "win" was this:

Spontaneous hugs from happy, grateful children punctuated our day at King Richard's Faire!

Indeed, our day at King Richard's Faire this year was fabulously fun and fruitful.  Not only did we all enjoy the entertainment, but the children also demonstrated strong decision making, generosity, curiosity, imagination, appreciation and so much more.  

Delighting in the merriment of a Renaissance-inspired time, we fully enjoyed in-the-moment blessings!
 
But, Will Guests Become Paupers?

If you want to tip performing artists, it is a good idea to bring small bills and change.  Our children enjoyed offering part of their "give" money to entertainers that particularly wowed them!

Like all fairs, King Riochard's Faire comes with a pricey entry dee.  However, for the price of admission, you can enjoy jousting matches, a kiddie corner, jugglers, acrobats, fire eaters, song-and-dance shows, big cat shows and more without additional costs beyond anything that you might wish to drop into the hats of the various entertainers (all of whom will ask for your donations, but who will not demand it). 

Beyond that, as is also the case with most fairs, offerings such as games, food and gift shops come with typically inflated fair prices. Even these, though, need not turn you into a pauper with a little discipline.

We took away happy memories and left behind some of the kids' "give" money as thanks for especially entertaining or skilled performing artists! (Nina, of course, being the generous-of-heart-gal that she is, was the first in our family to do this!)

Before going to King Richard's Faire this year, we filled our bellies and that of our children well.  We also explained to our children that since we have been focusing on money management this past year, and subsequently, since they have their own "save" and "give" money, they could bring that money to the Faire to spend as they wish.  In addition, we would treat each of them to one extra item from family funds.

This approach worked beautifully for our family!  


Is King Richard's Faire Truly Family Friendly?

Although the pre-show before the gates opened for the day was cute, we could have done without the constant use of H-e-double hockeysticks in the script.

As the snapshots throughout this review evidence, the Faire is family friendly. My family, as well as many others, thoroughly enjoy it.

That said, King Richard's Faire is aimed at both children and adults, and, thus, some shows and wares may be best left for the latter.

The program handed out at the gates of the Faire clearly states one show is PG-13, and, if your family, like mine, accidentally sits down at it, the performers tame their tongues for a moment and let you know kindly that the show is a "rated one".  Other offerings are 100% child-appropriate, of course.  So, just enjoy those!

In truth, our experience with the Faire has been that nothing is "worse" than what you'd find on broadcast television and, just as our family does with television, movies, the radio and the Internet, we pick-and-choose at the Faire which things to enjoy!


Win a Family 4-Pack of Tickets!

We so enjoyed our family's tickets and are excited to be able to offer a family pack to another lucky family!

Enter to win a Family 4-Pack of tickets to King Richard’s Faire, good weekends through October 19th (with some blackout dates) using the Rafflecopter below.   

Please note:  This giveaway is open to people 18 years of age or older with U.S. addresses only who will be physically able to attend the fair.  One winner will be randomly selected and notified by email.  That person will have 24 hours to respond with a mailing address or another winner will be selected. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Get Thee to the Faire!

Credit: King Richard's Faire

Regardless of if you win the giveaway or not, I encourage you to check out King Richard’s Faire

Tickets are $29 for adults (12+) and $16 for children (ages 4-11) and are available for purchase online or at the Faire gates. Children under 4 are free, and parking is free.  

Discounts are given to groups of 25 adults or more and private parties can be accommodated, including adult/children's birthdays, vow renewal ceremonies, weddings, and corporate events.  Reservations for groups are required by emailing info@kingrichardsfaire.net. 

The Faire is located at 235 Main Street (Rt. 58) in Carver, MA, 508-866-5391.

You can also visit on Facebook, on Twitter and Instagram @KRFaire as well as on Pinterest. 

For planning purposes, please note that pets and outside food and drinks are NOT allowed on fair grounds, yet you won’t go hungry!  Typical period and fair food, as well as vegan and gluten free menu options are available for purchase.  (View the full menu here.)  

Further, should your family be conservative like mine, you may wish to plan which remaining weekend you visit the Faire based upon the special event that is happening that weekend:

• Sept. 13: Vow Renewal Ceremony
• Sept. 20: Prince & Princess Costume Contest (ages 11 and younger)
• Sept. 27: Game of Thrones Ascent Costume and Trivia Contest
• Oct. 4: Royal Ink Tattoo Contest
• Oct. 5: Men in Kilts/Ladies in Bloomers Contest
• Oct. 11: Children's Fairies and Pirates Costume Contest
• Oct. 13: Celebrate Columbus Day at King Richard's Faire
• Oct. 18: Adult Costume/CosPlay Costume Contest 
• Oct. 19: Last day of King Richard's Faire

Obviously, since fair guests get into the spirit of particular festivities through dressing up (or donning various stages of partial undress as the case sometimes is), some days may be more enjoyable than other for conservative families like mine!

Regardless of which day you choose to visit, I hope you have as much fun as we did!

What is you favorite part of King Richard's Faire?