Florida Vacation = Fun with Treasured Friends

We have been looking forward to this vacation for a long time! We planned 5 days at Disney and two weeks in Fort Myers. Wow! A 3-week vacation -- we've never taken that long of a vacation. But with the kids on summer break and 15 years worth of friends and family to visit in Fort Myers, we knew we would want that much time!

It started out with a BANG when one friend and her kiddos met us at Disney -- can you say FUN??? Then, a few days into our Disney trip, we met up with another family who happened to be there at the same time! We made memories for sure!

Once back in Fort Myers, we began calling friends and scheduling the fun. We still have almost a week to go here, but the kids are having a ball seeing all of their Florida friends again! (Not to mention their Grandparents!!!)

On one level, I feel complete joy during these play dates -- because we are able to be here, because the kids can go 6 months without seeing each other and still play like we never left, because our friends make time for us. Because our friends are just generally awesome!

But, I also feel pangs of sadness at times, because we miss our friends, and it's difficult to watch the kids have to say "good-bye" again. Of course, we try not to say "good-bye," and we talk about the next time we will all get together, but it's still emotional.

One of the most profound feelings I feel is of gratitude. That our friends will make time for us during our visit. That we have so much fun when we are together. That our friends will subject their children to having to say "good-bye" again. We are so lucky to have such great friends! My heart is FILLED with love.

We love you guys!!! See you all soon!

"You Guys Make Me Feel Like A Rock Star"

I have known since she was very young that my daughter, Alyssa, is here to teach me things -- many things. How to be a good friend is one of them.

This year has been one of extreme growth for Alyssa (and I) on the friendship front -- from leaving the comfort of her Florida friends to making new friends in Illinois to learning how to be a good friend.

Watching her this year has reminded me of the quote, "If you want to master it, teach it." Clearly, when I am teaching Alyssa, I am also supposed to be learning.

One recent story Alyssa shared with me was about how she was playing with two other neighborhood friends. They were getting along famously, and, apparently, being very nice to each other. Whatever they were doing caused one of the children to say, "You Guys Make Me Feel Like A Rock Star!"

Wow! What a great lesson. We should all aim to make our friends feel like Rock Stars! I seized the moment to talk to Alyssa about that. And I have since used it to guide her when she faces challenges with friends.

I'm so grateful Alyssa had that experience, because it showed her how good it feels to make someone else feel good. Now we have a very concrete example to go by. And, it gave me a great teaching tool and lesson for myself!

This blog post is written with love, gratitude and admiration for all of the rock stars in my life. xoxoxo

Did We Meet Our April Abundance Goal?

I must apologize for waiting so long to update on my family's adventure of finding $1,500 in April! Are you wondering if we achieved our goal? Yes, we did! We even beat it by $244! Our total money found was $1,744!

In case you missed it, we set out to "find" an extra $1,500 in April! The money could be found via income or significant savings. Our motivation was to experience the feeling of financial abundance, because we believe our thoughts create our life.

Simply thinking positively about what you want and being aware of when it comes into your life can make all the difference in the world.

Here are a few of the ways we "found" more than $1,500:

• A few "just because I love you" cash gifts from my mom and dad (That's just the way they are -- and they had no idea of our plan!)
• A trade on new lawn equipment -- Paul will do computer work to earn it!
• An amazing deal on our Disney trip that got us a free rental car!
• Two huge prescription coupons that cut our out-of-pocket cost in half!
• Three amazing Groupons worth nearly $200!

There's more, but these are the biggies!

I believe everyone can attract whatever they want into their life -- whether it's money, friends, romance, health, increased spirituality or increased happiness! It all starts in your mind!

Give it a try! You have NOTHING to lose!

From the Mouths of 8th Graders

I have been blessed with the opportunity to bring my life coaching gig to the 8th grade students at Tyler and Alyssa's school.

I've been given four 40-minute classes -- one a week for four weeks. Truthfully, it's not much time, but I'm doing my best to impart some life skills on these kids.

The first week we talked about discovering their gifts (both God-given and learned). Last week we talked about the Law of Attraction (What you focus on, you receive). This week we talked about relationships -- mostly the dating kind (yes, they are dating in 8th grade).

I used the upcoming nuptials of Prince William and Catherine Middleton to start the conversation, and to capture their attention, I showed them the T-mobile spoof of the royal wedding.

Then, we got down to the serious business of talking about relationships and why they can be so difficult ... about how movies make it look like "happily ever after" is easy ... about what each of us can do to ensure we have healthy relationships ... and so much more in our 40 minutes. But what impressed me the most was the insight of these kids.

I asked them each to come up with one piece of advice for the royal couple. Seriously. Out of the mouths of 8th graders came these very basic, but sensible pieces of advice:

• Respect each other
• Allow each other space to be his/her own person and spend time with their friends
• Love each other
• Support each other
• Help each other
• Don't cheat
• Don't lie
• Be honest with each other
• Have fun
• Spend time together
• Find a hobby to do together
• Laugh together
• Communicate with each other
• Don't fight
• Appreciate each other

I thought these were all great reminders, and I was really impressed with these kids for having this knowledge so young. I also find it funny that I'm there to teach them, but somehow I always walk away feeling like I've learned something, too! Awesome!

Fun with Money

I'm having fun with money during the month of April and thought I'd share! I'm trying to "find" $1500 through income or purposeful savings.

Tyler and Alyssa on our spring
break vacation -- an activity I'd
like to do more of!

I was inspired by the law of attraction that says we attract what we focus on. So, theoretically, according to the law, if we focus on lack of money, we will receive the experience of having a lack of money. But if we focus on the abundance of money, we will experience an abundance of money.

Now the law of attraction is awesome -- positive thinking is definitely going to bring you better experiences in life, but I believe more is required than just the thinking alone. There must be an action plan. You can't expect to just sit there doing nothing except thinking positively and have money fall into your lap.

The action plan doesn't have to be difficult or incredibly time consuming -- just devote a little time each day to whatever you are trying to change in your life.

So, how am I doing on "finding" $1500 this month? Pretty darn good -- I'm already over $800! There have been a few miscellaneous checks that filtered in, some huge savings on items we would normally buy through coupons and Groupons, random bits of money just showing up, gifted money and more!

I'm also scouring our budget and refining it to make sure we're spending our money wisely and according to plan.

My intention with this exercise is to change my experience with money from a state of worrying about it to enjoying it and truly believing it is abundant. So far so good! What fun!