Tag: life

dad · family · fatherhood · kids · mom · motherhood

4 ways to have a Family Saturday

EllyFilhoLeave a comment

We all have busy lives. Finding time today is almost impossible

If you’re like me, you feel like there’s still stuff to do at the end of the day. Tempted to keep your computer and phone on at all times. Fighting distractions in your brain even when with your family.

You need to have priorities. In the end, our family is all that matters, so don’t push your family to the bottom of your to-do list.
If you want a stronger marriage and family, start by investing more time.

https://twitter.com/4Guys_1Girl
Family Date Night

1. Remember that “Date Night” doesn’t have to happen at night

Look for ways to connect during the day.

2. Never walk into your house while you’re on your phone

I make sure to end the call before walking through the door.

3. Have set times where everybody is unplugged

Try to shut down the electronics more often. Talking with each other is always better than texting with somebody else!

https://twitter.com/4Guys_1Girl

4. Prioritize family time AND one-on-one time

Plan activities you can all do as a family, also plan for one-on-one time with each other and with each of your kids individually. That time will be golden for your kids.

https://twitter.com/4Guys_1Girl

coupons · entertainment · family · free · Vacation

Boston Tour #MomsOnABudget

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Sunset - Boston 18th of March 2006

There are so many great things to do in Boston that are completely free!

  1. Boston Common, Free
  • Park Street Church, Free
  • King’s Chapel & King’s Chapel Burying Ground, Free
  • Benjamin Franklin Statue & Boston Latin School, Free
  • Granary Burying Ground, Free
  • Old Corner Bookstore, Free (Note: Currently being leased by Chipotle)
  • Site of Boston Massacre, Free
  • Massachusetts State House, Free State House Tours (Weekdays 10am-4pm)
  • Faneuil Hall, Free
  • Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, Free
  • Bunker Hill Monument, Free (Suggested Donation)
  • USS Constitution, Free tours every 30 minutes of the boat (The Museum has a suggested donation of $5 for Adults, $3 for Seniors, and $2 for Children, but any amount is appreciated). *You will need proper ID and go through a security check*
  • Old North Church, Freedom Trail Drop-In (Suggested Donation of $1 per person)

Take a Freedom Tour: 

There is always something happening here > Faneuil Hall Marketplace:  live street performers, restaurants, vendors, shops, and more. Free to explore and enjoy.

Boston Common, Public Garden & Swan Boats: Enjoy the Boston Common and the Public Garden.

Take a stroll at Castle Island: Castle Island is a 22-acre park and is a great place to walk, jog, roller-blade, sunbathe, and more. Castle Island is also home to Fort Independence, which gives free guided tour daily until 3:30pm.

Star-gaze at the Coit Observatory at Boston University: The observatory is open and free to the public every Wednesday night at 8:30pm in the spring and summer and 7:30pm in the fall and winter.

Tour The Boston Public Library: The Boston Public Library offers free art & architecture tours during particular times by volunteers.

Charles River Esplanade: Great way to spend a beautiful day; During summer months enjoy free movies and music at the DCR Hatch Shell.

History at the Massachusetts Historical Society:  library founded in 1791. Free to visit.

Get on the water at Fort Point Pier: The Fort Point Pier is free to the public.

Scenic stroll on the Haborwalk: Walk alongside the waterfront with the public walkway connecting the best of Boston Harbor.

Kismet at the MIT Museum

Free Museums in Boston

Visit the Institute of Contemporary Art on Thursday Nights: The ICA is free every Thursday night from 5-9pm and free for families (up to 2 adults accompanied by children 12 and under) on the last Saturday of every month (except December).

Discover the MIT Museum: Admission is free all day the last Sunday of every month from September to June and free the first weekend of every month for Bank of America cardholders for Museums on Us.

Closed on the following holidays in 2015:

  • January 1: New Year’s Day
  • May 25: Memorial Day
  • July 4: Independence Day
  • September 7: Labor Day
  • November 26: Thanksgiving
  • December 24 & 25: Christmas Eve & Christmas Day
  • December 31: 3 p.m. closing

Head to Cambridge and explore the Harvard Museum of Natural History and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology: Massachusetts Residents can visit free with valid ID on Sunday mornings from 9am-12pm year-round or from 3-5pm on Wednesdays from September to May. Proof of residency required. This offer is not available to commercial groups.

Visit the Museum of Fine Arts on Wednesday Nights: Admission is voluntary on Wednesday nights after 4pm and certain days of the year. Also, Bank of America cardholders can receive free admission the first weekend of every month, part of the Museums on Us program. Youth 17 and under also receive free admission daily after 3pm, weekends, and public school holidays. Otherwise admission for youths is $10 adults $25

Explore the Commonwealth Museum for free, always: The history and treasures of Massachusetts and is free to visit and park.

Devotion · Family Share · photography

Unfinished Business

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Unfinished Business

Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

It was a nostalgic time when we drove away the last time from our home of 24 years. We left behind a lot of memories in the walls – and a couple in the tree in the far corner of the backyard. See, when the kids were little, we wanted to build them a tree house. So, we made a plan, got some lumber, and started our little project. We laid down a couple of boards between two branches; it was the beginning of a floor for the tree house. Then we took a break. And we never went back. Oh, yes, we intended to finish that house, but right up until the day we moved out, those boards were all that ever happened.

That’s not the only house a parent intended to build and never got done. In fact, many of us Moms and Dads knew how we wanted our family to be – how we still want it to be – but somehow the home, the family we intended to build never got finished did it? Even as our children were leaving for college, we talked about how quickly the years had melted away and how we were feeling there was so much unfinished business in our kids’ lives.

Maybe you’re a mom or Dad, and you can see in your relationship with your children a lot of things you wish you had done, or a lot of things you wish you hadn’t done. Like us with our tree house…the intentions were good, but something happened along the way. Your children may still be fairly young, still at home, but already you have regrets about what has or hasn’t happened in your relationship – in their lives.

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But it isn’t over yet. In fact, the Bible offers a blueprint for hope and for healing. If you can find the courage to activate this powerful step, you may still be able to take care of some of that unfinished business. God says in James 5:16, “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

Let’s apply this to a broken or strained or a hurting family relationship – a part of your home that never got finished. God is calling you to fervent prayer for that person that’s on your heart. And He is calling us to “confess our sins to each other”, too. In the case of your son or daughter, that probably means saying some of the hardest words in the English language for a parent to say, “I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

For someone you love, just your recognition that you were wrong could start a healing process in both of you. Tell them you’re sorry for any way you feel you have failed them; that you want the future to be different from the past; give them the “I love you” that they may have been waiting for a long time. Give them your blessing, your approval, your praise. They may have been starved for it for years. It’s never too late to say, “I love you.” It’s never too late to say, “I’m sorry.” It’s never too late to say, “Let’s make a new beginning.”

love-826934_1280

Oh, it will take some humility, because it’s pride that keeps walls from coming down. It will take God’s courage, but it could heal so much in you and so much in that person you love. But the home, the family, the relationship you never finished can still be built if you can say three life-changing, life-giving words,

“I was wrong.”

Further Study

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Going Deeper

Someone I need to say, “I was wrong” to is…
One way I failed my family is…
Something I can do to resolve the conflict in my family is…

Thank You Ron Hutchcraft for the study 🙂 Resources: The Bible, images from pixabay.com
Family Share · photography

The things I learned in life – #MomBlogger

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elly

The things I learned in life

I learned that no matter how much I care, some people just do not care. I learned that no matter how good a person is, that person will hurt me from time to time, but I need to forgive her for this. I learned that talking can ease my emotional pain.

I learned that it takes years to build trust and only seconds to destroy it.
I’ve learned that true friendship continues to grow, even over long distances. I learned that I could do in moments, things that I will forever regret.

I learned that what matters is not what I have in life, but who I have in life. I learned that members of my family are friends who I was not allowed to choose. I learned that I don’t have to change friends, and, yes, understand that friends change.

I learned that the people I care most in life have been taken too quickly. I learned that I always leave people who I love with loving words, it may be the last time I see them. I learned that the circumstances and the environment have an influence on me, but I am responsible for myself.

I learned that I should not compare myself to others, but do the best I can do. I learned that no matter how far I get, know where I’m going. I learned that no matter how delicate and fragile something is, there are always two sides.

I learned that It will take a long time for me to become the person I want to be. I learned that I can go further after thinking I can not. I learned that either I control my acts or they will control me.

I’ve learned that heroes are people who did what was necessary, facing the consequences. I learned that to have patience requires a lot of practice. I learned that there are people who love me, but just do not know how to show it.

I have learned that my best friend and I can do many thing, or nothing and still have a good times together. I learned that the person I expect to treat me wrong, when I’m down, is one of the few that will help me up. I learned that there are more of my parents in me than I thought.

I learned that when I’m angry I have the right to be angry, but that does not give me the right to be cruel. I learned that just because someone does not love me the way I want it does not mean that someone doesn’t love me with everything they got. I learned that maturity has more to do with the kinds of experiences I’ve had, and what I learned from them Than how many birthdays I already celebrated.

I learned that I should never tell a child that dreams are silly, or they are out of the question, because fewer things are more humiliating and would be a tragedy if she believed me. I learned it is not always enough to be forgiven by someone, I have to learn to forgive myself. I learned that no matter how many pieces my heart was broken, the world doesn’t stop for me to fix it.

Just learned, the things I learned in life!

Challenge · Family Share

6 Day #Photography Challenge 

EllyFilhoLeave a comment

The little things we don’t appreciate in life.

  • We take for granted that 1- 2nd opportunity we have to be next to the person we love.
  • We take for granted that one opportunity to talk to our children when we have that second alone with them.
  • We miss the opportunity to see and appreciate the beauty of the outside when we stand out there. Just looking out at nowhere.
  • We miss the smell of the rain dropping on the ground when it rains.
  • We miss the opportunity to be thankful to God for all that we have, every time we see or hear about all those other countries that has little to nothing.
  • We throw away so much of our belongings not even thinking what we could do with them, maybe send it to an organization, or sell it and with the money raised donate to an organization.
  • There is so much that can be done, so much that can be seen, so much that can be appreciated. But all we do is TAKE FOR GRANTED.
  • WE DONT APPRECIATE.
  • WE ARE NOT THANKFUL.
  • WE DONT TAKE THE TIME OR OPPORTUNITY.
  • To see things the way they should be seen.

Devotion · Family Share

One Good Choice After Another

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One Good Choice After Another
Are you enjoying the life and blessings of God in your everyday life? Or have you made a series of choices resulting in disappointment, pain, or feeling that everything you do requires great effort and produces little reward? Don’t spend your time and energy mourning all the bad decisions you have made; just start making good ones. There is hope for you!

The way to overcome the results of a series of bad choices is through a series of right choices. The only way to walk out of trouble is to do the opposite of whatever you did to get into trouble—one choice at a time. Maybe the circumstances of your life right now are the direct result of a series of bad choices you have made. You may be in debt because you have made a lot of bad choices with money. You may be lonely because of a series of bad choices in relationships or in the way you treat people. You may be sick because of a series of unhealthy choices: eating junk food, not getting enough rest, or abusing your body through working too much and not having enough balance in your life.
You cannot make a series of bad choices that result in significant problems and then make one good choice and expect all the results of all those bad choices to go away. You did not get into deep trouble through one bad choice; you got into trouble through a series of bad choices. If you really want your life to change for the better, you will need to make one good choice after another, over a period of time, just as consistently as you made the negative choices that produced negative results.
No matter what kind of trouble or difficulty you find yourself in, you can still have a blessed life. You cannot do anything about what is behind you, but you can do a great deal about what lies ahead of you. God is a redeemer, and He will always give you another chance.
Trust in Him

If you have a situation that is too big for you to solve, then you are material for a miracle. Invite God to get involved, trust in and follow His directions, make one good choice after another, and you will see amazing results.

Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. (‭Proverbs‬ ‭4‬:‭25‬ KJV)

From the book Trusting God Day by Day by Joyce Meyer. Copyright © 2012 by Joyce Meyer. Published by FaithWords. All rights reserved.