Wisdom from a Mom who has been there. . .

Let me tell you about Cathy.

Cathy is a homeschooling mom of 6 kids, the youngest is graduating from public high school this year and the oldest is almost 30 now.

She is a new grandma.

She has been married 36 years.

And she comes over to my house once a week to come alongside me in the unloading of the dishwasher, the creating of systems that make my home hum, the folding of laundry, the sweeping of floors. I know, what a gift, eh?

But the real gift is she talks the whole time. She is a fast talker. She tells stories of when her kids were little. She shares how she tackled her Mt. Everest of Laundry (wait til I tell you!). She shares her mistakes. She cries over the lessons she has learned the hard way. She is creative. She is a problem solver. She is a cheerleader. And she has a heart to help younger women.

Cathy longs to help in the way she wanted to be helped when she was raising a family. She is the older woman many of us have been looking for. And I could not keep her to myself. I had to share her with you. I have asked her to please write down some of the nuggets she shares while we are together so I could post them on The Intentional Home. Here is her first one:

Where to begin on such and important topic as motherhood? I have had so many questions and needs along the path of being the mom. I believe the most important place to start is actually thinking about the end.

“Begin with the end in mind,” are words I once read long ago.

I encourage you to:

Stop and really think about your desired end results. Your desired end results for you as a person, for your marriage, for your family life, for your children, for your home.

As you have probably heard so many times, "How can you possibly hit the target, if you do not even know where you are aiming?"

You have probably also heard the saying, "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail."

Taking time to think, to pray, and to plan is not an activity to do when you get a chance. If you care about the quality of your outcome. . . and there will be an outcome. . .regardless of whether you plan or not. . then make time to think, pray, plan, and then "begin with the end in mind!”

Oh I think we might be on the right track!!! Isn't this what we learned in the Meal Planning/Freezer Cooking Class. . .if we fail to plan, we plan to fail. And the name of this blog is The Intentional Home. Remember this that I wrote on Why Be Intentional?? You readers, you past students of my classes. . .you are on the right track. The fact that you read this blog, that you carve out an evening to come to a class shows that you want to step away from the urgent and focus on the important. . you want to run your home intentionally. I love being on this journey with you.

So tell me. . what would you like to ask Cathy, a mom who has gone before us?