...house full of boys...

Yep, here is my crazy family!!

All boy, all the time!!

Being the only girl in the house, you'd think I'd be the princess... with unlimited time to the bathroom, and always being pampered and spoiled.

Well, there is some of that.  But mostly... not!

My wise sis (she's only 3 years older, but she had her kids early and I had mine late) has 3 boys as well.  Her 2 oldest have moved out already, and she had some sage advise.... 

She said, if she could do it again, she's make sure she did more girl stuff.  Not to pigeon-hole the sexes, but there are differences.  And its so easy to get in the whirlwind of superheroes, wrestling, and no pink.  Of no one else worried about getting ready, needing time to do their hair, or putting importance into shopping.

I'm not a girly-girl.   I bet God knew what family I was gonna end up with!  But I thought that was good advice... both for me to get to be girly on occasion - and I think someday the boys' wives will thank me for it!!!! 

Anyways, so thankful for my boys and all of their bug, dirt, energy sweetness!
I sure love them all!!

...art of saying NO...

Is there an art to saying no?  Or is it just a mind set?

My family does not say NO well.  We either hem and ha and make excuses, leaving people thinking we probably meant no but not sure.  Or we say YES when we really don't want to and then either do it without really wanting to or come up with excuses to get out of it last second.

Growing up in this environment had another side effect too.  When people who can say NO say no to me, I realize I feel overly rejected.  I think we learned that when you love/care you don't say no.

Gosh.  Uck. 

The cool thing about life is that we are always learning.  Learning how to be healthy, how to have boundaries, how to choose peace and joy in our lives. 

So next step on my journey - the Art of Saying No.