Latest / The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast / There's No-Time Like the Summertime

Transcript

There's No-Time Like the Summertime · The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast

• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Hi friends! Welcome to episode number 50 of the Simply Wholehearted podcast.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Amy Wicks, your host, as well as our good friend Ashley Pittman.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new here, we are so glad you joined us.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Here at Simply Wholehearted, we are sharing our journey as we discover how to better love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: We hope to inspire you by inviting our friends to share their ideas of how they live unplugged, purposeful, and intentional in their everyday.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Have you gotten a chance to hear Enter the Worship Circle's newest single, Still We Dream of Flying?
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: You can find their music video on YouTube.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Their song, Heavenly Things, is what you hear in the background.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: So be sure and check out all their latest releases at entertheworshipcircle.com.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's episode 50! Can you believe it?
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Time flies when you're having fun, and Ashley and I are doing a little happy dance over here for reaching this fun milestone.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Summer is just around the corner, and I've already been sharing with you how much I've enjoyed traveling around Kansas City, sharing with moms how to make the most of the upcoming season to create some meaningful minutes.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we thought we'd share one of our recorded speaking engagements that I did just last month at a local mom's group in Overland Park, Kansas.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: This was a special group as I had my cousin-in-law Jessica Griffiths in attendance with some of her friends.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Jessica actually happens to be on episode 11 along with her kids since they've been doing the Super Summer Challenge about as long as I have.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: The Super Summer Challenge is one of the main reasons that launched me into thinking about doing a podcast.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, it's become so much more than about intentional parenting during the summer.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: But there are a few steps I use to approach this extended time off with my kids, and I share some of my big ideas in my talk you'll hear today on the recording.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned afterward for some specifics on resources you might be interested in getting, as well as the limited time pricing for the Simply Summer course.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Now here's the recorded conversation of creating a Simply Summer.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, well my name is Amy Wicks.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: I um married an arborist, and I didn't even know that word existed until I met him.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And that means he gets to climb trees and cuts them down and trims them down.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of sexy.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like you'll take him.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Alright.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, and then I have three kids who like to climb trees along with him.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I happen to, he happens to be my husband, um, happens to be the cousin of Jessica Gregfast.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And we blessedly live down the street, we live nine houses away.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have this beautiful thing where the kids can actually go back and forth now because they're old enough.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: It is awesome.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: And let me just say, I live far away from family, and I'm often the proverb has come to mind in this situation with Jessica.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Better a neighbor close by than a brother far away, right?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like we can make family right where we are and right where we live.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: So just want to, I you know, some of you are blessed to live like, you know, really close to parents, but some of us aren't or sisters or siblings, and you never know what that might have for you.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, I'm really grateful for Jessica, and she's talked about you guys building better moms for years and how much I've seen the fruit on her life and how it's blessed her and encouraged her in her motherhood.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So she's always ranting and raving about you guys.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: I know she's done like table leaders and group leaders and all the things, and so anyway, um, she's just great about encouraging other moms as well.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: She just lives really, really well and just with intentionality, and um, we love their family.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: So today, um creating a Simply Summer.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's kind of a process to it, right?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's part of it is just thought, philosophy, and then I'm a practical girl, so I want to make sure that you leave with a ton of practical information and inspiration today.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: And Jessica can also, if you ever want to pick her brain, um she can tell you all about what I'm gonna share about because this original idea actually was from my mother-in-law, her aunt, um, when because she is the original creator of the Super Summer Challenge.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so we've taken that concept and done what I like to call creating a simply summer because that's what we're looking for.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're not necessarily looking for more challenges in our life, right?
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: We want some more simplicity and to enjoy the moments we have.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Well, unfortunately, we were not handed a handbook on motherhood when we birthed our first precious child, or maybe held them in our arms for the first time through adoption, or all the different ways that we may have entered into motherhood.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and instead, we kind of are left with like, oh my goodness, how do I do this?
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to make sure I don't do these things, and I want to try to do all of these things, right?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And to meet their need.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, one of the things that I discovered along the way in my journey to motherhood after I hit different moments of crisis, is that the word of God actually had something to tell me about motherhood and about this season.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: There was a verse that in my college internship years that was like emphasized what we were doing was Ephesians 5, 15, and 16.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Be very careful then how you live, not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so when I was in college, I was thinking, oh, that means take missions trips and climb mountains and do all the things and get to meet lots of people and have lots of experiences.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that verse was brought to my mind when my kids um were little.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually, I had a three-year-old, a two-year-old, old, and I was very, very pregnant with my last one in the summer.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of fun.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Jessica and I were pregnant with our last ones, they're six weeks apart, so um, they're super fun.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be eight this summer, you guys.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that's how is that possible?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: But um, so I was kind of in that crisis moment, right?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how am I having three kids, three and under?
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what happened to me?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: I am stuck in the middle of uh Missouri, I'm not close to family, I don't know what I'm doing, I have no help.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: But one of the many messages that came across my path was the scripture again to me.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the piece that stuck out to me most of all was make the most of every opportunity.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: I felt like that was my call to action for motherhood in a time where I could honestly just check out and numb however I could get through it, numb through food, TV.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Netflix wasn't as popular back then, but you know, still I could next Netflix binge.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that term had been created yet.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: All the ways that I could just survive through motherhood.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: But I felt that it was my invitation to journey on what it would look like to thrive in these years and to really savor and to enjoy them.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I get to do a podcast and I'm having a ton of fun with it.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: We're a little over a year into it, and we're sharing all sorts of messages about living simply wholehearted.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so, any of you who've listened to the Simply Wholehearted podcast, you will hear that the three pillars to that is unplugged, purposeful, and intentional.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I believe our three pillars for the summers can be as well: unplugged, purposeful, and intentional.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And in my mind, there is no better time, like the summertime, to create slow time, soul time, and always enough time.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll talk about practically how that looks and what each of those words mean and how we can apply that to our lives.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, unplugged in like the actual definition, it means an acoustic performance.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: What comes to my mind is someone just up there with a guitar, it's just them and the guitar, it's unplugged, maybe even just their voice, maybe it's a smaller audience, maybe it's just for an audience of one.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things to think about when we think of the word unplugged.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, what do you think about your summers?
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Are they free, unburdened, uncluttered?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Those are some other terms that we would use for the word unplugged.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Would you like those words to define your days with your kids?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: I know I would, but I know when I think about the summertime with my kids, sometimes it's a little busier, harried, crazy, and a lot of wine, W-H-I-N-E, with my kids.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, how do we how do we get to this place of the uncluttered, free, unburdened time with our kids instead of framing it as the hectic crazy days?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think we can do two ways.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, is soul time, and the second is phone time.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: First, I'm going to talk about soul time.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is one of the most important things that we as mother need to hear this message again and again.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And we can go one extreme or another with this, but here's the deal.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Are you doing what you need to do to feel your soul?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: Are you getting the time you need?
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, for me this year, um I homeschooled my kids for five years in some form or fashion, co-ops, no co-ops, all the different things.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: This year they are going to a private school, and I'm so grateful.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I had a little party, and I've had you know a little party every day after then because it's been really wonderful and it's been a great bet for my kids.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: They're thriving, I'm thriving, it's wonderful.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So suddenly I had some a little bit more free time, right?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think part of that idea, maybe as you guys are looking at getting to send your kids to school more often, and now maybe not having them uh occupied for many times, what are you doing to feed your soul?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: And for each of us, this looks unique.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what I had to do is kind of write out a list of all the things that I thought, oh hey, this is supposed to be like a good thing for me, right?
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, is it a bubble bath?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a pedicure?
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Is it reading a book?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Is it scrolling through social media?
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Is it painting my nails?
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Is it um I don't know, getting my hair done or dyeing my hair?
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: All the different things that I have thought, well, does this nourish me?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then I did an evaluation of like how am I actually spending my time?
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Am I spending my free time, my 10 to 15 to 30 minutes that I have to actually do one of those things that nourish my soul?
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Or am I oftentimes just pulling out my phone because it's easy and accessible and I'm losing my 10 to 15 minutes of time?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know about I don't know about you all, but oftentimes, and this isn't always, but sometimes when I'm scrolling through Instagram, I'm looking through it and it's awesome and it's wonderful, and then afterwards I'm like, I need a new wardrobe, I need a new hairstyle, I need new kids, and I need a new husband.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's just like I go down that road, right?
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, sometimes it's wonderful and you engage and you're like, oh, it's so wonderful to see this person, and everyone's so cute and beautiful, yay! And then sometimes we go like, oh, I hate my life.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just am encouraging you as moms to think through, really evaluate and look at your week and how much time you have allotted to you.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: And when you have that time, what is it that you do with it?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: For me, um, and Jessica and I uh know about this, reading is one of our big things, and audiobooks and reading, and she listens to audiobooks on the treadmill, she like inspires me.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I am that crazy lady who will bring my book with me, my purse, and stand in line at Costco reading a few pages while I wait, right?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I could do, you know, I could scroll through real quick, or I could read a couple of good pages and feel really awesome about that Costco experience, even though I spent way more money than I planned when I went in there.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because it always happens.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: I suddenly realize, oh, I need this make a size of everything.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so this is just an invitation to evaluate what is it that fuels your heart and your mind so that way you can give out of abundance and better to all the people who have all the needs around you.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I could talk about this the whole time, but that's my little snippet and my call, encouragement to you.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: I we were talking to someone for the podcast the other day, and she called it radical self-care.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I was a little bit like, can you say that?
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Can you like, as a woman, can you call that radical self-care without being labeled as selfish and you know, all these sort of things?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: But what she talked through um was so beautiful.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: I was really inspired.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, yeah, I can call this radical self-care.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: It is as good, and we might need that extreme of a word in order to get somewhere close to where we are feeling ourselves.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so phone time.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: All right, I talked a little bit about phone time.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to bash it at all because man, where would we be without our phones?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: The access we have to everything, the connectivity, I love Voxer.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone should get Voxer, it's just like the best thing.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, if you don't know what it is, it's you can do um audio messages.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a separate app, and so you can leave up to like 15 minutes of audio messages for a group or one person.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: But what's even better is you can play it up to four times fast.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a slow talker, you can play it really, really fast.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just like a glorified voicemail, and it's it's just really great because you can do group chats and all these things.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, it's helped me be able to connect with my family who's far away because we don't ever have time to talk on the phone, but we can play the boxer at one in the morning or six in the morning or you know, in the middle of the night at any time.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, kind of a fun thing.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyway, the phones can be a really wonderful thing, but two things that I want to talk about.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: One is notifications.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Would you be willing to take an honest evaluation of the notifications that you have going on your phone?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: I am guilty of leaving my phone on night a lot of times, but um oftentimes we allow notifications to come through, whether it's the Facebook Messenger or the Instagram light or this little game app notifying our us that we have, you know, like points to be played or prices to be won.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: But those notifications often take us from what is right in front of us and where we need to be present and take our attention away to something that's probably not even that important, and it suddenly feels very urgent.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the way the notifications are designed, right, to grab our attention.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Catherine Adair in the book The Big Disconnect says, while parents and children are enjoying swift, constant access to everything and everyone on the internet, they're simultaneously struggling to maintain a meaningful personal connection with each other in their own homes.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's true of you, but I know it's a battle that we face in our home.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: We we really desire to like make the most of the opportunity that we have with our kids and whether that's us modeling as parents the time that we spend on our phone or what we allow our kids to get involved with.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think that we have to fight for the personal, you know, person-to-person contact.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's really great that I I have friends all over the country that I've never even met before because of social media.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: But if I put them over the priority in my home, then I have lost out in the end.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: And those, you know, online friendships, relationships may not last, obviously, like you know, our own kids, our spouses, and the people around us.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I would just encourage you to think through what notifications can you maybe begin to eliminate?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're not ready to put your phone on night for a long period of time, but maybe some of those things just aren't as important.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll talk about time blocking in a little bit.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: But one of the things that I have done with my phone is I have begun to time block my phone a little bit.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, while they're at school, you know, great, it's free game.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: But even if I want to get work done, I know I have to like hide my phone and put it away and not look at it, right?
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing I've intentionally done is the like 45 to 30 minutes before I'm taking my kids to school, and obviously while they're in the car, I try to completely ignore my phone unless I need, you know, I know I'm waiting for someone to respond to me for something important.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then the time after I pick them up from school, I put it away, I hide it, I totally turn it off.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I I had to do this because I realized, well, honestly, like in my mind when I sent my kids to school, I thought I would get all my stuff done in the time frame.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them is still there, like the laundry is still there, the dishes are still there, the work is still there, the emails are still there, and the people are still there that want my attention.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had to quickly realize that yes, even though I had that new block of time, it just wasn't all gonna be done.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: And so I at some point had to say, okay, I'm done, I've done what I can, it's time to turn my attention and my focus back onto them.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so I began to like hide it and just give myself like that hour, especially when they're like a little bit more vulnerable, they want to tell me about their day.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great time to ask them some questions, and I wasn't really I never vocalized this to my kids, but the other day, um, my son has a different schedule than my older two, and I had to make that you know phone call that I forgot to make, and it was really important, and so I'm making the phone call, and he hops in the car and he like glares at me that I'm on my phone and he's like, Hey, this is my time, put away your phone.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just thought, well, when you know, mom failed, and I'm sorry, forgot to do it, but when because he had recognized something that I had never even articulated, he had realized that I had been intentional to not look at that phone and make him a priority or make his sisters a priority when they kind of came back into that fold.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, they're busy off doing their thing, they got their attention, they're playing with the neighbors down the street, and I can get back on my phone and catch up on all those things that I, you know, failed to do earlier in the day.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, purposeful.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's look at that word.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Purposeful in its original definition is meaningful and full of determination.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: I often, my kids are often full of determination, especially when they want something that I have already said no to.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Suddenly they think if they ask a different way or enough times, they're going to change my mind.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't always work.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it does.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what if you had a better idea of what you wanted your family to do?
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: What you wanted to spend your time on, and what you wanted your kids to leave home knowing?
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Sort of like that soul-time idea, right?
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's make a list of what really fuels us.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: But what if you figured out what is your why?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: What is your thing that you want to make sure that you experience with your family?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: What's the stuff that you love to do?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be that mom, that sports mom that you always wanted to be, taking your kids to all the games, all the baseball, all the soccer, all season, every season?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is that something that's really important to you?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Is it important to you to give your kids an experience of all the classics or make sure they get amazing musical education and experience?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's important for you to be really social and invest or you know, community activists and things that you're passionate about it, and we want them to be aware of the needs surrounding your community.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is my practical way of fighting comparison because it's our opportunity to figure out what your opportunity really looks like.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's really easy to get caught up in the like, what's my friend doing, what's my neighbor doing, what's my sister-in-law doing, what does my mother-in-law think I should be doing?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And you start making choices and decisions and enrolling your kids into things that really actually don't fit in line with your passion and your family, family's vision.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so I go through this whole process of understanding your why, looking at for yourself, for you as the mom, who honestly, as the like you know, social director in the family, we get to make a lot of these decisions of where we want our kids to go and be and do.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what is important to you?
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you have a spouse that you can sit down or a trusted family member or friend who can help, give some evaluation of what that list should look like and what's realistic, what it is that you want to achieve with your kids while they're in your home, while you have them those 18 years or so.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then invite your kids into that process.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, you know, because most of you elementary moms, you have kids who are old enough to articulate, they know what they like and what they don't like.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you may have the chronic, you know, you may have some of those kids who they want to sign up for everything and then they quit after a few lessons.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, you have to teach them about perseverance.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but also just an opportunity to invite them in the process.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, what's really important to you to do as we're gonna apply it to summer this summer?
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Is it do you want to do soccer camp?
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to make sure that you're on baseball this year and doing baseball or keeping up with your karate classes?
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Or do you want to like does spending the day at the pool sound fun to you and them?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: Is it important for them to see certain friends during the summer?
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to make sure you travel some places?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it's coming up with your sort of bucket list and then inviting your kids, your family into that process.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: And this helps you so when your friends and they're all doing all these different things, and you instead of feeling like, oh, I missed the boat, I didn't sign up for this and I should do that, and you know, like somehow I didn't do this right, instead, you can go back to like, no, this is what my opportunity is, and this is what my family is.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Family really loves to do, at least at this point in time in our lives.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is a constant evaluation as our kids grow and in their interest changes and what our capacity and what our resources are available to us.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, so the how is try creating a family bucket list.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I do have in my Simply Summer workshop, I have a just a whole module focused on this of what it looks like, of understanding your why and going through those steps.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, this is embrace your opportunity.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you may never write this down.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: This may be all hypothetical in your mind, but take the opportunity to give it some thought, some meaningful thought as you process through and as even you frame, even if you just use that concept to frame the summer months that you have ahead with your kids.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, intentional.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: Intentional, done on purpose, deliberate.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: It takes that purposeful determination that I talked about and it puts it into action.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: So what is it?
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's about seeking to do everything at the right speed, savoring the hours and the minutes rather than just counting them.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know oftentimes when my kids were little, it felt like 24-7.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't have anything to really break up our days.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: It felt like endless, and it really didn't feel meaningful whatsoever.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time, I began to put as I started this super summer challenge concept, this intentional idea for the summer months, it started to fold into my everyday with them.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: We didn't have access to preschool during those years, and you know, we didn't again we didn't have family and all that sort of stuff.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it was me, myself, and I and my kids, and I was trying to figure out how this looked, and without it feeling like this 24-7 drain, unending time, because I wanted to enjoy them and move to that place.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of it I took a like a time-blocking idea.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so in the summer, um, I would look at the months that I had to, you know, to enjoy certain activities.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: So for most of us, the pool is open, right?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Memorial weekend to Labor Day.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great time to block up that summer.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: For us this year, our school year, we only really have eight weeks of summer.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we've got, I feel now the pressure we could have pack a lot in in those eight weeks.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna go by really, really fast.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I looked at the monthly, the big overall picture.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: And what that looks like for me is I mark off the times that we already have maybe camps planned, maybe VBS.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know Cora does a really great VBS, and we've done different churches throughout the city.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, maybe it means we're gonna have some company.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I mark when we're gonna have company, and maybe we want to take a trip or two, maybe short weekends or during the week, just the kids and I, and some things like that.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I get kind of a big picture of like when my summer begins and ends, and some of the big things in between.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then I go, Oh, wait a minute.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: I have like four weeks where nothing fun is planned.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: I better get my kids signed up for a summer camp or something, plan something fun in there, or you'll look at it and go, Oh my goodness, this is as crazy busy as the school year.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is not what I want for my family, and this is your opportunity to look at your schedule realistically and go from there.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then, and remember, this is about your opportunity, what you want your summer to look like with your kids.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then I look on the weekly schedule and I go, okay, well, it may feel like I have four weeks of empty, but what are some things in the weekly routine that I want to make sure that I incorporate?
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that might look like I want to make sure I go to the library at least every other week.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I kind of put that on the calendar.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure maybe I want to make sure two days out of the week we go to the pool.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have a day that's a play date day that you know that you want to make sure with a group of moms that you incorporate into your with them.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe a family close by, you want to make sure you do this family meal or this connection time with maybe Grammy takes the kids for a few hours, or maybe you swap some babysitting time so you can go grocery shopping alone.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Thank the Lord, right?
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then you gotta even think about that.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: How does grocery shopping look, you know, for me this summer?
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to take all the kids to all the places.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so what I do, Walmart.com, can I just say hallelujah, praise the Lord?
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it is wonderful.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it works really great for me.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Costco and Trader Joe's need to get on board with that.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but all of that to say, or you need to figure out in your weekly rhythm, you know, hey, this is mom's night, Tuesday night, this is when I go do all those things that I don't want to take the kids around, and then maybe spend a little extra time wandering the aisles of Target, you know, picking up a few cute things for me.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: Another cover up because we always need another baby feeding suit cover up, right?
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then I look at the daily routine.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_00: Now, for us with older kids, we are not usually trapped by nap times, right, anymore, or you know, like the feeding times and the nursing times and all those little things.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: We have a little bit more freedom.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes with a little bit more freedom comes a little bit more chaos and a little not sure.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then let's just, I mean, I don't know about you all, but I think a lot of us do some sort of work from home kind of thing.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: When are we gonna find time to do that?
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, I look in my daily rhythm, and this oftentimes changes, but I try to set up a just kind of a basic routine in the summer that's gonna work for me, that I know, oh, I should work between here and here, and make it clear to the kids that's what it looks like.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then this is the time that I'm focusing with them.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: I try to ignore my notifications, and then this is the time that we're gonna do this activity that they can look forward, and just so there's this like rhythm in the day, and you know what?
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: Even though our kids don't nap, I think every once in a while during the summer we should have a quiet time, you know.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mom takes a nap or catches up on those projects, and they read a book in their room all alone, and maybe a little bit of arguing ceases to exist.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of how I frame my rhythm of, and that's for me we call creating slow time, soul time, and always enough time.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you know what I do?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: The next step with that is that I post some of these schedules.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: I it's really important, especially as your kids can read, even before they can read, that you have some sort of schedule that you can point to and they can begin to visualize how finite their time is as well, and how like special when you have time together is.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so instead of them always asking you to do things, they can it takes some coaching, it takes some conversation and time, but they can kind of see how their days are, what they have to look forward to, because I have at least one in my family who needs to know they have something fun to look forward to every single day, you know.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so, like as the social organizer, the cruise director for the family, it's important to kind of lay that out.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: And suddenly, when they know they only have an hour here or two hours here, the Legos and the Playmobile and the outside bike riding and all the things that they don't think of when they're bored suddenly become a little bit more valuable because they don't have this unending day before them.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's also a great way to teach time concept, and then this is where I take my next step.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I have my concept of what my summer is gonna look like, the time I'm working in, and I do this every season, just so you know.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it it does take that 30 to 45 minutes of time, but it's so worth it.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: But then I take that bucket list that I talked about before.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: The bucket list of what it is that I want to make sure I do with my kids.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: So this summer, I've begun to ask them already, hey guys, what do you really want to make sure that you do this summer?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Some of those things are blueberry picking.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Again, thanks to Jessica.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: I know about the blueberry farm a little ways down the road, and we make sure we do that and we try to do it once or twice and for sure together sometime in the summer.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I hear little things like that, oh, we want to play at the pool a lot, oh, I want to ride my bike a lot, oh, I want to go to this park and that park.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I want to make sure I see this friend.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really fun.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: So we begin to have this conversation, but part of me goes, How am I gonna remember to do all these things?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because now I'm also thinking of the need-to-do list, right?
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: So we have our can-do one-to list, but then we have our need-to-list because I'm gonna get that list from the school telling me all the books that they need to read this summer, right?
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna get the teach the note from the math teacher, hey, you make sure your kids practice math facts.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, yeah, right?
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: When are we gonna have time for that, right?
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: So there's some of those things, and then we were talking about today at the yellow table about needing to maybe show our kids how to pack their own snacks and lunches and teach them some responsibility.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have loved that a couple of my kids are certified in the laundry.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: They know how, yes, and sort of it's a certification process, you guys.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is important, and they are proud of it, and they have no idea that they are helping me so much.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, maybe they do, but they're proud of their certification.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: So they're certified in laundry now, and they have learned this, you know, doing the dishes, mopping the floor, cleaning the bathrooms, all those things in the summer months is such a perfect opportunity to incorporate some of that need to ideas.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: I want to pass this on to my kids so that when they leave the house, they're able to take care of themselves.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And even if I come to their dorm room and it's absolutely gross and disgusting, at least I know it's not my fault, and it's all on them.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: I have taught them what they need to know.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe so, what we now do, and this is I'm saying we, as in like Jessica and I for years, we have taken the Simply Summer concept and then added onto it the super summer challenge.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: And this is where we take our list and we make a list of challenges, the things we want to do and the kids need to do, and then we can we recreate a reward system to match up with those.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm gonna give you because I have a little bit of time, an example of what those look like.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: And again, if you text the word time T-I-M-E all in caps to 66866, then you'll get a free workshop that talks about the summer months or taking that you know three months of time and intentionally planning it.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: I have some you know calendars on there and stuff like that, just walks you through that, and then in this simply summer course, it goes through some of these things that we've talked about the bucket list, the need to list, the can-do list, what is your why soul time, and then the and the calendar, and then it gives these specific ideas.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna share some of them about the super summer challenge.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: So, when my kids were little, the super summer challenge, my mother-in-law was very eager to tell me about this because she actually used to teach mom's groups like this and travel around and share the concept, and she self-published a book, and it was a really wonderful idea she did with her kids starting over 30 years ago.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, she did it with her best friend who lived next door to her, who also had three kids, and that is something that bonded them together even when they lived far apart for many years, and it's something that all six kids talk about to this day, and all of them have done with their kids.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it must be pretty good.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: It just takes a little time and thoughtful planning.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: So when my kids um uh my girls were three and two, very pregnant, it's summertime here in Kansas City, it's hot, and I was due in August, and I was feeling very alone and everything, and I was thinking, I have a three and two-year-old.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna either kill each other while I'm nursing this child, or they're gonna be running around in their underwear, who knows where, throughout the house or maybe the neighborhood.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have to turn on the TV all the time because I have no idea what I'm gonna do with them.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, the super summer challenge looked like teaching them how to play together for a little while nicely.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because I just was not gifted with those kids who are calm and who enjoy sitting and reading a book.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like I have to bake and plead, even though it's really important to me.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I needed to come up with some specific things to work with them as they prepared for a sibling.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we didn't know at that time it was gonna be a boy, and as they prepared, you know, for mommy to be taking care of another person.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so it looked similar to like, you know, a potty training chart, right?
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Very simple one-week sticker method.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I just had three or four things that they would work on for a week at a time.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like again, play with your sister for 15 minutes without arguing.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: We worked up to a longer time, it worked.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we did like really short memory verses, and we probably did probably four of those throughout the summer.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then other like maybe some fun things.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, go visit a nursing home because I I felt like I probably won't do that with all three of them when they're little, but I wanted my girls to kind of have that situation experience, even though it's hard for me because I cry every time I go there because it reminds me of my grandparents, and you know, but I do it even though it makes me uncomfortable.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and my girls really love it now, so it's kind of neat.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it just looked really simple.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: And the end of that week, we had a really simple reward.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was either get something out of the prize chest that was a dollar store item, or it was get to go get ice cream with daddy, you know, or do something special with one of us that so it was a win-win where we had this special intentional time with them.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's like a date we call it, um, or just a real simple reward that motivated them.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: They started getting that concept of rewards and challenges.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then as I got older, I knew I could expand the time a little bit more, like a month at a time, right?
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_00: They could start thinking along those lines.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so I a couple of different years did the bingo chart method, and so I just, you know, created a little bingo chart, and I have some of those in the workshop that are already filled in, ones that are empty, so you can write your own.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_00: And those bingos looked, you know, some fun things along the bingo, right?
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, make sure you do this activity with mom, but it was a lot of you know, practice your flashcards, you know, practice your piano, um, clean your room, learn this chore, all those different things.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: And as they each got their bingo, they would get a reward of prize.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so it would take them a good month to go through that.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what we do now is a little bit closer to the original super summer challenge.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: And what my mother-in-law did is that she took all the challenges she wanted them to do, and it led up to a big prize at the end of summer, usually a family vacation and maybe some little fun dates along the way.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously, when I my kids, when you're first doing this or when your kids are younger, working all summer for one thing is a pretty big deal, and it would hard be hard to keep their attention.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: But now we can kind of do it where I have a have a thermometer, if you will, to measure their progress along the way to the big reward.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I give, because I like to give my kids good gifts, right?
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, little prizes along the way to keep them motivated.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: So last summer I did it this way where they each had their own individual challenge and reward, and then we had a family one.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so then that added in some positive peer pressure because I usually have one.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_00: It it tends to change each summer who's just not motivated at all.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so it takes, you know, siblings going, hey, we'll read with you so you can earn points, or you know, how about you read to me so you can earn some points, or let's go on a bike ride, or let's go on that walk to earn points.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Jessica had a fabulous idea with her kids, like like walking around the block earned them points, and it was this gradual, like, you know, like letting them have some freedom and see how responsible they could be.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I was totally inspired.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, that is great, I'm firing that one.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and yeah, and now it's nice because now we can send them nine houses away back and forth, and we completely trust them.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I took um each of them had something that they were working towards, and as they, you know, got those prizes.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: So my daughter, oldest one, really needed a new bike.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: And for us, buying a new bike that's like birthdays and Christmas, right?
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: But so I was like, honey, could we please like make that the reward?
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: It was kind of a big deal, but it was like, yeah, you we need one.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that girl was motivated.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: So what I did on her thermometer was I um every time she reached a certain level, it was like she earned her pedals, she earned her bike seat, she earned her tires.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: No, not literally, but figuratively, and so it just kept her motivated getting to that ultimate goal, the bike.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm pretty sure within like five to six weeks, she had reached her all-time summer goal because she was super motivated.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: But that was great.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: We were glad to give that to her.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then for the family reward, we kind of reverse-engineered it and we said, Hey, we're gonna do this vacation, which guys, we would have done the vacation anyway, right?
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_00: But we just don't have to spell that out for them.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: If they ask, I'll tell them.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: But along the way to that ultimate family vacation, I had little prizes like, you know, get to go on a bike ride on the beach, go to an ice cream shop with everybody.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, mommy and daddy will build a sand castle with you because I don't like it.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: I knew it would mean a lot to them and it would motivate them, you know, just little things along the way.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Again, keeping me accountable to making some meaningful moments with them and minutes with them.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: But then also, you know, where they feel like it's a prize and it's a special memory maker.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of how the rewards and challenges and the super challenges work for us now, and probably for a lot of you, it could.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I really encourage you to start small, right?
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, for you, your like next steps, your plan of action is to think about that family bucket list.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: Write it down if you have some time, just on a scrap of paper or on the receipt in your wallet, right?
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: And just think of just intentionally think through that.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_00: And even if it's in your mind, have those conversations maybe too with your kids to see what they're interested in specifically for the summer.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then begin to make your time accountable this week.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's too overwhelming to think about the summer months already, and you need to kind of test it out first on this week.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: So this week ahead, it's Monday, we still have plenty of week ahead of us, right?
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: Just begin to think about it, whether it's a traditional day runner or something app on your phone or whatever it is, to just think about, you know, where are you spending some time for you?
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_00: Where are you feeding your soul?
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, this is one of those things that can definitely feed your soul when you come away refreshed and rejuvenate.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: So score for you, you're doing that today.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: What's something tonight before you go to sleep that you can do for yourself again?
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: So start small and begin to make your time accountable.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Again, there's so many things that I would love to share with you because I obviously I'm passionate about it.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've loved it, and I really think after over eight summers of getting to do that, this will be, I think, our ninth summer doing it with my kids.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: I am so grateful for the opportunities it's created for those teachable moments and those memories that they talk about now and that I believe they'll talk about, even if I failed everywhere else.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, they'll remember those fun summers that they had with their mom as kids.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, again, if you would like some more inspiration, I have 50 free boredombuster activity ideas, and you'll have that in your inbox if you text time to 66866, and you can download that right away.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then you'll also get the free creating slow time, no time, and always enough time workshop, and you'll be entered to win the Simply Summer Workshop.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and yeah, someone from each of my groups have won that.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then now, for those of you who are leaders, if you don't mind, we're gonna choose a raffle ticket to see who won this one.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so, ladies, I would just really encourage you.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: This summer, oftentimes um, it can feel like, oh man, I didn't get anything done, and um, you know, where did all my time go?
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I had this project list that I wanted to do, I was gonna organize this and teach them that.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: And but I really encourage you that when you lay your head down and I that you would think of all the ways that you loved your kids, that you connected with them, and that would be your focus, and that's where that would drive you, but that also encourage you that you're doing the most important work and the most important thing with your kids this summer.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: So are you ready to have the best summer yet?
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, if you'd like some more help on where to begin, we have a few resources that might help you.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: Last year we shared some specifics on our podcast, so you might want to listen to those.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: They are episode 7 with Linda Wicks, the creator of Super Summer Challenge.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: Episode 11 is that conversation I mentioned earlier with my cousin-in-law, her three kids, and my kids about creating a Simply Summer.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to hear some troubleshooting conversation, episode 15 is a midsummer check-in with Ashley and I.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: And the number I mentioned during my talk is still available if you want access to the free creating slow time, sole time, and always enough time course, as well as some of the downloads to help you begin to plan for the summer.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: All you need to do is text time all in caps to the number 66866.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: You'll also be able to email me any questions you have, and I'd love for you to share your fun summer plans to me or how you're gonna do a super summer challenge.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: If you've heard about the Simply Summer workshop last year and it's something you've been thinking of doing, now is the time to get this online course.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can get it for only$14, but only until May 17th.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: After that, it'll jump up to$34.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: So get it now for$14 and you'll be well on your way to have a Simply Summer that you desire.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to just get some helpful ideas to get the creative juices flowing, you can get 50 free board and busters at superstummerchallenge.com.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: As usual, we'll put all the ways to find us and link to all these things I've mentioned in the show notes.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't mind, why don't you go ahead and share this episode with your girlfriend, those who are looking for a way to have a better summer, a more meaningful summer with their kids.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: We so appreciate all the ratings and comments that you're leaving for us.
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: Continue to spread the word and leave your reviews on your favorite podcast app.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the kids and I have been listening to the audiobook A Wrinkle in Time.
• 44:26
  SPEAKER_00: Hatie read it with her fourth grade class, but I really wanted each of the kids to have a chance to hear their original story before we went to see the new movie in theaters.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: Though probably at the rate we're going, it's gonna be a red box rental.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: But there are a ton of spiritual applications.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: And one in particular leapt out to me just the other day.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you aren't familiar with the storyline, it's multi-layered.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: But to summarize, the story is about a young girl named Meg and her journey to overcome the darkness.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically the darkness that has trapped their father.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: As Meg, her brother, and a friend are about to embark in a new world, they are each given a gift to help them face the obstacles that might come their way.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: Mrs.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: Watsett, who is a fallen star assigned to help them, bestows the gift, and to Meg, she says, I give you your faults.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, you heard me right.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: Her faults.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: She, like me, are always trying to get rid of those darn things.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: But Mrs.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: Watsett assures Meg that she will find them coming in very handy for their journey.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_00: As I listened, I immediately saw a connection to this classic story and the gift of the Enneagram.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_00: What can often be interpreted as our faults, or as we know, the personality needs or holy virtues that often tripped us up can also be some of our greatest strengths, and they help us find our unique path to spiritual growth.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: I've just touched on this connection a tiny bit, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_00: And if you haven't yet listened to episode 37 and 38 with Beth McCord, those can be most helpful as you discover some of the basics of the Enneagram until we can begin a wait list for Enneagram coaching.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: Be sure and check out all that she offers at youraneagramcoach.com and find a discount for her introductory programs in the show notes.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: So, until next week, we hope you'll be joining us as we discover more ways to live a simply wholehearted life.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: Unplugged, purposeful, and intentional.