By Sharla Orren

A few years ago my two boys saw an ant mound and they wanted me to stop what I was doing so I could look at it with them. I was not very excited; but, I resisted the urge to say no, and I went with them to observe the ants. We sat for an hour watching the ants march in and out of the mound. We watched them work together to get a dead bug back to their colony. What seemed at first like a boring idea turned into a very fascinating activity. That was a memory I almost missed because I thought I was too busy!

That day I decided I wanted more days like that one. I wanted my family to be able to put aside the busyness of the day to go explore the outdoors together. We kept that commitment for a while, but I guess life got busy again and we just stopped doing it. 

A few days ago, while I was busying myself again, I remembered how peaceful and relaxed I felt exploring the outdoors with my family. It seemed as if time actually slowed down during those times spent outside. And we were able to make wonderful memories as a family.  I decided to renew our commitment to get back outside as a family and explore.  

My plan is to spend more time in our own backyard:

1. Looking at stars.
2. Birdwatching.  
3. Keeping an outdoor journal.  
4. There are many ways to do this. You can write what you observe every day in your back yard. You can draw or paint pictures of the different areas of your backyard or the nature you observe. The ideas are limitless, but they make a great keep sake. 
5. Making a worm farm. 
6. Planting a garden.
7. Exploring the plants and weeds we have in our neighborhood.
8. Observing weather.

On the days we want bigger adventures, we will visit one of our many Arkansas State Parks. 

Arkansas State Parks have many different kinds of wildlife to observe, such as: migrating butterflies, songbirds, ducks, geese, deer, and even bald eagles! The list goes on and on. There are also many great walking trails and mountains to hike. 

I guess we better get busy if we want to get everything in before the boys start college. This time I plan on keeping my commitment.

Sharla lives in Southwest Arkansas were she loves finding adventures and making memories with her husband and two boys. She currently writes for Molly Green Magazine. You can also read her e-book entitled, Unlock a Treasure in Your Home: Family Read Aloud Time. You can read her blog at http://www.lookatwhatyouareseeing.com.

By Tiffany Hathorn

Chances are you set goals for yourself at the beginning of the year (or perhaps you got a jumpstart on this at the end of 2014). Now you find that April is nearly over, which means that we are almost a quarter of the way through the “new year”. When did that happen?! Realizing how much time has passed, you reflect on the goals that you had so lovingly and passionately set for your life back in January. If you are anything like me, you settle into a slight panic. 

I’m nowhere near where I thought I would be by now!

At this point you can do one of three things: 

1. You can give up on your goals. You decide that too much time has passed and that you will never be able to catch up. It was a nice dream while it lasted. 
2. You can push forward with your goal, blindly, without taking into consideration whether anything needs to be tweaked.
3. You can assess your goal, determine if anything needs to be adjusted, and move forward with a renewed sense of passion and purpose. 

I suppose you can tell which category I recommend. 

If you have gotten behind on your goals for this year, take some time now to analyze and renew your…

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I actually recommend that you take time regularly to look at your goals and track your progress. By doing this, you can determine whether you are still on track towards your goals, if you need to change the path that you are on, or if you need to completely switch gears. This may involve letting go of some goals and focusing on others. That is ok! Sometimes we need to switch focus in order to get where we need and want to be in life.  

One thing that I have been learning as I get older is that sometimes the things that we want (and need) in life change. Goals change. Priorities shift. When I graduated from undergrad in 2008, my goal was to take a year off and then go on to pursue my masters and my doctorate in counseling psychology. Then I became a mother. Many of my priorities shifted. Instead, I decided to put off my formal education once I attained my masters in Educational Psychology and I am focused on raising my son, homeschooling him, and working as a freelance writer (which has been my dream career for as long as I can remember). My goals changed, so my action plan has changed as well. 

Don’t be afraid of change. Embrace it and make it work for you. If you have setbacks on your path towards your goals, take some time to figure out a path over or around that obstacle and then get on it! 

As they say…

 

 Tiffany has been blogging for nearly 5 years. It started out as a hobby but has transformed into a business. She is the owner of the blog Single Mommy Warrior where she blogs about her life as a single WAHM. In fact, her blog is a large part of why she has been able to work from home since 2012. Tiffany’s mission is to motivate others to live their lives by design, not by default. You can follow her blog at www.singlemommywarrior.com

Miranda, is a Crunchy, Country Mama giving her look on a Homemade Life of Homeschool, Good Eats, (Mis) Adventures, and Living Grace-Filled Everyday@GraceandGravy with a side of life! Miranda has been married to her sweet husby for 16 years and a homeschool mama to 2 kiddos at home. She loves her four-legged, fur babies and they make her life complete. Miranda is passionate about Guatemala Missions, Early Farmhouse Life/Decor, and learning to be a Self-Sufficient Homesteader!

You can also find GraceandGravy on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter!

By Jeanetta Darley

There is a busyness about nature during the spring that forces me to sit still and pay attention.  Nature’s agenda has a definite purpose with an important schedule to keep filled with buzzing and blooming and turning the world green.  

My busyness rarely seems as purposeful most of the time.  With jobs, families, and friends sometimes the busyness of life is unavoidable.  We’ve cram packed our days from the time our alarms go off in the mornings till we fall asleep with our smart phones clutched in our hands.  But I find that if I can stop for  even a few minutes and listen to nature in all its busyness, the heaviness of my schedules and to dos melt away.  

I may take 15 minutes with my morning coffee on the porch swing as the day awakes instead on thumbing through my Instagram feed.

I may choose to set in the courtyard at lunch instead of eating over my computer at work.

I may even choose to spend thirty minutes before the sun sets digging in my garden wondering when the fireflies will come back.

I don’t think of these as stolen moments from my hectic schedule, but rather time I am gifting back to myself and allowing the rhythm and rhyme of nature to renew and recharge me.

Jeanetta is a crocheter and coffee addict, chicken keeper and goat wrangler, a farmer girl and maker of drunk jellies. You can find her online at www.jeanettadarley.com or on twitter, pinterest & instagram @jeanettadarley.

by Kimberly Mitchell

We’re writers. We envision, create, write and revise. Edit and revise again, and finally, publish! Who can deny the thrill of seeing your words on the page, or the screen, knowing you’ve written something others will enjoy?

But what happens when your desire to write dwindles? When the success you envisioned doesn’t come to pass as quickly as you thought, or at all? 

How do you keep writing? 

I’ve relentlessly pursued my goal of being a published children’s author for years. I got a master’s degree in creative writing. I obtained an agent. I wrote and wrote. Surely publishing success was just around the corner. Instead, I’ve encountered rejection. Writers are fragile folk. Our egos can only take so much before sliding into a chocolate indulgent slump.

I found myself in this slump in 2014. My agent hadn’t been able to sell my latest book. I was half-heartedly working on a sequel with little motivation to finish, and I’d neglected my blog for so long I forgot to renew the hosting until it was too late to recover any of my site. Four years of (admittedly haphazard) blogging gone. 

I knew I needed to renew my vision for writing. But how?

Here are five steps I’m taking in 2015 to bring new purpose to my writing.

Focus 

In January, a few fellow bloggers had a discussion about the one word theme they were choosing for 2015 to bring focus to their blogs. I loved this idea. I chose the word Story. My blog this year would focus on my own stories lived out from my childhood to now.

Photo credit: Arkansas Women #Blogger Workday by Jenny Marrs  

Reach Out 

I’ve been so intent on my overarching goal of getting my books published, I haven’t wanted to spend the time and effort to get to know local writers. Selfish? Yes. I decided to change that in 2015. I began actively following Arkansas Women Bloggers and participating in conversations. I attended a blogger work day at the Artist Retreat Center in Bella Vista in February and met other bloggers. I’ve made it a goal to continue to meet and reach out to other writers locally through 2015. 

Step Outside Your Comfort Zone 

I love writing stories for children, but I felt my writing was becoming stagnant. I needed to challenge myself. I decided to commit to finding opportunities to write on subjects I don’t normally consider. Once a month, I would pursue a different outlet for my writing – one that challenged me to write outside my norm. So far, I’ve had the opportunity to write for three blogs I love and I’m happy to announce I’ll be reading an essay at Little Rock’s Listen To Your Mother show in May. 

Learn

It doesn’t matter how much you know about writing; you can always learn more. I’ve committed to learning how to be a better writer this year. I already have two local writing conferences on my calendar and a number of free webinars. I plan to attend a few local classes and actually read those books on writing that have gathered dust on my shelf.  

Renew Your Commitment

When I was younger, I didn’t understand why people wanted to renew their wedding vows after years of marriage. After slumping through 2014, I see the power behind recommitting yourself to someone, or something, you love. 2015 is a year for me to recommit to my original goal of being a children’s writer, but in a gentler and, hopefully, wiser way. 

I’ve already seen a measure of success this year. I’ve had the opportunity to guest post on three blogs I love, including Arkansas Women Bloggers. I auditioned for Listen To Your Mother Little Rock and was chosen as one of the participants. I’m currently outlining my next middle grade novel. 

But here’s the best part: I’m excited about writing again. 

While I’ve had less time to spend writing books, the renewed energy and enthusiasm I have for writing is worth the tradeoff. I’m excited to see what the rest of 2015 will bring as I continue with my renewed vision for writing. 

Have you found yourself in a writing slump? How did you renew your vision for writing?

Kimberly Mitchell loves journeys, real or imagined. She has traveled to five continents and over twenty countries, always with a book in hand (or backpack). Now she writes middle grade adventures to send her characters on journeys, too. She lives in Northwest Arkansas with her husband and the best souvenir she ever found, a Yemeni cat. Find out more at kimberlymitchell.us and follow her on Twitter @KSMitch17. 

by Katharine Trauger

My kids and I are all “worders”. By that I mean we love grammar and diagraming sentences and such. We love Lynn Truss’s books. We correct each other’s adverbs that happen to be missing the “ly” ending. 

It’s the little things in life that mean so much. 

So when we drove past a motel with the sign, “Newly Renovated Rooms”, we hooted in mock superiority. “Renovate means make new,” we chortled, as we gaped at the obvious mistake. “How can anyone ‘newly make new’?!”  

But maybe that was premature?

I like to think while I mow and mowing season has already begun for us. In fact, I’ve mowed twice already this year. I’m full of thoughts fluttering like a butterfly migration in my head. So I was thinking about “newly renovated” and wondering about the possibility of making something new, anew. I thought of how green is popping out all over, lately. I thought of the return of the birds and their lilting songs and how the peepers are peeping in the damp ditches all around. 

And suddenly it hit me: The best way I ever found, to do Spring cleaning (do NOT turn the page, just yet!) is only about 30 years old. Spring cleaning is a LOT older than that. So maybe I found a new way to make things like new?

Possibly.

Regardless, I’ve learned to love spring cleaning with this new method and you will, too. It’s revolutionary because:

1. You spring clean your house every day.
2. It only takes about 30 minutes.

I am not making this up! Let me tell you a story about why I DO spring clean, and love it:

Once, a long time ago, I went on a successful hunt. 

No, I did not bag a huge elk or an antelope. Not even a deer. Not even a turkey or a quail. Nope. 

What I found, after hunting for 3 days, was a beautiful pearlescent tan orb, pointed on one end like a teardrop, about the diameter of a dime. 

And as soon as I found it, I destroyed it.

It was a black widow spider egg sac. It was under my file cabinet, which I was able to upend because I’d removed all its drawers. 

At last, I’d completed the hunt that began when I’d found the lovely female black widow spider on a lower shelf of one of my bookcases, just behind the Little Golden Books I’d provided for my grandchildren. That was close. At least I knew to be on guard because I know black widows love wooden places to hide. Like toy boxes and behind door frames.

So now that you are ready to begin cleaning your whole house in 30 minutes a day, let me share how I do it so you, too, can have “Newly Renovated Rooms!”

Here we go:

1. Turn off the phone. 
2. Choose where to begin. I like the front door, entryway, and living room, for obvious reasons. 
3. Gather the following: a small bucket of lightly soapy warm water (about a half teaspoon of dish liquid in a gallon) and a rag and towel, rubber gloves if you use them, a small stepladder or stool, and a notepad and pencil. Depending on the location, you might also want a vacuum or duster. Oh, almost forgot: You’ll need a timer.
4. Begin at one corner of the room and use the rag and soapy water on absolutely everything that can take it. Wash the entire surface of the wall, the doors, doorframes, doorknobs, the windows (dry these) and windowsills, the furniture (dry again), the picture frames and any glass in them (dry), the crown molding and baseboards, the lamps and do-dads, etc.  Change the water if needed.
5. Use the notepad to note needed repairs, contents of boxes that need labeling, and any writing ideas you want to remember.
6. This time is not for the ceiling or the floors. Do those as special projects when they are needy. 
7. If you come to a bookcase or desk, clean, only. Do not purge or organize; those jobs are for other moments in your life. But do remove every book, dust it, and clean its shelf. Do remove desk drawers to clean under them, etc.
8. Have a designated place to set miscellaneous items to put away later. That chore, too, is for some other time.
9. Work fast. Work only for thirty minutes. Then get on with the rest of your day.
10. Begin where you left off, tomorrow, and repeat, daily until you’ve cleaned the whole house. Then begin again at the front door.

That is all there is to it. The average house has about ten or twelve rooms. The average room has three or four walls. The average wall is small enough to get done in thirty minutes. 

In my house, counting hallways, there are 52 walls, seven closets, and a LOT of cabinets and shelves. That means I ought to get the house totally clean in less than a year, but I’ve found it takes me closer to two years to get all the way through every room this way. Life does not always happen on schedule . . . 

Still, if my house is “Newly Renovated” every two years, that’s a huge improvement! How about you?!

Katharine Trauger is a retired educator and a women’s counselor. She and her husband spent 25 years running a home and school for children who would otherwise have been homeless and has worked 15 years as contributor and/or columnist for several small professional magazines, with over 60 published articles. She blogs about the rising popularity of “being at home” from a sun room on a wooded hilltop in the Deep South at: Home’s Cool! and The Conquering Mom and tweets at Katharine Trauger (@KathaTrau). She is currently working on a self-help book entitled: Yes, It Hurts, But . . . 

by Brenda McClain

God overwhelms me. He overwhelms me with his goodness and his grace. Sometimes he drags me, kicking and screaming, to the right decision. I’m not an easy child of God.

When we lose someone dear to us, I don’t think we realize until then what a vast chasm their loss creates. Compound that with family disagreements and abandonment over an estate, and it becomes a deep valley. One wonders if there will ever be a way out. This happens more often than we realize.

The first year after my Mother’s death, I was quiet, calm throughout the storm raging around me, and sometimes in me. In every…single…step, I was calm. To this day, I remain amazed and look back at the time almost fondly. Why? Because I survived, made it through, and kept my promises to Mother. But most of all, my faith in God during that time was calm and a force. I KNEW He was with me, covering me. I did not take a step without talking to Him.

You see, during this time I really didn’t care if I lived. 

Really…Did…Not…Care. My sisters and my nieces basically cut me out of their lives, and I was devastated. I had so tried to make everything work out, and I am sure-footed knowing I did my best. Along with my Mother, they are the reason I closed my Nashville, Tennessee business in 2002 and moved to Conway. And now?

My house is too big for me, and seems empty. We bought this sized house because my beloved nephew, 6’3″ Ron Greene, lived with us. We gave him the upstairs. The house was blue, Mother’s favorite color! Silly things that seemed to mean the world at the time. She loved this house, and really envisioned me living here after she was gone. In some of our late night talks she would tell me things she wanted me to do with the house — screened in back porch; take over the master suite. One out of two isn’t bad….

Through all of this, calm as I was, I really just hoped to die. Soon. Of course, I would never, ever actually kill myself, but I did not care. In my mind, I was useless. Everything I had done for family had been in vain. I really don’t think it was a pity party either, because I have known years and years now how very blessed my life truly is. My main goal was to get my affairs in order so I would not leave my nephew — executor of my will — a mess to clean up. He would have my Mother’s estate and mine to deal with, and that would not be fun or fair. So, my prayer was always to let me live until things were in order for him. That is basically still my prayer, but for a very different reason. I have a lot to do.

Ron deserves my best. He has lived with me or near me for the last 12-plus years of his 30 on this planet. He has backbone, and has withstood sometimes what seemed insurmountable odds to be in my life. He is my real life Hero!

Ron Greene and I celebrating his 30th birthday at our favorite place, The Capital Hotel’s One Eleven. 2015 permission from Brenda McClain

It will embarrass Ron, but he is also truly one of God’s Angels. For the first two years after Mother’s death, he stayed close, coming within a nano-second if I called. He left Conway Saturday, March 21st, on his new journey. I am so proud of him and the solid direction he has chosen. The sparkle in his eyes is back, and he is working to make his life better. He is still my Hero, an Angel of God. He’s just doing it from his beloved Texas! Through my tears and a few Krispy Kremes that Saturday, I was so very thankful.

The first friend I met in Conway was actually working in Little Rock. We met through my work with Gaither Music and his work with then-Governor Mike Huckabee. Don Bingham was Executive Director of the Governor’s Mansion. Little did I know what that chance meeting would hold. At the time, we were both just doing our jobs for our respective clients.

 

 

Don Bingham is now Executive Director of the Governor’s Mansion for newly-elected Governor Asa Hutchinson. This Governor will never have a better, more loyal employee. The state is lucky to have Don and Nancy Bingham in our midst. Don and his wife Nancy are Angels in my life. I guess they travel in pairs?

Enter Georg and Annabelle Andersen. It was Georg who freely offered his expertise on redoing my then house, and Annabelle who would greet me with fresh muffins, or invite me to lunch every time I came home. We discovered we lived about three houses away from one another. One of the houses in-between was, according to Georg, home to “the best eye surgeon in the region, if you ever have a need.”

“Good to know,” I said. How little I really knew.

 

Georg and Annabelle Andersen in front of Elizabeth Bogard’s art in Art on the Green.  Permission from Art on the Green.

Georg was to become my ‘Tipping Point’ Angel. He connected me to Nina Ruth Baker.

Georg was the one who first talked to me about working with Art on the Green, a top drawer Art Gallery, the first of its kind for this growing community. I was confident and experienced, but just simply going through the motions.

Nina and I met late one afternoon in the offices of Baker Eye Institute, where she assists her husband as a Registered Nurse Practitioner. HE is David Baker, MD, FACS. You remember? The best eye surgeon in the region, according to Georg. See how little I knew about God’s plans for me?

 

One of Nina Baker’s “Lift Up Your Head” paintings is  hanging from the ceiling skylight at Baker Eye Institute and two are in the Cantrell Airport in Conway, Arkansas. Used with permission from artonthegreen.net

It was in Nashville, Otter Creek church of Christ and Jerry Jennings was talking about Ephesians when he said “God’s plans for us are so much greater than we can ever imagine.”

I have never forgotten that moment or his words.

On the drive home I was numb. Can this be? Is it possible that i’ve found good, interesting, and even visionary work that will allow me to utilize the skills I worked so hard to acquire? I called my Aunt, Marvine Ely of Fort Worth, Texas. Since she has been one of God’s Angels in my life for years, she understood. I was beginning to.

October 17, 2013 I wrote this about Nina on my blog, brendamcclain.com: 

Then, there is Nina. Nina Ruth Baker, R.N. and Artist. Conway Art Gallery is her dream. As a young woman, told she was going blind, she picked up a paint brush and the rest is history…..As I met with different people in town I find their love and reverence for her kind heart similar to what was felt when The Dick Clark came on set of Prime Time Country. A hush, a genuine reverence for the person. This will embarrass her, I’m sure — but I want to say – publically, in this forum — just how loved she is by all. I am already learning so much from Nina.

 

Nina Baker in her studio, painting.  Photo by permission with Art on the Green.

 

Have I learned from her? Beyond measure. Nina Ruth Baker is the most selfless human being I have ever, ever met. EVER.

And as selfless as Nina is, David is wise. I would see him from time to time, and he was always extremely encouraging to me in my work for Nina. But one day, when I was (unbeknownst to anyone) feeling really low, Nina came to the Gallery. We met each other going in.

David and Nina Baker with Wesley Walls at a Gallery reception.  

“David asked me to give you this message today.” It was a very encouraging Bible verse, and while I want to keep this as a private message, there is no way I can accurately say how moved I was. I understood then, and continue to know, that David Baker,MD, FACS is one of God’s chosen Angels. I continue to be overwhelmed by David and Nina, their kindness, their generosity, and their just all-around goodness.

God answered my prayers before they were formed. He moved people, his earthly Angels, into my life for this very purpose, more than ten years before I knew I would need them.

 

This is the day my life felt renewed.  Art on the Green’s ribbon cutting.  L to R Front row: Katrina Dolislager, Sheila Parsons, Nina Baker, Georg Andersen, Linda Flake and Elizabeth Bogard. Back row: William McClanahan, Cathy Wester, David Baker, Parilee Croft, Lois Giorgis and Don Bingham. Used with permission Art on the Green.

Is this to say David and Nina, the Binghams, and the Andersens are the only Angels in my life? Absolutely not. So many have had an impact, and I plan to continue talking about my Earthly Angels @ brendamcclain.com in the coming months.

How do I ever say “thank you” to people who unknowingly helped me renew my life, gave me a new will to live? I can’t. What I can do is be as honorable as I know how to be around them, and if in some small way I can make their lives easier, I will. I do Pray so.

 

My favorite photo of Art on the Green at night. Photo used with permission Art on the Green.

Brenda McClain is Gallery Director for Art on the Green, the art vortex for Central Arkansas.  Her blog, brendamcclain.com tells about her life and experiences in the Entertainment  Business as the former CEO for MPR, a Nashville, Tn. based Public Relations agency.

You will usually find her having a morning Starbucks in Art on the Green, reading the headlines on her iPad mini.  She’ll be the one in black and if the sun is shining maybe even wearing sunglasses!