It’s time for the holiday season once again! This is the time of year when families come together to celebrate. I am very blessed; the members of my family love to spend time together year round! I really think that my family is truly remarkable and I love them dearly. We do things together that most people don’t have the opportunity to do. My grandmother has done an incredible job of keeping this family very close and making sure that we spend fun, creative time together. Every Easter, Grandmother dresses up like the Easter Bunny and hides eggs for our family. And it isn’t just an ordinary Easter egg hunt! No, she plans several different themed hunts that involve money, bible stories and prizes! A few days before Christmas, we all dress up in matching sweatshirts, ride around town in a trolley, and take gifts to different families while singing Christmas carols (in four part harmony, no less). On Christmas Eve, we all come together for dinner and Santa even comes for a visit! We always celebrate birthdays, special events, and even not-so-major holidays together. This past year, we all came together for lunch on Father’s Day. We then formed two teams and played an awesome game of softball in my grandparents’ yard (yes, my family is big enough to form two teams). We had such a blast and played until we were all dripping in sweat!  It is a memory I will always cherish. Anyway, here is a picture of the entire Troutman family! It was taken on Easter Sunday of this year. I am crazy about my family and consider myself very lucky. I’d love to see your family photos and hear about your family traditions!
Beth

I don’t know about you, but I am a BIG fan of journaling! I have 12 Composition notebooks completely full and sitting on my bookshelf. I’ve been writing in my journal—coffee cup in hand– since I was about 22. I find that it helps me solve problems, it (now) keeps my husband from having to listen to me vent (a thing most husbands don’t do well), and it’s an emotional snapshot—if you will—of a particular day in my life. However, just the other day, I decided that I needed to change my approach to the entire process. I realized that most of what I have been writing over the last decade had to do with negatives that pop up in the course of a given day or week—relationship troubles, work troubles, family troubles, friendship troubles, confusing situations. There was very little about all the great things that happen in my daily life. I am a firm believer in the power of positive thinking. I think that our minds are capable of far more than our modern culture has us believe. I have always been very positive and extremely focused when it comes to the big picture (mostly my short-term and long-term goals). But, I didn’t realize that I wasn’t doing a great job of focusing on the positive when it came to the day-to-day chronicling of my life in my journal. So, I decided to do something about that; and as a result, I’ve started something that I absolutely love! I write about my day, my thoughts, and my emotions. Then, I write down the situations that occur during the day that made my thoughts go negative. I come up with solutions for dealing with those situations more positively so that I’ll be prepared the next time something similar occurs (life’s all about self improvement, right?). Lastly, I list (at least) 10 things that went really well, made me smile, made me laugh, or just gave me a good feeling deep inside during the course of my day. I list things big and small—my awesome morning cup of coffee, the sweet phone message from my husband, the jokes that Kristy and I share on the set, or the fact that my sister-in-law is pregnant! It has made a HUGE difference in my everyday life. I am actually even surprised at what an impact it has had on me. The more often I do this, the easier it is for me to find (and focus on) all the great things that happen. I find that I feel anything is possible! It has literally helped my life skyrocket! We have so many wonderful things that go on in the course of our days, but we have been trained to focus on the negative—the drama! If we focus on the drama, the more drama we will attract. Have you ever noticed that? The same is also true for the times we focus on happiness. Anyway, this was just something I wanted to share. I would love for you to try it out and let me know if it changes your life!
Much Love,
Beth