Deliberate Motherhood - Barnes & Noble

I just had one of those "dream come true" moments and wanted to share.  (I hope you won't mind.)

Ever since I was a high school student, I would walk into Barnes & Noble with wide eyes and stare in amazement at all the shelves stocked with colorful book jackets and engaging titles. 

There's something about that store that gets my heart beating fast.

I can't even tell you how many times Eric and I have sat side by side in the aisles of Barnes & Noble on our date nights, surrounded with stacks of books.  We inevitably leave with one or two new ones (have I mentioned our bedroom is primarily decorated with bookshelves?), and our discussions on the way home from our date nights are always filled with new ideas and animated discussions about our goals.  (He's my soul mate.)

In the back of my mind, I've always hoped that someday I would have the opportunity to put my thoughts and ideas up there on a shelf next to all the others who love writing as much as I do.  And I've always hoped that in that process, someone would walk by and see my book and say, "That's exactly what I need right now."

Well, I don't know when or where or if Barnes & Noble will stock our book on their actual shelves, but Deliberate Motherhood, our first Power of Moms compilation (written by more than 60 moms from our community), is now up on Barnes & Noble's website.

See?

I'm giddy inside.

I keep looking at the page and smiling.

This is a neat moment for me--and for all of us at Power of Moms.

So thank you to all of the wonderful authors of Deliberate Motherhood for helping to create such a fantastic book.

Thank you to our Power of Moms community for coming to the website and supporting us as we do our very best to strengthen families.

And thank you to Familius Publishing for believing in us and making this book appear in so many places!  (The book is being relaunched on September 3rd.  Press "Buy" on the Familius' Deliberate Motherhood page to see all the places where the book is being offered.)

Just one more note: If you have a sizable blog and would like to review a copy of the book, or if you want to stay up-to-date on what's happening with this book project at Power of Moms, please visit our Power of Moms book page for more details.

This has been a huge, huge project--spanning more than three years--but my heart's so happy about it.

Thanks, everyone, for your support! 

Much love,
April

The Magic that Happens When You Put the Phone Away

I was sitting at my son's basketball game last night, talking to a friend whose smart phone recently died.

She's been using a "non-smart" replacement phone for a couple of weeks until she can get a new iPhone with her plan renewal, but in the process, she's noticed something that I think will resonate with all of us.

A smart phone can often become more of a distraction than a help.

And by always being available to "everyone else," we, as mothers, are becoming unavailable to our families.

Have you felt that, too?

There has been lots of talk about what role "the phone" plays in motherhood, and I think we're all trying to figure out the right balance, but it's become more and more clear to me in the past few months that I have to be extremely deliberate about how much time and attention I give this iPhone of mine.

Because there is something else that matters more.

A few weeks ago, I decided that I would only check my email and text messages at certain intervals during the day.

Wow, that was hard (but I'm keeping at it, and it's making a big difference!  More on that below . . .).

On one Friday afternoon, I picked up Spencer from kindergarten just four hours before I needed to leave to our L.A. Power of Moms Retreat.

There were some last-minute emails flying around and a few logistics I needed to figure out, but as I got out of the van, I resisted the urge to check my phone for any incoming messages.

"Hey Mom!  Do you know there's a black car down the street that looks just like my friend Phoenix's?"  Spencer asked.

"No, I didn't know that.  What does it look like?"  I responded.

"It's kind of like a rectangle, and it's kind of long.  Do you want to go on a walk to go see it?"

It was raining outside, and I was hungry, and I still needed to pack things up and get the kids settled before I left.

Typically, I would have said, "Maybe another time, honey, but we need to get in for lunch."

But this time, I said, "Yes!  Yes I would like to go on a walk.  Do you want to take our umbrellas since you didn't get to take one to school today?"

(He'd had a bit of a meltdown that morning because he wanted an umbrella to use during the 90-second walk into the classroom, but we only have golf-sized ones, and he had a hood that worked just fine, so we didn't let him.)

Well, Spencer got the BIGGEST smile on his face, and we went into the garage to get our umbrellas, and then we walked up the street, checked out that cool black car that looked just like Phoenix's, and then made the two-minute walk back in the rain.

(I did take out my phone to snap a picture:)

And then I realized something about myself that pricked me in the heart a little bit.

I've let myself get too distracted by my phone and my task list and my schedule.  And I'm pretty sure I've missed out on some special moments like the one above.

There are all kinds of reasons and excuses--good ones--that I can provide, and I AM with my children for most of each day, but I don't want to miss chances to walk in the rain with my kids or paint nails on the kitchen floor with my daughters or laugh with my husband at night before I go to bed (because he is hilarious).

So I've made the decision that when my kids are around, I'm going to do everything I can to be accessible to them.  And that means I've been missing text messages and not responding to emails as quickly as before. 

But something sweet and precious and magical is happening in my life that I simply can't afford to miss.

Any other thoughts on this?  I'd appreciate anything you have to add.

Love,
April

Upcoming Events (Book Night, Two Retreats, and Blissdom!)

There are a lot of details being juggled around here this week (like at everyone else's home, I'm sure).

Ethan has a fever (I feel so bad for him), we're finally getting lighting installed in the ceilings of our children's rooms tomorrow (can't wait!), Grace is bringing the snack to her basketball game Wednesday (she can't believe I actually bought Oreos), my mom's occupational therapist is going to see her tomorrow for the first time (fingers crossed!), I started my "100 Days of No Sugar" again . . . after eating way too much pumpkin bread batter (seriously, can you stop eating that stuff once you start?), and Saren and I recorded our second Power of Moms Radio show about teenagers (that was fun!).

I'm also preparing for a few events that I'm so excited about, and I wanted to get them up here on my blog, so if the stars align, we can meet in person!  (Not really sure who's reading this, but I can see there are a lot of visitors dropping by each day, and I'm guessing you're really nice people that I would be honored to meet.)

The first event is our "Book Night," with Whitney Johnson (author of Dare, Dream, Do) on Wednesday, January 23rd in Salt Lake City:

Power of Moms published our very first book a couple of months ago (do you have it yet?), and Whitney Johnson published a beautiful book just a few months before that, and so we made some plans to get together and have a fun evening discussing inspiring ideas with friends. 

(These events are open to everybody--they aren't specific to one religion, one "type" of mom, or anything like that.  Just wanted to clarify!)

Click this link to see the details for this wonderful evening. 

The second event is the Southern California Power of Moms Retreat on Saturday, January 26th in Los Angeles.

You can see the report from last year's Retreat here, and if you click on the image below, it will take you to our information/registration page.  I'd LOVE your help spreading the word about this.  It is going to be an outstanding day.

  
The third event is the Couples Evening Retreat on Friday, February 8th in Tustin, CA.

More about that soon, but I'd love for you to save the date and visit our registration page.  Eric and I will be facilitating/presenting at that one, and we're really looking forward to it.

The fourth event is a blogging conference called Blissdom--March 21st - 23rd in Dallas, Texas.

I've never been to Blissdom before, but I've heard wonderful things about it, and I'm sincerely excited to learn how to develop Power of Moms, meet new friends, and have a few days away to think.

If you're going to Blissdom, please let me know--I'd love to be on the lookout for you.  And if you have any questions or comments about the other events, just leave them in the Comments section below.

Have a great day!

Love,
April