Tag Archives: learning

blogger, mindset, mom of boys, musings

Be Striving for Ordinary

March 8, 2023 Be Enough 6 Comments

There is a lot of striving for extraordinary in our world these days!

What extravagant location will I visit?

What luxury brand of purse or clothing can I buy?

How much do I make per year?

What private school do our children attend?

What can I post on social media to make myself be seen and be extraordinary?

Me, I am striving for ordinary.

How many walks or hikes can I take around our town and local hills?

How little can I shop or how many weeks can I go between having to step foot in a store?

How can I help my children truly learn in their unique ways?

How many conversations can I have that are authentic and encouraging on a daily basis?

How many books will I read this year?

I have been pondering this concept of always striving for being or doing something extraordinary. It reminded me of my last eight years in the Network Marketing realm. I remember early on when I started sharing the products I love, I met a woman in her early 30’s who was a true light, with two young girls and a house on the hill. She explicitly told me that her sole goal in the company was to speak in front of 15,000+ people at our annual conference. Her financial goals were intertwined with wanting to be in front of 15,000+ people. I always found this genuinely fascinating and unrelatable to me personally as my best moments were often chatting in the line to the washrooms or sitting beside someone in the seats or simply walking down the street. Ordinary moments that turned into extraordinary relationships.

I have realized now in my teaching careers as I am asked to speak and present information to others that I would rather be the person stacking the chairs at the back than speaking to everyone from the front. (I actually shared this two weeks ago to someone in our school leadership team.) I am really happy being behind the scenes. (And clicking away on my computer keyboard as I share my musings. I am so happy right now as I write this!)

Striving for ordinary.

Yup, that’s me.

Have an epic Wednesday and love what you do!

xoxo Joanna

Education, Family, homeschooling, radical sabbatical, school, teaching, Wordsmith

Be Going into Grade 10 (High School)

July 23, 2022 Be Enough Leave a comment

Well, I must admit now that as I sit down and type this, that JC is our guy that I was most concerned about and most excited about this year as he was growing and learning. At the end of last year, fourteen year old JC had decided to stop doing gymnastics since starting it at 18 months old. In our experience in watching children as teachers, grade 8 or 9 is not the ideal time to be stopping activities as you have to wonder what will take the place of the activity? He was also getting quieter and quieter as his voice changed and he was our quiet one to begin with. Lastly, he started talking in one syllable words, with the predominate word being “good”. Oh no, what other changes were ahead for us?

This year, JC really grew in so many tremendous ways and it has been so fun to see his passions develop and catch fire. JC developed skills in the media arts, drones, photography, video-making, producing, writing music, pottery, and stunting. JC is now a pro at Adobe Premium Pro, Unreal Engine, 360 degree camera and GarageBand.

After encouragement from people placed in his life at the perfect moment, JC moved from gymnastics to competitive trampoline in September. He had success after success in the gym each week and has been keen to learn new tricks daily (like a half-half and a Rudy-out). In his first in person competition, he stuck all his landings and showed what a ‘gamer’ he is. He won 1st all around for British Columbia (level 1-4) in April and did amazing at Western Canadians in June.

JC continues to really loves hanging out with his brothers and his Winnie, skiing the Prospector Terrain Park, cross country skiing, reading and having time to create! It’s in these in-between moments of time that JC really thrives. His imagination always takes him to interesting and fascinating places. He made a cardboard Ironman mask one day, created a stunt where his younger brother, CC, flew through the air and through garbage bags covering a doorway and also worked alongside his little brother, OC, to make fascinating Lego building another day.

Now that we have made it to the end of grad nine, it is really hard to believe our oldest is going into high school next year, with a hybrid twist! (More to come about the hybrid twist!)

XOXO Joanna

P.S. And yup, no pics again. Anyone know someone that works at WordPress and can give this loyal 10+ year blogger some more storage??

author, christmas, Flexibility

Be “UnBusy”

December 19, 2016 Be Enough Leave a comment

Right now, I can sense a whirling of energy around me.

Fluttering here and there.

Cars driving quickly.

People walking swiftly.

All around the city.

This way and that.

Me, I choose to be “UnBusy”.

Busy is the swear word of the season.

Right up there with the f-word.

Beside the bar of soap that my mouth got washed out with.

Busy?

Keeping ourselves occupied?

Have a great deal to do?

These are a choice.

Being busy is a choice.

What’s on the ‘to-do’ list is a choice.

Yes, it is 100% up to us.

Fluttering here and there.

Driving quickly.

Walking swiftly.

All around the city.

This way and that.

Or not at all.

I used to rock the ‘to-do’ list.

This list would make me feel productive.

Make me feel occupied.

Now I have created space to be.

Sitting here.

Moving there.

Talking here.

Wondering there.

I purposely move slowly and with ease.

Walking quietly in the crackle of snow.

All around my beautiful city.

Wherever my boys or mind take me.

Incredible beauty surrounding us in this season.

Ready to envelop and shower us with peace.

Right now, I sense a purple energy all around me.

Loving.

Being.

Seeing.

Allowing.

Peace in this season.

cancer, Family

Be the Gift of a Vomit Bowl

June 24, 2015 Be Enough Leave a comment

After my mom died, there were few things that I asked for nor wanted.

Stuff just doesn’t hold much “significance” for me.

One thing that we did take was the two blue bowls that my mom had during her cancer journey.

It wasn’t until this morning that I understood the significance of these bowls and the gift that I had been given.

Last night, my oldest threw up, eleven times… yup, we counted.

We slept for about two hours and now we are into our day, living our life.

I have learned that we don’t live in a world where everything is perfect or where everything will go as we planned. BUT we can find comfort in chaos and beautiful moments while cleaning a vomit bowl.

My Sexy Neck sent me this text after JC and I’s long night:

The gift of watching my mom vomit over and over and over again as she journeyed through cancer. My mom and I would laugh as we were the two most squeamish members of our family when it came to vomit.

The gift of a bowl to help my children and to be able to walk with them through their sickness.

New beginnings.

New Learnings.

A blue bowl.

The gift of a messy, marvelous life that my mom lived fully.

My own messy, marvelous life that I live with in freedom and grace.

Boys, Family, Parenting

Be Thinking/Reading in French

November 6, 2013 Be Enough 1 Comment

We are one year and two months into our first child in school.
We decided to put him into French Immersion due to our life before children living in Europe, class compositions in French Immersion and the brain/future benefit of learning another language. The only language that is offered is French, otherwise we may have preferred Spanish or perhaps even German.

As parents, we question many of our decisions that we have made for our boys. Today, we were given a small pat on the back that for our oldest French Immersion is the right track for him.

Today, we were in the car.
JC yelled out, “Seven cars. There were seven cars lined up at the light!”
I had a light bulb moment and asked, “Did you count that in your head in French or English?”
JC responded, “French of course Mama!”
My first thought was: thanks for translating to English for me and then I was surprised he was counting in French.

Here’s our Grade Oner reading his home reading tonight:
JC reading in French

Boys, Construction, Family

Be Having Some Hideouts

October 27, 2013 Be Enough Leave a comment

My boys are incredibly creative when they are outside. They seem to go with themes, sticking with them for a month or two then they move on to something else. ( uHmmm… Might be interesting to think about as we school our boys.)

We have gone through swinging, soccer, bugs, tree climbing, treasure hunting, obstacle course making and probably a few other I am forgetting.
Here’s one of their most adventurous creations.

Right now they will look at something and immediately see “hideout”! I am letting them go with it. So far nothing has been destroyed, demolished or hurt in the process of their outside fort making.

Here are four new hideouts they have discovered in the last month:

Under the front stairs.

Under the side stairs.

Underneath the juniper beside the pool deck.

They spent hours pruning the juniper so that they could all fit underneath.

This is their latest hideout and I was the ‘bad guy’!

Lets just say they were pretty easy to catch.

cancer, Family, Parenting

Be Taking Notes

August 8, 2013 Be Enough Leave a comment

As I have just started my new careers as a nurse and pharmacist, I am seeing the importance of taking notes.

I feel like I am learning a new language, and a new way of understanding. Science was never my strong point, but I am working very hard to understand what the doctors and nurses are telling me. I would do anything for my mom. Luckily, I can rely on my sister’s notes.

My sister, the lawyer, models this note taking well.

You go girl!

Parenting, psychology

Be Proud

December 14, 2012 Be Enough Leave a comment

My son is almost fifteen months old. He cannot walk, but he sure can climb! He climbs his brothers’ bunk bed ladder, onto kitchen chairs. Today, he climbed up on the couch in between his big brothers. He was so proud!

This proud moment made me think of judgement for some reason and my judgement in particular.

It would be easy to judge the fact that my son isn’t walking as the ‘norm’ is 12 months.

It is easy for me to judge, myself especially. But I need to learn to be proud of the little things and let the other things go! My inner dialogue could probably burn a house down. I am very hard on myself.

My children have become my teachers in many ways. Thank you baby boy for my lesson today,

Joanna be proud!

"Be" ENOUGH