Written by Contributing Writer, Kari at Living Strong, Health & Wellness

With summer just right around the corner, it’s finally time to step outside and begin enjoying the beautiful sunshine and warm weather again. Living in Colorado means we get over 300 days of sunshine, but not all those days are warm. This makes summer a much anticipated season in our home.

What are some fun and exciting activities that you and your family can participate in that will allow you to make memories and improve your health all at the same time? Here is my list of go-to summer activities that are sure to bring smiles to your faces. All of these allow you access to fresh air, possible peaceful and quiet surroundings, time away from televisions and computers and a chance to have real conversations with the ones you love. Not to mention the chance to see God’s beautiful creation, soak in some Vitamin D and time to think without the noise of technology.

1. Hiking…

Not everyone has access to foothills or mountains, but if you do this is a wonderful way to get out and spend some time quality time with your family. Take photos in front of streams, trees and climbing rocks to preserve the days events. Pick some leaves from trees and press them in a book at home and grab a few small unique rocks to put on display to remember your day.

2. Gardening…

Is beneficial on all sides. You get to dig your hands in the dirt (absorb those healthy soil organisms), learn about how food grows and you get to partake of the bounty of the harvest. It’s also a great activity to do with your children of any age, as it teaches them responsibility and to be thankful for the provision of food.

3. Grounding…

Not the most commonly known term, but it simply means being outside barefoot! This is so beneficial for our health for many reason (learn more about that here), but what child doesn’t love running around the thick grass with their shoes off and soaking in the days of summer. Grounding can also be done on sand, some pavement – but not tar streets!

4. Camping…

This definitely isn’t everyone’s favorite, but I do think everyone should camp at least once in their life. You can either find a remote spot in the mountains or go to your local lake or reservoir and enjoy the amenities there. Yes, in Colorado we still have traces of snow in the mountains even during the warmer months of the year!

5. Sports…

If you have kids this should be something you are always doing with them. T-ball, frisbee, basketball, soccer, swimming – there are so many options. Even without kids, grab a group of friends or your sibling and parents and head out to the yard or park and play some ultimate frisbee. Get some fun cardio into your day.

6. Go Into the City or Take a Trip to the Country…

For us it’s always fun to take a trip into Downtown Denver and experience the culture we don’t get living in the suburbs! We have great sculptures in Downtown Denver that the kids get a kick out of! If you already live in the city – visit the country, local farms or even historical sites away from all the noise.

7. Family Movie Nights…

We enjoy family movie nights where we whip up some stove-top popcorn, hang out on the sleeping mats or all snuggle on the couch. Or who can deny that watching movies outside isn’t possibly one of the coolest movie-going experiences! Whether it’s in your backyard, at the park or on the side of a building hosted by local vendors – this is a wonderful way to spend time outside on those warm summer nights. Either way, grab a family-friendly movie and laugh the night away.

I firmly believe that the family unit needs to start spending more quality time together and just a wonderful way to do that is outdoor activities instead of spending every minute inside in front of electronics. I also believe we have moved far away from family bonding and spending valuable and memorable quality time together. This summer make sure you put some of these activities on your calendar! I guarantee you that your kids will love every minute and so will you!

What is your favorite way to spend time outside in the summer months?

The post 7 Summer Activities to Strengthen Your Family and Improve Your Health appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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Written by Kristen @ Smithspirations, Contributing Writer

Have you ever been hurt by someone and found the hurt worsened because you never received a sincere apology? I’ve been there, and it can be terribly painful. Sometimes what isn’t said after an emotional hurt can do more damage than the original offense.

While we can’t do anything to make other people in our lives learn how to apologize, we can make a commitment to be sincere in our own apologies. I certainly don’t want to leave those that I care about feeling more wounded when I’ve wronged them because I couldn’t humble myself to give a heartfelt apology.

Words to Avoid When Apologizing

Some words and phrases don’t really belong in a sincere apology. They may lessen the hurt of your friend, shift the blame, or justify your mistake.

• “I’m sorry that you feel that way” doesn’t apologize for your mistake, but rather shifts the emphasis to your friend’s feelings. We don’t take responsibility for our mistakes when we use that phrase.
• “I’m sorry, but…” The “but” is the problem. When we add a “but” in, we tend to shift the blame of the conflict on to the other person. Our friend may have a part in a conflict, but that can be best addressed after we’ve fully repented for our own wrongs.
• “Well, I didn’t mean to” could be helpful in the overall apology, but if that is all that is said, it may not convince the one we hurt that we truly regret our mistake. I frequently have to teach my children that they still need to apologize when they do something on accident because someone was hurt. It’s the same for us adults!
• “I don’t think you should feel that way.” Ouch. Just ouch. Hurts are real and we need to acknowledge them when we are at fault.
• “I did this because…” We might want to say this to explain ourselves, but if we don’t first say we are sorry, it might just seem that we are justifying our words or actions without recognizing the hurt they caused.
• “Maybe I shouldn’t have…” is only a halfway admission of a mistake and will probably only seem halfway sincere.

Words to Use in an Apology

Certain words and phrases can be extremely helpful in healing hurts that we have caused, whether intentionally or accidentally. Try some of these the next time you find you have wronged someone. I like to say as many of them as I can remember.

• “I’m sorry that I…” Specific apologies let our friend or family member know that we understand what we did wrong and that we truly care that we hurt them.
• “It was wrong for me to…” Admitting that we were wrong without reservations can be challenging and humbling, but it is so powerful! When someone admits to me that they were wrong, I find it almost impossible to not forgive them.
• “Will you please forgive me?” Saying this shows that we understand our need to be forgiven. We also humble ourselves when we ask for forgiveness, and humility is a very attractive thing.
• “How can I make this right?” Sometimes we need to make amends for our mistakes. If we forgot to do something we said we would, taking care of it the next day might be a good way to make it right.
• “I’ll try not to make this mistake again.” As Christians, we show we are truly sorry for our sins against God by trying to not commit them again. Of course we fall short, but our heart is there. It’s the same when we hurt another person. Telling them that we don’t want to make the same mistake again shows a genuine sincerity.

Years ago I heard that Gary Chapman, the man who wrote The Five Love Languages (affiliate link), wrote a book called The Five Languages of Apology (affiliate link). At first I laughed to myself, wondering how long he’d ride the “five languages train”. Then I looked through the book and saw how much truth was in it. If you find it hard to apologize, his book might help you. His ideas helped me understand what makes up a sincere apology.

Do you find it hard to apologize? Have you been hurt before by an apology you never received? Is there something you need to hear when someone apologizes to you?

The post Learning to Apologize appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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Jenn’s recent post on balancing motherhood and other priorities confirmed my idea to share this allegorical story I wrote a year or so ago. Please read it through to learn “the moral of the story”, a poignant message for we modern wives and mothers.

Early in my life, I was introduced to an old family friend.  In fact I can’t remember a time when Sophie wasn’t part of our family.  She was quiet and patient, but always ready with the right word at the right time.

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My folks sought to visit with Sophie in all kinds of circumstances, particularly when they needed direction or counsel. When discouraged about their financial situation, she had a word of encouragement.  When unsure of how to parent us children, Sophie had just the right advice.

But she didn’t just offer guidance for older people; she had great stories for children too!  And she seemed to have an endless supply of them, as most old people do.  She told stories of romance, family squabbles, war, intrigue, murder and even supernatural happenings.  We were captivated by her stories and asked to hear them over and over.

When I was young, Sophie’s stories stuck with me and helped me understand about life and the world around me.   As I grew older I also began to seek out Sophie’s wisdom and advice on living.  It seemed no matter what I came up against in life, she had a story or word of direction or encouragement that helped me on my way.

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I particularly remember in college (when life can get a little more challenging) feeling a little self-conscious about being seen with her (I didn’t see classmates hanging out with their older friends- maybe they didn’t even have one- so I felt a little self-conscious when I spent time with her on campus).  But as she had never failed me in the past, I still sought her out as needs arose.

Sadly, I didn’t spend as much time visiting with her on a regular basis (school was  pretty consuming) and I didn’t request her stories as much (not that I was too old for them or suddenly found them uninteresting). I just didn’t have as much time for stories.

During those college years I made a new significant life-long friend who was quite different from Sophie.  Linnea was up on all the current issues and trends and seemed to know the answer to just about any question.  She was exceptionally popular.  It seemed like everyone on campus was friends with her.

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She was so easy to spend time with- the hours would pass by so quickly.  Whatever I was in the mood for- studying, chatting, shopping, exploring, or just hanging out and watching a movie- she was always up for any option.  A lot of people got together and played games with her.  I never did that much, since I was so busy with my schoolwork, but I heard it was lots of fun.

As I moved on from college to career and then career to married life, these two friends persisted in my life.  It seemed when things were going smoothly I’d spend more time with Linnea but when things proved more trying, I would call upon our old reliable family friend.

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When I began having children I found I didn’t have enough free time (or energy!) for all the fun escapades I’d had Linnea, but the long extended times spent rocking, feeding and tending to the young children allowed me many long extended visits with Sophia.  Each visit encouraged me in my role as a wife and mother and brightened my days.  She always had a way of putting life into perspective and affirmed the investment I was making of my life into my family.

I wanted to spend more time with Linnea, yet there just weren’t the same time freedoms during this season of my life.  But, as the kids got a little older, I found I had bit more time available for she and I to go on little shopping outings and catch up on what was going on in the broader world.  Sometimes she’d want to share about stuff that I really didn’t care about (or didn’t even want to know about), but I’d just steer the interaction back to something I was more comfortable with.   She was always very accommodating to my interests.

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As the kids continued growing, Linnea introduced me to even more things that we could do together.  We began exploring new areas of interest. We tried some crazy fad diet plans, started reconnecting with old friends and classmates and even started a business endeavor that seemed designed for stay-at-home moms.

At the same time that I found my young friend enriching and expanding my life, I found time with my old friend getting less frequent and even put-off.  Sophie was still available but, sad to say, I was giving our relationship low priority. I knew she’d always be there and whatever Linnea and I had going on at the time just seem more immediate and pressing.

Of course, through the years, my children had gotten used to me spending time with Sophie and Linnea.  They had always enjoyed hearing Sophie’s stories, but began to get bored and antsy when I spent time with Linnea.

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Soon, though, she had offspring of her own that were more than ready and available to occupy my kids so we could spend more time together.  This was really handy at the outset.  It allowed many nice extended, uninterrupted times with Linnea.  In time, however, my kids wanted to do nothing more than play with her kids.  They also enjoyed going on adventures, shopping and catching up on modern life with these new friends.  It was all pretty innocent at first, but when her kids started playing rough games with my kids I started getting concerned.

In time, I actually felt like I was in competition with Linnea’s kids.  I started setting limits on how much time they could spend together.  All the while I continued to spend as much time as I could with Linnea.  She proved to be a treasure- an endless source of great travel ideas, super recipes, handy shopping tips and, of course, we had our business.  I could always justify spending a little more time with her each day.

Sophie began leaving messages to get reconnected, and I really wanted to, but everything I was pursuing with Linnea seemed, at least temporarily, to take precedence.  I trusted that Sophie would always be there for me, so I put her off to what I figured would be a less busy time in the future.   But my kids also started to show signs of neglect and I knew for their best I needed to spend less time with Linnea.

Knowing it, however, didn’t translate to any change in my behavior.  Even as my conscience nagged me, reminding me that the time I set aside to spend with her meant time apart from my family and other significant friends, I found the draw to her was too great.  She was just so easy to get together with; she was always available and always accommodating to my needs and interests.

I could call her up at any time to get a quick answer to a question or check in on how things were going with some mutual friends.  I found myself checking in with her anytime I passed by her place.  I would stop by just to see if she had any new news.  I’d fully intend to just spend 5-10 minutes with her but, before I knew it, we’d have spent an hour running off on endless bunny-trails.

There were evenings we stayed up way too late exploring a new area of interest.  Sometimes I even cancelled a scheduled visit with Sophie the morning after I’d spent a late night with Linnea.  Sadly, on too many occasions, my family reaped the consequences of poor mood and attitude when a late night with Linnea meant a missed visit with Sophie.

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I knew things couldn’t continue with Linnea as they had, but I had no desire to break things off with her entirely.  There wasn’t anything unwholesome about our relationship, it had just become out of balance.  But I felt lost to consider how to bring it into balance and felt I was struggling with having right priorities on a daily basis.

My nagging conscience and lack of insight finally spurred me to consider the obvious- seek out the friend who had always helped me through tough decisions and hard times.  Maybe it should have seemed obvious to consult with Sophie about this situation, but I had kept these two worlds pretty separate.

Sophie of course, was ready, willing and more than able to give me the direction and insight I needed to keep this relationship more in balance.  She had just the words of encouragement to spur me on in a more wholesome, balanced relationship with Linnea.

Sophie/Sophia (Greek for wisdom), of course, is the source of all wisdom (God’s own word) and by seeking God’s direction in any problem in our lives, including possibly spending too much time with our electronic friends and gadgets online (Linnea), we can learn His best wisdom for our lives.  We live in a day and time where it is all too natural to be a “Martha” (homeschooling, maintaining a blog and perhaps a home business), yet we all know that “only one thing is needed.” Let’s seek the Lord in how to live in a way that is fully pleasing to Him.

“A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.” Proverbs 17:24

How have you worked out a balance of home/family life with the use of tools like the computer, internet, email, blogging, etc. in a way that is glorifying to God and honoring to your family?  

The post Time with Friends {A Personal Story} appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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