June Inspiration ~ The Worth of a Woman (& free printable!)

So, today is actually my 13 year wedding anniversary!  Yay!!  We celebrated over the weekend by coercing my little sister to babysit 5 of my kiddos overnight, while Dan and I escaped to a local hotel right by the super cute 25th street in Downtown Ogden.  Needless to say, romance was kept to a minimum with #6 around.  Not that you wanted to know that.  …or, did you??  Benny is at that adorable 3 month age where he cries when you put him down, stops when you pick him up, cries when you put him down, stops when you pick him up, cries when you put him down, stops when…oh.  Anyway, then he’s got this other thing where you’re just about to put him down and he has to go and smile at you.  How do you put down a smiling baby?!?!  It’s impossible.

Look at this little guy, livin’ it up in the hotel room.  Dad is conked out on the bed, it’s almost midnight, and I can’t put the sucker to bed!  Aghhh…he’s too cute! (If you follow along on Instagram, you probably already saw this pic.)

Anyway, so the next morning, we went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.  While sitting there, I was chatting with Dan about how I needed to come up with my inspirational post, and did he have any lovely thoughts recently that I could possibly write about.  No lovely thoughts.  As we were checking out of the hotel, we were pulling our luggage down the hall, past a conference room.  Inside the room, I saw something that made my heart sing.  It was a banquet for Ms. Wheelchair Utah and other girls and women confined to wheelchairs.  In the front of the room, there was a gal, in a wheelchair, speaking to all the girls, sharing her story and empowering them.  It was awesome!

I only witnessed the event for a matter of seconds, but it literally brightened my whole day.  I loved thinking that these women had embraced who they were, knew that they were important and special, despite any physical set-backs.  It made me think how this world might be different if ALL women recognized their worth and knew that they were special.  Isn’t that interesting to think about?  When a woman doesn’t realize her value and potential, it’s such a loss to the world.  I truly believe that each person has something to offer this world and lives that only they can bless in their special way.  We need strong women, dang-it.  And, not in a competition-with-men sort of way.  We are different than men, with innate abilities that should never be dismissed as trivial, but embraced and encouraged.  What a difference we can make!  How silly it is to compete with other women.  How silly it is to withhold compliments from them.  How silly it is to not reach out and build each other up.  So much good will come from a *truly* happy woman.

Download the June 2013 Printable HERE

(Printable images & background provided by Fish Scraps, from the Fanciful Notion collection.)

Recently, for homeschool, I watched this awesome little video with my kiddos.  It’s about the high school cheerleading squad in Syracuse, Utah…a group of girls who know who they are and have taken it upon themselves to reach out to a fellow friend, and build her up.  It’s really inspiring!  See for yourself…

Anyway, my personal goal for this month is to put more thought into building up the women around me.  Be a better friend.  Give more compliments.  Help them to feel as special as they are.  Only good things can come from it, and heaven knows we need more good in the world!