Gulland Family Update

Hey everyone! In an effort to simplify my life, I have not been posting on my blog. When I feel the need to share, I post on my Facebook page. I have the settings set to private, so you are not able to find me using the search function. If you are on Facebook and interested in having access to my profile, please send me an email at gullandfamily@q.com. In the email, please let me know the name you have your profile listed under.

The Gulland family had an AWESOME Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at our home just the three of us. We traveled to Ed's mom's home on Christmas Day and spent the weekend there. It was so nice and relaxing. New Year's Eve was rung in with a Mary Kay friend of mine as well as friends from The River, our church in Faribault. The new year has been shaping up quite nicely.

David has been enjoying his Christmas break. I don't know if he realizes that he has to go back to school tomorrow. He had several play dates over break. He has been playing his didj and enjoying his other new toys from Christmas. We haven't done any baking like I was planning to, but we have definitely been keeping ourselves busy and enjoying all the time together. David is now in 1st grade, but his skills are mostly at a second grade level. I cannot believe how smart the boy is!!! God really blessed him and gifted him with intelligence. It is going to be neat to see how David uses the gifts He has been given by God. At this point in time, David says he wants to be a teacher when he grows up. Neat, huh?

Ed is enjoying his job as a project manager. Right now things have been a bit slow, but hopefully it will start to pick up again now that we are through the holidays. We haven't had any more trips to the ER with Ed, so we are very thankful. We are also thankful that the chainsaw didn't do more damage than it did. For those of you that don't know, Ed cut his leg with a chainsaw in September. There will be no more cutting wood for him without safety gear.

I am still a Mary Kay consultant, but I have decided to pull back on the parties that I was doing. I am going to focus on reorders and individual or double makeovers. I personally like more one on one time with my customers. I also started subbing in the Faribault school district in December. I am ABSOLUTELY loving it! I have enjoyed myself so much that I am thinking about going back to school so I can become an elementary school teacher and have a classroom of my own.

Blessings to you all in this new year!!!

Looking forward to reconnecting with you on Facebook! Lots of love to you all!!! Ed, Steph, & David

Long Time No Post

Hello everyone!

I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to post an update. I was struggling with issues with my depression again. Praise the Lord that I have made it through that battle. I am so thankful to my entire family. They really love on me and support me. I have the best family ever! To those of you who called and encouraged me to get out of bed, thank you. I may not have done it, but I know that is what helps!!!

David is almost done with kindergarten. He only has 14 days of school left. I cannot believe that!!! He is excited for the summer, and he is looking forward to being a first grader next year. He has grown by leaps and bounds in every area of his life this school year. He has made a lot of good friends at school and church. Ed and I have made a lot of good friends as well through our small group at church. God has blessed us with AWESOME leadership at our church who have written the vision and made it clear so we can run with it! I have also made good friends with several of the moms of other kids in David's class.

Faribault is finally beginning to feel like home. We have been here 10 months now. It will be a year mid-July. I know in my head that moving is always a big transition, but I am never really mentally or emotionally prepared for it. Moving is an even bigger transition when you are moving into a completely new community where you need to establish yourself again. We live at least an hour away from all of our friends in the Twin Cities area. With gas prices as high as they are, it is simply not feasible to visit people often. I desperately needed to make friends, and God hooked us up with a small group. Our cell group leaders live in our neighborhood. God is SO GOOD!

We will be attending David's first musical performance tomorrow. His class and another one of the kindergarten classes will be singing for us tomorrow at 2:15 pm. He has been counting down for the concert for the past week and a half.

Many blessings to you and yours!

Love, The Gulland Family

Finally, an update!

The Gulland Family is doing well in our new home. If you need our new mailing address, please email me at prvbs31chick@yahoo.com.

David loves school, and he is reading at almost a second grade level. His teacher has him in an Accelerated Reading Program which he enjoys and is doing wonderfully in. We will be getting his second trimester report card next Friday. His first report card was fantastic, and we expect nothing less this time around. He really enjoys school, and we heard nothing but great comments about him at his conference.

We were very proud parents and thankful to God that He has given us wisdom in raising David. Is David perfect? Of course not because none of us are (This may be a big revelation for some of you. I know it was for me.)! David has things that he can work on. The biggest one being listening and obeying the first time. This is probably more at home than at school. As I think about this, I think about how I still need to work on listening and obeying God the first time he tells me to do something. As I model this behavior, I know that David will continue to improve. I was reading a parenting book this morning, and it said that a lot of parenting is caught not taught. SO TRUE! How many of you remember hearing, "Do as I say, not as I do." I sure do. I am determined to live before David the way that I want him to live.

Ed is enjoying his work with Rust Consulting. He is a project manager. He has moved to a different team which has allowed him to focus on using his strengths. I think it is a much better fit for him, and it allows the company to utilize his strengths.

I am enjoying being a work-from-home mom. I love being a Mary Kay consultant and helping women to take time to pamper themselves. It is great too because the priorities that the company teaches (based on Mary Kay Ash's life priorities): God first, family second, and career third are priorities that I want to live by life by. The company is a great fit for me, and I feel like I finally found something that I love doing (besides being a wife and mom which aren't paying gigs!) :-)

David turned six on Tuesday, February 26th. Can you believe it? We celebrated by taking him and three of his friends from school to the local bowling alley. A fun time was had by all. We will be having a larger celebration with more of his friends from school and church along with some extended family on March 8th. I will post pictures of both events as soon as I can.

Finally, I am on Facebook now, so come and check me out. It has been a great way for me to reconnect with people from high school and college. It has also been a wonderful tool for me staying in touch with friends from our church in Brooklyn Park and with my Mary Kay friends from other units.

Have a wonderful weekend!

E-mentoring Program at CSB

I am participating in an e-mentoring program at my alma matter, CSB (or College of Saint Benedict). The college is located up in St. Joseph, MN. I was paired with a fantastic young woman who is in her sophomore year of college. She is in the orchestra and got the opportunity to work with one of the conductors from the Minnesota Orchestra. How cool is that?

We are going up to St. Joe this weekend to stay with my mother-in-law and her husband. They are keeping David (at his request) while we attend the homecoming game at St. John's. Several people that I went to college with and haven't seen in quite some time are going to be there. I am SUPER EXCITED about connecting with people. I am also excited about meeting Laura. We are still working out the details!

While we are enjoying the football game (hopefully it will stay nice like it has been all week), David will be baking with grandma. He is really looking forward to that.

Quotable Quotes

"As long as you're going to be thinking anyway, THINK BIG."

~ Donald Trump

This is how I have been thinking lately. It has been really exciting to watch God work as I have taken the limits off of Him in my thinking. I have always known in my head that God is a BIG God, but it has finally really sunk down into my heart.

Since taking the limits off of God, Ed has gotten the job that he desired and loves. They are very family friendly and concerned about their employees work/life balance. For example, this Friday night I am going scrapbooking with some friends. They are letting Ed come home early to finish working from home, so I can get to my scrapbooking event at 5:00 pm. How cool is that???

We have put our house on the market and begun looking online at houses closer to Ed's office. As we have been looking, we have realized that we will be able to purchase a home on a lake which has been our dream for years. We honestly never thought we would see this dream realized. It is AMAZING what happens when you let God be God and take the limits off your thinking!!!

The Bible (New International Version) says in Psalm 37:4 : "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." I have really seen this verse come alive in my life as I have focused on "seeking first the kingdom of God." I have really been living out of my heart the last few months, and it is amazing the difference it makes.

I encourage you to take the limits off of God, THINK BIG, DREAM BIG, and live out of your heart!

So Happy Together!

Here is a recent shot of our beautiful family while we were vacationing in Iowa City. It was a nice week off together as a family. We all got some much needed rest. I feel completely refreshed now. I think that me trying to nap since I have been home helps with feeling refreshed too!

Now I am just trying to get myself back into my routines. While I am not doing them completely, I am doing them the best I can for right now. I am just jumping right in to the FlyLady routine and remembering that what I want to see is "Progress not perfection in 2007."
FlyLady truly has made a difference in my life. I feel it in my stress level as well as in my energy level. I am thankful that I found her website. It truly has been a blessing to me. Check her out at www.flylady.net.

Let me know how your Easter was and what vacations you have planned for the rest of the year. We don't have any other vacations planned right now, but I will keep you posted. I have a few places that I am planning on visiting, but I do not have any of the details worked out yet.

Mary Kay Career Conference

Last Friday, March 23rd and Saturday, March 24th, I spent time with my Mary Kay girlfriends at the Minneapolis Convention Center learning how to better serve my customers. It was very inspirational, motivational, and fact-filled. I walked away with a deeper desire to be more like Jesus with my customers and serve them with excellence.

I still have not processed all the pages of notes that I took. I am looking forward to typing up my notes into word documents to help me process everything that I took in last weekend. I will probably spend a significant amount of time doing this tomorrow because Ed will have the car all day. He has a meeting with a CEO and the other employees of a consulting company located in Uptown.

Pictured from left to right: Senior Consultant Teresa Scholtz, Independent Beauty Consultant Stephanie Gulland, Executive Senior Sales Director Joyce Danger, and Team Leader Jill Overby

What's Happening?

To the few who read my blog, you have probably given up and do not check very often for new postings since they have been few and far between. I apologize for my lack of updates. However, I had to let something go when I was nannying. There was simply not enough time in the day. My last day of nannying was last Friday, March 16th. As much as I loved the kids and miss them, I feel like my life has more balance again. I also feel like my priorities are back in order: God first, family second, and career third --- Just like Mary Kay taught the very first beauty consultants.

I have spent my first full week retired from nannying with getting organized, clearing out clutter, and cleaning. My major chore was tackling Mount Washmore (the approximately ten loads of laundry that I had been putting off doing). Procrastination is SO NOT a good thing! I am happy to say that using FlyLady's techniques and ideas that my house looks better than it has in months. For more information about FlyLady, visit http://www.flylady.net/.

I must admit that I feel much more peace in my household. Ed even commented to me that it was definitely a lot less stressful for him to come home to a clean home. I am glad that I have been able to help create a peaceful place in our home, so Ed can come home from work and unwind.

This weekend I am attending the 2007 Career Conference for Mary Kay at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Tonight was a lot of recognition of accomplishments. Even with all of the recognition, I took tons of pages of notes. I learned a lot tonight, and I know that I will learn a lot tomorrow in my workshops. I am looking forward to being able to really process the information on Sunday and into the beginning of next week.

Please leave a comment and let us know what is happening in your life. If you have any prayer requests, please either post them or email them to us at gulland@wh-link.net.

Love you all! I must head to bed because the alarm will be going off at 6:00 am tomorrow morning to get ready and head out the door to the final day of Career Conference 2007.

Update --- Finally

Hello everyone!

This is going to be a VERY quick update because I am crunched for time. Here is the UPDATE: First and foremost, Ed is done with school. YAHOO!!!! We haven't really celebrated yet though. I don't think Ed will really be up for celebrating until he has a new job. Please keep his job search in your prayers. Pray that God would give Ed wisdom in where to spend the time applying. Also, he recently applied for a job that he would LOVE to have. Pray that God would open the door for him. He has been down because he hasn't gotten any interviews. I know that God has the perfect job for him, but it will be in His timing and not ours. Second, I am still nannying. The three kids are ages 7, 5, and 4. They are a lot of FUN! However, they keep me SUPER busy. I have the four year old all day on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The other two I only have after school Mondays through Fridays. It requires me to be a lot more organized and stay on top of my routines Finally, I am working on treating 30 women to a facial in 30 days. I am taking on a challenge from my director with Mary Kay. I have one facial scheduled with one friend. Only 29 more to go!!! I am really looking forward to completing this challenge because it will be GREAT training for me!!!

Hope to start posting again more frequently! Thanks for those of you who emailed me to see what was up. My life has just been TOO full to take the time to blog. I hope to start doing it again though because it is really therapeutic for me!!!

I want to leave you with the words that I am focusing on for this year: "Progress not perfection in 2007." This is from one of my FlyLady emails. Check out her website at http://www.flylady.net/.

Love to you all!!!

Future Artist?

What do you think of our Picasso? That is really the only artist's name that I know, so if you think that his drawings reflect another artist's style than you will have to leave that in the comments.

I hope that this note finds you all doing well. Our family is doing the countdown until Ed's last class for his MBA. On November 30th, he will finish his last "Strategic Management" class. Then all he needs to complete is his two Capstone class sessions in January. Yahoo!!!

David has been working on his writing, phonics, reading, and math. He loves doing addition and subtraction. Crazy, huh? He is working on worksheets that according to the developers of the workbook are for first grade. "WOW" is all I have to say! I am constantly amazed at how much he loves to learn. We are doing everything in our power to nurture this love, so he will continually love to learn and take on new challenges. I have seen way too many kids who settle on doing the easy work and never push themselves to their potential. I want David to be all that God created him to be.

I have been keeping a VERY FULL schedule! I had all kinds of plans for getting things done today, but right now I am going to give myself a break and lay down with a good book. :-) I have been trying to do one Mary Kay pampering session a week. It hasn't worked out to be that, but I will continue to try because I love the products and love the girl time!!! I also have been working full-time as a nanny to three kids: Matthew (7), Mary Kate (5), and Michael (3). They are completely adorable and full of love! Our entire family absolutely adores them and loves spending time with them. I also work once a week with the Covenant Kids Ministry at our church. Finally, I am adding to my plate watching my a friend's two kids occassionally. We are trading off time, so she will watch David for me some time without costing me anything. I like that deal!!! :-)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my mother-in-law's home with her (Lois), her husband (Roger), Roger's son (Dan), Dan's wife (Amber), and their daughter (Mary). We had GREAT food and some AWESOME weather! The kids and I played kickball and other variations of the game outside for quite some time yesterday. I cannot seem to turn off my love and desire to play with kids even when I have the day off! :-)

We will be going to my father-in-law's (Jim) next weekend. I am not sure if we are celebrating Christmas with him then or not. We will be spending the Christmas holiday with my family in Mississippi. I am BEYOND EXCITED!!! It has been seven months since I have been down there, so the trip is well past due. I am looking forward to seeing my sister, Dawn, my brother, Travis, and my niece and nephew, Addison and Alex. I cannot wait to spend time with everyone!!! It is going to be pretty low-key, so that is another bonus! We will have some good relaxing family time (I am sure we will go to a movie or two!). It will be nice for our family (me, David, and Ed) to just have some solid quality time together as well. Ed is planning on having all of his projects for his Capstone class wrapped up, so it will be like he is already done with school even though he will technically have two more classes in January.

Please let me know what is going on with all of you. I am looking forward to hearing what everyone did for Thanksgiving and how they plan on spending and enjoying this Christmas season. I am hoping to take down all of our fall decorations today and get our Christmas decorations up. David is excited for that, and I am looking forward to listening to Christmas music!!! Remember, Jesus is the reason for the season! Don't let yourself get SO BUSY that you forget why we celebrate this holiday!