About a month ago, we realized our dog Speedy was working the system. Between the nine of us, we hadn’t set a definite plan for who was feeding the dog his two times a day.  So a few of us went along and made our best guess at it, feeding him when he looked hungry standing near his empty dog food bowl.

Then one day it dawned on me as Chris came in the door from work, found Speedy standing by his empty bowl, put food in Speedy’s bowl and said, “Poor Speedy, no one ever feeds you” (I just had!), I knew this had happened before more than once.

And we wondered why our little Chihuahua’s girth was growing in spite of regular evening walks! The problem was we weren’t communicating and we didn’t have a plan.

Thus, the sign…

One side covers breakfast, and the other dinner. Problem solved with one little sign.

That got me thinking. How many times in our families do we have frustration, confusion, uncertainty, things going on that we don’t want to happen, and unmet expectations simply because we haven’t taken the time to communicate?

A few tips for better family communication:

• Set a time to regularly sit with your husband and discuss the upcoming week and plans. This is huge and saves a lot of frustration and family mishaps. Consider syncing electronic calendars.
• For jobs that many people share, make a sign.  Due to lack of signage, our dirty dishwasher was unloaded a couple of times by kids taking the initiative in the morning…when I had forgotten to start it the night before! (Ewww!)
• Before doing new things, take the time to explain to the kids what to expect and also what you expect of their behavior. It’s only fair, and it puts you in a position of confidently administering consequences if the behavior is not met.
• Sit at the dinner table with your family at least 4-5 nights a week. Ask questions like “What was your high/low from today?” The power of the family dinner is seriously underrated.
• When patterns in the family need to be readjusted, sit down and have a family meeting to talk it through. Don’t ignore issues because the patterns will only become more ingrained and accepted.

On a recent three-day trip to the mountains, I failed to check the kids' suitcases…

http://brennastull.com/2015/06/27/high-heel-hiking/

This inspiring book, No More No: Say Yes to God and Let Him Speak, Work and Love Through You, gives practical steps to become free from fear, listen to God’s voice and boldly share words and gifts from God’s heart. Get in the drawing to win this book by forwarding this newsletter to three friends and email Brenna at brenna dot stull at gmail dot com with “summer book giveaway” in the subject line. Enter by July 3.

The news with me - I am 47 years old and have never felt better. My story?

As a preemie triplet, I began life with an extended stay in the hospital because of respiratory issues, which were so bad in my youth that I was unable to continue in any team sport I tried that required running. Two asthma attacks almost took my life when I did try to exert myself. I suffered with digestive issues from the time I was a child and into my young adulthood, and my severe scoliosis (which was not discovered until I was fully grown at 14 years of age) has also brought its own issues.

Because of these things, I have always required quite a bit of medical assistance and meds to keep me going, though I've tried to live as healthy as possible with drinking almost exclusively water, trying to eat smart, and exercising regularly. After our move to Arizona I had gained a few pounds, so we decided to try the Plexus Slim after seeing raving testimonials on FB by friends.

I thought once I dropped the pounds I would be done with it, but we found the Plexus Slim to offer so much more than just weight loss. The sugar cravings I used to battle every day are gone. Though I've always been energetic, I had never really been a morning person. I am now alert and full of energy from the time I wake up in the morning. I have a heart condition called Supraventricular Tachycardia that also flared with the move, and I don't know if the natural anti inflammatories in the Plexus Slim helped, but I do know my heart has been working really well and consistent for me (very key, right?) and I've not had to see my cardiologist since starting the Slim. I'm pretty sure I've had only two total office visits of any kind this past year.
I'm so thankful to be feeling better than I've ever felt in my entire life --- even while keeping up with my 7 kids and their active schedules, and helping my pastor husband. In the last month I've also been so pleased adding the Probio5, BioCleanse, and XFactor multivitamin to my daily regimen. My adopted daughter, who has been overeating in her transition from a third world country to the U.S. in the past year is also taking the TriPlex (Plexus Slim, BioCleanse, and ProBio5) and even within 3 days her tummy bloating went down considerably and she saw a huge decrease in her appetite.

Plexus is really all about giving us tools to achieve health from the inside out, and I want every member of our family to benefit from using the full range of amazing natural products Plexus offers. So…that's 9 people…do the math! (Did I mention the 9 of us are living on a church planter salary as of August 2013?)

I am now a passionate Independent Ambassador with Plexus, and I hope to reach out and equip others with safe and natural tools for blood sugar stabilization, weight loss, pain relief, nerve health and GI health.

Do you have any health issues I can help you with? #theplexuscoachdotcom #emailme #brennadotstullatgmaildotcom