Category: Leadership

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Victory Leadership

Create a Vision for Your Family in 2026

Every family is building something—whether they realize it or not. The question is: are you building with intention, or just reacting to whatever life brings? Decide today what tomorrow looks like.

At Homes of Victory, we believe that great families don’t happen by accident. They are shaped by a clear, shared vision — one that aligns hearts, guides decisions, and gives every family member a sense of purpose.

2026 is the perfect time to create that vision for your home — a declaration of who you are becoming, not just what you’re doing.

For the month of January we will be looking at creating a family vision, to help you set the course for the year ahead.

What Is a Family Vision?

A family vision is a statement of identity and direction. It’s the picture of what your family is called to build together.

It defines:

  • Purpose – Why your family exists.
  • Values – The principles you live by.
  • Direction – Where you’re heading together.

When you have a vision, you stop living by default and start living by design. It becomes the compass that helps you make choices, stay aligned, and lead with clarity in every season.

Dream Together

Vision starts with unity — not perfection.
Gather your family for a “Vision Night” — a time to pray, talk, and dream together.

Ask open-ended questions like:

  • What do we want our home to feel like this year?
  • How do we want to treat each other?
  • What do we want to be known for as a family?
  • What kind of legacy do we want to build?

Encourage everyone — from toddlers to teens — to share their thoughts. Write down words, phrases, and ideas that reflect who you want to become together.

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Leadership

Pace

I’ve been thinking a lot about pace lately. It’s not natural for me, I’m usually all-in or not at all, no middle ground. And let’s be honest, this end-of-year season? It feels overloaded. ‘Busy’ doesn’t even cut it. Here in Australia, the end of the school year almost collides with Christmas, so the fun activities stack up pretty quickly.

A friend summed it up perfectly when I asked how her week was looking, she said: “I don’t know—the calendar tells me.” Same here. My work and home calendars feel like a game of Tetris, trying to fit everything in while giving each activity its proper value and weight.

While thinking about this, I remembered one aspect of my swimming training as a kid. I grew up as a swimmer, swimming lap after lap before school most days. The first few laps of the pool would be all about getting my breathing and strokes into a rhythm and then the laps would pass by my pace would keep time with the rhythm in my mind.  Often in life we find our rhythm, our stride only for it to be met with a hiccup, a spanner in the works, a life event that was not expected and it feels like it all comes undone.

Recently, I’ve been playing Block Blast to unwind and perhaps procrastinate. Funny thing: it’s teaching me something Tetris never did one block at a time. You can’t force all the pieces to fit at once. Sometimes you need to place one block to make space for the next. How true is that right now in the season of busy?

Even when my week looks overflowing, if I focus on one thing at a time and really show up for it, I find my pace helps everything feel more manageable and fall into place. And when the board fills up and you’re told there’s no more space and asked, would you like to try with smaller pieces? Remember, it’s okay. Yes, you might feel full, you might feel the overwhelm. It’s okay… start again. Look at each priority in front of you and work through them, one at a time.

What emphasis are you placing on pacing and prioritizing tasks one at a time?

What does your one thing at a time list look like this week?

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About Leadership Victory

Fight for the I do

This past September, we celebrated 20 years of marriage. For us this milestone came with much joy. I find it so special that out of all of the billions of people in the world, at the end of the day I get to hang out with my husband and kids. On our anniverary we reflected on our years of marriage, the ups, the downs, the challenges and triumps – of which their have been many.

One of the many things our marriage has taught me, is to alwasy fight for the I do. Saying I do, and siging a marriage certificate is one tiny act, that does not last a life time. It is an act that needs to be chosen and repeated, time and time again – not in a white dress or in a suit, not with amazing food and special people in your life around you. But day in, day out – at your worse, when you are sick, when you are tired, when you are grumpy, when you achieve success, when you are happy and joful and every other emotion in between.

I am not going to lie, we’ve had moments where we’ve looked at each other and said – Do you think this is it? Do you think we are better off apart? Their have been times, when we needed time to process our thoughts, yet every time we made the choice, however hard it was in the moment to choose I do, to fight for that and to work hard on it.

I want to encourage you today, to keep pursuing the I do in your marriage. When it seems to broken, when it seems too perfect, when it seems like it may never be enough – choose to fight for your I do. Agree to that core value and the hard work will be required to get you both back on track, but worth it. The joy that comes from fighting for your I do, will make every tear, every emotion, every act of listening and comprehending, every act of humilty worth it.

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Leadership Victory

Where’s your identity?

I was listening to a pod cast ‘ Becoming the Leader Within Us’ by Warren Rustand, where he served as appointment secretary to USA president Gerald Ford and has been the CEO of many companies in his career. In a nutshell a well accomplished businessman. He is also the coauthor of a book titled the Leader Within Us. My goal in listening to this podcast was the glean some further time management skills and to hear how the best of the best time managed a president. I was attuned to listening out for hot tips, and I did glean a few, but what struck a chord with me was the way he wove some very simple yet valuable life lessons into this podcast. After telling story after story about how he managed the Presidents schedule and went home to his own family – a family of 7 children and a faithful wife. The words he spoke that stood out were:

We never exceed our kids’ opinions of us  

Warren Rustand

Boom, how does that make you feel? It took me a minute or two to process that. As adults we often spend our waking hours, trying to work out how to be the best at what we do, how to impress, how to align ourselves to be ready for the next promotion… all those things. Yet do we value the opinion of our children? Does their voice matter? For them, we are all they have. What example are we setting? What encouragement are we giving them?

Another famous Dad (and actor) Adam Sandler was also quoted, and I paraphrase, that a big life lesson he learned in fatherhood is that ‘your kids are not keeping score of your career’. 

I love this perspective, to my family and to your family, it actually doesn’t matter what you do (in the 9 – 5), it’s who you are – every other hour of the week. All they see is you when you are home and how you behave when you are with them. It’s a great reminder, to leave some energy in the tank, for when you get home after work, it’s a great reminder to follow through on your promises, it’s a great reminder to stop and think about who you want to be rather than finding your identity in what you do.

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Leadership

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It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.

Epictetus
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“I am not an angel,” I asserted; “and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself.”

Charlotte Bronte – Jane Eyre
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Leadership

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When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.

Abraham Joshua Heschel
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Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do.

H. Jackson Brown
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Influencers are not leaders, but leaders are influencers.

Richie Norton
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Leadership

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Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.

Albert Einstein

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Leadership

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 May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.

 Nelson Mandela
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Leadership

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Before you act, listen. Before you react, think. Before you spend, earn. Before you criticize, wait. Before you pray, forgive. Before you quit, try.

Ernest Hemingway
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Leadership

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You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have.

Jim Rohn
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Leadership

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Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means. 

 Albert Einstein
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Leadership

Apple Pie and Kindness

A week ago my beautiful Nana went home to be with the Lord. It wasn’t expected but equally not unexpected. The shock has slightly worn off, the practical thoughts have kicked aside the lingering sadness for now, while the fun memories and good times have trickled through my mind like a refreshing stream. Apple pie, peanut biscuit’s, chocolate slice, the sewing, the tea cups, the roast lunches, the love of flowers the list goes on.

She was a lovely person, a kind person, never said a bad word – kind of person. She was resourceful and stoic in her strength. She faced every season with a smile. Her heart full of kindness was shared with those around her through cups of tea, her baking and her love for her family and everyone she met. My Nana always dressed immaculately but it wasn’t her clothing that made her stand out, it was her kindness and loveliness.

If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

Roald Dahl

Like my Nana, I try to focus on the good so I am like sunshine to those around me. Although she isn’t with us any more, the warmth that comes when we think of her is more than enough. It encourages me to live a life warm to those around me, to be present and aware, to be kind and unwavering, to be even and thoughtful through every season life throws at me. It saddens me to think, that it has taken this experience of losing someone precious to realize, just how important it is to be who you are – to let the sunshine and goodness in us shine into the lives of those around us.

I may not be able to bake like my Nana, but I sure can encourage those around me with kind words and thoughtfulness.