I'm In

Linda at 2nd Cup of Coffee is hosting this little challenge.  What's the challenge you ask?  To commit to get moving for 30 minutes a day (5 days a week) for the next 2 weeks.   Go on over to her sight to find out more, but the gist is...it starts tomorrow!   TOMORROW.
For the past couple of weeks I've been hobbling around like an old crippled woman...I blame amping up the running and yoga.  The sides of my stomach feel like someone punched me...they are that sore.   I'm doing The Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga...it is so stinkin' HARD...and I'm still at level one...if you can even count that, considering I can't even finish the whole 20 minute routine.  BUT, I'm counting Yoga in the challenge, because it's movement...and DANG IT, it's hard.  
Did I mention how hard it is?!?  I mean seriously, it looks so easy...but it's HARD.
So very very hard....
So, if you're in, let me know and go over to Linda's and let her know.  Then, in 2 weeks we can all link up and share our stories of pain and suffering...it's good times.
PS - I have that little *sarcasm on the little*  1/2 marathon coming up September 6th.  Technically training doesn't start for a little while, but my running was less than stellar all winter, so I've got to kick up the base mileage...which is kicking my tail right now.  You can also find me wandering around my house saying 13.1 miles...13.1 miles...what was I thinking, what was I thinking...

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Because I Like It...

Let's talk fashion today.

I love looking at People magazine to see what celebrities are wearing in their everyday life.   It really has nothing to do with the celebrity themselves...I pick the celebrities because they're the ones who can afford a personal stylist.    It's the stylists job to make each celeb unique and distinct...to make it look easy.

I want a stylist.  I want someone to just come to my house, look at the stuff I have and put new outfits together...because I end up wearing the same things with the same things over and over.   Heck, I don't even need a professional.  Maybe real life friends and I should just do that for each other?!?!  Hmmm...I think I'm on to something.

Anyways, I came across this sight the other day, and I think it's genius.  You can look up celeb's whose style you like, and then find a cheap version of the outfit with the LINKS already there!  My personal favorites are Katie Holmes and Reese Witherspoon's style.  

Super fun!  Well, to me anyways.  Can looking at how to put together outfits be considered a hobby?  If it is, then by golly I've finally found a hobby I like ;)  Because the running and the scrapbooking...they get on my last nerve sometimes :)

So tell me....who's style do you admire?

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No Sacred Cow

Ben and I had a pastor in our lives that always said that there was "no sacred cow" when it came to how he approached ministry.  It meant that he was always evaluating how the church was running programs and various things...if it once was working and serving a purpose but over time became more tradition than ministry, then it was gone...no sacred cows.

It's stuck with me.  It makes sense to me.  

It's easy in life to make things sacred that were never meant to be sacred.  Changing something does not mean that it's a bad thing, or that it never served its purpose, it just means that currently, it's time for something different.

I like to use the no sacred cow idea in my life outside of ministry as well.  From anything as simple as hair products to the more complicated, like relationships.

My life, like yours, is chuck full of relationships.  And lately, I've noticed I'm having trouble just keeping up with people.  Old friends, new friends, bloggy friends, family, ministry, on and on.  The end result usually leaves me feeling guilty.

Guilty that I don't talk with so and so anymore, guilty that one friendship takes priority over another, guilty that I haven't made that call, written that note, sent that card, left that comment...followed up on their life.  My lack of doing any of those things in no way reflects on how If feel about that person, it reflects my life....my time...my priorities.

And that's where I find my sacred cow.  The sacred cow of friendships.  

Don't ya just love those friends who you haven't talked to in forever, but the moment you have a chance to catch up, it feels like you pick right up where you left off?!?  Those are the friendships that last, that survive, because both people understand that life goes on...and sometimes, it goes on without each other, but it doesn't mean the friendship is gone, it just means it's changed...it's always there...it just looks and feels differently than before.  

I've been seeking out God's help on this stuff...big time.  I need Him to show me which friendships need more focus, and which ones are changing.  As I was mulling my thoughts over with Ben, he shared something that really hit me.  It was something to do with Chemistry and atoms...and I will of course butcher the explanation because of my complete idiocy in all things science...but it was something to do with atoms and molecules and how only so many molecules can be grouped together at a time.  If there's too many they break off and form another group.  (Ben and my chemistry teacher are hanging their heads in shame right now ;)

That analogy though is so true.  As women, we grow and change and "break off" so that we can be blessed by new friendships.  It doesn't mean the old one is broken or bad, it means that in order to bless and be blessed by new friends, we've got to be willing to let go of the all the time invested in the old ones and invest some in the new.

"Make new friends, but keep the old..."  You know the song.  Seriously, I should have just stuck to the bullet list form because I've even lost myself in this post!  Good luck to ya'll! ;)

It boils down to this:

• I'm learning to appreciate all of the friendships God has blessed me with.
• Some of those are going to require more time than others.
• No need to feel guilty.
• Those old friendships, that require the least maintenance are often the best.
• Let go of the guilt.
• I can't "be there" for every friend.  Even if I want to, I'm not meant too.  Not meant to.
• Letting go of the guilt that was never supposed to be there in the first place...
• See a theme?

So, to all my old friends:  I love you.  You know I do.  I think of you...I remember our history, it's part of me.  You're just as important to me as you always were.

To my new friends:  Our everyday lives cross paths continually.  We share children in the same grades, neighbors, everydayness.  I'm thankful to be sharing this part of the journey with you, and know that someday, many of you will be in the old friends category.

To my bloggy friends:  Your uniqueness and sweetness entertains me endlessly.  The fact that you've read this far is frankly amazing :)  Keep writing.

To my family:  You get the shaft sometimes.   You get the tired and worn out version of me sometimes.  The fact that you love me regardless is what makes us family.  Love you.

To my Julie:  You are one of the newest investments of time in our lives.  I look forward each and every day to your emails...you are a part of our lives in so many ways, already.  You soon will be family...and you will get the shaft sometimes...because that's what family does ;)  Love you already.

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I Might Move for Food...

Yesterday was so much fun with Rebecca here.

This was her first time at Guitar Hero...I love playing with beginners, it's the only time I feel like I have any skill.

Things I learned about her:

• She never wants to get married or have children. (She decided this before ever leaving Taiwan...I swear it wasn't made after spending a day at our house ;)


• I told her I won't be surprised when I get a wedding invitation and then baby announcement someday.


• She loves to talk.


• I listened to some teenage Taiwanese music, and it was good, even though I couldn't understand any of it.


• She wishes my feet were smaller so she could borrow my shoes.


• Taiwanese children are all naughty. HA! Her words, not mine.


• She is beautiful, inside and out...and today I'm praying that God gives her a glimpse of that today.


• She can cook like none other.

Rebecca preparing, it's a process...I should have paid better attention...

The finished product. Pepper steak with green peppers, cabbage fried with bacon (my kids ate a TON of this...CABBAGE?!?, rice with pork sausage in soy sauce (this was one of my favs), fried eggs with green onion (again, my picky kids couldn't get enough of it) and then the chicken...oh the chicken. She marinated it with garlic and ginger root, green onions and soy sauce and then fried it in oil. Delish.

My kids tried everything, and I seriously could not believe how much they ate and the fact that they liked all of it!

I'm no idiot, I'm pretty sure the fact that Rebecca made it and not me helped them think it could be nothing but delicious.

Having Rebecca here was SO much fun! Thank you Rebecca!

Julie (our exchange student who will be coming August 1st) let me know that she should probably be kept out of the kitchen. She's so sweet, I think she thought I'd be disappointed...but really, it makes me happy because then she's likely to be pleased with my one-dish wonders ;)

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I Have a Good Excuse...

We're on Spring Break here...and the weather has been pretty beautiful...blogging is just gonna have to wait till all the fun is over :)

Today, Rebecca, the exchange student from Taiwan is coming over for the day and then cooking us authentic Taiwanese tonight!  YUM!

I'll have pictures and stories for you tomorrow.  I'm also gonna interview her on her thoughts on how exciting it was to hang out with a stay at home mom and her three boys ;)  Good times.

Until then, I have a list of cleaning and grocery shopping and other wild and crazy things that moms do on spring break.  

 

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Speaking To Me...

One of the things that sticks out the most from Ben's seminary days is the Greek flash cards.  I forget how many years of Greek and Hebrew he was required to take...I'm pretty sure I've blocked it out ;)  Anyways, I vividly remember sitting in our first 1 bedroom apartment holding the flashcards while he rattled off what the word was...we were newlyweds...I think as time and two babies came along I was less helpful in the studying department.

I understood the purpose behind learning the Greek and Hebrew.  After all, it's the language that Scripture was first written, if we want to know what the context of a passage is,  or what certain words mean, going back to those original languages is essential...everything else is just someones interpretation of the original word.

I love that God chose those languages.  They're so completely descriptive.   I'm the type of girl who needs a very VERY understandable Bible version.  If the language is any different than what I'm used to speaking/hearing then I often miss what it's saying.   But often, everyday English is unable to be descriptive enough.  Sometimes, it misses the meaning.  

We have been doing the Beth Moore study Living Beyond Yourself.  This is my first Beth Moore study.  I was always a little apprehensive because everyone was so over the top about her that I was pretty sure she couldn't be as great as everyone said.  Wrong.  So wrong.  Her knowledge of Scripture, passion for glorifying God, and sheer humbleness, frankly...astound me.  

She knows His Word.  Often, I allow myself to just get "the gist" of a passage and call it good.   I found out quickly, that Beth is not gonna have any of that.  She digs and she digs and she takes you all over the Bible, weaving it all together.  And sometimes, she wears me out...in a good way.

This morning I was working on day 5 of Peace.  And something hit me so hard it caused me to weep...because I'd never seen it before, even though I've read or heard this passage a hundred times.  

The passage is John 18:1-11 and is the account of Jesus being arrested (fitting for Easter, no?)  I read through it first in my New Century Version and nothing stood out.  THEN, in the workbook as I was answering the questions I read what Beth had inserted.  It is part of the passage in the exact translation from Greek to English (capital letters are exactly as they appear)

 

(Jesus is talking to the soldiers)

John 18:6-8

Whom do you seek?  They answered Him, Jesus the Nazarene.  Jesus said to them, I AM!  Then when He said to them I AM, they departed into the rear and fell to the ground.  Then again He asked, Whom do you seek?  And they said, Jesus the Nazarene.  Jesus answered, I told you that I AM.

Can you picture it?  60o armed soldiers came that day, to arrest Jesus.  And at the moment He said His name, who He was, the I AM, 600 soldiers fell back.    

I cry because hearing Him say His name this morning, through this Scripture spoke to me.   He is the I AM...He needs nothing added to it.  

As Easter approaches, I want to hold on so tightly to Him, to remember what He did on that cross, for me, and to look to today and tomorrow because each day He is the I AM.  The same, yesterday, today and forever.  

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It's a Love/Hate Thing...

It is finally nice outside here. Really nice. Finally! I'm actually able to remember why on earth I choose to live in this part of the country. It is days like today :)

The niceness outside has brought the sandbox back into my life. I have a love/hate relationship with the sandbox.

We have a big one out back. Ben's dad built it and each year he comes and dumps another truckload of sand in it, because *surprise* half the sand manages to disappear.

Guess where it disappears to...

Yep.

I love the sandbox, I really do. It occupies the boys for hours. And what is cuter than three little brothers screaming at each other over who just wrecked whose bridge?!? The problem is, the sand is never really dry. Which is exactly the way my boys prefer it. Apparently it needs a little water to make it fun. I've lost count of the times I've gone outside to see the hose sticking out of the sandbox...water filled to the brim.

Dry sand would be easy. Brushes right off. Wet sand...not so much.

WHAT IS A GIRL TO DO?!?! TELL ME! Because my mud room looks like THIS:

Don't ya just love the bike INSIDE. Nice.

Today I bought this at our local CVS in the "As see on TV" section. It better work. It better work like a miracle.

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