Happy Monday! I am still here and exercising, but my oldest brother from KY is here visiting, so I have zero time to make a longer post than this. ;-) I am looking forward to reading your updates! Sign-in with Mr. Linky so we can all stop by for a visit.
Love,
Becca
I'm not one to publicize my own birthday. My motto for most of my life has been "Lay Low." But this year is special. I am FORTY today!!!!!
I am really excited about this. I have always been perfectly alright with birthdays. Getting "old" is not a problem for me. I think it's a shame when people get hung-up on their age and let it cripple them. More than likely, these people have something to live for, they've just forgot in all the fuss over their age.
I definitely feel blessed. Here I am with five kids, a great husband, I get to be at home with my kids all day, every day. There is a possibility for more babies in the future, watching them all grow-up, GRANDKIDS one of these days! Let me tell you that 20 years ago, I would have NEVER imagined the life for me that I live now. Never. EVER. I mean, how could I have ever imagined how good I could actually have it? I had no clue what blessings children were, I had no clue how good a marriage could be and that it would cause me to grow, mature and seek God in a way I never had before. It reminds me of 1 Corinthians 2:9:
But as it is written:
"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
AMEN! I had no idea what God had in store for me, and I get all giggly thinking about what He could have prepared for me in the coming years. Man, He is so good!
So today I am truly celebrating being the big FOUR-0. :-)
I'm gonna stop putting Week 1, 2, 3, & etc. in the titles of these blog entries because for me, this challenge is a non-stop thing. I mean, is there a time when it's okay to stop exercising? Nooooooo. ;-) So consider yourselves permanently signed-up for weekly exercise torture! Although as I've been getting back into the groove with all this I realize that I forgot that I LIKE to exercise. I even like the soreness that some workouts bring. Am I a freak, or what? Whatever my issue is, I just like to exercise and so I'm glad that after so many years, I'm discovering that again.
I was chatting with a friend of mine this weekend who goes to a gym to exercise. She was chatting with a trainer at the gym who told her that women of "her age" (doesn't that just make you cringe? LOL) take longer - about three months - to start seeing results from a new exercise program. My pal is in her early 40's. I take that as a good news/bad news kinda thing. The bad news is you're in your 40's, pal. The good news is that one of these days, you'll start seeing results from all the exercise! Woohoo! ;-)
I did break-up the exercise routine a bit and rode First and Only Husband's bike to the post office to get stamps one evening. Man, that was fun! It's about 2.5 miles each way. The weather was so nice (low 70's) and it just felt great to be out in the air. My husband was a bit wigged out to have me out riding around at 9:30 at night, so I had to take the cell phone and call him when I got there. Times have really changed since we were all kids, eh? I rode my bike EVERYWHERE when I was growing up, and my parents rarely panicked over my safety.
On the Easter Candy front - let's just say that I love the little bite sized Snickers. YUM.
Sign-in with Mr. Linky and leave a comment so we can all come by and visit you!
Today is Third Son's birthday. He is TWO! :-)
I came across a short article written by Michael Horton on the Touchstone Mag site. He wrote about what our society clamors for in their pastor these days. I've seen exactly what he wrote about, and really, I'm sure just about everyone has. He writes:
Never mind Paul’s exhortation to Timothy to submit to elders and pastors as official ambassadors of Christ. These days, even in more confessional denominations, it seems that instead of being the Lord’s servant, ambassador, and minister of reconciliation, a pastor is supposed to be the community’s quarterback, class president, or the one voted “most likely to succeed.”
It used to be that the pastor had an office and worked in his study, but today the pastor has a job and works in his office. Whereas Peter organized the diaconal office so that the apostles could devote themselves to the Word and to prayer, ideal ministers seem increasingly to be managers, therapists, entertainers, and entrepreneurial businesspeople.
Open up the average issue of Christianity Today to advertisements for pastoral positions and you’ll find descriptions like “team builder,” “warm and personal style,” “outgoing,” “contagious personality,” and “effective communicator.” (Catholic friends tell me that something like this affects Catholicism, too.)
I think they’re looking for a Director of Sales and Marketing, whom they may (or may not) call “Pastor.” I’m not against directors of sales and marketing; I just don’t think that this is what we should be looking for in the way of shepherds.
Like I said, I've seen this before. The last church we were members of, our pastor was the Executive Pastor. And everyone loved (and still does, I'm sure) him because he was so "edgy." It would not be unusual for him to show up wearing some snazzy green shoes, or his hair dyed white blonde. Once he pulled onto the stage in a car. What an impact he made on all of us congregants. (Oh. Sorry. I mean customers. That's what the leadership in that church call their members.) As I look back, I wonder if he was making the best kind of impact. While he was long on wowing us all with the kewl things he did, he was short on teaching doctrine - the meat and potatoes of the Christian faith. This church that we went to was heavily influenced by Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. Recently, Bill Hybels, the Executive Pastor of that church has gone on the record to say,
Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.
We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.
It's hard to put too much blame on these pastors. I look at my own home and think about the times when I've thought that the kids needed some neat-o kid's devotional book so they would be interested in their own quiet times. I bought one of those devotional books once for my oldest son, and we got about halfway through it before I realized I was throwing eye-candy at him, in the hopes that it would draw him to God. Since then, we've been sticking with, of ALL things, the BIBLE. The word of God is enough! I wish the church would make peace with that thought so we could do away with green shoes and mega-church programs that don't fill our need for communion with God.
I love Ruth Beechick, and I'm sure most of you get The Homeschool Minute from TOS. I love what she wrote in the latest edition and have to include it here so I can read it over and over.
The early Christians were strong on discipleship. A historian, Eusebius, wrote a history of the first 300 years of the church, and much of it tells how carefully they guarded the great truths of the faith. Heresies arose often, teaching doctrines such as claiming that Jesus had not existed from all eternity, thus was not fully God.
Church leaders taught and wrote letters against the errors. One writer of truth, Clement, said that "the apostles of the devil have filled [Clement's letters] with tares, exchanging some things, and adding others." They also "attempted to adulterate the sacred writings of the Lord." Many of the Christians in those days suffered martyrdom, bravely and even gladly. The true doctrines were worth dying for.
Through those early centuries, they preserved the sacred truths and the very words of scripture in order to disciple the young and the next generations. We today still benefit from their faithful guarding of true doctrines. Those early Christians discipled not by pop psychology, not by entertainment, but by the true, unadulterated words of God.
Well. This past week was not any better for me than last week. I've had that naggy, leftover, barky cough from the thing I had last week, so I've been trying to get over that before I started back in with exercise. It's one of those coughs that is aggravated by exercise. It's been frustrating for me to see two weeks slip down the drain. I really want to lose some pounds in the next few months. If things continue the way they have, I could possibly be pregnant before the end of the year, so I feel a definite sense of urgency to move the pounds! And speaking of losing weight. When we "lose" it, where does it actually go? Does it just evaporate and become a part of the ozone problem? Weird.
Anyway....
I definitely feel ready and able to exercise this week, so tonight will be my first night back at it! I'm looking forward to hearing how everyone else is doing! Sign-in with Mr. Linky and leave a comment so we can all stop by your blogs and say HOLA!
I was so tired this afternoon. After I finished nursing Second Daughter, I put her in her little Papasan chair at my feet while I dozed in my own comfy chair. You know how a snooze in a chair goes - I wasn't totally out, and for the most part could hear what was going on around me. I did hear her talking and making raspberry noises. When I finally opened my eyes to take a peek at her, this was what she looked like. I had to get a picture of that. It tops the "sitting in the high chair with cake batter all over their faces" pictures any day. ;-)
Here's another picture of her looking a little more pretty.
I am always on the lookout for things I can do with my daughter. She loves to read and she got that from me, so it was only natural that I look for something for us to read together. I settled on the Elsie Dinsmore series. I love everything that Vision Forum has in their catalog and it's an unofficial goal of mine to own everything they sell, so I didn't question that these books would be good or bad. Imagine my surprise when we started reading the first book and I thought I was going to gag over how sickeningly unreal Elsie seemed to be. Was there a real-life eight year old that could actually be as pious and GOOD as Elsie? I mean, this girl is meticulously observant and I felt it was just waaaaaay out there. But I kept reading because my daughter seemed interested. After we had read about half of the book, she turned to me and said, "I wouldn't like this book if I didn't already have Christ in my heart."
She might as well have hit me on the nose as hard as she could have with the book because that's about how her comment struck me. Shame on me. I let myself become cynical to the point where I was turned off of godly behavior in a character in a book! Lots of prayers went up to God about that and we have continued the series.
We are on Book Six right now, and I have to say that as a mother, these books are having a big impact on me! The books follow Elsie's entire life, and right now we are into Elsie's motherhood. What a role model for motherhood she is. Gracious to her children....a true teacher and advocate of her children. Her highest goal is that her children's hearts belong to God in true love and obedience. Because she disciplines and teaches with kindness, her children are willing to do whatever she asks. If they ever do disobey it hurts them as much as it hurts Elsie and they are always eager to make things right with her and God. It brings to mind Romands 2:4, "...God's kindness leads you to repentance."
I am so glad to be reading these books with my daughter. When I was growing up I filled my head with Harlequin Romances and the latest teeny-bopper paperback fiction. No wonder I was too cynical for these books to begin with. "Garbage in, garbage out" is a cliche, but that's because it's so true. I filled my young mind and even my young adult mind with garbage and am so excited to break that mold for my daughter by introducing her to characters that esteem God and view motherhood as a high calling.
These are books to invest in and keep so that our daughters can take them with them to read to their daughters. You may come across Elsie Dinsmore books at your local Christian bookstore. These have a yellow and purple cover. Don't buy them. They are an abridged, modernized version of the original. Get the original versions of the books from Vision Forum or from Mantle Ministries.
To steal a word from Alicia:
BLEH.
I have been down for the count with something major since last Wednesday night so needless to say I did not get much exercising done in the last week. However, I did lose about 3 pounds because food is not enjoyable to me right now. I'm not sure that the trade-off is worth it!
ANYWAY.....I hope to read all your success stories this week! Sign-in with Mr. Linky and leave a comment.
If this is your first time coming across this exercise challenge, go HERE to read details and get the code for the nifty little button my husband created.
Nancy at HomemadeBlessings tagged me to divulge 7 Random Facts about myself, so here goes.
1. As the self-appointed Cod Liver Oil Goodwill Ambassador, I have to start this off by saying that I used to get a sinus infection every spring and fall until we started taking cod liver oil. One teaspoon per day, mixed in a shot of juice, and it's all good. We use Garden of LIfe Cod Liver Oil. It has also taken care of my low blood sugar issues and my husband's high blood pressure. When I'm pregnant, I up my daily dose to 2 t.
2. I hate clutter. One of my favorite things to do is throw things away. I can't stand for something to be sitting around that has no apparent use. When I was in junior high, the glass bowl to my mom's mixer broke, so there was the mixing stand, sitting there in the cabinet, doing nothing. I threw it away. My parents thought that was the funniest and weirdest thing ever. No one told me they could get a new bowl for it!
3. One of my favorite shows used to be "The Facts of Life". It made going to a boarding school look like the kewlest thing ever. I SO wanted to go to boarding school. Well, fast forward to 10th grade, and I did! It was fun and I would do it again. Fast forward a few more years, and I would meet Lisa Whelchel, a.k.a. Blair. I was leading a homeschooling support group that was a ministry of our church. I was supposed to hook-up with a new member, named Julie, at Skate Day so I could give her the paperwork to fill out to join the group, introduce her around & etc. Well. Lisa and her family had just moved from CA to D/FW and came to that Skate Day with her kids. I was walking around, looking for Julie, when Lisa started walking my way. As she passed by I said, "Are you Julie?" She said, "Nope!" and kept right on going. I am probably the ONLY person in America who has mistaken Lisa Whelchel for someone else.
4. I have the kindest husband ever. I've been down with a really bad cold all week. Last night as we were heading to bed, my husband asked me how I was feeling. I gave him the obligatory "okay" and he responded with, "It hurts me to see you suffering in any way."
5. One of my struggles is patience with the kids. I really have to work hard at it. Two books that have been an encouragement to me in this area lately are Skippack School and the Elsie Dinsmore Series.
6. With a new baby in the house (she turned 3 months yesterday!), I am reminded of this post from 2006. I LOVE to listen to my babies breathe. I put them up on my shoulder and just listen to their breathing. To me, there is nothing more precious. Well, besides their warm little heads. ;-)
7. Once when my Dad was talking to my older bro and me about some issue, he said, "Do you think I'm dumb?" Of course we said, "No." Well. We were so disrespectful. After he left the room, we made a big joke out of that, and for YEARS we would say, "Do you think I'm dumb?" to each other, using my Dad's exact tone of voice. What a hoot. 
Yesterday, while talking to First Son about an issue, I found myself on the road my Dad found himself on and I said to First Son, "Do you think I'm....gag....choke.....cough....spit.....STUPID?" Man. What goes around, comes around, eh?
Whew! That's over. And now the fun part. I get to tag 7 other people. Here's my list:
Darin (my husband!) at Mission of Fatherhood
My new friend at Buffalo Rock School
Michelle at blessingsundreamtof
Tori from Mom To Five
Desi from Homeschool Mom of Two
Brenda from The Family Revised
Terri from Lee Family Adventures
Here are the rules -
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
On the days when I'm feeling a little rough around the edges with this whole homeschooling/mama thing, I think of Karen Andreola's book, Pocket Full of Pinecones. I really enjoy the Charlotte Mason philosophy, but have never become a true-blue CM woman. I feel I got too far into homeschooling before I found CM and struggle to implement CM's ways into our school on a huge scale. But now I've got two littles coming up in a few years....I'm hoping for a fresh start. So for now, I use a book like "Pocket Full of Pinecones" for inspiration to keep going. Here's what I'm talking about:
My devotions gave the day its energy... It is proof that I remember Him, depend on His mercy, which is so thankfully new every morning. It is evidence that I trust Him. It is because my days are so busy that I have kept myself from the God-can-wait syndrome. I need my heavenly Father and so I seek Him early. Prayers are the wings of the soul. They bear the Christian far from earth, out of its cares, its woes and its perplexities, into glorious serenity. It is the first God-ward step that the soul takes.
Life can be stressful. What a comfort it is to 'rest me in the thought' that God is ruling, that Christ is sustaining all things by His powerful Word.
I love this poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning that Karen Andreola included in the book:
The little cares that fretted me,
I lost them yesterday,
Among the fields, above the sea,
Among the winds at play;
Among the lowing of the herds
The rustling of the trees,
Among the singing of the birds,
The humming of the bees.
The foolish fears of what may happen,
I cast them all away
Among the clover-scented grass,
Among the new-mown hay.
Among the rustling of the corn,
Where drowsy poppies nod,
Where ill thoughts die and good are born -
Out in the fields with God!
This book is set in the 30's, and the main character of the book is taking her kids out of public school to homeschool them. I wonder how much that was actually happening back in the 30's, but that little tidbit became unimportant to me as I became interested in this little family's transition into homeschooling amid job struggles, pregnancy, a move, helping extended family during sickness.....you know, real life situations.
The main character, Carol, keeps up the faith during all the ups and downs. You know, there are those times when life seems too hard and we are tempted to let the "little things" slide. She never does that and that encourages me. She keeps her peace during the time her husband is struggling at work. Rather than nagging him and offering advice, she prays for him and trusts that God will resolve the situation. She prays for her children constantly and seeks their good. Someone tell me that this book could not be a good read even for the most die-hard textbook-using homeschooling mom! I just don't think it can be done.
Don't you wish it were this easy to exercise? They look like they're having so much fun.
As with all Type-A, All-or-Nothing kinda gals, I have burned out on the five day a week exercising. There's just too much to be done around here for me to exercise so much, so I've toned things down a bit. I'm now exercising every other day so that the day I don't exercise I can get caught up on school stuff, cleaning, and watching "Lost" with my husband. Really, I wasn't much interested in the show until this year - I've just been watching it for a reason to hang out with my husband. But this year it's interesting! Hopefully they'll actually take all the strange stuff they're doing and DO something with it - if you watch "Lost" and know what I mean. ;-)
No weight loss for me this week. I was wined and dined by my children this week. First Son won a Starbucks gift card at AWANA so he took his Mama out for a treat on Tuesday night. I had my Venti, Breve, 10-Pump Chai AND a Rice Krispy Treat. GAG! We both wanted to go home and make ourselves puke after that! Newman O's (organic Oreos) on Friday, and then a trip to LaMadeleine with First Daughter on Saturday. I am SUCH a piggy! So while I did well with the exercising, I totally bombed on the food thing.
SO....
This week, I'm going to get the exercising AND food thing under control.
Let me know when you've posted your updates! Sign-in with Mr. Linky and leave me a comment. :-)
is where my documents live! 
