Category Archives: Daily Life

Bible Study, Daily Life, Project 365

2 Corinthians 3 – The letter of my heart

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You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:2-3)

We studied this passage in Sunday School this morning at church. I love the word pictures Paul uses in 2 Corinthians – the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ, treasures in jars of clay, our heavenly home, and, in this chapter, the Holy Spirit writing on our hearts.

I was challenged to think about my “readers.” Who is closest to me and reading the book that is my life? I immediately thought of the kids. Do my children see the Holy Spirit working in my life? What kind of book am I reading to them through the words and attitudes of my heart? Do they see only legalistic, tablets of stone or a heart changed daily by God?

Tim and I spent a good portion of Saturday fighting. Maybe it just felt like most of the day. I don’t think the conflict actually started until dinner time. Of course, with a bunch of night owls like us, that still leaves most of the day.

jumble of toys

Sometimes the mess in our house threatens to overwhelm me, drowning me in toys and books and clothes and other “things” that need to be sorted and organized and put away.

I know in my head that it is good and healthy for children to see their parents work through and resolve conflict but it still feels shameful and wrong. My emotions and actions (or reactions) spread so quickly through the entire family. I was grumpy and angry (at myself mostly) yesterday and I fussed at one of the children, only to immediately hear them fuss at their siblings. Ouch. My tone, my mood was so contagious that, by the end of the day, Tim had thoroughly caught the grumpiness bug.

This is not the kind of ‘fragrance’ I want wafting about me, spreading throughout my home.

This is not the letter that I want the children reading about my life and what the word God is doing in me.

playmobil

Playmobil and more Playmobil

I was a bit surprised at how quickly a coolness and distant feeling crept into my relationship with Tim just over the course of a few hours. I take for granted the relaxed, sweet marriage that we share. We talk, laugh, play, and parent together with such ease most of the time, I forget that there needs to be constant work done on my part in strengthening our marriage.

Respect, accept, love, honor, affirm. Weighty words that require diligence. They are not just feelings – they are choices. I choose to respect my husband, to accept who he is, to love him as God created him, today, to honor and affirm him.

stripping wallpaper

In order to strip away the old patterns, you have to cut through the tough exterior, soften the front, wait a bit as the solvent works, and then slowly peel away the junk that needs to go. How true in my life.

Christ has written a letter on my heart. His letter is full of grace and salvation. He chose me. He saves me. He pulls me out of my sin. He gives me the power to turn away from my flesh. My sinful nature that wants to be grumpy and selfish and discontented (and then turn and lash out at everyone around me). He even has a sense of humor and placed this verse in our Proverb reading today.

A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day;
restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand. (Proverbs 27:15-16)

The living God has written on my heart. I want to live in such a way that those around me can read this letter and be pointed to Him.

Kathy
Project 365 – Days 146 & 147

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P365 – Day 136 (Rachel Speaks)

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Rachel would like to join us today on the blog. She has some thoughts on healthy eating, vegetables and whatnot. Here she is:

rachel

Hi everybody! How are you? I’m here, sitting in the famous orange chair, dictating my thoughts to Mom. :)

First, I have to defend my taste of mushy broccoli. If you have to eat broccoli, the only way to possibly enjoy it (choke it down), is to have it cooked until it is soft and tender. Besides, Dad agrees with me. So there, Josh.

A note to Samuel – I happen to like salad (better than broccoli) so to think that it’s rotten lettuce is rather disturbing.

Anyhow. I like the exercise program even though it bugs me that Daniel and Joshua usually get ahead of me. Last night, Joshua, Mom and I went to the Y. There is a new family exercise room where kids and grownups can work out together. There are 2 treadmills, 2 elliptical machines, and 6 bikes. They have a table with coloring books and other toys.

We rotated from the elliptical to the treadmill to the bike, ten minutes each. Thirty minutes total. This is worth five points. I liked the elliptical the best. It was the easiest, in my opinion. I dreaded the bike because the 10 minutes seem to go on forever. I got cramps on the treadmill from going to fast. This doesn’t happen all the time.

rachel on the treadmill

Here I am on the treadmill at home, not the Y.

We started to do another half an hour when we decided to go home instead. Mom had a few errands to run.

The main things I have trouble with is getting in enough water and vegetables. I don’t drink that much water. I forget to drink extra water during the day. I think I drink a lot of half glasses, though.

rachel thinks

For vegetables, the only ones I really like that are mostly available are carrots, lettuce and broccoli (we only have broccoli at dinner time). I get sick of carrots and I’m not that interested in eating five cups of salad a day. I’m the only one in the family (besides Mom and Dad) that likes cucumbers. Mom says I need to try some new vegetables.

What’s your favorite vegetable? Give me an idea of what to try? What do your kids like to eat? How many servings of vegetables do you think you eat a day? Have you ever counted?

As for measuring, I’m really good at that as I don’t eat that much. Weight training is hard to remember to fit in during the day. When you do do it, your muscles hurt really bad. When you’re done using the weights, it feels so good to lift up your arms and not have weights in hand. Push ups are not my strong point. I can, however, do sit ups.

All for now, see you later. Thanks for letting me blog.

rachel outside

Rachel

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P365 – Day 128 (Healthier Living)

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I love charts and check lists and new organizational tools. I’m not exactly known for my follow through but I begin each new project with a sincere heart. It’s the optimistic in me. Well, in an attempt to motivate myself and encourage the family to make some healthier choices, I came up with a new idea for us all to try over the next month or so. I managed to convince Tim to come on board and support the idea. He and I then sat down and brainstormed about my ‘little plan’ and worked out the finer details.

rachel jogs

Rachel logs in some time on the treadmill. You go, girl!

I devised some healthy eating and healthy exercising goals, assigned points and made up a nice chart. I wanted us to have a tangible, easy way to keep track of things. I also wanted to reinforce some basic healthy living principles. In the morning each child (except Sarah) gets a fresh chart. As the day goes along, they keep track of their points.

For fruit, you get one point for a serving of fruit (up to two). Veggies give you one point for the first serving, two points for the second point, three for the third, on up to five (trying to encourage and reward those who go for vegetables). For every 16 oz of water you receive 1 point, up to three points. Thirty minutes of exercise gives you 5 points and 15 minutes of weight training (or a combination of push-ups and sit-ups) gives you 4 points. Exercise has a maximum of two sessions in each category (10 points for cardio and 8 points max for weight training). There are a few people in the family who have a difficulty with portion control so I created a category called measuring. If you eat reasonable portion sizes and measure them out, then you receive 4 points per meal.

All in all there is a possibility of up to 50 points per day. The points are cumulative. Every 50 points gives you a chip (we use poker chips for computer game and movie time). Each chip is worth one dollar.

Go Daniel!

Whew. Does that make sense? Here’s a look at the chart.

Points Chart

The children have amazed me in their enthusiasm and excitement about the plan. They are wonderful. They fill out their charts, compete (subtly) for points, and try to get as many of the areas covered in a day. They struggle with meeting the vegetable requirements. Today Daniel walked around saying, “I need to eat more vegetables. What veggies can I eat??” This evening, at 8 pm, he asked me if he could have a salad. I’m definitely going to hit the produce store tomorrow. I wonder if the children would like to help pick out different vegetables. It might help them be willing to try out new foods.

This evening I made a HUGE pan of stir-fried broccoli with brown rice, a few eggs thrown in (going for the whole fried rice thing) and sweet chili sauce. They ate the entire thing!! The zucchini/squash casserole with stuffing didn’t go over as well. I thought it was delicious (and I didn’t even eat the stuffing part). I’m not sure how well they liked the zucchini loaf casserole either. At least they are trying new things.

joshua

Joshua doesn’t look exactly thrilled to be getting his picture taken. Is it the camera or the treadmill he’d like to avoid??

I’m a wee bit embarrassed to admit that the children are doing far better than I. They have definitely surpassed me in the exercising and water drinking departments (I probably still have them beat in overall veggies). This evening Rachel, Joshua and Daniel all did 30 minutes (I think Joshua did a whole hour) on the treadmill. Even David (and Sarah to some extent) were using my hand weights and trying to get in their “fifteen minutes.” Aren’t they awesome!!

Kathy

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Too tired to blog? Sleep Blogging.

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I do most of my blogging late at night. The kids are in bed, the house is quiet and I have time to think and write. Since we moved the chairs around in the family room my ‘computer chair’ is now Cream Puff (the incredibly comfortable, leather recliner we bought from some friends). If I’m not careful I find myself drifting asleep while sitting at the computer, in the middle of typing. This, my friends, is not good.

There is a phrase for this phenomenon: blog sleeping or maybe even sleep blogging. It’s similar to sleep walking and sleep talking although potentially MUCH more embarrassing. When you walk or talk in your sleep, who sees or hears you? Your family (if they happen to wake). If you’re in college then perhaps the number is greater – roommates or other people in the dorm.

If you sleep blog, however, there is the potential for LOTS of people to witness it (I mean, there are 10′s of people who frequent this blog on a semi-regular basis). Not to mention the fact that the blog would be forever held in the cyber world.

Taking all of this into consideration, although I started a blog last night, loaded pictures, and even tried to be somewhat thoughtful, I couldn’t publish it. I was sleep blogging. I would type some and then recline into the plush depths of Cream Puff and fall asleep. I was afraid that I would wake in the morning, go to read the blog and find that all I had posted was blogging gibberish.

That would certainly elicit a few comments!

So, I had to face Joshua (“No blog this morning, Mom???”) and Tim. They are the early risers in the family and my faithful blog readers. Here’s the e-mail Tim sent me. Sigh.

Imagine my shock when I found no new blog on our website this morning. What could possibly have happened?

Abduction by space aliens?
No, I remember you were in bed when I left.
Power failure?
No, my alarm went off (curse it to the fiery inferno) just as I was getting back to sleep from my allergy attack.
Broke both hands at the wrists?
No, you would have woken me up to take you to the emergency room.

The mind boggles … I’m sure you’ll have a good answer for your outraged readers. :) Tim

The pressure, folks, the pressure.

Kathy

*Edited to add picture

blogging

I was obviously missing my coffee last night when I was sleep blogging. A little caffeine can really perk up a blog.

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P365 – Day 113 (A Guy and His Wheels)

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I’m fairly certain this is the conversation that went on at Julee’s house this afternoon.

Chandler: “Hey, Yo, Mom! I’ve got a great idea. Let’s ride on over to Mrs. E’s house and pick up some of her kids (she’s got enough there to spare a few). I’ll cruise along in my stud-mobile and you can walk along side, looking pretty.”

Julee/Mama: “You got it, Little Buddy, let me make the call and we’ll be on our way. I have to tell you, Chandler my good man, that shirt is totally working for you. Love it!”

Chandler's wheels

Chandler (holding out hand): “Thanks, Darling! Can I get a drink to take along with me? Something frothy and cold. I know you can make it happen.

See, I told you! Lots of kids and this isn’t even all of them. Let’s take these two little ones home with us. Mrs. E. won’t even notice they’re gone.”

chandler and the kiddos

Chandler (a slight grimace of worry on his face): “You know, Mom, I like that girl. I mean she’s pretty cute (almost as good looking as you, Doll) and she did take good care of me last time I came for a visit, but really, she needs to take her hands off my cruising machine.”

“Sarah, respect the perimeter around the convertible, will ya! Thanks, you’re a love!”

And with that, Sarah and David were off for a “ride” with Chandler. I know, for a fact, that they were appropriately impressed by his cool wheels.

Kathy

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