I saw that these were really popular on the shelves of Target last night, so I thought I’d come home and try to make a pair.My first one is done, and its super cute. I shortened the toe area so that it is lower down on the foot and then lengthened the slipper by the same amount. I’m loving it!
Blog
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Working out feels so good
Have you ever noticed that when you’re not exercising often, then exercising feels yucky. However, if you’re exercising regularly, then it just feels so great! Its really cool how our body adjusts, isn’t it?
I thought I’d write about some yoga programs that I like, since that seems to be a common question in Christian circles. I’m not here to debate yoga, and I realize that there are many Christians who don’t feel comfortable with that. That’s perfectly fine by me! For me it falls into one of those categories of things that some people cannot do (perhaps because of past experiences with eastern religions, etc), but other people can do without stumbling. I don’t do it around people who struggle with it, but I find nothing wrong with the moves themselves. As Paul put it
Romans 14:13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. 14As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food[b] is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
Anyhoo, back to the shows. Here’s my faves right now. I will admit that sometimes they say funky things, and when they do, I ignore them. I have friends who do the same thing
I am perfectly able to ignore, lol. Neither of these shows are too spiritual though, and anything they might say is more like what I’d hear my chiropractor or masseuse say 
Inhale Yoga – This is the more vigorous workout of the two. It is high energy and they use Kirk Franklin songs (“GP are you with me?!”), which makes me smile. Its all upbeat music and the host is really sarcastic. I’ve worked out to this show for years, and I really like it. It plays on the Oxygen Network.
Namaste Yoga – This is much more mellow. It is not a difficult workout, but it really reminds me to slow down and focus on the postures. It plays on FitTV.
I hope you enjoy and that I don’t get flamed! LOL.
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Watching over little hearts
Proverbs 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.
I’ve been going back through Heartfelt Discipline, and just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to discuss some of its ideas on here
In the first chapter of Heartfelt Discipline, Clay Clarkson discusses the above verse and where many parents go wrong in their attempt to watch over their children’s hearts.
You have to buy the book if you want all of the greek word study
The words used in this verse for “watch over” are used to refer to ideas like guarding a facility or being a watchman on the walls. These are ideas that convey guarding what goes INTO the heart rather than OUT of the heart.
Let’s say there are two kinds of parents: those who watch over what comes out of their child’s heart and mind, and those who watch over what goes into their child’s heart and mind. The first group is vigilant to restrain their child’s sin (what comes out of the chlid’s heart). They carefully watch over their child’s words and actions so as to catch the sin as soon as it appears. When the child sins, there is an immediate and usually negative response from the parents…
…rather than obsessing over what comes out of a child’s heart, an advocate parent focuses on what goes into his or her heart. Such parenting is all about cultivating “good soil” that will receive the truth of the gospel. The parents’ role is to prepare a child’s heart to receive the seed of the Word of God that will “lead to salvation.”
Yes! I love this. So many parenting gurus want you to focus on what is coming OUT of the heart. That misses the point entirely! If you only change what comes out of the heart, then you are never REACHING the heart!
To a busy, frustrated parent, applying purely practical solutions to a spiritual problem might seem to “work”: It stops the negative behavior. But such practical “solutions” gloss over the real, spiritual problem. Parents can almost always exercise enough power over younger children to gain control over a behavioral problem. But what happens when the parents aren’t around to monitor and control the child’s wrong behavior? If the root cause hasn’t been addressed, then the behavior will continue.
It is our job to guide our children and to help them stay on the narrow path. When they stray, we help them back on. It doesn’t stop there though, there must be something done at the heart level, not just a quick bandaid.
You are a Godly guide… training and instructing them about how to walk this path in order to find life as God intended it to be. You are also warning them about the dangers that would lead them away from the path and correcting them when they stray from the path. This full, biblical picture of discipline reflects an ongoing heart-to-heart relationship in which you are patiently and lovingly guiding the child.
Childhood discipline is a process, not a formula, a list of rules, or a set of laws. Childhood discipline is about relationship and instruction, about parents seeking God’s wisdom, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, and trusting God.
I understand why parents long for an easy “10 steps to a perfect Christian child”, but that’s not the way the Bible works. Think of all of the details that God gave when it came to eating, which clothes to wear, how to shave beards, and how to build houses. He wasn’t that way with raising children. There are a few verses spread throughout the Bible that leave a lot open to interpretation. As I blogged about before, the verses in Deuteronomy and 1 Thes. are probably some of the most desciptive, but they still have a lot of wiggle room.
Hmm, lots to think about
What a great first chapter! -
Watching my children blossom
I had a really cool experience today, and I wanted to share
I realize that most of you have never met my kids (or me!), but let me start by saying that my oldest, who is 4, is normally a very “easy” child. He is very complaint, tender, and big hearted. I am so thankful that God blessed me with him first, because he is such an example of child-like faith and trust. He’s not normally prone to anger… instead he shows his hurt (if only I could do that without masking my hurt with anger!). He has taught me so much already, and I look forward to all of the lessons that I know he’ll teach me as he grows.
So, with that said, you’ll understand why today left me shocked.
We went out to eat for dinner, and he needed to go potty. Long story short: someone was in the handicapped stall and he FREAKED out. He was SCREAMING. For some reason he wanted that stall, and he was screaching that the other potty was too small and it was a big ol’ mess. He wouldn’t pee, then he was screaming at the top of his lungs. I was pretty mortified, to be honest. We walked out of the bathroom and everyone was looking at me as if I had taken him in there for a beating! I was firm, but gentle. I did everything that normally calms him down, and yet when we left the restaurant, I was still scratching my head. I could not figure out why that set him off or why his response was so extreme.
Now, on a different note, we’ve been working on a lot of the ideas in Jane Nelson’s Positive Discipline. One of those strategies is to talk to your children at night about what was their saddest and their happiest moment for the day. Because of ds’ personality, most nights he doesn’t even have a saddest moment. He is just that upbeat. The idea is that by talking about these little happy and sad moments now, we are building a relationship where these same ideas can be discussed later. While they are young, it is helpful because it addresses those “big feelings” before it can snowball.
As I was tucking ds into bed tonight, before we had even gotten to the point where I ask him about his day, he blurted out that he needed to talk to me about his saddest time today. He then gushed all of the big feelings that he was having in the bathroom, and it made PERFECT sense why he was so upset. I would’ve been upset too! He told me some ideas that he had for better ways to handle it in the future, and I left his room beaming tonight.
I can’t even express in words how beautiful it is to see not only our relationship blossom, but also to see him grow and be able to problem solve and learn from less desirable (or socially acceptable) behaviors. We all have moments where we handle a situation wrong, but to be able to internalize and then think of solutions is such a higher level of thought. I feel so blessed that I didn’t turn to shaming or punishing him for that behavior. Just like God allows us as adults to think and then learn from our mistakes, he was able to do the same (and of course this wasn’t a sinful situation). To see that model working in my son was wonderful. I’m so proud of him and the little man that he is becoming.
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Trains of thought
From Home Education by Charlotte Mason (from the chapter “Habit is Ten Natures”)
…it is as if every familiar train of thought made a rut in the nervous substance of the brain into which the thoughts run lightly of their own accord, and out of which they can only be got by an effort of will.
I’ve been studying a lot about habit training and discipling recently. I really love Charlotte Mason’s descriptions of habits. Here she speaks of an older child who should “know better”, but was never trained properly and as such his brain now naturally functions in the other way.
And to correct bad habits of speaking, for instance, it will not be enough for the child to intend to speak plainly and to try to speak plainly; he will not be able to do so habitually until some degree of new growth has taken place… whilst he is making efforts to form the new habit.
Any sequence of mental action which has been frequently repeated, tends to perpetuate itself; so that we find ourselves automatically prompted to think, feel, or do what we have been before accustomed to think, feel, or do, under like circumstances, without any consciously formed purpose or anticipation of results.
I know how true this is as an adult, even when we “know better”. If we have trained ourselves to habitually perform a bad habit, it is an effort to behave differently. I am just now considering how early these habits are formed and how much easier life will be for my children if they are already used to the good habits rather than having bad ones they have to break.
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Grain mill
I am so psyched! I just won a grain mill on eBay. Its new-in-box and it is a brand that I’ve been looking at for quite a while.
Now I am on the hunt for recipes that use fresh flour. Anyone have links?
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Life goals
As you can see in my VoluntarySimplicity post, I have recently been thinking a lot about what is important to me and what is just a waste of my time. I’ve really been convicted on the many ways that I misuse my time, and so I’m trying to correct it.
I decided to download and play with Life Balance, which is actually really cool. You write out your goals and the steps to get there and then it makes a to-do list for you that takes into account when you can do things, where you are going to be, and what must be done before other tasks can be done. I’m having fun playing with it. I found that they even have a plan you can download for Flylady (too bad I don’t use her system)!
As dh and I talked about it last night, we realized that our weaknesses in this area are actually very complimentary. Where I am weak, he is strong; Where he is weak, I am strong. So now we are working together to see what we can do to help each other out.
All of this has helped me realize that I have a lot of small goals that I was doing absolutely nothing to accomplish. They are important to me, but it does not appear that way when you look at my schedule. I’m hoping to change this.
If you have realized the same thing, especially if you are a couple of steps ahead of me in putting those goals into action, please comment! I’d love to hear what you’ve done.
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FU H2
Note: This above link is not a site to view with children! Especially those who can read!
It is a site that encourages you to take pictures of yourself flipping off a Hummer H2 due to the many negative things the H2 contributes to our environment and the safety of other cars. I think it is hilarious, but I have that kind of sense of humor (right, Rebecca?)
I also think it is hilarious that they refer to it as an “urban assult vehicle”
The H2 is a death machine. You’d better hope that you don’t collide with an H2 in your economy car. You can kiss your *** goodbye thanks to the H2’s massive weight and raised bumpers. Too bad you couldn’t afford an urban assault vehicle of your own. Or could you…?
And now for the page, in case you didn’t click the link in my post title. Some of the submissions are really funny.
http://www.fuh2.com/ -
Voluntary simplicity
Contrary to some reports, simplicity is not about deprivation. Those practicing simplicity in North America typically are quite comfortable by global standards. They only thing they’ve given up is the unnecessary and unsatisfying excess that is common in America. In exchange, they receive the luxury of time, peace of mind, and happiness. – Marie Sherlock Living Simply With Children
I’ve never been that simple of a girl. Actually, I’ve always been a bit more of a material girl.
I’ve been feeling led to change this though. All of the sudden I am having living-off-the-grid dreams. Its crazy.I went to the library and checked out a few books on Voluntary Simplicity (I figured that it wouldn’t be very simple of me to purchase them!) I’m really enjoying what I’m learning.
We’ve already had a few family meetings about things that we can do as a family to simplify our life. We’ve talked about the goals that are truly important to us and what we can do to trim down the parts of our life that aren’t advancing us towards those goals. Its amazing to see how much of my time has been wasted on things that do not further my goals AT ALL. There are things that I feel that God is guiding me to, and yet I was spending my time in areas that were completely unrelated.
So dh has really jumped on board, and we are finally working on a project that not only furthers our goals, but also allows us more time together. Its really, really cool.
For the kids, we are working on reducing television and increasing family game times. I don’t mean board games, although we’ve done that too, but I just mean getting down and playing with them in any way they want. Its been a great reminder of how much I want to spend time with my children and grow in relationship with them. I don’t have a goal for them to know every song that Dora sings
Anyways, I wanted to go ahead and add a blog category for Voluntary Simplicity. I’ll probably put in a couple of entries from the books that I’m reading because it has given me a lot to think about. I don’t think I’ll be throwing away my Treo or my SUV anytime soon, but the little changes are already making a huge difference.
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Profile pic
Well, I decided to add a profile pic. This one was my close runner-up
Maybe I’ll switch it out later. They both showcase my features that I used to think made me look too ethnic… too Jewish… not all-American enough I’ve since changed my opinion 
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