So, we are what, 4 days in?
My eating has been MUCH better. I've been eating veggies at almost every meal. A lot of salads. And very little sweets. I think portion control is what has been getting me. They tell you that to gauge your portions you should eat until you feel full and if you are hungry much more before three hours you did not eat enough and if you are very full much longer than three hours later you ate too much.
I'm doing well with water, I don't think I did so well today tho.
I did have a soda last night, at church because bottled soda just showed up in our youth room, and you can't just pass up bottled Pepsi with real sugar.
Where I have been failing is exercising. I worked out on Monday and for some reason I just haven't since... maybe I'm lazy.
I have been getting up and getting dressed first thing in the morning, with make up on, and keeping up with housework.
So there's an update on my first 4 days. I won't give you an line by line because, I really don't think you want to read that. If you do want it, I'll give it to you.
I'm down a few pounds too!
How is everyone else doing with your goals?
Cathy
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Jack-in-the-box
Something happened yesterday.
Something not very pretty happened yesterday.
This thing that happened is not uncommon in our home.
Our 7 year old did something destructive, something senseless, something common for a seven year old boy to do... and my husband and I blew up at him-that's the not pretty yet common thing that happened.
After we had yelled at our child, who was supposed to be going to sleep. My husband and I got into bed, still fuming. A few minutes later Christian got out of bed and went to our sons' room. After 10 minutes or so he came back and talked to me.
"I don't like blowing up at him. I hate when you and I do it, I hate when I see other parents do it to their child. I hate it. I feel like we are telling him whatever he just destroyed is more important than he is."
And he is right. I hate doing it, and I feel terrible afterwards. And angry mama bear comes out when Christian does it. The problem is our emotions get the best of us. This happens most often when I feel ignored or see that our children have destroyed something we, or someone who loves us, has worked hard to buy the kids.
There are many times we see each other blowing up at our boys and want to stop the other person but we don't want to call each other out in front of them. I was always taught that parents need to be united with each other and if you have a problem with the way your spouse is parenting don't address it in front of the kids.
So how do you stop your spouse from blowing up at the kids while you are in front of the kids with out being divided? Christian and I decided on a code word. Jack-in-the-box.
This word just kinda came to us. But after we thought about it, it's perfect. A Jack-in-the-box gets so wound up that it just HAS to pop out, and when it does, it's crazy.
So, something to think about, something to try. Actually, I hope you don't do this so you won't need to have a code word.
Happy parenting
Cathy.
"Dear brothers and sisters, take note of this. everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." James 1:19 NIV
Something not very pretty happened yesterday.
This thing that happened is not uncommon in our home.
Our 7 year old did something destructive, something senseless, something common for a seven year old boy to do... and my husband and I blew up at him-that's the not pretty yet common thing that happened.
After we had yelled at our child, who was supposed to be going to sleep. My husband and I got into bed, still fuming. A few minutes later Christian got out of bed and went to our sons' room. After 10 minutes or so he came back and talked to me.
"I don't like blowing up at him. I hate when you and I do it, I hate when I see other parents do it to their child. I hate it. I feel like we are telling him whatever he just destroyed is more important than he is."
And he is right. I hate doing it, and I feel terrible afterwards. And angry mama bear comes out when Christian does it. The problem is our emotions get the best of us. This happens most often when I feel ignored or see that our children have destroyed something we, or someone who loves us, has worked hard to buy the kids.
There are many times we see each other blowing up at our boys and want to stop the other person but we don't want to call each other out in front of them. I was always taught that parents need to be united with each other and if you have a problem with the way your spouse is parenting don't address it in front of the kids.
So how do you stop your spouse from blowing up at the kids while you are in front of the kids with out being divided? Christian and I decided on a code word. Jack-in-the-box.
This word just kinda came to us. But after we thought about it, it's perfect. A Jack-in-the-box gets so wound up that it just HAS to pop out, and when it does, it's crazy.
So, something to think about, something to try. Actually, I hope you don't do this so you won't need to have a code word.
Happy parenting
Cathy.
"Dear brothers and sisters, take note of this. everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." James 1:19 NIV
Friday, May 29, 2015
June Fitness Challenge
I am honestly having a hard time writing this post. I don't know where to begin.
After Levi was born we started eating right and I was exercising. In short I was feeling and looking good. When I got pregnant with Abby my energy tanked. Literally, I bought a pregnancy test because I was out of breath all the time and couldn't finish a workout routine that I had been doing all summer.
I get horrible morning sickness with pregnancy and cooking well is the last thing on my mind. So I didn't. We lived off of cardboard in the shape of chicken nuggets for 9 months. A couple months after Abby was born Christian got a new job and a raise, so we went out to eat...a lot.
And that hasn't stopped.
I tried to do better in March and was starting to (with food choices and energy level), until my mother in law was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away all within four weeks-once again, my energy level tanked. I'm not blaming her or her illness for my choices please don't think that. It's just that when someone you love is going thru something like that, the last thing on your mind is what you are putting into your mouth.
So here I am again, trying to figure this thing out. Food and honoring God with food is something that the Holy Spirit has been (trying) to deal with me about for about a year, if not longer. We are the temple of God. We must take care of it and not neglect it. The Jews neglected the physical temple of God and paid dearly for it, I don't want to do that.
So here is my personal challenge and I am writing about it because I am more likely to follow thru if I have someone to hold me accountable. My stance is, if I tell you I am planning to do something that automatically gives you the right to hold me accountable. So ask me how I'm doing when you see me, check my buggy if you run into me at Publix and call me out on Sunday mornings when I pass up the oatmeal for Ms Becky Howell's bacon wrapped cinnamon rolls.
The second reason for writing this is I'm also inviting anyone to join me choose any or all of my goals for yourself, or make your own.
So, what is the challenge?
I am setting some nutrition and fitness goals for myself to accomplish in the month of June.
1)I plan to eat as clean as possible. Striving for 90% of the time. I define clean as little to no processing. I want to eat food as closely as God has created it. This very likely will not mean all organic food for us. But it will mean as little food as possible that comes from a box.
2)No Very little fast food. Yes we frequent PDQ and Chic-Fil-A... a lot. I want to reduce my eating out to twice for the entire month and if we do go to these places I'll get a salad. The salads are really yummy, I had one tonight. Another reason I want to limit eating out is that we have done it entirely too much in recent months... it's killing our budget. We used gift cards to eat tonight.
3) Water, water, water. At the beginning of the year I was drinking about a gallon a day, and I still craved more. I want to get back to that. At least 64oz of water a day. No soda-not extremely difficult for me but I do drink more than I should, see above the eating out thing? Yes, I get soda. Coffee.... this one is hard. I would like to reduce to ONE cup a day. One normal sized cup. This will be really difficult on Sunday morning, I love my coffee on Sunday morning. All of the teenagers are well acquainted with the sad face I make when I take my last sip... it's not pretty.
4) Exercise. Ugh, Exercise. Six days a week is my goal and this would be from home because I can't really get to the gym. Three of those days I would like to include taking my kids to the park and walking. Put the babies in the double stroller and make have Nick walk with me... or ride his bike, we could do that.
5) This one is more for me to just feel better about myself in general. As a stay at home mom I tend to dress rather shabbily. Why not? No one is going to see me... until the UPS man knocks on the door. This goal is to fix my hair in something that's not a pony tail, dress in something that I wouldn't wear to the gym (like I ever go there anyway), and put on a little makeup each day. Oh, and remember to brush my teeth before 4PM.
6) Giving you updates... if you want them. I plan on posting my progress, and my pitfalls each week. It may be once a week or a few times a week. I want to post recipes that I find and I would like to hear your progress and recipes as well!
I found something on Pinterest and I adapted it to be Biblical.
No matter what temptations come my way:
I will eat clean because I refuse to fill God's temple with useless junk.
I will work out because God requires His children to be strong and energetic to fight in this Spiritual war.
I will do this because God wants the best for me and being healthy is the best for me.
I can do this because I can do all things thru Christ Who strengthens me.
I'm tired. And I'm tired of being tired. I'm tired of forgetting things. I'm tired of snapping at my children for being children. I'm tired of being lazy during the day and then hating myself for it that night. And I'm tired of not changing, not challenging myself. This isn't about weight loss, although that will happen. This is about feeling our best, acting our best and most of all giving God our best.
Let me know if you would like to join me.
Cathy.
After Levi was born we started eating right and I was exercising. In short I was feeling and looking good. When I got pregnant with Abby my energy tanked. Literally, I bought a pregnancy test because I was out of breath all the time and couldn't finish a workout routine that I had been doing all summer.
I get horrible morning sickness with pregnancy and cooking well is the last thing on my mind. So I didn't. We lived off of cardboard in the shape of chicken nuggets for 9 months. A couple months after Abby was born Christian got a new job and a raise, so we went out to eat...a lot.
And that hasn't stopped.
I tried to do better in March and was starting to (with food choices and energy level), until my mother in law was diagnosed with lung cancer and passed away all within four weeks-once again, my energy level tanked. I'm not blaming her or her illness for my choices please don't think that. It's just that when someone you love is going thru something like that, the last thing on your mind is what you are putting into your mouth.
So here I am again, trying to figure this thing out. Food and honoring God with food is something that the Holy Spirit has been (trying) to deal with me about for about a year, if not longer. We are the temple of God. We must take care of it and not neglect it. The Jews neglected the physical temple of God and paid dearly for it, I don't want to do that.
So here is my personal challenge and I am writing about it because I am more likely to follow thru if I have someone to hold me accountable. My stance is, if I tell you I am planning to do something that automatically gives you the right to hold me accountable. So ask me how I'm doing when you see me, check my buggy if you run into me at Publix and call me out on Sunday mornings when I pass up the oatmeal for Ms Becky Howell's bacon wrapped cinnamon rolls.
The second reason for writing this is I'm also inviting anyone to join me choose any or all of my goals for yourself, or make your own.
So, what is the challenge?
I am setting some nutrition and fitness goals for myself to accomplish in the month of June.
1)I plan to eat as clean as possible. Striving for 90% of the time. I define clean as little to no processing. I want to eat food as closely as God has created it. This very likely will not mean all organic food for us. But it will mean as little food as possible that comes from a box.
2)
3) Water, water, water. At the beginning of the year I was drinking about a gallon a day, and I still craved more. I want to get back to that. At least 64oz of water a day. No soda-not extremely difficult for me but I do drink more than I should, see above the eating out thing? Yes, I get soda. Coffee.... this one is hard. I would like to reduce to ONE cup a day. One normal sized cup. This will be really difficult on Sunday morning, I love my coffee on Sunday morning. All of the teenagers are well acquainted with the sad face I make when I take my last sip... it's not pretty.
4) Exercise. Ugh, Exercise. Six days a week is my goal and this would be from home because I can't really get to the gym. Three of those days I would like to include taking my kids to the park and walking. Put the babies in the double stroller and make have Nick walk with me... or ride his bike, we could do that.
5) This one is more for me to just feel better about myself in general. As a stay at home mom I tend to dress rather shabbily. Why not? No one is going to see me... until the UPS man knocks on the door. This goal is to fix my hair in something that's not a pony tail, dress in something that I wouldn't wear to the gym (like I ever go there anyway), and put on a little makeup each day. Oh, and remember to brush my teeth before 4PM.
6) Giving you updates... if you want them. I plan on posting my progress, and my pitfalls each week. It may be once a week or a few times a week. I want to post recipes that I find and I would like to hear your progress and recipes as well!
I found something on Pinterest and I adapted it to be Biblical.
No matter what temptations come my way:
I will eat clean because I refuse to fill God's temple with useless junk.
I will work out because God requires His children to be strong and energetic to fight in this Spiritual war.
I will do this because God wants the best for me and being healthy is the best for me.
I can do this because I can do all things thru Christ Who strengthens me.
I'm tired. And I'm tired of being tired. I'm tired of forgetting things. I'm tired of snapping at my children for being children. I'm tired of being lazy during the day and then hating myself for it that night. And I'm tired of not changing, not challenging myself. This isn't about weight loss, although that will happen. This is about feeling our best, acting our best and most of all giving God our best.
Let me know if you would like to join me.
Cathy.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Snack Time!!
This is something I am super excited about... it's the little things.
I can't tell you how many times my 6 year old asks me for a snack... and then doesn't like the options I give him, knowing all along that he has something specific in mind-usually sugary. With the coming of baby #3 I decided to give my big boy some power over his snack options. And hopefully use some of my fruit and veggies from the co-op that often get forgotten and wasted. I'll get to the co-op in a minute.
Here's what I did. I decided that two snacks a day are more than enough for my boys- one morning and one afternoon snack. I started off with 6 servings of fruit (strawberries, oranges and apples), cleaned cut and put into zip top bags, I added two yogurts for each of the boys and two bags each cereal, yes, boxed cereal. I want to add some veggies (celery, and carrots at least for Nick) but I'll have to go to Publix for those this week since we didn't get any in our co-op bins. Some weeks there may be granola or goldfish instead of cereal, depending on what's on sale.
I put all the snack bags in a crisper in the refrigerator so there is easy access to the snacks. He has complete control over which snacks he eats when so if he eats all his sweeter snacks in the beginning of the week he will have only veggies to eat the rest of the time. Levi has smaller portions of food and his bags are labeled with his name so Nick doesn't get a double portion of sweets in any given week. Here is a sample of what is in the snack drawer this week. We'll give it a week and see how it works.
What about this veggie co-op thing you mentioned? I'm glad you asked. I am a member of Carlita's Bowl Fruit and Veggie Co-op. Every other week I pick up a Rubbermaid bin of fruit and veggies that have been bought that morning at the local farmers market. I have the option of getting a large bin which is 20-40lbs of produce, depending on the season and what is available and I only pay $30 for 30-ish lbs of food-AMAZING. I also have the option of getting this every week. I may have to add a mini bin 20-30 lbs for $20 during my off week if this works and I need more goodies in the house.
If you are interested in Carlita's Bowl, you can visit her page carlitasbowl.org and find all the info you'll need and if you are interested and in the Seminole Heights or Sulphur Springs area I can help you out with getting your delivery. I've posted a picture of a mini bin that I pick up for a friend. I unloaded my large bin before I took pictures.
"He gives food to every living thing, His faithful Love endures forever." Psalm 136:25
Happy, Healthy snacking,
Cathy
I can't tell you how many times my 6 year old asks me for a snack... and then doesn't like the options I give him, knowing all along that he has something specific in mind-usually sugary. With the coming of baby #3 I decided to give my big boy some power over his snack options. And hopefully use some of my fruit and veggies from the co-op that often get forgotten and wasted. I'll get to the co-op in a minute.
Here's what I did. I decided that two snacks a day are more than enough for my boys- one morning and one afternoon snack. I started off with 6 servings of fruit (strawberries, oranges and apples), cleaned cut and put into zip top bags, I added two yogurts for each of the boys and two bags each cereal, yes, boxed cereal. I want to add some veggies (celery, and carrots at least for Nick) but I'll have to go to Publix for those this week since we didn't get any in our co-op bins. Some weeks there may be granola or goldfish instead of cereal, depending on what's on sale.
I put all the snack bags in a crisper in the refrigerator so there is easy access to the snacks. He has complete control over which snacks he eats when so if he eats all his sweeter snacks in the beginning of the week he will have only veggies to eat the rest of the time. Levi has smaller portions of food and his bags are labeled with his name so Nick doesn't get a double portion of sweets in any given week. Here is a sample of what is in the snack drawer this week. We'll give it a week and see how it works.
What about this veggie co-op thing you mentioned? I'm glad you asked. I am a member of Carlita's Bowl Fruit and Veggie Co-op. Every other week I pick up a Rubbermaid bin of fruit and veggies that have been bought that morning at the local farmers market. I have the option of getting a large bin which is 20-40lbs of produce, depending on the season and what is available and I only pay $30 for 30-ish lbs of food-AMAZING. I also have the option of getting this every week. I may have to add a mini bin 20-30 lbs for $20 during my off week if this works and I need more goodies in the house.
If you are interested in Carlita's Bowl, you can visit her page carlitasbowl.org and find all the info you'll need and if you are interested and in the Seminole Heights or Sulphur Springs area I can help you out with getting your delivery. I've posted a picture of a mini bin that I pick up for a friend. I unloaded my large bin before I took pictures.
"He gives food to every living thing, His faithful Love endures forever." Psalm 136:25
Happy, Healthy snacking,
Cathy
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Goals for 2014
Confession time: During the latter part of 2013 I have felt like I had just been running in circles doing laundry, dishes and cleaning that never seem to get finished. I would lay down at night feeling like I had accomplished nothing during my day of running wild and then realize how much time I had actually wasted during the day and realized half of my bills this month were late because I had forgotten about them.
So, If you've read much by me, and I haven't written very much, you've seen that I once created a "Domestic Executive's Daily Planner". Said planner has been sitting in my office untouched for the past year.... ok two years.
Thanks to Crystal over at www.moneysavingmom.com I have been inspired to pull it out, touch it up, and use it once more. She inspired this reader to set goals for the year and to break them down into bite-sized pieces.
Let's get to it. What I have added.
1. A family daily schedule. This is turning out to be more of guidelines, actually but it IS helping keep me on track as to when things get done. I broke the week down into daily schedules because we do different things on different days and I wanted to account for home-school co-op days and veggie co-op days. If you are interested in the veggie co-op, that is next weeks topic.
2. A calendar. I found a free printable 2014 calendar online and printed it, punched it with my 3-hole puncher and stuck it in there. I went ahead and filled in birthdays and anniversaries for the year, I have filled in when my bills are due each month (purple ink for auto pay and red for the ones I have to pay). I have jotted the days that my husband and I will sit down for our monthly budget meeting. I also have made one of my weekly chores to check this book and see which bills are due that week and pay them that day.
3.A goal sheet-and this is where Crystal was the inspiration. I have made several goals for the year and in order to accomplish them, I broke them into bite-sized pieces. My goals for the year are;1. Read the Bible 5 times a week, 2. Start freezer cooking, 3. Read 1 book a month, 4. Learn a new skill, 5. Blog 1 time a week and 6. utilize my time more wisely.
I found a weekly goal sheet on www.moneysavingmom.com and printed each of my goals on it. It is safely inside one of my page protectors and each week I will write my bite-sized goal. This week my sheet looks like this:
Date: January 5-11
Bible reading: Psalms chapters 5-11 and Proverbs chapters 5-11 (each week I will write what my plan asks me to read)
Budget: Write and stick to a budget and hold monthly budget meetings. This was done on Sunday.
Freezer cooking: this week I plan to make breakfast burritos to freeze
Reading: this week I plan to read chapters 1-4 of 'When Godly people do Ungodly Things' I will choose a book a month and divide the chapters by 4.
(next goal I just added, try not to freak out when you get this far into a blog entry only to think you have just deleted the entire post)
Learning: This one is blank so far. I found a link to an article on 24 things you can learn online for free. I plan to learn one of these but I'm not sure which one yet.... I think that is my goal for this week, figure out what I want to learn this year. Here's the link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/24-invaluable-skills-to-learn-for-free-online-this-year.
And Blog once a week; This goal is being accomplished today, so I can cross something off my list. My plan for next week is to talk about the totally awesome veggie co-op group I belong to...so come back.
I still have my daily docket of chores, my weekly and monthly chores plan in place. If you want to learn more about MY chores plans visit http://theandreablogs.blogspot.com/2011/04/domestic-executives-daily-planner.html, if you would like to hear more from Crystal and print off the chore dockets you can visit http://moneysavingmom.com/downloads/household-management-forms and while you are there take time to explore the rest of her site, she's got some great ideas.
Thanks for stopping by. As always, your kind comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Happy Home Managing,
Cathy
So, If you've read much by me, and I haven't written very much, you've seen that I once created a "Domestic Executive's Daily Planner". Said planner has been sitting in my office untouched for the past year.... ok two years.
Thanks to Crystal over at www.moneysavingmom.com I have been inspired to pull it out, touch it up, and use it once more. She inspired this reader to set goals for the year and to break them down into bite-sized pieces.
Let's get to it. What I have added.
1. A family daily schedule. This is turning out to be more of guidelines, actually but it IS helping keep me on track as to when things get done. I broke the week down into daily schedules because we do different things on different days and I wanted to account for home-school co-op days and veggie co-op days. If you are interested in the veggie co-op, that is next weeks topic.
2. A calendar. I found a free printable 2014 calendar online and printed it, punched it with my 3-hole puncher and stuck it in there. I went ahead and filled in birthdays and anniversaries for the year, I have filled in when my bills are due each month (purple ink for auto pay and red for the ones I have to pay). I have jotted the days that my husband and I will sit down for our monthly budget meeting. I also have made one of my weekly chores to check this book and see which bills are due that week and pay them that day.
3.A goal sheet-and this is where Crystal was the inspiration. I have made several goals for the year and in order to accomplish them, I broke them into bite-sized pieces. My goals for the year are;1. Read the Bible 5 times a week, 2. Start freezer cooking, 3. Read 1 book a month, 4. Learn a new skill, 5. Blog 1 time a week and 6. utilize my time more wisely.
I found a weekly goal sheet on www.moneysavingmom.com and printed each of my goals on it. It is safely inside one of my page protectors and each week I will write my bite-sized goal. This week my sheet looks like this:
Date: January 5-11
Bible reading: Psalms chapters 5-11 and Proverbs chapters 5-11 (each week I will write what my plan asks me to read)
Budget: Write and stick to a budget and hold monthly budget meetings. This was done on Sunday.
Freezer cooking: this week I plan to make breakfast burritos to freeze
Reading: this week I plan to read chapters 1-4 of 'When Godly people do Ungodly Things' I will choose a book a month and divide the chapters by 4.
(next goal I just added, try not to freak out when you get this far into a blog entry only to think you have just deleted the entire post)
Learning: This one is blank so far. I found a link to an article on 24 things you can learn online for free. I plan to learn one of these but I'm not sure which one yet.... I think that is my goal for this week, figure out what I want to learn this year. Here's the link: http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/24-invaluable-skills-to-learn-for-free-online-this-year.
And Blog once a week; This goal is being accomplished today, so I can cross something off my list. My plan for next week is to talk about the totally awesome veggie co-op group I belong to...so come back.
I still have my daily docket of chores, my weekly and monthly chores plan in place. If you want to learn more about MY chores plans visit http://theandreablogs.blogspot.com/2011/04/domestic-executives-daily-planner.html, if you would like to hear more from Crystal and print off the chore dockets you can visit http://moneysavingmom.com/downloads/household-management-forms and while you are there take time to explore the rest of her site, she's got some great ideas.
Thanks for stopping by. As always, your kind comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Happy Home Managing,
Cathy
Choose my (God's...not Cathy's) instruction instead of silver,
knowledge rather than choice gold,
for wisdom is more precious than rubies,
and nothing you desire can compare with her. Proverbs 8:10-11 parenthesis added.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Eat the Stinkin' Carrot!!
Last night Christian and I had a friend over for dinner who brought her four-year-old son. This little boy, however, is an extremely picky eater. This, I was unaware of because although we see each other frequently, when we do get together for dinner we are usually eating is favorite food-pizza.
The rule in my house is if you don't want it, you don't have to eat but you only get water until the next meal. Our friends rule is, you sit there until it's gone- this rule she was enforcing at our house. Christian and I usually let parents parent their way at our house- unless they don't parent at all and the kids become destructive or harmful.
So we watched our friend have her son sit at the table until his food was gone. But he didn't "eat it" he became a chipmunk- hiding the food in his cheeks. He held a baby carrot there for 2 hours (no joke). All this because he didn't like carrots.
As he tried to keep getting up from the table with his "store" of food, Nick would come in and say "just eat the carrot and you can go play."
As this was happening in the dining room we, adults, were sitting in the living room and the conversation turned to breaking free from the lies and bondage that Satan holds us in so tightly and how we refuse to get rid of this bondage.
About that time we realized that our four-year-old "chipmunk" was out of his seat attempting to play with Nick. Yes the carrot was still in his mouth. He was not only disobeying his mother, this was dangerous for him.
One of us (ok either Christian or our guest, not me) made the statement that this carrot situation was so much like the bondage we are being held in. If he would have just eaten the carrot, he would be free to go play with Nick, but he was so stubborn and tried to hide it from us.
God tells us just eat the stinking carrot and you will be free to "play" to do everything that I have planned for you. But we are so willful and stubborn that we hide this bondage from others and go on like everything is ok. This puts us in Spiritual danger and often physical and/or emotional danger. Even sometimes our friends will tell us to eat the carrot, I want to play with you as Nick did with his friend.
Friends we ALL have carrots in our cheeks, some more physically dangerous than others. So believe me when I say I'm not speaking TO YOU rather I am speaking ABOUT US. Most of us don't even realize we have carrots hiding in our cheeks. And if we do realize we have carrots we are too stubborn to "eat them".
I encourage you all to pray and earnestly ask God to reveal your carrots and ask Him for help to eat the carrot and be free from the chains of this world. I will do the same.
Father,
You are Amazing, the Alpha Omega, Beginning and End, You are our King, Messiah, Redeemer and Friend. Thank You for all you have done. Thank you for the gift and sacrifice of Jesus, for the chance to be with You for eternity. I pray that you search me oh God and know my heart, test me o Lord and know my anxious thoughts, Point out anything that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Ps 139:23-24). Father, help me to eat the stinkin' carrot.
Cathy
The rule in my house is if you don't want it, you don't have to eat but you only get water until the next meal. Our friends rule is, you sit there until it's gone- this rule she was enforcing at our house. Christian and I usually let parents parent their way at our house- unless they don't parent at all and the kids become destructive or harmful.
So we watched our friend have her son sit at the table until his food was gone. But he didn't "eat it" he became a chipmunk- hiding the food in his cheeks. He held a baby carrot there for 2 hours (no joke). All this because he didn't like carrots.
As he tried to keep getting up from the table with his "store" of food, Nick would come in and say "just eat the carrot and you can go play."
As this was happening in the dining room we, adults, were sitting in the living room and the conversation turned to breaking free from the lies and bondage that Satan holds us in so tightly and how we refuse to get rid of this bondage.
About that time we realized that our four-year-old "chipmunk" was out of his seat attempting to play with Nick. Yes the carrot was still in his mouth. He was not only disobeying his mother, this was dangerous for him.
One of us (ok either Christian or our guest, not me) made the statement that this carrot situation was so much like the bondage we are being held in. If he would have just eaten the carrot, he would be free to go play with Nick, but he was so stubborn and tried to hide it from us.
God tells us just eat the stinking carrot and you will be free to "play" to do everything that I have planned for you. But we are so willful and stubborn that we hide this bondage from others and go on like everything is ok. This puts us in Spiritual danger and often physical and/or emotional danger. Even sometimes our friends will tell us to eat the carrot, I want to play with you as Nick did with his friend.
Friends we ALL have carrots in our cheeks, some more physically dangerous than others. So believe me when I say I'm not speaking TO YOU rather I am speaking ABOUT US. Most of us don't even realize we have carrots hiding in our cheeks. And if we do realize we have carrots we are too stubborn to "eat them".
I encourage you all to pray and earnestly ask God to reveal your carrots and ask Him for help to eat the carrot and be free from the chains of this world. I will do the same.
Father,
You are Amazing, the Alpha Omega, Beginning and End, You are our King, Messiah, Redeemer and Friend. Thank You for all you have done. Thank you for the gift and sacrifice of Jesus, for the chance to be with You for eternity. I pray that you search me oh God and know my heart, test me o Lord and know my anxious thoughts, Point out anything that offends you and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Ps 139:23-24). Father, help me to eat the stinkin' carrot.
Cathy
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
I subscribe to an e-newsletter from a homeschooling, homesteading mom named Crystal. I really wanted to share some of her thoughts from Octobers newsletter that was sent out today. I think it will strike the hearts of many of you as it did my own.
The Content Heart: Used with permission from Crystal Miller.
I find in this world we constantly deal with discontentment. Often we don't mean to be discontent, but we are. I am guilty of this myself. I complain when the weather is too wet, then too hot, then too dry. I complain when there is an abundance of milk to deal with and complain when the goats dry up during the winter. More often the problems of discontentment for most revolve around finances. I have listened to women who are discontent with the older car they drive, the inability to have material things, the desire for new clothes that are not in the budget, a house that is too small and the list goes on.
If we dwell on these things what begins to happen is that we realize that life is not as fulfilling as what we wanted, and we become discontent and even bitter. At some point we may even feel the need to go to work, or find ways to make extra money so we can acquire what we don't have. Or maybe even push our husbands to do something about the situation. All of these methods of dealing with this can have negative side effects, some more than others. And in the end we may be saying to the Lord, "What you have provided for my life is just not enough for me" .
If we did manage to buy that new car, the new clothes, move to a bigger house, and so on; would this solve the problem of a discontent heart? Is this the ultimate answer? I don't think so. I have also learned over the years that we as human beings will always have needs and many wants. We will never naturally be satisfied with what we have. We will be looking at our list to see what is the next needed item to make life complete. The Scriptures tell us, "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content" Philippians 4:11.
You see the heart is at the issue. That is not to say that there are not real needs at hand, but as in all things the heart issues must come first. An example from my own life is when we had 7 children and lived in an 1100 sq. ft. home. We truly did need a bigger house, but how I dealt with that was a heart issue. I had to constantly remind myself that in all situations the Lord knows all my needs. To pray for a bigger house is good, but to be discontent with the small one is not. I remember asking myself, "If I was never able to move from this house would that be ok with me?" I had to put my heart in a place that said, "Yes, I could live with that" .
The ultimate solution will come from not only learning to be content with what the Lord has provided but also to find joy in our life! Discontentment will never produce a joyful life. In this materialistic society we live in we may find it hard to wrap our minds around the Scripture that says: And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 1 Timothy 6:8. Imagine, that does not even mention a home!
So how does one go from feeding a discontent heart to a heart that is not only content but joyful? We begin by giving thanks to the Lord for ALL things. When you wake up in the morning you begin your day by thanking the Lord for his blessings. Are you familiar with the hymn that says, "Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God hath done!" ? That is the place to start.
The next step is to really focus on what is of value in life. To me the greatest value I find is in relationships; my relationship with the Lord, my husband and my children. When I start looking at what I can do right where I am at to improve my life and begin thanking the Lord for all His blessings daily, I find I start to value the relationships in my life more. I want to work to make those a blessing to us all.
I want to set aside that daily time with the Lord, I want to be a better helpmeet to my husband; I want to be a better mother to my children. These things are all actions, discontentment is rarely an action. When we act upon something such as dwelling upon the goodness of God and what He has provided and act on this to improve the relationships around us, our hearts change.
This month I would like to encourage us all to daily give thanks for the Lord's wondrous provisions in our life and to serve and love the ones He has placed in our charge. The change will be amazing, the heart the will change and discontentment will be turned into a contented joy that can only come from Jesus.
You may subscribe to Crystals newsletter here; http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/newsletter.ht
Please visit Crystals website;
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.
Blessings
Cathy
The Content Heart: Used with permission from Crystal Miller.
I find in this world we constantly deal with discontentment. Often we don't mean to be discontent, but we are. I am guilty of this myself. I complain when the weather is too wet, then too hot, then too dry. I complain when there is an abundance of milk to deal with and complain when the goats dry up during the winter. More often the problems of discontentment for most revolve around finances. I have listened to women who are discontent with the older car they drive, the inability to have material things, the desire for new clothes that are not in the budget, a house that is too small and the list goes on.
If we dwell on these things what begins to happen is that we realize that life is not as fulfilling as what we wanted, and we become discontent and even bitter. At some point we may even feel the need to go to work, or find ways to make extra money so we can acquire what we don't have. Or maybe even push our husbands to do something about the situation. All of these methods of dealing with this can have negative side effects, some more than others. And in the end we may be saying to the Lord, "What you have provided for my life is just not enough for me" .
If we did manage to buy that new car, the new clothes, move to a bigger house, and so on; would this solve the problem of a discontent heart? Is this the ultimate answer? I don't think so. I have also learned over the years that we as human beings will always have needs and many wants. We will never naturally be satisfied with what we have. We will be looking at our list to see what is the next needed item to make life complete. The Scriptures tell us, "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content" Philippians 4:11.
You see the heart is at the issue. That is not to say that there are not real needs at hand, but as in all things the heart issues must come first. An example from my own life is when we had 7 children and lived in an 1100 sq. ft. home. We truly did need a bigger house, but how I dealt with that was a heart issue. I had to constantly remind myself that in all situations the Lord knows all my needs. To pray for a bigger house is good, but to be discontent with the small one is not. I remember asking myself, "If I was never able to move from this house would that be ok with me?" I had to put my heart in a place that said, "Yes, I could live with that" .
The ultimate solution will come from not only learning to be content with what the Lord has provided but also to find joy in our life! Discontentment will never produce a joyful life. In this materialistic society we live in we may find it hard to wrap our minds around the Scripture that says: And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. 1 Timothy 6:8. Imagine, that does not even mention a home!
So how does one go from feeding a discontent heart to a heart that is not only content but joyful? We begin by giving thanks to the Lord for ALL things. When you wake up in the morning you begin your day by thanking the Lord for his blessings. Are you familiar with the hymn that says, "Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings, see what God hath done!" ? That is the place to start.
The next step is to really focus on what is of value in life. To me the greatest value I find is in relationships; my relationship with the Lord, my husband and my children. When I start looking at what I can do right where I am at to improve my life and begin thanking the Lord for all His blessings daily, I find I start to value the relationships in my life more. I want to work to make those a blessing to us all.
I want to set aside that daily time with the Lord, I want to be a better helpmeet to my husband; I want to be a better mother to my children. These things are all actions, discontentment is rarely an action. When we act upon something such as dwelling upon the goodness of God and what He has provided and act on this to improve the relationships around us, our hearts change.
This month I would like to encourage us all to daily give thanks for the Lord's wondrous provisions in our life and to serve and love the ones He has placed in our charge. The change will be amazing, the heart the will change and discontentment will be turned into a contented joy that can only come from Jesus.
You may subscribe to Crystals newsletter here; http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/newsletter.ht
Please visit Crystals website;
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.
Blessings
Cathy
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