Gross!

An episode of Dr. Oz came on the other day featuring morbidly obese women. Some who wanted to change the way their were and some who did not. When one of my kids saw the tv they immediately said "GROSS"! They wanted to know how such a thing could happen.

This got me thinking about spiritually how we must look to other cultures. How easy it is to be spiritually obese in America. Just like food in America we have access to more things relating to God, church and spirituality than anywhere else in the world. We can go to church with total freedom anytime we want without any fear of persecution or death. So why are we the most depressed, anxious, and fearful group on the planet? I wonder if our spirituality could show like our weight if it would show a lack of (exercising) our faith. A group that is constantly being fed and gorging ourselves on all things Holy and keeping it all to ourselves. So morbidly obese we are immobile. Useless.
I think about people who risk their lives to share the gospel and most Americans can only make it to church 1 out 3 weeks. I think spiritual fitness is similar to physical fitness in a way. Are we disciplined? Do we make good decisions on a daily basis? Do we persevere when it hurts or when things get hard?

Praying

I have been praying a lot lately for all sorts of things and all kinds of people. So when I thought of this idea I thought it would be great to share because I hope someone who got my Christmas card does the same for me.
I always felt bad when Christmas was over and it was time to pack everything away and I faced the dilemma of what to do with the cards we received, especially the photo cards. I would feel bad throwing them in the trash. Well seeing how I do prayer journaling, don't be to impressed (Writing down my prayers just helps me focus when I'm praying.) I thought it would be a good idea to tape these photos in my journal thus reminding me to pray for these people all year. I also like to look back and see what prayers have been answered.

Speaking of prayer I got a sample of Mark Batterson's new book The Circle Maker. I highly recommend it! Just the sample was awesome. Here are a couple of quotes:
Ultimately, the transcript of your prayers becomes the script of your life.
If your prayers aren't impossible to you, they are insulting to God.

Want, Wear, Need, Read

After lots of questions I thought I would share the type of gift giving we do with our kids at Christmas. First of all I didn't think of this idea myself, like all great ideas it was passed on to me a several years ago and it has worked great for our family.

During Christmas our kids get four gifts, yes 4! There are 3 of them so we still have to buy 12 gifts. They can choose something they want, something they can wear and something they can read and something they need. I'll be honest when we announced this the first time they weren't super excited but now it's just the norm.
I often get asked do they get to pick? Yes and no. We try our best to get them their want (within reason). This is usually a more expensive and at our kids ages something electronic.
Wear: We will usually come to a compromise on this item. I ask them for several options.
Read: This is pretty obvious, a book.
Need: We (Alan and I) usually pick the need, because their idea of need and mine are usually different. Things like shoes, new coat, bedding. Things that are not usually glamorous but needed.
Why do we do this? We have found this helps us focus on the real meaning of Christmas. This also prevents the "balancing gifts dilemma" so many parents struggle with, especially when you have multiple kids. It also helps keep costs down. We have also found they really appreciate the gifts they get and use them a lot more. We've found this helps us focus on traditions rather than stuff.
If you like this idea just go for it. Your kids might complain at first but you hold cash so don't ask permission just do it.

Just Go!

We are on spring break so I in all my wisdom I thought it would be fun to take my kids rollerskating. Let me preface by saying I spent most of my weekends as a kid at the skating rink. When I said who wants to go skating they all three said, yeah let's go! So we loaded up, and drove all the way to Ashland. I know it's not really that far but I usually stay in my 5 mile bubble radius. By the way, the cost of skating has sky rocketed since I was a kid!
Anyways, we get there and we are all excited and the kids get their skates and we get them laced up. The first thing I hear is this is hard, these skates are heavy, how do I stop? Well Hannah decided very quickly after falling she was done. Zeik took a few spills and crashes before deciding he was through. Noah skated the entire time, though very slowly. He fell alot but kept getting back up.
They each wanted to know from the beginning, what if I fall or get hurt. Can I hang on to the wall?
I kept trying to tell the kids you just have to go. The only way you can do it is just to get out there and push one foot then the other. Look at all the other kids and how much fun they are having. You might fall but just try again.
Then it made me think how often God says the very same thing to me, us. He's telling us to do something and all we can think is what if I fall or get hurt. What if noone is there to catch me or there's no wall to hang on to. Then what God? He says, then you get back up and try again. I know it gets frustrating asking what does God want me to do with my life, how can I make a difference etc... I think you have to go back to the last thing you know he asked you to do and make sure you did it. Maybe it was raising Godly children, taking care of your spouse, telling your relative about Christ. Whatever is was make sure you did it so he can give you your next task.

Is It Just Me?

Hannah, my 12 year old and I have a discussion at least every other day about why she cannot have a cell phone. We also discuss/argue about why she can't read or watch Twilight and most recently why she can't watch The Lovely Bones. Of course her main argument as with most kids is, all my friends have a cell phone and have already watched and read all the Twilight books etc...

So I started thinking, Is it just me? Am I the only one who thinks I should have a complete handle on my 12 yr. old daughters location at all times. If she is somewhere she is not supposed to be I don't think she'll call to tell me. Not to mention as much as I love texting I don't think tweens are ready to handle that responsibility. I've seen enough news to know that kids will say and do things over text they would never do in person. And what about all the books and movies. PARENTS what is going on. I don't think a tween needs to be sucked into the sexually charged world of vampires, and don't even get me started on the Lovely Bones. I actually tried to read the book and it was so disturbing in describing the young girls murder that I couldn't read it.

I was watching Good Morning America today and they did a story on high heels for little girls. Is it just me, seriously! What's the rush for our girls to grow up? Maybe the epidemic is that we as parents are afraid to tell our kids NO.

Runnin, Runnin, and Runnin Runnin

I am currently training for the Ukrop's 10k on March 27th. Who would have thought running would be so hard? I ran alot as a kid, granted I had a lot more energy, time, oh and a lot less weight to propel.

When we first moved here I was amazed at how many people are always running here in the Richmond area. You can always see someone running no matter what the time of day or weather or day of the week. I would joke, who are all these people running from?
Since I'm getting into this subculture of running, and believe me it's a subculture I've discovered there are different kinds of runners.

1) The Runner: this person looks like a runner, usually tall and lean, probably never tempted to eat girl scout cookies because it could impede their running. They are usually in typical runner garb, maybe "Live Strong" yellow. They are usually the ones running when it's freezing or raining or 95 degrees outside. They LOVE running.

2) The Former Runner: These are people who used to be runners and probably destroyed their knees or hips or are just to old to be "runners" anymore. You can usually spot them because they might resemble a war victim they are so bandaged up as not to inflame an injury. You can usually spot a "former runner" by the look on their face. A mixture of determination, grit and the thought of "what the heck am I doing?"

3) Novice: That would be me. I'm a new runner and new runners keep hanging on to the words of their "runner" friends who say "just give it time, you'll love it". As a "novice" is running we're thinking, does my butt look like it's bouncing as much as it feels like it is? Is it possible for your heart to explode while running? You can also spot a "novice" because we haven't decided if we're going to invest in the typical "runner" garb. Sometimes I think I look like a homeless person jogging down the street, obviously I'm not running from anyone because my pace does not warrant fear.

So please pray the novices this season as we train for the race.

Trying to blog again!

Yep, I decided to try blogging again. I love facebook and there are times when I would like to really elaborate on things but just don't think Facebook is the forum. A recent post on fb (facebook) was about my youngest son telling me his butt hurt inside his crack and he wanted me to come and look at it, aka fix it. After I lectured him on wiping and proper hygeine he said I don't want to do that.
I started thinking how many times do we do the same thing to God. We are hurting, usually over a repeated action, we tell God I'm hurt, fix it. He says OK, do what I'm telling you and it will get better, then we turn to the one who has all the answers and knows us inside and out and loves us unconditionally and say, "No, I don't want to do that."