Me Month: Day 8

The last time I was on a date with my husband… without children… was June 29^th. I like to date my husband! He is a fun guy! I especially enjoy time away from my children (I love my children, I really do… I just need a break from them every now and again to appreciate them in all of their lovely wonderfulness). Eric has been super busy and gone a lot lately… so a break was very much in order! We got not only one, but TWO awesome opportunities for some alone time this weekend! Friday night was dinner, go-karts, and putt-putt (which I won…I might add … and he was even trying:)). It was super fun and has been a really long time since we did something other than dinner and a movie!

We got a chance to run together today too! This hardly ever happens! Usually one of us is watching the kids while the other one runs, so when we get to run together it is a real treat! At the end of the run he said, “let’s always do this… stay active together I mean… until we are really, really old.” And then put his hand up for a high-five.  Ok then… “until we die!” (high-five smack).

Mcfun run route... apparently it is a "thing". :)

Saturday we spent the morning at rainy soccer games and the afternoon at the Fall Festival at school. I spent some time volunteering in concessions… let’s just say it probably was not the best thing in the area of temptation for “no sweets”. I managed to refrain… but I am amazed at how that still has such a strong hold on me.

concession stand candy, why do you taunt me?

I did get to treat myself today for “Sweet Sunday” and there was a Happy Apple (covered in chocolate chips I might add) and a can of Sundrop that have been waiting for me all week. They were very much enjoyed!

We had a great sermon this morning at church. Dave touched on doing everything for the Lord. That when we try to do things by ourselves, or our way… it just doesn’t work. Remarkable! God does this great thing for me… when it is something that I am thinking about or on my heart (or just wrote about it last week in the blog), He reiterates it, or emphasizes it in another area of my life to say, “yes… you are on the right track… this is what I am trying to tell you.” He is really awesome like that! Simple things, like taking your medicine and flossing your teeth every night… why can I not do these things consistently? Why do I always find an excuse? It is because I don’t care enough when it is “just for me”. I have not had a problem doing these things every single night thus far. Am I tired and don’t always want to put forth the effort? Absolutely. Do I love doing it after I have fallen asleep on the couch and wake up at 1am… not at all. But I am doing it! Why? Because as silly and insignificant as these little things are… I have made a promise that I will do them to honor God for these 28 days… so I do them. Why can I not do this in every single area of my life, all of the time?

I had a super great 7 day devotional on Fasting this week (Authentic Fasting from James Macdonald). Here is a small excerpt from one of the days that made me say, “yes! My thoughts exactly!” :

I can say in my life that, by far, the most satisfying things that have happened to me are those moments when I sensed I had done as the Lord wanted me to do. When I attempt to satisfy self apart from doing the will of God it is inevitably not just a frustrating and empty thing, but even a very discouraging thing.

This entire fasting experience (all 6 months and 1 week of it) have been such an AMAZING, difficult, life altering, relationship with the Lord changing experience that I would trade for absolutely nothing! My question is… how do I have this all of the time? So I don’t have that empty, frustrating, discouraging feeling. It is as simple and as difficult as this… do ALL things for the Lord. Whether it is as difficult as giving away all your possessions or as simple as brushing your teeth… it should all be done to please the Lord. Why is that so hard?

Dave also said something this morning that I have never heard a preacher/speaker say this morning that I very much appreciated. He said (and I am paraphrasing… sorry Dave if I mess it up) “We are not perfect.  We are human and Jesus Christ was the only person that was human and perfect. But as Christians, we are not “just human”. We have the Holy Spirit living in us!” I LOVE this!!! I have heard sooo many Christian speakers/authors over the years basically give us an out…. “We are ONLY human and we can not be perfect. Jesus Christ was the only perfect and sinless man”. That is true… but shouldn’t we strive to be that? Not just give ourselves the ol’ “well, I can’t be perfect” excuse. We have the HOLY SPIRIT living within us… that is pretty dang amazing… and I feel downplayed way too much! Sometimes it just takes us not trying to run the show, and listening to that inner voice to discover something amazing and wonderful about ourselves that God is just waiting to show us!

I can not say how much this experience has changed my life. I know I say it a lot, but it has just been amazing! It has come with its challenges… believe me, Satan attacks when he sees you trying to grow closer to God. But I am so incredibly thankful for it! I can’t wait to see what the month has in store!

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Me Month: Day 6

I have kept my yelling to the minimum this week. Only 3 slip-ups in 6 days… not too shabby. And in every one of those, I caught myself the moment I raised my voice, apologized, and then we move on.  It has changed a few things around here though… for example, when we are running late and a certain 3 year old will not keep her head still to part hair for piggies… I do not yell… she just has really, REALLY crooked, messed up hair. It is not the end of life… there are more important things. :) 

I literally laughed and then said, "Whatever!"

Also, my children have been dealt consequences for actions on a much for frequent (and consistent) basis since I started the “no yelling”. I tell them once… and since there is not the option of it escalating to a yell, the next time I have to ask/tell them something, there is a consequence… so much for it being the “best month of Landen’s life”. :)

I got a bit of craft time in this week… like 20 minutes… and I had a small crafting/playdoh partner… so I’m not sure it counts. But it felt good to accomplish something in the craft department, even if it was only small teacher gifts.

What teacher doesn't need glue sticks, right?

My crafting buddy!

I’ve been sticking to my exercise and food plan…. Though once again, the food is a struggle!  I’m not evening doing anything difficult this time… simply cutting out desserts/sweets during the week. I am having what I call “Sweet Sunday” and will enjoy them on that day, but during the week I am sticking to no desserts. It doesn’t sound difficult (especially considering I did the NO SUGAR AT ALL for a whole month) but it is. I would say it is what I crave the most often and have to spend the most time in prayer about… sad but true.

I had a nice long run Monday morning and a couple of short runs since then. Something has changed in me over the past couple of months with running. I used to LOATHE running. I have only been running for about 2 ½ years… but have never considered myself a “runner”. (I think you have to enjoy the sport to consider yourself part of it. :)) I ran because it is something that I could do away from my children for some quiet time. It was merely a selfish act that I didn’t even look forward to doing! Over the last few months God has really changed my heart towards it. He has shown me that it is not about MY ability or inability to run well (fast or far), but that it is a gift and a privilege to do it at all. There are so many people (me included for a short period of time) that do not have the physical ability to run. I think sometimes God has to take things away from us (even if only for a short time) to make us have a true appreciation of them. So whether it is 20 miles or 2 miles… I can truly appreciate the ability to do it!

She likes to run some, and ride some... my kind of girl!

My Wednesday running buddy!

I had a breakfast everyday so far… which is a big deal for me. One day was almost a cheat… half of a kid’s leftover bagel and a piece of pineapple at 10am… but every other day I managed to actually fix myself a good, well-balanced breakfast!

Praying and daily devotions have been going great! I’m going to dedicate an entire blogpost to this one day next week, so I won’t spend a lot of time on it… but I am getting a lot out of it and God is really opening my eyes to some things!

It has been a great week!  I am even doing/planning things that make me a better “me” that aren’t even on my list… starting with date night tonight! A non-crafting girl’s weekend and a weekend away with the hubs this month! It is going to be a great month!

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Me Month: Day 1

Not yelling is sooooo hard!!!! I did not know this was a “problem” area in my life. I knew I did it, but I didn’t realize how much I do it. My first indication of the difficultly of the situation should have been at breakfast. Brayden was at a sleepover, so the younger three kids and I were eating breakfast together before church. I was telling them today was a new fasting month and explaining a few things I would be doing. When I said, “and I am going to try my very best not to yell at anyone this month” Eleni and Landen looked at each other, then in unison said, “YES!!!” This was followed up by Landen saying, “This is going to be the best month of my life!”  This should have been a clear indication that this certain item on the list would be hard. BUT… if there was any doubt in my mind… Brayden cleared it up when we picked him up from the sleepover before church. I told him one of my fasting goals was no yelling this month. He looked at me very concerned and said with the utmost seriousness, “Mom, I think that is going to be very difficult for you.”  GREAT! All of my children think all I do is yell.

It is quite obvious that this was meant to be on the list this month. I actually prayed about it and had my tentative list the night before the fast started (no yelling was not even on my radar)… but when I woke up the next morning my very first thoughts were… as there was a 3 year old crying next to my head at 5:45am who had just wet the bed… 1) don’t forget to pray before you get out of this bed 2) I should have no yelling on my list.  So I cleaned up the mess, and the kid, and put her in bed with me and went back to sleep. When we got up later,  I scratched out “Kid-free weekend with Eric” (sorry hubs) and put “no yelling”.  The kid-free weekend was already in the works… so I kind of felt like that was a cheating one anyway. :)

I caught myself almost yelling about 2,000 times that day (ok, maybe not that many)… apparently I do have a problem. I managed not to yell… but it definitely made me aware how often I raise my voice in frustration over really silly things… not putting shoes on, not brushing teeth, not holding your head still while I am trying to fix your hair, not clearing your breakfast bowl (after being asked 45 times), letting the dog run out of the house, not buckling seat belts… I mean seriously… I don’t need to raise my voice. They are kids for Pete’s sake, right?  So… looks like I have a lot to work on this month.  Hopefully we will all be better people at the end of this one!

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Me Month: Overview

I am in a season of life where taking care of myself... mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally… takes the back burner. This month is going to focus on taking care of myself so that I can be the best “me” for God.

I really struggled on what to put as my fasting goals this month. Trying to decide what are selfish wants and what are actually things that, by doing them, will make me feel like I am connecting with God.  These will be the things that help me be the person that feels good (in every sense of the word) so that I can give the Lord my best this month. Most of these things I should be doing already, but just don’t make or take the time to always do them. So here is my list:

      1. Pray in bed

-before getting out in the morning

-before getting in at night

      2. Bedtime routine- EVERYDAY!

–wash face

-brush/floss teeth

-take meds

     3. Daily Devotional

     4. Stick to the designated food plan

     5. Stick to the exercise plan

     6. Eat breakfast everyday

     7. 9 hours (at least) dedicated to crafting.

     8. 9 hours (at least) dedicated to a musical project.

     9. No yelling/raising my voice in anger or frustration.

I am now in the seventh month of this fasting process, and here is something that I have discovered…when I try to do things for myself, I tend to fail… miserably. But when I am doing something with the purpose of pleasing the Lord, I may not do it perfectly, but I do it much better, and with much more dedication than I do when trying to accomplish things on my own.  I know this because I spent an entire month with no sugar with the purpose of doing it for God, not me. But when I have tried to give it up since then (for myself of course)… I always cave. Same goes for media, possessions, waste, clothing… all of these things. This really bring the meaning to the verse in 1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether you eat, or drink, or WHATEVER you do, do it ALL for the glory of God. If I would just live every moment for the Lord, I wouldn’t have this problem… the failing problem I mean.

I am hoping that by putting these daily tasks, that I should already be doing, as an offering or discipline for the Lord, it will help me be the best “me” I can be.  Here is to a good month!

Thanks for joining me on the journey!