Monday, December 31, 2012

Baby Steps

    Tomorrow is a new year.  A fresh start.  Have you thought about the goals you want to achieve in 2013?  If not, take some time and think about them.  Zig Ziglar talks about the wheel of life.  His idea is that there are seven areas that make up our lives: spiritual, physical, family, social, intellectual, financial, and career.  Think about each of these areas in your life.  Where would you like to see of them a year from now?  Five years from now?  The way to make that change happen is goal setting.  And a great way to goal set is baby steps.
     Fly Lady (who has written books and you can find her on the web too) talks about taking baby steps to get the chaos out of your life and house (Dave Ramsey does this with finances too).  She is always reminding people that your house didn't get a hot mess over night and it is not going to get better over night, no matter how much you want it to.  You have to take baby steps.  Do a little at a time.  If you don't and you try to clean your whole house in one crazy day, you will burn out and you won't keep it like that.  You need to do little things.  Then those little things add up.  They become habits and THAT friends is when the magic happens.  When you are more inclined than not to do the things you need to in order to get your house (or finances or life or or body or whatever) to the place you want it to be.  But it doesn't happen over night. 
     Let yourself take baby steps with your goals.  That is how you can accomplish the goals and not give up on them by mid-to-late February.  For example, I belong to the Y.  I am guessing that more people will be there this week and next and maybe all of January than I have ever seen there since I signed up in June.  But how many of those people will stick it out all year?  But when you try to work out like a crazy person for a month or six weeks to lose that 20 pounds and go on some bizarre diet of wheat grass and cheese (or whatever your weird diet is), you will probably burn out soon.  But if you remind yourself that you want to lose weight to look better and be healthy and that doesn't usually happen in just a month, that the action of going to the gym three times a week is good for your health and good for building your determination muscles too, I might see you at the Y in October.  :-)  You didn't lose the weight (or get a messy house or get your finances in a wreck or insert your problem here) overnight and you can't be upset with yourself for not fixing it over night.  Create small bite sized pieces to your goal and then figure out how to do those smaller things.
     If you are looking to clean up your house, visit www.flylady.net
     If you would like help cleaning up your finances, visit www.daveramsey.com
     If you would like a great place to work out, I really like the Y.
     If you need help with an eating plan, I really like www.weightwatchers.com
     Find people who know more than you do about a topic and get their advice.  As you can see from the list above, that's what I do all the time.  Find a friend who you can share your plan with, who can encourage you and keep you on track when you need it.  Have a productive 2013!!  Thanks for reading.  :-)
    

Sunday, December 30, 2012

It's Gone

     I gave the Glider (from an earlier post) away.  I was a little sad, but it wasn't as bad as I thought.  Sometimes we make things seem worse than they will really be.  I am sure there will be times I miss it, but the earth did not stop when it left my house.  A family friend once said that "God will only give you the grace for the situation you are in."  He meant that we can make up all of these horrible scenarios and be freaked out and think that we could never handle ______ (whatever you are really afraid of).  And at this moment, you are right, you couldn't.  But if you were in that situation, God would be there to walk you through it.  His grace is sufficient for us.  But not necessarily for our made up things that might happen or how bad we think something is going to be.  I know that getting rid of my glider is not the most scary situation that I am worried about, but I still was worrying about it.  Knowing I shouldn't be anxious does not always stop me from being freaked out about stuff that I don't need to be upset about, but when I remind myself of that wisdom, it usually helps.   
     So, the glider is gone, but what is great is that my baby girl can use all the space in her room.  Tonight we snuggled on the floor to read.  It was different, but still great.  I need to remind myself often that different can be great.  Different can lead us to better.  So here is hoping that in 2013, I can appreciate just a little more that change can be good.  :-)  Thanks for reading.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

The Last Lecture

     Today I read The Last Lecture.  Wow!  It is a short read, but it is awesome.  If you have not read it, you should.  If you don't think you have the time to read it, you do.  :-)  You can find information about it if you search on Bing for "The Last Lecture."  You can watch a video of Randy Pausch giving the last lecture of his life.  He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was invited to do this lecture.  As I read it and listened to it, it made me think about what I would want to pass on to my kids, those who loved me, those who didn't even know me.  What do I want to leave behind?
     I do not have a terminal disease, but we do not know what tomorrow will hold.  I have been realizing recently that sometimes I have a hard time living in the moment right now.  I am not saying we shouldn't plan for the future.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a planner.  But I want to try to be better at being in the moment right now with my kids; making the memories and enjoying the moment.  Not just looking at what is to come.  Enjoy the gift my son is unwrapping on Christmas and not thinking about the next one, enjoying the evening with my friends or family and not being stressed about what I have to do tomorrow.  I am trying to get better at that.  I am not trying to be a downer or anything.  But enjoy right now.  I know that sometimes enjoying right now is hard.  When I was up three or four times a night nursing my babies, sometimes it was hard to treasure that.  I look back now and do love that snuggling time (To be fair, I am more rested, so it is easier to look back fondly.)  When my husband and I were first married and we didn't know how we would pay the next bill, sometimes it was hard to enjoy that.  But God provided  for us every time.  I look back and am thankful for those times now.  Sometimes the stuff we are going through is hard and we don't know how to enjoy it, but try to find something to enjoy- family, a friend, a lesson learned, laughter.  God can bring good stuff from bad, search out the good.  Also, read and watch The Last Lecture.  Thanks for reading.  :-)

Friday, December 28, 2012

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

     Today is my birthday and I am having a great time with family and friends.  Thank you everyone who has wished me a "Happy Birthday!"  I will be back tomorrow with a deeper post than this.  :-)  Have a great day everyone.  Enjoy the family and friends that you have.  Thanks for reading.  :-)

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Goodbye to a Decade

     So this is it.  The last day in my 20s.  It's weird.  Thirty seems really grown up.  I'm used to my twenties.  I've been here a while.  A lot has happened.  I've gotten married, graduated college, moved six times (once across the country), had two wonderful babies, made lots of friends, lost touch with some friends, made great memories, had some bad things happen, laughed a ton, loved a lot.  It's been a great decade. 
     As I have been looking back over the past month, knowing this day was coming, I keep wondering if my 19 year old self would recognize my 29 year old self.  I hope so, but I'm not sure.  I'm not who I thought I would be.  But, I'm not sad about that.  I'm glad.  At 19, I loved Jesus and hanging out with old friends and making new ones.  I enjoyed reading non-fiction books.  I loved the man that is now my husband.  I was thrilled to spend time with my family.  All of those things are still true today.  
      I also wanted to be a powerful business woman living in New York jetting around the world.  Maybe married, but for sure no kids.  I wanted things to always be fair and wanted people to have to pay whatever consequences they deserved.  I wasn't mean (I don't think so anyway), but mercy just wasn't a huge priority for me.  I did not really exercise.  I liked to sit around and talk about ideas. 
     Now I am married with the best kiddos ever.  I live in the Pacific Northwest and I run...outside...in the rain.  Anyone who has known me for a couple of years knows that is weird.  The first time I realized I was a runner, I was in shock.  I have been geocaching... a lot.  (Look it up if you have never heard of it.  It's super fun!  Treasure hunting.)  I text.  I like to read fiction sometimes now.  Not all the time, but sometimes.  I am not as worried about if something is "fair."  I want to give out mercy and grace in spades.  I still like to talk about ideas, but I know now that at some point you have to get off of your butt and do something, not just talk about things.  I have traveled internationally some, just not all the time.  Now my dream job (besides being a momma) is to help people figure out what they want and how they can get it.  Instead of jetting around the world, I am driving around town in my minivan.
     I love it!  This life that is mine.  I'm glad to be living it.  Yes, there are things that I wish I could go back and tell my 19 year-old self.  That I can relax a little more, be more gracious to others, perfection really is not the goal.  But we can't go back.  We can only go forward.  At least I have learned those things in the last decade.  It makes me think about what my 39 year old self will be like.  What other things will I have learned?  What other friends will I have?  What other adventures will I go on?  I don't know what the next decade holds, but as I say good-bye to this one and hello to the next, I can't wait to see what is in store!  Thanks for reading.  :-)

Goals or dreams?

     It's that time of year again.  Christmas has come and we are all looking to the new year.  People try to figure what what their resolutions will be for the coming year.  This may sound like just semantics, but I stopped making resolutions four or five years ago and started setting goals for the coming year.  When I would make resolutions, I would think of things I would really like to have happen and then somehow hope that over the year they would.  My resolutions were the dreams I wished would come true.  Like magic.  Lose weight.  Read more.  Spend more time exercising.  Do _______.  Most of the things did not actually happen when I made New Year's Resolutions. 
     But when I started setting goals, things actually changed.  Dave Ramsey often says, "The difference between a goal and a dream is a plan."  (I don't know if he took the quote from someone else, but he is the only person I could find it attributed to.)  When I started making a plan for the things I wanted to change to actually change, they did.  It was a little bit at a time, but they did change.  Baby steps.  I want an action that I have not done ever or hardly ever, like exercising, to just happen.  Guess what?  I don't just wake up and decide, "Ok, I will actually start to exercise."  I wish I would do that, but it was not how it worked for me.  Someone asked me to be in a 5K for a great cause, so I decided that I actually needed a plan to make that happen.  Not only that, I decided that for ME, just for ME, I wanted to run a half marathon.  I owned the goals.  I wasn't just running for my friend; it was for me too.  I had a specific goal in mind. 
     I did not want to pass out part way through either race and need medical attention, so I found a plan to train and I followed it.  That's the other thing, for my goals to actually happen, I have to follow the plan.  I had mini goals that I had to do each day and each week.  I had to actually go running for 10 miles in the cold and rain.  Even when I didn't want to, I did it.  The goals each week were measurable.  I had done them or I hadn't.  It was that simple. 
     The plan I found for running was a beginning plan for running a half marathon.  I didn't choose one of the plans that wanted me to run 10 miles in week 4.  That would have been bad.  I probably couldn't have done that.  (As a side note, I did 6 miles in week 4 and that still seemed a little crazy.)  I made sure that the plan to achieve my goal was attainable and realistic for me.  Right now, I have two kiddos that I stay home with, so training for a marathon isn't very realistic and I wouldn't want to train for half marathons all the time, but every now and then is realistic for me in this stage in my life.  And I had a time line, I couldn't just show up at the half marathon and pretend that I had prepared.  It wouldn't have been pretty.  There was a deadline each week that I had to meet to stay on track.  November 25 was going to happen.  There was a time table. 
     Running is just one example of goal setting and not dreaming.  So, when you are thinking about goals for this next year, remember that they have to be your goals.  You can't try to be healthier because someone else wants you to or to read this-or-that because your friend thinks it would be great or take up a new hobby for your family.  All of those could be great reasons to think about setting a goal, but ultimately, YOU have to own it.  YOU have to want it!  Because when the rubber meets the road-it is going to be YOU that you have to talk into actually following through with your plan.  Your goals need to be SMART-Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.  Think about what you want your life to look like...Dream and then make a plan to achieve that goal.  What baby steps do you need to take?  You can do it!  Find someone to encourage you and then go make your life what you want it to be.  :-)  Thanks for reading!  :-)

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas!!

     My family and I had a fabulous Christmas!!  I hope that you enjoyed your Christmas day.  We had lots of adventures as the kiddos played with their new toys.  :-)  I can't wait to make lots of memories with the things they got today.  Most importantly, we started the day talking about Jesus and why we actually have Christmas.  Presents are awesome, food is delicious, and Santa is fun, but if it weren't for a baby born thousands of years ago, who came from Heaven to earth to die for me and you, we wouldn't have today.  Make lots of memories this season, but remember that Jesus loves you and wants to be your friend, your Lord, and your Savior.  Thanks for reading.  :-)

Monday, December 24, 2012

Traditions

     Traditions are a funny thing.  There are times when I think, "Let's make _______ a tradition."  But then it doesn't happen.  But then there are things that just happen and then you keep doing them year after year.  As I am typing this my honey and I are watching "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."  Watching this movie is a tradition that he grew up with.  Tomorrow morning I am making a special breakfast that I grew up with.  We will eat chili that my father-in-law would make.  We have stocking holders that we can put pictures in.  So, each year we each don a Santa hat and take a picture.  The kiddos get new jammies every Christmas Eve.  They use the Fisher Price nativity to act out the Christmas story.  We watch "The Muppet's Christmas Carol" when we put up our tree.  Traditions can start as random things, but then they are what you look forward to each year.  And some day, our kids may be grown up with their spouses doing funny things that we started when they were kids or in the years to come.  Here's hoping that your Christmas is filled with fun memories of old traditions and ones that you don't even know you are starting.  :-)  Thanks for reading. 

Sunday, December 23, 2012

10,000 Reasons

     Today my heart was singing.  There are just moments that you love and would stay in forever if you could.  One of those moments is singing "10,000 Reasons" at church.  I love the words to this song, but the reason I love it most is because it is my four and a half year old son's favorite song.  Anytime it is on the radio or we sing it at church, he belts it out.  He informs me every time that we hear it that, "It is my favorite song, Mommy!!"  The first time we sang it in church, he was over the moon because he had just asked me if we could sing that at church and I had said that I didn't know if we would sing it.  Then we got to church and sang it.  :-)
     When he sings, he sings with everything that is in him.  He told me today that he loves when the worship team sings it really, really loud.  As he was singing and worshipping today, one of the worship leaders came down and let him sing into the mic.  She is one of my best friends and I had shown her a video I had taken of my wonderful son singing to Jesus with all his might.  I had told her that it was his favorite song, so today when she saw him singing, she let him sing loudly to Jesus and everyone got to hear.  It was awesome.  I want to always sing like my son- with everything that I am and everything that is in me.  Like I am just singing to Jesus, because I am.  After he was done singing, he was so excited that he told me we needed to make sure to find her after church.  He wanted to tell her thank you and that that was his FAVORITE song and he was really glad that he got to sing in the mic.   
     I love holding him and listening to his little voice praise our mighty Creator.  I could stay in that moment forever.  I am glad that everyone else at church today got to hear him, with everything he has, thank Jesus for who He is.  Thank you friend, for giving my baby the opportunity to share his love of Jesus with others.  Thanks for reading.  :-)

Saturday, December 22, 2012

The Glider

     I am not a person who naturally likes change.  Some people do.  Me, not so much.  So, as my baby girl is getting older (she will be two next month), there have to be some changes to her room.  We have already taken out the changing table to make room for shelves and a little dresser.  With Christmas there will be more toys and she will need more space for those toys, so some things have to go. 
     The next change is probably going to be taking out the glider chair.  This is a big deal for me.  It is the seat that I sat in with both of my newborns and still use a little now.  I got to know my babies in that chair.  I sat with them night after night after night...in that chair.  I cried with them.  Celebrated with them.  Sang to them.  Got to know them in that chair.  I know that I will always have those memories and I will make new ones, but it is going to be hard to let that chair go.  What makes me feel a little better is that hopefully another momma will get to know her babies in that chair. 
     My baby girl is (unknowingly) trying to help me with this transition.  The other day we went to read a book and I went to sit down in the chair.  She sat on the floor and patted beside her and said, "Sit."  I felt like she was telling me, "Mom, it's ok.  I'm going to grow up.  Things are going to change.  But I still want relationship with you.  I love you.  I want to be with you."  I know that really, she just wanted to sit on the floor.  But, maybe it was God reminding me that change can be good.  And that it will be ok.  Sometimes things have to change so we can get something even better.  Thanks for reading.
    

Friday, December 21, 2012

Pushing Each Other

     I went to the Y today for the second time since the half marathon.  If you didn't know, I, along with my running buddy, ran a half marathon on November 25th.  We totally kicked its butt!!  But, this post is not about that.  After the race, we were supposed to take some time off from running- to let our bodies recover from running 13.1 miles in a row.  So, we took two weeks off (really, it worked out well because both of our families were sick, which makes going to the Y difficult).  Then I took last week off because my kiddos were still not up to it and it is hard to get back into going to the Y after taking two weeks off.  :-) 
     Anyway, we started again this week.  I am sooo glad to have someone to tell me that after we have been doing strength training for an hour, she thinks I should do three sets of ten almost upside down crunches (I am sure that is the actually name for them) AND I should hold a 12 pound weight.  I laughed at her at first, but she just had to actually go and DO the exercise, so I did too.  I am thankful to have her there to tell me to keep going, that I can run faster than I think I can, that I can keep running when I think I can't, that I can push myself farther.  She is unbelievably important to me.
     I try to be that same encouragement to her.  That when she wants to stop, I tell her she can do it.  That she can do four more crazy crunch things-and then she does.  Her and I make the other one better.  We could go and do things by ourselves, but it wouldn't be the same.  It wouldn't be as easy or as fun.  I, for sure, would not laugh as much.  She cracks me up all the time.  But, without her, I wouldn't be as good as I am.  We keep getting better and pushing the other.  Where one of us is weak, the other is stronger.  And when the other needs the encouragement, we are there for each other. 
     Each of us needs that.  We all need people who push us to be more than we think we can be.  Not just in exercise, but in every area of our lives.  I try to surround myself with people who will push me.  I have one person who I know will push me at the gym and running, one who will ask me about my walk with God, one who will ask how I am doing with actually sticking to our budget, one who will talk to me about parenting, another for being a better wife.  I need the multitude of counsel.  I want their wisdom.  One person can't be all things.  We are meant to be in community.  We are meant to encourage one another. 
     Think about who you want to be, in each area of your life.  Then find someone who looks like that in one area.  There is no perfect person, so pick one area to look to someone.  Then learn, listen, let them push you.  Go farther than you think you can.  Your buddy will learn how far s/he can actually push you.  You will learn how the other works.  It is awesome.  I am so thankful for all of my life buddies, but today, I am especially thankful for my running buddy.  :-)  Thanks for reading.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

All Wrapped Up

     I have wrapped all the Christmas presents that I have and am responsible for wrapping!!  This is awesome given that there are still multiple days until Christmas.  I don't need to wait until Dale falls asleep and drag out the gifts, wrapping paper, scissors, tape, name tag thingies, and pen anymore this year.  Also, I don't have to think of how I have presents that I need to wrap, but can't because it is the middle of the day and both of my kids are here.  Yeah!  It feels good. 
     Don't get too excited for me though, because it is possible I will go out and buy more.  Not that I need to, but I like to.  :-)   Buying presents is fun.  It is especially fun when we are paying cash for everything and I don't have to feel bad about it at all.  Thank you Dave Ramsey!  If you don't know about Dave Ramsey, you should look him up.  His ideas are great.  I wanted to keep today happy and light, perhaps more deep stuff tomorrow.  Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Talents

     I was doing a Beth Moore Bible study today.  She used the following story and it struck me in a new way, so I thought I would share.  :-)
     Jesus tells a story about three servants who are given various amounts of money by their master.  The first is given five talents (talent was the name of the money), the second was given two, and finally, the third is given one.  The first two invest what they have and double their money.  The third buries his in a field.  When the master gets home, he tells the first two, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share in your master's happiness!"  But the third ones tells the master that he knows the master is a hard man, harvesting where he did not sow and gathering where he did not scatter seed.  So he was afraid and buried his money, but he does have the one coin to give back.  The master says, "You wicked, lazy servant!  So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? You should have put the money in the bank where I would have at least gotten interest!" So the master takes the one coin from the man who buried it and gives it to the servant who had ten coins.  The master explains, "For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.  Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."  (paraphrased from Matthew 25)
     A couple of things.  I have always thought about this story talking about being responsible with the money and resources that God has given us.  I understand that is the obvious take away, but that is pretty much the only way I took it.  I didn't connect the idea that one of the resources that God has given us is our gifts and time.  But today in the study, she obviously set it up so we would take more away than the obvious.  Also, there is probably a speaker who I have heard talk about this passage like that, but it did not really make that much of an impact on me.  Especially since I have been really looking for what I should be doing right now with my talents and time and life.  Not that I don't think I am doing good things that God has for me.  I love being able to be home with my honey and kiddos, helping at preschool, being the coordinator of MOPS, volunteering at the church, creating relationships with my friends.  God has good stuff He already has me doing, but I just want to keep checking in so I don't miss anything.  I don't want Him to take the opportunities He has given me away because I don't take them.  I want to be faithful with the abilities, skills, gifts, and talents He has given me right now, so that He knows I will use well the other things that He gives me.  I want Him to say to me when I see Him in Heaven, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" 
     Also, this story has always bothered me a little.  When the master says, "For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him."  It just kinda seemed unfair.  But today, when I realized part of the point is about being FAITHFUL, taking action; it doesn't seem as unfair.  The third guy didn't do anything because he was afraid.  He was afraid he would screw up.  WOW!  Does that hit close to home?!?!  The master wasn't mad that he had lost the money, he was angry because the guy hadn't done anything.  I mean I guess digging a hole is something, but you know what I mean.  He didn't try anything.  He had this money and he just buried it. 
     I had to repent for the times I have done that.  I know that I could try something, but I don't know how it will turn out, what people will think, if I will fail, I will have to rearrange my schedule.  So I do...nothing.  Yuck.  I don't want to be the third guy with all my potential buried in a field.  Buried right under the surface where no one can see it.  I want to go try things.  The first two guys didn't know that what they were trying would actually make money, but they did something.  The master didn't say, "Are you crazy?!  Why would you try that?  You are lucky that it worked out, even so, that was irresponsible to do with my money."  We don't know what they first two guys did to double their money, but we do know they ACTED.  So, I want to continue to ask God where I am supposed to be acting, even if it does mean I am taking a chance. 
     Thanks for reading.  :-)
    
 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Beginnings...

     So, I have thought of starting a blog a lot of times.  I actually have three or so posts that I wrote throughout the years to be my first post on my blog.  I think somewhere on yahoo, I even started one seven years ago.  That one obviously did not work out well.  The problem has been trying to find where to start.  It kind of stops me cold in my tracks to think about the first thing that I will put out there for people to read.  Not that I necessarily think many people will read it, but still, it seems like quite a bit of pressure.  Once I did have those first posts written, then I had to find a blog place and actually start one.  Well, anyone who knows me at all knows that I like to research.  I want to find the BEST blog place, with the BEST title, and the BEST website address.  Well, I have friends who use this site, so I joined so I could comment on their posts, so I am using this one.  :-)  I don't know if it's the best, but I will actually be blogging, so it seems like it is just what I want. 
     I was lying in bed last night trying to figure out what my "God-sized" idea for this next year was.  I had read about it on another blog.  And the Bible study that I just finished was focused on it.  The idea is that God has CRAZY BIG plans for each of us.  We need to seek Him and figure out what they are.  But, they are plans that we have to involve Him in because we can't do them on our own.  I don't know why a blog could be part of that for me, but I think it might be.  So here is my blog.  I figure since it has been on my heart for seven years, maybe I should actually do it.
     I am calling it, "A Work In Progress" because that's what I am.  I used to want to have it all together, all the time.  I thought that made me strong.  But it just made lonely.  We are made to help each other and to get help from others.  We are made to be in relationship, in community.  So, I will let all of you know right now that I am not perfect, even when it looks like I have it all together.  And I am actually ok with that now.  So I guess this blog might be my journey on the road that God has me on.  Maybe it will be my thoughts for the day, or a great blog post I found, or great stories about my fabulous husband or wonderful kids, or a fun time I shared with my best friends, or the exercising adventures of me and my workout buddy, or ranting about a bad day, or a awesome night at MOPS, or something God is teaching me.  I don't know what each day will hold for my blog, but that's life, I guess.  So, welcome to the adventures of me- a work in progress.