Everything Eucharisteo

A few weeks ago one of my Instagram friends posted a picture of a book she was going to read.  One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp.  I was intrigued, so I ordered it for myself.  She then decided to do sort of an Instagram book club with it as a few of us joined in.  Little did I know what I'd be getting myself into.

Ann talks about Eucharisteo.  Meaning giving thanks.  We all tend to think about our blessings at least once a year.  Thanksgiving Day.  Maybe even the entire month of November.  I don't want to ruin it by talking about it too much, but let me just say this... My eyes have been opened to so so much.  My heart has been opened to receive the joy that eucharisteo manifests.  I can't put into words the change in me.  The realization of so many things on so many levels.  Never has the breeze blowing making the leaves fall like rain, put me in the very realm of God.  Not until after reading this.  The very presence of God is where I've always enjoyed being, and true thanksgiving will get you there real quick.   I'm so very thankful for Ann and her book, and for my IG friend for posting it.  The way God works never ceases to amaze me.  I'm sure my IG friend had no idea He was using her to send me a message...just in time.

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For the last few days Clayton and I have been in Galveston for classes he has to take for work.  I never seem to be able to sleep well in Hotels, even though the beds are oh so comfy!!  I guess it's just because I don't have any interruptions, so my mind can actually slow down  enough to focus on one thing at a time.  once I'm focused on something, it's hard to distract me.  Even if that means sleeping.  

So last night after my devotions, I started getting app happy.  Love freebies!  I came across (and downloaded) so many, I still haven't had a chance to really investigate them to the core.  I wanted to share with you some of the ones I love so far.

Path.  Its sort of Instagram meets Facebook meets Twitter.  I'm loving it, but it can get messy on my phone.  I really enjoy it more on my iPad.  Much cleaner, but still the phone version is very cool.  Check it out.

Iplan apps.  There's a lot of those.  I haven't gotten deep deep into them all yet, but I do have a journal entry from Iplanjournal QT.  I saw tonight where I could email the entries to myself, which is a plus.  

One I'm checking out right now is called JesusLife.  I can't even begin to explain that one to our just yet, but it looks amazing!

Think I'll get to that now.  

Blogging tomorrow.

Breaking Bad Habits - Spending Money - Part 1

I'm so thankful for Clayton's job.  We have moaned and groaned about it because it takes sacrifice and lots of it to be able to handle him being away for 6 months out of the year, every other month.  Moaned and groaned instead of being thankful for it.  He makes a great living for us.  By far we are not rich, but we have been able to go and blow without a second thought.  A lot.  It has formed a very terrible habit.  Blowing.  Exactly that.

It hasn't been until we fear for his job when we decide to get tight with finances.  It lasts for only a short time when we realize we are in the clear of him losing his job.  Then it's back to our old ways. 

We've often wondered how we made it back when our household income was less than $1000 a month with 6 littles running around and no help from the government.  It's then when I realized our wants weren't so grand, our greed not so intense.  Greed.  OUCH! 

Frugal living.  I want to get back to that.  We want to get back to that.  After all, that's when we were a closer knit family.  We had to entertain one another because that's all we had.  That's all we knew.  All the gadgets and gizmos we have acquired throughout the years only take up space and eat up family time like a blood thirsty vampire.   And I don't mean the sparkling kind.

It's pretty sad when you try to make out a Christmas list and even your 12 year old child has everything she could possible want.  It's like a relationship moving too fast.  Once you've done it all, what's there to look forward to?  My 15 year old is wanting a car.  She's 15.  She doesn't need a car right now.  She's not getting a car right now.  The fact that she even put that on her Christmas list and was serious about it shows she's spoiled beyond belief.  Sad.

I never pay attention to prices of groceries.  Never.  Today, I decided to.  I picked up a 5.5lb. package of ground chuck and looked at the price.  I seriously couldn't believe what I saw!  $18.98.  For ground beef?  That's $3.45 per pound!  I really honestly thought it was around $1.49 at the highest.  Do you realize how many times a whole package of that meat has been put in my freezer without dividing it, so when I go to cook it, I have to thaw the entire package?  How many times I have forgotten about the extra I didn't cook and it sat in my fridge until it ruined?  Do you realize?  Ugh, it sickens me!

So, on a positive note, I'm going to strive to live like we did back in the day.  The best I can. 

So far so good.  Except the groceries.  We went to Houston today  to take Morgan to the bus stop.  I avoided Hobby Lobby.  That took a bit of self discipline, though I know there's not one thing in that store I HAVE to have.  I bought a $4 journal for the book I'm reading from Office Max.  That was my splurge.  I spent close to $500 on groceries that won't even last the entire month.  I absolutely did not buy any junk food.  I refrained from the chocolate chip cookies.  I refrained from giving into the kids' "needs" for anything processed.  Yet, it didn't seem like I bought anything out of the ordinary.  Apparently we are huge eaters here.  That's what my jeans say anyway.

I'd like my wallet to be thicker than my gut, guys.

I'll be looking over our ignored budget tomorrow and getting back on track with it. 

So, that's it.  The two bad habits I'll be working on this month ~ NOT COOKING BREAKFAST and SPENDING MONEY. 

Wish me luck, pray for me, whatever you think will help.

Now, I must go turn off some lights in rooms not used at the moment.

Car.  Yeah, right.

Breaking Bad Habits - Breakfast pt 1

Confession:

I hardly EVER cook breakfast.  My kids are lucky to have a bowl of cereal for breakfast and they prepare that themselves. A hot meal would be a batch of cinnamon rolls fresh out of the can.

I know.  Horrible.

Clayton has always been an "in the kitchen kinda guy".  He has spoiled me.  I should have looked at it the way it really was.  He was in the kitchen because he had to be in order to eat.  He has said he had to do that with his previous marriage and was just used to it.  I just thought he liked it. Maybe he does, but I'm pretty certain he'd like it even better to have someone else cook it.

Before I'm judged, let me explain my side of the story a bit...

After the birth of my first daughter, I began having symptoms of hypoglycemia.  Throughout the years,  it became harder and harder for me to function in the mornings.  I didn't know there was anything wrong with me and just figured I wasn't a morning person.  It wasn't until a decade later when said daughter had an episode of her own sugar bottoming out, that I realized what my problem was when I all but passed out on the kitchen floor before sending the kids off to school.   Clayton wound up being the breakfast cooker every morning while I wound up taking out the trash and mowing the lawn.  Roles reversed.

I haven't had any morning hypoglycemic fits in a long while.  Though, because not cooking it has become a habit, I still rarely cook it.

So, my first bad habit to mention and work on is not cooking breakfast.  I don't believe I'll start out with anything lavish, but even a bowl of oatmeal with toast far exceeds what my family is used to me doing in the mornings.

I'm thinking of making a breakfast menu for the week and gathering all my breakfast ideas into little kits in the fridge.  Other than that, I'm clueless.  What advice would you give me to help me on my monthly journey of breaking the habit of not cooking breakfast?

What's a bad habit you'd like to exchange for a good one?

What are your shortcomings?

We all have our shortcomings.  After all, that's what keeps us from being perfect until we enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  We can look at our shortcomings as failures and give up, or we can use them for self improvement.

I choose the latter.

I'm full of shortcomings.  So many, in fact, that if I were to ponder on all of them in one sitting, I'd think twice about choosing the latter.

A while back, I created a personal notebook and named it "A Better Me".  I categorized each and every area of my life I wanted to improve in.  Or so I thought.  I didn't realize each category would need subcategories.  I couldn't keep up with the notebook because I was working on too many areas at one time.  Rome wasn't built in a day and neither would it take a day to become "a better me".  In fact, all it did was give me just another thing to keep up with.  Funny thing is it had a "time management" category.

Can you say "One step forward, two steps back"?  "Spinning your wheels"?  That kind of thing.

I've decided to blog about it instead.  I can type faster than I write anyway.

How many days does it take to create a new good habit?  21? We will go with a month.  Since my life isn't going to be long enough to fix bad habits one month at a time, I'll work on two per month.  I still won't be perfect, but I'll be improved.

To shorten this post, I'll create a new one with my first area of improvement.  Each week of the month I'll post about my progress.

Bear with me as I strive for perfection.

What are your shortcomings?  Do you give up or do you use those as opportunities to improve yourself?

Ephesians 4:22-24

English Standard Version (ESV)

²² to put off your old self,^[a] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³ and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

When nature calls

Fall.  Autumn.  The holiday season.  Whatever you choose to call it, it's here.  Smack dab in the middle of it and it's ready to be absorbed.

My favorite season was once spring.  All the colors and life that are brought forth would literally captivate me.  The warm breeze seemed to call out to even the most subjacent of life.

I'm beginning to enjoy Autumn lately.  It's the time of year when backyard campfires are to be enjoyed, along with the changing color of leaves, and family holidays are upon us.  Instead of feeling rushed to get all the year's goals accomplished, I'm finding it more enjoyable to just relax and just BE.

For the few years we've been in our home, (as some of you from my previous blog know) I've wanted to get the perimeter of our yard cleaned up and cleared away.  Other things were taking priority over it and what was finished only grew back shortly after.  I've learned not to do things like that in the spring.  

So, the family and I got busy the other day and it just happened.  Spur of the moment, no planning involved.  We were just outside and we began.  The girls were a huge help to me gathering all the brush Clayton cut and used the loppers on the smaller items the chainsaw had no time for.

I have to say I've missed this.  Good old fashioned family time that didn't involve being indoors behind some technoligical screen.  Nothing with buttons or beeps.  Nothing but rakes, tools, nature, and gloves touching our hands.  It was truly enjoyable.  So much has been finished because we all helped each other.   That is family.

Here is what it began as all the way around the property:

And this is only part of what we finished:



I wish the picture could show how beautiful it really is.  Just where the edge of the yard drops, are various levels of land and the creek.   It's so gorgeous during this time of year and I'm looking forward to the other 3 seasons I'll get to bask in this little piece of heaven I call my yard. 

I'm embracing the fact we still have 75% of the yard still to do. I'm looking at it as more time outside before it gets too cold, more time to do a little bit here and there and feel the joy as we walk away from it for the day and turn around to take one last glance at what we accomplished that day. 

Such a glorious feeling!

Giving thanks

It's all over Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and every other social network out there.  It has been all month long.  Everyone listing daily what they are thankful for.  I didn't participate.  Not on the networks anyway. Not that there's anything wrong with it.  Sometimes listing these things will open your eyes to all you do have.  I've even struggled before when I have participated in previous years. 

It's nice to see what everyone is thankful for.  Their kids, spouse, job, family, friends, the list goes on and on.  Though, I wonder if we are really thankful for these things we list.  Do we sit and ponder as we update our social network status and think, "Oh that's a good one.  I'll post that!" Are we really thankful for those blessings or do we really have an ulterior motive behind it?  To keep our list flowing?  Just because? To impress?  To make others jealous?  (one would surely hope not) To make ourselves look better than we view ourselves?  To convince ourselves?  My mind wonders if we have thanked the One who made all these blessings possible?  We take the time to type them out, post on every social network we are signed up for and spend the time checking to see if anyone has "liked" or commented on those daily statuses.  Have we taken just that one moment it takes to thank God for them all?  It's a reality check, really.  Self to blame.

This year for Thanksgiving, we will be going to each mother's home.  Clayton comes home early Thanksgiving morning.  I'll be driving to Houston to get him from the airport, coming home to get ready to leave to go to his mother's house 30 miles from us, visit with them, then drive up to Shreveport to my mother's home.  We will have Thanksgiving with her a day late.  That's a lot of turkey and Clayton is in charge of frying it for both families.  I can almost taste it now.  It won't be long.

This year for my side of the family, we are starting a new Thanksgiving tradition.  We will have a notebook and each family member will have one page to write everything they are thankful for.  We will keep the same notebook throughout the years as we go back to the previous years and see what we were thankful for back then.  Maybe the women of the family will be more prone to accept the challenge than the men, but it will be fun.

I'm finished with my page.  I just finished.  Here it is in all it's natural glory:

Just when I was almost finished, I put Thanksgiving at the bottom.  Then I noticed I had left the "S" out of the word.  I laughed at it but thought I'd have to start all over.  Why though?  It's just not that big a deal, right?  So, I just marked out my mistake with a big thick black marker and put on the side with an arrow pointing to it.  "and even mess ups."  It's so true that mess ups teach us and help us grow.  If we are willing.  So yes, I'm thankful for even my mess ups.  With this one, maybe it will even stir a few chuckles.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

In a nutshell

The beginning of a new era.  New beginnings.  New hopes, old dreams.  That's the place where we are.

My husband.  My kids.  My family.  Me.

Every little girl dreams of the perfect life.  The perfect wedding.  The perfect marriage.  The perfect kids.  The perfect home.

Does it ever turn out that way?  Sure.  Ok, maybe not perfect in the eyes of others, but perfect for the dreamer.

Sometimes it doesn't.  Probably more often than not.

I was that dreamer as a little girl.  I remember my sister and I having to not only share a bedroom, but a full size bed as well.  Even covers.  If we weren't fighting (I still have battle scars), we were dreaming into the future.  Oh the dreams we had!  Our husbands were the perfect business men all dressed in William Fioravanti suits.  We, as the perfect stay-at-home moms, drove a van and would shop on a daily basis for toys for our children, filling the vans to the brim.

I never gave it any thought why the husband in my dreams would wear a top of the line suit while I was driving a van.  That's just not right at all now is it?  Anyway, moving along...

Needless to say, those particular dreams didn't quite pan out the way we had planned.  From divorce to blended families, crabby new husbands and ungrateful kids, we both, my sister and I, have had to make due with what life dealt us.  Until now.

I will only speak from my own experiences.

I'm not going to elaborate on where I stood in the happiness department for the past 2 decades, but I will share this...

I was happy.  I was miserable.  Sometimes ecstatic.  Sometimes I had hit rock bottom emotionally.  I couldn't ever get on the same page my husband was on no matter how hard I tried.   I would want a change when he saw nothing wrong and vice versa.  Almost 20 years of this, give or take, and we had both hit rock bottom.  That's when the light finally started shining for us both to see.

We had finally gotten on the same page!!!  It was wonderful!  Like falling in love all over again and everything being as perfect as they should be.  The way we both wanted thing to be.

Our family has been through the ringer over the years but from what I know to be true, the only way to make it work is through prayer, perseverance, hope, faith, and of course, love.  If you have those things, anything is possible.  Perhaps even the William Fioravanti suit.  Though probably less likely the daily loading of brand new toys in your van.  ;).

Come along with us as we live our lives renewed.