Stay focused

This weekend, our pastor gave an awesome message (as usual) about staying focused, which was entitled "This One Thing." It seemed to coincide with my recent post "the art of saying no and a resounding yes", so I got excited to share it with you.

The message revolved around the story of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. Nehemiah had a purpose, a goal to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. He was faced with much ridicule and much opposition from the king and the his men. At one point, some of the king's men asked Nehemiah to take a break and come meet them in a nearby village - in which they made plans to harm him.

Nehemiah's response is what was so powerful. He said, "I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?" Four times they sent me the same message and each time I gave them the same answer. (Nehemiah 6:3-4)

Wow, what focus! What priority! Nehemiah knew how to say no. Can you imagine if we all took our priorities so seriously? If we followed Christ relentlessly despite the ridicule and opposition? If we parents took raising our children so intentional? If we refused to get distracted by this and that and even the other "good" things out there.

What is your wall that you are rebuilding? Get focused and be intentional about it. Like Nehemiah, refuse to come down.

Taken from the book of Nehemiah, preached by Ben Lamb and inspired by Andy Stanley. [credit to whom credit is due : )].

Frugal Friday: my favorite deals

March is National Craft Month so Michaels is offering free in-store events/crafts for kids. This Saturday, March 10th, ages 3+ can make a tote bag or a yarn doll

Chili's is offering free Skillet Queso and Chips if you sign up for their email club.

Where's Doodle? (ninth edition)

This is our third daughter… a sweet and very compliant one, who has inherited the nickname "Doodle". She takes daily naps and goes to bed like clockwork. She enjoys most everything from riding in the car to playing with her sisters and even entertains herself for long periods of time. She is such a joy to our family!

Let’s not be mistaken, however. She is full of energy and adventure. As to keep up with her older sisters, she began walking at eight months. We were so proud and she….oh so delighted.

Since then, she has been known to climb the stairs – on the inside and outside of the staircase….GASP! She has also scaled tables, chairs, drawers, the fireplace hearth, desks – you name it. We have found her in the most inconspicuous places. Each Wednesday, I will share a glimpse of them with you in the "Where's Doodle?" segment.

This girl is on the move, which means so are we.

What's your busy toddler doing these days?

Why we choose to homeschool - part 1

Several years ago, in our B.C. (before children) days, we lived in a cute town outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was helping out in a bilingual school there while finishing up my graduate degree. Since I am bilingual in English/Spanish, this was our dream for our children. To send them to this cute charter school where they would be immersed in the Spanish language everyday.

Well...we have since moved out of Oklahoma [insert sigh : ( ] and had four children. Our discussions and perspectives have changed a lot since then. Through much prayer, observation, thought, research and counsel from seasoned homeschooling families, we have wholeheartedly chosen this path. We are so excited about it, too! However, we know the question will come [just like we questioned others]. Why?

There are many reasons, but it basically boils down to this:

We are not trying to completely shelter our children from the world (that would be difficult to do), but we want to play a larger part in preparing them to live in it!

Even when Jesus prayed for his disciples, he said: "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. " (John 17:15)

It is inevitable. Our children will grow up and they will leave (go out into the world) and they will make choices.... a lot of them! We want to invest in them now and to the best of our ability help them to make good ones.

Are we perfect? No! Do we have all of the answers? No! What we do have is a desire to spend time with our children and pass on our beliefs, values, and standards that we choose to carry in our family. We want to play a bigger role in their up bringing and having an extra 30+ hours a week at home instead of away at school gives us that privilege.

When it comes down to it... our children are our world.

Next Tuesday, I'll get a little more specific as to some of our pros and cons in our thought process in this decision.

The art of saying "no" and a resounding YES!

Last week, I talked about The art of saying "no". Today, I wanted to focus on the resounding yes portion of that statement.

As I mentioned last week, I have been learning how to say no, even if to myself, as life has become a different kind of busy with four small children. I have not ever been an expert at turning somone/or something down. On the flip side, I definitely need some work in the area of saying yes.

What I mean is that there have been many times that my lack of ability/courage to say no to something good causes me to say yes, but am I REALLY saying yes?!? In the past, I have found myself saying yes to something only to regret it later or complain about it. Many times, having to back out of the commitment because of being overwhelmed or just simply not having the passion behind it.

When I had a "revelation" that I was doing this, it kind of made me nauseous. I felt like I was being two-faced. I was accepting a responsibility with my words, but bitter about it in my heart. I was helping resentfully. I was obviously only saying yes out of pride, wanting to be a people pleaser and to show that I can "do it all".

The Bible talks pretty clearly about this in various passages throughout. For example:

...If you mean yes, say yes. If you mean no, say no. (James 5:12 NLV)

Seems pretty clear to me, right!?

But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

(James 1 5-8 NLV)

This passage is talking about a little deeper of an issue, such as wavering loyalty between God and the world. In the same sense, however, it describes a double-minded person. In choices, big and small, I want to be sure about things when I commit to them. I don't want to commit resentfully, bitterly, begrudgingly, etc. I want to choose wisely and do so with a pure heart.

A quote by Penelope Stokes [from my hugs: Daily Inspirations for Moms devotional] reads:

"Does God care about all the responsibilities we have to juggle in our daily lives? Of course. But he cares more that our lives demonstrate balance, the ability to discern what is essential and give ourselves fully to it."

My challenge to you (and to myself) is to count the cost before you commit to do something (big or small) and when you choose to say a resounding yes, do so boldly and joyfully!

Frugal Friday: my favorite deals today

Free Pretzel Day at Auntie Annes on March 3

10% off + free shipping on clearance baby clothes and shoes

Champion women's bootcut (workout) pants $14 + free shipping

5 free cards from Shutterfly

Wellness Challenge: get moving!

This is week four in the Wellness Challenge. The other posts for this series, were about developing a healthy mindset, the H2O Factor, and Feeding the Machine.

This week, I would like to focus on exercise and getting moving.

As I mentioned before, during my B.C. (before children) days, I was always an active person, whether it be organized sports like gymnastics or track [and yes, cheerleading is a sport ; ) ] or just working out. Now it is chasing children around the house and stores [insert laugh].

One day, several years ago, I had an epiphany. I was thinking, "I work out all of the time and I love it". I even thought, "I could take this a step further and get paid for it if I wanted to". So, I set out to get a certification in group fitness. It was such a good decision. I had a lot of fun and I learned so much about fitness! It's also a great motivator when you are the instructor. You kind of HAVE to show up for class [wink]. For several years, I was able to teach various types of fitness classes at some amazing gyms and even at my alma mater for a semester.

I remember one of the other instructors at a well known gym I was teaching at who had five children. She would teach literally up until the day before she gave birth. I was amazed. I remember thinking, "wow, I'm so going to be like that when I have children. A fit pregnant lady who works out like crazy and just pops that baby out".

Well, I was wrong. Unfortunately, almost right away with each of my pregnancies, the nausea set in. I'm talking extreme....where practically walking across the room would cause motion sickness and up came my lunch [gross, I know]. In normal cases, expectant moms have morning sickness and it usually tapers off about the third month. Oh no, not me. Mine was morning, afternoon and night sickness and went for the majority of my pregnancy....four times.

Ok, now that I'm done whining [ha ha], I'll get to the point. What I am getting at is that my days of teaching extreme fitness classes several times a day came to fitting in exercise when and where my tired nauseous body and new busy mommy schedule would allow. Healthy eating habits became eating whatever I could keep down during my pregnancies...which usually meant anything sweet.

After recently having our fourth child, I'm again ready to get on the bandwagon and get back into the groove of a healthy lifestyle. I'm so passionate about working out and feeding this machine, called the body the way it should be fed. Therefore, I decided to do this Wellness Challenge as a means to also motivate myself along with others.

In future posts, I will give some specific tips on workouts you can do at home. Today, however, I just want to encourage you to get moving and motivate you to incorporate easy ways to get into the habit of daily exercise.

These are just a few of the many things you can do to simply GET MOVING:

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Take a lap outside during work lunch break or a nature walk with the kids at home.
• Don't "fight" for the closest parking space at the store... choose to walk a little.
• Say "yes" daily to the activities that your children want to do with you that burn energy - play ball, go for a bike ride, play tag, dance, take a walk, play red light green light, etc.
• Take the long way to the mailbox.
• Go old school! Leave behind the leaf blower and snow blower and get out the rake and shovel.
• Do lunges through the house instead of walking.

Have fun with this and I hope that this week, you'll get moving! Next week, I will discuss the benefits of physical exercise.