October 2008

See these bikes in my driveway? They don’t belong to us. They belong to the neighbor kids. We have neighbor kids!

For eight years we lived on a busy street that didn’t have any kids my kids age.

But this neighborhood has kids! Not only do they have kids, but it’s safe for the kids to play in street!

I never thought I would see the day where my kids are playing with other kids from the neighborhood.

What about you? Are there any kids in your neighborhood for your kids to play with?

N brought this book home from school one day all excited about making lightning. After looking at it, I realized we had everything to do the experiment.

We didn’t get a bolt of lightning like N wanted but we did get sparks and have lots of fun.

Do you do science experiments with you kids? If so, what do you do?

This fenced area came with our house when we moved here. I have heard that the previous owner’s wife had a garden in that area which is exactly what I want to do with it.

The only problem is I don’t know where to begin. I know at some point I have to get rid of the grass, do something with the dirt, and plant seeds. I have never had a garden before and don’t know anyone who does. I’ve been checking out books from the library and searching online to see what I need to do and when to start. I’m afraid it’s probably too late to start now since it’s starting to get cooler here.

However, I would love to be able to grow my own vegetables. So, I’m going to pretend I know what I’m doing and make a fantasy garden. In my fantasy garden I would have lettuce, broccoli, potatoes, cucumbers, and oh, I don’t know what else. What I would love to have is avocados, oranges, fuji apples, and olives. (Remember, I’m dreaming.) However, I’m pretty sure only the first set will grow in my area.

If you know what you’re doing when it comes to gardening and growing vegetables, please don’t be too hard on me. Or laugh at me too much. This will be a big feat for me since I haven’t been able to keep any plant we’ve ever owned alive. I remember one time a good friend asked why I kept a pot of dirt sitting on the table. I didn’t know what he was talking about so I went to look. Oh. That was a plant a friend gave us. Oops.

It’s no secret that I participate in the internet campus of LifeChurch.tv. I attend their services when I am not able to make my local campus and I read their blog daily.

Imagine my surprise when they announced they had areas to serve in! Wow! I can serve at the internet campus! Naturally since I have a blog I was interested in serving on the Online Community Team. More specifically, the blogging team.

Today there were two different meetings that took place the facebook team and the blogging team. Both meetings were recorded and talk about how you can help. Go here to view it.

Which team to serve on appeals to you and why?

Checked this book out from the library today (Saturday) and am already two-thirds of the way done reading it. Excellent reading.

I’m making myself go to bed so that I can get some sleep and finish it tomorrow. I have found that if I get sleep then I am not so cranky the next day.

If I were to stay up to finish reading it then I wouldn’t be able to function tomorrow and that’s not good when you have three kiddos to take care of. Of course, hubby is home but he has his own book that he’s reading.

Can you believe Christmas is in exactly two months? Wow!

This year we are doing things a little different. We are purchasing most of our gifts from Amazon. I’m not sure why we are doing it this way…oh yes I do. It’s because hubby is on Amazon looking at stuff and then sending the list to me.

I find it funny that before we moved we didn’t have a lot of options to shop from but now that we are in a much bigger city we choose to shop online. Oh well. At least I don’t have to deal with the crowds.

How do you do your Christmas shopping? Have you started yet?

Photo Credit: krisdecurtis

This week’s findings are some blog posts that spoke to me and a plug for my church.

Keeping your mouth shut - from the post: what is something you feel you can’t say in church, or around other christians?

Forgive the Church? - Most people have been hurt by the church at one time or another. I know I have and didn’t go to church for almost ten years because of the hurt I experienced. I’ve also been hurt off and on since I’ve started attending church regularly for almost ten years.

Vision - When I first started attending LifeChurch.tv my old pastors were concerned that hubby and I wouldn’t be challenged to grow in our walk with Christ. I can honestly say that I have been challenged quite a bit since I’ve been attending.

YouVersion - An online Bible community and tool. (I use it as a tool instead of as a community.) Not only can you read the Bible online but you can also journal. What I love about this is I can be on any computer, log into my account, and pick up where I left off in my Bible reading and still take notes. If I forget my Bible or journal, no problem, it’s online.

LifeChurch.tv - My church. If you are not able to attend one of their campuses there is an online campus you can attend. The internet campus rocks! I love it! There is also online lifegroups and they also rock! You should check us out sometime!

Every evening I read a chapter out of the Bible to the kiddos before we go to bed. I’ve done this off and on for quite some time but lately I’ve actually stuck with it. If I forget or…cough, cough, don’t feel like it, one of the kiddos will remind me that we didn’t read the Bible. So reluctantly (yes, I said reluctantly) I will get the Bible and start reading.

When I first started the read a chapter a night thing I made the mistake of starting in Genesis. My kiddos could care less and after awhile it was quite boring for them. Then I started reading a Proverbs a night and I got bored with it. So after quite some time (this was before the kiddos would remind me) I decided that I needed to start reading to them again. This time I read out of The Message (I had been reading out of the New Living Translation) and I started in Matthew.

My theory was that I like the New Testament and what better way than to start there with Matthew and work our way through the New Testament and eventually the Old Testament. By the time we got to the Old Testament hopefully the nightly Bible reading would be a habit and it wouldn’t be so bad. I mean the Old Testament can get boring but at least it wouldn’t be boring and something we just started.

But all of this nightly bible reading has me asking questions. Why do I read the Bible to the kiddos? Why is it a nightly thing? Is it even effective? Are they listening and paying attention? Are they absorbing anything I am reading to them?

I don’t have the answers to all the questions. My prayer is that some of what I am reading to them will reach it’s way to their hearts and minds. I believe it’s important for them to know what Jesus has to say about how to live life and treat others. There is so much more in the Bible besides the Noah’s Ark and David/Goliath stories. There is so much more to it than fire and brimstone. There is so much more than Jesus’ crucifixion (although that is a very important part).

All of that is important but I don’t want to focus on one thing, I want to focus on all of it and how all of the Bible works together. Too many times as Christians we focus on certain parts of the Bible and leave out the parts we don’t agree with (or conveniently forget about). I believe everything is in the Bible for a reason and it’s my desire that my kiddos will eventually start reading the Bible for themselves so that the can start learning on their own.

Photo Credit: DrGBB

I don’t know how it is in your homes, but in my home I am the one who is green. I am the one who doesn’t use paper towels anymore. I’m the one who is recycling. I’m the one who is looking into other ways for us to be more green.

My husband on the other hand isn’t quite there. He’s getting there but some things are so ingrained in him that his habits are hard to break.

For example:

• paper towels. He still reaches for the paper towels to clean up a mess so he can easily toss it into the trash instead of getting a rag to clean it up. Sometimes he’s frustrated that we don’t have paper towels so I offer to buy a set just for him to use but he ends up changing his mind.
• Re-usable bags. I have re-usable bags that I keep in the trunk of the car so they are always available. Yet when he goes to the store he will bring home more plastic bags. We re-use the bags so it’s not all bad but it would be nice to not have to mess with them.
• Cleaning Products. He is a bleach guy through and through. He also loves Fantastic so that’s what he uses when he’s cleaning up. He also loves Comet. I on the other hand have been using baking soda to clean with and have found that it works just as well as my other cleaners. (We do agree with moping our floor with vinegar and water.)
• Recycling. If it were up to him, only the coke cans would get recycled. He forgets that we can also recycle tin cans, paper, magazines, plastics #1 and #2, glass, and cardboard. He throws away stuff that we could easily recycle. He likes the fact that we are recycling but forgets to actually do it.

Don’t get me wrong. This post isn’t complaining about my husband. My husband is wonderful and supportive. He likes that I am looking for ways to save money, be green, and have a better lifestyle. He has also noticed that our trash consumption has been reduced by half since we started recycling. He also likes that for our children they will grow up doing this on their own, they won’t have to change their mindsets.

Habits are hard to break especially when you are consciously trying to change. Every change takes time and although I am starting the change before him, he does agree with what I am doing. For that I am thankful.

Someday we will be on the same page but right now, we are taking each step a day at a time.

Photo credit: honky_tonk89