Checking in again

 I seem to have a hard time blogging like I had intended to. Of course it has been the Christmas season and things always get very busy around this time. We had a very nice Christmas, our oldest ds came home for 2 weeks for Christmas break from AIT. We have to take him back Jan. 2. While home he asked his girlfriends father for permission to marry her so they are now officially engaged. They are planning on a June wedding in 2011 so we have a lot of planning to do.
 My dh agreed to be my accountability partner/personal trainer. I am wanting to lose around 75 lbs but have never been able to stay the course on my own so I asked dh for help. I am using SparkPeople.com to track my nutrition and fitness. I am able to print out weekly reports for both so I can go over it with dh and we can adjust my plan. Over the holidays I lost 1/2 lb, not as much as I would have liked, but it was a loss.I am using their blog site to update on my progress in getting healthy.
 That is pretty much all that is going on in my little spot in the world. I hope that you were blessed in 09 and pray that you will be blessed in 2010.
His Girl

Been sick

Thanksgiving was difficult this year. Our family all had bouts of chest colds throughout the week. Needless to say I haven't felt like doing any blogging.  I have been struggling with submission lately. It is like Paul says...what I wish to do I do not do and what I wish to not do I do. Why can't we just do what we know to be right and be happy about it? No answers today, just questions. May God bless you.
His girl.

Marriage

During the sermon this morning I was reminded about the scripture that talks about how husbands are to present their wives to the Lord like Christ presents the church to God unblemished, without spot. Boy, I do not envy husbands! That is a pretty tall order. How many wives make this an impossible task by refusing to defer to the husband as the leader in the relationship? It is hard to defer to your husband, especially when he wants you to do something that you really don't want to do. Now I am not talking about anything illegal, just something that pushes you out of your comfort zone. This is something that the Lord has been laying on my heart a lot lately. I am being challenged to accept my Dh as my leader and to follow him and trust him in everything. I am not putting aside my own intelligence or being a door mat. I am placing myself in the assistant position, which is where I believe that God intended for me to be.  Dh values my input and listens to what I have to say, however, we have agreed that the final decision is his. What if he decides to go a direction that I don't want to go? I go anyway, trusting that God is leading Dh and that Dh is following God. If Dh ends up taking the wrong road, that is on his shoulders, not mine. God has told me to submit to my husband in everything, not just when I know he is making the right decision. Is it easy? NO! Is there more peace in our home? YES!!! As long as I keep my hands off the reigns. Does Dh make mistakes? yes. Does he admit to mistakes? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Does it matter? Not really. We are on a journey together. We are both human and we both make mistakes, hopefully learn from them, and then continue on. I feel that our modern world has handed women a big bag of lies when it comes to a woman's place in the world. We are told that being a wife and mother is not enough. We need to go bring home the bacon and then fry it up. We are expected to have a career, be a loving wife, nurturing mother, perfect housekeeper, and excel in all that we put our hands to. That is an awful lot of burden to place on a woman's shoulders! That is more burden that the Lord ever intended for "the weaker vessel" to carry. We need to start allowing our men to care for, provide for, and protect us. What is wrong with living simply and allowing our husbands to be the men that God intended? Women are the emotional center of their homes and men are the logical center of their homes. We need both but one person cannot provide both, that is too stressful. Yes, I know that there are many women who are very logical and there are many men who are very sensitive. My Dh is very sensitive and I can tend to be very analytical. However, as I defer more to my husband I have found that my emotional side is surfacing more and as he takes more control his logical side leads him even as he continues to be sensitive. I know that sounds strange and like an oxymoron but that is what I am experiencing. I thank God for Dh's strength and ability to lead our family. I also thank Him for leading me to submit to my husband and to trust in his judgment. It breaks my heart when I see couples who are fighting the natural order of a family, there is so much turmoil and sadness. You can tell that neither couple is happy in the role that they are taking in the relationship, but they are so indoctrinated by the world view that they believe that they cannot be happy in the order of family that God set up. The world says that it is wrong to defer to your husband and that your are being abused somehow if you do as he wishes. Those who have trusted God and began to submit to their husbands have found that it is a much pleasanter way to live together. Things just flow better, and it promotes peace in the home.
The scripture that I referenced to in Ephesians 5:22-33. I know I did not quote it perfectly, but I hope that I got the idea across. This is the scripture that I try to apply to my marriage. You can read it for yourself in my Bible reader on the right of the page.
God Bless,
His girl

Surgery

Well, the last week has been a bear. My middle son (17) had surgery on his arm. He has been in pain and needing a lot of care and help. The pain is getting better finally. He is bored out of his mind though. When he is bored he drives everyone crazy trying to entertain himself. He is so fun loving and full of energy, when he has to curb the energy he says he feels like he will explode. We love him even though he drives us up the wall sometimes! I haven't done practically anything besides taking care of Derek. I have had to put off exercising for a while. My knee has been hurting really bad so no exercising until the pain lets up. Sorry about such a downer post, I guess I am just too tired. Just wanted to check in. I  will post again in a few days. 
God bless,
His girl

Sunday musings

Today our church recognized our veterans and our active military. I am very thankful for all those who serve our country. Without those men and women who voluntarily put their lives on the line, we would not have the freedoms that we enjoy now. "What greater friend is there than those who are willing to lay down their life for another." Paraphrased scripture, but you get the point.

   We had a "guest" speaker this morning, "Father" Bruce, as our pastor calls him. I really enjoyed his message. He challenged us to think about whether or not we are truly persuaded that nothing is as important as our relationship with God. He recently read a book about how our theology is either dog or cat. Dog theology is you feed me, care for me, love me...you must be God. Cat theology is you feed me, care for me, love me... i must be god. We start out on our Christian walks with cat theology being its about me, I need to be saved from something. Our prayers are centered around what we need and want. The goal is to get to Dog theology, where instead of being about me it becomes what can I do to serve God, how can I glorify God? Then our thinking is more complete. God calls us to be servants, not lords of the manor. How different would this world be if those who claim to be Christ followers were continually looking for ways to be servants to their fellow humans and instead of wanting glory for themselves would seek to have all glory go to Him who deserves it! Please don't think I am getting on a high horse, I have much improvement to be made in this area. I am by nature an introvert. To be a servant to others is hard when you are one who likes to stay home! I do not always put others before me, or if I do then I am often grumbling about it in my heart! Thank goodness my Savior does not expect me to be perfect! He loves me the way I am and gently and lovingly leads me along the path that He knows is best for me. When I let go of His hand and try to go my own way, He waits patiently for me to realize that I can't do it on my own and comes and leads me back when I call on Him.

Thanks for listening.

God bless, 

His girl

Excercise

It is Saturday night at 7:14. We are waiting for our pizza to get here. We ran around about all day. Part of our running was to get me a gently used elliptical. I have been asking for one for quite a while and I am so happy to finally get one! When we finally got home Dh and ds unloaded it from the truck and Dh rolled it into our bedroom. Everyone hopped on it while I was getting my exercise cloths on and putting my hair up. After I shooed everyone away, I got on and quickly discovered how out of shape I really am. I adjusted the resistance and kept going for a full 30 minutes even though my legs were screaming that they couldn't go one more stride. I kept a close eye on my heart rate and kept it in my target zone, did a warm up and a cool down. When I got off my legs were like jello! I barely made it to my bed to sit down. After sitting for a few minutes I made my way to the living room and sat down again. Wow, I knew I was out of shape but I didn't realize how bad it was.  That is okay though, I am doing something about it now. I plan on getting my cardio on the elliptical every other day until I gain some strength, then bump it up to 5 to 6 days a week. I don't expect overnight results but I do look forward to being in better shape and healthier than I am now by Christmas. My oldest is coming home the 19th of December for 2 weeks and I am going to be a healthier mom by the time he gets here. I wish that I had realized that my goal should have been getting healthier when I was younger. I spent so many years dreaming about getting skinny, and was trying everything to achieve that goal. I did many things that were very unhealthy for myself in the pursuit of thinness. I avoided exercise to the point now that I am in severe pain if I try to do anything that causes impact to my joints. I don't get the feel good after exercise now, I am just exhausted. If you are reading this please don't avoid exercise, keep your body moving so you can keep your health! God gave us bodies that are meant to be moved, not sitting around on couches or in front of games, computers, and tvs all day. Remember, use it or lose it!
God bless,
His girl

Humility

Philippians 2:3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.

This scripture was from my Bible study this morning. It hit me that I must not be modeling humility and regarding others as more important than myself very well. My 2 boys who are still home are fighting, a lot. There isn't a day that goes by that they don't fight. This is a big stressor for me and I have failed to find a way to help them learn how to not to take offense easily and to not expect their way is the only way. When I send them out to do a job together the fighting is almost immediate centering around who has the best way of doing it. This is not regarding each other as more important than themselves! When I see a character flaw in my children I assume that the fault lies with me. They are with me practically 24/7, therefore they are learning how to conduct themselves from watching my conduct. Where have I failed to show a servants heart toward my family? The Lord has been dealing with me for the last year or so on being a more submissive wife, and that overflows into how I relate with our children, so I don't think that this is recently learned behavior. When DH and I were first married and for several years afterward I did not show a servants heart toward my DH or my children. I was a spoiled brat and was constantly fighting to have my way. I am afraid that I am now reaping what I sowed back then. :( That is a tough realization to come to. It is my prayer for you dear reader that you carefully consider your actions before you do anything because what you sow, you will reap. It can either be good or it can be bad and it doesn't always show up right away. DH and I have been married for 19 years. I wasted a lot of time and energy the first few years trying to get my way all the time, no one was happy. Around our 5th yr, God told me to shut up and quit nagging and fighting through Proverbs (I can't remember the exact scripture). Basically it told a man it was better to live on the corner of his roof than with a nagging wife. I understood then the damage that I was doing to my marriage but did not understand that what it was doing and teaching my children. They were very young, but they remember that dark time. Apparently they also learned some bad concepts also. Now it will take time and a lot of prayer for them to break free from what their mother unknowingly taught them.
Please do not think that I am beating myself up for this. I am not. Christ has forgiven me for this and will guide DH, me and the boys through this. My hope is in Christ, not myself. I have just came to this realization as I wrote this afternoon and hope and pray that it may help someone-else.
God Bless you,
His girl

Hello

Hello.

This is my first time blogging. I am doing this as a way to express my thoughts and feelings, if anyone decides to join me in this journey of learning more about myself and my savior Jesus Christ you are more than welcome to come along! I am a 30 something married woman with a wonderful family. My DH is my best friend and I can't imagine life without him. I have 3 great boys/men (14,17,& 18). My 18 year old is in the Army Reserves and we are so proud of him! I am homeschooling the other 2, have been since kindergarten. Life has been a wild and crazy ride. I love to knit, crochet, quilt, paint, sing, hike, and learn new things everyday. I will be posting about these things and my thoughts on what it means to be a child of God, wife, mother, teacher, and friend. I will be trying to use scripture as a place to jump my thoughts off of. I don't promise that my posts will always be uplifting, but I will be truthful. Unfortunately there is too little truth in this world. I value and cherish truth. The main truth that I hold on to is the truth about Jesus Christ. He loves you and cherishes you. He wants a personal relationship with you, all you have to do is accept that He died on a cross for your sins and rose again 3 days later defeating death and the grave. By doing so He opened Heaven's gates to you. If you accept with your heart that He did this and that He is the Son of God and confess with your mouth that Christ is the Son of God and is your savior, He promises that you will be saved. I hope that if you haven't done this that you will.

God Bless you
His girl