Posts Tagged 'family'

black bean puke on white carpet

Published December 11, 2011 family , living , relationships , Uncategorized 1 Comment
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Well, this has certainly been an interesting morning with a 4am wake up call from one of my kids puking up black beans :(

My rock star husband leapt into action while I hazily tried to figure out what was happening.  When I finally got my brain to work, he was already cleaning & had a battle plan.  After I checked to make sure my son was ok, I tried to copy what my husband was doing, figuring that he was more alert & being more effective than my foggy brain was processing.  Nevertheless, we seemed to get everything settled.  So here’s my conclusion – my husband is a thoroughly fantastic man & an amazing father.  I’m thankful to be married to him & grateful that we can be strong for each other in our  respective weak spots.  It’s a great thing when we get to genuinely brag on our mates :)

balancing important priorities

Published November 20, 2011 enemies to intimacy , family , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , spiritual , travel 1 Comment
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  I get asked the question alot about balancing family, travel, ministry, church, work, etc. and I think its a GREAT question that I also frequently ask.  I’m comfortable to share my thoughts on the balance topic, with the foundational understanding that I don’t see myself in any way as an expert on the subject, nor would I even pretend to be all-knowing on this really important question.  With that being said, here are some of my thoughts:

  • for me, balance is often a moment by moment & decision by decision activity
  • being flexible is essential for balance
  • focusing on what is most essential helps me to keep my balance
  • balance sometimes means that I have to re-shuffle schedules, plans & activities (with this re-shuffling, its important not to get cranky about a change of plans)
  • for me, margin is essential for balance – when I fill time & energy to the maximum, I find it hard to concentrate & make good choices
  • balance requires wisdom – a gift that God gives to us when we ask Him with faith

Balance – a very good goal that requires agility, wisdom & nimble choices :)

a voice from the past ,)

Published October 5, 2011 Angola , family , Holy Spirit , living , missions , prayer , saving moses , spiritual 1 Comment
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Ok, right off the bat, please forgive me for not blogging since I’ve returned from Angola.  And here’s the honest truth:  when I come back from these trips where I connect with moms, infants, healthcare workers, etc who live on the frontlines of infant mortality everyday, coming home can sometimes be complicated.  This return, especially compared to last year, is less difficult emotionally for me, but is more physically difficult.  Please don’t interpret my thoughts here to be complaints because I’m deeply thankful to God for this absolutely magnificent honor of getting to love “the least of these”.  Nevertheless, my body is pretty worn down so I’ve been endeavoring to maintain my essential priorities that of course include nurturing healthy relationships with my family.

With all of that being said, let me also include that I had one of the richest times of the year with God yesterday morning – waking at 3am due to the time change.  We had some delicious fellowship meandering through Acts 3, when the beggar was healed at the temple.

I’ll get back into the blogging routine here & shortly we’ll be putting up some great pix from our Angola @savingmoses trip :)

its fun to encourage

Published August 31, 2011 family , Holy Spirit , living , spiritual 2 Comments
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 I was having coffee w a friend the other day & this lady walked into the coffee shop w some very loud shoes – her shoes were the 1st thing to catch anyone’s attention.  Right away my friend commended to this lady on her super cool shoes, encouraging her that she looked cool wearing those shoes.  I was really proud of my friend for being so encouraging & made a mental note to myself that I want to be that way, even if something isn’t my personal style or preference.

Here’s my line of thinking:  our planet needs some encouragement because it seems to me that we are living in a time when there’s a fair amount of negativity.  With this in mind, a great way to counter-act any general negativity is to be encouraging to people & even creatively encouraging.  So here are just a few ideas you might consider & please feel free to leave more suggestions so we can all help each other :)

  • consider telling a co-worker that you think they’re an incredible person, without the intent of trying to get something from them ,)
  • wave & smile at your neighbor when you drive by them
  • look at the cashier & ask them if they’re having a nice day, with sincere interest
  • send a kind email to someone & thank them for who they are as a person (consider telling them what characteristic you like the most about them)
  • tell your mate that you think they’re great
  • let a friend, neighbor or co-worker know that you appreciate them with a quick text message
  • drop a note in the mail (snail mail) to let someone know that they are special to you
Those are just a few ideas, but the principle of being encouraging is super powerful, even though it may seem rather small :)
What are some more ideas that you would suggest?

pause

Published August 17, 2011 cooking , enemies to intimacy , family , living , prayer , spiritual 1 Comment
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 Do you ever remember going to an amusement park & getting on a ride that looked really amazing, only to wish you could get off, halfway through the ride because it was too intense?  I even remember saying, “how do you make this thing stop?”

Sometimes, life needs a pause button – it can get super intense.  For me, life has been pretty intense of late (back to school prep, work deadlines, etc) & I’m interested in finding that pause button.  So here are some things I’ve found to be helpful (feel free to add more ideas that have helped you):

  • family meals – get in a few during the week & put your phones on silent:  genuine conversations as a family can be very therapeutic
  • instead of looking at time in 1 day increments, consider looking at time in 1 week or 1 month increments – giving demands & deadlines more working space than the daily crisis mode
  • take a walk in the evening – did this a few nights ago & it was extremely helpful [minus the mosquitos ,) ]
  • God time – don’t shortchange what fuels your heart, otherwise life can go south before you know what’s happening
  • good diet & exercise routines – in crunch times, food & exercise can often be the 1st to get scraped;  keep these routines as they can provide some good anchors to weather various storms & seasons

time

Published July 22, 2011 family , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , spiritual Leave a Comment
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It’s easier to make money than time – indeed, one could argue that we can’t make time.  So how we use the time that we have can be a direct reflection of our values & priorities.  We all spend time doing the normal things of life:  school / work, family interactions & investments, friendships, working out, reading, etc.  Some of the things in our life are mandatory time demands & other things are discretionary time demands.

In relation to the discretionary time demands, I’ve watched many families over the years fill up their time with sports, activities, etc & every so often, they seem a little frazzled.  Now please don’t jump to the conclusion that I’m opposed to sports, activities etc.  We have our kids in several different things over the course of a given year.  But I think we have to be careful to make decisions with our time that reflect our values & priorities.  For example, my husband & I don’t see our oldest son being an NFL recruited football player.  As such, we have him in flag football over this Summer, but its primarily for the purpose of getting him some exercise & increasing his sports exposure.  My point is that its important for each of us to use our time as a reflection of our priorities & not allow it to be frittered away into oblivion.

I want to give my time to the most important priorities in my life & may God help me to make decisions with how I use my time in ways that are pleasing to Him.

grow charts

Published July 13, 2009 family , living Leave a Comment
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Over the summer, i’ve instituted “grow charts” for my kids.  Here’s the general vibe:  each child has their own weekly to-do list they’re supposed to work on everyday.  The plan has been for every box they check, they get 10cents.  At the end of the week, we count up the boxes & they get somewhere between $1-$3 / week for their grow charts.  They’re supposed to save their money every week, after tithing & at the end of each month, we deposit their money in their kids bank by my hair salon.  So far, this has worked pretty well over the summer.  The key to the success of this is consistency on my part. 

Today, i ramped it up a notch.  I circled about 3-5 “tasks” that are required everyday (brush teeth, clean room, etc).  For every circled task that is not completed for each week, i take away 10cents.  So far, i think this is working pretty well.  Its teaching my kids to importance of daily work & discipline, its giving them a constructive incentive to earn money, teaching them the importance of saving money (they compete w each other to see who has the most in the bank) & its teaching them the value of everyone pitching in to help & contribute to our family.  Personally, its helping me to work on being consistent w my kids.  With all of this planning & structure, i don’t really see a downside, especially if i stay consistent. 

Key word: consistent

amazing travels

Published May 22, 2009 Ethiopia , family , living , saving moses , Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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I’m presently sitting between 2 of my kids, Isbell & David, thanking God for the most fantastic family – seriously!  God is indescribably amazing.  In the past 1.5 weeks, i’ve been to Ethiopia, Turkey (quickie), Jordan & Israel.  The best part of all of my travelling has been the fellowship i’ve had w God – such richness, depth & tantalizing closeness.  Sometimes, it really helps my walk w God to get out of the daily routine, out of my comfort zone, & increase my dependence on God. 

Ethiopia:  fantastic time with God, the orphanage we connect with & my friends.  The orphanage that we work with, over the last year, has really undertaken working w abandoned babies.  This was really touching, particularly as this is so close to my heart w the “saving Moses” campaign we’re launching w worldchild.  I also had the privilege of ministering in Pastor Eyob’s church in Addis & i can just summarize this by saying that my church family is now extended to include this church.  My time in Ethiopia has been rich in fellowship with not only family & friends but most importantly a rich depth with the Holy Spirit.  i can’t even begin to describe how completely riveting / captiving the Holy Spirit is to me, particularly during my time in Ethiopia.

Israel:  i joined the group trip w mom & had a great time getting to know some new people, reconnect w some old friends, share about God & see some cool places / ruins.  We visited Petra (in Jordan), Masada (in Israel), drove by the dead sea & then onto Jerusalem.  The group trip is going well & the travellers seem to be experiencing God in many different rich ways by being in many places discussed in the Bible.

Travelling:  i’ve been in lots of airports & on lots of airplanes – all total, in 10 days, i’ve been on no less than 10 planes & spent well over 100 hours on planes & in airports, to include 1 lost & now found blackberry. :)

if you’d like to check out some pics, pop over to my facebook & you can see some cool friends, places & experiences :)

Again, the best part of the last 1.5 wks has been the rich & deep fellowship w the Holy Spirit – the treasure of my life! :)

a family saturday

Published October 4, 2008 family , living 5 Comments
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fun times!  This is what we’ve done all before 11am:

  • made french toast & bacon (my personal favorite at home breakfast!)
  • cleaned the kitchen, did the dishes, unloaded the dishwasher
  • moved furniture – dresser from David’s room to the basement & the guestroom dresser up to David’s room
  • haircuts for all 3 Bowling men (complete with clean up) – kept Benji’s rat tail
  • mixed up bulk pancake mix
  • kids watched 2 episodes of the Muppets (George Burns & Bernadette Peters?)
  • Reece ran 8miles

After a productive morning, we drove up to the mtns for a picnic & to see the aspens changing colors – completely spectacular.  Observe pics below:

 

I now go to jog :)

a few of my favorite things

Published September 5, 2008 living 2 Comments
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well, its been an interesting week.  Here are a few of my favorite things that have happened this week:

  • successfully made a coconut cream pie & a delic peach pie for Benji’s bday
  • had family over for Benji’s bday & served one of the best dinners I’ve made (nothing burned, everything tasting good, & excellent company, easy to enjoy!)
  • picked up the kid’s ski gear – yahoo!!!  rentals for the season for each of them for $50!!!
  • got Benji’s ski pass – 5 mountains for FREEEEEEEEE & he survived his 5 yr old check up at the Dr (3 shots)
  • walking home w David & Bell from school each day – I get to hear about their day, friends, etc
  • friends

Routines are good things – they can bring sanity & order from a chaotic summer.  :)

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