#3in30 August goals - Week 2 update

This week has been incredibly hectic for me.  Monday I was off work for a dental appointment and Friday I was off so I could help chaperone Andy's orchestra camp field trip.  So work was hectic cramming 5 days of things into 3, including the effort of scheduling 80+ people for software testing.  I love my job though and I'm so glad God put me in a position where my skills are both useful and appreciated.

Home has been just as hectic though, but it too has been productive.

My last July goal - to purge the boys' unused clothing - is complete.  To the best of my knowledge anyway. I admit that I have not entered their rooms to actually confirm that only the things they routinely wear remain.  That will be projects for another month. ;-)  But I dropped off 2 bags of clothing in the donation box on my way home from the grocery store tonight with a sense of satisfaction.

My 2nd August goal - to finish my Good Morning Girls book study - is also complete.   I'm still about 6 weeks behind on SOAP scriptures, but I'm going to make it a priority to do one scripture every night before bed until I'm done.  My goal though was to actually finish the book, and with 8 chapters to go, I spent the majority of my evening doing just that.  I'm not going to blog on the last 2 topics - Training and Service - because the answers to the study questions are ones that are more introspective to me and require thought and prayer. Maybe someday you'll get to read my answers.  I do want to share with you though my favorite quote from what I read today:

Sin in our lives makes us resist responsibility. (The Ministry of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson, p. 191)

I can't explain why this one little sentence resonates so deeply with me, but it does. My own conviction perhaps?

Goal #3 - Refocus myself to #hellomornings and getting up early enough for exercise and quiet time.  Only 2 days this week did I actually get up at 5am and exercise, but I did work in a 20-minute Zumba session this morning before I had to get ready for breakfast with our friends.  I whined a little bit Friday to my online friends about not having enough time for everything, but I think I've figured it out since then.  

If I actually get up at 5am, I have 45 minutes to myself before Alex's alarm goes off. That's plenty of time as long as I get myself into a regular morning and evening routine and get to bed on time.  Keep praying for me my friends. LOL
I did decide I'm going to do Good Morning Girls' Fall Bible Study on 1 John.  It's SOAP format and I'm going to keep up with it a journal rather than online.  My mornings will be much smoother if I keep exercise short and QT simple. Trying to fit time for actual #B90Days reading into my morning is too stressful, and often leaves me feeling slightly resentful that my time is not my own. So my bible reading needs to remain something that I do in spare moments throughout my day and finish up with at night.  Lately I've taken to reading in bed until I fall asleep and I love it.  It's such a wonderful way to end my day.

However, I'm happy to say that I'm holding steady with the #B90Days reading.  I did fall a little behind earlier in the week when I was just so mentally exhausted from work I couldn't comprehend what I was reading.  But I made the most of my off-time Thursday night and Friday and on this lazy Saturday, and caught up. Tomorrow's reading is Day 35 and the start of Nehemiah. I think it also makes us about 40% complete.

On that note, I'm calling it a night my friends.  Even though all I've done is read all day, I'm tired.   Have a great night a blessed Sunday!

Bible in 90 days - week 3 update

Today ends day 21 and week 3 of the Bible in 90 Days (#b90days) reading with Mom'sToolbox. I've read 22.7% of the Bible - almost 9 entire books - in just 21 days. I'm only half done with today's reading as I write this, but I'll get it finished before bed tonight. This amazes me because I've never read so much straight through without taking a break or falling behind or giving up.

I love Joshua's story of leading the Israelites into their Promised Land. God was so prominently with them, even they they clearly were not 100% obedient to His commands to wipe out and destroy every living enemy. I must admit to being perplexed at their method of staking out land and casting lots to see who gets what. Someday when I'm able to ask Joshua to explain it to me in person, do you think he'd remember? LOL

Judges spoke to my heart and showed me that in all these thousands of years, human nature has not changed very much. We fall away from God, He sends help for us and we pick ourselves back up and promise to not do it again, but slowly over time we fall away again. Two steps forward, three steps back. 'How often have I done this myself,' my heart cried out. I found myself praying often that He'll give me the strength and the guidance to stay focused on my course and not waver from it. Oh how much He must truly love us to be this patient with us!!

Ruth... How I've always loved the story of Ruth. She must truly have loved Naomi with all her heart to follow her to a foreign land when she had the opportunity to return home to her family.  Her love for Naomi and commitment to her family, even  after her husband had died, served her well for the blessings she received later.

Then she said, “Behold, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and her gods; return after your sister-in-law.” But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” (Ruth 1:15-17, NASB)

That brings us to the story of Samuel. I cannot imagine the grief Hannah experienced, first in not being able to have a child and then when blessed with one, she stayed faithful to her promise and gave him back to the Lord!  I'd like to talk to Samuel someday too. The things he saw and the stories he could tell!  

Saul though, I'm just not sure about him.  Every time I read his story I find myself wondering just what God was thinking when He chose him to be king.  Tonight the answer seems simple - to save David, the true king of Israel.  If Saul hadn't been king, then Jonathan and David would likely never have met and it would have been more difficult for the people to accept David as eventual king.

Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself.  (1 Samuel 18:1, NASB)

I also love the relationship between these two men.  The Bible implies that they are closer to each other than to their flesh-and-blood brothers.  They're brothers of the heart, brothers that God put together and that cannot or will not be separated no matter the circumstance.   I have people like that in my life, my heart sisters, a handful of the awesome-est ladies that God has brought into my life when I needed them most and now nothing can ever remove them.

I can't wait to wrap up 1 Samuel and delve into next week's reading.  We'll cover the stories of kings David and Solomon, and prophets Elijah and Elisha; four of my favorite biblical people.  I can't wait to see what newness I find in the words of their lives.

Loving Him,

Saturday Recap

It's been such a busy week that I decided it was easiest to squish it all together into one multi-subject post.  I promise it shouldn't be hard to follow.  ;)

Bible in 90 days - week 2 update...

I've pushed myself hard and made my #b90days reading my priority above everything else with much success.  I'm on track with Day 14 and have read 13.6% of the Bible (4 books) in just 2 weeks!  I'm super excited about my progress; I feel like I really can do this.  :)  I'm also loving the friends I'm making, the conversations we're having, and the knowledge I'm gaining.






#3in30 July goals - week 3 update...

I haven't made any new progress on my goals, but I haven't fallen behind either.

Goal #1 - Clean out and organize rolling cart. Repurpose drawers.

I've thus far managed to not rejunk my cart.  School supplies continue to be purchased and put in their new crate. (In fact, all I have left to buy are binders, pens, and spirals.)  I do still have a stack of new organizer trays and baskets sitting on top of my cart, but some of those are for an August project and some are for the kitchen and 31 Days to Clean.

Goal #2 - Create new filing location and system. File papers.I'm still waiting on Alex to straighten my filing cabinet if he can.  I've been telling him all week and it's obviously not done.  I'll be sure to make it get done today. I want to get some progress done on this task one way or the other.


Goal #3 - Purge teenagers' clothing items and identify what needs to be replaced.
This hasn't been done either and will be this week's project for them.

Coffee... 

New phones...

For the past few week's I've been participating in Coffee Lovin Mom's Coffee Trifecta giveaways.  I was absolutely THRILLED Thursday night when she DM'd me to tell me I'd won the 2 bonus mugs she was giving away. They haven't arrived yet, but I'll share a picture when I get them.  I love following Amy's coffee-related tweets throughout the day. Sometime's they're the caffeine-free inspiration I need.  :)





My old G1 finally decided to die last weekend. It's been acting up for a while now, but while Manny and I were out with friends he saw first-hand what it was doing.  Since T-Mobile no longer carries batteries for it, he went ahead and upgraded me.  I got the Samsung Galaxy S phone and I LOVE IT!  I have everything I need and more at the swipe of my finger. The screen is larger and clearer than on my G1, and makes it an absolute breeze for bible reading.  I also love that I have a Kindle app on it, because I can buy Brooke's Warrior Prayers for Kindle now. (On a side note, I can't believe how easy it is to read on the Kindle app. No wonder people love it so much. I might have just been converted!)




Fitness...

I'm holding steady but I'm tired of it.   I've been tracking my food and exercise for a while, but I've been lackadaisical about exercising enough to make a difference.  But now I have an even better form of motivation - my bestie Alicia is getting married next summer and needs an extra big push to stay motivated and drop a few pounds before the wedding.  And so we decided it's time to get real and do this thing right.  Teaming up with another of my best heart sisters, Vickie, we've got a plan for 3 days of Zumba together (it's always more fun with friends!) and I created a shared spreadsheet where we can track numbers and goals. I can't wait to report on our progress! Since I'm not squeamish about sharing my own weight loss information, you can expect to hear more on the subject in future posts. 

Current weight: 193 

Final goal: 140 

Mini goal: <189 

2 week maintenance reward: Mandisa's new CD

I realize my mini goal may sound odd, but I was at 186 in May, went up to 191 post-vacation, and have been bouncing back and forth between 191-193 ever since then.  I'm tired of it, so I decided that if I can just get into the 180s and stay there for 2 weeks, then I'll reward myself.   Then I decided that all rewards will be based on a 2 week maintenance cycle b/c it syncs up with my paydays and makes it easier to budget in rewards but it also means I have to work harder to earn the goal.  It's a lot harder to maintain a goal weight than it is to reach it, IMO!

Bible in 90 days - week 1 update

Last week I started the Bible in 90 Days reading again.  This is my second time to try it; the first I made it to Isaiah 13 before giving up (and even that was well after the 90 days was over).   So when I signed up again, it was with a bit of hesitation.  Could I do this?  I'm still struggling to get and keep caught up with my Ministry of Motherhood book study.  Getting up at 5am for the Hello Mornings challenge has been proving a difficult enough task the past few weeks.  How could I possibly take on more, especially something that would require such a significant time commitment as a 90 day Bible reading plan?  I prayed.  I listened.  I really felt that God was telling me that I needed to do this.  And so I am.

Until now, I've strictly been a NIV/NLT girl, but last weekend I realized that my easy-to-read NLT actually left out key scriptures (only including them as a footnote) and that the NASB is the most literal word-for-word translation available to me.  Knowing those two things, I decided I was going to read the NLT since "I was only reading and not studying, ya know" but He had other plans for me.  He put a conviction on my heart so deep that I understand there is no such thing as "just reading" the Bible.  You are always studying it, even if it's not purposefully, and therefore I needed to properly know what He was telling me.   

Today is day 7 of 90, and I'm on target.  I've read all of Genesis and Exodus in 7 days following the NASB version.  There's been some days where I didn't get the entire day's reading done, but I pushed on and kept reading.  I've had some interesting discussions with other #B90Days readers, and I've seen some interesting things on my own.

Genesis 8:6  Then it came about at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made;

This verse made me wonder about the biblical significance of the number 40.  We always hear about 3 and 7 being God's numbers, but what about 40?    This thought kept coming to mind throughout the week of reading: it rained for 40 days/nights, the Israelites ate manna for 40 years, Moses spent 2 rounds of 40 days/nights alone with God, and he was 80 years old when he led them out of Egypt.  Looking much further ahead into the Bible, we know Jesus spent 40 days/nights fasting in prayer.  Without getting deeply involved in biblical numerology, several websites I researched were in agreement that 40 is the number of probation and trial.  I think I need to remember this the next time I feel I'm facing a trial. Maybe it only only last 40 days?

Exodus 34:14  --for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God--

Exodus 23:13  "Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be on your guard; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor letthem be heard from your mouth. 

God tells us so many times and in so many ways that we are not to have another God, we aren't to make idols, that we are to worship Him and Him alone.  Yet we continually do this.  In today's culture, a relationship with God is not something people is important to have, and if you do feel it's important, you're probably tagged as one of those "crazy Christian people".   It's nice to know we aren't alone though. Even the Israelites waited less than 40 days before they were demanding of Aaron make them a new god.

Exodus 32:1   Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him."

A new online friend and fellow reader, @ImaBLeever, made a great point on this matter: When you see that God says He is a Jealous God, remember too this means that He will NOT share His people with Satan, as well. 

Genesis 5:24  Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

Exodus 33:11  Thus the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. 

These two verses fill me with joy at the same time that they sadden my soul.   How awesome it must have been for Enoch and Moses to have such a close relationship with God.  I don't even think "close" describes it accurately enough, but I don't have any better word to use.  ;)    Today though, I doubt there are many people that could truly say they have the same kind of relationship with God.  Certainly we may walk in His Will for our lives, but probably not to the degree that Enoch did.  And certainly we are not honored enough to have Him speak to us face to face as friends, or to go with us by cloud or fire day or night.  Granted, we have the Holy Spirit to do something similar in His place and it gives us something to look forward to when we do finally get to meet Him in person.  I can tell you that I truly hope to be blessed enough to chat with Enoch!

Here's another thing that @ImaBLeever mentioned as a find during her reading time that really stood strong with me: At the giving of the law, 3000 people lost their lives and souls. On the day of Pentecost, the beginning of Grace, 3000 were saved.   Somehow I don't think that's a coincidence.  ;)

One other thing I really liked about this week's reading is the chance to share my discoveries with my hubby.  We've had a few interesting talks, especially about the concept of firstborns and first fruits, but I'll share those later when I've done more research.  

Tomorrow I delve into Levi again, and I'm not worried about it this time.  Having successfully read through these next 3 books makes it so much easier to do it again. Besides, it's only 8 days and those will fly by. Hopefully I'll be able to take better notes to share in next week's update.

Happy reading,

Day 90 Update

Today is day 90 of the Bible in 90 Days challenge hosted by MomsToolbox.  Congratulations to all those that have finished!  I currently happen to be on day 50, but one of these days I'll finish it.

I started the 90 day read because I really need to read the bible all the way through for a change. I thought 90 days was a good challenge and I had every intention of keeping up with it.  But then one day was extra busy and I didn't get all my reading done, and the next was busy and I got further behind, and then because it was busy and I was tired, I played a game instead of reading, and before I knew it, I was a good week behind.   Oh, I put forth the extra effort to get caught up, but then I let the things of this world get in the way and fell behind again.  Rinse and repeat.  That brings us to day 90 and I'm still on day 50.

But that's okay.  I'm perfectly okay with being on day 50 because I know I will finish it.  I'd like to say I've set my own goal date to finish by, but I'd be lying if I did. I'll get there when I get there and I refuse to allow myself to feel bad over it.  I know there will be a day where I can pick up my bible and all on my own finish it in 90 days, and I'll be overjoyed whenever that day arrives. In the meantime, I'll just be overjoyed to say that for the first time ever I'll have read the entire bible straight through.

In the meantime, I plan to join MomsToolbox for Blogging Through the Gospels, which starts Monday.  Figured I might as well since I'm going to be reading the Gospels anyway, right?  LOL

I'm also participating in the "Try It" challenge from Peak313. She's challenging everyone that joins to try a new food each week.  Who knows, maybe we'll find something we really like!

Also ongoing is the 21 Days of Prayer for Sons challenge, where we're reading Warrior Prayers: Praying the Word for Boys in the Areas They Need it Most by Brooke McGlothlin.  Each day for 21 weekdays, we pray for a specific area of our boys lives.  Day 1 started off with obedience.  I've gone ahead and started praying day 2 (submission to authority) today b/c my boys need A LOT of extra prayers in those two areas.   Only have little girls in your house?  Then join us anyway and pray for your future sons-in-law!


I'd love to see you join us on one  (or more!) of the challenges!

Rebellion - a Bible in 90 days post

I'm well behind on my reading, both because of my desire to not read Deuteronomy and just life in general, but I'm determined to keep chugging along and not to give up.

Duet 1:37, 3:26, 4:21 - But the Lord was angry with me because of you...

I found it really interesting that 3 times Moses told the Israelites this, yet it was his own fault that he wasn't going to get to go into the Promised Land.

Reading the Bible in 90 Days

Just after Thanksgiving, I came across the MomsToolbox website, where she (Amy) had just wrapped up a 90-day Bible reading challenge.  I admit it; I was impressed.  I've tried the 90-day reading challenge before and don't remember making it past the first week.  In fact, in any type of Bible reading plan I've started, I've never finished.   On the website was a link to sign-up for the next session, scheduled to start Jan 3rd.  I signed myself up, committing myself to being faithful in my task and completing it, no matter how many days it took me to get through.