Lately I've been sleeping in. A lot. I hit snooze at least three or four times per morning. Now don't get me wrong...I have always enjoyed the snooze button. But this has been different. I"m not sure of exactly what has contributed to my recent snooze fetish. It could be that I married a man who doesn't come to bed until 3am every morning. Or the fact that life is so busy I don't have a minute to just talk to Geoff until after the kids are tucked in for the night, so then we visit about our days and what-not until I realize its already 11pm!! Or it could be that our bed is just so dang comfortable I can't peel myself out of it. Whatever the culprit, I have to do something to change my habits.
Yesterday I was supposed to get up at 5am so I could meet at the church to pray from 6:30 to 7:30. That didn't happen. But snooze DID happen..... all the way until 6am. Dang it! So last night I decided I would change my alarm sound and see if that helped. I have happily awoken (is that a word?) to the theme song from Sex in the City now for over two years. I use my iphone for my alarm so I have a plethura of choices when it comes to what I want my alarm to sound like. I flipped thru my choices last night. I saw one that said 'alarm' and quickly chose that one without listening to it. Now, one would think an alarm sound would be like an alarm clock sound, right? Well that is what I thought anyway.
This morning as I was tucked all snug in my bed I awoke suddenly, arms flailing about, panic in my chest!!! My alarm was going off!!! -and it was not the alarm sound I was counting on! Have you ever seen a scary space movie and the space ship is going to collide with a planet or something? And an alarm is going off on the ship....its like a eeerrrr eeeerrrr eeeerrrr sound. I don't know really how to type it, but its very loud and very ALARMING. Like a bomb warning alarm or a 'this ship is going down' alarm. Maybe they play this alarm when a plane is crashing?? I don't know, but it is definately not a gentle 'hey, wake up now' type of alarm.
So needless to say, I woke up on time today.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Fasting and Prayer
Have you ever tried not eating? I mean anything...at all.....? Well, that is exactly what I am doing. I'm not doing it to diet. (although, I can't say I'm not looking forward to the weight loss) I'm fasting to deepen my relationship with God. Prayer and fasting. Its actually not my idea. A few weeks ago our church starting mentioning a church wide fast. They asked everyone to pray about it and then whoever wanted to join in could join in. They've given us a lot of materials on fasting....different types, what to expect, etc. And they've asked us to focus on praying for our leadership during our fasting. I'm actually focusing on a multitude of things while fasting, but leadership is definately one of them (especially the leadership of our country!!) I have chosed an all liquid diet. No solid food for 21 days. Oddly, I'm fairly confident I can do it. Every time I feel a hunger pang, I just pray. We'll see how I feel in a couple of days...
Surprisingly, fasting is supposed to do a wealth of good not only spiritually, but mentally and physically as well! Its supposed to detoxify your body, making you healthier from the inside out. Apparently, once your body doesn't have to spend energy on processing food, it gets bored and looks for something else to do. So it begins cleaning. I'll tell you one thing (and keep in mind, I'm only 23 hours into this fast!) it makes a person tired!! I don't think I'm cranky yet...emphasis on the yet.
This morning in church we talked about Og, the giant from Deuteronomy 3. Og's bed was 6 feet wide, by 13 feet long. I can't imagine how big this guy was!! We talked about how the Israelites defeated Og and his army because the Lord was with them. So we are supposed to concentrate of defeating the giant 'Og' in our lives. Whatever it is, we can defeat it with God on our side. So I am making food my 'Og' and I will overcome!
Surprisingly, fasting is supposed to do a wealth of good not only spiritually, but mentally and physically as well! Its supposed to detoxify your body, making you healthier from the inside out. Apparently, once your body doesn't have to spend energy on processing food, it gets bored and looks for something else to do. So it begins cleaning. I'll tell you one thing (and keep in mind, I'm only 23 hours into this fast!) it makes a person tired!! I don't think I'm cranky yet...emphasis on the yet.
This morning in church we talked about Og, the giant from Deuteronomy 3. Og's bed was 6 feet wide, by 13 feet long. I can't imagine how big this guy was!! We talked about how the Israelites defeated Og and his army because the Lord was with them. So we are supposed to concentrate of defeating the giant 'Og' in our lives. Whatever it is, we can defeat it with God on our side. So I am making food my 'Og' and I will overcome!
Friday, January 1, 2010
Faith, Family, Finance, Fitness
So, its January 1st. Again. Every year a chance to start a new...to wipe the slate clean....and to try, once more, to be a better person. Every year I declare I will lose weight and drink more water. I swear I will quit cussing. I promise to be a better mother and read the Bible more. Mostly, these resolutions are forgotten within days of New Years.
This year I am going to copy something my pastor talked about a few weeks ago. He said instead of making specific resolutions he was going to focus on four things: Faith, Family, Finance, Fitness. In exactly that order. I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. Nothing specific, just more focus on those areas.
I feel bittersweet about 2009 ending. Most would think it should be the greatest year of my life and I would hate to see it go, but I have very mixed emotions. 2009 started out with a BANG!! On January 4th, Geoff proposed to me in the top of the Hyatt in downtown Kansas City. The most perfect fairytale proposal one has ever heard of. (When I tell people the story, I still get teary) In June, my brother adopted a son.....the most perfect little angel, Benjamin. Then in July we were married and travelled to Hawaii for our honeymoon. In August two of my children were baptized on the same day as myself. We also found out were going to have a new family member! Geoff's sister is pregnant and we are anxiously awaiting meeting our new neice. Lastly, in September I was declared a match to donate a kidney to my little brother. WHAT A YEAR!!
Now for the reasons I am happy to see 2009 go. I know a lot of people who had a horrible, horrible year. When other people are having a rough time, I tend to carry their burdens. A very dear friend of mine lost her husband in '09. Watching her agony and watching her slowly lose weight and wither makes my heart ache. Also, the economy is devistating. I deal with customers everyday that have lost their jobs and don't have enough money to make ends meet. The pain in theirs eyes as they come to ask for loans and forgivness is heart wrenching. My hands are tied with what I can do to help them at the bank. I think about these families A LOT. Sometimes I even dream about them and it SUCKS! But the biggest reason '09 sucked is that after being declared a match for a kidney for my little brother, and after being admitted to the hospital we found out that he isn't healthy enough for the surgery so it was called off. And in the midst of cancelling the surgery, the doctors discovered that I, too, carry the Leidens Factor V that my little brother has. This means that even if he gets healthy again, they won't let me be a donor. This also means that at any time I could also start clotting like he does. This ALSO means that my children could have the mutated gene. It changes a lot of things in my life.
With all that being said, I toast to a new year! I toast to focusing on my Faith and my walk with the Lord. This will only lead to me being a better wife, a better mother, a better friend, a better sister, and ultimately, a better person. I toast to focusing more on my family and spending well deserved time with them doing meaningful things. I will take more trips to Emporia and to Great Bend. I will call my granny more and I will be a better big sister. I toast to budgeting better. I will take less trips to Maurices and more trips to the Goodwill. I will do more coupon clipping and I will shop the sales. I toast to making time to exercise. I will use that dusty treadmill in the basement and I will quit using the weight lifting bench to lay my clothes on that are drying. I will go for more walks and eventually learn to run. In fact, I'll do that with my daughter, combining family time with fitness! Whatever this year hold in store, I'm sure it will make for some good blogging!
~peace out friends! oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
This year I am going to copy something my pastor talked about a few weeks ago. He said instead of making specific resolutions he was going to focus on four things: Faith, Family, Finance, Fitness. In exactly that order. I think that sounds like a wonderful idea. Nothing specific, just more focus on those areas.
I feel bittersweet about 2009 ending. Most would think it should be the greatest year of my life and I would hate to see it go, but I have very mixed emotions. 2009 started out with a BANG!! On January 4th, Geoff proposed to me in the top of the Hyatt in downtown Kansas City. The most perfect fairytale proposal one has ever heard of. (When I tell people the story, I still get teary) In June, my brother adopted a son.....the most perfect little angel, Benjamin. Then in July we were married and travelled to Hawaii for our honeymoon. In August two of my children were baptized on the same day as myself. We also found out were going to have a new family member! Geoff's sister is pregnant and we are anxiously awaiting meeting our new neice. Lastly, in September I was declared a match to donate a kidney to my little brother. WHAT A YEAR!!
Now for the reasons I am happy to see 2009 go. I know a lot of people who had a horrible, horrible year. When other people are having a rough time, I tend to carry their burdens. A very dear friend of mine lost her husband in '09. Watching her agony and watching her slowly lose weight and wither makes my heart ache. Also, the economy is devistating. I deal with customers everyday that have lost their jobs and don't have enough money to make ends meet. The pain in theirs eyes as they come to ask for loans and forgivness is heart wrenching. My hands are tied with what I can do to help them at the bank. I think about these families A LOT. Sometimes I even dream about them and it SUCKS! But the biggest reason '09 sucked is that after being declared a match for a kidney for my little brother, and after being admitted to the hospital we found out that he isn't healthy enough for the surgery so it was called off. And in the midst of cancelling the surgery, the doctors discovered that I, too, carry the Leidens Factor V that my little brother has. This means that even if he gets healthy again, they won't let me be a donor. This also means that at any time I could also start clotting like he does. This ALSO means that my children could have the mutated gene. It changes a lot of things in my life.
With all that being said, I toast to a new year! I toast to focusing on my Faith and my walk with the Lord. This will only lead to me being a better wife, a better mother, a better friend, a better sister, and ultimately, a better person. I toast to focusing more on my family and spending well deserved time with them doing meaningful things. I will take more trips to Emporia and to Great Bend. I will call my granny more and I will be a better big sister. I toast to budgeting better. I will take less trips to Maurices and more trips to the Goodwill. I will do more coupon clipping and I will shop the sales. I toast to making time to exercise. I will use that dusty treadmill in the basement and I will quit using the weight lifting bench to lay my clothes on that are drying. I will go for more walks and eventually learn to run. In fact, I'll do that with my daughter, combining family time with fitness! Whatever this year hold in store, I'm sure it will make for some good blogging!
~peace out friends! oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!
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