Week 1 Day 2

I am so happy with how I feel.  I am aware that one day of eating better cannot make that much of a difference.  I believe that taking a step closer to my goals improved my overall mindset.

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Yesterday, I was reading motivational quotes.  This one that stood out.

     SOMETIMES THE SMALLEST STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
             ENDS UP BEING THE BIGGEST STEP OF YOUR LIFE.
                   TIP TOE IF YOU MUST, BUT TAKE THE STEP.

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Food for Thought

The Lord give us so much.  He gave us our bodies.  They are the Temple of the Lord.  Are we treating out bodies the way that HE would want?

Losing 40lbs in 3 months

I am a happy wife and mom and have a wonderful life, but I'm not happy with what I have done to my body; how I have let it go, and stopped taking care of myself.  I don't want to wait until the New Year, like most people do.  Yes, the holiday will be difficult, but its not impossible.

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Daily Goals:

Consume 1500 Calories

Burn 650 extra Calories

Drink 64oz Miniumum

Research I have done shows that this break down of calories will give me the best balance.

     675 to 975 Calories of Unprocessed Carbs

  

     150 to 525 Calories of Protein  (38g to 131g Protein)

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Week 1 Day 1

This is the best day.  The joy of starting with a clean slate.  It is exciting to look towards the future.  

This is a huge undertaking.  Is is possible for me to lose 40lbs in 3 months?  

I believe that blogging my journey can help me reach my goals. I am using a notebook to hand write everything that I'm eating and the calories for each item.  

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Evening Update

I had a differential of about 400 calories!  1/9 of a pound down!

Hurricane Michael

We are blessed and thankful that we did not get a direct hit from this massive hurricane. We have friends who have lost homes and all their earthly possessions. We were stationed at Tyndall AFB, 2007-2008. It is hard to comprehend the amount of damage throughout that area.  

We decided to evacuate, and ended up only having 50 mph winds. I still believe that evacuating was the right call. What if it didn't turn and hit us?  

We want to help all we can. Donating seems like nothing, but it is amazing how those donations can impact those that need it most.

Pray for the families.

Curriculm Review

It's unbelievable that this is my 6th year homeschooling. 

I'm often asked what I used for curriculum. We have used mostly Bob Jones and Abeka Textbooks from 1st to 3rd (son) and K-5 to 2nd (daughter). In 4th and 5th, we used Dvd's for Bible, Science, History, All Language Arts, and Abeka Textbooks for Math. 

The kids did love the Bob Jones dvds but needed a break from them. They are a bit long some days and there was less flexibility for taking field trips, etc. I would recommend the Bob Jones Dvd program. They were so well done.

This year, my daughter switched to a Ballet Academie, yet I continue to homeschool my son. For his 6th Grade year, we changed the curriculum quite a bit. This is what he is using. 
Science - Answers in Genesis
History - Abeka
Math - Teaching Textbooks (on the computer) 
Language Arts - Essentials in Writing (Dvd/Textbook) and Learning Language Arts through Literature.

I'm quite happy with all of them so far!  7 weeks done, many to go!

Juggling

Are you juggling life the way that you believe is best? There are so many levels to what we are as moms. Here are a few suggestions to help juggle life in a way that I would believe is pleasing to the Lord.

1. As a Child of God
• Take personal time with the Lord each day.
• Mornings with coffee or tea, keeps me most consistent.
2. As a Wife
• Husband comes before your children.
• Each day have a real conversation with your husband.
• Not just the catch up on the kids.
• It doesn't have to be the finances, but you want to spend the rest of your life with this man.  Know him outside of your kids.
3. As a Mom
• You are training your children to be adults.
• Each day you can train or teach a new life skill.
• Encourage them.
• Most of the house work.
• Balance this, don't work as a slave to your family, but teach your children how to be helpers.
• My husband is kind and helpful when not at work, but I won't want him to feel like I expect him to start cleaning when he arrives home. He is always willing and does work around the house.
4. As a Woman 
• Take care of your body.
• Inside and out: be healthy and be active, hair and beauty as well.
• Know your limits.
• If you are easily stressed, you need to have a way of handling that.
• Deep Breaths
• Classical or calming music
• You need to make time for yourself.  Don't feel guilty. 

Blessed Mom

Acceptance & Moving Forward

     Whether we are talking about our family lives or how our bodies look and feel, we have to accept where we are in order to move forward.

Ask yourself a few questions.  

• What is my family life like?
• How am I spending my time each day?
• What am I thankful for?
• What trial has been holding me back?

I believe that you need to know the answers to these questions before you can move on to improving yourself.

Stop focusing on the trials from the past.  Learn from them, do not focus on them.  If you are so focused on the past you haven't learned from the trials and moved forward.  

If you have worked through those questions, the next step is moving forward.

• Are you spending the time with your family you want too?
• If no, list a few things you can do to spend more time together.
• If yes, praise the Lord.
• Each day is important in God's eyes.  Is it important in our eyes?
• Do you have ways to better spend your time?
• Is there time spent in God's Word?
• How much time is spent on a computer/laptop/tablet/phone?
• How can I improve the way I feel?
• What am I putting into my body?
• How is it impacting the other parts of my life?
• Am I moving or couch potato?
• How does my home feel?
• Are you stressed by your home or do you walk into a haven?

While writing this, I feel like we can all benefit from working on a few of these questions.  It's good to evaluate where you are, accept it, and move forward.

The art of boredom

Just last week, a mother of a 15 month old was telling me that she wished that her daughter would take the ipad and pay attention to it.  You look around and 8 out of 10 people are looking at a phone or device.  Children have been taught to be still, only with the device in their hand.

I am a parent trying to balance the use of devices.  In my opinion, they are not wrong, just used in the wrong way.

Learning to sit still has been taught to my children in church since they came out of the nursery.  They do not have a hard time.  They don't need anything to distract them.  They are paying attention to the singing, prayer, and preaching.

Sitting at the pharmacy, my son or daughter asks to play my phone.  My answer will always be no.  We can sit for 10 minutes, 20 minutes, or 40 minutes depending on the day without a device in our hand.  How many more conversations do I have with my children because we are looking at each other?

When their school lessons are done, instruments are practiced, and they want to play on the device, that seems more reasonable.  Now if the sun is shining, and they haven't played outside, I have them play.  That is more beneficial.

The hardest part is not balancing devices for my children, it would be making sure I'm not on them too much.  I'm an adult; it's allowed.  We have to remember we are the example and that our children want to do everything that we do.  Even if it's playing on your phone while you're watching TV.   Something you would think is no big deal.

They are always watching.  Be what you want them to follow.