July and summer!

I was debating (with myself) whether or not to have a challenge this month and have decided to NOT have one. I'm still pregnant - hopefully not for long. After Jubilee is born I will have the challenge of working her into our family life, recovering from nine months of pregnancy, and trying to keep the house cool. That's plenty. But I did want to write about how the other challenges have affected me long term.

February's challenge was memorization. I have not memorized any more, but I have to say that the time spent on Matthew 5 and the following couple of chapters have gone a long way in my spiritual life which transcends into my practical life - as it does for everyone if you haven't noticed. God's word is truly bread and life to me. This sounds weird, but sometimes I really feel like I'm breathing the words I read. Can you relate?

March's challenge was to practice piano. Let's just say that I'm leaving the piano playing to my beautiful oldest daughter at this point.

April's challenge was to read this series of books I had been working on. I gave up on that one if you remember correctly. And to be honest, I haven't gotten back into the reading habit. I am naturally a very avid reader - I don't know what has changed. Right now, I am spending time reading the Four Loves by C.S. Lewis. Very deep. That man makes you think in just about every sentence. But I feel like I haven't felt passionate about a book in a long time. Probably since reading Loving our Kids on Purpose. I'm very serious about everyone I know reading this book - parent or not. So if you haven't, there is your encouragement. Best parenting book I've ever read - and that says a lot since I've read so many!

May's challenge was to apply some of the information in the Seven Pillars of Health into our families eating habits. Between the memorization challenge and this challenge - these have been the two that have most changed in my life. We are still working on applying the new eating habits that I established back then. We are trying new things, yes, but mostly just enjoying food the way it is supposed to be. Many more fruits and veggies in our diet, much more water, doing way better than I thought on not having white flour and the many forms of unhealthy sugar. Meals seem simpler, which is a plus for me as head chef. The kids have really gotten on board with it too. I just subscribed to Clean Eating magazine which follows much of our new way and gives many yummy recipes. As an aside, Tyson read the section on stress and got a lot out of it. I should encourage him to blog about it.

So that's that. I'm sure the next blog post will be much about a new blessing in our lives, complete with photos. If you are a person of prayer, please pray for us during this time of transition.

Blessings on you and yours.

Breathe your life.

amy

June...lovely June.

So, in case you actually ARE following my blog, you have noticed that I've not put in a new challenge this month. Well, I forgot to tell all of you that June is a great month to NOT have a challenge...especially when one is 9 months pregnant and turning THIRTY-FIVE in the same month! I'm letting myself just be challenged by those two things. That is enough.

Here are some - almost - 35 year-old thoughts:

*35 is half of 70.

*I will be homeschooling until I'm 53 -assuming we take that route until Jubilee is out of the house.

*I have no fear or apprehension about what my life will be like after the 7 kids are grown. I'm looking forward to it. Others in my life think that I will NOT know what to do, that I should keep having babies as long as the Lord allows. That's nice.

*In this season of my life, I could have a self-centered attitude but I'm choosing to enjoy and love the life I've been given.

*All of the boys/men that I thought were hot when I was in middle school are either really old or not so hot anymore. (Think Don Johnson from Miami Vice)

*Twitter is kind of fun.

*I'm about ready to have another birthday...I LOVE my birthday!

*I'm about ready to have another baby! Jubilee Amira Lash - but if it were Amira Jubilee, then she would have my initials.

Choose to have a great day.

breathe your life,
Amy

May's challenge

So I read the book Seven Pillars of Health by Don Colbert. It was a good book. Here are the changes my family is or is working on instilling in our house.

• Weed out the white flour, HFCS, white/brown sugar, MSG (and all the other names for it)
• Drink more water, eat more fruits and veggies, buy as much organic as money allows.
  

That's enough for now. His book goes in to great detail about supplements and things like that, but I feel we will be more successful with just working on a couple of things right now.

Really our family has been on a healthier eating path for many years. It seems that each time I read a book like this, we come another step or two closer to how I'd love to live. One thing I realized by reading this book (that wasn't even discussed in the book) is that for me, my husband, and my SEVEN children - good eating is something that I'm willing to spend more money on. For some people, food is a great place to save money. Not for us.

Also, here is how the changes are really fleshed out around here.

• no more Mrs. Butterworths HFCS syrup - moving to pure maple syrup
• no more white flour in stuff - replacing with whole wheat. This will affect the taste of dutch babies, obviously.
• MSG (in it's various forms) is in way more stuff than I realized - like my Progresso bread crumbs. Weed that stuff out of the house and find a good alternative or make my own. Did you know that MSG can be included in stuff under the ingredient "spices"?
• no more white or brown sugar...and less honey. Working on alternatives for this. Agave nectar has gone over well as has pure maple syrup.
  
• We are already big water drinkers around here, but I'd like to invest in stainless steal water bottles like these. Anyone want to invest in some as gifts for us??
• Cereal is pretty much out. Gross stuff in most of it. The healthy, organic options are just not cost worthy, so now we're coming up with other breakfast options like homemade granola - oatmeal is relatively cheap.
  

All in all, I think this has been a pretty productive challenge for me. I'm in charge of making great healthy food choices for my family, so I want to do all I can to instill good habits in my babies now.

What are you doing to become more healthy?

Breathe your life!
amy

twitter

So if you are following my husband's blog, you will know that he is putting a big plug in for signing up for Twitter. I've been a skeptic since I found out about it. Really, who actually wants to know when I'm changing a stinky diaper or showering for the first time this week? And really, do I want to know when YOU are doing those things? Do I really need to be hyper-connected with you?

Well, apparently the answer is yes. I've been convinced because of the reasons Tyson pointed out in his blog post and because we were just in Oklahoma City visited a friend who is hyper-connected to like a bagillion people. Because of his connections via Twitter, he has personally connected and met with over 30 people in his city that he would have not had the opportunity to otherwise.

So for someone like me - who is at home most always during the day and at church with mainly the same people weekly - how cool would it be to meet someone at, say, Safeway that I "know" because we follow each other on Twitter?

I'm still not on Facebook, but I've been told numerous times that I should be. Apparently, I'll be glad I did because then I can see pictures of people I knew in 5th grade. (Still trying to figure out the benefit of that. Seriously, that was 25 years ago!)

Anyway, if you want to "follow" me on Twitter, just look up my name in about 10 minutes. I guess I'll be there telling you all of the great details of my life.

Breathe your life,
Amy

May - half way into it now...

So this month is our Eden's birthday. She turned 4 and here is a picture of her and her wink.

I will have to get the picture of her in her birthday outfit up soon, but right now the batteries are dead in the camera and our next Costco trip (where we purchase said batteries) is not until early next week.

Eden is full of life and is working on learning that - no - the world does not actually revolve around her. Eden Bailee means "delightful administrator"and that she is. We often joke that everyone just does what she wants (administrator) because she IS so delightful. It really is hard to say no to this one.
Not really sure what she is up to in this picture. Probably showing us her angry face....








April's challenge was a bust - I must say. I'm giving all of the books back. I give up. I need to read something different. I did get through 2 more in April, but that is really all I can manage right now.

So I just read Going Home by Wanda Brunstetter. I don't really recommend it. It was a quick read about and Amish lady who went to find fame with the "Englishers" then came home for a visit. I won't give the rest away in case any of you are set on reading it. You will know what happens at the end by reading the first three pages though. My daughter, Malea, is reading it now and she had the same feeling as I did about it: too much repitition (like actually saying the same things over and over and over) and the author (though I'm sure she is a wonderful lady) leaves nothing to the imagination. The reading is TOLD everything, leaving nothing to the imagination. Anyway, I'd rate it a 1 out of 5.

I'm also reading the Seven Pillars of Health by Don Colbert, MD. He breaks up the "seven pillars" into 50 days of nice bite-sized chunks. So far, I've read about the importance of drinking water, how much to drink, and what type to drink. My monthly challenge for May is to read two-days worth per day (I'm such a rebel) and impliment the suggestions for better health. It's a very good read and very informational.

One more thing before I go change another stinky diaper: Tyson allowed me to speak on Sunday, Mother's Day. It was a great church service and you can check out my message called Finding Myself HERE .

Have an excellent day. (I don't know why I'm in underline mode right now)

Breathe your life.

Amy

APRIL!!!! (the challenge, the activities, etc. etc.)

Wow! April definitely crept up on me...probably because this morning it was SNOWING....AGAIN! I woke Malea up with an April fools joke that it was snowing and about 2 hours later, it really was snowing. I'm challenging myself to be thankful for the weather. Maybe that should be my hard thing to do this month? Sounds kind of shallow.

Last month's challenge was to practice piano for 20 minutes a day five days a week. I did pretty well with that one. I picked up my Alfred piano book for adults that I finished about six years ago and got about 2/3 through that. I would like to keep it up and finish the second book that I only made a little progress with when I was taking lessons.

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This month I also read The Chosen by Chaim Potok. There was so much to glean from this thought-provoking book. The author was amazing at captivating and drawing the reader into the story, even a female in an all-male story. I appreciated learning about the Jewish culture in New York during and shortly after WWII. What struck me the most though was the involvement the fathers had in the lives of their sons education and personal lives and the fathers dedication to religious instruction in their sons. Those boys knew and memorized an amazing amount of scripture and commentary. I also just loved the interaction - not just teaching and telling the son, but really interacting with opinions and thoughts being valued.

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This next week is special because of two young mens' birthdays!!!

Luke will be 7! He is amazing. Luke has a love for life that he will not let be ignored. Luke loves Legos and creatures of all kinds. He is a great big brother and little brother. He does VERY well with his school work and helps much around the house. Happy birthday, Bubba!






And Zachariah will be TWO! This is my baby. I delivered him at home which was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. He can tell you he is TWO as he holds up most of his fingers...I shoud get a picture of that one. He loves cars and books and dogs and guys (you know the Playmobil guys). And I'm so thankful that at times he still likes to cuddle. I'm sure this one will be a great big brother to his baby sister coming this summer! Happy Birthday, Mac!


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And now for the moment you all have been waiting for! April's challenge is to read the rest of this Historical Fiction series on American History that I'm borrowing. I think I have six more books to read so that I can return them! I have a great motivation for this since I do NOT like clutter and the stack of books is sitting on the shelf at the top of the stairs and I just want to put them away! Maybe I'll blog about each as I read them. They are very interesting and I just love history anyway.

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I would really like to blog on my thoughts to Tyson's Kingdom Matters sermon series. God has challenged my thinking and brought depth to my life through these messages. I just looked at the church web site...hummmm...I think I will need to gently encourage that sweet pastor to get the rest of the series on there!

Remember: Breathe your life.
Grace and Peace,
Amy

The big guy's birthay!!!

Our JJ is 5 today! He is such a sweet young man. His parents and siblings just adore him. JJ is quite unique in that he is not overly talkative (unless you take him out by himself) and he seems just fine taking it all in and not being noticed. I will post his birthday pictures tomorrow. Today he chose to lunch at the Olive Garden with Mom and Dad. He wore his "fancy" clothes and got several oohs and aahs from the teenage girls there!

Sweet man.