a change is gonna come

I am getting to know a new bible. English Standard Version. It is smaller print than I am used to so the books take less pages and I find myself skipping past things. It reads easy though and I am enjoying reading verses in a new way. I have been especially convicted lately in how I spend my time (okay this is about a once a week thing). I found myself pining over some tv shows the other day when I couldn't record more than two things at once on my DVR. Silly right? I know lots of people who are catching up on series' on Netflix so I was even considering how much I needed to "catch up" on past shows that aren't even on anymore! I felt overwhelmed and actually laughed out loud when I realized I was feeling more stressed about the fact that I didn't have enough time to fit the tv in than I was glad to be spending that time with my family! I am not embarrassed by my love of tv but I do have to keep my priorities straight. I record my shows so that I don't have to watch commercials and am getting good at skipping parts that are not interesting to me so it has really cut down my actual watching time. I am EAGER to pick up the Word but there are still times in the day when I am chasing a baby around the house or just letting him play but not able to focus %100 on something that is basically studying. That's when I pop on a show and "catch up". I have been deep into a study of James the past three weeks, and with that and reading my daily bible and "God without Religion" by Andrew Farley, I am devoting most of my spare time to those things.  As we were studying the end of James chapter 1 this week (be a doer of the Word not a hearer only. . .) Beth Moore made some points that hit home to my heart. "The doing causes the changing" - in other words we need to be careful because the tricky part is that the hearing only can be satisfying. That is VERY me. I love to attend studies and join in words of wisdom and encouragement all the while my "tomb is grubby" to paraphrase from the NT. "God's word is meant to do more than penetrate, it's meant to ACTIVATE." Thanks Beth, no kidding but how do I do that? I have been actively trying to "set my mind on things above". It's sort of  a secret how but I will let you know when my goal is accomplished. A renewed vision of my position in Christ from the book mentioned above is also helping me be more cognizant of my "attitude" and where my mind is at/what I'm focusing on. All this circles back around to the brief but comforting realization the day after my "tv freak out" that I was able to CHOOSE to let go of the desire to "keep up with the Jones' " of tv land. I just let it go. I realized that if I never saw (enter show name) it really wouldn't matter in the big picture. If we are being honest there are still a few shows I think "I wish I could get to. . ." but it isn't a focus for me; more like a passing fancy. My attitude changed because my focus changed and it caused me to act differently; all by the power of the Holy Spirit that helps me desire what God desires for me. Let yourself be changed. What is one of your little "focuses" that distracts you from your walk? From being a hearer and not a doer? Let yourself be changed. I would say it feels good but the truth is, it IS good.

of all the things

I have been considering many things to blog about but as I was relating to my sister over the phone, i can't even keep my thought together long enough to pick a topic. I want to talk about parenting and how I was encouraged at Christmas when my mother said she notice a  difference (for good) in my children's behavior but now I can't because I had to lock Blake in his room twice for biting me yesterday. Some parent. Some kid. I wanted to write about how excited I was that my sister agreed to read the bible in one year with me so I could call someone with all my "what the?" questions but we began last week and I haven't peppered her with questions yet. I thought I would write on how I am trying to put more time in with my kids in one on one activites, especially drawing with Trinity as it is her favorite thing ever and I "never play with her". Well guess what? can't really blog when I am doing that. ha! So in the end I will blog about this. I survived 24 hours with three kids and no power! Yes that's right. Laugh if you must but have YOU tried it? Snowmageddon officially hit on tuesday. Trinity's Martin Luther King day off turned into an ENTIRE week off school. The first day was fun, super wet and cold but we went sledding and made a snowman and jer made it in and out of work fine. Second day was not as nice. Tried sledding but the wind blew her sled like a kite so that lasted only about 15 minutes. Third day no power. Oh boy. I firmly believe God multipied my children's DS battery like He did the oil in the lamps because that sucker lasted until 5 p.m. We played candyland, chutes and ladders, blocks, hide-and-seek, go fish, coloring, watch the plow (that was my favorite, the city sent a giant CAT to plow our culdesac. Lovely!, too bad it didn't have a power truck behind it fixing whatever is up). Anyway, I called Jeremy at 4:45 hoping he was on his way home. Nope. He had just gotten off the phone with a client he had been busy with the whole day. Well I am a little stressed at this point. The house is cold and baby has slept okay, but he is sick and I have bags packed in case hubby helpfully suggests we go to a hotel. no such luck. He discovers that from eastgate to north bend the power is out and he can't get to us from snoqualmie prkway and has to go through North Bend to 202 just to get home! I was already prepared in my mind  to go it alone that night. My phone had died and I had no way to charge it. I wasn't sure who would be more stressed. Me to be by myself or Jeremy to not be able to reach me if the roads were that bad. Trust me, he was the only one on our street "traipsing" in at 8:00. Sheesh. He made it though and we bundled the kids in their beds and Jer slept ours while I was downstairs on the couch with the little guy in his pack in play in front of the fire that I ran off and on all night. How did I do that you ask? It was easy when Isaac woke up every hour. I either nursed him or rocked him back to sleep. His poor little voice is so scratchy from being sick that I just couldn't make him cry back to sleep. I guess we will have to reset all of that crying out stuff after this next couple of days. The prognosis is still not good for power being on today so we are at Jeremy's office hanging out. We will stay at a hotel tonight and hopefully power will be restored sometime tomorrow. Sanity was maintained and returning to the dark ages wasn't so bad. I mean I finally got to teach Trinity "there was a farmer who had a dog and Bingo was his name-o B-I-N-G-O, etc"  that's a once in a power outage opportunity after all. Oh and guess what? City water still works and toilets still flush. VAST improvement from MY childhood. =)

Getting on with it

The new year is in full swing and there are several resolutions in progress. Sadly, I seem to have lost my copy of Boundaries with Kids on the return trip from my mother's at christmas so boo to that, I was only halfway through. I will have to go buy another one I guess.  I haven't forgotten the desire to put up house rules and get going on some sort of reward system that has more to do with spontaneous praise and observation of good behavior than "yay, you did what you are supposed to do anyway". I hope to have the rules up by end of month but then Jer and I haven't gotten together to agree on them yet (could be interesting). Also, I have begun my reading through the bible in one year and am up to date so far (wahoo! 11 days). In addition to reading it I am writing down every question I can think of while I read. Mostly for curiosity's sake. Call me a doubting Thomas, but the scriptures have always held for me great highs and some lows. It will be nice as I read to give these to God. I began my Beth Moore study on tuesday. The woman is truly anointed and I can't wait for the next session. I can finally mostly hear again and my symptoms are down to a slightly sore throat and occasional sniffing. There are so many friends I haven't been able to get out and visit since I've been sick! Special shout-out to Hannah for watching the boys today so I could get my hair cut and thank you as well to Laura who watched them so the hubs and I could get dinner out. In other parenting news, Isaac is "chair surfing" over the cross-bars of the dining chairs, trinity is joining a friendship group at school, and Blake is stubborn as ever, (earned himself about an hour in his room because he wouldn't do a 2 minute time out for mommy). I've got to get that parenting book again ASAP. I think that brings us full circle for now. Of course there is always loads more on my mind but who could decipher that jumbled mess?