Summer Days

Summer is almost over. I started working on homeschool stuff today.  In some ways this summer has seemed so long. Yet it has gone by so quickly.  Carmen got her first real job, complete with paycheck and all. She worked all summer as a counselor at PVM camp.  She had some challenges. She got punched in the head by a camper and she dealt with an old wrist injury acting up. But she has grown and matured so much this summer. It is so amazing to see the difference in her now.  I am so glad she got this opportunity.  I cherish my days as a camp counselor and camp program director.  Now she has a decision to make.  Carmen was sort of offered the opportunity to intern next summer in Africa with Circle of Hope International, who she went on her mission trip with last year.  So now she must decide how she will spend next summer, at PVM or in Africa. I see a future in mission work for this girl.  Or camp director. Or both.

 Logan also spent most of his summer at at PVM camp as a volunteer junior staff/counselor in training.  For a middle child, he does well in positions of authority.  He really thrived in this position and had a blast.   He is great with kids and got to have fun too.  Who wouldn't love it? I am so proud of how responsible and generous he is.  Along with serving at PVM camp, he also got the amazing privilege of participating in Camp Electric for the first time this summer thanks to the generosity of an unnamed friend.  He learned so much as a musician and hopes to go back next year.  

Gabe started his summer with a quick trip to South Carolina to see his cousin graduate from the marines.  Then he headed down with his favorite cousins and my sister and her husband to Universal Studios for three days.  He LOVED it!  He also spent two weeks at PVM camp.  In between all of the traveling, he spent some time at King's Island and has officially conquered his fear of big rides. He rode The Beast, Racer, Vortex, Stunt Coaster, and Flight of Fear as well as a few new water slides. He also road Delirium but hated it.  He says he will ride the Diamond Back next time we go. I am so pleased with him for trying new things.

 Declan has also decided to be brave at King's Island this year. He has ridden Flying Ace Ariel Chase and loved it. He has also enjoyed Shake Rattle and Roll, Scrambler, Viking Fury, Beastie (or whatever it is called now), Log Flume, Monster, and his is finally tall enough for White Water Canyon which he loved.  He has really missed his siblings this summer but he does kind of enjoy the only child role that he got to assume for a good portion of June and part of July.  We have spent alot of time at the library. He got to be paperboy for a day.  And he got to spend alot of time with his cousins going on fun field trips.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this summer break.  I have had very few commitments and alot of freedom. My honey and I even got to spend an entire day together in Hocking Hills without kids.

 We went ziplining while we were there.  What a blast!

This has been a great summer!

I Love My Family

I AM the Biggest Loser

I remember watching The Biggest Loser once and hearing one of the contestants say  that she loves exercise now.  When I heard that I remember thinking 'that is something you will never hear me say'.  While I am still not ready to say that I "love" exercise, I am ready to say that I don't dread it like I used to. I am even ready to say that I really enjoy it. The day after Thanksgiving last year I stepped on the scale and saw that numbers creep up higher than they had ever been and higher than I ever thought possible.  I was just under 200 pounds.  I have always been a skinny girl growing up. Not thin. Skinny. Bean pole thin, ribs showing, stick legs, no boobs or butt kind of skinny.  And I was that way from the time I was a little girl and all through my first pregnancy.  I only gained five pounds that pregnancy and no one could even tell I was pregnant even though I was a lifeguard and wore a swimsuit everyday to work. My whole childhood and young adult life I couldn't gain weight if I tried and I ate constantly.  The first time I gained any weight was with my second pregnancy.  After an uncomfortable 9 months with what I later discovered was undiagnosed gestational diabetes and delivering a nearly ten pound baby three weeks early, I had put on 20 pounds.  This first twenty pounds made me feel so fat.  But I realize now that I finally looked normal. That was a very healthy weight for me.  I could still eat whatever I wanted after that and never gain weight. Another pregnancy four years later, this time with diagnosed gestational diabetes added another 20 pounds.  Again I could eat anything I wanted afterwards without any weight gain.  Our surprise blessing was born six years later again with gestational diabetes and added another 20 pounds.  This time, however, my time of eating whatever I wanted without weightgain was gone.  It crept up slowly to that dreaded day after thanksgiving.  That is when I decided to do something.  I started cutting back on my portion sizes and stopped snacking between meals and cut out most soda and fast food. I lost 10 pounds by January. But then I was stuck.  I decided that I had to start doing something I dread.  Exercise.  Hubby got a free gym membership through his work but I couldn't drive that far just to work out so I got some Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds DVDs and got started.  To motivate both of us, we decided to do a Biggest Loser Challenge.  We took $100 from our income tax return and set it aside as the prize.  We weighed in every sunday morning for 12 weeks.  And we started working out regularly.  At first I couldn't even do 1 mile of these walk at home dvds.  I was so winded and hurt so bad afterwards (thanks to three herniated discs in my lower back).  But as time went on I started to see a pound or two drop. That encouraged me to keep going.  I stayed in the lead all 12 weeks even though hubby had the benefit of a gym and all of its equipment.  I started to notice a difference in my endurance and in my ability to move around.  I know this sounds funny but the first sign to me that I was changing was the day I didn't have to kinda lean back and plop down onto the toilet.  I was able to squat down without dropping.  For normal people this might sound ridiculous, but remember I am really tall. That toilet seat is really far away from my backside. And I lacked the muscles it took to squat all the way down.  I stayed in the lead for every weigh in, but week 11 hubby nearly pulled ahead. I had been stuck at 180 for the past 3 weeks so when we had our final weigh in I was kind of surprised to see that I had won!  However, the journey is not over.  This is a lifestyle change that I am making. I want to be active everyday.   I want to be able to move.  I want to play with my kids, not sit on the sidelines.  I want to be a healthier me. While I cannot yet say that I love exercise, I can say that I love the results of exercise.I love how much better I feel. I love how accomplished I feel after a workout.  I love seeing what I am capable of. I love the fact that I can skip again (see earlier post about not being able to skip). I loved climbing into the gaga pit at PVM camp on Sunday with my kids and playing with them (and doing pretty well). I love seeing my husband getting strong and healthy too (and seeing him win the biggest loser challenge at his workplace). I love feeling younger, stronger, and confident.  I think this exercise thing might just be something I learn to love too.

This is the Day..

This is the day.  (This is the day.) That the Lord has made. (That the Lord has made.) Let us rejoice. (Let us rejoice.) And be glad in it. (And be glad in it.)

That is the song I woke up singing today. We used to sing it in elementary school. It was one of my favorites.  Singing praises to the Lord today for no particular reason other than He is good.  Have a blessed day everyone!

I Am So Glad That is Over

And it actually went better than I expected.  I was a little nervous all day.  And right before I went up there I was quite nervous, but once we got started my nerves were gone and it went pretty well.  Public speaking is not something I enjoy.  That is quite an understatement, actually.  And speaking on a dreaded topic like submission made it even less appealing. But I know that it was something God wanted me to do.  So I did it.  I am just glad I had my husband supporting me and my friend Amber up there speaking beside me.  If we helped change even one person's misconceptions  about submission, then it was all worth it.

Did I really just do that?

Our church has started having Wednesday night teachings. These are more like a study than a sermon.  And for some strange reason I just volunteered to teach one of these studies.  On the topic of submission.  Yeah. This should go over well.  The Bible study we are doing in our Lasting Joy group for married women, we are learning about submission and I realized how many misconceptions there are in and out of the church about submission.  The man may cheer. The women may cringe. But I think it is a topic that needs addressed.

A Parent's Responsibility

I have posted this once before but it is good so I am posting it again.  I found this on http://surfinthespirit.com/teens/parents.html

What Exactly Are Your Parent’s Responsibilities?

Sunday, October 25th, 2009
by Pastor Art Kohl

You parents have been given these responsibilities by God:
1. Clothing
To clothe you in a Christian manner
To oversee your dress, appearance, hair, and make-up
To teach you to avoid worldliness and immodesty

2. Food & Nutrition
To feed you with nutritious meals
To not feed you unhealthy food
To teach you to avoid the world’s junk food, which leads to physical maladies and unruly behavior

3. Discipline
To discipline you with the goal of teaching you to be a decent, law-abiding citizen and Christian
To produce an atmosphere of quiet and peace in your home
To purge you of stubbornness, rebellion, and pride
To have your will be submitted to God’s will
To teach you – through education, chastisement, and work – to be a responsible, contributing human being
To teach you to control your emotions

4. Entertainment & Communication
To protect you from evil people and influences
To teach you to avoid evil communications of today (on the Internet, on TV, in movies, in chat rooms, in worldly music, on cell phones, in video games, and so on)
To approve of all reading materials, books, posters, magazines, etc.
To oversee and approve (or disapprove) of friendships and relationships

5. Privacy
To know what is in every bedroom, desk, drawer, etc., at all times.
To oversee all e-mails, computer programs, etc.
To oversee what you are watching, listening to, or talking about

6. Education
To lead you to Jesus Christ, and teach you that He can be your Saviour and Shepherd.
To educate you in the Bible before you leave the home.

The home is under the authority of the parents and they have every right and responsibility to do these things listed above. There are no perfect parents. But whether your parents show hyprocrisy or consistency, you are to obey and honor them. If you have a stepmother or stepfather, you are to be subject to them, too (see Luke 2:51).

Most children live under their parents’ authority, in their parents’ homes, for about 1/4 of their lives. God promises to bless children with long life if they will obey and honor their parents. Children and teenagers should submit to the Scriptures and the power of God in their lives. This list of responsibilities is based on my 36 years of familiarity with the Bible.