1%, yo

Some itty-bitty changes in my life that are in the positive direction:

-Think about lunch at 10a, not 11:30a when I get HANGRY
 
-Keep stocked up on sweet potatoes, eggs, onions, banans,  tuna & tabouli ingredients (recipe below!) Random, but those are some staples

-Replace the snacks with fruit

-Have a handful of almonds and a V8 instead of girl scout cookies (that really is Mmmm to me. Weird?)

-Eat every 3 or 4 hours instead of every 6

-Run with a GOOD ishuffle playlist! There are too many slow songs on my ishuffle thingy.  

-Slow-boil a natural chicken instead of buying frozen breasts (more nutrients come out of the bones, WAY less sodium, and just plain good. also lasts longer and makes good stock).

-Eat and serve my family a bigger breakfast

-Focus on one thing at a time instead of always cleaning as i go! You should see my house. It looks like an Amish person lives here.  I'm too clean sometimes, and it exhausts me. I gotta let it go and slooooooow myself  down and narrow my focus. I'm (always) learning to let go of the mess and cling to the moment. Convicted recently that this haste. I don't like to be hasty, b/c it's the opposite of patience. And love is firstly patient. I need to love myself better. True story.

Jill's Tabouli  (my husband grew up in the West Bank, he's got some Middle Eastern taste buds)
1.5 c bulghur wheat, soaked for at least 45 min, to desired tenderness, then drained well (I use cheesecloth)
2 bunches of flat or curly parsley, chopped tiny
1 or 2 cucumbers, diced
3 or 4 roma tomatoes, gutted of extra juiced and diced
1/2 c diced onion, any kind
1 c lemon juice (fresh is best)
1/2 c olive oil
2t of each spice:
  cumin
  allspice
  cinnamon
  salt
  minced garlic or garlic powder

Mmm!

Why blog original thoughts when I can just commit consistent and awesome plagiarism?

"While I’m on the younger end of the adulthood spectrum, and slowly gaining in wisdom, if 'growing up' somehow means fading into the landscape of what’s considered normal behavior by the greatest amount of people, then count me out." -One Dress Protest

I'm sorry. I have to let loose and let my expletive of choice slip out:  OH, HOLLER.

(said in a very South Carolinian voice).  This truly resonates with me and Carson both because we are trying to constantly surrender stuff and clutter to God, because we know that when you are a believer, He expects you to.  Expects you to care for others and give if you have extra.  But only in His strength.  We have to be careful to not be legalistic and forecast our convictions on others, but to live openly, humbly, and by feasting on the Spirit.

 Lord, help us know the difference between surrender and pride. Set the enemy far from us, and give us clear eyes!

"You were naked and bare and then
I passed by you and saw you,
and behold, were at the time for love;
so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness,
and entered a covenant with you so that you became Mine."

Ezekiel 16:8-9

Laila Joy's birthday (June 4, 2009)

Get some kleenex and read the rest here.

I told them it was "hat day."



This one's happy with any kind of day.



I made tabouli, we went on our daily walk, read books,
and did the pre-school/nursery thing.

My mom, who had six, always says, "long days, short years."

She's right.

Thankful

Ann Voskamp writes,

"I profane this moment when I won’t stay in it.
I desecrate now when I dismiss it in my push for the next.
Be all here: and be holy. Be all here: and be happy.
Because the Presence of I AM always fills the present moment."

She precedes this by saying that souls are bound to our bodies. Our bodies are our natural boundaries.

What providence. What knowingness and unspoken genius the Almighty is to keep me humble.

Three hard births.
Two of them c-sections.
Lots of weight gain.
Three straight years of pregnancy and newbornism (which means delirium, poor diet, confusion, and chronic fatigue).
Very little money.
Disregard for my college education and sense of financial credit.
Loss of relationship and "reputation" and connection.

One thing left: my response to it all.

Worship. I will. today.

(P.S. I really am going to blog less for all of you two readers out there - it just doesn't fit into my life).

Strength

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His Name...

The Lord gives strength to His people,
the Lord blesses his people with peace.
(Psalm 29: 2,11)

(I like him)