40 verses Update

We are ten days into Lent, so I thought I'd post a quick update.

I am not posting an update in hopes of getting a pat on the back.  I am looking for accountability, and posting this will give me that accountability.  More likely to stick to a goal if it's out in the world and people know about it.

My verses for the first 10 days of Lent and why I chose them.

Psalm 62:1: a good reminder I don't need to stress when I have God.  My soul finds rest in Him.

Psalm 66:1-2: it's always good to sing and shout for joy

Titus 2:11-12: God's Grace teaches us and helps us live godly lives.  It's not my doing, but His.

Galatians 3:14: I get the same blessing as promised to Abraham, which includes the Spirit. 

Psalm 139:1*

Psalm 139:2*

Psalm 139:3*

2 John 1:6, 9: It's all about LOVE.  And vs. 9 is a prayer for my kids.  That I would raise them so they continue in the teaching of Christ.

Psalm 139:4*

Galatians 2:20-21: Grace.  It's all about Grace.  It's not about how good I be, but about God's gift of grace.  Otherwise Christ died in vain.

*When I was in college I memorized Psalm 139.  It became my life "verse."  It has so much meat to it and it's a great passage when feeling alone in a desert place or like I've fallen too far from God.  Over the years I've forgotten it.  I knew the gist of it and that's really what's important.  But I liked being able to recite the whole thing.  So I'm re-memorizing it during this Lent season.

Mommy and Me Monday

My mommy is in town and was trying to get pictures of her grandbabies.  Annie wasn't cooperating, so I stepped in and held Annie to get her in the photo.

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

40 Verses in 40 Days

Yesterday began the season of Lent.  The 40 days prior to Easter.  (If you do what I just did and count out the days on the calendar, you realize that it's really 47 days.  I believe the 40 days are Monday through Saturday, and Sunday doesn't count ... for reasons I haven't researched.  Just work with me here.)

Traditionally, people who celebrate/practice/honor the Lenten season will fast from something that they deem to be interfering in their walk with God.  Or perhaps give something up to spend more time in prayer.  Many people will give up a bad habit in the hopes of bettering themselves for God.  In the internet age, it's not uncommon to see people fasting from Facebook and other social networking sites.  Maybe you want to fast from a meal every day and use that time to pray.  In the past I've fasted from my favorite TV show (that was on for up to 3 hours a day thanks to TBS) and used that time for prayer and reflection and homework and, well, to not fill my mind with the junk of that show.  Alternately, instead of fasting from something, one can choose to do something extra to draw nearer to God.

I've not always celebrated Lent.  In fact, I didn't even really know what Lent was until I was in college.  And then it was still very weird to me, having not grown up with the idea of Lent.  And since I did learn of Lent, I haven't always committed to fasting something.  

This year I decided I really wanted to do something, but I wasn't sure what.  I didn't want to just give up facebook or my smart phone.  I want to do something that is meaningful and directly impacts my walk with God.

Last night at the Ash Wednesday service it hit me.  As I was listening to Pastor Mike speak and read scripture.  I really want to get back into memorizing scripture.  I love having scripture on the tip of my tongue, or at least in my brain somewhere.  

Psalm 119 talks of the benefits of having scripture in our head.  "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.  I have hidden your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you."  (vs 9, 11)  

And in Matthew 4 we see a practical application of having scripture memorized.  Satan was in the wilderness with Jesus to tempt him.  Satan told Jesus to turn the stone into bread.  Jesus replied with scripture, "You shall not live on bread alone, but by the word of God."  Then Satan told him to fall from the cliff and God's angels will save him.  And Jesus replied with scripture again, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God."  Then Satan told Jesus to bow down to Satan and Jesus would be given all the kingdoms of the world. Again, Jesus replied with scripture, "Worship the Lord your God and serve him only."  If only we were so quick with the scripture when we felt Satan's temptations.

So I'm being bold.  I believe God told me last night to memorize 40 verses in 40 days.  That's a verse a day.  And WOW that's a lot.  My hope is that by doing this daily, I will reinstate the habit of doing it weekly.  

I don't know that I will post my verses on here daily, but I do hope to give periodic updates.  And please feel free to ask me how I'm doing.  To keep me accountable.  Because I will need the encouragement.  I will need someone to keep me honest.

Please pray for me as I go on this journey.  Pray that I get something out of it.  Pray that I stay strong.  I'd like to say pray that I'm successful, but I think that puts the focus on me and not on my relationship with God.

Are you doing something for Lent?  Can I pray for you on your journey?

My daughter - The Ham

She's a ham, a performer, a model ... She loves to be in front of the camera (video or still) and show off.  She's only 3.  Can't imagine what kind of stuff she'll try when she's 16.

Sisters.....

2013 Goals

I just wrote, in moderate detail, about my 2013 photography goals here.  Now to plan out my other goals.

I have several groups of personal goals.

Health/Fitness

1. Run 750 miles this year
2. One run of 20+ miles
3. Do yoga once/week (average)
4. Hit the gym 2x/week (average)
5. Running 3-4 times/week (average)
6. Weight - happy with maintaining to losing up to 10 lbs.  Keep same pant size or go down 1.  No more than that.  But I'd really like to find a good maintenance routine.

The weekly goals are flexible.  Obviously allow myself to get sick.  I've found that it's difficult to run when on vacations.  And there are times when life is so busy I can only get my lunchtime runs in.  But on average, I want to shoot for these frequencies.  

Spiritual

• Spend time in the word and prayer 4x/week.  

• Ideally this should be daily, but let's face it - with two toddlers in the house, it doesn't happen daily.  I have a 4-day schedule that I've made in the past and I'd like to get back to it.

Professionally

1. I'd love to say that my goal is to get a promotion this year, but I don't really have a whole lot of say in that.  And since I've been aiming for a promotion for 3 years, I'm not holding my breath.  But it's on my list of things to strive for.
2. Be more assertive with the two who I work with.  Less wishy-washy in giving them direction and guidance.  Be more straight-forward and to the point.  (These are two people who I am sort of in charge of - unofficially - no title but all the responsibility)
3. Be more independent and creative with finding projects and things to do.  Stop waiting for bossman to come to me and instead find the ideas and initiative to do it myself.
4. Don't be so sensitive when corrected or given negative feedback.  Suck it up and move on.  Learn from it and grow.

Relationally

• Be more sensitive and aware of Josh's wants/needs/desires.
• Be more sensitive and aware of my children's wants/needs/desires
• Make grander attempts to meet new people at church and form new friendships.  To get together with different people.  
• I only know a select few people at church; those I know are older with older children or younger with no children. I want to change that.  I want to get to know more people in the same station of life as me - early to mid 30s with young children.  (I don't have time or ability to go to a MOPS group.)

Around the House

• Clean the bathroom more often
• keep my stuff organized in the bedroom and on my desk
• clean out the garage!
• Pay off 2 credit cards

There are a lot of things here.  Many of these are things that have usually gone unspoken in the past and maybe that's why I didn't get to where I wanted to be in those areas.  This is my second year making a solid running goal.  This one will be tougher to meet than last year's goal.  And that's good.  I need the challenge.  Some of these sounds like New Year's Resolutions - and that's OK.  But they are goals, not resolutions.  To me a resolution is a resolve to change.  I don't want to change; I just want to improve and better myself.

Nikon D3100 14 Megapixel Digital SLR Camera - 25472 (Google Affiliate Ad)

The Holidays

The holidays are nearly over.  Just one more small one to get through.  Thanksgiving was awesome and fun, followed by stomach flu for most of us.  Mixed bag.  Kym was with us for breakfast and we had a dear friend over for dinner.  The food was awesome.  

Dear Friend Katie and Annie

The table settings.  I love using China.

The Turkey

The only time this cookbook ever gets used is on Thanksgiving.  It's well loved.

Pecan Pie - made just for Katie

Annie's birthday was small and intimate.  My birthday was the same.  Just a simple dinner and a quick shopping trip with hubby.  Turning into our tradition for my birthday.  



Christmas weekend was busy and a blur.  Band practice on the 20th and 22nd.  Church on the 23rd.  Church on the 24th.  Then Christmas.  The older two spent Christmas Eve into Christmas morning at their mom's and we had them the afternoon of Christmas.  It was torture for Audrey to sit and wait for HOURS to open presents.

It was awesome to watch the girls open gifts.  Audrey was all about ripping it open as fast as possible to see what was inside.  Annie, however, was more concerned about getting the wrapping paper into the garbage bag.

Our biggest gift this year was time as a family.  Andrew being home the entire month was a real blessing.

New Year's Eve will be a quiet one in our house.  Andrew leaves around 5 am on Jan 1.  There will be no staying up until midnight in our house.

Christmas Scene

The girls

Annie loves her new toy

Curled up in their "beds" watching our traditional movie - The Polar Express

Boot Camp Graduation

I had the privilege of attending a Marine Corps boot camp graduation last week.  It was a neat experience.  I've always been fascinated by the military, the Marines especially, so to see it up close like this was really cool.  To see the guys do drill and to hear the stories and see the base and training facility was surreal.  And of course it was special to me to see my step-son graduate.  

I've only been a part of his life for 6 years, but I feel so close to him.  It was an honor to be included in this event.  In the last 6 years I've watched him grow and mature.  Joining the Marines was something that I knew would happen.  I think I knew it when I first met him and would watch him look at his father with a glimmer in his eye; wanting so desperately to be just like his dad and to have the same stories as his dad.  It wasn't a surprise to me in the least the day he came home from school and said he was talking with a recruiter.

When he left for boot camp 3 months ago, he left an 18 y/o kid who has been having fun his whole life.  When we saw him on Thursday last week, for the first time in 13 weeks, he was a man.  He matured more in 13 weeks than most men do in 4 years of college.  Things finally clicked.  All those lectures and life lessons that his parents tried to teach him finally made sense.  

When he saw a couple of his friends on Saturday they could tell instantly that he had changed.  He's not the hyper jumpy kid he was over the summer.  he's subdued and quiet.  More reserved.  He is part of an elite club now and they have a different mentality.

I'm so proud to say my step-son is a Marine.  He will make an awesome Marine.  He will make this country proud.

3 generations - Josh's dad served in the Navy during Vietnam and Josh was in the Marines in Desert Storm

Proud Parents (and sister)

Happy Little Sister

Happy Family

Platoon 3254 marching onto the Parade Deck

Platoon 3254

All the Marines (former and current) were asked to stand!

Annie Noelle......

My dearest little Annie Noelle.

Two years old.  I can't believe you've been in my life for 2 years.  In a way, it feels like you were just born and the 2 years flew by.  And yet, it also feels like an eternity because I barely remember not having your beautiful smile to see every day.

You have the best facial expressions.  Your nose scrunches up when you are confused.  Your cheeks are big and round and kissable when you smile.  Your mischievous smile is so cute that I can't help but laugh when you think you're being sneaky.

You told me last night that you're a big girl now.  Yes, dear you are a big girl.

You love to do whatever Audrey is doing.  You so want to be like her.  You want to play the same games and have the same toys.  You eat the same snacks.  You want to wear the same clothes.  Yet you are not afraid to assert your independence on her.  To tell her "no" and make sure she knows that you are your own person.

You love to cuddle with mommy and daddy and Kymi.  You crave the interaction with other people.  But you know how to sit down and play by yourself.  To look through the books and point out all the animals and other things you know in the pictures.  You can sit and color by yourself without needing help.  

You are an observer.  You watch someone do something over and over again and then you try it and you can do it too.  You sit at Daddy's drums and do exactly what he does.  You watch the big kids reads books and then you read books to all of us the same way.  You stand up "on stage" and sing your heart out.  You love Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

You are a spitfire.  When you want something, you make sure we know.  When you don't want something you make sure we know.  There is no talking you down when you have your mind set on something.  Your Gramma Janet laughed at me when I explained this to her.  She just loves that you are just like me.  

You just love to "steal" your mom and dad's I-Fream (ice cream) and pah-corn (popcorn).  You love your horbread (cornbread).  Your favorite fruit is bananas.  You eat ketchup by the spoonful and ignore the hot gog (hot dog) on your plate.

Happy Birthday baby girl.  Many blessings for a wonderful year full of learning, growing, exploring and loving.

Mommy and Me

Me and the girls at Point Cabrillo Lighthouse.  YAY Vacation!!!
Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?