April

As we look back in the rearview mirror of april we see an end to Cai's track season, Jude's last soccer game, beautiful sunsets, and Rainy's Earth Day Festival gig, as we welcome lazy Sabbath days coming back into view!

 

Spartan Super

 

Last year I got the Spartan bug.

Josh talked me into running the Spartan Sprint: a 5K race with 20 obstacles.

I felt so amped up after that race that I felt like I could jump back in and run it again.

So this year I signed up for the Spartan Super: 10K with 25 obstacles.

It was SO much fun!

And I'm on the verge of feeling like I want to try for the Beast next year, but maybe I'm just crazy!

We joined Josh's dad and sister and BIL again and we rocked that race together.

Josh had already run a couple of Sprint's, and Beast's but this was his first Super.

And as if that weren't enough, we finished our race, he jumped out, rinsed off, grabbed a clean pair of clothes and hopped back in line just in time to run a Sprint. The trifecta was his goal this year, and in one day he knocked out 2 of the 3 races required. In just four weeks he would complete the beast and be a trifecta holder!

Spartan makes you pay for the race pictures now, so that's kinda sad, so this is all we got, ha!

2024 Solar Eclipse - No Fancy Glasses Needed

I was so excited for the Solar Eclipse.

The only problem is that I didn't have the proper glasses, but we did what we always do in these kinds of situations...we improvised!

First, we scavenged around the house to find as many pairs of sunglasses as we could.

Then we looked up how to make a pinhole projector out of a cereal box see the reflection of the eclipse.

Another way we viewed the eclipse, which was actually our favorite way, was to fill up a bucket of water. That's it. All you have to do is find the reflection of the sun in the water and wait for the wind to stop and you can clearly see the progression of the moon over the sun!

The last thing we tried was pushing the tip of a pencil through a paper plate and holding it up to the sun. The sun shines through and then you can see it on the ground, another paper plate, or other surface.

 ***SIDE NOTE***

We later found our eclipse glasses from 2017 in our memory jar, 

so now we have them ready for the next one!

Things That Are Saving My Life Right Now

 I've listened to Emily P. Freeman's Podcast rendition of this idea from Barbara Brown Taylor. The idea is to name the things that are currently life giving. To take notice of the things that you love. It can be however many things you want. Your list can have a product, a food, a routine. Literally anything!

So often we get bogged down in all that isn't and we get stuck in the things that drain us. But taking time to sit and actually document things that are "saving my life right now" is already proving to be a great practice.

So what IS saving my life right now?

1 - Family Charging Station - We have seen these around for years and Josh in particular has always wanted one so I found this one on sale and snagged it up for his birthday and We.Love.It. I love having a central location for all of our tech stuff without the mess of cords and multiple chargers all over the floor taking turns charging. And I must say, I (almost) always know where my phone is now because I find that I keep it on the dock even if it isn't charging. This has helped my screen time decrease which is an added win! And my favorite thing is looking over and seeing it filled up during Sabbath while we put all of our devices away for 24 hours together.

2 - My garden. It isn't super luscious...yet (I've got hope though) and it isn't the most beautiful thing to drive by (it's in the front yard). But it is one of my happy places. I love walking around and watering every area. I love going out and seeing the process, even if it is ever so slow (or minimal). I love the bright pop of color from the flowers and all the green from last year's lettuce that finally decided to bring us its presence. My favorite thing is the little solar fairy lights that Laithy told me would look great out there. And you know what? They do. It's my little fairy garden and it makes me smile every time I see it out my window.

3 - My dry erase calendar I bought at FIVE BELOW. I keep it in the kitchen for my meal matrix (thank you The Lazy Genius). It allows me to look at a whole month for meal planning. There are a few days of the week that are repeat meals every week, like FFY (fend for yourself) Sunday, Taco Tuesday, Pizza Friday and Dad's Yum Saturday (Josh typically cooks on Saturday nights).  Simply filling in those days helps me feel lighter and less overwhelmed about what I'm going to feed this family all day every day. Usually sometime on Thursday I think through the next week and fill in the missing blocks as I begin getting my weekly grocery list together. And one more added bonus...my kids can look at the calendar to see what's for dinner and only ask me about 3 times versus the average 17,000 times what the dinner plan is. Ya'll, this has and is saving my life. 

4 - MudWater - Ok, this stuff does NOT taste great by itself. And I don't like to add sweetener to my coffee, tea and drinks so I usually put a scoop of this in my protein shake in the mornings and it does my body SO good. I can actually feel the grounding and an overall calming inside. My anxiety thanks me when I remember to drink it.

5 - Front porch swing - We lost our carport during our renovation and traded it in for an extra bedroom which we are SO thankful for. But we are outside people and we miss the hours of carport time we've lost sitting and reading or watching thunderstorms or rain fall in the carport. We do have our back porch which is super nice but it isn't covered so rain storm watching out there is out of the question. And the sun takes over right after lunch time and can get pretty sizzle-y. So we have been utilizing our front porch swing so much more lately. After the morning sun moves to the back we can shift out to the front porch and swing to our hearts content. In fact, I'm out there writing this right now.

6 - Thursday Night Date Nights - This is one of the things I most look forward to in the week. After our kids got older and they began staying up later than we did, the "we'll catch up after the kids go to bed" era disappeared for me and Josh. And I'm not quite sure how it morphed into this built-in at-home date night on Thursday nights, but it has stuck and I'm so glad. It's late, since sometimes we don't get home until well after 9pm on Thursday nights because of rehearsal nights at our church, but it doesn't matter because this night brings in our Sabbath so we get to sleep in and it is fabulous.

7 - Blogging again - I don't have much to say about this one except that it brings life to be able to type out my thoughts again. *happy sigh*

8 - Soccer games - It is nearing the end of the soccer seasons which is life-giving because that clears up the calendar, but that's not why I put it on the list. I have thoroughly enjoyed grabbing my camping chair, pulling it up to the field to just sit with my feet in the grass and watch the boys. An hour and a half where I HAVE to sit still outside (sometimes watching the sunset) and not do anything? I'm here for it!

That's it. Those are the things that are saving my life right now.

I invite you to make your own list and then thank God for the glimpses of good that are all around us! 

What is saving YOUR life right now?

March and April Book Reviews

 These book reviews are going to be short-ish and sweet. One, because there are quite a few of them to cover, and two, most of these are sensitive issues, and while I don't want to shy away from what I believe to be truth based on God's word, I have no desire for internet debates over these topics.

I've mentioned before, and I will mention again, not every book I read is a book I agree with 100%. In fact, there are some authors I completely DISagree with, but that doesn't mean that I can't learn from them and gain some helpful knowledge from their perspectives.

So, without further ado...

The Secular Creed by Rebecca McLaughlin is a book "engaging five contemporary claims". I appreciated her concise feedback and I believe she accurately covered the truth and the lies in each one. I would for sure give this to my kids to read to help us engage in conversation together as it will certainly bring thought-provoking questions that can lead us back to scripture (which is always the goal!). 

Try Softer by Aundi Kolber. Aundi is a licensed therapist. She couples her own life story and events with therapeutic practices and examples to help us stop white-knuckling through life. She gives us practical tools and language to help us offer ourselves and others grace in our life journey. While this book was very helpful, I'm going to give a gentle warning. This book was HARD for me to get through. I believe these kinds of books can work as a tool for your therapist to use as they work WITH you, but simply as a helpful read for someone, ESPECIALLY with trauma in their past, this book can be triggering. I wanted to read it and get as much out of it as I could, but I also felt the need to try to finish it as quickly as I could so I could give me emotions and brain a break. Maybe it's just me, so take it or leave it, but I would suggest at least reading this WITH someone to help you process what begins stirring inside.

Does the Bible Support Same-Sex Marriage? by Preston Sprinkle. Now some of you saw the author and have already labeled me a heretic simply because I'm posting about his book. But because of this, I probably read this book more critically than any other. Now, while I am very aware of the controversy around his name, I think Preston has used this book to make a solid case for Biblical marriage being exclusively between a man and a woman. The author dives into the top 21 conversations he finds himself having with others who believe otherwise. He sets up each conversation with the summary of a specific argument FOR same-sex marriage and AGAINST different-sex marriage. He follows each summary with what he appreciates or can see within that argument, and then finally he very humbly but honestly breaks down blindspots in the argument. I appreciate his tone and humility. This is another book I would love for my kids to read in order to bring conversation back to Josh and I with questions and personal investigation.

Habits of the Household by Justin Whitmel Earley. Ok, this was the lighter read of the bunch. (I needed one of those!) I'm all about being reminded of the importance of fighting for intentional "everyday family rhythms". The book is formatted to walk you through an average day beginning with the time when you wake up and ending with bedtime. Earley introduces us to his own family liturgies he has created and invites us to make up our own. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes:

"Our best parenting comes when we think less about being parents of children and more about being children of God."

"Communing, not consuming, is the household's center of gravity."

"Don Everts and the Barna Group found in their study of Christian households that the families who were 'spiritually vibrant' shared one amazing thing in common - they had loud tables." (We've certainly got the loud table part down, ha!)

"In the American story, limits are bad. They get in the way of our freedom, which means we need to get rid of all limits to be happy. But in the story of God, limits are the way to the good life, even the way to happiness."

Talking Back to Purity Culture by Rachel Joy Welcher. Ok, this one hit some nerves. I found this book equally eye-opening, irritating, angering and helpful. What I appreciated about the book was the glimpses into some of the hurt that was caused by this movement. I honestly cannot believe some of the things that were/are actually taught and said. Some things you can tell were out of well meaning and ignorance (not that it makes these things right, just offering perspective), but some things are literally ANTI-biblical and wrong. 

What I found to be most frustrating though, was the blanket statements that the author uses as support to her claim that it was all toxic and bad. And so the pendulum continues to swing wide. Josh and I have spoken about this topic a lot together. We were personally catching the birth of this movement in our late teens, with the wake of momentum hitting our younger siblings. We have friends that were very hurt by this movement, mostly by the ultra-strict, very legalistic parents and/or leaders. On the other hand, we also see so much good that came/comes from it as a response to the raging sexual atmosphere of our age. Did the movement miss the mark in some areas? Absolutely. Could there have a been a better way to teach some things? Without a doubt. Was there anything good that we could grab ahold of and even perhaps pass on to our own kids? For sure! Again, it was good for me to read this perspective. It was NOT all roses and it is right to call out the bad and to be reminded to always, ALWAYS be in constant conversation with our kids as we bring resources to them to "help". 

On a side note, another frustration to me was that I found several contradictions within, leading me to internally ask the author, "So which is it?" And many of the examples given in the book were based on what those individuals FELT like, versus what was actually taught to them.  All that said, I did find some good takeaways as well. 

The Courage to Stand by Russell Moore. I'd never read any of Moore's books but I appreciate his wisdom and insight into politics and cultural movements that I have followed over the years. This book walks through Elijah's life as an example for how the Lord provides for us when we feel at the end of ourselves and how God's strength is what gives us courage to stand. This book had me at the introduction.