What is love?

 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.- 1Cor 13

What exactly is it to have love?  What does that mean?  I may have love in my heart, but if I don't show it, is it really love?  Perhaps it is the way we treat others.

 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.- 1Cor 13:4-7


²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control.Against such things there is no law. ²⁴ Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵ Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.-Gal 5:22-25

Are we living in a way that encourages others to know Christ?  Or our we an outward cymbal or gong?  Do we do more for ourselves than for others?  That's what self-centeredness is.  Just a few random thoughts to challenge us.

Tired of yo-yo-ing

I decided to add a daily food journal/activity gadget to my blog for some sort of accountability.
Most of my adult life I have struggled with my weight. After I had children the pounds came on easily. My lack of exercise then only contributed to my gain. Finally fed up with it, I joined a gym and met with a registered dietician. I faithfully went to the gym regularly, and ate properly, resulting in a very significant weight loss, and being able to wear a size 4. I learned that I love running, and was up to 40 miles a week. I also learned that once you stop running, you can not eat like you are! So the pounds came back on.
Some people stuggle with other addictions, wether it be smoking, alcohol, gambling, I struggle with eating more than my body needs. Sometimes it seems easier than others to eat well and lose the weight, so here I go once again on plan.

Controversy

Yesterday I posted on my status update that it was National Margarita Day. A few minutes later someone commented on that post with simply Proverbs 20:1. So of course I quickly looked it up as I do not have Proverbs memorized. It reads, "Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise." Now this person does not know me at all, we were acquaintances. I felt immediately judged and replied with Matthew 7. You can go read it.
So of course I took the person off of my "friends" list, as I don't really consider that person a friend. I think it to be wise to have discernment when adding FB friends.
Anyway, that person's spouse posted "I pray more Christians can have eyes opened to see the foolishness of drinking alcohol-even in moderation. I wrote a book on this to show biblical and historically the lack of wisdom involved here." So I am getting that person believes that it is a sin for Christians to drink any alcohol at all. This really bothered me and I had a hard time understanding why it did. So I prayed for the Lord to open my eyes if they really were blind.
So these are a few of my thoughts.....
I came from alcoholic parents, so if anyone should be against drinking I feel as if it should be me.
My parents divorced when I was 12, didn't see my father much. My mom remarried. My mom really didn't become an alcoholic until after I was grown and out of the house, however my step- dad abused alcohol and I saw first hand what it did to my mom and I. I vowed that I would never be like my parents. I thank the Lord that I never had to struggle with this addiction!!!
Now, have you ever seen a glass of wine mock someone? Or a glass get onto a fight? Nope.
It isn't the alcohol itself that is the problem. The scripture says, whoever is led astray by them is not wise. Basically a fool. Of course I believe that all scripture is God breathed, and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. 2Timothy 3:16
There are also many scriptures stating that too much drink is foolish. I couldn't agree more. You should have restraint in many areas of your life such as the love of money, gluttony, gossip, ect.
Therefore my conclusion is this, If you know me, you know that I don't drink very often, once a month is more often that I actually do drink, and when I do drink, it is very rare that I consume
too much to become drunk. So please don't pass judgement on me if you don't know me!

My Garden

Well it's that time of year again, the time where I get the itch to try my skills at growing veggies.

So for most of the day Saturday I tilled the ground so that the soil was workable, mixed in some miracle grow garden soil and planted 4 tomatoes, 1 cherry tomatoe, 1 zuccini squash, 1 banana pepper, 1 jalapeno pepper. In addition to some white corn and some carrots from seed. I already had some strawberry plants growing in my box from last season, we'll see how they do.

With some TLC I should have a good salsa garden by mid summer.

Spring Break

This week has been spring break for my girls. With me back to work 6 hours a day, and my planned childcare fell through, I am very thankful the team that came up from Concord and blessed us with soccer camp! My girls absolutely LOVED it!!! I'm sure the youth group from Fair Oaks made many lasting memories on my childrens minds. After soccer camp on Wednesday I brought the girls to our office. Thursday it was just Rebekah. They were fantastically well behaved. I put a movie on in the break room, and brought coloring stuff for them. Bekah even helped me out with some small chores around here when she was by herself. It was a good experience for the both of us!

Oh My Gosh!

Oh my gosh it's been over a month since I've posted a blog. Lots of petty stuff I could've blogged about I guess, just haven't done it.

Always busy with the girls, Brandon, never ending housework, and spending lots of time at the gym.

Well Friday I got a much needed break, as we left to go to Salinas for the weekend. It was Tim's mom's Birthday, and her new husband was throwing her a surprise party. Although she knew that we were coming down, she had no idea about all the others that had traveled to see her.

We arrived Friday evening just in time for dinner. That was obstacle number one. Leroy had made some awesome chili, and of course I was starving so I had to have some. Then mom baked some brownies, obstacle number two, I had some....

Saturday morning we hike uphill past her house, about 1 1/2 miles up. It was a good refreshing hike it the mist. If you've never been to Salinas, I would recommend driving past the town towards the hills, like your going to Monterey, very beautiful.

Mom's surprise party was 3:00 on Saturday, she really was surprised, and even shed a few tears. It was really cool to see her so happy that all her friends and family came to celebrate her birthday with her.

Anyway here's a few pictures of the last time we went to Salinas.

Update on me

The Holidays are upon us, busy, busy, busy. Yesterday I went on a field trip with Rebekah's 3rd grade class. First we went to Canyonwood Nursing Home and visited with the seniors there. They prayed with the residents and sang some Christmas carols to them. It was pretty touching to see those children boldly go up to "old people" strangers and ask them if they could pray for them. They all layed their hands on them as they prayed. After that we headed to the Cascade Theater for a production of "The Elves and the Shoemaker." It was a small production, however the kids seemed to enjoy it. After the Cascade we headed back up to the school and I dropped off some students and picked up other ones for a field trip to the bowling alley. Let me just say that it was a very busy day. While I was at the Nursing home I received a text message from my husband saying that he couldn't find some important business papers that he needed right away, so I had to leave the group and rush off to take the papers (which were in my purse,) to him, and rush back to the group.

So today I told him that I just wanted to stay home all day and bake. (didn't happen.)

My weight this Monday morning was 166.0 Not too bad as I took a week off of pushing it hard.

I really need to start the next round! I feel like I need that competition to keep going.

I did make it to the gym this morning and ran 3 miles and then biked for 10 min.

My house is SLOWLY getting decorated for Christmas. This year I went up to Castle Lake and Brandon and I stomped through the woods and found a tree to chop down. This was something that my family did when I was growing up. I haven't done that in about 25 years! It was fun.