Lunch Notes

I decided to start making Emilys school lunches a couple months ago after viewing what they get served.... ick! I try to get a love note in her lunch every day and these are some of her favorites:

She seems to like them and I was touched to find out she keeps most of them. The only one I know of that she threw away was one I wrote on a napkin that she said she just had to use.

Feel free to print this up and use it for your little love bug!

If I could walk 10,000 steps and then I would walk 10,000 more

Great now that song is going to be stuck in  my head all day! In case you missed the reference click here for the link.

Ok so I follow a couple blogs (links on the side bar) and one of them mentioned how her husband and herself try to walk 10,000 steps a day. That totally made me interested in how much I walk a day. I went to our super store and purchased a simple pedometer. When I clipped it on I figured I probably walked 5,000 steps a day, at the least. WRONG! It is really embarrassing but I only walked a little over 2,500 the first day. The second day was a little better at 3,000 steps. My plan is to try to increase my steps by at least 500 a day.

One of the ways I plan on doing this is by walking during the commercials on TV. I had tried doing workouts during the commercials but I always forget. So I came up with this:

I taped it to my TV to make sure I have no excuses about forgetting.

I know this will help because I tried walking thru one show and gained a lot of steps!! Feel free to print it up and do the same!! Let me know how you do!

Love,

Ashley B. 

The post I have been dreading to write...

Some of you who follow my blog may be wondering how my family resolution is going. How is clean eating, no fast food, and sugar free lifestyle working out for us? To be honest it's hard and we have backslid. Now when I say backslid I dont mean a gentle small kiddie sized slide, No I mean the terrifiyng several stories tall, scream your head off all the way down kind of slide. You know like the one at the water park...
There are, in my opinion, several reasons I let it go this far.

First, I was losing absolutly no weight or inches and became super discouraged. As of today I have weighed the same as I did the day I got pregnent with Jax and continued the same weight the entire pregnancy! Writing this is making me sad as I was hoping to share good news.

Second, I have no will power to say no to fast food and cookies. If my husband wanted it he got it, and as a good submissive wife I couldn't say no to him right? (or so my addiction told me). He is severely addicted to sugar and was drinking soda far earlier then I knew he was. His mother spilled the beans on accident to me. To be honest it crushed my spirit to learn he was drinking soda. I thought I needed him on board to help me stay clean and if he couldn't then how could I? It's not his fault really. I was just letting him be my excuse for giving in to the food.

Third, I get sick of cleaning my kitchen. Cooking at home makes big messes. Lots of dishes to be exact. I hate dishes and so does everyone else in the family. Some nights I just dreaded the idea of cleaning the kitchen for the third time that day. This is just something I need to get over.

So what now?

My husband has admitted he feels worse drinking soda everyday. I will admit I feel awful for so many reasons about my food choices. But what to do? I can continue to feel guilty and horrible while eating my Famous Star and cookies letting the devil convince me I will never have the strength to take care of my own body, or I can ask God for forgiveness for not taking better care of myself and letting negative thoughts rule how I behave.

I am going to start all over again. I am not a slave to my own flesh (Romans 6:18). I can do anything through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). I need to remember it is not just food I am fighting against, because its not. If the devil can keep me hating myself over how I eat and look he is keeping me from being a beacon of Christs joy and love. So I will remain in prayer and hourly ask God for His strength.

Love,
Ashley B

Special Guest Post "Speaking Jesus" by Lesley Plummer

That word "Jesus." Doesn't it just cut to the heart? I mean whether your a believer or not. It cuts in a different way. To a non believer it's like you're stunned, kind of stop and don't know how to process it OR you get insulted. To a believer you're like "Yes, yes Lord." 

I remember a store clerk said "God Bless" to Me and my Mom as we left the store in Oregon. My Mom said stunned, "What'd she say to us?" I clearly heard her and replied, "She said, God Bless."  My Mom said "Oh." but still confused. For my Mom it was like the lady physically slapped her across the face. It actually stopped her in her tracks she turned back to look at the lady, but said nothing and it was obvious she didn't know what to do or say. It's like she hadn't heard those words before. It's not like the lady shouted at us "Jesus is Savior!" or "Repent or you're going to hell!"  That would have been more unexpected than a simple "God bless." I think my mother's reaction would have been the same even if the clerk had said repent or you're going to hell to be quite honest.

Why does the name Jesus stop people in their tracks? Because it holds power? Because it lessens the hold of the darkness on them? Even if you don't know what to say when you pray and you just decide to chant "Jesus" over and over, it holds power. You lit your little light and you're letting it shine just by saying Jesus. It disturbs the disturbed. And to watch the reaction is a little comical, but really it should be more scary to me because there is so much evil on/in people these days. The more stunned people I see the more I think wow there's a lot of work to be done here. I am no evangelist either. I am not one to just outright talk about Jesus to any ol person I meet. That's not me.  I don't feel equipped for the anger that the discussion brings forth.  

You see I read the bible, but I am a young Christian I think they call it. If I cannot talk to a stranger about Jesus how can I talk to my family about him? Trust me I have tried. I come from an Atheist family. They have Christian values believe it or not, but they are in fact, not saved.  I will also not shove the word down their throats. For now all I can do is live for Jesus and hope they see him through me and my family.  I have been in the presence of my God Loving Aunt and my Mother at the same time, and I was able to talk freely with my Aunt about biblical books and God. My Mother noticed. My Mother and her husband visited and my husband expressed his thankfulness for them and spoke of God. They were deeply touched and they noticed where our family stands. My children have a firm foundation in Christ and my Mother notices their happiness.

So for those of us who can't evangelize yet, perhaps we're doing more than we think by living a Godly life and letting others see it. Don't give up, eyes may be watching that you're not aware of. You could be showing someone Jesus without even saying his name.