Tag Archives: faith

So THAT’S how I talk…

1 Reply

A while back I agreed to do an interview with Pat Gohn from the Among Women pod cast.  She’s a wonderful speaker (voice like butter!) and I always enjoy her pod casts:  part women Saints history and the other part an interview with various women on various topics.  I love getting a glimpse into other people’s lives, their faith walk and how they incorporate their faith into this world.  Her program feeds my “spiritual voyeurism” and encourages me to keep on keepin’ on.  We all need that from time to time, don’t we?  Back to the interview…..she asked me to speak about MY faith and how it was tested, evolved and sustained me through our own trials.  For some reason I agreed.  Completely out of my comfort zone, I assure you.  However, I had prayed for a long time that if our suffering and faith walk were ever to be a comfort and encouragement to others, than  “Lord, here I am”.

Pat was amazing.  Having NEVER done anything like this in my life, she guided me each step of the way.  Beginning with a draft AND a word count (sheesh!), she edited my story showing me where to fill in the holes.  Once I got going, I didn’t worry about the word count, the story wrote itself.  We Skyped a couple of times to go over things and prep and then came the interview.  It was like chatting with a dear friend over coffee, which is exactly as she wants it to feel.  HOW does she do that???

In the end, the show was aired this week.  I listened yesterday and once I stopped counting my “uh’s and umm’s” (a public speaking gig I won’t be pursuing any time soon) I listened.  And relived.  And stepped out of myself.  And praised God for a wonderful work that  He has done in our family. (and continues to do so daily)  I also realized that I need to get back to THAT place of prayer and faith that I purely lived in heart, mind and soul for so long.  I hope it was somewhat of a tribute to how God blessed us so amazingly with family and friends in our life willing to do His work for us.  It really does take a village and our family, our children, have been blessed mightily in spite of this period of difficulty.

So cling to Him.  He will deliver you.  Today’s Readings are of Esther asking for God to put the words in her mouth to release her people.  She gives Him full reign, full obedience.  Waiting on direction.  The Psalms remind us that when we call on the Lord, He DOES hear us.  We are to trust.  And in the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus reminds us to ask, seek and the door will be opened.  And if even we as earthly parents give our children what the ask for can we even IMAGINE what God can do for us.  I’m here to tell you, it’s true.  Every bit.  It’s a huge step in faith.  Easy to say, but that first step is a doozy and won’t be one you regret.

Blessings!

Week 6! It’s here, it’s here!!

Leave a reply

“Six weeks is a critical time to acclimate to any new exercise regimen so that you can set long-term fitness goals,” says exercise physiologist Dr. Robert Lampman, Ph.D.

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/134939-6-week-work-out-plans/#ixzz1lmtIUjcf

My girlfriends and I have been keeping it fo’ realz ya’ll with our workouts and food choices (at work, anyway) and we have been looking forward to this:  WEEK 6.  Something about, HOLY COW!  Are you serious??? We’ve been doing this regularly for 6 WHOLE.  WEEKS?!?!  Methinks I see a  little muscle in my arm.  Oh, snap.  Lookout, Mama’s got guns.  Sorta.  C’mon, use your imagination here, K?

And this week, is a crazy week.  My normal lunch time workouts are challenged with our oldest daughter’s birthday at the end of this week and my mom in town at the beginning.  Life is getting in the way.  Move over bacon, here comes Sizzlean…I have a Plan!  That plan is:  I’ve had to resort to the dreaded 5 a.m. workouts.  Ugh.  Ugh.  Ugh.  Once I’m there it’s “fine”, but crawling out of my cozy bed?  Not so “fine”.  However, as I type, I’m all  jacked up on the adrenaline rush, so YAY 5 a.m.!!  Plus, what with all the “New Year’s Resolution” people—ahem, me, too….the crowds are huge in the afternoon.  Probably because they are all still sleeping at 5 a.m.  Either way…2 days down, 2 to go. And I’m getting my walks in also.  ShaZAM!!  (good thing since the Girl Scout cookies came yesterday…hey,  you’ve got to live right?)

Progress on other goals:

Finances:  going well.  ish.  on task, anyway.  baby steps, baby steps, baby steps.  The silver lining is it won’t always be this way and every step forward is just that…FORWARD!  Onward, ho!!

Quiet time.  If you read yesterday’s blog post you will see my laptop is currently out of commission, so my Quiet time has seriously improved this past week, although steady climb in the right direction over the past 6 weeks.  Yay, God! 

Time to wake the house and get this party started.  Blessings to you all for a “forward motion”  kind of day!

**Still no pictures due to laptop down and stubborn will joining forces..carry on with your imagination, but seriously, you wouldn’t want a picture of my 5 a.m. bedhead anyway.

12.5 hours to Mommy’s weekend away…

Leave a reply

— 1 —

My annual “Girl’s Weekend in St. Augustine” is upon us.  Generally taken in November (to do some Christmas shopping at the outlet malls), this year we moved it to January for some post holiday relaxation time.  Always a restful and fun time and this year is dad’s solo weekend with the kiddos.  Though I like to think MY way is BEST, I know he will do great and the kids will have way more fun with him than they do with me.  And after last night’s dinner debacle, he certainly can’t do any worse than me on the food end of things…

— 2 —

Speaking of dinner last night……I was inspired by my girlfriend’s crock pot dinner of ham, rice, cheese soup, broccoli.  It sounded so good, and we’ve really been using the crock pot like crazy these past few months, so I made my own version with chicken and brown rice, added in the broccoli and cauliflower and let it go.  Well.  At lunch I came home and OH.  MY.  GOODNESS.  The smell in the house was horrible.  I took the broccoli and most of the cauliflower out and covered it and returned to work.  Sadly, the fatal mistake was made.  Do NOT.  I repeat.  Do NOT cook broccoli and cauliflower in a crock pot ALL DAY.  Apparently they are a quick cook veggie and putting them in the crock pot not only forces you to open windows and light candles, it also brings you to Plan B:  pancakes and eggs.   I guess we all have a cooking faux pas from time to time, right?  RIGHT?

— 3 —

Exercising is going well this week.  Have gotten in a few walks. A few times at the gym followed by soreness in all the right places.  Week 3.  I can’t begin to tell you how impressed I am with myself.  I usually lose steam by Week 2.

— 4 —

Writing down my food this week is my newest addition to a healthier lifestyle change.  Something about putting it on paper.  In blue and white to see just what went in my mouth.  It becomes obvious.  The exercise thing I got (mostly).  It’s the mouth that needs attention.  Darn you cookies and cake and  your deliciousness.  It’s good to see where my challenges are and WHEN my challenges are and being prepared for them, adding more protein, fruits and veggies is really helping.  Still plenty of work to be done, but having it right in front of me, WOW!  (I won’t be logging this weekend……..but I will be walking!)

— 5 —

Adding in a great new blog for some quiet time reflections HERE and re-attempting Scott Hahn’s book, “The Lamb’s Supper” are great additions to my quiet time and breaking my spiritual rut.  I feel like I’m in a better place to read his book, hopefully less distracted and ready to focus.

— 6 —

Caramel the sweet little girl kitty who adopted us was spayed this week and lo and behold…..she…is a he.  Who has already been neutered.  Much to the vet’s surprise who had to OPEN HIM UP before they figured it out.  I’m still hot about that one.  OK, he’s a furry cat, but UM…isn’t that your JOB to make sure BEFORE you open up?!?!  Anyway….little boy has his shots and seems a little less PO’d at us.  Unless his purring at my head @ 1:30 in the morning is really a passive-aggressive cat move..I don’t know.  Still figuring out this whole “Cat thing”….he sure is a cutey-pie though!

— 7 —

Have been totally and utterly sucked into Downtown Abbey.  For someone who really doesn’t watch TV..(well nothing I would qualify as quality TV anyway…).  I was wondering WHERE I’ve been to have missed this gem and now I am THRILLED that I have an entire Series ahead of me with a new one just starting.  Even my youngest will watch it with me AND so will hubby…and that says a lot when you have something for everyone!  This whole kicking the cable habit is working out quite nicely, I must admit….

 For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

GOALS: Week Two and counting

3 Replies

Second week of January.  Typically “resolutions” wax and wane about 3-4 wks in and by mid-February the gym is back to its regular clientele.  Since adopting the “GOAL” method rather than resolutions, my mental outlook is far less stressed and overwhelmed.  I don’t feel the need to do it all at once, but rather slowly and methodically approach my goals in a fashion that I can reasonably and realistically weave into my life routine.

And thus far, here’s the update:

  • Finances.  Moving along nicely.  Paid bills the other day without all the general anxiety that accompanies that task.  Hubby and I are going to look into Yodlee or Mint to have everything in one place and have a snapshot “real-time” look-at-a-glance rather than update the Excel sheet monthly.
  • Quiet time in prayer.  Continuing with my Daily Readings, however, that’s a several-years-old habit; more attention to working toward picking which spiritual book I’d like to work on in addition to my Reading time in the morning.  This week I have an interview with Pat Gohn on Among Women and have some retrospective digging to do prior to the interview; THAT will be some intense mediation time!!   So this week is covered.  Moving on.  One day at a time.
  • Healthy eating/exercise.  I’ve hit the gym twice this week.  Hard.  So sore.  Walked twice.  Pilates video for an hour with sore core following.  Incorporating oatmeal and fruit (working on protein) for breakfast, and additional fruit/vegs during the day.  (Taking this Clean Eating slowly…)  Not rocket science and I’m not dropping lbs like crazy, however, these are good solid habits that I can live with and that’s really the important thing.  If I can see some progress over the next few weeks and definitely by my annual check-up in February that will be motivating.  Baby steps.  One day at a time.

Last night we went to 6 p.m. Mass followed by a concert by Steve Angrisano with the kids.  What a tremendous family time.  Even our “very-14”, 14 year old was enjoying himself within 15 minutes much to his surprise.  (The only downside was, in hindsight, perhaps we should have either left the girls home or saved Mass for this morning…they were absolutely melting down by the end…WAY too tired.  Wish I could say I was gracious about it, but not so much……) Either way.  Great show and bed time was a breeze!

Off to take the girls to church and their Faith Formation class and I’ll be walking, catching up on podcasts, and praying.

***images from the web

Goals. Part 1: Those pesky finances

2 Replies

In a recent post of mine, I outlined a set of resolutions goals that I want to focus on for this coming year.  After reading my friend’s post on GOALS, I loved that term and along with the original blog I read HERE on how to successfully manage and keep resolutions goals, I have begun to attack them.

Having had the house purse strings in my total control for 7+ years I am happy to hand them back to my hubby.  And I am reluctant. As we navigated those dark and murky waters of change several years ago and I went from a happy-go-lucky, stay-at-home mama to a night shift, full-time worker balancing family, sleep and work (in that order) I also had to have a quick lesson on family finances.  ICK!  Despising the checkbook and the whole organizing of bills, it was a chore I was thrilled to have nothing to do with for most of our marriage, happily acquiescing to my hubby all financial decisions–it’s his strong point, not mine.  However, once it was necessary, I realized how foolish I was to have kept my head in the sand for so long.  What a burden for one person to carry alone.  It was a conversation we never had with small children running around, one I never found important nor interesting.  Stupid girl.  Until it was important.  It occurred to me how many friends I had/have in this  situation and it was one I vow to not find myself in again.  It’s crucial to running a household and marriage, to be on the same page; balancing the budget sucks, however, to live within one’s means it’s imperative to know what’s coming in and what goes out.  In these past years of economic downturn, I am sure many, many people have learned this lesson the hard way.  Like me.  The left hand MUST know what the right hand is doing.

I did an OK job for the first 5 years of hubby’s incarceration.  We were with my parents and I was able to keep debt to a minimum or nil.  After buying our house a couple of years ago, expenses began to creep up and in and while nothing was ever late or unpaid, the debt grew.  Extravagance wasn’t an issue, just 4 kiddos and LIFE.   It is what it is.   And now it’s time to dig out.

Fast forward to 2012, and after having hubby home for 6 months and working, we are both in a good spiritual and mental place to discuss finances.  Lay it all open.  Full disclosure.  I looked forward to it as much as pulling off a band-aid.  But it is necessary to be united in this area.  Finances are widely known to be a MAJOR factor in marital discord and we’ve had enough of that for a long while, thank you.  Time to address the elephant in the room:

Luke 8:17  For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

So we laid it out, put it on an Excel sheet (TypeA hubby), and have the beginnings of our “plan” to start chipping away.  It won’t be overnight.  It’s going to take some discipline.  I’ll tell you what though, it is an enormous weight off my shoulders to have faced that beast and shared that burden.  I know everyone has their own system and you do what works.  For us though, we share it all: income and expense.  For us, that’s what works.  And we march forward.   How about you?  Head in the sand or fully aware?  It’s a difficult topic and generally finances are off-limits as a discussion.  Unfortunately, I think that’s one of the reasons our economy got to be where it is, no one discusses finances.

Now onto tackling the remainder of the resolutions goals.  Quiet time in prayer and Health. To be continued…..