iPad Giveaway

Apps School is giving away and iPad 2 with a whole bunch of apps.  Go to http://www.apps-school.com/giveaway.htm to enter.

Really. Who doesn't want an iPad?

Ready? Set! GO!

Late in 2010 the Lord began a work in me that took me by surprise.  It started first with this video. Then came the video that the Lord continues to speak to me through.

For the first time last year I named the year with one word. 2011's one word was New. I felt like the Lord told me to name 2011 the year of NEW.  I can honestly say that there are many NEW things about me and my life but while in 2011 I felt as though nothing was new.  I didn't realize that there were new things happening inside me. In the moment (year) I felt like a failure.  I felt like nothing was new at all.

Well December of last year (I love saying that!) rolled around and I began to pray and seek God for 2012's one word.  At first I wasn't getting anything. I prayed and I could hear the crickets chirping between here and heaven.  I began to wonder if last year's one word was just something I wanted and not what the Lord had spoken at all.  That would explain why nothing felt new.  Yes I was starting to see the error of my ways in naming 2011.

One night about a week before Christmas I was drawn to You Tube to watch something a friend had told me about. Note that I wasn't praying about One Word 2012 or even thinking about it at the time.  While there I watched the above video again after not watching it for a while.  I usually watch it every few weeks but life had just kept me from going there to watch.  As usual the video went straight to the deepest part of my soul.  I was reaffirmed in some things the Lord had told me previously and then.....right there on the screen was the word GO.  The Lord said "Paige, GO now. 2012 is the year of GO. Go do all the things your mind lingers on in the dark of night when sleep is scarce. Go and move out into the calling I've given you. Above all else be ready to GO whenever I tell you to."  My whole body was electric in those seconds. I almost didn't believe what I heard.  GO and not be still?  GO and not be patient?  Go and not "Not right now. You aren't ready yet."? GO!  Really?

Lord did You just release me into the ministry You have crushed my heart with?  Did You?  Really?

I wish I explain what all GO means but I truly can't fathom it all right now.  I'm still a bit in shock.  There are a few things I consider minor that I know He told me to act on and I'll be doing those soon.  Subscribe to my blog in your favorite reader to stay up to date.  All I know right now is that I am NEW and last year was a holding year while He made many things NEW inside me.  There are not words to describe how different I feel. I look the same. Sound the same yet inside me is a different perspective that is starting to come through around my family.  Of course there is still a lot to be changed into His likeness but I'm making progress and I know it.

2012! Here we come!

What's your One Word for 2012?

I Wasn't Prepared

I wasn't prepared for what I read just a moment ago over at Lisa Notes.  She wasn't prepared either.  Her post hit me like a brick. Living in Nashville I see homeless people all over the place. I can't help but wonder if I'd been more prepared what could I have done in the past.  I just know that I'll take this idea and get prepared from now on.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:10


 

Joshua Got His Green Belt in Tae Kwon Do!

I've got video and a few pictures to share of Joshua testing for his green belt and then the promotion ceremony.  He's thoroughly enjoying doing Tae Know Do and I'm excited at how good at it that he really is.  I look for him to go very far in this. His goal is obviously to get his black belt and then keep it. Here he is testing for his belt.



And here he is receiving his green belt.


Now I've got to buy sparring equipment! I don't know if I'm ready for that.  Here is a picture for his Meme because I know she loves the still pictures.

  Love you Mom, Dad, Fred, and Joan!

Hello Mornings

I've followed Kat over at Inspired to Action on twitter and through her blog for quite a while.  I'm ashamed to admit how long I've been familiar with her blog yet never read there much.  A few weeks ago the Lord began to do some things in me and I found her blog and began to read.   I was instantly impressed for a couple of reasons.  1. She totally must have a camera in my house. 2. She has written some excellent things to help me and anyone else that cares to read them and put them out for FREE.  Now I have no problem paying for the work that people write or create but put quite simply money is very tight right now.  I can't express how blessed I am that her materials are FREE.  Did I mention they are FREE right now?  

One thing I struggle with is is going to bed at reasonable time and getting up early in the mornings.  I've always struggled with this and I hate that it's so hard for me to do what I need to do to take care of my family and myself properly.  I WANT to get up before the sun rises and have my quiet time with the Lord but I don't.  I WANT to be up and showered before the boys so that I'm ready to tackle the day with them but I don't. I DON'T WANT to be exhausted and short tempered with my boys and husband but I am.  I DON'T WANT to be consistently behind in house work and laundry but I am.  The answer is so simple.  Go to bed early and get up in the morning early.  By doing this I would have my sweet time with the Lord before the day. I would be showered and ready to cuddle with Jacob when he wakes.  I love having a few minutes to sit and hug him and discover what's in that brilliant little 5 year old mind.  If I woke early I could have Bible study with Joshua.

I've read so many books, blog posts, Cd's etc. on this very topic.  We as Christians and homeschoolers have multitudes of help out there to us and I've used facets of all of those materials.  But I never was able to make them my own, so to speak, and follow through with them.  It's hard to take someone else's specific answer to prayer to their own issues and make it your answer to prayer to YOUR specific issues.  If you know what I mean.  All the other materials out there have helped and I've used them in some fashion.  Kat's materials have been different.

So what made Kat's materials different for me you ask?  I'm so glad you asked!!  Kat kept things simple and gave step by step actions to take to help you begin to Maximize Your Mornings.  She doesn't cram her specific morning routine at you and tell you you are failing if you don't follow it to a T.  She includes forms for you to fill out that will help YOU develop YOUR OWN morning routine.  The best part?  Maximize Your Mornings is only 32 pages long!  I  was able to read it in one sitting and the forms were not time consuming in the least.  They were direct and to the point.  Time is of the essence for me.  If I'm sitting down not doing anything something is not getting done (I won't bore you with how many loads of laundry aren't done and how bad my living room and school room look right now). I needed straight forward and Kat gave it to me.  Kat has also graciously included calendars that will help you pray for your kids and husband and so much more.  Really!!  All FREE.  Did I say that already?  Be sure and read through all of Kat's resources HERE.

So this next week begins a NEW journey for me.  I'm going to set my alarm and get up early no matter what time I go to bed.  I'm going to do that until it's a habit for me.  I'm going to do my best to go to bed earlier.  If I'm up earlier and getting things done it should be easier for me to go to bed without feeling like late night is the only time I can get some things done....or feel like that's the only alone time I can get.

I know this will be hard.  I know there are days when I will want to just give up and go take a nap.  But I'm committed to changing things. I'm tired of feeling like a failure.

Is there anything that has motivated you to action lately?  Tell me about it.  I'd love to hear all about it.

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, I Don't Like What I See

It's 9:45 and the lights just went out.  I'm laying there with heart aching after reading about the suicide of Trey Pennington.  I'll ready admit that I didn't know Mr. Pennington.  I didn't even follow him on twitter.  What weighed so heavy on me was how hopeless he must have felt to make the choice to end his own life.  I thought of how hopeless I've been at different points in my life.  Many years ago I was very near suicide.  As the tears begin to flow I try to conceal them from my husband laying next to me.  I don't want to have to explain my shame if he asks me whats wrong.  I'm consumed with the children who are starving, dyeing of preventable diseases.  How hopeless must they feel?  That hopelessness eats them up from inside.

I'm standing in my (admittedly) small kitchen railing about the injustice of having to endure this travesty of a kitchen, house even.  I'm angry.  I'm fussing because there aren't enough pots and pans to cook the way I want to. My kitchen is the size of some families HOUSES.  I wish I could tell you I realized my own travesty right there in my kitchen and stopped dead in my tracks.  Sadly, I did not.

That night the tears flow hot and I look in the mirror and I don't like what I see.  Shame and disgust eat me up from inside.  I cry out to Jesus and tell him just what I think of myself.  I fully expect the disappointed silence.

His arms around me pulling me up into His lap, holding me tight, so there's no question Who has me.  He says "I know but I still love you." and I feel it in my bones.  I KNOW He does still love me.  Really?  This black heart?  You still love me?  INCONCEIVABLE!!  How?  Why?  "Because you hate the black Paige.  You keep pressing into Me so I can wash you white as snow."  I do?  I don't feel like I do.  I feel like I stand and spew black sickness all over my kitchen and house because I'm a self absorbed, whining, bratty child.  No more words, just arms so strong and safe I know the truth that is HIM. He need not speak.  I know and feel His truth in His all consuming grip.

You've probably noticed a bit of a focus change here on my blog over the last few weeks and even this year.  God wrecked my whole idea of life before Christmas 2010.  I've not known what to do with myself, this blog, since then.  The last few weeks the Lord has been making my call clearer.  Things carried from childhood are starting to make sense.  Things that didn't make sense before are getting clearer.  Praise the Lord!!

I'll still write about homeschooling and my family.  I'll just be sharing more about how I'm learning to live in this first world with one foot firmly planted in the third world.  There is so much He wants us to learn.  So much He wants us to do.  Life won't be dull if you'll step into God's story with me.  You won't be able to control it at all but in the end that's where the Life Abundantly will come from.

In honor of Shaun Groves new record Third World Symphony I'm starting a Third World Thursday meme.  What is Third World Thursdays you ask?  Every Thursday I will post something in regards to third world countries, the children and families that live there, their living conditions, how I'm helping a child or family in a third world, how I'm reconciling our first world with their third world, Compassion or any other child advocate organization, projects these organizations are creating to help release children from poverty, a child that needs sponsorship or clean water or food.  You get the idea.  If you are blogging about third world issues, children, needs, or even how to live more simply so that they can simply live, this is the place to link up.  The linky will be active from Thursday to Wednesday for each week.  Come and join me as I seek to be the hands and feet of Jesus for the least of these.

Ready! Set! Go!

Meet the Newest Member of Our Family!!!

I can not tell you how excited I am to post this news!!  This was a long time coming for our family too!  Today Joshua and I ended up having a very serious heart to heart talk about many things but in the end we found ourselves at the Compassion website looking over profiles of kids that needed a sponsor.  I picked the country and Joshua set about looking over boys profiles and reading about each one.  He settled on this handsome guy and I immediately felt that this was the child the Lord would have us sponsor.  We prayed about it and we both agreed that this young man was the one.  So without further delay let me introduce you to....

Dawit from Ethiopia

Dawit is 12 years old and his favorite activities are soccer, swimming and singing.  Maybe one day we'll get to hear his sweet voice singing praises to the Lord. 

We'll be patiently waiting (yeah right) for all our paperwork from Compassion so that we can begin writing letters to Dawit.  I can't wait to tell him how much Jesus loves him and how much we love him too.  

Stay tuned as I hope to be able to share about Dawit and the work of Compassion frequently.

Praising Jesus!

Paige

Third World Symphony

I'm 2 days late for this and that truly breaks my heart.  On August 30th Shaun Groves newest album debuted.  Third World Symphony has been a long time coming for Shaun Groves.  You can listen to the whole album AND you can download for FREE the single titled All Is Grace.  Remember your purchase of Third World Symphony will help many a child be released from poverty.

Go on!!  Why are you still here?!?  Get on over there right now and check it out.

I've Chosen Walls

It never fails.  Her words catch me and incise my heart.  I'm weeping before I know what happen.  She's talking about my life, right, otherwise this wouldn't chisel away at the hidden pain and reduce me to rubble.

I'm asking myself the same thing Ann Voskamp asked herself a few years ago.    "Do I count the times I have chosen to stare out at the obstacles, chosen obstructions, as my spiritual landscape?"

8 months into this year of New.  So many new things have already happen.  So many things still just the same.  The same because I chose walls.  I chose to look at the obstacles and believe that they win. The view looks impossible.  "But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those the love Him."

  My heart shattered for "Jake" the motherless and fatherless child in China.

No money. A house already bursting at the seams. No medical insurance. My enduring failure to be the woman, wife, mother that I want to be.

Still no sponsorship of any of the millions of needy children in the world.  Struggling between each paycheck yet living a life so full of indulgence. Shame. Guilt.


Walls, created and chosen by me, lying about my view.  5 months left to choose my view.  5 months for the Lord remove this heart of stone and replace it with His heart.

"Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."    Ezekial 36:26

P.S,  If you are interested in more information about adopting "Jake" please send me an email and I'll put you in touch with the right people.

Just updated our 2011/2012 curriculum page.  See it here.

HCG Diet Update, Bible in 90 Days, School Rooms etc!

I know it's been a while since I posted (as usual). As always life is crazy.  When I started my HCG Diet I was visiting my parents in MO.  My visits there are alot like vacation for me because I get to eat a lot of things that only my mother can make the right way :o)  Like potato salad and chicken and noodles.  I really shouldn't have started the HCG while I was there.  So after a few days I decided to stop and wait until I came home. Well I came home week before last. I've not mentioned it much on my blog but I really want to run...like marathons...like really long distances.  I got home and the next day I got an email Fleet Feet that they were starting a couch to 5K program THE NEXT DAY.  Have I mentioned how much I really want to run?  So I decided to jump in and do the couch to 5K with the Nashville Fleet Feet group.  So HCG is on hold right now while I train to kill myself run a 5K. A 5K is a little bit over 3 miles for the folks who might not know.  I can barely run for 1 minute straight right now.  This should be fun!!  So I'll see how much weight I lose training and see whether I need to do HCG after that or not.

I started the Bible in 90 Days today too.  If you would like to join in on reading the Bible in 90 days check out the specifics at Moms Toolbox.  For the most part I'll be using my Iphone's You Version app to read every day. If you are reading the Bible in 90 Days and you have an Iphone or Android phone check out the FREE app for reading the Bible.

Lots of things going on around my house right now too.  We are moving all but 1 bedroom to make room for a school room in our downstairs area.  I've tried to do school down there before but it's mostly underground so it's dark and moldy fragrant.  I started thinking about painting and making it all fun and inspiring.  My awesome husband just rolled his eyes but thinks it's a great idea. So I'm in the process of cleaning one room at a time as I get them ready to move around.  This will be a lot of work but well worth it in the end.  I'll post pictures because I FOUND MY DIGITAL CAMERA!!  Yay!! Now if I could just find the plug that charges the battery so I can use the camera I'll be doing great.  EDITED to add: I found the plug for the battery charger of my digital camera!!  See!  That's why happens when you clean a room from top to bottom (insert rolling eyes here).

Always chaos but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

Now off to bed so I can get up at 6 a.m. and run...with Joshua....that's my favorite part of training.  He's training to run the 5K with me.

HCG Diet Day 3

I weighed in at 153 this morning.  Down 5 lbs from yesterday already and I'm still fat loading.  Today is my last fat load day and I've decided to just eat what I want and not try to push eating.  I look less bloated in my face already.  I knew this was going to work but I'm shocked that I've already seen some changes with out doing the low calorie portion of the diet.  I suspect things are going to happen quick after tomorrow!!

SO READY!

HCG Diet Day 2 with Links

Today was another fat loading day for me. I am really having to make myself eat.  I had several pieces of bacon and eggs fried in bacon grease for breakfast. I then had 2 cheese burgers and fries from McDonalds for lunch.  I've had a third of a bag of chips with dip and chocolate bars.  I'm also drinking coke's like crazy since I won't be drinking them much after this.  I've decided that even after the diet I won't go back to drinking them. I've long wanted to give them up but was just not motivated to do it.  I'm about to have some Breyers ice cream before bed.

I weighed in at 158 this morning.  I knew I would gain with all the eating I'm doing but I can already tell that the HCG is working. I'm not hungry at all.  I'm a bit surprised because I gained but my shorts were looser on me today and I had to keep pulling them up. I think I'm not retaining water like I was.  

We shall see how this goes.  I've got tunnel vision with this. I'm going to do this and follow it through.  I'm so ready to be done with this weight.  

Here are some of my favorite HCG links as this point.  

HCG Blogs I like:

http://gettinfitandtrimkim.blogspot.com/  This was the friend online that I talked to about doing HCG.  

http://hcgvictoria.wordpress.com/

http://hcgliving.blogspot.com/

A Good Source for HCG:

www.betterhealthhcg.com

A Yahoo Group for HCG dieters:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/hcghomeopathicweightlossmethod/

You can find a free PDF copy of the Pounds and Inches book by Simeons at the yahoo group after you join and or at www.betterhealthhcg.com 

I hope that as I record my experiences here some of you might be inspired to make some changes too.

The Bruins won the Stanley Cup!

Paige

Day One of a New Physical Me

I know I've neglected to post anything for so long but life has been a bit on the crazy side lately.  When the Lord told me it was going to be the year of New boy did He mean the Year of Completely NEW!

First I was baptized on May 29th after loving the Lord for 21 years!. More on that later.  The first half of the year brought some serious trials and reflections on my walk with the Lord over these last 21 years.  It culminated in me finally being baptized.

Second, today I begin doing the HCG diet.  I've not been happy with my weight for several years now and I couldn't get started on any significant change no matter what I did.  I needed a boost and after many months of research I feel like this is the key to the boost I need.  I first heard about HCG when I ran into a lady I only new casually and she had lost many pounds.  She was large before she started and now she was really thin.  I looked into HCG then but didn't pursue it.  Some months later I came across an online friends blog where she had kept a daily log of her first 2 rounds of HCG.  I researched more this time but still did not pursue it.  That was in April of this year.  I'm in MO right now visiting my parents and when I come here to the NW Ark area I go to a Chiropractor that I really like.  I walked in Friday to get an adjustment and low and behold he HCG drops and info in office.  I STILL did not buy the drops but I went home with HCG heavy on my mind.  The next day Mom and I were going shopping and I got very frustrated because I didn't have any clothes that fit me and I felt I looked so bad in what I did have.  I work jeans on a 95 degree day because of how I felt my shorts made me look.  I decided that morning I was going to do HCG.  I went and picked up the HCG drops from my Chiropractor yesterday and began round 1 this morning.  I can do more than 1 round of HCG but I don't know if I will do 2 rounds or not.  It will depend on what happens with this first round.

I realize some of you may have never heard of HCG or know very little about it. Albert T. Simeons MD came up with this protocol back in the 1940's.  He published a book detailing how he discovered this information and who to treat those patients that were obese or needed to lose weight in a book called Pounds and Inches: A New Approach to Obesity.  You can read that book HERE.  I got my drops from my Chiropractor but once I go back to TN I will buy any more drops I need from Better Health HCG.  

This is so difficult for me to do but I'm going to put my beginning/before pictures up for you to see.  It's so hard for me to look at pictures of myself right now and the thought of those pictures being up for the whole world to see is a horrifying thought. But I feel that anyone reading this needs to know where I started from and where I end up at the end of this HCG protocol.

Aaaack!!! I can't tell you how embarrassed I am to show these pictures!!

The pictures are from my cell phone because my digital camera battery is dead and I haven't gotten a new one yet.  Sorry they are a bit blurry.  You still get the idea I think.  Moving right along...........

Day 1: Weight 155.  I am 5 foot 2 so this weight is staggeringly too high for me.  This a fat loading day so I will most likely gain a few pounds before I start to lose any weight.  You fat load for 3 to 7 days so that you will have plenty of reserve fat while on the diet since you won't be eating any fat or carbs while on the diet.  Read the links I gave above to learn more.

Big breath................ as I click PUBLISH POST.....................

Book Review: The Final Summit by Andy Andrews

The Final Summit is about a man named David Ponder who is summoned by the Archangel Gabriel to attend a "summit" to answer the question "What must humanity do, individually and collectively, to restore itself to the pathway toward successful civilization?"

Ultimately my feelings on this book are mediocre at best.  I felt as if the character portrayal of Gabriel was misguided.  Several times in the book Gabriel is portrayed as less than impressed with humanity.  While I truly can  see that God and Gabriel would both have every right to feel less than impressed with humanity I don't feel that either of them would act as portrayed in this book.

The idea that one man - David Ponder - holds the fate of mankind in his hands is disappointing to me.  No earthly man holds the fate of mankind.  Jesus Christ holds the fate of mankind in His hand.  No amount of talking about how humanity has diverged from the right path will change the path we are currently on.  This world needs Jesus and to suggest anything other than this solution is...honestly....drivel.

I will say that from a fiction stand point this book was interesting to read. I just feel that even though the book made me think deeply about some things in my own life the author could have pointed readers to Jesus instead of giving the impression that they, in their own ideas and power, can bring themselves to the right path.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”