Thoughts on Thursdays

"Remember people aren't perfect"

When we got married it was to a human and like it or not someday they will prove to not be as perfect as we thought. We have to remind ourselves in good faith that our spouse isn't intentionally trying to hurt us. When he gets crabby and has a headache he isn't mad at me he just doesn't feel good. We need to learn how to decipher when an emotion is directed toward us and when it is just a result of not feeling good or having a bad day at work.

On the flip side we also need to watch ourselves and guard our mouths and actively try to reign ourselves in when we notice that we are snapping or getting down on people for something that isn't their fault.

Learn from me, do your research

Ryan and I had a small tragedy not long after I moved up. Dutch my lovable wonderful 2 year old do, started acting weird. He was getting moody and protective. Ever the optimist I was convinced that he just wasn't adjusting well to the move and such. A while back he nipped at my Sister in Law Becky but I decided it was an isolated incident. Then months later while my In-laws were taking care of him he nipped at Ry's dad. Not cool he was starting to get more and more protective and would growl quite a bit (at everyone but me of course.) But I couldn't give up I wouldn't give up I have a deep connection to Dutch since he got me through some very hard times. We worked with him and tried to expose him to other dogs and people as much as possible, then his most accessible friends moved :(

We decided to get him a live in friend to help...we didn't do enough research not nearly enough. We got an adorable little Jack Russel terrier that we named Zoey, she was full of energy and great for Dutch, after a little getting to know you time they got along great even slept in the same bed. But then it happened Dutch nipped at one of the neighbor kids and scratched his finger. We can't have that it was his 3rd time nipping and he was growling as well. We weren't sure what to do we couldn't re-home him since he was getting aggressive but I couldn't stand the thought of putting him down. We started calling family to let them know what was going on and the 'other' in-law's said they would take him they didn't want us to put him down. We didn't have a choice.

Then we were left with just Zoey, on her own she was way to much for us, on her own. We took her on multiple walks played with her all the time but we just couldn't where her out It was hard to get anything done around the house, she needed a friend. With Dutch they would where each other out but alone we just couldn't keep up. So we had to make another hard decision and found her a new home.


So lesson learned do your research before getting a dog (we did with Dutch but not with Zoey) and avoid this heart break. Its bad for both the humans and the dogs and I've recently learned its the most common reason dogs go to the humane society. We are looking forward to another dog and WILL NOT have this happen again.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Seems Innocent enough huh? That is until you look up Ps. 109:8 "Let his days be few; and let another take his office"

Ok really? This could be taken so many different ways a direct threat, permissive threat or just bad taste. Why are people always taking scripture out of context? This is just part of a speech by a man who is being persecuted. He is referring to those who are trying to shut down God's work and he is talking to God not giving permission to anyone to do anything.

Its no wonder Christians have a bad rap, why would be open ourselves to this? Now admittedly I don't know who started this or what their intentions were but it just looks BAD.

We should pray for our President and all of our political leaders. Even if we don't agree with everything they do, they are the ones in office. The deserve the respect of the office Pray for our leaders that God would touch their lives and the decisions they make.

Going green, why?

There are a lot of reasons people go green:

Health
Money (depending on how you do it)
Save the world or just take care of it.
Practical
Its the trendy thing to do

With the exception of the last one these are all reasons I do what I do.

Health
This is the main reason I started I have skin allergies to harsh chemicals as well as I was feeling run-down all the time. After reading my friends blog at www.happyfoody.com (although she doesn't post as much anymore) and doing so studying my self I found out that I was doing it to myself!!! Our bodies weren't created to eat chemicals (umm Adam and Eve anyone?) and my skin just couldn't take it. This started a massive change it what I eat and what I clean with.

Money
A lot of the things I do that are green are also economical, eating leftovers instead of take out at work. Cloth napkins, a programmable thermostat, thrift shopping, that sort of thing. Even using cloth bags saves me .05 each at Target and the grocery store!

Taking care of our planet.
I don't believe I'm going to save the world but I can take care of it. If we have the technology to recycle then why not? If I can choose between a recycled notebook and new harvest why not? Really what would it hurt?

Practical
Even if you have a dog you don't need 300 plastic Wal-Mart bags, I used to go out twice a week and clean up my yard not after every time what a waste.

Thoughts on Thursday

"Make Time for Each other"

This is one of those things we all hear but how many of us do? It doesn't mean it has to be a date out on the town or a couple of hours. Just make sure that at least once a week you have time together just you that you aren't focusing on kids, work, household things or money. This can be as simple as sitting on the couch and talking or as elaborate as a vacation. As Nike says "Just DO IT!"

Too Funny

What is the mistake? (This is a wedding cake BTW)

Carter

I would like to tell you all about my amazing godson. His name is Carter and he will be 3 years old this month. He was born with something called CACC this means the part of his brain that relays information between the right and left hemisphere was not there. This has created some challenges for him and he is behind developmentally but he is doing amazing. He is walking around short distances without support and he could walk all day with support! He is speaking very well and doing great with his physical therapy. He has also been blessed with two amazing parents.

The reason I wanted to let you know about him today was this he is in for his second surgery in 2 days regarding shunt problems. Please pray for him and his family as they go through this.

Fear and Faith

So one of the major points of the book I'm reading is this, I do not need to fear making mistakes or being wrong, God already knows everything I've done and will do and he sent his Son to die for me. He still loves me I don't need to work for His approval and HIS approval is what matters.

Wow, it all makes sense its all stuff I've heard before but its never hit me like this I've never been receptive to this information before (thanks hubby for following your heart and God's prompting.) Here is a quote from the book that hit me today "Fear and faith can never be coequal. One will always dominate the other. The more you give yourself to fear the more difficult it is to experience faith in your life"

Here is a part of a song that reminds me of this:

Mac Powell - By His Wounds

He was pierced for our transgressions
And crushed for our sins
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him
And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed

We are healed by Your sacrifice
And the life that You gave
We are healed for You paid the price
By Your grace we are saved
We are saved

He was pierced for our transgressions
He was crushed for our sins
The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him
And by His wounds, by His wounds we are healed
And by His wounds, by His wounds

What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus

Thoughts on Thursday

"Don't be a doormat."

I've been learning lately how detrimental this can be to any relationship. If your sole purpose is to make someone else happy all the time you will fail. Then if your like most people you will be disappointed in yourself for failing at something you could never accomplish. If your walking around with a fear of failure or feeling like you have failed you are never going to giving your best to your relationship. Never forget most people don't expect perfection from us why should we?

1 John 4:18There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. (ESV Version)

Don't forget to check out my friends "thought" as well: http://thefeldkamps.blogspot.com/

Off...but not really.

So you turn off your TV and then your saving electricity right? Well kinda. You are saving electricity but its not totally off. You have to unplug appliances when your done using them (not your refrigerators people;) to fully power them off.

For example you can plug your computer printer and all of your peripherals in to a power strip so that its one easy switch. I will do this once I get my laptop dock area set up, the printer and monitor will be in a power strip so that when I'm not using them they are all the way off. This is also great for your TV/DVD/X box and such. One suggestion if you use a satellite receiver or DVR keep that plugged in separately since they take forever to re-start. Another thing you can only unplugg sometiems is your garage door opener unplug it when your on vacation or away for the weekend, it not only makes your house safer but it saves energy!

Here is a list of a few things that suck energy even when they are 'off' or not in use:
computers,
multifunction printers
flat-screen TVs
DVDs
VCRs
CD players
power tools
hand-held vacuums
Microwave Oven

Here is a good study of "Energy Vampires" http://standby.lbl.gov/summary-table.html
Here is a good link: http://green.yahoo.com/blog/the_conscious_consumer/50/energy-vampires-fact-versus-fiction.html

While it's true each individual product draws relatively little standby power, the LBNL says that when added together, standby power can amount to 10% of residential energy use.

Learning some not so pretty things.

Sunday our sermon was on idols and how anything that distracts us from God can be an idol. Now obviously this can be taken to the extreme, not everything in your life is an idol. However I personally believe we all have a few. What are the things in out life that we count on to make us happy? For me its my relationships, when something goes wrong or I need a boost I call my husband, family or friend. My first instinct is not to call on God. I was reading in my "The Search for Significance book and something really jumped out at me:

"If we base our self-worth on the approval of others, then we are actually saying that our ability to please others is of greater values than Christ's payment. We are the sinners, the depraved, the wretched, and the helpless. He is the loving Father, the seeking, searching, patient Savior who has made atonement for the lost and has extended to us His grace and son ship. We add nothing to our salvation. It is God who seeks us out, convicts us of sin, and reveals Himself to us. It is God who gives us the very faith with which to accept Him. our faith is simply our response to what He has done for us.... His work through others is, in part, to serve as a channel by which we can better understand His divine love and acceptance of us. Sadly, we are all prone to miss His message and mistake His messenger(s) as the source of out fulfillment."

Ouch and at least for me so true, I can't wait to learn how to turn this back the right way. I've tried and failed so many times on my own.

Silly but very proud moment.

I'm at work and I'm trying to reduce sugar...again. I went into the break room and saw whoppers, yumm but I was good I asked myself "would you rather the whoppers now or a sucker when you get home?" Then I walked away!! Woo hoo!

Also yesterday I met my new mentee for coffee and when I got home I didn't have a sucker because I already had a sugar filled coffee! Maybe I am trainable!

Thoughts on Thursdays

"Don't make your spouse your idol"

This is so easy to do, we can become so dependent on our spouse that we forget about God entirely. This can also make problems when they make mistakes, if we view them so highly then we are let down when they make mistakes. We need to remember that they are human and can't fill all of our needs and voids, only God can.

Green your wardrobe.

No I'm not talking organics, remember I'm a thrifty greenie.

Repair- I've been doing a lot of this lately. Belt loops break, hems drop, small holes need repaired, buttons sewen back on. All of these things save money and are a good way to be 'green.'

Buy used- For those items that are trendy or you don't ware daily or weekly buy at a consignment store. However not all consignments sores are created equal so scout them out first. Also check over the garment thoroughly to make sure there are no stains, holes or weak spots.

Buy Quality- For those items you will be wearing buy quality that way you could only buy once in the time that most would buy 2 or 3. For me this is my work pants and I learned this lesson the hard way.

Take care of your shoes- Spray them with water protectant or use mink oil, keep this polished and cleaned. Instead of buying new shoes re-sole them.

Use a Dark soap- just like your shoes take care of your dark clothing I typically use a green detergent but for my darks (work clothes) I use either Woolite or cheer dark, this really saves my blacks and makes them last A LOT longer again trust me on this one I learned the hard way.


These are all things I do and honestly don't take a lot of extra effort. I sew and polish while I'm watching TV, really no extra time at all.