Sometimes, musical artists put all of their creative energy into one album that is incredibly awesome. Almost every song is a chart topper, destined to be on their future "Greatest Hits" album. As they are busy promoting their first album, they start putting together a second album to ride the fame wave. They hope the second album will ride on the coattails of the first, but they either don't take the time they did for the first album or they don't have the same creative juices flowing and the second album is a dud at best and sometimes is truly awfull. It happens enough that the music industry has created the term "sophmore slump" to describe a bad follow-up to a very successful album. This week, I had a slump that brought me back to the starting point.
The result for this week: up 2 pounds, 40 to go.
It was very painful and incredibly humbling to type that last line. The only good thing about last week was that I continued to exercise five days a week. Mother's Day started a bad four days, even though I stayed under 2000 calories on that day. I haven't even logged in my food for the last two days because I know the lines of calories consumed and burned would cross. However, at the risk of sounding like Bob the Tomato, I have to step back and ask myself the question, "What have I learned this week?" I learned that I can't do this on my own and that this is truly a heart issue, not a weight issue. I was carried the first week on the novelty, which wears off pretty fast in my heart. This week, I was grumbling, thinking how hard it was to have the gentle gnawing in my belly at the end of every meal, whereas, the first week, I was enjoying it. However, to really get serious, I need to turn away from food and find joy and comfort in the One who truly satisfies--the God, the Lord of the Universe, who loves me whether I am putting out the hits or in a sophmore slump. He sacrificed his son, Jesus so that my sins could be washed away even if the pounds sometimes remain. He knit me in my mother's womb and knows when I will get up and when I will lie down (Psalm 139). He gives me power to be able to persevere based on the following verses:
2 Corinthians 4:7
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
2 Corinthians 10:4
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
Ephesians 1:18-20
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms...
Ephesians 3:16-21
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
So, even though I am tempted to give up already and say "I can't do it! I don't have what it takes to go the distance!" I will choose to believe that I can do all things through Him who gives me strength (Phillipians 4:13).
May 13, 2010
May 6, 2010
The first week weigh-in
Before I begin, I just want to thank AquaJane and KT for their encouraging comments to my quest for weight loss. I did check out AquaJanes's blog in January 2009 and read her suggestions for weight loss and really like the idea of adding sweet dressing to salads to satisfy my sweet tooth.
The result for this week is: down 2 pounds, 38 more to go.
I was rather hoping for this result the first week, but am not expecting it to continue over the course of the remaining weeks. My last experience with weight loss had periods of plataues when I didn't lose anything for a week or two. Last week, I worked at weighing and measuring a lot of my food. To combat my sweet tooth, every morning, I make myself a smoothie for breakfast using 1 cup orange juice, 1 banana for sweetening and thickening and one egg for protein and foamy goodness. I also add ice and, if I am feeling extra fancy, a few drops of vanilla. It makes about 20 ounces or so and is pretty filling. I usually have a morning snack of either some sort of bread or a handful of nuts. I said that my daily goal is 1500 calories, but I am allowing one, maybe two days at most of eating up to 1800 calories. If I consume these calories before dinner, my plan is to go without dinner, or eat low calorie food, like veggies only or cut way down on my serving portions. I have had a few cookies here and there, mostly homemade cookies that are chock full of butter and granulated sugar. However, I am eating about 90% less sweets than what I have been eating. I was pretty shocked at what one homemade chocolate chip had in terms of calories. Sweets are my downfall. I am drinking less coffee these days because, to be honest, I prefer what my husband calls "candy in a drink" coffees, like what you would find at place where the workers are called "baristas." If I need caffeine, I am drinking green tea, which is not quite as satisfying but also has a gentler effect on the body than the caffeine in coffee.
For exercise, I am working out to "My fitness trainer" via the Wii five times a week. I only do 15 minutes of low impact exercise, followed by 15 minutes of their stretching program, which also includes some aerobic activity. I really don't like the Wii's cool down and might abandon it totally for my own. I am starting out with shorter times because I haven't exercised in a very long time and I don't want to burn myself out. I also walk the dog once a day, sometimes at a brisk pace, sometimes at a not-so-brisk pace. I have gotten some extra activity this week by being able to hop in the pool for about 30 minutes a few days with my kids. I don't really swim laps and it would probably take about 1000 laps to swim a mile, but I do play with the kids. By the way, an Arizona native told me that anyone who goes in the pool before June has not lived in Arizona long enough. We have been putting a solar cover on the pool to warm up the water to extend the season.
Weekends have been easier for me than weekdays because my husband is a better accountability person than my kids. For the next week, I am thinking about moving the smoothie to be a mid afternoon snack and having solid food for breakfast. I think breakfast is the really important meal and I would rather load my calories at that time rather than in the afternoon or evening. Plus, my sweet tooth is strongest in the afternoon, when my kids are enjoying their little sweets. The other time of night when I crave sweets is right before going to bed. However, at that time, I have my husband to hold me accountable, just by his presence. He is such a blessing!
The result for this week is: down 2 pounds, 38 more to go.
I was rather hoping for this result the first week, but am not expecting it to continue over the course of the remaining weeks. My last experience with weight loss had periods of plataues when I didn't lose anything for a week or two. Last week, I worked at weighing and measuring a lot of my food. To combat my sweet tooth, every morning, I make myself a smoothie for breakfast using 1 cup orange juice, 1 banana for sweetening and thickening and one egg for protein and foamy goodness. I also add ice and, if I am feeling extra fancy, a few drops of vanilla. It makes about 20 ounces or so and is pretty filling. I usually have a morning snack of either some sort of bread or a handful of nuts. I said that my daily goal is 1500 calories, but I am allowing one, maybe two days at most of eating up to 1800 calories. If I consume these calories before dinner, my plan is to go without dinner, or eat low calorie food, like veggies only or cut way down on my serving portions. I have had a few cookies here and there, mostly homemade cookies that are chock full of butter and granulated sugar. However, I am eating about 90% less sweets than what I have been eating. I was pretty shocked at what one homemade chocolate chip had in terms of calories. Sweets are my downfall. I am drinking less coffee these days because, to be honest, I prefer what my husband calls "candy in a drink" coffees, like what you would find at place where the workers are called "baristas." If I need caffeine, I am drinking green tea, which is not quite as satisfying but also has a gentler effect on the body than the caffeine in coffee.
For exercise, I am working out to "My fitness trainer" via the Wii five times a week. I only do 15 minutes of low impact exercise, followed by 15 minutes of their stretching program, which also includes some aerobic activity. I really don't like the Wii's cool down and might abandon it totally for my own. I am starting out with shorter times because I haven't exercised in a very long time and I don't want to burn myself out. I also walk the dog once a day, sometimes at a brisk pace, sometimes at a not-so-brisk pace. I have gotten some extra activity this week by being able to hop in the pool for about 30 minutes a few days with my kids. I don't really swim laps and it would probably take about 1000 laps to swim a mile, but I do play with the kids. By the way, an Arizona native told me that anyone who goes in the pool before June has not lived in Arizona long enough. We have been putting a solar cover on the pool to warm up the water to extend the season.
Weekends have been easier for me than weekdays because my husband is a better accountability person than my kids. For the next week, I am thinking about moving the smoothie to be a mid afternoon snack and having solid food for breakfast. I think breakfast is the really important meal and I would rather load my calories at that time rather than in the afternoon or evening. Plus, my sweet tooth is strongest in the afternoon, when my kids are enjoying their little sweets. The other time of night when I crave sweets is right before going to bed. However, at that time, I have my husband to hold me accountable, just by his presence. He is such a blessing!
May 3, 2010
A not-so-new frontier
Last Thursday, I decided to procrastinate no longer. I am going to lose weight. John is five years old, which means that what I am carrying can no longer be called "baby fat". It is all my very own fat, the result of too much overindulgence and too little exercise. I have been wanting to lose weight for years, but not really motivated to really make the sacrifices needed to accomplish my goal. Instead, I was really hoping/praying for God to do a miraculous liposuction/stomach stapling/heart transplant type procedure one night as I slept so that I woke up the next day forty pounds lighter with tight muscles and with no desire to overeat or eat anything sweet. For some reason, He didn't grant that prayer request. Go figure! What, do you ask, could have instigated such a decision NOW?
I would like to say that, one day, as I was praying, God gave me the fourth greatest commission--to unload myself of the unnecessary burden of obesity (yes, I qualify.) Alas, no such commission came. However, there have been many pin-pricks of conscience. My mother has lost a considerable amount of weight over the last several months using Weight Watchers. So there is some competitive motivation. I lost 50 pounds in the year and a half that I dated and married Eric so I know it CAN be done. When we bought the Wii system a few months back, one of the programs that I insisted we purchase was "My Personal Fitness Trainer" to help with the exercise part of weight loss when I decided to actually try to lose weight. However, it just sat in the package for a bit. What REALLY motivated me was that my husband won a pedometer with a cool program and gave it to me as an encouragement to lose weight because I had been grousing about it over the last several months. The program allows you to log the foods you eat to calculate calories consumed and any activites I am doing. It even tracks my sleeping pattern to see how efficiently I sleep. The food and activity logs are fairly easy to use and I can more effectively see how many calories that I have consumed and burned rather than just "guessing", which has been my previous, unsuccessful method. There are really cool graphs that appeal to my inner geek.
So I have set a goal of 40 pounds in 40 weeks, which is not only achievable, but also uses one of God's favorite numbers, which means my work is extra blessed :-). My secret desire is to be 20 pounds lighter by the middle of June, in which I attend my first wedding. However, slow and steady tends to result in more permanent weight loss. I will achieve it the old fashioned way, by reducing my caloric intake to somewhere around 1500 calories and increasing my activity to burn more calories. This will also help me to become healthier, maybe be able to catch my oldest child in tag, and reduce stress on my knees and hips, which are starting to feel the extra weight. Once I lose the weight, then I might be motivated to pursue other fitness goals, like running a half marathon and surviving a cute, little triathalon. My biggest hurdle is being able to sustain the program more than two weeks, which is when I have typically given up in the past. In the spirit of "Julie & Julia", I will post my accomplishments on Thursdays, which is the day last week in which I made up my mind to start the program, after receiving the pedometer.
For those of you who pray, please pray that God will fill me with all that I need to go through the suffering of sweets withdrawal, since that is pretty much the only way I can stay at 1500 calories and that I would not insist that my family join me in my suffering :-) by being a grump. I would really like to go through this being thankful to God for the food I CAN eat and the quantities that He allows.
I would like to say that, one day, as I was praying, God gave me the fourth greatest commission--to unload myself of the unnecessary burden of obesity (yes, I qualify.) Alas, no such commission came. However, there have been many pin-pricks of conscience. My mother has lost a considerable amount of weight over the last several months using Weight Watchers. So there is some competitive motivation. I lost 50 pounds in the year and a half that I dated and married Eric so I know it CAN be done. When we bought the Wii system a few months back, one of the programs that I insisted we purchase was "My Personal Fitness Trainer" to help with the exercise part of weight loss when I decided to actually try to lose weight. However, it just sat in the package for a bit. What REALLY motivated me was that my husband won a pedometer with a cool program and gave it to me as an encouragement to lose weight because I had been grousing about it over the last several months. The program allows you to log the foods you eat to calculate calories consumed and any activites I am doing. It even tracks my sleeping pattern to see how efficiently I sleep. The food and activity logs are fairly easy to use and I can more effectively see how many calories that I have consumed and burned rather than just "guessing", which has been my previous, unsuccessful method. There are really cool graphs that appeal to my inner geek.
So I have set a goal of 40 pounds in 40 weeks, which is not only achievable, but also uses one of God's favorite numbers, which means my work is extra blessed :-). My secret desire is to be 20 pounds lighter by the middle of June, in which I attend my first wedding. However, slow and steady tends to result in more permanent weight loss. I will achieve it the old fashioned way, by reducing my caloric intake to somewhere around 1500 calories and increasing my activity to burn more calories. This will also help me to become healthier, maybe be able to catch my oldest child in tag, and reduce stress on my knees and hips, which are starting to feel the extra weight. Once I lose the weight, then I might be motivated to pursue other fitness goals, like running a half marathon and surviving a cute, little triathalon. My biggest hurdle is being able to sustain the program more than two weeks, which is when I have typically given up in the past. In the spirit of "Julie & Julia", I will post my accomplishments on Thursdays, which is the day last week in which I made up my mind to start the program, after receiving the pedometer.
For those of you who pray, please pray that God will fill me with all that I need to go through the suffering of sweets withdrawal, since that is pretty much the only way I can stay at 1500 calories and that I would not insist that my family join me in my suffering :-) by being a grump. I would really like to go through this being thankful to God for the food I CAN eat and the quantities that He allows.
April 9, 2010
Arizona Anniversay, Part II
I was born in Tuscon, Arizona and spent several summers there when I was a young child in the care of my grandmother and great-grandparents. However, Arizona has changed a bit and I have never spent a year there, except for my first year of life, which doesn't count because I have no memory of it. So here are some of the things I learned about Arizona in my first, almost year, living in the state.
1. There are deciduous trees here, most likely drought hardy versions of trees that grow in the east that were brought here so that people could be reminded of home without actually experiencing the cold of home. The leaves on the trees fall off around December, when it is finally chilly enough and the days are short enough to trigger the mechanism to cause the leaves to fall. By March, most of the trees regained their leaves.
2. Guns are a lot more common. There is a law that allows guns to be brought into bars, which, to me, violates a little common sense but, then again, we are living in the "wild west." The Governor also just signed a law taking away all the requirements for owning a concealed weapon. The first time I arrived at homeschool group's park day, the young boys were dividing themselves between those who were playing war games with guns and those who were playing war games with swords. Our toy gun collection has grown 100% since then. Yes, we are bowing to peer pressure a little bit. However, as someone reminded me, it is a Constitutional right to bear arms. The rule at our house has become "Don't 'shoot' an 'unarmed' person."
3. I have really enjoyed seeing streams swell up in the desert this February (Isaiah 43:19). We had a very rainy month and the normally dry riverbeds not only have water running, but, in some places, rapids. Lake Pleasant's water level rose about 20 feet in two months.
4. Winter nights are chilly. The lows in Arizona winter this year were about the same as the highs of Chicago during the same time. There was one time I actually put on a light winter jacket to take Jacques for a walk at 5:30. Travertine tile is very cold in the winter, even in a mild winter. Most of my house is covered in tile.
5. Public pools are incredibly inexpensive here. Most of them are affiliated with the middle schools and cost less than $2 per adult and around $1 per child. Some of them even have slides and cute, little "lazy rivers." Compare that to the Grayslake Aquatic Center, which, a couple years ago, cost $8 for an adult and $6 per child. Of course, with the Arizona's budget woes, that could change...
6. I have seen few scorpions, thankfully, anywhere near our house, although I have heard tales of new subdivisions being inundated with scorpions because the construction destroys their natural home. Scorpions glow under black light.
7. Don't go outside after 9 a.m. in the summer unless you are getting into the pool. Once and only once, I took the kids on a 30 minute hike at Usery Mountain Park at 9. I suffered from heat exhaustion for the rest of the day, feeling sick to my stomach and slightly feverish. We all drank a lot of water, before, during and after the hike. I even bought us all Gatorade! Also, don't take a shopping cart from the cart corral outside in the summer. OUCH! BTW, leather car seats, which are SO nice in Chicago, are the equivalent of frying pans in Arizona summer. We used old t-shirts to shield us from the heat.
8. There are a lot of orange, grapefruit and lemon trees in the area. The smell of orange blossoms is even more intense than the smell of lilacs and is pervasive. They also give off a lot of pollen, as evidence by the film of dust on our table and pool.
9. Those clay roof tiles will not support weight at all, as Eric discovered when he tried to put Christmas lights on a part of the roof over the tile.
10. Driving around in the summer is wonderful, traffic-wise. There are a lot of highways around Phoenix and not a lot of cars. Just don't go out in the afternoon. However, it is less than wonderful during the months of January through March, when all of the snow birds are visiting. Most of them drive around like I did when I first arrived here and was trying to figure out the landmarks.
11. I love mountains, even the cute mountains around Phoenix.
12. There is a lot of animosity between Tuscon and Phoenix residents. Phoenix-area residents consider Tuscon to be a cow town populated with red-neck idiots who refuse to use grass seed. Tuscon consideres Phoenix people to be a bunch of greedy snobs who waste a lot of water on grass lawns in the desert and who take too much of the state's budget. I found this out when I complained to my grandma, who lives in Tuscon, about the lack of highways around Tuscon. Basically, if you want to visit someone on the east side of Tuscon, you have to travel 10 to 15 miles of city streets, which can take anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes depending on how many slow moving cars and traffic lights impede your progress. Her rather huffy response was that Phoenix sucked up most of the highway budget, which is most likely to be true since it has six major highways circling and shooting through the city and it's mega-suburbs.
13. Speaking of grass, there are two ways in which people water their lawns in a desert: the irrigation method and timed, small sprays. The irrigation method involves flooding the lawn every once in a while. Most of these lawns are set up in a bowl configuration, so that the water doesn't overflow into the street. We have the timed system where the water lines go underground and little watering heads pop up at a certain times of the day. One of the reasons we chose the house, aside from the pool and the "library" of eight bookshelves, was that it had just enough grass for our kids to play games without taking too much time to mow or too much money to water. Ironically enough, our kids are spending most of their time in the RV parking area which is dirt and stones, digging and finding rocks with which to make beautiful rock drawings. RV pads are also big in Phoenix.
14. Phoenix is 2 hours from a lot of beautiful places--Sedona, Prescott, Woods Canyon Lake. It is four hours away from the Grand Canyon, which we have not visited at this point, though I have visited it at least five times in my life.
15. I was reminded how close we were to Mexico (about five hours) when traveling south about three hours from Phoenix to the town of Tubac, which is a couple hours from the border. It is an artist colony that had a state park commemorating the ruins of a Spanish fort. The state park was in danger of being closed due to budget cuts. It also has two great restaurants nearby, Wisdom's and The Cow Palace, which we were unfortunately not able to visit when we visited the state park. On the way home, I was stopped by the border patrol to search for illegals. There is one road in Mesa where men congregate hoping someone will stop and give them work. I don't know if they are illegal immigrants or legal immigrants who have just moved. Illegal immigration is a VERY hot topic around here.
16. This is a pretty conservative state, even if a the Democratic Party had a fundraiser in my area. The current Republican governer, who inherited the job when Janet Napalitano became the head of Homeland Security, is making some REALLY difficult spending cuts. For example, any state park that is not making enough money to pay for itself is being shut down, unless someone is willing to pay money to keep it open. Part of the problem is that there is a law that says that if the people earmark money in a referendum, it must be used for that purpose, even if the purpose, like roads to take on urban traffic problems, is no longer an issue with the construction and tourist industry tanking. In some respects, this is a good law because it prevents law makers from doing to a fund what Congress has done to Social Security. However, to move funds where they are truly needed in reflection of current circumstances would require another referendum. One of their less spectacular ideas of reducing costs/bringing in money is to sell the state capital and rent it from the new owners. I ask you, who is REALLY in the market for a state capital building? Maybe the Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia? Bill Gates? Bono? I guess Republicans can come up with some bone-headed ideas, too ;-).
17. I have seen the most awsome sunrises and sunsets ever. It is probably due to all the dust in the air. The windows are open a lot these days and dust settles quickly in our house, on everything outside and on the cars as we travel. Washing the car is an exercise in futility.
18. We are living in a megopolis--about five huge cities surround Phoenix. The only two lane roads are found in neighborhoods. Otherwise, they are two lanes on both sides with a middle lane for turning. I have re-mastered the art of pulling out onto the middle lane when making a left turn and waiting for traffic to open up so that I can merge.
19. Downtown Phoenix is pretty unimpressive, in my humble opinion. When we went downtown in the winter to see a play, there were very few restaurants open after the play ended at ten. (yes, we were living on the wild side that night.) It seems as if nobody lives there, they just go to work. Downtown Scottsdale is much better. I haven't tried downtown Mesa, Gilbert or Tempe. The only other advantage that Phoenix has is that it is the state capital. I have never lived so close to a state capital before in my life.
20. We are surrounded by Indian reservations, which is rather interesting. They have markers on the roads telling you when you are entering their territory. If you commit a crime on their territory, you will be subject to their criminal system, not the governments, or so I am led to believe.
I think one of the many reasons God brought us to Arizona is so that I learn to rely on Him and only Him and to keep me from becoming too complacent in my relationships. In general, I do like living in Arizona because there are eight months of the year in which it is pleasant to be outside and I really enjoy the sun. I have been enjoying learning knew plants and animals and am interested in learning more about the state in the coming year. I hope to get to know my cousins better this year. God is good!
1. There are deciduous trees here, most likely drought hardy versions of trees that grow in the east that were brought here so that people could be reminded of home without actually experiencing the cold of home. The leaves on the trees fall off around December, when it is finally chilly enough and the days are short enough to trigger the mechanism to cause the leaves to fall. By March, most of the trees regained their leaves.
2. Guns are a lot more common. There is a law that allows guns to be brought into bars, which, to me, violates a little common sense but, then again, we are living in the "wild west." The Governor also just signed a law taking away all the requirements for owning a concealed weapon. The first time I arrived at homeschool group's park day, the young boys were dividing themselves between those who were playing war games with guns and those who were playing war games with swords. Our toy gun collection has grown 100% since then. Yes, we are bowing to peer pressure a little bit. However, as someone reminded me, it is a Constitutional right to bear arms. The rule at our house has become "Don't 'shoot' an 'unarmed' person."
3. I have really enjoyed seeing streams swell up in the desert this February (Isaiah 43:19). We had a very rainy month and the normally dry riverbeds not only have water running, but, in some places, rapids. Lake Pleasant's water level rose about 20 feet in two months.
4. Winter nights are chilly. The lows in Arizona winter this year were about the same as the highs of Chicago during the same time. There was one time I actually put on a light winter jacket to take Jacques for a walk at 5:30. Travertine tile is very cold in the winter, even in a mild winter. Most of my house is covered in tile.
5. Public pools are incredibly inexpensive here. Most of them are affiliated with the middle schools and cost less than $2 per adult and around $1 per child. Some of them even have slides and cute, little "lazy rivers." Compare that to the Grayslake Aquatic Center, which, a couple years ago, cost $8 for an adult and $6 per child. Of course, with the Arizona's budget woes, that could change...
6. I have seen few scorpions, thankfully, anywhere near our house, although I have heard tales of new subdivisions being inundated with scorpions because the construction destroys their natural home. Scorpions glow under black light.
7. Don't go outside after 9 a.m. in the summer unless you are getting into the pool. Once and only once, I took the kids on a 30 minute hike at Usery Mountain Park at 9. I suffered from heat exhaustion for the rest of the day, feeling sick to my stomach and slightly feverish. We all drank a lot of water, before, during and after the hike. I even bought us all Gatorade! Also, don't take a shopping cart from the cart corral outside in the summer. OUCH! BTW, leather car seats, which are SO nice in Chicago, are the equivalent of frying pans in Arizona summer. We used old t-shirts to shield us from the heat.
8. There are a lot of orange, grapefruit and lemon trees in the area. The smell of orange blossoms is even more intense than the smell of lilacs and is pervasive. They also give off a lot of pollen, as evidence by the film of dust on our table and pool.
9. Those clay roof tiles will not support weight at all, as Eric discovered when he tried to put Christmas lights on a part of the roof over the tile.
10. Driving around in the summer is wonderful, traffic-wise. There are a lot of highways around Phoenix and not a lot of cars. Just don't go out in the afternoon. However, it is less than wonderful during the months of January through March, when all of the snow birds are visiting. Most of them drive around like I did when I first arrived here and was trying to figure out the landmarks.
11. I love mountains, even the cute mountains around Phoenix.
12. There is a lot of animosity between Tuscon and Phoenix residents. Phoenix-area residents consider Tuscon to be a cow town populated with red-neck idiots who refuse to use grass seed. Tuscon consideres Phoenix people to be a bunch of greedy snobs who waste a lot of water on grass lawns in the desert and who take too much of the state's budget. I found this out when I complained to my grandma, who lives in Tuscon, about the lack of highways around Tuscon. Basically, if you want to visit someone on the east side of Tuscon, you have to travel 10 to 15 miles of city streets, which can take anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes depending on how many slow moving cars and traffic lights impede your progress. Her rather huffy response was that Phoenix sucked up most of the highway budget, which is most likely to be true since it has six major highways circling and shooting through the city and it's mega-suburbs.
13. Speaking of grass, there are two ways in which people water their lawns in a desert: the irrigation method and timed, small sprays. The irrigation method involves flooding the lawn every once in a while. Most of these lawns are set up in a bowl configuration, so that the water doesn't overflow into the street. We have the timed system where the water lines go underground and little watering heads pop up at a certain times of the day. One of the reasons we chose the house, aside from the pool and the "library" of eight bookshelves, was that it had just enough grass for our kids to play games without taking too much time to mow or too much money to water. Ironically enough, our kids are spending most of their time in the RV parking area which is dirt and stones, digging and finding rocks with which to make beautiful rock drawings. RV pads are also big in Phoenix.
14. Phoenix is 2 hours from a lot of beautiful places--Sedona, Prescott, Woods Canyon Lake. It is four hours away from the Grand Canyon, which we have not visited at this point, though I have visited it at least five times in my life.
15. I was reminded how close we were to Mexico (about five hours) when traveling south about three hours from Phoenix to the town of Tubac, which is a couple hours from the border. It is an artist colony that had a state park commemorating the ruins of a Spanish fort. The state park was in danger of being closed due to budget cuts. It also has two great restaurants nearby, Wisdom's and The Cow Palace, which we were unfortunately not able to visit when we visited the state park. On the way home, I was stopped by the border patrol to search for illegals. There is one road in Mesa where men congregate hoping someone will stop and give them work. I don't know if they are illegal immigrants or legal immigrants who have just moved. Illegal immigration is a VERY hot topic around here.
16. This is a pretty conservative state, even if a the Democratic Party had a fundraiser in my area. The current Republican governer, who inherited the job when Janet Napalitano became the head of Homeland Security, is making some REALLY difficult spending cuts. For example, any state park that is not making enough money to pay for itself is being shut down, unless someone is willing to pay money to keep it open. Part of the problem is that there is a law that says that if the people earmark money in a referendum, it must be used for that purpose, even if the purpose, like roads to take on urban traffic problems, is no longer an issue with the construction and tourist industry tanking. In some respects, this is a good law because it prevents law makers from doing to a fund what Congress has done to Social Security. However, to move funds where they are truly needed in reflection of current circumstances would require another referendum. One of their less spectacular ideas of reducing costs/bringing in money is to sell the state capital and rent it from the new owners. I ask you, who is REALLY in the market for a state capital building? Maybe the Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia? Bill Gates? Bono? I guess Republicans can come up with some bone-headed ideas, too ;-).
17. I have seen the most awsome sunrises and sunsets ever. It is probably due to all the dust in the air. The windows are open a lot these days and dust settles quickly in our house, on everything outside and on the cars as we travel. Washing the car is an exercise in futility.
18. We are living in a megopolis--about five huge cities surround Phoenix. The only two lane roads are found in neighborhoods. Otherwise, they are two lanes on both sides with a middle lane for turning. I have re-mastered the art of pulling out onto the middle lane when making a left turn and waiting for traffic to open up so that I can merge.
19. Downtown Phoenix is pretty unimpressive, in my humble opinion. When we went downtown in the winter to see a play, there were very few restaurants open after the play ended at ten. (yes, we were living on the wild side that night.) It seems as if nobody lives there, they just go to work. Downtown Scottsdale is much better. I haven't tried downtown Mesa, Gilbert or Tempe. The only other advantage that Phoenix has is that it is the state capital. I have never lived so close to a state capital before in my life.
20. We are surrounded by Indian reservations, which is rather interesting. They have markers on the roads telling you when you are entering their territory. If you commit a crime on their territory, you will be subject to their criminal system, not the governments, or so I am led to believe.
I think one of the many reasons God brought us to Arizona is so that I learn to rely on Him and only Him and to keep me from becoming too complacent in my relationships. In general, I do like living in Arizona because there are eight months of the year in which it is pleasant to be outside and I really enjoy the sun. I have been enjoying learning knew plants and animals and am interested in learning more about the state in the coming year. I hope to get to know my cousins better this year. God is good!
April 7, 2010
Arizona Anniversary, Part I
In seventeen days, we will have lived in Arizona for a year. There have been some great times and some really hard times. Holidays have been hard for me, especially Easter because it was the last time I saw my friends at my old church. However, I can't ignore the evidence that we are exactly where God has placed us and that He is providing for ALL our needs--emotional, spiritual, and physical, so I will praise Him for His wisdom even as I am still going through periods of grieving.
I still miss so many people in Illinois. I miss my old church, not because I don't like the new church I am attending but because we are in a different stage of relationship. My relationship with my old church, which had the motto "Come as you are", had reached the "husband" stage. If I was having a bad day and a friend asked me "How are you?" at church, I was completely comfortable to be honest, rather than putting on a "Joel Olsteen" smile and saying "oh fine, just wonderful. God has really blessed me this week." In fact, there were several weeks in the course of a year when I would arrive at church crying because either Eric had just left for another trip to China or because a child had spent the week waking up five times in the night or due to any number of emotional traumas. And they would not just say, "Oh, I'm sorry and I will pray for you" as they walked out the door." Most of the time, they would stop, listen to my sob story and actually pray for me on the spot! And I could do the same for them. Having only one service, there was no rush to get out the door to free up a parking space for the next group. The other reason this church was so special is that it was the first church I had attended where I felt safe enough to join it as a full fledged member. I was a member there for over ten years, which also qualifies it as the church in which I attended the most time, in fact, the only church where I attended for more than a year.
The church we are attending now has great worship, memorably good sermons (the key of a really good sermon is if you can remember it a month later), and friendly people. We are getting to know several of them much better through small group Bible study and other things. However, let's be honest, we are really in more of a "getting serious" stage at this point, when you start to let your guard down a little to see how the person will react. Will they still love me like Jesus if I come to church wailing like Jeremiah or fuming at my kids who have made us late for church AGAIN or will they figuratively freak out at the "wierdo" and stop returning my phone calls? So far, evidence shows that they can handle the emotional garbage I bring to church and small group. One time, God's Spirit literally led me to tears within a few bars of the opening song. Right after I had wiped my eyes, they asked people to shake hands with someone near you. I know I must have looked a mess, even with the dim lights, and I nervously refrained from shaking hands. One lady leaned over and told me that it was okay to cry during worship because she does too. I felt safe. And church should be the place in which you feel safest, aside from your home.
More on my first year in Arizona will be forthcoming.
I still miss so many people in Illinois. I miss my old church, not because I don't like the new church I am attending but because we are in a different stage of relationship. My relationship with my old church, which had the motto "Come as you are", had reached the "husband" stage. If I was having a bad day and a friend asked me "How are you?" at church, I was completely comfortable to be honest, rather than putting on a "Joel Olsteen" smile and saying "oh fine, just wonderful. God has really blessed me this week." In fact, there were several weeks in the course of a year when I would arrive at church crying because either Eric had just left for another trip to China or because a child had spent the week waking up five times in the night or due to any number of emotional traumas. And they would not just say, "Oh, I'm sorry and I will pray for you" as they walked out the door." Most of the time, they would stop, listen to my sob story and actually pray for me on the spot! And I could do the same for them. Having only one service, there was no rush to get out the door to free up a parking space for the next group. The other reason this church was so special is that it was the first church I had attended where I felt safe enough to join it as a full fledged member. I was a member there for over ten years, which also qualifies it as the church in which I attended the most time, in fact, the only church where I attended for more than a year.
The church we are attending now has great worship, memorably good sermons (the key of a really good sermon is if you can remember it a month later), and friendly people. We are getting to know several of them much better through small group Bible study and other things. However, let's be honest, we are really in more of a "getting serious" stage at this point, when you start to let your guard down a little to see how the person will react. Will they still love me like Jesus if I come to church wailing like Jeremiah or fuming at my kids who have made us late for church AGAIN or will they figuratively freak out at the "wierdo" and stop returning my phone calls? So far, evidence shows that they can handle the emotional garbage I bring to church and small group. One time, God's Spirit literally led me to tears within a few bars of the opening song. Right after I had wiped my eyes, they asked people to shake hands with someone near you. I know I must have looked a mess, even with the dim lights, and I nervously refrained from shaking hands. One lady leaned over and told me that it was okay to cry during worship because she does too. I felt safe. And church should be the place in which you feel safest, aside from your home.
More on my first year in Arizona will be forthcoming.
March 29, 2010
Family tidbits
Kyle and Elizabeth are playing Monopoly with grace and charity. Elizabeth lended freely from the riches of her fortune when Kyle worked himself into debt by landing on her hotel filled Park Place so that the game could continue. However, she is not gracious enough to "let" him win. Does that count as playing for the love of the game?
John has decided to continue taking gymnastics until he can knock down doors. (?) I am wondering if we should have him try karate instead. He went on his first ride on the trail-a-bike a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Kyle is riding his bike well, too. He also started taking art with the older kids, since he does really enjoy drawing and it is recognizable.
We are starting to take family rides more now that three kids can ride around. Last week, we took a short ride around the neighborhood to teach Kyle the rules of the road and get me comfortable with riding with three unattached kids. I think we will stay on neighborhood roads for a while.
Jessi did an amazing job in her piano recital, making "The Can Can" really dance. She is improving in gymnastics and met national fitness standards in everything but running. She is currently pretending to go on dates, which is concerning me. I asked her once what she thought people do on dates. She said, "Go to dinner and talk about stuff like sex." As I felt a heart attack starting, I, somehow, calmly asked her, "What do you think sex is?" to which she replied "I have no idea." I think/hope/pray that "sex" is a word she has heard somewhere and is just parroting it, like two year olds do. Maybe I had better remind Elizabeth that our little "talk" is really not to be shared in any way shape or form. Maybe Eric needs to take her out on a date. Soon.
Elizabeth has survived oral surgery, followed soon after by braces. She had six teeth removed during oral surgery with one being fused to the bone. She went about four weeks eating soft foods. Another tooth was lost this week which, thankfully, did not have a bracket on it because it was already loose. Yes, she still can chew, but she needs to be creative sometimes. She met national fitness standards in everything but flexibility (0.5 inches short of the goal). She also participated in the recital, playing "Ode to Joy" on her guitar very nicely.
We attended our first Cubs pre-season game at Hohokoam Park, which is less than five miles away. It was a lot of fun, although I had to give a guy "the look" when he started dropping "f" bombs right and left. I didn't want to call the kid's attention to him. They seemed oblivious. It was fun sitting on the grass for several hours watching a pitching duel in between getting food and drinks.
I attended my first "Ladies Movie Night" last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed "Julie & Julia", good food, and female conversation uninterrupted by kids. It was also great to see a movie with married couples working through problems, encouraging each other, and enjoying each other in every way ;-). I especially liked how they handled one line that I thougt was especially corny. Julie makes a comment near the end about Julia Child "saving" her, to which her very wise husband says, "Now don't get ridiculous."
Eric is still enjoying bicycling into work, although his "usual route" is partially underwater thanks to all the rain we have been receiving. He has an alternative route which takes him through the Indian reservation.
The weather has been beautiful and we are getting very tan. We are seeing lots of water in riverbeds for the first time. Flowers are blooming everywhere and I have realized that the smell of orange blossoms is almost overpowering, though it might be because the neighbor behind us has about ten of them in his yard. It is not a good time to be visiting if you have allergies. The pool is too cold for swimming at this time, though by the end of the month, it should be fine.
Last night, at art class, the three oldest kids had made play cell phones with internet connection and portable computers that would make future "iPad" owners jealous. They were really blocks of wood attached with hot glue gun and marked properly with marker. On the way home, Jessica notifies Elizabeth that she is "calling" her cell phone. Elizabeth starts singing part of a Francesca Battistelli song before "answering it" (think ringtones). Then they start file sharing different movies they have "watched" and enjoy: "Attack of the Killer Toothpaste", "Attack of the Killer Cheesecake" (which Kyle informed me was a tragedy because all the good guys die at the end), "Attack of the Killer Cheese Curls", "The Incredibles, 2" and "Much Ado About Nothing, 2". Do you know how hard it is to drive while trying NOT to laugh because you are afraid you will hurt their feelings OR cause them to work harder at being funny?
Happy Easter, everyone. We miss you!
John has decided to continue taking gymnastics until he can knock down doors. (?) I am wondering if we should have him try karate instead. He went on his first ride on the trail-a-bike a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Kyle is riding his bike well, too. He also started taking art with the older kids, since he does really enjoy drawing and it is recognizable.
We are starting to take family rides more now that three kids can ride around. Last week, we took a short ride around the neighborhood to teach Kyle the rules of the road and get me comfortable with riding with three unattached kids. I think we will stay on neighborhood roads for a while.
Jessi did an amazing job in her piano recital, making "The Can Can" really dance. She is improving in gymnastics and met national fitness standards in everything but running. She is currently pretending to go on dates, which is concerning me. I asked her once what she thought people do on dates. She said, "Go to dinner and talk about stuff like sex." As I felt a heart attack starting, I, somehow, calmly asked her, "What do you think sex is?" to which she replied "I have no idea." I think/hope/pray that "sex" is a word she has heard somewhere and is just parroting it, like two year olds do. Maybe I had better remind Elizabeth that our little "talk" is really not to be shared in any way shape or form. Maybe Eric needs to take her out on a date. Soon.
Elizabeth has survived oral surgery, followed soon after by braces. She had six teeth removed during oral surgery with one being fused to the bone. She went about four weeks eating soft foods. Another tooth was lost this week which, thankfully, did not have a bracket on it because it was already loose. Yes, she still can chew, but she needs to be creative sometimes. She met national fitness standards in everything but flexibility (0.5 inches short of the goal). She also participated in the recital, playing "Ode to Joy" on her guitar very nicely.
We attended our first Cubs pre-season game at Hohokoam Park, which is less than five miles away. It was a lot of fun, although I had to give a guy "the look" when he started dropping "f" bombs right and left. I didn't want to call the kid's attention to him. They seemed oblivious. It was fun sitting on the grass for several hours watching a pitching duel in between getting food and drinks.
I attended my first "Ladies Movie Night" last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed "Julie & Julia", good food, and female conversation uninterrupted by kids. It was also great to see a movie with married couples working through problems, encouraging each other, and enjoying each other in every way ;-). I especially liked how they handled one line that I thougt was especially corny. Julie makes a comment near the end about Julia Child "saving" her, to which her very wise husband says, "Now don't get ridiculous."
Eric is still enjoying bicycling into work, although his "usual route" is partially underwater thanks to all the rain we have been receiving. He has an alternative route which takes him through the Indian reservation.
The weather has been beautiful and we are getting very tan. We are seeing lots of water in riverbeds for the first time. Flowers are blooming everywhere and I have realized that the smell of orange blossoms is almost overpowering, though it might be because the neighbor behind us has about ten of them in his yard. It is not a good time to be visiting if you have allergies. The pool is too cold for swimming at this time, though by the end of the month, it should be fine.
Last night, at art class, the three oldest kids had made play cell phones with internet connection and portable computers that would make future "iPad" owners jealous. They were really blocks of wood attached with hot glue gun and marked properly with marker. On the way home, Jessica notifies Elizabeth that she is "calling" her cell phone. Elizabeth starts singing part of a Francesca Battistelli song before "answering it" (think ringtones). Then they start file sharing different movies they have "watched" and enjoy: "Attack of the Killer Toothpaste", "Attack of the Killer Cheesecake" (which Kyle informed me was a tragedy because all the good guys die at the end), "Attack of the Killer Cheese Curls", "The Incredibles, 2" and "Much Ado About Nothing, 2". Do you know how hard it is to drive while trying NOT to laugh because you are afraid you will hurt their feelings OR cause them to work harder at being funny?
Happy Easter, everyone. We miss you!
March 7, 2010
What is your picture of Jesus?
When you think of Jesus, does your mental picture look like this? Do you picture Jesus as a meek, mild, good shephard who gently knocks at the door of your heart asking if you would let Him in?
Or do you picture him like this--the One who kicks down the door to your heart, ripping out your heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh and giving you His Spirit as Ezekiel 36:26-27 describes it. That was the question presented during a recent sermon. The sermon centered around Ephesians 2:1-10, which starts out saying that we are dead--not mostly dead, not almost dead, but completely, totally, undeniably dead in our sins. Since Jesus knows we are dead, would he politely knock on the door and actually expect a dead person to be able to answer it? C. S. Lewis, in his autobiography, Surprised by Joy, basically claims that he was dragged, kicking and screaming into faith. I don't think Paul, the only apostle who saw the Resurrected Jesus after he had returned to heaven, was a willing follower either, considering that he was on his way to Damascus with the sole intent of persecuting all followers of Jesus Christ. By the way, Paul was the one who wrote the book of Ephesians, for those of you who don't know.
The discussion, both in our small group and in the sermons has been focusing a lot on a big word--predistination. It is a concept that is distasteful to a lot of people, because it states that God chooses who will follow Him and we don't have much of a say in the matter. It digs against our concept of free will. It has definitely challenged my picture of God and Jesus. I knew Jesus wasn't necessarily meek and mild because he was definitely in the face of the Pharisees and challenging them. My favorite dialogue is found in John 8:31-58, which I nickname, the "Whose Your Daddy?" argument. I also believe that God is sovereign, which means He rules over the earth and everything in it. However, I guess I confess that my view of God, based on how I act sometimes, is that he is mostly sovereign, not totally sovereign, as the Bible says in many, so many places it would be difficult to come up with a limited list. The real head banger question is how He allows free will and yet remain sovereign. To me, those two things seem to be mutually exclusive, and yet, if God can create everything we see out of nothing and make it so incredibly complicated that the most brilliant scientists are still confused, if He can somehow be one God in three persons without contradictions, then he can make opposites work in harmony. I think that is where faith really comes in. And I think God wants me to take my faith and "kick it up a notch".
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
---Isaiah 55:8,9
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
---Hebrews 11:1
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