A Retraction of Sorts....

Previously, I mentioned that I was totally frustrated with the tortured interpretations of two studies in which I was participating. First - I want to say, as I mentioned last week, that both studies DO have good points. Both studies HAVE encouraged me to walk closer to Jesus.

Now - here's the retraction. In my entry I may have given you the impression that I think that we can't "know" what is doctrinally correct. That was NOT my intention. I believe there are things we can KNOW. I also believe that it is possible for us to THINK we know more than we do. {g}

ALL Scripture is inspired by God. What bothers me is when we so desperately want things in neat little boxes that we are willing to overlook the Scriptures that weaken our stance or that explain why others have a different stance. As I've learned to study the Word inductively, there have been several areas where I've had to say, "Hmm.....there are solid arguments on both side of this fence". At that piont, I think we need to hold these things in balance and let God reveal to us in His time how it fits....and those are the things that I think we may not understand until we get HIS perspective on how all the pieces of the puzzle fit.

I do believe we can know truth. I do believe that there are rights and wrongs. I just am heart broken because I know so many who have been totally turned off and pushed away from CHRIST because Christians had made their CONVICTIONS more a litmus for fellowship than a belief in Christ. I know folks who were pushed away from God because Christians communicate "if you want to be a Christian you'll have to do x, y, z" (vote a certain way, educate a certain way, treat animals a certain way, parent a certain way, eat a certain way, dress a certain way, wear your hair a certain way, have a certain number of children.....and the list goes on and on). I've had friends say "If I have to do x, y or z to be a Christian - I don't want to be a Christian". This saddens me. Jesus ate with sinners. Jesus partied with sinners. Jesus loved sinners. Jesus condemned the pharisees and partied with the sinners. We condemn the sinners and party with the pharisees. Yes...Jesus spoke truth but He did it with grace. We give the impression that a person must get all gussied up before they can attempt to know Christ....and that saddens me greatly.

I have STRONGLY held CONVICTIONS. I share them when asked. My life speaks of my convictions without me ever opening my mouth. I simply don't want my convictions to make others think they have to look just like me to be a Christian....because looking like me was NOT the goal of Christ coming to earth as a man and giving His life for my salvation.

Hope that helps to clear up any misconceptions.

Golden Guides - Birds

We ordered several of these little guides, published by St. Martins Press, last week from Home Science Tools/Home Training Tools. I am so pleased with them.

They are smaller than Audubon. However - they have been perfect for our limited use. They have bright pictures, maps and a bit of a blurb to go with each picture.

So far we've identified not only the Red Cardinal, Doves and Grackles....but an Eastern Bluebird, a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, and a Northern Mockingbird in our yard. The maps are showing us that birds from most any region tend to end up in this part of TX during some part of the year. We also are in the "overlapping section" of the Western/Eastern birds...no wonder the air is ALIVE with bird calls around here.

We also got these guides for insects, moths/butterflies, and wildflowers. Though these guides are not as thorough as Audabon they are perfect for lower grammar students....and really we find we are ALL grabbing them first.

*8 Minutes in the Morning* by Jorge Cruise

I first heard about this book on SHS - and I was skeptical. {g} I tend to avoid "fad diets", "fad workout programs" (and "fad curriculums", "fad parenting books" for that matter).

I kept hearing about the book and so I put it on my PaperBack Swap wish list. I got it months ago and Jamin read it. {bg} I finally read it a few weeks ago.

The basic premise of the book is that the most effecitve way to lose weight is to add some strength training to your routine. This builds muscle. Muscle burns energy and speeds up your metablolism. Jorge gives you two moves to do for 6 mornings of the week. The warm up, moves and then warm downs take 8 minutes. He insists you do it in the a.m. as the "evidence" shows that this sort of weight thing will raise your metabolism for 15 hours...you get the benefit throughout the day. Each day has you working on 2 different body parts. I like having different moves the same area...in other words there are 3 or 4 moves for abdominals and not JUST CRUNCHES. I can't remember if I shared Tuesday's revelation. When told to lift until my shoulder blades were off the floor,I decided my problem is NOT weak abs but abnormally long shoulder blades. That's the gist of the weight things. He does have a section on power walking but I've not done that because I'm riding my bike instead.

There is also a section on food. He had a lot of good information on Omegas. He tells you to eat the Omega oils (Olive, flax, safflower) with each meal....We did add that because we read that info elsewhere too. He says to eat only ONE fruit a day - I think that's hoey. He says you must eat three meals a day - I also think that is hoey. He allows for a lot of foods that we no longer eat (pork, crab, shrimp). Really, I decided that my focus is on health and that I like the changes we made in our diet. I also decided there was no reason to throw out my thin within principles...so I didn't. I didn't follow the food portion of the program.

You are guaranteed to loose 2 lbs a week if you follow the program. I only added the moves in and kept eating the way I do and fasting the way I do (totally seperate from weight loss but connected with eating patterns). The only big change I see is the moves. I lost 3 lbs the first week. I lost 1 lb last week. Today I tried to order a swim suit from Lands End (another story) and so had to measure myself. I remembered that I was supposed to be measuring and weighing each week and hadn't. I compared.... Here's my stats...and the men can just skip right on to the next entry. BTW I've considered starting another blog for posts on healthy eating and weight/exercise like Kelly and Jen...but shoot...I don't think I have time. There's are SOOOO cute...I'm tempted. I decided for the time being ya'all can just delete entries on organic food, exercise etc if you don't want to read them. LOL

2 weeks:

down 4 lbs, lost .5" in bust (NOT needed nor tried for LOL); lost 1.25 in wasit; lost .5 in thing, lost .25 in calf and lost TWO inches in the hips.....it's a start.

Arielle's Mr Gatti Party

Ater re-scheduling three times we finally had a party! {G} It really did turn out to be a blessing that it was in the evening. It was much more fun to have entire families attend. Unfortunately, there was also a daycare and several baseball teams celebrating at Mr. Gatti's last night - so it was busy! Very busy! I get overwhelmed with the noise and such in the game room.

The party was all that Arielle had hoped for. Below are a few pictures.

It's hard to believe that Arielle is 9 years old. Life has sure changed for us a LOT since her birth. I was pregnant with her when Mike went into the Air Force chaplaincy. Since then we moved from a small town in Montana to Great Falls, MT, San Antonio, TX, Anchorage, AK, and now back in TX. My dear Uncle died on the day that Arielle was born. That always leads to thoughts of Uncle Bill and Grams on her birthday. Those thoughts are becoming sweeter with each year and less of the bitter/sweet thing.

The Queen

Cy & Stacia

Finally - Bumper Cars!

Some Pictures from Arielle's home party.....

Yes, the pig hat is still doing it's duty. It is getting a bit worn. I need to start looking for a new one.


Mike and I gave Arielle a card that said "Good for lunch and your choice of a bike or sewing machine". The problem is that I wrote in cursive and she couldn't make it all out. We waited as she worked it all through...."good for a bike or a swing machine?" She is still deciding which she wants. We'll see. I bet lunch will be Burger King fries or Mr. Gatti's pizza.

Zander passed out gifts all night. He did well at staying out of her gifts - though the excitement of giving her the "dinosaur game" nearly killed him. Finally he nabbed the hat...

QUICK A.M. thoughts...

Pictures from Arielle's party are uploading to the hard drive now. I'll try to find time today to put some here.

Jen - We bought her Zoo Tycoon - complete edition. It has the original Zoo tycoon and dinosaur digs and marine mania add ons. I think they are really going to like it. When Stacia was born "she" gave Jared "Roller Coaster Tycoon" and they really like that one.

I came to the horrific realization that Jamin and Mike almost RUN as fast as I bike ride. ARGH. Of course...my goal here is distance and not speed as I'm trying to get to 500 miles and earn my elliptical machine...but I'm trying to figure out how to pick up speed and keep the distance.

Yesterday is a blur. It began when Mike woke up and realized he couldn't find his wallet. This meant a couple of unplanned trips to base for me. The wallet is safe and sound. We did get quite a bit of school done. We are valiantly trying to finish up TOG this week (3 weeks ahead of schedule) so that we can go to summer schedule with everyone else.

Arielle's party was a lot of fun. Since it was moved to the dinner hour we ended up with whole families attending (Dads and all) and so it was a great time of fellowship for our entire family.

Late last night I booked the tickets for our sons and Porshe to fly to Anchorage for the missions trip with Elmendorf's Club Beyond. They are very excited. We ended up using our free miles for one ticket. We bought one ticket and had a $50 companion ticket that we used to buy the 3rd ticket. This means that instead of $3K for all three tickets it cost $960. Porshe and Jamin will split the cost of the tickets we bought bringing the amount they need for airfare to $480 each instead of $1K each. Jamin continues to mow lawns like a maniac and is so realieved that now he needs to make $900 instead of $1500. Josiah was relieved that his entire car fund hasn't been wiped out. {G} You know, typing this out makes me realize that the boys should probably SPLIT the cost of that one ticket instead of Cy getting a free ticket while Jamin pays for the other ticket.....Jamin is about to get even happier. He has two more jobs lined up and he hits the pavement every afternoon looking for more. I think folks feel so bad for the poor young man with the camelback of water, pushing a mower in 100* heat...that they say "Ok - MOW my yard!" {G}

Today will be full....we must keep pushing if we hope to finish TOG this week. We have speech and probably an hour at the park with "our other brothers".