I Never Finish Anyth

I saw this on Pinterest:

Do you ever feel like that?  I do.  Often.  Do you ever get sick of feeling that way?  I do.  Often!

I have been overweight for almost nine years.  This is not my first attempt at losing weight and it makes me think, "I never finish anything!"

I've had successful moments before.  Over a year ago I lost 15 pounds.  But then I started gaining it back around the time Ethan graduated and was looking for work.  And not finding work.  The longer we went without work, the more I gained.  I gained twice what I had previously lost.  Clearly I am a stress eater.

In the past, anytime I would start to think about losing weight I would get nervous and even scared.  Why?  Because of that nasty "I never finish anything" attitude.  I even felt it when I started my most recent weight-loss journey last summer.  But I don't feel it any more.

What's different this time?

I think the biggest difference now, is that I am no longer afraid to make the sacrifices required to achieve the results I want.  I can do it now.  Yes, I still stumble.  I still make mistakes.  But that reminds me of another reason it's different this time:

This time, I recognize it is a journey, not a destination.  It is a way of life, not brief experience.

Mistakes happen, but that doesn't mean you give up.  You don't have to start over, just keep going.

I'm looking to make a life change, not just "diet" or only exercise until I reach my weigh-loss goal.  Despite the hiccups, I'm never starting again, because I'm never going to stop again.  This is it.

Getting fit may take me a while but that doesn't scare me, because I know that this time is different.  This time is for real.  This time I mean it.

I also saw this on Pinterest:

By the way, I've lost 12 pounds.

Eagle Fern Park

We were able to get out and about this last weekend.  We made our way to Eagle Fern Park where we walked over a suspension bridge, dipped our toes into the very cold Eagle Creek, tried our hand at trapping crayfish, and had a great time.

The kids loved feeling the bridge bounce as they went across.

Eagle Creek

Throwing rocks in the water - a favorite pass time.

We enjoyed walking through the beautiful forest.

Oregon countryside.

We are new to crawdad trapping and weren't having any luck.  Someone we bumped into on the trail suggested we head over to the Clackamas River, which we did.  It was getting late so we only left the trap in for 30 minutes.  We caught one little crawdad.  The kids were ecstatic.  Here's a picture of our small haul:

We've since learned that the best way to catch them is to leave the trap out over night.  Apparently those little crawdads tend to be more active during that time.  I guess that means we'll have to go camping to try again!

He Is Risen

Happy Easter

Teaching Light and Truth

Our camera is broken.  I apologize for the lack of cute-faced children on my recent posts.  Hopefully we can get a new one soon.

In the meantime, I thought I'd entertain you by posting pictures of the kids sleeping in funny ways that Ethan and I have taken over the last year.

And writing on a topic completely unrelated to children sleeping in funny ways.

1. Sleeping in a shelf in the closet.

I was reading in section 93 of the Doctrine and Covenants the other day.  A couple of verses stuck out to me.

2. Sleeping with your lovey on your face.

Verse 40: "But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth."
Verse 53: "And, verily I say unto you, that it is my will that you should hasten to translate my scriptures, and to obtain a knowledge of history, and of countries, and of kingdoms, of laws of God and man, and all this for the salvation of Zion. Amen."

3. Sleeping in a laundry basket on a chair.

 These verses got me thinking about our homeschool and what kind of things I'm teaching.  It's always good to reevaluate and refocus on the priorities and what exactly those priorities are.

4. Sleeping like you're maxin' and relaxin'.

Hear is a list of priorities I came up with in that moment, and I realize some of them run together.  It's a list in progress:

• Teach my children light and truth.
• Teach them the gospel principles.
• Help them obtain a knowledge of history and countries.
• Teach them to understand the laws of God and man.
• Teach them to understand the Constitution of the United States.

5. Sleeping on a computer chair.

I have some idea of how to implement these priorities in our daily homeschool, but I know I have some readers that homeschool and I want to know what they do to teach these things.

6. Sleeping with a book in your hand.

So hear is my question for you, my wonderful readers, whether you homeschool or not:  What topics are priorities to you in teaching your children and how do you teach them?

7. Sleeping with a book on your face.

I particularly want you to think about the scripture that says to teach them "light and truth".  What does that mean and how would you teach it?

I don't care if the answers are long.  In fact, I hope they are.

Time to Get Fit

It's time to get fit.  It just is.  Do you ever get to a point in your life when it's like, you know what?  I'm ready.  Let's do this.  That's kind of how I feel right now.

I've got about 50 pounds to lose and I'm finally ready to do the work required to get it done.

I've read that a person is more likely to reach their goals if they tell people about them.  I really want to achieve this goal so I am telling you right now, I'm working to lose weight and I'll be posting about it from time to time.

I saw this online and it's stuck with me:

It will take me a while to reach my goal, but that's okay, because time will pass anyway.  I might as well dictate HOW.

More on this another day.

Don't Ever Be Afraid

I had a weird insight the other night . . . in the middle of the night.  It was one of those unexpected times to receive inspiration.  One of the kids woke me up, I was groggy, barely standing straight, let alone thinking straight.

But before I tell you about it . . .

Do you ever have those moments when it's hard to pray because you are, well, I guess afraid to?  It could be because you didn't do something you were supposed to.  Or it could be because you made a huge mistake.  Or maybe you have a question, but you're afraid of the answer.  Or maybe it could just be because you feel frustrated and ashamed from making the same dumb mistakes over and over again.  This last one is me.  I feel that way often.  I worry that Heavenly Father gets tired of hearing the same things over and over again, "Sorry I didn't do better today.  Please help me do better tomorrow."  It makes it hard to want to pray.  

I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way sometimes.

Back to the story.  One of the kids has a hard time waking up to go to the bathroom so we often times have to deal with that during the night.  This particular night this child seemed like they were trying to take care of it themselves.  Luckily, I'm a pretty light sleeper and realized something was up.  While I was helping them clean up, I sensed the child's reluctance to come to me for help and I hugged them and whispered, 

"You don't ever have to be afraid to come to me."  

And immediately, during the middle of a random night, through clouds of sleepy grogginess, I felt that zap of clarity, that those words came from my Father and that they were true.

Painting "Lost Lamb" by Del Parson

So I try to remember that when I feel ashamed or unworthy of prayer.  I don't know if that's helpful to anyone out there, I hope maybe it can be.  But mostly I write it for me, so I don't forget I don't ever have to be afraid. 

Slightly Less Stressed

Wow!  You guys are good!  I mentioned that maybe you could pray that our house will sell quickly and we were under contract within the next few days.  Hopefully that will go through without a hitch.  I know that it's common for contracts to fall through.  It would be nice to have that off our plates.

So thank you for thinking of us.  I know we've had many prayers sent in our direction.  Besides the house, we've had a few other things fall into place as well.  So, again, thanks for praying for us.

I'm feeling blessed.

Here's a picture of Libby enjoying the heating vent.  We didn't have these at our old house (we had hot water heat) and the kids are just discovering how fun it is to lay on them when the heat is blowing out.  On a cool morning, which we really haven't had too many, you can find the kids spread out in the house, each on a different vent.  It makes me laugh because I did the same thing when I was a kid.