Brainstorming a Scripture calendar

January...making all things new
February...Joel 2
March...Luke 24
April...Deuteronomy 32:2-3
May...Song of Solomon 2:11-12
June...
July...
August...
September...
October...
November...
December...Luke 2

Words that keep coming back

2014: mercy
2015: kindness, patience (just wait)

Beyond The Wilds

From the Silo book series by Hugh Howey....isn't Beyond the Wilds a great name for a place to call home?

I'm going through notes on my phone and publishing the ones I want to remember, if you're just tuning in. Of course I will email myself the ones I want to remember yet also keep private. Even if there is just a very small readership of this blog, I would like to keep the lists of passwords, library card numbers, and 20+ favorite baby names to myself, thank you very much! ;)

Book titles that have been recommended, an ongoing list

I add to and subtract from this list frequently.

Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible, E. Randolph Richards & Brandon J. O'Brien

World War Z (zee)

The Gospel and the Catholic Church, Michael Ramsey

David Bentley Hart's Beauty of the Infinite

Christ in the chaos, by Kim Crandall 

Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community, by Wendell Berry

The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer

Crossing the Tiber, by Stephen Ray 

Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life, Nouwen

Angry conversations with God, Isaacs

This list: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march/my-top-5-books-on-creativity.html

The New Monasticism by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

The true story of hansel and gretel: a novel of war and survival

Supper of the Lamb, Fr Robert Capon

Urban Sprawl and Public Health: Designing, Planning, and Building for Healthy Communities by Howard Frumkin

The Art of Neighboring: Building Genuine Relationships Right Outside our Door 

Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion, & Truth in the Immigration Debate

The Rag and bone shop

The Circle by Dave Eggers

Tattoos on the Heart", by Father Greg Boyle

City of God: Faith in the streets, Sara Miles

When helping hurts

Gary Haugen's #LocustEffect 

Luther's A Simple Way To Pray

Kisses from Katie

A Soldier of the Great War

Saving the appearances: a study in idolatry, by Owen barfield.

24/6, by Matthew Sleeth

R.U.R, by Karel Capek

Evangelical vs liturgical? Defying a dichotomy 

Christopher J.H. Wright’s The Mission of God’s People

Words of Life, by Timothy Ward

Etched in Sand (memoir)

Forgive Us, Rah (and others)

Megan McArdle, The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well Is the Key to Success (Viking, 2014)

The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien

​The Complete Stories, Flanner O’Connor

Gilead, Marilynne Robinson

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou

The Chosen, Chaim Potok

Absalom, Absalom, William Faulkner

The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne

True Paradox, David Skeel

Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus, by John Pattison and C. Christopher Smith

All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr

The Adventures of Augie March is a 1953 novel by Nobel winner Saul Bellow.

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/books/12-books-were-excited-about-year

Robert Sokolowski's *The God of Faith and Reason* 

I'll give you the sun, by Jandy Nelson

Home Economics, Wendell Berry

The creativity cure: building happiness with your own two hands, brown

The Magicians, Grossman

Alan Turing The Enigma, by Andrew Hodges

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

The Fisherman, by Chigozie Obioma

What are people for? By Wendell Berry 

Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission, by David J Bosch

Announcing the Kingdom: The Story of God's Mission in the Bible, by Charles E. Van Engen

Understanding Folk Religion: A Christian Response to Popular Beliefs and Practices, by Paul G. Hiebert

Partners in Marriage and Ministry, by Ron Pierce

A moveable feast: worship for the other six days, by Terry Timm

Fully Engaged: Missional Church in an Anabaptist Voice, edited by Stanley W. Green and James R. Krabill

Snow flower and the secret fan

Malestrom, by Carolyn Custis James

Finding Livelihood: A progress of work and leisure, by Nancy Nordenson

Unapologetic: why, despite everything, Christianity can make surprising emotional sense, by Francis Spufford

Charles Martin water from my heart

Sky Lantern, by Matt Mikolatos

Accidental Saints, by Nadia Bolz-Weber

Rebecca West's Black Lamb and Grey Falcon

The Brain: The Story of You by David Eagleman.

The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country, by Helen Russell

The book of forgiving: the fourfold pattern for healing ourselves and our world, by Desmond Tutu and Mpho Tutu

Christmas Present Ideas

I have a ton of notes I keep on my phone. Mostly ideas or things I would like to remember. I am trying to clear off as much of my phone as possible, to see if it will run less like a 90-year-old. It's nearly 4 years old, which is about 90 in phone years, so this is to be expected. Anyway, many of the notes could just be deleted...but some I would like to remember. So expect an increase in posts in the next coupla days. Probably.

For example, this. Here are some family Christmas present tradition ideas. We did this last Christmas, and I hope to continue the tradition. I am on an anti-too-much-stuff kick, so having categories keeps gift-giving meaningful, yet under control.

Each kid has their presents wrapped in their own different wrapping paper; in order to find out which presents are theirs, they will find a small stocking stuffer wrapped in their paper in their stocking.

Each person gets a present that is or represents:
an indoor activity (puzzles, books, games, tickets to an indoor experience, etc)
an outdoor activity (bikes, sleds, sporting/camping equipment, tickets to an outdoor experience, etc)
a delightful surprise (just how it sounds)
Stocking stuffer (something small in size...and a clementine...and other treats)
and of course, Christmas Eve jammies!

Do you have any Christmas present traditions in your family?

Writer's Block

Currently evaluating my social media and internet usage and what I would like this blog to be, if anything. I'm having a bit of a social media existential crisis, which I have every so often, but I feel as though this one might be a little more defining in that I am making decisions and simplifying. Asking the questions of why I use a particular social media outlet, who I want my audience to be, and what I want to and should or shouldn't share (and why). All very philosophical.

Anyway. Sorry I haven't written here in a very long while. This has been my worst blog ever, though I believe it still has the potential to become my best. I just need to evaluate and articulate (for myself) who I am writing for, and why.

Cheers!

Weight Loss Challenge

Oh, hi!

Sorry dear blog reader. I have not had a lot of time to sit down and write out my thoughts. Apparently for months! Oops.

This past February, Steve and I started our Healthy Wage challenges. I was going to lose my pregnancy weight by A's first birthday (so I was going to lose 24 pounds in 9 months) and Steve was going to get down to below 200 pounds by the following February. Steve is still working on his challenge (and is doing great so far), but I have completed mine! Wahoo!! I have an extra $1141 in the bank as a result. This is the real deal!

On the left: a still from my first weigh-in in February
On the right: a still from my final weigh-in on November 1
I'm probably not really more tan now, just lighting.

And since I'm a successful Healthy Wage Challenge participant, I get to be an affiliate for them (meaning, if I inspire you to start your own challenge and you click on any of my Heathy Wage Links to start your own challenge, I get a little extra referral money to go toward paying my bills). Don't worry. This blog isn't going to turn into an ALL HEALTHY WAGE ALL THE TIME blog. Or an anything all the time blog for that matter. And I don't want you to feel any pressure. But If you were going to do a challenge anyway, why not go through my link and help a girl out?

Here's how it works. You determine how much weight you want to lose, and in how much time you want to do it in. Then you pick an amount you would like to invest in yourself each month. 

So for me, I said I would lose 24 pounds in 9 months, and that I would put in $100 a month. If I lost all the weight I said I would by the end of 9 months, I would get my $900 back, plus some prize money ($241 in my case, for a grand total of $1141). If I did not lose the weight, then I would not only NOT get a prize, but I would also be OUT the $900 I had invested in myself. 

I say invested instead of wager, because that feels like a more accurate description to me. Wagering to me seems like you are taking a risk on something that you really have no control of the outcome, whereas if you are investing in something, you are still taking a risk, but there is a certain amount of care involved...a connection to what you are investing in. 

Anyway, whatever you call it, there is a monetary risk involved, and for me it served as a great motivator. We can't really afford to lose $900, so if I had the choice to eat crappy food or get my $900 back, I almost always chose to try to earn my money back.

The more challenging your weight-loss goal, the more risk involved, the higher your return will be (the bigger your prize). They don't care how you lose your weight (so if you are doing some kind of program....Weight Watchers, 21 Day Fix, etc -- great, or if you are just doing your own thing, great too), but you have to unofficially weigh in once a week to show that you are losing it in a healthy way. Whoa, whoa, whoa I'm getting ahead of myself.

So first you set your goal, you say what you will lose and how long it will take and what you will invest (I think you have the option to pay it in all at once, or to pay it in monthly installments). 

Then you have to get your weight verified. There are a couple ways to do this (which are on the Healthy Wage site); we chose to take a weight-verification video. So you basically take a video of yourself stepping onto a scale with a newspaper next to it showing today's date. Easy-peasy.

Then it's up to you to meet your goal! You need to check in with your weight once a week (hint: set a reminder on your phone), but other than that your job is to figure out how to lose the pounds. You may do your final weigh-in video any time within a two-week window of your goal date. So I said I would lose my weight by November 12, and I did a weigh-in video right away at the beginning of the month.

How did I do it? No specific program really. I am an avid breastfeeder, and that is a way that has worked for me to shed pregnancy weight (but I know that that does not work so well for all moms). I try to stay away from high fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated oils (lots of label-reading)...try to eat real, unprocessed food, more fruits and veggies, smaller portions, protein for breakfast, I don't drink a lot calories (but lots of water), walk when possible, try not to eat a ton of sugar, snack on nuts and seeds, and not too hard on myself when I treat myself. We did the Daniel plan detox for ten days, and that helped shed lots of inches, but I didn't stick with it once ten days was up.
So a little of all of that! Being Steve is also doing a challenge, it helps that we are in this together. We can encourage each other and are not alone in our decision to make healthy choices. 

But I don't think there is one magical thing that helps everyone. Some things that work great for me might not work at all for you (and vice versa).  

So anyway thanks for reading this far. If you have any questions, I will try to remember to check the comments. Otherwise we have found that the Healthy Wage folks are pretty good about checking their email and answering questions, too. If you have been thinking about losing some weight, but need a good motivation, I would recommend looking into it. And clicking my links, haha.

Ok, that's the last you'll hear about this for awhile. I might do another post about it around the New Year when you are making your resolutions to lose all your holiday weight, otherwise I'm not going to push it.

Also! If you're not really into individual challenges, but would like to try a team challenge, I get a little something for each team member that uses my link as well.

Ok. Carry on.