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- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Three Things Thursday
Things that save me so much time and stress:
1. Not watching TV.
Oh man do I not miss cable - even when we had it for free! There was always something on, and I'd watch it whether I was actually interested or not. Then I would suddenly realize three hours had passed, I was hungry, and I was on my last pair of clean socks. Matt and I still watch movies and TV episodes on Netflix, but we don't lose hours of our lives to it. Tuesday I was on the verge of a crisis over washing dishes, and what do you know but after watching an episode of Lie to Me with Matt to chill out, I found the emotional strength to do it! The thing with TV though is, it's always SO easy to just turn it on, whether you want to or need to or not. The Xbox, for me, not so easy. So I only watch when I really want to.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
Beth at Red and Honey wrote a beautiful piece yesterday on her parenting philosophy that sparked a bunch of ideas in my mind. I love Beth's writing because I feel like even though we are different people in very different places in life, we share some heart loves, including making words tell our feelings, seeking beauty in the ordinary, and discovering that God's plan is bigger, deeper, harder and better than our own.
I love Beth's heart for her kids and have so many posts flagged in my mind to pull up in future times when my kids are eating play-doh and breaking their crayons. What challenged me most yesterday though was not her perspective on parenting so much as the connection of God parenting us. And all my thoughts swirling around are definitely too long to leave as a comment on her blog!
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
It keeps happening to me that when I least want to take time to spend with God, pushing through and doing it is most rewarding. Suffice it to say that I had a good ol' chat with God this evening, and then I was reading some prayers from a book my mentor gave me at graduation (The Valley of Vision - I love it). I was struck by these lines and thought I'd share:
Thou hast struck a heavy blow at my pride,
at the false god of self,
and I lie in pieces before thee.
...Grant me grace to bear thy will without repining,
and delight to be
not only chiselled, squared, or fashioned,
but separated from the old rock where I have
been embedded so long,
and lifted from the quarry to the upper air,
where I may be built in Christ for ever.
*The bold emphasis is my own.
I typed up another prayer for a friend earlier this week and there too, I typed every thy as they. Thank goodness for proof-reading!
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Maker's Diet
In case you were wondering how things are going on the Maker's Diet, it really depends. If you are a stickler, things are going medium-not-too-bad. If you are a free spirit, things are going great! Because Matt and I are at peace with our cheating :P
It started with us going on a youth retreat last weekend, which was awesome spiritually, but very out-of-our-control food-wise. So Matt and I had a chat on the bus up and decided to take the weekend off the diet. Of course, a whole month of different thinking about food can't be undone on a whim, and neither of us had much desire to gorge on all the carbs we've been avoiding. I personally greatly enjoyed the French toast fingers on Saturday! But I also got a salad at McDonalds on the way up, and I skipped a lot of bread/buns in the meals that were sandwich-based just because I wasn't interested.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Uncategorized
Here is something I have been thinking of mentioning for a while but wasn't sure if it was tacky or not. Today I've decided: it's my blog! Who cares if it's tacky! I am gonna tell all of y'all how to get some free stuff like I do, and it's totally up to you whether you do anything about it. I don't even actually think it's tacky.
Here's the deal. There is a website called swagbucks where you can collect made-up points and trade those points for real-life stuff. Like Amazon giftcards! That's all I've redeemed points for so far, but it's $15 towards Amazon that I didn't have three months ago, and that is not too shabby!
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Thoughts
I really enjoyed the sermon I heard this morning and thought I would share some thoughts from it. For the second week in a row, the text was about Jesus calling his first disciples - last week was John's account, and this week was Mark's. The pastor emphasized the fact that these disciples were going about their normal work when Jesus called them, that they weren't a very spiritual group seeking God at all but that Jesus sought them out. The real trick in the passage is that when Jesus told the men to follow him, the text simply tells us they did. We don't know the circumstances they left or the emotions they felt or any decisions they weighed; we simply read that they responded to Jesus' call, and we know that ultimately this response changed all their lives.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Three Things Thursday
This week's theme is: things to enjoy on their own terms!
Being on this diet has brought Matt and I to try to replicate some of the things we love but aren't allowed to eat right now. We have been very pleasantly surprised by the results of our experiments, but we also agree that these are not substitutions you could slip by an unsuspecting guest. However, on their own terms, we love them! And we will continue to consume them, diet or no diet :)
1) Hot chocolate. We have a can of carnation hot chocolate mix sitting in our cupboard. It is sometimes tempting, telling us how rich and creamy it is, but we kept it out in case we have hot-chocolate-craving company, which in youth ministry is not rare at all (I don't think I mentioned this - we put our shelf-stable forbidden foods in bags in our storage closet. Out of sight, out of mind.) However, the first three ingredients are: sugar, corn syrup solids, and hydrogenated vegetable oil. Cocoa is nestled in the list right between modified milk ingredients and cellulose gum. To be honest, I don't see myself going back.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Maker's Diet
I have not been following the meal plan I wrote out nearly as consistently in phase 1, but I am taking that as a good sign that I've become more comfortable with the "rules" (for lack of a better term) and am therefore more flexible to mix and match the food we have on hand with the days I had planned we'd eat them. Having a meal plan definitely makes it easier to shop, so I hope I continue this habit well beyond the diet!
With that said, here are the dinners I planned for phase 2, whether we've eaten them in that order or not!
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Maker's Diet
This week went much easier than last week! Sunday (day 7) I had a BAD cold, so I took it easy all day and managed to recover in time for work Monday. Barely. I still had a stuffy nose for the first part of the week, but I was totally encouraged when I read the following at wellnessmama.com
You may even find that you “catch a cold” a week or so after starting to treat your yeast and parasite symptoms. This is actually a mild Herxheimer reaction, and backing down supplements and drinking more water should help it pass quickly.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Three Things Thursday
Number one - I started reading Anna Karenina on my Christmas eReader, and it is way easier to get into than I expected! I downloaded it free from Kobo because it's a classic, and I like to be classy with free books ;) I don't want to speak too soon, but a couple chapters into it I'm very interested to see just what happens and how things all turn out.
The cutest thing on today's list is that Nimoy made a friend! There are no pictures yet, but his buddy looks close enough to this dog. 
He is a puppy, and about Nimoy's size at this point, and he was tooootally freaked out when we first showed up, but they were running around in the yard together and trying to wrestle a bit by the time we had to go. I think Nimoy knows he's a puppy because he was so... NICE! Like when ten year olds have to play tag with four year olds, but they let themselves get caught sometimes. I have the best dog :)
Last thing is that I have been reading tons this week about how grains might be super bad for you. I'm not completely sold, but I will definitely continue to think about it and read more. If you're curious, check out this post How Grains Are Killing You Slowly, and also read an interview about the harmful effects of wheat with the author of Wheat Belly.
If you take the time to read either article, I'd love to hear what you think!