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- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope. Colossians 1:5 [The Message]
I would love if this passage described my life. Unfortunately the lines of purpose in my life are often tangled, and they do get slack, forgetful as I am of my future in heaven, at least when the going gets tough. I put my hope in a fridge full of food, or a full night's sleep, or a balanced budget, and I end up taut with anxiety or frustration when those things don't happen.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
I changed my closet over today for a new season, since it is our third gorgeous day in a row. What a delight to rediscover a few summer dresses and pretty tops that I packed away last Fall! Going through my clothes was a good exercise, and I managed to weed out some shirts that I know I won't miss. Decluttering is never easy for me, but it is satisfying once I do it. I am always surprised at just how much stuff I hold onto.
I am mulling over an idea for cutting back on my wardrobe, which I will share if I decide to do it :) I think it might be a good next step for me since the clothes I'm left with all fit, and it would be hard for me to decide what to get rid of if I were to thin the herd.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Matt and I were driving in the country this week and passed a little church with a sign out front that said, "Trouble in this life is a guarantee, but misery is optional."
The saying has stuck with me, and I've been reflecting on the difference between trouble and misery. It can be very easy for me to have a bad attitude, and this has caused me to be miserable in troubled times and also in not troubled times! I'm working to change that though, and a big step is remembering that most times I am miserable it is because of a perspective I've chosen to embrace (and can change!). Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts was very inspiring to me in that regard, and the value of thankfulness still resonates with me.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
I was in our living room the other night and realized it happened: baby stuff has taken over every surface of our apartment. And the worst part is, Torre is way too young for it to be his doing! So every crinkly toy and piece of baby gear (bouncer, stroller, playmat) is where it is because I put it there. The reason music rang out when I sat on our couch was because I crammed a musical toy between the cushions.
One of the reasons minimalism appeals to me is because I know clutter attracts clutter, and the simplest antidote for clutter is not to own anything extra. But extra things can be beautiful and useful, not just clutter magnets, and the fact that we have an extra person in our family now, it makes sense to have some extra stuff! In fact, the reason our apartment looked inside out was because everything was being used on such a consistent basis, it simply never got put away.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Every once in a while I dabble in setting goals, and it's happening again. My friend Beth issued a challenge on her blog to commit to some goals for the month of April, and I thought that coincided very nicely with my new membership at fit2b.us so I am planning to do at least one video each day. I also had a dental checkup this month, which was horrible and therefore inspiring.
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
It's been six weeks since Torre was born, and I am starting to feel like I have my body back. I was surprised at how weak I felt in the weeks after delivery since I had carried this baby for nine months and pushed him out over the course of a whole day. I expected to have built up strength, not lost it!
Well, it turns out that pushing a stroller through slush and lifting an ever-growing baby repeatedly through the day builds more strength than pregnancy does, and my stamina is improving simply through the rigours of daily life. Six weeks postpartum is generally the earliest time that women are suggested to resume exercise, and I would be really happy to find a routine that works for me in the new realities of my life. Previously I have loved doing kickboxing, and I almost kind of got into running for a few months before becoming pregnant, but we have no money for a gym membership, and I don't have the willpower to rebuild my cardio endurance up from nothing.
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Five and a half weeks in, I still love spending my days with my baby. I think a big part of that is being okay with taking each day on its own terms as it comes. At 10am I might think it will be a super productive day, but at 3pm I'm staring at the exact same to-do list I started with. On the other hand, at 10 am I might resign myself to a day with nothing accomplished apart from the continued survival of my offspring, only to be happily surprised at 3pm to have grocery shopped and done laundry. I'm learning over and over that you never can tell quite what a day will bring.
Of course, some days
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
I have a devotional book that has daily meditations from the letters, writings and sermons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I'm not at all consistent about it, I just pick it up from time to time, and today was one of those days. Today's reading is an excerpt from Life Together, a classic book that I read for a leadership class five (yikes) years ago:
"Praying and working are two different things. Prayer should not be hindered by work, but neither should work be hindered by prayer. Just as it was God's will that human beings should work six days and rest and celebrate before the face of God on the seventh, so it is also God's will that every day should be marked for the Christian both by prayer and work... The inseparable unity of both will only become clear when work and prayer each receives its own undivided due. Without the burden and labor of the day, prayer is not prayer; and without prayer, work is not work."
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- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Torre is a week old today, and Matt and I are seven days into parenthood. We ended up having kind of a hellish week, since Matt got food poisoning Monday night, then we both and my dad got the stomach flu. Thankfully Torre stayed healthy, I stayed out of the hospital, and my mom remained healthy enough to take care of us all.
Yesterday we were blessed with an amazing shower by my Auntie Linda and Aunt Laura - we were grateful to be healthy enough to leave the house, and then we were blown away by all of the gifts and love we received! Torre will well dressed for at least the next year and probably even longer, depending how quickly he grows. It was also wonderful to spend time with so many friends and family and for them to meet Torre! He was a champion mellow baby, being passed around and cuddled and loved on with hardly a peep! It was very nice to get him back after opening all the presents though. I worried I would miss being pregnant, feeling kicks and squirms, but holding him on the outside is definitely better :)
- Details
- Written by: Alyssa
- Category: Life
Torre (rhymes with Story) Clayton Sampson was born at home into my arms at 1:25am on February 10, 2013. He weighed 8 lbs and was 21 inches long. We are absolutely in love with him and savouring all the newness and sweetness of these early days.
There will be more details and pictures to come - for now of course, we are much too busy cuddling and being charmed by our sweet son :)