Something to remember in these Dog Days of Summer...

So, I'll be in Colorado with the tiny tot, without technology, so to speak, for a week. I've written post in advance (one post a day for the year, you know!), but won't be doing much else...I'm going through withdrawls just thinking about it!

The New Mom’s Prayer Bible

If you are like me, you are not the kind of person who buys Bible after Bible. The Bible I use (I say use, now that I’ve got both the NIV and KJV on my Nook, I may be using that a bit more) is the same one I bought in college. Its gold flake is all but gone and it is full of notes and old church bulletins and sidebar scribbles. The notes are notes from my whole life, as I transcribed notes from my previous two Bibles into it, and if I bought a new Bible I would take the time to transfer the notes et cetera to it. I do not take Bibles or Bible purchasing lightly.

On NetGalley, you can preview The New Mom’s Prayer Bible. I wanted to have a look at it, not because I needed to review The Bible (this Bible is a NIV version by the way), but because I wanted to see what lovely features this edition had and I wanted to see if I wanted to buy my own copy as a way of being able to fit a little more God Time into my everyday life; an everyday life that has gotten a little more hectic than I would have ever thought.

This is the perfect Bible for a new mother, or a harried working mother in her 2nd year of parenting. It addresses the changes in her life through thoughtful devotionals called “Thought Starters”.

Here’s what the Introduction says:

“Throughout this Bible you’ll find fifty-two Thought Starters (on colored pages) by letting you recharge by dipping into God’s word for a minute. These devotional thoughts cover 13 different topics and subtopics relative to new moms.”

These “Thought Starters” discuss such pertinent topics as marriage, family and walking in faith. They can be broken down by how much time you have. Each topic starts out as a minute scripture reading, if you have 5 minutes you can add on a reflective prayer time, if you have 10 minutes you can add on a more in-depth study of the focus scripture. I’ve only read a few and they have helped calm me down in the past week and helped me to see what I should really be focusing on, which is my family, not my job and its expectations.

This Bible also comes with a Weights and Measurements page, a lovely Table of Contents and easily accessible and readable maps.

If I would have known about this Bible during my pregnancy it would have definitely been on all my wish list. I know that I will be asking for it for my birthday which is coming up pretty quick (just incase any of my family is reading this!).

Do It With All Your Heart

Sure, I'd like to have "faith like a child", I'd also like to have perseverance like a child. I am amazed at how hard the tiny tot works, and she works everyday learning how to climb stairs, climb desk, understand words and eat using a utensil and she does it with all of her heart. Although I watch her struggle at it and sometimes fall or get frustrated because she can't get it, she doesn't stop until she does, and then she gives herself a little hand clap and a Lila Jane sized, "Yea!" and goes on to the next task.

10 Ways to Celebrate Women...during Women's History Month and Beyond

1. Read books, stories, poems and essays about, by and for women

Here are lovely posts I wrote listing several juicy female reads (one is a total female read, one you'll have to dig through and another of Irish short stories that you'll have to dig through). I'd also like to add a great list that somebody [I can't remember--sorry whoever you are!] else posted of 100 YA fiction books for the feminist reader...I've passed this list on to several of my avid reader students.

2. Have girls who are friends
And, I don't mean friends you date, dating isn't the same as having girl friends. Something can be said for the Sex in the City female relationship. Think about what you can learn from women, how to live, laugh and love. We women could really learn to lean on one another more and cat-fight with one another a little less. Having strong female friendships can help keep you sane in a world that demands your role in society be defined by what you do (SAHM, professional et cetera), not by who you are. Through these relationships we can also learn that being a woman comes in many different shapes and sizes. We can learn to respect those differences in ourselves. I know my gal pals understand that I want to be the best mother, sister, daughter, friend and wife I can be while still be myself (see Point 5).

3. Educate others (in my case, my students)
Over the years I have taught what it means to be a strong female to students by doing a whole unit on women writers and characters...here's a sample calendar. It is really easy to bash men in trying to identify the powerful woman you are, part of being a strong female is understanding gender roles and our roles in portraying or disproving them. Men are part of this as well.

4. Connect with other women (make new friends, enjoy functions)
Operation Beautiful
The Lady Blogger Society
Campaign for Real Beauty
CafeMom

What can you do in your community to show that you are a positive role model?

5. Mirror, Mirror on the wall (be true to who you are)
I spent a great deal of my life not being happy in my own skin. While I may not have all the answers now...I definitely know I don't have to, either! Read books that promote independent thought, watch movies that inspire, listen to music that educates as well as entertains. How did I learn to be true to myself? I began by listening to that inner voice that told me that the me I am is the me that I am OK to be...even if others don't like my hair or think I dress a little funky. I love me!

Figure out:

1. How you define yourself?
2. How you stay true to this 'self'?
3. What are your likes, your dislikes, your passions?
4. Those who promote this person in you and emulate their positive traits.

6. Don't let others around you get away with sexist remarks, even if they are spoken unintentionally
So, yesterday in our faculty meeting our principal made a faux pas. One of our counselors got hired at a different school and in the meeting our principal ribbed him calling him a 'tiger-ette'--referring to the fact that he would be a 'Lady' Tiger at his new school. I didn't really think anything of it, until one of my friends asked him if he meant that being a female tiger was, in fact, inferior or derogatory. Another female co-worker told him that a female tiger was actually a tigeress. After the meeting, a new teacher told my friend that she was proud of what my friend said because our principal makes a lot of comments like that and she didn't feel she could do anything as a new teacher.

7. Know your Women's History
My example: I knew about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, but I didn't know that these women had already endured hardships by being some of the first women to protest working conditions and wages for women. I didn't know that these women were subjected to horrible searches at the end of every shift because the factory owners didn't want the women stealing ,of all things, thread and material. And, I didn't know that the reason why the doors were locked was not because of safety, but because of selfishness and greed from the owners. I learned all this by watching a documentary on PBS.

8. Laugh

Lisel Mueller (b. 1924) is a German-born American poet, who won the Pulitzer in 1997.
                                                      

The Laughter of Women

The laughter of women sets fire
to the Halls of Injustice
and the false evidence burns
to a beautiful white lightness

It rattles the Chambers of Congress
and forces the windows wide open
so the fatuous speeches can fly out

The laughter of women wipes the mist
from the spectacles of the old;
it infects them with a happy flu
and they laugh as if they were young again

Prisoners held in underground cells
imagine that they see daylight
when they remember the laughter of women

It runs across water that divides,
and reconciles two unfriendly shores
like flares that signal the news to each other

What a language it is, the laughter of women,
high-flying and subversive.
Long before law and scripture
we heard the laughter, we understood freedom.

Lisel Mueller

9. Donate your time, talents and money
I'm pretty excited about donating my time and talents this summer when I help with Vacation Bible School at the church we've been attending. However, I always try to find ways to give back to those who have given to me. Sometimes it can't be money, but it can always be a portion of the best part of me.

Denim Day
The Purple Dress Project

10. Be a true woman of the Lord
Here are my three favorite Biblical Female Role Models
Ruth She is a strong, independent woman who follows a God she doesn't know and loves a man who is different than her. Ruth also has a lovely best friend Naomi, they stick by one another no matter what.
Esther Courage in the face of many trials, Esther does not deny her heritage and faith, but finds a way to use them to educate and inform others.
Sara The mother of all nations. Left a life of affluence and wealth to live in the desert with her husband following what the Lord asked her to do being a good wife and mother.

Source



Trusting God with our kids

"But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile."
~(NIV) Exodus 2.2-3

"Trusting God with Our Kids"
Parenting by Design

          I want to be a good mother when I grow up.
          I want my husband and I to be good parents.
          Teaching at a high school, I am bombarded with stories and, in some cases, blatant evidence of parents not being parents and children having to deal with the consequences of an adult's childish choice. I have also seen what happens when a parent is too involved in the lives of their children, for the sake of 'protection'...one of these helicopter parents even called me at my house after 10pm on my CELL PHONE (I, to this day, have no idea how she got that number) to talk about her kids' grade (her kid was making a hard-earned B-).
          As I think about Miss Lila Jane growing up, I do think about all of the things that she will experience without me and I wonder if she will make good choices. It is so cool and comforting to think about the fact that Moses' mother trusted that God would keep him safe in a basket made of reeds on the Nile River, she knew that whatever happened to him it would be in God's design...wow, what FAITH!
          My own mother has trusted that we would make the right choices, even if that meant no longer forcing me (and, boy she really did have to tackle some bull-headedness) to go to church, and when I wanted to go to church, letting me go to the church of my choosing--a church different than her own. She trusted all three of us girls to make good choices, even when we weren't and even when we don't. Now, I cannot tell a lie my mother hovers a little, still to this day (what good mother doesn't?), but I have no problem telling her to back off and I also listen to her even if I don't always do what she says. She taught me independence and strong-will when she left me in God's hands.



"...I can't handle it,
I just spend every minute running around and working
and thinking and I thought I would have help but
Sookie has Davey and Michel has Celine and I'm...
I can't do it all by myself!"



          I want my daughter to trust me and letting her make poor choices without guidance from me wouldn't build trust anymore than hovering does. I will not just let her walk all over me, I will let her know when she is doing something wrong, I will be a good parent who teaches what it means to be a good child and I will love her no matter what choices she makes.

          What will I do when my daughter wants to go to her first boy/girl party? Stays out past curfew (I didn't really have one, anyway) and doesn't call? Drives on the Interstate? Goes on vacation during college without telling me where she's going? I will take a deep breath, I will force myself not to be judgemental, I will teach her about the right choices, I will pray and I will remember that God saved Moses in the reeds on the Nile, He has her in His extremely capable hands.

          If you try to be the best parent you can be, you will fail (even Lorelai Gilmore--the coolest mom ever--struck out a time or two), but if you leave your kids with God, even when you fail He succeeds...even if that doesn't look like it at the moment.
          So, Lord I give The Tiny Person over to you...of course, when I'm being especially crazy about something she is doing or not doing, please, gently, reminded of the fact that You are way stronger than I and can take and will always take care of her. Amen.

Somewhere Else

A friend of mine (Aimee) gave me this blog post before I knew what blog post were and, she gave it to me at just the time I needed it. Every once in awhile I pull it out and read it again…lest I forget. And, I have found that during this week, I've been doing some forgetting.

For I have learned to be content, whatever the circumstances. ~Philippians 4:11 (NIV)

“Wherever you are, be all there.”  ~Jim Eliot

Somewhere Else               

               Patience and I are not friends. It took me at least 4 years to understand that ‘bloom where you’re planted’ meant learning to be content and that learning to be content meant trusting in God. We can say we trust God, but if we aren’t talking and communicating with Him and understanding that He has a purpose for us outside of what purpose we have for ourselves we aren’t really listening.

                I remember when I accepted the job at Lebanon, I literally thought, I’ll stay for a few years beef up the ‘ole resume and then I’ll go somewhere else, anywhere else and it will be easy because I will have no stake in this town. I spent the first four years of my teaching career with one foot out the door and you can’t communicate on a personal and deep level with students who need you when you’ve got one foot out the door. You can’t do anything successfully when you are looking for the next big thing.

                If I had chosen to live my life the way that I’d planned and not taken a moment to breathe, I would not have a beautiful daughter, a husband that I love (much like Debra loves Ray), a house, awesome friends and a job (not many in this economy can say that) and no matter what this job looks like next year, I will 'bloom where I'm planted'. And, I have such faith in God that I know there’s even more gloriousness to this adventure that is my life.

                I will always want to live overseas (preferable London), but I know that’s not where I supposed to be right now…otherwise, I’d be there.

                I appreciate, every day, the person who gave me this little piece of paper. I’m not sure she knew how big of a deal this little devotional was going to be for me…frankly, I didn’t know either.

               Have you ever been somewhere you didn’t want to be? Asked God for help?

Alone Not Lonely

"If I'm lonely
it's with the rowboat ice-fast on the shore
in the last red light of the year
that knows what it is, that knows it's neither
ice nor mud nor winter light
but wood, with a gift for burning."

~ from "Song" Adrienne Rich

"God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land."
~Psalm 68.6 (NIV)

Loneliness in Families

          Since, it's Sunday, I thought I'd use this time before I get up the husband and the tiny tot to do some personal reflecting.
          I read a devotional the other day titled "Lonely in Families" and I thought it was going to be about being lonely even though there are people around you all the time. It's actually about people who are in families who WANT and CRAVE alone time. I am that person, actually my husband is that person too, but I can only talk about the challenge according to how I feel, not how he feels.
          Now, when I say I want and crave alone time that doesn't mean I want time to hang out with my friends, it means I want to be in my house alone. Without anyone there. Alone. By myself. Since getting married and having a baby I have not had this time (I can actual count the hours that I've had to myself on one hand) and I used to spend whole Saturdays without anyone around. Seriously, if you tried to call or come by on a Saturday you couldn't find me, I was reluctant to answer the door. I need to be alone to detox, if you will, from being around people all week long. When I was in junior high and high school, I spent at least 20 hours a week in my room doing what my mom called, "Staring at the ceiling"...I was just relishing in the fact that I could be alone in a house full of women.
         So reading this post got me to thinking...I hadn't realized that I've been rebelling against God by trying to find time to be alone. I'm still praying about this one.
        What? For the rest of my life I will never know the deliciousness of being alone.
        You see getting married and having a kidlet wasn't really in my plans for me, but these very actions must have been in my God's plans for me and God knows (why else would I have been giving this devotional to read) that I am struggling with it. He knows that my husband and I are struggling with it.
        "God doesn't want try to take away our bent towards being solitary, but he doesn't want us to stay in that place all of the time."...You know what has happened? Out of know where, really, my husband has said, "Some weekend why don't we take Lila to go visit her grandparents, I go over to my friends and you hang out here by yourself."
        I could cry. You see, God knows...and He will never put more on you than you can bear...

        While I am looking forward to all the things I can do alone when that weekend comes, I am not waiting for it, I am not planning it...I am, instead, going to see that being the lonely person in a family is what God wants from me, so it's going to be b-e-a-utiful, no matter how painful it is for me right now.
       Have a wonderful and blessed Sunday!

New Year...New You???

Happy New Year!!!

          Every year all of us make resolutions to become our better selves...sometimes we even buy books to proliferate the ideas that we have in the hopes that someone has written a book or said that something that will quick fix our issues.

          My resolution for 2011 is simple...I will not buy books that teach me how to be a better self. Instead, I will get off my duff, make more friends, pray and throw away all books that claim to make me better (unless, of course, that book is The Bible).

50 Books in a Year: #1 Grace is for Sinners

          So, thanks to my friend Julie (thanks Julie!) I've been reading all about this 50 books in a year challenge and thought to myself, "Self...a) you really need to read more and b) you missed posting on Monday (and you're trying to post every day but MAJOR holidays). Why not dedicate Mondays to 50 books in a year?" So, now, while I can't sleep I will post for Monday, so when I wake up for Tuesday, I can post again.
          The first book I would like to talk about, is, ironically enough, a book I started reading yesterday (on Monday) called Grace is for Sinners by a little tiny sniplet of a girl Serena Woods. My sister first turned me on to the book over the summer and my friend Kathy bought it for me for Christmas. Frankly, I'm a little curious about it because my sisters and I went to high school with this girl--then Serena Walker. Actually, I've been on many an adventure with this girl (getting stranded in Perryville, MO when her car broke down, spending whole weekends at her house at a time in the summer...I remember this because we had to go visit her, not the other way around--you'll see why if you read the book, and finding a love of Ozzy Osbourne through her obvious love for him). I also remember getting totally out of touch with her and hardly knowing her by my senior year, and then hearing about her and feeling guilty about not talking to her or only chit-chatting with her when I saw her at the mall. I am guilty of hearing about what was going on with her and instead of trying to find and talk to her, I just let those rumors spread and thanked the Lord it wasn't me.
          While reading yesterday, I couldn't help but think about a) all the things that go on in someone's life that we are totally unaware of, because we listen to the rumor-mill not the actual person b) people only let us know what they want to let us know--I knew about her early life, not the life she must have been living right under my nose while we were in high school and going to the same church and c) I like that this girl is brave enough to talk about a subject that has stopped me from going to church and made it a hard time for me to see that there are good die-hard Christians. So, I'm going to finish this book during the week and then I'm going to pass it on...and, on...and, on...unless, of course, you don't want to wait and just want to buy one for yourself.
          It's not everyday that Christians meet other Christians who understand you can be a real person, I like that Serena is trying to get the message across that grace is the reason why we are here in the first place and it is grace that saves us not the amount of times we go to church, not what we wear to church or what we've done in our lives. We don't save ourselves, actually it seems that we do the best to destroy ourselves. I also love that this book is chock full of scripture, my mother has always said, and I believe it, that if you can't find it in the Bible than it's just your personal beliefs not something God wants you to do.
          So, feel free to join me on Mondays to talk about your book as you read 50 this year. I've been reading whole blogs dedicated to this project, not sure if I have time to go all out like that, but I can do Monday, hope you can too, how else am I going to find good books to read?!

Off to bed...ish...

PS. these are not going to be reviews, per se...I'd rather talk about how these books are shaping me and you decide if that makes it a good book or not.