Goals for June 2012

I have decided to come up with a few goals for June. Tomorrow (or today depending on your time zone) is June 1st. For the month of June, or longer, I plan on giving up soda, partaking in the 30 for 30 challenge, and reducing our fast food intake.

I am a self-confessed soda addict! I love it. I drink at least 2 or 3 sodas a day. I know that this is wrong. I know that it is terrible for my health and my teeth. I know that it is just empty calories and that I am just basically drinking high fructose corn syrup. Those are the reasons why I am choosing to stop drinking it. I was successful in stopping in the past, for several months actually, and then I tried to slowly add it back in my diet and quicker than I expected it was back to epic proportions!!

My friend posted this on facebook http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2012/05/30-for-30-challenge/#comment-26880. It is a challenge for the month of June to play with your kids everyday for 30 minutes. It really convicted me. I have four beautiful children and I rarely actually sit down and play with them. I do help them figure out what to play and watch them play, but rarely play with them. I remember when I was a kid, how I always loved it when my mother would play with me and give me personal attention. This is something I really want to succeed with.

Oh and now we come to fast food. Unfortunately, due to laziness and/or the failure to adequately plan meals we are regular staples at McDonald's and other fast food restaurants. My husband is well known at Little Caesar's Pizza. I think that they may even know our regular order. I want to start cooking healthy meals at home with my family. It makes me feel so wonderful when I sit down at our table to a home cooked meal that I prepared for my family.

Do you have any goals for the month of June? Please share in the comments! :)

Linking up with Our Good Life  http://www.ourgoodfamily.org/2012/06/3in30-challenge-link-up.html

http://www.considertheliliesblog.com/2012/06/homemaking-link-up-9.html  Linking up with Consider the Lilies.

Do you know the difference between right and wrong?

I was reading the most recent issue of Focus on the Family's magazine, Thriving Family. Like most mothers, I constantly worry about my children and if I'm leading them in the way that they should go. This particular issue had an article that I was very surprised to read. Apparently, parents are no longer teaching their children the difference between right and wrong. The article included a quote about how the only thing young adults had to go on was their gut feelings on whether something was right and wrong.

  The Bible tells us in Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it." We are instructed to teach a child the way he should go, the right way.

My mother always took the time when I was young and in to my teen years to make sure I understood when I was wrong and how to make amends. This is our job as parents, one given to us by God.

What are your thoughts? Is this a surprise to you as well? I welcome your comments. :)

Relaunch 2012

I haven't blogged in over a year. A lot of things changed in my life: We bought our first home. In July of 2011 we moved into a 1500 square foot foreclosure that needed a ton of work. In hindsight, it might have been a bit too much for first time homebuyers, but not nearly as bad as some of the foreclosure that we saw. The yard was ridiculously overgrown, the house smelled that every animal known to man had lived there, and none of the windows seem to have been installed properly. We had our fourth child. Our second son and fourth child was born in January. He is truly a blessing and I honestly don't know how we ever lived without him. We joined a CSA. We joined a Community Supported Agriculture Farm. There will be much more on this later as I plan to devote the blog to this almost exclusively this summer. Those are just a few of the changes in our busy blessed lives. Jessie

Currently

We have decided to try our hand at homeschooling next year. I'm very excited and extremely nervous as well. I am not a self-starter, never really have been. Part of me feels like I'm not the type of person for this job and another part really wants to be. I also wonder if God isn't going to use this to make me the type of person that He wants me to be.

Guest Post on A Proverbs Wife Blog.

I recently guest posted about adultery in marriage on a wonderful blog that I follow.

http://aproverbswife.com/2010/08/overcoming-adultery-in-marriage.html

What's going on?

I'm still having a hard time with the weight loss. I've lost about 8 pounds total. My friend's husband works with bariatric patients and gave me some tips and eating plans to follow, so that is my new step along with Weight Watchers. I wish I knew why it was so hard. It sounds so simple, so why isn't it? It is frustrating is what it is.

Now that it is summer it is even harder to get to Zumba regularly. I have really been thinking about some "wisdom" that I heard recently. If you want to be thin, do what thin people do. I've noticed that most thin people I know are usually very active during the day and I sit on the computer for hours at a time. This is something that I need to work on.

I have felt so chaotic lately and out of control. Probably doesn't help that my husband lost his job recently, for reasons that the company he worked for told him they didn't have to tell. I know that the main cause is that I haven't been doing daily devotions or praying, so I haven't been able to cast all of my worries onto the Lord. That is DEFINITELY something I need to fix. I need to start everything with prayer.

Zumba

I haven't posted in awhile because I fell off the wagon a little bit, but not too much. At my last Weight Watchers meeting I had lost 2.6 pounds which brings my total weight loss to a total of 6.6 pounds. Which is nice, but not great. I have been doing Weight Watchers for too long to not have lost at least 10 pounds so far. So its time to step it up. I joined Zumba on Tuesday. And also went Thursday and Friday. Since joining Zumba, I've been averaging 11,000 to 12,000 steps a day. I have been EXHAUSTED!! I also decided to give up soda for the entire month of March. And so far, so good, I haven't had a single sip of soda since February 28th and it is now March 12. I think that is the longest that I have ever gone without a soda. I still haven't been able to beat the fast food thing yet, but I figured first I would tackle the soda addiction/obsession and then work on the fast food. One thing at a time.

It feels really good to be exercising again and Zumba is like a pretty fit for me. It takes me back to when I was a dancer. Its just like a dance class. It also makes me realize how fat I am, which isn't a good thing, lol. I see the instructors do the moves and I'm like sure thats easy and then its harder for me to do them. I think I'm really "aware" of myself now. I think I may have actually denied how heavy I was before, but now I know and now I'm going to do something about it! I told my husband that I will be really mad at myself if I drop weight really fast due to all the cardio I'm doing. Because I could have been doing this all along!! I'm very optimistic about this, and very excited!!