From One Mom To Another

By Aby Garvey

• Consider purchasing one big-ticket item instead of bringing home a bunch of small things. One really great item will create a wonderful and long lasting reminder of your vacation. Plus, chances are if you splurge on one item…you’ll love it for the long haul.

• Leave space in your suitcase or bring along an empty one. Keep in mind that airlines change their travel policies from time to time. Make sure you’re aware of current regulations and plan accordingly. You may prefer (and find it less expensive!) to have items shipped from your travel destination back to your home.

• Wrap fragile items in your t-shirts and other garments to keep them safe during travel. Or, ask the shop to wrap your fragile items in packing paper—to be extra sure.

• If you’re flying, reserve your carry-on space for your most fragile and important items.

Remember, a carefully selected souvenir can fill your home with inspiration and sometimes even a bit of organization. On your next vacation, travel safely and shop creatively. Bon voyage!

p.s. If you’d like to see photos of some of the ideas discussed in this article, or if you’d like to share your ideas of clutter-free souvenirs, visit my blog at

www.creativeorganizing.typepad.com.

Last week I picked up a Time Magazine titled “Our Super-sized Kids”. Nearly the whole magazine is about how fat our kids are, what the demographics are, genetics, etc. Being a mom who struggles with my weight, and having parents who have always struggled with theirs, I am of course always concerned about watching how active my kids are, and establishing healthy eating patterns. Then today I read Reality Parents comments on an article he read about Childhood obesity, and I really appreciated some of his thoughts.

Are there kids who are overweight in this country? Yes, more than there probably should be. Do I see a genetic/heredity pattern in my overweight family? Yes. (When I was pregnant with my first daughter I prayed she would look like me and have her daddy’s metabolism because he is skinny as a rail without even trying.)

I think there are definitely different metabolisms, heredity things to consider, but I also think I have a heritage of poor eating habits as well. I was taught to always clean my plate. With 4 kids in the family, if there was something we liked we would over stuff ourselves for fear there would not be more tomorrow, that someone else might get it before we could. And of course, we were big on emotional eating, happy, sad, bored!!

While I do think we need to be aware of “weighty” issues, whether you are overweight or not, I think we (especially those of us who do struggle with our own weight) can actually do more harm than good when we put such an emphasis on weight at a young age. Actually not making food a big deal may be one of the best strategies I know of.

This summer my 6 year old gets bored when we are hanging around the house, and she will ask for something to eat. I know she just ate lunch 15 minutes ago, so I know she is not hungry. So I suggest to her that maybe she is not as much hungry as bored. “Let’s play a game, or go ride your bike” I suggest. Nine times out of ten she forgets about the snack, because she no longer needs it.

Cooking well balanced meals and teaching your children to eat healthy is important, but making them join the “clean plate club” even with healthy food will still cause them to gain weight. So for my 3 year old I place one or two bites of each thing on her plate, (For example. broccoli, grilled chicken, and mashed potato) Once she has eaten that if she wants more potato and no broccoli that is o.k. by me. I know that as she gets older she will eat more of the veggies if I continue to put it in front of her. If she does not want to eat with us (this especially occurs when we are out) then I wrap up her plate and that is what she gets when she is hungry.

Sweets are o.k. in balance. One friend said when she was growing up they did not keep treats and sweets in the house, so when they did get them they over ate on them. So you want to offer them sweets occasionally, this is not a bad thing. However, again my daughter woke up this morning and the first thing she thought about was the ice cream pops in the freezer. So, I tried to hold her out ’til lunch. If you can do that, great. If not, make a limit on how much they can have in a day. You can have an ice cream pop today, but you only get one all day. You can choose when to eat it, but once you eat it, that’s it. This allows them to have a little control over their diet.

Activity, Movement, and make it fun! Riding the bike, even a 15 minute stroll around the block, go to the park, swimming, anything that creates movement.

These tips, and all that Time Magazine and the other hundreds of articles you can find on Obesity in America have to offer, are great. The best thing to remember though is if you stress too much over it, you can actually cause a side effect besides being overweight, poor self image. When I began to hear my daughter talk about counting her points (weight watchers) or being on a “no-sugar” diet (sugar-busters) I knew … It is not the girls on t.v. that make my daughter question her body, but me. She sees how much I do not like being overweight, and how much it consumes me at times, and I think she struggles with that. Even though, as I prayed, she has has her daddy’s metabolism, she looks strongly to me as to how to view her own self. A friend of mine has a daughter who loves to play any kind of sport. Soccer, softball, you name it. Guess what her mom enjoys doing, any kind of sport. Make an experiment of it. Decide to drink water every night at dinner, say “I am doing it so I will be healthier”, and see how long it takes for your young children to decide to drink water with their dinner. The point?: What you do and exemplify may be the number one factor in your child’s health and self image.

I received this recipe from a friend of mine. Sounds yummy!

You will need:

• White Corn tortillas
• Can of black beans
• small can of chopped green chiles
• one supermarket rotisserie chicken (southwest flavor if they have it)
• jar of Pace’s new Tequila Lime Salsa
• Kraft (or any kind) 4 cheese mexican blend (2 cups)
• 9 or 10 tomatillos
• lime
• salt
• sour cream
• avocado

Directions: 

Pre-heat oven to 450
de-bone and shred or cut chicken into small pieces
drain and rinse black beans
take paper-like husk off of tomatillo, rinse well and dice into bite size pieces, you will need 6 or so for the enchiladas and the other 3 for the avocado sauce (if you have never tasted or cooked with these before they should be firm, bright green and will have a little stickiness to them when you take the husk off, they have a lemon like flavor)

Mix
chicken, black beans, green chiles, 1 cup of cheese and 6 of the diced tomatillos

Pour enough salsa to lightly coat the bottom of your pan.

Pour most of the salsa that is left into a shallow bowl (leave a little to put on the enchiladas when you are eating).

Dip the corn tortilla (some find it easier to soften the tortilla in the micro for a couple of seconds wrapped in a damp paper towel) in the salsa coating both sides, then place in pan, place some of the chicken mix in the center of the tortilla and then roll the tortilla placing overlapping sides down. Continue until you have filled the pan, then spread the remaining cup of cheese over the top.

Place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the cheese is all melted.

Half the avocado, take off the skin (I just squeeze it like you would a lemon and the meat of it comes right out) and mash up the meat of it, add some salt to taste and the rest of the chopped tomatillos, mix well, taste it to see if you want any lime juice in it, you could also add some chopped up grape or cherry tomatoes to this too (I like mine with lime and a bit of salt)

Serve enchiladas with, salsa, sour cream and avocado/tomatillo on the side.

You could also serve a salad and use the avocado and tomatillos for that.

This is just a personal update on my life. Hope you enjoy it, and I hope it inspires you to keep on keeping on!

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Last night I sat at the top of The John Hancock building in Chicago, Ill. and tears came to my eyes as I thought of God’s goodness to Ben and I. One year ago this week Ben went to Boston, Mass. to an Ebay conference as a part of a team from our church. As he was preparing to leave, we had no money for him to even take for food! We were at the point of desperation to save our home, and to save our family. I have written about a few of the things God did to provide for us during that time. So miraculous they were! But last night I could not believe how far we had come in only a year.

I sit at the ebay conference WITH my husband today. Yesterday we arrived in Chicago, and took advantage of the day. We took a riverboat cruise, went to the famous Navy Pier and last night at sunset we sat at the top of the John Hancock building. I was amazed to think of all we could do in one day, and how little we could do last year this time. Then God showed me how different my perspective is on this side, and how He saw me today a year ago! This came to me as I watched the cars, and the boats, and all the activity from 96 stories above. I realized from where I was sitting that I had a much better vantage point of what lie ahead for that driver heading down Michigan Avenue than he had. And that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what God is able to see for us.

I have said recently that we faced financial crisis a year ago like the rest of the nation faces today. A testimony to friends and family of what God can bring you through. The threat of foreclosures, the rising costs, the uncertainty of future leaders in America, none of that is anything to fear when your trust is in the Lord.

I know this sounds so cliche’, and a year or 2 ago I might would have agreed with you, but I know that a year, even a month, or a day from now your whole life can look totally different. Your perspective can change, your eye’s view can be lifted.

I think the key is seeing it from a different view point even from where you sit right now where you are. God has good things in store for you. If you could see and know all the blessings and good He has for you, you would not be able to physically contain the overwhelming feeling of humility, gratitude, and awe. I am only tasting a very small piece of it, and my heart at times feels as though it were going to come out of my chest. And I know and trust that this is only the beginning!!

I want to say another THANK YOU to those who walked with me, and carried me through the last year and two years. You know who you are, and I love you so much for loving us, supporting us, and walking through the fire with us. Thank you for your prayers, and for helping me lift my view to see the bigger picture, when I could only see the moment. All that is good in our lives is partly, and greatly due to you! Love you!

My testimony of 2007

A personal testimony

Delayed but not Denied!

Roller Coaster Faith

Last week I had a list of things you can do with your kids this summer. I wanted to simply add … reading time! Your local Library, or Bookstore typically offer this for all ages. Libraries usually have it broken into toddlers and school age reading times. Plus you can let them check out a few books which you bring back the next week for reading time! (I can’t believe I forgot that one! )

Any more ideas for activities at home or out, let me know. I am always looking for creative things to keep my kids entertained!

This is one of my favorite recipes for the summer time. I like to cook it and keep it in the fridge, the longer it is in there, the more the flavors blend together.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Pasta - 16 oz. Cooked
• Tomatoes - Diced (2 or 3 med. to large)
• Black Olives (1 - 2 cans)
• Olive Oil ( A few tbs.)
• Lemon Pepper Seasoning, or Cavender’s (Seasoned to taste)
• Lemon Juice (or just squeeze a fresh lemon over the pasta)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together, toss and refrigerate. Serve Chilled

Well, we are officially into our second week of summer here, and our first week of camp. Every year about the beginning of May my sister and I begin to scout out and plan the activities for the summer. Not just family vacation, but what activities we can do with the kids. When you start searching you will find that there are a myriad of things to do with your kids that are low cost, and even free.

Here are some ideas to look into if you are still looking for things to do with your kids this summer.

1) Vacation Bible School: This one is a classic. Although some churches are going to night VBS for the working mom, there are still many that do the morning time. It is several hours for a week, we are talking plenty of time to entertain them, and get your grocery shopping done. Most VBS start as early as 4 yrs. old. Pay attention to the church signs as you drive around, they are everywhere.

2) Free Movies: This is a national program that provides free family friendly movies at the theaters during the summer. Check out your local theater for times and days. It is typically once a week, and in the mornings around 10 am. At the theaters around here they are even offering for every canned good you bring to feed the hungry they give you a box of popcorn. They are small individual boxes so each child needs to bring their own canned good. The movies are movies that are no longer in the theater, but they do not care. It is a completely free trip! My 3 year old even sat through it, and if they don’t oh well it’s free!

3) Swimming: Most of us know somewhere we can go swimming, but if you know no one that has a pool, find if you have a local County Aquatic Center in your area. Ours even has slides and is 0-8 feet. It is very inexpensive, about $2 a person.

4) Children’s museums, and play areas: While most of these places can be pricey our Children’s Museum offers free admission every second Tuesday of the month from 1-4. This is done in other cities as well, so check out your closest museum, zoo, and other places of interest for children you may find a discounted or free admission you can take them too.

5) Play dates, or “trade offs” : My sister and I each have 6 year olds and and 3 year olds. We noticed when the 2 three year olds are together without the big kids they get along famously, and the same is true for the older ones. So we have a kid “trade-off”. Not only are the arguments reduced, but the activities the kids can do is age appropriate, and no one is bored or is it above their heads. It just makes a day go smoother, and yet you have no more or less kids.

6) Load up the bikes and go to the park. This is always the easy and free activity.

7) Stuck at home? No problem: There are plenty of things you can do from your home and front yard.

I have created an outdoor play center in my garage. Buckets of Sidewalk chalk, play dough, bubbles, sidewalk paint,etc. (Crayola has come out with sidewalk paint, I love it) We can open the garage and they can play with an assortment of things outside. I even moved their “Rose Petal Cottage” into my garage (since we do not park in it anyway) and a bucket of dolls and a stroller they can keep out there to play with. They love it. And best of all they are outside. We do not have a “play-set” so this gives them plenty of activities to keep them entertained outdoors. Then there’s bikes, and balls to kick and throw with them .

Plan a baking morning. You do not have to do anything special. I bought a box of muffin mix that only needs water added. I let my kindergartener measure the water and pour it in. (Educational because she is learning measurements) and they get to stir, spoon it in, and watch it bake. It does not have to be extravagant, you just have to be prepared.

Build a tent. Ok, for my girls this means throw a big blanket over the top of the dining room table, big enough to hang down over the sides, and they will play for hours under there.

Water balloon fights:  Always fun for all ages.

8 ) Get Creative! There are a million things like these. So get creative, and use the internet if you need. Kids are not that difficult to entertain, jut time consuming. The key ingredient is to plan your day in advance. By the morning you should have an idea of what the day will look like, and remember to just enjoy having them home. Before you know it they will be back in school and another year has slipped away.

Happy Summer!  

We all have busy schedules, and the more kids you have, the older they get, the more activities accumulate. It is a slippery slope to find yourself running here and there and everywhere. With soccer on Monday and Dance on Tuesday, Church on Wednesday, karate on Thursday, and sleep overs on Friday, when do you stop as a family? When do you take time for yourself? When do you have a date night with your spouse? The answer, you don’t.

“If we fail to plan, we plan to fail”. When we fail to plan our time appropriately we allow life to get the best of us, and we forget to schedule the most important things…Us! So how can we avoid letting “life” get the best of us?

The first thing is to create a family calendar. Everyone’s activities, appointments, and meetings should be on one central calendar. This allows for you to not overlap activities. It is especially useful for spouses because I can easily see if he has any appointments or meetings as I am trying to plan things where I will need him to be with the children, and vice-versa. One suggestion is to use different colors for each family members activities. I use a calendar which has a pocket in the back. I can store permission slips, wedding invitations, etc. anything that I may need to keep close to a calendar. It is also a place to store those different colored pens so they are always handy when you are ready to write on the calendar. (We use pencils, so that it can be erased, and changed easily.) Be sure this calendar has large boxes to write in. If you use a pencil as I do you will want the paper calendar not the glossy kind. If you use the glossy kind use a sharpie, it will not smear.

The next step to organizing your time is to evaluate the importance of all that is on that calendar. So many times once we write down everything we do we can actually begin to eliminate some things. Have your child pick their favorite activity, and eliminate their least favorite. If there is not one activity that is the favorite, then eliminate the one that takes the most time from the family. For instance if your child loves both soccer and ballet, realize that soccer has a lot more practices and games than ballet.

When you are scheduling, write in the date nights, the “you” nights, and the family night. Our spouse and our children are the most important things to us, right? Yet we do not think to put them on our list of things to do. Make a point to pick a night for family night. It can be flexible from week to week, but decide what night and write it on the calendar. This is a “keep at all cost” appointment. With it on the calendar, you can honestly say “No, I am sorry we have something planned for that night.” It also reminds you and your family just like any other appointment.

The date night is the same. However often you decide to have a date night, choose the night and write it on the schedule. Don’t assume you will fit it in somewhere. If you do, life will keep that time from happening. Last but not least, write yourself on the calendar. Again, some women need “girls night out” once a week, while others are o.k. with once a month. However often you need it, don’t wait until you are pulling your hair out before you realize how long it has been since you have been by yourself, or with the girls. Make the time!

Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”

The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”
Jesus said, “Get up, take your bedroll, start walking.” The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.

That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, “It’s the Sabbath. You can’t carry your bedroll around. It’s against the rules.”

But he told them, “The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.’”

They asked, “Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?” But the healed man didn’t know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.

A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.”

The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.

But Jesus defended himself. “My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I.”(John 5:1-17 TM)

Of course we have a time line in which things should happen. We should be married by a certain age, we should have the career, the house, the car, we want by year 200- and we should have children by this age. And no matter how many times we see our time line fail, we continue to inform God how things are supposed to go down.

In the scripture above we see that Jesus was on no man’s timetable. First let’s look at the invalid which he healed. The scripture says he had been there for 38 years. Jesus was 33 years old when he started his ministry, 36 when he died, so how many times in his life had he passed this man? All his life. Why in that time had Jesus not healed him? Why did he allow him to suffer for 33+ years. We may never know. But it was perfect timing, he says later in the scripture He only does what He sees the father doing (verse 19-20), so when He healed this man it was because He knew that was the moment and the day.

Let us take a moment to also see another point here that shows God’s timing. The Jews (Or Pharisees, in this case) became angry because he healed a man on the sabbath, which was against Jewish law. Again, God is not bound by man’s timing. Or, there were hundreds of invalids there that day, why did Jesus only heal the one?

I may never know the answers to this until heaven. Did God cause this man to be an invalid? No. Did He always intend to heal him? Yes. So what was he waiting for? The perfect time that He, and this invalid, would receive the most benefit of the moment. It is not always about us, in fact your miracle and healing never is. It is always in order to bring God’s glory to others around you. Eternal Perspective says you already have breakthrough, miracles, and healing. God is not on your time line, or on this world’s. He stands above the line of time and sees beginning to end. So Eternally He sees you where you want to be, but you only see where you are.

While the trials we are walking through seem to reflect God’s indifference the truth is He is at work on your behalf, and He always has intended, and indeed will, bring your breakthrough if we remain faithful.

So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit…
Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job… Be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs… God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you… The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does.
(Galatians 6:9; 1Peter 4:12; 1Peter5:7;11 TM)

I had to go into the kitchen and check this out for myself. Who ever looks at the end of your aluminum foil box? What a fantastic idea! I have to say that my Kroger brand aluminum foil did not apply here. But the Reynold’s did.

- - - - - - - - - - -
I’ve been using aluminum foil for more years than I care to remember. Great stuff, but sometimes it can be a pain. You know, like when you are in the middle of doing something and you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.

Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at the end of the box. And written on the end it said, Press here to lock end. Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one too!

Hope this helped you! Have a Happy Weekend!