One Thousand Gifts #281 to #288

281. my oldest son agreed to throw away all our remaining sippy cups

282. (almost) blooming amarylisses - I had almost forgotten about them. I bought them before Christmas and they seemed to do nothing at all. I suppose they are just slow growers.

283. my youngest son got past 100 Accelerated Reader points! (Students take quizzes after reading books, harder books get more points.)

284. two day to sleep in! (two days off from school)

285. I lost a Starbucks card that had over 20 dollars loaded on it. Yikes! I was able to contact Starbucks and they transferred the amount to another card. So thankful to have that weight off of my shoulders.

286. lengthening days. My boys were able to play outside (in the light) with neighbour boys at 5 pm on Friday.

287. my oldest son unloaded the dishwasher without being asked.

288. that lost Starbucks card was found! We had test driven a car and it fell below the seat. A kind salesperson found it for us.Pin It

Sad Anniversary

I try to be pretty upbeat on my blog but today is a very sad day. Today is the 40th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in the U.S. Did you know that over 55 million babies have been aborted since 1973? It has been estimated that an abortion is done about every 30 seconds in America!

This past Sunday was Sanctity of Life Sunday and I was so proud of my pastor for speaking about the tragedy of abortion from the pulpit. Too many Christian leaders want to avoid the subject all together. It isn't a political issue! It is a moral issue!

I found this encouraging article -  You Can Change Our Culture's Mind on Abortion.

40 Days for Life is coming up in February and I plan to participate again. It has been a lonely ministry for me. I would love to get more of my sisters in Christ to join me to peacefully pray outside of Planned Parenthood on a regular basis. I usually go once a week for an hour during the 40 days which coincides with Lent. If you are one of my local friends, would you prayerfully consider this? There are 40 Days groups in Kenmore and in Everett that have Christians praying in front of PPs.

For those who would like another way to practically help those with facing a critical life decision, there are pregnancy help centers all over the U.S. and Canada who need money, volunteers, and donations of supplies like maternity clothes, baby clothes, etc. They also need our prayer! There are two local pregnancy centers in my area, one in Kenmore and one in Everett.

Let's stand up for life!Pin It

One Thousand Gifts #272 to #280

I'm so behind in counting my gifts! Time to get counting again.

272. A sunny day and a walk around Greenlake yesterday.

273. My boys who enjoy each others company - most of the time!

274. Playing board games with my family. This is C's thinking face!
Our current favourites are Bubble Talk and Pit.

275. Downton Abbey Season 3 on PBS - a great way to spend winter Sunday evenings, watching with my hubby.

276. Our new dishwasher was installed this week and it is so quiet! We can actually talk in the kitchen now! I got a Kitchen Aid from Conklin Appliance, if you're curious.

277. Our family hasn't had a cold or flu yet this year (or in December).

278. My hubby and I went on a fun date last weekend.

279. Hair colour. :)

280. A pleasant, non-pressuring car salesperson. We have started the process of looking for a "new to us" vehicle. Our first stop was a local dealership since I wanted to test drive a used Honda Odyssey. The woman who helped us was so nice and I was pleasantly surprised how easy the van was to drive and park. No purchase made yet. Still shopping.


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Goals for 2013

Happy 2013!!

Do you make resolutions? Some people decide on one word for the year but I've never figured out a good one to encapsulate my goals and plans. I looked up ideas for "one word" and came up with this:

• Joy
• Change
• Simplify
• Trust
• Listen
• Less
• Faith
• Play
• Here
• Fearless
• Discipline
• Nurture
• Patience
• Intentional
• Hope
• Balance
• Give
• Yes

Maybe my word for 2013 could be Intentional?

My goals/resolutions for this year are as follows:

1. Read through the Bible this year. I've read through a large portion of the New Testament before but the Old Testament is a challenge. I'm using the One Year Bible which has an OT passage, a NT passage, something from the Psalms and a passage from Proverbs to keep the daily reading varied.

I read this recently on Ann Voskamp's blog and it spoke to me. Will you spend your days meditating on His Word or your worries?

2. Lose some weight, tone up. What a cliche, I know. I'm convinced that my metabolism went WAY down after I hit age 40. I'm going to try to reduce the carbs in my diet. My friend's husband lost a lot of weight on the paleo diet (which has no carbs) so that is inspiring. What's paleo? Here's a good explanation of it.

I go to the gym pretty regularly but I need to increase the number of times per week that I go, plus spend longer on the eliptical machine or the exercise bike. I bought a Jillian Michaels DVD but it scares me a little. :)

3. I hope to spruce up some rooms in our house. The master bath I hope to repaint and retile. The playroom may be changing. The boys don't use it for playing much anymore. They like to play board games like Stratego, Pit, Monopoly, and create with Lego. The room might become more of an office for my hubby and a craft room for me.  Having a craft area would be exciting for me - to have a place to spread out and work on paper crafts, other than the dining room table. The sad part is that a big section of the playroom contains a surprisingly well organized and well-equipped kid craft area. My kids just don't craft anymore. I will probably find a good place to donate my supplies. Sniff, sniff!

I'd love to know what your resolutions/goals/plans are for 2013! Maybe you have one word?

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