Tree Swing Reading

Taking Care of [New] Business

If you've spent any amount of time following my blog, you know that I have dabbled in a lot of different interests over the years. In addition to the book reviews I do here, I've had two of my own businesses running too. My recently closed my craft business, finding that it was just too hard to maintain the stock and supplies I needed and to charge enough to make any money.

My other business is one that I've been quietly working at for a couple years now, since I finished my web design classes. I've only been taking a few clients at a time with a lot of volunteer work for friends, my church, and my brother, due to my own insecurity over it and the time I have available.

Anyway, I've been picking up some more paying jobs and now I need to get myself registered as an official business with my state.  I had set up my business as Orange Zebra Designs but then found out I need to change it.  So for the last few days, I've been lost in word play, trying different combinations of words to find the "it" name for me. The frustrating side has been finally liking a name and then doing an internet search, only find it's already being used.  I'd love it if you could pray with me about this since it's really important to me to get it right.

Thanks much!

Winner of "Forbidden"

Congratulations to Sandra Jensen!

Your name was drawn to win Forbidden.

Wednesday Hodge Podge

1. Have you ever been 'asked' to report for jury duty? Were you chosen to serve? If not, were you happy or disappointed?

I was asked to serve one time, but I had just had my first baby and was nursing her, so I got out of it.

2. On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being very) how mechanically inclined are you? Give an example to back up your answer.

I'm a lot more mechanically inclined than my husband. I can put furniture together and fix things some times. My dad, on the other hand, can fix anything with the right tools and some duct tape. I'm probably a 6.

 

3. Beets-cabbage-cauliflower-butternut squash...of the four, which is your favorite fall vegetable?

This is the face I make when I smell beets. Hate them! I like cabbage when it's like a salad. I confess I've never tried squash. So I guess cauliflower is my pick. I'm not a good veggie eater.

 

4. What do you recommend to overcome self-pity?

I'm with the HodgePodge author here, Do something for someone else. Lending a hand or an ear or a meal to someone in need always takes me outside of myself and that's a good thing.

 

5. Do you enjoy classical music?

I like it sometimes. My daughters play some on the piano now and I love that!

6. October is National Book Month...what's on your reading list this month?

Too many books to name! See my Fall Into Reading List link on the side.

 

7. What is your idea of 'cute' ?

my puppy!

 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

I've only got five minutes til my daughter gets home from school. Where do the days go?

31 Days of Nourishing My Soul: moving my body

Part of nourishing my soul has been a new journey of strengthening my body. I've been wanting to start lifting weights as part of my regular exercise routine, so this was the perfect opportunity to challenge myself and get started.

God provided for me here too.

Along came a friend who was starting a P90X challenge. P90X is a pretty intense 90-day fitness program. I jumped at the chance to join a group of people who would help hold me accountable to doing it every day. So far, so good. It's hard work and I sweat buckets, but I love the strength I am gaining. I love the way God has designed our bodies to move. Every day when I stumble through the end of the day's workout, I feel blessed and thankful.

Who knew that sweating so much would be refreshing to my soul!

 

31 Days of Nourshing my Soul: when i fall down

i fell down.

bummer.

i don't know if i was withdrawing from the sugar or fighting too many hormones [lack of my own progesterone is a perpetual, painful struggle for me] or battling too many temptations [pantry of Halloween candy]; but i didn't make it to 31 days of no sugar perfectly.

So the next part of nourishing my soul is to forgive myself, dust myself off, and start over. Not to give in and allow myself to quit because i messed up.

eating a candy bar is a small slip, i tell myself, right?

but it still hurts. it still goes against the promise i made to God to fast from sugar for 31 days. how could i have messed up so early in the month?  the very act of giving it up has raised it's value in my mind and grown it into something exponentially larger than ever.  it has made me question even the purpose and value in doing this exercise when i am not ethically opposed to sugar in and of itself. that was never the point. to make a stand against sugar is so not the point.

so why do it at all? why not go back to "moderation?"

Because the value of candy/cookies/chocolate in my life has taken on an idol-like proportion.

Like an addict. i want those things with a thirst that taunted me, laughed at me for it's riduculousness [it's only chocolate], and taken on a meaning that is golden-calf like in it's substitution for the true and proper longing for intimacy with my Lord.

i fell down. it laughs at me now.

But i am not condemed. "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1

i am starting fresh. 31 days of nourshing my soul is not lost from falling down. falling down is part of the journey. i get up again. and go back to making one decision at a time. one step at a time.

Review of "The Moment Between" by Nicole Baart

Description from Publisher's Weekly:

Baart (Summer Snow) writes an emotionally intense tale of two sisters. Past and present alternate as the history of their family unfolds in order to explain their present circumstances. The present is largely set in a winery in British Columbia, where one of the sisters, Abigail Bennett, pursues Tyler Kamp, her sister Hailey's boyfriend. The vineyard offers opportunity for beautiful description and resonant imagery as the narrative unspools. Abigail is presented in painful, almost claustrophobic, detail as she deals with the central puzzle of her family and history. But some of the supporting characters, while intriguing, are slightly off-pitch. Hailey's boyfriend Tyler isn't presented fully enough, and winemaker Eli Dixon occasionally becomes more of a symbol than a character with a compelling back story. But Baart has exactly right the members and dynamics of the Bennett family, locked in the manic dance of mental illness. She tells a poignant and gripping story.

My Thoughts:

Baart definately has a way with words. She can describe a feeling or a look in such a poetic and powerful way that it ends up resonating inside me.  This was a tough book for me to read. I think it hit too close to home for me in the aftermath of a cousin's suicide last month and another cousin who wrestles with the manic depression demon on a regular basis.  I felt Abby's helplessness at a profound level.  I was very moved by Eli's demonstration of the Lord's supper with her.  My only complaint was that I felt like the book ended rather ubruptly. There's a lot building up to the confrontation and it ends and resolves so quickly that I felt a little lost.  But the imagry and beauty of the prose are so lovely that I still felt like the book was wonderful.

Book Bullets:

My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Genre: Contemporary

Part of a Series: no

Publication year: 2009

Publisher: Tyndale House

1000 Gifts: 51-60

It is time. Time to take what I learned from this precious book and begin to apply it. One Thousand gifts...one at a time.

51. For my daughter's amazing ice-cream mustache.

52. For a tiny peak at a rainbow on a perfectly sunny day.

53. For grace and fogiveness when I fall down and yell at someone who doesn't deserve it.

54. For the crazy group of co-P90Xers who are supporting my journey and holding me accountable.

55. For the sweet delight of my husband's face when he got tickets to the Brewers play-off game.

56. For holding my breath moments where my tween girl trusts me enough to ask the hard and embarrassing questions about being a woman.

57. For the cuteness of my dog when he tilts his head as if to say "what are you saying to me?"

58. For the smell of cedar mulch in my garden today.

59. For middle-of-the-night prayers during rough nights.

60. For a Savior Who understands suffering.

 

Thank you, God!

31 Days of Nourishing my Soul: when I'm discouraged.

I almost gave up on my whole journey. I'm feeling so sick and hormonal and crabby. I thought some chocolate might make it better.

But the journey is not one I am making alone. There is a community of people all making 31-day journeys. There are my blog-reading friends. There's my family.

I'm so thankful that God gives us a community of people to come beside us when we are tired and discouraged.

A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. Ecc. 4:12 [NLT]

 

Review of "Courageous" [the novelization] by Randy Alcorn

Description:

From the creators of Fireproof comes an inspiring new story about everyday heroes who long to be the kinds of dads that make a lifelong impact on their children. As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, and their partners willingly stand up to the worst the world can offer. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. While they consistently give their best on the job, good enough seems to be all they can muster as dads. But they’re quickly discovering that their standard is missing the mark.

They know that God desires to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, but their children are beginning to drift farther and farther away from them. Will they be able to find a way to serve and protect those who are most dear to them? When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God . . . and to their children?

My thoughts:

I am very excited to attend the movie tomorrow night with my husband! The book was good! After the movie, I'll let you know how they compare.

I love reading about good dads, so this was great. I liked the action, the storyline, and the conviction of these men in face of some tough stuff.  There were parts that help a little too neatly packaged...like how being honest gets the guy a promotion...but stuff like that happens in fiction I guess, especially when they are trying to preach certain values. But that doesn't take away the importance of this message; only that in real life it doesn't aways work out so well just because a person does the right thing.  I still enjoyed it and am excited about the possibilities it has for re-energizing dads in their commitments to their families.

Book Bullets:

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Contemporary

Part of a Series: no

Publication year: 2011

Publisher: Tyndale House

Here's the movie website: http://www.courageousthemovie.com/

 

There are lots of other resources to go with the movie. I'm also interested in reading this: The Resolution for Women by Priscilla Shirer.

Description:

Whether you realize it or not, you are already a woman of resolutions. Whenever you decide to treat people a certain way or participate in particular activities, you are resolving to live life in a way that will impact your future. Since you are already making resolutions, why not be intentional about the ones you make? Written in partnership with the film, COURAGEOUS, The Resolution for Women focuses on joyfully honoring God as a wife, mother, and family member while resolving to live with the grace that leaves a godly legacy.

31 Days of Nourishing my Soul: moving bricks

Today had a lot of cravings in it for the kind of foods that I dwell on and make too important in my life.

But God's timing was so good to me today! I read just the right chapter in the Made to Crave book. Terkeurst writes of using each craving as a prompt to pray.  So I fully expect to become quite a pray-er!

From the book:

"It was my way of tearing down the tower of impossibility before me and building something new. My tower of impossibility was food. Brick by brick, I imagined myself dismantling the food tower and using those same bricks to build a walkway of prayer."       Made to Crave page 30.

Today I am moving bricks!