Stories For Us

Thank you all for the kind messages on my birthday! Check the bottom of this post to see what you won Everyone got something!

Here’s a recap of my day in picture form:

These were sitting on the kitchen table when I went to bed. It was sooo hard to sleep that night!

This is what was inside the boxes!! Yay! No more day old coffee for me!

This was my birthday headband. Yes, I wore it when we went out to dinner

My afternoon treat to myself. The chai charger (chai tea with a shot of espresso) was free because it was my birthday! Soooooo yummy!!

My boys did the dishes that night. Sigh.

Lil Miss read me a bedtime story.

I really couldn’t have asked for a better day!

And now for the winners!! If your name is in bold and is surrounded by ****, that means I need to you to please email me your mailing address at supergirlamelia at gmail dot com.

St. Patrick’s Day towel – **Suzanne**

Easter Towel – **Tanya**

Knitted Towels – **Jessie H**, Paige and **Jenn Baker**

Book -  Mom

Luggage Tag – Anne

Flip Flops – Karen

Caprisun Zipper pouch pencil size – Joy, **Jennifer**

Caprisun zipper pouch coin purse size – Susie, **Jen Griffin**

Key rings – **Erica**, Jennifer H., **Thrifty Girl**, Jen Gusey, Cindy, **Cessie**, **Jenelle**, and Holly

Thanks so much for joining in my birthday bash! It was lots of fun! I hope you enjoy your birthday gifts from me! I’ll send them out this week! Lots of love and hugs!

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birthday, give aways

Today’s my birthday, but the presents are for YOU! Leave a comment on the bottom of this post to be entered to win. I have lots to give away! Facebook friends, please leave a comment here on the blog, not on Facebook to be entered! I will draw the winners Wednesday the 25th at 5 pm!

I am halfway to 70. It feels strange, yet good at the same time.

For a little bit of perspective on how the world has changed in 35 years… I’m sure my Dad will correct me if I have the details incorrect, but the story goes something like this…

When I was born, my Dad was in the army and stationed in Okinawa, Japan. My birth certificate is unique: “American citizen born abroad.” I don’t dare lose it because getting another copy is a nightmare. My Dad said my birth cost him around $9 out of pocket. Of course, he had to make sure I knew that as we were shelling out a thousand or two for the birth of our kids. The funny part though is that the three minute phone call back to the States to tell my grandparents about my birth cost more than the hospital bill, and the phone connection wasn’t even that great. Now you can video chat with someone halfway across the world for free.

I’m incredibly thankful to be living during this amazing time in history. I’m especially thankful for you! So in honor of my birthday, I’m throwing a bloggy party, and the gifts are for you!! Leave a comment below to say Hi or Happy Birthday . I have lots to give away. Take a look! Feel free to share with your friends too. Your friends are my friends

A luggage tag that I hand embroidered a cruise ship on

A pencil case made of Caprisun juice pouches

Little key ring finder thingys I made!

2 knitted kitchen hand towels

2 little kitchen hand towels I sewed that look like little dresses, Easter and St Patricks day

A novel about a talented pianist, her dreams and her faith AND her name is Amelia :

Pink flip flops I crocheted around. Dreaming of summer...

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birthday, give away

I never struggled with housework until I had kids. As someone once told me, “It’s not that I mind doing housework. I just mind doing it over, and over, and over, and over….”

Housework is one of the most challenging jobs for me because the sense of completion lasts for such a short length of time. (Can you tell I’m a first-born, task-oriented person?!) Within minutes of vacuuming the floor, kids track in dirt and  disperse trail of crumbs. I had to learn to live with the satisfaction that at least I removed one layer of dirt.

I think dishes and laundry are the most monotonous for me. Now that my kids put away their own laundry,  even they see the monotony of it. Saturday they asked, “Laundry again? Why do you have to do it every day?” I looked at them and asked, “Why do you have to wear clothes every day? If you’d stop wearing clothes I could stop doing laundry.” They looked at me for a second while the thought registered and then the giggles started. Humor definitely helps dispel the drudgery of housework. I try to employ humor to help me whenever I can.

So goes life. It’s a never ending cycle of dishes and laundry and vacuuming and cleaning bathrooms. It seems as if you take just one day off  a pile builds that you can’t un-bury yourself from. When Mom gets sick, for just one or two days, no matter how much Dad does to help keep things running, it still piles up. (Mom, I really, really appreciate all you did for us growing up!)

While we were still living in Florida (and my tile floors were WHITE, and my children were toddlers), Kedron read a book called Getting Things Done by David Allen. He shared the principles with me from the book and one stuck with me – getting to zero. The principle for business people is “inbox zero,” meaning by the time you leave work each day you’ve dealt with your email inbox or your desk inbox and everything has been read, dealt with and filed so that the next day you are starting from “zero.”

I immediately saw how “getting the house back to zero” could help me not feel like I was continually catching up or living under a pile of housework. I analyzed what I struggle with the most and determined that by the time I went to bed each night those items would be at “zero.” Here’s my zero list:

1. Dishes – all out of the sink and off the counter, either by loading/unloading/re-loading the dishwasher, and washing, drying and putting away the bigger items  (such as pots and pans from dinner). By the time I go to bed the kitchen counters and table are all cleared and clean.

2. Laundry – dirty clothes are picked up off the floors and put in the hampers, and all laundry that was washed and dried that day has been folded and put away.

3. General pickup – all main living areas have been generally picked up, mail and school papers dealt with, coats/boots/hats/gloves picked up, and toys picked up off floors of main living areas (not bedrooms, I only deal with those once a week). But if we’ve built a fort, or we have a craft of school project in process, I leave that up to play with or work on.

Getting back to zero is a family effort. The kids and Kedron do their part to pick up and put away their own things. And while it’s a daily goal, it’s not a hard and fast rule. If it’s been a long, crazy day and we’re getting home late from something and I’m exhausted, I let myself rest and leave it for the morning. Or if I realized at 9 pm that one batch of brownies is not enough for Little Miss to take for her class birthday treat, I leave the brownie baking mess for the next day. But on most days, we get things back to zero, and I go to bed and wake up feeling the satisfaction of completion and not like I’m continually playing  catch-up. On the days that I do the bigger cleaning jobs, like bathrooms, vacuuming and mopping (or dusting, which is usually only right before my Mom comes to visit , those jobs are easier to get done because the rest of the house has stayed fairly picked up all week long.

In my goal to stay steady in all areas of my life, getting the house back to zero each day greatly helps me with housework!

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family, housework, motherhood, parenting

I recently was shopping for a belated birthday present for my five-year-old niece. I picked up a hooded sweatshirt and jeans and thought to myself, “Oh, no. I’m turning into one of those boring aunts who buys clothes and not something fun.” I comforted my ego with the fact that at least the clothes had sparkles and embroidery. I had no idea if they were the right size or if she would even like them. I kept the receipt just in case the gift totally bombed.

Read the rest at Circle of Friends!

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Circle of Friends

I’d much rather give help than ask for it. I suppose it’s part pride, part not wanting to be a burden or a bother.

Yesterday morning I had a mini-meltdown. I was overwhelmed with my book project, laundry, dishes, and a five-year-old who does not go to school everyday and especially misses his sister on Mondays. By noon, I had resigned myself that I might not get to write a single word that day. I felt like a horrible mom to keep saying, “Not right now. Please, just give me 20 minutes to finish this stuff!” With the pressure of a looming deadline, I did what any reasonable woman does. I sat down for a little cry.

In the midst of my tears I felt God speak to my spirit, “You’re wasting time with this little pity party. Ask for help.”

I sat up, still sniffling, and began to pray. I confessed that I cannot do these things alone. I cannot be a writer/mother/wife/Bible Study Fellowship leader and do any of them well without God’s help.

Then I felt God whisper, “Keep going. You know what’s next.”

I choked down my pride and sent my in-laws an e-mail asking if there might be any Mondays that they would have free for T-Rex to hang out with them. Within a couple hours, we had worked out a schedule for the next few Mondays. I know that T-Rex and Papa will both have fun making memories.

I felt peace for the first time that day, and I began to relax. I finished the chores. I built a fort that took up the entire living room. I played sword fight on the Wii and let T-Rex win (don’t tell him!). We even worked on his letters and numbers.

Then my sister-in-law showed up with soup for dinner. She has four kids aged 3 and under. I should be the one making her dinner! Yet she insists that to make a little extra for us is no big deal. It’s a big deal to me.

Another friend sent me a message just to stay she prayed for me and my family that day. This time, the tears were out of thankfulness for the blessings I knew I did not deserve.

I asked for help. I received way more than I asked for. And somewhere in the course of that day, I wrote 1/4 of a chapter, and I didn’t even stay up past 11 p.m!

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community, motherhood, parenting, writing

My kids have been enjoying this challenge, and were excited to see what the next verse would be. We discuss the verse most mornings before they head to school. One afternoon last week, Little Miss on her own, fixed a snack for her brother and his friend. When I complimented her on how thoughtful she was, she asked, “Was that serving the Lord by helping my brother and his friend?” I LOVE that it is sinking in and they are seeing how their actions relate to the verses we are memorizing!

It’s not to late to join. Check out this post for verse B, and to enter the give away for a Starbucks gift card!!

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Last week, I posted at Circle of Friends about how one of my goals for 2012 was to stay more consistently disciplined in all areas of my life, with new daily habits of discipline as opposed to catch-up habits. I have a pattern, as I do when I drive, to hit the gas, then coast, then hit the gas, then coast. I didn’t realize just how bad I was until I logged into Daily Mile and realized that I hadn’t run in three months! That’s quite a long coast!

Yes, I took three months off. I didn’t run, I didn’t walk (other than to the fridge and back!), I did nothing physical at all. Every year I have no trouble staying active through the spring, summer and fall, training for a handful of half marathons. Then October hits and I feel I deserve a break. So I take a few weeks off. Then the holidays hit and next thing I know, it’s January and if I don’t start doing something fast I’ll be shopping for all new pants.

Really, all I want do do November through March is sit on my couch with a cup of coffee, curl up under a blanket and just hibernate. I think the bears have it figured out. So I was puzzled how to get motivated and avoid the winter workout wasteland (or should it be waist-land since mine tends to expand?!). Besides not wanting to shop for new jeans, I struggle with the blues through the winter months. We barely see the sun, and it’s not easy to get outside. Exercise helps battle those winter blahs.

At the end of the year I saw my Daily Mile friends posting their total miles for the year. That’s when I got the idea to run 1,000 miles in 2012 (I did less than 500 in 2011!!). That turns out to be not quite 20 miles per week. I can do it if I stay consistent. It will mean being the most consistent I’ve ever been. It means I can’t take three months off.

I’m off to a slow start (8 miles last week, 13 this week), but I know I can’t just jump right into 20 miles a week since I took three months off. I ran my first six-miler on Saturday and by mile five, my legs felt like lead. What I love about using Daily Mile is it helps me keep track of what I’ve done, just like my prayer journal does. I can look week by week and see those glaring holes of inactivity.

If you’re on Daily Mile, look me up – I’m Amelia R. If you’re not on, check it out. It’s like Facebook but for exercise. No matter whether you run, bike, swim, do yoga or lift weights, Daily Mile can help you track your workouts, as well as encourage others to reach their goals. They also have fun little widgets that show how many doughnuts you’ve burned, how far around the world you’ve gone or how many tv’s you’ve powered.

Here’s to staying steady in all areas!!

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discipline, running

Last week, I posted at Circle of Friends about how one of my goals for 2012 was to stay more consistently disciplined in all areas of my life, with new daily habits of discipline as opposed to catch-up habits. I have a pattern, as I do when I drive, to hit the gas, then coast, then hit the gas, then coast. I didn’t realize just how bad I was until I logged into Daily Mile and realized that I hadn’t run in three months! That’s quite a long coast!

As I evaluated how to keep my life at a steady pace, I came to the conclusion that I needed to set larger goals that could be broken down into smaller daily disciplines.

The first area of discipline that I wanted to tackle was prayer. I’m fairly good at talking to God regularly throughout the day in my head. In fact, I have always have some form of conversation going in my head, whether it’s with myself, a story I’m writing, or talking to God. I can often miss the real-life conversations around me, and it drives my husband crazy!

But I wanted to focus more on the quiet times of prayer when I’m alone, and my thoughts are solely focused on conversation with God, not also on the dishes or folding laundry or driving my car. I also wanted to be consistent in keeping my promises to pray for the needs of others.

I knew if I just told myself to spend 15 minutes every morning in prayer that I would get distracted, or I’d forget, or the kids would wake up and I’d lose my prayer train of thought. And how do you set bigger goals for prayer? It’s not like you can set a goal to pray for something big and then sit back and wait for it to happen. The success of prayer isn’t what happens because you prayed, but what happens inside of you because of God working in you and how you have opened yourself to His voice in your life.

Then this prayer diary showed up in the mail from my friend Joy who is a missionary with YWAM (youth with a mission). I thumbed through the pages and knew this was my bigger goal that would help me stay disciplined. The book is a well-thought out and informative planner for the entire year. At the beginning of each month is an informative article educating you on a different country and about the issues Christians there are facing. Each day of the year lists a prayer request for various countries, as well as space to add your own. At the beginning of each week is a place to write your own goals for the week, which I am using to help me in my other areas of discipline.

I like to write. I love paper, and I get excited to have something like this to fill out and help me focus each day. A blank journal just wouldn’t have cut it for me. In this diary, if I miss a day, there’s a glaring blank spot, reminding me that I’m coasting again and need to keep my foot steady on the gas.

Next up: physical discipline. I may have run a marathon once, but I’ve been a slacker recently!!

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discipline, faith, prayer

I confess, I was never the girl who dreamed about having babies. I didn’t have names picked out when I was a twelve, nor did I imagine a day I’d have a houseful of kids. I wasn’t around many babies in my childhood, and I didn’t babysit much in adolescence. The rare times I did babysit ended in disasters like the kids ganging up on me, tying me to a chair with jump ropes and spinning me around, or an angry girl locking me out of the house and calling her mom at work to tell her how horrible I was. I fared better with children when they were at a distance – as in I was performing safely on a stage with my Dad and they sat well-behaved with their parents in the audience.

I knew I would have kids some day, but it was more of a matter-of-fact “Of course I will have kids someday,” rather than an emotional “Oh I can’t wait!!” daydream.

Even admitting those things in writing gives me this weird sense of guilt, as if I’m wired incorrectly or something. It’s not that I didn’t like kids, because I genuinely did. I just wasn’t the girl who gushed and cooed over every little, adorable, fuzzy-headed baby who crossed her path.

So when I got pregnant, even though we were “ready” to have kids (tongue in cheek because you are never really ready!), I was terrified, a little bit sick to my stomach, and not from the hormones. I wasn’t sure I could be trusted to raise a baby. What in the world would I do with him or her all day? How in the world with my sensitive gag reflexes would I ever be able to change thousands of stinky diapers? And what if the child threw up? I was the kid who threw up when my brother threw up merely out of sympathy. I looked at the positive pregnancy test, and then at Kedron and asked, “Are we sure about this?” He laughed, “A little late for that!”

Here I was a confident, type-A, driver, task-oriented person, who was often complimented in the workplace for learning things quickly. But when it came to babies – I. Was. Terrified.

And then seven years ago Little Miss Sunshine rather dramatically entered my life, and turned me upside down and inside out. It’s not that I suddenly fell in love with babies and turned into this super maternal woman. Except for when it came to her. I was mush. I went into motherhood overdrive. And I’ve never been the same. I’m still not a super baby oriented person. Although I have much more confidence now in calming a crying little one, entertaining them, making them laugh, ok so I think babies are pretty awesome.

I discovered that the things I was good at before having kids became even greater strengths in motherhood. God wired me just for this child (and her little brother T-Rex). And while I’m not a perfect parent, I’m perfectly fitted to parent them. Somewhere along the line I stopped beating myself up for all the lack of what I thought should be “normal” maternal feelings and actions, and I embraced who I was, just how God had created me.

There’s nothing quite like watching a mini-me run around the house. I knew I was in trouble not long ago when she worked me over and tried to get me in trouble with my own Dad. We had been discussing how Grandpa Steve used to have hair. That was a completely novel concept to her and she couldn’t imagine what he looked like with hair. Somewhere in the course of the conversation I told her, “Well, I was happy when he started shaving the rest of his hair off. He looks so much better bald!”

She tucked that conversation in the back of her little brain to use against me later. A few weeks after that we were visiting my parents when I heard her say, “Grandpa Steve, my mommy says you looked terrible with hair!” Oh yes, I have met my match. I came screeching into the room, “That is NOT what I said!!” One look at my Dad and I knew he was going to milk this for all it was worth. His shoulders were shaking in silent laughter and his eyes sparkled with mischief. “So, I looked terrible with hair, huh?” I knew I was had.

And I was glad to be had. I couldn’t imagine life any other way. Happy Birthday this weekend Little Miss Sunshine!!

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family, kids, motherhood, parenting