Rah, Rah, Rah

The other day I was listening to Klove and the deejay was telling a story about her husband.  The husband had been trying to lose weight the past couple of months.  He had lost over 50 pounds so far and was trying to stay on the healthy diet he had established.  The deejay was having a family get together and was in the kitchen make an appetizer with her husband.  She was making little smokies, wrapped in bacon (mmmm...bacon), covered in brown sugar.  Her husband was helping her.  She said while he was helping he said, "Maybe next time you could make something a little healthier I could eat."  It was not said in a malicious, rude, or mean way and the wife did not take it that way.  She felt convicted for not helping her husband in a way that she could with his diet.  She talked about encouraging him, being his cheerleader.  Not only verbally, but by doing things she knows would help him. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11 
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 

Of course, this made me start thinking.  Since I have started walking, the officer has not missed an opportunity to tell me that he is proud of me.  We've been married almost 14 years and he knows me.  He knows I am not a morning person.  He knows I like to sleep in.  He knows I do not like people (i.e. husband or children) chatting it up with me in the morning.  He knows me.  So when he see me getting up, often by 6:30 a.m. nowadays, he encourages me and tells me he's proud of me.  When he tells me he notices a difference in my attitude, he encourages me.  When he tells me, "You look pretty today." or "Those shorts look good on you.", he encourages me.  He had noticed small things and make them known to me. 

Proverbs 25:11
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. 

It makes me feel good to know my husband is proud of me.  It makes me feel good to know he is notices the hard work.  It makes me feel good to know he knows the struggles I have and wants to cheer me on. 

Proverbs 12:25
Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but an encouraging word makes it glad. 

Then.... as I was listening to the deejay the other day, I started to feel convicted.  I know I do not do the same thing for him.  One of the officer's top five love languages are words of affirmation.  That's why is he so good at the encouraging.  Me?  Not so much.  I think words of affirmation may be like number 12 for me.  In fact often times, I "help" correct (i.e. criticize) than encourage. 

Ephesians 4:29
Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.

I realized how much the encouragement has meant to me these past couple of month and I know it would mean more than that to the officer. 

Hebrews 10:24
.. and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. 

Encouraging does not come easily for me.   I am often more critical or judgmental in my thoughts than encouraging.  So this week I have set my mind to pray for God to reveal to me some ways I can encourage the officer, not just verbally.  I set my mind to try to let words that are uplifting and edifying come out of my mouth (or nothing at all). 

Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.

A Few Things I've Learned

I woke up at 6 a.m. today.  6 A.M.  And it wasn't even Black Friday.  The other day, I woke up at 7 a.m. and looked out my bedroom window.  Not a leaf was stirring on the trees.  My phone showed it was already 78 degrees outside.  I immediately knew I wasn't going to enjoy walking that morning.  And I didn't.  It was hot and muggy.  I did not enjoy one single step.  I didn't want to walk the whole three miles I've worked up to.  I just wanted to go back to bed.  But, I did walk. All three miles.  I knew if I didn't walk that morning it would open the door ever so slightly for me to make an excuse to not walk when it gets hotter.

So this morning I woke up at 6 a.m.  I got dressed and went for my walk.  It was muggy when I started.  Already in the upper 70s, however, this time the sun was not all the way up so it didn't feel quite as hot.  By the time I was finished walking, clouds had rolled in and there was a slight breeze.  I suppose for a couple of months this will be my new routine.  

There have been a few things I've learned along the way while walking....

1.  I didn't know you could sweat in so many places on your body.
2.  Vaseline helps with blisters on the feet.
3.  I need pockets in my shorts for phone, garage door opener, keys, phone and mp3 player.  I don't want to strap the mp3 player to my arm because then I'd have a strange tan line. 
4.  Don't wear knit shorts with only two pockets or they will keep slipping down (see #3).
5.  My feet now look like I am permanently wearing no-show socks because of the tan line.  No amount of flip flop wearing is going to remedy this.
6.  The rubbing is interesting.
7.  I've learned a little more about amphibian anatomy due to the squished frogs in the streets I have to walk by every day.
8.  It looks like a package of crushed Ramen noodles has been thrown onto my neighbor's driveway and sidewalk because of all the dead earthworms.  I don't know why it's just their sidewalk.  My daughter rescues an earthworm from it certain demise there almost every day.
9.  Mandisa and TobyMac have some great music to walk to.  My playlist needs new songs though.  Anyone for suggestions on great motivating music to walk to?
10.  I have walked just over 200 miles since the beginning of March.  
11.  I have eaten my fair share of bugs while walking.  I'm sure a look like a lunatic in my haste to not swallow them.
12.  I do not like junebugs in my hair.
13.  Watch out for low hanging branches.
14.  I've made a couple of new rabbit friends.  There's always one or two of them in a particular yard.  I'm going to throw them a carrot next time.  Hopefully they aren't rabid.  :)
15.  My dog likes the rabbits too, but I don't think they like him.  He almost pulled my arm out of the socket today when we rounded a corner and he saw it.
16.  Dogs will pee on anything.  
17.  Dogs will eat almost anything - and I mean anything!
18.  You get to know your neighbors when you're out and about.  Especially the ones who like to speed down the street.
19.  When you see the sun coming up and you're listen to Mandisa sing "Good Morning", it's hard not to be thankful for the day God has blessed you with.
20.  When you walking, it's a great time to spend in prayer.  

Those are a few of the things I've learned the last few months.  I really just thought I'd be getting a little bit of exercise by walking.  Who knew there was so much benefit to this walking stuff?

Psalms 30:5
"...... joy comes with the morning."

Things That Make You Go Hmmm....

Every morning I get up to go walking.  My daughter has decided to join me.  She likes to ride her bike or scooter.  Her newest obsession is catching baby frogs.  Since we've had so much rain lately, we've seen a lot of baby frogs.  If you see my daughter hunched down on the ground like this, it's highly likely she's playing with a frog.

She likes to catch them and make a habitat for them.  She caught two yesterday, but both of them died before the day was over.  She just looks at them for a bit and then releases them now.  

This morning she found four baby frogs on our walk/ride.  They are awfully cute. 

There is a cul-de-sac in our neighborhood that has a lot of rollie pollies on the sidewalks.  She calls it "Rollie Pollie Town".  She likes to make sure they are out of my way so I don't step on them.

When I am finished with my walk, I like to sit outside on the driveway and cool off.  The kids like to ride their bike/scooter or draw on the sidewalk while I relax.  Well today when I finished my walk, my chair was on the driveway and a bowl of water was waiting for our dog.  My daughter came out of the house and ever so sweetly handed me a glass full of ice water.  So thoughtful.  I ruined it though.  I asked her if she washed her hands with soap and water before she got the ice and water in the cup.  

No.  She forgot.

I could not bring myself to drink the water.  I should have just taken it, but she already knew I wasn't going to drink the water and it upset her.  

She was sad.  She was very kind though and brought out new, fresh water.  So in return, I took her for a very long bike ride and back over by the creek.  My son went with us for part of the ride.  He rescued a baby turtle on the way home.

Rain Rain Go Away

Last week the officer took our daughter to the lake.  They spent time swimming, fishing and driving the golf cart. I love that they can spend some one on one time together.
 

Of course, there was ice cream.

They also found the cutest little turtle ever. 

And no trip to the lake can be complete without the spotting of a large snake.

While the officer and daughter were away, the son and I went to Martin Nature Park with some friends.  It was nice and breezy outside.  They have a great playground, easy hiking, and places to see wildlife.  Most of the hiking is in the shade so even it it's a bit hot, the shade provides some relief.

We've had our fair share of rain in Oklahoma these past couple of weeks.  Just last night our city had over 9 inches of rain.  It was a crazy night!  We had several days warning of the pending storms on Friday night.  The weathermen said there as a possibility of tornadoes, softball size hail, high winds, flash flooding and severe thunderstorms.  Whew.  There were preparations made.  Kid's backpacks packed.  Tornado bag with weather radio, first aid kit, extra change of clothes for everyone, and dog food packed.  All errands ran before lunch.  Back to the house for lunch and to storm watch.

My sister called and asked if she and her five kids could come over.  Of course!  She even brought a homecooked dinner over for everyone.  We fed all the kids and they went out to play before it started to rain.  Thankfully, the officer did not have to work late and was already home.  We carefully tracked the weather.  When it was within 15 miles from us, we decided to get everyone down to the shelter.  The May 20th tornado became big so quickly, we didn't want to take any chances.  So down into the shelter went two teenagers, five kids ages 10 and under, one 64 lb. dog, and three adults.  

It became very stuffy in the shelter pretty quickly.  The officer plugged in a fan to help relieve it, but then unplugged it in case the cord got wet from rain since we were sitting in a metal box.  Our neighbors texted to officer and asked to come over.  So another teenager, another child, and another adult squeezed into our shelter.  13 people and one dog in an eight person shelter.  It was tight to say the least, but do-able.  We heard heavy rain and hail.  We shut the door for not more than 10 minutes, but it was a little nerve racking.  All the kids did great.  No one panicked.  God's hand of protection on us the whole time.

We listened to the radio and decided to come out of the shelter after it seemed the tornado had passed us.  Everyone stayed at our house for another hour or so just to make sure we were not in any more danger.  The rain was crazy.  Our yard and street flooded again.  It never reached our back porch though.  Overall it was an uneventful evening - thank the Lord.

After my walk on Saturday morning, the daughter and I went on another bike ride.  
 

This morning the rain provided some entertainment.  Puddles to ride through.

In the middle of our bike ride, we had to take a break.  You see, there was more water.  We saw a mom and her two kids walking around in it.  My daughter wanted to go down and play in it too.  As soon as she got into the water, we noticed a fish flopping around.  It was trying to swim upstream, but had gotten stuck.  My daughter got a stick and helped it move downstream.  The other mother told me they rescued two other fish.

With all the crazy weather we've had, it doesn't take much to realized we are blessed beyond what we deserve.  It's the little things, time with family, bike rides, rescuing fish, drawing on the sidewalks that makes everything so sweet.