Half-Pint House

Linky Slinky

I've had open tabs all day for links I want to go back to. You might want to check some of them out too.

Tulip Girl: Restoring Gently and Carrying Burdens: This was on my mind this week, after a conversation I had. . . I keep praying that the Lord will show me how to “restore gently” as the boys are getting older, as we are instroduced to new struggles.

Wistful Wrists: No Apple iPad for this Mom! Seriously. If you are a mom blogger, you need to read this. The new Apple iPad is not for you. Sure, they make be marketing it with a catchy name that is sure to catch any woman’s eye <insert sarcasm here>, but I’m pretty sure this thing is really for the Kindle set, which is my politically correct way of saying the geriatric demographic...

Amy's Finer Things: Rice Krispy Roll: Wanna ramp up your Rice Krispy Treats a chocolaty, peanut buttery notch?  Look no further!

Me at WORLDMag.com: Count it all joy: A couple of nights ago I had trouble sleeping. The next morning, I woke up and began praying that God would allow me to find joy in all the things that normally drive me crazy...

Inspired to Action: Perfect Mothers vs. Balanced Mothers: How many of us fall into the trap of believing that we need to be “perfect moms” who raise “perfect children?” That we need to mother a certain way, dress a certain way, keep our homes a certain way and discipline a certain way. That our kids need to behave a certain way, look a certain way and speak a certain way... (hat tip to Amy).

Second Drafts: Live-Blogging POTUS State of the Union Address: He took out my, "We're good enough, we're smart enough, and doggone it, people like me" line. The president didn't say that, but he came very very close. I think it should have a place in Craig's list of mentionables...

Hello? Anybody Out There?

I guess it's me who left. So sorry.

Well, life resumed pretty quickly after the black hole that was December. We're back to school, back to Classical Conversations, back to the Dunham version of normal.

Except for this one tiny thing: the blog.

A friend asked me if I was going to post my book list for 2009 and I didn't have the heart to tell her that my reading list for last year looks like this:

Facebook by Everybody

Twitter by Everybody Else

Yep. I think aside from books I read to the girls (and I do still read to them for school, but they have taken over the nighttime portion of their reading these days - I keep thinking I want to start reading to them at bedtime again. I need to do that), I read one or two books all year.

All. Year.

It could have been more, but I don't know. So to make up for that, I've been reading again this year. And I know myself well enough to know I need some easy stuff to remind myself that yes, I do indeed know how to read. I've been overdosing on fiction and liking it. I'm on my third book so far which is nothing for most of the true book gobblers out there, but for someone going through a Facebook/Twitter-as-literature detox, three works of fiction in three weeks isn't too shabby.

I've been saying no to good things. I've been listening a teensy bit more to what the needs are at home.

I'm a long way from perfection. I know. I just shocked every single one of you. But I'm not giving up and that's the key for me.

Someday I will write about why we're planning to put the girls in school in 7th grade. Someday I will write about how we've restarted our weekly Sabbath meals and 24 hour technology fasts (which have contributed to the increased reading...funny how that works). Someday I will finish my series of posts on our church experiences. 

But for now I'm going to sign off and go tidy up something because that's what the need is.

Thanks for hanging in here with me even when it's quiet. Truly, you are a friend to the introvert. Even the ones on the web.

A Few More Thoughts on Haiti

Thought #1: Here at WORLDMag.com.

Thought #2: Hope for Haiti Raffles - I'm giving away two sets of two Valentine's Zippy Bags all for the cost of a $1 raffle ticket. 100% of the proceeds go toward Haitian rescue efforts. There are a lot of other (better) offers for raffle prizes, so this would be a good way to donate.

Thought #3: Unless you've been hiding under a block (blog+rock), you already know about the integrity and work of Compassion. 

All funds raised in response to the Haiti earthquake will be used immediately to provide for Compassion-assisted children and families affected by this crisis. Any funds raised in excess will be stewarded by Compassion for additional and future disaster relief efforts.

You can provide immediate relief today.

• $35 helps provide a relief pack filled with enough food and water to sustain a family for one week.
• $70 gift helps care for their needs for two weeks.
• $105 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain two families for two weeks.
• $210 gift helps care for two families’ needs.
• $525 helps provide relief packs filled with enough food and water to sustain 10 families for two weeks.
• $1,050 gift helps care for 10 families’ needs.
• $1,500 helps rebuild a home.
• $2,100 helps supply 20 families with the basics for three weeks.

Due to the high number of responses it may take longer than normal to process your transaction.

Haiti Earthquate

Hope for Haiti

I sit by and watch.

I weep inside.

I do not have any idea of what is really going on.

I see pictures.

They make me cry.

I will eat breakfast in the morning like I usually do.

My kids have no concept of 100,000.

One said, "Oh, so more than 10?"

Another one said, "No, silly, it was 100,000,000."

More than 10, less than 100,000,000.

Still devastating.

I want to do something.

What?

It isn't much, but it is something.

What are your plans?

January 4, 2010

That's how I used to begin journal entries. It's how I've been beginning them this year, too. I'm four-for-four so far on reading through the Old Testament backwards. Why backwards? If you hold the needle just right it says something totally new and different.

Ahem. Not really. Here's why I'm reading through the Old Testament backwards: I've read Genesis through mid-Leviticus so many times I've lost count. I know myself well enough to know that eventually this will drop off and I will be desperately wishing for routine again. But as long as I'm in the middle of a good streak, I thought I'd mix it up a little to give myself a fighting chance.

I think I've only actually made it all the way through the entire Bible one time. I usually camp out in the Psalms, Proverbs, and New Testament letters. That is to say, I haven't spent that much time with the minor prophets. So I started with the last book of the OT and am now in the next-to-last book of the OT. The variety is really working for me right now, so I'm going with it.

In keeping with other attempts to shame myself later, we went to the gym today for the first time in, well, a long time. We found out our membership expires on February 3rd, so we're taking the month of January to decide if we should renew it. If we can't get our collective hineys in gear by February 3rd, then we'll probably let the membership go. If we can continue to go more than today, we'll consider it.

I'm giving the Couch to 5K plan a shaky start. I had no idea Day 1 would be as hard for me as it was, but that's what happens when you only get on a treadmill once each year. I didn't do this on a treadmill, though; I did it on the track in the gym. I think I like the track better - there is less time to over-analyze what everyone else might or might not be thinking as I slug my way around. There are people way better than me and also people way worse, as I'm your lower middle class track user. I'm trying to avoid what will inevitably put me in a class I don't even want to name by going, because if I don't so something more consistently than once/year, unfortunate things are going to happen to me.

Which brings me back to Weight Watchers. I'm now on day 2 (again). The plan works for me. My problem is that every time I lose 10-15 pounds I stop and then I eat my way right back up to where I was again. And that's exactly where I am right now. Only 1.5 pounds less than where I started last June (I lost 10 last summer, then gained 8.5 back again).

Are you sensing a theme here? I could probably go back into the archives of this very blog and pull up early January posts that sound very similar to this one. Because I've done this before. But I don't want to give up because I know my normal zero-tolerance policy toward self-discipline. I don't want to give in to what is usually me. The year I don't try anymore? That will be one very sad year.

I'm seeing folks all over the blogosphere coin their "Blogging Goals of 2010." I'm noticing a lot of desire for their blog traffic to increase dramatically this year.

That's not on my list of goals. Honestly? I've been tempted to play the blog games. I think I know how to do it. I've never been interested in that, though. There was a part of me that wanted to join the ranks of the "conference" bloggers (you know, the ones who go to blog conferences to learn how to build better blogs). I considered trying to find a sponsor to pay for my ticket to the conference. And then I asked myself, "Why?" If I get one weekend away by myself, why in the world would I want to spend it at a blog conference? Truthfully? I don't. I'd rather go to L'Abri again (though even that isn't an option this year).

This blog is not what I want to devote my resources to.

Getting back into the Word again? Yes. Attempting, yet again, to shed this cursed 15-20 pounds? Yes. Focusing on the homeschool part of "homeschool parent" which I am? Yes.

Blog Queen? Not so much.

So, I hereby set not one single goal for my Half-Pint House. I will write when it seems good to do so; I will be glad when you come by and let me know you did.

And that's about it. The rest of my goals? Much more important to me and to my family.

Peace to you this year as you navigate the world of what best to give yourself to. May it be what draws you closer to the Lord, and keeps your heart in tune with the calling God has placed on your life.

Happy New Year.

Oh yes, I have another post

We're in Oklahoma. We left at 5:45am yesterday morning thinking it would be a good idea and that most of us would sleep in the car most of the way here. In reality, I slept most of the way here.

We won't make that mistake tomorrow when we go back home.

But while we were on our way, I did post something on WORLDMag.com. Something on marriage again. So it's over there if you want to read it.

Happy New Year, everyone! I still want to call it two-thousand-ten. You can call it twenty-ten. Doesn't matter to me.