It's been a while...

I just realized that my last post was in February! Well, here is a little article that my husband sent my way. It is good for moms and dads. The best part is the "21 Words For Fathers" at the end. Good stuff!

Less Time Online

I have a handy tip to pass along. First, a little intro.

I think many of us want to spend less time on the computer. These days so much of our life is on there. We pay bills online, send gifts, store everyone's contact info, stay in touch with family, get coupons, send pictures to grandparents...
How much do our kids to see the back of our heads and hear us say, "Just a minute I'm almost done." There is a level that is acceptable and just has to be done. But, and we all know what I am talking about here, there is another level. There comes a time that we have to just decide to be fully present with our families. Remember life in the 80's? No cell phones and no internet. And we did ok without them.

The tip? Unsubscribe from every e-mail you can. Be brutal. I know there are good deals and current events to stay on top of. There are sale fliers to view. There are motivational things to read. But when they are in your e-mail inbox they demand your attention. If they are really worth looking at you could go to the site and check them out later if you have time. I have found that since I've unsubscribed from everything that is not personal I don't care to go searching for those other things. And I don't check my e-mail nearly as often. I barely have any! It has greatly reduced that "pull" to see if I have any communication from the outside world :0).

Failure

I'm good with that.

Cleaning once a month? Not a bad idea! What do you think?

Free Kindle Options

One more thing...

Even if you don't have a Kindle, you can use one of the apps here to read the book free on your computer, phone, or iPad.

Terrific Free Kindle Book

I just read Organized Simplicity by Tsh over at www.SimpleMom.net. It was really terrific, practical, and motivating. My wonderful friend Sharon just pointed out that the Kindle version is FREE right now! I don't know how long this will last, but if you have a Kindle, follow this link and pick it up.

One more quick thing about this book. It is not about the simple living that you see on magazine covers. It is not about a simple life that could not possibly mesh with your current life. It IS about everything in your life pointing in the direction that you want it to go. Your money, house, time and other resources being spent in such a way that you accomplish what is most important to you. Simple living means something different for each family and Tsh is great at helping you figure out what it looks like for yours.

New Years Resolutions

If you need a little help getting your year started off right, take a look at this 12 word post. Sounds like a great resolution to me.

A few of our favorite books for the younger crowd

This list was hastily thrown together. By that I mean that there is no rhyme or reason to the order or selection. I simply looked through our shelves and when I thought, "Oh we love that one!" I jotted it down and put it here. I hope you find a gem or two that will be new to you!

Books by Sandra Boyton (esp Snuggle Puppy and Barnyard Dance)
Books by Peter Spiers (esp Christmas, Noah's Ark and People)
All Things Bright and Beautiful illustrated by Bruce Whatley
Goodnight Moon
Guess How Much I Love You
The Year at Maple Hill Farm
Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm
Jesus Storybook Bible
The Big Picture Story Bible
Dr Seuss's Sleep Book
Books by Wendy Anderson Halperin (esp Love Is...)
Androcles and the Lion by Aesop and Janet Stevens
Not a Box (I didn't like Not a Stick)
A Bad Case of Stripes
Blueberries for Sal
The Bee Tree
Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs
One Morning in Maine
Horton Hatches the Egg
Could Be Worse
Oh the Places You'll Go
How to Make and Apple Pie and See the World
A Giraffe and a Half
Pancakes for Breakfast
The Gift of Nothing
Little Pea
Gruffalo
St George and the Dragon
The Kitchen Night
I Had Trouble In Getting to Solla Sollew
The Napping House
King Bidgood's in the Bathtub
Are You My Mother
There's a Monster at the End of This Book This is from my childhood and my boys love it :0)
James Harriot's Treasury For Children
The Little Mouse, Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear
Preschool Art
Toddler's Busy Book
Preschooler's Busy Book

*Please let me know if you have trouble with a link so I can fix it. Happy reading!

Thoughts on Christmas

Here is a link to a post last year about Christmas generosity and simplicity. It has many quotes and links to others that have summarized the topic very well. If you are trying to figure out just how materialistic to be this year, or how much to simplify, or how generous to be...this post may offer some helpful perspective.

WONDERFUL Series on Religions

Even if you are not particularly interested in other religions this is worth your time. It made me really appreciate Christianity even more. And, it is a helpful summary of the main religions in the world and how they deal with the problem of evil. One of my former pastors, Pastor Lee, wrote 8 short blog posts on the topic. Here is part of the intro:

A fellow PCA pastor (Joe Novenson) once suggested a metaphor that would help us hold this truth -- the existence of evil in this world -- in our minds in such a way that would allow us to clearly see how the religions of this world differ. It's a very helpful metaphor, and I'm just going to reproduce it here.

Please imagine that life is like a 16-foot deep, 16-foot across, round, slimy-walled PIT. You are in it, and you can't get out of it.

You're in way over your head, in a situation in which you can get little help, and over which you have little control.

But to make matters worse... inside that pit, there's also an 8-foot cobra. He's coiled and ready to strike.

Let's say that that cobra represents all the injustice, death, crime, suffering, poverty, pain, disease, war, & wrong-doing in this world. It represents everything that is wrong -- both in your personal life and in the world in general.

And here's what we're going to do: We're going to escort a representative from each of the world's major religions right up to the edge of that pit. That representative will see you in the pit and offer you his religion's version of "salvation."

We'll see just how different or alike the religions of this world are. Note that if you can think of a religion that we won't bring to the edge of the pit, it's really just a deviation (some would say a "heresy") of one of the religions that we will bring to the edge of the pit.

... to be continued ...

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part6
Part 7
Part 8