photo by misteraitch

She walks into the great hall full of women, feeling very alone.

Will anyone have a seat open? One that’s not saved for their best friend? Will they talk to me? Will they like me?

She walks around the many full tables with her plate of food in her hands. Tables surrounded by women busy with their various conversations.

Will someone invite me to sit? Will someone even glance my way?

Finally she approaches the back of the room where there are some seats open. She wonders if she should just sit at the empty table and see if others come, or try to sit by a stranger and overcome that social awkwardness that always overcomes her.

She sees someone glance her way.

“Do you need a place to sit?“
“Yes, is there a seat open?”
“Yes, I just need one for a friend so you can have this one.”
“Thanks.”

The pressure relieves. Someone noticed her. Someone cared.

Then, a new pressure builds up.

What will I say next? I need to connect.

“Where are you from?”
The conversation rolls somewhat smoothly from there. Then the friend arrives.

She wonders if that’s the end, when suddenly she is introduced.
The conversation continues until the dinner is over and the teaching session is about to begin.

They must move to a different room, find different seats.
The table full of women say to each other, “It was nice meeting you.” Then they part ways.
They all move in the same direction, toward the next room.

She wonders where to sit now.
She stands at the door, looking.
She does not recognize any familiar faces.
Then she spots one, the women who invited her to the table.

Do I dare ask to invade her space again?
Is that asking too much?

She walks forward, “Can I sit by you?”
Then seconds of anticipation. Will she be accepted?

“Sure.”

To the other woman this is no big deal, just an off-handed answer.
But to the lonely woman this is one step closer to making a friend in a room full of strangers.

Have you ever felt like the lonely woman?

Have you ever been the woman who offers a seat?

When we were getting ready to move, I didn’t do my regular exercise routine much. I was busy packing up boxes, moving a load at a time to the new house, and by the end of the day I was exhausted. Despite being “too busy to exercise” I still lost weight. I didn’t cut back on my calories, but I did what I call, natural exercise.

My definition of natural exercise is exercise that you can do during a normal day that isn’t going to a gym or doing an exercise routine. What this looked like while we were moving was standing most of the day, lifting heavy boxes, and going up and down the stairs.

In this world we live in, it’s easy to sit all day. We can sit at the computer and TV for hours at a time. We sit in our cars for long drives. So, if you find yourself sitting for a while get up and do some natural exercise.

Play outside with your kids. My kids love going to the park. It’s very easy for me to sit on the park bench and read my book while they are occupied playing. The better choice would be playing with them. Crawl through the tunnels, go down the slides, or play a game of tag. This is all great natural exercise and gives your kids some quality time.

Clean the house. Do you ever feel tired out after mopping the floors in your house? That’s because you’re getting your natural exercise. Vacuuming, sweeping, and scrubbing a tub are all going to burn more calories than sitting on the couch. What needs to get cleaned today?

Work in the yard. Working in the yard is really hard work. You are definitely going to burn calories when you mow(the push kind), rake, or work in the garden. Plus it’s always great to get some fresh air and Vitamin D.

Getting from point A to point B. We have many options of how to get places. Instead of driving to the destination that’s less than a few miles away, ride your bike or walk. Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator.

All these little movements in your day add up. How are you going to get natural exercise today?

Weight last week: 163 pounds

Weight this week: 162 pounds

Total weight loss this year : 22 pounds

I felt like I was just going through the motions. Then the motions stopped.

I stopped getting up early, which is when I read my bible and so I wasn’t reading my bible at all. I knew that was useless, but I let it slide. I let life get in the way.

Despite keeping every waking moment busy with life, I still had that hunger. I still wanted my Jesus. I still needed Jesus. I still wanted to know him better, serve him better.

One day I was able to get some time away. Usually I take this time to do some blogging, but this time I decided to take time to assess my heart. With God’s help, I wanted to see where I was and how to fix it.

I have never heard God speak, but I have felt little nudges in a direction. Is this a calling? I don’t know, but I felt compelled to write. I was compelled to write the graces that God had placed in my life.

Maybe the reason I had arrived in this dry place is because I had forgotten, I had grace amnesia. So I wrote down this grace that God placed on my mind, and as I started writing, God reminded me of grace upon grace. This one grace turned into seven and I was overflowing with the joy of the Lord and God’s peace. He loves me!

He is still here. The way that I can see Him, even in these dry times, is to remind myself of His graces. I remember better when I write them down.

My advice to someone who is in a spiritual drought is don’t ignore your relationship with God. Sometimes we cant feel him but He is there. He promised. He is faithful. Keep seeking Him.

Something else that helped me was changing up my Bible reading plan. I decided to skip the year reading plan and went to good old Philippians. Philippians soothes my soul, edifies me, it was just the change I needed.

Pray. Talk to God. Ask Him to fill that void your feeling.

Don’t forsake him. He didn’t and will never forsake you.

Write down the graces He has bestowed upon you, remember what He’s done for you. This is what Ann Voskamp talks about in One Thousand Gifts. I have just begun my list and look forward to adding to it each day and remembering how He’s always here.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 3:12-14 ESV)

I’m half-way to my weight loss goal and I’m feeling pretty great.  There are times though, when trying to live healthier is not so easy.

It’s not easy…

Saying no to chocolate. I LOVE chocolate. Milk chocolate is my favorite. Add a little caramel and it’s perfection. Eating chocolate will not help me reach my goals, and sometimes saying no is hard.

Saying no to ice cream. The summer months are approaching and I’m anticipating a hot one. Hot temps mean only one thing- ice cream. (Maybe that’s just me.) We buy some amazing vanilla ice cream from Costco. It’s creamy and oh so good, but I just can’t have it every night like I used to.

Saying no to dessert in a cup. Salted Caramel Mocha is one of the best coffee drinks ever made. I would regularly get these when we went out for coffee. That was until I saw how many calories they had! That’s a lot of calories to burn. Luckily they don’t make them anymore, so the decision just got easier.

Getting up early to exercise. I LOVE to sleep. I used to sleep in until 10 on a Saturdays, before we had kids. I am not a morning person, in fact I enjoy staying up late. That fact makes it even more difficult to get up in the morning. If I want to get out and exercise it works best if I do it before everyone wakes.

Eating my fruits and vegetables. I’ve never been much of a healthy eater, as you might see from above. Chocolate, ice cream, chips and queso, pizza – these have been staples. It’s not easy for me to enjoy the more natural foods that are better for me.  So, every day I have to be intentional about adding these to my meals.

Finishing my workout. It’s not only hard to get up early to exercise, sometimes it’s hard to keep going through the whole workout. Yes, even during Jillian’s short 20 minute shred I get tempted to quit.

Taking smaller portions. Chicken Pot Pie is one of my favorite meals. After starting to eat healthier, I realized that I was usually eating more than one serving and it’s not necessarily a low-calorie meal.

Drinking more water. I am always struggling with keeping up with my water intake. I am drinking more than I used to, but it seems that sometimes that’s just not enough. I have to continually be filling my water bottle.

I do allow myself leeway on these things. The easy way out is to be lazy and do whatever I want, but what I want is changing. I like having more energy. I like that my clothes are fitting differently. I like that I am setting a healthy example for my children. These benefits make it worth all the hard work.

Weight last week: 163 pounds

Weight this week: 163 pounds

Total weight loss this year: 21 pounds

No gain and no loss. My plan is to get back to exercising more, which I haven’t been doing as much since we moved.

What obstacles get in your way of living healthier?

It was my daughter Lydia’s birthday last month and it was also my birthday, on the same day. Since we share a birthday, we often just focus on my daughter and make her feel special. Twenty-five years of having the birthday all to myself was plenty.

This year we were going to be gone at our homeschool conference, so we celebrated a little early as a family. Her Grandma and cousins came to celebrate with her on her actual birthday.

One of her gifts she received from her grandma was beads to make into necklaces.

While I was gone all day I came home and the kids were in bed and found a little gift on my bed. It was a necklace made especially for me from my little girl.

The best part was the little message she had written on the back for me.

I, of course, had to wear it the next day. So, if you see a woman proudly wearing a Melissa and Doug beaded necklace, she may not be a looney. She may just be a mother wearing something that is more precious than pearls.

Do you have a treasured gift that one of your children has made for you?

I realize that you can get to know me a little from by About Page or following me on facebook, twitter, or pinterest. But how much can you really know a person from social media? So today I’m going to share some random facts about myself so you can get to know this Average Housewife a little better.

One of my nicknames is P. I called my sister She growing up, because Sheila is just too many syllables to say. Paula was obviously to many syllables for my sister too, because she called me P. P and She. Now my husband calls me P too.

I rarely paint my nails. When I do it sits on my nails until the last piece finally chips off. Much to my husband’s chagrin, I probably only have pretty nails a couple times each season.

I’m not athletic. I tried a few different sports growing up and really I don’t think I was good at any of them. I’m not too keen on balls flying at me. I am totally okay with being in the stands cheering on the game.

I really dislike talking on the phone. Most girls spend hours on the phone using up every single minute of their cell plan. Not me. I would rather you text, tweet, email, or just talk to me in person.

I love to play board games. I have always loved playing games. I am also blessed with a husband who likes to play games too. Though he usually tries to talk me out of Monopoly, but Settlers of Cataan is one we can both agree on.

I hated writing in school, but I enjoy blogging now that I’m grown up. I hated writing essays, putting research papers together, and composition in college. Maybe I enjoy blogging because it’s on my terms?

I love books. I like reading in my spare time. Barnes and Noble is my favorite place to shop. The library and I are inseparable. E-books are also acceptable.

I grew up hating garage sales and now I have hard time saying no to stopping at one. I may have hated them as a kid because I always went with my dad and he was looking for “guy stuff”. Ever since I got pregnant with Abby I have been a hard core garage saler. ( I know saler is not a word, but it works.) “Why buy new when slightly used will do?”

I love my alone time. It’s few a far between these days, but I try to get out of the house by myself for an evening, every couple of weeks. Being alone is recharging to my battery. It helps me be a better me.

I hate clothes shopping. I know, I’m a girl, therefore I’m supposed to love spending hours going through the mall finding cute clothes. In reality, shopping drains my battery. If I have to try on clothes, I’ll only last about 15 more minutes.

So, that’s me. Do we have anything in common?

Before Photo

 
I have been tracking my weight using Spark People and when I started out they made the goal of 142 lbs for me. I don’t know how they decide the goal weight but it is within the middle of the normal BMI range, so I’m good with it.

I’m very excited to share that on my weigh-in today I have hit my half way mark.

Here is a look back at how I’ve done it.

What motivated me to start.

My kids keep me going.

Recognizing my sin and letting God be my comfort instead of food.

Fitting into my clothes.

Changing what I drink.

Starting to exercise.

Jillian helped.

Last week’s weight: 164.5

This week’s weight: 163 lbs.

Total weight loss this year: 21 lbs.

After Photo

 
Only 21 more to go!

All by God’s grace!

My 5 year old niece looks at it and asks, “Is that your flower garden?”

Sometimes we just need to change our perspective.

This weekend I got out my box. I got out of this computer box where I do a lot of my socializing and went face to face. It all started a couple of weeks ago when I saw the invitation to (in)RL. The premise is to meet these cyber friends in real life. These people who live in your real community, meet face to face. We all share a common heavenly Father, now let’s come together as the sisters we are.

It was really nerve racking for me. I had reasons I shouldn’t sign up.
I’m too introverted, so I’ll have a hard time talking when I get there. I don’t know anyone. We’re moving that week, so I’m just too busy.

My husband encouraged me to just do it, so I did.

I had little time to think about it much the next week, since I was trying to get all our belongings moved. Then it was done. We were all moved and I had time to think.

Then came more excuses. I have so much to unpack and catch up on. I really shouldn’t go. I don’t know anybody. Who would want to meet me anyway? I was stuck in a crappy attitude all week and wasn’t sure if I could handle going into a crowded room with a bunch of women I didn’t know.

I went. I met some women that I had only seen on twitter, read their blog, and some I had never met at all, but they’re my neighbors. Isn’t this a crazy time we live in where we meet friends on the computer and find they live 5-10 minutes away!

I was not the only one there who had fears. I was there with normal women, women who have fears, women who have crazy lives like mine, some of them blog about it, and some don’t. We were all there together daughters of one Father, sisters relating to one another.

We heard some amazing testimonies of community and how God can work and show himself through it, via the (in)rl video. We shared coffee, chocolate, laughter, and some tears. We also had the opportunity to win some amazing prizes from Dayspring. I won this awesome coffee cup.

She didn’t have to be perfect because she was… Perfectly Loved {1 John 4:8}

I am excited to do this again. Maybe some of these sisters can come to my house next time. I am most excited that these online friends are now faces that I’ve seen.

Thank you God for courage to make new friends!

Thank you (in)courage for putting this un-conference together!

Thank you Allison and Anna for being the sweetest hosts!

Today is our big moving day. I have been moving little things over to the new place this whole past week, but today everything goes! Moving can be very expensive, but there are a few ways I have found to save and still get the job done well. While I’m busy doing the heavy lifting and deciding where everything should go, you can learn how I have saved money on moving.

• Boxes- There is usually always somebody that has boxes to get rid of. The first places I check is our local Freecycle or Craigslist. The corner liquor store is always a great place to check too. They always have sturdy small to medium size boxes that are great for books or dishes.
• Packing Paper- Sometimes the people giving up there moving boxes will be getting rid of their paper too. Another option is to start saving your newspapers or ask someone else to, if you don’t get the paper.
• Movers- We have been blessed to have never had to hire movers. We have amazing friends that have always been willing to help move all our boxes and furniture. We always like to share a little lunch, afterwards, to say thank you.
• Moving Truck- Half of our moves we have paid for a moving truck, but the other half we were able to borrow a friends truck or trailer which saves a lot of money.
• Meals. Getting ready to move, packing and unpacking, can be a very busy time. It is so easy just to eat out most nights, but that can get expensive. This time around I planned my meals ahead of time and even had some freezer meals ready for the busy nights.

 
Linking up with Life as Mom- Frugal Fridays