It's Never Enough

This summer, I participated in a Bible Study by Kelly Minter called No Other Gods. During the study, I reread some familiar Bible stories including the story of Rachel and Leah and the story of Eve. It can be easy to miss things in these familiar stories that I've heard since childhood. However, this time something really struck me.

It reminded me of a quote I read on Facebook from the Christian rapper, Lecrae and something one of my pastors had said at Christmas time when they were preaching through Ruth.


What were these things that God revealed to me? Head over to Satisfaction Through Christ where I'm posting today to find out...

Made to Crave: Introduction and Chapter 1-2

Back in December, I remember hearing about a book called Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, not Food by Lysa TerKeurst. This sounded like the type of book I needed to read. For Christmas, I was given a Barnes and Noble gift card, so I bought the book in January. I finally started reading it and I want to share my thoughts as I go since I'm trying to live healthier.

The chapters are really short (and there's 19 of them!), so I'm going to share my thoughts in chunks.

Introduction Finding Your "Want To":
The intro describes why Lysa decided to go on this journey. I completely related to her description of knowing how to lose weight and how to be healthy. That's not the problem especially in this day and age. We have information at our fingertips. The problem for most people, myself included, is finding the WANT TO to get healthy. I found this quote pretty funny because I feel the same way:

"I've even asked God if it would be such a terribly difficult thing to swap the molecular structure of Cheez-Its for carrot sticks. They're both already orange. And, really, how hard could that be for someone who's turned water into wine?"

Lysa goes on to describe how this journey is about more than losing weight. It's about not desiring anything more than God. It's about sacrificing and denying ourselves. I completely believe that food can be an idol in life. The battle against idolizing food is a spiritual, physical, and mental battle.

Chapter 1What's Really Going on Here?:
Chapter 1 goes into how we are made to crave. Crave means to long for, want greatly, desire eagerly, and beg for. However, we often crave things we don't need instead of craving God. Satan wants to replace our craving for God with a craving for something else. 1 John 2:15-16 states:

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has done- comes not from the Father but from the world." 

Lysa goes on to describe how Satan tempted both Eve and Jesus in similar ways. The difference was Eve gave into this temptation. She was saturated in the object of her desire. Jesus did not give in to the temptation. He was saturated in God's truth. This gives us a lesson in how to resist temptation. The more saturated we are in God's word and His truth, the more we'll be able to fight those earthly cravings.

Chapter 2 Replacing My Cravings:
I am one of those people who always says "I'll start on Monday" or "Oh well, I messed up today. So, what's more junk food?" There's always an excuse for why I'll start later. However, what it came down to was relying on food. Like Lysa points out in this chapter, food is a source of comfort, joy, and a reward. I turn to food when I'm bored, stressed, happy, etc. God should be who I turn to in those times, not food. Lysa has a suggestion for what to do when you have food cravings.

"Each time I craved something I knew wasn't part of my plan, I used that craving as a prompt to pray. I craved a lot. So, I found myself praying a lot."

She also points out that it's important to be thankful for what you do have instead of feeling sorry for yourself over what you don't have. I think that's an important lesson to apply to many things, not just food.

Have you read this book? Have you learned to battle food cravings?

Context is KEY

I think something that's hard for many Christians is reading the Bible on a regular basis. Many of us use excuses such as "not having enough time." But I think a major reason many people don't read the Bible is it can be difficult to understand.

I used to feel very unsure of myself and my Bible knowledge. I can remember attending Bible study in college and feeling so intimated. These people could quote scripture or remember a specific passage that said something related to the discussion. They could read and understand things that were confusing to me. I grew up in church, why couldn't I do that?

Well, I figured out one thing...I didn't read my Bible enough on my own. College is when I got more serious about my own personal Bible study. I started off using books to guide me. I'd read about certain people from the Bible or through certain stories.

A few years ago, a book called By His Wounds You are Healed was recommended to me. I decided to use it and it changed the way I view my Bible reading. This book took me through Ephesians. It was like a light bulb went off in my head. It all came together and made sense. I experienced how much easier it is to understand the Bible when you read a book in its entirety. After using that book as a guide through Ephesians, I started reading through other books of the Bible on my own. I was reading through them and understanding them. Please don't think I'm saying I'm a Bible expert. I know I still have much to learn even from the books I've read. I also use a study Bible so there are notes for me to use. But overall...things were just making more sense. We also attend a church now where the pastors preach through entire books of the Bible. I love this model.

Through this, God has shown me that CONTEXT IS KEY. So often verses are taken out of context and used by people to serve their own purposes. Often times, this is done very innocently. I would guess that many times people don't mean to misquote the Bible or to mislead people. Unfortunately, there are even pastors who do this. Any time I see someone quote a verse, especially one I'm unfamiliar with, I always try to look it up and read around it to see what the verse is truly saying.

 This particularly irks me on Facebook. People share things all the time from certain famous pastors and speakers who promote what's known as the "prosperity gospel." People also love to share articles and blog posts that contain the words "Christian" or "Christlike." I read these articles sometimes and see where the authors use verses out of context. This bugs me because it makes me wonder how well people who claim to be Christians actually know God's word. I'm not writing these things to try and say I'm perfect and know everything and have massive amounts of Bible knowledge.

What I am saying is know God's word for yourself. Don't readily accept everything someone else tells you. Hold what pastors and teachers say against God's word. It's okay to disagree with what a pastor or teacher says if you've read God's word for yourself and prayed for understanding for yourself and that's not the way you understand something. Many of the most famous verses people quote aren't used in the correct way. Please note, though, there's a difference between disagreeing with something because it's your personal belief and disagreeing with something because it doesn't match up with God's word. We're not going to like everything we read in God's word. Some of the stuff in the Bible is hard to accept. Some of it we don't want to do.

This is something I've felt very strongly about for a while now and I have wanted to write a blog series on it. Maybe one day when I don't feel so overwhelmed and can put the time into it I will.

4 in '14

Last year, I may have bit off more than I could chew when I planned out 13 goals for 2013. This year, I'm going to be more realistic. I decided to choose 4 things I really want to focus on. Also, I decided to choose 4 general areas, but I want to set mini goals throughout the year to help me stay focused. I know most of them are very cliche resolutions, but I'm very optimistic that I'm going to stick to it.

1. By the end of the year, I want to have a consistent quiet time. 

Mini Goal: This month, I want to focus on reading my Bible and spending time in prayer at least 2 days a week.

2. By the end of the year, I want to have lost at least 30 pounds and be more toned. I also want to have healthier eating habits. 

Mini Goal: This month, I want to count my calories at least 3 days a week. I want to make better food choices (example: less sweets, less fried food, etc.). I want to work out at least 3 days a week. I would love to lose 10 pounds by the end of February.

3. By the end of the year, I want to pay off half our debt. (This may be a long shot, but we can try)

Mini Goal: This month, I would like to keep track of where we are spending money and look for ways to cut back. At the end of the month, I want to create a budget for February that we STICK to.

4. By the end of the year, I want to feel more like I'm making each day count. 

Note: This goal may seem vague, but I feel like I'm in a rut. Life is just routine. Don't get me wrong, I like routine. However, I need to stop sitting around and letting life pass me by. I want to travel more, go to new places, experience new things, make memories, etc.

Mini Goal: This month, I want to do something I've never done before.

What are your goals for 2014? Any tips for sticking to it? 

Eucharisteo: My Word for 2014

Last year, I came up with a mantra to focus on for the year. This year, I'm narrowing it down a little and following the crowd in just picking one word. One word to guide my year.

Eucharisteo

"give thanks"

I've written on this subject before and will probably write on it some more. It's a constant struggle. Life can be hard. We all know that. We've all had to deal with difficult times. How do we get through those hard times? How do we find joy even when things seem dark? 

I could write a long post complaining about everything that has gone wrong in my life. Complaining is easy. What's not easy is taking the time to give thanks even though we have so much to be thankful for. 

In 2012, I participated in a book club on Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts. I was a few chapters short of finishing the book and I would like to go back and read the whole thing. I did enjoy going back and reading my thoughts on the chapters I did read (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 if you're interested). This book goes right along with what I hope to focus on this year.

A few things led to me deciding to use this as my 2014 word. The first thing happened at church in December. During the sermon, the pastor said, "God doesn't owe us anything. What we have is His kindness." This really struck a chord with me. How often do I wonder why bad things are happening to me? How often do I think so highly of myself that I shouldn't be having to deal with this? I don't know why I think I'm so special. I know I'm not the only one who's guilty of this. Everything in this life that I have is God's kindness. It's by His grace that I wake up each morning. The God of the universe doesn't owe me ANYTHING. When I stop to realize this, it makes me want to thank Him for everything I do have. 

The second thing that helped me decide to use this word is Thanksgiving. I get very irritated at Thanksgiving with all the "thankful" posts. I know that's the point of Thanksgiving. My problem is that most people only take the time to be thankful one time during the year. Also, usually the things I see people being thankful for are very superficial. There's so much more we have to be thankful for. It kind of hit me recently, though, that I complain about it but I'm no better.

So, this year I want to take the time to be thankful. I want to be thankful for everything- the good and the bad. I want this attitude of thankfulness to result in joy. 

One way I've thought of remembering to be thankful is to dedicate my post on the last Thursday of each month to recounting the things I'm thankful for that month. It will be like having Thanksgiving every month. One link up that I used to be dedicated to was Dancing with Ashley's "Favorite Things." This link up took place at the end of each month and it was a time to share your favorite things from that month. Some months, I had a hard time coming up with my list, but I always did it. It was always a way for me to find the good. Ashley no longer hosts this link up, but I still need that monthly reflection. I've considered making my last Thursday of the month what I'm thankful for post a monthly link up. Any thoughts? Would anyone be interested in that?

Anyway...that's my word for the year. Eucharisteo. Give thanks.

Maybe I'll even get a necklace like this one from Eager Hands

What do you hope to focus on this year?

"Follow Me" Thoughts Week 1

I'm participating with Satisfaction Through Christ for the "Follow Me" Bible study. I already had the book Follow Me by David Platt and I decided to just read through it and post my thoughts rather than buying the separate Bible study book.

This is a difficult task for me which is why I write very few serious posts. You have to put so much time and thought into writing about a topic like this. I'll be honest, this week I didn't have the time to put in as was needed. I do want to post a few thoughts, though. So, this will probably seem unorganized and random.

David Platt's books are difficult because he doesn't shrink back from the difficult topics. Chapter 1 is called "Unconverted Believers" and I felt like a lot of the information in it was very similar to his other book, Radical.

He goes through how we've watered down the Gospel to something that fits our needs. We view salvation as a ticket to Heaven rather than a call to surrender our lives. I love how Platt always has stories of believers in other countries who literally give up everything and risk their lives to follow Christ. It's in such stark contrast to our life of ease and convenience.

What's so scary is how he points out how many people are unfortunately deceived. They think they're saved because they "prayed a prayer" or "believe" in Jesus. They don't understand that it's more than that. Our lives have to reflect our belief.

The Bible says that the road that leads to salvation is narrow and many do not find it (Matthew 7:14). It also says that there are many to whom He will say "depart from me for I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23). Those verses are scary. Particularly for someone who grew up in the church. I think when you grow up in church you become comfortable with Christianity. It's normal part of your every day life. It's part of your culture. It can be all too easy to slip into the routine of church and playing the part of a Christian.

The true way to come to Jesus is through repentance. To repent literally means to turn away from something. You turn away from your old way of life or from the world's way of life and you head towards Jesus. This is a constant every day struggle. It's not something you do once and your done. 

This was a good reminder of things I've read in other books as well as in the Bible. I look forward to seeing where this books goes and how I can be challenged to put action to my beliefs.

* * *

The first week of Ornaments for Adoption is halfway over. 

Have you met this year's family? 

Have you ordered an ornament to be a part of this week's drawing for a Starbucks gift card?

Have you helped spread the word to enter the giveaway below for another Starbucks gift card and a name ornament? 

Ornaments for Adoption cannot be successful without your help.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow Me Intro

When I first started blogging, I talked about my faith a lot more than I do now. I'll admit that one reason I don't do it as much is that you have to put a lot more time and thought into a serious post like that. I think another reason I don't is because it's not the easiest thing to talk about. Especially now that my blog is larger, I have a diverse audience. All of you are no going to agree with me. However, I can't let that stop me. This is my blog and this is my place to share my thoughts and those thoughts include my faith.

I had already begun thinking that I was going to start posting a faith related post every Wednesday. Then, one day I saw where Christie from Satisfaction Through Christ was hosting a Bible Study link up every Wednesday. How convenient. I knew I wanted to sign up. Not only did that fall in line with my plan, but it would help keep me accountable to posting.

The bible study will be going through David Platt's book, Follow Me. This book has been on my "to-read" list for a while now. I really enjoy David Platt's teaching. He is the author of one of my favorite books, Radical, and I often listen to his sermons on my way to and from work. I like that he teaches the Word in context and is very bold. He doesn't try to sugar coat things or try not to offend anyone. He always challenges me.

So, I'm excited about going through this book on my blog. It's been a while since I've done this, so I think it will be good. It's not too late to join in if you're interested.

I also wanted to announce that I was one of the first 5 people to finish the Semi Charmed Summer Reading Challenge and I got to submit an idea for the Autumn version of the Semi Charmed Reading Challenge. I loved doing this challenge and I look forward to the autumn one as well. I'll be slowly putting together my plan on my Book Challenges page as the challenge begins on October 1.

Created for Care

I recently came across this blog: The Created for Care Blog. It's a blog whose purpose is to encourage and inspire those seeking adoption as well as spread the word about adoption.

The authors of this blog are the people who are living it out. Anyone can submit posts to be featured on the Created foe Care Blog. I have found a lot of great adoption blogs to follow through reading Created for Care's posts. I plan to submit a guest post when I start up my second year of Ornaments for Adoption.

Another great thing about Created for Care is that they host retreats for adoptive moms to have a chance to meet other adoptive mothers as well as to relax and be encouraged. I hope to one day be able to participate in one of their retreats.

I'd encourage you if you are an adoptive family, plan to be an adoptive family, or are just interested in learning more about adoption please check out their blog.

Also be on the lookout for Ornaments for Adoption to be starting up the first week of October. I will be writing more about that soon to see if any of you would like to help in any way.

All Girls Allowed

I follow an adoption blog called Give 1 Save 1 Asia and the other day they shared a post about an organization called All Girls Allowed.

I began to do some research on this organization and the facts I read broke my heart. Of course, I knew about China's one child policy, but I didn't know it was to this extreme. Women are not seen as valuable. So not only are they only allowed to have one child, but they also want that child to be a boy.

Here are some of the shocking facts:
-The One-Child Policy went into effect in 1980. Since then, 37 million girls have disappeared and 336 million forced abortions have been performed. This is more than all the people killed in all the major past genocides of the past century combined.
-Chinese women must apply for a birth permit in order to start a pregnancy. 
-Suicide is the #1 cause of death of young women in China.
-It is estimated that by 2020 (that's ONLY 7 and a half years away), there will be 40 million more men than women in China. That's the same amount of men under 20 currently in the United States.
-If a family does choose to keep an illegal child, that child will not have the correct documentation papers. Without these paper, they can't go to school, get married, or even ride public transportation.

These facts and more can be found on the All Girls Allowed website.

Reading these facts reminded me of a book series I recently read called The Shadow Children. This series is about a place where it's illegal to have more than 2 children. Yet, there's a large number of people who are hiding their additional children illegally. These children's lives are not valued and the series is about them fighting for their freedom. In this society, every person has an ID card. If you don't have an ID card, you don't have any rights. There were a lot of similarities to this book and China's policies.

This organization is fighting against this.  They hope to expose the injustice of this policy, rescue girls and mothers in crisis, and celebrate the value of all people-including females.

I want to help by spreading the word. I encourage you to check out their website, like their Facebook page, and follow them on Twitter.

If you can do nothing else, would you at least be willing to share this post to help spread the word about this injustice that is taking place in our world today?

A Tale of Two Birthdays

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…"

 (A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens)

Dickens starts his famous novel with very opposing ideas. In the same way, our lives look very different from people who live in other parts of the world. Let me tell you of a day that this became startlingly clear to me. 

Allan's Birthday

My husband and I sponsor a sweet little boy in Ecuador through Compassion. He writes us the sweetest letters and I'd love to get to meet him one day. We can't send him presents, but we can send extra money at his birthday if we wish. 

After his birthday one year, he wrote us a letter thanking us for the money we sent. He then told us how he'd used the money to buy himself a pair of shoes. He included a picture of himself proudly holding his new shoes. As you can see from the picture at the beginning, these aren't the newest and coolest tennis shoes. They are practical black shoes. Shoes that most kids would have to be forced to wear. This is what he bought with his birthday money.

An American Child's Birthday

Shortly after reading Allan's letter and looking at the picture, I got on Facebook. One of the stories on my home page was a new album that had been uploaded with pictures from a child's birthday party. This party had it all. The theme could be seen throughout from the decorations to the snacks to the entertainment. A place had been rented. Food had been perfectly prepared and arranged. Decorations had been made and put out. A form of entertainment had been paid for. Presents were stacked high from the child's family and friends. I don't have to give too many details because I know you've seen these pictures too. The party I'm describing could belong to any American child on any given day.

Two Different Lifestyles
Allan's story is not unique. We also sponsor a girl named Malaiyarasi and her letters after her birthdays are similar. She uses the money to buy herself a new dress or her mom a new pot. This goes on while I sit around and listen to people I know discuss what they'll get a child for a birthday party they've been invited to. They usually end up deciding to just buy something for the sake of buying a gift and because they don't know what else to get.

What a waste of money! What do you get a child who has more than they'll ever need? A toy they'll barely touch. I know from my own childhood we had more toys than we could ever play with. What's the point of that? Couldn't that money be better spent on something else. Why do we ask people to buy gifts for children who already have more than they need while there are children in this world who DON'T have the basic necessities of life?!? There's something wrong with that.

Envious Lifestyles

Not only are Americans in general spoiling their kids more and more while children are dying daily by the thousands, but this type of lifestyle lends itself to a lot of envious feelings. Even though I don't have children of my own, I sense that these parties are a competition for many parents. Who will have the best party? Who will have the most original theme? Who will have the cutest decorations? Who will have the fanciest cake? Who will have the most fun entertainment? Of course, not only will the people who attend the child's party know what the party was like, but pictures will also be posted on various forms of social media. If you're crafty enough, you may also blog about your party ideas in hopes that they'll become popular pins on Pinterest. That way, some other parent can be "inspired" to step up their game for their child's next birthday party.

In Conclusion
Please understand that I'm not saying that I think it's bad to celebrate a child's birthday. I think it's important to let a child know that they are loved and special. It's also important to let them know that you value the day they came into the world.

What I am asking is, what are you teaching your child is valuable? Are you teaching them that the world revolves around them? Are you teaching them that they need a lot of stuff to be happy? Are you teaching them that it's important to impress others? Would you consider finding a way to celebrate your child's life and help children that are less fortunate?

Similarly, I thought this article was really good about discussing"first world problems."

To Those Forgotten on Mother's Day

People have been celebrating mothers throughout history and in every culture. Mother's Day as we know it was started by a woman named Anna Jarvis. Anna Jarvis worked for this day as a way to honor her late mother. Her mother, Ann, gave birth to 11 children, but only 4 of them lived to be adults. Anna viewed this holiday as a way to show gratitude and give honor to the woman who gave you life. She fought to keep the name Mother's Day instead of Mothers' Day. In her eyes, it was not a day to celebrate all mothers. It was a day to celebrate YOUR mother.

Sadly, like any other holiday in our culture, Mother's Day quickly became commercialized. The way Mother's Day began to be celebrated bothered Anna Jarvis so much that she actually began fighting against this holiday. (National Geographic, SCFI)

For many women, this holiday brings up very painful and bitter feelings. Feelings that are often misunderstood by people who've never experienced any of them. Mother's Day was set up to honor a bereaved mother, yet bereaved mothers are usually forgotten on this day.

In 2010, the Sunday before Mother's Day was set apart as Bereaved Mother's Day. This day was set up to raise awareness. However, I want to recognize the forgotten mothers right here during the traditional Mother's Day.

For those of you struggling with infertility, I'm sorry you have to watch friend after friend and family member after family member get pregnant and give birth while you wait for your miracle. I'm sorry that you are embarrassed and feel like you can't talk about your struggle with anyone. I'm sorry that you have feelings towards those who are mothers that you're ashamed to admit or voice.

For those of you who've had miscarriages, I'm sorry that you experienced that moment of joy only to have it taken away from you. I'm sorry you have to watch your friends or family members or even just acquaintances have their babies. I'm sorry you feel like there's something wrong with you or wonder whether you could have done something different. I'm sorry you had to watch your due date come and go without your baby.

For those of you who've lost a child, I'm sorry you had to experience what I'm sure is one of the most painful things in the world. Whether your child lived a few hours or into adulthood, I'm sorry you will never be able to celebrate a(nother) birthday with them. Maybe you don't get to see them graduate, get married, or have kids of their own and I'm sorry. It's not fair for a parent to have to bury their child.

For those of you who gave your child up for adoption, I'm sorry that for whatever reason you weren't in the place to be able to raise your child. I'm sorry you have to wonder about whether or not you made the right decision. I'm sorry you don't get to watch all their milestones as they grow up. For some of you, I'm sorry you don't even know where they are or what they're doing. For others of you, I'm sorry you have to watch them grow up from a distance with the occasional picture and email update.

For those of you who've had an abortion, I'm sorry that you felt that this was the best or only decision you could make. I'm sorry that you could be living with regrets or wondering what if. I know that this was not an easy decision and it's one you will have to live with for the rest of your life. I'm sorry that people are judgmental and you've been hurt by their comments.

I'm sorry for those of you who are single at an age when you thought you'd be married and have at least one kid. I'm sorry you have to be around all your friends and their families. I'm sorry you feel like you're never going to have the things you want.

There are many complex situations out there and I know that I have not touched on all the possibilities of situations or feelings. Whatever your situation may be, I want this post to honor you.

If you don't find yourself in any of these categories, if you didn't have any trouble having children and they are all with you today, or if you haven't made the decision to try and become a mother or you never plan to, please realize that you know someone (probably multiple people) who are hurting this Mother's Day. Would you reach out to show them love? Would you write them a card? Share this post with them? Invite them over for dinner? You don't have to understand their feelings. You don't have to know the "right" things to say. They just need someone to be there for them. Don't let them be forgotten this Mother's Day.

If you would like more information, to help raise awareness, or if you need a community of support,  Still Standing Magazine is a great resource I'd encourage you to check out.

Are You REALLY Pro-LIFE?

Photo used with permission from Jessica Motley Photography

Contrary to what you may be thinking, this is not a post about pro-life vs. pro-choice. 

Rather this is a post for those of you who call yourself pro-life to consider whether you're truly pro-life or are you simply anti-abortion.

My Stance

I'll open this post by stating that I am pro-life and thanks to some new insight I'm working to live up to that name. However, I don't believe that any of us can say for sure what we would or wouldn't do if put into a certain situation. I haven't walked in the shoes of a woman who's had to make such a difficult decision. Please know that if you have had an abortion, I'm not here to judge you. My heart goes out to you as I'm sure it's something you will never forget. Also, if you are pro-choice, I completely understand the reasoning behind that stance. I would hope that even if you are pro-choice, you can find some inspiration in this post to help make the world a better place.

A Lesson in Prefixes

I teach 4th grade and one of the things we have to teach our students is the meanings behind prefixes, suffixes, and roots. Words are really fascinating. But..I'm getting off topic. What's the difference between being PRO-life and ANTI-abortion? The prefix "pro" means you are FOR something. Therefore, pro-life means you are FOR life. The prefix "anti" means you are AGAINST something. Hence, anti-abortion would mean you are against abortion. Some of you may still be thinking what's the difference? I will get to that in just a minute.

My Revelation

Recently, I was reading a book called Orphan Justice which is an amazing book about orphan care. It covers a wide range of topics that affect orphans from human trafficking to HIV/AIDS to abortion. I had just begun the chapter on abortion when the author, Johnny Carr writes "Much of the Christian response to abortion has been political with the hopes of reversing abortion laws to save the lives of innocent children. But what if Roe v. Wade is overturned? What then?" (Orphan Justice pg. 146) I sat there for a minute and it was like a light bulb went off above my head. WHAT THEN? Who would have cared for those approximately 54 million aborted babies? (Answers in Genesis) Even if some of those women chose to raise their babies, I'm sure millions would have still been given up for adoption. 

The Truth of the Matter

There are about 400,000 kids in the foster care system at any given time. Of those children, about 130,000 of them are waiting to be adopted. (Children's Bureau and Adopt America) About 200 million people in the United States claim to be Christian. (Christianity Today) I know that some of those people are too young or too old to adopt or be foster parents. I also know that some of those numbers are paired up because the husband and wife are Christian. However, if Christians were truly living out what we claim to believe, there would be a lot less kids without families and a lot less kids without people loving and caring for them until they can return to their families. If we want people to stop having abortions, we need to start caring for the children that have been given a chance at life. 

 

On the other hand, how do we handle it when a woman chooses to keep her baby? Too often we sit in our pew on Sunday condemning them in our mind when they show up unwed and pregnant at church. Then, we gossip about them later. We think we're better than the woman and her children behind us in the grocery store line who gets out her food stamps. We look down on the kids at school who are on free or reduced lunch. We can't believe a mother would let her 6 year old come home after school to an empty house because she has to be at work.

I have barely scratched the surface of what could be said on this topic. This list could include anything from people with special needs to human trafficking to racism. But I'll stop there for today. Just know that there is a lot of injustice out there. People's lives are being put in danger or taken every day. If we're truly pro-LIFE, where's our outcry for those people's rights? Can we really be pro-LIFE if we don't think ALL life is important?

Prefix Review

Remember how we discussed the difference between pro-life and anti-abortion earlier? Too often the world hears all about what Christians are against. Why don't we start showing them what we're for? If you are truly pro-life, find a way to help better the lives of those in your community. Could you volunteer to help mentor at-risk kids? Could you host a baby shower for a young, unwed mother to be? Could you babysit a neighbor's child in the afternoon because she has to work multiple jobs just to pay the bills? Could you volunteer at a pregnancy support center? Would you consider opening your home to children in foster care? If you can't be a foster parent, would you consider becoming certified to babysit foster children to help foster parents get a much needed break? Would you consider adopting a child who is in need of a family? Overall, can we show a little more love to the world?

Cleaning Out the Closet

I have been very productive during my break! Yay me!

In case you missed it, I wrote about organizing my pantry the other day.

After the pantry, I moved on to our bedroom closet. 

Not only is this spring cleaning for me, but I'm also trying to work on reducing the excess in our lives. In the book, 7: an experimental mutiny against excess, one area that Jen Hatmaker focused on was clothes. 

While reading this chapter, I started to get a little prideful. As I've mentioned on here many times, I'm not a fashionable person. I might shop a couple of times a year. So, I thought to myself Clothes isn't a problem of mine! Then, I remembered that I have to rotate my clothes with the seasons because I don't have enough room in my closet for all my clothes. That was definitely humbling. Even I, someone who's not that interested in clothes, have excess clothes. 

A year ago, I did a MAJOR cleaning out of my clothes. I actually wrote a post about it, but my blog was really tiny and it has no comments (insert sad face), so I'd love for you to go read it as well over here.

My goal was to get rid of enough clothes so that I no longer have to rotate my clothes with the seasons. I also wanted to organize my closet. 

Here's all my clothes after I pulled them out of my closet and drawers. 

 

Here's our organized closet.

I bought these crates at Target. I use them to hold sweaters, tank tops, and some long sleeve tshirts.

I also got these bins at Target. I put our extra towels and sheets in them.

We already had the drawer thing. I bought the red container at Target to keep my extra bags in. The grey container holds my extra shoes. The black box in the corner houses our important paperwork.

I really like having a specific place for everything. It makes everything look so much neater.

Linking up here and here.

Cleaning Out the Pantry

Am I weird because I actually enjoy cleaning and organizing? 

I get 4 track outs a year and I usually spend time during each one giving our apartment a deep cleaning. I've also gotten into the habit of cleaning things out and getting rid of stuff during my March track out. 

This "cleaning out" is especially important to me this year. I read 7: an experimental mutiny against excess earlier this year and reviewed it here if you're interested. The point of reading this book was not to copy exactly what the Hatmaker family did. The point for me was to reiterate just how blessed I truly am and to fight our materialistic and self-seeking culture. 

Now, some of you may be like me and think "I don't have that much stuff." But if we think about how much we have in comparison to the majority of the world, we're rich.

I decided to start my apartment overhaul by cleaning out my pantry. I have really been feeling like I need to change how I eat. I eat such unhealthy food and I also eat more than I should. It's become a bad habit that I need to break. As I show you my organized pantry, I'll explain how I hope it will help my eating habits as well. 

I doubt that many of you reading this have ever wondered where your next meal is coming from. I know that I never have. I grew up with a full pantry, refrigerator, deep freezer, cabinets, and a grocery store 10 minutes down the road. This habit of keeping the pantry stocked has continued now that I have a place of my own. Food is easily accessible in my own apartment and down the road in multiple directions. Why does my pantry need to be full while so many around the world barely get one meal a day? Why are people all around the world starving to death while I have the opposite problem-I'm gaining weight?! This isn't right. 

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I started by taking everything out of the pantry and of course, I forgot to take a "before" picture.

Side note-since February is a short month, we didn't make a big grocery shopping trip. We bought little things here and there that we needed. My hope was for us to eat some of the things that had been in the fridge and pantry for a while. So, this is what "we have nothing to eat" looks like: 

Here's what my organized pantry looks like:

I've had this shoe organizer in the pantry for a while now. All that stuff used to be on the floor of the pantry and it drove me crazy! I thought this was a simple and cheap way to get it off the floor.

This is the top shelf. I have my box meals (mainly my "Doomsday Preppers" stash of Hamburger Helper) in the back. Then I have pasta, rice, Ritz crackers, and cereal in the containers. A couple of these are Oxo Good Grips Pop Top containers that were given to us when we got married. I bought the rest of the containers at Walmart.

This shelf has snacks and chips. I have 5 snack containers and a small basket for chips. My hope is that this will keep us from buying too many snacks. Better Homes and Gardens sells their own version of pop top containers that are half the price of the Oxo brand.

This shelf has 2 small baskets for individual snacks, our bread, my peanut butter (I can't live without my peanut butter), and bags of rice, pasta, and mashed potatoes.

This shelf has miscellaneous stuff. Most of it is the type of stuff that has to be refrigerated once opened. This shelf also has all my sugar.

On the floor are 2 containers for more miscellaneous stuff-one of them is mostly baking stuff and our step stool.

These labels are made by Post-It and come on a roll like tape. They are supposed to be removable in case I need to change the label.

I also reorganized our refrigerator.

This is a "waste of space" under our counter which houses these plastic drawer things. I keep recipe books, aprons, oven mitts, kitchen towels, paper products, and canned food in these. 

I also used to keep a stock pile of food under this counter space. I am proud that that stock pile is now gone. The only food we have is what is in our pantry and fridge. I cut down on the amount of excess food we have because there are also things in the pantry that used to be housed somewhere else.

I don't know why I didn't organizer our food ages ago. I love just looking at it.

Is Spring Here Yet?

I have just not been into blogging lately. 

It's felt more like a chore. It's been something I've felt like I have to do, not something I want to do.

That's why there will be some changes coming soon. I will be talking more about that next week. 

Not only have I not been into my own blogging, but I haven't felt very into others' blogging either.

I feel like there's not very many good, quality posts out there anymore (my blog included). I'm getting tired of reading fluff. I'm also getting bad about reading blog posts and not commenting. I feel bad about this because I know how hard people work on their posts and I know how much I enjoy getting comments. I usually try to comment on everything I read, but lately I've only commented on about 10% of what I read. 

Anyway, enough of that blogging gibberish...

Friday I shared how I read the book 7: an experimental mutiny against excess this past month. In this book, Jen Hatmaker and her family participated in 7 months worth of "experiments" to fight against our culture's obsession with excess. Each month focused on a different area of our lives.

In the end, Jen never told how her family took these experiments and applied them to their everyday life because she didn't want people to just copy what her family felt called to. She said that each person had to decide how to fight the excess in their own life. I agree. This is a personal decision. 

Lee and I have discussed for most of our marriage how we want to fight excess. Having a lot of stuff isn't necessary and it only creates more self-centeredness. I haven't entirely decided how I want to apply some of the things I learned from this book in our lives. For me, I don't want to simply participate in an experiment. I want to change our lifestyles. 

The first thing I'm going to do over the next few days is clean out and organize each room and space in our apartment. I have done a "spring cleaning" of our stuff every year and this year will be no exception. Somehow we always manage to accumulate so much stuff that we don't need. I will keep you updated as I do this because not only will I be cleaning out, but I also plan on doing some MAJOR organization. 

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Lastly, I'd love you to meet two of my friends and they're going to share some springy things with you.

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This is Haylie and she blogs at Happenin' Haylie.

Hi! :) I'm Haylie. I'm a 21 year old Army wife that lives in Kansas. I love football, basketball, photography, fingernail polish and too many television shows. My blog is really not about anything specific. I blog about whatever I feel like at the time. Sometimes it's photography or photos I've taken, other times it's a link-up post from blogs I follow, or it might just be a rant or rave about something I saw/feel/like. 

During spring break of 2010, my best friend and I, along with her brother and cousin, all took a cross country drive from Oklahoma to California! It was so fun! We drove straight through and got there in a little less than 24 hours. When I got to California, I was amazed, it was unlike anything I'd ever seen. The ocean was breathtaking and so beautiful! I'd never been to an ocean until this trip and I've yet to see another one. We were in California for a week and we went to the beach, saw celebrity homes, ate at some amazing places, and took a million photos. It was an amazing trip that I'll never forget!

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Next is Pamela who blogs at Pamela's Heavenly Treats

Hi there, my name is Pamela the lovely lady behind Pamela's Heavenly Treats, I must first say that without God none of this would be possible.  I am a wife, mother of 6, homeschool teacher and I have a small Healthy Cupcake and Cookie business. Everything that I make is made with 100% Whole Wheat Flour and my secret ingredients.  I have a weekly dessert link party that runs from Saturday to Wednesday called Heavenly Treats Sunday!  I would love to have you.  I also have a Etsy shop where I sell my healthy mixes! Come on over and visit!
 

 Blog ~ Etsy   ~ Twitter  ~ Pinterest 

Spring is my favorite season, when the weather starts feeling nice, the birds start chirping, and the day stays light longer.  This is also the time where I start getting orders for colorful frosted cupcakes, and cookies!  

Why I Want to Serve Others...

I never really gave much thought to serving others. Sure I might donate money to a worthy cause. I went on mission trips. I volunteered for various organizations. I knew there were needy people in the world. To be honest, though, I didn't care enough. I was very selfish and was more concerned with myself than others.

Then, I got married and moved 600 miles away from home and everything I've ever known. Sometimes you really do need to be taken completely out of your comfort zone for God to show you things. Our first year of marriage was one of the hardest years of my life, but I grew in my relationship with Christ like never before.

Several things contributed to the changes that occurred in my life. The number one thing that affected my life was that I was having a consistent time with the Lord every day. I was reading the Word and praying. I also began reading Christian nonfiction books. Two books that really impacted my life were Radical by David Platt and Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis. I began to think about things differently. I began to see the world in a different way.

Back up for a minute to the time before our wedding. Some verses in 1 John chapter 3 jumped out at me as verses that I wanted to claim for our marriage.

 ¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

We even included 1 John 3:18 in our wedding ceremony.  When reading through these verses before, I usually just skimmed right over verse 17.

Maybe it was because I was in the Word and praying, maybe it was because of the books I'd read. For whatever reason, one day verse 17 jumped out at me as if I'd never read that verse before:

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  

The Lord has blessed my husband and I so much. We haven't had to worry about paying our bills or buying groceries. We're in no way rich, but we have enough to get by and have some of what we want. We have material possessions. We have more than we will ever need. Why do we get to have so much when others have nothing? I can't call myself a Christian, I can't say that I know God's love if I'm not willing to give to those in need. Once you really look at verse 17, it helps you understand verse 18 better. 

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions or in truth. 

It's not enough to just say "I care about those in need." or "I love God." We really show that we care, we really show our love when we put actions behind our words.