And the big winner of the first ever Life On Purpose giveaway, receiving an autographed copy of the book Fool Moon Rising, by Kristi and T. Lively Fluharty, is...
"The Shwizzys"!!
Congratulations and thanks to all for entering! I'm looking forward to offering many more giveaways in the future because they are just too darn fun!
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Drool Worthy
I just wanted to give you something to focus on tonight... in case you needed a chocolate fix.
This is what went in my homemade ice cream last night. Have I convinced you to buy an ice cream maker yet?? Oh my yum.
This is what went in my homemade ice cream last night. Have I convinced you to buy an ice cream maker yet?? Oh my yum.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
GIVEAWAY!Fool Moon Rising
I LOVE giveaways! So you can imagine how excited I am to be offering my very first GIVEAWAY here at Life On Purpose! That's right... free stuff from me to you! Woo!
A while back I wrote a Toddler Book Review of Fool Moon Rising, by Kristi and T. Lively Fluharty. Well, T. himself (Thomas) found the review, got in touch and generously sent me an autographed copy of the book to give away to a reader! That means YOU!
I can't say enough about how much I adore this book! The story focuses on the themes of pride and honesty, teaching our little guys and gals how to be humble in light of who God is. It is an imaginative metaphor that toddlers and young children are sure to fall in love with... my son sure has! I am so excited to be able to offer a copy to a reader, thanks to the authors! Read on for how to enter this lovely little giveaway...
The Nitty Gritty:
-To enter, leave a comment at the bottom of this post sharing your favorite book for little ones, or tell us who you'll give the book to if you don't have little ones. That's it! Easy peasy!
-Entries will be accepted until noon on Wednesday (mountain time).
-Winner will be selected at random and announced Wednesday evening.
-If you're the winner, I'll mail ya the free autographed copy of Fool Moon Rising!
Thanks for joining in the first ever Life On Purpose GIVEAWAY!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thirty One Thursdays - A Wife and Mother's Financial Responsibility
New to Thirty One Thursdays? Start by reading the Intro Week and The Value of Virtue.
Proverbs 31:16
She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
Verse 16 is represented by the Hebrew letter Zayin.
I am a financial dummy. Seriously. I have to ask the bank teller to slow down her explanation of opening a savings account because I just don't get it. Go ahead and laugh, it's ok. I've accepted it. My husband, on the other hand, is a financial genius. In another life (one where he was married to someone who supported a 65 hour work week) he should have been a financial advisor. Ya know, the guy you go sit down with because you have no idea what a 401K or 502C or avujAEGGN4583 is. And then he explains it to you, and you nod your head and say, "oooh, it all makes sense now!" but you leave the office feeling like you just came out of a higher math class and the only thing you remember is the first two decimal places of pi (and you only remember that because you were thinking about pie the whole time).
A lot of women, though, experience the exact opposite in their marriages. Maybe this is you. Maybe you just "get" the finance stuff... or have been forced to figure it out because hubby doesn't want to. If this is you, I applaud you! You are quite literally my hero. And maybe this little diddy isn't for you today. But we'll see...
Financial issues are discussed more than any other topic in the description of the Virtuous Woman.
Verse 16 is one of seven from our poem that discuss buying, selling, trading, or profit (verses 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 24, 31). This is not including verses that merely allude to the necessity of the woman's financial involvement or understanding (verses 19, 20, 21, 22, 27).
Surprised? I am! So many times, especially in conservative Christian circles, we are confronted with the idea that women do not have a place in the financial business of the home, and the "career woman" is the only image we get of a woman exercising financial authority. The man should be responsible for "providing for his family" in the way of money in (paycheck!) and money out (check's in the mail!), and the woman should be responsible for "issues of the home." In my marriage I have never really minded accepting this "norm" because I am so bad with all that money stuff, and frankly never had to be responsible for it while growing up. I have been content to let my husband be the financial guru because he loves it so much and is just so darn good at it! But I can't ignore the fact that our Virtuous Woman seems to be heavily involved in family financial business.
I am currently reading A Woman's Place, a challenging book about women in house churches in the first century. The authors discuss several ideas about the role that Hebrew and Greek women played in their own homes at that time, often drawing from earlier evidences like Proverbs 31. One idea brought to the table is that a woman was the chief manager of the home. The man was not, as we so quickly assume, considered the "head of the household." The woman was. The home was the woman's domain, and she was responsible for managing everything that went on in that capacity - including any and all financial decisions that affected the family or home.
It seems sometimes that the "Christian" ideas we have about men and women's financial roles in the home stem more from 1950's television than they do from the Bible. The Virtuous Woman was not only capable of managing money, but responsible for doing so. She considered the best ways to spend money for the family and she worked hard to make sure her trading and purchasing was ultimately profitable for the family. As much as I can gather, the situation wasn't one of "his and hers," with the Virtuous Woman making financial decisions divided from her husband, but instead the husband could trust his wife to make such decisions on behalf of their family, and they had a mutual understanding about what part of the finances fell within her domain.
We might read this verse about the Virtuous Woman buying land and planting a vineyard and think about what an enormous responsibility that was! And it might seem foreign, especially for us married gals, that she would just go out and do it on her own. But I think our poem is simply describing a normal category of household management for a well-off woman of that time. Maybe your husband trusts you to do the laundry on Mondays, as that is just part of household management. Well, perhaps the Virtuous Woman's husband trusted her to make profitable purchases for the family. It was just part of the expected role.
This means a few things for us in our marriages today. If you are the woman who manages your family finances, take heart in knowing that this was one of the Virtuous Woman's central responsibilities. Often times, a woman can grow resentful in managing finances because she feels it should be hubby's job. But in all reality, finances affect the family more than most things, and the family is clearly the Virtuous Woman's primary concern. Be encouraged this week that you are doing an excellent thing for your family when you fill this role! If you are the woman, like myself, who has been somewhat removed from your family finances, I want to challenge you (as I challenge myself) to take up a more active role in this area. In our family's budget, for example, we have a category called "gas/food/allowance." It is really the only unfixed portion of our budget every month, and it seems to be all over the board from month to month. What if it were solely my responsibility to ensure we stayed on track in this area of our budget? Would my day to day spending look different? Could my husband be under less stress over our budget, knowing that I was doing my part in managing an appropriate portion of it?
Finance management is not something for us wives to shy away from or resent in our marriages. It is something to embrace, following the example of the Virtuous Woman, because money is a great steering wheel for the culture, focus and success of our families. So... go buy a field!!
(please don't actually go buy a field this week... I'm just trying to be encouraging.)
THIS WEEK'S ACTION STEP: Sit down with your husband and talk through your family's budget. (This might be a normal exercise for you in your marriage already, so no extra work there.) Evaluate together if there needs to be a shifting of responsibilities anywhere. Maybe you should take more responsibility for miscellaneous spending and he should take more responsibility for investing in college funds. Whatever you figure out, make sure it's an arrangement that involves both you and your spouse appropriately, according to your strengths. If you, as wife, have remained uninvolved in finances, it's time to make a change! No beginning is too small, even if it's just learning the password for your online banking. Discuss with your husband an area that you are interested in piloting, and take one step toward making it happen.
NEXT THURSDAY'S VERSE:
"She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong."
Proverbs 31:17
Proverbs 31:16
She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
Verse 16 is represented by the Hebrew letter Zayin.
I am a financial dummy. Seriously. I have to ask the bank teller to slow down her explanation of opening a savings account because I just don't get it. Go ahead and laugh, it's ok. I've accepted it. My husband, on the other hand, is a financial genius. In another life (one where he was married to someone who supported a 65 hour work week) he should have been a financial advisor. Ya know, the guy you go sit down with because you have no idea what a 401K or 502C or avujAEGGN4583 is. And then he explains it to you, and you nod your head and say, "oooh, it all makes sense now!" but you leave the office feeling like you just came out of a higher math class and the only thing you remember is the first two decimal places of pi (and you only remember that because you were thinking about pie the whole time).
A lot of women, though, experience the exact opposite in their marriages. Maybe this is you. Maybe you just "get" the finance stuff... or have been forced to figure it out because hubby doesn't want to. If this is you, I applaud you! You are quite literally my hero. And maybe this little diddy isn't for you today. But we'll see...
Financial issues are discussed more than any other topic in the description of the Virtuous Woman.
Verse 16 is one of seven from our poem that discuss buying, selling, trading, or profit (verses 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 24, 31). This is not including verses that merely allude to the necessity of the woman's financial involvement or understanding (verses 19, 20, 21, 22, 27).
Surprised? I am! So many times, especially in conservative Christian circles, we are confronted with the idea that women do not have a place in the financial business of the home, and the "career woman" is the only image we get of a woman exercising financial authority. The man should be responsible for "providing for his family" in the way of money in (paycheck!) and money out (check's in the mail!), and the woman should be responsible for "issues of the home." In my marriage I have never really minded accepting this "norm" because I am so bad with all that money stuff, and frankly never had to be responsible for it while growing up. I have been content to let my husband be the financial guru because he loves it so much and is just so darn good at it! But I can't ignore the fact that our Virtuous Woman seems to be heavily involved in family financial business.
I am currently reading A Woman's Place, a challenging book about women in house churches in the first century. The authors discuss several ideas about the role that Hebrew and Greek women played in their own homes at that time, often drawing from earlier evidences like Proverbs 31. One idea brought to the table is that a woman was the chief manager of the home. The man was not, as we so quickly assume, considered the "head of the household." The woman was. The home was the woman's domain, and she was responsible for managing everything that went on in that capacity - including any and all financial decisions that affected the family or home.
It seems sometimes that the "Christian" ideas we have about men and women's financial roles in the home stem more from 1950's television than they do from the Bible. The Virtuous Woman was not only capable of managing money, but responsible for doing so. She considered the best ways to spend money for the family and she worked hard to make sure her trading and purchasing was ultimately profitable for the family. As much as I can gather, the situation wasn't one of "his and hers," with the Virtuous Woman making financial decisions divided from her husband, but instead the husband could trust his wife to make such decisions on behalf of their family, and they had a mutual understanding about what part of the finances fell within her domain.
We might read this verse about the Virtuous Woman buying land and planting a vineyard and think about what an enormous responsibility that was! And it might seem foreign, especially for us married gals, that she would just go out and do it on her own. But I think our poem is simply describing a normal category of household management for a well-off woman of that time. Maybe your husband trusts you to do the laundry on Mondays, as that is just part of household management. Well, perhaps the Virtuous Woman's husband trusted her to make profitable purchases for the family. It was just part of the expected role.
This means a few things for us in our marriages today. If you are the woman who manages your family finances, take heart in knowing that this was one of the Virtuous Woman's central responsibilities. Often times, a woman can grow resentful in managing finances because she feels it should be hubby's job. But in all reality, finances affect the family more than most things, and the family is clearly the Virtuous Woman's primary concern. Be encouraged this week that you are doing an excellent thing for your family when you fill this role! If you are the woman, like myself, who has been somewhat removed from your family finances, I want to challenge you (as I challenge myself) to take up a more active role in this area. In our family's budget, for example, we have a category called "gas/food/allowance." It is really the only unfixed portion of our budget every month, and it seems to be all over the board from month to month. What if it were solely my responsibility to ensure we stayed on track in this area of our budget? Would my day to day spending look different? Could my husband be under less stress over our budget, knowing that I was doing my part in managing an appropriate portion of it?
Finance management is not something for us wives to shy away from or resent in our marriages. It is something to embrace, following the example of the Virtuous Woman, because money is a great steering wheel for the culture, focus and success of our families. So... go buy a field!!
(please don't actually go buy a field this week... I'm just trying to be encouraging.)
THIS WEEK'S ACTION STEP: Sit down with your husband and talk through your family's budget. (This might be a normal exercise for you in your marriage already, so no extra work there.) Evaluate together if there needs to be a shifting of responsibilities anywhere. Maybe you should take more responsibility for miscellaneous spending and he should take more responsibility for investing in college funds. Whatever you figure out, make sure it's an arrangement that involves both you and your spouse appropriately, according to your strengths. If you, as wife, have remained uninvolved in finances, it's time to make a change! No beginning is too small, even if it's just learning the password for your online banking. Discuss with your husband an area that you are interested in piloting, and take one step toward making it happen.
NEXT THURSDAY'S VERSE:
"She dresses herself with strength
and makes her arms strong."
Proverbs 31:17
Thursday, February 10, 2011
My Computer Is Mean
Oh computers.
I haven't been able to post today's Thirty One Thursday (or anything else in the last few days) because Blogger isn't letting me upload any pictures and is being finicky with links. I will have it up as soon as I can get this nasty little scenario worked out.
Thank you for reading! And I hope your day is filled with the benefits of technology... not the crud!
<>< Tasha
I haven't been able to post today's Thirty One Thursday (or anything else in the last few days) because Blogger isn't letting me upload any pictures and is being finicky with links. I will have it up as soon as I can get this nasty little scenario worked out.
Thank you for reading! And I hope your day is filled with the benefits of technology... not the crud!
<>< Tasha
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Thirty One Thursdays - I HATE the morning... is that ok?
New to Thirty One Thursdays? Start by reading the Intro Week and The Value of Virtue.
Proverbs 31:15
She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
Verse 15 is represented by the Hebrew letter Vav.
I have been dreading this week's study.
In fact, I don't even want to write this post.
Why? Because I am NOT... I repeat, NOT a morning person.
This is how I feel in the mornings:
And I live with this man, we'll call him "the husband", who feels like this in the mornings:
Which makes me feel even worse... like this:
Yep... that is an ACTUAL picture of me at 6:00 a.m.**
But the Virtuous Woman... she is a morning person. Bummer. Or at least that's what we assume.
When I imagine the Virtuous Woman in the morning, I picture something like this:
The verse doesn't give any indication that she likes getting up in the morning... just that she does it. And this realization is both incredibly encouraging (because maybe I'm not alone here) and monumentally discouraging (because now I have no excuse) all at once.
Whether or not I'm a "morning person" has nothing to do with making the decision to get up early. For me, in order to make that decision, I need to know that it's worth it. I need to know why I'm doing it. I need to know that there will be some great benefit, and not just that I'm getting up early for early's sake. Because I think that's stupid.
"She rises" comes from the Hebrew word quwm (pronounced koom). I am so struck by the meaning of this word. Sometimes it can mean simply a general rising, but more often than not it is used to describe a rising up that is connected with a purpose; often God's purpose. It can mean:
-to become powerful
-to arrive on the scene
-to be established or confirmed
-to stand, endure
-to be valid
-to be proven
-to be fulfilled
-to persist
-to be set or be fixed
The word is used in many other passages in Scripture, including:
Psalm 40:2 - "He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure."
Genesis 13:17 - "Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you."
Esther 8:4 - "Then the king held out the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king..."
Proverbs 15:22 - "Without counsel purposes are disappointed: But in the multitude of counsellors they are established."
So maybe this means a little more than just going from laying to standing, even though at 6:00 a.m. that's usually all I can manage. I love the idea of being established first thing in the morning. Being set up for success right away. Receiving power for my day and arriving in my home. When I think back on the times that I have been successful in getting up before Maddox, this is exactly how I've felt. Those mornings are so unique. It's like discovering a treasure that pays my way through the rest of the day. The Psalmist writes so sincerely about the mornings:
Funny enough, quwm is also the word used at the end of our poem, in verse 28, to describe the children and husband of the Virtuous Woman rising up to bless her.
Waking up early in the morning, before my children, allows me an opportunity to be established in the Lord for the sake of my children. And not only does the Lord establish me, setting me on the path of my daily purpose, but I also receive the reward of my family's praise, which is possibly the greatest reward of the day for a woman who devotes her life to loving and serving her family. If I rise up to bless my family, they will rise up to bless me. And that is the amazingly great benefit.
**not an actual picture of Tasha at 6:00 a.m. That's an old woman... come on now!
Citations:
Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for quwm (Strong's 6965)". Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2011. 3 Feb 2011. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
Strongs=H6965&t=KJV >
Proverbs 31:15
She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
Verse 15 is represented by the Hebrew letter Vav.
I have been dreading this week's study.
In fact, I don't even want to write this post.
Why? Because I am NOT... I repeat, NOT a morning person.
This is how I feel in the mornings:
And I live with this man, we'll call him "the husband", who feels like this in the mornings:
Which makes me feel even worse... like this:
Yep... that is an ACTUAL picture of me at 6:00 a.m.**
But the Virtuous Woman... she is a morning person. Bummer. Or at least that's what we assume.
When I imagine the Virtuous Woman in the morning, I picture something like this:
Beautiful and serene after a refreshing night's rest. She happily rolls off her satin pillow to joyfully greet the sunrise streaming in through the streak-free window.
But then again, maybe she's not like that at all.
Maybe she's something more like this:
The verse doesn't give any indication that she likes getting up in the morning... just that she does it. And this realization is both incredibly encouraging (because maybe I'm not alone here) and monumentally discouraging (because now I have no excuse) all at once.
Whether or not I'm a "morning person" has nothing to do with making the decision to get up early. For me, in order to make that decision, I need to know that it's worth it. I need to know why I'm doing it. I need to know that there will be some great benefit, and not just that I'm getting up early for early's sake. Because I think that's stupid.
"She rises" comes from the Hebrew word quwm (pronounced koom). I am so struck by the meaning of this word. Sometimes it can mean simply a general rising, but more often than not it is used to describe a rising up that is connected with a purpose; often God's purpose. It can mean:
-to become powerful
-to arrive on the scene
-to be established or confirmed
-to stand, endure
-to be valid
-to be proven
-to be fulfilled
-to persist
-to be set or be fixed
The word is used in many other passages in Scripture, including:
Psalm 40:2 - "He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure."
Genesis 13:17 - "Arise, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you."
Esther 8:4 - "Then the king held out the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king..."
Proverbs 15:22 - "Without counsel purposes are disappointed: But in the multitude of counsellors they are established."
So maybe this means a little more than just going from laying to standing, even though at 6:00 a.m. that's usually all I can manage. I love the idea of being established first thing in the morning. Being set up for success right away. Receiving power for my day and arriving in my home. When I think back on the times that I have been successful in getting up before Maddox, this is exactly how I've felt. Those mornings are so unique. It's like discovering a treasure that pays my way through the rest of the day. The Psalmist writes so sincerely about the mornings:
"In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."He goes to God first thing in the morning, and God hears him. Would we be different in how we greet our children when they wake up if we are first greeted by the Lord God when we wake up? Maybe this would cause a totally different chain of events between us and our children throughout the day. We could be prepared to meet them with peace, patience and kindness, instead of resentment for waking us up. We could be prepared to lead them in the ways of the Lord, instead of being annoyed by their sin and stubbornness.
Psalm 5:3
Funny enough, quwm is also the word used at the end of our poem, in verse 28, to describe the children and husband of the Virtuous Woman rising up to bless her.
Waking up early in the morning, before my children, allows me an opportunity to be established in the Lord for the sake of my children. And not only does the Lord establish me, setting me on the path of my daily purpose, but I also receive the reward of my family's praise, which is possibly the greatest reward of the day for a woman who devotes her life to loving and serving her family. If I rise up to bless my family, they will rise up to bless me. And that is the amazingly great benefit.
THIS WEEK'S ACTION STEP: You guessed it... set your alarm. Set your alarm to a time before your kids wake up. Then don't press snooze. That's right... get out of bed. Then make the very first thing you do (after emptying your bladder) something, ANYTHING, that wakes you up to God. Pray, read your Bible, sing a worship song. I am not talking about an hour long intense Bible study here. I am talking about a very small step, something you know you can manage. It might be a two minute prayer while you're in the shower... and that is ok. We have to start somewhere. We just have to start.
If you want to go the extra mile this week, or if you've already got the habit of early rising down and want some more direction for your mornings, I really, really, no REALLY want to encourage you to check out the Maximize Your Mornings ebook, written by Kat over at Inspired to Action. It is an excellent, FREE resource that I have used before and will likely revisit, helping women get up early and make the most of their mornings.
Here is a list of some more encouraging morning-time Psalms:
Psalm 30:5
Psalm 59:15
Psalm 65:8
Psalm 88:13
Psalm 90:14
Psalm 92:2
Psalm 101:8
Psalm 130:6
Psalm 143:8
NEXT THURSDAY'S VERSE:
"She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard."
Proverbs 31:16
Citations:
Blue Letter Bible. "Dictionary and Word Search for quwm (Strong's 6965)". Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2011. 3 Feb 2011. < http:// www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?
Strongs=H6965&t=KJV >
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
February Reads
This is what our family is reading this month. These are not recommendations, only what's on our menu.
For Me:
A Woman's Place: House Churches in Earliest Christianity, by Carolyn Osiek and Margaret Y. MacDonald
This ironically titled book is a graduate level read (courtesy of hubby) that I am getting through slooooooowly, but definitely liking so far.
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, by Ina May Gaskin
This is the book that has been recommended to me more than any other read in preparing for natural childbirth... so I've got a hold on it at the library!
For Maddox:
Best First Book Ever!, by Richard Scarry
This book was a gift from some good friends who wanted to share a family fave with us. It is hands down Maddox's favorite book right now! The pages are FULL of things to look at and new words to learn. It includes ABC's, numbers, shapes, sizes, verbs, months... and a lot more!
What are you reading this month? I would love to know!
For Me:
This ironically titled book is a graduate level read (courtesy of hubby) that I am getting through slooooooowly, but definitely liking so far.
This is the book that has been recommended to me more than any other read in preparing for natural childbirth... so I've got a hold on it at the library!
For Maddox:
This book was a gift from some good friends who wanted to share a family fave with us. It is hands down Maddox's favorite book right now! The pages are FULL of things to look at and new words to learn. It includes ABC's, numbers, shapes, sizes, verbs, months... and a lot more!
What are you reading this month? I would love to know!
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