The Most Ridiculous Inspiration Ever.

This is the story of the most ridiculous inspiration ever. Even I, the chronic over-sharer, don't want to share this absurdity. But, I'm trying to pump out 500 words a day.

It's great that things sort of slow down for us a little for the holidays, but then again, it's not. I function more efficiently when I've got things to do, places to go, people to see. It's not that we haven't done anything, it's just that it's been up to me. This is not good. It's been cold. And dreary. And cold. 

We started out watching an insane amount of Psych on Netflix. Naturally, my Invisible Guilty Cloak was becoming more visible as a result, coupled with the fact that my Spouse has been on an awesome gym binge lately. The result: the Psych had to be limited.

We switched to The Biggest Loser on Hulu. Surely this would inspire, yes? I also confession-texted a few friends about my intermittent gym attendance. Seriously. This works. I get excited by other people's successes and their energy, don't you?

Last week, I took my sorry carcass to the gym. It was 34° of ridiculous. I killed it. I came home, took a shower and I don't think I left the house the rest of the day. Did it again the next day. And again and again. One day I went in the morning and then went back in the evening with the Spouse. We're getting there, thank you, Bob & Jillian.

So, this is how I'm bustin' through the Winter Blahs:
-Psych.
-Texting my people for inspiration.
-Biggest Loser.
-Following my Spouse as he's leading our family back to "Active" status.
- Also, for my last few days on the elliptical, I've been watching Alias (again) while on the machine because Sydney Bristow makes me feel all BA.

As of this morning, I've knocked out 7 solid workouts in 6 days.

How's that for a five-step plan? Pretty sure that's a thing. I'm as motivational as Matt Foley!

Have y'all gotten inspiration from some odd or socially unacceptable places?
Let's hear them.

Straight Talk About The Talk- Part 1

Today, I had the opportunity to speak to a group of parents at my church about talking to their kids about their sexual purity. Naturally, it led to the updating and reposting of this blog from last summer. In true Melissa fashion, I added a lot, leading me to break it up into installments. It looks like there will be 4. Unless I add more. :)

In the least self-promoting way, because I believe in the message, I hope these become the most shared posts of all the Spouseisms posts.
Preparing our kids for a fulfilling, monogamous marriage is the ultimate Spouseism. :)

______________________________________________________________

Parents, Pre-Parents, Educators,

Let's talk about sex. :) (My blog hits just went from 5 to 10 just like that!)

It's time for a little straight talk about The Talk. 

It has to be done. And, as the 'Rents, you are the ones to do it. This business of expecting the I promise, there is no need to worry yourself to the point of hives, nor is there cause to bury your head in the proverbial sand! You can do this! There is, however, cause for you to take seriously the need to talk early and talk often with your kids about sex and the importance of saving all sexual activity until marriage.

Talk to God - Pray. Pray for your child's purity. Pray for what your child is exposed to outside of your presence. Pray that those you entrust with your kids would protect them from exposure to harmful media images. Pray that he would be blind to images that are preying on him. Pray for your child to see herself the way God sees her, a precious gift, purposed in this world to change the world. Pray for your child's future spouse. A really smart momma told me that she always prayed that her children's hearts would be asleep until God had the person to wake it up. Is that precious?!
Pray for these things with your child/teen. 

Bonus: It changes your relationship. Really. They see into your heart and truly believe that you don't want what's good for them, you want what God has for them.

Talk Early - With the Littles, use correct anatomical terms. Penis and vagina are not dirty words. Honestly, it's cute to hear a toddler say vagina. Mine said "sagina" and it was the best! You need to be comfortable saying these words and so do your children.
I explained it to my girls this way: pee-pee/penis or pee-pee/vagina are similar to sofa and couch. They mean the same thing. I gave several examples: chair/recliner, bike/bicycle...you get the idea. Children are not squeamish about saying a word like 'vagina' until they learn to be. Really, it's not a big deal--head, shoulders, knees, toes, penis. It's all about learning their 2000 'fearfully and wonderfully made' parts!

Talk Often - Talking about sex with your child is not a one-time deal. Use teachable moments. Media gives us plenty! Here's the deal, your kids WILL get a sex education. They can get it from NBC, government school, a Kardashian (Lord forbid it), the cool cousin, church, or YOU. I can not say this to enough Mommas: The first person to talk to your child about sex is the expert--Be the expert! 

I'm not saying oversaturate your kid with inappropriate sexual conversation, I'm just saying don't let the moments pass you by and don't wait for some special dinner. Just be casual. Never let 'em see you sweat.
You end up repeating some things and that's okay. Each time, new areas of conversation will come up. And, more details will come up. Don't wait for them to ask questions. By the time the questions come, they've been brewing. Stay ahead of 'em if you can.

I'd love to hear your stories and ideas. Let's help each other out here!
Do you use correct anatomical words in your house? Is this a subject area that causes you angst?

Upcoming Installments: Talk Privacy, Purity, Marriage, Goals, Consequences, Media. :)

2013 Goal Update

January 24th! What?!
I knew it had been too long (according to me) since I had blogged, but I didn't realize that I had not even posted an official blog in the year of 2013!

Gracious. My excuses are these:

• I've been focused on my 2013 Goals! Well, most of them. 
• We've been participating in a homeschool co-op called Friday School. 
• We had a most wonderful weekend with one of our first children, Jarrett, who is all grown up. He came to visit from Florida. 
• Then he left. So, naturally I was sad for a few days. I don't know if the airport drop-off will ever get easier. 
• Spouse had the flu. I didn't, but I was lazy with him.

Jarrett & me.

Family pic.

Two grown men. On a tandem bike. People gawked.

Uncle Jarrett and his girls.

I've got more excuses, I'm sure. So, it's 24 solid days into the January that I went straight up crazy and posted some goals for myself and my fam. Brilliant.

Here's how we're doing:

~~Twelve 5k's. I'm participating in 5k's for the next two Saturdays.  I'm pretty pumped to just get it started. I've run a few days over the last week or so. I was a bit bluesy for a couple of weeks, which matched our weather. Rainy and ridiculously cold.

I did this.

We are all working on our fitness.

~~Psalm 139. The girls and I are diligently reciting our Psalm 139 Scripture each day with one another. I'll type what I can from memory; you'll just have to trust me. :)

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. 

You know when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar. 

You discern my going out and my lying down, you are familiar with all of my ways. 

Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely. 

I don't know how many verses that is, 4, I think.

Maddy & I drove over to the offices of Living Proof Ministries to pick up our very own, very cute 2013 Siesta Scripture Memory Spirals. My girls are doing their memory work as "Little Siestas". 

~~Scheduled school days. This is a biggie. We are doing it. And, it's good. The girls seem to be doing better, too. I hate to admit it, being as I have that emotional allergy to schedules and all. Here's the deal, it's good in that at the end of the week I'm not a basket case beating myself up over all that we didn't get to. I'm keeping better records. I feel accomplished and my little girls do, too. All the reasons I don't love it are selfish. There are some classes at the gym that I've had to forego because it's during school time. For those of you that have been scheduled forever or have a for-pay job are laughing at me right now, and go ahead. I can take it. Bottom line: we are doing it and it is working well.

La Clase de Espanol. :)

~~ Handwritten Notes. I've sent out several. More than one a week. Once I get out my cutesy little pens and the address book, I just feel like writing a few.

~~ Social Networking Hiatus. Let me extend an absolute appreciation for my sweet readers that have seen me on Twitter and Pinterest. You haven't called me out in shame. I deactivated my Facebook on January 1. I sat there for a solid hour debating it. Spouse has never fussed about my Facebooking, and in fact, has encouraged me in it. He has seen the positive reach that it has. It truly has been a positive thing for the most part. The negatives are, of course, the time sucker that it is. Also, that I couldn't seem to regulate it on my own, meaning just not log on. It just didn't work. I'm drawn to people and Facebook gets me a bunch of my people at once. I may elaborate on this later, but let me say that I am less homesick without it. (Notice I did not say "not homesick", just less.)
I've really appreciated those of you that have reached out in other ways just because you missed me. It's good to be missed. :)

I decided to blow off the 30 Twitterless days. Twitter is much less of a time leach and there are certain events in my life just compel me to tweet (i.e. Passion Conference, my new found love, Downton Abbey, and my wanna be family, the Bravermans.) I LOVE live tweeting. I crack myself up. There you have it. I'd failed on one of the goals before I even started. Bless.

I watched & tweeted every live session of the Passion Conference.
It was wonderful to watch from the warm couch with my hot cocoa, but also sad not to be there this year. 

Couple of random pics:

Meg at volleyball clinic.

My friend,  Sage. We were freezing. You'll notice the scarf.
This is my 2nd scarf ever. Both were bought in Houston. Nuts.

You know what happens with me, it's feast or famine. So, here's a post...that means there will be more shortly...then a drought again. Ha!

If you are on Facebook, and feel a nudge, go ahead a share this for me. :)

The New Year Smell. 2013.

Ahhh, do you smell that? The new year smell? It's as awesome as the new car smell, but with even more potential. It's April freshness in the dead of winter, People! Get excited!

The start of a new year. My Zumba instructor reminded us today to be sure to be early for the next couple of weeks with all the "resolutioners" coming in. All the health foods and fitness equipment goes on sale. Calendars and organizational tools are in abundance in the stores. It's grand, all the goal setting and whatnot.

I don't typically make New Year's Resolutions. Not that I'm opposed to a mainstream cliche or anything; I dig a good bandwagon, but I feel like a failure most of the time, and I just don't need extra pressure.

My "resolutions" have been something like "to be awesome" or "NOT to get a W2 form" (This was 2010, so all work was henceforth volunteer.) These are legitimate resolutions and I achieved these goals with ease. Yay, me!

So, why now? A few weeks ago, Spouse challenged our family to write out a "Life List". Sort of a bucket list. We did, and, this little family project of his got me to thinking. I wanted to break some things down into smaller goals; this is what I came up with. Not all of these goals are on my Life List, just things I'd like to do in the next year.

I guess I'm writing this for the purpose of accountability and maybe even for inspiration. This girl is a sanguine in the worst way, so if I can make a community out of something, I'm will dern sure do it. The accountability and encouragement of friends is the best kind of carrot to dangle in front of me! Also, I hope it inspires somebody! I know when I read posts like this, I get motivated.

Still, I'm nervous to put this out there 'cause what if I flunk out of my 2013 Goals? All four of you readers will know!

Well, dang.
Here they are.
Some personal & family goals for 2013.

Twelve 5k's.

{Pinterest pic}

I'll run a 5k per month for 12 months. I got this idea from a friend of a friend. I love it. Running/jogging is sort of my nemesis. I do not find running awesome at all. But, it is awesome when I get to punch my personal best in the face.
Because of my relationship with the running, I do entirely too much starting and stopping. I really want to push myself to stick with this to see if I really can retrain my mind and body to enjoy running. I'd love to do a half-marathon one day, again for the sucker punch factor, but I like the goal of the 5k a month. This is a small, attainable goal that even my girls can do with me. Also, I'm intentionally not setting time goals. Again, I don't need the extra pressure- just doing this is a big deal. I've pinned the Couch to 5k plan for the kids, although they don't need to start at week 1, it just breaks the goal down for them. In a lot of ways, this is as much for two little girls as it is for me.
The first race is a good one. Choco Loco 5k on January 26th.
It's a race for chocolate lovers. Shut the front door. Go me!

{Pinterest pic}
I just like this one.

I'd love the online company! Y'all give it some thought! We can hold one another accountable. Who's in?

Memorize Psalm 139.

{Pinterest pic}

Twenty-four verses that can change a girl's life. Even a grown-up girl. Psalm 139 is the ultimate source to get our self-image in line with our Creator's image. I'm going to have my girls join me on this one.
Two verses per month. If we go faster than that, fine.
Again, anybody want to join in?

One Month of Scheduled Schooling.

Homeschool Barbie. I just find this cackle-worthy. {Pinterest pic}

We are pretty relaxed in our school schedule. We do not, by definition, unschool, we are simply  flexible. My spazmatic personality lends itself to an allergy to a rigid schedule. On the flip-side, the perfectionist-educator-mom has been taught that schedules are good for kids. I don't know if this is indoctrination or truth, but I can definitely see the benefit. I'm not making any long-term promises, but I want to commit us to a schedule for a month to see if it changes our lives. If it doesn't rock our world, I'm back to my spazzy ways. We will use our curriculums 4 days a week and we have "Friday School" with our group. Any other field trips/commitments will have to make it on the schedule. :) The [scheduled] exception will be an internship/mentorship that Meghan will be doing. She will have a separate schedule for internship days.

Semi-Unplugging.

To focus us on our Scripture memory and school schedule, I'm semi-unplugging for that same month. By "semi" I mean from the social networks: Pinterest, Twitter, and the good ole Facebook. I will check emails and keep up with the blogging. Hopefully, some of you will be gracious enough to use those "Share" buttons at the bottom of the posts! Just be aware that I won't be able to see your comments on Facebook, just on the blog. :)

Handwritten Notes.

Art of a Handwritten Note

I am going to send at least one handwritten note/ card each week. I was so very good at this at one time. One a week is very doable and has the potential to change someone's day.

So, there you have it. Out on the blogosphere for all to see. Even as I am nearing the end of this post, that 5k jazz is causing me angst. This is also an exercise in commitment. Long term commitments are about like those rigid schedules I was talking about. Eh.

Guess I better get lace up, get to studying, grab a pen, make that schedule!

What about y'all? Any 2013 goals or resolutions?