Week in Review 1/12/15 - 1/18/15

It's been a great week!  Now that the craziness of the holidays is over and the grief from our miscarriages is becoming more manageable, I'm so excited to get back on track with weekly blogging!  Here is a sampling of some things that went on in our family this past week.  With 2015 in full swing now, a lot focuses on our family's goals for the year and how we are putting those into action!

On Monday, David's MBA classes started back after winter break (for those who don't remember, he is getting his MBA through Liberty University Online).  This term he is taking "Organization Theory and Behavior."  I'm sad to see his classes start back, but proud of how he balances school with work and family time, all while maintaining an incredibly awesome GPA.  I'm also thankful for the month-long break he got over Christmas/early 2015.

Also on Monday we started the "21-Day Fix."  This is a 3 week intense diet and exercise program put together by Beachbody.  We happen to have a good friend who is a Beachbody coach, and we were both wanting to drop a little weight and get in shape, so we figured this would be a good option for us.  On the diet end we are doing a slightly modified version based loosely one what healthy foods we already have on hand at home or can easily work into our grocery budget (we are adhering pretty strictly to the portion control aspect).  And I will say the exercises are kicking our butts...I'd forgotten what it was like to be so sore!  But I'm looking forward to getting in shape, losing a little weight, and making 2015 our healthiest year yet!  (Total confession: This diet has not been without cheating sadly...I'll discuss more further down).  

And no, I don't expect my body to look like this at the end.  My hopes aren't THAT high.  ;-)

Another thing I've committed to in 2015 is doing the "Operation World" Prayer Book.  It is a large, thick book written that takes Christians through every single nation in the world and prayer concerns for those nations, all in the course of 365 days.  It is remarkably detailed and I cannot believe all I am learning and how much it has helped keep my prayer life focused on parts of the world I otherwise wouldn't think to pray for.  I've done it every day since January 1st and look forward to doing it every year from now on,year round.  I'd seriously encourage everyone to check it out!  The only complaints I have on this topic (about me, not the book!)  are that sometimes I really get lost more in the "factual" side of the book (i.e. "Wow, I had no idea the life expectancy in that country was so low!") and lose my prayer focus.  But I'm going to work hard on becoming more disciplined and on task!  And secondly, that it's taken me 33 years of my life to commit to a plan for consistently praying for the nations.  Oh how comfortable I've been in the American way of life, thinking the challenges other countries face are things for "them" to handle.  Lord, forgive me for being cavalier in this area, and please grow my heart for the whole world!  Break our hearts for what breaks yours!

A major goal for me this year is to find ways for our family to give more to those in need in 2015.  Another place I know I've been spiritually shortsighted is in giving.  I credit my husband, who has always had an awesome heart for giving, with helping to pull me out of my selfishness at times.  When I have wanted to "hold on" to things that aren't really mine to begin with (after all, everything you see is God's...we are just stewards for a time being!), he has reminded me that we will be much more rewarded by giving to those that don't enjoy the same comforts we do.  Towards the end of 2014 I borrowed the book "Radical" by David Platt from a friend of mine and read it from cover to cover.  I have to say, no one book has ever convicted me so much about the disparity between the wealth that most of us enjoy in America and the poverty in which much of the world lives.  Incredibly eye-opening.  Since reading it, I have had it on my heart to increase our giving as much as possible in 2015 on local, national, and global levels.  So I have been looking at creative ways that we can work more giving into our budget.  And wow, do I still have so much to learn in this area!  But one specific thing that really struck me is how I no longer coupon much.  Not because it wasn't worth it when I did it, simply because with some of the changes we've made in our diet a lot of the items I used to get for "free" or "close to free" are not things we would eat on a regular basis now.  So it hit me all of the sudden - why not go back to couponing and give the very inexpensive items that we cannot use to those who could use them?  There is certainly no shortage of food drives throughout the year to give to (especially at the holidays) and definitely no shortage of hungry individuals in Greensboro, NC, the US, and across the globe that NEED food!  In particular we tend to find a lot of food drives going on around Christmastime, and I specifically would like to increase the amount of food we give to those since it is the start of the super cold time of year.  So I've made a committment to go back to couponing in order to give more away.  I am so excited about it!  Here is Joseph holding some of our CVS coupons right before a couponing mission...I am thrilled to have the opportunity to encourge an early spirit of giving in his precious little heart.

For school time recently, we have been focusing most heavily on some intense color and number work.  Joseph can now rote count (meaning counting with no real idea of the meaning behind it) to 10, with the exception of he tends to skip 8, thus saying "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10.  So 8 needs a little more work.  He also has the ability to count objects up to 10 except, again, skipping 8.  No clue what his issue with 8 is.  I also decided it was time to start working some on number recognition, so we have been doing that with the help of puzzles.  It is getting there but very slowly.  He always seems to recognize the number "1" and "2" written out, but the rest are a little harder for him.  Numbers have been more of a challenge than I expected and sometimes I wonder if I could be teaching him better or in a different way.  But I've been trying to give myself grace, too, reminding myself that I have the next 16ish years to get him ready for college!

We have also been continuing our color work.  Black, brown, orange, yellow (hands down his favorite color - he points yellow out throughout the day at every conceivable opportunity), pink, and purple are all coming along super well.  Oddly enough, 3 of the primary colors are a little more confusing for him - he has trouble remembering the difference between blue, red, and green.  But things are getting better by the day, which is exciting.  Red is especially improving.  Green is super hard for him still.  And blue is just kind of a wildcard - some days he gets it easily and some days not at all.

We have also started potty training and as of the time of this writing it isn't going too great.  I'll spare the details (and definitely spare you pictures) but I'll simply say...we have a long way to go.  I mean a looooooooong way.

Joseph enjoyed cheering on the Heels for a very exciting win over NCSU on Wednesday night (okay, so he slept through the second half, but I'm sure he was cheering in his dreams).  Go Heels!!

  

On Saturday, the three of us headed to Salisbury to meet my friend Emily for the day.  Emily and I have been friends since our freshman year at Carolina, where we met in a music appreciation class (side note - this class was in Person Hall, 2nd oldest building on campus, in the old side of the building that was completed in 1797 - the history dork in me loved that class just because of where it was held!).  They say that if a friendship lasts 7 years it will last a lifetime and, seeing as how Emily and I are going on our 15th year of friendship, I guess that's true!  Emily lives in Charlotte, so Salisbury is sort of a natural in-between meeting place for us.

We had lunch at O'Charleys in Salisbury, which was wonderful, because it was a bit of a "cheat" day for us on our diet (although I think we still ate relatively well considering).  Then the four of us headed to the NC Transporation Museum in nearby Spencer so that Joseph could enjoy the cars, trucks, and trains.

We started off with a train ride.  I have to say, the wonder of Joseph's face when the train blew it's whistle and started to move was so fun to watch.  He couldn't believe we were actually going on a train ride!

We also rode the "roundtable."  I think Jojo was kind of unimpressed by it, though, since it didn't go very fast.

We got to see lots of other cool sites...

And Emily, being the sneaky and sweet lady she is, bought Joseph a toy car in the gift shop when we were not paying attention (and of course, in his favorite color - yellow).  He has been walking around nonstop with it saying "Miss Emeeeee's car!"  Thanks Emily for such a fun day!

Hope everyone had a wonderful week as you get into the swing of 2015!