Jane, thank you so much. The thread looks very promising. I really appreciate it.

Ahhh, internal struggle. Rest in these words fr Psa. 37:3-7 3*Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.* 4*Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." 5*Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. 6*He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. 7*Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!" Wait on Him and He will ensure that you will gain every blessing He waNts you to get froM this trial. In Christ, Karen

{{I asked {rather timidly} a few years ago if it would be possible for my dc to memorize the Scriptures behind the catechism, rather than memorizing the catechism itself. I was told very clearly that parents that did that would be subject to church discipline.}} Gasp. Hmmmmmm. Errrrr. Alrighty then. I do not want to say anything farther lest I sin against our heavenly Father and cause unnnecessary dissension in the Body of Christ. I still would follow my husband's wishes as we know that is certainly biblical.

Julie, I agree with you but I would just go along with it. It's a minor and not a major. Some ladies would be oh so happy for their dh(s) to just be attending church. It sounds frustrating and aggravating but I would just go along with it. I suppose you've told your dh your point of view. I would just tell him how I felt about it and leave it at that. I asked our children to recite some scriptures to our assistant pastor recently. He asked me if they were memorizing catechism Q & As too. I told him we used to work on that but we had to drop it. I explained to him that I was very uncomfortable that we were not doing any scripture memory so I dropped catechism. He looked disappointed but there was really nothing he could say in opposition to my catechism dropout confession. :) I didn't tell him this but it works out that I am the one that does Bible reading with the children every day. If I did Bible reading PLUS scripture memory PLUS catechism it would just be impossible for us to get to the rest of the day. That's just the way it works out. I feel at peace about it. ~Karen~

If it's a yeast bread the yeast may go bad if you leave it in a cold oven all night. You can put it in the frig and bake it in the morning.

Your replies sound promising. Will the person who was learning to swim this past year make themselves known to me, please? :) I guess watching three children scream their way thru swim lessons has made me a little gun shy.

I'm a banged up runner sitting on the bench. I'm tired of being on the bench. I strained a thigh muscle. I've decided to sign up for a swim class next month. I'm a little nervous but I miss exercising. Boo hoo. I'm a little dense when it comes to someone who is in authority of me trying to show me something that I needed to learn. I'm a perfectionist too. I hope I can get the hang of it. Swimming seems quite complex. ~Karen~

Congratulations, ChickenPatty! You rocked it!

This happened to me this weekend. I had two ounces of a T-Bone steak and my stomach was in pain for over 24 hours. I usually eat red meat 1-2 times/week. Every Friday I make burgers for the family as I work every Friday from 7 PM to 7 AM. I have noticed that my stomach feels very heavy every Friday. I was at work with the stomach discomfort. I drank one cup of green tea and the pain went away. Ginger or mint tea would help this kind of situation too. You may want to have one or two cups of tea today and stay away from red meats. ~Karen~

Julie, that is awesome. Walking is great! I lost most of my weight walking! It's great that you are still in the game. That is right around the corner. Have a great family race! Whoopee! Thank you for reminding me about Bingham's books. I doubt I will make that Disney half due to the cost. The one this past January sounded so exciting. I ran a race that same weekend in 43 degree weather and rain. That is very cold for a native Floridian. :) I was very impressed with the runners this spring at Disney. Sleet, my word! I will check out your blog tomorrow. I am up too late and I had a terrible, no horrible, no terrible day. lol Jennifer, that sounds so exciting. It's such fun to run with my son. OC Mom, I started C25K when I was two months shy of being 42 and I have asthma. I had to repeat many weeks over and over. I didn't have a heart monitor but my breathing was terrible. My doctor put me on two medications for asthma and then I started to progress. If I were in your position I would get a phyiscal to make sure your heart is OK. Then I would just repeat the weeks until I felt comfortable moving forward. Have fun this Saturday, chickenpatty! You are fast! Now you see her, now you don't. Ha ha. ~Karen~

Part II of II A lot of people were encouraging our 10 y/o. One lady explained to him that we would have finished more quickly but the Gator jacket I was wearing slowed me down. Ha. You see ds got too hot and I donned his Gator jacket around my waist during one of our walk breaks. DS 8 y/o and DD 5 y/o ran a 1/2 mile Kids' Fun Run. When ds realized that this Kid's Fun Run was more formal than the one he ran in January he became very frightened and said he didn't want to run. I had to pay for this Kids' Fun Run and told him to get ready because he WAS going to run. They did a great job and they both finished more quickly than I thought they would. DS was delighted that he went ahead and ran the race. In the late afternoon at home I ran one mile to try and prevent stiff muscles. Our 10 y/o and I mused that we both felt we could have continued running after the race. I reminded him that I'd tried to get him to sign up for the 5 mile race instead of the 5K race and he smiled. DS and I were tickled, better put, stunned at the amount of people we passed even with our many walk breaks. We follow Jeff Galloway's advice and he writes, "Walk early and often." At our two previous races we were in the back of the pack and we were the ones getting passed. It is highly unlikely that I will ever be at the top of my age group. I did finish 39 of 61 though and I was pleasantly surprised. My goal is always just to beat my previous time. I will probably not run a race again until November 2010. I am not brave enough to run here again until the weather cools down at the end of the year. Until then I will keep up with my weekly running routine. Did you run a race this weekend too? Are you running one soon? Tell us about it. I started walking from May to Sept. 09 and lost 14 pounds. Then I started C25K on 9/11/09 and completed it on 12/14/09. I have a history of asthma and no history of regular exercise. If I can do it you can do it. If you have questions, ask me. I love running and exercise talk. Ha ha.

Part I of II 10 y/o ds and I ran our third 5K this past Saturday. We received a lighweight carry keepsake bag/backpack before our race. The bag has a small hole on the front where you can put a cord through the bag from your ipod. Sweet. It's very light and would be great to take on long runs. We received four of them since both me and kids were running. We had a great time! We did something different before this race. We got up at 5 AM and we ate breakfast. We think that was a very good move. We had a lot more energy than in our previous two races. I will lighten my meal next time though. Even though the race started at 7:15 AM I got a side stitch about 2 1/2 miles into the race. I've experienced that in the past so I just ran through it. My son and I finished in 38:56 and our pace was 12:32. I never thought I would see numbers like that next to my name. At home, we have been running 15 minute miles. I realize that others are much faster than me but I give myself a lot of grace since I just started running 9/11/09 ,two months shy of my 42nd birthday, with no history of regular exercise. Our last race results on January 9, 2010 were 41:55/13:30. We were very pleased with our time. To my astonishment we had to go up a hill twice. Who knew there would be a hill in FL race? The hill was a bridge. We walked up the bridge most of the time on the first loop. On our second loop we ran up that some hill. The temperature was about 70 degrees. We took about 6-9 walk breaks. That included three stops at water stations. The venue was spectacular. We ran thru beautiful a beautiful neighborhood downtown, passing yachts, beautiful homes and gardens, and hanging plants, and exquisite cars. There were quite a few dogs running too. One of the highlights for me was the 5 mile racers who started 15 minutes ahead of us and were looping their way back to the finish line after 24 minutes. Another highlight was a dad encouraging his one year toddler in the Kids' Fun Run to make a few more steps across towards the finish line. We stopped at a Publix booth after the race and also received very nice weekly activity logs and some great coupons. At Publix Saturday night, instead of $9 in coupons I had a total of $17 in coupons. It pays to be in shape, out and about at community events. Photos are attached of the bag we received and my 8 y/o ds running the Kids' 1/2 Fun Run. He says that next time he will opt to do the one mile run.

Rose, I concur with the poster who lamented the amount of time it takes to drive out of South FL. I do sometimes wish we had more money for travel. In light of Acts 17:26, 27 though I cannot lament over no money for traveling for long. The forementioned is one of my favorite scriptures and it says, "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." Since God has determined our when and where we should live I trust that He will help us to train our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I also trust that He will provide us the resources to train our children in the way that they should go. You might be feeling a little melancholy due to your husband's situation. I have BTDT and it can color everything blue. The "just shall live by faith and not sight." I commend to you Phillipians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." If you're watching a lot of news turn it off sooner than later.The news stations tells us about the unemployment rate daily and that can be depressing. I pray that your husband finds a new job soon. I hope you all can have some memorable and enjoyable times with dad at home. This may be a good time for your children to see how God provides for His people even when the breadwinner is not at a daily job.

Your post is very encouraging, Brenda. God is blessing you. ~Karen~

My experience has been that drinking plenty of water, eating five fruits and vegetables a day, and eating 50 grams of protein or more help to reduce sugar cravings. Eating every two to three hours has also helped. Exercise is helpful as well. When I exercise I naturally drink plenty of water.

Breakfast: Frosted flakes or grits with sugar and butter and sausage fried for a very very very long time. Mondays: Pork chops with Shake-n-Bake, canned corn, and canned green beans. Buiscuits from the can. At some point, my mom decided to get fancy with the corn and she would add cream style corn to one can of regular corn. Tuesdays: Pinto Beans with Neck bones, very dry half inch thick coarse corn bread made with shortening for my dad and beef stew for us made from stew beef and frozen vegetables. Wednesdays Spaghetti with Ragu with very dry meatballs flavored with Lipton Onion Soup Mix. Black eyed peas for dad Thursdays: Black eyed peas with neckbones and some more very dry coarse corn bread about 1/2 inch thick for dad. KFC for us usually. Once in a while something else like spaghetti with the very dry meatballs or the pork chops with Shake and Bake. Fridays: KFC for us and very very very coarsely very very dry fried cubed steak for my dad. Or sometimes he might have okra and tomatoes with the dried out cornbread. For a few years we had fried snapper from a seafood shop. You had to wait about two hours for the cook in the shop to fry our fish after my mom picked out her fish. Saturdays: More KFC Sundays: Every Sunday morning my mom fried one pound of bacon. She also made some toast. Roast beef with frozen stewed vegetables almost every Sunday in the crockpot. Turkey wings and cornbread and sweet potato pie around Thanksgiving time. My mom is a Jehovah's Witness so she didn't celebrate Thanksgiving but she woul make turkey wings, dressing, and cornbread somewhere around that particular day. Sometimes instead of the roast beef after we went to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses. we would go to Wendy's for my mom, McDonald's for my brother and I, and Burger King for my sister. For a few years I wouldn't eat roast beef. To this day, I don't like cornbread. Sometimes I overcook a cut of meat just for old time's sake. lol. What memories. Hmmmm. I learned to cook when I was pregnant with my second son and I don't use any of my mom's schedule or cooking selections. One of the first things my husband taught me when I was learning to cook is how to cook meat without it being so dry. Ha. After school I ate a lot of candy, chips, jelly sandwiches on Dandee white bread, (only jelly, I didn't like peanut butter), Chef Boyardee ravioli, and Swanson TV turkey dinners. My mom wasn't the type to have cookies and milk or anything else ready when I got home from school :) Our refrigerator drawers were always filled with Hershey's Chocalate Bars with almonds and without almonds, Pepsi, Snickers, and Milky Ways. We could take from the refrigerator any time we wanted to. Amazingly enough, my siblings and I are not obese. When I reached the age of 16, I discovered that I liked Coke better than Pepsi and asked my mom to please buy Coke as well as Pepsi. She obliged and I struggled with a Coke addiction until about two years ago. Today, my mother still fills her drawers with the Hershey bars without almonds for my children. She also keeps Mentos and Jolly Ranchers in her purse for my children. :-\. She keeps a lot of sodas and Capri Suns for them and her other grandchildren too. I got to KFC once a year now. I was really glad when they came out with the grilled chicken. Their original recipe chicken gives me diarrhea. I guess I had too much of it as a child. I'm glad it didn't give me diarrhea back then. God was protecting me.

Thanks, my friend! Nope. I have plenty of junk in my trunk to survive the night. Ha ha.

Today I did my scheduled run of five miles. I am sick now from allergy symptoms. This happens to me annually this time of the year. My eyes are stinging and burning. My regular prescription medication nor my eyedrops are helping at all. I'm allergic to some flowers that fall from a tree all over our home and right outside my bedroom window. The flowers also fall in my hair while I'm running. :( I meant to have a big calorie meal earlier but I was too sick from allergy symptoms. I have finally caved in and taken Benadryl from the misery of it all. I'm wondering if it is OK for me to go to bed even though I'm short 700 calories. I have eaten every 2-3 hours today but I'm still short on calories. I burned off a lot of calories running today and don't want to crash tomorrow. Can I just make up the calories tomorrow or do I need to eat them before I go to bed? ~Karen~

Laurel, hooray for your dad. My running mile is 19 minutes. He's way faster than me. We've seen quite a few walkers pass us as my son and I slowly run in 5K races. They are so fit! We've been passed by racewalkers, people walking with leg protheses, and people in wheelchairs. It's so inspiring to see those people speeding by us. They inspire us. We don't get down because we are out there. We got out of bed. We are in the game. We are doing it!

Julie, that's great! Keep it up. Look at you! When this becomes a habit, you will probably start to crave the walks. You may find yourself doing everything you can to get your walk into your day. -Karen

No, I haven't used it yet. The first time I had nothing. The first dog was very very bad and mean. God protected me and I got out of that situation somehow. I couldn't find any rock or stick or anything. I thought about climbling upon an old beater car that was next to me but I was afraid he would come up after me. I was running four miles that day and had only ran three miles. I am stubborn so I took a shortcut home. I called 911 to ask for help. I asked the boys for their biggest baseball bat and ran my last mile with that. The mean dog came out of nowhere again. I lost all my religion and used every curse word I know and threatened it with my bat. The dog cowered away. The next dog was very small and I shouted, "Sit and go home!" and it walked away. I kept my eye on the dog and my hand on the spray as I walked away. I understand being careful to consider the wind. I read that on the instructions. For a while I ran with a big stick but that is a bit cumbersome. The police officer that responded to my call that day also said that you have to make sure you have a good aim on mean dogs. He told me he shot at a pitbull recently and missed. :S There are some very aggressive dogs like pit bulls and Rotweilers that some of my neighbors own. Maybe I should ask my husband to get me a stun gun. My friend runs at 4 AM and runs with a stun gun. She says they can disarm animals and small children. I'm a little nervous about having a stun gun in the house. Decisions, decisions, decisions... In the meantime I run with the dog MACE and ask the Lord to watch over me. :)

Melissa, Your post is very interesting. I read a book on Australia yesterday by Sharon Gordon, from the SOTW 2 book list. It's fun to read a message from an Australian writing about the bush the day after I read about it. The wild dogs sound scarey. I am very afraid of dogs and met two naughty contrary dogs on two different runs. I carry MACE for dogs with me now. ~Karen~

Awwwwww, Julie. You're a doll. I've BTDT for over 20 years. As Jillian Michaels tells some of the contestants on her show *The Biggest Loser* I used to have a story going on in my head that I would replay over and over and over again. Whether or not you like or dislike her attitude and the drama I can so relate to what she is saying and shouting. I do think that the Lord knows just what we need to hear and He does even care about us getting into shape. It helps us to minister to others. Getting into shape has changed so many things in my life. As far as I'm concerned you are my worthwhile neighbor and IRL friend, made in the image of God. :)

Yep, Julie, you've got to talk to yourself differently. Say something like, "Rah, rah, rah! I completed ten minutes! I'm killing it. I'm in the game." When you think you're slow ask yourself, "Slow compared to what?" Are you moving faster than when you're sitting on your butt? Good. You're in the game. Are you off the couch? Good. You're in the game. If you get off the couch or out of a chair and you move that is worthwhile and not worthless. There's a guy named Jonathan Roche. He has a podcast called No Excuses Workout. He's affiliated with the FlyLady. He is so encouraging and he uses all of the phrases I've used above to encourage people who think they are slow and that their effort is worthless. Go, Julie, go! Rah, rah, rah!:party::party:

Chrystal, Thanks for this suggestion. I have half a cabbage in the frig. I'm going to use your suggestion. This sounds delicious. I grew up watching my mom drown cabbage in water. Ha ha. This sounds much better. ~Karen~