Before Christmas, Brian & I had been working on explaining to Liam why we celebrate Christmas and now I've started trying to explain Easter. But let's face it, describing abstract reasoning and events from 2000 years ago tends to go right over the head of most 5-year olds. I do my best and hope something gets absorbed. I've been thrilled that he remembers that Jesus came to us to save us all from evil. It's a start.
We've been working on broadening the kids horizons past Thomas the tank engine and Toy Story. I know they go through phases, but the current diet of Toy Story 2 & Thomas non-stop has begun to wear on my nerves. So today I decided that Liam is probably old enough to understand most of the Narnia series; so down to the basement I went to dig out the 3 movies. I explained the basic idea of the movie (finding a magical world in a closet) and he was very excited to watch it!
As we watched "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" Liam asked questions and I started off by explaining that it was magic; but as the movie progressed, somethng clicked in my head and i found myself explaining events in the movie in religious terms.
Liam asked why Edmund was with the White Witch; I told him that she had tricked him like the Devil tries to trick us into doing bad things.
Liam asked about Aslan the lion; I told him Aslan was like Jesus in that he was there to protect them from evil.
During the scene where Aslan sacrifices himself in Edmund's place, I explained to Liam how Jesus had given himself to the bad guys so that they could not hurt us.
I explained that, like Aslan, Jesus had died to keep us safe from evil.
Liam asked if Aslan was going to come back (by this point he was calling Aslan "Jesus") and I told him to keep watching.
When the stone table cracked and Aslan came back, I explained to him how that was like when Jesus rose from his grave which is why we celebrate Easter.
At the end of the battle, Liam asked if the evil was dead, and I told him it was.
The end of the film shows Aslan walking across a perfectly serene beach. Lucy is sad that he is leaving, but Mr. Tumnus tells her that he will be back when he is needed. I told Liam that Jesus had left the Earth too, but when we need him most, he will come back to protect us again.
While I know CS Lewis is quoted as saying he did not write the books as a religious metaphor, the similarities were just too plain to see for me to not notice them. It fit so perfectly and finally gave me a tool to be able to show Liam these abstract past events that we had been trying to clarify for months in a way he would understand them. He seemed to understand what we were talking about, so I hope he has assimilated at least the important facts from our conversation.
One thing is for sure: I will never look at this movie the same way again...
God sent his only son to save us from evil...
Jesus died to protect us...
We celebrate Jesus' birth at Christmas and we celebrate his rise from the grave at Easter...
And last but not least: God & Jesus can take on many forms... even a lion named Aslan.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
The New "Me" part 1
Yes, I know it has been a long time since my last blog and so much has happened.
Since today is the first day of a new year, I'll share with you that I've made only 2 resolutions for myself: 1.) Blog more often; 2.) Be better to myself.
I'm starting resolution #1 by sharing resolution #2.
As happens when you have kids, you devote most (or if you're like me, all) of your time to them. I've come to realize I really don't do anything for myself and I certainly don't treat or take care of myself like I should. Since leaving my job, I've come to realize that I really do have some worth and really should take better care of "me" than I have in the past because, darn it, I deserve to feel good about myself! I've done a little shopping for clothes- not the "off the rack cookie cutter" stuff I use to buy at Wal-Mart, I'm talking shopping at stores designed for those of us that are full-figured. My favorite of these by far has been Torrid (owned by Hot Topic). I've worked on taking control of my appearance by doing more with my hair and trying to put on make-up more often, especially if I'm going out somewhere. Trying to kick this never ending acne has been a pain in the behind, but it's a work in progress.
The biggest challenge I'm facing is my weight; yes, pun intended.
This problem began when I was in high school. Most girls are overly self-conscious at that age and I fell into this category. I wasn't really fast or super smart or very pretty, and frankly, I believe that whole statement still applies. But what made it much worse for me was being put on a medication for epilepsy that, years later, another specialist determined I did not need. The diagnosis wasn't as bad as the amount of weight I gained from the medication I was put on. Not being a small girl in the first place, soaring to 145 then 160 in high school was torture. Throughout college I worked a fast-paced, physical, "on your feet" job which helped to keep my weight in check, until I moved to Illinois in 2004 and started a desk job at the bank. By the time I became pregnant with our son in 2006, I had ballooned to 194. After he was born in 2007 I lost the mere 18 pounds I gained during pregnancy and felt good about it. I dieted and exercised and when I became pregnant with our daughter in 2010... I was right at 194. I gained more weight with her than her brother but was still able to get myself down to 205 post-delivery. So here I was, almost 2 years later sitting at 214 and wondering why I'm unable to lose the weight.
Throughout the years I've exercised, dieted, starved, done the trend diet and more to try to lose this excess. Weight Watchers, IsaGenix, Alli, Atkins.. all of it failing or worse, making me GAIN more weight. No matter what diets I tried or how much I exercised, nothing seemed to work or it caused me side effects that were annoying, inconvenient or just plain gross! (If you've tried Alli and had "leakage" you know exactly what I'm talking about!)
So at the beginning of December 2012 I decided enough was enough. Being on the go with college, a Kindergartner to run to & from school and a toddler to chase around wasn't enough to do anything but maintain the status quo. I saw an episode of Dr. Oz talking about green coffee bean extract. (You can see the segment here or read the article here.) I said to myself "heck, nothing else has worked, I may as well give this a try." Dr. Oz recommends a green coffee bean extract that is 100% pure, and this is what I found:
The ONLY ingredients in this are: Green Coffee Bean Extract and Vegetarian Capsule. You can find this at Wal-Mart (30 capsules for about $10) or I got this 90 capsule bottle at Sam's Club for around $20.
I began my little experiment by logging on to MyPlate at www.livestrong.com .
In order to make this as unbiased as possible, I set my goal to "maintain my current weight" which at 214 pounds gave me a total of about 2400 calories allowed each day starting off (as you track your weight progress it adjusts your calorie allotment accordingly.) And no, I'm not ashamed to admit I was that high because if I can't be honest about it, nothing is ever going to change- I have to face it in order to fix it. Yes, that sounds like a lot of calories and I have only been over on my calories 5 days of the 23 total, and each of those was either going to a movie or eating dinner/lunch out, most days I don't even come close (most days I have between 400 and 800 calories remaining, a few days I had 1200-1600 remaining). I started a journal but about halfway through my entries were few and far between just because of school finals, finishing up for Christmas, etc... I just didn't make the time for them. I will try to be better about that during part 2.
Starting December 8th, I began taking 2 capsules 30 minutes before lunch and dinner with a whole bunch of water. There have been several days that I have forgotten the pills at lunch, but that's how it goes sometimes. I was not going to the gym like I had been in previous weeks and will be beginning in the next couple weeks because my fitness class had ended and I just didn't have time to go- so no, I have not been doing any additional exercise during part 1 of this experiment. The only thing I've done is paid closer attention to my portions because of tracking on MyPlate... let's face it, a bowl of GetBalance Crunch for me is 2 servings, not the skimpy 1 cup that's listed on the box. I haven't necessarily been eating "better" just more controlled and a touch "smarter".
The results? In 23 days I have lost 9 pounds, have been able to hold to portion sized much better and have not experienced any negative side effects. Being back to 205 feels good, but my short term goal is to be under 200 again... once I hit that I'll re-assess and set a new goal. Little bits at a time, that's how I'll defeat this demon.
During part 2 I will be changing my MyPlate goal to losing 1 or 2 pounds a week (undecided which at this moment) and will be more physical in weeks to come as I hit the fitness center more and start my personal defense class. Then we'll really see what I can do with a little bit of determination and green coffee extract!
See you in a few weeks!...
Since today is the first day of a new year, I'll share with you that I've made only 2 resolutions for myself: 1.) Blog more often; 2.) Be better to myself.
I'm starting resolution #1 by sharing resolution #2.
As happens when you have kids, you devote most (or if you're like me, all) of your time to them. I've come to realize I really don't do anything for myself and I certainly don't treat or take care of myself like I should. Since leaving my job, I've come to realize that I really do have some worth and really should take better care of "me" than I have in the past because, darn it, I deserve to feel good about myself! I've done a little shopping for clothes- not the "off the rack cookie cutter" stuff I use to buy at Wal-Mart, I'm talking shopping at stores designed for those of us that are full-figured. My favorite of these by far has been Torrid (owned by Hot Topic). I've worked on taking control of my appearance by doing more with my hair and trying to put on make-up more often, especially if I'm going out somewhere. Trying to kick this never ending acne has been a pain in the behind, but it's a work in progress.
The biggest challenge I'm facing is my weight; yes, pun intended.
This problem began when I was in high school. Most girls are overly self-conscious at that age and I fell into this category. I wasn't really fast or super smart or very pretty, and frankly, I believe that whole statement still applies. But what made it much worse for me was being put on a medication for epilepsy that, years later, another specialist determined I did not need. The diagnosis wasn't as bad as the amount of weight I gained from the medication I was put on. Not being a small girl in the first place, soaring to 145 then 160 in high school was torture. Throughout college I worked a fast-paced, physical, "on your feet" job which helped to keep my weight in check, until I moved to Illinois in 2004 and started a desk job at the bank. By the time I became pregnant with our son in 2006, I had ballooned to 194. After he was born in 2007 I lost the mere 18 pounds I gained during pregnancy and felt good about it. I dieted and exercised and when I became pregnant with our daughter in 2010... I was right at 194. I gained more weight with her than her brother but was still able to get myself down to 205 post-delivery. So here I was, almost 2 years later sitting at 214 and wondering why I'm unable to lose the weight.
Throughout the years I've exercised, dieted, starved, done the trend diet and more to try to lose this excess. Weight Watchers, IsaGenix, Alli, Atkins.. all of it failing or worse, making me GAIN more weight. No matter what diets I tried or how much I exercised, nothing seemed to work or it caused me side effects that were annoying, inconvenient or just plain gross! (If you've tried Alli and had "leakage" you know exactly what I'm talking about!)
So at the beginning of December 2012 I decided enough was enough. Being on the go with college, a Kindergartner to run to & from school and a toddler to chase around wasn't enough to do anything but maintain the status quo. I saw an episode of Dr. Oz talking about green coffee bean extract. (You can see the segment here or read the article here.) I said to myself "heck, nothing else has worked, I may as well give this a try." Dr. Oz recommends a green coffee bean extract that is 100% pure, and this is what I found:
I began my little experiment by logging on to MyPlate at www.livestrong.com .
In order to make this as unbiased as possible, I set my goal to "maintain my current weight" which at 214 pounds gave me a total of about 2400 calories allowed each day starting off (as you track your weight progress it adjusts your calorie allotment accordingly.) And no, I'm not ashamed to admit I was that high because if I can't be honest about it, nothing is ever going to change- I have to face it in order to fix it. Yes, that sounds like a lot of calories and I have only been over on my calories 5 days of the 23 total, and each of those was either going to a movie or eating dinner/lunch out, most days I don't even come close (most days I have between 400 and 800 calories remaining, a few days I had 1200-1600 remaining). I started a journal but about halfway through my entries were few and far between just because of school finals, finishing up for Christmas, etc... I just didn't make the time for them. I will try to be better about that during part 2.
Starting December 8th, I began taking 2 capsules 30 minutes before lunch and dinner with a whole bunch of water. There have been several days that I have forgotten the pills at lunch, but that's how it goes sometimes. I was not going to the gym like I had been in previous weeks and will be beginning in the next couple weeks because my fitness class had ended and I just didn't have time to go- so no, I have not been doing any additional exercise during part 1 of this experiment. The only thing I've done is paid closer attention to my portions because of tracking on MyPlate... let's face it, a bowl of GetBalance Crunch for me is 2 servings, not the skimpy 1 cup that's listed on the box. I haven't necessarily been eating "better" just more controlled and a touch "smarter".
The results? In 23 days I have lost 9 pounds, have been able to hold to portion sized much better and have not experienced any negative side effects. Being back to 205 feels good, but my short term goal is to be under 200 again... once I hit that I'll re-assess and set a new goal. Little bits at a time, that's how I'll defeat this demon.
During part 2 I will be changing my MyPlate goal to losing 1 or 2 pounds a week (undecided which at this moment) and will be more physical in weeks to come as I hit the fitness center more and start my personal defense class. Then we'll really see what I can do with a little bit of determination and green coffee extract!
See you in a few weeks!...
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