Happy 2nd Birthday, Pink Saturday!

Here are a few "pink" pictures from our day in Bath, England! (And one not so pink, but must get at least one picture of the baths.) I hope you enjoy a brief glimpse into our visit there. It is a wonderful city and we thoroughly enjoyed the Roman Baths - fabulous, and of course, our visit to The Jane Austen Centre.

I want to wish Beverly over at How Sweet the Sound a very lovely 2nd Birthday for Pink Saturday. It has been a wonderful way to meet new friends and enjoy the lighter, pink side of life. Hop on over for visit and take this opportunity to visit many other wonderful Pink Saturday posts.

Lovely, Aye.....

More to come on our holiday in Great Britain - stay tuned.....

Ambleside, Charlotte Mason's Grave & Beatrix Potter

Guess what! We stumbled onto Charlotte Mason's grave yesterday - just across the park from our hotel. It is in a cemetery behind a church - and we were walking through there on our way to the lake. I was wandering around taking photos of Celtic crosses and then Ron said - "Oh, here is Charlotte Mason's grave." There was a sign or we would've never seen it. I just about came out of my skin I was so excited. I don't think he really even knew who she was. I knew there was a curriculum online called Ambleside curriculum based on her principles, but I didn't put 2 & 2 together that she was from here. My heart was beating out of my chest for like almost an hour. Who knew I would get so excited. She is truly one of the foundational stones of my homeschooling philosophy and helped to shape my children's lives. What an unexpected treasure!
We also went to Beatrix Potter's house today - it was so cool. Many of her illustrations in her books were drawn directly from scenes in her house or around her gardens and the village there. We got to see lots of her original watercolors for her books. They were tiny, just like in the books. We were able to wander around the rooms that have been restored and furnished to look like it did when she lived there. It was just a joy to see all the places that she wrote about and to learn more about her life. She was truly an amazing woman. Oh, and I think I saw Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail. I don't know where Peter had got off to.

Beatrix Potter's House

Lovely Wisteria just outside the Garden Gate

Gate into the Garden - Where's Peter?

Walk up to the House - lovely garden...

Flopsie, Mopsie, & Cottontail?

Give-Away over at SITS

Today if you have a chance, you might pop over to SITS and read about a delightful give-awy that is happening over at http://www.sheyb.com/. She makes these wonderful camera strap covers along with other beautiful products. I hope I win though! I have a camera-loving, photograph taking, 16 year old daughter who would love the black and white "The Ruche"!

Oh, and check back, because I will soon be posting more beautiful pictures from the UK!

Happy blogging!

Finally - Pink Saturday -and Aye from Scotland

It is great to be back for a post on Pink Saturday. I have been extremely busy with the end of the school year and all that entails. Today’s Pink Saturday post finds me in the happy land of Scotland. My dh and I have been here for a week, and it has been a wonderful experience. There have been some very trying times – like learning to drive a standard on the “wrong” side of the road through a very large town (Edinburgh) and out into the Highlands on very narrow roads! But other than that one thing, everything has been spectacular. We spent the first 4 nights in Edinburgh, and now are perched comfortably in Crianlarich, just north of Loch Lomond. The views are fabulous and the people friendly. We drove up today to Oban and had a wonderful seafood dinner, then went and climbed around a castle ruins – Castle Dunollie. I’d love to tell you all about my trip, but unfortunately our internet is quite sketchy here, so a short post might have to suffice for today. But I will be posting much more in the coming days about our trip.

We spent several hours at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh and I found lots of pink to share.

Hope on over to see Beverly at How Sweet the Sound to read other Pink Saturday posts.

Sorrow for Joy - Spiritual Sundays

"Maidens will dance and be glad."

http://www.vhdance.org/

“Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.” Jeremiah 31:13

I want to have the freedom to record the realities of my life, to remove the mask and open myself up to at least myself and also to God. But that is a pretty scary proposition. People, even the church, can be so judgemental and unforgiving and eager to gossip, that it makes me want to just curl up into a ball and ignore the outside world. I need a safe place to be me and to share my struggles. I wonder if others feel the same way.

In many ways, because of all the hurt and dysfunction in my growing up years, and in my subsequent  adult life, I have a heart for the hurting and can be very accepting of the hurting and the downtrodden. This is a blessing. But the curse that often comes along with that is the propensity to be easily hurt by others. And I can often be quite judgmental of those who have, or pretend to have, it all together. I am also quite judgmental and harsh on myself, accepting too much responsibility for what happens and kicking myself when things don't turn out perfectly.

Ughhh....this is the "me" I have come to know. I am trying to learn to trust in God's love for me without condition or performance. I have it in my head - now to get it transferred to my brain.

Hopefully, someday I'll be able to take off the mask.......

I am linking up with Spiritual Sundays today. You can stop by the site and check out other posts for today. 

How to Combat Emotional Eating

I'm posting this, mostly for myself. It contains some tips I've gotten from Spark People. I'd love any other suggestions for this.  I am failing miserably at this.

Healthy Options to Eating When Stressed or Emotional:

• Get your trigger foods out of the house, get your crutch foods out of arms' reach
• Go for a walk or jog. Physical activity relieves stress.
• Do deep breathing and relaxation exercises
• Keep a reminder of your goal handy
• Talk to a friend
• Visit and post on the support message boards
• Surround yourself with positive reinforcers, like pictures and people
• Keep a journal that includes your best personal accomplishments
• Track your eating patterns, including when and why you pick up food. 

Healthy Snack Alternatives

• Apple or orange slices
• Carrot sticks
• Banana
• Broccoli
• Whole wheat toast
• Bran muffin
• Fruit smoothie
• Applesauce

An Easter Tradition - Pink Saturday

This year we are anticipating our annual Easter tradition where we gather with our close friends for food, fun and hunting eggs. The best part is that the adult men are "forced" to donn pink Easter hats to go out and hide the Easter eggs for the annual hunt. They are always good sports and we all get a few laughs at their expense. But it is just a genuine good time where even the adults get involved in the festivities. The day comes to a close with the Easter story told via the Resurrection eggs. Here are some photos from last year's gathering.

After the oldest kids get the plastic eggs filled with candy, the dads and friends donn the Easter hats and head outside to hide the eggs.  Meanwhile the children are anxiously waiting inside for the go-ahead to be allowed outside to begin the hunt. Once the eggs are hidden, everyone gets into the act - young and old, looking for the eggs.

And the day is topped off by delicious food, fun and games.

Please head over to Beverly's place at How Sweet the Sound to check out other Pink Saturday posts.

Why Are You Downcast O My Soul?

Sometimes my heart just feels heavy. Sometimes I feel sad and down. This week was the anniversary of a very difficult time in my life. It was a difficult week for me. I really always want to be happy and peppy and up, but sometimes things just don't work out that way. LIFE happens. Things are hard. I love reading the Psalms of David and I used to be amazed at how brutally honest David would be to God with his feelings. I used to wonder why God didn't just zap him when he shared his anger and his anguish and his heart. But I also knew that God said David was a man after His own heart, so there must have been something to his sharing and crying out to God. I've come to realize that while life is hard - God is still good. God is there, He hears our cries and He knows (in the words of Beth Moore) that it is scary to be us. He does not take lightly what we are going through. I am sharing this Psalm today. Hopefully it will encourage you as it has me this week.

Psalm 42

For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.

1As the deer pants for streams of water,

so my soul pants for you, O God.

2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.

When can I go and meet with God?

3My tears have been my food

day and night,

while men say to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

4These things I remember

as I pour out my soul:

how I used to go with the multitude,

leading the procession to the house of God,

with shouts of joy and thanksgiving

among the festive throng.

5Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and 6my God.

My soul is downcast within me;

therefore I will remember you

from the land of the Jordan,

the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

7Deep calls to deep

in the roar of your waterfalls;

all your waves and breakers

have swept over me.

8By day the Lord directs his love,

at night his song is with me—

a prayer to the God of my life.

9I say to God my Rock,

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I go about mourning,

oppressed by the enemy?”

10My bones suffer mortal agony

as my foes taunt me,

saying to me all day long,

“Where is your God?”

11Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God.

And here is a link to a short exerpt from a presentation on You-Tube by Beth Moore:
It is Scary to Be Us

I am also linking this post up to Spiritual Sundays. Take some time to visit and read other posts on Spiritual matters that are posted every Sunday.

Everywhere You Go, There You Are

The majority of you know how important it is to spend most of your time with someone positive, but what you might fail to understand is that person is you…..everywhere you go, there you are.

This has to be one of the hardest lessons for me to learn - and that is that I am important and that I am worthwhile! And that I deserve to take care of myself.  I am positive to most of the people that I am around (with the exception of my best friend, to whom I dump my bucket once in a while!), but I am pretty critical and negative to myself in my self talk. With help from my therapist, I am learning to say nice things to myself. It takes a lot of effort to rewind and record over the old recordings from my growing up years that said, "You are not good enough, you are worthless, you are a failure, you are a slob, you are inferior, you are "MY" problem....."

Even though I know that Christ died for me and loves me unconditionally, it is hard to get that knowledge from my head to my heart.

Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I Cor. 13:6-7

This is a verse I need to take to heart to remember to treat myself with kindness, rejoice in the TRUTH that Christ died for me, therefore I am worthy, I am good enough, I am precious to him. I need to protect myself, trust in my Savior, hope in the future that he has already purchased for me, and to persevere through the struggles.

"I am worthwhile, I am beautiful, I am loved, I am talented, I am gifted by God, I am His child, I am ok".....Not that I have done anything of myself to have deserved this, but that He did everything to give me the gift of who I am and who I am going to be.

Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Phil. 3:12

Success to Parenting

My good friend has worked with families, kids and juvenile delinquents for many years. He has a new website on Parenting that is really awesome. Here is an excerpt from his website Success to Parenting: He has great insights and is a strong Christian.

List of Factors That Influence Teens’ Negative Behavior

March 9th, 2010

Listed below are several factors that contribute to the negative behavior of teenagers. It’s important to understand these factors in order to properly respond to their issues. These factors were identified and discussed during a workshop with teachers. The more we understand the behavior of children and teenagers, we will have gain sufficient knowledge to teach them how to deal with life’s issues.

Responses to question why do students get in trouble?

1. Peer pressure
2. Lack of good decision making skills
3. Poor home environment
4. Lack of attention
5. Lack of skills to perform specific tasks
6. Lack of parental supervision and involvement
7. Lose-lose situations no matter how hard they try
8. Lack of motivation
9. No way out of their situation

Society needs to work together to help our children and teens to fill the void they have in their lives. The family is the heart of society. Parents have the power to influence and impact the hearts of their children to make right choices.  Those of us in the profession of providing services to families can equip parents with additional tools needed to ensure the success of their children.

So if you have questions about parenting, please check out his website:
Success to Parenting.