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10 Steps For Intentional Living

November 2, 2011 in Creating Simple Living

Everyone’s intentional living is a bit different, but I wanted to compile a list of 10 steps that should carry across the board.  Even if you aren’t sure what you want your intentional life to look like you can still take these steps.

Write Out Your Priorities

What is most important to you?  God, kids, pets, car, education, retirement.  I believe God should be in there and, if you have family, it should be in there too, but beyond that it is pretty personal.  We are all wired differently to have different things that are important.  It is good to put this list (honestly) in order, then when an opportunity or change comes up you can rate it against your list.

Write Out What You Are Passionate About

To me, as an emotional woman, this is what brings me to tears.  Like the priorities, this is personal.  To me it is kids and families that struggle financially, especially in poor countries.  I think people should be able to have clean water and the chance to work to provide food for their families.  I can’t imagine the hopelessness of not being able to provide for my kids.   This is close to priorities, but not the same.  These need to be discovered so that they also can be compared against  any change or opportunity that arrises.

Get Out Of Debt

Ok, this probably should be first, but I wanted to start with something ‘funner’ than money.  Really getting out of debt is fun/freeing.  Nobody is ‘called’ to debt and nobodies dream is debt so this is a pretty good given across the board.   Debt sucks and it should be ran from.  We really like (and try to follow) Dave Ramsey’s plan/steps.  Simple… but not easy.  The idea is you have to hate debt, be scared of debt, run from debt.  It isn’t an annoyance, it steals your life and happiness… it is the enemy!

Become Your Definition Of A Minimalist In Time And Stuff

Everyone has a different idea of what is necessary material wise in their life.  Don’t worries.  This step is just making sure that you only have what you need and no extra baggage.  Think, stuff=time, stuff=maintenence, stuff=triping in the middle of the night, stuff=money, stuff=loss of space, stuff=can’t find the things you want… you get the idea.  Minimalize away any extra stuff and keep your ‘stuff life’ organized and clutter free.

Find A ‘Board Of Directors’

This I have seen in several places so it isn’t mine originally.  There is two steps in this.  First, you need to find people close to you who want you to succeed (or want to succeed with you).  These are people who will listen to your ideas and offer encouragement and ask questions to really help define what you are thinking.  They are also those who will keep you accountable.  This works in diet and exercise and will work just as good or better with intentional living.  Second, there might be people you thought would fit in the first group but don’t.  (there might even be people you are close to that you know are draining and discouraging you from looking outside your box)  These people should NOT be in your ‘Board of Directors’.   Not that you can’t still be friends with them, but what you share with them and what you talk about with them should not be your intentional living goals.  Making changes, especially ‘crazy/out of the box’ ones are hard enough without being discouraged or told it will never work.

I would love to be strong enough to do what I want and feel is right no matter what, but I am not.  I need lots of like minded, positive, encouraging people around me.  … and you probably do too :)

Fine Tune Your Resume And Keep It Current

This isn’t thought of as often, but I have come to really believe in it.  Whether you are working, love your job, don’t plan on getting a new job, etc,  it still pays to have a solid resume handy.  You never know when a time might come for a dream job (more than the dream job you might already have) or another side opportunity that you will need it for.  If all else, you will feel better knowing you are awesome and worth promoting after creating a killer resume :)   Opportunities are much easier to go for when you already have the resume to send.

Get A Passport (or equivalent if travel is not your thing)

Ok, this is kinda my thing because it is travel.  We have current passports for the whole family.  There has been options where we have tried to use them (more than just Canada) that haven’t worked out, but just having them makes it easier to go for stuff, especially last minute stuff.  If travel isn’t your dream what is?  What do you need in hand so that you could make the most of an opportunity?  Have it handy… it would be a shame to miss out on an opportinity because you weren’t ready.

Keep Learning

This is huge for intentional living.  Turn off the TV and learn something.  Take a class, read a book, sit and think… it doesn’t really matter how.  Even taking up a new hobby helps grow and expand your mind.  There is so much available right now with books, computer, cheap(er) education, that other generations wouldn’t have been able to dream of.  Still, so many people just sit with their head in the sand giving away precious time to TV or useless computer.  (my blog is very useful, lots of thinking and positive ideas so it counts as learning ;)

Keep Your Eyes And Ears Open

This goes along with the last three (resume, passports and learning).  No matter where you are or what you are doing, even if you think you are already in your ideal dream, keep your eyes and ears open.  Open for other opportunities, other challenges, new ways of thinking, new things to learn… you get the idea.  Always watch, listen and talk for growth.  Intentional living isn’t a point A to point B kind of thing.  It is continuously growing and changing as you grow and change.

Always Look For Ways To Expand This List

You got me, I only came up with 9, but 10 is such a nice number.  In all honesty, because everyone’s intentional life is a bit different it needs to be filled in and added to personally.  Take Action!  Have Fun!

Come back next Wednesday for a message from Steve Jobs ;)

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Simple Tip-Spread The Fancy House Around

October 24, 2011 in My Simple Living

 

Here is Ian playing at the park by our apartment

I would like to think I live big.  I also live small.

Let me explain.  Within my grasp of walking or driving I have access to a nice pool, several parks, shops, a great library and even a world class zoo.   The great thing is that I don’t have to pay to maintain any of it.  (The small membership fee for the zoo is nothing compared to what we get) 

Our living is much bigger, smaller:

First off the library.  Sure we used our local branch on the edge of town, but we also housed several hundred books in the house.  Our whole family are readers (now even my 4 year old, I am so proud).   They usually didn’t cost much, especially the kids books because we got them at garage sale or gifts.  What they did cost was space and clean up time.  The kids had books all over their rooms and playroom all the time!  My son would also come into my room and clean off my book shelf.  We got rid of over 90% of them.  As a family we have access to 160 books at a time from the library, and it is only a mile away.  Sure, we still have piles at the house, but they are smaller piles and they are different books every week.

 That stack of books next to Lily.. that is just her getting started :)

Here is Ian showing me what books he wants to look for.

Second the pool.  I really wanted to make sure my kids learned to swim a few year ago, and they need practice a well as swim lessons so we got a 15′ above ground pool for the back yard.  We spent hours trying to get that thing to work.  Our first problem was that the yard had a gradual slope so we went at it with shovels.  We ended up with a hole in the yard and it was still not flat.  Second, I hated messing with chemicals.  Third, we couldn’t keep the leaves out of it.  Fourth, it was cold…. you get the idea.  Now we have an awesome warm, clean, indoor pool and hot tub at our apartment without even a gym membership cost.  Even if we needed to pay a gym membership it would be less money and stress than all that maintenance.

Just in the last week he has been practicing without his life jacket.  He can’t really touch that well, even in the shallow end.  He is a nut though.  He has been practicing with the jacket so well that when we took it off he could swim about 10 feet on his own.

Lily is a fish, she spends more time under the water than above it.

Third the parks.   We had a gym set in the back yard for the kids… we got it for free and we gave it away for free… it wasn’t that great.  Now we have a few parks within walking distance and some really good ones just a short drive away.  The great part for the kids is that they even come with playmates most days.

Lily at the park

Forth, we are much closer now to the zoo and stores which saves time and gas.

I thought this looked cute.  Looks like he is trying to get the tiger to bite his ear, but he is probably just trying to hide behind it as soon as daddy pulled out the camera.

Both kids love bounce houses.  This one was set up at the zoo when we went.

Fifth the yard care.  With the apartment I have no yard maintainance …except throwing out the dead plants off my porch (my thumb isn’t as green as I want it to be). 

When I look at this list it and remember all the work we did it makes me tired…. it represents so much time and work I put into bringing the world to us when it wasn’t all that far away. 

Many people have asked me how we can manage to live in such a small place, and this is really the reason.  In our bigger ‘real’ house we still had the same access, but we didn’t go out and take advantage of it as much.  Now when we do go play, or sit down and read, or swim it is way easier and much better.

 

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Present In Worship, Now In Service

October 19, 2011 in Simple Religion

For this post I wanted to get pictures of our feet representing how we need to focus on where we are at presently.  I love these shoes of Lily’s.  It was cold and getting dark so she wouldn’t take off her socks like I wanted.

I am excited to write this post.  This is something that God has probably been trying to teach me for years, but it is only now that I am really ready to understand and rest in it.

I want to work for God.  I want to make a difference in my world.  I have spent most of my adult life trying to figure out how I can achieve this.  As a family we have looked at lots of mission calls, and lots of ‘mission’ jobs here at home.  I read about people helping orphans or doing relief work and I want to be part of it.  

My boy will take off his shoes and socks and play in the grass no matter how cold it is outside :)

For all these years it has never worked out.  I am ok with that and assume God has something else we are supposed to do, but I am always looking, always wanting the ‘change’ to ‘true’ service for God.  I completely understand that my family and my kids are my ministry, but there is so much pain and hurt in the world I want to try and help.

 The problem with always looking for ‘the call’ is that I am living in the future. I am focused on what I could do, or what I might be called to do, and everything I am doing now has just been a time filler till something else. 

What I have discovered is that this is dangerous for both my sanity and simplicity, as well as my position and relationship with God. 

My husband never takes off his shoes, here he is standing on the slide at the park.  Thanks for playing along baby!

A quote I read years ago in Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, Revised and Expandedsaid (something close to)

A common saying in our culture is ‘Don’t just stand there, do something’.  God however calls us to ‘Don’t just do something, stand there and focus on me’

We try so hard to work for God that we don’t have a chance to know God.  And, if we don’t know Him, how can we really know what He wants us to do? 

We learn about God, and we grow to want to serve Him, but all to often, we jump from one to the other without getting to know Him in the middle.  Once we fill our life with lots of ‘good-God-work’ we don’t have the time to ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ Ps 46:10

Here are my feet with my home-done toes.  I love red!  Usually looks better from a distance… up close they look pretty messy.

So What Does It All Mean?

Our society has us living in the future… when I get past this busy time at work…. after the kids get potty trained…. after I get at least one good night sleep…. when I am finally out of debt…., and I was taking the same problem to my spiritual life. 

We have to live in the present.  Live in the present with our kids, our finances, our life, and our God. It is a simple law of biology and physics, there is only mental energy and time for the present. 

God wants my worship and service today, maybe just this hour or this minute.  It isn’t that we shouldn’t wish to make a difference for Him, it is that we need to focus on what He wants us to do now. 

I found this poem yesterday from SAINT AUGUSTINE’S PRAYER BOOK: A BOOK OF DEVOTION FOR MEMBERS OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH:

Just For Today

Lord, for tomorrow and its needs, I do not pray;
Keep me, my God, from stain and sin,
Just for today.

Let me both diligently work and duly pray.
Let me be kind in word and deed,
Just for today.

Let me be slow to do my will, prompt to obey;
Help me sacrifice myself,
Just for today

And if today my tide of life should ebb away;
Give me thy Sacraments divine,
Sweet Lord, today.

So for tomorrow and its need I do not pray,
But keep me, guide me, love me, Lord,
Just for today.

Today is all I need to worry about.  With Gods strength and guidance I can do, and be, what He wants me to be ‘just for today.’

 

 

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Simple Compassion-ADRA Helping Women in Balgladesh

October 11, 2011 in Simple Compassion

I wanted to help raise awareness of some huge world issues by highlighting some amazing things being done.  It is easy to feel overwhelmed when I hear of all the pain that so many people live through, but there is so much hope when people allow themselves to be used by God to be His hands.  Women especially have a hard time and I am excited to hear how this program is helping.  If you know of another great project that is making a difference, let me know!  Here is a link to the full article.

SILVER SPRING, Md. – In Bangladesh, women and girls struggle for equality due to patriarchal traditions of the country. This results in a minimized role in decision-making within family and social structures, leading to marginalization in a variety of areas, such as education and health. The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) is improving the health status of women and their children through nutrition, hygiene, and skill training programs.

In the slum area of Mirpur, a suburb of the Bangladesh capital city Dhaka, ADRA is training new mothers and pregnant women health and nutrition methods to improve health conditions. Women are taught the importance of taking adequate care of themselves as well as their children through proper feeding, basic hygiene practices, monitoring children’s growth, and properly vaccinating children to prevent disease, such as polio. ADRA’s training has benefitted approximately 2,000 women and 500 severely malnourished children under the age of five, and an additional 10,000 household members indirectly.

For a number of years, a young mother by the name of Nargis (pictured above) and her husband Abdul Goni, have been living in the Chalantika slum with their three young children. Nargis expressed her family did not maintain proper hygiene within the home and admitted hand washing with soap after bathroom use was something they were not familiar with. A significant change in their lifestyle came after ADRA made a community visit to their home. Shortly thereafter, Nargis began attending ADRA’s hygiene, sanitation, and literacy classes.

Since joining, Nargis is now preparing nutritious meals for her family and monitors her children’s growth and health. She boils water to ensure it’s safe for her and her family to drink and has enrolled her two oldest sons into school. Nargis now shares what ADRA has taught her with her neighbors, and through her lifestyle changes, she has attracted many others to ask and learn these simple life-saving methods.

To learn more about ADRA’s humanitarian efforts, please contact ADRA at 1.800.424.ADRA (2372) or give online at www.adra.org

Follow ADRA on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest information as it happens.

ADRA is a global non-governmental organization providing sustainable community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age, gender, race or ethnicity.

For more information about ADRA, visit www.adra.org

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Overlooked Perk of Homeschooling

October 7, 2011 in Simple Home School

It hit me a few days ago when I was trying to get my kids to eat broccoli and I was trying to explain to them that, when cooked right, broccoli still has just a bit of crunch…. that it isn’t supposed to smear when you try to cut it. 

Health is a big thing for me because it is very important for growing minds.  But it got me really got thinking about how much our homeschooling decision affects the kids health.  I decided to compare it to the Newstart program which I have always really respected and have also used to teach my kids health.  This is what I came up with.  Some offer only a slight difference while others offer a huge benefit.

N=Nutrition 

This, I believe is hugely different in a home school setting.  Sure there are great mothers who pack super healthy lunches and home school moms that don’t cook healthy, but for the most part kids at home are eating home cooked, fresh cooked, balanced meals.  It is just easier to do at home.  Taking a healthy lunch is hard to start with, and then there is ‘peer pressure’ or ‘lunch envy’ for the kids who get the most ‘junk’ in their lunch.  What is served at ‘hot’ school lunches can qualify for ‘warm’ (hopefully) food, but it is far from healthy, nutritious, or fresh. 

But that is just the obvious lunch problem.  There is breakfast, the most important meal of the day, that at home can be unhurried and balanced when kids are rushing out the door.  I have worked hard at cooking full breakfasts for the kids.  Sometimes it isn’t ready soon enough to get it in before our school starts at 7:15, but we can break for it at 7:45 and still have a full meal without being rushed. 

Snacks are also great.   Kids just function and think better when they aren’t hungry and we have a morning snack every day (sometimes an afternoon one, but the morning seems the most important).  For snack we usually cut up fruit or pop popcorn, but just having the kitchen close makes it easier to find something fresh and healthy.  My poor son goes through growth spurts that have him eating tones and still begging for food almost every hour.  At home there is always something on hand as well as time to stop and ‘re-fuel’.

Funny side note:  When I started homeschooling Lily at 5 I asked her what she thought of home school.  She answered “Oh mom, I love it.  At school we only got one snack (referring to pre-school) at home I get TWO snacks”  

Kids can’t think or learn hungry, or sugared up… They also can’t learn as well if they are missing vitamins or nutrients from an over processed, over stored, and over cooked diet.    This is not some great feet for a home schooling family, or that other families are mistreating their kids, it is just easier to eat nutritious at home.

E=Exercise

This probably is very different per school and per home school, but we try and make exercise really important in our day.  We have gone for a 2 mile walk, played at 2 different parks for a total of at least 3 hours, and gone swimming 3 times this week for a total of at least 4 hours.  Kids need to move.  I was super proud my kids both hiked the Grand Canyon this summer (ages 7 and 4). 

This is something families can easily still do when the kids aren’t at school, but I do believe home school makes it easier because of scheduling flexibility. 

 W=Water

This is simple, but super important.  I don’t know how the schools do it, but my kids have a cup of water at both their desks when they are working and drink regularly through the day. 

Got carried away with this post so I am breaking it into two parts.  Stay tuned for part 2 next friday! 

As I am getting ready to actually post this ‘part 1′ both kids have seemed to develop a fever…. they didn’t get the memo :)

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Confessions From the Back Row

October 5, 2011 in Minimalist Parenting

That’s me.  I am the one in the back row sitting on a real chair looking at a book ….. or possibly texting at the back of story time (or any number of kids activities).  I watch the mothers sitting on the floor, bright-eyed, trying to get their kids to participate, following funny actions, and making baby talk with jealousy, guilt and amusement. 

The truth is I am just not a kid person.  I don’t like children.  If reading this makes you think of evil witches, or serial killers you obviously ARE a kid person.  Not everyone was made to be a kindergarten teacher.

I have been thinking on this for the past few days and am processing it.  A few years ago I read a statistic that 1/3 of parents wouldn’t have had their kids if they could get a do over.  I was, and still am, appalled by this.  It is sad.  I wanted kids and would still have my kids if given the choice again…. but now that I have them, I still don’t quite know what to do with them.

What I know for sure is that I want the best for them, and I want to be the best parent I can to them.  In looking at my parenting style I probably parent with a business perspective (which is my degree… so it would make sense).   I want to output the best product in the time given.  I read books on the subject, stress over processes and schedules, second guess decisions and make changes at the last-minute.   To be healthy human beings I work very hard at helping them be healthy and learn healthy habits.  I want them to contribute to society and try to teach compassion and teamwork.  I want them to learn as much as they can, learn how to teach them selves, and fall in love with a life time of learning.  I want them to be self-controlled so that they can make the best decisions and not fall for fast, cheap substitutes.   It isn’t that I want them to be good so I look good.  I feel it is my responsibility as a parent and to God to raise them as ‘right’ as I am able. 

This works great if I was going to do a math problem or program a computer.  It might even work to train a dog.  Kids are a whole other level of unexpected.  They have no manual.  I struggle because at the same ‘well of personality’ that I didn’t get my love for children or my special child-ready ’sing-song’ voice, I also somehow missed out on the patience.   …. this would make me a special ed kindergarten teacher from……

I am aware that this makes me a poor choice for staying at home and homeschooling, but I really feel that it is best for my kids to be home growing up, and now to be homeschooled also.    I feel it is best for all of us and that it offers us all a growing opportunity (though, sometimes I feel like I am breaking instead of growing)

 I believe that I am made the way I am and am given my kids for a reason.  I find and create all kinds of pressure with parenting.  I stress over what makes a good parent?

  • being a kids best friend?
  • having a kid that obeys?
  • having a kid go to Harvard (or equivalent)?
  • having a healthy kid?
  • having a socially adjusted kid?
  • having a kid that makes the football team (or goes on to play music professionally)?
  • having a kid that ‘realizes their true dream’ (whatever that might be, how can that be measured?)?
  • having a kid that Loves the Lord?
  • other

The problem with the ‘business parenting model’ is that it is very unattached.  I have always struggled with attachment.  Sure, I love my kids, but I wish I really felt connected to them.  I am scared that if I can’t connect with them as kids, then the teenage years will be impossible. 

I have never been good with connecting.  I don’t think many people are.  Something to do with society and past hurts makes it easier.  My wonderful husband has taught me how to connect in our marriage.  We love spending time together and would rather be with each other than pretty much anything.  I want the same thing with my kids now as well as after they grow up.  I want our family to be tight and experience joy and loss as a unit.   This is my ideal, but, I haven’t figured it out yet. 

So, there is my confession.  I am not a great parent, but I don’t think a love for children has to be a prerequisite.  Don’t look down on me because I hate sitting on hard floors or doing silly actions, I am trying my best just like you are.  Sometimes I wish I was as good as you interacting with my kids…. and sometimes I vow never to look that ridiculous. 

This is a blog on simplicity, and it is my goal in life… but if you have read a few of my posts you know that I am far from figuring the concept out.  With parenting also, I want to take the stress out and just enjoy it.  But it isn’t like making a cake… if it falls or burns I can just start again, parenting is serious business.  

Re-reading this post I think it sounds like a downer.  I don’t mean it like that.  I had a bad day last week with parenting and it was really stressing me out, but for the most part we really do have fun together learning.  There is just those moments that smack me behind the head and leave me frantically searching for a book with answers… and there isn’t one :)

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Stress Free Money at $40,000 and below

September 28, 2011 in Creating Simple Living

 

I found an article this morning about how a family of 4 was living on $40,000.  It was titled ’The Secret to Living Well on $40,000′.  Now I think this family is great and financially smart, but how can living on $40,000 be a secret?  This is above the poverty and welfare lines and includes tons of families in our country.  Shhhhh…. people all over the place are surviving on $40,000 a year.  

The key to simple, stress free money is that money coming in is greater than money going out.  That is it.  No matter what someone makes it is this where the peace/stress line is.   It is something that can be in balance even under $40,000 a year.  (gasp)

No matter what the ads say, your friends do, or TV portrays the median income in 2010 in the USA was $50,046 (and dropping) source.   That means that half of the families make and live on $50,000 or less.   In the midwest it is lower. In Nebraska where I live the median income is $47,357 source.   This means a large percent are living on $40,000 or less. 

Living on less money than comes in is key to living a simple, money-stress-free life.  It is huge in my life, and it is huge in most people’s lives (unless you are part of a very small amount of people who make so much you can’t spend fast enough…). 

I wanted to write-up the numbers of what our family does.  We are working on budgeting and cutting our bills back even more since we decided to simplify because we want to save up as money for the things we want as possible. (and we are trying to pay of the Prius)

Our family budget is about $2200 per month.  We don’t always balance but we have come out ok on the average on months when we aren’t traveling.   This is spendable income of  $26,400 per year (after taxes, contributions, savings).  This is how it breaks down:

Rent- $800

Food-$350

Car Gas-$175

Utilities -$75

Entertainment – $50

Misc (cloths, house stuff, etc) – $200

Savings pool for insurance (health and car), car expenses, school costs, medical costs – $550

Our phone and internet is paid out of our businesses. 

Since we are self-employed we don’t know what we will make from one month to the next so the less we have to make the less work stress we have.  We also choose to spend as little as possible for the ’everydays’ so we can take longer vacations and having more money in savings.  It is probably possible to live on even less and still provide food and shelter for a family of 4. 

What I want to get across is, for the most part in this country, people have way more financial freedom than they often embrace.  Most of our money is spent for wants and not for needs.  It is a choice. 

It is perfectly fine to spend money on whatever you want.  I am not saying that spending money on wants is wrong.  I just get frustrated by people’s excuses and pity party based on money.  If more money is going out than coming in and it is creating stress, fix it.  If you want money for something specific and don’t have it, fix it.  If it costs too much to live in a specific area, city or state… move.    Get to the place where it isn’t a fight to finish the month in the black and life gets better. 

Money is a tool, not a barrier.  Simple, intentional, and even possibly minimalistic living really helps prioritize and make sure money is not a secret and not a stressor.   It is true in this society that there is always a push to spend more and the myth that families can have it all is everywhere.  These things do make it feel like living on $40,000 or less is hard. 

Another great recourse is Dave Ramsey’s program and teaching.  He is super motivating and entertaining and has practical, usable advice.

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Making a Big Difference…. Simply.

September 20, 2011 in Simple Compassion

Welcome to my simple living blog!  Thanks for reading.  Take a look around and feel free to comment or e-mail me. 

I want to share a simple way that my family has been involved in making a powerful difference.  For the last 3ish years we have sponserd 2 children through World Vision.

First off I have a huge burden for those in 3rd world countries.  There are evils and poverty in our country, but here there are programs everywhere for food and medical.  Clean water and education are amazingly easy to come by no matter who you are or where you are.  In other countries it isn’t this way.   Lack of clean water, food and basic medical attention kill millions of people.  The education that could help pull them out of the cycle is often something they can’t get, don’t have time to get, or are too weak to get.  We did nothing to deserve where we were born and they did nothing to deserve where they were born.  In the world, we are all family and we should do all we can to help each other. 

What is neat about world vision is the connection.  We picked 2 children, matching ages and genders with our own as close as we could and have been able to write back and forth and learn about how they are benefiting from our support.  We know that these children will grow up to get the education that can give lasting help to their community. 

Let me introduce you to our kids:

Juster(below)-Juster is a 7-year-old girl in Malawi.  She seems shy, but likes to draw us pictures and is doing well in school.  Her aunt writes us letters because she isn’t old enough to write yet.  As she does more school I am looking forward to seeing letters from her.  Last Christmas we sent extra money and she was able to get several things including a metal storage container to keep the bugs from destroying her blankets, cloths and a goat.  We send $35 for Juster every month and a world vision worker checks on her everyday because she is high risk.  She is a Hope Child.

Phochland(seen at the top of the post)-Phochland is a little 4-year-old boy with lots of older siblings living in northeast India.  Still to old to do school or write he has done a few simple drawings or colorings for us and we send him lots of stickers.  He loves playing ball and is very healthy.  Last Christmas, with some extra money we sent, world vision purchased a bike for his dad.  We send $30 a month for Phochland and the world vision worker checks on him every week. 

Sponsor a Child

These are my additional kids.  It has been a great experience for our whole family.  Lily and Ian both write letters and pick out stickers and treats to send.  We would love to visit them someday. 

In this world we can’t fix all the problems, and it seems overwhelming when we hear all the terrible struggles people face.  I love that I can do something for someone.  These kids, their families and their communities benefit from a small amount that is automatically withdrawn out of my account each month. 

Will you help too?  Will you find a kid to help?  It is super easy, pick and kid and set up automatic withdrawal and they take it from there.  If you have time, when you remember, you can send a note, but your money is working even when you don’t think about it.

My reason for writing this article is two-fold.   First, I think all kids deserve a chance no matter where they are born, and I believe World Vision does a great job of offering sustainable help to communities.

Second, if I can convince 5 of you to sign up by the end of Sep to sponsor a child I get entered in a drawing for a trip to Peru.  So, if you sign up, send me an e-mail with your name and your sponsored childs ID number :)  I would also love to hear how it is going as you sponsor your child. 

This is such a great opportunity.  As much as I would love to fly over to some of these countries and try to help, I can’t figure out a good way now.  What my small contribution does every month provides the practical, educated, lasting help that I can’t physically give.  It is a blessing to be involved, simple to , and a bargain! 

Will you sponsor?  Sponsor Now! 

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Healthy Eating On The Road

August 2, 2011 in Vegan Simple Eating Recipes

So my family is just finishing a 5 week road trip. All the time in the car eating snack foods and going out make it hard to eat healthy and feel healthy. I shot this one day that was working for us. Hummus is a wonder food! It is high in protein and good fat and can be paired with fresh veggies or a good carbohydrate for a balanced meal or snack.

Buying hummus (hommus) it is important to read the label and get one with as little foreign ingredients as possible. It is made of Garbanzos (chic peas) and often Tahini (ground sesame seeds) and spices.

These chips we got from Trader Joes were great too. All food and no junk. The ingredients list is the dead giveaway. I try to always read it before I buy.

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Dads Salad

July 21, 2011 in Vegan Simple Eating Recipes

My dad made this salad when we came up to visit him a week ago. It was fabulous, so I wanted to share it. Salad can be a meal, but it has to be more than just iceberg lettuce and ranch. The idea with cooking shouldn’t be low fat it should be high nutrition. With high and balance nutrition, not only will the family be healthier, they will also be full till the next meal and not feel starved.

Dad’s Salad

  • Spinach (could also use another good deep green leaf or a combo) Tomato, Carrots, Zucchini, Yellow Peppers (could put in all kinds of other veggies, whatever is cheap and in season)
  • Veggie Hot Dog slices and chick peas (protein, could also put in beans or just lots of chick peas, I love them!)
  • Soy Cheese, olives (fat, could put in any cheese, nuts, olives, or flax meal. This, with the protein is what is filling and lasts so)
  • Strawberries (something sweet, could be any fruit, some people do raisins or crasins, but I don’t like them in salads)
  • Dressing is made from lemon juice, lime juice and olive oil (About 1 to 1 to 2 or 3 ratio). Other spices that taste really good are dill, garlic, rosemary, basil, chives or small amounts of ginger, curry. (not all at the same time)

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