Healthy Heart
How’s your heart health? February is heart health month in the US. It’s a time to raise awareness about cardiovascular disease, which is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Now is a great time to take a look at your physical heart health. Do you cook heart healthy recipes on a regular basis? Do you know what your blood pressure is and should be? Can you recognize the signs of a stroke and get help FAST? Is there a heart health walk in your town? Our figurative heart, or soul, is also in need of a check up. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our heart for it is the wellspring of our life. Our mental wellness plays a role in our physical wellness, including our heart health. Read more in this article from the American Red Cross. Many resources are available to help raise awareness about heart health. The CDC has published a toolkit for healthy heart month. (The toolkit gets updated each year so just Google the CDC Healthy Heart Toolkit for this year.) You can even talk to your kids and teens about heart health habits. It’s never too late to model healthy heart habits…
God is my rock
How does your view of God affect how you live? God is my rock. My fortress. My strong tower. He is my hope and my strength. How you view God affects how you live. What does that mean? If I don’t trust God to be who He says or to keep His promises, then I think too little of God. As a result, I don’t rely on Him. Or maybe I think He’s only sometimes going to answer my prayers or only if I’m really good is He going to listen to me. When I think that, I make prayer and devotions all about me. I should make them all about God. When things get hard I need to remember to trust God to be who He says He is…my rock, my hope, my creator. He is strong, just, loving, and forgiving. And so much more! We can rely on Him. We can anchor to Him in the storms. God is my rock. Oh what comfort and joy that brings me in each season of life. I can have peace in the midst of storms and I can have a place of celebration in the midst of good times. My…
Product Review: Youscience Aptitude Discovery
What do you want to be when you grow up? Many high school students dread the question about future careers if they have no idea what they want to do. Many parents fear the task of helping their child hone in on a career path as well because many feel inadequately prepared for the job or want to avoid the conflict. As a teacher and parent, I have certainly had this conversation with many teens and seen the defeat in their eyes when they say they don’t know. Today I want to offer you a solution to the frustration and a tool for career counseling. Go from doubting to curious in just a few hours as you see many possible careers that match abilities and interests. Youscience is an online aptitude and career discovery tool. It helps pinpoint natural abilities and personal interests and suggests in-demand careers that combine those two. I discovered this tool years ago when a client’s mom asked me to watch her teen take the test and discuss the results. The test took about 2 hours but the brain games were fun and the personal interest questions were well written and you could take breaks as…
The Importance of Learning Vocabulary
Did you know that having a good vocabulary improves your communication skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking? Vocabulary helps you think and learn about the world around you. Expanding your knowledge of words broadens your ability to process new information. Learning the subject vocabulary is of great importance for any school or business course, but also just growing your vocabulary will enrich your communication abilities. Building your knowledge of subject area vocabulary increases testing confidence and reduces your stress no matter what course you are taking. It allows you to focus on the critical thinking aspects of the course or test instead of focusing on your stress. Understanding the test question will help you respond with confidence and that is why it is crucial to learn unit vocabulary for each subject area in school. No one wants to be buffaloed when the teacher asks a question. Understanding WHAT the question is asking will eliminate mistakes as long as you know the content. Memorizing words and definitions can be a very helpful first step in learning vocabulary, but studying vocabulary words in context is the BEST way to learn vocabulary. Sometimes you may start studying vocabulary as the introduction to a…
Give Thoughtful Care Packages
Do you have a “go to” list for care package items when a friend is in need? Bookmark this page for your “go to” list for thoughtful care packages. Be the friend who gives generously and thoughtfully when a friend is in need, without asking “what do you need.” Whether it’s the stress of caring for a sick family member, sitting bedside with the dying, or trying to hold the family together after a traumatic incident, the same basic needs exist…food and rest. Putting together a small package of helpful items and dropping it off on a friend’s porch says so much. It’s a hug, a prayer, and a meal all wrapped up in one. Before you stop reading because your friends live too far away, most of this could be done by restaurant or grocery delivery services, too. Don’t let distance keep you from helping out. Over the years, friends have generously and thoughtfully taken care of my family during hard times. I remember a meal taken to MY house for my kids because I was away at my parents house caring for them. I remember a bag full of homemade cookies that got us through 4 am bedside…
Framily
What is framily? While framily may not even be a real word in the dictionary yet, most people will be able to define it. Framily is a portmanteau, or a blending, of the two words friends and family. Framily are friends who become our chosen family. This word has been around since the early 2000’s but the concept is not new. When people are apart from family, they often find themselves building a network of support among their friends at work, school, or in the community. In the past few years, people have created covid bubbles for much the same reasons. Whether you are under the same roof, in the same town, or gathering on Thursdays nights for dinner, framily time is good for your heart and soul. It is joyous to have people in your life to support you through the seasons of celebrations and struggles. Sometimes that support comes from both family and framily. Our lives become richer when we share it with others. Our burdens are halved and our joys are doubled. I have been blessed over the years to have various groups of framily to share seasons of life with. So many memories flood my thoughts…
Product Review: Pinch of Yum
What’s your go-to website for recipes? Finding healthy, exciting, and approachable recipes, such as those on Pinch of Yum, can be a challenge in the giant universe of cyberspace. It’s not that they don’t exist, but that there are so many websites to choose from. Let me introduce you to one of my favorites. Pinch of Yum is one I discovered in the last few years when a friend shared a yummy recipe I had tasted at her house. Now I regularly find myself clicking on the links in their newsletter or searching the blog for a recipe featuring whatever food items I have on hand that night so I don’t have to go to the store just to make dinner. The ability to sort recipes on Pinch of Yum by categories like quick and easy, dinner, Instant Pot, vegan, tacos, freezer meals, etc. makes it easy to find particular things. Another thing I love is the beauty of the website! Not only are the recipes a delight to taste, the website is a feast for your eyes from the fonts to the colors to the photos. Whether you want printed recipes, videos to follow, or explanations, you can get…
Going Gray Gracefully
Is going gray GRATE or GREAT for you? While some people find themselves on clear ends of the going gray spectrum, I’m kind of in the cloudy middle. I’m not offended by grays but I’m not rushing to get there. The gray highlights that are now framing my face are natural. This unicorn glitter just seems to sprout up on its own! I’d like to think it’s a badge of honor! I’m going gray gracefully. For a few years, I found excitement in a bottle. At the drugstore, I could scan the hair dye bottles until I found a coffee name that sounded exciting. I sampled espresso, cappuccino, and hazelnut. I was not really trying to hide my grays as there were just a couple then. I was really just being adventurous on a limited budget. After a few years, I noticed more grays. I asked a hairdresser how long I should keep dying my hair. She said forever! I stopped the next year. So many friends complain about the grays. It grates on them so much! Gray fills them with shame and regret as it spreads across their heads. Yet younger friends look forward to the grays so much…
How to Answer the Questions Kids Ask About Life and God
How do I explain the basics of the Christian faith to my kids if I didn’t grow up in church? What do you do when your kids ask you big questions about life and God, but you struggle to even answer those questions yourself? A friend recently asked me this question. She wanted to know how to answer the questions kids ask about life and God. She knew what she believed but was hesitant to try to explain it to her kids for fear of messing up the answers because she didn’t grow up in the church and missed out on hearing all the familiar stories taught in Sunday School. Essentially, my friend and her kids needed to learn some basic theology (the study of God) and basic Bible doctrines (Bible beliefs) together. What you believe affects how you live so understanding and talking about theology with your kids is important to Christian parents. It doesn’t have to be as hard or complicated as it sounds. It can be reading and talking together at the dinner table or storytime. I actually get excited about the questions kids ask about life and God. It means they are thinking. It means they…
Season’s Greetings
Remember that amazing hostess gift you got last Christmas that you thought you could make for others this year? Remember that amazing hostess gift you got last Christmas that you thought you could make for others this year? Nope. You forgot. Me, too. I hate it when that happens! You have a great idea, and you forget to use it. I have a tip that has helped me out many times when I want to remember Christmas gift ideas. Open your calendar app or paper calendar and choose a date early in next November. I create an event called “note to self” where I type things in the event notes such as “remember you have plenty of tree ornament hooks” or “make spice mix jars for teacher gifts this Christmas” adding links or pictures when appropriate. This little tip replaces sticky notes that get lost on the counter. You can use it to remind yourself to purchase and mail a birthday gift ahead of time or to schedule an appointment for the car inspection next year. This tip will only work if you actually use a calendar, but that’s a whole other topic! Speaking of those amazing little Christmas gift…