A Gift to Myself....

A new year is upon us, with potential for newness everywhere! It's a time for a gift to myself - maybe to yourself too! I have a coaching idea you are welcome to join me in doing.

Something I like to do at this time of the year is take a look at my life, past and future! It's time to do that again, and I'm excited for the awaiting discoveries! The Bible says I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me! And his yoke is light and he wants me to learn from him! I am eager to learn from the Master and all-wise, all-knowing One.

Here's what I will do:
~ First I will complete 2013 and make sure I'm ready to move on by identifying what kind of blessings, successes, wins and breakthroughs I've had in 2013.
~ Next I will list all my losses, disappointments and breakdowns in 2013.
I am just beginning this process for 2013-14 as I write, so I can't give any personal examples yet.

~ Next I will identify 5-7 lessons I have learned from both, that I want to take into 2014, lessons I will want to consciously use in the coming year. This brings completion to the year, even when some things have no closure or answers to them yet. There's always something to learn and be grateful for. Always.

The next part is the most exciting to me, as a life coach. I will imagine ahead to December 2014 and will write a list of my blessings, successes, wins, and breakthroughs of this coming year. I will write specifically as though they have already happened. (I love how this works in our brains!) I often take a look at each area of my life when I do this, making my list long.

Some areas of my life I may look at are my physical health, emotional health, career satisfaction, financial stability, marriage/romantic relationships, home life (family), extended family, friends/social life, recreation, relaxation, lifestyle (busyness), personal life fulfillment, personal spiritual life, church life, physical comfort, service to others. Ok, so I listed all I can think of, but there's value here!

Another way to evaluate the coming year would be to hold it up to the fruit of the Spirit. So the areas to think about would be your love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and your self control.

I have a wonderful New Years day in store, completing the old and bringing in the new! A gift to myself that will reap benefits all year long!

How about you?

Stretching my Wings

I have always enjoyed new things. Not things per say, but learning how to do new things. New things that are in my interest range, that is! I find myself saying "yes" at times before I count the cost! I get myself in trouble sometimes by speaking so quickly, but then again I grow immensely through these opportunities I grasp ahold of!

For instance saying yes to speaking at a women's event at our church last weekend. I honestly brought up the option only because they were having a hard time finding a speaker. I didn't really think they would take me up on it, even though something about it sounded fun in a challenging sort of way.

It's so scary-exciting to spread my wings and soar in the Lord's strength with something new. I learned some things about myself recently, especially the night before I spoke. That I can freak out when I am uncertain. That I have a little girl living within me that gets scared of what others may think of me, and who sometimes tells me I'm going to fail.

And that I find a place of God's perfect peace when I realize and then tell Him I'll mess up and am a mess. And that without Him taking over, my words will be a waste of everyone's time.

That was the best lesson of all. The Bible says that when I am weak, He is strong. And I experienced that fully Sunday. I could hardly believe how relaxed I felt all day, without hardly a butterfly. Of course, I had called in an army to pray for me. But to have literally walked in such peace through the entire day, with such enjoyment while speaking to the room full of women, was huge evidence to me of how much God loves to show Himself. He is faithful and cares deeply about what we care about. I'm glad He continually calls me to do things His way, not mine. To think His way, not mine.

How I love my friends who pray...

How I love my Savior!

COOKIE FAVORITES!

Just a few, from my favorite food blogger. I even surprised my discriminating daughter and son-in-law, who kept reaching for more of both! They've become used to nodding and saying "they're ok" to many of my recipe trials. But this one, they kept saying, "these are really good!"

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan)

Author: Detoxinista.com

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  10 mins

Total time:  20 mins

Serves: 24

 

These chocolate chip cookies are grain-free, egg-free, naturally sweetened and vegan-friendly!

Ingredients

• 2 cups almond meal, or almond flour
• ¼ cup coconut oil, softened (non-vegans can use butter)
• 3 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ cup dark chocolate chips (Barb likes to use Sweet Life brand of mini gluten-free chips)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond meal, salt, and baking soda, then add the coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla extract and mix well.
3. Fold in the chocolate chips, then drop batter by rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with a Silpat, or parchment paper.
4. Bake at 350F for 8-9 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.
5. Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then serve warm or allow to cool to room temperature.

Grain-Free Ginger Cookies

Author: Detoxinista.com

Prep time:  40 mins

Cook time:  10 mins

Total time:  50 mins

Serves: 12

 

Made with protein-rich almond flour and blackstrap molasses, these cookies are surprisingly loaded with iron, calcium, copper, magnesium, and potassium. Naturally sweetened with pure maple syrup, they’re also egg-free and dairy-free! While I prefer my ginger cookies soft and chewy, if you’d like them more crispy, simply increase the baking time and press them into flatter shapes before baking.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups almond flour
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil, softened
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• 1 Tablespoon blackstrap molasses
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl, and mix until a thick batter is formed. Chill the batter for 30 minutes in the fridge, to make sure it’s nice and firm before scooping.
2. Preheat the oven to 350F and drop the batter by rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with a Silpat, or parchment paper. Use a wet fork to flatten each dough mound, into your desired cookie thickness.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until firm around the edges, but still soft in the center.
4. Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

THE GIFT TO BE GRATEFUL FOR THIS THANKSGIVING SEASON

As I sit here thinking about the last year and what I feel most grateful for, it turns out it's the painful experiences that forced me to stretch and bend and surrender.   Because of them, I'm happier today than I have been in a long time.  I feel more aligned with the real me. And I'm blessed to enjoy relationships that are authentic and loving.   When we allow the alchemy of change to occur, we earn the gold.   The key word here is "allow."  Over the past year there were certainly times when I tried to resist change and to control the outcome of situations I didn't like.  None of it worked.  Ultimately I had to let go and trust that God, who is Life Himself, was bringing me exactly what my soul needed to heal and blossom and grow. And He did... Every disappointment, every missed opportunity and unfulfilled expectation all created the most beautiful chance to become more of who God wants me to be.  Who would have thought that I'd end up here... Today, I give thanks for the pain.     (Cheryl Richardson says it well, with some personalization and adaptation on my part, in her Thanksgiving '13 letter)

THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS....

I don't know why I've been singing this song in my head lately, but now that I think about it, I do have a few favorite things!

My Superman, super generous, super thoughtful husband, bringing me birthday tea and juice in bed

my beautiful-kind-enjoyable grownup kids, facetiming me because they know how much I love talking with them

my grandbaby girls (raising giddy feelings of love), two of them competing to see me on the computer

Then there are my favorite girlfriends who've walked alongside me in my deep pits, experimental dips, and encouraging lifts - and sweet sisters ...and kind in-laws.

Aside from wonderful people~~~

the sunrises behind the barn, streaming into our courtyard

the nightly sunsets behind the sisters mountains

the indescribable dark night skies, stars scattered everywhere, provoking awe 

the baby deer waiting cautiously to cross the road at dusk 

dogs turning inside out at the mention of a river walk

the gift of getting to serve and help women at our amazing church

birthday surprises....cards and gifts and calls from family and friends

daily love and encouragement from my Savior, walking alongside me and living in me

These ARE a few of my favorite things! I'm feeling so grateful again....                   

Tick-Tock, Tick-Tock

It's amazing to me how a day can sometimes go by. With a list never made. To-do's never formulated. A list ignored for what was more appealing or seemed important in a day. Honestly, not much is urgent to me these days. Unless someone is tugging at my pantlegs saying "up". Or one of my kids calls or facetimes. Or my husband wants to do something fun together. Or the dogs are turning inside out to go for a walk. That's important! That's fulfilling. That is joyful and worth dropping life for. But what if someone lets their life go by. Making lists, formulating to-do's, living the urgent, and accomplishing what seems like a lot. Yet all the days missing out on the gifts and blessings God has for them. Been there - done that, the saying goes.

I reread a few posts from my blog written during the first 15 months my unexpected companion moved in. Some of the words resonated as if I wrote them today. Because not a lot has positively changed, physically.

But a lot has changed. When in a fairly good season where I have more function, more energy, and less pain, I am not impatient with too much of anything. I think I've developed greater perspective and sense of priorities. I'm tempted to move into the hurry-scurry attitude of days gone by, because it's my innate default mode of operation (and I do like to accomplish things). But mostly I refrain. Most things that come to mind can wait for another day or don't need to be done at all. It's good that I have this disease. I don't like it, but it's useful. I'm changing. I can't "do" like I used to. But I can "be" more of who God has designed me to be.

My companion helps to clarify what I am to be about. People. Serving. Loving. Encouraging. My mission in life as a coach is to encourage, enlighten, and energize God's life in myself and others. James says I am to show my faith by my works. And in doing so, I will receive a blessing in all I do. I want and need those blessings in every little thing I do! So my desire is to do the works the Father has designed for me and shows me to do. Little or big, seemingly insignificant or more so. Whether it makes sense to me or not. And to love God increasingly - others through serving them however I'm able. That's how I want the tick-tock in my life to sound! Whatever it takes, may it be so Lord!

The Definition of B-U-S-Y

B is for babies
    busy busy babies
    babbling babies
    bunch of two babies
    bold baby
    beautiful babies
    barb's precious babies
    big girl too
    big girl with bountiful vocabulary
    big girl voicing amazement at the mountains and stars - "sooooo beautiful!"
    big girl asking why. more than once...

U is for up and down & up and down & up and down the slides
    upside down life for the dogs
    "up peezzzz, peezzzz, peezzzz...." until it got the job done
    under covers on her little mattress in my closet slept the cutest little sleeping beauty
   
S is for super duper mommies  
    special beyond words moments
    sucking thumb and pacifiers
    sore hands and wrists but ones that were so-gratefully enough
    super-smoothie-making Opi
    swimming in the jacuzzi
    so so so cute times three, and almost four
    sleepy grownups and sometimes-snoozing little ones
    scratch on a little nose by a very bad and forever baby-banned dog
    school for the preschooler. special mommy-homeschool, that is!
    sobbing, as kiddos do sometimes. sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't!
    sitting in my lap alot, reading books alot, books I read my kids long ago
    so very thankful, beyond words, to have these seven precious people in our lives
   
Y is for yahoo at the bouncy gym
    yippee driving the Bay's battery operated cars and riding ponies at the pumpkin patch
    yapping Asher aiming to herd little ones walking, strollers pushing & baby-cars driving
    young moms and dads and God's wisdom that mommies and daddies are not usually 50+
    yelling "OMA!" with little legs running as fast as they could toward me at the airport
    "yes" to most every request, as Oma's and Opi's do, with overwhelming joy and gratitude