Campus/Bald hill and Back (+.36) by carolfoasia at Garmin Connect - Details

Campus/Bald hill and Back (+.36) by carolfoasia at Garmin Connect - Details

Blessings

I woke up fairly early this morning. So, before I launch into Bible study of Psalm 42, I want to record how thankful I am for the many blessings in my life. . . 


I am SO thankful for a brother-in-law that said, "Supermans"! (See previous post) This led me to Pilates five weeks ago, and my back is transformed. I sit here at the desk typing with absolutely no pain or discomfort. Since my injury, I have always had a bit of pain or discomfort. 


I am thankful for a husband who understands my need to watch the UARS satellite come to earth rather than have an indoor date.


Thankful for the synergistic union we have with the Mandate people. I think it will be great.


Thankful for some really neat people that sit in my living room on Wednesday nights and share what they are learning from their Gospel stories and love to talk about Jesus. :)


Thankful for two kids that like being with us, going out to dinner, talking about whatever, love learning, and think it is cool to track a UARS satellite through space.

I love my life!

Do Supermans

The Lord heals in many ways. He has healed my back in an amazing way this past month by a comment made by my brother-in-law after doing muscle release on my back for 1 1/2 hours. I asked him why my back keeps going out after all these months of me working out and getting stronger.

Two words of healing . . . 

"Do Supermans"

He got down on the floor and showed one. Oh, I thought,

"Oh that is a Pilates move."

DUH! I had started Pilates shortly after my injury, but it was too much for me. But I needed to go back because it was the next step in my healing. I had been strengthening all the muscles in the front of my body by my active lifestyle (biking, running, hiking, etc), but the back of my body was not being strengthened. My mishap after swimming for 1000 yards about six weeks ago made me realize that I had gotten very week there. So, it was time to go back to Pilates.

I have gone through 10 sessions, and I am sitting here typing pain free. Now the only nudges in my back are from a hard pavement run. The kinks come out though after an hour of Pilates.

Ahhh.

Just what I need

An app for blogger! I didn't know about for two years!

I can even add a photo from here!

Clear Lake Hike with Stewarts and Habermans by carolfoasia at Garmin Connect - Details

Clear Lake Hike with Stewarts and Habermans by carolfoasia at Garmin Connect - Details

A Helpful App: Couch to 10K

I found this through my LoseIt! website forum, and I wish I had it during my training for my triathlon!  It tells me when to walk and run, and is a 13 week training schedule. I would always forget where I was or my iPod would lock up on my stopwatch. It also has a little button at the bottom for my music too! It is just great! The things you learn.

Speaking of things I have learned. I looked up how to do a screenshot, and it was quit easy. Let's see if it works for the face of my new APP:

WOOHOO! It worked. My first screen shot.

Drum ROLL Please: 156/158 books = 99% done!!

I finished ROLL, JORDAN, ROLL!

Currently Reading: The New England Mind

 MODERN (1850 – present)

1860 Civilization of Renaissance Burckhardt (May 18, 2011)

1904 Protestant Work Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism Weber (May 5, 2011)

1938 The New England Mind: Colony to Province Miller 491 pages

1973 The Gulag Archipelago (only Autobiography left) 472 pages

1974 Roll, Jordan, Roll Genovese 665 pages (August 20, 2011)

1987 All the President's Men Woodward & Bernstein (March 23, 2011)

1990 A Midwife's Tale Ballard (May 19, 2011) 
1992 The End of History & the Last Man Fukuyama 339 pages (July 20, 2011)

27.88 m Lake Sammamish to Lake Washington on Desani Blue Bikes +.61 miles by carolfoasia at Garmin Connect - Details

This was my best memory of the summer of 2011!


27.88 m Lake Sammamish to Lake Washington on Desani Blue Bikes +.61 miles by carolfoasia at Garmin Connect - Details

The Well-Educated Mind: 155/158 = 98%

Currently Reading: Roll, Jordan, Roll 70% done!
1164 pages to go!!! WOOHOO! :)


MODERN (1850 – present)

1860 Civilization of Renaissance Burckhardt (May 18, 2011)

1904 Protestant Work Ethic & Spirit of Capitalism Weber (May 5, 2011)

1938 The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century Miller 491 pages

1973 The Gulag Archipelago (only Autobiography left) 472 pages

1974 Roll, Jordan, Roll Genovese 464/665 pages 70%

1987 All the President's Men Woodward & Bernstein (March 23, 2011)

1990 A Midwife's Tale Ballard (May 19, 2011)
1992 The End of History & the Last Man Fukuyama 339 pages (July 20, 2011)

Freewrite on a Wednesday Morning

Fifteen minutes is ticking, and here I go. No editing. Just press the button and run.

I was sitting there ready to sit down to write on Psalm 40 for Bible Book Club, and I realized how peaceful I felt in that moment. I wanted to document it here since I haven't caught up this blog in forever. It is 13 days since my return, and I started feeling like a real human being on Day 10. I am glad that Ken Himes and Anita Huxman said that it is about 1 day for every hour time difference. That made me feel better about the Jet Lag that I have had! I always feel so bad and sluggish, and last time, I had to hit the beach running with homeschool and a new co-op with women that I didn't know and classes that were challenging and also starting American Literature. I snapped at one of the ladies at one of our meetings, and I will always feel bad about that. I don't do well when I am tired and not getting enough sleep.

So, I started taking an ibuprofen PM on Saturday night, and that has made all the difference. I had tried Nyquil to get me back on schedule, and I hate the feeling that this gives me when I wake up in the morning. The Ibuprofen PM gives me just enough sedation to sleep peacefully but to wake up alert the next morning. This helped me get back on an overnight schedule. YAY! Lesson learned for next time I do a 15 hour time change. I need to write it down because I know I will forget. Thank the Lord I didn't forget to not schedule anything with a lot of relationships for most of the month returning to the States this time after last time with my co-op. I think I scared all the ladies, and I didn't mean to in any way. Just really tired and worn out. SO GLAD we also moved our trip up from August to July too!

Well, I am peaceful. I have gotten back into the habit of walking around the block and praying in the early morning. Today, I took a wider loop and prayed for the Staubers in their new home near our house and Noha too. I like that longer loop that takes me about two times as long. The days are in the high 80's. So, it is perfect weather for shorts and a T-Shirt in the early morning!

So, this is my first official day back to work. I worked a month ahead with the BBC, and it has been nice to not have to write during jet lag. So, I need to write that down too because I know that I will probably still be writing the BBC when I got on the next overseas trip which will, Lord willing, be in 2014 when the boys are well settled in college or a job for Michael.

I am praying about my involvement in everything next year. I don't know how it will work to meet with Jennifer and Jane. I love both of them so much, but I have to really be careful with my time. I met with so many women last year, but Jane is such an encouragement to me. She is such a seeker of God in every way. Jennifer is great to meet with too because she is such a F.W.A.T. woman (Faithful, Wholehearted, Available, and Teachable)! Elizabeth will be going away in the middle of the year, and I just meet with Michelle about every three weeks or so. Then there are the occasional meetings with Shelly, Beth, Heather, Kathleen, Stacey. Lord, give me wisdom. I love all these women with all my heart, but it gets harder for me to meet in the evenings, and I really want to be available to my family.

By the way, I gained four pounds while in Southeast Asia! I thought I had lost, and I probably did in Indonesia, but those Singaporeans love to stuff us full of food! LOL! It was a joy, but I was already bout eight pounds up to begin with. So, there are 12 to shed by the time I go surfing in November. So, I started a program of getting back to exercise last Saturday that has gone swimmingly. I started the food portion of regime on Monday, and that has been GREAT too. I am using the LoseIt! App on my iPod, and it sends me daily email updates. I love that! It is really great, and I need to just keep track of everything.

Next, I need to get my BodyBugg back to working. The digital display quit on me in May 2010, and I have never gotten around to calling support to see why. Maybe today after BBC writing and piano and dial-a-book.

Well, there goes the timer. BYE! No proofreading. I will probably be embarrassed by all the typos if I reread.

Norma and Me

Norma and Me, originally uploaded by carolfoasia.

Via Flickr:
We have so much in common! By the way, she is standing on a step!

What I'm Learning From Bangka/Belitung and Back Again

Here is what I journaled yesterday:

To Bangka and Back Again - July 23, 2011 (3:28 am – 12:28 PM, July 22 in the States)

My intention was to buy a little journal when I got here, but I forgot to do so when we went out shopping yesterday. So, I am journaling on my computer. I journaled for about 15 minutes this morning when the computer shut down to install updates, but I don’t have a wireless connection. So, who knows what that was all about! It rebooted and what I had already written was not auto-saved.

 I got up at about 2:30 am. It would be like as if I were sleeping late in the States (11:30 am). I love the early mornings that I have in Southeast Asia because of the time change.

Yesterday, God spoke to me from 1 Corinthians 12 about using my gifts to help George with the logistics of getting to Bangka. George was so open to that, but I think I overstepped it by interfering with the booking of the plane flights through Shi-Ane’s travel agent, Eunice. Eunice said her fee would be $50 Sing Dollars per person, but we might want to go to Lion Air and book directly. George was going to press the button to send all the stuff to Eunice anyway because that was the sure thing, and I said, “Stop!”  I hate spending extra money. It seemed wiser to go to Lion Air and skip the travel agent fee.

Long story short, Shi-Ane and Moses brought us to Lion Air downtown. She had to pay for parking (wouldn’t let us reimburse her), and we had to wait a long time in line to see an agent, and it was MORE and no travel agent fee! Then, we called Eunice back, and her price had gone up by about $80 Sing Dollars per person from morning to afternoon! UGH!  So, we ended up paying more, and it was all my fault. J As a result, we had to send Eunice all the stuff by finding a wireless spot downtown making us late for the start of our anniversary celebration. We also had to cancel with Prakash because we were still working out the details on the phone with Eunice. I feel bad because we inconvenienced our friends and exhausted ourselves when we could have saved money and time by just pressing the button from the wireless at Shi-Ane’s house in the morning and gone directly to the hotel. UGH!

I was disappointed in myself when God woke me up with these verses:

If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with You,

That You may be feared.

I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,

And in His word do I hope

My soul waits for the Lord

More than the watchmen for the morning,

Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. (Psalm 130:3-6)

As I recline in bed so early this morning, waiting like a watchwoman for the sun to rise on the bustling city of Singapore, my sweet, forgiving husband slumbers next to me, and I am humbled to see that after 21 years of marriage, I am still learning and growing to be the right helpmate for him. How do I use my gifting and strengths to fill in where he is weak without “overflowing”?

What do I mean by “overflowing”?  In Genesis 3:16, when God is handing out his curse for Eve’s disobedience, He says, “And your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”  I had never really understood what that word “desire” meant until I did a Hebrew word study, the word t^eshûqâh comes from a root word, shûq, that means “to run after or over, that is, overflow: - overflow, water.” I need to compliment George rather than run over him.

To add insult to injury to my stupidity yesterday, when we finally got to our hotel room (remember it was two hours later than we wanted because of me), he presented me with an anniversary card that read:

My dearest Carol, what a wonderful adventure these 21 years have been. You are my love, my friend, my companion, the one who fills in the areas where I am weak, and cheers me on in the areas where I am strong.”

I want to learn to “fill” to just the right amount rather than to “overflow” and crush George’s spirit and mess up God’s plan! I think when God spoke to me yesterday in 1 Corinthians 12, He was leading me to be a helpmate to George in my spiritual gifting of encouragement rather than my ability to organize and plan.  I want to grow to be more of a cheerleader than a questioner of George’s every move.

It is funny but every time I prayed in preparation for this trip, I felt God was telling me this. The uncertainty unnerved me, and He was gently reminding me that supporting George is His purpose for me here.  When there is uncertainty, especially in travel, I tend to panic and pick at George. I need to learn to enjoy the adventure. The many word phrases expressed in the artwork on my anniversary card from George say it well:

Embrace change

Love with abandon

Speak of your gratitude

Be positive

Dance in the moonlight

Surprise yourself and do the thing you didn’t think you could

 I thought it was sort of a funny card for an anniversary, but all those sayings so pertain to my situation on this trip. The goal-oriented, planner in me needs to just take a back seat and enjoy the ride and cheer on the driver.

You would think, after 21 years of marriage, I would have this down pat, but I don’t.  In the process of my time with God this morning, He also spoke to me through 1 Corinthians 13, “love is patient, love is kind.”  These are all God’s words for me this morning.

By the way, in the process of writing this, George woke up too, and I asked for his forgiveness, and he freely gave it.  He is back asleep again unphased by my ways. How do I deserve such a gem?

Now on to more uncertainty as we navigate a trip from Singapore to Bangka/Belitung and back again and I try “to do the thing I didn’t think I could” by stopping my interference.   

Let Your Presence Fall

Release Your power and let Your presence fall.

Touched by God this morning as I worship.

"Best friends are like salad . . .

"Best friends are like salad . . . a video by carolfoasia on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
. . . all mixed up and really good for you."
This video proves it.

My Cup Runneth Over

The chai and whip brims over the cup
Michelle gave me for allowing her to stay
It is a deep purple with gold and green flowers
And a star at the bottom when I sip the last drop

My life is being savored one sip at a time
I drink in His presence, better than my chai
I clutch my hands around the warm purple and gold
And sip to the gold star at the bottom of the cup.

Life is golden
Yes indeed

2011 Carol365

2011 Carol365, a set on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Crazy adventure of documenting my life using a photo a day. I need ANOTHER project and goal. (Yeah, right)

Dragging

It always takes me a while to recover from vacation! I am still dragging this morning, and this is our second day back. I have many things to do today:

1) Schedule consult and surgery for Michael's teeth (means two trips to Eugene)
2) Get Paul to orientation and registration for Fall at LBCC
3) Finish Judges 9 post for tomorrow and get ahead because next week is busy
4) Organize final Theophostic Training
5) Wade through papers and mail that piled up while we were gone

I also want to go work out and weight lift since I wasn't able to do it all last week in Idaho.

So, there is my day. :) Why aren't I seizing it like I usually do?

I think I can. I think I can.

Sunday Sighs

I am exhausted! I slept 9 hours last night, and I am still tired after 4 cups of chai and a pot of Boh. Time to not make any major decisions in life and just go with the exhaustion. Long road trip back from Idaho (11 1/2 hours of driving), interrupted sleep on all four nights of vacation, and not drinking enough water on the trail (no refill so had to conserve) and in the car (detest stopping for that). So, I need to hydrate and rest.

Good news: not one bit of soreness from the hiking.
Disappointment: not making it to the lakes on the trail (I think it was called the Cabin Creek one)

I think I was mostly dehydrated because I have been drinking lots of water since I started this post (30 oz.), and I am perking up!

YAY!

I don't like feeling so sluggish when the sun is shining on a free day!