My Story
Jan 18th
I am reading “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller and came across a quote that has been challenging me. On Page 59 “If I have a hope, it’s that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me, specifically, into the story, and put us in with the sunset and the rainstorm as though to say, Enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as I have created you.”
I am working on finding my story, it seems to be a theme recently in my life. A class I took at Willow, some podcasts I have been listening to, and now this book. I feel like that I have lost myself over last 10 years and I am working on finding my story. Next steps will be getting Abby off to college, then starting to take classes myself to work 1st toward my Associates, then my Bachelor degree. It will be a long process, but it won’t happen unless I start somewhere.
What is your story?
Snow Day
Jan 7th
So the kids got a day off today. Abby’s response (a senior) – Sweeeet!, Caleb’s response (a sophmore) – Uugghh! Caleb will have to make up the day, while Abby will not as graduation is already set. It really wasn’t that bad, but the projection had been for much worse.
An update on the commitments ~
Blogging – well you are reading this so you know that this is my 2nd post this week 
Exercise – walked both Monday and Wednesday, scheduled for tomorrow
Time with God – have done this every day
Twitter – not as consistant as I want, need to improve
Reading – have managed to read twice
Food – have been pretty diligent about posting what I am eating in the Lose It program. Gotta do todays after I finish the post.
2010 Commitments
Jan 4th
I wanted to start off 2010 with a renewed commitment to making the changes that I feel are necessary in my life. Because one of the commitments is updating this blog, I thought I would post the commitments on here and update progress regularly. So here is to 2010!
1. Exercise – Start by walking 1 mile, working up to 3 miles each exercise session. Start with every other day and working up to 2 days on, 1 day off.
2. Reading – read at least one chapter of a book each day
3. Time with God – Jesus Calling daily reading and prayer. I have chosen 3 reading plans (1 Old Testament, 1 Psalms & Proverbs, and 1 New Testament) by YouVersion.com.
4. Lose Weight – not going to follow a “diet” per se, but I am going to use Lose It on my iPhone to monitor what I eat and exercise.
5. Blogging – 2 posts per week
6. Twitter – post at least 2 posts per day on both accounts (4 all together) www.twitter.com/karin_h and www.twitter.com/accuratebkpg
Anybody else making new commitments?
Summer, 2009
Jul 15th
Trying to figure out this spring and summer. Spring was cold (especially at the Woodstock High School softball field), and summer has had more than its share of rain, in fact this last weekend was the first that we did not have weather related rain-outs for softball tournaments. Really can’t complain, as we have only had to run the air conditioner just a handful of days.
The upcoming weekend will be Abby’s final tournament of the summer, they have had a successful season to date, with one 1st place and four 3rd places out of the 7 tournaments they have participated in. And the weather looks good for this weekend!
Caleb has been trying to caddy this summer, you can tell the economy is still struggling when the affluent are cutting back in areas that they never did before. He is lucky to get one carry a week.
Changed my blog look last night, love blue, but it was TOO blue. This is simpler, but still tweaking it. Michael Hyatt (CEO of Thomas Nelson) was kind enough to let me use his twitter and facebook icons, now just to get them dropped down on the page and add “you can find me …”. I really need to take an HTML class to get the basics down if I want to do more web work.
Not much sleep last night, Abby went to the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter film, so I did not sleep well until I knew she was back at her friends where she was spending the night. She was good about texting me and letting me know where she was and when they arrived.
Off to work, hoping nobody asks me anything difficult today.
Some thoughts on a rainy Saturday
Jun 13th
Just sitting on my couch, drinking my coffee and watching the rain ~ wondering what is going to happen with the softball tournament later today. Too early too worry about it. House is quiet, Caleb and Tom are out working, Abby spent the night at a friends. Now that I got Riley to stop barking at all the cars across the street for the garage sale, it is a bit more peaceful in here.
When you have a house as busy as ours is, it is a rare occurance to have a quiet Saturday morning. I feel like I should be up doing something, catching up on something, cleaning something, but it feels really good just to sit and enjoy the quiet. Been doing some reading recently on rest and how we are more effective if we take time to rest and not go 24/7. Rest just isn’t doing nothing, but doing something that feeds you. For me that is reading, watching my kids in their sporting activities, and listening to podcasts. I know I can be a little slow on the uptake, but if I am not reading or learning regularly, I have a tendancy to spin cycle into unhealthy self-talk. I guess it is how I am wired. And it really doesn’t matter what I am reading, just that I read.
What in life feeds you? Strengthens you? Energizes you?
Blog Update
May 20th
Last week I went to a seminar in Nashville called Lifework 2.0 (www.lifeworkseminar.com) that is about Web/Blog design, Seach Engine Optimization (SEO), and Social Marketing (facebook and twitter). It was led by Spence Smith (www.spencesmith.com & @spencesmith) and Randy Elrod (www.randyelrod.typepad.com & @recreate). Learned a lot, and am experimenting with what I learned on this blog.
To start, I moved it from Blogger to WordPress (www.wordpress.org) hosted by Bluehost (www.bluehost.com). I will also be moving my other two websites (www.bellpaintingandremodeling.com and www.myaccuratebookkeeping.com) to blog-based websites as they come up for renewal.
I learned about SEO and how and why to implement it. My head was spinning by the end of the day. It is really difficult to cover all of the information that Randy and Spence could spit out and absorb it all. Fortunately, they provided us with many links that will help us keep doing what they taught us to do.
If web work is something that drives you, interests you, or your are simply curious, I would encourage you to attend this seminar.
Got Perspective? – The Noticer by Andy Andrews
May 19th
Monday, April 27, 2009
1. The state of one’s ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship
2. The faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship
The Noticer: Sometimes, all a person needs is a little perspective by Andy Andrews soon to be published by Thomas Nelson is a quick read that packs a powerful punch. I had not heard of or read anything else by Andy Andrews, but it will not be long before I read more of his books.
A quiet ocean town is visited on and off through the years by a man named Jones who seems to know details of the lives of those he comes in contact with, but nobody seems to know much about Jones. Jones however, seems to knows exactly the right words to say to each person that he chooses to give the bigger view of perspective. To the homeless, young kid, the couple about to divorce, to the woman who thinks that her usefulness on this earth is done, and many others that Jones helps out with a strong dose of straight talk, humor, and . . . perspective. Jones teaches them to look outside of their limited view to look at their situations and problems with a bigger picture in mind.
I would highly recommend reading this book. It is a quick easy read that will impact your life. Who in your life has impacted you, and how?
Delays
May 19th
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
I have been feeling a pull to do some writing, which is very unusual because I consider myself a reader, not a writer. However, I am willing to give this some effort to see where it leads. I struggle with this mostly because I consider my life pretty boring. I am a bookkeeper (a numbers nerd according to my daughter) who enjoys journal entries and bank reconciliations. I like things to be in balance and to be accurate. I am a mom to two teenagers (currently 17 & 15) and that is a daily challenge. My daughter is involved in basketball and softball which keeps us busy 10 months a year. My son is trying different things, sound and tech, auto mechanics, learning to play guitar. I have been married for almost 23 years and while it is always a work in progress (as any relationship is), it is always interesting.
So, be looking for more frequent postings, and for me to stretch myself in this area of writing.
Rest – a review
May 19th
Monday, December 1, 2008
Gloomy Saturday
May 19th
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Kinda matches my mood. Trying hard to get motivated to do anything. Content to sit and record shows from the DVR to DVD’s.
Looking forward to the service tonight. New series called When God Whispers. Looks really good. Missed church last weekend because of a softball tournament, so really feeling the need to go.
Have a great weekend