Are you up for the challenge?

As I was catching up on the Bookin it in 2010 challenge, Jessica at Life as Mom shared about a challenge she was doing to read the bible in 90 days.... 90 DAYS. Thats basically three months. The entire bible in three months. Wow!

A year or two ago I read the bible in a year with my college church home, and that was a great exeperience. We read it chronologically, which was really helpful to piece things together. But a year is a long time... 365 days to be exact. And I am not sure about you, but I struggle to remember things I read a year ago.

So I stumbled upon this challenge of reading the bible in 90 days and thought, what a good way to get the full picture without forgeting half of it bc it's been so long.

Maybe I am crazy but I decided to go for it.... and I am hoping some of you will come along for the ride. I know I will need someone to keep me going around day 13, so I welcome some accountability! You can find the Reading plan here, and so far the reading is taking me 30-45 minutes total (some of which I have done all at once and some of which I did throughout the day).

What do you say, anybody up for the challenge??

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

A quick MPM

"MPM" as in Menu Plan Monday, you know that time of the week when I share with you what the Pate family is having for dinner? I know, it's been awhile and you have been dying to know what we have been eating. But summer is the craziest time of the year for us, so actually I have rarely cooked at home. That makes for some unhealthy choices! But things are slowing down and I actually have a plan this week- so that's a start. Here's the plan:

::: Monday- Creamy Chicken and Spinach Pasta

::: Tuesday- Salmon Turnovers, green beans and corn

::: Wednesday- dinner at dustins

::: Thursday- Open house at NW, church is providing food for the families

::: Friday- Teryaki(sp?) chicken on the grill with pineapple and coucous

::: Saturday- Leftovers/ I'll be at a wedding

Are you having anything good this week?

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

8 things

Heather at Live.Love.Laugh posted this and I thought it would be fun, feel free to join in and leave me a link to your post!!

8 things I'm looking forward to...

1. A day trip Friday to have some girl time!!

2. A Saturday with zero events to go to. It has been so long since that has, actually over a month ago! I am so looking forward to the downtime with mr.pate!

3. Sunday night our youth small group is starting our own book club. First up: I kissed dating goodbye, which several of them need to do. Dating at that age is nothing but drama!

4. Sheldon coming to visit us soon.

5. New episodes of my summer shows: Top Chef, Design Star (woo hoo for Nina getting the boot!), and Next food network star.

6. The book I am reading, Radical. It is a challenging one.

7. The photography class I am taking in the fall!! Woo hoo!!

8 things I did yesterday...

1. Fed my animals breakfast.

2. Went to work.

3. Went to two orientation events to promote our department.

4. Went grocery shopping at good ol walmart.

5. Ran into two people I haven't seen in forever and caught up in the middle of walmart.

6. Had a game night with the youth at dustins and played catch phrase music edition, which means I sang loudly alot!!

7. Played some words with friends and totally creamed CORT!

8. Cuddled with mr.pate and Joey!

8 things I wish I could do...

1. Take a vacation to the beach or a cruise!

2. Freezer cook two months worth of food and not think about grocery shopping every week!

3. Walk inti my bathroom without a tile sticking to my foot!

4. Pay someone to do the landscaping in my yard.

5. Have a marathon movie day and watch all my 80s and 90s favs!

6. Go spend several days with both my side and mr.pates's side of the fam.

7. Have a scrapbooking weekend with Becky and Cameron and finally do jeanices scrapbook.

Your turn!

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

They need your help people!

My friends Jenny and Stuart are beginning the process of adopting from Ethiopia. The Borders have 2 children already, twins Spencer and Kate, but have felt the burden to adopt also. And if you didnt know, adoption is a crazy expensive process. Which is soo annoying I think, but then again that further represents the gospel because it was a t a great cost that we were adopted into the family of God.

ANYWHO, they are selling these awesome candle holders to raise money for the adoption! Please please please head over to their blog and buy one or two or twenty ; ) !! And spread the word! Here is the link:


http://borderspatrol.blogspot.com/2010/07/it-time.html

So far

So far this summer...

- I have not painted my toenails once. I wear flip flops everyday with my bare/all natural toes.
- I have gone to one amusement park and ridden two rollercoasters. I have gone down 2 waterslides.
- I have been to the lake twice, camp and elizabeth's.
- I have yet to clean my house from top to bottom.
- I have a pretty good tan on my shoulders, but that is all.



- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

i-to-the-PHO-NE!

Yep, you read that right- I now have an iPhone! Ha!

Those who know me, know that I have wanted one of these things FOREVER! But they cost money. And Mr.Pate does not see that as a good use of our money, paying for something we dont really need... he totally had a point. Remember the days when no one had internet on their phone?? Ha! Anyhow, I still thought they were the most useful things ever and wanted one super badly.

Well my fabulous boss upgraded to the fancy-shamncy new iPhone4 and was kind enough to give me his old iPhone!!! For FREE!!! WOO HOO!! And not coincidentally AT&T just came out with a smaller therefore cheaper iPhone plan!

All that equals  little ol me upgrading to an iphone for only $5 more a month than I am paying now. What what!

So I need your help peeps:

• What apps do you love?
• Are their any tricks to using the iPhone I need to know??

Help a girl out!!

Several Book Reviews...

I have several books I have been meaning to summarize on here, but I just can't seem to find alot of time to blog these days. So here's my thoughts on a couple of recent reads:

Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham Jr. 

This was such an interesting read. I loved what he taught on the importance of parents taking responsibility for their children's discipleship. He brought up great points about how today we expect "experts" at church to handle this, just like our children's teachers and sports coaches, but this is not the biblical mandate parents get from the Lord. As someone who is in ministry at a church, I fully agree with him about the dangers of this. He focuses heavily on the importance of having a family worship time daily or weekly, and I think that is awesome. He believes in "Family Integrated Churches" which actually means churches that have no age segregated ministries. The families all worship together and learn together, no youth group or nursery etc. That was a new concept for me, and its one I am still processing through. But overall the book is great and I would recommend it to any Christian.

Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

A re-read for me, and I think its so funny because last time around I didn't really love this one that much but this time it became one of my favs! Weird. I love the sense of adventure in this one, and all the different stops on the way to "Aslan's country". It is wonderful.

Narnia: The Silver Chair

Last time around this one was a fav, and while I still think its great it was not nearly as good as the Voyage was. It fell flat to me this time around.

Narnia: The Last Battle

Still my favorite I do believe. As my youth and bible study girls know, I love to ponder and wonder on what the end will be like and the "new heavens and new earth". This is Lewis' version of doing that and he does not disappoint. I always get sooo mad at the Narnian's for so easily turning against Aslan, but how often I myself have done this! He describes the afterlife they go to as the "real version" of the place you always thought was real. That clicks with me. I cant wait! Read this one people! Plus, you get to see all the great characters from the other Narnia books.

The Magical Worlds of Narnia by David Colbert

So after finishing Narnia again, I just wanted more (imagine that- I have such a compulsive personality in some ways). So I wanted to read more about the imagery in the Narnia series. This book is not one I would read again. There were good parts, but mainly this guy just took what others had said and re-said it. Oh well.

What have you been reading??

Weeks & Love...

Its about time for a life update isnt it??

• I didn't have to work on Monday! 
• Sunday we celebrated the 4th with Justin's family and my nieces with a pool party. It was fabulous. 
• Monday, Karen and Heath came to visit me! 
• Monday night my dog busted thru the screened in porch of our sweet 80 something year old neighbor to catch a baby possum (don't worry, he didn't kill it). It was pretty funny.
• Tuesday I went shopping (which hasn't happened in a long time) and bought a cute dress ( I know, who am I? I hate dresses), sporty swimsuit, and two shirts all real cheap at fabo TJ Maxx. What can I say, I'm just a maxxinista ; P ! 
• Wednesday we went out into our community inviting people to VBS. I got called "the church lady", yep as in "Michelle, get out here. The church lady is here to talk to you."
• Thursday our youth group went to the waterpark after I got off (half price after 4pm!), then to our house for a cookout and then we watch a movie in our backyard! It was awesome. 
• Friday my work had a Golf Tournament. So I got paid to sit around and play cards most of the day. Then I went to the lake with Mel, Heather & Elizabeth! It was soooo chill and relaxing. Love love loved it so much.... and Al Mohler was definitely sharing the same dock with us. He totally yelled at his son while we were sitting there...
• Things I loved about the Lake Trip: the sun, getting the 411 on labor from Eli, having yummy food that everyone helped cook except me (hehe), getting to eat outside in the gorgeous scenery, s'mores, talking about college memories mixed with current life happenings. 
• Saturday I went down to TN for a wedding shower, but I first stopped by my sisters for a second. So that was lovely to get to see my cute nieces and sis & brother for a sec. 
• Two of my friends from High School (or since Elementary school really) are getting married. So we had a "wedding shower" at a local restaurant and just hung out all night. It was sooo good to get to catch up with all of those friends. They are scattered all about and I miss them and I have not done a good job of keeping up with them. But Saturday was so comfortable and easy, I love friendships like that. 
• Sunday, Mr.Pate's job title was officially changed from Youth Pastor to Education & Discipleship Pastor! Yay! I am so excited really just because they are acknowledging how much work he does. He is an amazing pastor and the Lord has been using Him in some amazing ways at our church. 
• Also on Sunday, we found the bottom half of a rabbit in the workshop (which is Joey's room when we aren't home- it has a dog door to our back yard). I have no idea where the top half is but I am really hoping it is not in his belly... ewww so sorry rabbit. "He is not a tame lion dog. No but he is good".... oh wait this isn't Narnia is it?
• We finally hired someone at my work to be the Fitness Coordinator! We have been trying to fill this position for like 7 months and I am super excited to be done with it. The new person is great too, cant wait for her to start. 

Do you see why I have not been blogging much?? Somebody hit fast forward on my life and took the remote!!! Now on to this week:

• VBS at church! I am both excited and exhausted just thinking about it. I will be running the PreSchool program. Woo hoo.
• Holiday World on Saturday- holla! Amusement parks are one of my favorite things ever. And ones with water parks and free drinks are even better. Plus we are taking our youth- group discount of almost 50%! That is what i am talking about people. 
• I should probably have more- but VBS is pretty much consuming my life this week! 

Ok so whats up with you??????? 

oddity

I left off the last post saying that I find the question "when are you going to have kids?" odd. Why?

1. Its the only time when people are socially allowed to ask about your sex life without it being considered awkward or crude. (For the record, I dont really mind talking about sex, I think its a great and natural thing. But typically its not ok to talk about sex openly in casual convo)
2. I think it is the oddest thing ever the way we "plan" our families. We even have centers with the title "family planning". We decide when we will have children, how many we will have, if we will keep them once they are conceived, etc. I am not trying to judge people that have in mind how many children they want, because really thats a learned behavior from our society at large (the sociologist in me is bursting out! haha). Thats not an evil thing. But it strikes me as odd. I have had this type of thinking before too- but it is funny to me that I would not plan what job I would have without the Lord's guidance but I did come up with a random number of how many children I thought was ok for my family. It is just a strange custom we have created here. 
3. The Lord and I have been talking alot about how much I trust Him. I think this is one area where I have failed miserably to trust Him in some ways, and I am totally lost on how to show I trust Him in other ways. Is it not leaving it "in the Lord's hands" if you count days for fertility? The Lord did set this whole creating-a-human-thing up on a system- there is a cycle and certain times that the body can conceive etc. So is it trusting Him to try and count and be intentional with the days etc, or is that trying to manipulate and bring about your own desire? I remember being in college and having to learn that I needed to let God direct my love life- not manipulate situations and try to "put myself out there" so to speak. That was hard for me- I had been manipulating situations since I was in Kindergarten. So where does that principle fit in with the having a kid process?? 
4. I realize that some or many of you may be reading this and thinking "just let it happen and quit over thinking this thing girl, people have babies everyday." But this new phase of life where I actually think of having kids is a strange thing, and it makes me realize more than ever that I really was trusting my own plan in the past. Over the last 4 & 1/2 years, I never wondered if I was pregnant (maybe there was a month or two where the question arose for a day or so). That shows me that I really wasnt believing what I was saying ("whatever the Lord wants for my family"). Now that we quit all forms of "preventing" I realize that we really are open to whatever the Lord has for us- and that is freakin scary! 
5. Note: I am really not at all saying that if you are preventing in any way that you are not open to what the Lord has planned for you. This is not a legalistic thing and it is not a command straight from the Word. I am sharing the journey of my heart on this issue- please do not feel judged for whatever your situation is bc I am in no place whatsoever to judge in any department and I am just not about making others feel bad for something. The Lord knows that we Christians through out judgement way to much on kid issues: staying at home or working, breast feeding or formula, cloth or disposable, crying it out or soothing, blah blah blah. Just seek the Lord and do your freakin best, forget our stupid standards. Ok sorry for the soapbox, but the last thing I want is for someone to read this and walk away feeling judged or condemned. ; ) 
6. So the main reason I find the question "When are you going to have kids?" so odd is because I have no clue how to answer! There are so many issues and thoughts going on inside my head about this subject, and I think that shows through when I try to answer the simple question. But I suppose I am odd in all kinds of ways, so maybe people are used to it?? Haha! 

Ok, so now that I have gone on and on about the having kids topic (did you get bored- do you hate me know?) its your turn to talk to me: 

Have any of you had these thoughts? 

What is your stance on this stuff? 

Any wisdom or advice to share from those who have been here before?? 

cause when your 15....

When most girls are young it just seems natural that you will grow up and have babies. We play with dolls, we spend lots of time with our mommies, we learn how to babysit, etc. We are geared for it. But at some point that idea becomes a bit more real. We get to the age where we are capable of having children, and suddenly the thoughts are more about the dangers of sex as a teen and "ruining" your future by getting pregnant too early (Disclaimer, I am not pro- teenage pregnancy). Then you come to the age where you could have a child and it wouldnt be life ending, but all of the sudden you are thinking about your future job etc. and children seem like something of the future. 

When I first got married I felt so unprepared to be a parent. I was still trying to learn all about this whole "being a wife" thing and I felt sooo young. I had plenty of time to have children, right?? 

We made the decision to use birth control, which is the normal for young married couples in America.  I kept telling myself that I trusted God's timing and control- if He wanted me to get pregnant then it wouldnt matter if I was on birth control or not. Somewhere along the last 4 & 1/2 years, I have really questioned this decision for me. While some people might whole-heartedly believe the sentence above, I think I wanted to be in control of my life and thats why I was taking it (This is not a post on if it is right or wrong to take birth control- I mean I took it for 4 years people, this is just about my journey). 

Something about marriage makes me feel super young and super old at the same time. I still feel like we are young and have plenty of time to have kids. But I am 27 (I realize thats not old people), which means that if I were to get pregnant today, I would be 41 when my kid became a teenager. I was graduating high school when my mom was 41. So when I look at it that way, I feel like we dont have all the time in the world. Time is a strange concept to grasp really. 

Over the years I have had all kinds of thoughts and emotions about kids: fear, anxiety, excitement, the desire to have a kid, the desire to still have my own life, will we be able to afford a kid, will I work, will my maternal gene kick in, am I cut out for this, etc etc. The thoughts that come along with kids are overwhelming really. 

Then I got "sick" so to speak. Once we found out I had thyroid cancer, I had an "out" on the kid thing for at least a year. I had to have a radioactive iodine treatment, and radioactive material and fetuses dont mix well. No one asked me if I was going to have a child during that year, it was as if they knew. Then there was the business of getting my hormones regulated and figuring out that I was insulin resistant. I got pretty plump and was exhausted and needed to get my body in check badly. Praise be to God- that has happened by His grace! 

And so here I am, after a 3 year health journey, back to my "normal". And I have found myself pondering the child question alot. This is the first year of my life where people have asked me when I was going to have a child. To me it is an odd question for several reasons... which will be the next post I suppose. 

the great divide

I am 27. I am married. I own a home (well I pay the state of KY who really owns it, but in a manner of speaking I own it). I have a dog. I have a cat. I am pretty healthy. I have a great job with good benefits.  What do all these facts show you? That the next step in life for me is to have children. 

Thats the way it typically works here in the good ol US of A. We plan our lives out. We have certain stages people are supposed to go through. (Please note, I realize this is not everyone, by this is a social norm in our society as a whole) Once you are married, have a house and are steady in your job then it is time for you to have children. Thats how it works.

Some people even judge those that have children out of order. "You are having a kid 6 months into marriage? That is going to ruin your marriage, dont you know that?" or "They should have waited till they were more financially stable before they started having children." We love to play judge in this society. And so when people have children too early, we treat the act as wrong. We act as if children are a horrid thing. 

What about the couples that wait a long while to have kids? We treat them like they are selfish. "Life really shouldnt be all about you" or "They are chasing after their career and missing out on what matters." Again, that may be totally true of some people, but on average our society judges them before they even know their situation just because they have not followed the appropriate timeline. 

Having children is a topic that surrounds me today. Thats the stage of life I am in. Majority of the people my age have married (or found the person they are sticking with), settled into jobs, and bought homes. We are all supposed to be on step 4- kids. As I have mentioned before, I know a million people having babies or who have newborn babies. Every time I turn around there is another one, seriously. 

There is a great divide. You are either on the "i have kids side- or I am trying real hard at least" or the "no kids side". 

And I am not annoyed by this, I love children. Right now I have two beautiful girls sleeping soundly in the next room (My nieces are staying for the weekend), they are a joy. I enjoy hearing all about pregnancy, in fact I have a strange little obsession with preggo ladies. They are the cutest! My husband is basically a "child whisper", they flock to him. We are pro kiddos in the Pate house. 

But we dont have any kiddos in the Pate house. 

We are not against having kids, but also are not counting days and trying every "trick" out there to help the process. We are a happily married couple doing things that happily married couples do ! So when the pressuring question "When are you guys going to have kids?" comes at me, I sound completely awkward trying to answer it... if you have asked me this question then you can attest to this. 

The truth is that this whole "kids" thing has been quite the mental, emotional, and spiritual journey for me. One that will take longer than you probably want to read in this here post, so to be continued...