The Maguire House {intentional living for an exceptional life}

Shawn's 30 Day Beyond Organic Results.....

2013-12-12T09:50:00.001-08:00

   I just thought I would give an update about Shawn's results from a 30 day cleanse he did through the end of October until Thanksgiving. If you know us personally then you know Shawn has struggled with many health issues for pretty much his entire life. It began when he was 5 and fell out of a tree, which involved him rupturing his spleen. This led to the removal of his appendix as well and later an emergency surgery to remove scar tissue from around his intestines. Fast forward 25 years and he was in a major car accident, fast forward another 10 years and we had tried everything we could afford to relieve him from a world of chronic pain and inflammation.
     About 3 years ago I began to watch food documentaries out of curiosity and my love for learning about new things. This prompted small changes which led to bigger and bigger changes in our diet over the years. We definitely benefited from the changes but Shawn was still not out of pain. Through the love of a friend who had struggled with her own health problems, we were introduced to Jordan Rubin, and Beyond Organic. Ironically, we had already discovered that his Garden of Life supplements were the best we had found and were already taking those. We didn't know that Jordan had stepped down from Garden of Life several years ago to start a farm in Missouri with a dream to transform America's diet.

     For 30 days we followed a personal plan for Shawn laid out by Jordan Rubin and Dr. Josh Axe (yes we got to meet with him one-on-one) and the results have been amazing. He is sleeping through the night, getting up to study God's word and exercise every morning at 5am and having no stomach problems or bowel issues! Shawn was not hungry on this cleanse and better yet, everything we made or bought from Beyond Organic is delicious! One of the main benefits of Jordan Rubin's products are that his meat and dairy come from old world cows, and do not carry the A1 beta casein mutation. Here is a short article explaining this. Shawn is lactose intolerant and cannot have dairy without major problems BUT he can eat Beyond Organic dairy without any issues at all! All of Jordan's cattle have been hand selected from Old World herds around the world and do NOT have the A1 casein protein. Yeah there is a reason why so many people are all of the sudden lactose intolerant!

     Shawn has felt such a difference that he is praying about clearing some time in his week just for sharing his story and Beyond Organic with others. If you are interested at all in improving your health or the health of someone you love please send me a message and I will email you Shawn's 30 day plan with detailed instructions and recipes. Or to find out more visit our website or you can check out the following video.

http://maguires.mybeyondorganic.com/

VIDEO LINK

Beyond Organic

2013-10-26T08:00:00.002-07:00

As most of you know we have been (and still are) on a journey to restoring

our families' health here at the Maguire House.

Shawn is on his way to one amazing testimony. :)

We have taken pretty big steps forward in the last year or so. If Shawn or I have talked to you very much in the last year or so then we have probably talked to you about organic food, toxins, oils, water, etc. etc. One of the books we have read is The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin and we take a lot of the Garden of Life products that his company (former company/he just stepped away from being a silent president) makes.

The reason why he stepped down from Garden of Life is because he has been working on a new project, which is raising a pure breed of cattle (without the A1 Beta-casein gene) on an amazing organic farm in Missouri. If all of this sounds Greek to you please feel free

to scour the web as I have done trying to take back responsibility for

our families' health! :)

Well now Jordan and his Beyond Organics farm shipping Green Fed/Green Finished beef and dairy products right to people's front door! No GMO's, no antibiotics, no hormones or chemicals. If you are interested at all please check out our link below. The beef and dairy products truly taste amazing and we love the milk and honey Amasai!

http://maguires.mybeyondorganic.com/

In Christ,

Tanda

Crushing Pressure

2013-10-23T07:51:00.001-07:00

Do You Feel the Pressure?
Can you feel the pressure in your marriage, parenting, finances, schedules, jobs, relationships, responsibilities?

People are doing anything and everything to

escape the mounting pressures but there is only one

escape route and his name is Jesus.

The Bible tells us in the last days there will be great tribulation. The Greek translation (Strongs #2347) for tribulation is "crushing pressure." I see and feel this pressure intensifying all the time. In a world of modern 'conveniences' we have less time and less peace than ever before. Don't think it is just you! This is part of the tribulation and part of the testing of our faith on this journey to overcome.

To overcome means we rise above the pressure. It means we have

an eternal perspective on all things and we subdue

the schemes of the enemy with the word of God

and our testimony (which is our life lived out).

You may want to give up but don't!

You may think you need to throw a pity party, but that won't help! You may think God doesn't see you but he does!

Revelation 2:17

says, " He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the Spirit says to the assemblies (churches). To him who overcomes (conquers), I will give to eat of the manna that is hidden, and I will give him a white stone with a new name engraved on the stone, which no one knows or understands except he who receives it."

[Ps. 78:24; Isa. 62:2.] (Revelation 2:17 AMP)

I believe when we see our name on that stone we will fall before our heavenly father and know that he saw everything we went through and rejoice that we overcame! He will know how we swallowed our pride and fought for our marriages, he will know how we put off our selfishness to parent our kids the harder way, he will know how we were the light to a lady in Wal Mart when we were running late, he will know when we sacrificed in secret, he will know what kind of childhood scars we had to overcome, he will know!

So Fight the good fight!

Overcome the pressure with patient enduring. Stay calm. Make your time with the Lord THE most important thing or you will may not have the strength you need to endure the pressure!

Playing photographer again.......

2013-07-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Easton is getting so big! And he has gotten so big that he is even going to be a big brother! We should know within the next month whether we will have a girl or another boy in the family(as long as little one cooperates of course).

Love you sister!

Hello.

2013-07-17T06:39:00.001-07:00

Time for an update! Life has been busy and good and as always never a dull moment! I actually sat down a couple of weeks ago and planned out our school year (we are required to teach 180 days). I am wanting to take every 5th or 6th week off this year with a couple of weeks for Christmas. So lo and behold that meant we needed to start school this week so we can get done by May! Here are some highlights from our summer so far.....

And now we are all caught up! Hungry people are waiting for me. Gotta run!!

{10 Things} You Might Not Know About Me

2013-05-03T15:02:00.001-07:00

I see these blog posts all the time and think they are fun so I thought I would try my own.
Here are 10 things you might not know about me.

1. I ran out of deodorant a couple of years ago and had to 'borrow' Shawn's. I ended
up liking it so much better than my own that we now share deodorant.

2. Although I'm not grossed out by sharing deodorant I'm super duper grossed out by toothbrushes.
It is even hard for me to touch my own kids' toothbrushes. Thankfully my hubby takes care of that most of the time!!

3. I started wearing glasses when I was 5 and am actually legally blind. Had I been born before the invention of glasses I would have been a beggar. :( I used to have nightmares about being kidnapped but the worst part of the dream is that they would kidnap me and I wasn't able to grab my glasses off the nightstand. Still, to this very day, I sleep with my glasses as close as possible.

4. If you know me personally then you know I can bust out some loud snorts when I laugh hard.

5. I don't wear or buy pajamas. I usually sleep in whatever I have on..... and I can sleep through anything.

6. My handwriting has multiple personalities disorder. It ranges from small print to big and fancy, but mostly a combination of sloppy.

7. I hated basketball so much in high school but I didn't want to quit so I would literally daydream about how I could break my arm with the least amount of pain possible. Thank goodness it never went beyond dreaming.

8. My biggest obstacle in life is myself. I struggle with the lie that I am a failure. Praise God
that I am finally starting to believe my creator instead of his enemy!

9. I made my first ever C in my senior year of college thanks to the distraction of my then
boyfriend, now husband. And it was in statistics of all things! I had already taken Calculus 1-4!

10. Because I thought the goal of education was to pass a test, I was really good at passing tests
but now I remember very little about anything I learned in school.

and a bonus....

11. The only dental work I've had done was having my wisdom teeth pulled. Nope, not even a cavity filled. If your jealous, just remember my poor eyesight. ;)

Casting a Vision for Your Children

2013-04-27T19:05:00.005-07:00

I don't know about you but my kids love a good challenge!

Today they filled up both sinks in their bathroom and pulled out every dinosaur.

Can you say di-sa-ster?

So how did I get them to clean this bathroom spotless in under 4 minutes?

What I didn't do is I didn't ask them to do it. I simply walked to the microwave and started

punching in 5 minutes on the time and said I bet you can't clean up the bathroom in under

5 minutes-GO!

So often, I expect too little of my kids and because of that I actually
hold them back in certain areas. Yes, I love my babies and would love to
freeze time and hold them forever but I realize the time I have
to train them is so short.

I do dream big dreams for my kids. Not because I want to sit
back and let them live my own unfulfilled dreams but because I believe
so much will be demanded of our children's generation
in the coming years.

It is going to take some well-trained people to stand up for Christ
and do the work that will need to be done.

Most times in our society we challenge, encourage,
and bribe our kids to get good grades, make the sports team,
or accomplish some other "good" goal---
so why not raise the bar, cast a bold vision and encourage our children to pursue
some very noble and fruit-producing goals?

We decided to cast a vision for our children by
coming up with different qualities want to see them pursuing.
They will not be graded by their performance,
but we want to put on paper the fruit we would like to
see them begin developing or developing more of.
I printed out their goals on cute paper, framed them,
and hung them in their rooms.

Proverbs 29:18 says, "Without a vision my people perish."

Here are our visions for Berklee and Hayden.
I encourage you to prayerfully come up with a
vision for each of your children!

After we read them their visions we surprised them with a

daddy/daughter and mommy/son date!

Free Piano Lesson Resource

2013-04-15T13:01:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a really great post that has to do with casting a vision for your children. In the
meantime I wanted to share a great resource I came across back in February that we are
still enjoying.

The kids both wanted to take piano lessons, so for Hayden's birthday we put money in with a couple
of grandparents to get a nice keyboard. THEN I checked around to find piano lessons
and realized that the going rate is $75 a month per child! Yikes! That's is a lot of money to
invest in something for a 5 and 6 year old, inmyhumbleopinion. Anyhow, I did some searching
and came across a great website with 41 free lessons that are geared specifically for younger children.
We love Mr. Hoffman! You can download pdf worksheets to go along with the lessons for around
$23. I went ahead and purchased them and they have been a great tool!

Check out Mr. Hoffman's website at http://www.freepianolessons4kids.com/!
By the time, and if they finish the 41 lessons we will decide if we want to continue and invest
in additional lessons. It has been a perfect fit for us! Thanks Mr. Hoffman!

Lately

2013-04-09T14:56:00.000-07:00

1. Me and my Dad on Easter 2. Berklee and Hayden growing! (Berklee literally grew 1 whole inch from February to March!) 3. Forts, movies, and a nap. 4. Daddy's old toy cars. 5. Going back blonde. 6. More cars.
7. Self portrait in my fab CAbi shirt. (thanks Jemma!) 8. Easter with the family. 9. My life motto.

The kids finished up Classical Conversations today for this year. I can't believe it! We are going to continue with our other school work, take a break and then resume during those hot summer days, then take another break when the weather is nice again. Oh the beauty of home school!

I hope to get back into the grove of things around here but I take it one day at a time.

By the way, I'm writing a parenting book. It is exciting and terrifying. I do feel led to write the book but I have definitely had to keep my guard up because the enemy tries to tell me every day that I'm not qualified. I don't fight him anymore, I just tell him my life's motto(above) and tell myself that if I waited to be a perfect mother or a perfect anything, then I would be dead before I did anything with this one little life of mine! Boom!

Single Best Photography Tip for Outdoor Photos!

2013-03-29T06:07:00.003-07:00

Okay, so a couple of months ago I told you a quick tip for taking better indoor photos.

The best outdoor photo tip I have for you also has to do with finding the right light.

I'm telling you, the right light makes all of the difference!

BTW, I paid my kids 4 nickels (you can read about our Reward System here) to take a few pictures for me in different spots so you could see the difference when the pictures are taken at the same time of day and in the same location(my front yard). Berklee is a little better at being still so her photos were a little more focused. I guess that means she won first place but I will also put Hayden's photos at the end of the post because he is just too cute!

Anyway, these were all taken with my iPhone but the concept is the same whether you are a professional or just a mom trying to get a cute shot at the zoo! Let me show you what not to do and then I will show you what the trick is! First up on what not to do!

1. This shot was obviously taken with Berklee facing directly towards the mid-afternoon sun! If your subject is facing the sun they will be squinting and the photo will be way to bright.
Next.

2. I turned Berklee around and had her put her back facing the sun. You don't want
to do this either.

Cute, but the backround is lit up and her face, the part we want to be pretty is dark.

3. Next, I had Berklee go stand on the porch. Our porch faces south and it is completely shaded. We're making progress but it still doesn't have a zing to it! I want the sparkle in her eyes and the soft skin! Okay, so what is the trick?

4. Finally, I had Berklee come out from the porch to the edge of the shade, where she was still in the shade but she could look up at the bright sky! Yay! Much better picture! These pictures are all straight out of my phone, no editing. Notice how her skin looks smoother and her eyes are more defined.

The trick is to find OPEN SHADE!

This means something.... a wall, house, fence, big tree, etc. is casting a shadow BUT the sun is still somewhat visible. Place your subject in the shade, facing the sun. Even better if you can have them look up into the sky a bit. You'll have to play around a tad just depending on the time of day, but you will be much closer to a great picture if you will remember this little tid bit!

I hope this is as helpful for you as it was for me! Just pay your kids a few nickels and get some practice. Dogs work too and milkbones might be cheaper. :) And email me if you have any questions or would like to know more! And as promised here are Hayden's pics.

Weekend Links

2013-03-15T14:31:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things I've enjoyed carousing through this week.

We will be doing a version of this Easter jar. The Anderson Crew came up with a beautiful

idea about revealing a scripture that you will be praying over your child throughout the next

year. Love this!

Emily over at Chatting at the Sky always inspires me, but this post title, A Million Little Ways, hit me.
An excerpt from her post....

It’s possible to begin to believe that only the revolutionary pursuits require bravery.

But being brave also means waking up to your today responsibilities (no matter what they are) and then moving into them as the person you most fully are – with all of your unique desire, personality, and creativity.

Sometimes today will mean doing something risky or new.

Most times it just means doing the same thing I did yesterday.

Either way, the point is my life with Christ and his life in me.

We made these cute little bookmark buddies via Tally's Treasure.

And finally, I will be rereading Edie's words, On Raising Gracious Kids. Edie has 3 grown children so I eat up her wisdom with a fork.

As modern Americans, we seem to have lost our way when it comes to our role in our children’s lives. We love them, of course, but we seem to have forsaken the role of being their primary mentors. In generations past, children were kept closer to home and were systematically taught the fundamental lessons in life at a much earlier age. They were expected to participate in the household economy by contributing in a meaningful way to family life. These days, as long as they’re ‘out of our hair’, we are happy and so are they. And trust me, as a homeschooler, the same thing can happen regardless of whether they’re with you all the time or not.

{Deep Thoughts from a Mom}

2013-03-14T13:56:00.003-07:00

Do you remember Deep Thoughts by Jack....(maybe Handy, I forget the last name) on Saturday Night Live? For all I know they may still have this "skit" but they used to be my favorite back in the day.
I've always been a fan of random funny jokes, cards, etc.... Anyhow, sometimes while I'm cleaning the house or picking up 96 strands of Easter grass off the floor I have a deep thought and giggle to myself. Well I may be the only one who laughs but I thought today's was good enough to share because it is so TRUE! I have a roast in my crock pot right now and I'm telling you it makes a difference in my day to know I don't have to cook dinner tonight!

AMEN!

Toxic Thinking - A Must Watch!

2013-03-11T17:06:00.001-07:00

Shawn and I saw Dr. Leaf speak at a two day conference we went to a few weeks ago.
We are still talking about how incredible it was and still applying what we learned.

If I could pay you to watch this, I would!!!

Intentional Eating

2013-03-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

I have struggled with my body image since junior high. At times, I have felt like something is wrong with my brain because there is such a food/body/love/hate brutal war going on up in there!
I've been everywhere from strict diets to anything goes! And as you probably know, the strict diet usually leads to the anything goes part!! Ahggg, that would be called a crazy cycle!

Well, with my heart and mind consumed with the idea of intentional living lately, about a month ago I came up with a short list of what I wanted to be intentional about feeding my body. Then I came up with some intentional ways to help me make my wants into something doable. It was quick and I didn't think about it too much. The list of what I knew I needed more of included the obvious: water, fruits, and vegetables. So, here is what I came up with.

Goals for Intentional Living
1. Drink a glass of water before every meal or snack.
2. Eat only fruits for breakfast.
3. Eat mostly vegetables for lunch. (like 90%)
4. Eat whatever dinner I make for my family.

That's it. Because it isn't a long list of what I couldn't have I think it helped me mentally.
I have lost 5-7 pounds(it fluctuates) over the past 30 days and I feel great. I'm not looking to lose more weight but I have no desire to change my intentional eating plan!!

***Note: I did not bind myself to these "rules". I think that is where I have failed so often in the past.
I ate a #5 at Chick-Fil-A for lunch one day.
I indulged at the Hampton Inn continental breakfast when we stayed the night there for
Hayden's birthday.
I did not drink a glass of water before every meal or snack.
I ate a sensible snack in between meals, usually a protein bar or a few slices of ham, etc...
Hopefully you get my point. To focus on what we want to give our bodies vs. all the things we
can't eat.

Doodles from a Day in Bed

2013-03-11T11:17:00.000-07:00

I spent most of Sunday in bed with a very raw throat. So that gave me some free time to doodle on my phone, which I enjoy a little too much. Here are a few things I came up with.

This one is true and my husband knows it. He very rarely tickles me.

It's not fun for either of us. :)

As I was doing my Bible study I doodled this one.

And my last doodle will go with my next post.

I have come up with some simple eating guidelines that I

have been following for the last 30 days. Because it isn't complicated

and focuses on what I can do rather than what I can't do it has

really been the an easy 30 days. I will share my guidelines and my

results soon!

Parenting on Purpose: Psalm 127:4

2013-03-08T11:03:00.002-08:00

"As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth."

Psalm 127:4

Our children are like arrows in our hands.

We cannot predict the wind of

circumstances or walk them in a straight path that leads

directly to the bulls-eye of "success", but we

can practice our archery skills and launch them on a course with our eyes wide open

and the goal clearly in sight. Just as an archer doesn't aim at the ground

or launch an arrow blindly in hopes that he might hit the target

so we must not aimlessly launch our children into this world.

Think of your children like arrows.

Are you aiming them in the right direction?

What do you focus on?

What are your conversations about?

Source: playtimebreak.blogspot.com via Tanda on Pinterest

Hope Will Rise--Powerful Song

2013-03-07T08:20:00.002-08:00

Shawn and I heard this song at a conference we went to at Victory Church a few weeks ago.
I believe it was written by Mark Crow's son Chris Crow and preformed by Warr Acres, the band from Victory Church. Anyhow, we tried to buy it after the conference but they said it wasn't for sale anywhere so Chris Crow actually emailed it to Shawn! Yay! I have been wanting to share it
with everyone but feel like that would be slightly illegal maybe? Anyhow, I found a youtube video
with the words today and I was SO excited!!! It really gets powerful about halfway through the song
so don't stop listening! ;)

5 Ways to be Intentional Today

2013-03-07T07:19:00.001-08:00

Let's jump right into it!

1. We usually all have a morning routine. If you’re not already spending time in the Word in the morning then that is the first place to start. Make it go hand-in-hand with something you already do every morning. For example, if you drink a cup of coffee in the morning then commit to reading your Bible while you enjoy your coffee. It's best to be able to focus all of your attention during this time but hey, we aren't going to let where we want to be keep us from doing something today. So, maybe you listen to your audio bible app read Ephesians to you while you put on your makeup in the morning or while you nurse your baby in the wee hours of the night. The point is to do something today that is a step in the right direction. If we let perfection hold us back then let me tell you, you will never get anywhere.

2. After God, think about your next priority. Maybe it is your husband or your children or maybe your ministry. If you are like me then you may often do a brief play-by-play of your day as your head finally hits that pillow at night. Often times I find myself thinking about something or some things that I wish I would have done relating to the people that matter most to me. This can be anything from listening more closely to my husband's talk about his day and responding to him in a way that he knew I really cared or taking the time to read my son that book he asked me to read yesterday. Just pick one thing and then set a reminder (preferably with an alarm on your phone) and commit to dropping everything else today to do that one thing. Maybe dinner will be 5 minutes later or the laundry won't get folded but I bet you won't think about those things tonight as you drift off to sleep.

3. I used to see women doing really cool things all the time and think they were so talented and that I would never be able to do whatever it was. I guess I just thought they were born with the ability to take breath-taking pictures, or decorate their house like a magazine, or speak in front of hundreds of women. At some point in the last 10 years I realized that if I used the time I spent watching t.v. or reading fiction novels then I could study those same topics that seemed so elusive and I could learn how to take better pictures, decorate my house, or anything else for that matter. So I challenge you to find a pocket of time today and instead of doing something mindless, intentionally study or gather information about something that interests you. Google has been my best friend. Start there or take it further. Find a couple of really good blogs about the subject and immerse yourself with information. Gaining knowledge is powerful. Even if you don't apply anything you learned for the next 10 years, just keep digesting little chunks at a time and before you know it you will have a new talent!

4. Drink (chug) a glass of water before every meal or snack you eat today. Most of us can be really hard on ourselves about our body and our health and one of the best things you can do for your body is to give it more water! Water cleanses our bodies, fills us when we are craving emotional born calories, and is a natural energy booster. Living intentionally means you stay awake throughout your days and if you’re like me then you need reminders to be intentional! Set out 6 full glasses of water on the counter so when you go to grab something out of the kitchen to munch on you have to walk past your glass of water.

5. Hello, my name is Tanda and I am a recovering procrastinator. Be intentional about knocking out one thing today that you have been putting off. Who cares if the kids are screaming in the background when you call the accountant or that friend you've been thinking about for a week. Whatever that thing is you've been transferring over from checklist to checklist but never ~~crossing it off~~, yes that thing. Just do it today! This will also be an energy booster and you will be so happy you did it!

Please remember that your goal is to be intentional today. Don't think about yesterday’s failures or the fact that your not where you want to be. Every day you can do small things that will motivate you to do more small things tomorrow. Before you know it those small things will be add up!

You Betcha

2013-03-04T15:51:00.000-08:00

I've come to realize that on those days when I start the day focused on being an intentional mom,
I can pretty much guarantee it's gonna be a good day. That means that other than a true emergency I set my mind on only my children and what I've been called to do in serving, teaching and loving them. Time is taken to address issues (fights, backtalk, etc..), time is taken to listen and acknowledge words, time is taken to pick up 39 pine cones at the park, and time is taken for snuggles galore. I'm writing this post to remind myself to "be intentional" tomorrow and cash in on that "almost guarantee" once again.

I know I have mentioned Kat from Inspired to Action on here before but it has been a while. Go here to listen to her podcast titled "how to become a more patient mom in 24 hours." Great stuff.

Blessings.
Tanda

My 1st VLOG!

2013-02-27T16:56:00.001-08:00

hey everyone! maybe vlogging (mom, this word means video blogging) is the answer to getting
stuff out of my head! here is my first one and let's just call it, "Remedy for a Stressed out Mama."

My 5 Year Old BABY!!

2013-02-27T14:14:00.001-08:00

He will always be my baby and he knows it because I make him repeat after me, "mom, I will always be your baby." These pictures just make my heart so happy and thankful for the blessing of being a mom.
Happy birthday Hayden Lake!

Random Post

2013-02-14T14:49:00.001-08:00

I can feel spring in the air today and I feel alive.
There is some truth to the "spring cleaning" thing because I seriously feel
like organizing and sorting today.
And, ahem, I'm already fighting the fear of tornado season. In one hand
I have the truth of God's word and in the other hand I have the familiar
feelings and anxieties that so easily come on those warm muggy days.

So you've probably heard of being sea sick or car sick or home sick.
Well yesterday Hayden announced halfway through our school time that
he was school sick. He was very serious and looked a little pale so I laughed
and then we took a break.

Have I mentioned Berklee is my little book worm? She told me today she
was going to grow up and be just like me someday and read lots of good
books. :)

I think this is so cool.

And this breaks my heart.

We are really enjoying The Story of the World. A lot.

Adopted son gets newborn photos at 13 years old. Heartwarming.

Wishing you all a lovely Valentine's Day!!

Look up

2013-02-12T11:29:00.000-08:00

I took this picture 3 years ago on the beach in Florida where

my husband grew up.

The other day I was feeling discouraged and frustrated

by the cares of the day. After the day was almost over I

FINALLY

sat down to pray and collect myself when

the words above came over me.

I'm glad I have a Father who loves me and speaks gently to me even

after I've been so stubborn.

No teepees here

2013-02-11T10:59:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine in junior high traveled to the west coast and someone actually asked her if we
still lived in teepees in Oklahoma. Of course the answer was NO! But if there were some teepees around back then that probably would have been the most interesting thing to see. Until about
15 years ago we literally had almost nothing except a zoo and a science museum in OKC. And a horse racing track if you are into that thing. Oh yes, rodeos too. But that is about it. Downtown OKC was seriously like a ghostown.

Then our state did something that has been absolutely fabulous. They called it MAPS (metropolitan area projects) which was basically a temporary 1% sales tax that the voters of Oklahoma approved.
Over the course of almost 8 years it generated $309 million.

I have always been proud to be from Oklahoma but the only thing I could say about our state is that we seem to have really, genuinely nice people. Now there is so much more to say! Take a look at this great video and see what I'm talking about.

Come Alive

2013-02-07T20:43:00.000-08:00

via

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive”

- Howard Thurman

This quote sounds so amazing. I read it through and I think wow! that is so good! I pin it to my "quote" board and then I scroll down and see a new recipe to try. Quote all but forgotten in 3 seconds.

But I don't want that. At least not at this point in my life. I want truths to change me, not just be another golden nugget to be tossed like trash. I don't want to read a whole chapter of my Bible and then get up with nothing to chew on for the day. We were designed for input but in our culture we have to be so very picky and selective or else we will drown in nothingness. I read somewhere that we have the ability to access more information in one day then our great-grandparents did in their entire lives! But do we know more?

Are we better off with all of that access, information, and "knowledge"?

Sometimes I feel like there is too much trash lying around to actually find

any great nuggets that I know I put right here in this drawer. I mean that closet. No, I mean what did I come in this room for?

Our minds are like our house. The rooms get dirty. Baggage gets left unpacked and there are piles of junk mail that we keep adding to every day. And the nuggets, God's truths, affirmations from our spouses, that thought to call an old friend, get buried, lost, and forgotten.

What piles do we need to throw away? Maybe it is unsubscribing to the magazine that makes you feel fat and ugly every month. Maybe it is deleting

that app on your phone that steals too much of your valuable time. Or maybe it is turning off the tv in the evening so that you can remember the nuggets of the day and decide what to do with them. It is the nuggets that will actually make you come alive. Pay attention to them and keep them dusted.