Ken and Michelle: In the Kitchen

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Check out my Linked 52 buddies photos for this week’s theme:

Stacey, Jenn, Tracey, Andrea , Heather,

Kristin, Amanda, Jessica

Amanda, Sara, Janet, Lesli, Liza

Carla, Rose, Naomi, Tracy, Heidi, Rhonda

Anyhow, today we start.  What are we doing?  We are eating the staple foods available to our compassion kids in Colombia & the Philippines.  I am observing more strictly than Ken and the kids, who are focusing strongly on the dinner meal for their observance.   I am observing for all three meals.  However, I have granted myself permission to have a small morning coffee.  Because you know, there’s coffee in Colombia.  Cut me some slack.  Their largest agricultural export is cocaine and I am abstaining from that.  During our dinner we have some daily readings to help us focus on God and to also pray for those living in poverty.

We will observe the Kingdom rhythm of fasting and feasting which means we fast Monday through Saturday in order to pray and develop our compassion for the poor among us but on Sunday we feast, to focus on God and all the amazing gifts and bounty He gives us.  We will make it a point to have those feasts with family and friends to make those days even more special.

And lastly, and this is one of my favorite parts of this journey.  In Isaiah it says:

“No, what I want in a fast is this:  to liberate those tied down and held back by injustice,  to lighten the load of those heavily burdened, to free the oppressed and shatter every type of oppression.  A fast for Me involves sharing your food with people who have none, giving those who are homeless a space in your home, Giving clothes to those who need them, and not neglecting your own family.

What I’m learning about fasting is (a lot, actually!) that the fasting is only part of the equation.  In The Shepherd of Hermas (a collection of Christian teachings from AD 150) it is written:

“Having fulfilled what is written, in the day on which you fast you will taste nothing but bread and water; and having reckoned up the price of dishes of that day which you intended to have eaten, you will give it to a widow, or an orphan, or to some person in want, and thus you will exhibit humility of mind, so that he who has received benefit from your humility may fill his own soul and pray for you to the Lord.”

Augustine also said our fasting should always nourish the poor: “break your bread for those who are hungry, said Isaiah, do not believe that fasting suffices.  Fasting chastises you, but it does not refresh the other.  Your privations shall bear fruit if you give generously to another.”

So how do we as a family apply this lesson practically?  Well, today when I was at the store loading up on beans and rice for the next 40 days (um… my bill was $33.) I stopped in another aisle and bought a few jars of peanut butter.  We have three large baskets next to our dinner table.  As we go through this fast and don’t spend money on take out or expensive cuts of meats or convenience foods our grocery bill will shrink.  With that money we will buy food for our baskets.  At the end of our Lenten fast we will take it to the food bank to share with those in our community who are hungry.  Simple.

So that’s our Lenten plan, boiled down as simply as I could.  I’ve gone back and forth on whether to share much of our experience on the blog because I know the bible talks about fasting quietly.  However, ultimately I’ve decided to share some of our experience because having grown up in a family and church community that didn’t practice or teach fasting it was always a mystery to me.  My desire is to shed a little light so that it might be demystified for some of my friends who have a similar background.

Anybody else want to share their fasting experiences or Lent observances? 

What made having the flu even more difficult is that it threw all of my training right out the window.  Half marathon, swimming, cycling… all of it.

Well, not all.

Saving grace this week…  Yoga.

I’m a big yoga fan but also super picky about my teachers and classes.  I had an amazing teacher at our old gym and learned so much from her.  I also became convinced that yoga was necessary for balancing out all my body parts that are used repetitively in running (and most other activities I do).  However at our new gym we are lacking a good teacher.  I’ve taken two classes from two different teachers and they were awful.  Just plain awful.  So I’ve been craving my yoga but was unwilling to pay $10+ a class at a local studio.  Cue YogaGlo.  I’ve used YogaGlo in the past and really enjoyed it.  So I signed back up this week and I’m so happy I did.  Yoga Glo is actually a really great studio located in Santa Monica, California.  They offer a subscription service where for $18 a month you can stream unlimited classes straight to your computer or TV.  Oh yes!    They have everything.  The class for runners and cyclists is fabulous.  But I’m spending more time this week doing Restorative Yoga.  Just trying to get my physical mojo back.

I know you are wondering and no, I’m not a paid spokesperson for them.  I pay for the service.  But it is worth every penny.

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Check out my Linked 52 buddies photos for this week’s theme:

Stacey, Jenn, Tracey, Andrea , Heather,

Kristin, Amanda, Jessica

Amanda, Sara, Janet, Lesli, Liza

Carla, Rose, Naomi, Tracy, Heidi

Happy Valentine’s Day, Sidles Family.

Happy indeed.

Don’t our feet look quiet in this shot?

Check out my Linked 52 buddies photos for this week’s theme:

Stacey, Jenn, Tracey, Andrea , Heather,

Kristin, Amanda, Jessica

Amanda, Sara, Janet, Lesli, Liza

Carla, Rose, Naomi, Tracy, Heidi

]]> http://www.michellesidles.com/?feed=rss2&p=2291 19 http://www.michellesidles.com/?p=2284 http://www.michellesidles.com/?p=2284#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:41:39 +0000 Michelle http://www.michellesidles.com/?p=2284 I didn’t grow up in churches that observed Lent.  Not to say people there didn’t observe it personally  but it wasn’t practiced corporately nor did my family of origin observe any kind of Lenten fasts.  Several years ago our family attended a church that did practice Lenten observances corporately but at the time I have to say that I wasn’t really moved to participate in a very real way.  Fast forward to this year we are again part of a church that doesn’t observe Lent corporately.  However, this year I feel strongly moved to observe as a family.  I spoke with my kids about it and as they are now young teenagers it is beautiful to see how they positively respond to the idea of making a sacrifice for Lent to draw closer to God and to also increase their love for the poor.  Ken is also on board which is so cool.

So what will we be doing for Lent this year?

This year we will participate in a 40 day fast which will entail eating a limited diet of foods available to the poor in third world countries.  We are choosing Colombia and the Philippines as that’s where our two Compassion sponsored kids live.  Angie and Ronald have been a part of our lives for many years now and we have happily sent financial provision for them along with many letters shared back and forth.  However this year we want to connect with them and with God through the more intentional act of fasting.   We will observe this fast Monday through Saturdays and then observe a feast on Sundays to truly celebrate what God is doing in our lives and those we will be praying for throughout our fast.  Our desire is to have changed hearts.  To be closer to God and also to move beyond a head knowledge of the poor to a true and abiding love for those who haven’t been born into wealth.

If you are interested in learning more about this particular fast you can go HERE to learn more.  If you decide to also observe this fast (or any Lenten fast) I’d love to hear from you.

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Colossians 3:12-14

So I’m bringing you a Best Of Lanie sleep shot instead:

And I’m also pretty sure that right about now I’m missing her fiercely.

Check out my Linked 52 buddies photos for this week’s theme:

Stacey, Jenn, Tracey, Andrea , Heather,

Kristin, Amanda, Rhonda, Jessica

Amanda, Sara, Janet, Lesli,

Carla, Lena, Rose, Naomi, Tracy,

]]> http://www.michellesidles.com/?feed=rss2&p=2274 17 http://www.michellesidles.com/?p=2268 http://www.michellesidles.com/?p=2268#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:10:37 +0000 Michelle http://www.michellesidles.com/?p=2268 Aaron came home from school bursting with excitement and instantly pulled up this video for me on the computer.  Literally, before he ate his snack!  So of course I was expecting something along the lines of talking animals or toilet humor… but no.  My boy was excited to show me this video.

And I literally applauded part way through it.

Taylor Mali is a full time poet and spoken word “guy.”   Can you tell it’s a profession I know very little about?  Anyway, “Mali is a vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching, having himself spent nine years in the classroom teaching everything from English and history to math and S.A.T. test preparation. He has performed and lectured for teachers all over the world, and his New Teacher Project has a goal of creating 1,000 new teachers through “poetry, persuasion, and perseverance.”

I love this poem.  I love that my son heard it and it resonated with him.  I love that my daughter also heard it.  And as a person who spends all kinds of time writing on my blog about any and all kinds of things I paused, and I asked myself, do I speak with conviction?  Do I?  Not always.  Probably because on many issues I hold no strong opinions.    But on some issues, I do have strong opinions.  And I don’t serve myself well when I beat around the bush.  So in honor of the excellent poem by Mr. Mali I will start speaking my convictions more often.  Let me start now… albeit small.

I like it when it rains.

Yes, when so many people around me bemoan the rainy weather I’m secretly inside doing a little happy dance.

There.

I said it.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it’d be.  Perhaps I will speak again with conviction tomorrow. 

What about you?  What do you need to say?

and yet…

I’ve never learned to freestyle swim.    I can tread water for days.  When I did my first (and only) triathlon I did the swim using a combination of breath-stroke, sidestroke and backstroke.  And my time wasn’t too shabby.  But that was only a half mile swim.  I’m now committed to a mile swim for my triathlon and a 1.76 mile swim across a lake in August.

Which means… Sink or Swim.

So in the last two days I’ve spent two hours in the pool.  And FINALLY (after 36 years!) put together an actual freestyle stroke.  I had 3 people look at it and give me a passing grade which makes me feel like my crazy goals are possible!

Here’s to Trying!

You never know what you’re capable of until you try.