Camp Day 2: God Stories and Prayer Requests

Posted on 06.16.08 in Faith Blogging and there are 5 comments.

I was a part of a different 40 day fast a couple years ago.

It was for two little boys in our small group from church. John had Down’s Syndrome and Sam had autism. Sam also had serious gastrointestinal problems that severely limited his diet.

There were about six families in that small group and it was amazing to spend 40 days with a common purpose and passion. We spent several nights praying together, worshipping together and standing in faith with John’s parents and Sam’s parents that God would do something amazing in and through those boys.

Honestly, though? My faith was pretty lame. I thought it was a great idea to pray for them, but if I was really honest with myself I didn’t truly expect to see change. Maybe I hoped for it, but I certainly didn’t expect it.

Well, the first change that I saw was that by the end of the 40 days, Sam was eating a regular diet. His mom didn’t need to bring special snacks to our small group meetings just for Sam. She didn’t need to carefully monitor his diet.

Not long after that, Sam’s parents decided to have him retested for autism because they’d seen so much change in him. He failed - meaning he was no longer autistic. He even tested as having a higher than normal IQ. The change in Sam was nothing short of amazing.

And John made such significant progress that the next fall, he was kicked out of the Special Education program at his school because he didn’t qualify anymore.

It was incredible for me to see the change in those boys over the course of the year. I’d known both boys for quite awhile and the fact that they were significantly different boys after the fast was undeniable - even for this traditional Southern Baptist girl.

It challenged me and built my faith. I’d always heard that my God is a God of miracles, but I’d never really and truly seen it firsthand.

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Ephesians 3:20-21

What’s Your God Story?

I don’t think we brag on God enough here in the blogosphere. I don’t, anyway. It can be something little or something big, but let’s brag on God today. Write a post on your blog or share your story in the comments.

In Need of a God Story?

How can we pray for you today?

(Read more positive posts here.)

Music Monday: Cindy Morgan, Broken Speakers and FREE Music

Posted on 06.16.08 in Music Monday Music and there are 10 comments.

Howdy campers!

As I was getting ready to write up my post for Music Monday, I found that my speakers aren’t working on my ibook.

No, speakers.

On Music Monday.

I think there may be a camp gnome working against me.

So...if you have a Music Monday post of your own (it can be about anything related to music), please link to it in the comments.

I had been planning to post my interview with Cindy Morgan, but I need to edit it make myself sound cool. Trust me, that takes massive amounts of editing.

Win A FREE Cindy Morgan CD

Speaking of Cindy Morgan, I’m giving away one copy of her latest CD. Just tell us about your favorite Cindy Morgan song in the comments and you’ll be entered.

More Free Music

And for those of you who don’t win the cd, here are some links to great free music.

Hearitfirst.com
Sign up for the email newsletter. Every week they send out a free song and links to interesting videos and interview.

Freeccm.com
Freeccm.com is a venture of INO Records. They currently have songs from Fee, 33Miles and PCD. With artists like Sara Groves, Mercy Me and Addison Road on their roster, this is definitely a site to bookmark.

Downhere
Of course, for the month of June, Downhere is giving away their entire album. Go get it.

The Archives
I’ve got a free music category on my music blog. Check out the archives to find some great free music.

Do you know of any artists who are giving away a song or two? Please share it in the links.

DON’T FORGET

Since it’s TSLOK Camp Week, everyone who writes a Music Monday post or adds a comment to this post, will get a link to their blog (I’ll add them tonight). 

Good Morning Campers! Meet Angie, Brooke, Travis and YOU!

Posted on 06.15.08 in General and there are 18 comments.

Hello Campers, Rise and Shine!

Every morning here at Camp TSLOK, I’m going to introduce you to a few of your fellow blog readers and post a fun morning icebreaker.

Today you’ll meet Angie, Brooke and Travis.

Angie lost 100lbs!
Brooke is a fashion guru.
Travis is “I have to read this to Jimmy” funny.

Click the “READ MORE” link to get to know Angie, Brooke and Travis.

Monday Morning Icebreaker

What was your first car?

READ MORE...

Need A Father’s Day Idea?? (Jimmy, DON’T read this!!!)

Posted on 06.14.08 in Family Parenthood and there are 0 comments.

(Please don’t tell Jimmy about this if you see him today...)

As my kids get older it’s really fun to do more creative stuff for Father’s Day.

This year, one thing we’re going to do is make an “I Love Daddy Because” Photo Album for Jimmy.

I asked the kids to list things that they really appreciate about their daddy. Then I had them write each thing on a marker board. I took a picture of them with the marker board and I’m going to put it in a photo album.

So Jimmy will have a little book titled “I Love Daddy Because...” and then it will be filled with pictures of his children holding signs that say what they love about him.

Here are a few things they wrote.

I Love Daddy Because…

-He’s Brave
-He’s Strong
-He reads his Bible
-He’s good at cleaning the dishes
-He’s sweet
-He speaks nice (meaning he uses a patience voice...)
-He loves me

What are you doing for Father’s Day?

The 40 Day Fast: Season 2

Posted on 06.14.08 in The 40 Day Fast Blogging and there are 42 comments.

Last year we had an event here called The 40 Day Fast. This year we’re doing it again.

The 40 Day Fast was inspired by this photo. Here is the original post entitled, ”Please Don’t Look Away.”

The Details

Here’s a summary of what it’s all about and how you can help:

Who:
40 bloggers who will each fast for 1 day.

What:
They will blog about an area of need in the world (either a cause or a country) and an organization that strives to meet that need.

They will also link (via a small widget we’ll provide) to the blogger who is fasting on each day of the fast and encourage their readers to join the fast on the 40th day.

Why:
The purpose behind it is to give people an opportunity to:
1. Experience a bit of need
2. Learn about the need in the world
3. Do something about it

When:
The fast starts on June 23, 2008 and ends on August 1, 2008

Where:
Each blogger will write their post on their own blog, but the hub for the event will be over at InspiredToAction.com (a site born out of last year’s 40 Day Fast).

How:
We need you. If you’re interested in participating as a blogger, let us know in the comments. The official sign up will be next week, but it would be great to get an idea of how many people would like to be involved.

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Also, we need a logo for the event. Last year’s was kind of lame. I’m not the greatest logo designer. So, if that’s your thing, PLEASE email me and let me know if you can help.

NOTE: My spam blocker doesn’t allow identical comments on a single post, so try typing something more unique than “I’m in.”

Parent’s University: Interview with Heather Whittaker Pt. 2

Posted on 06.12.08 in Parenthood Parents University and there are 1 comments.

Click here to read Part 1 of the interview with Heather.

On with part 2…

5. You’ve done a number of really creative and fun family theme nights.
What was your favorite one? What other family traditions do you have?

My favorite family night is usually the last one I have done. They just keep
getting better. I loved bowling night but seeing my man dressed up as
Goldilocks was quite fun too!
As for traditions, lets see… Besides family night I try not to make
traditions elaborate. Its the simple things like, phrases that we all say,
or songs that we sing at bed time. I try to pray with each of them before
they go to school, Carlos is the pancake maker. I feel like I am a loose
cannon right now, my mind is all over the place.  I do love our birthdays,
we go all out. A week of celebration! We have a girls day with hair, makeup,
shopping, and eating around each of their birthdays. That’s all I can think
of right now. I know I have many more but I am coming up blank.
Oh, I almost forgot. This week we are starting a new tradition. We are going
to have one meal a week of just rice. We have decided as a family that
because of the food crisis that is going on we will stop our lives and give
that meals budget to Compassions food crisis fund. We will have only rice
and focus on a country that struggles to feed its children. That is our new
tradition starting this week.

6. What is your biggest victory/success as a parent? How did you achieve
it?

I think keeping 3 kids alive and well for over six years is a huge success
for me.  Really, you should hear my pet stories, I did not have a good
record. I love that my kids are so laid back. That is how I parent and I
really have seen that come through in how my kids behave. They really are
great, and on most days easy!

7. What is your biggest challenge? How are you working to overcome it?

I think the biggest challenge is learning how to stop and make time for me.
I have to learn to value me time daily, I have to learn how to value time
with my man weekly and I have to learn to value the need for a vacation
yearly! I struggle with making myself stop.  Not only do I struggle making
time for me I also miss out of quality time with my kids because I am
constantly cleaning. So my challenge is making myself stop.
One thing that I do every night is read. It’s my time, and its the only
thing that I can’t multi task while doing. It forces me to stop.

8. What inspires you to be a great mom? Where do you get your creative
ideas?

I have been able to have had some great friends in my life who are
phenomenal moms! I totally piggy back off of all their parenting ways and
idea’s. I also love being a mom. I value memories and try to create simple
things that our kids will remember. As for the family nights, my best friend
and I are tag teaming and inspiring
each other with family nights. We are a good team. We just do most of our
work on google. That is one fabulous machine! Then we add our little
touches. Anything can start the idea. Some thing at the 99cent store, a
gift, a party, really anything and then we just take it from there.

More Parent’s University Interviews

Michael Hyatt - President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing shares his wisdom from raising 5 daughters and balancing work and family life.

Cindy Seay - mother of 5, including Robbie Seay of the Robbie Seay Band (whose music was featured on American Idol ads and Oprah’s show - The Big Give) offers her advice on raising children who will change the world.

TSLOK Summer Camp: Get Ready!!!

Posted on 06.12.08 in The 40 Day Fast Blogging and there are 2 comments.

Next week is the long awaited TSLOK Summer Camp. It’s going to be a fun and exciting week filled with opportunities to get to know each other and wrapping up with a camp out (yes, you read that right...)!

Sit down campers, we have a few items to discuss:

GET INVOLVED

Every day of camp, we’ll have a Topic of the Day (listed below). Each post during the week will have that little Mr. Linky thing on it. If you comment on my post or if you write a post on your blog about the Topic of the Day (listed below), I encourage you to add a link to your blog.

It will be a great way for all of us to discover new blogs each day and get to know each other a little better.

CAMP SCHEDULE

Here is the list of topics during camp. Start planning your posts now, so that people can discover your blog next week!

Monday - As always, Monday is Music Monday. I’m going to post a big list of my favorite ways to get free and legal music. Write about anything related to music and add your link to the post.

Tuesday - Prayer requests and God stories. We’re gonna have us some church. Right here in River City. We’ll share our prayer requests and write a post about something significant God has done in your life. Because He deserves some bragging on. (Yes, I realize that was terrible grammar. Thank you.)

Wednesday - Favorite Sites - I’ll share the most useful and inspirational sites/blogs I visit. Tell us about your favs.

Thursday - Thursday is Parent’s University here at TSLOK. Let’s all share some creative ways to pass the summer days with our children. (Games, themed meals, crafts etc.) You can post stuff you do with your kids or things you did as a child.

Friday - It’s all about you. Share your favorite post that you’ve written on your blog.

THE CAMP OUT

When it all comes down, I want this blog to be about more than just me and you. I recently read a quote by Mother Teresa that said, “We can’t understand the poor until we begin to understand what poverty is like.”

So, on Friday night, I’m going to sleep out in my backyard. I’d love for you all to join me. Well, not in my backyard, but you sleep in yours and we’ll connect via Twitter and a live chat here on the blog. We’ll talk about how we can make a difference and all the things we miss about sleeping indoors.

I think it will be a bonding, challenging and really fun time. We might even sing a virtual round of Kumbaya.

FINAL NOTE

All this bonding and camping out is a lead in for The 40 Day Fast. This years event will be June 23 - August 1st. Stay tuned for more details.

So get your camping gear ready, plan your posts and if you haven’t already, introduce yourself. Camp starts on Monday!

Questions? Comments? Rude remarks?

Parent’s University: Interview with Heather Whittaker Pt. 1

Posted on 06.12.08 in Parenthood Parents University and there are 6 comments.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Heather Whittaker, possibly the coolest mom in the blogosphere.

She’s the mother of three kids - two girls and a boy (who was adopted from Korea two years ago), she takes her laptop to scrapbooking parties, she traveled to Uganda to save children, she does amazingly creative Family Fun Nights and she’s inspiringly open and honest (as you’ll see in this interview).

You can see why I love reading her blog…

(Oh yeah, and she’s pretty much blog royalty in these parts. Her husband is blog King Carlos aka RagamuffinSoul.)

I hope you enjoy this interview.

1. What started your adoption journey?
Oprah…
We had always said we would like to adopt, but I think most couples say that. In a course of 3 weeks we saw two episodes on Oprah that highlighted orphans in Africa and China. It made us begin to talk and realize that this was more than just something we wanted to dream about, it was something we needed to START to do. So long story short that is how we began. After that we jumped into the mountains of paperwork and we were off to bring Losiah home.

2. What was the hardest part of adopting? Did you expect that part to be hard? How did you handle it?
Hmm, the hardest part before we brought him home was the paperwork. The filling it out was terrible and exhausting, but the follow up on it just about put me in a loony bin. It was a bunch of paper work going to the government, our adoption agency and Korea.  Many times things were not done correctly, they did not receive it or some kind of drama happened and it frustrated the tar out of me. That was my labor pains. And that is why I am not willing to think about another adoption right away. 
After we brought him home the hardest part would be the fact that I felt like I was babysitting someone’s baby. I love him. I think he is adorable, but I do not feel like he is mine. Which also sucks because I KNOW he is.  However my heart just does not feel it. Now this has changed over time. I feel like he is mine now, I just struggle loving him as much as the girls (my two biological kids) Sorry for being honest. I handle it by loving him everyday. Its a decision that I make everyday.

3. If you could impart one piece of advice to those who are adopting, what would it be?
That’s hard. I would say my only parenting advice adopting or not is… to do what is best for you and your family. There are so many opinions and people telling you what to do it can overwhelm you. I say stick to your gut and what makes you and your family thrive.
Ok Now I take my first statement back I do have advice...Don’t become consumed with the adoption. Focus on your marriage! Make home life the best it can possibly be before the little one comes!
See I do have advice

4. How has the Uganda trip affected the way you parent?
I answered this one last because I am still trying to process all that I saw, learned and experienced in Uganda. It has affected the way I parent because I have really learned how wasteful we are. I get nauseous when I see how much crap they have in their room. Sorry for saying crap I have to remember this is not for my blog, but that is what it is. Junk. Those kids in Uganda had sticks and a tire and it was their prize possession, and mine are complaining that they have to clean their room.  So daily whether it is being wasteful with their meals or complaining because they have to much I get so saddened. Waiting for the day we can all go over there and allow our hearts to change again but this time as a family.

Stay Tuned...

Click here for Part 2. In the meantime, be sure to check out Heather’s blog.

More Parent’s University Interviews

Michael Hyatt - President and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing shares his wisdom from raising 5 daughters and balancing work and family life.

Cindy Seay - mother of 5, including Robbie Seay of the Robbie Seay Band (whose music was featured on American Idol ads and Oprah’s show - The Big Give) offers her advice on raising children who will change the world.

Home Sweet Home

Posted on 06.10.08 in General and there are 2 comments.

Ah...we’re home from our whirlwind travels.

I have lots to post about in the coming days, so stay tuned.

(And no, that is not really my house.)

We’re Such Dorky Texans…

Posted on 06.10.08 in General and there are 12 comments.

We sang “Deep In The Heart of Texas” as soon as we crossed the border.

Then we continued to remark about how nice the roads are and how big the sky is here.

Where are you from and why do you love it?

Where In The World Is Kat - Pt. 2

Posted on 06.10.08 in General and there are 7 comments.

Where am I now and why is this town significant?

Where In The World Is Kat

Posted on 06.10.08 in General and there are 6 comments.

Where am I?

Burning Elmo’s and Interviews with Rock Stars

Posted on 06.09.08 in General and there are 7 comments.

I’ve been super busy the past couple of weeks with birthday parties, fun family visits, burning elmo’s, vacations and interviewing rockstars.

That’s why it’s been slow here in blogland. Stay tuned, though, for some awesome interviews from cool folks like Cindy Morgan and Heather Whitaker.

In the meantime, if you could interview anyone for your blog, who would it be and why?

Free Music From Downhere

Posted on 06.05.08 in Music and there are 4 comments.

Are you in need of a summer soundtrack? Have I got a deal for you. Here’s the news straight from Jeremy:

In anticipation of our September 23rd release “Ending is Beginning”, my band - downhere - is giving away our current studio release, “Wide-Eyed and Mystified”, as a free download through the month of June.

Click here to download Downhere’s album.

Click here to check out Jeremy’s blog.

Check out Glenn’s blog here.

Click here for more info on Downhere.

I first heard these guys when I worked at KSBJ and they did an acoustic set during one of our staff meetings. Great music, great guys and a great price.

Off you go...

Sleeping In, Kayaking, And A Half Pound of Beef

Posted on 06.02.08 in General and there are 9 comments.

I slept in today! All the way to 6:30am!

Apparently, after 6 years of parenthood, I’m completely incapable of sleeping in. Bummer.

We’ve had a great day so far, though. We visited Zilker Park and Barton Springs where we went kayaking. We kayaked 9 miles!

Neither of us will be able to move our arms tomorrow. Driving will be difficult.

We were super hungry after kayaking so we took Texas in Africa’s (sorry I don’t know how to link from my phone) advice and ate at the Blue Star Cafeteria. I ate an entire 1/2 lb burger and fries. It was SO good.

We’re off to explore the city some more. Here are a few more pics I took with my phone. There is one of the view from our room and a few of us kayaking.

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