Newsboys and Ducks: A Post From the Mrs.

So, Jason showed me a few of the ins and outs of the blog, and I picked up on the most important part: how to write on it. Hopefully he does not regret this decision. I remind him frequently that my middle name is Brooke, as in the babbling kind, but I'll try not to be too wordy when I step up to the plate here. :)


An overarching theme in my life lately and the circles that I find myself in has been about motivation. Specifically the motives behind our actions.


The old Newsboys song, "Shine", has a line in it that says:
...The truth is in
the proof is when
your heart starts asking
"What's my motivation?"


If you were a teenager in a Christian church in the 1990's you are probably singing along in your head now too. For that I'm so sorry. But Truth is found in a variety of places, not just the highest quality of music...but that's for another time. If you have not heard the song up to now, you can check it out here on Youtube.


What is your motivation for your actions? Are you motivated by fear? Most of us are.


Now, I'm not talking about choosing not to go visit a Haunted House this season because of fear, as one of my friends responded when posed the question. I'd say that fear is probably not a bad motivation for deciding against that choice, in my opinion. Fear and not wanting to change my pants.


However, if you are allowing fear to dictate the answers to the important questions in your life, I'd go so far as to say that fear is a poor motivation for decision-making. When fear controls your decisions, you are giving over control of your life to this fear.


This can be every decision from personal questions such as: "Should I go talk to that gentleman standing on the street with a sign asking for a dollar?"
It can be vocational questions such as: "Should I take this job/leave this job/start my own business/expand my business?"
It can even be spiritual questions such as: "Is my motivation for choosing my faith or religion because I truly want to know and follow God or because I'm afraid of going to Hell?"


Our oldest daughter is in Kindergarten and she provides an excellent example of how our motives are more important that the choices that we make. Her class is like most other elementary classes, including my own when I taught at her current elementary school several years ago. Her teacher has a classroom management plan that includes rewards for good behavior.


Caroline tells me every day that she got a Smiley Stamp on her chart and will ask me if I'm proud of her that she got a stamp (for good behavior) on her chart. Each time I tell her that I am proud that she's doing the right thing, not that she got a stamp. The stamp is just a symbol of the desired behavior. I want her motivation to be that she has the internal desire to do the right thing, because it's the right thing to do, not the desire for approval of others.




Do the right thing, because it's the right thing to do.




It's so simple, and one of the mantras around the Simpson Six homestead. However, we often get caught up in fear and worry about the approval of others. I don't care if you are six or sixty--we all care on one level or another about the approval of someone, somewhere in our lives--often much more than we should. The Minimalist Mom (another blogger that I LOVE to read--if you are interested in or intrigued by minimalist living, check her out here) wrote a great article about not caring what other people think. We like ducks a lot around here, and they've got it right. Just let everything roll off your back. Easier said than done, right?

We only have one life, and we are the authors of it. Take back the pen from fear and from trying to please everyone around you and write your own story. I'm certain that it will be much more thrilling, exciting and fulfilling than what others and fear could ever write for you.

Harvest time

5 years ago I planted a small garden.  I never would have guessed that it would turn into my summertime hobby.  It has grown over the years (ha ha) from a meager 10 square foot plot into a 12' x 23' rectangle of bounty.  This kids have gotten into it as well over the years, so they get just as excited as I do about the preparation, planting, cultivating and harvesting.  This time of year wraps up the months of work.  It is the time to enjoy the fruits (or veggies) of our labor, which we eagerly do around here.  The planting list for this year included 4 varieties of tomatoes, 2 varieties of beans, sugar peas, sweet corn, jalapeno peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, carrots, strawberries and green onions along with basil, dill, cilantro and chives.

We have been eating well.

To tie in with a previous post, what makes the food all the better is only having to travel to the outside of my house to get it and that it was produced as naturally as possible.  No herbicides, no pesticides, just all natural compost and water.  The kids eat the food like it was candy.  They like to sneak over to the garden and reach their grubby paws through the fence to grab another pea pod or green bean pod and wolf it down before I notice.  Another benefit is the cost savings.  I really only pay for seeds and water.  The rest is up to God to take care of.

We also like to visit some local growers to stock up on some food items that we cannot grow ourselves.  We will go to Stuckey Farms, Spencer Farms and Tuttle Orchards for blueberries and strawberries to freeze for later, pumpkin to roast and put up for bread and muffins, apples for apple sauce and apple butter, and peaches for canning.

And for those who are thinking about it, it is not too late to go out and get some good, fresh food.

Our recent harvest of carrots.  5-7 pounds!

Taking ownership

It is fun to watch the kids grow and develop. I'm sure any parent would agree with that, and the humorous stories that come out of that process. Currently we are watching Ian develop his sense of possessives.


Case in point, this past weekend I decided it was time to repair some of the soffit on the house by the front door due to some water damage. So in my usual fashion and manner, I got up semi early (the sun was shining, so not early for me), put on my work clothes and headed outside. Not knowing what I was totally getting into or would find out once I started, I did the demo work before heading to the hardware store, trying to prevent the usual 2+ trips. Once I had the old soffit torn out and was satisfied on what my shopping list entailed, I was preparing to leave when Ian looked out the front door. He quickly exclaimed, "Oh No, Daddy broke MY house!" Not THE house, or OUR house, but my house.


I wanted to ask if he was ready to take over payments and transfer ownership.


Needless to say, my efforts were in vain. After my initial trip to the store and purchasing what I thought would be all of the material I needed, I prepared to paint the new soffiting with the can that I had dug out of the garage. After prying it open for 10 minutes (my first clue), I discovered it was mostly water and sludge. So off I went to get a quart of paint. God bless the sophisticated paint matching capabilities (the label had worn off).


Soon enough I was back in business and putting all of the pieces back together. It was not long until Ian wandered by again and, seeing my progress, stated, "Daddy fixed my house." At least he recognizes who does the work, although I do love when he tries to give me a hand and help out. Then he says that he did the work. I'll take it.


By the way, did I mention the active wasp nest I found...

What should we eat?

We like to consider ourselves eaters of good food. By that, I do not mean that as a family we stroll around looking for the next great steak or ice cream Sundae.  What I mean is that we try to stay conscious and aware of where our food comes from.  We strive to acquire naturally produced food; organic, sustainable, hormone and pesticide free.  By no means are we vegan or strict about our exact diet.  We do have the occasional splurge into the realm of fast food (and then quickly I remember why I stay away from those places).  If you know me, you most likely have heard about my fondness for my garden or how I love finding a local farmer with pasture fed animals (see Ahh, Meat for what I do with them).  It truly is a great feeling knowing exactly where your food came from, not just a guess at a state or country.  To be eating something that just a few short hours ago was still attached to it's root system.  Yes, at this time of year we are reminded of how yummilicious fresh can be.  I am not just speaking to that.  Some context...

Being a video production guy, I do enjoy a good documentary.  My wife can get into them as well, especially when they deal with topics that top her list of lifestyle choices.  Since signing up for Netflix a while back, we have discovered many documentaries dealing with food and the health of our nation.  They are sickening and eye opening at the same time.  What amazes me is that as a culture we blindly accept what is put in front of us, never questioning what has been done to produce the consumables on the plate in front of us.  So much of our 'food' has been beefed up with hormones, pesticides or genetically modified that I question if it really counts as food.  I see it more as a calorie rich, tickle my pleasure center, feed me more item.  


So this is the part where I insert stats about obesity, heart disease, diabetes, etc. (blah blah blah, you can find your own stats).


We recently watched Forks Over Knives.  The big push from this one was to go with a plant based diet and for the most part eliminate meat.  I'm good with the plant part, but I do not see the point in completely eliminating meat from my diet.  I'm an omnivore.  I eat both.  The point that the film did not address was how has the meat been treated/produced.  In the sense of the mass produced, assembly line meat farm, yes I would give up meat.  But the real stuff, the pasture raised, let it grow on it's own GOD given time meat, that's what I do not want to give up.  


I do not know if I have expressed myself clearly enough.  The point that I want to get across is to be aware of what you are putting into your body.  The adage is true, garbage in, garbage out.  The problem is that the 'out' part may be one of your internal organs that is failing.  I am making an effort to teach my kids not only proper eating habits, but also proper eating choices.  Unfortunately, this is something that needs to be taught across this country, but the big corporations seem to have this one tied up.  The whole food pyramid thing is messed up, the school lunch program is a joke, and even the 'healthy' options at restaurants really are not.  Food, Inc. touches on some of these topics. 


So, that is my sort of rant.  I guess that when you feel passionately about something, even mildly passionate, you will go on about it.  You may debate in the comments section.


Now go eat your apple.

Home schooling

Stephanie and I have talked at length about our children's education, what our thoughts are, plans and what we would do given different scenarios.  Thankfully, up to this point preschool has been wonderful, and due to my working at Heritage, we have not had to think twice about what school to send our kids to.  Given a different situation, we felt strongly that we would start them out with a bit of homeschooling.  I have not thought much about this until I read a friend's blog about how they home school their kids.  So, in the spirit of disseminating information, here is a recent post about their home school curriculum.  I hope that it is helpful should you be looking for some info or thinking about this option for your children.

The Maxwell 6: Loving Kindergarten and Second Grade!

In the spirit of the many ways that I lovingly call my wife a nerd in regards to her odd ball interests, I hereby dub Emily a home school nerd.  She admits it, one way or another.


Peace.

Clean the closet

So I got up the gumption to clean out my closet over the weekend, mostly at the prodding of my ever-so-loving wife.  It looks like a small area, but (after seeing and believing) I guess that I am really good at cramming a lot of stuff in a small space (let's just say you could not see my bed or the floor in my bedroom after pulling everything out).  

As a side note:  We have been very intentional in our purging in an effort to steer ourselves toward more simple living (and deny our inner pack rat).

So, things get really interesting when you play the 10 second game with that much stuff.  Crap to my wife.  Stuff.  It's my closet.  It's my stuff.  For those that may not be in the know, you have 10 seconds to decide what to do with the object that you have picked up.  Keep, toss, donate, etc.  Some items are easy; old papers to recycle (who needs that travel book from 2003 any ways).  Some items not; the poncho from Mexico that you never wear except for halloween every other year.  What really caught my attention was having to get rid of some clothes.  I really have only had to get rid of clothes because of being worn out or having holes.  This was one of the first times that I have had to get rid of clothes that do not fit anymore since, O, ....high school.  Yep, I still have, and wear, clothes from before I could legally operate a vehicle.  I have considered it pretty nice to only need to update because of style changes.  Don't get me wrong, this is not an 'I'm so fat' rant.  Really, I have just filled out some to what my wife would say is a 'Healthy Jason'.  Still, between the size changes, the 10 second rule (in regards to clothes, have I worn it in the past 3 months) and having "simplify, simplify" running through my head, I got rid of a bunch of clothes.  More than I have ever had to, more than I expected.  It's a weird feeling. 

Good news, I found the Magic 8 Ball.  I was not sure if I should keep it or not, so I asked if I should keep it.  'Yes' was the reply.  Talk about self preservation.

Yes, I do feel like this sometimes.

A reminder to have fun

Recently we had Dad's lunches at the Elementary School.  This is an opportunity for the dads to come eat lunch with their child(ren) and spend a little time with them at school.  I like it, because it kind of forces the dad out of the workplace and to come check out school during the day, not just during a practice or performance.  Of course I do have a different perspective since I work there, and am used to experiencing the daily tasks and routines.


I still went and had lunch with Caroline, and we had fun.


I was able to eat with her in the cafeteria on a day that she ordered her lunch (such a big girl), so she was able to show me the routine of getting in line to get the food, eating quietly and then socializing, cleaning up the mess and lining up.  Something that I did not know was the kitchen staff will prepare samples of fruits or vegetables that the children may not normally have to expose them to new things.  This is so COOL!  I was able to try spaghetti squash (so yummy).  All of the dads had to try some to be an example to the kids.  I embraced the opportunity, while some of the dads did not look so sure about themselves.


OK, I am hanging up on the boring stuff.


So after lunch we went back to the classroom for a few minutes to start a craft and (I am guessing here) to let the food settle before recess.  Did you catch that?  RECESS!  I was invited to go play with the class!  Not one to turn down a good romp around the playground, I followed that pretty, smiling face outside.  The second we were out of the doors, everyone took off running.  I had to sprint to keep up.  Soon I found myself clambering around the monkey bars, pushing kids on swings, lifting them up to the high bar and running races around the playground.  I was so lost in running with the herd (which kept me in the middle, not sure why :p), that when I finally did look up and catch a glimpse of the other dads that stayed for recess, I realized that either I was a hyper kinetic wound up individual, or these guys have forgotten how to have fun.  There they stood, gingerly pushing their kid on the swing or waiting by the slide for them to come down, all the while keeping an eye on their phone for the latest message or sport stat or something.  


But they were just standing there.  Idle.  Looking bored, not interested.


There I am with beads of sweat forming on my brow and am trying to catch my breath, 15 kindergartners surrounding me, laughing, squealing, calling for 'Caroline's dad' to run with them, lift them up, run with me.  Their joy, laughter, energy was contagious.  It fueled me, beckoning me to run faster, jump higher, smile wider.


And that's where the kids have it right.  Adults need to enjoy the moment, forget what else there is around you.


Play.  


Have fun.