Category Archives: Flexibility

Christianity, Flexibility

Be Quiet Together

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I am the kind of girl that is a tad bit loud to go along with my six foot frame.   Quiet time is not my strength, but it is becoming my strength.

As I journey through this year of blogging, and now moving, I am realizing that it is the quiet moments that I have with friends that are the most memorable and moving.

As a goodbye to a wonderful home, amazing neighbours and friends, I decided to host a yoga class in my empty house.   A wonderful “warrior” woman shared her gift of teaching, gift of yoga and gift of space and peace with us.

Here was my intention for the evening:

My hope is that this evening is a restful time for you and a celebration of all our new beginnings – large and small, chosen and not chosen, beautiful new beginnings. 

I pray with all my heart that you will always know love and grace, the love that allows your kids to run into your car on their bike and allows you the freedom to run over theirs.  Grace and love the surpasses all understanding. 

I pray that you know peace, peace of yoga, peace of skiing, paddling, time spent in Gods country, peace of being with people you love.

I pray that you always know pure joy.  Joy of eating together, reading together, Circle Park soccering together, wine drinking and laughing together.

I pray that you know your neighbours – incredibly caring, giving, loving, gracious neighbours.

I pray you know that there is a purpose and a plan to everything.  A beautiful patchwork quilt that has woven us all together and brought us together in this moment.

Lastly, I pray you know friendship. Friends who go along with crazy ideas for clubs, events, get togethers.  Friends who bake you gluten free treats and teach you how to bake.  Friends who share a piece of themselves, their struggles and their joys.  A friend who really wants all of you to do ZUMBA buy opts for a safe yoga class in her empty house.  Friends who walk with you during the early years of motherhood – whew!  Friends like you! 

I pray all these things as I trust in God with all my heart, leaning not on my own understanding.

In Jesus’ name, Amen. 

Cheers to ALL my Warrior women… to all of us in different seasons of life, but living it TOGETHER!  Peace and love to you ALL!

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Flexibility, Parenting, psychology

Be Taking The Cake

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Four years ago, I searched all over our small town for a sun hat. I was pumped when I found this hat until I brought it home.

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Sexy Neck refused to allow CC to wear this hat. I won’t share all the words expressed about this awesome hat, but ugly was one of them. Our son never wore the hat.

Three years ago, a very good friend Double D, had a baby girl. She was looking for a summer hat so I decided to pass on CC’s never worn hat. (Yes, I had kept it!)

Double D graciously took my generous gift, but again this hat never touched her beautiful little girl’s head. Instead it has become a three year joke where we pass it back and forth in hilarious ways.

Two days ago, Double D took the cake in returning the hat to me. (I had put it in her daughter’s third birthday gift a few weeks ago.)

Can you believe this?

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SHE HID THE HAT IN A CAKE! I had tears in my eyes when she handed me the cake she baked. I felt so grateful. I had tears in my eyes as I cut the cake. Our family was laughing and shaking our head at our brilliant friend.

I guess the hat will be hitting the dress-up box. How can I possibly top this cake?

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My boys modelling the hat for me.

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Why doesn’t anyone like my hat? I just think it is darling!

Book, Boys, Christianity, Family, Flexibility

Be A Declutterer

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I read in the Four Hour Work Week that we only use twenty percent of the things that we have.  Actually Tim Ferriss has an interesting perspective on the 80 20 rule.  Check him out:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_4-Hour_Workweek

The last three weeks, I have spent decluttering and going through our stuff so that we can put our house up for sale.

Here are the results:

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These are the main “kid” areas of our house and they were overflowing with toys.  There were toys on top of shelves, stuffed into corners.  Now everything has a place to go.  We had a great morning of playing and it was amazing to see my boys putting things back into their places (without being asked)!

All this decluttering makes me thinking of the verse in Matthew 16:19 where Jesus says: “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”  

I want to hold loosely to my stuff on earth because it is only “stuff”.

It is the people in my life that truly matter.  JC running into my arms after Kindergarten with a huge smile.  CC giving me his little smirk as he tells me a joke and baby OC’s squawk as he yells from the top of the bunkbed. Sexy Necks presence as he holds us all together!

Beautiful moments.

 

P.S. Don’t ask me to show you our parents basement where alot of this “stuff” has gone.  I am thinking we should just have a garage sale instead of moving it.  Cann boys, what do you think?

Flexibility, psychology

Be Stretched

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I’ve never been known for my ability to stretch. I have never been called Gumby! On my University volleyball team, I remember we used to laugh at my inability to touch my toes. I was called peg legged!

I know that I am not physically flexible, but I didn’t know how mentally inflexible I am!

I have been stretched. In the last six week, my husband has been injured, my physically home has changed, my boys have been sick and I have been holding onto to Jesus’ cloak asking for help.

Yesterday, my husband returned to the hospital because his suture was red and hot. Yes, he has an infection. He is now back on the couch at our house. We didn’t move back down the lake closer to his work. He can’t work for a few days.

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This sent me into an emotional tailspin – okay what now? Who goes where? Who is doing what and how can I get back to my yoga class?

It all “worked out”! But not before I almost had a meltdown because my expectations weren’t meeting up with reality. Boy have I been stretched!

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I may be able to touch my toes if this continues! I pray that I can!

Flexibility, Parenting, Self-help

Be a Panda in a Heat Gym

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Whenever I coach volleyball, my eldest son loves to come with me. He insists on wearing his “coaching” shirt which is a University of Alberta Pandas volleyball shirt. This shirt is precious to him (and me!) as it was given to him by my coach when I played. Her daughter had worn the shirt until she grew out of it.

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I love this shirt too! But last week, I was coaching at the University of British Columbia Okanagan Club Volleyball tryouts (Whew, that was a mouthful!). I chose my wardrobe carefully, wearing a Heat shirt of course! He wore his Panda shirt and I must admit that I received a comment from someone on the Heat coaching staff.

It made me realize how immune my son is to doing something simple that made someone else feel uncomfortable.

How often do I do the “comfortable” thing because I don’t want to offend anyone? How often do I do something because I don’t want to hurt someone’s feelings?

EVERY SINGLE DAY!

I am so outwardly focused on wondering and worrying about my actions or words and how they are perceived by people outside my immediate circle. My inner circle gets the “real” Joanna, but others get a watered-down “comfortable” version of Joanna.

This simple shirt incident made me realize that I need to be more like my five year old son. Every day, I need to put on my ‘coaching shirt’ of my choice, do my best and have fun! Sorry if it makes you feel uncomfortable!

Flexibility, psychology

Be Inconvenienced

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Isn’t this a strange photo today? This symbolizes my life at this particular moment.

Another symbol that I am reminded of is the verse in Luke where the woman had been bleeding for twelve years (I have been living in my current town for 12 years!!!), anyways, she came up behind Jesus and touched his cloak and immediately her bleeding stopped.

I am bleeding with my need to control the future and relive the mistakes of my past! I think things are going to go a certain way, but then “inconvenient” things happen – Sexy Neck tears his Achilles, my son is up all night, another son gets sick, someone says something negative to me and we uproot our entire life to move closer to my husband’s work. (These are just a few ‘recent’ events!)

The photo above was a symbol of my difficulty towards facing inconvenient events and my need to reach for Jesus’s cloak on this very day!

Last night, I put my purse on the brown chair. This morning, I could not find it anywhere. I relived every moment of yesterday trying to figure out if it was lost or stolen. I felt sick and was almost in tears all morning, as my Freitag purse is very sentimental but also contained many valuable things.

I waited til I picked up Sexy Neck from work then shared that I thought I lost my purse. How inconvenient! He simply responded – I think I put it up on a cupboard so that the boys wouldn’t get in it. Checkout the photo. Whew!

I realized that losing my purse was no big deal, but my response sure was! When inconvenient things happen, I need to keep my eyes UP to Jesus who can heal me and help me.

I need to realize that “Inconveniences are opportunities!”

P.S. Did you notice the little white toilet screw cover on the shelf? Our wee baby loves to take them off all and move them all over the house – inconvenient or opportunity?