I know I know! I've been a very reluctant blogger. Sorry Rachel. I've been wanting to share something our family has started doing, but haven't had the chance as we have had visitors in our home for the past 3 weeks and it has been difficult finding the time.

In order to explain where I'm coming from, I want to start at the beginning. So bear with me and I'll see if I can make some sense of it all.

I have an "extreme" personality. (Surprise surprise!) By that, I mean I tend to take things to the extreme. For instance, in the past when I have worked out, I thought it important to work out for 2 hours or more everyday--6 days a week. (I'd do 7, but my dad convinced me when I was younger, that it was better to honor God and the Sabbath.) Anyway, I would get up at 4:30--another extreme--in order to get my workout (and a few other things) done before my kids would get up. All or nothing baby! I'd rather train for a marathon than a 5K, and truthfully, competing in the IronMan in Hawaii would be the ultimate thrill. When I was a swimmer, I swam butterfly because someone told me it was the most difficult. Sky diving and bungy jumping sound like fun to me, and in that same vein, I've always desired to be a very small size, even though as an adult, I've never been smaller than an 8.

It has been a life-long struggle of mine to keep my body at a "healthy" weight. I say "healthy" because my ideal of "healthy" is probably very "unhealthy". I fall victim to the world's view that I should be a size 2, which I have never been, and so no matter what size I am, whether an 8 or a 16, I am continually aiming for something smaller. It's sin, I know. I'm getting to that.

You know that commercial where the people walk around with a scale chained to their ankle to symbolize that they carry their weight with them wherever they go? Well, I could so relate to that. That is me. It is ALWAYS on my mind and it rules over me. I am confessing that as sin to you as I have confessed it over and over to God.

Raising a daughter, I realize how my "unhealthy" view of weight can negatively influence her. And this has forced me to try and find balance in my life, especially in this area. So, I have made a few changes. I want her to know that exercise is important, but that it is not "ALL-important". I don't want it to rule over her the way it has ruled over me.

Therefore, in order to find some balance, I have decided to implement a few small changes in our home. First, I asked Anna-Kate if she was interested in becoming my "work-out" partner? She excitedly said that she would. Now, three to five days a week, she joins me in the living room and we work out with an exercise video. (I've accumulated a few over the years.) None of them is over an hour long and we do it together. As a workout partner, she is a joy. She encourages me and she talks and giggles most of the time. We have a great time and sometimes even the boys join us. I've told her that by exercising, she's helping to keep her heart and her body "healthy". I try to avoid saying, "thin" because I don't want that to be her ultimate goal, even though it is still my struggle. (Feel free to pray for me in that area.)

Another small change we have implemented is that now, about 4 evenings a week, we take a family walk together after dinner. We are very privileged in that our back yard fence leads right into the playground of a neighborhood school. After dinner, we head out the back door and we walk around the school a couple of times. We start at the monkey bars, make our way over to a couple of hop-scotch boards where we all play it together. Addison has won every time. Then we head over to the playground where they run, climb, play and slide. Then we do it all again. The whole walk is about an hour. It isn't aerobic in the least, but it gets us off the couch and away from the tv. We connect with our kids as we talk, walk and play. It is one of the best things we have EVER done. When we tuck them into bed at night and ask them about their favorite part of the day, they almost always say "the walk". I encourage you to give it a try.

We took some pics the other night as we took our walk, so I thought I'd share. Enjoy!




























Here's to small changes & finding balance!