That Mother Teresa...She Always Gets Me to Thinking

I'm inspired by the lives of those who forgo their own pursuit of happiness to seek the good of others, not just for good deed's sake, but to bring glory to the Creator of all the living by treating his masterpieces with dignity, honor and love. When we serve one another are we not serving him who made each of us? Reaching the heart of God is as simple and as accessible as reaching the unmet need of our fellow man, the one who lives near us, yes even our neighbor. 


My thoughts after seeing a program on Mother Teresa last night via Netflix stream. 

The Psalms

I had a thought about the Psalms today. When you read the Psalms, you realize just how foreign the words are to everything else we hear in the world around us. When do you hear someone expressing the attributes of God? When do you hear someone proclaiming their need for help from on high? When do you hear the kind of vulnerable language that is everywhere in the Psalms? When do you hear the high language of love and adoration towards our Creator just spoken or written? There is a gaping void in the Universe that the Psalms fill. It's just amazing to me.

Time to blog again

Hello blog world. It's me. I've been gone a long time. I think I have a little space for you in my life now. I have some quiet moments while my sweet Millie is sleeping and that's about it, but lets see if I can gracefully reenter your world again. I need to keep my memories and thoughts and experiences written down because my memory is just not as awesome as it has been in the past. In fact, my time perception is so rotten, I'm a little freaked out by it. When was that? When did that happen? Oh, some time in the past...a day, a week, a month, a month of weeks...grrrr.

So what's new? Well, I am working full time as a live in caregiver for a sweet 91 year old with dementia. Millie and I have been together for 3 plus years and it's just a perfect match! She used to live 7 minutes from my home, but now lives 97 minutes away, so I stay three nights a week and care for her four days and then I'm back to my busy household in Marysville where I mother six children and love on my husband of 18 1/2 years. The aforementioned husband is a furniture maker, a stay at home dad, and a part time volunteer staff member of our church. I have a senior and sophomore in public high school (this after 10 years of homeschooling), a middle schooler, two in elementary and one 24 month old surprise package known as Revellie.

I have a photography business on the side and I am enjoying exploring that creative side of me. I am totally loving theology right now and would love to go to seminary one day and become a chaplain and/or an author of books on living the Christian life.  I play flute at church, sing and help with our compassion ministries. I really have a heart for the persecuted church and for the orphan and widow problem in our world.

I am almost 42 (as old as Sesame Street, apparently) and I am on a quest to retrieve my health that was hijacked from me from our little wake-up-call that showed up after her mother had lost 90 pounds. I am forever grateful to the Lord for this new life in our world and I would not be the woman I am today if it wasn't for her unintended arrival. I would just like to be "less" of that woman in some respects, if you know what I mean.


So I am back. I am really praying that I don't return to this post in six months and find it alone, without any follow up, showing a life of good intentions not quite realized. But I have high hopes for some really good writing to be put down here. Come along for the journey if you'd like, I'd appreciate the company.

Two months....oh well.

Okay, so my boasting self declared new activity to be had on this blog but alas....my life has kept me from, well, MY LIFE! Ha! I am not whining. No. I am totally enjoying this thrill ride the Lord has me on. I get to hang out with some amazing young adults at HOP (House of Paine) each Tuesday night, as well as meet with different ones here and there as need arises, and boy does it ever arise! I also get to homeschool my 5 treasures! Oh my! What amazing young people they are. I made a book with my images and poetry/prose about them on blurb.com. I am very proud of it and of them. You can see the first 15 pages of it here.

I am taking care of Millie 3 mornings and 1 evening a week. Millie has mild dementia and needs help with meals and medication. My time with her is like an island of peace in my world. Selah.

I am playing flute and helping to lead worship at our church, Allen Creek Community Center. This makes me feel truly whole. When I am not involved in music in some capacity, especially worship, I feel a bit empty, a bit disjointed, like I left my left ear in the bathroom accidentally.

Hmmm, what else. Oh ya! I am married! He monopolizes my time quite a bit, thank the Lord! So please forgive me for being a two month slacker! Love you all.

Jules

Welcome back, self.

I have been gone a very, very, very long time from this blog. I have been growing people, losing weight, designing homeschool curriculum and living my mission and my dream. Sorry if anyone missed me. I have become "Mamma" to many new faces, thus I have a new identity. I am thinking about changing the layout of this blog all together. What's your opinion? Anyone still out there?

Jules

Photo by Reuben Paine "Hay fight"

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our Love

by Julie Paine

Our Love started in the heart of God
He knit us together, in our mother’s wombs
Our sweet mothers roamed the Earth,
Going to pre-natals at the same time,
In different states

My mom hated her doctor
He made her eat practically nothing
Salads
And natural breast feeding was never even discussed

Blake’s mom had a kinder experience
And she never considered NOT feeding her son
The way God intended

We grew up in the 70s
We discovered who we were in the 80s
We fell in love in the 90s
We married in my hometown church

We have lived in seven different homes
We have gone to ten different churches
Helped to start one of them
We were even on staff

With every home we have lived in
Excluding our first and our most recent
We have welcomed a new child into the world
7-2 = 5 children

We have been in love for over 15 years
We have been soul mates for just under 15 years
We have been parents for just under 14 years
We had no time alone before a little one showed up

Truly

But no regrets
We love our children with our lives
We home school them, we cherish them
We count them as our treasures above all treasures

Our love has grown
It has ebbed and flowed
It has accelerated and run out of gas
Occasionally

Our love has recreated us
Our intentions
Our dreams and desires
Our view of ourselves

We no longer live for just us
Or for our parents
Our peer groups
Our country

We live for one another
For our God
For our children
For our community as a whole

We have been institutionalized
We have been legalized
We have been galvanized
We have become super sized

I am just discovering
The soul of our marriage
I am learning how to make deposits
I am learning when to make withdrawals

Always building
Building this love
This masterpiece we were born to build

This is our love
This is our life
This is only the table of contents
So to speak.....

Children, if I've told once, I've told you a thousand times, You may not put the chicken in the pirate ship!

Blake's beautiful personalizing of the Lord's Prayer

My Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
HaShem*, Supernal God. Transcendent, revealed, known-yet altogether different.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
May my very being resonate clearly with You and from that flow freely in my speech, thoughts and actions. May the mundane activities of daily life become heavenly experiences. Moments that flow into other moments all incarnate with Christ in me.

Give us this day our daily bread
My very existence depends on Your desire to sustain me. With every event that transpires today may I have presence of mind body and spirit. Grant me the ongoing desire to know You and be known by You.

and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us
As I falter in my efforts and fall short of Your will, be gracious with me. I beg for Your continued mercy and hope that I might show that kind of mercy to others. I expect that others will disappoint and even offend me. Help me to respond to them in a way consistent with Your grace. My identity is in You, not in the responses of others. My being is in You. I am not what I do for a living. I am not what I drive or wear. I am not my accomplishments. I am me and that is ok. That is enough. Grant me clarity, give me focus.

lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil
As the deceiver and manipulator goes about his business, protect me and those I love from his exploits. If we get off the path, lead us back to You.

for You are the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
You are Ultimate Reality. You are the King of my life. In You resides all power. I bow before You and live to see Your glory manifest and Your name restored to its rightful place of honor. Blessed be Your name Hashem, God of the universe.

*Hashem is Hebrew for “The Name”

Blake put up our photo wall!

This just looks amazing, Blake! Thank you for spending literally hours figuring out the math and hanging this wall of family photos! It makes our whole living room come to life.

Mission statement

My mom is on the road again, which means I feel a need to keep her in touch with the happenings at Paine Central. So, hopefully, this will mean more blogging for poor, Poor White (neglected) Oprah.

It is interesting reading the heading for this blog and comparing it with some recent work I have done with defining my "mission statement". They are pretty similar in a lot of ways.

Here is what I have for my new mission statement:

My mission is to connect with the hearts of others and bring to light their true identity, walking with them as their burden is lifted.

connect=embrace
bring to light=illuminate
walking with them=burden bearer

It is so wonderful to have a simple mission statement that I can use as a measuring stick to decide if the activities that consume my time help me to accomplish my mission or keep me from it. It is a prioritizer. A mother of 5 needs a prioritizer.

When do I feel absolutely on top of the world?

* When my house if filled with people.

* When I connect with someone and they open up to me their greatest joys or hurts

* When my children love on me.

* When my husband is kind to me.

* When I am in a corporate worship time and God is EVERYWHERE!

* When I know that someone is blessed by something I personally did or said.

* When I can see my hopes for myself and others realized.

* When I can make someone laugh.

* When someone takes the time to call me, stop by, cross a room to talk to me, or remember the details of my life.

* When I drink an El Parisio Sunset Margaretta.

* When I come home to a clean house.

* When a bride or mom cries at the photos I took.

* When I see amazing art, hear amazing musicians, watch amazing athletes perform, when I notice beauty in the abilities of others.

I have a new photography website!

Hey! I am so excited! I have been taking professional portraits now for about 11 years. Over the last few years, people have been asking me if I have a website....well, now I do! It is simply http://www.juliepaine.com/ ! I am really on a high and revitalized to fill my calendar with some more photo shoots. Come check it out! I have added JC photos and field trip photos to the site. You can even buy copies of the photos online, directly from me!

Love, Jules

Went to Value Village for a Costume and found this Prom Dress!

Feeling beautiful and sexy and oh-my-gosh-I-could-have-never-gotten-away-with this-dress-70 lbs.-ago!!

This is Momma-Liscious!

Good habits to build on

I am starting anew today with reviving some of my Good Habits I have learned.

Habit #1 Measure out what I intend to eat, so I know exactly what is going into my body. No guesswork.

Habit #2 Write down what I eat.

Habit #3 Drink a 16 oz. glass of water after each trip to the potty.

Habit #4 Write down what I drink.

Habit #5 Exercise.

Habit #6 Write down what I accomplished during exercise.

Habit #7 Look forward to sharing my journal with my accountability group. (blog, PRISM group)

Kristina and I get into her size 22's.

"Does our combo butt look big in these pants???"

We both used to wear this size...22's! Now we both can wear 8's and 10's. We have worked our butts off...literally! Three cheers for us!

Sam Smith Park on a beautiful Fall day!

Note to Christian friends below: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

I published this post on my book blog, Fat or Fiction, and thought I would republish it here as it might have more of a readership.:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

Finished it this week with Reuben. Amazing. I sure wish my Christian friends could "get over" the magic stuff and see the amazing story written here. It is not about magic, that is just the vehicle or setting of the story. It is about relationships, laying your life down for those you love, choosing the hard road, doing the right thing even when it is painful, trust, discipline, faith, failing and then getting up again and becoming a better person, in a word, redemption. This book is about finding out your purpose and then fulfilling it, even when you don't have all the answers and allowing others to walk along side of you because none of us can do this thing called "life" alone. So many of the characters who had chosen a bad path saw the truth and turned back to the side of goodness. I loved how she wove this forgiveness and acceptance of those who came "home" to the truth. I loved how imperfect everyone was. No one was a superhero, they all fought together for freedom and justice and they won!


Some have said to me that they do not want to introduce magic to their children. If you have allowed Narnia or Lord of the Rings or even the Wizard of Oz into your children's lives, then please drop the "magic" protest and see what inspiration could be waiting for you and your children in these books. You won't regret it.

Six months of successful maintainence!

I have kept off 70 lbs. for six solid months, now. What a great feeling that is! I was putting on some clothes I just purchased the other day, and I was overwhelmed with the feeling of pride I had, slipping into my size 10 pants and my size medium shirt. Where did those numbers come from??? Is that really me? Is that really my reality???? What a blessing to be here, in the land of "normal". Ideally, I would like to be at my goal, which is 20 lbs away, but I am happy to be where I am now, looking back at how far I have traveled. I think learning the skill of maintaining a weight loss is a great feat in and of itself and I am giving myself a pat on the back here....I will move on when I am ready, I guess. I will know when the right time to lose the last 20 will be, just like Kristina, it will become my focus and my passion. But for now, I am so happy to see how far I have come and to be thankful and diligent to keep all my accomplishments intact. I will never go back. Never.



Love you all,

Jules

Reuben wins a costume contest at Harry Potter night

I made 25 meals for my family of 8 and they are awaiting consumption in my freezer!

I feel so empowered!! It took awhile, about 4 hours of shopping and about 8 hours of assembly time, but I have about 25 meals for 8 in my freezer! It feel so good and it has been fun having family meals together.

I must say, I had lots of help from my sweet sister, Danna. She is a rock star, at least to me! Thanks, Danna girl.

Check these out! If you are interested in this plan, go to www.savingdinner.com and check out their mega menu mailer. It is amazing.