[Edit: I’m adding some ice cream to this post because I had no idea how many people would be stopping in from the party. By the way, welcome! I’m Heather, and I love blogging about books! Care for some strawberry ice cream?]

You Are Strawberry Ice Cream

A bit shy and sensitive, you are sweet to the core. You often find yourself on the outside looking in. Insightful and pensive, you really understand how the world works. You are most compatible with chocolate chip ice cream.

I’m BACK!

How was your week? I can’t believe I took a whole week off from blogging. Well, here’s a good excuse to come back — there’s a humongous Ultimate Blog Party going on over at Janice and Susan’s 5 Minutes for Mom blog.

Adorable — they even decorated their home for the party with balloons and streamers, made party food, and dressed up their kids.

Here’s what you do if you want to join in the fun and be eligible to win FREE PRIZES. (Don’t we all love free things?)

You just write a post on your blog with a link back to the party, then add your name to the “Mr. Linky” set up on their site. And voila! You’re a party guest! Grab a grilled cheese sandwich and rock on.

Do any of you have a decluttering success story this week? As promised in my last post, I want to give somebody this free book — Too Much Stuff, by Kathryn Porter. Thank you to all of you who bravely shared your decluttering goals — I feel like we have a support group!

Mary of Relevant Blog, who has moved across the Atlantic twice in the past few years, says she’s a “decluttering fanatic,” but would like to get rid of some extra cups. She even has a great article online with In Touch Ministries full of tips for us stubborn packrats.

Deb of Mountain Musings is working on clearing out a space by a window in her bedroom to move a recliner so she can relax and get some reading/craft projects done. Sounds lovely!

Tonya of Raising Eagles is working on decluttering her study/office, which also must serve as an attic and storage room. She says, “I am confident that the Lord will help me … as He always does.” How encouraging!

Elle of Fall on the Grace is also in a decluttering mode, trying to pare down the abundance of children’s toys, which have been overflowing since Christmas. (I can definitely relate!)

Heather of Cool Zebras says she has been inspired by watching “Mission Organization” at her parents’ house. YEA! My mom is always telling me about the latest extreme organization makeovers on this show. I need to watch it too!

Liza of Liza’s Eyeview says the main area she wants to start with is the garage. Me too! Thanks for the support — it is NO FUN cleaning out a garage. We don’t even park our cars in ours right now because there’s a tractor and kids’ bikes and toys filling up all the space — but we need to do something about this!

Lisa asks us to “please pray” for her as she gets rid of clutter. She has found true joy in leading a preschool faith-based workshop and wants to keep going with this. She says, “Good luck to all of you with overwhelming emotions that literally seem to stack up around you!” So true! — our emotions are stacked up around us. What does this mean if we can get a handle on our clutter? Will we have a better handle on our emotions? (Praying for ya, Lisa!)

Connie is hoping to restore some order to her computer shelves and clean out some boxes in the basement from eight years’ worth of school teaching. Sounds like a great place for an educational yard sale! I’m sure there are many families who would be thrilled with a teacher’s cleanout!

Ruth of “It’s True,” Sighed Roo is also working on her office area. She’s been busy road-tripping to the beach, building up some great memories for her family!

Cmommy of Singalullaby says her goal is to “let it go,” when figuring out what to do with paperwork. Yes! This is also a problem I have — I think I’d better hang on to things, just in case. I also need to let it go!

OK … Drumroll please!

I put all of your names in a basket, and the name I drew to win the FREE book is…

CONNIE!

Congratulations, Connie! I’ll email you to get your snail mail address and get this book sent to you ASAP. And what a coincidence — we’ll both be down in our basements getting rid of clutter. YEA!

Well, I do not have a total success story from my decluttering goals this past week. I did clean out one kitchen cabinet — but I haven’t reorganized the craft supplies yet. I also spent several hours in the basement, and I took one trunkload of much-worn and beloved baby clothes to the Salvation Army. I was almost in tears when I handed the workers my boxes. It was like handing them a decade of my life!

But I felt better — FREE — as I drove away. I know I still have a long way to go, but in clearing out the past, I’m making room for the future (sounds corny, I know).

Here’s a quote from Kathryn Porter’s book, Too Much Stuff:

“With every piece of clutter that went out the door, I lost pounds of emotional weight. My soul felt lighter. Whatever feelings of comfort or happiness I derived from having too much stuff were multiplied by letting things go. I came to understand a new definition of the word freedom. My heart sensed God’s presence like never before. And I experienced a peace and clarity previously unknown to me” (from page 18).

Kathryn writes that her friends who came over to help her said this, “You can’t keep everything and keep a clean house.” This phrase became a mantra, something Kathryn repeated as she let go of the clutter that was robbing her of peace and joy.

You can’t keep everything and keep a clean house. (It has a nice rhythm, doesn’t it?)

Say this, as you give away your abundance to others. (And to the trash can!)

I know Connie will enjoy this book! I wish I could send one to all of you — it really is the best book I’ve read on this topic. So many books focus on the organizing itself — but this one goes to the heart of the matter, teaching you how to draw strength and power from God, through prayer.

Although I love FlyLady and her routines dearly, I think Kathryn’s book teaches us the spiritual principles we need to accomplish our goals — relying on PRAYER and God’s Word as the source of our emotional decluttering — which leads to freedom in the physical sense!

Well, I have a ton more things I need to catch up on since I’ve been “absent” for a week — but I’ll spread some linky love tomorrow (there’s been a ton going on in bloggityville that I’ve been wanting to tell you about).

Also! For a couple of days, I thought maybe I should quit blogging to make more time in my schedule for other things — but then I checked the mail one day, and I got a package from Taiwan full of treats for my family! From a blogging friend! I want to write a separate post about this — but let’s just say the timing could not have been more perfect because my kids thought this was the coolest thing ever.

One more thing happened relating to this — a Christian author wrote me yesterday wanting to know if I could help with some research for a book she was working on. Well, the book topic is not something I’m too familiar with, but I wrote her back and said one of you bloggee people has a total passion for this topic! So this author contacted the blogger I mentioned — and GUESS WHAT? They’re a perfect match. She wrote back and said in all-caps, “You ROCK!”

So I can’t quit. Because it’s fun to feel used by God to connect women to resources they need. Anyway! Thus the name, “Mom 2 Mom,” although I certainly don’t want to limit this to only moms.

I hope you have a great weekend — and don’t forget to head on over to the Ultimate Blog Party!

The jonquils are blooming out in our front yard. Yesterday, I was turning cartwheels outside.

I took this quiz today and discovered it’s official: I HAVE SPRING FEVER! Es tu?

You Belong in Spring

Optimistic, lively, and almost always happy with the world… You can truly appreciate the blooming nature of spring. Whether you’re planting flowers or dyeing Easter eggs, spring is definitely your season!

I watched this video a few weeks ago and wanted to post it after the new year. It’s a video of Amy of Gentle Whisper giving her first sermon. I “met” Amy through the Carnival of Beauty at some point last year and have enjoyed reading her blog.

This is a 12-minute video, which she bravely posted, and it’s great! She made some really, really good points about getting out of debt — and how to stay out. From a Biblical standpoint. Click here when you can manage to grab 12 minutes of quiet…

Kelsey at HolyMama! has finally shared why she’s so passionate about Breast Cancer Awareness. You can read her story here.

Every month, on the 17th of the month (or whenever works best for you), Kelsey is encouraging all of you ladies to do your BSE (breast self exam). That way, if you notice anything unusual, you won’t panic because it will only have been a month since you last checked.

If you join the club, you can put this groovy little button on your blog — and if you participate at least six months, you get a super-special Queen button that is so adorable, you must go see it on her site.

When a mother is worried sick for her child in the hospital at 2 in the morning, I want her to know that we’re here to share in her burden. When another is worried for the health of her husband, we’re here. When a man is broken under the pressure of the world, let’s bring him before God in prayer.

First, I’m asking that anyone who is interested in a ministry of prayer write me. I’ll be gathering a team together that will be emailed as the prayers come in. When we have a team established and growing, I would like to publish the first names only along with their locations, so that people will see the many voices around the world stretching their hands to our Lord.

I remember a time when my baby was deathly ill, but I found comfort in knowing that churches around the world were in prayer.

Secondly we have opened a new page for prayer, The Prayer Room. We will post prayers that come to us, or needs that we see on the net, and ask that those who wish to comment leave prayers and encouragement for them.

Click here to learn more about this new online prayer ministry.

The last two weeks have been very tough around here. My kids have had a stomach virus, and they’ve all missed at least three days of school. Today, I have a date with a bottle of bleach, if that gives you any kind of idea what it’s been like for me. FlyLady Friday, here I come.

In the midst of all the madness, I’ve made excuses about my dieting. I’m tired and stressed, so who cares if I eat these cookies/brownies/tortilla chips? I convinced myself that moms of preschoolers can’t diet because life is just too hard dealing with all the NOISE and messes from kids everywhere.

Then I got an email yesterday from one of my special, love-her-to-pieces college friends. I don’t hear from her all that often — we’re both busy raising families. The email subject: “You inspired me.”

When I opened it, she said she was browsing my blog and was intrigued by my post on the South Beach Diet.

She wrote:

You did such a good job describing it and how to make it easy with a family, that I immediately went to the library and got the book and an extra cookbook. [My husband] and I are trying the strict Phase 1 first to de-tox our bodies from all the sugar and carbs we crave so. Thanks for the encouragement.

OK. That was totally what I needed to hear. I mentioned how this diet was so much easier with an accountability partner. So now I don’t have just one — I have two. heh. No more excuses!

I went to the grocery store this morning and bought the low-fat cheese, salad, and tuna I need to keep me away from the carbs. While I was at it, being so bold in my shopping, I bought three new, matching sippy cups for my 21-month-old daughter. That’s all she needs. I came home and threw away all of her hand-me-down baby bottles. (deep breath here). I weaned her from nursing a year ago, and she uses a cup fine, but I was just being sentimental, seeing how sweet she looks carrying her little bottles around.

Well, we’re moving on.

That email was the boot spur I needed to get me back in the groove. I’m not going to give in to carbs and sugar and be sloppy and lazy into my 40s (which are not far away at all). YEA! I’m motivated again.

Thank you, sweet friend, if you check into my blog. This verse came to mind:

Shannon’s hosting a themed “heathy eating” edition of WFMW today over at Rocks in My Dryer. Yep, we’re all in this together, trying to work off those pounds that crept on during the holidays.

The only way I could get through all the stress of shopping, decorating, and going to parties was by eating loads of chocolate, alternating salty/sweet snacks, and drinking coffee. It got me through it, and now my stress is showing up on my waistline.

But what to do? My family doesn’t need to eat low-fat; only I do! In fact, my husband doesn’t like ANY food that has “low fat” on the label. If you’re a mom with a house full of kids, you know how pasta, rice, bread, and potatoes can stretch your food budget and make everybody feel satisfied. Yet all those starchy foods are what OUR bodies don’t need, if we’re trying to slim down.

So I’m heading back to The South Beach Diet — actually not the strict phase 1, but more of a phase 2. If you’ve never read this book, it’s a good one, and I’m sure your library has it.

You basically cut out those things I mentioned above: pasta, rice, bread, potatoes — and anything with sugar in it. Even fruit, if you want to do the strict phase 1 (which lasts for two weeks). You still eat plenty of dairy products, protein-rich foods, and vegetables. If you follow this plan and increase your exercise, you will easily drop ten pounds in two weeks. (And weirdly, you won’t be hungry for junk food. It somehow, mysteriously works, after a couple days of withdrawal).

Here’s what I do when I’m South Beaching, yet feeding my family regular meals. I buy about five of those salad bags a week, and this is what I base my meals on for lunch and dinner. I fix myself a HUGE bowl of salad and toss in everything I can — beans, tuna, cheese, raw veggies, etc.

For example, if I’m feeding my family chicken and rice, then I’ll put chicken on my salad and skip the rice. If they’re eating spaghetti with meaty/tomato sauce, then I’ll put the sauce right on my lettuce with some cheese. It’s tastes pretty good. What’s even better is that my energy goes up, and the numbers on the scale go down.

It’s hard to do this alone, though. It’s so helpful to have an accountability partner. One thing I really picked up from reading The South Beach Diet is the obesity-diabetes-heart disease connection. Being overweight is often just an outward sign of the havoc that our poor diets and sedentary lifestyles are wreaking on our bodies: especially our vascualar systems.

Heart disease is the #1 killer of women, not cancer. Yet 80% of heart disease can be prevented. The South Beach Diet explains it all. I’m still trying to drop my last stubborn 20 postpartum pounds — and the reason why I haven’t is because I’m carrying around my junk food addictions stuck right around my middle.

Well, it’s a new month, a new year, and I’m going to keep on trying. The South Beach Diet has worked for millions. And it works for me!

Club Mothers and Wives, Club M.A.W., is up and running, and I’d love for you to visit and tell me what you’re reading!

Author and mom, Michele Steinhauser, has started this new club for women — and she’s building a great community. Her site is based on rooms of the house, and I’m the club “MAW-derator” for … you guessed it. The Library!

There’s a discussion board set up, and I’d love for you to click on over and sign up, then join in the discussions. I’d love to know what you’re reading. To be honest, most of the books on my nightstand are new Christian books, what the publishers and publicists send me. But I’m also reading an older book for my ladies’ Bible study, as well as working through the Anne of Green Gables series … slowly.

How about you? If you’re reading a great book — or you’re the author of a great book, come tell us about it. Especially if you’re reading something older, a classic even, I’d love to know. Your advice will be much appreciated.

Michele Steinhauser is a gal with a huge heart, a mom of two boys, living in northern California. I met her in fall 2005 at the Glorieta Christian Writer’s Conference. We found ourselves sitting next to each other at breakfast one morning — and ended up becoming buddies.

She’s been such an encouragement to me the past year — and if you visit her new home at Club M.A.W. I’m sure you’ll know what I mean.

Hope to see you there!

My new issue of Today’s Christian Woman magazine arrived this week, and Elisa Morgan was on the cover. In her interview, editor Jane Johnson Struck asks her some tough questions, yet her answers are filled with encouragement. I hope you can read it here.

How I wish there had been a MOPS (Moms of Preschoolers) group in my area when my oldest child was born. I was desperate to be around other first-time moms, so I joined a church preschool moms group — but it wasn’t long before I realized the church was only a meeting place — the group really lacked a Christ-centered focus, so I didn’t stay in it for long.

If you’ve got a MOPS group in your area, I hope you can go! If you don’t, why not start one?

Here’s a snippet from this interview:

JJS asks: “Why is it important for older women to reach out to moms of preschoolers?”

Elisa Morgan answers: “It’s a mentoring opportunity. You have something to offer, even if you’re only a few months further down the road in parenting. But I think the younger generations have so much to teach us. There’s such mutuality in mentoring.

I want our world to remember the importance of those early mothering years. The purpose of those developmental tasks, those close bonds we forge with our children, is to be able to launch individuals — ourselves included — who can make a wider investment in God’s kingdom.”

Laurel Wreath is collecting new year’s meditations here. I think today’s the last day, so I wanted to jump in.

I’ve thought about this for several weeks, and I finally sat down and wrote out my GOALS for 2007. I divided them into five categories:

1. God (Growing my faith and sharing it with others)
2. Family (Husband and children, extended)
3. Friends (local, distant)
4. Self (personal goals)
5. House (projects we’d like to accomplish this year around the house and yard)

Instead of posting this list though, I printed it out and put it in my journal. It will be something for me to refer to privately throughout the year. I’m excited to see how God will work in these areas of my life — and I’m going to commit to the discipline required to meet several of these goals.

It does me no good at all to write down vague, general goals without turning these into monthly, weekly, daily, and even hourly lists of tasks. I’ve not gone that far … but I do have daily lists that give my day structure and prevent me from thinking, “Where did all my time go?”

Discipline doesn’t come in the big areas; it comes in those tiny 15-minute increments where you decide whether to wash the breakfast dishes or “check email real quick.” I’ve lived and learned and am still in the midst of trying to be more disciplined with my time!

Here, I wanted to state publicly (for anyone who reads this) that my goal this year will be to put FIRST THINGS FIRST.

For me, here’s a choice I’ve made: I’m not going to read or write anything until I read my daily Bible passage and write a response in my journal. Even if I get up at 4 am to catch up on writing (which I do sometimes), I’m first going to pry open my eyes and read the day’s passage (which is reading the whole Bible in a year, chronologically). It’s too tempting to check email, check a blog or two — then suddenly the house is up, the day is off and running, and I haven’t read God’s Word for the day.

I love my new Bible, and I’ve made this fresh commitment, fully aware that this will cut into my writing time. But I’m praying God will bless it because my heart is to please Him by putting His Word first in my life.

Secondly, another FIRST THING FIRST is to take better care of my health, seriously. This means filling up with water all day (ten glasses for me, according to my weight), so that I don’t stay dehydrated and crazy for sugar. I knew I was starting to put on some weight last month — but I avoided the scale. That’s pure denial for me. I finally got on it Monday, and discovered to my horror that I’d gained six pounds! Nothing like a dose of reality to get me up and running. Literally.

Last month, after much prayer, I decided to turn my Lively Women blog over to someone else. Kristin King is the new b5 media blogger, and she’s doing a fantastic super-lively job over there! It was a great place for me, and I learned so much about women’s health and wellness through writing about it — but after six months, I realized that in order to be a lively woman, I needed to quit writing so much and go live it! In other words, get off the computer and go exercise.

I worked out at Curves this morning and had a great time laughing and swapping stories with the ladies who were working out there. I don’t know if I burned 500 calories, but it was a small step for me to get back in shape. I felt blah before I worked out and great afterward! I can’t go every day, but on the days I don’t go, I’m going to get back on my treadmill and RUN.

Running burns calories so much faster than walking, I’ve learned. And the simple truth to losing weight — no matter how many millions of diet plans are out there — is that you have to burn more calories than you consume. That’s it. If I had a safe place to run outside, I’d rather do that — but I don’t now. And today is cold and rainy where I live. I worked out at Curves while the rain came pouring down.

No more excuses!

Here’s what I’ve discovered:

God’s Word + Laughter + Exercise = Happy Me

Happy Me = Happy Family

Skipping God’s Word + Stress + Sugary, starchy foods = Unhappy, Frumpy Me

Unhappy, Frumpy Me = Unhappy Family

There you have it. It took 15 minutes of writing here for me to reduce my goals this year to three: Bible Reading, Laughter, and Exercise. Putting first things first.

Have you written your goals out yet? Are they measurable? Have you reduced them to daily tasks? Let’s encourage each other to take baby steps each day toward becoming the best we can be for the glory of God.

If you’d like to join in at Laurel Wreath, write your goals somewhere and leave a link here.