Dear Jaden (Age 6)

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Dear Jaden,

This past week you turned 6 years old.  I keep calling you "baby".... sorry about that.  You will, though, always be my baby.

You flew through Kindergarten this year, making a ton of friends along the way.  We are so thankful that you had an easy and fun year, and I cannot believe it's almost over.

You are still the cuddler in the family - you love to sit on laps, be hugged, be held, and climb into our bed - every. single. night.  But when you wrap your arms around my neck and lay between us, we smile and let you stay, because we know you are growing fast and you won't be there forever.

One of your favorite things to do is make people laugh (although it does get you in trouble sometimes). Whether you are sticking your booty out and dancing, singing "Hey, suxy lady" (that is how you say it), or singing funny songs - you are a silly boy.

You are also very sensitive and have a very soft heart. Words affect you deeply, as does a loud voice, and we have found that the best approach with you is to be gentle and patient.  When your feelings are hurt, it can affect you all day, and it takes a lot of hugs and reassurances to help you smile again.  That shows us that you are deep, and your love for others is just as deep, too.

We are proud of the boy you are becoming, and the life and joy you bring to our family.  Your innocence is inspiring, your wonder at the world makes us stop and breathe it all in.  When you find a roly-poly and yell, "Mom, I found another Jaden-poly!" or when you see a bird outside and say, "I named him Blackie!" or when you see a friend crying and go to comfort him, we see your heart.

When you are 16 or 36 and want to remember who you were at age 6, here are a few of your favorite things:

Favorite food: Pizza
Favorite sport: Basketball
Favorite thing to do at school:  Play
Favorite color: Green
Favorite toy: Beyblades
Favorite fruit: Strawberry
Favorite TV show/ cartoon: Lego Chima
Favorite thing to eat for lunch: sandwiches (peanut butter & jelly)
Favorite clothing item: My taco shirt
Favorite thing to fall asleep with:  My dolphin pillow pet
Favorite book: Chima
Favorite game: Lego.com
Favorite animal: cheetah
Favorite song:  Gangnam Style (seriously??)
Favorite snack: Apples
Best friend: Austin
Favorite cereal:  Lucky Charms
Favorite thing to do outside: Play basketball
Favorite drink: Orange Juice
Favorite holiday: Christmas
Favorite place to visit: Legoland
Favorite Bible story: Moses & the Ten Commandments
What do you want to be when you grow up? Police man
What do you love about our family? They are nice to me
Favorite thing to do with mommy: Play basketball
Favorite thing to do with daddy: Going to 7-11 with him to get Slurpees
Favorite thing to do with Micah: Play Legos

We love you!

Read last year's post:  A letter to my 5 year old

Blogger Interview: Renee Fisher

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Earlier this year I had a desire to interview other writers and bloggers every month to learn more about them and highlight their books and ministries.  Even in the preparation for this series, I have been so encouraged by their stories.  I can't wait to continue sharing them with you.

In March I interviewed Christin Slade, a blogger and author who is in the process of adopting two girls in Kenya, in addition to raising and homeschooling her 5 children.

This month I'd like to introduce you to Renee Fisher, an author and speaker whom I met at the Re:Write Conference last October.

The first thing that struck me about Renee was her fun and loving spirit.  I had the pleasure of working with her at the conference, and she was constantly networking other people and encouraging them.  When she approached me a few months later to start guest posting regularly for her at DevotionalDiva.com, I was more than honored.

Let's meet Renee!

1) Please tell us about yourself.
 
My name is Renee Fisher and I am happily married to my best friend Marc. After being single for over a decade, I welcome the new challenges and comforts of marriage. While I was single, I completed my college education through Biola University and wrote a couple books.

2) How did you get started writing? 

I got my start in writing by working at Good News, Etc., Newspaper based in North San Diego County. I was their office clerk and eventually got promoted to their monthly Music Column. My first interview was with Switchfoot because I had recently taken a History of Rock and Roll class. Through that, God opened up my heart to see that all my years of journal writing were not just for Him and me, but to be shared with others. That's also around the time I started blogging. 

3) Can you tell us about the books you have written, and which one is your personal favorite?

My first book, Faithbook of Jesus: Connecting with Jesus Daily is a one year devotional book and is a compilation of all my devotionals that I blogged over six years. It was so fun to rewrite and edit them and realize that God didn't waste a single word--even when I thought it was just a hobby. The second book I wrote, Not Another Dating Book was written to encourage my friends and I. After feeling like I would be single forever is when God brought Marc into my life, and in the midst of dating I ended up re-writing most of the book because (shocker) I had become much more bitter than I thought. My next two books I finished after we got married.  Loves Me Not just released, and Forgiving Others, Forgiving Me releases in July. Both written about heartbreak and the process of learning how to forgive others including yourself. 

4) What are some of the life experiences that have shaped who you are today?

When I was a young girl I developed general anxiety disorder and that taught me how to pray through my thoughts and all the lies the enemy made me to believe. Then in high school I developed severe eczema out of the blue, which took the skin off the top of my feet and face. I ended up in San Diego Children's Hospital and through that ordeal took another six years for my skin and body to fully recover, not to mention the 100 pounds I gained from taking Prednisone for my eczema. THAT is when I began reading the Bible daily and journaling at the age of 15. If I were to show you all my journals, and stack them on top of each other--would probably be over four feet!!

5) What message are you most passionate about sharing with others?
 
I am most passionate about sharing Christ with others and how they can have a daily (devotional) relationship with Him. This is something I believe is not only very important but saved my life, and kept me from committing suicide when my health made me feel like things were hopeless. Secondly, I am passionate about sharing my love story and how God can redeem our stories through a closer relationship with Him.
  
6) Can you tell us about one of the best speaking experiences you've ever had?
 
The BEST speaking experience I ever had was in Dallas, TX for Bishop T.D. Jake's church Potters House. I spoke to the young adult group called Brick House and I shared my testimony of faith and healing and got a standing ovation. I think I was only one of three white people in the room and have never felt God's presence (and energy) more powerfully than I ever have on that day!

_________________________

Renee has been a constant encouragement to me in my own writing and speaking career.  If you would like to connect with her, be sure to check out her webpage and Facebook page. You can be filled with encouragement at DevotionalDiva.com, and check out the articles she's written for Relevant Magazine, Start Marriage Right, FaithLifeWomen, IBelieve.com, and more!

Renee also leads the QuarterLife Conference for twenty-and-thirty-somethings, which is a FREE online conference with a great lineup of speakers.

You can also contact her if you are interested in booking her to speak at your church, or click on any of the links above to purchase any of her books.

Thank you, Renee, for sharing your life and heart with us!!  

5 Free Things To Do in the South Bay

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I have been blessed to live in the South Bay area of Los Angeles county for the past 11 years. The South Bay area is comprised of Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes, San Pedro, and many of the other cities joined to ours.  We are about 15 minutes north of Long Beach, and but south of the city of Los Angeles.

As Wikipedia states, "The South Bay is one of the most culturally, economically, and ethnically diverse areas in the United States, with a largely even distribution of the population across African, Asian/Pacific Islander, European and Latino ancestry." You will never be at a loss to find many Japanese restaurants, Hawaiian food (the main factory for King's Hawaiian bread is here), and other ethnic cuisines.

If you already live in the South Bay area of Los Angeles or are visiting soon, I want to share with you 5 places that you can visit for FREE.  All of them are places that locals told me about, and I'm so glad we went.

1) Terranea Resort.  Although Terranea is a beautiful hotel & golf course, they have their own private beach that the public can visit.  Parking is free, and you can follow the path down to an area with nice bathrooms and picnic benches with an amazing view of the ocean.  We have seen dolphins and whales from that vantage point many times. Follow the path a little further down and you will find the private beach. Although it is rocky and not the best place to swim, it is a great spot for kids to explore, throw rocks in the ocean, or just play in the sandy area above the rocks.  There are also some great places to eat on the property, including Nelsons.

2)  South Coast Botanical Gardens.  On the third Tuesday of every month, you can bring your family to the gardens for free admission.  This place is HUGE with a giant lake, a children's garden, tons of nature and many places to explore.  Pack a lunch and bring a picnic blanket, and plan on spending a few hours here.  Right now there is a Groupon available with 50% off a family pass, making it only $25 for a years admission!

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3) The Roundhouse Aquarium.  Located right at the end of the Manhattan Beach Pier, this aquarium only takes donations for entrance. It is a small, two-story aquarium with a good selection of fish for kids to see and touch.

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4) Hopkins Wilderness Park.  This is a beautiful campground and park nestled within the city of Redondo Beach.  You can see small wildlife and feed the ducks.  There are two ponds, and the pond at the far end of the park has a ton of turtles. Just be careful with your little ones; my son bent over to see the turtles and fell head-first into the pond when he was two!  (Note that they are closed on Wednesdays)

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5) The Sea Lab in Redondo Beach.  This spot is almost free - only $4 requested donation per family.  Be sure to bring quarters for the metered parking outside, too.  The Sea Lab is an educational aquarium.  My son's class took a field trip here and they had so much fun.  There are a ton of tanks, both inside and outside, of fish local to our area.  Be sure to take one of the guided tours where you will be able to get up close and personal with many of the fish.  Make a day of it and bring a sack lunch to eat on the sand afterwards - the Sea Lab is located right next to the water.

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I hope you get a chance to visit the South Bay someday; after all, we are only 20 minutes south of the LA Airport, and on your way to Disneyland!

If you are from this area, what other "hidden gems" in the South Bay would you recommend visiting?

A Few of My Favorite Things

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Oprah did it, now Ellen's doing it, so I thought I should jump in too!  I always love watching the shows about their favorite things, wishing I was in the audience, and crying with joy for the people who get to receive all of those gifts!  (Can you tell that gift-giving is my love language?) :)

So, here are "A Few of My Favorite Things" right now:

TV Shows

If you have not yet seen Call the Midwife,  it is my favorite show on TV right now.  As Wikipedia states, "The plot follows newly qualified midwife Jenny Lee and the work of midwives and the nuns of Nonnatus House, a nursing convent, coping with the medical problems in the deprived Poplar district of East London in the 1950s."   Based on true stories, Call the Midwife is on Sunday nights on PBS (which is not a cable channel), but you can also find the episodes online at PBS.com.

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I'm also a bit obsessed with American Idol right now. Aside from Nicki Minaj, who makes me want to throw stuff at my TV screen, I watch it solely for Angie Miller, the pastor's daughter from Massachusetts who is a worship leader and writes her own songs.  She is in the top 3 right now and I'm hoping she wins!  Check out this song she wrote and performed:

(I think Randy Jackson's "Wow" and "Really" comments are hilarious)

Music

I have been listening to Meredith Andrew's new album Worth it All, which is worship-driven and amazing.  If you need some encouragement today, listen to this:

Books

These days, I rarely finish a book I pick up to read.  Typically I read about 1/3 of my way through and find it in the bathroom 2 months later. But these two books are ones that I can hardly put down.

First, I found in my bookshelf the old classic Hinds Feet On High Placesby Hannah Hurnard. This book brings back a lot of memories for me since the last time I read it was probably in high school. It is such a powerful book, an allegory similar to Pilgrim's Progress, with a ton of life lessons.

Second, I'm reading Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids.  This book followed 400 youth group graduates to see what factors helped some of them stick with their faith, and what caused some of them to leave it behind (research has shown up to 80% of churched kids will leave their faith behind).  Their research is fascinating. They give a ton of tips for parents of young children to start developing sticky faith in their kids - it is a must read.

Food

I can't do a "My Favorite Things" post without mentioning my current favorite food.  There are lots of them, but I'll narrow it down to just one for right now:

Trader Joe's Coffee Bean Blast Ice Cream

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This contains just enough caffeine to keep you up all night if you eat it too late, so for me, this is a daytime treat!

Now it's your turn! Leave a comment and share with me one of your favorite things right now!

The Week of Scarlet Fever

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I knew something was wrong when Micah had a high fever of over 102 degrees for four days straight, and then he opened his mouth and I saw this:

In addition to "Strawberry Tongue" as it is called, he had white spots all over the roof and back of his mouth and complained "it feels like I'm swallowing nails."  Then the rash started - all over his chest and back, and it felt like sandpaper.  Google-mom that I am (which is not always a good thing), I soon realized that he had Scarlet Fever.

The first thing that came into my mind was Little Women, where Beth comes down with Scarlet Fever, and eventually...dies.  Then I thought of poor Mary Ingalls, whose blindness was blamed on Scarlet Fever (but new articles say that she actually did not go blind from Scarlet Fever at all, but rather viral meningoencephalis).  Well, that's good, I guess??  Anyway, I digress.

My mind did a few crazy things before realizing that we live in the 21st century, and I was reassured that antibiotics would surely do the trick and he'd be fine.  It is similar to strep throat, after all.

Anyway, after 3 days of missing school and still on 2 weeks of antibiotics, he is now completely recovered and doing great.

I wish that was the only thing that could explain my absence from blogging these past few weeks, but there have been a lot of other things going on around here too.

A girl I mentor just had a baby and I have been helping her with breastfeeding. It is so wonderful when new mothers start out with a great breastfeeding experience.  Usually the reason I am called is because things aren't going so well, so it is rare for me to get to work with a mom where everything is going perfectly.  I don't work in that field a lot anymore, but when I get to work with the ones I am closest to, it is a pure joy.  Here is the beauty named Willow who was just born:

I have been co-teaching two parenting classes at church, using Sacred Parenting and Sticky Faith as our curriculums. I will try to write more in depth about those, but highly recommend both of those books as reading for any parent.  Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids, in particular, has been life-changing for me personally and I can't recommend it enough.

This month I'm going to be catching up and posting on:

-My guest interview with Renee Fisher, author and speaker
-Mother's Day
-My visit to Dream Dinners
-A trip to the Legoland Hotel
and more... Thank you for your patience as I have been MIA!! :)

5 Minute Friday: Friend

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This week's 5 Minute Friday topic is "Friend."  We have 5 minutes to write the first thing that comes into our  mind when we hear the word - unscripted, unedited, and real. Here goes.

Friend.

I was 19 years old and at a college retreat feeling alone.  Everybody seemed to know someone, and I felt a bit like an outsider.  She saw me sitting on the couch and made herself comfortable next to me.  She started asking me about my life, my family, and my dreams. We realized we had so much in common that God must have brought us together.

It is now 17 years later.  We talk, text or communicate almost daily.  She gives me a look and I know what it means.  She wells up with tears and my eyes well up too.  We have our share of inside jokes that make us laugh until we cry.  We have loved, we have lived, we have mourned, we have struggled - through joys and triumphs, through pain and heartache.

I cannot imagine my life without her.  As opposites, we challenge each other, we sharpen each other - because we know the potential that each of us has.  We won't let the other one fall.

She is my friend, a gift from God to me. He knew what I needed that day when I was 19, and He knows what I need now.  I am so thankful for her.

My Apologies

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This morning I clicked on a video by Michael Hyatt called "3 Blogging Mistakes That Are Killing Your Traffic."  BAM! I was hit by the first mistake - inconsistent posting.  Yep! That's me!  When life gets busy, my blog takes a backseat.  Last month I promised that each month on the 15th I would bring you a blogger interview. My first interview with Christin Slade was so fun to do, and I learned so much about her, that I decided I wanted to do one each month.  Yet weeks went by and I forgot about it!  Then I remembered, and could not decide who to interview!  So rest assured, I have been working on that and the post will be here shortly.

In other news, as you are well aware, our nation has been hit by another string of tragedies this past week.  From the bombings in Boston, to serious flooding in the midwest, to the factory explosion in Texas, it's almost impossible not to know someone in one of these areas. My heart has been heavy the past few days.  My heart is heavy not only for the victims of these tragedies, but by the response to them as well.  Instead of really praying, we hurl out reasons why these things happened that are not helpful.  The worst responses I have seen have been from fellow Christians, quoting Scriptures about the end times and prophecies and how we've left God out of our government and "this is why!"

Those responses are not helpful.  They are not loving. They are insensitive and pointing-fingers-in-victim's-faces.  What is wrong with us that instead of mourning with those who mourn, we launch into diatribes about why this is happening?  It's why I refuse to listen to talk radio, watch cable news programs with commentary, or participate in these kinds of conversations. One of the best blogs I read on this topic was my friend Don's blog post called "Terrorized" where he says we have been caught up in the sensationalism of it all:  " I’m sickened by those who in one breath tell us that they are 'praying for Sandy Hook or Boston' and then quickly turn to Twitter for the latest body count and rumors."

I admit that I have been one of those people who has gotten caught up in the sensationalism of it all - and isn't it partly because we are bored with our own lives?  It feels good to be connected with the rest of the world in some way?  But then we spend more time in the news than we do in the Word, and more time calling our friends than truly calling on the One we need to.

I'm not saying the news is bad, or we shouldn't be informed of the latest updates. But where is our heart in all of this?  Do we really care, or are we just pretending to?  Because if we really care, then let's check how we are spending our time, and spend more time praying for them than reading about them.

Please share your thoughts on this - how do you balance staying informed with not getting wrapped up in the sensationalism of each event?

I have written a few other posts on tragedies in the past, and how we can learn to respond appropriately and walk our children through these events.  Take a look:

When a Killer is Close By
When the World is Falling Apart
Choosing Peace Over Fear
Joy Through Pain
Be the Body of Christ
The Power of Goodbye
Heaviness