Family D&D Episode 1

To spice up family game night I decided to teach my kids about D&D.  We are going to start out using the starter kit.

The players are a 16 year old, 13 year old and an 11 year old.  The youngest has autism and is really into having fun and using her imagination.

The group managed to get through the goblin ambush and I have never laughed so hard.  Frank the fighter, the youngest character, is a bit twisted and laughed for 15 minutes after a goblin was stuck to a tree with an arrow.

I will slowly introduce each character and how each session goes.  It is wonderful to have this time with my kids and see them use their imagination and their logical thinking skills to solve problems together.

I can't wait to see what happens next.

Workouts

I can tell you that it is painful at the moment, but I know it will be worth it.  Well when it comes to working out there is no excuse for just going through the motions, yesterday was no exception.  I wasn't feeling up to working out, but after a day of trying to convince myself, I managed to get to the gym.

Once at the gym it is a transforming of the mind to accomplish great things that is the power of working out.  No I'm not lifting crazy heavy at this point or doing anything spectacular, but I can tell you that my mind switch into the I can do anything I want mode.  My mood changed and I hammered out some very nice sets.

The only other thing I wish I could bang out at this point is a the cold that I have, but at least for the time I was in the gym I felt great!

Dressing?

So I will ask the general public a question and see how it goes.  What is the best dressing for the Plant Power way of life?  Looking for some good ideas that will help make the lunch time salads more enjoyable and still hold to the philosophy.

Also important note during this entire adventure I will be keeping hydrated and make sure I get my daily rationing of water.  Seems essential, but can't put my finger on why.  ;-)

Plant Power

Been toying with the idea of doing a new lifestyle change in the way I eat.  Going to be giving this a try over the next several weeks to see how it goes, but everything I'm reading says it is very good for you and can result in higher energy.  I'm going to attempt to journal the journey, but traditionally I have been very bad at blogging or keeping a journal, so we shall see how far that goes.

Plant Power - http://www.richroll.com/uncategorized/the-rise-of-the-power-vegans/

Will I go whole "hog", not quite sure, but to start out I'm going to attempt a shake for breakfast and salad for lunch.  I think that will shock my body, in a good way.  From there the sky is the limit.  Looking forward to the experiment and hoping it does become the lifestyle change I believe I need.

Thank you Brian Schwind for being a big influence on me giving this a shot!

Father and Son Garden - The Beginning

Aidan, my middle son, wanted to start a garden this year and I thought it was a wonderful idea.  We had a great time going to Lowes and getting all the seeds we wanted.  We talked about plant science and how he would love to be a farmer.  He asked me how you start to be a farmer and I said he already is starting by planting a garden this year.

So with an excited 9 year old, we started planting.  It took about a half hour to get all the planting done, which was quality time with him as we talked about all kinds of topics.  We planted sweet corn, cucumber, onions, sweet peppers, tomatoes and eggplant.  He picked them all out himself, even though he doesn't like all of them he said that he will try them at least once.

We are going to document the progress each week to see how things come out.

Week 0:

Pursuit of Holiness (Chapters 13 and 14)

I thought I would start sharing the lessons I have been helping with at church.  The book we are studying is "The Pursuit of Holiness" by Jerry Bridges.  Below is an overview of the lesson and discussion that followed in class.

Chapter 13 Holiness and Our Wills

• It is the will that chooses to yield to temptation or to say no
• We must learn to bring our wills into submission and obedience to the will of God on a practical,, daily, hour-by hour basis
• Emotions get the upper hand and draw both reason and will from obedience to God

Below is a small example of what occurs with our emotions when we don’t seek God’s wisdom and help when dealing with our sinful nature.  The outward emotions, that are a result of this, are things that you can’t take back and in most cases are very damaging to others.  The example below is one from my personal evaluation.  I struggle with anger more than any other emotion.  The things that are said in anger are very hard to take back.

Only with God’s help can we fight this battle.  As I struggle with anger I realize the earlier I catch the emotion and seek help from God, the less likely that emotion is to explode outward and hurt those around me.  I still deal with that emotion on the inside.  We must all constantly filter our feeling through the Word and “set our hearts and MINDS on things above”.  I raise my hand first to show that I struggle with my emotions and relying on God to help.

Chapter 14 goes on to discuss habits and the 4 principles of habits.

By our very nature we are sinners.  We struggle with the evil that is in our hearts.  Changing our evils ways is a fight to say the least.  Habits are defined as prevailing disposition of character of a person’s thoughts and feelings.  Knowing we sin and have sinful habits is the first step, but we are called to throw off our old self.  Below is a principles to creating a new habit and in this case Godly habits.

Principles to a habit

1.  Frequent Repetition – doing it over and over until the new habit is second nature
2.  Never let an exception occur – “I’m too tired” or “I don’t have enough time” can’t be an excuse
3. Diligence in all areas is required to ensure success in one area – to break a habit make sure you don’t let other areas of your life fall back to your sinful nature
4. Don’t be discouraged by failure – The only time we fail is if we stop trying.  Get back up and start again, anything worth doing is worth the up and down of the journey.

It is very important to remember that “Breaking sinful habits must be done in cooperation with the Holy Spirit and in dependence upon God”.  “The battle for holiness must be fought on two fronts, without and within.  Only then will we see progress toward holiness”

There are quite a few good verses from the two chapters from this week.

Philippians 2:13

Man’s fall and the corruption

Ephesians 4:18

Ephesians 2:3

John 5:40

Growing process

Romans 12:2

Colossians 3:1

James 4:7

Compelling Forces

Ephesians 2:2

James 1:14

Guarding our minds

Proverbs 4:23

Philippians 2:12-13

Psalm 119:9

Proverbs 2:10-12

Proverbs 2:6

Proverbs 2:1-5

Habits

Romans 6:19

1 Timoth 4:7

Romans 8:13

There are many more, but thought I would stop there. 

Blessings to each of you