Monday Meditation - Exodus 5 - What Pharaoh taught me

In Exodus 5, Moses and Aaron ask Pharaoh to let the Israelites go sacrifice unto the Lord.  Pharaoh's response is no.  And then he tells the taskmasters to make the Israelites gather their own straw because, obviously, the Israelites must be idle since they feel they have enough time to go worship.

As I read this chapter, my first reaction was that people need time to worship and also to relax so they can rejuvenate.  Then I had an immediate weight of conviction put on me - how often do I do this with my family?  Thinking "Oh, you have time to play on your iPod?"  "How do you have time to play?"  "How can you get to do something fun while I'm always working?"  And then I normally ask/assign a family member to do a chore.  To be honest, it does seem like I'm doing all the work while everyone else is always relaxing/playing (except for the time that they are at work/school).  After seeing how I was being like Pharaoh.  I am now more conscious of the need for downtime for each member of our family, including me.  When I push for someone to do a chore, I'm striving to limit what I'm asking.  I'm also seeking to show by example that we work for a time and then relax for a time.  My girls will yell at me when I ask them to clean their room "but you're on the laptop" or "you're reading a book!".  Rather than simply telling them I'm their mother, I am pointing out to them all that I just accomplished.  Yes, they need to not talk back to me but they also need to learn that we get to relax/play after we work and they won't learn that if I don't explain it (again, and again, and again).

I'm not missing

No one has asked, but I wonder if anyone has been wondering what happened to this blog.  My family blog has also been neglected.

Throughout 2010, many of the blogs that I regularly follow have been focusing on minimizing - their homes and their lives.  This has also been one of my focuses.  I kept finding myself distracted by the computer/internet throughout the day and at times, neglecting my home, other duties, and sometimes my children.  With the start of the school year, I put myself on a schedule hoping to be able to get more things done and spend some time with my daughters.  Princess Naked Toes started Preschool for 4 half days each week.  About this same time, many other changes happened in my life.  One being I received a new calling at church (I'm now the secretary for the Relief Society in our ward).  Our Relief Society President gave a lesson on priorities and distractions based on a talk by Sis. Julie B. Beck.

All of this combined to tell me I needed to keep the computer turned off more - limiting my browsing time and even my "working" time on the computer.  I'm trying to keep the computer turned off throughout the morning, striving to only be on the computer while both girls are at school and after they've gone to bed, and even then limiting it to only 1/2 hr of browsing (facebook, blog reading and writing) during the afternoon and maybe an hour in the evening.  But this has not enough time to keep up the blogs - will try to improve upon that.  But I will say that I am liking the schedule I've established so far - as long as I stay to it.  I'm getting more things done that I need to get done - as long as I remember to look at my To Do list and prioritize it each day.

New Recipes

I think I have a nice arsenal of great recipes.  And then, I find something I really want to try.  And since I subscribe to several food blogs, I keep finding more.  Many of them are dessert recipes and I already have a recipes I'm looking at trying soon!

Caramel Apple Muffins

One-Bowl Pumpkin Bread (made with honey)

Baked Potato Soup

Lite Pasta

What recipes are you trying?