Are you Conforming or Transforming

The word conform literally means to take the same form as, to become similar, to be in line with. If you become more similar to what God wants, it is not a bad thing, but the problem with conforming is that it happens without you really doing anything - you slowly change over time into something else. Unfortunately you cannot become more similar to what God wants by not doing anything...

Have you ever sat in one position for a really long time - what happens when you do that? It all starts with your skin changing to the texture of the fabric you are sitting on. Next your limbs might fall asleep due to lack of circualtion. Your muscles may start to ache and eventually every time you move your joints will hurt. Your body actually becomes like whatever shape it is in or on. Similarly if you expose yourself to things of the world your thinking will slowly change to the same pattern.

Are you subconsciously conforming to something without realizing it. To some extent, we all are, but at the same time, we need to fight against it.

In order to reach the potential you must get up do something - if you always do what you have always done you will always get what you always got...

We are all bombarded on a daily basis with messages from this world. We are all under seige by the next best thing that is hoping to get a piece of our time.

In business there is a phrase called "share of wallet" which basically means if you have 20 bucks to spend how much of that wallet can their business convince you to send their way. In the world people are fighting for a share of your brain - how many minutes of your day can they take from you for their selfish purposes. We are constantly bombarded with music, advertisements, new tv shows and movies, books, magazines, text messages, phone calls, sports, kids, cleaning, exercise.

Do you have a goal in mind for how you want to use your time?

There is an ugly world out there and we need to fight against it... Whether it be movies, music, facebook, twitter, myspace we need to know our values and we need to stand firm.

Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind!

Ok sports moms… the game is 48 hours away. Have you thought about nutrition and hydration for your boys?

Ok sports moms… the game is 48 hours away. Have you thought about nutrition and hydration for your boys? Last Friday Tyler was cramping up pretty bad… and I am a pretty inexperienced football mom so I started to research what the causes of that could be and how I help him can prevent it… The research is actually pretty scary… there is some evidence that some of the recent deaths of College and Professional players resulted from heat related illnesses and dehydration.

In my research I found that the many boys that cramp up during football games have sweat over 2x as salty as those who do not cramp up in the game… There is a physiological reason why they are getting cramps! The body realizes you are thirsty when you are 2% dehydrated but reduced athletic performance starts when you are just 1% dehydrated… It is important that they keep drinking even if they are not thirsty! If they are thirsty that is a warning sign that they better get a drink because worse things are to come!

The challenge is… how can we overcome that problem? I have come up with a few things to try for starters…

1) Start hydrating at least 2 days in advance – Every day they should be drinking 8 glasses of water… 1-2 hours before practice or a game they should drink an extra 16 oz… 15 minutes before the game they should have another 16 oz…It is also important to continue drinking in the first 15 minutes of exercise because your muscles are working hard to replenish energy at this time. If the boys can weigh themselves before and after a game it would be helpful so they know how much water they have lost. They should drink 16 oz of fluid for every pound of weight lost during a game or practice.
2) My personal preference is to avoid sugary drinks for hydration… when you ingest sugar, it gets burned by your body… that is why people say burn calories… When things burn heat is produced… when heat is produced water is used up… drinking sugary drinks can have the opposite effect than what you intend when trying to get hydrated. I am also going to encourage Tyler to use electrolyte water for hydration – either Smart Water or Trader Joes brand which is a better price.
3) I also bought Tyler coconut water to drink before every game… It is even better for hydration than water… and has important electrolytes and antioxidents… There are many different brands – we are trying the GNC brand for starters.
4) Because my son is a cramper, I bought Gatorlytes Electrolyte Mix (from GNC) for him to drink during the game. It is specially formulated with a lot more sodium (780 mg) and potassium (400 mg) for those kids who are cramp prone. It is sold in packets so they can either add it to Gatoraid or plain water. Electrolytes are very important to the functioning of every cell in your body… you don’t want to mess around with not having enough. If you have too much they will leave your body when you use the toilet :) I am pretty sure Tyler will not like the taste but I think he will drink it if I tell him to… He is good about allowing me to torture him like that!
5) Day before the game eat nutritious high carb choices…Avoid high fat, fried foods, caffeine and alcohol (hopefully that isn't a problem with your teenagers)… make sure they drink plenty of fluids…
6) Gatoraid also makes pregame fuel snacks and after game recovery drinks… While we are trying things, I bought a box of pregame fuel bars and a couple after game recovery drinks…

Now for a quick prayer and it is time to start hydrating my boy!!! I know there are a lot of moms who have walked this path before me… Please let me know if you have found the silver bullet so we can add it to the regimine :)

Thanks for reading!!!
Nicki

Be-aware of the infamous highschool years

WOW!!! The infiltration of unGodliness in this world (even in our Christian schools) is worse than you can even imagine. I was recently out perusing my daughter’s MySpace and her friends Spaces as well… many of which I have known since ages as young as 3. I love them all – almost as if they were my own… and much of what I see breaks my heart and heightens my fear as we head into the infamous highschool years.

Luckily my daughter isn’t really into MySpace so there isn’t much action on her page, but on many of the kid’s pages there are comments from friends with occurrences of profanity over and over again. Many have so many comments you have to wonder if it is an addiction. On one friend’s page I was shocked to hear the most sexually explicit lyrics in a song that I have ever heard in my life – It was hard to listen to as one married for 15 years let alone from the innocent ears of 14-year-olds. On other pages I see pictures the kids have posted which are a bit more revealing than young girls (or anyone) should be. I read comments about boys in our Christian school who asked middle school girls if they would consider having sex. What an eye opener!!!

I’ve always strived to do what is right in raising my children – sending them to Christian school – carefully monitoring movies – attempting to censor tv – talking to my daughter about purity and waiting – even for the first kiss... Through all that hard work the sexual revolution is breaking through starting with some of the very children that I have come to know and love. I am not naive – I know it is going on and luckily I am engrained enough in her life that if something were going on that she didn’t share, her friends would let me in on the secret.

I am new with my own teenagers, but I have worked with youth since I was one myself! (nearly 15 years – how time flies). If I could give every parent tips for raising their teenagers, this is what I would say…

1) Get to know your teenager – (you need information to influence your children in making wise decisions)

• Talk to your child. What are their likes and dislikes? Who do they like or don’t like and why? What is their favorite music? What do they do on the net? What activities do they enjoy and when is the last time you participated in it with them?
• Play their Ipod on the stereo in the car – there is more trash in music that you realize… You should know what they are filling their head with. Music is the devil’s way to sneak into the lives and thoughts of our children.
• Ask about their friends, who do they eat with, personality traits, which boys and girls are discussing inappropriate things. Did you know even in Christian schools there is a table where the “perverted” kids sit for lunch?
• Go places with your teenager where their friends are present.
• If she goes online, find out where – Do not let them have a website or social networking site without having the password. Randomly go online and see what is said to them, what they are seeing and hearing on their friend’s sites, what they are posting on their page, what music they are choosing to market who they are and what they like.
• Randomly pick up their phone and read their text messages. They delete many messages or their space will fill up, but they should know that you are present and you care what is going on in their world.

2) Get to Know your Teenager’s Friends – (you will find out what your child is really like when you are not around)

• Hang out with them… If you do that they will get to know you and will share a lot of interesting facts about your child, about themselves, and about other kids in their circle.
• Listen to what they say to each other – this will give you insight into which friends you should encourage more contact with and which you should discourage contact with.

3) Be Accepting – (Make sure your child knows your position – but accept them and the choices they make – all decisions and consequences they make are ultimately theirs and if you want to be a part of their decisions you need to be accepting enough for them to share what is going on in their lives. As the Bible teaches make sure you train your teen in the way she should go and when they are grown they will not depart from it)

• I was asked many times when my daughter had her first boyfriend, “Do you let her have a boyfriend?” and my response was always “I am not sure it is a case of let or not let as much as it is a case of whether I want her to tell me about it or not…” Kids will do what they want and all you can do is be a good role model, lead, guide, and pray. The time will ultimately come when you are not present or when they can sneak away. That is the critical moment where they need to be equipped with knowing what is right and what is wrong. They need to know why they shouldn’t do things and be prepared and confident in making the decision to follow the straight and narrow path.

4) Lead, Guide, and Pray for your Teenager and for Wisdom