Work in progress

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 (ESV)

One of my major accomplishments that I haven't blogged about is that I finished making a shower curtain that I started about 10 years ago! It actually goes perfectly with the current bathroom wall color. A color, mind you, that was achieved by mixing together leftover paint to make enough to paint a bathroom. You would have thought that I had planned it that way.

[I would post a picture, but I'm afraid I won't get around to it and then I won't ever finish this post. :-)]

Well, it seems for every unfinished project, I have at least ten other ones ready to get started. And for each of those projects waiting to begin, another ten come up while researching for the other projects I had wanted to start.

And tonight, during my kitchen sink meditation, I came to terms with the fact that my life is an unfinished project. And so is my everyone else's. I need grace. Everyone needs grace. God's grace IS enough. Because, frankly, we all fail and make mistakes. But many times I live as if God set me aside and moved on to other, more important or exciting matters. Then my already intense life becomes quite unbearable trying to do better, picking up the "slack" God has apparently left behind.

I long to be complete, and one day I will be. But for the time being, I want to wait, rested, knowing that God is faithful to do it. And He will.

What kids are really saying...

Mom, may I play with the tinker toys?

really means

Mom, may I play with the tinker toys, blocks, train set, road set, and their respective storage containers?

Nurturing my budding entrepreneur

Last July, I went to a workshop about encouraging entrepreneurship in our kids. I was interested because one of my sons always has a bunch of ideas. So I figured this workshop would help me find a better way to respond to these ideas, rather than brushing them off.

One point that really stuck with me was that it was OK to fail. The speaker, Shirley Solis, shared her entrepreneurial endeavors before she and her husband became owners of Lifetime Books and Gifts. What I realized is that sometimes we can make mistakes along the way, but we can also take those experiences and learn what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. If anything, I realized how much my life had been consumed by trying to protect myself from failure or disappointment. Honestly, it wasn't working. In fact, it was flowing over into my parenting. I always had a reason for why my son's ideas would not work. Frankly, I was more concerned about whether it would affect his confidence if no one cared about his creations. But brushing his ideas off isn't much of a confidence builder either.

Just maybe this ambitious little guy is just like me. I too get carried away with a bunch of ideas. But most of them come and go without ever materializing, without affecting my confidence. Even when my ideas didn't become the next best thing, I really enjoyed the process. And so maybe it will be the same with him. Besides, I might miss out on some of the funniest moments in their lives.

How do you handle situations like this?

Another month goes by...

I can't believe it is the end of July already. What can I say... My hands are full. Or as my friend nicely put it, I'm outnumbered :-)
My little one is at a very mobile stage right now. It's funny because I started this blog when my other daughter was about 5 months old. But other than being outnumbered, my other kids don't nap anymore and I can't type as while nursing with a laptop like I could with the desktop. And I really have to spare the staying up later than I really should for a greater good than this blog.
But just in case you are wondering, I am still adjusting to our move. It has been great to get back together with old friends, the kind that you can go years without hearing from and then just continue where you left off. But the reality of living in a large metropolitan area is still sinking in. Thank God I have lived here before so it isn't a complete culture shock.
So, although I am not trying to ignore the past few years, I am trying to move on and make sense of "the now". I'd write more on that, but if I don't shut this computer off and go to sleep, it will do it for me (which means my battery doesn't hold much of a charge).

Wow, it's the end of June already.

Just to say that I did write a post in June :-)

From our nest to yours

Evidence of Love - Earth Day tribute

"Open your eyes and look upon the handiwork of God
Open your soul and feel the breath of glory all around
For everywhere there's evidence of love"

Evidence of Love -- First Call

The last two and a half years have been a journey with many unexpected twists and turns, both of joy and sorrow. Never before have I known the depth of the unfailing presence and love of God. What we thought would be a permanent residence in Northeast Ohio ended this past weekend. We are now taking refuge in the midatlantic region of United States. It is another bittersweet time. Our hearts long for what we left behind, yet we are also glad to reunite with family and old friends. Although we don't know where the future will take us, we are assured and comforted by God's presence. In the midst of our circumstances, God has once more provided evidence of His love, which is why I am writing this Earth Day tribute -- to honor her Creator.

So after that long introductory paragraph, I would like to keep the rest of my words short:

It appears we are not the only new tenants this weekend:

To my delight, we have front row seats to a robin's nest!
This discovery reminded me of Psalm 84. How appropriate at a time like this that God would provide once more evidence of His love through His creation.

Psalm 84 (ESV)

 ¹How lovely is your dwelling place,
   O LORD of hosts!
²My soul longs, yes, faints
   for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
   to the living God.
³Even the sparrow finds a home,
   and the swallow a nest for herself,
   where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
    my King and my God.
⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
   ever singing your praise!
                         Selah
⁵Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
⁶As they go through the Valley of Baca
   they make it a place of springs;
    the early rain also covers it with pools.
⁷They go from strength to strength;
   each one appears before God in Zion.
 ⁸O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
   give ear, O God of Jacob!
                         Selah

⁹ Behold our shield, O God;
   look on the face of your anointed!
¹⁰For a day in your courts is better
   than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
   than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
¹¹For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
   the LORD bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
   from those who walk uprightly.
¹²O LORD of hosts,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Given the public nature of this blog, I have no real idea of what my readers believe about God. When I take a good look at my life, I can truly say I am glad to have Jesus in it. May all who read this also find their joy in their Creator.

Princeton HFCS Study

My husband emailed me a press release about a Princeton study that found that rats who ate High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) gained more weight than rats fed sucrose.

Although I do not favor HFCS, this is not one study to rave about.

It is very important not to base my clinical judgement on what I hear in the media. Even if the press release says there is a significant finding. Although it is impossible for me to comb through every new study that comes out, there are other places I can rely on to at least get an idea about the study design. In this case, I looked to Dr. Marion Nestle of Food Politics: HFCS makes rats fat?

Registered Dietitian Blogfest

March 10, 2010 is National Registered Dietitian Day. To commemorate, Monika at InCyst Network and I are once again hosting the Registered Dietitian Blogfest. This year we asked the question, If you had one message to give, what would it be? If you are tired of information overload, I assure you that these posts will be helpful and encouraging. Maybe you will even find a new favorite blog.


Here are this year's contributions:

Beyond Prenatals (Debra) - Vitamin D in Pregnancy and Beyond
Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, MS, RD - Can Dietitians Have Real I.M.P.A.C.T?
Sandra Meyerowitz, MPH, RD, LD - Changes Worth Making Take Time
Carrie Miller - What Nebraska Dietitians Are Saying
National Dairy Council- Nutrient-rich foods build a healthy diet
Janel Ovrut MS RD LDN - My Top Tips for Registered Dietitian Day!
Heather Pierce, MS, RD, CDE - Enjoy Food
Robin Plotkin, RD, LD - Give a Kid a Fish, Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Kid to Fish, Feed Him for Life
Diane Preves, MS, RD - Only One Message
Elizabeth Rahavi, RD - The Art of Nutrition Messaging
Shelley A. Rael, MS RD LD - Food Is LIFE, Nutrition is HEALTHY Life
Kerry Robinson, RD - A Food Safety Message with IMPACT
Marianne Smith-Edge, MS, RD - RDs are the Premiere Food and Health Communicators
Kris Sollid, RD - Unintended Consequences of Simple Messaging
Angie Tillman, RD, CDE, LDN- Take Time to Care for Yourself

My kids are so deprived...

Of novelty stuff like cotton candy, for instance.

Today when our kids tried cotton candy for the first time, my three year old didn't want anything to do with it.

Granted, she has been going on an "I don't like this" by default stage right now, but she really seemed disgusted by the thought of tasting it. But you know, she has an aversion to dust and lint, so I think that explains her concern.

She did eventually taste it while ducking under the table. I wish I had the camera. And she did like it.

Distasteful Duties

Sometime or another, we all get worn down from the process of taking care of our families. My sometime or another has been this week. My friend Drea wrote a post today that encouraged me. Check it out.

What's it like to be a dietitian?

This afternoon, I received this comment from Kendra:

Renata,

I discovered your blog searching for "a day in the life of a dietitian". I'm going back to school and I'm seriously considering becoming a dietitian. I've done research on the education and job description of a dietitian but what I really need is a first hand account of what your average work day might be like. Can you describe the most challenging and rewarding aspects of your career? Thank you for this informative and inspiring blog.

Thank you Kendra for writing and I have decided the easiest way to address you questions would be to write up this post. This also will be helpful for others who are looking into becoming a dietitian too.

A day in a dietitian's life can be very different because there are a lot of ways to be a dietitian. One reason it is a great career choice is that it can often use your previous experiences and talents. For example, I found that my most fulfilling jobs before I was a dietitian was related to teaching. It turns out that my focus as a dietitian involves educating and facilitating. However,
I have not been practicing in the traditional career sense. It is much easier to describe a day in the life of a homeschooling mom at the moment. I'm not sure you'll get the answers you expected, but read on... you'll get your answers.

First, here are some things you need to consider:
Why are you thinking about dietetics? What is it about dietetics that interests you? And right now, how do you envision a day in your life would be if you were a dietitian?

Then, if you haven't already done so, read my post from the blogfest I co-hosted last year on National Registered Dietitian's day. There you will find links to at least 20 other dietitians showcasing their careers. If there is something about it that interests you, contact them too (if you haven't already).

I also encourage you to seek out dietitians in your area. I interviewed an RD at a local long term care (LTC) facility for my college's Junior English assignment. I asked similar questions you did and found it very helpful. I also decided that I didn't want to work in LTC. The RD I interviewed was wonderful, but the job description was not for me.

What is most rewarding? Being part of someone's journey towards healthier living. This can be done in simple ways, such as sharing a recipe that meets a dietary goal. Or it could be more elaborate, such as teaching a class. Given that people can't survive very long without food (and they will live better with good food), nutrition can be incorporated through daily living such as friendly conversation, community connections, etc. At this point of my life, my interaction is too limited to seek compensation. But there is plenty of opportunity out there for those who seek it.

Speaking of compensation, that is also the primary challenge. The average salary of a dietitian is quite modest compared to the level of education we have received, and we are lagging far behind other allied health professionals in insurance reimbursement. That being said, I think we are our greatest challenge. Marketing ourselves is a topic that deserves its own attention, but in a nutshell we need to learn the distinction between showcasing our work and showing off. The good news is that there are many dietitians meeting this challenge, and ready to support and encourage one another in the process. This is how the idea for the RD blogfest was born, and most likely why my blog ended up in your search results.

Well, I hope this has answered some of your questions. By what I was able to glean from your questions, you have been out of school for a bit. That is to your advantage as you have had more time to reflect upon what you want to do and you will be able to direct your experiences towards those goals. (Keeping in mind that goals and objectives get tweaked along the way.)

Hopefully, other dietitians and other nutrition professionals will chime in with their comments or write their own posts too.

Best wishes to you and to your future!

Talk to your kids about drugs...

...and what they tell you might surprise you.

My 7 y.o and I were going through his spelling list, with the word "drug" being one of them. As always, I asked him what he thinks the word means. He didn't know this one so I explained to him that a drug is another name for medicine. Then I proceeded to explain that drug is also a word for something that someone takes to feel good, but instead of helping their bodies, it can mess them up.

To which he eagerly responded, "like chocolate?"

Disclaimer: This post isn't intended to make light of the anti-drug campaign. I take that advice to heart and this is why this story came about. All ideas from my seven year old are of his own and does not necessarily reflect the position of his mother. :-)

Anybody out there?

I just found out that I didn't miss National Delurking Day this year!

I have mixed feelings about this imposition on you, but will you let me know you are reading? Especially if I know you in real life? I will still keep writing as I always have, but it's nice to know every now and then who actually reads this.

And then don't forget to read today's actual blog post if you haven't already.

Thanks for reading, whether you delurk or not.

To Be... Continued

Now that I have some hands free time (that unfortunately can't be devoted to sleep), I would like to follow up on my earlier post about being vs. doing.

Because even though the idea of writing "to be" goals was very profound, actually figuring out how to do it is another story.

But to start, I wrote down all the things that compose who I am. For example, I am a child of God, a woman, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a blogger, a dietitian, etc.

Then I wrote down some adjectives that I would like to describe myself, such as "gentle, loving, accessible, etc."

I also made a list of descriptions that I feel are good things, but compete with other more important things. "Efficient" is one of them.

I didn't want to focus on what I don't want to be, but it still kept coming up. So to ease my mind, I made a list that included things like "short tempered". But it does help, because I can identify the things that influence them, as well as find the antonym to them.

I don't know where this will all take me, but it is good to make that reflection. Now I am praying for wisdom to discern what matters most. So, this list isn't going to come together quickly. It may take all year and even a lifetime to refine.

So be it.

To be or not to be...

A few weeks ago, I heard a sermon from Chip Ingram that shed some insight on setting goals and objectives for our lives. He mentioned that many years ago, he wrote down some goals about the kind of person he wanted to be. He always puts these goals before him when he is scheduling things in his calendar. That way, he always pencils in activities that will work towards those goals. So if one of his goals is to be a great husband, then he pencils in breakfast with his wife on such and such a day, etc.

The beauty of this is that it goes beyond prioritizing daily activities from your to-do lists. It helps us understand the motivation behind why we do certain things and weeds out that which really is not important.

This is probably why I gave up years ago on my resolution to learn how to play the guitar. It would be so wonderful to pick up the guitar and break out in song, but it hasn't happened because it really didn't fit within my life goals.

And how many of us end the day or the year lamenting we aren't accomplishing much? First, have we ever stopped to think what defines our accomplishments? Or have our definitions come from others or what we think others define as accomplishments?

Along those lines, I once heard an interview with Scott A. Sandage, author of Born Losers, in which he explores the history of failure in America. His explanation of the premise of the book was what caught my attention. If I recall correctly, he was listening to his grandmother describe all the failures of her late husband's business ventures. After such a dismal account, she paused, then stated, "He was a good man." What caught Mr. Sandage's attention was that although he was an utter failure in many people's eyes, he was fondly remembered by his wife as a good man.

Hmmm... something to think about. Wait. Scott A. Sandage already did that for us so maybe we should just read his book :-)

So as the new year is always one time of reflection in our lives, step back and take stock of the kind of person you desire to be, especially in the eyes of our loving God. Write them down. These will be lifelong goals, not a to-do this year list. Over time, you can reflect upon whether you are growing in these areas or not.

Thank you for reading and have a happy and prosperous New Year!

By the way, if you are interested in listening to Chip Ingram's sermon, Develop Great Habits, you can purchase the MP3 from his website.