36

In honor of turning 36 though, I thought I'd try and recap me at 36.  :)

1.  For the past year and a half, I have committed to waking up early to have my time.  And it has been life changing.

2.  I start my day by making hot tea (red, green or white...mmm) and pull out homemade protein bars (this recipe).  I sit down to do bible study, then plan my day, then check out email and Facebook and then get a quick workout from this Fit2B  My days are so much better when they start this way.
3.  I am a horrible decision maker. It takes me FOREVER to make up my mind about something important.
4.  I am 36 but most days I feel like I'm about 12.  How can I be raising 3 children?!  How did this happen?  And how did I get grey hair! And is it gray or grey?
5.  I really don't mind my age...this might change someday but age is a number.  We are that much closer to heaven!!!  I feel great.  I am so blessed and so thankful.
6.  I would love to write a post on "What every Jesus follower/lover wants everyone else to know"
7.  I really don't use the term "Christian" much. There are so many who flippantly call themselves Christian.  To carry the label of "Christ" on anything is huge.
8.  I hate church denominations.  Yup, HATE.  There is one church.
9.  I kinda miss my silly self.  I feel like since becoming a mom I've become more serious.  How do I get myself back?  Seriously, for the 1 person reading this, I want to know.  :)
10.  I wish I could pay someone to style me.  I just don't like (have time) to shop.  But I feel so much better when I am put together.  I love this girl's style.
11.  Decluttering is a hobby of mine.  A simple life for me brings peace and joy.  A to the Men! In fact I get so excited to get an empty box because it's waiting to be filled with junk I no longer want in our home.  (Yes, I know I am weird.)
12.  I would love to try a more minimalist lifestyle.  But there's something that holds me back.
13.  The Office is one of the few shows that can make me laugh out loud.  I need to watch it more.  I'm way too serious!

14.  Yeah, what I said about church denominations...what I will say is that I'm thankful for different types of churches.  I think it's awesome that the church body can have the very conservative to the tattooed up rockers for members.  Jesus made us different and I think that is AWESOME!
15.  I discovered a meal planning system that I love.  It makes planning our meals so easy and it even compiles a grocery list.  LOVE.  Check it out here
16.  I want to run a marathon someday.  I can tackle 13.1 miles, but 26.2.  That is a long way, and I want to know that I can push myself beyond what I thought I could ever do.  This documentary The Spirit of the Marathon always motivates me!
17.  I have recently gotten into more goal setting.  I find that as I age, I really want to push myself.
18.  One Thousand Gifts was my favorite book of this past year.  Life changing.  I was even applying the practice today as I was lamenting about doing chores with my children.  Then I pondered, "What if I didn't get to do this? I am so blessed to do life with them."
19.  Favorite movie of this past year:  Ragamuffin Amazing. Watch it.  I think most people paint Jesus as this prim and proper slicked down hair man who was always quiet and submissive to the culture.  He was a rebel.  I love how John Eldredge called him The Beautiful Outlaw.  Rich Mullins (who Ragamuffin was based on) had similar qualities.
20.  I think it's interesting that a lot of women my age are getting nose piercings.  But then I read something like this about a 30-something losing her identity and coloring her hair green and think, "Well, you go for it!"
21.  I am still a naturalist.  It just makes sense to me.  In fact, it's hard to understand why anyone would not want to be.  To use what God gives us to keep us happy and healthy, why not?
22.  I recently tried a new thing (I know Jason always wonders what wacky idea I'll come up with next..be scared, babe!) I used chamomile tea to highlight my hair.  You can learn more here.  I could see some lightening but more than that, it really softened my hair.  I would totally do it again.  Anything to weird out my husband.  ;)
23.  Speaking of being "weird" (in today's culture anyway), I love homebirth.  Going from what would've been a natural birth in a hospital that turned into an intervention filled c-section brought me to homebirth...something I never would've considered.
24.  With that said, I believe wholeheartedly that a woman should birth where she and her family feel most comfortable.
25.  With THAT said, I think most women would be amazed at how having a baby at home is just an INCREDIBLE  experience.
26.  I love being a mom of a little boy.  I never understood the mama/son bond until having Zech and I just love it.  I know, I know, someday he will only want to be with his daddy.  So I'm hanging on to every moment.
27.  We went to a homeschool convention in April.  I was surprised that my takeaway was not about teaching or discipline or even mothering.  It was that our marriage is first and we must live our marriage well for successful homeschooling.
28.  That convention completely flipped my mothering philosophy.  It was a bit much for my brain to take in and as I'm diving into a new philosophy (actually it's a very old philosophy that is being resurrected) I am finding so much freedom and joy and yes SIMPLICITY!
29.  I love house design.  I ponder being a realtor someday because I love it so much.  Or maybe be crazy and go into actual house design. Sarah Susanka is one of my favorite architects.  Check her out here.

30.  I am amazed how old my hands look!  Gosh, it seemed to happen overnight.  It's like BOOM, Whose hands are these?
31.  I'm shy.  I used to believe it was a personal flaw to be shy.  I hated it when people called me "shy" or "quiet".  I don't mind it anymore.  Maybe because I accept it and know it's ok to not be something different than I am.
32.  I still love living in a small town.  I love simplicity and small town life really makes it easy.  I like to visit the city, but I like to go home even more.   I don't know that I'll always be this way, but for this season of life, I couldn't be happier.
33.  With that said, I love the experience of living different places.  I've lived in the country, in cities, and now a small town.  I've never lived in a downtown city and I think that would be a fun experiment.  I truly believe though that I'd love that idea more in theory.  I'm always up for a new adventure though!  (But God, if you are listening, can we wait for that until the kids are grown?!)
34.  It's ironic to me that a lot of the "alternative" methods nowadays are actually very traditional, God-provided, not man-made.  Essential oils...using oils from God's earth can provide so much healing.  Using a clothes-line to dry clothes instead of a dryer that uses ton of energy (and $)! Drinking milk straight from a cow (blasphemy!)  Why do we think that man is more intelligent than God?

35.  I love minimalism and Costco.  Not sure how those 2 go together.  The dichotomy of me I guess.
36. I feel like I should end this on a more meaningful note, but well, to list 36 facts about me is a little daunting and this is all my sleep-deprived mind can find:  I love spontaneity.  But I hate unpredictable animals, insects.  I hate frogs, crickets, grasshoppers.  You just never know when they'll jump and it freaks me out.

END OF STORY.