Tuesday, July 28, 2009

The great TV debate

Did y'all read Stuff Christians Like today. If you aren't reading this blog you are seriously missing out! I love it!

Anyway, the topic was judging Christians that watch TV. I really liked this message because it was something I really think a lot about. To be honest, I LOVE TV! I love HGTV, TLC, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, The View... I love it all. But, there is one thing I really struggle with. Almost every show I watch (except HGTV and the Duggars of course!) I totally have moral issues with. So, sometimes I ask myself this big question... If I couldn't mention church or the fact that I go to church, and I couldn't directly talk about God, would anyone be able to tell at all that I am a Christian? I guess I am wondering if I am totally blending in to this world and it scares me. And it scares me that a lot of the Christians I know, when I see them outside of a church building, I would never in a million years guess that they were Christians. And I have a feeling the same thing could be said about me. I am not saying I want to go out and buy myself a denim jumper and grow my hair out to my ankles and have 14 kids and raise chickens in a home with no electricity. I am not saying I want to ban every book from my home besides the Bible and every DVD from my children's collection that isn't Veggie Tales. I am just saying that at the end of the day I would love for people to look at my life as a little bit different.

That is just what I am thinking about today... thanks for listening to my randomness!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

It's Easy Being Green

Okay, so I am BY NO MEANS an expert on "living green"! Infact, I didn't even recycle when I lived in Nixa (please don't tell anyone! I know throwing away a can is shameful!)

Recently we were at the St. Louis Zoo and we stopped to watch a little presentation on Missouri animals. They showed us this big toad. The lady explained that he is so important to keeping mosquito and other populations down. However, many of these animals are dying off because of contaminants in their environment. People's cleaning chemicals are destroying them. It was a huge reminder on the beautiful and delicate balance God created for our earth. Every animal was so carefully planned to benefit the entire life system. So, I absolutely want to try to do my part to help protect my Creator's creation!

Here are some of the easy things I have been doing to "live green" for Jesus!
- I use reusable bags at the grocery store... so easy! If I get plastic ones I make sure I use them for trash liners and such. But, when possible I make sure to just dump all my trash into the biggest bag... I don't need a trash bag filled with 20 plastic bags! Plus, I LOVE my reusable bags from Trader Joe's, they are so cute!
- Use a reusable plastic water bottle... I bought an aluminum one which is awesome because it is BPA free so I know I am not ingesting nasty chemicals when I am trying to be healthy and it keeps my water cooler!
- I use natural cleaning products almost exclusively. I REALLY like the Method cleaning products they sell at Target. Aside from protecting the toads (haha) I love knowing that I can clean around my kids and not worry about the sometimes deadly side effects of them inhaling cleaning products!
- Okay, this is my new one and it is HARD for me... but when I am buying things (especially furniture or baby gear) I ask myself a few questions: Do I already have something that could work? Could I make something from things I already have? Can I buy this used? This is good for the environment and the pocket book!
- Turn off everything when not in use! I have taught Max to be my little helper in this area. He LOVES to turn off light switches so whenever we leave a room we try to turn off lights, c.d. players, tv's, etc.

Okay, I know those are small but those are my main ones. What do you do to live green for Jesus?