Life-WiP: Encouraging My Husband

My site had the warning for malware on it a few days ago. I had it checked out and there is no malware on my computer. Google said it might take a few days for the message to stop popping up, so that is why this post is delayed.


My life is a work-in-progress, hence Life-WiP. Every few weeks I'll share what I've been learning. I want to hear from you, too, so there will always be a question at the end for you to comment on life lessons that you've learned. This way, you can learn a bit about me and I about you.

As most of you know, my husband left his job as an overseas Christian school principal to start Taiwan Sunshine, a nonprofit organization for parents with special needs children. We've moved apartments, we've juggled the new budget, we've gotten two of the kids in school, and I'm working on starting to homeschool Jie Jie. 


Maybe many of you know this already, but starting an organization is S.L.O.W. Daily progress is just not visible. The whole experience can be a bit overwhelming and frustrating at times. We are both being stretched and challenged in ways we never imagined, but stretching and growing isn't a bad thing, just sometimes a bit painful in the process, right?


A few weeks ago I was convicted of my attitude. It wasn't Christ-like and loving. I was holding grudges and frustrated towards my husband. I apologized to him, of course.  Later that morning as I was having coffee with a good friend, I shared with her my conviction. She was great. She didn't mock me, she didn't scold me, and she didn't water down my conviction. Instead she challenged me. Challenged me to encourage him. I agreed that I could do that. I like to encourage people.


One day later, I was invited on Facebook by another friend who lives in the US to join her in the 30-Day Encourage Your Husband Challenge. She honestly had no idea of my conviction. I laughed with God and told him that I had gotten the clue. I joined and then invited my coffee drinking friend to participate with me. 


What I've learned so far:
1. I'm HORRIBLE at encouraging my husband! Seriously, horrible! Why is it that? 
2. That there is hope for me. I have improved from when I first started. Whew!
3. That encouragement can be so creative. I don't always have to say something, I can just be quiet. Sometimes a quiet mouth is better. Other ideas have been to make him his favorite iced coffee drink, take the girls away so he can have some quiet time, and watch a TV show with him. 




How about you? If you are married, what are someways you have encouraged your spouse recently? If you are not married, tell me your ideas anyway...I know you have ideas about encouraging others. 


*photo by Nationaal Archief from flicker

WiP and the BBQ

This past weekend was Labor Day in the US. We didn't really celebrate here, but I did celebrate at KarenG's Labor Day BBQ Blog Party. I had a lot of fun meeting other writing bloggers. Thanks Karen for hosting!

WiP: I have decided to officially shelve the ms that I wrote last year. It needs editing, but my mc is just not calling to me right now. I'm okay with that. Instead, I'm researching for a new wip - a nonfiction piece that I'm very excited about.

Other News: I've had article ideas pop into my head for magazine submissions. Just today I emailed a proposal to an editor for a local magazine. I'm very excited about having ideas because it seems like my brain has had no room for writing of any kind for months. Too much going on in the everyday life.

And one other piece of news that maybe even you might be interested in. I just found out over at Donna's Book Pub, about Chicken for the Soul's call out for stories. I'm thinking I might have a few short pieces that I could write up for that as well.

So, now to just sit down and get it started, right?

So, how did you spend your Labor Day weekend? What has kept you busy this week in the writing world? 

Book Review: Planting the Trees of Kenya

Planting the Trees of Kenya by Claire A. Nivola

This is a great little picture book about Wangari Maathai, first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.  This was on my FitG list, and I need to make a confession...I'm not sure why I put it on the list. With that said, though, I enjoyed it and learned something new. So, it was NOT a waste of time. 

You can find my full review here at Fill in the Gaps Project.

Taiwan Life and Fun: Wulai River

Wulai has become one of our favorite spots to go as a family. There is so much to do in this area, but we just go straight to the river. Maybe it is because we have a young family, but we don't even make it to the waterfall. This little spot works just fine for us, at least for this season of our life.

Photo by Erin Bowden

The great thing about this place is that you don't even need a car to get there. Public transportation takes about an hour. Here's how: Take the blue bus #849 from Roosevelt Road. Or you can take the MRT to the last station in Xindian and catch the bus there. It is the last bus stop, so you can't miss it. Once off the bus, walk up towards the village and take a left after the bridge. (We always stop at the 7-11 on the corner to pack up some drinks and snacks). Walk up the hill about five minutes or so. When the road begins to "Y" go into the building on the left side. It costs around 100nt/person to enter, but you are given some water, clean bathrooms and showers. There are a few free spots before this place where you can walk down stairs to the river, but no bathrooms. With kids, I prefer the bathrooms. ;)

The water here is clean and cool. There are small pools of water where the girls could splash around safely and there were areas where Marcus could jump off rocks into deep waters (or for my husband to do cannonballs from). Really, just a great place for a family to chill and relax during a hot and humid summer day.

Jie Jie enjoys mud bathing. 

GeGe contemplating a jump. 

Mei Mei with her fish...tiny little things that she
wanted to bring home as pets. =)

Life-WiP: Lesson of Slowing Down

 My life is a work-in-progress, hence Life-WiP.  Every few weeks I'll share about my life and what I've been learning. I want to hear from you, too, so there will always be a question at the end for you to comment on life lessons you've learned. In this way, you can learn a bit about me and I about you. 

A little over a month ago a friend shared her testimony at church about how God had used her time in the hospital to teach her about slowing life down. I sat in my chair and nodded in agreement. Yep, that is something I'm trying...I read that book on simplifying life...but not happening right now.

Then, a week later, I ran into a door, literally.  

I won't go into long details, but the door was heavy and swinging. 

I didn't see it and was running inside. 

Door swung out and made a great impact on my forehead.
Large goose egg. Which in Chinese I learned they call that bump a "duck egg".

Mild concussion.

Talk about feeling totally stupid...

I had to slow down dramatically. I was dizzy or light headed most of the time. 

But, I learned a few things about simplifying my life.

1. Simplify house chores. My kids are now old enough to help out, so they've been given a few more weekly chores to do then they previously had.

2. Simplify meals. Cereal for supper is okay once in a while. I'm back to making meal plans, but ones that are not elaborate.
3. Simplify Activities. I'm limiting what I can do in a day. I don't need to do it all, and I need to be okay with that.

It has almost been five weeks, and I'm feeling much better, but I still have to take afternoon naps almost daily. The one thing I will have to remember is to keep up this simple life once I'm back to "normal"...whatever that is.

So, do you live a simple life? What do you do to maintain that simple life?

WiP

I'm feeling like a student who really wants to do well in school, yet just can't get her act together.
Head down, pleading to the dust on the floor that I won't be called on for the answer, but, with a roaring siren, I hear it. I sigh, look up and think about answering with, "My dog ate it"....but I stammer and say:
Well, hmmm, I don't have much to report on the progress of my writing.

But, I've unpacked my books and put them on my shelf.

But, I've bookmarked some potential new magazine markets. (note bookmarked, not researched)

But, I've started again writing on this blog.

And, to add to the list of those excuses for not looking at my ms or any of my articles semi-ready for submission to magazines...I started a new blog, raising my TCKs. Yep, crazy I know. It is still in the baby stages, but I've managed to post a few articles there anyway.
The target audience is families raising kids overseas, hence the name.  If you want to check it out, I'd be grateful. If you promote it to any friends you might have that would have an interest in it, I'd be extremely grateful.

I'll still be posting here a few times a week and over there a few times a week. That should keep me fairly busy. But, I can't use that as an excuse for not writing for submission.
So, what have you been doing lately with your writing? I'm sure most of you are the 'A' student with work done in advance...and if you are, I still like you. *wink*  Keep going...I'll catch up with you sometime. =)


* photo by flickr

Book Review: Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze

Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis

This was one of the many books that I read this summer. It has been on my TBR shelf for a few years, so I put it on my FitG list to get it read.
I enjoyed reading about China in the 1920s from an author who had actually lived there during that time. The descriptions of the people and the city were easy to visualize.

If you want to read a full review, then you can go here on the FitG site.