Girls

(The cleaning is going great. I'll have to post some pictures of the scariness that was our house before. :) I wrote this post a while ago, so thought I'd just go ahead and post it on my "hiatus.")

Have I mentioned that I can't believe that I have 3 girls? :) Hmm, maybe I have mentioned that. ;)

I am loving it, but I still am quite puzzled by it all. Here's how I grew up...with boys. :) I had 2 girl cousins (one five years younger, the other 15 years younger)...and of course I had friends. But, none of us girls in my family had sisters. We all had at least one brother (2 of us had 2 brothers), but no sisters. We were definitely outnumbered, to say the least...on both sides of the family it was like that. I don't know...I just always envisioned that if we didn't have an even amount of boys and girls, we would have more boys than girls (for whatever reason, Joel envisioned the same). That still may be the case in the end you know, but right now, we're just still laughing at the thought of 3 daughters. I know...it's weird that we are doing that. But, that's just what thoughts will do to you...you expect one thing for whatever reason and get another and bam...you're laughing from the shock of it all.

This kind of has nothing to do with the above thoughts, but on the other hand, I do have 3 daughters. We all know that I prefer to be skinny. That's no secret. I prefer to be skinny because I prefer the way I feel when I'm thin. Clothes fit better, I look better, I am healthier, my joints don't ache, I can run around with the kids (or without them for that matter), I can do crazy stuff like hang upside down on the monkey bars with them (I could try that as a "bigger person" but it just wouldn't be comfortable I'm thinking). I personally don't think there is anything wrong with a preference to look a certain way (as long as your motives are right), esp. when it is the healthier option after all anyway and it is a better use of your body that God has given you (a stewardship issue in my mind...for me)...and as long as it is within your control.
**If you consider yourself to be a "bigger person," please do not think of this as condemnation from me. This is the way I feel about ME...not others. Lots of "bigger people" feel completely comfortable in their size.

That being said, there are certain things that don't need to be obsessed over when they are out of your control. I like to be thin (something that is controllable for me), but at the same time, growing up I never really liked that my feet were like 4 sizes too big for my body (they're not really, but that's how I felt). I had no...ahem...curves we'll just say. There are certain things about my body that I couldn't control that weren't exactly my favorite. For some it's freckles, for some it's hair, for some it's a birthmark...

Even though I was not exactly elated about those features on my body, it never held me back. For some reason...maybe it was something my parents did/instilled in me somehow...although I was tempted at times to be self-concious about it, I was never held back (sometimes through just shear determination)...it never altered my activities...who I was or what I did (although I do remember keeping my shoes or socks on a couple of times when everyone else took theirs off, but I determined soon not to do that even if I was tempted to).

I want to instill that in my girls too...all of my children of course, but this is kind of directed towards girls and many times girls have the hardest time with this. I saw this on another blog a while back and it just got me to thinking about this all...that's why I'm jabbering on about it. But, loved this video. Just wanted to share.

You men/boys are not allowed to watch this first video. Even though you are subjected to these kinds of "beauty images" all day every day, I do not want you to see it on my blog, although I love it for an ad that moms can see. So, men/boys, I'm telling you...DO NOT WATCH THIS VIDEO...I MEAN IT!! Skip down to the next one.



And, the oldie but goodie...