5 Phrases That Will Truly Touch Your Husband’s Heart This Father’s Day

by Brandy Perry // June 12, 2017 // 1 Comment

I have been so frustrated the past couple years around Father’s Day when it comes time to pick out a card for my husband. It is hard to find a card that doesn’t make dads out to be some kind of idiotic lazy butt guy who can’t figure out which way is up or how to be a functioning parent. A lot of the cards make dad out to be a dufus who spends his time drinking beer and zoning out in front of the television. This is the highlight of his contribution to the family, and it is supposed to be funny. Sure, he’ll probably laugh it off if you hand him a card like this. But deep down, it speaks contempt and disrespect to him. And he won’t say anything to you about it. He may not even know how to communicate how it makes him feel. So he’ll laugh instead.

The other type of card that I often see is the one that looks like and is written like, it should be for a woman. This type probably sells well because a women tends to gravitate toward a card that she likes, that speaks love and appreciation in her language. It’s kinda frilly and froo-froo and gets her all excited and feeling lovey with lots of hearts and connection and oneness jargon. So because the card appeals to us, we continue innocently buying them for ourselves and then give them to our husbands. It’s a thoughtful gesture, but it doesn’t hit the mark. We women try and communicate love to our husbands in a way that we would like to receive love.

But for men, the way they receive love is through respect.

Respect can be kind of a foreign concept these days, so I thought I would highlight a few phrases to either look for in a Father’s Day card (which may be hard to find) or hand write in your own words to your husband this year.

Here they are:

I respect the fact that you work so hard to provide for our family.
I admire how present you are with the kids.
I really respect you as the father of our children.
Thank you for laying down your desires so we can have ours met.
I am proud to call you my husband/I am proud to be your wife.

I am guessing that as you read these, they didn’t really conjure up any strong positive emotional responses for you. No feelings of love and marital bliss and connectivity for you. Good! Perhaps they seem counter intuitive because they are not meant to be the language that speaks love and appreciation to a woman.

We don’t have to fully understand how respect meets our husband’s deepest soul needs; we just need to trust that respect is the language of his heart and go with it.

A note about respect…Maybe you feel like your husband is not worthy of your respect for “____” reason. But hear me out for a minute: his need for respect is comparable to your need for love. To cut him off from your respect is like him cutting you off from his love. Many men are dying in their marriages because their wives do not respect them. Or maybe they do, but they are ignorant in how to show it in a way that he understands. And admittedly, many women are dying in marriage as well because their husbands do not show them love. Although that is not the focus of this article, I did want to acknowledge the other side of the conflict.

My challenge to you: test out the language of respect starting this Father’s Day and see if he will not over time rise the occasion and become the respectable man you desire him to be. That’s a tall order for sure. But as Emerson Eggerichs (author of the book Love and Respect) puts it, when asked who is supposed to go first in loving or respecting the other spouse, whoever thinks of him or herself to be the most mature should go first.

7 Things You Need to Know Before Your Child Goes to Kindergarten

by Brandy Perry // August 4, 2016 // No Comments

Last fall, my oldest child started kindergarten. I anticipated it with lots of different emotions. A little nervousness. A little sadness. A little excitement. Lots of pride. Maybe you can relate? One thing that is for sure is how dramatically under prepared I was mentally and emotionally for how difficult of an adjustment it would be for us. I had no idea what was in store for us when I walked Addison up the stairs into the new building that she would spend the next hundreds of hours away from me.

So last school year I took note of the things I wish I would have known before we went into our first year of school with our oldest child.

Here’s what would have been nice to know before the school year started:

Your new kindergartner will be tired. And that is an understatement! I couldn’t believe how exhausted our little Addison was after a few days of school. This will be especially true if they go to kindergarten all day without nap or rest time, like ours did.
Because of the fatigue, you can expect some colossal meltdown moments. I started calling Thursdays “meltdown Thursday” because every week on Thursday there would be a whole new level of drama in store for us. It was also the day before the homework packet was due. Yay fun. I finally learned to have her do 75% of her homework on Monday, which helped.
Your child’s lunch will come home everyday practically untouched. I always wondered what on earth she was doing during lunch, because clearly she was not eating! But don’t worry, she’ll eat it on the way home in the car, and then she’ll also eat a bigger dinner than she ever ate before school started.
You will miss your child. If you stayed home with your child prior to them starting school, not seeing them for so much of the day may be sad. It was for me. But that’s motherhood isn’t it? It’s this continual process of letting go and watching them soar. The only word for that is bittersweet, and I’ve wished there were another way, but this is life.
The time away from your child could end up being a good thing for your relationship. For us, we butted heads some and the time apart allowed for sweeter times when we were together. We missed each other and were excited to spend time together after school.
Expect to become more intentional about spending quality time with your kindergartner after school. Addison could get in a mood when she got home from school and once I was able to get her to tell my why, she said that she needed more time with Mommy. Around here, we call that “special time”. So make sure you’re having plenty of special time with your child after being apart all day long.
The whole “worst end-of-the-school-year mom ever” thing is a real thing. After spring break, prepare to have your endurance tested. It gets hard to keep making the lunches, getting everyone fed and dressed (presentably) and out the door before 8am. Hang in there. Summer is right around the corner and before you know it, you’ll have a first grader.

I certainly don’t want to sound all doom and gloom and dramatic. All in all, her kindergarten year was a huge success and I have no regrets. I just wanted to share what we learned for any of you who will be placing your firstborn in kindergarten this upcoming school year. I hope it was helpful!

How Personalizing Scripture Will Change Your Life

by Brandy Perry // March 16, 2016 // No Comments

“And do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

Is there an area of your life that needs some work? A struggle that is recurring or a fault that you just can’t seem to overcome? We all have those, don’t we? It’s what makes us human. But do you know what else we have? We have the living Word of God. And what I want to share with you is how to apply His word in a way that leads to the transformation of our hearts and minds, which then leads to actions that are glorifying to Him, because “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he…” (Psalm 23:7a)

All scripture is God-breathed and has within it the power and grace to help during our time of need.

One of the most powerful things we can do with God’s word is to apply it to specific areas of our lives and see it do the work for us.

Hebrew 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Let’s take a closer look at the word “powerful” in this verse. In the Strong’s Concordance (#1756), this word means “energetic,” “at work,” “active.” It is the opposite of idle, inactive, ineffective. God’s word has so much powerful energy that is just waiting to be applied to our lives! This is great news!

So here is what I do to “activate” God’s word in my life:

I will pick an area of my life that needs attention. Let’s choose…being angry and yelling at our kids, since this is something I have been working on, and am making great strides using this approach.
I will then find some specific verses in scripture that deal with anger, short temper, patience, kindness, self-control, etc. Google is an excellent resource to find verses topically.
Here is one of the verses I chose:
- James 1:19-“So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
  
  This next part is the key. I put myself in the scripture and read it out loud like this, “I am quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”
I will say this out loud as many times and for as long as it takes to begin transforming my thoughts and mind. That is how God’s word works. Saying it out loud is very important. When we hear the spoken word of God, our faith in that word increases. In fact, whatever we hear most often is what we tend to believe. So let’s hear the word of God most often and let it transform what we believe!

I learned this approach back in my high school youth group when my youth pastors challenged us to take 1 Corinthians 13 and replace “love” with our own names. The famous collection of verse continues in verse 4 with “…Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely…” We were challenged to read the verses as follows, “…Brandy suffers long and is kind; Brandy does not envy; Brandy does not parade herself, is not puffed up; she does not behave rudely…”And although none of us could say that those statements are true about ourselves 100% of the time, it is something to aspire to. “For it is written, be holy because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16)

Guys, this is POW-ER-FUL! If God’s word is really as active, at work and energetic as He says it is, then we have a HUGE resource in our hands. And this is not about trying to manipulate God (not that this is possible anyway). It’s about applying this incredible resource that He has given us, that in turn effects actual change in our hearts, minds and actions.

Here are some other examples:

Colossians 3:15-“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts…” I say, “The peace of Christ rules in my heart.”

Isaiah 26:3-“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” I say, “He keeps me in perfect peace as my mind is stayed on Him, because I trust in Him.”

2 Timothy 1:7-“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” I say, “For God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” This one is so great when fear grips us. I recited this one for years very regularly until one day, I stopped walking in fear. I still have moments of fear, but I no longer walk in fear. I wholeheartedly believe it is because I applied God’s word to this area of my life.

This one I pray over my husband from Psalm 1:1-3. It goes like this, “Blessed is CJ, who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor does he stand in the path of sinners, not does he sit in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law, CJ meditates day and night. CJ shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever CJ does shall prosper.”

Get it? Isn’t this like the greatest resource ever? God gives us His powerful, energetic words of scripture that we can use to effect change in our lives! I would love to hear your testimony of how God’s word has been transforming your life and thinking!

Proof That God Is Crazy About His Kids

by Brandy Perry // March 7, 2016 // No Comments

My heart could burst sometimes when I look at my babies and I am so in love with them. Sometimes I am utterly and completely overwhelmed with how incredible and precious and beautiful they are. My heart fills to overflowing and I can’t contain how I feel. There are simply no words adequate enough to express this in full. As I write, I am gazing in awe at a picture of my precious Thea and thinking about how much this feeling is overtaking me.

Then my mind went to Father God. He’s my Daddy and I came from Him. Could He be feeling that same thing when He looks at me? Could He be so madly in love with my very existence too? The way I smile and laugh. How I am moved to compassion when I see someone who is hurting. How my eyebrows furrow when I am deep in thought, as I am often. Even how I get all out of whack when something doesn’t go as I think it should go. Could I possibly captivate the heart of the God of the universe?

What if God made and designed mothering to, in part, reveal this to us? It’s as if He is saying, “See! This is how I feel about you! This is what I think of you! When you fall head over heels in love with this precious little one, think of Me. Think of how much I love you.”

Mothering is a gift. From God to you and to me. I think He designed motherhood to speak of His undying, pure and sacrificial love for us to see in a tangible way in our life here on earth. There are certainly other ways as all of creation tells of His glory and wonder. But what is it about a mother and her baby, when the two are nose-to-nose lost in each others’ eyes? It is a picture of God the Father loving ever so tenderly on His beloved children who are safe in His arms. It is proof that God is crazy about His kids.

Psalm 103:13

As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.

(Quick side note study on the word “pities” in this verse-Hebrew word racham meaning: to love deeply, to feel or show compassion, to tenderly regard someone, to tenderly love (especially as parents love their infant child.))

10 Ways to Eliminate Waste in the Kitchen

by Brandy Perry // March 1, 2016 // No Comments

I HATE wasting food. I will usually finish my plate and sometimes my husband’s plate (and yes, sometimes my kids’ plates!) even if I’m no longer hungry just because I don’t want to throw out any food. If veggies have gone bad and I have no choice but to throw them away, I silently grieve as I toss them into the trash can. It truly breaks my heart when food has to be thrown out because it has gone bad. It reveals to me that either, a) I over shopped or, b) I didn’t follow my meal plan. I am also reminded that there are many people around the world and even in my own city, who don’t have the luxury of throwing food away. It is truly depressing.

Because I so dislike to throw away food, I have learned how to prevent it as much as possible. Here are my tips:

Make a meal plan and grocery list based off of the plan. I grocery shop twice a month on Friday. The Wednesday before shopping day I start thinking about what meals I am going to prepare for the next two weeks. I take an inventory of what I have in my pantry, fridge and freezer, and make a list of things I need. I include staple items like eggs, milk, bread, etc. Not only does this method help me stay organized, it also saves on money because I won’t be making random trips to the store as often. You know how we go in for those two things we need and come out with twenty things that we didn’t really need? If I follow my meal plan, I’m far less likely to do this.
Shop the pantry, fridge, and freezer first. It takes some creativity, but I can most likely pull together some meals using the food I already have on hand. Or maybe I only need one or two ingredients to finish off the meal. I also save money on groceries this way.
When buying perishables, only buy what you know you will consume. We can always go back and get fresh stuff if we find we need more.
Cut up or grate borderline produce and throw it in the freezer. I can always pull it out at a later time once I’ve come up with an idea for how to use it. Or I’ll use it for smoothies as well.
Make muffins and casseroles with borderline produce. You can make muffins and breakfast breads with carrots, sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, zucchini and others. And you can throw just about anything into a casserole. The recipes are endless and I find most of my ideas on Pinterest.
Eat leftovers for lunch or dinner the next day. Often on my meal plan, I will include a leftover night to clean out the fridge before making a new meal. Also, my husband primarily takes leftovers to work with him for lunch. Whatever you do, don’t toss the leftovers, unless it was a horribly inedible meal, which admittedly I have made a time or two.
Re purpose leftovers by creating a different meal using food from a previous meal. For example, if I make pot roast and veggies one night, I might make french dip sandwiches the next night. It feels like a whole new meal while we’re consuming leftovers at the same time!
Don’t get panicked about expiration dates. Just because it says on the milk to sell by 2/18, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it goes bad on that date. Usually food is still good quite a while after the sell by date, especially if it has not been opened. You should be able to finish off the gallon of milk even if it takes a couple days past the sell by date.
If the kids have a problem with dinner, they get it the next morning for breakfast. The philosophy in our home is that we eat what is served to us. I know everyone has preferences and things they really don’t like. But when they “really don’t like” dinner every night for weeks on end, an unhealthy pattern is likely developing. So if they don’t want to eat what I make for dinner, they often get it for breakfast the following morning. The same goes for breakfast. If they don’t like breakfast, they eat it for lunch.
Share with others. If you have an over abundance of something that you know your family will not eat, ask around and see if there is someone with whom you can share. Most people won’t pass up free food!

One last tip:

The freezer is your saving grace! You can freeze just about anything.

There you have it! Using these tips, we have significantly reduced the amount of food we waste, and I hope they help you do the same in your household. It’s about being a good steward of the many blessings we have been given!

4 Cardinal Rules for Baking Perfect Cookies

by Brandy Perry // February 17, 2016 // No Comments

Every once in a while (and by once in a while, I really mean weekly) I get this hankering for fresh baked cookies from scratch that I personally made because honestly, I am really picky about baked goods, cookies especially. Soon I get to work in my kitchen cranking out the good ‘ole famous chocolate chip recipe that I have come to know by memory. That’s how often I make these. That’s not a problem, is it? Okay good, glad we’re on the same page.

So anyway, I make this grand batch of fresh cookies that are really only fresh-tasting for a couple days max. And I’m kind of a stickler when it comes to eating cookies fresh out of the oven. So what do I do? I send them to work with the hubby. I think his coworkers have a love/hate relationship with me and my baking addiction. They beg my husband to ask me to make more and then talk about how evil I am while they’re stuffing their faces with said goodies. I will say that he never comes home with leftovers and says they typically vanish by 9am. Bunch of crazy cookie fanatics if you ask me.

Due to this overwhelming response, I have put together my 4 Cardinal Rules for baking perfect cookies. If you follow these steps, your cookies will be impeccable!

Cardinal Rule #1: Never, ever, EVER substitute anything for real butter. People, just, please. Don’t use margarine. Or shortening. Both are an abomination. I only ever use real butter in just about all baking. Even if a recipe calls for oil, I often use the same amount in melted butter. Butter is the best thing that happened in the universe of baking. It is God’s gift to bakers. Use it liberally and without apology.

Cardinal Rule #2: Speaking of butter, leave it out on the counter until it is soft. And I mean soft soft. DO NOT, under any circumstances, melt butter for cookies. The best way to get your butter just right is to plan ahead and leave it out to soften at room temperature. But if you’re not a planner or suddenly decide on a whim that you must have cookies now and you’re not into the prepackaged thing, you may resort to the put-it-in-the-microwave-and-watch-VERY-closely method until it resembles butter that has been sitting at room temperature for several hours. Softening butter in the microwave is a very delicate process. Do not rush and please reduce the power to around 50-60%.

This is how the butter should look if you gently mash it with a fork.

Cardinal Rule #3: ALWAYS do a test cookie before dropping the entire bowl of dough into balls on the cookie sheet. The reason for this is that you will very likely need to add more flour if you want maximum puffiness. This is especially true for high altitude baking. It is devastating to discover this after you’ve already baked two full sheets of cookies that are now flat and inedible. So do a test run cookie (BEFORE adding extra flour) and if it’s flatter than your heart’s content, add more flour 1/8-1/4 cup at a time. I typically end up adding 1/4 cup extra. Be careful to not add too much flour though because then your cookies will be stiff and uptight. And there is no fixing this mistake once it is made.

Cardinal Rule #4: Under bake. I can’t stress this one enough. Exact baking time will vary based on how large your dough balls are and how your oven bakes. I usually start at around 7-8 minutes and go up from there. When you take a peek at them in the oven and think to yourself, “Hmmm, those look like they’re pretty darn close to being done,” take them out now! You want them to be barely, barely turning golden, not full blown golden brown. By then, they have already reached the crunchy stage.

Take cookies out of the oven when they look like this!

There you have it–my Cardinal Rules for baking cookies. And here is my recipe:

Brandy’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour (for high altitude)
1 1/2 cups Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips (Ghiradelli chips are truly a must. Don’t cut corners here!)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat until fully incorporated. Add vanilla, salt and baking soda. Stir until fully incorporated. Add flour slowly and then chocolate chips. Dough should be stiff. Drop by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or an ungreased cookie sheet would also suffice.
Bake for 7-9 minutes or until just slightly golden brown.

Here is the finished product…Try out the recipe with my Cardinal Rules and let me know how they turn out!

Post Workout Chocolate Recovery Shake

by Brandy Perry // February 3, 2016 // No Comments

What’s your go to food and drink after a good work out? I usually desperately crave eggs. Always eggs. And then something sweet to replenish the sugars I just lost.

After a good work out, it’s important to consume a good amount of protein, especially after lifting weights. “How much protein you need after a training session is linked to how much protein you consume daily. According to the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, women need around 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight each day. This works out to 0.36 grams per pound. If you weigh 120 pounds, this means eating 43 grams per day. If you’re 150 pounds, then you should be eating 54 grams per day.” (cited here)

Are all proteins created equal?

The short answer: no. You’ll see all sorts of different protein ingredients. But the one you want for muscle building is whey protein. Even for women it is the best option. And no, whey protein will not turn us females into beastly man creatures with over sized muscles. We do not have the hormones that they have in order to bulk up like that, so if you were concerned about that, you can let yourself off the hook.

What whey protein will do is help with muscle soreness and getting that toned look you might desire.

We like to get a whey protein isolate and mix it into smoothies or even just into chocolate milk. I am cautious about getting other protein shake drink mixes that have a bunch of additives and fake sugars in them because I like to know that what is going into my body is good for my body.

So without further ado, here is one of my favorite post work out recovery drinks for you to try!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Recovery Shake

1 frozen sliced banana

A handful of greens (spinach-kale blend)

1 T. peanut butter

1 scoop plain whey protein powder

2 T. cocoa powder

1 T. (or more to taste) honey or maple syrup (optional)

1 cup milk or milk substitite

Blend all together and enjoy!

A note on blenders: Most blenders will do fine with the greens if you first mix just the greens and the liquid. If your shake is too leafy-chunky, try doing this before adding the other stuff to it.

Also, if you didn’t have time to prep the frozen bananas ahead of time, just do a non-frozen banana and add a handful of ice cubes to your smoothie.

I hope you like this one and have fun experimenting with different ingredients as well!

Do You Give Your Kids Too Many Chances?

by Brandy Perry // January 20, 2016 // 4 Comments

“Come here Johnny and pick up your toys! One…Two…Two and a half…Two and three quarters…THREE! That’s it…” And then the tired and likely fired up and angry by now parent doles out some punishment to the child, who knew exactly what he was doing by the way. We have all been guilty of being this parent. Maybe even within the past 30 minutes. We’ve all been here. No shame, my friend.

I do say guilty though because, yes, I believe we should not give our kids more than one chance to be obedient to what we say. Why? Well because if we give them an inch, they’ll take a mile! That being said, not one of us is a perfect parent. There are days when we’re tired or overdrawn or just can’t dig deep enough to get what we need in order to follow through with our kids. It happens to the best of us. But is first time obedience unattainable in general? Is it an unrealistic expectation to have of our kids?

I don’t think so. And actually, I think that if we give them too many chances to listen and be obedient, we are doing them, ourselves and our relationship with them a grave disservice.

Here’s what happens when we give our kids too many chances to obey:

We can get angry and lose self-control, potentially enforcing consequences when we are no longer in a healthy position to do so.
We show our kids that they have the power to control our emotions and reactions. They believe a lie that says mom and dad are not in control of themselves, but the kids are in control of their parents’ behavior.
We become weary of disciplining our kids quickly, which leads to a lack of follow through.
They get away with things they should not get away with.
We lose the opportunity to teach them how to be self-controlled when we do not model it for them.

Phew! That’s a lot! Are you still with me? Okay, good. It’s going to get better, I promise. Hang in there and keep reading.

The Turning Point

I have totally gotten stuck in this pattern before and to be frank, it’s still a struggle. Thankfully I did have a turning point though. My husband and I were talking awhile back about why I struggle so much with getting angry and frustrated when I finally put the kids in time out or (gasp!) spank them or take away the toy I told them a bazillion times to stop hitting against the wall, while he can do it all and generally be patient and in control and remain the immovable rock that he is. I wanted to get what he got so that I could handle discipline better. And you know what he told me? That I give the kids too many chances before I enforce the time out, spanking, whatever. That I need to enforce said consequence after the first infraction. That I need to do this every time.

Because the truth is, we train our kids to listen the third time, the tenth time, the first time.

The Plan

Hearing all of this from my loving husband was overwhelming for me, so we put together a plan. We came up with a list of infractions that the kids commonly make and assigned a corresponding consequence to each infraction. I wrote it down and put it somewhere I would see it easily while in a heated moment with one of the kids. The key is consistently enforcing the consequence after the first infraction. This will actually save us from losing control and becoming angry. Because who is really getting upset after the first verbal correction? I don’t know about you, but it takes a few times of my children either not responding or doing the opposite of what I’m asking of them before I get my panties in a wad. This plan is not only a course of disciplinary action. It is also a plan for holding onto our sanity and it preserves our relationship with our kids. And believe it or not, it actually works! They eventually figure out what happens when they don’t listen and obey and they (wait for it…) listen and obey!

The really hard and painful part of this is that we have to deal with our very own self-control. Someone once jokingly told me not to use language like that in front of them. It totally has a bad rap and understandably so–it causes pain to that part of us that does not want to feel pain, a.k.a., our flesh. I would liken self-control to a muscle in that the more it is worked and trained consistently over time, the stronger it gets. This applies to being self-controlled when responding to our kids as well. The more we practice consistency, the stronger we will become as parents. We will be able to control our tempers better and find healthy ways of dealing with frustration. I won’t tell you that it gets easier; I have not found this to be the case for me personally. It does get empowering though. We start to see our kids doing what we ask, we are no longer angry, and peace in the home results.

We can do hard things

I will add that consistency wears on us and most certainly has the potential to tire us out. It becomes full on endurance training, but we are capable of that. One thing to remember when feeling tired and weary is to make sure you have a good support system and make time with Jesus a non-negotiable priority. Running on empty only sets us up for failure. Of course this stuff is hard, but not impossible and it’s only damaging to our flesh. And one benefit is that we get godly character out of the deal. We can do hard things!

What about you, Beloved? Can you relate to me in this? Do you struggle with getting angry with your kids when they aren’t listening to you and obeying? Maybe now is the time to make a list of infractions and consequences and commit to consistency. I’m right alongside you in this race! Let’s finish strong together!

4 Tips to Make Exercising Work Out For You

by Brandy Perry // January 12, 2016 // No Comments

Let me preface this by first saying that I have not always been into working out. In fact, I used to be my own PR person for NOT working out. My husband would encourage me to join him in his exercise endeavors and I repeatedly declined because “I don’t need to work out”. And frankly, I didn’t want to either. Who wants to be gasping for air while in pain and then get so sore the next day that you can’t sit on the toilet without holding on for dear life? Not this sister. No way Jose. Since I couldn’t see the merit, I didn’t do it. Simple, right?

That is until I started having some health issues that were in large part due to a rough recovery after baby number three (see above photo). It was bad enough that I decided to try a gym membership after seeing over and over that exercise would help with the symptoms I was having. There’s a first time for everything.

So I dived head first into group fitness classes and couldn’t move very well for about two weeks, because let’s be honest, there’s no sugar coating how brutal the first two weeks are–I don’t care who you are. And then something miraculous happened… I fell in love with working out! Me, who hated it with every fiber of my being. Miracles do happen people.

New Year’s Resolutions

Being January and the season for New Year’s resolutions, I know a lot of people set physical fitness goals for the upcoming year. Maybe that’s you and you’re just getting started. Or perhaps you’re still thinking about it. Even so, I wanted to share with you all some things I have learned that have kept me committed to regular exercise and will hopefully encourage you as well.

1. Discover what you like

There is a work out program, method or regimen out there for everyone. Try out some different things. Maybe running isn’t your thing, but group fitness classes are. Or maybe you’ll find that running the trails in your area is perfect for you. Every runner I know loves running and many have said that they learned to love it over time. Do you have rhythm? Maybe try Zumba or Jazzercise or some other aerobics class that incorporates dancing. If you like doing your own work outs and can’t get out of the house regularly, you can do it at home. There is a good free online resource called Fitness Blender that can help get you started. This is also a great option for those with budgetary restrictions. And of course there is the gym membership, which I highly recommend if possible. Most gyms offer a wide variety of equipment and classes and also have childcare. You can get a little time to yourself and get a work out at the same time. Also, if you are financially committed, you are more likely to use the facility.

The key is to discover what you like to do. What works for one person may not work for another. And that is okay.

2. Be consistent

I know, I know. This is probably the hardest one because sometimes we just don’t want to! But really, we just have to suck it up and do it anyway, even when we don’t feel like it. This part is crucial in developing the habit of regular exercise. Once the habit is developed and our bodies acclimate to rigorous activity, we will actually start to crave it and feel icky when we fall out of the routine. But some days it is a mind over matter sort of thing and we just have to put on our big girl panties and do it!

3. Put it on the calendar

Time for exercise has to have a spot in our schedule that doesn’t get filled with other things. Obviously life happens. We have families and emergencies arise. Things are going to happen. What I’m saying is that we have to give working out its own space that we block off for only that purpose. If we don’t do this, it’s not gonna happen sister. There are a thousand other things that will take its place if we negotiate every time some other opportunity comes up. We wouldn’t schedule a coffee date with a friend and then right before, decide that something more appealing came up and we can’t make it. Treat your exercise time this way. It could be at a different time every day if need be, but put it on the calendar and commit to showing up.

4. Find a pal

This one is huge. If we know someone is going to ask if we’re coming to class tonight or how the morning run went, we’ll be more likely to keep our commitment. We’re less likely to stay in bed or stay at home if someone else is counting on us to be there because we wouldn’t want to disappoint them. So find someone who is like minded in their fitness goals and keep one another accountable to show up and follow through. Group fitness classes are great for this as well. And it can make the exercise experience more fun when we have friends at our side!

Did you make any New Year’s resolutions this year to exercise? If you did, I hope this helps as you explore how exercising can improve your life and health!

New Title, New Look, Same Author!

by Brandy Perry // January 4, 2016 // No Comments

Photo by Listener42

Hello All! What do you think of the new look? Do you like it? I think it suits me a bit better. Clean, pretty and simple is my style. And how about the new title?! That is kudos to my awesome hubby. He thought of “Lady of the House” as I was brainstorming and bouncing ideas off of him. I changed the title of my blog because I wanted it to do a better job of capturing the heart of my writing. I am a mom and I love writing to moms about motherhood. But mom is just one piece of my identity. I am also a woman, wife, daughter of God, sister, friend, lover of foods made from scratch and recently converted exercise fiend. I am the lady of my house!

I plan to broaden the horizon of what I write about and share with you all, so be on the lookout for topics such as marriage, baking and cooking, devotional posts, self care and more.

From my house to yours, I am excited to share my heart and thoughts with you! Please check out the Meet Brandy page!

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