Posts Tagged ‘food’

I have had many people comment on Facebook, via e-mail and in conversation about how much they like the posts from the “Teaching Little Kyla” series. I’ll be posting more of those even though I’ve debated renaming the series, “Learning from Little Kyla.” I’m also going to add some posts on family dynamics and parenting for those of you who are young parents like us or for those who may be parents soon. Sarah and I hope our experience can be useful.

You can also expect some upcoming posts on environmental sustainability. My thought pattern for adding posts on family/parenting and creation care centers on the idea of stewardship. We have many things that have been given. A few of those include our family members, our bodies, and the earth. Those things which we have been given must be cared for and nurtured as an active response of gratitude (worship) toward God.

I sent an update through Twitter yesterdag evening that said, “how to get your kid to eat like this: http://twitgoo.com/px6cg coming soon to http://www.subversiveREFORMATION.com The picture below was attached. Here’s what worked for us:

1) No fast food.

Sarah and I disagree here a little bit. I’m for absolutely no fast food while Sarah suggests that moderation is the key (i.e. your kid won’t die by having a small order of fries once every two weeks).

2) Model healthy eating.

Don’t expect your kid to be healthy if you are not. A frequent late night snack of mine is steamed broccoli.

3) Plant a garden.

We turned around and Kyla was chomping on a whole tomato. Tomatoes are her favorite food and she is now very excited about planting a garden and growing her own food again this year.

4) Start with Veggies.

When Kyla was progressing through the toothless stages of baby food, we made sure that before we introduced any fruits that she was eating every kind of vegetable that we could sell or make.

5) Take your kid grocery shopping.

Let your little one pick out some things in the fresh fruit and vegetable section rather than the cookie aisle.

6) Stick to Cheerios.

Think of all the ways that sugar is introduced. One of those is by cereals. None of us really cereal other than whole grains. I love me some Lucky Charms and Frosted Flakes but I’ve been resisting the urge and doing Cheerios with Kyla.

7) Zero soda pop, no chocolate milk, and limit the juice.

Kyla is perfectly content with water, skim milk, and an occasional fruit juice (hopefully without high fructose corn syrup as the number 2 ingredient.

And… throw in a little flax seed and some lentils.

Give it a try. Your kids will love you for it — their lives will be better. It’s stewardship. It’s Christian.

Many MVNU students have been attending the Sunday morning gathering of Christians who call themselves "Journey Church." Here is the fifth (5th) of six (6) reasons why MVN(azarene)U students have been so highly attracted to the non-Nazarene gathering place that is Journey.

From post #4 of 6…
[There is also…]

5. The idea that everyone is doing it.

I’m not precisely sure what defines a trend except the idea that "everyone is doing it." After a discussion with my friends Nate Okuley and Lee Yowell in Nate’s car on the way to Hunan Garden for some dialogue and General Tso’s Chicken (insert another prepositional phrase here), I am offering a list of cultural and branding trends that exist within MVNU:

North Face : These branded jackets may be seen on many students walking around campus. I do wonder if North Face jackets worn in warmer spring and summer weather are symbols of one’s need for identity to be justified by a trend/brand.

Chipotle : I had never tried the oversized burrito from the McDonald’s Corporatio n owned mexican grill until I worked at MVNU. I will admit, I likes me some Chipotle even though I loathe McDonald’s and even have a hard time saying the last name of a certain clown named Ronald without having moderate to severe reflux in my esophageal tr act. Flour tortilla, rice, cilantro, chicken, onions, peppers, black beans, corn salsa, fresh tomato salsa, and cheese. Trendy and tasty for a mere 950 calories, 28.5 grams of fat, and 43% of my daily intake of iron. I heart you Chipotle (but I hate your mother).

Mac : The musical group/band/singer Feist would be relatively unknown if Mac had not used the now popu lar "1, 2, 3, 4" on a quite catchy advertisement for the th en new ipod nano (Am I supposed to capitalize the word "nano" or the "p" in "ipod?" What is the trend?). I confess that I do own a very nice, new generation, large capacity ipod Classic which I enjoy very much ("Classic" is capitalized just in case I got it wrong the first time. I want to be justified by my trendiness.). I also have MacBook envy. I have battled lust for the new aluminum cased media and online connectivity machine largely do to the slow proc essing and occasional random shut down of my now archaic HP Pavilion. I am also wanting to use iLife 09 for video and picture editing of my daughter, Kyla. I simply can’t quite justify spending $1299+ on a laptop when we’re trying to save and raise money to adopt internationally . It’s not easy fleeing green. "Tell me that you love me more. Buy me, Mac."

Journey Church : "If everyone’s going there and says it’s sweet then I’m going to go check it out." Is this a good enough reason? No previous connection with the gathered community? No theological research?

This of course leads me to the number one (#1) reason why MVNU students go to Journey…

TO BE CONTINUED.

^ This post is dedicated to Lee Yowell.