The Pioneer Woman OK, OK, I’m wondering if I’m the only one out there who before today had never visited The Pioneer Woman’s Blog…I heard about her from my best friend back in Michigan about 3 years ago, but never visited til today…I must say I was impressed and inspired and I do admit feeling left out because I waited so long. I’d love to hear from you if you’ve been following her posts, what are your thoughts? What intrigues you about it? I fell in love with her instantly, her candid sense of humor, fun loving spirit and beautiful smiling face that invites you in to sit on the rocking chair on her porch and sip her iced coffee she just made for you… I no longer feel alone on my own life’s journey that has taken a huge turn I never thought I’d be facing. I’m about to become a pioneer woman myself or a farmer’s wife. You see, I was not one of those girls who dreamed about a farmer sweeping me off my feet in Michigan and taking me way out south to Texas to start a whole new life raising our children on a “farm”. Even as I write that word, I’m sure my face is scowling. I am coming to realize I have a lot of prejudices towards farmers and farming in general. Both sets of my grandparents were farmers; my parents both grew up in the farm life. It seemed fine and good for them, but I determined I wanted something better, something a little more fancy and I did not want to live in what looked like poverty to me, scraping by hand to mouth, getting dirty every day milking those cows and driving those tractors in the dusty fields. No sireee, that was not the life for me! Then I marry this strapping young farm boy who can throw an 80 pound bale like it’s nothing, a man who LOVES to get dirty and smelly and is happiest when he’s on a big tractor.

Here’s a photo of him farming in Africa starting a missions project with some of our best friends, having the time of his life without me and the kids…(really, it was ok with me that we didn’t go along, there was no running water or electricity for miles).

Watch for more of the story on tomorrow’s post…

So the question I’m asking myself is, “Can I really do this?  Do I have what it takes to be a pioneer woman, a farmer’s wife?”  What we are proposing to do is modern homesteading:  ie. sustainable living in the hill country building our home inside a hill, totally off the grid, using solar and wind to generate power.  The home we are looking at building uses earth sheltered technology similar to this photo:

We are also going to do a Greenhouse with Aquaponics in the Courtyard, in fact, my husband is going to be “The Aquaponics Man” teaching people and promoting it online and offline!  Does that mean I have to be The Aqauponics Woman?    Maybe we’ll be like the Incredibles Family…

I don’t know, it all is pretty weird to me.

My dream home is a Tuscany home in the hill country.  I’m hoping I can at least design the front of an earth home to look Tuscany with a nice courtyard.

We are planning to have a Hot tub inside the Greenhouse and an outdoor kitchen in the courtyard to cook and entertain guests.

We may raise honeybees and chickens, but probably not cows here, maybe goats.  We’d love to have some horses too on this “ranch”.  With Aquaponics, we’ll have plenty of fish and organic produce, but no one in the family really likes fish so maybe we’ll trade with someone who raises beef and trade produce for fresh raw milk.

Cob houses, this is another idea we are exploring right now but we’re not too fond of how it looks.

I am a person of action.

 Beginning today, I will create a new future by creating a new me.  No longer will I dwell in a pit of despair, moaning over squandered time and lost opportunity.  I can do nothing about the past.  My future is immediate.  I will grasp it in both hands and carry it with running feet.  When I am faced with the choice of doing nothing or doing something, I will always choose to act!  I seize this moment.  I choose now.

 I am a person of action.  I am energetic.  I move quickly. 

Knowing that laziness is a sin, I will create a habit of lively behavior.  I will walk with a spring in my step and a smile on my face.  The lifeblood rushing through my veins is urging me upward and forward into activity and accomplishment.  Wealth and prosperity hide from the sluggard, but rich rewards come to the person who moves quickly.

I am a person of action.  I inspire others with my activity.  I am a leader.

Leading is doing.  To lead, I must move forward.  Many people move out of the way for a person on the run; others are caught up in his wake.  My activity will create a wave of success for the people who follow.  My activity will be consistent.  This will instill confidence in my leadership.  As a leader, I have the ability to encourage and inspire others to greatness.  It is true:  an army of sheep led by a lion would defeat an army of lions led by a sheep!

A person who moves neither left nor right is destined for mediocrity.  When faced with a decision, many people say they are waiting for God.  But I understand, in most cases, God is waiting for me!  He has given me a healthy mind to gather and sort information and the courage to come to a conclusion.  I am not a quivering dog, indecisive and fearful.  My constitution is strong and my pathway clear.  Successful people make their decisions quickly and change their minds slowly. Failures make their decisions slowly and change their minds quickly. 

My decisions come quickly, and they lead to victory.

I am a person of action.  I am daring.  I am courageous.

Fear no longer has a place in my life.  For too long, fear has outweighed my desire to make things better for my family.  Never again!  I have exposed fear as a vapor, an imposter that never had any power over me in the first place!  I do not fear opinion, gossip, or the idle chatter of monkeys, for all are the same to me.  I do not fear failure, for in my life, failure is a myth.  Failure exists only for the person who quits.  I do not quit.

I am courageous.  I am a leader.  I seize this moment.  I choose now.

I am a person of action.

taken from The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews

How to of creating and the purpose of a Faith Board to help you visualize your goals.

Below are the benefits and harmful effects of video games, according to child experts:

Good Effects of Video Games

Video games give your child’s brain a real workout. In many video games, the skills required to win involve abstract and high level thinking. These skills are not even taught at school. Some of the mental skills trained by video games include:
o Following instructions
o Problem solving and logic
o Hand-eye coordination, fine motor and spatial skills. In shooting games, the character may be running and shooting at the same time. This requires the real-world player to keep track of the position of the character, where he/she is heading, their speed, where the gun is aiming, if the gunfire is hitting the enemy, and so on. All these factors need to be taken into account, and then the player must then coordinate the brain’s interpretation and reaction with the movement in their hands and fingertips. This process requires a great deal of eye-hand coordination and visual-spatial ability to be successful. Research also suggests that people can learn iconic, spatial, and visual attention skills from video games. There have been even studies with adults showing that experience with video games is related to better surgical skills. Also, a reason given by experts as to why fighter pilots of today are more skillful is that this generation’s pilots are being weaned on video games.
o Resource management and logistics. The player learn to manage resources that are limited, and decide the best use of resources, the same way as in real life. This skill is honed in strategy games such as SimCity, Age of Empires, and Railroad Tycoon
o Multitasking, simultaneous tracking of many shifting variables and managing multiple objectives. In strategy games, for instance, while developing a city, an unexpected surprise like an enemy might emerge. This forces the player to be flexible and quickly change tactics.
o Quick thinking, making fast analysis and decisions. Sometimes the player does this almost every second of the game giving the brain a real workout. According to researchers at the University of Rochester, led by Daphne Bavelier, a cognitive scientist, games simulating stressful events such as those found in battle or action games could be a training tool for real-world situations. The study suggests that playing action video games primes the brain to make quick decisions. Video games can be used to train soldiers and surgeons, according to the study.
o Strategy and anticipation – Steven Johnson, author of Everything Bad is Good For You: How Today’s Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter, calls this “telescoping.” Gamers must deal with immediate problems while keeping their long-term goals on their horizon.
o Developing reading and math skills – Young gamers force themselves to read to get instructions, follow storylines of games, and get information from the game texts. Also, using math skills is important to win in many games that involves quantitative analysis like managing resources.
o Perseverance – In higher levels of a game, players usually fail the first time around, but they keep on trying until they succeed and move on to the next level.
o Pattern recognition – Games have internal logic in them, and players figure it out by recognizing patterns.
o Estimating skills
o Inductive reasoning and hypothesis testing – James Paul Gee, professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that playing a video game is similar to working through a science problem. Like students in a laboratory, gamers must come up with a hypothesis. For example, players in some games constantly try out combinations of weapons and powers to use to defeat an enemy. If one does not work, they change hypothesis and try the next one. Video games are goal-driven experiences, says Gee, which are fundamental to learning.
o Mapping – Gamers use in-game maps or build maps on their heads to navigate around virtual worlds.
o Memory
o Reasoned judgments
o Teamwork and cooperation when played with others – many games are played online and involve cooperation with other online players in order to win.
o Simulation, real world skills. The most well known simulations are flight simulators, which attempt to mimic the reality of flying a plane. All of the controls, including airspeed, wing angles, altimeter, and so on, are displayed for the player, as well as a visual representation of the world, and are updated in real time.

Video games introduce your kid to computer technology and the online world. You should recognize that we are now living in a high-tech, sophisticated world. Video games make your kid adapt and be comfortable with the concepts of computing. This is particularly important for girls who typically are not as interested in high technology as much as boys.
Video games allow you and your kid to play together and can be a good bonding activity. Some games are attractive to kids as well as adults, and they could be something that they share in common. When your child knows more than you, he can teach you how to play and this allows you to understand your child’s skills and talents.
Video games make learning fun. Your kid likes games because of the colors, the animation, the eye candy, as well as the interactivity and the challenge and the rewards of winning. The best way to learn is when the learner is having fun at the same time. That’s why video games are natural teachers. Having fun gives your kid motivation to keep on practicing, which is the only way to learn skills.
Video games increase your kid’s self-confidence and self-esteem as he masters games. In many games, the levels of difficulty are adjustable. As a beginner, your kid begins at the easy level and by constant practicing and slowly building skills, he becomes confident in handling more difficult challenges. Since the cost of failure is lower, he does not fear making mistakes. He takes more risks and explores more. Your kid can transfer this attitude to real life.
Games that involve multiple players encourage your child to work cooperatively to achieve his goals. Your kid learns to listen to the ideas of others, formulate plans with other kids, and distribute tasks based on skills. Some online games are even played internationally, and this can introduce your kid to players of different nationalities and cultures. This fosters friendships among different people.
Video games that require your kid to be active, such as Dance Dance Revolution and Nintendo Wii Boxing give your kid a good workout. When playing these active games for 10 minutes, your kid spends energy equal to or exceeding that produced by spending the same amount of time on a three miles an hour threadmill walk.
Kids are not necessarily drawn to video games because of their violence. The attraction lies in their being rewarded by awesome displays of explosions, fireworks, and yes, blood splattering. Also, violent games have the most emotional appeal for kids. But these factors are only secondary to what kids actually enjoy in these games – the opportunity to develop and master skills and have the freedom to make choices in the game universe.
Violent video games may act as a release of pent-up aggression and frustration of your kid. When your kid vents his frustration and anger in his game, this diffuses his stress. Games can provide a positive aggression outlet the same way as football and other violent sports.
Playing video games is safer than having your teens do drugs, alcohol and street racing in the real world.

Bad Effects of Video Games

Most of the bad effects of video games are blamed on the violence they contain. Children who play more violent video games are more likely to have increased aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and decreased prosocial helping, according to a scientific study (Anderson & Bushman, 2001). The effect of video game violence in kids is worsened by the games’ interactive nature. In many games, kids are rewarded for being more violent. The act of violence is done repeatedly. The child is in control of the violence and experiences the violence in his own eyes (killings, kicking, stabbing and shooting). This active participation, repetition and reward are effective tools for learning behavior. Indeed, many studies seem to indicate that violent video games may be related to aggressive behavior (such as Anderson & Dill, 2000; Gentile, Lynch & Walsh, 2004). However, the evidence is not consistent and this issue is far from settled.
Too much video game playing makes your kid socially isolated. Also, he may spend less time in other activities such as doing homework, reading, sports, and interacting with the family and friends.
Video games do not exercise your kid’s imaginative thinking. Using imagination may be important in developing creativity.
Some video games teach kids the wrong values. Violent behavior, vengeance and aggression are rewarded. Negotiating and other nonviolent solutions are often not options. Women are often portrayed as weaker characters that are helpless or sexually provocative.
Games can confuse reality and fantasy.
Academic achievement may be negatively related to over-all time spent playing video games. Studies have shown that the more time a kid spends playing video games, the poorer is his performance in school. (Anderson & Dill, 2000; Gentile, Lynch & Walsh, 2004)
Video games may also have bad effects on some children’s health, including obesity, video-induced seizures. and postural, muscular and skeletal disorders, such as tendonitis, nerve compression, carpal tunnel syndrome.
When playing online, your kid can pick up bad language and behavior from other people, and may make your kid vulnerable to online dangers.
A study by the Minneapolis-based National Institute for Media and the Family suggests that video games can be addictive for kids, and that the kids’ addiction to video games increases their depression and anxiety levels. Addicted kids also exhibit social phobias. Not surprisingly, kids addicted to video games see their school performance suffer.

Recommendation for Video Games

Monitor video game play the same way you need to monitor television and other media.
Be a loving, attentive parent who disciplines your child well. An aggressive child is more a product of dysfunctional parenting than anything else, including violent games and TV. According to Los Angeles-based psychotherapist Robert Butterworth, PhD, dysfunctional parenting, children with little guilt, and accessibility to firearms with little parental supervision can create violent children. “Most children who commit violent crime show an early combination of personality and family factors that include having trouble getting along with playmates in preschool,” Butterworth says. “By second or third grade they’re doing poorly in school, and have few friends. By the age of 10 they’re picking fights and getting labeled by their peers as social outcasts.” What’s more “they typically come from families where parents are poor at disciplining because they are indifferent, neglectful, too coercive or they use harsh physical punishment with little love.”
Although playing video games can be a learning experience, give your kid a variety of entertaining things to learn from, so your kid will not be addicted to just one thing. Be sure to make him read books, play sports, interact with other kids, and watch good TV. Everything should be taken in moderation. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children not spend more than one to two hours per day in front of all electronic screens, including TV, DVDs, videos, video games (handheld, console, or computer), and computers (for non-academic use). This means seven to fourteen hours per week total.
Limit the amount of time they could play and also used the video game ratings to limit the content of the games have children who do better in school and also get into fewer fights.
Monitor the effect of video games on your child. Observe his behavior. If it appears that he is becoming more aggressive with his siblings or friends during the period that he is playing violent games, stop him from playing the games. If he becomes interested in history after playing historical games, then the game is beneficial to him.
What to look for in choosing a video game

Decide what is acceptable in your home and if you think violent games are not acceptable, explain to your kid the reason why it might be bad for him.
Check the Ratings of the game before you buy it or allow your kid to play it. Check its rating which is indicated in the box. Note the title and cover picture. If they have themes of sex and/or violence, then these themes are in the game. If possible, be familiar with the game or read its reviews in the internet. Sometimes, the “bad” part of the game is hidden in the higher levels. Do not neglect supervising your kid as a parent.
Consider your child’s maturity level to determine which games are suitable for him. Chronological age is not necessarily a measure of maturity.
Pick games that require the player to come up with strategies, and make decisions in a game environment that is more complex than punching, stealing, and killing.
Look for games involving multiple players to encourage group play.
According to Los Angeles-based psychotherapist Robert Butterworth, PhD , you should “evaluate the shows and games not just in terms of violence or obscenity, but in terms of the mental engagement that they require. Boys need to slay dragons and play games with action figures of cowboys and Indians,” he says. “They need to be in a fantasy where they are conquering heroes; suppressing this may have long-term effects that may not be good.”

By Abe Levy

David Cook talks with a member of the congregation after attending Sunday Services at Living Water Church in Utopia, Tx., Aug. 21, 2011. Cook is the author of “Golf’s Sacred Journey,” which was made into a movie features Robert Duval. The movie was filmed in Utopia. Photo: Jerry Lara/Express-News, JERRY LARA / SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

UTOPIA — The inspirational force for Tinseltown’s latest film on golf is a mild-mannered cowboy who carved out a career helping some of the nation’s greatest athletes elevate their game.

David Cook has found himself in the limelight since self-publishing his book “Golf’s Sacred Journey” two years ago.

A major publisher took notice. An estimated 300,000 copies have been distributed. And a Hollywood producer contacted him to adapt the novel for the screen.

“Seven Days in Utopia,” starring Oscar-winner Robert Duvall, debuted Friday in theaters nationwide, weaving a tale of an old rancher befriending and mentoring a distraught young golfer who by chance winds up in this rural town 80 miles west of San Antonio.

Cook, 54, an accomplished sports psychologist, infused the film with his life message: To handle high-stakes competition, questions of the soul must first be settled.

It’s a tonic he drinks Sunday mornings at his country-style church or perched along the Cypress-lined banks of the Sabinal River buried in prayerful solitude with his leather-bound, duct-taped Bible.

“If we base our identity on our performance in life, we lose,” he said. “So this movie really is about going beyond success and finding true fulfillment. In the end, that boils down to what is your purpose and calling. It’s not about wins and losses then. It’s about living the life you were born to live.”

Early years

This life message began to take shape in 1972 in his hometown of Waco when veteran TV evangelist James Robison held a crusade at the old Heart O’ Texas Coliseum when Cook was 14.

“I accepted Jesus that night,” he said. “A seed was planted then.”

He graduated from Baylor University with a degree in exercise science and then did postgraduate work in sports psychology at the University of Virginia.

Along the way, “God-ordained” mentors resembling the character played by Duvall molded him — men such as famed sports psychologist Bob Rotella and childhood golf instructor Johnny Arreaga.

Cook followed their lead, working as a tenured sports psychology professor for the University of Kansas for a dozen years.

He eventually moved to Texas and full-time consulting, including for the Spurs during their 1999 NBA championship season.

Utopia has been a Cook family getaway for decades. His wife’s family owns a ranch there. He and his family now rent a house on the river overlooking the golf course in Utopia on which the book is based.

Over time, he made Living Waters Church his spiritual home. The nondenominational congregation meets in a plain, partly metal structure, attracting ranch hands and retired executives to the same pews.

“It’s so solid, down to earth here,” Cook said. “Nobody’s coming in here all dressed up in three-piece suits.”

With a journal in hand for Sunday messages, Cook says he absorbs kernels of wisdom from the pastor and members that have found their way into mental-strength coaching and book.

Church life

On a recent Sunday, Pastor Robert Richarz wielded an acoustic guitar behind a stonemason pulpit for the monthly, Cowboy-themed service.

“Remember that day you met Jesus? You knew you were changed,” he said in introducing the classic hymn “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.”

With a bushy goatee, ropers and tales of riding horses and Harleys, the pastor mirrored his flock.

“Get your Bibles out,” he said to open the morning message. In unison, they responded “Woop!”

Cook has spoken at megachurches before thousands. He’s taken the stage to promote the movie’s release before 1,700 folks this summer in Atlanta during the PGA Championship.

Here, he’s never spoken. He’s just another believer.

“Everybody loves David for who he is and his input into our lives and the church,” Richarz said. “But around here, we are country people. So everybody gets treated the same. And if a person can’t put up with it, well, they might as well just get on down the road.”

After the service, the congregation spilled into the fellowship hall for a potluck meal. One man had roasted a wild hog. Venison inspired other dishes on the buffet table.

The room soon echoed of chatter from the likes of secretaries, a veterinarian, an ex-Marine, a retired businessman and a water-well driller.

The church had prayed for Cook as the film was shot in their town and at Fredericksburg’s Boot Ranch golf course. They were relieved that Hollywood kept the book’s religious message intact.

The book dishes out golf advice but uses that game as a spiritual metaphor to teach a faith lesson. The church hopes the film provides a broader platform.

“The way David wrote it, as you read it, all of sudden you start to realize there are some spiritual things here, and you don’t expect that,” said Bob Davis, the retired USAA CEO and member of Cook’s church. “What a great evangelistic tool and testimony. Here this fella just writes a book and turns it into one of the best messages around.”

Cook runs an Internet ministry, www.linksofutopia.com, with video testimonies, an online discussion and a study guide. And he invites people on spiritual retreats at the same Utopia course where his writing took flight.

“Sometimes when God plans things, they just go beyond what you imagine,” he said. “God has a purpose for this that’s so much bigger than us. I’m just walking through the open door and moving with him.”