What are my girls like?

When I was a young girl, I dreamed about having a family of my own, but never thought I would have three daughters! Now I can’t imagine my life without them. Each of them are alike and unique in their own ways. 

Veronika is our firstborn. No doubt she has some leadership potential. When she and Erika play together, you can sometimes hear her saying, “Erika! I am the leader. You follow me”. And Erika obediently does. Amazing!


When Veronika was in pre-school, she had no problem playing with boys. And it sometimes seemed that she got along better with boys than girls. She is extremely competitive and hates it when she loses a board game. 


When my Dad learned that according to the American Constitution, any citizen of the U.S. could become the U.S. President, he became confident that Veronika would become one when she grows up. 


Veronika is six and started grade school this year. Absolutely loves it! Loves her teacher and her classmates. Her favorite class is Physical Education. 

Veronika is a gentle, artistic, and sometimes dramatic soul that does not lack any creativity or imagination. She absolutely loves to perform: dance, sing, and act. She is my “Audrey Hepburn”: charming, radiant, cheerful, sociable, and refined. I pray and work hard to nurture her beauty both on the inside and out.


Erika will be four this month. She misses her sister during the day when Veronika is at school. But she also enjoys having all the toys and games all to herself. She gets up at 6 a.m. like her sister because she doesn't want miss a minute of play and fun. 


Erika is my “little iron lady”, a.k.a. my “Margaret Thatcher”. This little girl is so resilient and determined that it puts my determination and drive to shame. 


She is our tomboy: feisty, spirited, stubborn, always knowing what she wants, never afraid to take punishment and stand up for what she believes is right. 

Amazingly, Erika is also a girly girl. She is all into Disney fairies, and her favorite one is Tinker Bell. (She looks like her somewhat, especially with her hair up!). Being a girly girl, Erika absolutely hates wearing pants, and prefers dresses and skirts any time, even in the cold weather. And boy, does she like to change clothes! She can go through several outfits a day, perfectly matching or complimenting colors and styles. 


Erika also likes to perform like her older sister. They both go to their respective age dance classes on Mondays and Wednesdays. So at home they turn the music on and improvise. Erika loves singing! She sings during her play time or bath time. I can imagine she will sing out loud in the shower when she grows up (I was always self-conscious and never had enough guts to do that!). 

In addition to her feisty personality, Erika’s character is quite tender and compassionate. I have never seen a child her age being so caring! She loves helping with Laura and immediately runs to comfort any crying baby (or parent, for that matter!). She will definitely become my “Mother Theresa” when she grows up. 

Laura is this happy and content baby who absolutely adores her sisters, giving them her wide, toothless grin every time she sees them. Or when they recite the "Pat-a-cake" rhyme, doing all the motions with her, she gives the cutest belly laugh. Being a third sister, she is taking it all in, learning things fast, and growing like a weed. Doesn’t like to be left alone for too long, knowing that somewhere, in another room, some action is going on, so she doesn't want to miss it. She is just happy to be around, wherever we are. Also, she is quite talkative for her age. She usually likes to coo and ‘speak’ in her own language as soon as she wakes up and has her breakfast. This video is a month old, but it proves it well that we have yet another extraverted daughter who processes information by talking, talking, and talking...  

Brian and I are so blessed to have our three little girls...

The Runaway Bunny

It has become a tradition in our family to read books to the kids before their bedtime. When Brian is not working in the evenings, he usually reads books in English to Veronika and Erika. Their favorite ones are definitely anything by Mother Goose and Dr. Seuss. Recently they have finished the first couple of books from “The Chronicles of Narnia” series by C.S. Lewis. After they read “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”, they also watched the movie (during daytime, of course).

When it is my turn to read, I usually read in Ukrainian, and we go through fairy tales that I have grown up with. For example, we love reading anything by Charles Perrault, a French author who introduced the genre of fairy tales, and whose most known tales include “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Sleeping Beauty”, and “Cinderella”. We also love the Brothers Grimm, German authors, known for “Snow White”, “Rapunzel”, and “The Frog Prince”. The girls also enjoy listening to the stories by Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish author, who wrote “The Steadfast Tin Soldier”, “The Little Mermaid”, “Thumbelina”, and “The Ugly Duckling”.

However, recently when Veronika learned to read, she now can go through her library and make a well-informed choice of the books for her parents to read before her and her sister’s bedtime. One of her and Erika’s recent favorite books has become “The Runaway Bunny” written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Clemen Hurd. (Margaret Wise Brown also wrote the famous “Goodnight Moon”, the poem that my kids have memorized by now, so many times Brian read it to them).

“The Runaway Bunny” is about a small rabbit, who wants to run away. His mother, however, tells that “if you run away, I will run after you”. It is a sweet and touching story. For me, as a mother, to read, or to listen to Veronika read it to us, it is the best ending of any day, no matter how tiring or challenging it was. The plot is so simple and so deep at the same time. It is a great conversation-starter with your kids if you want to talk about God and His love for us. If we ever want to run away from Him, He will lovingly pursue us. Nothing really in this world can separate us from His love.

So here is the story...

The Runaway Bunny

Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.

So he said to his mother, “I am running away.”

“If you run away,” said his mother, “I will run after you.

For you are my little bunny.”


“If you run after me,” said the little bunny,

“I will become a fish in a trout stream

and I will swim away from you.”


“If you become a fish in a trout stream,” said his mother, 

“I will become a fisherman and I will fish for you.” 

“If you become a fisherman,” said the little bunny,

“I will become a rock on the mountain, high above you.”


“If you become a rock on the mountain high above me,”

said his mother, “I will become a mountain climber,

and I will climb to where you are.”


“If you become a mountain climber,”

said the little bunny,

“I will be a crocus in a hidden garden.” 

“If you become a crocus in a hidden garden,”

said his mother, “I will be a gardener. And I will find you.”


“If you are a gardener and find me,”

said the little bunny, “I will be a bird

and fly away from you.”


“If you become a bird and fly away from me,”

said his mother, “I will be a tree that you come home to.”


“If you become a tree,” said the little bunny,

“I will become a little sailboat,

and I will sail away from you.”


“If you become a sailboat and sail away from me,”

said his mother, “I will become the wind

and blow you where I want you to go.”


“If you become the wind and blow me,” said the little bunny,

“I will join a circus and fly away on a flying trapeze.”


“If you go flying on a flying trapeze,” said his mother,

“I will be a tightrope walker,

and I will walk across the air to you.”


“If you become a tightrope walker and walk across the air,”

said the bunny, “I will become a little boy

and run into a house.”


“If you become a little boy and run into a house,”

said the mother bunny, “I will become your mother

and catch you in my arms and hug you.”


“Shucks,” said the bunny, “I might just as well

stay where I am and be your little bunny.”


And so he did.

“Have a carrot,” said the mother bunny.

"Without faith it is impossible to please God..."

I have been on a sick leave for the last two days (read: also, working from home). Urgh! I hate being sick. For all kinds of reasons. Can’t take anything to relieve the cold/ flu symptoms due to the breastfeeding stage in my life. The running nose, the sore throat, headaches, and muscle aches make for a cranky and miserable Lena. As the saying goes, “If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy”. Can any mom of pre-schoolers really take a real sick leave and rest? 

What I like about staying at home and not going to the office when I am sick is to catch a few moments of stillness and quiet when Brian is at work, my eldest daughter has already left for school, the baby is napping, and the middle one is engrossed in playing with her Barbie dolls. Then I make myself a cup of tea or coffee, open my daily devotionals book and read. Currently, it is “Come away, my beloved” by Frances J. Roberts. 

One of the Bible verses I have been meditating on, as I have been reading this book, is Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him”. Amidst the busyness of my life and all of my responsibilities, it is really hard to find peace and quiet on a regular basis to be alone with God. I was confronted by this verse, particularly by the phrase ‘earnestly seek Him’. Do I really seek Him in all earnest? Am afraid to leave things at hand, to underperform, or to lose control over the multitude of daily tasks I am responsible for? Sadly, it is only when I get sick and am forced to slow down and rest, I realize what’s the most important.

Tarry not for an opportunity to have more time to be alone with Me. Take it, though you leave the tasks at hand. Nothing will suffer. Things are of less importance than you think... I love you, and if you can always, as it were, feel My pulse beat, you will receive insight that will give you sustaining strength.

What's cooking?

So what’s cooking at the Welch household this month? We go with what’s in season: apples, pumpkins, etc. Good stuff with its health benefits. We all know that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. Trying to make the kids eat more apples, I need to be creative. Got this recipe from one of my favorite cooking sites: www.kuking.net. See below: Devonshire Apple Cake. Made it last week.

The kids also will not eat pumpkin in a soup or any other dish, even though they love the pumpkin's vibrant orange color. They also love muffins! Banana muffins are sort of a staple food in the Welch household. So pumpkin chocolate chip muffins was a good variety this weekend, especially for the season. Pumpkins are dirt cheap in Ukraine these days. I buy them at the market from babushkas who sell them already cut and cleaned. Sweet!

By the way, did you know that pumpkins are an excellent source of beta carotene. Our bodies ‘translate’ beta carotene into Vitamin A and reap its rewards, making us less likely to develop certain cancers as well as other diseases. So basically, it's really good stuff. See the recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins below. The recipe is from another favorite site of mine: www.allrecipes.com

Devonshire Apple Cake

Devonshire Apple Cake 

INGREDIENTS:

450g/1lb apples 

juice of ½ lemon 

350g/12oz self-raising flour 

2tsp baking powder 

350g/12oz sugar 

4 eggs 

1 tsp almond essence 

2-3oz marzipan (optional) 

225g/8oz butter, melted 

flaked almonds

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease and base line 12 x 9 in roasting tin with baking parchment.
2. Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and squeeze the lemon juice over them. 
3. Measure the flour, baking powder and sugar into a large bowl. Beat the eggs together with the almond essence and mix into the flour with the melted butter. Mix well then spread half this mixture into the tin. Arrange the apples over the top of the cake mixture. Chop marzipan into small cubes and scatter through apple. Carefully top with the rest of the mixture; don’t worry if the apples show through. Sprinkle over the almonds. 
4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1¾ hours or until the cake is golden, firm to the touch and slightly shrunk away from the sides of the tin. Leave to cool for 15 minutes and then turn out and remove the paper.

P.S. I use silicon bakeware, so it was done before an hour was over. Also, no baking parchment is needed for silicon.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chips Muffins

Pumpkin Chocolate Chips Muffins 

INGREDIENTS:

3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

3 cups white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 cups canned pumpkin puree*

4 eggs, beaten

2/3 cup water

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 24 muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, sugar, salt and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, beat together pumpkin, eggs and water. Stir pumpkin mixture into flour mixture; beat until well blended. Fold in chocolate chips.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

*It is easy to make pumpkin puree from scratch. After the pumpkin is cut into pieces, seeds and pulp are removed, I put the pumpkin pieces in a casserole dish, add a little bit of water, and bake them in a pre-heated oven at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Deep change

Graduate school, oh how I love thee... I am in my third year of the Master’s program in Global Leadership at Azusa Pacific University http://www.apu.edu/bas/csdol/globalleadership. The year began with two-week intense classes Kyiv in August. It was our last in-class session together. I will miss my fellow students from all over Eurasia big time! We are such a diverse and fun group. I hope we can stay in touch over the years, and God willing, see each other again some time. Reunion, anyone?

After the classes are over, over the course of the year, we read books, write papers, and do projects. This Monday was the deadline for the first assignment. Oh well... hello again, late nights full of reading, writing, and higher-order thinking!... School is definitely another added dimension of my life, which I do enjoy greatly, even at the expense of my sleep deprivation and throes of exhaustion. 

One of the books we are reading this semester is called “Deep Change: Discovering the Leader Within” by Robert E. Quinn. In his book, Quinn talks about ‘deep‘ vs. incremental change. According to Quinn, deep change requires new ways of thinking and behaving; it distorts existing patterns of action and involves taking risks (p. 3). My definition of deep change, based on Quinn’s book, is positive transformational change that begins with yourself and becomes so contagious that others around you can’t but follow suit. It irreversibly transforms our identity, values and assumptions. 

I love the metaphors that Quinn uses to illustrate his points in the book. For example, a few of my favorite metaphors Quinn uses to illustrate the process of deep change is “walking naked into the land of uncertainty” and “to build the bridge as you walk on it”. I like both of them! I think they both have similar connotations. In order to embark on the journey of deep change, one has to be vulnerable and open (“naked”) enough to welcome change. The process of deep change should begin with such important components as reflection and self-awareness. But unless one “walks” or acts on those reflections, change will not take root or happen at all, for that matter. 

“The land of uncertainty” is a symbol of a plethora of various opportunities for our growth and transformation, as a result of change. When we set our mind and heart on experiencing a deep change in either our lives or organizations, it means we will never be completely certain at the beginning where this path will take us. Therefore, deep change requires faith, persistence and commitment to persevere in the face of resistance and opposition. 

Frankly, I dread and resist change. For the last ten years or so, I have been moving through so many transitions in my work and personal life that change has become the only constant of my existence. I do try to understand, approach, and respond to change in a positive and productive manner. But I often feel quite overwhelmed and confused with it. Therefore, I resist change by desiring to stay with what worked in the past and feeling comfortable with the way things have been. Needless to say, with constant change present in my life, I long for stability, predictability, and security. 

At the same time, I hate stagnation and status quo, whether it occurs in my work or personal life. As strange as it may seem, it is exactly this inner dichotomy between resistance to change and longing for it that keeps me going. I need to be challenged to feel alive. In order to renew and re-energize myself, I look for opportunities to step outside my ‘comfort zone’ and to get rid of old paradigms. In this case, I am usually disciplined, motivated and courageous. I do realize that it takes time, effort, and persistence to achieve and maintain any significant transformation and growth. However, when I observe even small developments during the process of deep change, I draw strength and meaning from that and can persevere until personal or organizational transformation is complete.    

Another metaphors Quinn is using to describe the alternative for deep change is “slow death” (p. 11). Probably my favorite quote from the book is:

“Each of us has the potential to change the world. Because the price of change is so high, we seldom take on the challenge. Our fears blind us to the possibilities of excellence - and yet another formidable insight. This insight concerns the price of not making deep change. That price is the choice of slow death, a meaningless and frustrating experience enmeshed in fear, anger, and helplessness, while moving surely toward what is most feared” (p. 11)

A trip to the Kyiv Zoo

Taking advantage of the beautiful fall weather, we ventured to the Kyiv zoo this weekend. http://zoo.kiev.ua/ 


The zoo is one of our favorite places to visit in Kyiv. First of all, it is big and spacious. Its natural conservation area is about 3.5 sq. km, and the display area is close to 2.2 sq. km. Secondly, it is quite old. It was 100 years old last year, to be precise! Thirdly, it is quite affordable: 25 UAH (3.5$ for adult visitors), 15 UAH (2$) for kids, age 5 and older, and free admittance for young children. In short, a perfect place for families to visit. 

Veronika and Erika were excited to run around and look at every animal we passed by: deer, bisons, bears, flamingos, giraffes, to name a few. They especially enjoyed the pavilion with all kinds of reptiles and amphibians. Laura was content traveling in her stroller, enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. 









Other than watching animals, the kids also played on several playgrounds that were on the premises of the zoo, as well as went on their first ever ride on a Ferris wheel! 


When Brian was not telling the kids more fun facts about the animals, he was improving his photography skills with our camera. It was a fantastic day. Here are a few pictures from our trip to the zoo. 

  

Laura's dedication

We, as a family, attend church every Sunday. Our church practices baby dedication instead of infant baptism. So last Sunday we dedicated our youngest daughter, Laura. Baby dedication was a ceremony in which we, as a family, made a commitment before the Lord to submit Laura to God's will and to raise her according to God's Word and God's ways. Brian and I made this promise to the Lord to do everything within our power to raise Laura in a godly way, until she can make a decision on her own to follow God.

I wrote a dedication prayer based on the prayers I read from Stormie Omartian’s book “The Power of a Praying Parent” given to me by my friend’s Mom. Our pastor Paul, Brian and I took turns reading parts of the prayer. Here is what we prayed for:

Lord, Brian and I submit ourselves to You. We realize that in order to parent Laura (Veronika and Erika) we need You to help us. We want to partner with You and partake of Your gifts of wisdom, discernment, strength, and patience, along with a generous portion of Your love flowing through us. Teach us how to love the way You love. Where we need to be healed, delivered, changed, matured or made whole, we invite You to do that in us. Help us to walk in righteousness and integrity before You. Lord, may the beauty of Your Spirit be so evident in us that we will be godly models for our children.

Proud Daddy and Daddy's girl

Lord, we come to You in Jesus’ name and give Laura to You. We are convinced that You alone know what is best for her. We rely on You in everything, and this day we trust our child to You and release her into Your hands.

Lord, we lift Laura up to You and ask that You would put a hedge of protection around her. Protect her spirit, body, mind, and emotions from any kind of evil or harm. Hide her from any kind of evil influences that would come against her. Help her to walk in Your ways and in obedience to Your will so that she never comes out from under the umbrella of that protection.

Lord, we pray for Laura to feel loved and accepted. Manifest Your love to this child in a real way today and hep her to receive it. Lord, we pray that You would help us to love this child unconditionally the way You do, and enable us to show it in a manner she can perceive. With each day that she grows in the confidence of being loved and accepted, as she comes to fully understand the depth of Your love for her, make her a vessel through which Your love flows to others. 

Lord, we bring Laura before You and ask that You would help her grow into a deep understanding of who You are. Open her heart and bring her to a full knowledge of the truth about You. May she call You her Savior, be filled with Your Holy Spirit, acknowledge You in every area of her life, and choose always to follow You and Your ways. Help her to fully believe that Jesus laid down His life for her so that she might have life eternally and abundantly now. 

Pastor Paul praying for Laura

Lord, we pray that You would pour out Your Spirit upon Laura this day and anoint her for all that You have called her to be and do. May she not be a follower of anyone but You, but may she be a leader of people into Your Kingdom. May the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, grow in her daily (Gal. 5:22).

May the truth of Your Word be firmly established in Laura’s heart so that her faith will grow daily and navigate her life. Help her to trust You at all times as she looks to You for truth, guidance, and transformation into Your likeness. We pray that Laura will have faith strong enough to lift her above her circumstances and limitations, and instill in her the confidence of knowing that everything will work together for good.

The whole fam

Why don't friends with kids have time?

I enjoy being a (part-time) working mother. It definitely has its challenges: constantly multi-tasking, carefully planning every minute of my life, missing doing things on the spur of the moment, sacrificing times to simply introvert or go out for coffee with a girl-friend whenever I want to. All of this gives a deeper meaning to the phrase ‘the joy of motherhood”. Don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy being a mother. There is no bigger thrill in life for me than to watch my children grow and develop their character and personalities, discovering their God-given gifts and talents. Being a part of this life journey of theirs is a privilege. And a lot of work.   

One of my ‘mommy friends’ posted this article on Facebook. I thought I would re-post it here. It is from The Washington Post, TELL ME ABOUT IT rubric. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/22/AR2007052201554.html

Why don’t friends with kids have time?

By Carolyn Hax
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 

Carolyn:

Best friend has child. Her: exhausted, busy, no time for self, no time for me, etc. Me (no kids): Wow. Sorry. What'd you do today? Her: Park, play group . . .

Okay. I've talked to parents. I don't get it. What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners . . . I do all those things, too, and I don't do them EVERY DAY. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events) and I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy -- not a bad thing at all -- but if so, why won't my friend tell me the truth? Is this a peeing contest ("My life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal? I've got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions. Tacoma, Wash.

Relax and enjoy. You're funny.

Or you're lying about having friends with kids.

Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally been in the same room with them.

I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand, while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom-friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed.

So, since it's validation you seem to want, the real answer is what you get. In list form. When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest they get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head.

It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.

It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.

It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well-meaning and otherwise. It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at everyone's long-term expense.

It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity. Empathy. Everything.

It's also a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend, a good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends, or marvel how much more productively she uses her time. Either make a sincere effort to understand or keep your snit to yourself.

Jurrasic park in Kyiv

Fall is not my favorite season. In Ukraine the sun usually disappears behind the clouds some time mid-October and we don’t see it until March. But I like the beginning of fall.Those spells of warm weather, when it is neither too warm, nor too cold, are perfect for family outings. Last weekend was just one of those times when all the Welches could be perfectly comfortable outside, without sweating or freezing too much. 

Laura sleeping peacefully in her stroller

My parents were in town. It was my sister’s birthday weekend. And to top it all, on Saturday morning, we all went to one of the largest gardens in Kiev that was transformed into Jurassic Park. See more info here:   http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/42517/  There it was - an exhibition of dinosaurs! Some were small, some were up to six meters tall, and some were up to thirty meters long. The kids had a blast. They definitely know more about dinosaurs than I do and could appreciate the exhibition more. It was fun watching them run around in amazement of all the sizes and shapes of those creatures. We finished the outing with a picnic lunch and a huge ball of cotton candy. Here are some pictures from our walk in the park:

Brian with Erika and Veronika next to one of the tallest dinosaurs

Family picture: three out of five actually facing the camera...
good enough at this stage of our life!

Do something!

This was my 2010 New Year’s resolution - to start writing a blog in order to remember how my life was when I look back at it years from now. There are so many things going on in it that I often could barely catch my breath. I do enjoy it, but can’t remember everything in detail when days go by so quickly and so lively. And I love details! 

I am also a perfectionist. Especially when it comes to writing. The theme, word choice, grammar - everything has to be perfect before anybody else could see it. Reading other people’s blogs full of deep thoughts and thought-provoking reflections, beautiful metaphors and vivid illustrations made me doubt the worth and value of my own creativity. Is it really worth putting it all up for everybody to read? 

Amazingly, I am not that strict with myself in the gym which was another 2010 New Year’s resolution of mine - to start working out regularly. My gym motto is “Do something!” [as opposed to nothing]. This probably drives my trainer nuts. Because for him if I do something somehow, and not how I am supposed to do it - at the right angle, in the right posture, the right number of repetitions, etc. - the result will be different. Even though I don’t pay him to make sure I do it all properly, he still cares enough about his job as a trainer, that he would come to me from time to time to show me how to do things correctly, bless his heart.  

Well, this was my metaphor for blog writing. I think both my trainer and I are right when it comes to practicing and improving. I will start with something. I will write at my own pace, using my own choice of topics to cover and issues to wrestle with. And maybe with time, and the right number of repetitions, I will produce something that will bring an even more amazing result.