Giving Up Bad Habits

The beginning of 2012, my family of five, decided we wanted to do something similar to RESOLUTIONS! So instead of personal resolutions for the year....we agreed as a family to give up something each month. Our hopes are to give up bad habits, get healthier, and have more money and time! Most of the things we will be giving up are health related...but the further we get into the year, the more you will see us giving up other things; like TV, electronic devices (at least at particular times of the day), fast food, etc....

If we DO accomplish these monthly challenges, we will take a ski trip at the end of 2012!!!!

So what did we give up in January? CANDY and CHIPS! Right after the holidays, we were eating both candy and chips as if they were a part of the major food groups! HA! So those were the first to go. And YES, we DID IT!!!!

Now on the last day of the challenge we will allow ourselves, as a family to have whatever we eliminated for the month. After the month is over, the eliminate item will only be allowed back at very limited occasions. For example, my family will not be keeping candy or chips in the house and we will limit the amount we will eat the rest of the year....like hopefully only a couple of times a month.

For the month of February my family is giving up soda. This will not be hard for me because I hardly drink sodas.....but the rest of my family does. My kids are usually Sprite lovers, so this will be a challenge for them!

It's been fun to do this as a family!!! And I look forward to how much we will change by the end of 2012!!!

GO US!!!

BLogGeR CoMe BaCk!!!! Ready or Not!!!!

Gonna try to give this "blogging" another try!!! Not for anyone else's entertainment but more for journal/diary keeping purposes for myself and my family! You won't find anything life changing here! And, I might even bore you!

What you will find---many typos and grammatical errors, lots of funny photos and stories, probably some videos, and hopefully some discoveries of our growing faith!

So here we go......

Daily Scriptures

"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns from God, but encourage one another, daily, as long at it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. " Hebrews 3: 12,13

I can't tell you how often I have prayed to ask God to help me draw closer to him by pulling me into His Word. As a Christian, I am really good at doing Bible Studies, preparing children's lessons, and doing devotionals. But what I struggle the most with is just DIGGING IN and letting God reveal what He wants to reveal without the "structure" of some kind of homework!

But did you notice how I started my blog off with a scripture? This is my weekly MEMORY VERSE from my First Place 4 Health Bible Study! Yes, I am still using the "structure" of Bible Study homework. But for some reason, this study is just grabbing me! It's got me excited for each new day....anticipating what I will learn next? It's not that I am learning anything NEW.....but it's the way the Word has made me stop to think.....and I find myself really meditating on the words of the scriptures!

I am not sure what God is preparing my heart for.....but I can tell He is up to something??? I treasure my daily time with Him....and look forward to telling you exactly what He is up to....soon!!!!!

Flu Attacks Us....and saved me for LAST!!!

Two weeks ago my middle child Zander spent three days sleeping. He had a low grade fever but for the most part, he just slept. What really made me realize he was sick, was we had a Texas SNOW DAY! And he didn't even attempt to go outside. I took him to the doctor. They did strep, mono, and flu test. None came back positive! The next day, Gabe (my youngest) got the same thing....then Addie and then Todd, and then ME!!!
I was at a training conference with several of my church peers. But I felt so tired, started getting antsy legs, and then the chills. I came straight home that evening and went to bed at 7:00pm. That was Thursday evening! I am just now waking up on Sunday afternoon!!! And I am not evening kidding!!!
Now, I will admit, my husband called the doctor for me to get some medicine. And I really think the medicine might have been half of my battle. I felt so DRUGGED, dizzy, lightheaded, thirsty, dry lips (no matter how much I drank), a little nauseated, etc..... So today I got up....still drugged like and decided NOT to take the medicine. I have had one little nap but I woke up feeling somewhat refreshed! HA! I also managed to get out of the house and go for a short walk down the street....for fresh air!
It's been brutal to say the least, but I really feel like I am on the mends! Now I must play CATCH UP on all I have missed the last few days! HA!

A Year of Running

This last year, in 2010, I have made it a priority to lose weight, get in shape, and to run my bootie off.....LITERALLY! I did achieve those things, but I still have 8-10lbs to lose and have had this 10-8lbs to lose for almost 6months!!!! So what the heck gives?

Last Thursday, I was in the midst of a VERY BUSY DAY! Thursdays usually aren't that crazy. I usually have some "ME" time: like cleaning, running errands, and get a real good run in. I also have boot camp and basketball practice.

But this past Thursday I spent the day working, working, and working! My day was slipping away from me quickly and I had come to the realization that I had little time to workout. I remember feeling very STRESSED about making a choice between boot camp, running, cooking dinner and helping the kids get homework done! The reason my afternoon was so short on time is because I had decided to add a new Bible Study to my schedule (on Thursday evenings)...and this was going to be my first night!

I decided to forgo boot camp (BUMMER) but I did fit in my run....short 4mile run but I was so happy I got it in!

But something "struck me" as I began to run...... Running had definitely become a priority for my day, along with a priority for almost everyday of my life in the last year! But here's what GOT ME: "What if I treated my GOD TIME like I treated my RUN TIME?" Since April I have ran almost 1000miles. I usually workout at least an hour a day with maybe 1 or 2 days off (and sometimes I don't have any days off but do some other type of exercise). I'll be honest, I don't do this with my Bible time.....and not sure my prayer time matches even half that time!!!! But WHAT IF IT DID??? If I took all that time and effort and put it toward's God's Word or prayer time, I wonder how my life would be???

Well about an hour after I ran, I went to my orientation for this Bible Study. It is called First Place 4 Health! I didn't know much about this program other than what I have heard or read from my friend on her weight loss blog. But after the orientation, I realized that it was NO ACCIDENT for me to be in this Bible Study. This Bible Study is made to do just what I had mentioned above. I will be training myself how to put GOD FIRST in EVERYTHING I DO!

So here I am.... I may still have 10lbs to lose, but I think it might be the most rewarding 1olbs in my life! I think I might be thanking God for this last 10 lbs:-) Who would have thought!

Belated New Year's Goals---2011

How does it happen? I have at least 2 or 3 blogs I want to post a week and it seems to always get put on the backburner---along with other things----and then time goes by, and so do the blogpost!!!

So with that being said here's to my New Year's Goals for 2011-

1) Post more regularly-goal is to post at least 4x a month!
2) Read the Bible daily and not just for preparation of a lesson (that doesn't count ALONE)
3) Teach my children to read the Bible on a daily basis. Goes back to #2 GOAL! But my plan is to model this and also have them read with me each morning---just a couple of verses a day!
4) Less spending money and more giving away money!
5) Save money for Addie's trip to Israel for 2012
6) Continue to loss weight---get the last 10lbs OFF--- FOR GOOD
7) Run my first FULL marathon and 3 more half marathons
8) To clean out every cabinet or closet we own
9) Spend more time with family---especially grandparent whom I never take the time for these days! Got to see each one of them this year....at least one grandparent a month!!!
10) Read more books (I think I only read 4 books this year.....and that was for work purposes)

Those are my goals for 2011! I am keeping it brief and keeping simple.... My hope is that with keeping it simple, I will actually achieve these goals:-)

So here to 2011:-)

My Super Bowl Champs

My Super Bowl Family!!!!

I am so happy to brag on my boys today! Last Saturday, both of my boys teams had advanced to the Super Bowl Championship Game for each of their grade levels. Gabe played on a first grade team with only 3 players that had ever played football before....Gabe was a first timer!!! Talk about a huge transformation! This team started out looking like :-(, well, it was almost hopeless!!! LOL! But each week the team got better and better and by the end of the year, this little first grade team look like they KNEW what they were doing! Our coach was amazing with them and I have never been so proud to see such improvement!!!!Gabe's Team (he is #00)

And the same thing for Gabe. He started the year off saying he didn't want to hit his friend cos he was afraid he would hurt them!!! By the end of the year he was hitting HARD, RUNNING HARD, and became a little leader for the team!!! LOVE IT!

Gabe and his buddy, KK!

Zander's team was a totally different story! His team was unbelievably good! So good that the games were boring! Even the Super Bowl game! But this was Zander's first year to play football and he had a BLAST! He loves football and studies football alot---with his Paw! So to play this year was a dream come true! And would you know that my Zman is a kicker! Very, very rare to have a kicker make extra points at this age but Zander did it like a pro! And yes, I am proud!

Zander Post Game CoolMan Shot!

Zander's Third Grade Team (UnBeatAble)