A sweet moment

We have a nice little courtyard in our complex that the little kids like to convene at. Jason took the kids downstairs to play tonight and some of their friends showed up. The kids in our complex love Jason because he will throw them up in the air and swing them around. There's been a line of little kids next to Jason on more than one occasion.

When they came back in, Jason remarked that one of the little boys loved being swung around and said that he (Jason) was probably now the boy's best buddy. After a couple of minutes, Aiden asked if Jason didn't like him and Gabe anymore. At first we didn't quite understand what he was saying because a) he's 3 and b) he was about to cry. He even started tearing up. But as soon as we realized that Aiden was concerned about Jason's affection, Jason scooped him up to talk to him.

Jason affirmed his love for Aiden and told our booboo that he would always love him. It was a very sweet moment that they shared.

What really struck me was the fact that Aiden understood the concept of best friends/buddies. He realized that there can only be one best friend and because he thought that Jason had another best buddy, Jason's feelings for Aiden could have waned.  The kids usually amaze me with what they understand and tonight was no different.

Fasting Friday #4

This week, we didn't fast on Friday again. If we keep this up, I'm going to have to think of a new name! I actually learned a very good lesson this week. I learned that there is a fine line between being disciplined and legalistic.

As you know from before, I usually do fine with the fast until about dinner time. I really have a hard time with making food and not being able to eat it. All the yummy smells that waft into my nose as I'm preparing the children's food just take a hold of me. But at the same time, there has to be some sacrifice on my part. You really can't grow closer to someone or God without giving yourself up to some degree. In this sacrifice, we find that we are not only stronger in God but a stronger person in general. So I knew that I had to suck it up and deal with it. But where does it go from a sacrifice to a legalistic action that has to be done?

As a Christian, we are told that there are so many things that we should be doing to draw closer to God. But if we do them just because we have to, we are not getting to the core of the issue. God does not want us to be robots, that's why we have free will. We need to also have the right attitude about it. I'm reading Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas and I think he hits it on the nail when he says; "We're not just after the imitation of Christ's actions in our home. We also want to model Christ's spirit and attitude."( pg. 191).  Our heart has to be in the right place when we are doing our acts of worship. What is the point of fasting if you are grumbling the whole time?

After the kids went to bed, I decided that it was not worth it to continue fasting for the rest of the night because I was definitely starting to grumble about it. And therein, I learned my lesson. I could've continued my fast and and be upset that I had to do it. But instead, I choose to end it early and be thankful to God that I was able to last as long as I did and appreciate God for carrying me the whole day. Because in the end, there is nothing that I can do apart from Christ. (John 15:5).

I was wrong.....

So training this week was not fun. We started a whole new set of exercises to do and I think that the guy who thought it up is evil. Some of the stuff we are doing is not only outside of my abilities, I didn't even know some of them existed before. All that to say, the scores are pretty pathetic to say the least.

Me: Day 1
Jump Squats- 20
Indian Lift- 35
Alternating Splits- 20
Dips- 12

Day 2
Diamond Push ups- 11
Wall Squats- 50
Side Tri Rise- 11
Mountain Climbers- 60

Day 3
Snowboarder 180- 22
Plank In & Out- 11
Jump Kicks- 35
Dive Bombers- 6

Jason: Day 1

Jump Squats- 25

Indian Lift- 50

Alternating Splits- 31

Dips- 29

Day 2

Diamond Push ups- 28

Wall Squats- 50

Side Tri Rise- 10

Mountain Climbers- 70

Day 3

Snowboarder 180- 32

Plank In & Out- 20

Jump Kicks- 40

Dive Bombers- 11

Fasting Friday #3

This week we fasted on Thursday instead of Friday. We had a sleepover planned and decided to get our fasting out of the way. I appreciate the flexibility of what we are doing and that it isn't a hard and fast rule that Fridays are fasting days.

While I still have lots of room to grow in both my relationship with God and Jason. I am feeling like we are closer. I feel closer to Jason because we now have a common goal. It might not be life changing, but it's good to know that we are on the same page in at least one area of life. Now Jason and I agree on most things and we don't fight much. But it's comforting nonetheless.

As far as my relationship with God goes. It's nice to know that I'm doing something for Him. It's so easy for me to do something with the expectation of getting something back. But knowing that just by going out of my comfort zone in this one area of life is pleasing to God is a reward in itself. It gives me a deeper appreciation of all the wondrous things His done for me without expecting anything in return.

The pain is subsiding....

This week for training it is different again! The workouts are more of a battle against yourself. You take your scores from week one, add it to your week two scores and then multiply the sum by 3 to get the number of reps that you're doing for the week. The point is to do it as quickly as possible.  I have to say that when I calculated my numbers, it seemed very intimidating and almost impossible. But I surprised myself by not only finishing, but finishing in a good time. (The goal is to finish the workouts as close to 16 minutes as possible.)

Here are the scores everyone is waiting for!

Me: Day 1
Squats- 111
Push-ups- 54 (Yes, I did them all! And not on my knees either! I'm so proud!)
Lunges- 78
Plank Bridge- 186 sec.

Total Time- 16:45

Day 2
Elevated Push-ups- 36
Bird Dog- 114
Squat Pulses- 150 sec.
Superman- 165 sec.

Total Time- 14:10 (Woot woot!)

Day 3
Squat Touch Reach- 132
Reverse Lunges- 66
Drop Squats- 51
Straight Plank- 210 sec.

Total Time- 13:14 :-)

Jason: Day 1

Squats- 150

Push-ups- 96

Lunges- 108

Plank Bridge- 210 sec.

Total Time- 19:00

Day 2

Elevated Push-ups- 114

Bird Dog- 150

Squat Pulses- 168 sec.

Superman- 210 sec.

Total Time- 16:26

Day 3

Squat Touch Reach- 138

Reverse Lunges- 105

Drop Squats- 72

Straight Plank- 210 sec.

Total Time-16:29

As you can see, Jason's more of a rock star than I am. But he was able to do pushups 2 months ago and I couldn't even do 1!

We also did a fitness test at the end of the week to see how much we improved. We did on set of the workouts from Day 1 and compared the numbers. Here's  how we improved:

Me-  Day 1- Fitness Test-  % improved

Squats- 26- 50- 92%
Pushups- 15- 22- 47%
Lunges- 20- 26- 30%
Plank Bridge- 50- 50- There was no room for improvement because I did the max on Day 1.

Jason-  Day 1- Fitness Test-  % improved

Squats-  37- 52- 41%

Pushups- 37- 50- 35%

Lunges- 28- 38- 35%

Plank Bridge- 50- 50- Jason did the max on both days. 

Whew! I'm tired just typing it all out!

A challenge

When Jason and I realized that we were moving to Dallas, we started doing a lot of research. Where were the grocery stores, where our favorite stores/restaurants are, etc.. But the hardest research was where to go to church. I always hated moving growing up, but what made it worse after I became a Christian was having to find a new church. It's such a tough process. You have to leave behind the people that you've formed a relationship with to find a bunch of new people to start over. Then there is the teaching, is it biblically sound, is it thought provoking, do you agree with it? And most importantly, is it where God wants you?

After visiting a couple great churches in the Dallas area, we landed at Lakeview Community Church in Cedar Hill. The church isn't as close as we would like (it's about a half hour drive) nor is it big and flashy. In fact, it's in the middle of a reboot with a new pastor. But the day we visited, it felt like home and Jason and I knew right away that we found our church. The pastor, Dan is a DTS grad and has the same sense of humor as Jason. Which works great for us and it's been a pleasure getting to know people in the church family. 

Dan is an Old Testament guy and even named his daughter Eden. So it was with lots of enthusiasm that he showed me a hat on Etsy. It was an Assyrian war helmet with beard.  He said that he'd been wanting it ever since he saw it but wouldn't spend the money to buy it. (It was kind of pricy). So I took it upon myself to try to figure it out. As I sat down to look at the picture and try to make a pattern for it, I actually found it online for free! SCORE! 

So I sat down with crochet hook in hand and started making it. I think an hour or so into it I was muttering that I realized why the lady charged so much. The pattern was definitely harder than what I was used to. Long story short, after lots of muttering I finished it and it was awesome!

Dan's look when he got it was like seeing a 5 year old get a new bike for Christmas. It was priceless. All that to say I'm glad we're done looking for churches.

Fasting Friday #2

This last Friday was a lot easier for me. A big part of the reason is that we didn't work out on that day. Plus, we ended driving down to Killeen to visit Jason's sister for her birthday. With the lack of a hard workout and a long car ride, we didn't think about food as much. I found that my stomach was more adept to the lack of food too. It didn't protest nearly as much.

Meal times were also easier because Emily made dinner for her and the kids so I didn't have to prepare all three meals. Although, we did spend dinner time looking up food recipes. But I guess in the end, it was a much more successful fasting experience and we were able to abstain until Saturday morning!

A new kind of Pain Part 2

So while I thought that the second week of my new training would be the same as the first, 50 sec. on 10 sec. off, Jason and I were saddened to see that it changed. For week two, it was 20 sec. on 10 sec. off for 8 reps. The only thing is that you do all the reps for one exercise before you move on to the next. It was a bear! Your muscles quickly turn into putty and you find yourself laying on the floor in pain. The interval training is based off of the Tabata Method and is shown to be a great way to increase your performance and increase weight lose. So here are our numbers, it got pathetic pretty quickly but don't judge!

Me: Day 1
Squats- 14,14,13,12,11,11,11,11
Push ups- 10,8,5,5,5,3,3,3
Lunges- 10,10,10,8,6,6,7,8
Plank Bridge- 20,20,12,12,12,12,12,14

Day 2
Elevated Push-ups- 6,3,1,1,1,1,1,1
Bird Dog- 16,12,10,10,10,10,10,11
Squat Pulses- 20,20,15,15,15,15,19
Superman- 20,20,20,20,20,20,15,15

Day 3
Squat Touch Reach- 12,12,12,12,12,12,12,12
Reverse Lunges- 10,10,10,10,10,10,10,10
Drop Squats- 13,10,10,8,8,7,8,8
Straight Plank- 20,20,20,20,20,20,20,20

Jason only recorded his low scores since that was what we needed.

 Day 1

Squats- 10

Push ups- 5

Lunges- 9

Plank Bridge- 9

Day 2

Elevated Push-ups- 3

Bird Dog- 14

Squat Pulses- 10

Superman- 14

Day 3

Squat Touch Reach- 12

Reverse Lunges- 11

Drop Squats- 9

Straight Plank- 20

This week we take our scores from the first 2 weeks, multiply it by 3 and have to do all those reps! I'm so not looking forward to it!

Fasting Friday #1

It's a new year and Jason and I have completed our first Fasting Friday. It wasn't as bad as it could have been. We are doing a water and tea fast for 24 hours (well, that is the goal but more on that later).

We woke up and started our day like any other day. The one thing that wasn't planned out as well as it could have been was that we also had our workout to do on Friday. Jason and I did our workout with lots of grunts of pain in the morning and then proceeded to live life as normal as possible. I really didn't feel hungry until after the workout which wasn't a big surprise to me. But we drank lots of water and tea (and since we have lots of different flavors of tea it was quite nice).

Around dinner time was when the rubber hit the road. I still had to cook for the kids and the smell of the food was making me miss eating. I started getting upset that I couldn't eat the food but I stuck it out. I'm going to have work on my attitude next week though.

The kids with their dinner. 

Jason with our "dinner." 

In the end, Jason and decided that since it was our first go and we had a hard workout in the morning to go ahead and eat after the kids went to bed. It wasn't such a bad go at fasting since we abstained from for for about 20 hours.

Conclusion: When you are fasting, it is a lot easier when your love is doing it with you. Try to drink lots of liquids to stave off the hunger feelings. I tried to spend more time in prayer and in the word throughout the day and that helped a lot. Imagine that, when you focus on Christ, your current situation is better. Also, if you have to cook, do it with a smile on your face and make something you don't like but the kids do! I don't have any real goals for the fasting. I just wanted to do it to grow closer to Christ and grow closer to Jason. But I'm leaving it up to God to show me what he wants to. We'll see what happens next week!

A new kind of pain

Jason and I started a new workout routine this week. Let me just say that it is HARD! It's called Max Capacity Training (maxcapacitytraining.com) and pretty much you work hard for 50 seconds on and 10 seconds rest. You do 4 sets of 4 exercises.  I knew that it would be rough but man, was it rough. I did take  some joy in seeing Jason having a hard time. A couple that sweats together,...well, sweats together. Jason and I recorded our scores of the workouts to track our progress. Here they are...

Me:
Day 1- squats- 26  push-ups-15  lunges- 20 plank bridge- 50 (I held one for all 50 secs.)
I was most proud of my push-ups because they weren't on my knees! Although they were on my knees after the first set.

Day 2- Elevated push-ups- 12  bird dog- 28  squat pulses- 35 (how long I could keep it up) superman- 40

Day 3- squat touch reach- 32  reverse lunges- 12  drop squats- 10  straight plank- 50

Jason:
Day 1- squats- 37  push-ups-37  lunges- 28 plank bridge- 50

Day 2- Elevated push-ups- 33  bird dog- 36  squat pulses- 40 superman- 50

Day 3- squat touch reach- 34  reverse lunges- 24  drop squats- 15  straight plank- 50

In review, the first set of exercises are the numbers that we recorded because things started getting pretty rough after that. Especially on Day 3 where both Jason and I were uttering lots of pain sounds. If you don't know what a pain sound is, just head to the gym or come on over and watch us workout. This is a great workout to do because it only takes about half an hour including warm up and cool down. But I would definitely do it with someone else to keep you going. I told Jason that if I wasn't doing it with him I would probably quit. That being said, I can already see results from doing my burpees and this workout. I can climb the stairs all the way up to my apartment (8th floor) without getting winded anymore, I have more energy and I can tell that my body is changing in a very good way. Next week I repeat the workouts above and hope that the numbers improve.

Gifts

Now that the holidays are over, I can show you some pictures of the stuff I've been making. I took on a little too much this last year and have resolved to start presents much earlier this year.

I made the boys some messenger bags because they were getting upset that Audrey had purses. 

As you can tell, they also got guns and have been shooting everything around the house. Audrey got a new skirt. 

All three kids needed belts, so I whipped some up from ribbon and d-rings. The best thing about these belts is that they only took about 10 minutes to make.

What's with the looks?

And I went to a baby shower and made a little bear hat.

And lastly, I made matching scarves for the kids' owl hats but I forgot to take a picture! Maybe next time...