Sometimes it's just one foot in front of the other....

I can't believe I've gotten myself into this situation! I'm half proud of myself and half completely freaked out, thinking to myself, "are you out of your mind?!?

Tomorrow I will be driving a 31 foot RV with my four children to South Dakota and back again over 12 days. The kids are beyond excited. I am just trying not to think about how huge this vehicle is!



But this trip is making good on a promise. Andy and I talked about taking an RV around the country and finally the kids and I are gonna do it. (of course if I had realized that you have to be 25 to drive a rental RV, I might not have promised anything!) :/ So I am the solo driver and I'm trying not to think about it.

I am focusing on the precious time I will have with my children. This time I will never have again. After this initial craziness of preparing and packing and planning our route, we will get in the RV tomorrow and just breathe deeply. (well, I will. I think the kids will hyperventilate for a while.)

What is it that my soul longs for time out? Time away from the hustle and bustle of life and a chance to connect with those I love? Life is precious. After this year, my son will graduate, get a job and be off to college. Our lives will be changed. Again. We are too aware of our fragile natures. So I am drinking in every moment of this trip. I wonder what sights we'll see? What will each of us remember most?

I am looking forward to connecting with each of my kids away from the demands of school and friends. I get them all to myself!!

I imagine God feels that way with me sometimes (or often). He looks forward to me coming to him unencumbered by the concerns of life, just spending time with him, relaxed and with no agenda.

Into the stuff of memories we go!!

I am blessed to be a part of a community that encourages each other to be healthy and fit.

It's been three years since I pushed play on that first P90X disc. I didn't know then that I would lose my husband to suicide, I didn't know that I would become a health and wellness coach and I certainly didn't know that I would meet amazing people from all over the world who are living healthy and fulfilling lives.

I am learning the role that exercise and especially nutrition play in my physical, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. I have always taken my general health for granted, but I have also learned that sometimes, no matter how careful you are sometimes life just happens and I can get blindsided by an injury or illness that I didn't anticipate.
What happens when I get sick?

I'll tell you that I have a tendency to give into self pity and depression. But that's not the answer!

One of my amazing new friends, Melanie Bowen is passionate about helping people maintain their emotional and spiritual health even when their bodies seem to have betrayed them with Mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer caused from asbestos exposure. Please check out Melanie's article discussing Summer exercises for those undergoing treatment for cancer.

5 Summer exercises for cancer patients

It's so important to remember that our bodies are amazing creations and taking good care of them even when we're sick is important for our overall wellbeing.

Know that you are blessed!

I've really lost it this time!

I'm excited and a little nervous all at the same time!  I've decided to go Vegan for a month!

What prompted this? Well, I've been eating msotly plant based since last spring when I completed the Beachbody Ultimate Reset.  I learned so much about protein sources and how I really don't need as much as I think and how to cook good foods that are plant based but still so filling.

I lost 8 pounds and really felt good and rested, etc.....

But, as life goes, I eventually started drinking coffee again (which isn't any good without milk and sugar, right?)  and my meals got all out of whack.  I gained all the weight back and a couple of extra pounds and generally felt unhealthy and unhappy with my weight, body, etc.

I tried to do the Reset again, but I just couldn't get my brain around it and so I failed. 

Welcome 2013!  A new chance a new year with all those blank pages I have yet to write on.  What will my story be?  I've got some plans, oh yes!

So I started out by doing the Ultimate Reset once again.  This time with an accountability group and I really dove into it and have finished now, again 8 pounds lighter, but more than that, I feel more committed to my health and lifestyle than before. 
So, I see this link for an article that my cousin is quoted in (she's a Vegan) and in that article is this link for the 30 day Vegan challenge.

I signed up!  I know there will be some challenges.  Mostly, just like for the past 21 days, I've been eating foods different than my children.  I do love meat sometimes and It was hard like when I made this really yummy roast for the kids and I couldn't have any:(  But we'll see how this next month goes.  Since I basically started yesterday, I will be done just as February finishes. 

I also REALLY love eggwhite veggies omelettes.  I have to find a satisfactory sub for those.  Otherwise I have no idea what I'll eat when I go out with my friends for breakfast or lunch!


Not to mention feeding the children.  I can only hope that they will be willing to eat more plant based foods by the end of this.  We are the typical American household with meat as the main part of every meals instead of focusing more on fruits and veggies.  My fault I know. 

I'll keep you posted!

a little reminder

So last night Morgan had a sudden asthma attack while at Discipleship group. 

I had just gotten home from dropping her off and she texts me.  "Can you find my inhaler?????" 
Of course I couldn't find it, but I found one that had been prescribed for Hale. 
I drove it over there grateful that I had also learned that in a pinch, steam will help a bit to buy some time before actual medicine is administered.  I ran the gamut of emotions that go with a child potentially suffocating,  gave her the inhaler and came home and took care of all the last minute before bed stuff. 

This morning she complained of her chest hurting so I let her stay home from school.  (I know, I'm so nice:)

While she slept in I got everyone else on their respective buses and went down to the basement to get my workout in.  Now, let me stop and mention the workout program I am currently doing is TurboFire and it's a doozy!  The amount I sweat rivals Insanity, and that's saying something! 

Anyway, since workout time is "me" time, I do my best thinking and solving the world's problems while I punch and kick.  At the very end of the 45 minutes when I really have no more to give,  Chalene Johnson, the trainer says,
"be grateful that you can exercise this hard". 
I thought, YES!  So true!  Because upstairs, at that very moment, my beloved daughter is wheezing and having chest pain with every breath.

THANK YOU GOD for my breath. 
THANK YOU GOD for modern medicine. 
THANK YOU GOD for second chances. 
THANK YOU GOD for health.

and
THANK YOU GOD for this gift of a day with my sweet girl.

Driving the other night, Seamus said to me, as he looked at the huge full moon on the horizon, “Mom, do you know that the moon and all the stars and sky around it seem like paper to me?”  “Why is that?” I asked.  “Because it doesn’t look like it can be real.” He explained.  Wow.  This is profoundly true for all of us.   Sometimes God feels so far away, he might as well be a picture on a page. 

Advent is a time of waiting, of lighting, one by one, candles that represent the light of the world that came into our darkness.   The days and weeks before Jesus’ actual birth were a dark time in history, sinful and scary and anxious.  We must remember this is exactly WHY Jesus was coming!      For us, who KNOW the story already, there is the light of HOPE at the end.   Not the END, but the very BEGINNING!

So it is on this HOPE that I focus.  I keep my eyes on the light, no matter how far away it seems sometimes.  The new star that appeared that night and has never left us in all these thousands of years.  The Star of Bethlehem, the beginning of a new life and the fulfillment of a promise God made to us so long before.

The knowledge of God’s love for us keeps us as we go through all the usual activities of our lives;  Grif as a sophomore in Cross Country, Robotics and he’s driving!  Morgan is in 8^th grade, is in the Social Studies  and Sign Language  Clubs, is co-VP in Student Council and is obsessed with Harry Potter.  Hale plays the cello when he’s not reading mysteries, playing Lego Universe or collecting owls, and Seamus sports the mis-matched smile of a 2^nd grader where he reads voraciously and makes Lego creations he leaves all over the houseJ.  I am grateful beyond measure for these children.  They are my top priority as I build my health & fitness business, working toward my personal training certificate in early 2012.. 

I urge you all, and myself, to reach out to the love of God as we read the Christmas story for the umpteenth time.  Touch its realness.  Fold it up and tuck it into your heart.  Then, no matter how things are, you will be able to look at this miracle of Christmas, this truth and KNOW that God loves you.     

Be filled with peace always.

Are you up for the Challenge?

Take the Beachbody Challenge!

Join my Beachbody Challenge for results, support, and prizes!

Want to get into the best shape of your life? I'm have an ongoing Beachbody® Challenge group! It's the easiest way to achieve your goals ever. As part of my group, we'll track our progress along the way, hold each other accountable, and motivate, inspire, and encourage each other to achieve amazing results. It's easy! And as an added incentive, you’ll be able to participate in The Beachbody Challenge™ contest. All you have to do is log our workouts online at TeamBeachbody.com for a chance to win $500 every day—and submit your "before" and "after" photos for a shot at the $100,000 Grand Prize. But the spots will fill quickly—and you don't want to wait 'til the next group! When you're ready, just visit my Web site at Strength & Hope and follow the Take The Beachbody Challenge banner on the right side of the page to sign up. Or call or email me and I'll walk you through the process. Let's do this together and make the magic happen. Here's to our health and success!

I have a PRIVATE Facebook group and will keep you accountable and motivated on a DAILY basis. So if you aren't FULLY committed, don't sign up. I will also be giving you my cell phone number for anytime support and you better BELIEVE I will be calling you if I don't hear from you on the board.

Each pack comes with: 

~FREE shipping!

~A fitness program of your choice

~A 30 supply of Shakeology

~FREE membership in the Beachbody Club!

Here’s the breakdown:

Need help picking a program? Check the comparison chart here: Beachbody Workouts

ANY of the programs except P90X and Insanity are GREAT for beginners. And just so you know, Brazil Butt Lift is a great all-around workout program, it's NOT just for your butt. If you are already fit, the only program I wouldn't recomend is Slim in 6. The rest are challenging enough for everyone.

I know the holidays are coming and everyone excited about all the parties and good food around.  I say, get in the habit of exercise and watching your nutrition NOW.  You'll get a headstart on your New Years resolutions and you won't gain as much as if you'd done NOTHING!

I have one group - room for 5 people starting December 5th! 

Don't worry, we'll be putting together a new group January 9th (to give you a chance to detox :)

Take this first step - You've got nothing to lose!!!  (except a few extra pounds:)

Finnegan begin-again

"There once was a man named Michael Finnegan
he had whiskers on his chinnegan
they grew out, and then grew in-again
Poor old Michael Finnegan begin-again" 

(I apologize to any reference to anyone actually named Michael Finnegan)  This was a song I learned when I was a child from the Big Book of Folk Songs we had on the piano.  For some reason it came to my mind today as I realized (on the first full day of a new school year) I have the entire day TO MYSELF!!!

So, of course I started thinking about new beginnings and I realized that there are many times a year, every year that are times of new beginning for me.  The start of a new school year is one of those times.  Probably reminiscent of my own childhood when August was full of hope and anticipation of new friends, new experiences (new clothes).  It is a fresh, exciting, energizing feeling! 

I am grateful for those ripples of anticipation that flow through my body because without them I would probably never get anything accomplished, let alone get out of bed! 

Like many people I have a tendency to get complacent, lazy, a little depressed with the redundancy of life.  Really, don't you think?  Brush your teeth, make your bed, take out the garbage, grocery shop, make dinner, lunches, breakfasts, lunches, dinners, brush your teeth, go to bed, wake up, do it ALL AGAIN.  etc, etc, etc, blah,blah,blah.   Thank you God for NEW BEGINNINGS!!!

So.  Here's my chance.  A fresh slate.  A new year.  Cooler weather coming.  So much to look forward to!!!

So...what am I going to do?  Aye, that's the rub.

Here I am, thinking out loud while I type this, making plans in black and white so I don't get to the next new beginning never having started this one!

The first and most important thing is a recommitment to starting my day with God-time.  Truly, my father God has me foremost in His mind and I am remiss in my attnetion to Him.  I am an apprentice leader in Women's Bible Study this year and I am so grateful for that structure provided to encourage me to really study God's word and His presence in my life!

Secondly, as I have mentioned, is my exercise.  The kids are on their respective buses by 7:45 am.  I am eager to start MY part of day with whichever Beachbody program I have going (right now its Chalean Extreme)  because, as you know, that is my sanity!  Since I started regularly working out about 3 years ago, it has been my stress reliever through some very tough times.

Thirdly, how can I best serve my community?  I have become passionate about helping others find the same sense of well being and accomplishment through exercise and a healthier lifestyle and I have great plans from a Fit Club to organizing a Health and Wellness Fair with the school.  These things take me committing and organizing and getting out of my comfort zone.  Yikes!  But when else to start than during this "new beginning"?  I see these great possibilities - gotta take those first steps!

After all that, in my "spare time",(and this is where it gets fuzzy) is tackling the 500 gajillion projects that are all over my house.  The first step (I hate this part) is to make a list, write them down.  The best part of the list?  Crossing things off!  Hopefully I'll be able to share some successes here as I plod through my eternal attempt to get organized:)

So, I have been so very busy this summer and the kids and I have had lots of fun.  Thank you God for giving us the many opportunities to enjoy our summer! 

Now it's time to look to this next chapter of our lives.  I anticipate great things!