Weekend = No Shred!

Happy Friday!!! I am thrilled to have two days off of the shred! Well...at least one day, I'll probably talk myself into popping the DVD in on Sunday afternoon. It's strange, I find myself looking forward to that 20 minutes. Sick isn't it?!?!?

I have a slight confession to make about this whole Shred thing. It's kind of funny, but one of those pride things God continues to work out of me.

A few weeks ago we sold our treadmill. ALL of our hand weights went with the treadmill. Great for the person who bought it, bad for me when I popped in the DVD on Day 1 and realized DUH, I have no hand weights.

I remembered hearing on a talk show YEARS ago that if you didn't have hand weights, to grab a couple of canned goods. Yes. CANNED GOODS. :) So as Jillian gave her pre-workout pep talk, I made a mad dash to the pantry and grabbed two cans of cream of mushroom soup. YES I AM SERIOUS. And so far, it has given the girls a good laugh.

The past couple of days I have felt so proud of myself for getting through the workout and feeling stronger....blah...blah...blah...of course, I'm still using my trusty cream of mushroom soup as my hand weights. Can I just tell you I am laughing at myself big time. :)

Today we made the weekly trip to Target. I decided that since I needed to use that cream of mushroom soup, it was time to purchase some real hand weights. As we turned down the aisle I saw the ones I knew were meant to be mine!

They ARE PINK and get this:

THEY WERE ON SALE!!!

Thank you LORD!

As I put them into the buggy (or shopping cart) I realized something.

There is no way I'm moving on to level 2! Those little weights are going to make me feel like I'm starting this whole process all over again!!!

Maybe I should have just invested in more soup!

Simple Pleasures

Last weekend when we left for Chattanooga I noticed that my iris were just about ready to explode. I thought about them several times over the weekend and hoped that they would wait on me to get home before they bloomed. (I REALLY wanted to be home when they opened up...I transplanted these from my mom's flower bed last year..quite frankly I'm surprised I didn't kill them!)

When we got home Sunday afternoon, I noticed that you could see a little color. They were just starting to bloom. Today, I had to take some pictures since a few have opened up. Who would have thought some transplanted iris would make me this excited?



Love this one.



Last night one of my Freedom's Call partners handed me a thank you note and gift for filling in for her on the piano the last couple of weeks...she's been reading the Simple Pleasures entries and look what she brought me from the beach!



How cute is that???

This week has been so full. Our church hosted Angela Thomas on Tuesday evening and wow...what a night. So many of the things she said go right along with some things God has been putting in front of me. I am not kidding. Down to the scripture passage she read. That's a week of blog posts right there! I love it when God thrills my heart like that.

The entire evening was beautiful. I can't say enough about our women's ministry director or her team. They are incredible and I'm so blessed to be part of this church. Way to go girls...each one of you made our Jesus smile.

Okay...I'm doing laundry and packing for another trip. Just me this time, Chad and the girls will be staying home. I may post on Friday if I get all my stuff done but
at the rate I'm going I'm not going to be done! It's taking everything in me to take care of my house right now. Do you know how bad I want to throw on some shorts and go sit in the sun?!!? In fact, after I fold this basket of laundry that has been sitting next to me for an hour...that's where you'll find me!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

One Last Thing to Share about Chad's Triathlon

I had hoped to share this video with you last night or earlier today...but there is a story.

Chad spent a good 2 hours on this last night editing my less than stellar video skills. (I have some mad skillz I tell you.) Anyway, he was done with it and we went to tuck the girls in. When we returned, the computer had been possessed by demons and was "locked up". Yes locked up...we live in the south.

Go on and guess what came out of his mouth next..

"I guess I'll save my work next time."

Well, I started praying that God would restore that video. We went to bed and he had pretty much given up and turned the computer off. Frustrated isn't a strong enough word to describe the man last night. (I hate to confess that I was praying he had taken a Lunesta so he would least sleep soundly. BTW-that stuff makes you dream and say some crazy things in your sleep.)

We had a women's event tonight, and when I got home Chad said..."You want to see the video?"

God answered my prayers and when Chad turned the computer back on tonight...it was there. In it's entirety...SO I HAVE TO share it with you!!!

Please overlook my 5:00 AM look and crazy eyes...I was trying to keep it quiet! Not an easy thing for me. :)

Race Pictures

We had so much fun this weekend watching Chad participate in his first triathlon. I am so proud of him. Truth be told, I am really at a loss for words when it comes to how I feel about him doing this! It was an incredible thing to watch.


I am still recovering from our 4:00 wake up call on Sunday morning so I'm not going to even try and formulate a thought!! Instead, I'm going to share some of the pictures from the race.


Getting ready for the swim.


Finishing up the bike ride.


Coming around the last corner towards the finish line.


DONE!!



I thought I was going to up-load the video, but....we've had issues. Maybe sometime this week I'll add it. :)

Thanks blogging world for your prayers and support! I am crazy about you!

It's a Big Weekend Around Here!!!

I love this picture of Chad because it is so him. Ever the joker that man of mine. We call him the "Spandex Sensation" when he is in his running stuff. :)

Sunday morning, he is participating in his first Sprint Triathlon. We are so excited that his first will be in our hometown AND to make it even better it will be just a few minutes from the church we served at before moving to Georgia. Making that EARLY drive on Sunday morning will bring back memories of the very long very early Sunday morning drive we made for several years. :)

The girls have worked diligently this morning to finish their schoolwork, pack their bags and help me finish up some laundry. We are fixing to pack the car and wait on Chad to get home.(Please pray that God will part the sea of traffic that Atlanta is famous for on Friday afternoons/evenings!)

Praying that your weekend is blessed....

One more thing....be watching next week for another give-away...I'm very excited and can't wait to share it with you!!!

You HAVE to get this little book

About a month ago, one of my Freedom's Call sisters gave me a book. I knew that it had greatly impacted her life, because I had heard her mention it several times. I was thrilled when she handed me a copy one night in rehearsal. :)

The title is "The Red Sea Rules" 10 God-Given Strategies for Difficult Times.



I knew the moment I flipped it open to the preface and read the following Spurgeon quote, that this book would be huge in my life.

"The Lord will make a way for you where no foot has been before. That which, like a sea, threatens to drown you, shall be a highway for your escape."

It is a small book, and reads easy...BUT....

I have taken my time with this. Often times, I will read a section twice before moving on because I need to read it again so that it sinks in deeper. I'm just slow like that!!

The thing that has been so thrilling to me is that almost each one of the verses God has led me to memorize for our LPM Siesta Memory verse challenge, ARE MENTIONED IN THIS BOOK. I would be running through my index cards of verses and then pick up this book and one of them would be in the text. Seriously, holy cold chills more than one time.

For example...I have shared that God had me memorize the verse "What is impossible for man is possible with God." and the month before that verse I was to memorize Isaiah 59:1 which says God's arm is not too short to save and that His ear is NOT dull...well...

Last weekend I was on the verge of finishing when the author of this powerful book included this quote by Cameron Thompson:

"We have a God who begins with the impossible and goes on from there."

Right above this paragraph in the book he references Is. 59:1. I have to include the paragraph because I LOVE the way it reads and flows into the Thompson quote.

"God can jam zippers, grow mushrooms, evict flies and carve pathways through the sea whenever He wishes. His arm is not too short to save, nor His ear too dull to hear. Cameron Thompson said, 'We have a God who begins with the impossible and goes on from there.'"

If you want to know about jammed zippers and mushrooms popping up in a time of need then you need to go to Amazon and spend $10 to get this book!!

I have read the book once and have decided to go back and start with Rule #1 and break it down over a week. To really spend time absorbing what God has to say to me. I may share some of that each week as God leads.

Would you do me a favor? If you purchase the book let me know what you think about it. I would love to hear what God impresses on your heart. :)

Have a blessed Wednesday!!

Shredding

So I bought the Jillian Michaels "The Shred" DVD last week. It arrived on Wednesday afternoon so I started the torture I mean workout, on Thursday morning.

Sweet Mercy. I have not experienced this type of pain since childbirth.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE it because it moves fast and is only 20 minutes. The girls laughed at me because I kept saying, it's only 20 minutes...I can do anything for 20 minutes!

It's been forever since I've done anything other than WALK, so I really am a beginner when it comes to this. My girls on the other hand...well...they are barely winded by the end of our workout and have asked to go on to level 2. They can go on, but I'll be on level 1 for the next oh...year!

Ya'll...Friday morning after we got done, I attempted to walk up the stairs to do school with the girls and I honestly sat down half-way up. WRONG THING TO DO. Getting up was harder than I thought it would be. Needless to say, I did not come downstairs for my second cup of coffee.

Chad had arranged for a babysitter on Friday night and told me to pick what we were doing...I had planned to do a picnic and walk at a local park. Can I just tell you the thought of walking up and down those hills made me light headed, so we went out to eat and then that boy made me walk through Target. He told me I would feel better if I kept moving. As much as I hate to say it, he was right. :)

We hit LifeWay and then he offered Starbucks. Sit down for this...I turned him down. I was SO tired and just wanted to get home and into my comfy pj's and take some Motrin! This getting old thing is hard!

So anyway...our sweet babysitter had taken the girls to a play and we beat them home!! Can you believe that???

I'm joining one of my favorite authors Vicki on this journey to Shred...I'm looking forward to seeing some results!! If I live through it. ;)

I posted over at the Freedoms Call blog today...I would love for you to go check it out.