Me again.....

It's been forever since I've actually sat down and posted on my blog. I appologize for that for any of my followers.......lol Life has once again gotten a bit crazy. It's the end of the school year which brings all kinds of activies. Avery's dance recital is this Saturday. The girls are both taking swimming lessons, plus it's been Mother's day, our 9th wedding anniversary, end of Awana program, running, going to the gym, church, friends, family.........you get the idea.

A couple of "new" things. As of today our house will be officially back on the market. We had a realtor come by yesterday and take pictures. We are using Sandra Fackender from Coldwell banker here in L.W. We really like her, and feel that she was a great choice for us. She came recommended. We dropped our price by a lot, and are really just hoping to get some bites in the next 6 months or so. So please say a prayer for us. We really could use some more space, and now seems to us, to be a great time to move. We hope God agrees. :)

I took my first spinning class last Thursday night and LOVED it! I am going again tonight. I think I was getting bored with my running. I was fine when I was doing the C25K program, but when I finished it and was just running 25-30 min each time I got bored. Which is totally my nature so it's not really a surprise. So thanks to all the rain we got I decided to give the spinning class a try and it was great. So I will be adding that to my running and hopefully that will keep things interesting.

On Thursday I start something "new" in the wellness department. Kim Avery who is a bible study leader from a recent class I took, and a life coach by proffesion is going to start doing a weekly "Wellness" phone confrence with me. I don't really know exactly what we will talk about, but it's along the lines of weight loss, eatting right, exercise...... so I am hoping that this will really help me, because I need a little push in the right direction again. :)

I also need to give God some major glory. We have had a very expensive spring. Like many of you I'm sure. Some of it has just been fun stuff that we have done (Nickalodeon hotel....pictures coming soon), Nick bought a new road bike..... but some of it has been some expenses like major car repair. I prayed that God would watch over our finances and help us be able to pay for everything. And like always he has blessed us. My church is doing a 12 week class that I am doing paid childcare for on Monday nights, and LACC (Lake Aurora Christian Camp...the camp I use to work for), has needed someone to fill in both doing some cleaning and working in the kitchen. So I am working about 10 hours a week right now and it's been a huge blessing. Even better a very GREAT friend of mine watches the girls while I am out at camp, so Capri still gets her nap, and I don't have her under foot. :) I can't say enouch great things about her.

Thankfulness ABC

I totally stole this idea from my sister-in-law Amy's blog. :)

Avery
Bible
Capri
DVR
Everlasting life
Family activities
God
Heaven
Ipod
Jesus
Kindness
Love
Money
Nick
Outdoors
Parents (my)
Quiet
Running
Sage
Time
Umbrellas
Vasectomy (I stole this from Amy also, but I had to agree) :)
Windows (preferably when they are open)
X-rays (okay so I couldn't think of anything else.....lol, but when Sage had her toe x-rayed I was glad to have them)
Yesterday
Zoo

Motley moms

Some friends of mine have a blog called Motley mom's. It's several different mom's posting on the same blog, stories about parenthood, and then opening it up to discussion, or ideas about things etc..... You can find the blog at.. http://motleymoms.blogspot.com/ I posted over there today for the first time. Feel free to stop by and check it out. And read it whenever you get a chance there is some really great women who post over there.

I timed myself

Yesterday I worked at camp for about 3 hours sweeping and mopping large rooms (along with a few other things). My arms were sore last night from pushing the sweeper around the rooms. I really wanted to ignore my run and do it today but I knew it would just hang over my head until I got it "out of the way". So Nick took the girls on a bike ride last night (Avery rode and Sage and Capri were in the trailer), and while he was gone with them I decided to run. I started out with my 5 minutes warm up walk and then started running. Normally I don't go to the end of the 5K point I stop where it's about 3 miles (instead of the .1 miles left) But last night I wanted to go the whole distant and time myself even if I had to walk some on the way. So off I went forcing myself to keeping going. I ended up running the rest of the way (except to stop and walk across a road because of a car). I finished in 42 minutes........which means I ran for 37 mintues. I am still a bit in shock.

9 1/2 weeks ago a 60 second run was too hard on me. I hated every minute of my runs. My legs hurt, my knees hurt, and I just never though I could be a runner. I didn't even think I was going to be able to run the 5K in July. So many times I wanted to quit and give up. Sometimes I felt like crying because it was just too hard. But I forced myself to keep going. Praying for God's strength the whole time (and I couldn't have done it without him). I kept reminding myself of all the reasons I was out there doing this. I have lost 12lbs along the way, and still have about 30-35lbs to go. But now I know that I can actually do it. Come July 4th when I actually run my first 5K I will be able to run the whole thing. I have just over 8 weeks to get a little faster. My goal is to finish in under 40 minutes.

I really just want to encourage anyone who is reading my blog and wants to start some kind of exercise program. I didn't think I could do it. I thought I was too overweight, too out of shape. I thought I need to lose the weight first and then start running. I though my knees hurting meant that something was wrong and I needed to stop. I didn't think my lungs could work any harder. I though my heart would beat out of my chest. And I still do.....lol Last nights run was so hard. I wanted to give up and walk. I didn't "have" to keep running. But I did, and I survived. And my legs aren't even as sore as I thought they would be this morning. So even if it's not running that you want to do but some other kind of activity, I just encourage you to get out there and do as much as you can, and add a little on each week. Do it 3-4 times a week and get pleanty of rest on the off days. You will get better, and you will be amazed.

10 wks to go

I have 10 weeks before I have to run in my first 5K. As of this morning Week 7, I no longer get to run in my C25K (except in my warm up and cool down). I will be running for 20 minutes without stopping. I can't belive that I have gotten to this point. Next week is a 25 min run, then 28 min, then 30 min, then 35 min until my 5K. It's still very hard, and I run at a snails pace, but I guess I will just keep getting better with time.

Now if my weight loss would just be as successful as my running is, I'd be in great shape.

Funny Sage story

This morning Sage drew Grandma Becky a picture. She used a pad of paper that is shaped like a rabbit that she got for Easter. She colored it and showed it to me. She said "look mommy this is a boy bunny because it has something sticking out down there". So without cracking up into fits of laughter I looked and sure enough there was a drawn on penis "sticking out down there". :)

I had my doubts......

Today was C25K week 5 day 3 run for me, which was a 20 minute non-stop run. I really had my doubts about it when I started but I thought I'd give it my best shot. There are 2 small hills on the route that I prefer to walk up (to save my ankles and knees), and other than those two hills (that added up to 45 seconds), I ran the whole way. Then on my walk back home I ran down one of those hills so I really ended up running about 30 seconds shy of 20 minutes non-stop. I really really really thought that I was going to have to stop early or take a break, so I am so amazed that I was able to do it. Now I must stop right here and say that my prayer through most of the run was "I don't have the strength Lord so I need yours". So I do have to give all the glory to God for allowing my body to do what I was so hoping it was capable of doing. He created it so of course he knows what it's capable of doing. :) 7 weeks ago when I started I ran for 60 seconds, and walked for 90 seconds and repeated that 6 times. My first day back I said "that was the hardest thing I've had to do in a long time"..........and 7 weeks later I was able to run for 20 minutes non-stop. So for anyone out there who wants to get into any kind of shape and things it's impossible then I say go ahead an give it a try. Start slow (I run at a snails pace), but don't let that stop you. I am still 40 lbs overweight, and it's still the hardest thing I've done in a long time. But I am still in shock that I am making progress.