3 Down, 7 to Go

So I am about done with day 3 of the Daniel Fast and only have 7 days to go. :) It has not been a walk in the park...that's for sure! The first day was great.....by the morning of day two it was not so great anymore. I am eating every two hours or so because I'm so hungry but when you're eating things like apples and carrots it's a little different. :) I honestly thought that it would be hard for me to give up the pop because I usually have one pop a day and I don't really crave it just food in general. I was in Walmart today and I was so hungry that I just had to leave before I was tempted to blow it and came home and made stirfry. It's been really good though......it's been a good reminder of the fact that at least for me I can unconsciously put stuff into my body and mind without being very intentional about it. That junk then builds up and you have to get it out. The Lord keeps reminding me that it's not just about the food it's about our spiritual food too and to be so careful of what we allow into our bodies spiritually and into our minds. I'm excited to see what becomes of the remainder of the time as I'm just in the beginning stage of the fast. I'm most concerned about this weekend because I'll be traveling most of it and then Sunday is super bowl......

Good Barometers

So I decided that kids are the best barometers in the world! I have never seen the fifth graders so out of control until yesterday. I thought it was just my class until I had my math class in the afternoon and that was a hundred times worse. They were worse than right before Christmas... About 1:30 I had a thought that maybe we were going to get snow and saw online that we were going to. Apparently, they knew that we were going to get a LOT of snow and have a snow day!

It will make an awesome day for them to go sledding though! :)

Daniel Fast

At the beginning of 2009 I had a lot of friends doing the Daniel 10 Day fast and I knew that I was supposed to do it but didn't. After a month of resisting it I'm going to do it starting tomorrow. It's a fast where you can have as much fruits and veggies as you want and water and that's about it. So I moved all my food that isn't allowed to my fridge in the garage so I'm not tempted and spent a ton of money at the grocery today stocking up on veggies and fruits. I'm excited to see what I learn through it. I have done fasts before but they weren't for extended periods of time but they were complete fasts so just water.

Thoughts from "Crazy Love"

So I just got done reading the book "Crazy Love" written by Francis Chan. Wow, it will definitely take me a while to process through all the concepts that were discussed in this book. None of them were "new" ideas but the author was very point blank about them and didn't sugar coat anything, which is good because our culture in general loves to sugar coat everything and only look at things the way they want to.


**We are way too concerned with our to-do list, preoccupied by appointments, focused on family, thinking about your desires and needs. On the average day, we live caught up in ourselves. ON the average day, we don't consider God very much. On the average day, we forget that our life truly is a vapor. Instead we tend to live our lives as if it will go on forever.

**Are we in love with God or just His stuff?

**There was one whole chapter of looking at lukewarm people and how the Lord doesn't want us to be lukewarm. It was very descriptive and very intense.

**Most of our thoughts are centered on the money we want to make, the school we want to attend, the body we aspire to have, the spouse we want to marry, the kind of person we want to become...But the fact is that nothing should concern us more than our relationship with God; it's about eternity, and nothing compares with that. God is not someone who can be tacked on to our lives.

**Are you willing to say to God that He can have whatever He wants? Do you believe that wholehearted commitment to Him is more important than any other thing or person in your life? Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made?

**What does running toward Christ and pursuing Love look life in your daily life?

**Are you ready and willing to make yourself nothing?

**True love requires sacrifice and our love is shown by how we live our lives. Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

**The thing that matters most is how we use what we have been given, not how much we make or do compared to someone else. What matters is how we spend ourselves.

**What are you doing in your life right now that truly relies on 100% faith.

Joys of Homeownership......:)

So we released early from school today and I had a whole list of things that I wanted to accomplish but I stopped home first to shovel snow and I had NO heat in my house. Fortunately, I have phone numbers for ever company that I could ever need to repair something in my phone and called Climate Control. It took nearly two hours for them to figure it out, which was starting to concern me but they wanted to make sure that they replaced the correct part. I guess some timing part in my heating/cooling system went wacky. Thank goodness it was today and not tomorrow because the last thing I need is frozen water pipes. Oh the joys of home ownership........:) I'm just glad it's fixed........I can do without a lot of things but heat isn't one of them!

New Beginnings

I love learning/doing new things and it always seems like the beginning of the year is a good time to start some new things.

**Tonight I started going to Zumba class. Tons of my co-workers have been ranting and raving about this class for weeks now as it is being held in various elementary schools including my own multiple nights per week. I went tonight to a school like 20 seconds from my house and it was so fun. There were a ton of people there and it was surprisingly hard/fun.
**I bought an exercise DVD called 30 Day Shred from the Biggest Loser. I was mildly skeptical when I bought it if it was really worth it. I have never hurt so bad in my life...but it's a good hurt. It's my goal to do it on top of my regular workouts every day between now and my cruise. I am in pretty good shape but my body is by no means bathing suit ready. :)
**Some of my co-workers in my grade level and I all wanted to drink more water in general and less chai and pop. :) So far, so good.
**I'm beginning to learn how to knit........it's going to be a while before I'm a pro at that. :)
**My training for the mini marathon is coming along well......I really need to work on running more outside but it's so cold.
**One of my new year's goals was to start taking better care of my skin. I'm guilty of always just buying the Walgreen's special in terms of face wash and such. I have several family members who took amazing care of their skin from a young age and it shows because they still have the most beautiful skin. So my mom randomly bought me an skin care kit from Arbonne and it's amazing.....I already can notice a difference. The only problem is when I run out it's so expensive. :)
**I'm reading the book Crazy Love. At first, I wasn't that big of a fan but the more I get into it I think it's going to be really really good. I'm going to join my friend's book club next month in Fort Wayne. I have always wanted to be in a book club that was not for work but could never find one that met at night.......the best part is all the women in this group are around my age.
**In the past I have always had TMJ which is a jaw disorder and it has come back in full force, which is so annoying. I know how to deal with it on my own because insurance doesn't cover TMJ and there isn't much that can be done. I think that mine is stress induced and more than likely I grind or clench my teeth at night when I'm not aware of it. Needless to say, I've been eating a lot of soup this week....
**I'm going this weekend to Kentucky (hopefully this weather cooperates!) My best friend from high school and I are going to visit our friend who is in seminary. The town that the seminary is in is itty bitty.....in fact no franchised restaurants are allowed in the town. We are super excited to see her and are staying in what seems to be a really cute bed and breakfast considering the size of the town because we are not allowed to stay at the seminary, which is fine. In Kentucky they have "Movie Taverns" where it's dinner and a movie which we are definitely doing and in fact are going to see Bride Wars, which I'm really excited about!
**Next month I'm teaching a corporation wide workshop. It hit me today how big of a deal that is.......I have a lot of work to do for sure!

Some pics...

So here are a few pictures from this past Christmas break. As many of you know my Christmas break was not a 'break' for me this year and instead exhausting but thankfully there were a few times of normalcy. :) I am so so glad to go back to work tomorrow and get back into a normal routine. :)


One of my favorite Christmas gifts was a quilt that was made from my great-great aunts dresses and the quilt rack...I love it. I love things that have family value to them vs. the Target special. :)



One of my gifts to my family (every year I say I'm going to cut back on what I buy them but it never works out!) was a family photo. We went and had them done over Thanksgiving break and then everyone got an 8x10 and a 5x7 for their office. They turned out so well. My 8x10 is hung over my bed.

My birthday at Cerulean....great times....great friends!



Spending lots of quality time with my sister over break!



Spending time with Angela and Elissa and roadtripping with Angela in two weeks to visit Elissa at seminary in Kentucky!