Ever So Grateful

[I started this post Thursday evening and was interrupted by my 3 year old getting out of bed with a fever. This is the first chance I’ve had to get back to it!]

Eight lovely ladies showed up to my first recurring Thrive group exercise session at Galax PH Church this evening. I had told myself to be happy if only three, but God gave me EIGHT! What a blessing! Then, I came home to two happy, bathed, and fed little boys. Mom kept them today and made supper for us, washed our clothes, and more.

I just can’t get over how truly blessed I am. I know, I know – I post it a lot on Facebook and in my blog, but I am just amazed at how well God takes care of me and my family.

Now, it’s Monday and Ezra (the 3 year old) is over the stomach bug, but he generously passed it along to his younger brother, so it’s been a weekend of cuddling and soothing. That’s what moms are for, right? 🙂 I’m happy I can do it and be home from work with the boys. I just pray that no one else in the house gets it!

I didn’t get to spend much time reading my Bible this weekend, so I took some time this morning and caught up a bit. It was nice to read and touch base with my Dad (the heavenly one). In the past, I haven’t desired to read as much as I have over the past 6 months or so. The more I read, the more I want to read.

A lot is going on with Thrive, and if you’ve missed the current events, here’s what you need to know!

• The later part of this week is busy! You can catch Thrive Strength & Cardio at Galax PH Church at 5:45 pm on Thursday. We’ll have about a 35 minute workout using resistance bands. Just $5 per person, youth under 15 free with paying adult. Please bring your own exercise mat, but I have resistance bands you can use.
• Friday is BodyPump at the Carroll Wellness Center at noon. We’re now on 95, which is hard, but it’s so good for your body!
• Saturday morning at 8:30 I will be helping Yvette Ladd celebrate her grand opening at Wellness Pursuits in Gladesboro, VA with a complimentary Thrive Strength & Cardio session. She’s going to let me come back the following Saturday, October 3 and teach again!
• Be sure to mark your calendar for Saturday, October 17. My husband and I are putting on a Flag Football Tournament and Family Fun Day at Woodlawn School. All proceeds will benefit Thrive Wellness Ministries and there will be activities for the entire family!

I just realized THIS Friday is the last one of the month. I can’t believe September is practically gone. I pray that you have a blessed week!

 

my little garden

This morning, the rains are here and I don’t mind a bit. It’s helping the boys sleep in a little and it’s watering my little garden. Or, I should say He is watering my little garden. I keep telling my husband that it’s one of my most favorite places to be in the whole world. Summer is half over and it saddens me to think that my garden is coming close to its peak…well, I’m sad and excited at the same time. From a distance, it looks like a mess!

My messy little garden

But, if you look more closely, you’ll see the good stuff!

Butternut squash

Yellow crookneck squash

Almost ripe tomatoes

WATERMELON!

Sugar snap peas

Sunflower

God has blessed my little garden and I’m so thankful.

My baby boy, Elam, will be one on Monday! Isn’t that hard to believe? Looking back on a post from a year ago, time has flown and he’s changed so much.

Little Ezra is 3.5 and is saying the funniest things. Like, shoulders are “shirtles”. Gotta love it.

My Thrive ministry is taking off slowly. Check out my separate website for more details about that.

Enjoy the rest of the summer!

so stinkin’ excited

A lot has happened since my last post! I’ve started my own business/ministry and it’s really just falling into place. I believe that’s because God gave me the vision and he’s working out all of the details. 🙂 Check out my website!

My logo!

I’m teaching my first Thrive Cardio & Strength workout tomorrow…I’ve taken contemporary Christian music and choreographed a 30 minute routine. We’re going to start the session with a prayer and end with a short devotional. Then, I’m having my first seminar at my church on June 15.

Life is good on the home front too! I’m enjoying the extra time with my boys (including my husband) and my part-time job doing web development is going well. We develop our sites on WordPress now, so that helps!

What’s going on in your world?

tryin’ somethin’ new

I love the way God speaks to His children (that’s you and me). About a month ago, my job took a turn for the worse and I decided it was enough. I put my notice in and April 30 will be my last day as Acting Director at the fitness center where I work. I’m going back to my old job doing website design & development, but just part-time. That will leave time for me to do personal training and teach group exercise classes on my own. I’ve never struck out to try to be my own boss, so it’s a little scary, but exciting too. I’m trying to figure out what to name my company, get liability insurance, etc.

In going through this, Rick Warren’s blog has spoken to me so much! The image above came from “Get Out and Try Something New” – you should go read it. There have been so many others about Christians and work…some of have been inspirational and some have stepped on my toes (like how to love your co-workers – ouch!).

Another thing I’ve done was download the background music to Laura Story’s song “Blessings”, which I plan to sing in church this Sunday. I love that song and I feel it really speaks to people’s hearts. One of my talents is my singing voice and I don’t use it nearly enough.

What’s your struggle today? I hope God grants you the direction you need to face your challenge.

what a blessed life

I’ve not blogged in over a month and for that, I’m terribly sorry. I received a promotion at work so my life went from busy to extremely busy. Life is going by at warp speed.

Last night, I was lying in bed and the baby (now 4 months old and 18 pounds!) woke up around 11 pm. He really didn’t need to eat that soon, so I got him adjusted with his pacifier. I was just dozing off when the house started to shake and I finally woke up wondering what the heck was going on. Then I realized it was some type of aircraft over our house. I said, “Mike!” (my husband’s name) and started looking out the window. I saw one aircraft go over and then another was behind it kind of zig-zagging along. It was very strange so late at night. The husband said one was an Osprey (I think the loud one). It was unsettling and disturbing. I ended up feeding the baby and laying there thinking too much.

I thought about the mom who, at that very moment, was nursing her child with bombs going off around her. I wondered about folks who go to bed every night listening to planes fly over and fearing for their lives. How good we have it. How blessed we are.

Even in the hustle and bustle of life and the busy holiday season, I think God finds ways for us to slow down and thank Him for his many blessings. All we have to do is listen.

In case I don’t get back here before Christmas, please have a very merry Christmas and remember that “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

My sweet little blessings…

family portraits

We had family photos made a couple of weeks ago and I’m so happy with how they turned out. The photographer is a talented friend of mine and I think she did a great job. I almost cry when I look at the pictures because I am just so thankful for the blessing of a happy, healthy family.

My sweet family – Oct. 2014

He’s talking

Not long ago, I blogged about how God still speaks and He’s speaking to me. I get a daily devotion via email and I also pull up biblegateway.com from time to time to read scripture…everything that I’m reading tells me “Read your Bible!” So, even though I’m not reading my Bible as nearly as much as I should, God is still talking to me. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that love?

My prayer life and Bible reading time are lacking and pretty much always have been. It’s easy to make excuses that I don’t have time with two kids, working, trying to cook good meals for our family, etc. But, those aren’t good reasons. What would it hurt to get up 15 minutes early to read some scripture? I bet I would feel better losing those 15 minutes of sleep to gain so much more from spending time with my Dad.

So, that’s my goal. Spend 15 minutes each day in the Word. I wonder what great things He will tell me…

hurting people

Here lately, I’ve come into contact with so many hurting people. There are just a lot of folks that are sad, blue, or very depressed. This used to make me very angry and in some cases, I still do get mad about it, but the older I get the more I have a soft spot for folks that aren’t happy.

I’ve said before that I’m just an abnormally happy person and it’s hard for me to understand depression; however, that doesn’t mean I can’t listen to and pray for folks when they need it. So, that’s what I’m trying to do. I really strive to take the extra time to listen and not be in such a big, darn hurry all the time. Sometimes, that’s all a person needs.

I must point out, though, that God does command us to be happy. As His children, we are supposed to have “joy unspeakable“, so let’s all really try to do that when we can!

God still speaks

I picked up this new sign for my house a Wisteria’s Gifts in Fayetteville, WV on Friday when my husband and I spent the day ziplining for our 11th wedding anniversary (we had a really great time). When I read what it said, I just about cried it touched me so much. I just had to splurge and by the thing. It fits perfectly by the sliding glass door between the kitchen and dining room.

Recently, our preacher mentioned hearing the voice of God. I have to admit that I hear God talking to me on a regular basis. Just like with anything else, to hear something, you have to be listening for it. I’m not perfect and I don’t listen nearly well enough, but last week, I felt God leading me to go see our neighbors.

They are a  young couple that lost their 24 week old fetus about two weeks ago. The mom had to deliver this still born baby, which they then named and buried. I just had a burden on my heart to go introduce myself (I hadn’t yet met them) and take them dinner or something. Well, before I got to it, God sent them to me.

Yesterday, I was at my in-laws house when the couple showed up bearing a gift for our 3 week old son…a baby outfit. Now, isn’t that the sweetest, most heart-breaking thing you’ve heard lately? Here they are, bringing a baby gift when they just lost their baby (this was the second still born, by the way).

The young lady got to hold our new baby and she seemed so happy to do so. We talked about her two miscarriages and I was getting ready to tell her things are going to be ok when she said, “I know God has a plan for me.” Now, isn’t that something? I did invite them both to church since she said they don’t have a home church at this point.

The Sunday School lesson for this upcoming week is “Victorious Faith: God will strengthen and restore me.” It points out that “When you’re down and out, cliches are the last thing you need. (Hang in there, Roll with the punches, etc.) This lesson really made me thing of this young couple. One of the verses of scripture is “Casting all your cares upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7.

I’m so thankful to be so blessed, but I have to take time to stop and consider those around me who aren’t. Then, reach out to them.

a new normal

Little Elam is 2 weeks old today and our family is settling into a new normal. Ezra is a great big brother. Yesterday, he shared his building blocks and asked “Can I touch his leg?” It was very sweet. Thankfully, my husband has had 2 weeks off work and still has one more before it’s back to the daily grind. I am off until the week of Labor Day, thankfully. Physically, I feel almost back to my old self again and my stomach is quickly disappearing. I took a 20 minute walk yesterday for the first time since Elam arrived and it felt good. I hope to keep walking a few times a week and incorporate some light strength training as well. Need to get some of this jiggly tightened up!

My garden is producing an abundance of tomatoes and those sunflowers are even more gorgeous. I’m so glad I decided to have a garden and that it’s turned out so well. I have a few zucchini still coming out and there are some butternut squash ripening nicely. I found a watermelon the vine that’s about 2 inches around, so we’ll see if it turns into anything. I found a recipe for crock pot spaghetti sauce I’m going to try with all these tomatoes so they don’t go to waste.

I’m so thankful for the blessings the good Lord has given me. It’s like the song my son has learned to sing…

This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made
I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it

Rejoice and be glad today!

One of the gorgeous sunflowers in my garden

Ezra sharing his blocks with Elam

Elam’s Sunday afternoon nap

The bumble bees love the sunflowers