Just for fun

I have a blogger friend who tagged me in a blog to do this. Seems interesting so, since I actually a spare moment to do it, I'll give it a try. You post 12 likes, 1 love, and 8 hates. Here goes...

Likes
The sound of my boys' laughter
The beach
The feeling I get after completing a good run
A good cheeseburger
A nice glass of wine
Solitude
Hearing my children first thing in the morning...even if I'm still sleepy
A sermon that steps on your toes
My alma mater..Liberty University
People who are compassionate
The smell after a rain
Spontaneous shopping/restuarant trips with my friends


Love
My husband!! He is a wonderful man, great father, and good friend. He works hard for our family and tries his best to honor God and leads his family spiritually.


Hates (although I have always felt that 'hate' is a strong word..strongly dislike is what I'm going for)
Racism
Cancer
To see my children's tears
Lose touch or closeness with a friend
To see my friends go through difficult things I cannot make better for them
A bad attitude
Swimsuit season, especially after having a baby less than a year before it rolls around again
Getting older


Okay, guess now I have to tag others. Amie at My Venting Space, Royale at Roro Times, and Holly at Beautiful Suburbia. Have fun!

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

I have some really good girl friends. I remember early on in my marriage my husband and I were discussing our relationships with our friends. He told me(being fresh out of college) that in ten years I would be lucky if I could count the number of close friends I have on one hand. How true he was!!!

Two of my girlfriends and I always celebrate our birthdays together. Our birthdays are fairly close to each other so we usually meet and solve the world's problems in about 3 hours. Sounds just like us women, right? Every year we create a 'to do' list for us to accomplish together. Each year we say we are going to go somewhere exotic or just go shopping. So this year, we are finally going to do it!!! I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!

Also, in September, our church takes an annual ladies trip to the beach. It's a good time of spiritual, physical, and emotional refreshing. I look forward to it every year, even when I am unable to attend I love to hear the stories of all the ladies who come back giddy like teenagers. So, I am looking forward to that as well.

Being the mother, wife, sister, daughter, co-worker sometimes can get pretty draining. There are so many hats we have to don in a day's time. It's so important for us ladies to grab some of our closest gal pals and engage in some good ole fun. Laughing, giggling, cutting jokes...ahh just being in the presence of other women can be so uplifting. So, to all my girlies, love you and go have some fun!

While I'm "Weighting"

So, my baby is almost 8 months old and I'm still working on getting back to pre-pregnancy size. I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight but I had gained some weight before I got pregnant so its this weight that I'm working on getting back to. Not to mention, things just aren't the same as they were before : )

In the past, I obsessed over every pound, every bite of food, and every minute spent at the gym. Consequently, all this time and energy I spent trying to control my weight robbed me of some good times. Times I could have spent with my friends or family. Time I could have spent in precious fellowship with my Lord. So much time lost because I was too consumed that I couldn't enjoy the moment. This time around I have a different approach.

This time, I am allowing God to take control of my weight instead of me doing it alone. It's amazing how much time I have now and how liberating it is to let go. Now, don't get me wrong, some days I struggle big time. The other day, a song came to mind and I had to write this down because it spoke to me and to my particular struggle that day.

The song is While I'm Waiting. The verse and chorus really struck me:

I'm waiting, I'm waiting on You Lord and I am hopeful
I'm waiting You Lord though it is painful, but patiently I will wait.

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience

While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint
I'll be running the race, even while I wait.

I'm waiting I'm waiting on You Lord and I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You Lord though its not easy, no, but faithfully I will wait.

Man! What words! You see, since I have turned this all over to the Lord I'm waiting, literally. Easy, no its not. But, while I'm waiting, I'm trusting that He will take me to the place I need to be. It may end up that He wants me to be at a size and weight that is larger than what I'm accustomed to, but that's okay. I don't think that anyone says 'boy, that servant of God is chubby' No, not all. And I don't think my close friends would ditch me because I don't look a certain way. And if they do, I keep reminding myself that man looks on the outside appearance but God looks on the heart.

I'm so glad that God speaks to me a lot through music. Some days, I'm not sure if I would even make it through the most difficult of days without it. But, I just felt so empowered to keep hanging on and letting Him be the artist of my body. It's definitely been a learning experience and patience building, but I'm so glad to be here at this point in my life.

Changes

The 2009/2010 year has been chocked full of changes of for me. Now, typically, I adapt to change pretty easily and actually welcome change. I definitely embrace change if its going to induce efficiency, productivity, and structure. I venture to say that theseall these changes have not included the fore mentioned attributes. So, I press on. I guess I am just writing more for me to "air out" my feelings. You see, I didn't realize how many changes I have gone through since 2009 until I looked at my calendar and thought, hmm we're almost half way through 2010!! Really?! What have I been doing?

First, I rang in 2009 finding out that we were going to add another child to our family. We were blessed with another sweet boy. So, pretty much all of 2009 involved changed. Nine months of watching my body change(more on that later), newborn schedule change, family dynamics change, and just adjusting to having TWO children now. Because of our new addition, we decided that I would scale down my time at work. So, now, I only work two days a week. A big change for me.

Another change that is occurring in my life is that I am not part of my women's bible study. I love these ladies and I love the accountability I had when delving into the word with them. Not to mention the power of praying together. You really bond with people when you become real and share some of life's toughest problems with one another. I haven't been able to attend the last two studies because the hubby has a job that requires him to be away in the evenings and I work every other Thursday which is the night that it is held. Since this "change" I feel so disconnected from these ladies and it just hurts my heart to not be in fellowship with them.

As I stated earlier, I went from working three days+ a week down to two days and that has been a HUGE change for me. At first, I thought it was going to be great. I envisioned lots of play dates with my son's friends whose mommies stayed at home, wonderful crafts we would create, lunch dates with Daddy, home cooked meals every night, a clean house, and a more organized me! Well, actually what I discovered was lonliness, not just for me, but Coen as well. The first couple of months after Caden's birth, was a whirlwind of diaper changes, feedings, naps, schedules that I hardly found time to even shower. All the while, poor Coen was hanging out with me and his brother. I can count on one hand the actual play dates he has had. I did not realize how isolated I would feel "staying at home" I didn't realize how isolated Coen would be with me "staying at home". We actually have tasked some great crafts, and that makes me feel accomplished. The lunch dates with Daddy were pretty frequent during the fall, but now, I can't remember our last lunch date with him. Home cooked meals every night, a clean house, and a more organized me...well, I'm working on it. We eat in most evenings and I love mealtime now that Caden is old enough to sit in his high chair and join in our family time. I am realizing that I am the most important part of childrens' lives right now and no amount of play dates could take the place of that.

A few weeks ago, we found out that my mom has breast cancer. She will undergo surgery on Friday and then have six weeks of radiation therapy. My change here is that now, I am experiencing role reversal. Somehow, I thought this would come later in life. But, here I am, preparing my mom and myself as her care taker for a major surgery, recovery, and treatment. Doctor visits, xrays, research, my head is spinning from all the medical data that I have looked up regarding my mom's condition. And, even though I work in the medical field, I am always amazed at how we continue to advance in technology and pharmacology. It really gives you hope. But I know where our REAL hope lies.

So, with all these changes, the biggest change that I realized that has occurred in my life is that I have had to be a "BIG GIRL" and accept things for the way they are. I had to relinquish my fantasy world and grab onto reality. Life is busy, life is slow; life is stagnate, life is sporadic; life is healthy, life is fragile. So as I embrace change...I embrace life.