The gym

You may have heard me say how much I hate gyms. I really do hate them.

I used to work out all the time in high school - weights, cardio and step classes. Steve and I worked out a lot when we were first married too. But I hate gyms - everyone sizing everyone else up, sweat, stinky perverted men, the competitiveness, being inside instead of out, etc. Its suffocating.

But this is a new season! I checked out a ladies-only gym nearby with a friend and decided to join. They had a great anniversary special thats super cheap ($31/mo) and since there are no perverted or sweaty men there I was sold. They also have a way better class special than 24hr fitness which is what I wanted.

So I love going to classes and I usually go in the morning. It feels GREAT to move my body and push myself - its been way too long. Although standing next to a crib and "shhhhhing" for an eternity or cleaning up food off the floor for the 100th time has its challenges, I was longing to really move my body and get my heart rate up. During the day there is an interesting bunch. Often I am one of the youngest in the class and those old ladies can work it!

The Lord is showing me how very competitive and prideful I am. Even though its been a year since I did intense cardio I still push myself super hard. Im thinking the whole time, "I cant stop if these old ladies arent stopping!". If there is an extra arm thing to do, I do it. If you can add a hop, I do it .... for awhile.....

Today I pushed hard in an hour-long cardio class and got super dizzy and nearly passed out. And yes I had breakfast, Im just weak right now!!!! its horrible. Its funny looking back. I paused a little but kept pushing through.

Ok. so the lady in front of me on Wednesdays is funny. She has NO rythym. She is always a step or two ahead. I would drive myself crazy if I was like that, I seriously dont think I could keep going always being off like that. But then again maybe she doesnt know?

There is a lady that is always behind me who must be in her 70s? She is super peppy and never seems tired. That annoying. But in her peppiness she is super friendly so Ill forgive her. Oh and then there is this tiny little thing. She's asian and man she is INTENSE. She does class after class in a row and is over the top the whole time. I think she's on crack. (fine, not really, but you know what I mean!)

So I'm enjoying the time out alone, the people watching, the working hard, all of it. Just another blessing in this season of life!

My mom's friend told her today that I'm pregnant with a boy. If that's true, hold me accountable to keep working out. When I feel like Ill throw up any second, all day long, I tend to stay home and eat saltines and drink ginger ale and feel sorry for myself :)

Joy

One of the reasons I don't post as much in this season is because so many things going on are just too big to put into words. The Lord is really stretching and challenging us through Core, through community, etc. He is just answering prayer and healing and teaching and filling us up after such a long, dry season!

If you know Him you know how He can suddenly highlight a part of your life that you thought was fine. Or maybe you knew it wasn't fine but you just hadn't dealt with it yet. That's how I feel about our marriage. We believe in keeping our marriage first but in reality, with 4 kids in 7 years, it was pushed the back burner way too often. But this is the year for us ....year 10 actually, our 10th anniversary is in August. God is showing us things to work on but there is SO. MUCH. GRACE. Thank God. If you are married you know that the issues are big and deep and grace is required! We are closer than ever. I love that man so much.

One prayer Ive had for many months now is for joy. I realized that I was so weary in being mommy and homeschooling. I was treating the kids like they were bothering me with all the "really important"things I need to do (email, clean, etc). I dont want to live like that. So Ive been praying and He's been answering!

As I nursed my sweet Abram to sleep for the night and prayed for discernment in when to wean him, my heart just swelled with joy. I am so blessed and so thankful to get to do this. And my heart is overwhelmed with excitement with my passion for childbirth and how its playing out with photography and being a doula. I LOVE doing that stuff so much, it goes right to my soul and just blesses me like crazy.

So Im thankful. and joyful. The kids still frustrate me some days of course but I'm making more eye contact, reading more books, and giving more hugs and kisses and encouraging words. Its all because of grace. Only God could have done that in my heart. He is so amazingly good!!!! If you dont know Jesus - you need to. You really do. Its not just for some people, its for everyone. Without Him there is a part of your soul that is dead and you cant imagine life when its revived. Its AMAZING! Its not religion, its not heavy - its light and good and life-giving! Its Jesus!

:)


Check out my sweet Jayna just a year ago.....her hair was so short and curly. Oh she was so precious.


and Abram just a year ago .... its amazing what a year can do. He was 7 months here and is about to turn 20 months old.

Post #505

That's a lot of posts! :)

Went to a homeschool seminar today by Carole Joy Seid. If you judged by her website you'd expect a 65 year old woman in a prairie dress but let me tell you, that is NOT what you get. It was worth every penny of the $55 (and that is a lot of money to me!) She is firey and bold and even un-PC at times. I loved her to pieces (haha! wonder why!). Most importantly she has a passion for raising up a faithful, intelligent generation for Jesus. I cant wait to go and hear her speak again. She may be back in Jan or so of 2011 and I'll post about if she is! Ill be sharing more as I process it.

Here are some pictures of the kids. The best shots I get of them are always from the impromptu photo sessions and I was thrilled with these. (if you are viewing in Firefox the color may be wonky if they color correction is turned on. this is super annoying) Im playing around with a new watermark so that's why that is there :)












I have to share that I am very thankful for this current season. Even though Im still nursing Abram a little bit I really and trying to breathe in deep and appreciate the freedom I currently have. This week I was gone for 12hrs for a birth and all day today for that conference. I am so thankful for a super supportive (awesome) husband who supports me doing these things and stays here with the kids. He took them to the park, wrestled with them and fed them dinner (he has come a long way people!) He even unloaded and loaded the dishwasher for me today as a special request because we have Life Group here tomorrow (he already does most of the laundry).

Anyways I adore my children and I hope for more but I also am so excited about the passions the Lord has given me for natural/God-led childbirth and encouraging women in that. Watching Carole with the microphone today, speaking in passion and with "godly discontentment" for the way some things are going I hoped to dream that Id someday do the same. Maybe not with a microphone or a room full of people (although that would rock!) but Id love to start here in my home with pregnant moms, vbacs, etc. Its a dream of mine being realized and Im excited!

I feel like Im getting a break right now and getting to indulge in these things. I also dare not forget the simple things that are so easy like getting on the floor and playing with the kids, physically keeping up with them, sleeping like a rock, etc....all things that are not so easy for me when pregnant. I so look forward to the blessing of another life inside of me (and was disappointed when I wasnt pregnant last month like I thought I was) but Im so thankful for this season at the same time! He knows what we need! :)

blessings. May you know Jesus more!

I blame it on sleep deprivation

Since we moved Abram's crib to Noahs room about a month ago, I havent slept much. Im still up with him several times a night. It's better than it was (thank you God!) but just to say that Im very tired and get a little nutty some days.

So the other day I bought some jalepenos. I think that was the first time Id ever purchased jalepenos? They were $0.35 for a whole pack at Aldi so I had to.

So I told Noah Id give him $10 if he bit off the end, chewed it and swallowed it. Unfortunately for the budget - he did!!!!! Caleb tried but once his teeth pierced the skin he was out. He is not Mr Adventurous. I gave him $1 for his efforts. Then Jayna was whining about not getting money so I told her what Noah did and offered her the same chance and SHE DID IT TOO. Haha! It was hilarious. This is how I entertain myself. I let her spit hers out though. None of them had sick tummies and they all had fun spending their money at Target.

Jayna got a Hello Kitty bank you paint yourself. Wouldnt this post be better if there were a picture of it?

Yeah. I agree.

But Im too tired.

Random updates

I was planning to do something fun and exciting for my 500th post ... except that was 3 posts ago. That's kind of how my life (and brain) are these days - a few steps behind my best intentions :)

Randomness:

- the other day Abram earned the title "first Loth child to climb out of his crib". except he more like fell out. My mom is always talking about getting foam from Joanns to replace his mattress and make it shorter. Great idea except for 2 things - its toxic and even with a coupon it would be $50-60 for the thinner stuff! Um - no. So I went to the garage to do some creative thinking. Fortunately my husband ignored my nagging about breaking down the 100 boxes in the garage and there was a perfect fit with the box from Jaynas dollhouse Nana got her for Christmas. Two small trims and it covers the spring/wire thing perfectly. Then I covered it with some folded blankets, tucked the fitted pink sheet around it and voila! New, safe bed. Its actually seems comfortable because the wiring below gives a bit when he lays in there?



- speaking of sheets. Abrams sleeping on a pink one and i just put a clean sheet on Jayna's that has cars and trucks on it. at least Abrams finally in a manly car seat and no longer using Jayna's that's yellow with pink flowers :) Poor 4th child. sleeping on cardboard and pink sheets!



- Here is a preview of some pictures I will soon edit (Im so behind!). The new "MOLA" - Museum of Living Art opened up at the Ft Worth zoo and we had a great time exploring it with Carmen and Hudson. This is them petting a baby tortoise infront of the "nursery" :)






- God answered prayers for a homeschooling conflict. Im all about reading, writing and math. But my demanding children actually want to learn things about animals and other fun stuff like that (that's sarcasm people). So Ive been praying and I revisited a great book I already had from last year called The Animal Kingdom. We are really loving it. Today we learned all about birds - the different types of beaks and feet they have and why, how they are alike and different from mammals, etc. All three older kids learned together!



- speaking of homeschooling. When we have great homeschooling days the house looks horrible. I did vacuum today......around stuff.



- It was in the 70s today and GORGEOUS. We went outside and the kids rode scooters, played with the dogs (we brought them out on leashes to visit since our backyard is still swamp-like from all the rain), explored, etc. But its going to rain and maybe even snow tomorrow. Texas is so weird like that. But we like it.



- I have a photo shoot on Sunday! Yay! Its been awhile and my camera is getting rusty. Its a family from church - 14 people total (no, not two parents and a ton of children haha!). Im excited for the challenge but I always get nervous too. I'm also waiting on a friend to have her baby. I will have the HONOR and privilege of photographing her VBAC at home. She is 2 weeks past her due today - that is so patience people. I talked her into acupuncture today and it went great so I expect a call tonight or tomorrow night!



- am I the only person without an iphone? I never cared until I saw what great pictures they can take. But seeing how I destroy phones within a few months, I should probably never have an iphone. That and I'm online enough already. they are super cool though.



Ill end with another video from the other day. The kids crack me up!!!!

"Say Bellybutton"

*video removed because youtube is disgusting. will put it back when i figure out how to keep other peoples videos from scrolling at the bottom :(*

Abram Talking

The quality is greatly dimished uploading them through Picasa but I think you can still see them ok? Here is a video of Abram talking and then Jayna singing the "bumble bee song" :)

Playing around tonight.....

March

I cant seem to find the time and motivation to blog as often as I'd like to. That's ok right now. Im always working on prioritizing my time! Just keeping up with the kids, homeschooling and keeping the house up takes most of my time and energy. But its so good, so rich! Motherhood is sacrificial - never easy, but always beautiful and always worth it!

Everyone here is doing great. God is moving and answering prayer and teaching us so much. Abram is doing GREAT with his speech - that is a huge answered prayer and a huge blessing. The other kids are doing well too. We are enjoying some warm spring days here in TX after a long, hard winter (for us!) Still plugging along in school, spending lots of days at the museum, the zoo and park. We love it!

Here are a million snapshots from recent days. i want them down in my memory - spectacular moments from "ordinary" days!

(after I wrote this the stomach flu hit our house. it affected us all differently. thankfully i think we are all on the mend!)



Thursday morning playdates at the park with 3 other homeschool moms - actually met one of them selling her something through craigslist!













Out on a walk. It was cute to see all 3 older kids riding their scooters :)









(Steve borrowed Jaynas glasses - obviously! Dont tell him about this one haha!)







Playing outside one day - enjoying the coming of Spring!






(Abram signing "hear" - telling me he heard a car)


Noahs got his "game face" on while he shows me the tricks he can do on his scooter














Abram climbed up here the other day. When he gets scared he just lays there and waits which is what he is doing here. Cracks me up! (and of course I was like "watch your brother, Im going to grab my camera!!!)




Thats all folks!

I hope to blog more often but life is busy. So good and full, but busy. Im really thankful for where we are right now - trying to savor every moment and thank the Lord for it as well!