Temple Love: Timing is Everything

This is my best friend in Thailand.  She is one of the best at taking care of her body!  I cry when I think that we used to wear each other's clothes:(  

This post is a few days late.  (Sorry) I had a mediocre work out week last week. Here are some family members  / things that got in the way:

I am an early bird.  The morning offers many promises, one of them being a new start and a lot of energy.  I also love those early morning moments where I can hear more of my thoughts and less fighting, playful noises and screaming. (Let's be real we are a loud family!)  When I tried to work out in the afternoon or evening I wasn't into it and I didn't work out as hard.

Life can get in the way.  Note to self: Plan appointments, chores, children's illness, tantrums  and outings around your workout!  I had a few appointments and meetings that kind of made workout times difficult.

Sleep is my friend.  I can hear my children saying a collective AMEN in their sleep.  If I don't sleep my workouts are rushed because my mornings move like molasses.  I am up at 12:41 AM right now so I am still learning this lesson. Teachers don't make the best students!

I eat much better when there is a paper trail.  I didn't record what I was eating last week and my eating was all over the place.  I know some people find recording meals tedious but the control freak in me finds it satisfying.

Hope your week has been much more productive than mine!

Showing Marriage Some Love

The women's and men's group at our church are getting together to plan a Valentine's Dinner.  We have sorted out a lot of details and are really excited about this event.  Along the way some have shared concerns about excluding single/divorced people.  Although it is important to be inclusive I felt it equally important to support marriages.

In the first five years of our marriage my husband and I were part of a group of three couples who met every Sunday night.  We prayed, had communion together, ate, and spent time together.  The other two couples had children.  We did not.  This did not matter to my husband and I.  We always commented on how much closer we felt after those evenings.  Although the purpose was to grow in our faith we ended up growing in our marriage.  I look back on those nights and they still fill me with some encouragement for the future.

The church we got married in was 100 years old.  I was hoping that would inspire a long marriage.

Those evenings are long gone and we are all spread apart.  I can tell you that one of the couples are on the way to divorce and my husband and I have been struggling for the past three and a half years.  I often wonder if things would have been different if we had stayed in this group?

You can't see the depth of joy and determination I felt on that day. 

I have also been thinking a lot lately about the programs/services etc... for married couples in churches.  It occurred to me that I have heard of almost every program under the sun i.e. MOPS, AWANA, Men's Small group, Family Small Group, Ladies Bible Study, mentorship programs, children's Sunday programs, Sports, I can go on and on.  I have never been to a church or heard of any churches that offer a couples/married group.  I am not sure why this is such an unpopular group.  The church is in the marriage business after all and nobody can ignore the blaring statistics on divorce.  So why is there so little in the way of creating opportunities for couples to get together and support each other on this journey?  

How does your church show marriage some love?

Temple Love: Working on the Work Out

Working on the Work Out
I loved working out with our new Wii Fit from Monday to Friday.  Sometimes my children worked out with me and sometimes it didn't quite work out having them around while I worked out.  Most mornings they would play around me while I boxed, stepped and ran my way to fitness.

On two occasions my husband came downstairs to find toddlers dodging my rhythm lacking steps and my boxing moves.  He found that situation overwhelming.  I'll admit for most people it might have looked more zoo than family.  But for me it worked.  I could work out without the help of any one's schedule.  My husband wasn't convinced.  Later that night he asked why I couldn't work out while the kids were in bed. His comment felt a little like a misplaced slap in the face.  I explained that I am a morning person and after being an active member of the children's lives for at least 12 hours a day the last thing I wanted to do was lift a finger, leg, butt cheek- anything.  Men!

My hair paid a big price for this week of working out.  For those of you who have naturally straight hair you won't get this- so just skip this and move ahead.  For the rest of you on-line hugs will be needed.  I enjoyed working out but not the feeling of sweat trickling through my scalp and leaving a trail of curls where I just wanted smoothness.  Okay I sound like a baby- I'll stop.

With all the flu induced diets floating around the Internet I knew that food was going to be a problem.  I have been sick 4 times in the last month and I have never found the courage to be sick of food.  I used the old Weight Watchers Point system and I like that it forced me to be more conscious of what I put in my mouth.  But by the 2 day I had used up all my extra points and craved more sweets than ever.  I felt like I was thinking about food too much and that is never a good thing for me.

Looking forward to my exercise program with my Wii and eating well.  (Thank goodness I finished all my Christmas chocolate last week!)

How did you show love to your temple?

Temple Love

I am going where most women hate to go and wished didn't exist. I decided a week or two ago that I would try to start working out again.  I bought the Wii for the children for Christmas and I also picked up the Wii Fit for my mom and myself.

The only big deals in my life (1997): my best friend and my big hair!

Days and body gone bye bye!

Most people blame their weight gain on pregnancy.  I have the opposite problem due to my thyroid.  I loose weight while I am pregnant.  When I deliver I end up gaining weight like it is going out of style.  This happens to some women.  On their behalf I would like to ask God...pregnancy, childbirth, and this?  Really?  I think you could have stopped at childbirth God.  But then again you know best- keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

For 13 years I have been telling myself that I am okay with weighing 60-80 pounds more than I was ever supposed to.  I was always the skinny athletic girl.  I was involved in sports and worked out quite a bit.  I was one of those crazy people that loved to exercise.  I worked out 6 days a week and became obsessed with the shape of my legs.  I was determined to have legs like  Nadia Comaneci.  I carried her Danskin ad in my filo fax (so 1989).

In 1997 I gained 60 pounds- (no people it wasn't a typo).  I had no idea that my body would betray me (with a little help from a trip to England.)  That summer I graduated from University, went to England on my own, ended a relationship and started another one. I loved the shopping in England and bought all these amazing clothes I was sure I was going to need for work.  I was in deep love with a particular brown and cream hounds tooth skirt.  (I used to have style people- really I did!)  I also bought all these shoes...sigh.

By the end of that year I had to kiss that skirt and all my other clothes goodbye because I gained 60 pounds in the matter of a few months.  No one ever told me that your shoe size changes as you gain weight.  I went from a 6 to an 8.  My shoes went from my shopping bags to another woman's closet. I went to the doctor and asked how this could happen.  He explained that I was eating too much.  Okay... really?

Let's get to the readers digest version of how I found myself fat in my usually skinny self.  I learned later that I have hypothyroidism and my thyroid was having a party on me. (Thanks Thy!)

So here I am almost 38 and looking for at my body with a little bit of a healthier perspective.  I don't really have any weight amount in mind.  I just want to show some love and respect to this temple and look good while doing it.

Who is ready for some temple love?

Rearview Joy

I decided to take a look back and give thanks for the memories I was able to build with the people that matter the most in my life.  This past year took us on some thrilling (not in a good way) turns.  Even as I write this I have worries bouncing about.  Thankfully we have the capability as humans to look back and maybe sigh a little, tear up a little, but most importantly live a little joy all over again!

Greg and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on Dec 23rd.  Our life has taken some death defying drops  but I am amazed at how God is holding us together even though we drift so far.

I will always feel like that little girl with ribbons in her hair who had a mother who dared to love  me despite the mess I made!  (And continue to make!)

Every Christmas (except one) for the past 5 years we have had a new baby to welcome into our family.   They drive me to drink places I never imagined I wanted to visit- but the journey is worth it!

Happy New Year everyone!