My Birth Month!

Happy month of March, y'all! This is the 27th month of March since the year I was born. On the 16th I'll be 27. Wow! Lord willing, I have a lot of life left to live! A birthday is sort of like celebrating New Year's again. Well, it's more like.. it's already three and half months (It will be on my bday.) into the new year and I haven't   really done a single thing differently than last year so now I'm going to make it a "by the time I'm 28" kind of thing... That works for me!

I can't say I haven't done a SINGLE thing differently. I have been working out at the gym four to five sometimes more days a week. I have to be honest. It has made a difference! I'm officially down a pant size which is really two sizes because I stretched my larger jeans to the next size up since I was in denial and would NOT buy the right size. Oh and I almost forgot! Since it's March 1st I have officially made it two months without any soft drinks... no Dr. Pepper! I still would like one. Some health professionals recommend limiting yourself to two 12 oz cans of soda week. Does that mean I can start having two a week? That is probably only for people who think they just "have to have" it. I could be one of those people... but for the sake of my pant size going DOWN, I'll try to keep away from the stuff. Now I need to quit eating ice cream! If I can quit drinking DP then surely I can quit eating ice cream...at least so much.

Also, I DID make that skirt I talked about two posts back. It mostly turned out really great... except I didn't like the way it looked on me. I learned a lesson while making it though. When I got to attaching the elastic to the skirt I didn't have any white thread, DOH! So I used red with a zig zag stitch. Well my zig zag was all over the place. I guess I was pulling the elastic too tight and it wasn't going through the machine at a consistent speed and well it looked yucky. I ran it through again, this time with a really tight zig zag. It looked great but it caused the elastic to do something funky so the skirt stuck out away from me too far at the waist. I don't need ANY help looking wider around my hips! Not only that, the fullness of the skirt made me feel old. I have plans to take it apart and use the material to make something else. :)

AJ and I are getting closer and closer to graduation at MSOP. It's less than three months away. I am so excited to start working with a congregation of God's people! We had a "try-out" last weekend. AJ and I both really enjoyed our visit. The members their are really awesome and we both really like the area! They are a good sound congregation that seem willing to work. In fact, they are already working away! We should hear from them this month some time. Please pray for us as we are going through the process of finding a work. Thank you in advance!

Okay so now for my 28th year of life. Should I make a list of 28 things I want to do before I'm 28? We all know how well my list of fun Fall things turned out... Womp, womp, womp... Oh well, I think I will just because I love to make lists! I'll work on that.

Tonight AJ and I are going to a minor league hockey game! I have a feeling we are going to have a blast! (Is it cold in a hockey arena?) Mississippi River Kings vs Fayetteville Fire Antz! lol Fire antz.

When I think "ants" I think that's not much of a mascot, but so much can be learned from the ant. God tells us we can gain wisdom from the ant's ways. (Proverbs 6:6) Ants are "exceeding wise", Proverbs 30:24, 25, in the way they prepare for winter... harvesting food while it is plenty. Not to mention, ants can lift about 20 times their own body weight. Weird, huh?

Where was I going with this? Oops! Sorry. Thanks for reading anyway!

Heaven Will Surely Be Worth it All

Often I'm hindered on my way, burden so heavy I almost fall
Then I hear Jesus sweetly say, Heaven will surely be worth it all

chorus: Heaven will surely be worth it all, worth all the sorrows that here befall
After this life with all its strife, Heaven will surely be worth it all

Many the trials toils and tears, many a heartache may here appall
But the dear Lord so truly says, Heaven will surely be worth it all

chorus

Toiling and pain I will endure, till I shall hear the death angel call
Jesus has promised and I'm sure, Heaven will surely be worth it all.

chorus

Just wanted to share a song today. AJ and I traveled to see his family this weekend. It was his little brother's birthday on Thursday. He is a ripe, old 19! 

We were listening to gospel hymns on the way down including the one above. I am often hindered on my way, but I am so thankful that I have the promise of Heaven when this life is over. That alone is worth any and every sorrow on Earth. 

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory; 2 Corinthians 4:17

You can have this same promise if only you will obey the Master.  

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.              Matthew 11:28-30

6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6

I am so blessed to be living the life I am. I am so thankful to God for His mercy and care. 

For a free online Bible correspondence course go to You Can Be Sure. Why not be sure of your salvation? 

W.I.A.W.

If you follow a lot of blogs you will notice some bloggers have weekly schedules and do certain themed posts on certain days usually with a catchy title using alliteration liiiike... Wednesdays are sometimes W.I.W.W. (What I Wore Wednesdays) or W.I.A.W (What I Ate Wednesdays). Well over here, for today at least, W.I.A.W. stands for "Wow, It's Already Wednesday?!"

That is exactly the way I feel today! I actually feel this way every week. Every day just goes by so fast and before you can blink its a new week. Several days ago I posted about some things I wanted to accomplish and some things (time-wasters) I wanted to phase out of my life. Well, Saturday I went to JoAnn fabrics and bought the materials needed to make a skirt. I wasn't really expecting to see anything I liked. I actually had to pick between three different fabrics. I am keeping the others in mind for other projects! OR just more of the same project in different prints.

I am having a hard time deciding what style to do. There are two tutorials from Cotton and Curls that I want to try and they are both fairly simple... looking. Haven't tried them yet, so I can't say for sure. Also, my skill level is BEGINNER. I have started two dresses before, got half way through, got stuck and then never finished. This time I want to try and practice correct technique and take my time so the end product is wearable. There will be an end product! Here are the two styles I am trying to decide between.

If I make this I'll need to make it longer than in this picture to  keep it modest while sitting. This being a wrap style I may even need to just attach at the overlap so it doesn't separate. (Thinking out loud.) source

Looking at this tutorial just now to get the picture made me realize how much simpler this one is than the other. source

Simpler is better for a beginner... especially if that beginner is me! I plan to begin working on this tomorrow, my day off this week. If I'm not too ashamed when it's finished I'll post pictures! The material I chose is very similar to the material C&C used in the first picture. I was thinking if mine turns out to be wearable I might wear it to the upcoming Valentine's banquet here at MSOP! 

Without any clever seg-way, I'm changing the subject!

This past week we (MSOP student wives) were required to develop and turn in a Bible class lesson about a certain Bible character or characters. After we turned them in to our teacher we all swapped lessons and now we each have about 25 different Bible class lessons already made up to take with us wherever we are going! I am super pumped about it. It's gotten me even more excited about finding a congregation for AJ and I to work with and begin teaching children's Bible class again! 

I want to share something our teacher, sister Tish Clarke, said about teaching Bible class that really stuck out to me. What she said wasn't a huge secret or something very profound; I guess I just never heard it said out loud before. She said, "When your students leave your classroom they should leave thinking about God and what He means to them rather than thinking about Jonah and a big fish!" Meaning, they need to remember what they learn about God from the account of Jonah and the big fish, not just that Jonah was swallowed by a big fish and was there for three days. I haven't taught MANY Bible classes before, but the ones I have taught I think I was too focused on making sure I had enough "to do" to fill the class time and making sure I was going to keep their attention. Those things are important, but not as important as those little ones hearing about God from His word and the application to their life. I can't wait to put this in to practice!  

Are you working on any sewing projects?
Have any tips for a beginner?

   

I'm really doing it!

After two different times starting and quitting, I, along with my awesome gym buddy, have completed the first three weeks of the "Total Body Blitz" 12-week exercise program. I have to say I am feeling great! Pounds are coming off... granted not like on the Biggest Loser, but they are coming off! My jeans are getting looser and looser. That makes me excited! There is nothing like results to make you want to keep going. I had a small victory in our work out today, too. I completed real-deal box jumps as prescribed. You are probably like, woo-hoo... go, you... but it was a victory indeed for me. We had been doing the box jumps on an aerobic step that's only like three or four inches off the floor. Like this one only without the risers underneath.

Today I used a 12" box. It was scary making the first jump because I kept picturing myself missing the box and scraping my shins all to pieces. After that, it was awesome! So the 12" box is the shortest one in this picture. Hey, gotta start somewhere!!

  

Can you believe there are people out there that can jump a 62" box?! Check out this video just for fun. I'm not even sure if that's the highest one. Have you ever heard of Cross Fit? That is definitely something I would like to get in to eventually. Those people are so fit. Although, some of the women are VERY built and that's not my goal. 

Anyway. My diet hasn't been top notch by any means, but I am certainly eating better. I've been keeping up with tracking my calories on My Fitness Pal and I know that has helped. I really want to take mine and AJ's diet to the next level and really eat clean. We have made several changes in our pantry, but one thing we haven't gotten rid of is potato chips!! I don't eat them every day, but on days when we have a sandwich for lunch I want chips. Sometimes we will have apple slices instead, but those chips are so yummy. I could do some carrot sticks. 

What have your work outs been like lately?

Have you had any personal victories?