Sarah Mae's Blog spoke to my heart today :D

The video called "Lord Save Us from Your Followers" is available on Netflix and I think everyone who claims to be a christian should watch this movie... without LOVE we are..." I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." 1 cor. 13:1

Duathlon Plan

so... I have decided to try a Duathlon on September 18th. It is a "short/sprint" distance... 1.2 mile trail run/4 mile mountain bike/ 1.2 mile trail run...

So in addition to the P90x training starting tomorrow I need to be running at least 3 miles without stopping and biking in brick training sessions in the next two weeks. Plus going to Aqua Aerobics class.

I'm excited to get to try it, I think it will be fun. I have never done an off road race before so it will be interesting.

The Mary Martha study is going well and I am trying to apply the be anxious about nothing verse. I am still having those panic attacks/ heart attack feelings but I haven't figured out why. My resting heart rate is better than ever and my blood pressure too, I need to be more aware of my thoughts.

I am working on my Aqua Aerobics training which is really challenging me. I can not remember all the names of the muscles yet. I need to write some note cards I think...

...and the writing class too, I am studying about the parts and chemicals of the brain so that I will be able to write an article on childhood stages of development from a biblical perspective. I think it will help me understand some things better.

Happy Sunday :D

Peace Over Anxiety

"God knows that only He is able to counter the power that anxiety can exert over our lives. If you are anxious, you are to give it over to God completely, totally, without reserve. You are also to adjust your thinking from being anxious to being grateful, which is quite a shift! Being grateful, however, is a very useful tool because it forces you to concentrate on the good things instead of the bad."

Dr. Jantz

Football has begun :D

Football practice has started and I love this scrapbook page from Scrapbooks Etc... they have such creative ideas on there. I would love to make a page like this for the twins :D

Yeah.... nothing to do with football but...Oh my I love these flowers too!!! click here for the pattern :D I would like to add them to some quilts or something...

A RedLetter Giveaway :D

Like a Warm Cup of Coffee is giving away a RedLetter picture today! How exciting! Don't miss entering!!

OH DEAR LORD

thank you Lysa!

I am a courageous woman, I am a courageous woman, I am a courageous woman... and then all the bombardments "YEAH RIGHT!!" "Who do you think you are?" You are nothing" "You are worthless"

yikes...

Reading the Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World is really eye opening to the pattern of attack that the enemy sneaks over and puts on us...

It so makes sense, the moment we get distracted, "this is bad..." then we get discouraged, "I can't fix this..."then we doubt... "God, do you really love me? How could this happen? How could this be so hard? How could you leave me here?" then the sin of questioning God's Goodness...

He is good, the world is bad, the sin that hurts me is bad, this circumstance is very very bad, but He is good, He is love, He is perfect... Just hang on, Just believe it anyway... and Lord please help me... I do not feel courageous, I feel like going back to bed...

just for today

I love the pincurlgirls concept!

Oh my...what a difference it would make to have just a few more positive thoughts then those crappy negative ones. I do so much better with the "I suck because..." thoughts than the "I did great with that, or "I rock because..." thoughts...

so I'm trying... I don't have Jen's adorable bracelets but I am concentrating on thinking better, when those, " you are such an idiot" thoughts come, I am trying to counteract, attack, that is a lie, that is not what Jesus would say thoughts...

so today, if I had the bracelets

I would have moved one because I got to make whole wheat and blueberry pancakes for my twins and their friend that spent the night and they were healthy and they really liked them :D

I would have moved a bracelet because I picked four pounds of blackberries today

I would have moved one because I picked a bunch of weeds and got some exercise doing that,

I would have moved one because I finished chapter one and got 90 percent on the practice test (only eleven weeks left and fifteen more chapters to go...)

so that is pretty good for today, that is four bracelets!! I'm proud of myself! Thank you for the inspiration Jen, Thank you for loving me Jesus!!

Twelve Things I want to do

to learn new things... from Sarah Mae's Twelve New Things post :D

overall goals... study for the test in November, learn the guitar better, read my bible every day...

August- make Blueberry Syrup

September- make Blackberry, Strawberry, or Raspberry Jam or all three

October- learn to make lamb and a real cheesecake for my hubby's bday

November- pass the AEA test, wow I have a lot to learn here! Eleven weeks away... fifteen more chapters to learn

December- make/finish quilted potholders for my family gifts to go with the jam :D

2011

January- skiing on those crazy new skis that they make now??

February- Sprint Triathlon

March-

April-

May-

June- Olympic Triathlon??

July - finish a quilt for the quilt show in August

I'll keep working on this...

Red Letter Words

Red Letter Words

St. Dimitri's Poem

Come, my Light, and illumine my darkness.
Come, my Life, and revive me from death.
Come, my Physician, and heal my wounds.
Come, my Flame of divine love, and burn up the thorns of my sins, kindling my heart with the flame of thy love.
Come, my King, sit upon the throne of my heart and reign there.
For Thou alone art my King and my Lord.
St. Dimitrii of Rostov, 17th Century (Oxford Book of Prayer)

thinking of a couple of things...

Watched Julie/Julia movie last night and so loved it, If you haven't seen it is so wonderful and sweet and for me to know it is okay to just lay down in the middle of the kitchen floor and weep... well, maybe to know that others do, have done, will do that made me feel so much better, I just can't even express it to you!

Next, I am learning at least a word or concept from the glossary a day to prepare for the test in November. I decided to take the Aquatics Exercise Association test and become certified as an Aquatic Aerobics Instructor. I think it fits in with wanting to become healthier myself and have a better understanding of exercise physiology, dieting etc...plus with wanting to help with physical therapy with the elderly, the arthritis class and the low impact class... all the learning might help to get a job when I'm ready to go back to CNA work...

So, I have to practice my self confidence, "I can do it" thinking... I don't like to be in front of people but there were times I took charge when things needed to be done at the hospital. I was confident then and helped when it was needed without questioning my ability... it came back on the day I went Mtn. Biking and I got to help the lady who got injured. I just did it, what needed to be done, I talked through it, I was confident...I would like to just do it, to lead the class, to help people move, get thinner, get healthier, to tell them the movements to music, I think I could do that and I think I could smile and have fun doing it, It would be a part part part time job, just a little bit of money, more for the confidence building and fun and experience than the money...

Why is it that, that confidence can go away in a fleeting moment and leave me flat out laying in the middle of the kitchen floor weeping...

So I will be working on that, and a quilting project for the baby that is coming in the family too, My husband's cousin is expecting :D I got to get some 30's fabric on Saturday to play with, I want to make some pillows for my bed with it too...

Next I wanted to tell you about the wonderful blog I found! and the giveaway and beautiful artwork on The Pleated Poppy! I want one of everything... sigh but my favorite item is the covered notebook if I have to choose, which I did for the giveaway that is going on at the wonderful blog I found called Giving up on Perfect ...

Today, just today, I will be work on just today, how about you?

I want to read this over and over again...I choose to trust Him

I had an image in my head of me, standing on a beach with the water lapping against the shoreline. I pictured a line being drawn in the sand and I knew in that moment I could choose Him, or I could choose fear. But I couldn’t choose both…they couldn’t coexist together.

I chose Him.

I chose to believe in God just as much as I believed in my mother’s words when I was a scared little girl.

I chose to trust Him.

Recently, I’ve been asked by many people how I can do that. How can I trust someone, even if that someone is God, when I know that He could have spared me from all of this? How can I trust a God who allows hurt to happen when He has the power to take it all away?

My answer: God fixes what is broken. I trust Him to fix my broken places.

But you can’t fix what isn’t broken.

I don’t believe God did this to me to teach a lesson or to prove a point. There are many reasons I could be sick, and Him inflicting this on me isn’t one of them. But I do believe He didn’t stop it for a reason. Life breaks us sometimes. We have the free will to make decisions that will break us. Other people have the free will to take actions that will break us. Genetics can play a role in making us sick, and that can break us.

I have been through things that have broken my life. And I trust Him to never leave me there. He is the Father who will pick me up when I am fallen, broken, hurt, tired. And He is the Father who fixes me in those broken places. He fixes my spirit, my heart, my sadness, my loneliness. He brings joy and peace and refuge so I am stronger now than before I was broken.

He watched the pieces fall apart, but only so He could put me back together the right way. When life happens and I feel like things are falling apart, breaking into pieces, I just remind myself that He can’t fix what isn’t broken.

And I trust Him to make me whole in the image of His sight, not mine.

As it should be.

by Sara Frankl, Gitzen Girl

and...

the five people you meet at small group

and...

Perfection the thief...

some encouragement...

From In Courage today:

"All my life I have believed the wrong things about myself.

I have believed that I am not acceptablebecause of what I look like or what I weigh. I have believed that I am not valuablebecause of the talents and gifts that I lack. I have believed that I am not lovable simply because of who I am not.

You, beloved daughter of the King, are made holy.

You are accepted because He is holy.

Loved because He is holy.

Forgiven because He is holy.

Made holy because He is holy."

One of the things that Andrea says is that we should do the Beth Moore study on Daniel... I have such a hard time with Beth Moore studies, am I the only one that starts them and never finishes? and all the questions, it gets discouraging if I am not held accountable and I don't know if I could go to another bible study and get crushed by the gossip and general unloveliness again...

Toughness Training

wow, I started reading the library book "The New Toughness Training for Sports" there are just too many things I want to re read and highlight in this book so I am buying it from Amazon. I think it is well worth the ten dollars. I am excited to receive it next week :D

The Tuesday Club Murders

Another Agatha Christie book finished, this one was very fun, a group of people, including Miss Marple, get together and tell mystery tales to each other to see who can come up with the proper solution. Of Course Miss Marple is the only one who can always get the answer correct... Lot's of fun to read and nice to have the stories broken up in to short chapters.