We're Going Back to an Old Past Time...Running!

You probably wouldn’t believe this if I told you but my husband and I ran cross country in high school; you know like miles and miles of running. Over the years, we quit running and now we don’t exercise at all. I have noticed that I feel more stressed, become exhausted more easily, and often wake up at 2 am, because I can’t sleep.So I decided that I wanted to get healthy by running again and I asked my husband to join me.  He agreed that it would be great idea.

Now that I am 27 my goals have changed. I didn’t want my running to be about body image. I wanted it to be about feeling better.  I wanted it to be about appreciating who I was, a woman and a mom, and not about the number on the scale.  If I focused on body image and had a bad week, then it would upset me and I would probably quit exercising.  So I made my goal to be about feeling better and accomplishing something great. So far I’ve made it 4 weeks. Here’s what happened...

Trial Run Week: I took off running with no plan at all. My heart was pounding and I couldn’t breathe. I went as far as I could and had to stop VERY early. My breathing was so intense you would have thought I had run a marathon. Later that day, I took the car out to measure how far I went…0.3 miles!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! I was so disapointed with myself. That’s when I decided that I needed to find a plan for beginner runners. So I googled  “beginner running plans” and found one that could work for me.  It’s a 12 step program that starts you out walking 30 minutes and in 12 weeks or more you’re running 30 minutes.

Week 1: My first week went fine…obviously it was just walking. I noticed that walking in the evening seemed to relax me.

Week 2:  I was nervous to start because this was the week I had to run. The plan called for me to run 1 minute and walk 4 minutes (repeat 4 more times).  Surprisingly, it wasn’t that bad! I felt very proud of myself and all in all, I had run 5 minutes--the most ever since high school. The plan didn't want you to move to the next level until you could easily do this four times a week. So I had to stay on Week 2 for another week. I couldn’t believe how much better I felt. I slept through the night without waking up and didn't felt that tension I usually carry in my shoulders. It’s amazing how only 5 minutes of running can make you feel better. Another great bonus is that it has made my husband and I grower closer together. Since that's how our relationship started, it's like we picked up right where we left off. We talk during our run/walks and joke along the way. It's good for couples to share a past time together.

Week 3: This week we're running 2 minutes and walking 4 minutes (repeat 4 times) and end with a 3 minute cool down. I’ll let you know if I meet my goal this week and how I feel afterwards. Wish Me Luck!

Here is the plan I chose. Even though it is a running guide for weight loss, this is not my goal. My goal is to feel better about myself and use my running time to relieve stress. Try it out…it’s a very easy plan to start: 12 Step Beginner Running Program

You Might Be a New Mom, If You...

Since Baby Girl has been six months old, I have enrolled her in some type of baby class. Mainly, it’s to give her new opportunities and to expose her to new things…but who am I kidding…mostly it’s to give mommy a break : )  So I signed her up for Romp N Roll; it’s a baby gym class! She fell in love with it immediately. As soon as they brought out the stuffed dog (whom she referred to as Daw) and the curtain was opened to the colorful baby gym she was in awe. It was so funny to watch…her mouth was wide open! After she got over the surprise, she was yelling, running around, throwing balls, going through tunnels…she was in baby heaven : ) I was so happy that she was having the time of her life.

That afternoon I decided to take her grocery shopping. I thought, “What the heck? She was in a good mood earlier. I’ll just run in, get the few things I need, and go home.” Well we stopped by the produce section and I put two apples in a bag, knotted it up, and let her play with it. I was couponing, choosing whether to buy Tropicana or Florida’s Natural (basically zoned into my shopping). We make it to the butter section and I notice that she has torn a hole in the bag and is eating one of the apples!

“Oh no Baby Girl! I have to pay for that by the pound!”  After looking back, I can’t believe #1) I told her that and #2) that I took it away from her. Well, she started throwing one big fit! Wahhhhhhhh!!!!! Tears were rolling down her red face. You would have thought I had murdered her. I run to the pharmacy counter and ask if I can pay for the apple. They had no scale! So here I go, flustered as ever, to pay for the groceries. She’s still balling her eyes out and she has managed to get so angry, that she hit her head on the grocery cart. When I make it to the check-out, I’m so ruffled I forget to use my coupons. Snot is rolling down her face. There should have been a huge sign over my head that said, “This is how NOT to parent.” Eventually, I pay and zoom out the door-totally worried that I upset someone with my child’s crying (Ridiculous? Yes, I know! Hindsight is 20/20).

"So happy for whole wheat bread..."

I’m putting the groceries in the car and in my mind I’m having a one sided conversation with myself. “Can I give her the apple? No, it’s not clean. People have touched it. There are pesticides on it“ (This momma doesn’t buy organic). “Well, maybe you can rub hand sanitizer on it?” My subconscious scowled at me and said, “I can’t believe you just thought you could give her an apple with hand sanitizer on it.” So I rummaged through the bag and all I could find was a piece of whole wheat bread. Yum Yum, right : ( Baby Girl gobbled it down like it was an oreo cookie. Just a side note: She ate an entire hot dog, peas, and juice right before we left for the store.

On the drive home, I thought about how being a stay-at-home mom was the toughest job I had ever done…and how I didn’t know if I’d ever get it right. I allowed myself to shed only one tear…okay maybe two. But the great thing about being a mom is the remarkable toughness you get after having a child. I told myself to suck it up and put my big girl panties on. There was enough whining in my house already! I realized how absolutely crazy my thoughts were! I am a good mom. I love my child unconditionally. I somehow can muster up extraordinary amounts of patience for this little person.  I’m not expected to get it right the first time and for pity’s sake, quit trying to be SUPER MOM. If I keep trying to be the perfect mom and raise the perfect child, I will fail miserably.

 

 

 

So in conclusion, here is my list of “You Might Be a New Mom, If You…” quotes:

• You might be a new mom, if you go to a grocery store (in the afternoon) and forget to bring snacks along for your child. 
• You might be a new mom, if you take something away from your child in a public place and expect them to be “okay” with it. 
•  You might be a new mom, if you look around nervously to see if any customers are frustrated with you because your baby is screaming at murderous volumes.

Here is a quote from Jill Churchill that really sums it up. “There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one.”

If You Could Rewind Time, Would You?

Nothing thrills my heart more than standing in a worship service and hearing 400+ people singing the song, He Has Made Me Glad by Hillsong. It brings chill bumps to me every time.  Something about the words just ring true for my heart. It makes me want to lift my hands to God as if I did so, I would be able to touch Heaven.

My Baby Girl is now able to lift her hands up to us when she wants to be picked up. It’s amazing how much she loves us already--and she’s just 13 months old! It comforts my heart to know that she trusts us, desires our hugs, wants us to comfort her when she falls, and sometimes just wants us to love on her.

Isn’t that how God is to us? We want to trust him, we want Him to comfort us during hard times, and sometimes we just want to know that He loves us, no matter how many times we mess up. But for some reason, as we become adults it’s hard for us to trust Him…we begin to doubt that He can fix our problems, that He cares, or that He even exists… Instead we put more faith in ourselves than we do in Him. We take control of the situation and later find out that we are EXACTLY where we started.

The Lord has been working on my husband and I. Everywhere we go, we seem to be hearing the same sermon on the same verses Jeremiah 29:4-14. In a nutshell, God wanted his people to go about their daily life: build houses, settle down, plant gardens, have children, have grandchildren and seek peace and pray for their city, while they waited on God. The next few verses say what will happen for God’s people when their wait is over.

                Jeremiah 29:10-14:  This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Aren’t we always unsatisfied-searching for something better? Don’t we always want more? Think about it. In every stage of your life, you have been waiting on something…and the wait is always the toughest part. But the Lord says in Jeremiah that He will fulfill his GOOD promise. He has PROSPEROUS plans for you. He wants to give you HOPE and a FUTURE.  But He needs you to CALL on him, PRAY to Him and He will LISTEN to you. He will bring you back from captivity.

I googled the definition of captivity; Captivity is the condition for being imprisoned or confined. What are you imprisoned to? What confines you? For God’s people, it took 70 years to complete the wait. I’m guessing it “feels” like 70 years to you. But isn’t it so reassuring to know that He will come to you and bring you out of your imprisonment?! The only thing He asks of you is to seek Him with all your heart.

Something personal that God has been working on in me is letting "the wait" go. Sometimes I look back on my life and I think, “Where did the time go?” “Why didn’t I take those moments to relish what the Lord had given me instead of complaining about what I didn’t have? Time is flying by so fast…before I know it, Baby Girl will be grown up with her own children and I’ll be wishing to rewind time instead of fast forwarding it .So I’ve decided to wake up each day praying these words.

You have me glad

And I'll say of the Lord…

You are my shield

My strength

My portion

Deliverer

My shelter

Strong tower

My very present help in time of need...

Bloom Where You're Planted

There are a couple places in my life that fill me with peace. The first is putting Baby Girl to sleep at night. I love ending the day with her in my arms. I read her a story and then turn off the lights and hold her close. I tell her how precious she is to me, we say our night time prayers, “As I lay me down to sleep…” and I thank God for blessing me with her (the wait was certainly worth it). I ask God to bless her and make her strong, kind, and compassionate. She falls asleep while we pray.

When we lived in the country, my second peaceful place was in the woods. It was the trees and the birds and the quiet that brought peace to my life. But now that we live in the suburbs it’s hard to feel at home. Don’t get me wrong, I am blessed and thankful for this new life but I still feel like a country mouse in the city.

Today Baby Girl and I went on a walk. I’d point out the birds to her and she’d stick her little finger out and pretend to point at something too. I found a path that wasn’t meant for a car but it looked like a walking trail. So we ventured off into a shaded area with a wood bridge across a tiny stream. Immediately the smells and sounds came back to my memory…the dark cool shade of the trees, the sound of a mockingbird overhead, and yes even the smell of fresh dirt and water surrounding the stream. The shaded place opened up onto a soccer field with trees all around it. No one was there! In all my time here in the city, I have never been alone! There have been people everywhere I go. But this place was so unique. It was as if God said, “Here is your peaceful place while you wait a little more.”
                                                                            
I am reminded of Ephesians 3:16-21: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may STRENGTHEN you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through FAITH. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp HOW WIDE AND LONG AND HIGH AND DEEP IS THE LOVE OF CHRIST, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do IMMEASURABLY MORE than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

While we are waiting on God to sell our house, He has decided that this place will be where we land for a while. He will provide. He always has and He always will. You too, may be waiting on something from God. In the meantime, have faith, find your peaceful place and know how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ for you. He will do immeasurably more for you, than you could ever ask for or imagine.