Best Year Ever!

Yes, that’s right… we are expecting this to be the “Best Year Ever” in our home (BYE for short).  I have never been one to make silly New Years resolutions because they are always dropped within a couple weeks and nothing ever really comes of them other than regret and disappointment in yourself.  I don’t need that 😉

However, this year my husband and I came across this course called “5 Days To Your Best Year Ever” by Michael Hyatt.  He designed it for “busy, high-achievers” like me… well at least that is how I would like to think of myself.  My past is spotted with holes of unrealized goals because life just “got” in the way.  In reality I haven’t found the right thing to keep me on the right track.  I had never learned how to plan, create real goals, and I had never learned how to put those goals into workable action.  That is where this course comes in and it has been amazing.

Yes, we just started this the first of the year, so no we haven’t seen the end results yet, but after all the work we have put into this I believe it will be our BYE because we now have clear have working steps for every goal and more importantly, our reason WHY.  I will be sharing about our walk throughout the year, as well as about aspects of all of my goals I have set for myself.  Some are personal and fun, others are serious!  All are good.  I may not hit them all… but I will never reach them if I never try and I never have a plan to work.

Here are my goals for this year… of course simplified for this blog. 😉

1.  To cultivate a stronger and more pure relationship with Jesus so I know His voice better and I will follow Him no matter what.
2.  To cultivate a more vibrant and Godly marriage.
3.  To pay down debt.
4.  To get healthier.
5.  To treat myself well.
6.  To read more books.
7.  To be a better mom and homeschool teacher.
8.  To revamp my blog and write again.
9.  To improve my hand-lettering.

Now of course my goals in my workbook are much more specific with great action and purpose. What I just posted is very general and if they were left that way wouldn’t get accomplished because they are ambiguous.  That is why I love this course, it gets you into the meat of the matter.

So, as I blog this year, the things in my life that fall into those categories will be on the list to share.

What changes are you making this year?  Like Michael Hyatt says, “Nothing great ever happens in the comfort zone!”

Here’s to our Best Year Ever!

Suicide Prevention Month

It is National Suicide Prevention Month.  Please watch this… it is likely someone you know is thinking about suicide right now.  If you know someone who is withdrawing from life, struggling or hurting… Let them know they matter.  You never know how much influence you can have one someone.  Just one person listening can make all the difference in the world.  They did for me.

STRONG… Like a Girl!

The video, #LikeAGirl, is excellent about the strength and uniqueness of being a girl!  We have all used “Like a Girl” in a negative way, time to change the way we use the words that we say because they can be damaging without us even knowing it. “Like A Girl” is a good thing!  Watch the video below!

Now the question is, are you Strong Like A Girl???

Yes, this is my girl and she IS Strong… Like A GIRL!

Negativity

What negativity do you let into your life?  Crazy isn’t it?.. How we don’t even notice it, but before long we are swimming in negativity and sometimes even drowning.  Like the proverbial frog in the pot of boiling water.  We don’t know what has hit us until it is too late.

For me it is all about image.  How do I look?  I have hated how I look since I was a small child and the scary thing is when I look at my photos from then, I was a beautiful young girl with absolutely nothing wrong with me.  I wasn’t overweight nor did I have any other issues that would cause me to stand out or think I look terrible. But I hated how I looked none-the-less.

Today I struggle with my weight and other health issues and I am working hard to remedy that.  I am doing CrossFit and eating healthier but what I lack is self confidence and a belief that God can truly help me through what I am dealing with.  I have thyroid issues and pain issues and just plain self hate issues.  God can deal with those and heal them if I “let” Him, but I let my negativity over how I look and feel now overwhelm and even kill how I will look and feel in the future.

I truly need to remove the negativity and completely replace it with God’s truth and that is that I am wonderfully and beautifully made and that God created me for a purpose, and part of that purpose is to be healed and lead others down that same path through my story and my faith.

Not as easy as it sounds, but with His help… I believe it is something that will truly come to pass.  What negativity are you holding on to?  How does it affect your life?  Are you still above water, or are you sinking?

This was written from a prompt from Free Write Friday.  The topic was the picture that is shown above.  To join the writing prompt click the button below and it will take you to Free Write Friday’s page.

Most Delicious Comfort Food Ever!

One of my most favorite blogs ever is The Nourishing Home!  If you don’t know about them you are really missing out.  Kelly’s blog is about eating healthy and doing so in such a way that it is joyful and fulfilling.  You truly see the Lord’s heart when visiting her site.  What more can you ask for when getting healthy?

Kelly has a weekly meal planner that she puts on her blog and it has always been free!  I have found so many new recipes by following her plan.  It is amazing.  Her meal plan isn’t just for dinner though, she uses the left-overs to plan out the breakfasts and lunches of the next day!  YAY!!!

I don’t use her entire meal planner because there are only 3 of us and it tends to be too much for us.  So I pick 4 days and that is what we have used in the past for our planner.  You can see her most current meal plan here.  Meal Plan Monday: May 27 – June 9

One of my favorite meals comes from Kelly.  It is her Turkey-Veggie Meatloaf (GF Option).  Just click the title and you can see her recipe there.  I am not a lover of Turkey though, so I made some changes that I thought my family would love and my goodness… do they love it!! EVEN my extremely picky 8-year-old Muppin!  She would eat it every single day of the week if I let her.  She will even eat it over my chicken nuggets!  That says a lot 😉

I make mine almost exactly like Kelly does. Below you can see my changes below 🙂  With those changes you now have to call it the Chicken-Veggie Meatloaf though 😉

Isn’t this beautiful!

First I saute these:

• 1/4 cup finely chopped green onion
• 1/4 cup finely chopped carrot
• 1/4 cup finely chopped organic zucchini
• 1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp onion powder

Then I crush either the gluten free crackers or toasted gluten free bread (you can use regular ones if you do not need the gluten free option).

I then mix the rest together in a bowl:

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup crushed crackers or bread
• ground chicken
• cooled sauteed vegetables

Then using my hands I mix them all together, not too much though or it toughens the meat.

I don’t like to make the meatloaf in a pan because it takes too long to cook, so I use a cookie sheet and form them into individual size loaves.  I don’t make them very thick either, maybe an inch or so, because I like them to cook quick. (Hint, I use a meat thermometer to test how hot they are in the center so I know when to take them out.  That way I don’t over cook them and make them all dry.)

I then add dried red pepper to the top of the adults.  Double for my man, he likes them HOT..  lol You can see one is made into a rectangle, and that is because I like to cut it into small rectangles after it is cooked to make it fun for my daughter, she can eat them like fries.  Anything to get them to eat healthy right 😉

They only take 15 to 30 minutes to cook depending on how thick you make them.  When they have 10 minutes left that is when I put the topping on mine and my hubbies, the Muppin doesn’t like topping.  We don’t use ketchup we use BBQ sauce.

Don’t forget you can roast your veggies at the same time 😉  When all is said and done, this is the most moist meatloaf you will ever taste!  Much more figure friendly too!

If you are doing Weight Watchers this 3 ounce meatloaf has only 4 points, without the sauce it would be 3.  Amazingly light meal and yet filling and delicious.  Thanks Kelly at The Nourishing Home for this wonderful idea!  I hope you all enjoy and are inspired to treat your body good!

Thankful Thursday!

This week has been filled with tragedy.  Both Boston and West, TX have been hit with explosions that have claimed lives and have struck fear into the hearts of all those affected.  In times like these it is difficult to find anything to be thankful for, but I am blessed to have so many.

1.  My family is alive and safe at this very moment and if something happens I know God will be holding me and taking care of me.

2.  My God is strong, powerful and ever present and will never leave or forsake me.  Jesus’ blood has covered my sin and insures that I will live with Him in eternity and because He died I have been blessed with the ever-present and powerful Holy Spirit as He dwells within me guiding and comforting me all the days of my life.

3.  I have all the food I need, a place to live (though not large and glorious like many, it is perfect for us), access to health care and the freedom to love my family and my God how I choose.

4.  I can write what I think, what I believe and share those things with the world and not be persecuted in the same way that happens in many other countries.

5.  I get to love all of you, have compassion for you and pray for you all.  I am truly blessed.

Please know that no matter what happens, God loves you… and He always will.

What do you have to be thankful for today?

This post is part of Divas With A Purpose, Thankful Thursdays. To be part of it just click the picture above and join in! You will never regret it!

What God has been speaking to me this past year.

I have certainly been on a journey with the Lord for a while now and as time goes by that journey gets more and more amazing and more and more accelerated!   Last year our families word for the year was Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  Needless to say my faith grew greatly last year.

During my devotional times the Lord was definitely speaking to me about many things.  But one thing that continually came up was about being clean.  What does that mean?  That is what I was thinking and God has been faithful in clearing up that question.

Being clean means decluttering our belongings, we don’t need them all.  It means changing some of our hazardous leaning supplies to better ones.  It means getting rid of life choking debt.  It means removing time sucking activities that really have no real meaning and take away from God’s time and our families time.  And the last one is one that a lot of people really don’t like to talk about… it means changing the unhealthy eating and exercise habits and start fresh.

Now, I have some health issues I am trying to deal with.  I have been gaining weight for several years now despite changing our eating and cooking habits to eat more healthy and cutting out things like soda.  I used to be addicted to soda and my Father delivered me of that just over a year ago and I had expected to feel so differently when He did that for me.  But instead I am still exhausted, still in pain all over my body, still gaining weight.

So during my time of “believing” God and knowing He is the God who will do what He says He will do I went to Him asking, “what am I supposed to do?”  I have done all I know, now what?  Well he led me to a doctor who finally diagnosed me with hypothyroidism.  Why couldn’t I have found that out sooner??? lol  It runs in my family and yet my normal doctors didn’t want to check for it.  Now I am dealing with it.  So far I have not found the right medication to help so I have more time to spend with God to figure it out right? 🙂

God is good because He led me to some shows on Netflix.  All of them about nutrition.  They were great too but the one that had the greatest impact on me was, “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.”  You can watch it streaming on Netflix or you can watch it free on Youtube.  The thing it had in common with the other shows was how it endorsed how important juicing is.  See, most of us are nutrient deficient.  I know I am!  My body is no longer absorbing vitamins and nutrients from my food so I am highly malnourished, and it doesn’t matter how healthy I eat or how many supplements I take… I continue to have the same problem.  And that is why my body is in so much pain all the time.

What juicing does is take all your nutrients from your fruits and veggies and put them into your bloodstream within 15 minutes, giving you the boost you need to get healthy.  I will let you watch the videos and see for yourself. 😉

So after a long talk with God (many long talks) I know without a doubt that this is the path He has for me physically.  So I ordered my juicer (after saving for it and God providing unintended funds.. He is so amazing) and it just arrived yesterday!

I can’t explain to you how I feel.  I am terrified because eventually I will only be juicing and fasting all other foods for a while.  I know this is what God wants and I know it will be a time to get closer to Him and hear more of what He has to say.  But I am excited and exhilarated because I so badly want to be healthy and happy and without pain!  This is a new walk for me and I pray He leads the way and I continue to follow!

Breville, The Juice Fountain Elite

I made my first juice this morning, not real exciting because I wasn’t expecting it so soon so all I had to juice was celery, apples and oranges.  But it was good none-the-less and I know it was the ultimate vitamin boost for my body!

God has great things for me and my family this year.  He does for yours as well!  I will write more about my experience as time goes on.  The good, bad and ugly of it all 🙂

What does God have in store for you this year?  Where is He leading you?