Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Another year bites the dust!

I turned 34 over the weekend.
Mercy, how did that happen?

When Luke was born, 6 years ago, I had a friend who was 34.  I was a youthful 28 and remember referring to my 34 year old friend as, "older."  I think the sentence went something like this: "That's Elvira," then in hushed tones, "she's older."

And now I have arrived.

It was a good little birthday.  Worked out at CrossFit and it was a tough one!  Whew.  Reminded me that I am in way better shape now than I ever was at my youthful 28.  Makes me excited about the future.

Anyway, after my workout I came home to banners all over the house made by my man and my little people.  Super cute!  Then the kids wanted to take me out to eat for my birthday.  At their favorite restaurant..Cici's Pizza. 

Notice we eat at their favorite restaurant on my birthday.  Oh, to be a mama.

After that we came home and J put the girls down for nap and took the boys out for the afternoon, so I could be in silence.  Mmmmmm, silence.  That, alone, is a gift to a mama - can I get an amen!

Then we went out with 3 other couples for a very yummy dinner.  Wine, fish, bread, dessert...YUM!  A very welcomed change to my very boring diet!

I think it's time for a picture around here.
And I like this one....

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Trying not to go mad!

It’s been pretty quiet in our little section of the blogsphere. I wish that I could say it has been quiet over at the Mad house. Oh, no, it has been quite the opposite.

Last week I taught 15 classes and I am so glad that I don’t do that weekly. Mercy, I was exhausted everyday. The other yoga instructor at the Y was out, so I subbed all her classes and then the other yoga instructor at the corporate gym I work at was out too, so I had her classes too. I was yoga’d out by the end of the week.

All that followed being gone in Dallas for the weekend to get my level 5 yoga training. I now have 190 hours of training done. 10 more to go and then I will be done!! It is a good thing I am almost done because I am getting sick of these trainings. I will finish the other 10 hours at the beginning of February and then it will be – celebration time!!

And if that wasn’t enough, we had contractors in the house working on all the little injuries the house has sustained over the past 5 years. And, mercy with 4 little kids there have been some injuries. Last week they spackled and painted, so all the pictures are off the walls and furniture all over the place. They repainted the boys room, so moved their heavy Cargo bunk beds to the center of the room, along with everything else in there. Holy Cow, there was a lot of craziness happening behind their bunk beds. Actually, it wasn’t just behind the bed - it was in the whole room. Little boys are really gross. They should come with their own personal maids.

Anyway, those of you that know me know I do not do well when my house is messy so by the end of the weekend I was in full meltdown mode. Joseph has been working a lot too, so the kids are in full form. Between their behavior, the house and being tired from working, I spent Sunday morning in tears. Major meltdown. In front of my Sunday School class. Nice.

Our lesson Sunday, though, was so good and I have been marinating it over in my head for the past couple of days and sharing it with any and everyone who will listen. We are studying the Beatitudes (Matthew 5) and the guy who is teaching is really good. I’ve heard about the Beatitudes my whole life, but I think this is the first time that I have heard it this way. And here is what I learned, in a nutshell, in crazy lady speak.

Matthew 5:3 – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Translated: Blessed are those that realize they have NOTHING to offer without God. NOTHING. I have nothing to offer my kids, friends, husband, family… NOTHING. Not friendship, not kindness, not sympathy, not joy, not love – NOTHING, if I don’t have God. A relationship with him, a love for him. I need him to fill me up or I have nothing to offer anyone.

My cup MUST be filled by Him, to offer anything to anyone else.

Talk about life changing.
Oh, but we aren’t done.

Matthew 5:4 – “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
Translated: Blessed are those that are so aware of sin that it overwhelms them with the desire to turn to the only One who can bring them to repentance and make them whole. He will comfort them. He offers Good News now and even better news when he comes back for us.

How challenging is that? Do I mourn over my sin? Or do I chalk it up to being human and make excuses? If I’m not mourning over my sin, then I will never be able to experience the fullness of the Good News. And that, my friends, is definitely something that should make me want to mourn!

Don’t you love how those two verses roll together? Blessed are those that mourn they have nothing but sin to offer without a relationship with God, because He will comfort them with the promise of eternal life with Him. (the Sabrina translation)
 Pretty cool stuff for an overwhelmed mom who needs an eternal perspective!!

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Another decade bites the dust

Yesterday as I was driving to my mama’s house to pick up the boys and spend the weekend, I was thinking over the fact that another decade has passed on the calendar. I remember ringing in 2000 with my HBFFL (hilarious best friend for life) Katie. Everyone was freaking out about Y2K. Remember that?!

Anyway, the past 10 years have flown by. Most amazing yet. Husband, kids, moves, well y’all know. It really was an amazing 10 years.

But this past year, 2010, was the most... soul searching year yet. My little world was perfect. Okay, maybe not perfect, but pretty stinkin’ good. And then things changed. It's still really good, but I came to the realization that life is most certainly fragile and that my family isn’t made of steel. I’ve always thought that this was the hardest life could get – a husband in the intense, training part of his career and 4 small children.

And now I know, it can get way harder than this.
It will get way harder than this.

I looked back at my past NY resolutions and they made me laugh. I didn’t make any last year, but prior to that it seems like I wanted to hit the gym more, learn to run and learn something new. (Here or here to name a few.)  I chuckle because the LAST thing I need to do is hit the gym more!! A couple of times a week I workout twice a day and starting Monday I will be teaching 10 classes a week at the gym. Yep, I do not need to be there anymore. And learning to run gave me a chuckle too. Now I coach running. Then the learning something new part, mercy, I’m at my fill with that quota too. Between the fitness trainings, sewing, being a wife, being a mom…I’m learning something new all the time. And most of the time with lots of errors first.

So this year, I decided on two things as my NY goals. They are by no stretch of the imagination equally important, but both are going to be really hard, especially for me. Here goes:

  1. I would like to be able to jump rope like this by the end of the year.
  2. I want to have more joy than frustration in every day things. I want to laugh more often than I get irritated. SO, every time I start to feel myself losing it, I can watch this. My favorite youtube video from last year.  Seriously.cracks.me.up. Oh, my.
I told you, definitely not equally important but both things I really want to learn to do. 
There are a few other things, that are close to my heart and I'm not ready to share, that I would like to master this year. 
But, this is good.  For now.