Updates and IT...

We're now on Day 16 of Shred--more than halfway through the 30 day program, WOO HOO! It is definitely hard, but I am feeling much stronger and LOVING being able to feel ab muscles. So, so glad Bryan is doing it with me as well...Level 3 is looming in the distance though, and the thought scares me! But so did Level 2, and I'm feeling much better about it, so I'm sure it will be the case with Level 3 as well. Anyone who wants a great workout should check this out! It's on YouTube for free if you don't want to spend the $$ (we didn't!)...just look for 30 Day Shred.

In other news, IT is coming, have you heard??? This weekend at Southland Christian--Sat. at 5:30, Sun. at 8:30, 10:00, 11:30 and 6:08 p.m. Jon will reveal what IT is (in case you didn't know, there have been signs and stickers and a bunch of things plastering the city for a month now advertising IT). VERY exciting stuff!!! Bryan and I have both had some odd dreams about what IT is, and the suspense is killing me!

Last but not least, we had some professional 1 year pics taken of Caleb today. These are the unedited/uncropped versions and I couldn't figure out how to turn some of them, but you get the general idea of his preciousness! These are also just a few of the MANY we got, but I don't have time to upload them all, so you'll have to check out my Facebook for them! Enjoy!

Shredding update

So, shredding is going well!! I am on Day 12 (of 30). We started Level 2 yesterday and WOW, what a difference!! I spent half the time staring at the computer screen thinking, "You want me to do what?!?!" But today was a lot better since the moves weren't brand new. I am definitely noticing a difference in my overall endurance. I also can feel ab muscles and arm muscles that CERTAINLY were not there before. I can actually SEE the beginnings of ab muscles on Bryan, which is awesome. I feel tighter everywhere, which is a huge step up from feeling like a big ball of flab. I have also been walking with some great moms at the Arboretum a few times a week, which I'm sure helps as well. I turn 30 in a little over a month (SHUDDER!!) so my goal is to be looking and feeling good by then. I'm so excited because a lot of moms from my playgroup have started doing it too, so I feel like I have to keep doing it to not let them down. That is great motivation for me. Also, a bunch of my sorority sisters have started as well....woo hoo!!! We're all gonna be some hot mommas here soon! :) Seriously, though, I really just want to not hate what I see every time I look in the mirror, and to be in a much better place physically when we start trying for #2 (which is not in the immediate future, btw, just puttin' it out there). :)

Some cute recent pics

At storytime

In his cute new outfit from Grandma

Watching the ducks and fish at JB

Being silly in the slide at the park

Some good reads...

Last week I picked up an INCREDIBLE book at the library that had been recommended to me--"Same Kind of Different as Me". It is a true story of a poor, former sharecropper/homeless black man and a rich, white, art dealer and how the art dealer's wonderful wife brings the two of them together through their work at a homeless shelter and how God does BIG things because of it. I won't give the story away, but, WOW is it powerful!!! I finished it in 2 days, in the middle of the night, as I sat bawling my eyes out when I got close to the end. I had to stop myself from waking Bryan up to tell him all about it (he is reading it now). GREAT read, I HIGHLY recommend it. It made me realize how inwardly focused I can be, when there are so many people with so many needs right in front of my face, who simply need a listening ear or a helping hand. It showed me how powerfully God can show up when you are obedient to Him. Very, very convicting stuff.

I also am about halfway through a book called "Love Jesus, Hate Church". It is VERY interesting stuff, all about how the American church today is, by and large, NOT be what Christ intended it to be...all the people it has hurt over the years...the hypocrisy, judgmentalness, bureaucracy, boring lameness, abused power, etc...so sad... and how we as Christ-followers have GOT to change the course of the American church by doing things radically different than most churches are doing things today. I'm really hoping the IT series at church is going to be just that, and that it will not just be a flash-in-the-pan feel good thing with no real change. (www.itlexington.com) This book is going along with another book I'm reading called "unChristian", which is about the same kind of thing...perceptions of Christianity/Christians by outsiders and what the future of the church looks like.

I'm ALSO reading (yes, I like to read many books at once!) a book called "What Dads Need to Know about Daughters/What Moms Need to Know About Sons"...and WOW it is awesome!!! SOOO many insights into Caleb and what I need to be for him as he grows up. Such an awesome responsibility. It talks a lot about how the problems a man has as an adult-usually in the area of relationships-stem from a dysfunctional relationship with their mom growing up (and vice versa for girls and their dads), and how a HEALTHY mother-son relationship will grow that little boy into a confident man who has a healthy track record of friendships and relationships in his life. I certainly want that for Caleb, and so I'm already praying for that right now! :)

I have several other books checked out, one of them being Joyce Meyer's "Approval Addiction: Overcoming Your Need to Please Everyone"...if you know me at all, you know I NEED to read this book. Praying it helps me get a handle on this people-pleasing disease I have!! Another book I have out is "Raising Children to Adore God" by Patrick Cavanaugh. Looks great. And because I've heard good things about it, I also have "Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini checked out. Want to read it before I watch the movie.

Books really have a way of speaking to me--or, God has a way of speaking to me through books--so I've really been enjoying getting to delve into these while Caleb is napping (when I'm not "shredding" that is!!!).

Caleb's First Steps

This week Caleb has started taking his first steps!!! Just last night he walked from the couch all the way to his toy box, alone! I yelled for Bryan and he thought something was wrong, but he got to see it, too! We tried to get him to do it for my mom last night, but no such luck. Oh well, practice makes perfect! He's getting SO big!!

On becoming a "shredhead"...

So, early this week I was reading some friend's Facebook status' and many of them were talking about Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred workout video---she's the chick from The Biggest Loser---and someone had mentioned that it is on YouTube, so I decided to check it out! On Tuesday I decided it was high time I do something and STICK TO IT, and I did Workout 1. I about died. The next day I was so sore I could barely move, but you're supposed to do it for 30 consecutive days, so I did it again (this time with Bryan). We both about died. ;) Bryan decided he'd stick to it with me, which is awesome. Day 3's workout felt a little easier, and yesterday was Day 4 and I wasn't NEARLY as sore as I'd been...it's still kick-butt, but I can already feel my muscles starting to change, which is a great feeling. I've been looking online at people's before and after pictures, which are pretty amazing. I WON'T be posting such pictures, sorry, but I enjoy being inspired by others more brave than I! :) I turn 30 in a little over a month, so my goal is to look and feel a lot better about myself by that date. I have a serious problem with sticking with a program once I've started, so I'm hoping that by having Bryan do it with me, I won't be ABLE to quit, even when it's hard. The way the video works is there are 3 levels, and you do each level for 10 days. Level 1 is kicking my butt so much I'm quite scared of anything above it!! But hopefully in 5 more days I'll feel stronger and ready. Wish me luck!!

Jonah Song

At church this weekend, we were challenged to write a "Jonah song"...taken from Jonah 2 where he writes about calling out to the Lord while in the belly of the big fish, and how God rescued him. We were supposed to write about what the Lord has rescued US from. Here is mine.


From inside a sad and empty house,
I prayed feverishly to the Lord my God
and He answered me.
From the depths of the loneliness of a marriage, broken and torn
with no hope of mending,
I called for help
and You listened to my cry.

You put me in a place having only You to rely on,
only You to turn to,
only You to hold me when I cried.

There were times I felt as though I was sinking into a dark pit,
suffocating from the heartbreak,
the unfulfilled dreams,
the fear of the unknown future.

But You, my KNOWN God, brought my life up from the pit
When I felt as though my life was slipping away,
I reached out to You Lord
and held on as tightly as I could.
And You held on even tighter.

I will give my life back to You, Lord,
for You are all I need,
my Sustainer,
my Husband,
my Friend.

First birthday party!!!

What a fun birthday party we had this weekend!! The weather was perfect--a little windy which made many of the balloons fly away--but other than that, perfect!! :) Lots of friends and family came by to wish our little boy (not a baby anymore!) a happy birthday. A special prayer for Caleb was said right before we sang him happy birthday, and then Caleb dug in to that cupcake!! Icing first, then the cake. The "grown up cake" was unbelievable. This lady-Pam Birt, makes them--she goes by "The Twisted Sifter"--and it.was.delicious...white cake with lemon filling, and homemade marshmallow fondant icing. YUM! Caleb received lots of great presents, but we appreciated everyone's PRESENCE there even more than the presents. :) Everyone ate food, cake and ice cream, and played until it was time to go home. We opened his presents here at home, Daddy put everything together that needed to be assembled, and we ate some yummy roast Grandma had made. All three of us were exhausted by the time bedtime rolled around! I'll say it again-I can't believe a year has passed. But I am truly excited to see what this next year will hold...

Caleb's Birthday

I am still in shock that Caleb turned one yesterday. We're having a party for him this weekend, but I took pictures of our day yesterday just to document it. I took a picture of him at his exact birth minute-a friend of mine does that and I think it's the best idea. He was napping though at 9:45 and the flash woke him up! Oh well...he probably won't be asleep at his birth minute for the next, ah, 15 or so years! :) We had fun playing at the park with our friends Kristy, Eva, and Jordan (Eva is just 3 days older than Caleb) and even had a picnic that included chocolate chip cookies-Caleb's first! (He loved them). We were there for a long time, came home and took a nap, then ran errands at Target. We went over to PetSmart to look at the fish and kitties after that--he loved both!! Came home, ate dinner, took a bath and actually got to see daddy RIGHT before he went to sleep. It was a good day! What a wonderful year it has been...and I'm so excited to see what THIS year brings!!!

This one was taken at his exact birth minute: 9:45 a.m.

First Fourth of July

We had a fun first Fourth of July this year! The weather was really weird--cool and rainy--so we didn't end up going downtown, but we did go to our friend Becky's son's birthday party! (Emmitt) It was a construction theme and very fun! We ate hotdogs, baked beans, watermelon, and a delicious cupcake with green frosting. Caleb was fascinated with Emmitt's bubble blower, and also enjoyed going up and down his slide in the backyard. We saw all our friends there--little Hope, and the new twins, Riley and Joshua. So much fun! Caleb went to bed at his normal time (around 8) so we obviously didn't make it to any fireworks, but maybe next year. He wore his very cute "Mommy's Little Firecracker" onesie from Old Navy. I bought it back in May so I was very excited to see him in it!

Then today we went over to Grandma's house to celebrate Aunt Ashley and Uncle Matt's birthdays! Caleb got to open an early birthday gift of some fun multi-colored and multi-textured balls (always a sure winner!) and eat some yummy pork roast, potatoes, and carrots...and even a few bites of cake! :)

Here are some pics!