Cardio! Cardio!

My freshman year of college I was introduced to TAEBO.  Billy Blanks led my friends and I through many a workout that year on the 3rd floor lounge in Miller Hall.  Taebo is so much fun!  As with anything, it got old to me at times, but I’ve gone back to it every now and then.

Taebocardio
Three years ago I asked my mom for the newest Taebo Cardio workout.  I got it in the midst of doing a few different types of workouts at the time.  Needless to say, I never really got into it.  Billy Blanks is a very motivating person to do a workout video with, but he also pushes you.  Every time I would start this particular video I would tire out and quit halfway through (it’s only 44 minutes long). 

About a year and a half ago I loaned this DVD to a friend and I just got it back this weekend.  With it being so cold out, I’m really unmotivated to go to Curves so I decided to pop in Taebo Cardio.  All the way through Billy shouting, "Cardio! Cardio!" and "Work it!  Work it!", I stuck with it.  The funny thing is that when I made it to the end I thought, "Oh, that wasn’t so bad…I must’ve been really outta shape before!"  Take one look at me now and you’re thinking, "Before?"  But I’m telling you, staying committed to working out and taking care of myself has been such an incredible journey for me!  And while the outward results don’t come as quickly as I’d like for them to, the inward results are fascinating to me.  It may not seem like a big deal to you, but it’s huge to me.:)  Plus, the other day I jogged the better of 2 miles (thanks Jamie for the use of your tread mill) and that felt great! 

I’m really starting to wonder what my deal was when I didn’t care so much about my health or how my body felt.  Seriously-what’s up with that?

Got Sleep?

Girl_sleeping
A good friend of mine doesn’t get to sleep as much as she’d like.  This seems to happen…almost all of the time.  This weekend she was super busy.  The girl was so tired yesterday that she didn’t watch 24 last night with me because she went to bed so early!  Now that blew my mind completely, but the second thing she did because of her tiredness was hilarious…and it reminded me of George Costanza in a particular episode of Seinfeld.

She works at an office in Farmington Hills.  Yesterday, at lunch time, this friend found an empty office with a space heater and a desk.  She put the space heater underneath the desk, then crawled up under the desk and slept..for an hour!  She slept so well that she actually snoozed the alarm on her cell phone without realizing it (kind of like what I do every morning;).

It’s rough when you’re that tired. I wonder if I could get away with that at school…maybe I could hit the Library next time I get that tired.:)

Wet Pants

Come with me to a third grade classroom….. There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It’s never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they’ll never speak to him again as long as he lives.

The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, "Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I’m dead meat."

He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered.

As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is
carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy’s lap.
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inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy's lap.

The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is

saying to himself, "Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!"

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of

ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The

teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts

to put on while his pants dry out. All the other

children are on their hands and knees cleaning up

around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as

life would have it, the ridicule that should have been

his has been transferred to someone else – Susie.

She tries to help, but they tell her to get out.

You've done enough, you klutz!"

Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting

for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and\n whispers,

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Susie whispers

back, "I wet my pants once too."

May God help us see the opportunities that are always

around us to do good.

Remember…..Just going to church doesn't make you a

Christian any more than standing in your garage makes

you a car.

Each and everyone one of us are going through tough times right
now, but God
is getting ready to bless you in a way that only He can. Keep
the faith.

My instructions were to pick four (4) people that I wanted God
to bless, and
I picked you. Please pass this to at least four (4) people you
want to be
blessed.

This prayer is powerful, and prayer is one of the best gifts we
receive.
There is no cost but a lot of rewards. Let's continue to pray
for one
another.

The prayer:

Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives\n and those that
I care
deeply for, who are reading this right now. Show them a new
revelation of
Your love and power. Holy Spirit, I ask You to minister to their”,1]
);
//–>

The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, "Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!"

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else – Susie.

She tries to help, but they tell her to get out.

You’ve done enough, you klutz!"

Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and
whispers, "You did that on purpose, didn’t you?" Susie whispers back, "I wet my pants once too."

Yesterday my pastor preached an(other) awesome message and he started out by saying that other people exist.  It’s not really all that profound of a thought, but it was striking to me, nonetheless.  Not only was it striking, but it was convicting.  I tend to pride myself on  how often I think about others and then as I sat in church yesterday I thought, "Oh, yeah, I’m not as great at that as I think I am."  My prayer is that I will walk in submission to the Holy Spirit’s calling to think of others throughout my day, and to actually put those thoughts into practice more often.

-1 degrees

When I was going away to college in Minneapolis, people thought I was crazy.  They would say, "Don’t you know how cold it gets there?"  I certainly am not a huge fan of cold weather, but nonetheless lived in Minneapolis for 5 years. 

Then when I moved to Michigan, people still thought I was crazy.  They would say, "Don’t you know how cold it gets there?"  Still not a fan of cold weather,  I figured I made it through in Minnesota, Michigan will be cake!  But I must say…these past couple of weeks have caused my body to be colder than it’s ever been in 10,000 plus days:)

At -1degrees this morning, it was colder here in Metro Detroit than it was in Alaska!  And because of that, I got a phone call at 6.15 am with great news-no school!  It came in perfect timing, too:)

As I sit in my apartment, with the temperature turned up to 85-and the thermostat showing that it’s 75-my fingers and my toes (enclosed in socks and slippers) are pretty cold still…the wind chill is simply too much…it makes me wonder if perhaps we’ll have yet another day off tomorrow!  Here’s to hoping:)

My 20,000th Day

(This started as a "comment" to Leah and Anne Marie’s comments below, but it got kind of long to just be "a comment")

I wonder what 10,000 letters would look like…Hmmm…tempting.  I may have just spoken way more than 10,000 words to my oldest, and dearest, best friend in the whole world, Jen (Gowell), on the phone. (even though she doesn’t read my blog, I still love her a whole lot:)   1 hour and 42 minutes…let’s see 102 minutes times 60=oh, that’s only 6,120 seconds.  not quite enough.

Anne Marie, I just may celebrate my 20,000th day, we’ll have to see!  If God blesses me to live to see my 20,000th day, I’ll be 54!  Hopefully I’ll be married by then (hah!:), have had some kids and hopefully some grandkids.  So on my 20,000th day I want to celebrate with my grandkids.:)  How’s that for planning?

My 10,000th Day

For the past year I’ve looked forward to this day.  I’ve thought about what I would do to celebrate.  So here I am and what I am doing?  No, I’m not at Caribou, but I am about to grade papers.  🙂 

I actually kind of forgot about it today, until I was at Curves getting measured (of all things).  All of a sudden I bursted out to the lady there, "I’m 10,000 days old today!!"  She said, "Oh, well Happy Birthday!"  I told her it wasn’t my birthday, and that I was just 10,000 days old.  She just laughed.

This morning I got to pray with some friends, and that was a great thing to do on such a special day.  After that…nothin’ special.  Maybe if I get my work done I can do something to celebrate.  I’ve gotta admit that I’m a little disappointed in myself…

"So, self, I’m sorry for not doing much to celebrate this landmark day."

I guess if I could do something to salvage this moment I could simply express 10,000 THANK YOU’S to the people in my life who mean so much in my life.  And even more THANK YOU’S to Jesus for saving me by His amazing grace…and everthing else He’s done in my life.:)

Snow Day!

Carsnow

I think that people are under the impression that kids are the only people that pray for snow days…but they’re wrong!  Teachers pray for snow days even harder than the kids do!  After driving for an hour to get to church tonight because of the snow, I’m really prayin’ for a snow day tomorrow.  🙂

35,475 Days

On Saturday I will celebrate my 10,000th day, but today I celebrate a woman who lived her 35,475th day, and then passed into eternity

This was Katherine Burton 2 Christmases ago, holding one of her favorite things…chocolate.  I think she may have influenced my like for chocolate;)

Burton_christmas_2005_086_3

She was my last, living grandparent at the age of 97 years old.

There are some people in my life that I could always count on to pray for me.  Grandmom was probably the most consistent throughout my life.  She knew Jesus.  She loved Jesus.  She prayed to Jesus.  She told others about Jesus…What an example.

I’m glad that I got to see her at Christmas time to say, "Goodbye."  She kept talking about "Glory"-
going there, longing to be there with Jesus (and every now and then she would look up at us and ask if were finally in Glory, together:).  We got to pray with her as she just cried out to Jesus.  She really wanted to see Him.  Then she just started praying…for me!  Grandmom was there in pain and she started to pray for me.  Can I tell you the funny thing about it all though?  She prayed for my future husband.  🙂  After many conversations with her about the topic, I think she may have thought about it more than I did. 

She valued love and relationships, and right now-if it works this way-she’s with my grandpop, whom I never met, and whom she longed to be with once again.  I loved her so much.  She cared so deeply for me, and I will miss her.  The best thing is that I will see her again someday:)

Christmas_04_033

Few Words to Say

This is in response to a friend who texted me last night, asking if I was fasting from blogging.  I haven’t been, I just haven’t had much to say.  I know that it doesn’t make sense-especially if you know me well.  I just don’t have too much to say right now.  A few thoughts though…

-The 24 season premiere on Sunday and Monday nights were heart-pounding and great.  Jack is back and I’m pumped.

-Yesterday I had the opportunity to serve at St Leo’s Soup Kitchen, in Detroit, with some friends for MLK Day.  He was a man with a long name "Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.", a short history and a huge legacy.  All I did yesterday was chop vegetables, prepare utensils and serve ham.  It’s so little, I suppose, but little things have the potential to mean a lot. 

-I need to eat more fruit and vegetables.  So I’ve been looking for good, yet simple, recipes to try out.  Hope they taste good!

-It’s freezing outside and that makes it chilly inside too…I really liked the weather on the news tonight because they kept saying there was a "cuddle alert".

-I’m really enjoying the book of Genesis.  So many questions keep coming up and that excites me.  It’s helping me to remember my finite knowledge of the Bible and it’s challenging me to think more for myself about the beginnings of Israel.  I’m seeing more and more how often God uses imperfect people to accomplish His will.  It gives me hope!  🙂

-A small group of friends are going to Guatemala to build homes for widows and children in June.  I’m going to go!  That was just decided today.  Please pray for God to provide in big ways.  I’ll have to see almost $2,000 come in to pay for my trip and some of the cost of the houses that we’ll build.  (Let me know if you feel led to support me financially and/or in prayer:)

That’s it.  My thoughts are done for the night.  Now I sleep.