Buuuurnnnn Baby! Burn!

It's been 2 months now since my Brooklyn arrived. I feel the urge to exercise and get back into shape and took out a YMCA membership to help with that (even though I have not been faithfully going!) But as I ponder diet & exercise, I realize just how awful they really are!

First off, I think we should call them by their real names! You wouldn't walk around callin' a turd a brownie, so let's be honest and call it what it is! New names I thought of for diet:

1. 'Starvation'...and the reason for this is because, I could eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch and dinner, so when I can't because I'm ''dieting'', I am really not hungry for anything else.

2. 'Insanity!' ...I think of this often as I chew away at pieces of lettuce barely touched by the hint of a non-fat, low cal  salad dressing, while the rest of my family eats happily there chicken Alfredo covered noodles and sips joyfully their juice and dips the cheesy garlic bread in creamy sauce!
3. 'Hollywood'...I am pretty convinced if we didn't have t.v.'s, magazines...basically any media, we would not care so much about our size and shape! I really wish that I had some one air brush my double chin out of random snapshots and crop my belly so it didn't hang over my pants!
As for the joy of exersize!!! I actually do like to exercise, believe it or not...but I am not fond of sweating or having someone on a machine behind me, as I work out on the elliptical and my butt jiggles with every step!
Why? Oh Why! Does it seem like, no matter how many machines are open, someone always picks the one, directly behind your sweaty behind!?!? People! No one wants to see that!
Here's my names for that!
1. 'Hysterical!'...Nothing beats the random tooting of a lady hitting the treadmill hardcore after a bean burrito, and there is nothing like the guy who is lifting to much weight and grunting and groaning like he is passing a kidney stone, or the gal singing along to her iPod! Oh I do love it! You can find me, laughing out loud to the funny television show I am listening to through ear phones!
2. ' Body nastiness!' There is nothing beautiful about it! At least NOT for me! I sweat like a sinner in a baptist church! I have seen more middle age men sweat themselves a bra at the gym than I care to tell! But, Good for them for workin' so hard! The smell that lingers at the gym of two many sweaty people in one room at once has it's way of almost burning your nostril hairs sometimes. So, all in all, I never believe anyone when they tell me they met their spouse/ boyfriend/ girlfriend at the gym. Really??? So you set out looking for overweight, sweaty companionship?? Hmmm....;)
3. 'Painful'...after not working out in such a Long time, I feel like I should be using a walker, one complete with tennis balls on all four wheels to keep it from scuffin' up the gym floor!

After all is said and done though, I look at my hansom husband, who seriously has the metabolism of a person on crystal meth, and my babies, who I want to watch walk down the aisle someday and help take care of my grand babies, and realize being healthy isn't just about looking good, it's about taking care of yourself as best as you can so that when your children have families of their own , they are not having to tote me around to all my Doctors appointments, because I am a member of  'Sickness of the Week' Club.

I am reminded of the verse; Colossians 3:23 " Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord and not for men."

So, next time I am working out, I will be giving thanks that God has given me just enough breath to get through that workout, a healthy, though slightly out - of - shape body, to do it with, but best of all the memory of 5 precious babies who definitely had a hand in getting my body into the shape it is currently in! :)

Laugh a Little. . .

Well, I have to warn you, I was tame in my first blog...but now, you should beware, if you don't like words like poo-poo, stretch marks, mastitis, birth canal...any of those, stop reading NOW! I am a gal who loves to laugh, so if you like laughing about life and the craziness that happens to us during it and being encouraged in your daily walk with the Lord, KEEP READING!
In my quiet time with the Lord, I sometimes will read over Proverbs 31 once, twice, three, four times, just depending on how badley I screwed up that day! If you are not familiar with that particular chapter, it is all about a 'Wife of Noble Character'. I will probaly 'blog' about these verses alot, since they are dear to my heart as I strive to follow Christ.
But, one part in those verses sticks out to me...although I may not 'rise before the sun' or may not be able to tell the difference in selecting 'wool & flax', I sure love to 'laugh at the days to come' vs. 25.
Sometimes I think God likes to remind us of that when life is hitting us in overload and we feel stressed about the days to come.
I have to laugh or I would probaly go crazy! My husband Jared, my 4 girls,mom & dad and I took a camping trip, I rememberd what a good old belly laugh is! It was late and I didn't want to trek to the outhouses by myself ( they stink just as bad at night as they do during the day!) So, I told my hubby as I grabbed a flashlight, " I used to squat & go...I'm sure I still can!" Now, I don't know if it was the lack of Omega 3 in my brain, because I am a newly nursing mom again, or if it was because it was late and I hadn't thought through my decision carefully. But, ( I WARNED YOU.Now's your chance to quit reading!) as I 'Popped a squat', so to speak, it accured to me what a huge mistake I had made in making that choice & that just 9 weeks prior to that I had given birth to a 9 1/2 pound baby and she was number 5! Any of you ladies who have had the blessed gift of laboring over a child know...you will never jump on a trampoline again, with out peeing yourself a little! Hence...the reason I should have not done what I did!
Jared popped out of the camper with a flashlight, as I squeeled, " You know you have to pee when its hitting your ankles!!" He shined the flashlight right at me, in hopes to help, but once you start there is NO stopping! And I again yelled, because I wasn't thrilled about his choice of area to light up as we had camping neighbors who did not need to know me in such a way!
After all the commotion, I was washing my ankles and shoes off with baby wipes, we both just laughed about it and it was that good, ol' fashioned belly laugh, that I love to have!
Just because things don't go as planned, like I planned on NOT peeing on myself that night, doesn't mean you can't 'laugh at the days to come'. I guess that story probaly cancels out the first part of that verse, " She is clothed with strength and dignity..." I think all dignity was lost! 

Just a little more time today, please Lord . . .

First of all...YAY! I'm a blogger! At first that word scared me a little...it sounded like something I would say to my kids. " Hey! Stop picking your 'bloggers'!" But after reading some pretty great blogs of my friends and being daily encouraged by them and blessed to have a couple friends encourage me to hit the keys and blog a little, I finally had a few minutes to sit down and BLOG!
Now, I am not technically savvy, so I don't even know at this point what my 'template' looks like! Yipes! This could totally come out with a safari theme or a pirate ship! Oh well!
To those of you who know me well, know I am pretty blunt...sometimes like a sawed of shot gun. Thankfully you are all full of grace and forgiveness :) So, my mission here is to just share with you what God so graciously shares with this old sinner.
Lately the Lord has been trying to teach me to 'cherish the moments'. As a Mom of a 5, 4 , 3 & 8 week old little girls, time seems to FLLLLLLLY! Except of course those pesky 30 minutes I'm drenched in a stinky sweat on the Eliptical machine at the YMCA. Why are those the only 30 minutes in a day that DRAG ON? Haha!
My five year old daughter is almost 6 and I look back and reminisce of her infancy and her first tooth and her mood swings ( Don't judge! All of us women get them!), her first steps and words, and how much she continually grows in the Lord, somedays, no thanks to me. And thats where God is poking at my heart.
As a busy mom, I sometimes have a hard time, making time for my first love...Jesus Christ.
Would I go through the day without talking to my wonderful husband? Would I go through the day, barely acknowledging my kiddo's? Of course not! Than why is it so easy for me to forget to give my heart over daily to the creator of the universe? The one who breathed breath into my bones, the one who knows every hair on my head and my thoughts before I think them...and most importantly the one who died for my sins and is preparing a place for me for all eternity.
My time is a gift, that I so easily take for granted. The time He is allowing me to have.
How do you use your time? Is it busy for hours a day on facebook ( I know! I know! There should be a '12 Step program' for us addicts!) or cleaning every nook and cranny in your house, so people will think you are the 'Queen of Clean' ( I do NOT have to worry about that one, just sayin'!), Is it in your image and trying to be the best looking mom on the block, is it in your finances and how you try to fill a void with 'stuff' that you can buy? All of us are guilty, I am sure, of using our time to bring gain to ourselves. I am probaly the worst  of anyone I know at this.
I want to encourage you this week to get down on your kids level. Take time to see that fuzzy caterpillar, and gaze at the bright stars and giggle for no reason. Hug your babies close and kiss your spouse a few extra times ( Trust me! He WON'T mind! hehe!), but most importantley, Do it all for the Glory of God. Every minute of it. Spend time with your savior, and if he is not your savior yet, maybe make time to meet with a close friend, who shares that close relationship with Jesus Christ and ask how you can know him better. Because you never know when it's your time.