BAM!

This morning's work out was killer!

6:30am bright and early. Outside in the morning heat.

4 laps around green top at the park (1/2 mile run)
10 rounds of
    10 TRX pull ups
    20 push ups
    30 body weight squats
4 laps around green top (another 1/2 mile run)

So that's 1/2 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 squats, and finishing up with another 1/2 mile run.

OUCH!

These are TRX bands - they hang from something - in our case, an outdoor gazebo. Hold onto the handles, feet out in front, lean back, and pull up. 

I still can't do a regular pull up - probably won't ever be able to do. But oh well! I can do the TRX pull up.

God Bless.

Weekend Recap

Happy Memorial Day!
Tomorrow we honor all the men and women who have fought for country. But we will especially remember those who lost their lives so that we can live in freedom. I am so grateful for the all of the men and women who have served and sacrificed - including my paternal grandfather and both of Paul's grandfathers. I am so fortunate that God protected them as they served, whether here in the US or overseas. Thank you. I love you!

This weekend has been a good one for Paul and me. Yesterday morning we just hung out at home, which was actually a nice change of pace for us - it seems like most weekends as of recent we have been gone or will be gone.

Then we went to see The Avengers - which was really good!

I'll be honest - I knew who Thor, the Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America were. But I had no idea who the other guys were, or what the story plot was. I was a little more interested in Barbies than super heroes growing up. However, it was still a great movie, and HYSTERICAL! I didn't know there would be so much comedy in it. Go see it!

We then went to Mudtown for dinner. We're trying to explore and experience as much of Birmingham as we can before we leave and this hole-in-the-wall place got good reviews. Well deserved too! It was very good. Paul got a burger (big surprise!), and I got vegetarian jerk lettuce wraps. Excellent all around.

Today, after church, grocery shopping, and resting a little (a.k.a. vegging out in front of the TV watching episodes of Supernanny so I can learn a few tricks), Paul needed to go in to the hospital to get some work done. So I thought I would take advantage of the time to do a little more packing. As mentioned before, we are moving soon - as in 5 WEEKS!! Oh my goodness....just breathe....so much to do and figure out....

Anyway - here's what I've done so far.

I had been working in the back room for a few days. These are the boxes that we didn't unpack all the way initially. We kinda sifted through them when we got here and took out what we needed and then left the rest packed up. I unloaded all of them, went through all of the stuff, and then repacked and sealed them.

These are all of the new boxes of stuff. It may not look like a lot, but it took a lot of time, a lot of packing paper, a lot of tape, and a lot of organizing. It's more than it looks like - trust me.

This time around, packing has not been that bad. Since I started a few weeks ago, and I've been doing a little along the way as I can, when I can, what I can, it really hasn't been daunting or overwhelming. I think I'm getting really close to that point where I can't do much more until a few days before we actually move. The bookshelves are empty. The closets and dressers are thinned out. The kitchen cabinets are much more bare. But for some reason it just feels like a lot less this time.....

So now the only thing left to do is find a place to unpack it all!

Have a great week.

God Bless

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to the World's greatest Mother! Words will never express my love and appreciation for you. If one day God blesses me with children, I hope I can be a mother just like you. To say "I'm turning into my mother" would be the greatest statement I could ever say. You have shown me what it means to be a woman of God, a loving mother, and supportive wife. I love you moster. 

Happy Mother's Day to my wonderful sister, Meredith! It has been so much fun watching you with Henry! You are an amazing mother to this sweet little boy.

Happy Mother's Day to my grandmother! I love you Mom!

And, finally, Happy Mother's Day to my mother-in-law. You are more than just "in-law" to me. I love you very much. Thank you for adopting me into your family and loving me like a daughter.

I have been blessed with so many women in my life who have loved me, raised me, and guided me. I thank God every day from all of you.

God Bless.

A long overdue update...

I have had plans and ideas for posts going through my mind since my last post - almost a month ago!! However, do to technical difficulties (aka I exceeded my limit for pictures, not really sure how), I have been unable to put anything up. But here's the good news - I think I figured out how to remedy that slight problem and will now give a quick update of what has been going on over the past month!

1. We spent a wonderful weekend touring North East Alabama with some friends from UAB! 

We stopped by Trade Day in Collinsville and saw everything and anything for sale. It was awesome!

We also visited two different water falls. The Desoto falls were my favorite! 

We are so blessed by the friends we have made here in Birmingham. Before we moved here I was rather anxious about meeting new people and not making any friends. However, God certainly knew my heart and brought some amazing people into our lives. I know we have made some wonderful life-long friends this year. 

 2. I started going to a bootcamp at 6:30 three mornings a week! It's been great. I initially bought a two week pass on Living Social (kinda like Groupon) and will hopefully be able to continue going. Summer is quickly approaching... enough said. 

3. I spent an entire week in Charleston with my parents, which was simply wonderful. We were able to play, shop, bake, rest, and build the whole week. I found a picture on Pinterest of a coffee table made with an old window frame and sent it to my Dad. Amazing as he is - he was able to come up with a design and helped me build it! He has quite the wood work shop in the garage and I got to use some of his tools to build it. It was SO MUCH FUN!! I got the window frame from my apartment, we bought the wood from Lowes, and then had at it. I cut, templated, sanded, stained, and painted! It was pretty much just awesome and it was a great time working with my Dad. He has a true gift for his craft and I was blessed to get to work with him.

4. And finally - we celebrated my adorable nephew's first birthday this past weekend! I cannot believe Henry is already one years old! He is the cutest and sweetest baby I have ever met! I had a blast baking, decorating, and cooking with my sisters and my mom. Henry had a "Curious George" themed party - very appropriate because now that he is close to walking, he is curious about everything and will get into just about anything!

The birthday boy!!

We baked, cut out, and iced (all from scratch mind you) close to 80 sugar cookies - all H's and 1's. It took all morning, but was so worth it! They were delicious! These were then bagged and tagged and used for the party favors. 

A picture time-line of Henry's 1st year going around the fire place that stands in the middle of the house.

Banana Cupcakes with honey cinnamon icing, and chocolate cupcakes with fondant monkies on them. 

Henry with all his proud grandparents. 

Meredith and David with their son! This was Henry's smash cake! 

Waiting to open presents. He got some really cute outfits and toys. And my dad made him a whole chest full of blocks! 

It's been a busy month - but it's going to be a busy 7 weeks until we leave. It's hard to believe that we have less than 2 months left here in Birmingham! This year has flown by. 

God Bless!

A special poem

My sweet cousin sent this poem to me and it made me cry.

It spoke right to me and I wanted to share it with you.

It's a good reminder that the Lord is in control and He has a plan and purpose for everything, even if that means waiting.

Wait
by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried; 

Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied. 

I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . . 

And the Master so gently said, "Wait."

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply. 

"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!

Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?

By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

"My future and all to which I relate 

Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait? 

I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign, 

Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe, 

We need but to ask, and we shall receive. 

And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:

I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate, 

As my Master replied again, "Wait." 

So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut, 

And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . . 

and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign. 

I could shake the heavens and darken the sun. 

I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be. 

You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me. 

You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint. 

You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;

You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me

When darkness and silence are all you can see.

"You'd never experience the fullness of love

When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.

You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of my comfort late into the night,

The faith that I give when you walk without sight.

The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask

From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,

What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.

Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,

But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see

That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.

And though oft My answers seem terribly late,

My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait."

Have your cake and eat it to!

Well...as long as you have one real cake and one diaper cake!

One of Paul's classmates is having a baby this summer and we're going to a baby shower for her tonight. Brittany and Kaleb are a sweet couple, and we have enjoyed getting to know them over this past year. We are so excited for them and their anticipated bundle of joy. They are having a little boy, Max! I love that name! I think it's so cute. :)

I offered to make a diaper cake for the shower. I made one a year ago (OMG! has it already been that long) for my sister's baby shower, and knew I could make another one for tonight. It was easier this time than last and turned out super cute!

How to make a Diaper Cake


1. Start by rolling 60-70 diapers. You can either roll them so the picture on the front of the diaper shows, or you can roll them backwards so the diapers are all white. I chose to let the pictures show - the baby Sesame  Street characters are adorable.

2. Using an empty paper towel roll, start by making a ring of 6-7 diapers touching the paper towel roll, and secure with a rubber band. Then make another ring with 13-14 diapers, secured with a rubber band. Finally, make a third ring with 18-20 diapers secured with a rubber band.

3. Using the same method, make a second layer with two rings.

4. Finally, one the top layer, stick one diaper inside the paper towel tube so there's about an inch or so sticking out. Then make one final top layer with diapers.

5. Add some decorative ribbon.

6. Then add some other embellishments - I used some baby spoons, pacifiers (designed by dentists of course), and some burp cloths on top.

I had fun making it! I had an episode of "Terra Nova" on in the background. We just got Hulu Plus and I like dinosaurs, so I thought it would it offer decent entertainment while I played worked. I don't really consider myself crafty - I would love to be, but most of the time my "crafts" don't turn out well, so I'm glad this one turned out pretty good.

Hopefully I can take some pictures tonight of the shower itself and post them later.

God bless!

Cooking and Reading

This weekend was great having my parents here.

Friday we shopped downtown Homewood, ate at Mama Goldbergs for lunch, and Avo for dinner, which was amazing!

Saturday we did a little more shopping, went for a nice long walk around the neighborhoods behind our apartments, hung around the apartment for a while, and then for dinner we made pasta! My parents were excited to see how to, and help, make pasta, which we then turned into ravioli. We made two kinds whole wheat ravioli - butternut squash with a maple cream sauce, and spinach goat cheese with a roasted tomato basil pesto. However, here's the thing - we made the pasta first, obviously. While we were getting the sauces ready, I realized something...we couldn't tell the two kinds of pasta a part. From the outside they really looked exactly the same. So how were we to know which sauce to use on which ravioli?!? We made some very educated guesses, and I think we actually all guessed right. Both turned out very good!

Rolling out the dough with my Dad.

Filling the ravioli. 

The result of not knowing which sauce to pour over the whole plate - just put a dap on top. It just looks funny, but was still very tasty! 

We went to church Sunday morning, which was incredible again. We are so blessed to be able to attend the Church at Brook Hills while we are here. Dr. Plate is an amazing pastor who preaches the Word and nothing else. We are studying the book of Matthew, and this week was the Passion narrative. It was a good message about understanding the cross and the true importance and significance is has as we prepare for Easter next week.

I also finished reading the first two Hunger Games books. Obviously they have gotten a lot of hype recently, and I finally decided to see for myself. I'll admit, they were good. Maybe not the best books I've ever read, but still page turning and an interesting plot line. I'm still on the waiting list for the 3rd book at the library.

God Bless