With a new year

 Every year, we set "resolutions" and we fail to meet them. Now, please don't take that as me being judgemental, I'm not. I'm simply stating what tends to happen. We are all excited about the new year and set all these unrealistic goals. We might be good for a few weeks, but as the year goes on, we stop doing our new habits and then we get right back in the slump of the previous year saying "I'll start on Monday" or "I'll start on such and such date" but that time never comes. 

This year, instead of setting myself up for failure, I have decided to take a different approach. I'm trying out the idea of a bullet journal. You see, I have always kept lists and lists of things and then I lose my lists. What my hope is is that I will be able to have all of my lists in one location and by keeping the journal in my purse so that wherever I go, it is with me to jot down whatever I need to jot down. Will it work, I don't know. But what I do know is that if I fail to try, I will fail anyway. 

I found the idea of the bullet journal a few years ago and have tried various types of planners, but they all failed for one reason or another. My friend, Teri, sent me one along with everything I needed to get started as a reward for a giveaway she had going on. It was the perfect excuse for spending intentional time working on getting organized going into the new year. I don't know that I'm doing it right and the next one will likely have a little different look, but the important thing is that I'm making an effort to get us on track going into 2022. 

Speaking of getting on track for the new year, here are our dinners for the next few days: 

• Tortellini Soup
• Pepperoni Pizza casserole
• Chicken pot pie bubble up bake
• Buffalo Chicken Taquitos
• Flat out pizzas
• Instant pot beef stroganoff
• Philly cheesesteak stuffed peppers

One of my goals is to transition us to more gluten free meals so while there are glutens in most of our meals, I am really limiting us to fewer glutens and introducing 1 meal a week that is gluten free. Then in February, we will be at 2 meals per week gluten free, and so on. By the time next year, I hope to have my family completely gluten free. It will be a huge step toward our health, and I can't thank my sister-in-love (Amanda) and her daughters for being the inspiration behind this step. 

If you'd like any of the recipes listed above, stay tuned. I'll post one every day this week for you! If you need the recipe quicker than that, please comment on this post and I will reach out to you to get you what you need. 

Many wishes for a blessed new year! 

Merry Christmas, everyone!

 

As we prepare to spend time with our families, let us all pause a moment to think about the ultimate gift God gave us: his son. We wish you all the Merriest of Christmases and Happiest of New Years. Keep reading if you'd like a glimpse into our day today and tomorrow: 

• baking cookies with the girls
• wrapping gifts after they go to bed
• playing santa 
• attending Candle light Christmas Service
• Making a new casserole
• Making overnight sticky cinnamon rolls for tomorrow morning. 

Our Christmas morning looks like this: 

• mom wakes up and makes sure everything is just right
• mom makes a cup of coffee. 
• kids wake up and yell from there room to make sure dad is awake before coming out. 
• they find what Santa left them and we do stockings. 
• it's break time and we bake our breakfast and eat. 
• then it's all the wrapped gifts and playing with all our new and fun things! 

We have a very casual day planned, but it's how we've done it for years and yes, cinnamon rolls is a must for us. We do that every. single. year. 

Much love and many blessings to you and yours! 

Christmas is a coming

 As I sit here, we are just 2 more sleeps away from Christmas eve. As I sit here, I am pondering all that has transpired over the last year. Some of it is great and some of it really sucked. As I ponder, I think about how thankful I am for the things that happened. Then realization hits me that the sucky parts are outnumbered by the really great parts and I remember that without Jesus coming to save me, none of this would have been possible. We've been through working from home because of COVID, schooling at home, challenges with cars, car accidents that total our only car, graduations, learning new things, spending time with our loved ones, seeing Grandma, and the list goes on. With all of those things come many feelings, some sad, some angry, some thankful, and some super proud. What remains steady is that love is what got us through them all. 

As we look to the new year, we do not know where life will take us, but we know that Jesus Christ will be our cornerstone as we walk the path. We know that despite appropriate measures, the woman who hit Ryan is trying to sue us for all we are worth, but Jesus. We know that we will be okay. We are thankful that everyone is perfectly fine from the accident and that cars are repairable or replaced. We are thankful that we were blessed and could get a replacement super quick and a second car not long after. We are thankful that our children were raised to take care of one another in emergencies and to seek help when they need it. 

See as we go into the new year, our prayer for you is that you are able to see the good and be thankful IN the moment. 

Ups and downs

 My closest friends and family know what a struggle it's been for me to loose and keep weight off. Over the years, the one thing that remains constant is knowing that I MUST get the weight off. Not because I am being vain, but because my health and future depends upon it. I come from a family with a deep history of cancers and diabetes. I have taken the stance of fighting with all I've got to prevent that from hitting me. In the last year, I have: 

• established regular care with a primary provider
• gone to see an allergist
• gone to see a gastroenterologist
• had labs done

With all of that, what we found was: 

1. I have a fatty liver
2. I am prediabetic
3. I have irritable bowel syndrome type D
4. I have a lower than desired Vitamin D level

So, the decision had to be made for what to do about my diagnoses. You see, I went to see the GI doctor because of the IBS and my pre-existing gastroesophageal reflux disease. What he asked was that I try the FODMAP diet to identify my triggers and to try to limit those triggers. I went to the allergist at the request of my primary to determine if the IBS symptoms were being caused by any food sensitivities. They were not. While at the GI, they pulled a celiac panel on me to make sure I didn't suffer from celiac disease. Additionally, the GI doctor wanted a liver ultrasound because my liver enzymes came back a bit higher than they'd like to have seen. 

In the time since then, I've done about 6 weeks on FODMAP and found that onions are particularly bothersome for me. I try to eliminate them as much as possible. I have dropped about 15 pounds this year as a result of some of my other steps to getting healthier. 

Fatty liver - 

To work on this, I am working to lose weight and to decrease the amount of fat in my diet. This means that I need to consume healthy fats like avocado and limit processed fats like mayonnaise and vegetable oil. Additionally, I am increasing my fresh green foods like salads and decreasing the fried foods by opting to bake them or put them in the air fryer so they are fried but without any oil. 

Prediabetes - 

This was the hardest pill to swallow for me. I knew it was possible that I was getting to the point of needing treatment. I was diagnosed as gestational diabetic when I was pregnant with Maddie. Although they didn't do the 4 hour screen after the 1 hour came back high, there was still a risk I would develop the disease later in life. While I was one tenth of a point away from Diabetes type 2, I decided I would work my rear off to trend in the other direction. I came off of sugar (for the most part) and really started working to clean up my diet. In doing this, I lost 4 tenths of a point. This was just the inspiration I needed to keep going. 

IBS-D - 

As noted above, for this one I am really working to track my foods and identify when I have an issue. Then I can look at what I ate and not repeat that activity. This has worked very well and it is super rare that I need to take my "tummy" pill. I am on a pill that slows digestion down as needed. At first, I was needing to take it every 4 hours. Now I might need 1 or 2 a week depending on what I have chosen to eat. 

Vitamin D - 

For this, the treatment is a little more simple: take a supplement and spend at least 10 minutes a day out in the sun. While the latter has been a bit harder because I do not enjoy being out in the dead heat of the summer, I am hopeful that I can train myself to get out there more. I am hoping that soon I can go out and start hiking every weekend. We shall see how that goes. 

I tell you all of this to say that despite odds stacked against us, WE can do it. If you need someone in your corner that is fighting the good fight, I will be that person.  

The importance of connections

 Many times, we don't take the opportunity in life to think about connections. Much like the way legos connect to erect the building or vehicle you are trying to create, without connecting pieces, our lives would fall apart. It's not often that we take time to reflect on those connections in meaningful ways. If I am honest, when we moved from Indiana back to Florida, we didn't appreciate the connections we had and so as I look back I wonder what life would have been like if we'd not only appreciated those connections, but supported them in meaningful ways. 

Since moving to Greenville, not only have we made connections, but we've made it a part of life to connect with those people we've met that have become more like family than friends. We took the time to find a church that really believes in connecting with their people and not in a way that makes the patrons of the church feel like they are just a player in the game of chess and that player's job is to be used and abused to the point of walking away from the church. 

Just a couple nights ago, Maddie came with me for Sisterhood. It's an event that the women in our church put on to love on each other and those who want to go with them. While there wasn't Nothing Bundt Cakes this time, we'd made some connections and so she was blessed to be loved on by Pastor Brittani, Crimson, Makailey and so many more women. The picture you see below is one of my favorites. Not because Maddie is in it, but because of the memories I have of when it went down. You see, there was a "selfie" station set up with a wonderful ring light. Maddie leaned over to me at our table as we were having snacks and listening to Christmas music and: 

Maddie: Hey Mom, do you think I could get a picture over there (and points to the selfie station). 

Me: Sure! And I bet if you ask the lady in the ivory sweater, she would even take it for you. Her name is Makailey. 

Maddie: (grabs my phone) MAKAILEY!!!!! (and runs off to ask for a photo). 

When she returned to the table, she not only had her picture, but 3 of them and a huge smile on her face. The one act of loving kindness because of a connection I'd made during my Wednesday night small group was all it took. When we got home from dinner after going to the event, I messaged Makailey to thank her for the picture and to say that it had made Maddie's night and received a kind response that only a servant of our Lord and Savior could give. 

As the night went on, we sang carols (and forgot some words with Pastor Will) and heard the Christmas Story, and even got to surprise Makailey as the woman we recognized (yes, she even filmed her own honoring moment and didn't know it). We shopped a little afterward and then headed out to get dinner with Ryan and Mackenzie. 

The moral of this little story is that because we have connected with people here, we feel loved on. We feel included. We feel home. Pastor Brittani and Pastor Josh have been amazing in opening their arms to welcome a couple of people and their teenage children into their little family. You see, there's a HUGE sign hanging on the outside of the church that says "You belong here" and I feel like that sign was MEANT FOR US. We were struggling to find where we belong and now that we have connected, I feel like we aren't crumbling like we were when we lived in Ocala. Since connecting at GFC, we have: 

• joined small groups
• gotten involved in the youth group
• participated in reach day 
• knocked down walls
• helped to reach the homeless
• made friends
• welcomed new babies (Crimson and another lady in my small group)
• laughed with Pastor Will when we forgot the words to Mary Did You Know
• learned many new and fresh praise and worship songs
• been introduced to MANY new people
• attended youth conference

My most favorite theme in all of this is that we have connected and these connections are leaving impressions on our hearts and lives. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for the coming year. We already know that the girls have a retreat in February to go to. Looking forward to not only being loved on, but loving on others as well. 

Girls giving back

 "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love." Galations 5:13

As we continue on the path to the holidays, we are finding more and more ways to give back to our community. Giving can be simple, as you saw in my last post.  Today I bring you the next installment of Grils giving back. 

Last night, Maddie and Mack had the opportunity to further their footprint on humanity. They took a case of water and 40 packs of cheese/peanutbutter crackers to youth group and proceeded to fill two LONG tables full of bags they had helped stuff for the homeless in our area. While what they did won't last for long, it will help those in need even if for just a moment. 

Furthermore, Mack is signed up to go volunteer with Operation Christmas Child in Charlotte again this year. She will be helping to fill boxes for children in need. 

We are fostering a heart for serving our community and pray that our little steps toward humbly giving back will help someone see that it's our attitude of giving and loving on others that will change the world one moment and one person at a time.