Happy Mother's Day

For Mother's Day weekend, my mom and I spent 22 hours at a Bed and Breakfast. Now, at first you might think...."aww, how great!" Well, it was great! But, we weren't there for rest and relaxation. We were there for Press On Fitness's "Biggest Loser Retreat"! It was AWESOME!

We arrived to Stone Creek Bed and Breakfast on Friday at 4pm. We were welcomed and picked our room. We met new friends and had a protein shake, some almonds, and veggies and hummus. Then we got busy!!!

All 12 of us ladies loaded up and headed to the "Y" for some serious pool time. Not laying out, but an hour of laps, squat jumps, and treading water. From the pool we went to an aerobics room for an arm-session, which last 15-20 minutes. I knew this would be our easiest workout of the weekend, so I welcomed it. :)

When we returned to the B&B, there was a big fruit and turkey salad waiting for us. It was full of pineapple, mango, mandarin oranges, apples, bananas, grapes, thick chunks of turkey and a dressing that was made from greek yogurt and orange juice. It was perfect for our after-workout snack!

Saturday consisted of 3 one-hour-20-minute workouts. We of course had breaks and plenty of protein shakes, turkey and potato casserole, black bean fiesta salad (SO GOOD!!!! I'll post the recipe later), almonds, veggies with hummus, turkey wraps, pita chips, and fruit. The workouts were crazy-good! I was so proud of myself for finishing and pushing myself so hard. I was SUPER proud of my mom!!! She worked so hard and did a great job! There were so many great things about the weekend, but one of my favorites was to see 12 women, who didn't know each other, encouraging one another and cheering each other on to victory.

Not only did we work on our physical bodies, but we also talked about mental and spiritual health as well. It was such an incredible weekend! It was life-changing for me! I might touch on some of it in later posts...however, I'm thankful that my mom and I were able to spend some time together. Below is a "before" picture...the "after" picture I took didn't look much different, except we were soaked in sweat, filthy and exhausted! hahaha! It was a great way to end the weekend!
What could have been a better Mother's Day than to spend time bettering who we are, committing to being healthy and doing it together!

New Life

This evening we stopped by our neighbors just to visit. We were just in time to see 7 baby goats! The first three were a day old and jumping around and all over the place! These little ones were born today! There were 4 of them. This momma was due any day (she actually had twins the next morning!).

SSMT #2-7

Romans 12:9-21

"Love must be sincere. Hate was is evil; cling to what is good.
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. (#2)

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep the spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. (#3)

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (#4)

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (#5)

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath. For it is written, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay", says the Lord. (#6)

On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (#7)
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This is a passage I've always told myself I should memorize. I'm so proud of myself for getting through the whole thing and actually knowing it! There are days I have to help myself by looking at the first word of some of the sentences.

I'm still really loving SSMT! I love that scripture just comes to my mind when I'm in the middle of my day.

Our Garden

Our little garden is just getting started. Ken planted everything last week. We buy plants from our neighbor who is a serious master-gardener and then plant them ourselves. The only thing we didn't buy as a plant were the green beans...Ken planted each bean. Its fun to go out there every day and water each plant in hopes of a full harvest over the summer. :) In June, we'll be planting pumpkins!!! And, in the fall, we'll plant lettuce, spinach, onions, garlic, and potatoes. I'm thankful to have the land to be able to plant our own garden...full of the things we eat the most! Here is what we have planted so far:

Cayenne Peppers: "Bob's" Peppers (One of our neighbors visits his family in Texas quite often. One year, he brought back this really hot pepper. He gave it to our neighbor that gardens to see if he could grow some here. The Oklahoma weather is great for it and we were given one to grow this year): Bell Peppers: Squash/Zucchini (We had one of each, but lost one with some of the strong winds we've had. We didn't label either one, so we don't know which plant we lost. I'm hoping we lost the squash b/c I LOVE zucchini!!!): Tomatoes: Cucumbers: Basil: Rosemary: Sweet Corn: Asparagus: And...we're waiting to get our Blackberry plants. I think we'll have them in a few weeks! :)

Hope you are all having a blessed Spring so far! We've had incredibly beautiful weather!!! Most days are warm with really cool nights. The kind of nights where you can leave your windows open when you sleep...but the days are warm enough for tank-tops and flip-flops. We've had a couple days that were in the 30's and a few that were in the 90's. Right now we are just in serious need of rain! I'm loving Spring and enjoying every minute before swimming-weather gets here. :)

Stay tuned for more garden and vegetable pictures!!!

Doubt

John 20:11-31
Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
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Why do we doubt God?

Mary knew He was going to rise on the 3rd day! She believed He was the Messiah! Why did she doubt? Why was she so overcome with grief that she didn't know Christ was right in front of her? (My heart jumps everytime I read this part. I can't wait to hear Jesus say my name!).

Thomas followed Christ. He believed that Jesus was the Messiah! Why would he doubt?

We know God. We know what His Word says about Him. We've studied His character. We've seen what He does in our life. We have the Holy Spirit, God, living in us! Why do we doubt?

Doubt seems to come when we aren't getting our expectations met. We are disappointed in life. We wonder if God somehow forgot about us. We seem to forget everything we know about Him and question His love for us. We question if He's listening to our prayers.

I'm thankful that even when we doubt (like Mary and Thomas), He still makes Himself known to us. No matter what life brings...whether doubt creeps in b/c you are hurting or just b/c something is "too good to be true", I pray that we all continue to hold to who God truly is. Not the human characteristics we try to attribute Him....but who He REALLY is! Hold to the truth! He's given us the most beautiful gift in allowing us to have His Word...to live in a place where we still have the freedom to seek Him openly. I pray we each take that freedom and live it out to the fullest!

The Guards

Matthew 28:11-15
"While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day."

Pride. Its usually the root of our sin. We want to do what we want to do no matter what the cost. Pride is what caused the chief priests and elders to lie. They didn't want anyone to know they were wrong. They didn't want people to see that they were trying to do everything they could to prove that Jesus wasn't the Son of God. They didn't want people to see that Jesus truly was the Messiah. This couldn't be what they were waiting for....a servant? A carpenter's son? Born in a manger? They were waiting for their Messiah to be a king. Born into money. Someone who would fall in line with everything they said. Pride was their fall. They didn't want people to follow this Man. He was too ordinary.

Can you imagine the humility they must have felt when they heard that Jesus had truly risen? That the soldiers had seen an angel? The panic they must have felt! The chief priests were so scared and needed to fix the issue, so they chose to cover it up.

What they realized in that moment was that Jesus truly was the Messiah they had been waiting on for years! Anyone can claim to be the Messiah, but only God can rise from the dead! Christ alone paid for sin and conquered death so that we can have eternal life with Him!

How many times have we been "caught" in our sin? How many times have we quickly reacted to something only to continue in sin b/c we are scared or want to "save face"? How many times have we tried to cover up the truth?

Christ paid for all sin. By grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone can we come before the Father and have a relationship with Him. Praise God that my sins are washed away.

HE'S ALIVE!!!!!

Matthew 28: 1-7, 11-15

"After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

Praise the Lord!!! He's alive!!!!

"Sin has lost its power! Death has lost its sting!" AMEN!!!!