I'm A Guest Blogger!!!!

I'm guest blogging over at, my friend, Abby's blog today! You'll love her blog. She discusses on a daily basis all the lies that we, as women, tell ourselves. She focuses on a different aspect of lies each day. Today, I'm blogging about the lies I believed while I was single. For those of you who don't know me, I was single until I was 31 years old. I met my husband when I was 30. There were some hard years I lived while I was waiting, but they grew spiritually and made me stronger for today. I'm hoping to do an entire series this summer on being single, so stay tuned. :) In the meantime, head over to Abby's blog by clicking HERE!

Battling An Addiction

I have battled food addiction my entire life.

In the last few years, I have broken many bad habits that I’ve had and lost quite a bit of weight that I carried all through college and into my mid-20’s. I’ve been able to maintain it within about 10 lbs, which has always made me pretty pleased. This year my “New Year’s Resolution” was to eat less. I had no idea that God would use this year to break the stronghold completely.

I was on Weight Watchers for two years and lost weight and really loved it. It taught me a lot about what I was eating and that I was eating food that I didn’t really even like that much just b/c I could eat it. When I met my husband, I knew that I didn’t want to live a life of counting points. I wanted to enjoy my family and not be “dieting” or cooking separate meals for the rest of my life. It was then I decided to start changing a few things to live healthier.

I’ve maintained my wedding weight (thankfully), but was still a slave to food. I struggled to stop eating or say “no” to certain things. I began counting calories so that I could drop those 10lbs. One morning, I realized I was still trying to be in control and not letting God work this stronghold out of me. I’ve realized that this stronghold to food is giving in to the desires of my flesh…choosing my flesh over walking in the Spirit.

That is where I was before going to the Biggest Loser Retreat. That retreat changed my life!

I knew I wanted to live a life free from giving into my sinful desires and not be weighed down by my addiction to food. I was having a problem grasping “how”. What I realized at this retreat was that I was living a defeated life. I was living as if I didn’t have power over my “flesh”. All I was needing to do was change my thought-life.

There were a few things that changed that for me:

1.) I had to take control of my thought-life. Start telling myself and BELIEVING that I am FREE from food! Already! I’ve asked God to free me from this and He has! I am no longer a slave to food. I am free!

2.) Positive “self-talk” is powerful! Retraining my mind to believe that “I love water”, “I love to workout”, “I don’t need to eat _____”. Its incredible! I’m so thankful that we have the Holy Spirit, God, living in us and that we can speak truth into our lives! Taking my thoughts captive and not allowing my thoughts to go to “I’m not good enough” or “I’m lazy”….that’s not truth! God doesn’t want us to live a life believing lies. I loved this quote from the retreat, I allow all people to speak to me, but only a few are allowed to speak into me and over me.” It’s so powerful! We need to surround ourselves that speak TRUTH into our lives!!! We can let all people talk to us, but I am free from believing the negative things that people say.

3.) I need to let the Spirit be in control of this area of my life. Romans 8 tells us that we are no longer under any obligation to do what the flesh tells us to do.

4.) Making the exchange. One of the quotes I walked away with was , “The only difference between your past and future is the “exchange”. What are you going to exchange?” I replaced my negative thought life with a positive one…believing that I am free from food b/c God has freed me! I replaced watching TV every night with doing something active with Ken. I’ve replaced diet coke and crystal light with water. There were some health things I walked away with also that I’ve replaced in our house.

God allowed it all to just “click” with me at that retreat….healthy lifestyle and walking in the Spirit. I was SO excited when I realized on the girls’ trip (that I STILL haven’t posted about) that I truly was free from food!!!!! I didn’t crave diet coke. I didn’t eat everything in sight. I was able to leave food on my plate. And, I didn’t “have to” go to the fun candy, ice cream and fudge shops that grace Eureka Springs.

I stand in awe of God that He has taken these “chains” from me. I’m not saying I won’t have hard times or have days that those lies creep back in, but I do want to continue to follow Him and where He is leading me this year.

Around Our Home

I'm working on a post for our girls' trip that my best friend and I took to Eureka Springs, but in the meantime, I figured I'd post a few things that have been happening around here.

We've had beautiful, rainy evenings (if you look really close, you'll see the rainbow)...More garden growth...especially the corn! In these pictures , you can see a baby jalapeno, bell pepper, zucchini, and asparagus. :)And, we celebrated a birthday!!!! Ruger turned 6!!! For his birthday, he opened cards from mommy and daddy and from The C Family - Devin, Michelle, Finley, Jude...and from their furry-children, Jenny and Pete! Got a new toyHe and Lex had a big spoonful of peanut butter for their "cake"
Loving all the LIFE around our place! Stay tuned for the girls' trip post and other happenings in May!

Anne and Bob

Our neighbors are having a baby in July and wanted some pictures before the little one gets here. I was happy to oblige since its so fun for me too! :)

6th

Happy 6th Birthday to my most favorite EVER, next to my sweet husband (of course)!!!!!I can't believe he's 6!!!! Do I sound like I have a real kid or what??? Well, to me he is family. He changed my life the day he came into my home.He was a present from my parents. He was adorable and fatty when he came. his little ears were flapped down b/c he was "stressed". Thankfully they popped back up later. He thought Michelle and I were crazy for a few days until he got used to us. I remember feeling like a parent....putting him in his kennel and letting him "cry it out" and I couldn't WAIT for 9pm when it was his bed-time b/c he was just so full of energy!!!!I couldn't believe how attached I was to him after only having him for a few weeks when I learned he had hemivertabrae and there was a chance he could have been paralyzed by the time he was one-year-old. I tried so hard not to cry in front of the vet. We've had some other medical ups and downs that left him in the hospital overnight and I had to trust their care for him. Thankfully, God has given me 6 years with this little guy!He is so fun! Not only do I love him, but I am SO thankful that God blessed me with a husband that is absolutely in love with him too. Not only did Ruger and I find a home with Ken, Lexis took to us quite nicely as well. Ruger is best friends with Lexis. He is like the little brother she probably didn't want. He is a pest...stealing bones from her and pouncing on her when she doesn't want to play. He loves walks! We have to spell the work out in our house if we aren't sure we have time for one. He gets so excited lifting up on of his front paws and staring at you just waiting for the the right words, "Do you want to go on a walk?". He has mastered pouting and can keep his head perfectly still on the ground and look at you out of the corner of his pouty eyes if you aren't doing what he wants. His favorite toy is a full size basketball! He can kick it around, nudge it with his head, get it out of corners, and bring to you. He can entertain himself forever with that thing! However, he's not so fun to have around when you're actually trying to PLAY basketball b/c he WILL steal it from you. In the words of my nephew, Caleb, "Man, Ruger has mad defense skills!"I have three favorites. One is watching him play with Ken. They get on the floor and wrestle!!! Ruger knows he's playing with his daddy b/c he will bite Ken, but not me. Its so cute to see them ran around together. Two is what we call "filet-o-fish". I think we call it that b/c he looks like a catfish and sometimes acts like a seal. He sits in front of you and walks his front legs toward you until his back legs are straight out. Then I pull him as close as I can and give him a massage and scratch his back. We usually do this at least once a day (and on Saturdays, he definitely pouts until it happens). Third is how excited he is to see me walk in that door after work. He spins in circles and runs around and jumps on me...anything to get some love and attention. Its awesome!Well, if you made it through this post, then you obviously know Ruger....otherwise, you probably think I'm ridiculous unless you have a dog yourself. :)

Happy Birthday, Ruger! You've brought joy to the life of our entire family!!! I love you with all my heart!!!

Family Walks

Every night, we try to get out and take a family walk. When we ask the dogs if they want to go, they start running and jumping and acting like we never let them out. They crack us up!!! We basically just walk behind our property to the tree-line and creek. As soon as we're outside, Ruger bolts and is half way to the tree-line before he stops to see how far back we are (we're usually still in our back yard). The weather has been so beautiful lately! Here are the typical sights of our walk...

I usually start off in the garden...just looking around and to see how things are going. The green beans are very exciting to me right now!!! They started at beans that we tucked nicely under the soil, and now they are popping through!!!And....HE'S OFF!!!!! Ruger is usually the first one down the dirt-path, but for some reason he stayed with me while I played in the garden.Flip usually starts out walking with us (if he's around), but ends up doing his own thing.Blackberry bushes:Our neighbor's corn field: The beautiful field behind our property:Our Family:After the dogs wander around for awhile, we start heading back home.View of our backyard as we come back toward the house. I can't wait to get a good bonfire going...I guess summer really isn't bonfire-season. :(And, lastly, I make my way to the porches to water my new plants: hybiscus tree and the purple are called "Persian Shield". What do you and your family do to enjoy the Spring time?