Saving the best for last

I know the 30th isn't til tomorrow, but since I have been behind this whole month, I'm going to do this one a day early.

I am MOST thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I was raised in a Christian home. I went to church every Sunday, but most of the time refused to go to "kids church" and wanted to go to "big church". Much like churches now, they can get very "clique-y". That's how our church was. I never felt welcomed by my peers. I actually felt like they were looking at me like "what are you doing here"...which is odd...because I was there all the time and I was pretty young when I recall this happening...like elementary school?! Anyway, this kind of continued on and I always felt like I was judged by the "church kids". I never understood this. Even in high school I was constantly questioned and judged by people (literally, to my face). Strange thing is...I didn't do anything to deserve being treated like that.

Therefore, since I was young, I've made it my priority to treat others with respect and not judge them for things they did (or didn't) do.

I want to be like Jesus. I want to love like Jesus. I want to forgive like Jesus. I want to have child-like faith. Believe it or not, we're ALL sinners. Not one of us is better than the other. God's grace is incredible and I don't deserve it. I don't deserve to be forgiven for the time after time that I messed up and still continue to mess up. Fortunately, I am forgiven. Fortunately, I am protected. Fortunately, I am healed. Fortunately, He loves me anyway. Fortunately, He loves you anyway.

Serious catch up!

13 - I am thankful for basketball season. Although it's the busiest "season" of the year for us, I really enjoy the games. I've always wanted to be a coach's wife and it's everything it's cracked up to be. Thankfully, we have always had a good team and I don't have to deal with the losses all the time :) Ryan only has a handful of losses and he's in his 4th year!

14 - I can't express how thankful I am to be able to stay home with Josiah. No matter how much I tell Ryan I am thankful for him and I appreciate that he works for us, it's never enough in my eyes (and I'm sure not in his either;)). Granted I have two "jobs", I am able to stay home all day and don't have to leave my precious little man. Hats off to those mommy's that go back to work, you are true heroes!

15 - CAMPUS LIFE! These kids are awesome! One of the first things Ryan and I discovered about each other was that we both wanted to be involved in junior high ministry. I know, we're insane. Who on earth wants to try to reach youth at this age? WE DO! I can't imagine it any other way. No matter what position we have or where we are in life, we both know that we want to be involved in junior high ministry all our lives!

16 - My amazing husband Ryan James. The 16th was our 5 year "anniversary" of dating. (Guess where we spent it? Playing laser tag with junior high kids!) I'm impatient, he's incredibly patient and understanding. I'm a little OCD, he's laid back. I'm an amazing basketball player, he's just okay. I'm sure you've heard the quote "If he can't handle me at my worst, he doesn't deserve me at my best" (it's always been said that Marilyn Monroe said this, but she's quoted for a lot of things she didn't say...so idk who said it!) But it's pretty true in our situation. Ryan and I found each other in a rough part of our lives. Living lives we are not particularly proud of, but wouldn't change. It's always been clear to me that God brought him into my life at that time to rescue me...and possibly for me to rescue him. It took a lot of time, a lot of sadness and a lot of struggles...but God's timing was and always has been perfect. I can't imagine ANYONE better suited for me than this man. I really couldn't be happier.

17 - On the 17th I went to Notre Dame Stadium for a game for only the third time in my life. I've been to a game out at Stanford and one in the big house. So I am incredibly thankful for my friend Matt Hammons for scoring me and my dad tickets on the 9th row in the end zone. It's a game I will NEVER forget! (Along with the others)

18 - Although I rarely get to see them, I'm SO thankful for my girl friends. I have 5 girl friends that I talk to on a regular basis and the one that lives the closest is an hour and a half away and 2 of them live about 9 and a half and 10 hours away. It's not easy maintaining long distance friendships. It's hard to know what's going on in our daily lives when we don't get that face-to-face (unless we're FaceTiming...) all the time like we're used to. But I would do anything for these girls.

19 - My sweet sweet baby Josiah. Seriously this kid is amazing. I expected to be a sleep deprived, stressed out mama for the next 5-6 years. Not the case (I realize I don't have child #2 yet, so don't punch me!) . This kid sleeps like a CHAMP, he's incredibly sweet, and is all around an amazing kid. He's creepin up on 15 months old and he listens, does what he's told (for the most part), is incredibly easy-going and loves us so much. He does cry, whine and get a little crazy sometimes...but he's a kid:)

20 - This goes along with how thankful I am for Josiah as a little person, but I think it deserves a thankful of it's own...I'm so thankful for his health. This is something so many of us take for granted. We expect to have full term babies that we get to take home within a couple days. Yes, most of the time that's true. Josiah was that way, and I'm so thankful for that. I don't take that for granted and I pray for those who have had difficult pregnancies, births and sick babies.

21 - My mama. Ohhh my amazing mama. My mom has been through so much in her life it's unreal. Let's just say she drove me and 3 of my friends to Florida one year (3 girls in the back seat of her Volkswagon Beatle) and told us stories of things that have happened to her the WHOLE way. We were on the edge of our seats dreading to stop with the rest of our caravan to get food or go to the bathroom. Let's just say some of the stories included con-men, hitting guys in the head with glass Pepsi bottles, and a stalker writing crazy things on patio doors. Not only those kinds of crazy stories you only see in movies, but she's been through countless surgeries (from going to have her gall bladder removed only to find out she was born without one....to open heart surgery). My mom has been through EVERYTHING! Is she a bump on a log that gets down on herself when things like this happen? Yea right. She doesn't get herself down, she stays positive enough to keep the rest of us positive! She continues to serve others and keeps pushing. She is absolutely hilarious and there's no telling what words (or non-words) will come out of her mouth. The older I get, the more I start talking like her. Or maybe it's now that I also have a mommy brain.....either way! She's a hoot and so so so much fun to be around. She is out of this world selfless. She would do anything for anyone. I love my mama. I wouldn't trade her for the world.

22- My family. I have quite a large family (especially compared to Ryan's side!). We are crazy, loud, and a ton of fun! I really wish we could all get together for more than just the holiday's, because I miss them very much!

23 - Black Friday!!! This is a new tradition my mom and I started only a few years ago and it's awesome. We hardly ever have anything we're after, we just do it because it's fun. We refuse to go out any earlier than 10:00 (that's the absolute EARLIEST I will shop) on Thanksgiving night. (Sidenote: I hate that it's crept up to Thanksgiving day and I will never give up my Thanksgiving with my family in order to buy some material item that is meaningless). Regardless, we usually go between 10:00 and midnight and get home as late as 8 or 9:00 am. This is the first year that we did it in Fort Wayne. My mom drove up on Thanksgiving night to go shopping with me since I couldn't make it down to Indy until Saturday. What a rockstar. (Don't forget the fact that we only slept 3 1/2 hours when we got home, then she drove all the way home, shopped some more then went to the Pacers game and didn't get home til almost midnight!) It's so much fun and I love the crazies. I have never seen anyone get trampled, get mean or be in a bad mood. In fact, the Starbucks people were hilarious this year! We drove through there to get a little pick-me-up before enduring the mall. Granted, they work at a coffee shop and said they were on their 5th shot of expresso....it was pretty funny! It's a great way to kick off the holidays!

24 - Thankful for the Christmas season, which isn't allowed to start until after Thanksgiving. I leave stores if they have Christmas music on before Thanksgiving and I REFUSE to buy any Christmas items before Black Friday. Once Black Friday hits I'm one of the biggest fans of Christmas you'll meet! One of my favorite things is how warm and fuzzy everyone is! Yes it's a very hard time for a lot of people, but the generosity of others really makes it so uplifting! The way people act towards others around Christmas is how we need to act all year long. Jesus wasn't born in the winter, but for whatever reason we celebrate in December, I'm glad. It's a great way to finish off the year and have a fresh perspective for the new year. If only people would keep that holiday spirit year round!

25 - I am thankful for the kiddo's I watch. Roenin and Declin (and their wonderful family!) I love that Josiah has a buddy he can play with and learn from. He also has learned to be gentle with babies! When I was working, I missed being in the day care a lot...so this has been perfect for us! I get to hang out with littles all day, plus I get to stay home.

26 - Our home! When we got engaged, one of the first things Ryan said before he left to go back home that weekend was that he was ready to start looking for a house. That totally freaked me out. So many people that buy houses before they're ready end up losing them. I didn't want to get ourselves into debt from the get-go. Luckily, my husband rocks. After a long extensive search of looking at homes here (and saving only the select few for me to look at when I came), he found our house. It's been more than perfect for us. It's just the right size (although I could use a little bit more storage and possibly an actual pantry?), but I love it's little cozy-ness. It hasn't been a money guzzler like I thought it would be. The money we have put into it has been more for our convenience than have-to's. Like almost all new windows, having a/c installed (yea, no a/c when we moved in), renovating the bathroom, and putting insulation in the attic (because there was hardly any). Thankfully, the government gave us $8,000 to buy our house, so none of that was out of pocket! I'm so thankful I had a home to bring Josiah home to and learn to run around in the yard!

27 - My car! With as much traveling as we do (My car isn't even 3 years old yet and it has 61,000 miles on it), I'm thankful we have a vehicle that gets us there and back with no trouble. I'm also thankful for Ryan's "new" car, because now I don't have to look at cars every second of my spare time and because he really enjoys driving it. Plus I don't have to worry about him breaking down or the car blowing up:)

28 - This is gonna sound crazy to anyone who lives outside of Indiana, but I am thankful I live here. As much as our weather is insane, I'm glad we have seasons. It also makes me appreciate the beach that much more:)

29 - I'm thankful for Ryan's friends, who are also my friends. As much as I miss my girl friends, I couldn't ask for better friends to have around all the time than the ones that I do. They are all great guys that will listen and pray for me at the drop of a hat. They will even listen to me vent about things that they don't care about and don't want to hear and won't complain (at least to my face...haha). I'm so glad my husband has such a great group of guys around him!

Days 9,10,11,12

Turns out I don't want to spend my weekend on the computer! So let me catch up on my thankfulness!

Day 9 - I am thankful for Fridays. Basketball season is now in full swing, which means I rarely see my husband. He either has practice after work and doesn't get home until at least 7:30 (depending on when parents decide to pick up their kids) or he has practice at 5:45 in the morning (usually because we have something, like Campus Life, that night). These are such long days for both of us...but on Friday's we get to relax. Our plans almost every Friday night during basketball season are to do NOTHING. Literally nothing. Well, except this Friday. Oh well.

Day 10 - Don't tell Directv this, but I was actually thankful to not have a TV on Saturday. By the time they come to fix it, our Directv will have been out for a WEEK. Which means no cartoons for the kids, no Dan Patrick show for me, and no football all weekend. It's been kinda nice to have the quiet, but I did miss my house full of people. Saturday, it was great to be able to go to the park as a family and spend some time together. I love that we've been having a few nice days (especially on the weekends) this fall to be able to take Josiah to the park. Since he wasn't walking this summer, he didn't get to fully enjoy all the climbing and running around. Unfortunately, it was 70 degrees yesterday and now it's snowing. This is Indiana.

Day 11 - I am SO VERY thankful for our Veterans and those who are still serving today. Thanks to all of you who keep us safe and free. Especially to all the families who have to be separated, my heart goes out to you. I have a hard time just waiting until 7:30 at night to see my husband, I can't imagine what it's like to have to wait months. Every single picture of families being reunited just make my heart melt.

Day 12 - I am thankful for all of those who donate their time and money to Youth for Christ. Tonight is our fundraising banquet. In this economy it is so difficult to ask people for money to support you. Ryan has to raise his salary for YFC and that's not an easy thing to do. Thank you to all of you who give to support this wonderful ministry and to all other ministries that you might give. Even if you aren't able to contribute financially, your prayers and time volunteering are just as beneficial to touching these kids' lives.

Hugs & Kisses

I am so thankful to be able to hug on, kiss and play with Josiah every day. I love being able to see his smile, hear his laugh, and listen to that pitter patter of footsteps running through the kitchen.

I have a heavy heart because of this though. One of my best friends has not been able to do this with her daughter since August. Due to circumstances that I will not discuss publicly to respect Rebeca's personal life, her daughter has been in Mexico for the past 3 months.

Rebeca is now more than ready to bring her home. To give her a hug, to hear the hilarious things she says, and to soak in all the little moments we take for granted with our kids every day.

I have started a fundraiser through lia sophia (great jewelry!). I will be giving 100% of my commission to Rebeca to bring Kassandra home. Please understand that the only thing that I gain from this is reuniting my friend with her daughter.

If you want more information, please ask. I would love to have all orders in by this weekend in order to get her here by Thanksgiving. It doesn't matter where you live, you can order as much or as little as you want and it will all come straight to your door within a couple days.

Facebook

I am thankful for Facebook. Yes, it can be dangerous, mean, annoying, and down right disgusting....but I am thankful or it. When Facebook is used for good, it can be great!

I find that some of my prayer time comes from going through my Facebook feed. Never be afraid to ask for prayers because they are being prayed! Even if you aren't asking for prayers, a lot of statuses people post are just screaming "I need Jesus" and they don't even know it. Those get the most prayers.

So please people...use Facebook for good. Post positive statuses, give people compliments, offer honest advice when people ask for it (not when they're not asking for it). It shouldn't be used to belittle people, post trashy pictures, gloat, or to complain.

Day 6

Like everyone else in America, I'm so thankful for my right to vote. I went and exercised it yesterday. First time I've ever voted! I hate politics and watching the news. Everything is so depressing. People are so back-stabbing and rude. My source of news is always GREAT news, it's right next to my bed in my B-i-b-l-e. Jesus is King. God is in control.



Jesus for President.

Day 5

I am so thankful that Josiah loves his sleep. Daylight savings time is always a hard time for mama's getting their kiddos back on a schedule, especially in the fall when they are waking up an hour earlier. Josiah has been sleeping like CRAZY lately. Must be a growth spurt or something. He's 14 months old and still takes 2 long naps a day. He takes about a 1.5-2 hour nap in the morning then around 4:00 he falls back asleep and I have to wake him up around 7:30 so that he won't sleep all night and wake up with the roosters.

He loves his sleep like his mama:)

Day 4

The word thankful is such an understatement when it comes to this day of thankfulness. Yesterday I was overwhelmed with how thankful I am for my dad. My whole drive back after the Colts game, I just couldn't stop thinking about him.

I miss my dad so much. This weekend he took me to Pacers opening night and the Colts game. Going to sporting events is something I have done with my dad (and mom, too) since I was born. I can't walk into a Pacers game with my dad and not be taken back to when I was so little I couldn't see over the people in front of me ....when they were sitting down. I would be jumping up and down standing like a good girl on my seat screaming for our team. Screaming "boom baby" at the top of my lungs. Crying the morning they imploded Market Square Arena, where my dad and I had planned to move in there some day and make it our big giant house. As an 18 year old crying at Reggie's last regular season game and his final playoff game. All these times where I'm sure I embarrassed the crap out of my dad, but he never once told me to sit down...or refuse to take me. I was always there with my supportive dad right next to me. 

Going to sporting events is our thing. I am so thankful that my dad has always taken me with him. Whether it be taking me to every Indians game, so many Reds games, a Reds playoff game, Pacers games, Pacers playoff games, every single Colts game and Colts playoff game, driving me to South Bend to see Notre Dame, or taking me to 2 Super Bowls.... none of these games would have been the same without my dad. He explained the game to me. Tells me the history. Shows me every single baseball card ever made and it's significance. We talk about life, crazy fans around us, and how running up the middle never works. 

Going to these games is how we love to spend time together, but it's still such a small part in why I'm so thankful for him. He has absolutely spoiled me rotten with how much he's given me. My first car, my college education, my graduation present of yet another new car and my dream wedding. As much monetary value as those things have, the sentimental value and the things he taught me along that path are so much more valuable to me. Him and my mom are the most generous people I know. They would give the shirt off their back to anyone who needed it. They are incredibly selfless and have taught me so much about the meaning of being a servant and giving. 

My dad has also taught me about loyalty, passion, loving unconditionally, grace, acceptance, and more about parenting than I ever knew he was teaching me. He has taught me the importance of laughing, mostly from being the one who makes me laugh so hard. His laugh is contagious and is loud enough for me to hear all the way in Fort Wayne. He's such an amazing role model, teacher, father and grandfather. 

So many people tell me I'm just like my dad. What a wonderful compliment. 

I love you Dad!

Thankful Day 3

November 3 - I am thankful for sports. **Disclaimer: this is getting much deeper than sports**There's just something about sports that brings people together. Every single Sunday, my living room is filled with laughs, yells, smells, food and football. I don't know how often I would see these guys if it weren't for this weekly tradition. I also love the feeling of being at a game knowing that you're in an arena/stadium filled with strangers and you have at least one thing in common with every single one.

We watch the show Parenthood. It's one of my favorite shows of all time, it actually competes with Friends in my mind of favorite shows. That's saying something. We didn't start watching it until Season 3 and we just bought season 2 last week and were watching it on Friday. One of the dad's on there was talking with his son's grandma (him and the mom were not married at this point) and she was saying that they were on their way to church. He said he never went to church because every single Sunday his family went together to a baseball game. She asked if he was saying that that was his "church"? He said yes, that's my church. 

While I will never ever ever say that baseball is "my church" or that it compares to Jesus, I see where he's coming from. Baseball (sports) and Jesus are apples and oranges, you can't compare them. My comparison comes from the angle that they are both fruits. 

One of my favorite things about church is a great time in worship. Most of the time I don't sing, because I love to hear others singing their hearts out in worship. That's so comforting to me. That was my absolute favorite thing about going to Cru at Ball State, the worship. Everyone coming together and focusing on what's important, singing praises to God. Everything goes away, differences between people start to fade away and everyone is in the same frame of mind. It's why going to church is so important. Fellowship. Being with fellow believers. Surrounding yourself with love and loving, supportive people. 

That happens at sporting events (again, not to the same extent or on the same level), but it does. You find yourself standing on your feet screaming, clapping, raising your hands and to the point where you just want to jump up and down because you're so excited about what's happening.  You find yourself high-fiving and hugging strangers. You're supporting your team. You have their back. It brings people together.

That's why the games were played this weekend. I don't necessarily agree with the games being played. (For those who don't know what I'm talking about...I'm talking about sporting events being played in NYC while so many people don't even have homes because they're under water). But the reason they played them is because sporting events bring people together. Your city starts rallying together and coming together.

I hear so so so so so SO many women complain about their husbands/boyfriends/dads watching sports all the time. I seriously couldn't imagine NOT watching them together. That's one thing I love about my marriage with Ryan and what I have seen in my parents marriage. Watching sports is something you can do together for the rest of your lives. You'll never get bored with it or with each other. It's not going to end (tell that to the hockey fans...) and you can travel all over the country sharing that passion together. I love the tradition my parents started with their friends. They each get to pick a different college stadium each year and they go travel to watch college football. What an AMAZING tradition. I want to do that some day with our group of friends.

Between our love of ministry and sports, I can say with confidence that Ryan and I will not be that married couple that runs out of things to do together or can't find anything they both enjoy doing together. 

This also leads into my next day of thankfulness...

You could read all that...or just listen to Justin Timberlake sing Why he loves sports

November

Well it's time for Thankful November! I love this month. I love seeing everyone post what they're thankful for, rather than complaining all the time.

I'm a day late (and a dollar short) due to a serious mother-of-all headeaches headache yesterday. I laid down at 3:20 pm and basically didn't get up until 7:00 this morning. Which leads to my first day of thankfulness:

Day 1- I am so incredibly thankful for my mother in law! She is here every single Thursday to watch Josiah while we're at Campus Life. She's here every other Tuesday so that Ryan and I can go to a small group for married couples. Any other time we need her for date nights or whatever, she's there. Last night was no different. We had Campus Life last night but I was in no place to be getting out of bed. She came almost an hour earlier than she normally would and took care of Josiah so that I could rest until Ryan got home at 9:00.

Day 2 - I am thankful for my health! Although I have headache issues, and terribly annoying psoriasis that drives me crazy, I am thankful that I can get up and take care of my family every day. Every time I start my prayers at the beginning of my workout, my first prayer is always thanking God for my ability to work out. I had my headache throughout the day today (although I was able to function at about 55% instead of about 10% like last night), but I didn't want to miss another opportunity to get some exercise. I'll tell ya what, my headache is almost completely gone after my work out. Crazy how that "works out" :)

Be the change

I've noticed lately how different my conversations with friends have changed. Over the years it has gone a little something like this:
Middle school: Boys
High school: Boys
College: Still boys, just a little more seriously and about the same one
First 2 years out of college: Marrying the boys
From then on: Starting families with the boys.

A certain topic always seems to come up when people are thinking about having kids. I usually hear something along the lines of "I just can't imagine bringing a child into this awful world we live in."

Very valid point. When I think about how so much has changed and the innocence of a child has pretty much been completely taken away as early as elementary school, it terrifies me.

However, our children are our future. This world needs kids that are here on purpose for a purpose. (I'm not saying "oops" babies are bad babies and they don't have a purpose, believe me. Josiah is an "oops" baby. He has a wonderful purpose.) I'm saying that loving, devoted, caring people should not be afraid to bring a child into this world...this world needs more children from those families!

We need children who are raised to:

Love God & Love People
Build people up, not tear people down
Serve others, not expect to be served
Gain respect, not demand it

Ryan and I intend to raise our children that way. We are going to mess up. Our children are going to mess up. We are all sinners. We are also loved unconditionally and shown grace and forgiveness every single day by our amazing God. We are not afraid.

In a slump

It's difficult to make posts about fitness and wellness when my life is lacking it.

Since I started babysitting the 2 wonderful boys, my workout habits have been almost non existant. I can't get myself in a good routine of when would be a good time to work out. I also can't really run outside in this cold weather because I just can't do that to Josiah. I think the chilly weather sounds amazing for running, but bundling him up and trying to prevent the cold air from blasting him in the face sounds not-so-amazing.

I did something terrible, I looked at my phone to see the last time I logged in a run......27  DAYS AGO! Are you KIDDING me? Ugh that sucks.

Thursday I decided to give in. Fine. I'll re-join the gym. That worked out sucked.

In a nut shell, it would cost me more than the last time I was a member there (they were bought out). The hours of the kids club are the opposite of what I had in mind for my new workout schedule. I planned on going around 3:00 after the kids get picked up so that I could be home when Ryan gets home from work. Well they're closed from 1-4. As soon as I heard that part I left and said forget it.

Friday I decided to just go for it. I could make it work. There's another location that's about 10 minutes away (which is just as far as I usually drive to go to the greenway to run) that has better kids club hours if I ever really needed to go earlier.

I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and it felt like nothing. It's crazy how different a treadmill is than outside. I've despised treadmills because if I ever want to give up, I can just step off and go sit down. If I'm outside, I have to get home.  I'm just not giving myself the option of stepping off.

Yesterday I went in around 12:30 and dropped off Josiah (much to his dismay) and not too long into my run the Kids Club girl came over and said "um...you know the kids club closes at 1:00 right?" Yikes. It was 1:00. For some reason I assumed those hours wouldn't be the same on a Saturday?

When we got in the car I noticed it was actually 55 out. Much better than the 40's. So I came home (the gym is only about a half mile from our house), bundled up Josiah, and headed out to the neighborhood closest to our house to finish out my last mile.

It was terrible. I had dressed to be indoors, so it was pretty chilly, plus it started sprinkling. Plus I had just ran 2 miles without pushing a stroller, then had to push a 20some pound baby.

The point of this post isn't to whine about how nothing is working out (pun intended) for me lately. It's more to bring motivation to anyone who keeps having to jump through loopholes and obstacles that get in the way of being healthy. I was using excuses for the past almost 4 weeks of why I couldn't go run. I still had plenty of workouts in there, but I still have this crazy desire to run.

I'm done with excuses and I hope you are too!

Hiatus

After a little hiatus I'm back! I got in a slump where one of 2 things would happen:
1) I would think "oh that would be a good blog post" and think it all up...then never have a second to write it
Or 2) Have a second to write something and think "I have absolutely nothing to offer"

Well, I may not have much to offer but I do have a second to write! Thanks to the Blogger app on my phone I can write this and play with the munchkin at the same time. (I may lose my train of thought due to needing to get a rebound or trying to encourage him to take more than 5 steps).

Here's my 2 cents for today:
I deep sanitize the toys once a week. With all this illness going around, the germaphobe in me comes shining through.

Step by step:
1) Wait for kiddos to be asleep so they don't see you taking away their precious toys
2) Everything that is plush (stuffed animals, plush footballs basketballs, stroller toys, etc) go in one bin to be put in the washer. Wash in the delicate cycle with an extra rinse cycle. These toys go in their mouths so you want to make sure there is no detergent residue lingering.
3) Everything that is hard plastic goes into another bin.
4) Fill the bin (or bath tub) of plastic toys with enough water to cover all the toys. Splash in some bleach. I don't measure and it would depend on the size of your tub to know how much to say. I put in enough to sanitize but not fade the toys.
5) Let it sit for at least an hour. I let mine sit for a couple because I sit it outside and forget about it. I sit it outside in case he wakes up and I forget that it's there. (Notice being forgetful is one of my flaws in this system) If you have a lot of toys that float, like we do, give the tub a stir about half way through to make sure all toys are covered
6) Drain the water
7) Lay toys out on a towel to AIR DRY, do not towel dry.

Tada! Clean toys!

That's just gross

One thing that almost prevented me from cloth diapering is washing soiled diapers.

That's just gross.

Thankfully, like I said before, we use diaper liners like these that make this a lot less yucky. These soak up a lot of the "wet" diapers and given that he hasn't wiggled it all out of control, it catches the "dirty" diapers too. Just give that little thing a pinch and toss it in the toilet and bing bang boom, you're done.

There are some people that use things like this:

Looks too complex for me and I just can't imagine any splashing. That's just gross.

With the diaper liners, that takes away the mess and leaves the diaper minimally soiled before throwing it into the washer.

We also use this:

Again, I linked the exact one we use on the previous post. We also use a trash can with a lid so contain as much odor as possible. The greatest part about this liner is that I can just flip it inside out directly into my washer without touching a single diaper, then tossing the liner in there with it. Awesome. Not Gross.

There are some people that cloth diaper that swear by certain methods, and they probably work fine, but I try to keep it as simple and cheap as possible. Let's face it, the main reason most of us use cloth diapers is saving money. It doesn't save much money if you're buying crazy expensive "cloth diaper detergent".

So here's my step-by-step on washing cloth diapers:

1. Empty the contents (which include cloth wipes for us) into the washer
2. Put a small scoop (barely up the first line) of Oxiclean
3. Run the rinse cycle 
4. After they are rinsed, put in a small amount of Tide Free & Gentle. While everyone is different on whether or not to use liquid detergent, one thing is for sure: do not use anything with perfumes or softeners!
5. Settings of the washer: Extra Rinse, Hot water to wash and cold water to rinse, Regular cycle with Normal soil level
6. Hang outside to dry. 

I've used a make-shift clothing line or one of the drying rack stands to put the diapers outside. One downside of living in Indiana is there is no telling what the weather is doing. When it's raining/snowing or just plain crappy out...I have to put them in the dryer. I don't like doing that for a few reasons: 

1. The sun "bleaches" the diapers and I feel that they look cleaner if I hang them outside 
2. When they hang outside all day it really airs them out from any odors 
3. You're not really supposed to put them in the dryer. If you do put them in the dryer, make sure it's on extra low heat for the shortest amount of time. Dry them in intervals to make sure you don't "over-dry" them.

That's all! Not so bad, huh? If I can do it, you can do it!

I'm on CLOUD NINE because our cloth diaper inventory just went from 6 to 14 diapers! Josiah just had a birthday (I'll post about the party later!) and got some birthday money and gift cards. I don't know how I just discovered this, but Target has a bunch of cloth diapers on their website, including Fuzzibunz! Are ya kidding me? AMAZING. So I ordered 4 Fuzzi's, 3 Thirsties (Trying these out for the first time) and a Charlie Banana (also trying this for the first time). They won't arrive til next week, but I can't wait to try them and let you know how they turn out!

Praying on the run...literally.

The run I'm referring to was actually on Friday. Due to a weekend away at the lake and a sleepy morning yesterday, I haven't had the chance to tell you about it.

When I first started running I was listening to some music that I listened to in HS (mostly because that's what my friends listened to, I'm more of a country girl.) Some Country Grammar, Batter up, Dirt of your shoulder, etc. Some new(er) Kanye (can't stand Kanye, but he sure can write some good running/workout music). I thought maybe listening to older stuff that I used to listen to wouldn't be as raunchy as today's and would just be some decent up beat music to get my adrenaline going. Well, not so much. 

Trash in, trash out. 

So I stopped listening to music and turned on one of Josiah's favorites so he could listen to something. He loves RRSO Symphony Orchestra's "The Music of the Beatles". This isn't on iTunes, so here's the YouTube version as an example. The jogging stroller has a speaker in the canopy that plugs into my phone/iPod so he can listen to some music. Pretty handy! I chose to run in "silence". 

I have been overwhelmed with how many people I've been praying for lately. It's so crazy how many things our friends and family go through as we get older. On Friday I decided I would use the half hour or so that I spend running as time with God to talk to Him about all these people. 

It was the best run I've ever had. 

I was so concentrated on other people and their pain that I completely forgot I was running. It was amazing and so motivating in every other aspect of life. 

How often do we concentrate on our own pain and forget that someone standing next to us is probably going through the same thing or worse?

I've struggled lately with not being able to be there for some of my friends that are going through a really tough time. I hate that not only is it out of my control, but I can't even be by their side to help them through it. It's so tough to try to encourage them and be there for them through the phone, I'm just not good at that. 

1. 2"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4 Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

Colossians 4:2-6 NIV

It used to come naturally to me to pray for others when there was nothing more I could do to help. There is someone I went to HS with that I used to pour my time into trying to help, but it just didn't work. My words weren't enough. I gave up and just started praying, and I actually still pray for this person all the time (on my run yesterday and on Friday, for instance). I have absolutely no idea what this person is going through right now and what kind of work the Lord has done. I haven't talked to them in years (except maybe a "Happy Birthday" on FB).

I want to be the "fixer". I want to do something to help everyone. I can't do that. I can't fix everything and I can't change anyone's mind when I feel they are headed in the wrong direction. That is only done through Christ. I'm finally feeling some relief because I'm taking all of that weight that I put on myself and launching it up into prayer. 

1. 
   

9 "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil;cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn."

Romans 12:9-15 NIV

The Set-up

One of the things that drove me crazy when I was pregnant was how to organize his room. I can't tell you how many times I re-organized it before he was even born.

I have noticed that our "set-up" changes just as much as he does. Almost every time he grows out of a certain size of clothes/diapers/shoes, I rearrange. This is why the Rubbermaid HomeFree Series is my all time favorite. Ever since my cheap-o closet in college collapsed on me, I have been addicted to this closet system (yes it's possible).

One of the first things I did when we moved into this house was tear out everything that was in my closet and replace it with this system. It has so much versatility, which is perfect for how many times a month year I change it. It is only sold at Lowes (at least in Indiana, that I've found). There are so many other closet systems that I dream about (Elfa), but that is not quite in my budget. This does the same thing, it just doesn't look near as pretty when compared.

So when I found out I was pregnant, I of course had to go get Josiah the same closet system because I knew it would be perfect for a wardrobe that changes every 3 months. (Don't we all wish we got all new clothes every 3 months?)

I actually just switched everything around last week. He is going to be a year old next week and he's pretty spot on when it comes to switching clothing sizes (especially with Carters). There is a whole top shelf that you can't see from this dark picture (I realized as I started writing this that I hadn't taken a picture of the closet and Josiah is sleeping so I didn't want to turn on the light).The top right self looks a bit awkward because of how high it is, but the basket underneath it is filled with shoes. I need space to be able to easily lift it out of there to dig through and find what shoes I want him to wear. 

I also didn't have that much hanging space before I switched it. You can see a divide in the bottom row (mostly with empty hangers), everything to the right is what fits him right now, EVERYTHING else is 12 month clothes (plus the bin on the floor that is in the way until I can put it into the dresser drawers). 

I used to have his changing table across the room, but a few months ago I moved it over to so I could actually utilize the hanging space more efficiently. Who wants to walk across the room with a naked baby to find out what you want him to wear? Or keep all those cute polos folded up in a drawer? It's much easier to be able to block him from jumping falling off the table and flipping through all his clothes right next to me.

But really the point of this post isn't to show you his crazy closet, it's to explain our set-up of the cloth diapers and wipes and how it is working for us right now. 

This is inside the top drawer of the changing table. 

• An empty shoe box to contain all those tiny socks (otherwise they run crazy in the drawer). 
• The Trend Lab Storage Caddy holds the disposable diapers (which aren't in there in this picture) and his wipes. 
• A basket that was actually given to him as his Easter basket (by yours truly) holds his cloth diapers. 

This looks a little crazy, but it works. I'll go from left to right explaining what everything is and why it's there:

• Hand sanitizer (obviously)
• Wipe solution (in the Bath & Body Works soap bottle that I up-cycled). This is squirted onto the wipes for the extra stinky diaper changes.
• Spray bottle. This has a much more diluted wipe solution in it that I spray into his diaper area before wiping.
• Squirt bottle. Used to get the wipes wet.
• Prince Lionheart wipe warmer. They actually make one designed for cloth wipes Warmies Wipe Warmer. I received this as a shower gift and it works just fine. 
• The cloth wipes are just the thin terry cloth baby wash cloths Like These. You can find these anywhere (Target, Walmart, Meijer). I have some from pretty much everywhere. But these are my absolute favorite. 
• Underneath on the left side are the rolled up "wipes" that are waiting to be warm:)
• That roll that looks like toilet paper or paper towels is actually diaper liners. I had seen these online but didn't understand their importance until my wonderful friend Bridgette explained them to me. I would have probably given up on cloth diapering if it weren't for these guys!
• The back right cubbie has 2 different kinds of thermometers (temporal and the regular one that never seems to work), his brush and comb.
• The front cubbie has his A&D and Desitin. They are almost empty and those are the only ones I have bought and he's only a year old. This is all because we mostly use cloth diapers and you SHOULD NOT use any ointment with cloth diapers. 

If you refer back up to the first picture of the closet, this is another important element in cloth diapering. It took me until a few months ago to find what worked for me. At first, I was just using one of those bags that they give want you to buy at the grocery store (I have a lot of them, I'm not saying that because I'm against them) to put all the dirty stinky diapers in. Gross. 

I had been reading about the diaper pail liners but hadn't brought myself to spend the money (whooo $15...shows you how frugal I can be) I finally bought this. (Can you tell I love Amazon?) The problem was I couldn't find a small enough trash can that had a lid. I wanted something small that could fit into the bottom of his closet. I FINALLY found one at Kroger (so random?) that was perfect. I can push the little button with my foot so I can keep one hand on the baby and one on the nasty diaper;) The pail liner fits right in there and when it comes time to wash them, I can just put all if into the washer. Awesome.

People still do cloth diapers?

I get that question all the time.

There are a few reasons why we choose to use cloth diapers:
1) It's MUCH cheaper (it seems intimidating and expensive at first, but it takes no time at all to justify the cost)
2) We're putting less nasty diapers/wipes in landfills
3) It's better for Josiah's skin

I will say, however, that we do not use cloth 100% of the time. Here's why:
1) We only have 6 cloth diapers. I haven't spend any of our money on cloth diapers. If Josiah gets cash for any reason (from the baby showers or from grandma's "mad money"), I spent it on diapers. So I've actually been "ahead" the whole time and didn't have to justify my cost. I do plan on buying more though.
2) I can't bring myself to change a cloth diaper and having that thing in my diaper bag if we're out and about. This happened once and the smell has pretty much haunted me. (I know there are bags for these things to prevent it from making everything in your diaper bag/purse smell like urine/poop, but since I don't intentionally take him out in cloth, I haven't invested in this device)

I think when I tell any generation before mine that we use cloth at home, they picture this:

Absolutely not. I can't imagine how many blow outs these babies had when they had to wear these things. That just sounds terrible and dangerous.

We have only tried 2 different kinds of diapers, but between the 2 (Fuzzibunz and bumGenius) I like the Fuzzibunz better. We use the all-in-one (one size fits all). The elastic is adjustable and there are plenty of snaps to accommodate his ever growing body!  As with disposables, not all diapers are meant for all babies. The main reason I like Fuzzibunz better is because they have a thicker insert. The Bumgenius is really thin and gets absolutely soaked really fast, thus making it leak out faster. 

(mine doesn't have the white fasteners at the front like this one, but I liked that it showed what everything is)

Mine looks like this

Stay tuned for more on cloth diapering and cloth wipes:)

Are you THINspired?

I have a Pinterest board titled "THINspiration". It's mostly workouts and some inspirational quotes/sayings. If you're like me, you go through and pin a bunch of that stuff, but rarely ever get around to doing any of it. Well once a week I try to spend my workout time doing some of these exercises!

This morning after breakfast and putting a load of diapers in the washer, I laid Josiah down for his morning nap and took the iPad into the living room for pinspired workout!

My favorite part about doing these workouts is being able to watch DP at the same time. 

(I may have been a little distracted from my workout when Chris Paul was on today...

I had to give him my undivided attention)

So today I did the Total Body Kettlebell Workout and the 300 Ultimate Ab & Core Challenge

Pretty solid, if I do say so myself. 

I try not to concentrate too much on ab workouts and stick to as much cardio as I can. Reason? I plan on having another baby in the near future, and I will probably have to have another c-section. Why spend sooo much time toning perfectly sculpted abs and have someone slice through them soon? Those perfectly sculpted abs will have to wait until I'm done having kiddos! I still do abs a few times a week just to maintain a solid core, I'm just not shooting for a flat stomach right now. 

I of course followed up my workout with a delicious Green Monster

These things are amazing. I pretty much stick to that recipe (but I eye-ball it now), and I mix it up with different kinds of yogurt 

(and occasionally have to use frozen berries instead of bananas if Josiah is on a banana kick).

My favorite type of yogurt to substitute (which I did today) is Kroger's STRAWBERRY MINT Greek Yogurt. It's cheaper, it's still Greek and has the Greek benefits, and it's delicious. 

I actually put the whole container of yogurt in, not just the 1/2 cup. 

Run forest RUN!

For those of you who don't subscribe to my other blog, I'll give you a little background (the much shorter version!) I used to not share my weight because honestly, the number on the scale is pretty irrelevant. It's not like it's posted on my forehead. It's more about how I feel. Before I step on the scale I can usually guess my weight correctly within a half pound. But here goes:

High school and college weight range: 130-134

Wedding day weight: 125

First few months of being married (before I started gaining baby weight) range: 128-132

9 months pregnant: 170ish (I stopped weighing myself around 7 months because it was getting scary, so that's my guess)

Original goal weight: 125

**When I say my goal weight is 125, that's not because of what number it is, it's because of how my body feels when I'm maintaining that weight.

Today's weigh-in: 124.5

I've blogged a little about my baby weight loss journey, but it really all started when I was pregnant. I had 2 personal fears when I was pregnant. I say personal, because obviously I have a million fears that involve Josiah. These are just fears involving myself. 1) That I wouldn't be able to breastfeed and 2)That I wouldn't be able to lose the weight and get by body back to "normal". 

Well, those fears have been faced and crushed. Josiah will be 1 in a couple weeks and I have been nursing him since the beginning. Thankfully, this has played a role in my weight loss journey. Kind of 3 birds with one  stone! (Bird 1- the ability to nurse. Bird 2 - Providing nothing but the best for my bebe. Bird 3 - helping with losing weight!) 

My fear of not being able to lose the weight led to some really weird dreams while I was pregnant. (Yes, I had my fair share of giving birth to a walking toddler or having the baby but didn't have any clothes, diapers, crib, or carseat for him...) The most common dreams involved me running. I was running in races, with seriously random people that I've come across in my life, and just running everywhere I was going. Well naturally, this made me really want to run. But running isn't something you just want to pick up and start doing when you're pregnant. So I had to wait. and wait. and wait. 

Since I had a cesarean, I had to wait 6 weeks to be cleared to work out. In fact one of the first things my doctor said to me at my 6 week appointment (without me even asking) is "yes, you may go home and do all the crunches and situps you can do!" YES! Just what I wanted to hear. So that's just what I did. I went home and I could do one crunch and I thought my incision was going to rip open. But I slowly was able to do more and now I can hardly notice it (I do still notice some incision pain if I twist a weird way doing some crazy ab move). The problem was, I couldn't run yet. With our hectic schedule between October - January, there's really no time for me to say "okay Ryan, I'll be back I'm gonna go run while you stay here with Josiah." I didn't get that until March. 

I started the couch to 5k program and was doing really well...except I couldn't get a good rhythm going because I had to wait for Ryan to get home in order to go run. I was looking up reviews and anything and everything on jogging strollers for MONTHS. I finally decided on one and didn't want to buy it yet because Ryan had recently bought a crazy expensive road bike (lets NOT talk about how much he rides that thing...). To my surprise, my mom and dad bought me one (A Schwinn Turismo)for my birthday in April! I've been a running fool ever since!

I ran my first 5k in June and placed 41st out of 94 (pretty good for hating running all my life then randomly starting up 2 months prior!) and 4th out of the females in my age group!

As a previous avid hater of working out on vacation, I ran 3 times on our vacation last week and worked out every single day. Two of the 3 times were on the beach, which is AWESOME by the way. 

I've had a hard time getting motivated to run this week though. Between Josiah's ear infection, cold and my seriously disturbing headache and stomach ache...it's been a rough week. I finally went today. We went 3 miles but I probably only ran 2 of it. My mind and body just weren't ready to push a 19 lb baby into the crazy wind. I've gotta get back on track because when I stop nursing in a couple weeks, I'm terrified of what it's going to do to my body!!! 

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised" (Proverbs 31:30) 

You Can't afford not to make this investment in yourself, your health, and your future. It's not selfish to do it. It's selfish not to do it

- Stormie Omartian "The Power of a Praying Wife"

Right where I'm supposed to be

At the beginning of 2010, I was a college graduate with a bachelor's degree working 1 full time and 2 part time jobs; none of which I dreamed to be doing when I walked across that stage at Ball State just 7 months prior. When I looked down, I knew there was one thing that I hoped/prayed to have, though. A beautiful diamond ring on my finger. He had FINALLY put a ring on it in February of 2010! Juggling 3 jobs and planning the wedding of my dreams within 6 months taught me more than enough about priorities and time management. 

One of those jobs, my full time job as a daycare teacher to infants (ages 6 weeks to about 9 months, plus covering the 1 year old room on occasion), did bring an even brighter light to what I am crazy passionate about....kids. I've always loved kids and always took the "mom" or "teacher" role growing up. 

I knew on my first day that this is exactly where God wanted me to be. I am NOT a morning person, but I never once struggled or had to drag myself to work at 6:30 in the morning. Yes, I had my fare share of 6:32-6:45 clock-ins because I'm not so good at hearing the screaming alarm clock next to my head (just ask anyone that was in guard with me, YIKES!). But they were never once because I was lolly-gagging around because I didn't want to go to work. I couldn't wait for that first baby to arrive in the morning, and I hated leaving their cute little faces. I didn't get frustrated when they cried, spit out their food, spit up on my clothes, or heaven for bid...peed on me. 

I got myself way too (not possible) attached to some of these babies and their parents. I learned how every single family does things differently, but that doesn't make any of them right or wrong. Different bottles, different schedules, different methods, different everything. At that point, I had never had a baby, so I wasn't set in any certain way like almost every other teacher was. I talked to the parents, got to know them, got to know their child and went with whatever they wanted, not what was convenient for me. 

Although I was so happy to be starting a new chapter of my life with Ryan, we decided together that I would be the one to make the move. So I had to leave my jobs (I had already left one in April) and start the job search all over. I was so sad to leave the babies, but hoped I would be able to find a job here in the field that I was hoping to work in (sports). 

In the first couple months of being married, a whole lot of nothing happened in my job search. But come November, I finally landed something (again, doing something I knew nothing about and not even remotely close to what I had planned for myself). God had a different plan, and boy-oh-boy is that an understatement. On December 8, 2010, I got the results from my 5th pregnancy test...POSITIVE. Yes, pregnant. Not even 3 solid months of being married. 

9 months of being a coaches wife, working a full time job, being a Campus Life directors wife, and still struggling with leaving my family and friends was quite exhausting. On August 31, 2011 (7 days PAST my due date, that little booger), Josiah Ryan finally graced us with his presence. Being pregnant and having babies at the same time as a couple friends only clarified how different parenting is from one person to another, even one child to another. 

During my maternity leave I decided to stay home and not go back to my job. That's when God really showed me that is right where I'm supposed to be. He's been opening and closing doors all over the place, and I just do my best to follow the map. 

I started a more personal blog with updates for my family on what the Miller's are up to, but after being addicted to Pinterest and reading other blogs, I decided to start a more general blog of my own. Our personal blog requires you to be invited to read it (I don't like the idea of creepers reading about every personal thing in my life), but this one will be open. Clearly after telling you how I got to this point, it's not going to be totally impersonal. This is really just a place where you can see what things work for our family, what things haven't worked, how we manage our time, and have a place to find comfort that not everything has to be perfect and by the book. The only book we want to revolve our life around is the Holy Bible. 

So welcome to the place where the "newlywed" Miller's meets mother and fatherhood...Millerhood:)