It's been a while blog world :)

Sometimes you just need a break. It's been quite a while since I posted but I'm back. It seems I haven't sat down at a computer for more than 10 minutes in the last month and a half and I'm so thankful that God has filled my time during this season of unemployment. However, I am NOT unemployed anymore! As of two weeks ago I have a part time job nannying and cleaning a house for a family in a sister PCA church. I love their kids. There are 6 of them: Tyler (13), Jack (9), Tamanna (7), Sally (4), Nehal (4), & Baby Nancy (19+mo.). It's a full house and never dull! Jenni, the mom, and I have become such good friends. She is the sweetest thing ever! She gets to leave the house 8 hr/ a week and do whatever she wants to- alone! (while I watch the kiddos) It's a sweet deal for both of us. It never feels like work because someone is always making me laugh. Just on Monday, Nehal came out of his room wearing his-size ACU's- hat and all- and saluted me with a big smile! Tooooo cute! I'm so thankful to have some work to do. While it's very minimal it does give me such encouragement throughout my week! Thank you God for giving me JOY in working! In other news, I attended the SCW Fitness Mania conference in Atlanta this past weekend and became Zumba certified! I can now hold and teach my very own Zumba classes in Columbus. I hope to find a location very soon! The conference was so amazing, so inspiring! To be around 300+ fitness-minded people, wearing nike shorts, tank tops and sneakers all weekend long was awesome! Every where I looked, people dressed just like me!! I loved 85% of the classes/lectures I took. I loved ALL the lectures! One was about Fuel + Fitness- how to eat correctly for the type of exercise you are performing. Very good information. One piece of advice that sticks out in my mind, "Fat does not make you fat!" I needed to hear that. I am something of a fat-phobe, label checker. I had outlawed regular peanut butter and too many dry nuts but it was working against me. I was putting pounds back on. I was so confused what I was doing wrong. The nutritionist lady from Birmingham, Al who lead the discussion reminded me that we need a certain amount of good fat in every meal. Nuts on our oatmeal. A spread of avocado or hummus on our lunch sandwich and a scoop of peanut butter in our shakes. Fat helps you feel satisfied and keeps you feeling full. That's my new goal b/c I can be a major snacker. It seems I have a snack attack every day at 2pm and then again at 8pm-10pm. And all I want is sugary treats! No good. I will be eating a little more fat in my diet. I have re-enrolled in the Personal Training Certification for the fall. It begins in October and is a 6-week course after which I will be certified! I can't wait. This is what I'm really excited about. I can't wait to learn the exercise physiology of the body and how to work the muscle groups correctly- and help others do the same! I hope I will do well at it. For the first time, I feel EXCITED to jump into a career. After 2+ months of applying for administrative jobs with no open doors, it feels like the right time to pursue my passion of fitness and I couldn't be more thrilled. I'm excited to see where God will take me with this new endeavor. I pray that, as with anything, it will be something I hold with open hands-- willing to give it up if God wants me to. A friend recently told me that when you're wondering which way to go, to look for "a parade of providence". I feel God has providentially opened doors so far to the fitness world and I will keep pushing forward until/unless he says "turn around, go this way." In other news, :) I went on a "missions trip" with our youth group two weeks ago. I use quote marks because we stayed right here in Columbus and partnered with a church in the urban part of town to do neighborhood cleanup and lead a kids club in the evening. (a VBS-type program) It was incredible. I instinctively lock my doors when I get off the exit which leads to this part of town, but now, I have friends in that neighborhood and feel loved by the people there. God did a huge work in my heart that week and reminded me that I am a broken person coming to love on other broken people. A great reminder of my own depravity and hopelessness without Christ. The church in the urban community is led by a white man who is married with two sweet little boys. God has already done some incredible things through that church and the community is so much better for it. It was great to come alongside the kingdom work already being done and serve with brothers and sisters in Christ. This church serves chicken and rice to the homeless each Saturday from 11-1; something that our youth intend to continue doing. Relationships were formed. Some of our youth girls are committed to babysit for some of the families in the community. It was great for our students to serve the poor in their own city and realize that there are tons of hurting, lost people right on the other side of town. Many times during the week, I had forgotten that we were still in Columbus. It seemed that we were out of town somewhere ministering to a "foreign community". Our theme was RENEW: Columbus and our theme verse was Lamentations 5:21 "Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored! Renew our days as of old." God is at work and it was a powerful week of being reminded of His continued work all around us. My heart was so softened and encouraged. I pray I will be involved with the chicken and rice ministry in the months to come. Some things that I have going on that bless my heart: - I meet once a week with a few different young women and study different books. One day a week, Cary Kendrick-Holmes, a youth from my church, and I meet and read a chapter of "The Pursuit of God" by A.W. Tozer. Great, deep theological book and always challenging to understand. On another day, Madison Montgomery, a graduate of Calvary, and I meet and read a chapter of Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges. Convicting, challenging and a great look inside our hearts that deceive us daily. I enjoy my time with these girls so much. They challenge me. The books challenge me and I get to know and love them a little more each time. -I am running with a few different people these days. Running in numbers is safer. (yes, I know honey :)) and it's another opportunity to build friendships. I run with Katie Newton, an 8th grader at our church who plays soccer & runs track/CC, who I'm pretty sure is really from Kenya cause she has some fire in her legs and runs with joy no matter what the distance. It's cra-cra!!! I run on occasion with Madison- always a joy. We keep a slower, conversational pace and it's always an enjoyable run. I run on occasion with Jackie Fleenor- a beginner runner who is really motivated to become a better runner. We always end up walking a talking more than running but it's always so much fun! I'm hoping to start running with Kaci- a distance runner who is training for a marathon. I'd like to do one long run a week with her. She is a dedicated, young mom who run eeeeeeeearly in the morning. Hoping I can get my butt out of bed and join her on a weekly basis! I may need to put my alarm on the other side of the room on those mornings... So my running continues and I'm more joyful and motivated than ever. The next race I'm doing is on August 25 at 11:59p.m. The race will continue on August 26 till about...hopefully on 12:24 or 12:25. Madison and I want to race our fastest and test our body's ability with speed. We'll see how it goes! Something challenging to think about: this was said to us by the owner of Mercy Med- a local, new clinic here in town that is located in the urban community and provides care to mainly the poor and healthcare-less. He encouraged us to be men and women who live life radically- who do not strive for the American dream of 2.5 kids, a 2 story-house with white-picket fence and a spot on the PTA but those who love doing ministry and serving- who have crazy joy because of blessing others and obeying the call of following Christ. He shared a letter written by a young man to his future father-in-law who was called to life in the mission field of India. It goes like this, "I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring, to see her no more in this world? Whether you can consent to her departure to a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life? Whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death? Can you consent to all this, for the sake of Him who left His heavenly home and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing, immortal souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this, in hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of righteousness brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall resound to her Savior from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and despair?" I hope that I could be bold enough to pray for my future daughter to find a man who loves the Lord like that and hold her out with open hands to God- for Him to have His way in her life. But for now- I'm a coward and pray that my future children find and marry Christian men who will live close to me. :) Oh how selfish we are. Oh that I would value Christ's kingdom work more than my own desires!! And finally, D.R. and I are plowing through the summer. Our schedules both very full. The night time is sweet. We eat, we relax, (we currently watch the Olympics together and it's total bonding- we both love it). We go to bed early b/c our mornings come early. We are heading to the beach in two weeks for one last vacation. It's for D.R. to attend a Continuing Education Conference as a P.A. I will be attending the study of shells and ocean tides conference. :) I'll be a beach bum for a week. Yep, pretty excited about it! That's all for now. I hope the Lord gives you joy in whatever your day calls you to do. May you do it with gladness in your heart and thankfulness to the One who gave you the mercies of a new, bright day!!