Spending money when you don't have to.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about not spending money that we don't have to spend.

For example:

When I got to HEB and I really want to buy a new lipgloss when I already have 10.

Or....when I want to buy the kids their Valentine's cards on December 31st....

Or..... like the time that I went to Target to buy socks and saw a really cute bathing suit for Madi. In January.

Now, I didn't buy the bathing suit, but why the heck do they have to put that stuff out yet??

Because there are suckers like me.

I used to be REALLY bad at this. Sometimes I like to buy a magazine at HEB and that's okay. No harm done. However, I have really forced myself to stop buying things I don't actually need.

Also, I have been talking about how I want to move to a bigger house. We don't actually HAVE to, but I find myself getting annoyed with our home and critical. When in reality, I actually like our home.
Since I've been running, I have grown increasingly thankful for our neighborhood and I really like the we are getting to know our neighbors (and that they are coming to church with us!)  God has us here for a reason. Remembering things like that helps me to get focused.

Contentment.

Is that another part of this change thing in me?

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Well, I did it. 

I started the Couch to 5K program. I bought the app and everything. After my good friend Abby raved about the program I decided it was the way for me to go. 

And I love it so far. The first day was brutal. I went 1.2 miles in like 26 minutes. Monday I went 2 miles in 26 miles. So that was better.  I'll complete the 1st week tomorrow morning. 

I am pretty sure that the Lord is doing a new thing in me.  Here I am getting up everyday to do my quiet time and now I am exercising. I don't even know this person.  Change?? Yes, lots of it. 

Also, I started reading again. Like, non-fiction. (Gasp!!)  I am currently reading The Bible, Jesus Calling devotional and Power of a Praying Wife. 

Girls, I can not tell you the huge difference Power of a Praying Wife has made in me. I think we all (at some point) walk around annoyed at something our husbands have done or even down right mad and angry. I have, so often, prayed "Lord, please change him!!" or "Lord, please show him that it is all his fault and he needs to apologize to me."  I have been so convicted of the fact that it is ME who needs to change half the time. And not only that, my pride is a hinderance to what God wants to do.  Ugh. Convicting. And please don't think that for a second just because we are in ministry we don't struggle.  I thank God for a husband who is loyal and listens for the voice of the Lord, but marriage takes work.  

Couple of other things: 

*This week we went to Texas de Brazil. Our friends, Josh & Kelly had groupons and invited us to join them! It was super yummy and really fun! 

*This verse is setting me free. 

*I am so in love with this baby, not to mention her beautiful cousin next to her!  Madi will be 1 in 8 days!! 

*God has placed so many amazing people in my life who in the last 2 weeks have sent me scriptures, encouraging texts or have challenged me to be better. 

*Jason and I started watching Parks & Rec and oh. my. Lord. Funny. 

 

*I am currently obsessed with Pandora and listening to life changing worship music. Geez. 

*I am amazed and shocked at how expensive gas is again.  We are going to have to make a big decision about our cars soon. You can pray for us. 

Gotta go. Madi just put an entire roll of toilet paper in the toilet. 

Change

So I posted recently that I felt the Lord leading me to change in another area, but I wasn't ready to share.

I'm not sure I'm ready now either.  But,  alas....I must out of obedience. 

I've struggled my entire life with my weight. Well, as long as I can remember. Okay, well since like 6th grade. 

Whatever. It feels like my whole life.  

Anyhow,  as I have gotten older I have clung to my 5'10 frame and have always been grateful for that, but with 3 babies it has been hard for me to get to a good weight and keep it there.  Jason has never, ever made an issue out of my weight and always tells me how beautiful I am.  He truly has accepted me how I am and not just acceptance, but he likes the curves. ;-)  While I like the curvy frame, I don't like feeling sluggish and self-concious.  

I have lost all the baby weight, but I pretty much do not exercise on a regular basis. Plus, even though I may be at the pre-baby weight, I needed to lose weight before that happened anyway. Before I got pregnant with Madi, I had started running and loved it. 

I never really started again. I've done The Shred and I've been doing Just Dance, but I'm not serious about it.  And really, it's only been about losing weight. Not doing something that gets me in shape and makes me feel good about myself.  I don't want to just lose 40 lbs. I am 5'10 and I'm never going to be a size 6. I don't want to be a size 6.  That would look scary.  I just want to be healthy. 

So, here is my 2nd change.  Lose weight. Exercise. Eat right. 

Run

Lose 20 lbs by the summer.   

Run more

Lose 20 lbs more by the end of 2012. 

My plan:  I am still figuring that out with my schedule. I hate running at night, but I am not sure what else to do! 

Suggestions? 

I may get a little more daring as time goes by with the specifics. Please share your ideas! :) 

He is faithful

Blog, I love you. I am glad I can come here to talk. Even if no one listens.

The Lord has been faithful to provide.  This is Day 13 of getting up early and doing my bible reading plan and journaling.  God is changing me!

A couple of things I struggle with:

Fear
Worry
Fear
People Pleasing
Saying yes to everything
Fear

Huh? Interesting.

In 13 days I have seen these things:

Less Fear
More Trust
More Faith
Less fear
Saying no
Managing my schedule even if it's busy.
Less Fear

God is so good.

Change is happening and I am welcoming it.  I have to also so I am pretty proud of myself for getting up so diligently. It feels good.

Other things:

I feel like God is REALLY challenging me on simplifying and prioritizing my life.   Not just my calendar. To be honest with you, that's not going to change any time soon with the huge move we are making as a church.  But for me, I'm learning it's not at all about being less busy, but having a heart that is not cluttered. When my heart is uncluttered I make better decisions about life, my schedule, my kids, how I take care of myself and how I spend my money.

So, my first challenge was to start getting up at 6am and, of course, now that I am 13 days into it I feel the Lord challenging me on one more thing.  Why God!?

I am just not ready to share it yet. But I will. Once I get brave enough to. ;-)

A whole lot of nothing...

We have every Monday off.  I love our Monday's. I protect them as much as I can.   We are pretty exhausted after Sunday's from the long day at church, so it's just perfect that we have that day of rest.

Today pretty much looked liked this...

7:22 - Bolt out of bed because Jackson has to leave for school in 20 minutes.
7:35 - Get Jackson a bowl of cereal. Put a coat over my pajamas. Find Jackson's backpack.
7:45 - Can't find Jackson's backpack. Put my shoes and a hat on. Find the backpack. Tell Jackson to put a long sleeve shirt on because I can't send him to school with a muscle shirt.
7:48 - Take Jackson to school.
8:05 - Get back home, take the jacket off because I'm having hot flashes. Make a cup of coffee for me. Feed Madi and Reagan.  Clean the kitchen a little.
8:45 - Sit down to have a quiet time. Love every minute of it.

9:30 - Jason's still sleeping. I go check to see if he's alive.
9:31 - Yep, still breathing.
10:15 - Go wake up Jason because I know he will be mad at himself for sleeping that long.
10:30 - Jason makes me bacon and eggs. Yum.
10:40-12:00  - Play with girls, talk with Jason, watch tv, do a load of laundry...pretty much laziness.

12:00 - I decide to make oatmeal cookies. Feeling adventurous and decide to throw a bag of white chocolate chips in. I live on the edge.
12:45 - My cookies are delicious and I find out that oatmeal is Jason's favorite.
12:46 - Pondering why I never knew that.
1:30 - Do more lazy stuff.

2:20 - Decide we probably need to go to get Jackson and go to the bank.
3:00 - PU Jackson. Yay!!!
3:15 - Bank.
3:30 - Drive by new campus at the Verizon. Huge building. Can't wait. Get extremely excited.
4:00 - Drop Jason off at home who goes for a walk while I venture out to HEB. With. 3. Children.
5:00 - Make dinner.
6:00 - Give baths. My floors are soaked.
6:25 - Read books. Watch a little tv.
8:00 - Kids are in bed. (sigh)
8:03 - Have a texting convo with my girlfriends from Houston/Dallas. Talk about crazy things. LOL a lot and miss them more.
8:45 - Realize that our day was very lazy and that I'm okay with that. We need those days.

:) Happy Monday.

Good things come at 6am

I am prone to waking up at insanely early hours when I am pregnant.

But I am not pregnant.

2 nights ago, I went to bed praying that the Lord would wake me up at 6am. Like REALLY wake me up. Jason got a text at 5:59.  Coincidence?  This morning, when I woke up at 5:45 I thought there was something wrong with me. Is my blood sugar off? Did I have nightmare about being late to worship, forgetting all the lyrics and totally making a fool of myself?  (I have that dream a lot.) Did I forget to turn the oven off?  No, can't say any of those things happened.

My word for the year is Change.  That seems like a very broad word. I could change in a lot of areas. I want to become more simple. I want to have more patience. I want to lose 25lbs. I want to be more intentional. Say no more. Drink more water.  Have more discipline with money. Read my bible every single day. All these things require change.   What was I thinking!?!

But as I prayed about change I was showed 2 things:

1. The reason I struggle with change comes from a deep rooted place. Change isn't accomplished by checking things off a list and I certainly don't get a pat on the back for it. There is a reason why I resist changing.  There is a reason all the things I listed above are hard for me to do. They require me to surrender to the Lord and walk in obedience.

2. There is something that God wants to do this year and it requires me to Change, will bring Change and will Change me forever.

I don't know exactly what that is, but even as I type it I get scared and excited.  Change is exciting. Change motivates me. Change scares the crap out of me.

So, when I woke up at 5:45 this morning I remembered that this is what I asked for. Why be surprised?  I'm comitting myself to waking up at 6am every day. Even Saturday's. I am a nutcase, but I believe that the Lord wants that for me. To start my day out with Him and to end with Him.

I figured blogging about it would make it known and then you can all ask me on twitter or facebook or leave a comment every once in awhile saying "did you get up?" or "hey, are you spending time with the lord or ignoring him?" or "get up, get up, you lazy bum. You aren't going to lose that 20lbs laying in bed all day."

Any of those will work.  Now, I am rambling.  Oh and here's our cute family photo that was sent out in my MIL's Christmas cards. My hair was blonde then. Enough randomness.

Here's to change. God help me.

Faith & Change

I've been praying for a word. One word. For me. For 2012.

My friend, Kelly, does this on her blog every year and I have loved it. This is my 2nd year doing it. Last year was "focused". Here is my post from last year.

I have to say that although it was hard to live out every day, I felt good about what I accomplished. I focused more on my children, being more at home and being more available to my husband.

In 2011....

Spring
* Welcomed Madison Joy to our family
* Recovered from a c-section
* Started back to work
* I cut back on my hours at work
* I cried a lot
* Learned how to shop on a tight budget
* Went to Alamo Drafthouse for the first time (random, I know)
* Celebrated my 28th birthday
* Jackson turns 5

Summer
* Jason had foot surgery
* We spent a lot of time learning things the hard way ;-)
* Jason and I went to Dallas for a week with just Madison and left the kids for a week for the first time
* Went on vacation to the beach with Aaron & Bre
* Pool time!
* Still cried a lot...
* Went to the zoo with our family pass

Fall
* Reconciled some family relationships
* Learned more things that hard way
* Jackson started Kindergarten
* Grew as a leader
* Got control of my emotions. ;-)
* Learned leadership can be lonely and ministry is not for the faint of heart
* Had a major milestone in my life that only Jesus could show me
* Started losing the baby weight
* Became a red head
* Reagan turns 3

Winter
* Started dreaming big dreams
* Started a hard pruning process...
* Started seeing fruit from being pruned. :)
* Jason turns 35
* Had an amazing Christmas
* Had a busy month
* Began to pray....For my word.

2012's Word  

Natalie's: CHANGE 

Jason's: FAITH 

OKAY, LORD....HERE WE GO.