It Was Wonderful

It is no secret that I am NOT a morning person, so this five in the morning stuff is no picnic!  The coffee is set to brew at 4:43.  The alarm is set for 4:45.  I typically hit the snooze button at least once.

Luckily the snooze on my phone is only in five minute increments.  When I phone was new, I HATED this.  Over time, I have learned to appreciate that 5 minutes do not allow me to get back into as deep of a sleep as the more common, 9 minute snooze that I was used to.  Somehow this morning, in my sleep induced, entirely too early morning coma, I turned my phone off instead of hitting snooze.  Again, I am NOT a morning person.

After thinking I had hit snooze and falling back asleep I thought "Wow... (insert some zzz's here)... that's a long five minutes...", and pried one eye open to look at the clock.  When it registered that the bright red numbers on the clock read 5:03, I forced myself to get up and throw on some mismatched clothes to go meet my walking partner.

***Kris, THANK YOU for accountability!  Knowing that you are up and will be waiting makes me get up and going!  I know I am not totally with it when I see you, but it makes my entire day better.  Love you girly!***

When I got into the car to head over for our walk I flipped the radio to klove.  They were praying.  It was wonderful.  A great beginning to my day.  I prayed with them as I drove the few blocks to my destination.  Yes, I drive just a few blocks because it is still dark and I do not want to walk over there alone and half asleep.  Plus it gives me a few quick seconds to inhale my black coffee.

 After we finished our walk, I drove home.  For some reason as I was parking the car, I looked over and noticed my Bible sitting in the passenger side floorboard.  Let me just say that I know better!  Growing up I was taught to respect the word.  We do not throw it, or leave it lying around on the floor.  This is something that I have become too careless of and I was convicted this morning.  I reached down, picked it up, and decided to get to reading!

I walked in and the kids were still asleep.  Mike was getting ready for work.  It was so quiet in my house.  Just me and the dog, I was practically alone.  Do you hear that???

Silence... 

Ahhh...

One thing I decided when I first started this 5am walking absurdity is that I REFUSE to go back to sleep when I get home... even if the kids are asleep and the house is quiet.  It was tough the first few days, but now I am used to it and actually kind of enjoy it.

My kids are early risers.  From the moment my first child was born, I have rarely had the NEED to set an alarm.  Both have an internal alarm clock (Yes, I truly believe this!) that typically goes off every morning at about 6:15... ALWAYS by 7:00.  They have both been this way since birth.  Needless to say, it is not quiet for very long after arriving home from my walk.

I decided that TODAY I WILL start MAKING myself STOP long enough to open my Bible and dive into the word.  This is something that I know is SO IMPORTANT, yet is so easy to put off until later.  Many times later becomes tomorrow, which becomes the next day... the Bible ends up in the floorboard... you get the picture.

After pouring my second cup of coffee, I sat down on the couch and grabbed the computer.  "No Facebook.", I uttered to myself.  I have a horrible habit of checking my Facebook before doing anything else on the computer.  This morning I was determined to get straight to my quiet time... while it was quiet.

I skimmed several websites while looking for ideas and soon realized that I hadn't even stopped to talk to God.  "FREEZE, BETH."  I stopped what I was doing right then and there and went to my heavenly father in prayer.  As soon as I was done I found a blog that looked interesting.  It is actually a video blog study done last summer through Precept Ministries.  It focuses on Hebrews chapter 11.  I am hooked.

You are actually supposed to use a book with the study, but I am going to read and study the WORD on my own and then watch the videos to supplement.  Let me just say that Hebrews 11 is GOOD!  I know I have read through it many times before, but there is just something about focusing for a longer period of time on a specific passage.  It really sinks in and I allow myself to do more than just surface reading.

In today's video, she speaks about APPROVAL.  Whose approval are you seeking?  It has me thinking for sure!

Here is a verse that stood out to me today...

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."   
-Hebrews 11:6


Now let me be clear, I am not stressing the part about being rewarded.  The first part of the verse hit me hardest.  Try reading it again...

"And without faith it is impossible to please him..."

WHO am I trying to please?

Who are YOU trying to please?  

Do you have a daily quiet time?  What works best for you?  I strongly encourage you to do this.  You will not regret giving a few quiet moments to go deeper into HIS word!


I will close by telling you that God granted me a FULL HOUR of quiet time today.  BOTH of my children slept until after 7am.  This is BIG stuff, people!  It was wonderful.  

Trying Something New

I have thought about this for several days and decided to try something completely different.  I will be 31 on 31!  Instead of weighing myself everyday, I am not going to weigh myself until my birthday, August 31st.  Yep, that is right.  I am not going to weigh myself for two and a half months.  At least that is what I am going to try to do.  We'll see how it works out.  I may weigh myself at some point this week just to see where I am and then go from there.  Wish me luck!

I have still been running/walking.  Not sure if I posted this previously, but I have also been going at 5am with a friend.  We walk two miles in about 30 minutes.  That is a BIG DEAL for me!  I am NOT a morning person, so this is VERY good for me!  Knowing that my walking partner, Kris, is going to be up and waiting motivates me to get my tail out of bed and get moving.
Our 5am walks have worked out well because Jessica, Lacey and I have not been able to connect several of the days that we were supposed to run.  I still would REALLY like to do C25K though, so I will not give up.  Sorry about my crazy schedule, ladies!

So... it's VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL week!  I have the privilege of working with a group of precious three and four year old children, The Caterpillars, all week.  They are so fun!  I am constantly amazed at how much kids can learn.  They are not given enough credit!

Here is a picture of the outside of our room.  The kids love the taxi, which has a door that opens to go inside the classroom.  All the games, snacks, crafts and decorations are fun, but the REAL reason we are there is to show them and teach them about our awesome savior, Jesus Christ.

Yesterday we learned about a soldier who asked Jesus for help and that  "JESUS LOVED PEOPLE AND HELPED THEM"  -Matthew 14:14




The Faith of a Centurion-
   When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, "Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly."  And he said to him, "I will come and heal him."  But the centurion replied, "Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.  For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."  When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him,"Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.  I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."  And to the centurion Jesus said, "Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.  And the servant was healed at that very moment.  -Matthew 8:5-13

WHAT A DAY!!!

Okay today has been kind of odd.

1. Cam wanted to wear her shirt the "cool way that all the second grade girls do" by putting a rubber band around the edge of it.  You know, sort of like I did in the late 80's early 90's except they put the ponytail or rubber band/silly band in the BACK.  It is ridiculous and looks like she has a tail.  Hey, what does it hurt???  So yes, I allowed my daughter to do something I did back in the day except it was not NEARLY as cool as when I did it!  Choose your battles, right?

2. I had a couple of REALLY INTERESTING sightings:
          First, I spotted Sasquatch as I was on my way to help at the school.  He was in the round a bout at the same time I was.  I kid you not, he was driving a bright yellow truck.  I almost ran off the road looking at him!
          Second, there was a man smoking a corn cob pipe on the side of the road.  He was just standing there puffing away.  I will have to say, I have never seen an actual corn cob pipe, and this man looked NOTHING like Frosty.

3. I ran week two, day one of C25K!  It went so well.  I am super excited about this!  I also had the privilege of tripping and not falling on a crappy sidewalk, running through some stranger's automatic sprinkler (thanks, whoever you are!) and noting the time it was going for the future.  Yes, I will happily run through it again at 8:25pm.  I also had a MAJOR fail when I tried to surprise a friend by acting goofy and well... let's just leave it at that.  It did not quite go as planned.

I am loving life right now!  It is such a blessing to build relationships with new and different people.  Thanks, to my new running partners for putting up with my craziness!