30 day challenges...

I finished strong with no fries for 30 days! I was shocked at how easy it was to not order fries. The hardest part was not eating off of Ian or Justin's plate. I have decided to continue with not ordering fries for now, but if I do it won't be the end of the world :) I also won't kick my self in the butt if I eat one of Ian's or Justin's. I learned that I actually enjoy eating the fruit and side salad's that fast food places offer. And I enjoy the veggie options at the "sit down" places too.

Now on to my next 30 day challenge. I will admit it is going to be WAY harder than the no french fries challenge. I am going to go 30 days with out drinking soda...yes you just read right. This diet Dr. Pepper addict is going to not drink soda for an entire 3o days! I am going to start backing down on them on Saturday so that by March 1st it won't be as bad. I have tried this in the past, but I think my mistake was I didn't have a time limit for it. So on a stressful day I would automatically go for the soda because I couldn't say "only ___ days before I can have one". What do you think? Will you join me in this challenge or do you have your own challenge to share? If you did the no fries challenge I would love to hear from you and maybe even post what you learned and how you felt at the end. I know some of you are still on it, so stick to it! You will feel so good when you are done!

Best Valentines day yet!

Yes, you read that right! I am pretty sure that yesterday is going down as one of the best days ever.

It started with a good nights sleep. Followed by a fun play day at our church, lunch with friends, the boys having naps and me cleaning up the kitchen and getting to play Mario on Wii. This year we didn't do anything too special for dinner. But I did make spaghetti. The only part of the day that was stressful was at dinner time. Ian just was not happy and it stressed me out. Justin suggested I go and take a drive. At first I didn't think it was nesacarry, but then decided I would take him up on the offer.

Back to being a good day...I decided to drive to Gigi's cupcakes and get Justin and I a little Vday treat. When I got home I had calmed down and felt much better. Justin got Ian ready for bed and then Owen followed shortly after. During prayer time Ian asked us to pray for Fox News! So funny. I couldn't hold my laughter in, so Justin quickly brought the prayer to an end. :) Once the boys were in bed we decided to do our gifts.

Now I should take a minute to tell you that while my love language is gifts, I think I am especially hard to buy for seeing how I am not a big jewelry person, I am not really foofoo when it comes to most things, so thinking of something to get me I am sure is hard.

In a previous discussion I had told Justin that he could get me cake deocrating classes from Hobby Lobby. Now he very well could have just left it at that and told me to go sign up and have fun. But he didn't! He got me an amazing card that if I do say so was pretty perfect. Inside the card was a homemade coupon good for a cake decorating classes at Hobby Lobby! How amazing is he. He really out did himself with the thought he put into the coupon and card.

I sure do love my husband and I love my kids. But I am also reminded of an even greater love story. Can you imagine loving someone so much that you would give your one and only son to save them? I know that I would NEVER give up one of my boys. It would be way to hard, even if it were to save millions upon millions of people. Well God did just this. His son Jesus died on a cross because he loves us. He died so we wouldn't have to. If you want to know more about this love story please ask me or find a Bible and start reading in Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. Then just go from there!

I hope that you all had a wonderful day yesterday and continue to have a wonderful week. May God bless you in all your relationships!

What is God teaching you?

It amazes me how God knows just what you need when you need it. For instance, I am doing a Bible study at my church called Wisdom for Mothers. This is the Proverbs 31 study that I have talked about. Anyways, I will be honest, I am not the best at doing the "homework" for these studies. I think that is where my problem is. I think of it as homework rather than time with God. One of my best friends, Misti, who is doing this study as well encouraged me to do the time with God because it was good. So the first week of our study I waited till the last two days before we met again to do all 5 days of my "homework". Not a good idea. You really miss out on what God wants you to hear when you do that. I felt rushed and felt as though I wasn't getting the full picture.

Well week two came along and guess what to my relief we didn't meet due to a major snow storm! I had not done any of my "homework" at that point and since I had extra time, I still did not use the time to catch up as I should have. Well to make a long story longer, our study was canceled a second time because of a second snow storm! What are the odds? I personally think God was trying to teach me something.

So now we are meeting again on Wednesday morning and this time I am prepared! You see my friend Liesl and I have accepted a challenge with each other. 30 days of doing our time with God. No excuses (although the first day I was sick and emotional and used that as an excuse, but as of now...NO EXCUSES)! I love having the accountability with someone who is not in the study. I am not sure why, I just do.

I have really enjoyed having my time with God each night and Justin is able to do his at the same time. I love how the lessons are applying to how I am feeling and just what I need to hear. In fact if I would have done them when I was supposed to it really would have helped my "emotional" excuse out ;)

What is God teaching you? Have you thought about making a challenge for yourself? It doesn't have to be the same as mine, but pray about something God would have you do or not do for 30 days and ask someone to do it with you. You will be surprised at what you are capable of doing or not doing!

FYI - I am on the down hill slope of my 30 days with out french fries! I will be honest, I am looking forward to February 21st! The biggest decision will be where to go. ;)

sweet tooth...

This is a little tip for those of you who have a sweet tooth. Don't worry, I am not about to give you a desert that includes fruit. While those are good, they just don't calm my sweet tooth like something that includes chocolate!

Breyers has some yogurt flavors that are amazing as yogurt, but they are even better when frozen. I pretty much like all three flavors, Mint chocolate chip, cherry chocolate chip and chocolate chip cookie dough.

First, freeze them. Second, take them out and run it under warm water. Third, empty into a bowl and enjoy! I also like to add a little chocolate syrup to mine. With out the chocolate syrup it is 4 pointsplus. I hope this helps out with you chocoholics out there. I have one almost every night!