New School Year Prayer Challenge

We’re down to our last 30 days before Logan officially starts school! This is super exciting for us since he’s been talking about it since April when we registered! While were are counting down the days (all the while wishing that summer could last a little bit longer) this new chapter is one that is also bringing a bit of anxiety for this mamma.

The anxiousness isn’t because of being worried about how Logan will adjust and how hell do I think it’s just the normal wave of emotions that come with the realization that your baby really isn’t a baby anymore and he’s starting this new journey and that he’s actually growing up faster than I could have imagined. 

I am confident that over the last 5 years Moe and I have been able to teach Logan good values, morals, and lessons along the way. Instilling in him the importance of our faith and how important it is to walk like Christ in our daily lives. Wanting to remind not only Logan but ourselves that each day is a blessing from God and that we are to walk boldly in our faith with our armor on and ready to face the battles that this world may throw at us.  I truly believe that by having complete trust in God and fervently praying over Logan, over our children, over our families, God will protect us through these new chapters in our lives and in our children’s lives.

Prayer is a part of our household, a part of who we are and it’s something that we have taught Logan is important since he was a baby, each night we pray together and it’s a time where we set a side together as family to come before God and spend time with him. As a mom my prayers for Logan began even before he was born, and with each day my prayers for him continue and especially now with this new adventure my prayers for him have started to also focus in on this coming school year. We feel that through prayer we have a special connection with God and truly we believe that he hears our prayers, calms our worries, and reassures us of his love for us. The idea that the God who created this entire world, who has set aside plans for each and every one of us, who knows all of our hearts desires, our wants, and our needs is listening to our prayers, is a father with open arms waiting to hear from us, waiting to listen to our days and that’s pretty amazing. Our God is listening to my prayers. Whoa! So when I come before him and I pray for my family, my husband, my son, when I bring before him my worries, my fears, my desires, there’s a sense of relief that comes over me because this is the same God who protects even the tiniest of creatures is also without a doubt caring for me as well and hearing me as well. 

"Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you"Jeremiah 29:12 

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us" 1 John 5:14

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"Philippians 4:6-7

So I know myself and I know that Im all about lists and plans and that just the way that things work best for me. So off to pinterest I went (cause its my go to aside from google) and came across a post from www.Faithalongtheway.com who had a great post including a 30 pay prayer plan for the new school year! So for these next 30 days I encourage you to join me during these next 30 days to take this prayer challenge with me. Whether your little’s are returning to school or starting for the first time. Whether its daycare, preschool, grammar school, high school, or college. Lets come together and pray for our kiddos, their classmates, their teachers, their principals and their school. 

Oh and on a side note!!! Enjoy the rest of summer cause were down to less than a month left! Get out and enjoy the beautiful weather while you still can! 

30 Days of Prayer for the New School Year

Day 1- Spiritually

Pray that your child will understand the Gospel and learn to apply biblical principles to every aspect of life.

Day 2- Relationship to the teacher

Pray that your child will develop a deep respect and appreciation for his/her teacher and will act respectful of all authority figures.

Day 3- Relationship to peers

Pray that your child will develop a close bond with his peers and that he/she will choose friends wisely.

Day 4- Wisdom

Pray that your child will develop the ability to discern right from wrong and put it into practice on a daily basis.

Day 5- Conviction

Pray that your child will be convicted by sin and be found out when he/she does wrong.

Day 6- Honesty

Pray that your child will desire to be honest, even when it’s hard or when he/she gets into trouble.

Day 7- Kindness

Pray that your child will treat others with kindness, even when it is not popular.

Day 8- Compassion

Pray that your child will be compassionate, and show the love of Jesus to those who are hurting.

Day 9- Being a servant

Pray that your child learns to be a servant and sees the beauty of being the hands and feet of Jesus.

Day 10- Humility

Pray that your child learns to be humble and not to brag about his/her success.

Day 11- Desire to learn

Pray that your child will develop a love of learning and desire to be a life-long learner.

Day 12- Strongest subject

Pray that your child will be challenged in his/her strongest subject and will be pushed out of his/her comfort zone.

Day 13- Weakest subject

Pray that your child will make progress and tremendous growth in an area of weakness.

Day 14- Confident learner

Pray that your child will be confident in his/her abilities as a student.

Day 15- Learning issues exposed

Pray that any learning issues or suspected weakness will be brought to light.

Day 16- Emotional growth

Pray that your child will mature in emotional stability and be comforted as their faith deepens in understanding.

Day 17- Sensitivity

Pray that your child will have a tender spirit and be will to help those in need.

Day 18- Evangelical spirit

Pray that your child will be excited to share the message of Jesus, no matter the cost.

Day 19- Become a good listener

Pray that God will open the ears of your child to hear the

teacher and an open heart to listen to others.

Day 20- Self-control

Pray that your child will learn self-control and have the discipline to use it in even the toughest of situations.

Day 21- Think before speaking

Pray that your child will learn to guard their tongue and to think about words before speaking aloud.

Day 22- Guarded mind

Pray that your child will have a guarded mind and thoughts of the Lord will be planted, and not be easily uprooted.

Day 23- Softened heart

Pray that your child has a softened heart towards the gospel and will hear the good news with open ears.

Day 24- Quick to forgive

Pray that your child will be quick to extend grace when a wrong has been done to him/her.

Day 25- Slow to anger

Pray that your child will have a long fuse and not anger easily.

Day 26- Joy

Pray that your child will experience the joy of the Lord and not look for happiness in the things of the world.

Day 27- Strength

Pray that your child will have the strength to do what is right and do grow in physical strength as well.

Day 28- Safety

Pray that your child will be safe in sports, and on the playground.

Day 29- Protection

Pray that God will protect your child from harm’s way.

Day 30- Balance

Pray that your child will learn to balance responsibilities in school, home, and life with God’s help and strength.

Courtesy of www.faithalongtheway.com http://faithalongtheway.com/30-days-of-prayer-for-the-new-school-year

Fourth of July Fun: carnivals-cakes-friends-fireworks

OK the 4^th of July is one of my most absolute favorite holidays HANDS DOWN! In our house were proud to be Americans, just ask Logan and he’ll tell you with the most confident voice that HES AN AMERICAN! So when the 4^th comes around you better believe were ready to celebrate with carnivals, BBQ’s and Fireworks!

First things first we had to check out one of the carnivals in the area! With Logan now being tall enough to actually ride the fun rides alone we knew hed have a blast! 

Saturday night was filled with rollercoasters, funnel cakes, and moe getting talked out of his money but 3 carnies just to win a robot and a poop emoji…but hey thats what you should expect with going to carnivals right? Its all in good fun! And I mean the look on Logan’s face riding his first rollercoaster solo made it all worth it! There’s just something about carnivals that we love & after Saturdays we cant wait for our Backlot Bash in August!

After that we hit the road Sunday for Michigan to spend the day at our Churchs Camp.  Let me start with saying I love our church family! I love that we make an effort to focus on family & time together.  Each year we all make the drive out to Covert Michigan and spend the entire day together…away from the business of our daily lives, no cell phones, no reception, none of that, just good old fashioned fun! This is something we grew up with in the time before Iphones, snapchat and instagram. Summers were about being with friends, running around in forests, being in the sun, and getting dirty, scratched up, and building memories that weve kept close to our hearts through the years. 

So having this camp give everyone, every generation, the chance to go back to our childhoods and give our kids a chance to see what our childhood summers were all about! I love that we have this space, that our whole community comes together, we get to reconnect, reminisce, and just enjoy good quality fellowship together! 

So HUGE thanks to Philadelphia Romanian Church for all you do and this amazing space you’ve created for our families & community!

Logan had the time of his life Sunday! It was the first time I let him just run loose with his friends and it was such an awesome thing to see, to see him run to his friends with pure excitement sprawled over his whole face, to see him, run through dirt, ask to go exploring, run, play, have fun without electronics (granted he did ask for the phone and we did give in when it was time to wind down and eat something), watching him play with other kids and just having fun. This is what summers about! Its about coming home at the end of the day exhausted and filthy from playing in dirt all day and that’s ok! That’s proof of a great day!  

Now to the actual 4^th of JULY! Its no secret to anyone who knows me I LOVE this holiday and what it stands for and yes we dress up, yes the house has a flag raised in front, yes I go out and specifically buy freedom roses for the house, and yes any treats I make for this day will be themed! 

Putting all that fun stuff a side for a second though the reason I love this day so much is really what it stands for. We live in a country that gives us freedoms to actually live. Yes there are a lot of horrible things happening in the world and in our own country but even with all those things we still are free & this freedom we have is protected by the men and women who make the sacrifice to service daily, to put their lives on the line and risk it all so that we may be safe, that we may have rights, and we can believe what we choose to believe, and stand up for whatever we choose to stand up for. So when it comes to this day its more than celebrating Americas birthday, its about celebrating the men and women who keep us safe and give up their entire lives to do that, we celebrate our heros in the armed forces. Also if you know anything about our family WE LOVED OUR ARMED FORCES! According to Logan they are the truest definition of what an American is!

Now since it is Americas birthday a birthday party is called for & ours consisted of BBQ, great friends, water balloon fights,fireworks & cake! Ive been looking for a good time to make a trifle and this seemed like the most perfect time! What I loved about this recipe is that well its super easy, doesn't take forever, has tons of fruit, and theres no actual baking involved!

 Plus who can resist a pretty & patriotic cake on our country’s birthday?! I also absolutely love how versatile trifles can be! You can literally make a trifle from anything! mixing different berries, different fillings, different cakes there are so many options! Everyone at the BBQ from the kids the grown ups had a scoopful maybe even 2…all I know is there was none left at the end so think its safe to say that it was a successful dessert & it wont be the last time Ill be making it!! So heres the recipe!! Hope you enjoy & I hope you all had a GREAT 4th of July cause we sure did!!! 

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 cups of water

6 tablespoons of sweet condensed milk 

2 boxes of white chocolate pudding mix

12 oz of cool whip 

1 whole angel food cake (cut into cubes) 

2 pints of fresh cut strawberries

2 pint of fresh blueberries 

DIRECTIONS: 

first you wanna start with cutting up your cake into bite sized cubes, once thats done set the cake aside. 

next you're gonna make your filling. 

start with filling a large mixing bowl with 1.5 cups of water. then you're going to mix in 6 tablespoons of sweet condensed milk, you're going to now whisk it all together for about 2 minutes or till it thickens. once it thickens you're going to start folding in your cool whip. 

once thats folded in you’re going to mix in the pudding mix one package at a time. you'll start to see your mixture thicken and once you've got your last pudding pack mixed in you'll see peaks forming, this is when you'll know its well combined. go ahead and lick the spoon! you know you wanna! 

now comes the fun part. you're going to start layering your trifle. take a trifle bowl or a large bowl and start with a layer of cake, a layer of fruit and then pudding  mixture. cake, fruit, pudding…cake, fruit, pudding…all the way to the top. you're going to do finish off your trifle with one last layer of pudding & then decorate the top whichever way your heart desires!  

cover your trifle up & pop it in the fridge for at least an hour before serving & enjoy!! 

Lets play catch up....

lets play catch-up shall we?

 My last check in was at week 17….we’re now at week 23!

At week 18 I was able to go down another 1/2lb which is good in my book and brought me down to a total of 32lbs at this point! So yes I have completely dedicate myself for being better, getting healthy, & not letting myself down. Even though the scale isn't moving as much Im still feeling good and most importantly happier!

Week 18

With the craziness of Memorial Day I forgot to post that weeks update...after we got back from our trip cause of the holiday I went back up 2lbs bringing the total to 30lbs down at week 19 but with that being said this then made me push harder this week to get back down to were I was to not lose momentum! 

Week 19

So with a fresh start & a ready mind to get back on track that week I was able to go back down to the 32lb total loss and ready to start week 21. These past two weeks were just a reminder that not every step of this process will be perfect but progress is still progress & just because there was a little set back that doesn't mean it's time to give up but rather be positive & work hard to move forward.

Week 20 

It's hard when you hit that wall after so many weeks of progress and I think that wall has come...and the only way to move past that is to push harder & remind myself that the finish line is close its right there & not to lose momentum just because the scale is starting not to budge as much...it was bound to happen...but that's ok cause the clothes are fitting better and better & I'm still feeling the difference not only physically but emotionally too! So no changes in the scale since last week...BUT finally decided to step away from my go to A-Line cut skirts and be brave and go with a pencil skirt today! This is good enough progress for me! 

Week 21

With summer in full swing and the craziness of life I have been bad with my updates but that doesn't mean I've given up not in the slightest! So total loss through week 22 is another 1lb down so that's consistently 1/2lb a week and I'm good with that cause any type of progress is good progress right? Total loss 31lbs as of right now & down 2 almost 3 dress sizes and fitting into pre-pregnacy shorts - high fives for that! 

Week 22

So at week 23 were down 31lbs & feeling good! If i keep beat myself up over the weeks where there isn't much progress I'm just going to be hurting myself and really what good is that! I already can say that Im not anywhere near where I was when I started in January and I still have 5 months to go before the end of the year! The thing about all this is that no matter what hurdles may come or those days where I may have fallen off track…theres always tomorrow to get back up and get back on track. 

Week 23

Theres no giving up and if that means starting over tomorrow thats ok because like I've said in the beginning this is about living a healthy lifestyle, making healthy changes, and looking forward to the positive things. I’m human and sometimes that piece of chocolate is calling my name you have to enjoy the little things in life as long as its done in moderation! you still want those things to be a treat! With that being said Im happy at where I am and look forward to working hard towards my goal! I love that now when I look at the mirror Im happy at what I'm seeing, Im able to smile, to not feel as self conscious as i once did at what I looked like! Im able to really see that God made me beautiful and I want to embrace that while working to become the best me that I can! 

MAKE YOUR OWN SLIME!!!!

So sorry its been so long since my last update on here! I have been keeping up on instagram and will get back on the blog home for an update on my weightloss journey soon, promise! everything has been going good on that front though! 

With summer in full swing we’ve been out and about and trying to make the most of our time till school starts in august! Today we wanted to try something new! I remember growing up we loved playing with GAK! You know that gooey, squishy, colorful fun, slimy stuff and what 5 year would have fun playing with this stuff! Soooo off to our trusty pinterest we went & we found a recipe so we can give this stuff a try! 

I loved that this was going to be a project that Logan & I were able to do together! He was able to help every step of the way! From emptying out  an entire bottle of glue, to adding his color of choice to the batch to adding the magic ingredient that turns glue into slime! 

Logan HAD a blast creating this crazy concoction!! He's been going through a GhostBuster phase so of course he picked the color green & he's been putting slime all over his lego houses & his his guys have been capturing the slime ghosts all afternoon! 

SO how do you make slime/GAK…its actually really easy and really fast! All you need is a few simple ingredients and your all set to go! MIX everything up and you'll magically see the slime come together before you're eyes!! 

You start with 1 bottle of classic Elmers glue …empty out the whole bottle & once you've got that done fill the bottle with water, put the top back on & shake it up! You want to get every last drop of glue out…pour out the water/glue mixture into the bowl and mix it all up. 

Next pick your favorite color & depending on what shade of that color you want squeeze in drops of that color. Now mix your glue real well to get all the color in there.

Now grab 1/2 a cup of warm water & add 1 teaspoon of Borax (you can find this in your laundry detergent aisle) you're gonna wanna combine till the borax is dissolved. Once its all dissolved slowly pour in the water/borax mixture into your glue/food coloring bowl and start stirring slowly, combing more and more water as you go…soon you'll see the consistency of the glue turn into thick slime.

Youll notice that there'll be left over water at the bottom of your bowl and thats ok! we just transferred our slime into a separate bowl once it got thick enough to pick up and stretch)…once everything mixed and thickened its time to get your hands dirty & play!  

This was such a fun quick project, perfect for those rainy days! Have fun creating!! 

HOW TO:

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1 bottle of Elmers school glue
• food coloring of your choice
• 1/2 cup of warm water
• 1 teaspoon borax

DIRECTIONS: 

• pour ALL the glue in a bowl 
• refill the bottle with water mix it up to get all the left over glue and add that to the bowl
• combine your favorite color
• mix the glue and food coloring together 
• take 1/2 cup of warm water & add 1 teaspoon of borax
• combine until the borax is dissolved
• slowly add the water mixture to the glue mixture and mix until you've got a thick slimy consistency 
• transfer to new bowl and get ready to play!  

week 17 update

"The greatest success is wanting what God provides" John H. Putnam 

I don't know about you but when it comes to success & that's success in anything | you need to work hard & have a positive mindset & above that you need to trust that God will provide, lead, and bless you with the the success that you want to achieve. Yes there are days, maybe even weeks that you feel like giving up but you're only setting yourself back. So rather than giving up & blinding yourself from seeing the positive, step back and just take a minute & restart & start fresh because reaching that goal that you've come so far to achieve will be so worth it in the end.

The greatest things in life are things that we have worked hard for and earned. Those things don't come easy, whether it be a journey in getting healthy, earning degrees, moving up at work, seeing our families grow or raising our children to be happy adults, all those things and more take time, they aren't things that come easy & you really have to work hard. There isn't anything that we can't achieve or be successful in if we put God at the center of whatever it is we are working at. With him in the center all things are possible & even when we don't see the results or answers right away we just need to trust that he's working & teaching us lessons along the way. Lessons such as patience, perseverance, power in prayer, trust in his word, & how to fully commit to letting it go & giving him the control when we're too stubborn. 

God is good, gracious, merciful, and full of love for us, just as our earthly parents are excited to see us succeed & achieve our goals imagine the joy God has when we trust in him & let him lead us to our success?  

week 17 update : down 1/2lb and ready to take on this next week! Decided to clean out my closet this weekend And I found a pair of jeans from college that were hidden in a pile of forgotten clothes & so I decide to give them a try and see how they fit! Guys in all honesty I was very doubtful that I'd be able to fit into these American Eagle jeans! I mean seriously I graduated college back in 2009! So just fun I figured why not! Well not only did they fit but they were loose! So yes this made me really happy! Eventually id love to try in my wedding dress again & see how It fits now! So here we are closing week 17 at a total of 31.5lbs lost! Have a great week everyone! Keep up the good work at whatever it is your working on! You can do it! We can do it!  

7 year old college jeans! 

Attachments area

Week 15 & 16 update

The past 2 weeks have been crazy busy! So first apologies for falling a bit behind on my updates on here. 

We were hard at work preparing for our annual mothers day brunch at church so all my attention was focused on making this event beautiful for all the mammas that came to celebrate this beautiful weekend with us! All our hard work and countless hours on pinterest totally paid off because it was a totally success & I hope all our moms that made it out felt loved and appreciated. More on the brunch and all the fun we had creating it shortly that'll have its own post! 

What I learned over the past two weeks is that I am a horrible stress eater. I tried to be as good as I could have been and did my best to keep the momentum going especially after working so hard to get where I am now but the stress won over me this past week. Being on the run & not prepping well lead to making well not the best choices…not horrible ones but they could have been so much better. We were all so busy, me with the event and moe was on a tight deadline needing to finish up the body work on his car so he had to be in the garage each night this past week which meant no yoga this past week and trust me I'm itching to get back. 

So with all that being said I learned I really need to work hard to manage my stress better to find another outlet for when I'm stressed out and not choosing the sweets and delicious venti lattes to get me through. What do you do to manage your stress? What do you turn to when you need that outlet on days where you're just going a million miles an hour?  Its tough to admit that I don't handle stress as well as I thought I did, sure I work great under pressure and can really make things work when I know the deadline is coming close, but that doesn't mean that I take care myself the way I should during those times. For me this is something that goes way back to my college days and has been a struggle since then. Yes I've gotten a tiny bit better at managing stress but still could be better. Ordering that pizza was too easy this past week but I limited my self to just one slice and lets just say thank God for Halo Top ice cream cause that totally saved the day when this lady needed an ice-cream fix. So sure its not like i went crazy with the stress eating but i definitely indulged more than I should have. This just goes to show that Im only human and that not every week will be as great as the last but that doesn't mean its time to give up it just means I need to re-focus and get back on track this next week. 

week 15

week 16 

I ended week 15 losing another 2lbs bringing my total to 31lbs  and week 16 and the 4 month mark with as crazy as it was I was able to stay at 31lbs and not gain anything but I didn't lose anything either and considering the little speed bump of a week that it was I'm ok with that and ready to see what this coming week has in store. This also means there are only 27 more pounds before I reach this years goal! Its really a beautiful thing having a fresh start to a new week and having nothing but a positive outlook to what this week will hold.