Recently I have wanted to meet some goals, e.g., lose 30 lbs. and gain more muscle, increase the visibility/monetize my blog, and become a paid writer. I realize these are three huge goals, but they have been weighing heavy on my mind lately.

Losing weight and gaining muscle is for no one other than myself. I am not so vain that I care about what others think of me. I want to lose weight to have more energy to do what I enjoy, e.g., being active with my family and running. I want to gain muscle so that I can reduce my back pain, plus a well-toned body does look nice. Running is something I have enjoyed doing over the past few years, but I have never been consistent with it due to pain issues or life getting in the way. I began following Jill Angie on her podcast Not Your Average Runner and found that I don’t have to be skinny or a super athlete to run. I simply have to get out there and run. Yesterday, I ran a 5k at home while watching Heartland on Netflix. I do find that running outside takes more effort and I want to run outside more. However, I have children at home that I am not ready to leave alone while I go for a run.

Increasing the visibility/monetizing my blog is so that I can make extra money for our family to help put us in a better place financially. I don’t just write to get my thoughts out but to share them with the world to help and encourage others. I have always enjoyed journaling because it helps me destress by getting my thoughts out on paper. Blogging lets others in on my innermost thoughts. This can be scary at times as I don’t want others judging me. However, it is cathartic just to get the thoughts out.

I want to become a paid writer to help our family out financially and to pursue a life-long goal of becoming a writer. When I first went to college at Sam Houston State University I wanted to become a journalist. However, I chose interior design instead. While I do like to decorate and I feel I am good at it, interior design is not my passion. Writing is. Last year, I pursued becoming a paid writer and actually made $10 for an article I wrote. It was a start that stopped shortly after because I allowed life to get in the way of my writing. I feel that now is a perfect time for me to get back to focusing on becoming a paid writer. I would love any help I can get with this pursuit.

As I gaze out my office window, I see the grass and trees basking in the sun, I hear the birds singing “good morning” and I feel a chill in the air. It’s a beautiful day outside with lots of promise. I am lucky enough to enjoy a visit from a hummingbird in my Easter lilies.

While I am preparing for my work/homeschool day, I pray that things go well. My workday typically goes smoothly, but the homeschool part of the day is questionable at best. Some days go well without any issues, but then other days end in my daughter’s tears of frustration as she works on her reading and writing. I try to balance the hard stuff with the easy stuff so that she enjoys a portion of her school day.

Today, I will make some of my phone calls outside just to embrace the beauty that God has put on this earth to keep me sane. I will watch the squirrels dig in the grass for acorns and I will listen to the birds sing.

I will end my day on our back porch waiting patiently for a visit from a hummingbird. I will also watch the squirrels as they sneakily grab a snack from our bird feeders. My day will be filled with snippets of nature to keep my soul balanced.

Over the years, I have run off and on but I have never really committed to it. I would run a couple of days and either life would come up or I would have a migraine or back pain issues that would stop me in my tracks.

This year, I decided to get my migraine and back pain under control so that it would not interfere with my daily life anymore. By doing so, I have been able to be more active with my family. I shoot baskets with my oldest daughter and take long walks with the family or with just my girls if my husband has to work.

I have been listening to a couple of podcasts that have helped me to get more motivated to take better care of my health. One of which is Losing 100 Pounds with Phit-N-Phat. Corinne Crabtree is the host of this podcast and she tells so many good truths about why women struggle to lose weight. The other podcast is Not Your Average Runner. Jill Angie is the host of this podcast and she explains how you don’t have to be thin to be a runner.

Since we have been in quarantine, I have made it a goal to exercise at least five days a week. Most weeks I have met my goal, but there have been some days that I just don’t feel like it. I set this goal to keep me from sitting on the couch doing nothing, which is not good for my mental or physical health.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have started running again. This time I have a goal of running a 5k a day. Once I meet that goal and run it for a couple of weeks, I am going to bump the goal up to a 7k. The point is to continually raise my goal so that I have something to strive to reach. I don’t know how high I will raise my goal, but only time with tell.

 

It’s been over a month now of homeschooling and I am sort of getting into a groove. I have put together a daily schedule of my youngest daughter’s schoolwork. Some days we sail through it without any conflicts and other days it is like pulling teeth to get simple work done.

First, I am not a teacher nor was I gifted with the skills to teach. Second, my youngest daughter is cut from the same cloth that I am (we are both very stubborn). Third, I really don’t like being both the teacher and the principal – it’s hard to teach and discipline a child at the same time.

I have to keep reminding myself that none of us expected to be thrown into this virtual learning situation. It is a major adjustment for her and me as well as for the teachers. I am working on showing my daughter grace as she works to complete her assignments. I am working on showing myself grace as I try to teach her what the teacher has assigned. I am also working to show the teacher grace as I know they are learning how to teach virtually on the fly.

In the end, I know I will have learned that I am not cut out to homeschool my daughter. I will also have learned to show others grace as God shows me grace every day.

Just walking through our yard, I can see much beauty in God’s creation. We have the green grass and the green leaves of the trees. Then we have all of the brown tent moths that have recently come out of their cocoon.

As a nature-lover, I enjoy having plants all around our yard so that I can watch how they grow throughout the year. Spring is my favorite time of year because that is when plants begin to bloom. We have jasmine growing on a trellis on the side of our house.

We have an Easter lily that is in bloom and a hydrangea that will bloom soon.

 

Just this morning, while planting lettuce, spinach, and daisy seeds with my youngest daughter, we saw a baby dragonfly.

I am always amazed by what God has created just for us to enjoy. It makes me feel very special. How about you? Do you feel special knowing that God created everything on this earth just for you?

 

For the past month, we have been quarantined to our home. I have made weekly supply runs to get what we need to survive, but also a few things to brighten our days, e.g., gardening supplies.

My favorite thing to do on a daily basis is to get out and enjoy the beauty of our yard and neighborhood. Before it started getting so hot, I would go on daily walks with my girls. We will just need to plan our walks for mornings or evenings when it is not so hot. I feel blessed to live in the country where we have so much nature.  Our property has lots of oak trees and the squirrels abound.

Recently, my husband removed our old deck that had rotten out and replaced it with a smaller deck. He then added a walkway on one side and a garden area on the other side and a cactus/vegetable garden in front. I helped him stain the deck since I was the one who chose the two-tone style.

We also hung some metal art, planted some flowers, filled the bird feeders and added mulch to our flower bed. When we bought the house, the previous owners had a pergola with a swing. They took the swing and left the pergola so we are using the pergola as the centerpiece of our flower garden. We have bees, squirrels, birds, frogs, lizards and earthworms that call this garden home.

I love that we have made our backyard into such an oasis so that we can enjoy God’s creation every day. Our next project for the backyard is to repaint our patio furniture that will go back on our deck.

What have you been doing during this quarantine to draw closer to God? In addition to gardening, I have been reading the Bible daily and praying for those who are on the frontlines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Coronavirus quarantine has brought about a lot of self reflection. It has shown me the importance of keeping my daily routine with a few modifications, e.g., no need to fix my hair and put on makeup to work from home, the ability to take a long walk in the middle of the day with my girls to enjoy the weather and get out of the house, etc. The quarantine has also showed me how strong our family structure is in that we have always been a close family and spend a lot of time together normally. We also know how to, and when to, go our own ways when we need some time apart. I am grateful that my girls can play outside without my direct supervision as it enables me to get my work done and gives them time outside to play games or just hang out.

I am grateful that God has given me the family I have, the neighborhood I live in and the nature all around me. Though we cannot go shopping or do the things we are used to doing, we are learning to focus on what we can do and find new, creative ways to spend our time. My daughter, Becca, has discovered a love of june bugs and caterpillars. She love to pick up the caterpillars and let them crawl on her. Becca has also made a terrarium for a school science project. Knowing my daughter’s love of caterpillars, I took a picture of one eating a leaf while I was outside gardening. My older daughter, Liz, spends her time playing basketball or online games. My husband has decided now is the time to pull up our old back deck that had rotten wood and redesign the layout to enable us to have a vegetable garden close to the house.

As many families are doing their best to make it through the quarantine both alive and sane, I am grateful to God for giving us all the time to reflect on what really matters in this world. I pray that all stay healthy and I especially pray for those who have been deemed essential employees, my husband being one of them who works in a hospital, to keep them safe.

On January 2, 2020 I made a decision that has changed my life. It actually all started on November 9 when my sister told me about a podcast she had been listening to that she thought I would like. The podcast is “Losing 100 lbs. with Phit-n-Phat”.

Before my sister told me about this podcast, I had never before listened to a podcast. Since that day, I have become a huge follower of Corinne Crabtree, who is the host of “Losing 100 lbs. with Phit-N-Phat”. Corinne is a tell-it-like-it-is kind of person. She cuts through the junk people believe regarding their ability, or inability, to lose weight.

The decision I made on January 2 was to join the PNP Tribe, which is a private group that shows you had to lose weight by getting your head on straight about why you eat when you are not hungry. Over the past month and a half, I have learned so much and have gotten to where I don’t feel the need to eat my feelings anymore and I don’t eat near as much food as I used to.

One of the podcasts that I listened to focused on those interested in taking up running. Corinne talked about another podcaster, Jill Angie, whose podcast is entitled “Not Your Average Runner”. She talks about being a runner who is overweight and how to begin running. She focuses on interval running as the best way to run, especially when you first start running.

At the beginning of the year, I started walking four days a week for my physical and mental health. Exercise has always helped give me a clearer mind. A couple of weeks ago I started running for about 20 minutes at a time. While watching a movie, I just kept running and in 37 minutes I ran 3.1 miles. Holy crap! I couldn’t believe that I had run a 5k without even thinking about it. Now my goal is to run 3-4 days a week and do strength training the other two days.

It would be easy for me to say that I have done all of this on my own. However, I know better than that. I know that God brought me to Corinne’s podcast and then Jill’s podcast in His time. He also gave me a way to pay for the PNP Tribe membership when I couldn’t see a way to do it. I know it is God who has given me the strength and ability to run like I do and He will continue to give me strength to do all things in my life.

My next goal is to run a 5k. After that, who knows, maybe I will run a 10k. I will leave my goals up to God and let Him guide me where I need to go.

My word for 2019 was intentional. I began the year with good intentions wanting to write more, lose weight, spend time with family, etc. Somewhere along the line, my good intentions fell by the wayside. I lost my way because I think I had too many goals/ideas to focus on and not enough direction.

I have chosen my word for 2020 and it is focused. I plan to spend 2020 being more focused. I am going to plan my life more instead of letting it just happen. While there is nothing wrong with letting life just happen, doing so does not get specific things done. For instance, if I want to lose weight, I have to plan what I’m going to eat and plan to exercise regularly. I have to work on why I am eating and what I am eating.

Also in 2020, I plan to focus on asking for God’s guidance in everything I do. So much of the time I do what I think is right or what I want to do without asking for His guidance first. It’s time that I began to follow God more closely.

This weekend has been a wild ride. It started off when I was watering my backyard garden Saturday morning. I was outside, enjoying my plants and looking for the frogs that like to hang out in some of my pots. My youngest daughter, Becca, came out to be with me because she, too, enjoys nature and being with me in the garden. When she came outside, she got spooked by a cat on our porch that she thought was a squirrel.

After watering a few plants on our deck, I started hearing mewling. It freaked me out because it was unexpected. I looked down in the planter box where I was watering and it turned out there were newborn kittens down in the box that had gotten dripped on when I was watering. Of course, I stopped watering because I didn’t want to risk getting them wet again, plus I wanted to see how many kittens there were and see how big/old they were. It appeared there were only three kittens, but it was hard to tell because they were all cuddled together.

A bit later, my older daughter, Liz, came out to see the kittens and immediately fell in love. First, she loves cats and second, the kittens looked very much like our cat, Buddy, who is a gray tabby cat. I texted a picture of the kittens to my sister who also loves cats and rescued and adopted two newborn kittens herself back in March. She asked me what I was going to do and I told her that I would let nature take its course. I figured that since we had seen a cat on our porch near the kittens that she would return to care for them so we simply kept an eye on the kittens to make sure they were faring well and waited for her return.

Later that evening, after being gone all day at my dad’s house swimming, we checked on the kittens and they were still all there and moving around a lot. That is when I discovered we had four kittens instead of three. Three kittens were tabby cats and one was mostly black and white.

The next morning I checked on the kittens and they were still doing well. However, when we returned from church later that morning, one of the four kittens was missing. We had no idea where it went. We thought maybe the momma cat had come back to move the kittens or that something had gotten it. Throughout the day I continued to watch the kittens to make sure they were doing okay and waiting to see if the momma cat would return. I even put down some flour around the box to see if she made any paw prints, as suggested by a website I read. I also reached out via social media and to the Houston SPCA to see if anyone would be able to nurse some newborn kittens as we did not have the ability to do so. The momma cat was still MIA on Sunday evening.

Monday morning arrived with thunder rolling so I checked on the kittens and planned to move them into a cardboard box to a more sheltered area. That is when I found that one of the kittens had died overnight. After rescuing the remaining two kittens and getting them into a sheltered area, I proceeded to bury the dead kitten in our backyard. After a while, I decided to sit outside with the two kittens to keep an eye on them as they did not look well themselves. While I was out there, another of the kittens died so I took the last kitten whom I called Simba because he/she seemed to be the strongest of the kittens. I pet the kitten and held it close and talked to it constantly while rocking in our porch rocking chair. Sadly though, it too died. I buried the two kittens and went inside sad that they were unable to survive.

Throughout the weekend I had prayed for their survival and prayed for the momma cat’s return. I had also talked with God about what to do. Several times I considered bottle feeding them, but I knew that I would not be able to keep up the schedule once Tuesday arrived because my husband and I work full time and our girls go to school. I have doubted myself many times for how I handled things, but in the end, I know that God was in control the whole time and that He guided me along telling me what to do. I even talked with my mom, who is in heaven, as she was a vet tech before she got sick to make sure I was doing the right thing. It’s sad how the weekend ended regarding the kittens, but in the end, I know that I did the right thing.