What a Week!

This week was a tough one that I mostly kept to myself. Until now. On a blog. For all to read. I want to write about it to help myself remember later in life because I know that nothing happens by accident. The pictures are all out of whack so I will summarize here and then let the pictures unfold for you below. 

On Monday I kept crying. About everything. 

On Tuesday I realized I was 3 days late...ya know...late. I bought a test and it was positive but VERY faint. I got a digital test and it read plainly, "pregnant". Emotions set in and I went from shock, to tears, to excitement, to unknown, to OhMyGosh what are we going to do with two!? Had a great girls night out at T.G.I.Friday's but I kept my secret to myself because I just wanted to. 

On Wednesday I cried a lot again. I asked my friend Ashley if she could make Kennedy a shirt that said, "big sister" on it so that we could tell our families on Friday. A friend brought me a Mocha from Starbucks just because. 

On Thursday I took it easy and played with Kennedy in the front yard. We picked flowers and put them in our hair and just had the best day. 

At midnight on Friday the bleeding started. At 6 I called the oncall Dr. At 9 my labs were drawn. At 11 I spoke with my Dr who said I was not pregnant but was experiencing a chemical pregnancy. The rest of the day there were tears and phone calls explaining to family what my week had been like. I didn't have the energy to explain it all to friends. Most of you are finding out for the first time from this blog post. I still don't have the energy to explain it all to friends. I am having the hormonal surges that early pregnancy brings along with cramp and mood swings. 

Yesterday a friend brought me coffee just because (because God has a plan) and Ashley (who I didn't need the shirt from) left flowers on my door step. 

This week has been one of questions and I know that God has a purpose for everything under the sun. This week forced me to slow down, pray more, and seek His face. It reminded me of what is the most important part of my life and where my priorities should be. This week I've hugged Kennedy & Kyle tighter, stopped to smell the roses, taken time out, refocused, cleansed, and have been renewed. I am thankful that the Lord has a perfect plan for my life and that He knows how my story goes. I think we all need a little surrender sometimes. Here I am! Send me!

Flowers in our hair!

Pumpkin Spice Latte. Yes please!

Such a sweet girl!

Lots of journaling

More Starbucks

Friendly flowers 

Crazy Week Catch Up

Next week is our company convention so things have been hectic around here. My week looked like this:

Cuddles on the couch with this girly girl! 

Words of affirmation from dearly loved friends!

Breakfast for supper! TRY the strawberry strudel waffles by EGGO..no really try 'em!

Walks around the block with our very independent toddler. 

Planning (and in some cases buying) outfits for our convention. This is me at target during tax free weekend. I scored both the top and the skirt for a total of $18! I'm still loving the bangs too! 

Here is another picture of Kennedy walking. Don't y'all just love INSTAGRAM!?

Movies galore! This little thing requests, RELLA (Cinderella to clarify) a lot but also has been enjoying the Jungle book.

I'll be back in a few days for Kennedy Kate's 19 month birthday! Can't believe how fast time is flying! 

Are y'all ready for back to school? What are you most looking forward to this year? 

1:21 AM

I'll blog early today since I can't seem to fall asleep. I saw a quote somewhere recently that said something like, "if you can't fall asleep don't count sheep count your blessings" I don't think that's quite it but you get the picture. So I was laying here NOT counting sheep & thinking about all the times every single day the Lord provides and I got so excited that now I can't sleep! The keeper of the stars has me up and blogging about His goodness. So today at this early hour I am thankful.
Thank you Lord for a wonderful day! Thank you that you restore.
Thank you for my family.
Thank you for sunny days.
And victories
And challenges
And walks to the park
And swinging
And baby laughs
And goals
And life
And breath
Thank You for holding all of my days and for knowing me full well.
Amen!

November?

November got here fast! Don't you agree? Yesterday was the most amazing day for team growth with 7 new team members joining in one day! Ann Johnson of Fredericksburg promoted to Regional Sales manager & 2 other families are just a few away. The most exciting part is that well over 100 families will receive paychecks this month for living their life with a pay plan. What a blessing to be a part of this!

When we got home from Halloween festivities for Kennedy and our Fredericksburg meeting for us we made our pumpkin seeds from The Pioneer Woman and listened to our training call.

I'm ready for you November. I have big plans for you! I'm putting them to paper (or text) right now:
1. Lose these last 4 baby weight pounds
2. Run 4 miles without stopping
3. Help 4 families double (who will they be?)
4. Help 100 people get started on their life with a pay plan (if we can help 7 in one day I know we can do this)
5. Personally sponsor 3 new people
6. Finish all Christmas shopping
7. Enjoy my family
8. Run the turkey trot
9. Be thankful
10. Achieve these goals!

Diaper Rash & Doubling

Diaper Rash:

Kennedy has been battling a diaper rash for a day or so so she's been crying when it's time for a diaper change. Poor baby. I'm learning things about being a better parent every day. Like the late night I went to HEB for diapers and the only size 3's available were in the Munchkin brand and I didn't want to go to Wal-Mart AT ALL so I bought them against my better judgment and the next day with butt paste and all my sweet baby girl has a diaper rash that WILL NOT LEAVE. URGG After the run-on sentence trip BACK out to Wal-Mart the next day we have Pampers Cruisers and a little healing butt that you get to read about on this here blog. *sigh* rookie mommy mistake number 234829384

Doubling:

Doubling is a way for people who have partnered with FHTM (our home based business) to double their paycheck. We have had the pleasure of helping people go from single pay to double pay. Yesterday I got a call from a doubling paycheck person in tears because they were so thankful they have stuck with and pushed through the "no's" (we get a lot of those) to be able to pay all of their bills AND HAVE SOME LEFT OVER for the first time in 14 months. Blessing. I never thought I would be in network marketing and a really really never thought I could make a dime in it. I was wrong. I also never thought that I would have the chance to help a lot of other people make money for their families and in this economy that just thrills me.

So the point to this post is to say that I love being a mom and I love my work and I am so very thankful for every up and down and every joy and tear and sacrifice that they bring. I was put here for this purpose and for such a time AS THIS.

Tumbleweed

Go here first:

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

I absolutely love this idea/concept/lifestyle

I like this one http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/houses/b53/ the best and LOVE that it could be ours for less than $60,000 (I might still have some work to do with Kyle on this)

Y'all know from my project 333 posts that I've (we've) been on a journey for simplicity since the birth of our baby girl. In many ways God has used Kennedy to show me what's really important in life. Since her birth we have sold:
KitchenAid mixer
All of our DVDs (ok we kept 5 we couldn't live without)
About 150 CD's
My Lucchesse boots
4 Coach purses
2 Coach Wristlets
2 Guitars
Our Coffee table
An antique furniture set
2 vintage chairs
A lot of jewelry
Over 200 items of clothing
Over 100 household decorative items
A 2006 Mazda3
And most recently our big screen TV.

I say all that to say this:
Life is better simple. I've been much more productive without that big TV (we still have a small tv upstairs).

Selling these items has allowed us to add more than $2500 to an emergency fund, pay off $3500 in debt, and place more of our attention on what's really important to us in this life. With an extremely important desire to give of our time and money our focus is still to be debt free by Spring (April 2012).

We are asking for prayer and encouragement as we enter this very last leg of our debt snowball marathon. And please keep your "they sold that?!?" gasps to your selves. We've felt like we live in a pressure cooker because of the mountain of debt we've tackled and if you haven't faced close to $100,000 in debt I pray you never will.

So excuse me while I'm focused.

Stay at Home Parents

A lady asked me last night if we really enjoy working together and we looked at each other and laughed. It's the only way my husband and I work. When I taught high school and we were away from each other working separate goals 12 hours a day, we fought all the time. ALL. Our gifts and talents work perfectly together. We don't take our business for granted. I told the lady that this isn't about stay at home moms it's about stay at home parents. It's about living a full time life and working a part time business. It's truly a life with a pay plan.

Monday Inspiration

Are you with me?

7 Months

On August 26th Kennedy Kate turned 7 months old:

Dear Kennedy,

You are so much fun and learning to crawl all around your room. You love all of your stuffed animals and like to pull them off the shelf and make a mess of your room. Here are some other highlights:

You still wear size 3 diapers but we finally moved to the cruisers
You love sweet potatoes
Bath time is still a favorite part of your day
Your newest interest is in books
You talk and squeal all the time
You like cheerios but can't figure out how to put them in your mouth after you pick them up
You sleep from about 10pm-9am
You began the teething process

You are the light of our life!

Almost Playing Catch Up

Wow...life has completely sped by the last few weeks. Anyone else feel that way? The last day that I marked off in my day planner was August 15th proving that the last half of the month was a whirlwind. It ended with:

• Kennedy Turns 7 months old. how?
• a wedding rehearsal
• a wedding #bestweddingsincemine
• Lindsey (sister), Landon (nephew), and my mom came to visit
• The month ended strong GO TEAM
• Clemma Childress died at the age of 88 (Kyle's paternal grandmother)
• A funeral was attended

And all of the events deserve a blog post separately. I'll attempt to write about those things in the coming days but today I must do what I do best and inspire, motivate, and publicly speak. Oh and out of the events listed above, the funeral is the one that touched my spirit the most. It's hard to find time to blog after you've been reminded how precious life is. I made a pact with God that I would live out my days deliberately from here on out. Always in the moment. Always making the time I'm given count.

John 14:2
My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

Until then. I'm His for the taking

9 Days

My sister-in-law Kelly Paige is getting married on August 27th and I am getting so excited! There is so much to be done and I'm just talking about for my family and me:

Tomorrow: eye doctor appointment that I dread every single year. I need lasik. now. bad. #sickofmessingwithit & on the hunt for the perfect pair of not too tall silver wedge shoes for wedding party & a rehearsal dinner dress (have I mentioned that I am almost as excited about the rehearsal dinner as I am this wedding? It's going to be grand y'all)

Saturday: highlights/hair trim/pedicure YES! & helping KP & RP move into their house if they want my help. PS: have to work a 3.5 mile run in at some point this day

Sunday-Wednesday: some major working for this momma. Have I mentioned that this shouldn't make you feel bad for me because I absolutely L.O.V.E. what I do for a living?

Thursday & Friday: I'm at the bride's side if she needs me. I am making myself available for any task, errand, etc. and of course the rehearsal dinner on Friday :)

Saturday: THE BIG DAY. Hair & Make up HERE and then HERE for the celebration of my favorite couple to ever marry (sorry folks..I'm bias). I am SO SO SO blessed to be KP's sister-in-law AND Russell is so So SO blessed to be marrying into the Childress family. They are the best people around. No really. It's true.

Can you tell I've had coffee, and a run, and am unstoppable? Angel girl is napping so now I will go on with my plans to conquer today!

Thank you Lord for times of celebration and joy and love and just YOU. You rock my world & are the rock of my world.

Gotta Run

Why Do Something?

I got a text today from a friend that said, "wow, why do you want to run another marathon?" ANSWER: Because running makes me feel alive and I'll get lazy if I don't have a goal and it has to be a big goal so I'll push myself a little harder than I think I can do if the goal is big and I feel/am closer to the Lord when I run" yes yes I know RUN ON sentence. This goal got me thinking:

Why do anything in life? People don't ask me all the time but I know they think it: Why in the world are you building a business with FHTM? My answer to that question is simple: Because I want to. Because I love people. Because I love being a part of something bigger than me. Because teaching at a high school in Austin was never going to get us out of the debt hole we were in. Because I still get to teach and coach every day of my life. Because it's worth it. But more than all of those things: I am forced to trust the Lord every day in every moment of working our business. He doesn't promise me success, health, or even ease in life but He does promise to make me loving, pure, and humble like Christ. Kyle and I have been with FHTM for 4 years next month and I can't imagine doing anything else with my life. In the book Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung, he states: "If you are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, you will be in God's will, so just go out and do something" (61.)

I will leave you with this video from John Piper:

Wordless Wednesday

I Found IT!!

It? Yep! It! A food plan/lifestyle I can stick with forEVER! For those (12) of you who have been readers of my blog for the past few years you might remember me talking about trying these diets:

The Eat Clean Diet lasted all of about a week before I ate a whole cake and put sugary creamer back in my coffee. It also caused a friend to have a breakdown ;)

The Body for Life for Women was read from cover to cover but much too complicated for me to even know where to start.

Let me introduce you to my friend The Belly Fat Cure. I'm very thankful to Mr. Jorge Cruise for a plan that I have had success with for over 6 months. What impresses me the most is that my husband, mother-in-law, father-in-law, sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and 4 friends are all having daily success with this plan and have lost significant amounts of weight. What impresses me further is that we are keeping it off.

Here's how it can work for you:

• Consume no more than 15g of sugar per day (much easier than it sounds)
• Consume no more than 6 servings of carbs per day. *1 carb serving = 20g of carbs *don't consume more than 2 servings of carbs per meal

Here's a sample day of eating for me:

Breakfast:

• 2 whole scrambled eggs
• shredded Cheddar cheese (not low fat or fat free..the real deal)
• 2 strips of regular bacon
• 2 slices Ezekial bread (there isn't any sugar in this bread and have 2 slices equals 2 carb choices)
• real butter on my bread :) YUM!

Snack(s):

• real string cheese (2)

Lunch:

• A junior deluxe cheese burger from sonic (I remove 1 slice of bread so it's just 1 carb & 2g sugar)
• A small tater tot (1 carb choice 4g sugar)

Dinner:

• Grilled chicken sandwich on whole wheat buns that are 1 carb choice and 4 sugars
• real mayo
• a strip of bacon
• real cheese
• pickles
• and an once of potato chips

I am never left hungry, I'm never tempted to binge eat, I've tried to pig out on cookies and I feel sick after, I don't crave sugar, I have more energy, I don't have to count fat, or calories, or worry about what I will eat when I go out to eat, I can have chips, and salsa, and queso too, I don't have to deprive myself. I'm. In. Love.

Goal Girls

goal |gōl|noun1 (in football, soccer, rugby, hockey, and some other games) a pair ofposts linked by a crossbar and often with a net attached behind it, forming a space into or over which the ball has to be sent in order to score.• an instance of sending the ball into or over this space, esp. as a unit of scoring in a game : the decisive opening goal | we won by three goals to two.• a cage or basket used similarly in other sports.2 the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired result :going to law school has become the most important goal in his life.• the destination of a journey : the aircraft bumped toward our goal some 400 miles to the west.• poetic/literary a point marking the end of a race.
I absolutely adore working with these girls. What a joy to help others achieve what they want for their families by plugging them into a life with a pay plan!