Catching up!

Mt Lassen!

Well, I've been working on experiencing life the past 2 weeks, sorry I haven't blogged so much :)  Had quite a lot going on, so I've been fairly busy.  My awesome SIL Stef came out last week; it was amazing.  She was SO happy to be out here, I didn't get to pick her up at the airport, but I heard she cried when she saw David and Kody;)  Sadly, the Saturday she was here fell on a Saturday I had to work, so they got up SUPER early and drove south to LA for the day.  That was fine with me because I'm not all that enamored with So Cal.  I mean, I like San Diego, but that's about it.  I'm all about my gorgeous Nor Cal!  So, I worked (and had a HORRIBLE day), but on Sunday we got to go back to Lassen volcano, and we found us a new state park to go in with this AMAZING waterfall.  It was so darn beautiful, AND we got to hike a teeny little mile long trail, yay :)  Steffie  and the boys aren't so keen on hiking, so I was grateful the trail wasn't too intense for them.  From there, we went to Redding and walked through Turtle Bay and the Sundial bridge.

Kody got baptized today!  I'm so proud of him :)  He was ready to do it, and he was super excited about it.  Praise God!  I was actually quite disappointed to miss out on church last Sunday, but when Stef comes back over Christmas, she will be here a little over a week, so we will get to take her to church.  We just had so far to drive on Sunday, we couldn't fit it in.  Today was great, as usual.  We were talking about "once saved, always saved", but you should still live a "good" life because even though you may GO to heaven, if you don't live right you won't have much when you get there.  Interesting as always!

David's birthday was Friday, and we went to dinner last night out in Roseville where he works.  He works in a REALLY nice shopping center, and it was just awesome to spend some time enjoying the gorgeous weather and the great company.  We ate at a restaurant called the Yard House, and we fully enjoyed it.  Definitely on our list to go back to.  From there we went to the mall and wandered around a little bit, and today has just been church/chill day.  I went to the park and ran 6 miles again.  Boy, it was WINDY; gusts up to 30 mph.  My hands were FREEZING by the time I got home.  I ran a little further than last time.  2 weeks ago, I alternated walk/run each mile, so I ran 3/walked 3.  Today, I ran 3 in a row, walked one, then ran one, then walked the last so I actually ran 4/walked 2 yay me!

Ok, here's what I'm going to do.  I intend to post a pic of me in an outfit I want to look GOOD in.  My favorite jeans (when they fit) and a white t shirt.  My jeans are so tight they gave me an ugly muffin top.  So, to keep me accountable, I'm posting my pics of me in that outfit.  HOPEFULLY I will look better in it by next month.  It worked the first time, so hopefully it will work now.

Eww.  Nice muffin top!

Making those seams scream:(

Side never looks quite as bad

Alrighty then!  A month from now, that should look MUCH better.  I know myself.  I HAVE to have accountability.  Posting these pics holds me accountable.  When I don't do that, I don't care.  I do NOT want to be like a wonderful person I know.  She was pretty overweight, no big deal.  Went on a diet, lost SO much weight, she looked absolutely amazing; like a completely different person.  In fact, she was one of my inspirations for losing my weight!  Fast forward a year; I've lost 45 lbs and look so much better.  I see this person, and she's right back to where she was :(  She tells me, Hey!  You look great!  Don't be like me; I lost 60 lbs, then gained 80!  Sad.  I don't want to do that.  I got RID of all my fat clothes, I REFUSE to buy fat clothes again.  I know I may gain some, but I CAN and WILL lose it again.  The key is moderation, and awareness of the problem.  I have to jump on it as soon as I sense the weight creeping on (like now).  Small goals.  Keep active.  Cut the sugar (again).  Smaller portions.  I can do this, and I will do this!  Love y'all, will post again sooner than 2ish weeks, I promise.:)  Have a great week!

Coming out

Ran through the park today; beautiful!

Well, plenty to talk about!  First of all, I'm going to come out and say it ... I've definitely gained back some weight :(  Not a LOT, but definitely at least 10 lbs.  My most favorite of the jeans I bought on my slim down aren't really fitting right now.  I mean ... I squeezed myself into them.  And then I took them off for fear of busting a seam.  So ... I've made a deal with myself.  If I can wear them again by Nov 1, good for me!  If I can't, it's picture posting time here on the blog again!

Today I ran 6 miles.  Super sore in my hips right now, but feet feel good woo hoo!  Oh!  And I got baptized today :)  That is something I have had a desire to do for about a year now, but it just never seemed to work out.  Obviously, God had other plans for me and TODAY was the right day for it!  It actually is a hard thing to do when your desire to step away from the limelight is strong.  As a kid/teen I wanted to be the center of attention ALL the time.  Now, I'm perfectly content to step back and allow the kiddo to fill that roll.  So, I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to be washed away of my sins, and now I'm looking for the opportunity to get in some volunteer work, hopefully with the church.  I'm serious about changing my life.

I've had my first official full week of work, and fortunately I feel like I'm swimming.  Not just treading water, or even worse, drowning.  It's actually quite difficult.  VERY detail oriented, and foreign to my eyes, but I think I'm doing ok.  The girls are so nice to me and tell me I'm doing so awesome, especially for it only being my first week, but the last thing I want to do is be cocky about it.  I'm glad they think I'm doing well, it just motivates me to do even better and carry my own weight.  David also has had HIS first week, and he is kicking butt and taking names!  He's adapted quickly to the job and is competent enough to work on his own.  My husband is such a smart cookie, he could do anything he wants; it's just so difficult here in CA to find jobs.  There's so many people searching that every single little puny little job requires a license, or a certification of some sort, it's ridiculous!  Hopefully we don't have to worry about that any more, I have no plans to leave my job any time soon, and I don't think David is planning to change either:)

My sister in law is coming up next week and I'm SO excited!  I'm so blessed and fortunate that I get along with my in-laws every bit as great as I do my immediate family.  I look forward to spending time with my SIL just like I would my actual sister.  She will be here for almost a week, and it works out that we will get to spend plenty of time together:)  She's flying into the Sac airport which is not far at all.  It's a great airport.  David and I both job hunted there, but couldn't find anything.

I got up super early all last week to do T25 before work, and I will do so again this week.  I'm getting in the exercise, I just have to get my eating back under control.  I've fallen into the "sweet cereal" trap for dessert, and I'm eating way too late at night.  We do dinner around 7ish usually, but I'm then eating a bowl of cereal around 10 and that's what's causing my weight gain.  That and the 20 Ritz crackers I sneak in during the day.  I just have to slap myself mentally upside the head and not sabotage all the hard work I did last year.  Accountability!  Like I said, giving myself 3 weeks to get it together before I go back to posting "fat" pictures on the blog, so hopefully y'all won't be subjected to that again!  Hope everyone has a good week, I'm planning to :)

Spiritual Warfare

Enjoying the view of God's creation; why we moved west

I'm going to attempt to recap Pastor Jimenez's sermons from the last 3 weeks.  I feel like I've been inundated with God in the last few weeks, and I feel slightly run over with the Holy Spirit.  I've taken what I feel like is pretty good notes, so I'm going to try and impart a small piece what I've learned since attending VBC.

1.  We are constantly engaged in spiritual warfare.  Satan WANTS us to die and go to Hell.  When we die as non believers, we die 2 deaths; a physical passing out of our body, and a 2nd death where we are cast into the lake of fire.

2.  Our country is compromised.  Satan is the king of the earth, NOT God.  This is why you see God being taken out of school, God being kicked out of our government, and homosexuality/drug/alcohol use promoted as being mainstream and cool.

3.  Demons are actually fallen angels

4.  Anyone can be infused with a spirit ... a godly spirit will not cause you to do things you don't remember.  People oppressed by mental illness make great hosts for demonic spirits.  Our world is more accepting and tolerant of evil spirits than it is of godly spirits, ex. voodoo/fortune tellers

5.  Satan is currently living and walking here on Earth.  He has NEVER been to Hell.  Lucifer is beautiful to behold, and will try to tempt and trick you into sin and unbelief.  People full of self pride are much more susceptible to the influences of Satan than of God.

6.  When we hold onto residual guilt after committing sins, it is Satan.  Once you repent, God forgives your sins; move on!

7.  An obsession with death is characteristic of someone more in tune with Satan than with God.

8.  In order to be saved and go to Heaven, one must "Submit to God, resist the Devil, and he will flee from you".  James 4:7

9.  If YOU submit yourself to PRIDE, God will then resist YOU.

10.  Your defensive armor against Satan is Truth.  God is rooted in truth.  Satan is rooted in lies.  Churches that tell parables and fables instead of the cold, hard truth are promoting Satan.

11.  You can't have truth without faith.  You MUST have faith in order to encircle yourself with the truth of God's word.  Attending church helps you to surround yourself with people of like minds, and to fend off Satan.

12.  Ministering to others will help to physically FIGHT Satan.  The more people you help to bring to God, the less people Satan can cast into Hell.  Prayer is our most powerful weapon.

Here are some bible chapters/verses mentioned that support these points.  What I have posted is the highlights of what I have gleaned over the last 3 weeks.  If you're interested in sitting with your bible and looking up some verses, here they are.
*Luke 22:31
*Romans 10:14-17
*Hebrews 11:6
*Revelations 12:10
*Ephesians ch 6
*John 8:44
*2 Timothy 4:3
*John 4:24
*James 4:7
*Revelations 20:10
*Hebrews 2:14
*Luke 4:5-7
*John 12:31
*1 Peter 5:8
*Acts 10:38
*1 John 3:8
*Revelations 12:9
*Ezekial chapter 28
*Mark chapter 5

The crazy thing?  This isn't even all the verses mentioned!  I told y'all the pastor is a bible scholar.  It's so interesting to really follow along with him and flip back and forth and read all these passages.  I'm so enjoying myself, I hope that I continue to follow along and learn.  I'm seriously considering beginning to tithe to the church; I've NEVER done that before.  It will certainly hurt, at least conceptually, but maybe the results will be worth it.  Even a little $20 offering hurts right now, so stretching to tithe will really equate to stretching that faith, but I would be a hypocrite if I didn't at least make the effort.  I will be getting baptized soon, I finally feel as though it's the right thing for me to do.  I've been baptized before as a young child, but my primary motivation was to be the center of attention, and to not let my best friend do something without me.  Hey, at least I'm good at not lying to myself!  I told y'all, I can self analyze way better than any shrink can;)