A Birthday Love Letter...

To the Most Amazing Man In My Life:

I would like to wish you a very happy birthday baby. You have blessed my life for almost a total of 11 years with almost 7 years in marriage. We have had our ups and downs, our highs and lows, but one thing has always remained with us -- we have always loved each other. I can honestly say that I have had my days that I may not have liked you, but I have never stopped loving you.

Each and every day you work your tail off to provide for your family. We have two beautiful and smart children that adore their daddy. I couldn't have been more blessed when God put you in my life on that faithful day in 2005. Today is your 31st birthday and I want to wish you a very wonderful and blessed birthday this year and I look forward to celebrating many more with you as our time together grows and gets stronger.

With all my love,
"Butterbean"

Bible Study and the App I Use

Image from Google Images

I have really began to focus on my walk with God this year. I have been so blessed by His grace and mercy all these years and with so much that has happened within our lives, I felt I needed to pay more attention to why the good has happened to me and my family. I have this amazing app on my phone that you can get on iPhones and Androids; I absolutely love it! Not only does it offer you the Bible electronically and conveniently, but they offer so many different bible plans/studies that you can choose from. I have to be honest I have so many that I want to do that I have "started" but because there are so many I can't find the time to actually read each one daily.

With all of that being said, I have tried daily to ensure time with Him because He is the reason I am breathing. Usually my time with the Lord that I really sit down and focus on His word is after the Weston goes to bed and Reba rocks with daddy until they are both knocked out. While they are rocking, I am in our room doing multiple things. This is the time I get to work not only on my Bible study, but also my blogging, video editing for my vlog (you can find here) and just sitting on the bed and folding clothes while I watch YouTube.

I have also recently discovered Joyce Meyers' app and it has videos, teachings, etc. and I am gaining SO MUCH from her sermons!

The verse that I have decided would fit our marriage and daily life is from Proverbs 17:22

A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person's strength. (NLT)

This verse cannot be more true. My husband is so broken spirited and I told him that this was his verse because he needs to find joy and happiness. I am constantly telling him to stop worrying about everything so much and just give it to God because He will take care of it.

I would love to hear what your favorite verse(s) is?

Fitness Challenge Update #2

So many of us go into the new year with big plans and goals that we want to accomplish. Of course like every year I always put that I want to get healthy, lose weight, eat better, etc. along with a few extra things. In 2016, I want to accomplish the healthy side, even though so far I don’t feel well accomplished in that area, but I know it is only a month into it and I still have time to change with the grace of God as He provides me with a new day. Today, I started really focusing on what I was actually putting into my body and well I realized that my heart and soul and even my mind has not yet accepted this concept of healthy. I was literally disgusted to see these junk foods written on my list.

Still Keeping This In Mind for What I
Want to Accomplish

That is what got me to really thinking; I mean deep thinking. Why is this so hard? Why can’t I just stop and eat right? Well I have come to the conclusion that it’s not about putting me down about how I am failing, but to start looking at the positive things from this. Number one is the fact that yes; I am eating junk and putting junk in my body God gave me and I only get this ONE, so the point is that I know visually but also mentally now that I am only harming my body with the oils, sodium, extra sugars, etc. that is not needed for my body.

Getting into a new routine or habit is very difficult for many and I really struggle with it. I try something a little each day to ensure I am at least trying. What are your tips or tricks for getting into your new routines or habits? I would love to hear about them.

Monday, 1/11/2016 Fitness Update

Good Evening everyone! I hope that all of you are doing well and I am hoping that you are succeeding at your Resolutions thus far.

I just wanted to give you a quick update on how my fitness challenge is going. I definitely have not been in full force as I was hoping to be, but I did watch a few YouTube videos today and found some more inspiration inside of me to start doing better. My exciting and what I would consider my accomplishment is that I actually drank 5 glasses of water today which is 4 times more than I have do on a daily basis!! I know, bad right?! I didn't eat too terribly bad either so that makes me a little excited too.

I was wanting to exercise today but unfortunately I did not plan on a crazy evening here in our home. But it is ok because I was able to keep moving with cleaning my kitchen and fixing my family a great steak and potato dinner. After dinner, we cleaned up our mess, then put the kiddos in the tub to play for a little bit. After getting them all ready for bed, I did a few more dishes, and headed to my office downstairs to work on some YouTube and Blog stuff.

I am addicted to the blog/vlog community and can't wait to build my sites up and meet so many amazing people! If you have a blog or vlog, send me your link and I would love to check you out.

Anyway, my fitness routine hasn't quite sank into my head yet, but I am getting closer by the Grace of God. Do you have issues with getting into a new routine, especially a healthy one? What have you done to accomplish your goals?

New Year = Organization Time

Ok so how many of you actually plan or put on your New Year's resolution list to actually get organized either at home or at work? Well this year I decided that it was something I needed to really focus on.

As most of my friends know, I am not well organized at home at all! Well I have decided that I am going to start getting things together around here and just doing an all around "clean out" of my house. In today's world many (like me) focus on acquiring junk, nic naks, etc. But if we really sit down and think about it (which I have...FINALLY lol) being materialistic is not worth it. We seem to gather more and more junk around the house than what we really need. As I sit here writing this post, I look around at all the things that honestly I don't NEED. I just have them because I thought they would be handy to have, or I liked what it looked like, or just had that urge to spend money that wasn't necessary! So in 2016, my main focus is to work on becoming LESS materialistic, getting organized around my home and getting rid of any unneeded items within our home. There are just so many things that sit around and don't get used, so my opinion is to no longer store it and rid ourselves of this clutter.

This is another item on my "Overcome List" that I created for 2016.

Do you have any tips or ideas about organizing??

Warm Up Wednesday

Ok, today is Wednesday and now that you have read about my word of the year Overcome (posted here) I would like to start posting weekly about my fitness journey and connecting with you to see how we are all doing. I am looking for anyone that is like me that needs a little motivation, encouragement, support, etc. to join me on this journey.

It was Warm up Wednesday for starting our healthy lifestyle. How did you do? I know I could've done better. I didn't drink any soda, up'd my water intake by a whole glass (totally unusual for me) and did a few more steps than usual. Now to try even harder tomorrow. Will you join me??

Working to overcome obstacles within my 2016 lifestyle.

2016: Where I OVERCOME...

I have been a blogger here and there for several years and I am a faithful follower of a good friend of mine Joyfully Smitten's blog and she has done this for the last five years where she has chosen a word that fits her needs in life. It isn't a word that is just pulled out of nowhere, this is a word that has actually been laid upon her heart by God. It might be a word that he lays there to open her eyes to something, or something she may need to work on, etc. In 2016, @joyfullysmitten has been given the word "Thrive". I can't tell you what this word means to her, but if you check out her post about why this word is so important, it might give you something to think about for yourself...

Well I have done this one other time (that I can remember as a blogger). Since 2016 has officially started, God has laid a special word on my heart that is something I need in my life for the year. My word is OVERCOME. I have been given this word by God because there are so many things I know that I should overcome throughout the year, that maybe he has tried telling me but I seem to be too hard headed in listening.

Overcoming different obstacles or challenges within my life has been something I have a real hard time at accomplishing for myself. God laid this on my heart knowing what he knows and knowing that I would finally pay attention with the start of a new year (in my opinion). This word came to me several weeks ago and it was something I knew was meant to be; something I was supposed to focus on and especially work on.

I have started listing down things in my journal in which I would like to see myself overcome in 2016, of course the biggest is what everyone seems to put on their new year's resolution list...get fit/healthy! I know I put this on mine yearly but never seem to accomplish what it takes to get there. Thanks to our wonderful Father above, he is giving me that motivation, that spark, that mindset that I CAN OVERCOME my weight issue, my lazy personality, my sadness about my self image! He is truly an amazing God and I can't explain how excited I am to start overcoming the different things on my list for the year!

Do you have a word or phrase that is special to you for this new year of 2016? Would you like to join me on my journey of becoming fit?

I am thinking that with this new plan for the year, I may use YouTube to vlog my fitness and connect with you! Does that sound like a great plan? If so, I would love to hear from you.