Spiritual Sunday

I find myself crying in church often. It is so emotional for me to listen to how Jesus has saved my soul. It is reassuring to hear how I am not expected to be perfect and even the most devout followers have doubts sometimes. This week's sermon was precisely on this topic. Our pastor read a passage from Matthew about John the Baptist's imprisonment. During his imprisonment, one of history's most devout Christians, John couldn't believe that it was really Jesus, the Savior coming to Galilee. Jesus told the disciples to report to John the good news that Jesus had come. This was the good news that John had been waiting, the good that Jesus was doing in his life.

We were then given these thought provoking questions: What is the most recent good thing that's happened in your life? What would you report Jesus has done in your life?

I tend to look for big things that Jesus has done in my life, but not everything has to be a big thing. Most recently, I was driving home from the Bay area with the kids, by myself. It was late and the kids were asleep in the back seat. My gas gauge needle was getting lower, but according to the estimated distance left, I could make it home. The truth is, I was very nervous about stopping to get gas in an unknown town, late at night, with two sleeping kids. So, I kept on trucking, I watched the gauge go down and I was getting quite nervous about making it home. So, I started praying, asking our Lord to watch over us, to get us home. I turned on my favorite Christian rock songs and prayed and prayed. I made it to the gas station in my hometown, safe and sound! This wasn't really a big thing that happened, it was very small thing, but it was God answering my prayers. I would say that this is just one of the things that Jesus has done in my life. I am thankful.

What would you report that Jesus has done in your life?

Alliteration Series

Some of the blogs that I subscribe to have series, such as: Friday's Fun Find, Silly Saturday, Make-It Monday. I love the alliterations and really enjoy reading these quick fun blogs. So I decided to start a couple of my own. First, Fitness Friday is a blog series that I intend to use to update you on my journey to change my life-style. And I want to post a Spiritual Sunday series dedicated to discussing my feelings on my church's Sunday service and my spiritual growth. Please come back to look for these series.

Fitness Friday

This week I have completed 5.85 hours of exercise in the form of walking, Step classes, weight lifting classes, stability ball abdominals, resistance band training and stretching. I have lost 4/10 of a pound and taken a baseline for my measurements. I have consumed a two-day average of 1,735 calories and burned a two-day average (including my lifestyle baseline) or 2,125 calories. Yay! But, this is only a two-day average. Next week will be a better indication of how I am doing since, I will have a week-long average.

Health Tracker

Check out this cool health tracker I found on Prevention Magazine's website.

http://www.prevention.com/cda/healthtracker.do?fdpath=oi%2FFitDay%2FHome.html%3F_a_Date%3D1242172800.%26_a_rdata%3DFitWrapper%26_s_FormName%3Doi9%26_s_FormCheck%3D-2028766650%26_s_RangeName%3DDay1%26_s_oi1_oi9%3DUPDATE&rdata=FitWrapper&rpagename=Home&rpagecategory=Home

You can sign up, input all your personal information, such as height, weight, age, then what type of lifestyle you have. You can input the food you have eaten, exercise you have completed and it tracks it for you. You can ask it to view trends, you can input and track your body measurements. I am loving this.

So, my goal is to lose 17 pounds. And in doing so, I intend to use this health tracker to help me do it. I also intend to use my blog, to hold myself accountable. I am hoping to complete a half marathon this year, finally! I am going to start a new series here, Fitness Friday. Since Friday is my "off" day for exercise and strict diet, I will utilize it to update you on my weekly exercise, weight loss and measurement changes. Hopefully we will both be pleasantly surprised by the end of the summer. :) Thanks for you help.

The Chronicles of School Days, Issue 7

So, it has been awhile, but let me update you on school. There have been lots of ups and downs, but we now have an IEP in place for Taylor. The speech therapist at his school didn't think that he qualified for services any longer. Since Josh and I disagreed with his initial findings, we asked for a second opinion. While the district is supposed to pay for an independent therapist to evaluate students when the parents request a second opinion, we were asked and agreed to allow another one of the district's therapists evaluate him. Fortunately, this was one of the parents of fellow soccer campers last summer. So we had a rapport.

Her report was incredibly thorough and professionally prepared and had some of the same findings, but also disagreed with some of the findings. It determined that Taylor is, in fact, qualified for services. Some of his mistakes are not age appropriate, even for a 4 year-old Kindergartner. His goals were re-evaluated and amended to goals that we find will be beneficial. The proposed goals were those that he had already met. It didn't make any sense. So, we were happy that the second evaluation had an outcome that will help Taylor's speech improve.

Taylor also qualified for a 504 which is a blessing too. The school psychologist also evaluated Taylor and agreed with his pediatricians, Taylor suffers from anxiety. The 504 will ensure that we can help him recover and learn to minimize the impact of his anxiety on his life. Overall, these are two huge victories for him.

We are guaranteed that he gets to meet his teacher for next year and build a rapport with him/her before the transition to first grade. However with the budget issues this year, they haven't narrowed down who will be teaching first grade, making it impossible for Taylor to get to know his future teacher. This is very frustrating for me. I talked to the school psychologist briefly today, though, and she will be working on this issue for me.

I find myself obligated to mention that landing at the elementary school that we have has been a total blessing. While we desperately tried to get into a different school district only to be shot down by the school board, twice, God's will was done, in Taylor going to school where he is. Every time that I go to the school, it is a daily reminder that God's will and plan are perfect. He knows what is best and will make it happen. Thanks be to God.

SLOCMiversary

Today is the first anniversary of my membership on slocountymommies.com. I am celebrating today because this site has been a blessing in my life. I have made some wonderful friends for myself and my children through this site. If not for this site, I would still be a lonely stay-at-home mommy. Thank you to the founder for starting the site. Thank you to the site administrators, the mangers, and the moderators for volunteering your time to make this a wonderful place for moms to connect. Thank you to the mommies who commented and reached out to me at one of the saddest, most desperate moments of my life. Thank you to the host of last year's Mother's Day gift exchange and the members who attended for welcoming me so sweetly. Thank you all.

Disneyland Days

We have successfully waited four years to take the kids to Disneyland. We wanted to wait to because it is so expensive and the kids weren't big enough to enjoy it or remember it or go on many rides. So we finally did it. We took them over Spring Break and they loved it!!!

Taylor is a roller coaster junkie!!! Josh took him on Space Mountain, then we all went on the Matterhorn. I took him on Big Thunder Mountain and Indiana Jones. We tried to get him on California Screaming in California Adventure, but they said he was tall enough. That's a bunch of crap, but also a rant topic for another post.

Tacey wasn't much for the roller coasters, but she excited to see the castle and loved meeting all the Princesses. Just that totally made her trip. Although it was extremely expensive, we had lunch with them and were fortunate enough to meet all of them. It was worth it, just to see Tacey's little face light up when Cinderella walked up to our table and introduced herself.

I got to spend my birthday at Disneyland. That was pretty cool. I'd always wanted to eat at that restaurant inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Turns out, it is called Blue Bayou. We had a lovely dinner there on my birthday. The food was great and the service amazing.

Thank you SLOCM friend for letting me borrow your Ergo! It was a life saver when Tacey got tired. She was able to take a nap and we were still able to enjoy Disneyland as a family.

Despite the fun we had and the memories we made, Walt was rolling over in his grave over the poor customer service that we received by some "cast members." This piggy-backs the height comment above, but it is best mentioned in a rant post or a "Disney Dos and Don'ts" post. Let me just say that make sure your shortest members are two inches taller than the posted height requirements if you intend to take them on any of the bigger rides.

We are looking forward to going back at least two or three times over the next 12 months. And I will be running in the Disneyland Half Marathon in September.