Life has been busy here on Pleasant Hill. When isn't life busy? Sometimes it just seems to go so quickly... and then I start to feel sad about that. "I" is growing up so fast, time is cruising by, and we get caught up in this thing we call life. Or, the "bustle"... as Ter & I refer to it ;)
But, in all honesty, even though we been quite busy over the past month & a half, it's also been a very productive six weeks!
Our Faith:
I think we have [finally] found a church (near our home) that we will call home 0n Sunday mornings. We have been "church hopping" for the past couple of years, trying to find a church home in the Southtowns. We've been to handfuls of churches in the area, have met a lot of wonderful people and Pastors, but nothing seemed to 'click' for us. But last weekend we attended Life Church (West Seneca) and honestly loved everything about it!! The worship service has what we have been looking for, the Pastor's message was both educational and inspiring, and the church just has an overall good vibe to it. And, it seems like they have a great children's program with a good amount of younger active families. So, {praying, hoping that} this is it! We are also going to start attending our old church [Creekside AG] on Wednesday evenings for their mid-week Bible study. We really miss the people & Pastor (and worship service) at Creekside, but Sunday morning services there just do not work for us, especially once the snow starts falling again. But, Wednesday evenings are totally do-able and "I" will go hang out at my parents house (only a few miles from Creekside) for a couple hours while we are at church, so that works out well. Really looking forward to attending both of these, and I really have that hunger for God right now. It's exciting and completely humbling at the same time!
Our Health:
We started a get healthy journey eight weeks ago - the goals are #1. Get in shape, #2. Lose some weight (no specific goals) and #3. Stay healthy & take care of our bodies. Although, we've always tried to eat healthy and be mindful of what we put into our bodies, we decided that we really needed to do this all the way. 110%. Ter had high cholesterol, which we wanted to nip in the bud without using medication (he went for a check-up today and it was down 55 points from 2 months ago!!) and I wanted to feel more healthy and try to get down to the weight I was before I got pregnant with "I". Funny thing is that after I had him, I weighed only 2 lbs. more than before I got pregnant. But over the past two years, an extra 10 lbs. crept on.
So, we started eating somewhat vegetarian - only having lean protein (poultry or venison) two times per week (no more and usually less often than that). We have switched to whole grain everything: pasta, breads, flour, etc. Eating complex carbs, limiting starchy vegetables. Being mindful of our fat intake (think: no-fat or low-fat dairy, etc). Watching our sugar intake (no refined white sugar, substituting with honey as needed, limiting high-sugar fruits). Water, water, water!! Eating 5 to 6 small meals per day. Healthy meals. And walking two or three times per week (we go to a local park and walk 1 1/2 to 2 miles; somewhat hilly terrain). And I personally won't eat after 9:30 p.m. Yes, we still have yummy food - Mmmm... apple crisp, but it's all about watching portion size & eating those "treats" in moderation.
So, eight weeks later and Ter has lost 16 lbs. (he always drops weight faster than I do!!) and I have lost 12 lbs, dropped 1 pant size and feel a whole lot better... healthy, energized. It's really just a lifestyle change, and making those changes become a habit. So for anyone out there who is trying to lose weight, stick with your changes so they become habits. You can do it!
Our Home:
Ah, well it's been a busy, busy, busy month... my dad & Ter cut down some old trees around the property (Ter got to use his new chainsaw for the first time!), Ter rewired almost all of the electrical in our house & added some light fixtures (thanks to my dad & T's dad for the extra help!!), new furnace was installed, insulation removed from our garage & attic and replaced (long story, but basically our house wasn't insulated correctly and had hardly any insulation, which caused a barrage of ice problems last winter), and new windows are being installed next week. It's been a month of contractors in & out of our house and Ter working (really hard - he's amazing!!). I'm definitely looking forward to having my house put back together sometime soon. We have done so much work on our house over the past year, and we are so thankful to God for providing us with the ability to accomplish this work and make our home safe.
In that 6 weeks, we also had a camping trip, a family reunion, a date (over)night, dinner with T's best friend & his wife, lunch & movies with my best friend, catching up with some of my mom friends, some play dates, Zoo, science museum, botanical gardens, we started AWS Parent-Tot program, and homeschooling. Phew! ;)
So, what's happened in the past 6 weeks for you? Fill me in; I'd love to know!
UPDATE: We are attending Creekside AG again!! We're attending on Sunday evenings and Ter is playing drums in the worship band... we attended there for a Wednesday night service and it really felt like we had come "home". We were concerned about the drive and finding a church near our home, and that has been stopping us from attending there... but when we were talking to a friend of ours there, she said something to us that made so much sense: "A church alive is worth the drive!" Isn't that so true?! So, 3 days later we went to a Sunday evening service, which had an absolutely amazing Spirit-filled worship, and then the worship leader asked if Ter wanted to play drums on Sunday evenings. So, decided that Sunday evenings can totally work out great for us there! The only downside I can see is that there is not a children's program on Sunday evenings for "Bean", but that could always change...
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