Update on life..

We are all alive and doing well

Piano lessons have started back up and we have a full schedule that keeps us super busy all week long

I cannot believe it is Fall, almost Thanksgiving, almost Christmas.  How is that for a run-on sentence?

I am hoping to update more frequently

I am still working out like a maniac and hope to post some before & afters on here soon. Not too much of a difference visually speaking but lots of differences to speak about, nonetheless.

Happy November!

What else is there...

On this day, six years ago, we buried my Mom. 

On this day, six years ago, I learned a lot about what the other people in my family feel about death, life and what happens to us at the end of it all.

On this day, six years ago, our faith became more real than it ever had been up to this point. What do we really believe? We had nothing left but faith, hope and an utter reliance on all of the things we had hidden in our hearts, our minds and our life.

Yet, some in my own immediate family are choosing to believe that this is the end. She simply ceased to exist and is lying in this spot forever. That there is no life beyond what we physically know right now. 

What hopelessness. 

What sadness.

What grief.

I am confident of this, friends: My Mom is not in that grave. This spot simply stands as a memorial and a resting place for her body until her Savior returns! 

WHAT HOPE WE HAVE IN CHRIST

There is no way around it. Those who choose not to know Him, will never understand the peace, the hope, the comfort and the strength that comes from no longer being blinded to the truth.

What will be on your grave marker? What will you believe? 

We have a tendency to believe that everyone that dies goes to Heaven because it makes us feel better. All dead people create angels. Am I right? "Don't worry, they are looking down on you" "She's an angel in heaven now" "God must have needed a new angel" We can spend a lifetime choosing not to believe in God, live our life for Him, seek Him...  but as soon as someone dies we suddenly believe they go to heaven by default.

No!  It's SO much more than that! Not everyone goes to heaven! 

So, where are you going to be? 

When that grave marker has your name on it and your loved one is standing by dealing with the fact that you are gone... where will you be? 

My Mom is in Heaven with her Savior. Her first love. She has been redeemed and even though she doesn't deserve to be in Heaven (after all, we are all sinners!), she is there because she knows that Christ died for her and she has been forgiven and chose to give her life over to Christ. 

She is not sitting on a cloud, looking down on me and acting as God in my life. She is enjoying time with Jesus and who knows what else!! What matters, is that I will see her again one day.

I know this, because I too am a sinner redeemed by Christ. 

I, too, am promised an eternity with Him simply because He chose to forgive me and call me His own.

Life doesn't end in that grave.

You are going to go somewhere.

Where will it be?

Weekend at home

We often travel quite a bit on the weekends as most of our friends and family live out of town. This weekend, however, we stayed home and spent some time with just the three of us. A rare occasion because we all love to spend time on the weekends with Grandpas or friends!

We took advantage of our time and we headed up to the Delaware County fair on Saturday. We had a really fun time and we were all exhausted by the end of our time there.

 

So, if you couldn't catch what was in all of these pictures, we did some exploring, Emma rode some actual rides for the first time, we watched a lawnmower race and then we stopped for ice cream later that evening.

It was a great birthday weekend and a great way to spend time with my two loves!

Weekend Away

This past weekend, we finally accomplished a long awaited goal:

Those are Sternwheeler fireworks!!  Since Emma has been born, something has come up every year and we have not been able to make it for the fireworks in West Virginia.  This year, we made it!

Emma had a great time and we were both mesmerized!

More importantly, we were able to spend a weekend with our friends, Tim and Joanna. Our time always goes way too fast! We had a wonderful weekend and Emma was excited to finally get to play with Andrew, Little Lady and Baby G. 

On top of all of that, Joanna made Reese's Peanut Butter Bars.  Need I say more?  

Thanks to Tim & Joanna for a great weekend, putting up with us and a few 3-year old tantrums!!  Can't wait for the next Sternwheeler! :)

Things I've Learned...

Yup... that's me in the middle picture on the far right.. this was in week 2 and that is a 10-pound'er. 

I have been participating in this boot-camp for 5 weeks today. I have learned a lot of things that I want to write down so I never forget them: 

1. Even when I think I can't do one single rep more, God has made my body capable of so much more than my mind allows.

2. Results may not happen right away, but they come with time. They do come.

3. Nothing lays your heart bare like a painful, laborious, hard workout. 

4. I am a walking, breathing (sometimes gasping), living example of Christ to the people around me.

5. Emma is watching my every move, listening to my every word and doing as I do.

These last five weeks have been laden with some of the most physically painful and emotionally difficult days. Aside from the physical pain, I have found myself surprised on more than one occasion by what these workouts bring out in me. 

The good:

1. A feeling of accomplishment and hard work towards my goals

2. The realization that I am setting a good example for Emma and how excited she gets when there is no one else but us there and so that means she gets to "exercise" with Mommy ( very safely, of course)

3. The energy that it gives me every day

4. The lack of cravings for sugar. Working out every day has nixed a lot of my strong cravings for sugar, much to my delightful surprise

5. The encouragement that my husband gives to me, the praise that comes from him not because of my physical appearance, but my level of commitment, endurance and accomplishment. 

The bad:

1. I have snapped at Emma on more than one occasion in the midst of the workout and acted annoyed with her. It would be difficult for any child her age to sit still for an hour, especially for a child that wants to do what everyone else is doing and be a participant. However, it is dangerous...  and so when she walks towards me without asking and I don't see her while I am in the process of flinging a weight over my head, the opportunity for injury is huge... and so when this happens, I have snapped "Emma Sue get back to your play spot right this second." "Emma no! Back to your spot"  "What do you need right now? You are supposed to be sitting down in your spot!" 

2. I have found myself tempted by things I did not expect to be tempted by. I have had to stop myself more than once from cheating ("no one will know if I only did 40.. I just can't do 50), from using language that is inappropriate in my opinion ("oh my God!" "holy crap!" "there is no frickin' way!"). I guess on the bright side I am not tempted to actually cuss! Silver lining?  Hmm... probably not. 

3. I apologize a lot for everything: I'm sorry I smell, I'm sorry I didn't do that right, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.. over and over. If it's becoming annoying to me I can't imagine how it must annoy those around me.

The ugly:

1. I have not made it known that I am a believer. 

2. I have relied more on my own strength than relying on God for the strength. Just think of how much better I could be doing if I prayed before, during and after my workouts? 

3. It took 3 weeks of these workouts before I even realized that I had some heart issues... and I'm not talking about physical heart issues.

Truth is, this has been one of the most spiritually challenging things I have done in a long time. I have surrounded myself in an atmosphere that is not filled wholly with other believers and I am sadly not representing very well. I mean seriously, it takes me 3 weeks to consider the fact that I am in a sort of mission field? That how I treat my daughter, how I complete my workouts, how I interact with others, how I express my exhaustion and frustration... they are all a living testimony to Christ in me? 

It has been a long time since I have been in the workplace and constantly surrounded by others that do not believe and love God like I do. I have forgotten how much prayer is required to keep my guard up, keep my head on straight and keep my heart in the right place. 

This boot-camp is transforming me... but not just physically.. spiritually. It is giving me an opportunity to work out my faith, work out my grief and work out my body.  What an awesome opportunity. 

Lord, help me to be a shining light to your people. Help me to represent you well in all areas of my life!

Labor Day Fun

This year for Labor Day weekend, we headed to Troy to stay with my Dad-in-law. We had a great time! We were joined by over 36,000 people who came to Troy for the Gentlemen of the Road tour with Mumford & Sons.  Pretty amazing to see so many people in a small town.

Before Labor Day, our week was spent without Daddy, who was travelling all over the place for work from Monday morning (ahem... 4:30 a.m.! yuck) until Thursday late afternoon. It was a long week but we made the best of it.  We spent time at the free zoo (aka - the pet store):

Spent a day sick on the couch eating popsicles and trying not to move because it made her throw up:

 Then we danced the afternoons away until Daddy came home.  Thanks to the Cirque show we took her to, we receive at least one show each day by Emma Sue :)

Daddy flew home and we un-packed, re-packed and headed on to Troy for the long weekend.  We were lucky enough to have super hot weather *insert sarcasm* but we made the best of it. We headed downtown to check out the people flowing into town for the Mumford & Sons concert.  Pretty amazing to see all of these tents everywhere:

In the evening on Saturday, we drove down and happened to find a great, free parking spot. This is truly amazing because parking spots were going for $25!  So, we pulled into our spot and sat on the river bank by the levy and listened to the first few songs that Mumford & Sons sang. It was cool :)  Plus, Emma met a new friend who loved to dance and they danced non-stop the entire time we were there:

Sunday we went to church and had lunch with Uncle Patrick & Aunt Brandy. We had a nice, lazy Sunday and enjoyed every minute of it!

Monday we headed to the Piqua Heritage Festival. It was way bigger than I expected and was a lot of fun! Emma met another new friend, Charlie. She spent time at his Grandpa's tent playing with him and it was one of her favorite parts. She is such a social kid!

Daddy made us a very yummy dinner and then we headed back to Columbus and back to our regular routine. It was a nice, long weekend while it lasted and now we dive head first into our fall/winter schedule. Fun times!

Totem

Some history.

Chris & I love going to Cirque Du Soleil shows. Our first show was a tent show at the OSU fair grounds way before Emma was born.  If you have never been to a Cirque show - a real one, not the Vegas version - then you need to go. They are mesmerizing, awe-inspiring and entertaining!

Cirque Du Soleil's new show: Totem came to Columbus this month and they brought back the tents with them. I have to say that the tent shows are by far better than the arena shows.  Anyway, I digress.

On a last minute whim, we decided to take Emma to the show. Grandpa Risheill was with us for the weekend and agreed to come along with us. We debated, unsure if Emma was ready for such a big, long, loud show. In the end, we (I) decided she would love it...   and love it she did :) 

This is Emma's reaction as we drive up and she sees the tents:  "Daddy are we going to the circus??"

We headed towards the tents with one very excited little girl who kept asking over and over if she was going to see clowns. Odd for a girl that has never been to a real circus or seen an actual clown before..  :)

Emma did not want her picture taken with the Totem banner because she thought the "green frog guy" would get her and she was afraid of it.  This is the point I started thinking maybe I over-estimated that she would enjoy this show.

However, once we were in the tent and seated, she was super excited again!  We were not allowed to take pictures or video during the actual show, so this is the only picture I have of her during the show. She did awesome!  The opening was a little scary but everything afterwards was excellent and she warmed right up to it.

It was just shy of 3 hours long and when it was over, Emma was asking for more. She was mesmerized! It was my second favorite Cirque show!

Once home, Emma spent the next two days putting on her own circus shows. We videotaped them and were quite entertained by our little Cirque professional ;) 

Money well spent for a memory none of us will forget anytime soon!

New Normal - Version 2.0

In 2007 and 2008, we had hospice care workers and doctors "counseling" us on what it means to have a new normal. Our Moms had passed away and we were staring at a future unlike anything we had planned, hoped for or desired.

God gave us a new normal and we figured it out. He also brought along Emma Sue. What an amazing source of healing God is. How quickly we learned to deal with our grief as we were distracted by a pregnancy, then a baby, then a toddler and now a little 3-year old girl.

In the summer of 2013 within weeks of each other, my sister moved to North Carolina and our close friends Sonny & Erin moved to Texas for a job opportunity and with them, went their 3 adorable kids. One of whom, happens to be Emma's best friend. She has two friends living near us that mean the world to her, Joy and Hudson. Hudson moved to Texas. Joy enters K4 this fall and will be gone 3 days a week and unavailable.

I'm not saying anything of this for sympathy sake. Are we sad around here? Yup.  Do we miss Aunt Seppie and our friends? Yup.

However, we are already starting to create our next New Normal.  So, I will lovingly refer to it as New Normal 2.0.

God is good. All of the time.  No matter what life brings, and we are promised it will bring suffering and pain, He is always there. Never leaving us. Always restoring us.

So, what will our new normal look like?

For the past 2 weeks, I have been doing a fit body bootcamp. Yup. Me. The one with ample amounts of fat and very scarce amounts of muscle. It started as a surprise Anniversary gift to my husband for our 10-year wedding anniversary.  It quickly changed into a personal form of challenge to myself to be healthier, live healthier and give God all of me.  The one area of my life that I struggle with the most is by far my health. So, with Groupon in hand, I headed off to my first body bootcamp having no idea what to expect. In my 3rd week now, I still don't know what to expect and I still have a nervous knot in my stomach as we drive there. I can say, it has been the most physically difficult thing I have ever done in my life.

The surprise?  Is that it also has challenged me spiritually. What words are coming out of my mouth when I am at my worst? What am I relying on to get me through these workouts? His strength? or my own?   In the last 3 weeks I have found myself going from uttering "OMG" every 10 minutes -  to "holy cow" every 10 minutes - to "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" over and over in my head the entire time without muttering anything else out of my mouth.

You see, I take Emma with me to these workouts... and she sees and hears everything. That first day, I was ashamed of the things that came out of my mouth when I was put under pressure (intense pressure, mind you). Not that I cussed or spoke vile words... but would I want Emma saying "oh my God"? Do I want her saying "holy crap I can't do this" ?   NO. I don't.  So, I prayed. I prayed for my heart to be changed and you know what?  God is changing it.

My physical body and spiritual body are changing at the exact same time.  It was completely unexpected. In fact, I had not planned to share any of this! LOL :)

Moving on.

So, our new normal consists of some new things:
* Mommy work out time at 9am (every day! ugh)
* Emma gymnastics at 11am (one day a week)
* Emma began piano lessons last week (she loves it!  one day a week)
* Emma now has a chore chart
* I have taken on more piano students than I have ever had before, 2 of them during the early afternoon hours

I have already seen a drastic difference in Emma and I both with our new normal. More energy for Mommy, more motivation and learning for Emma, both of us being challenged every day.

So, do we miss our friends?  Yes, we do. Very much.  However, God is filling up our time and I know that He will be faithful to bring new friends into Emma's life and keep us moving along the path He has laid out for us.

In the meantime... Mommy needs a massage, some tylenol and another cup of coffee!

10 Year Anniversary

I have been married for 10 years!  What??   How in the world did that happen?

This year... my husband went all out and completely filled my heart with acts of love. If I have ever doubted that this man loved me (and I haven't), then last night would have been the night that any doubt was erased.

Christopher took the day off of work to spend with Emma and I. He joined us for our early morning gymnastics class and we enjoyed sitting together watching our daughter learning and enjoying something she loves. Afterwards, we headed to the zoo! We strolled back to the Gorilla exhibit and spent a lot of time watching them eat and play. It was awesome.  Then we headed to our favorite spot by the river to eat lunch together. Afterwards, we made our way to the Animal Show and it was amazing! Our seats were situated just perfectly so that a huge horned owl flew right by Chris's head. The show was fun and we all loved it.

 We headed home from the zoo and Emma and Daddy took their naps :)

After nap time, I began to get ready for our Anniversary date night. I was getting dressed and doing my hair when I hear "don't come downstairs mommy!" So I waited ever so patiently and then heard "ok Mommy!" and then Emma came upstairs to let me know it was time to come down ("M&M's mommy! We got you flowers too!). So much for surprises ;)

I headed downstairs to the most beautiful display of roses and M&M's.  3,.650 M&M pieces. 1 piece for each day of our marriage.  10 roses with a card displaying the year for each year we have been married. Beautiful and SO sweet!

We finished packing up Emma and then headed to the Geist house to drop her off for the evening. She kept telling us goodbye and was in no way sadly affected that we were leaving :)

We get into the car and Chris hands me a folded piece of paper labeled #1.  It read: Where it all began. The best day of my life!   We drove for a while and ended up here:

The site of our wedding reception!  We walked around and talked about all of the memories we had from our wedding day. What we were each thinking at what time and what we were both like back then. Then, he pulled out his phone and started playing "Slow Dancing" by U2. The song we danced to at our wedding. And right there (in the midst of all of the people that were at this park) he danced with me like we did on our wedding day. Then we walked around to all of the spots we had our engagement pictures done at and we sat on a bench and prayed together. It was wonderful :)

Then it was time to go to Stop #2: It took long enough, but I finally broke down. Must be true love.  This was my clue. We ended up here:

Ballroom dancing lessons! To our surprise, we learned to hustle (or hussle?)!  It was really awkward since we had to keep switching partners, but it was fun! Chris is a really good dancer! He was only a slight shade of red the whole time, but he did awesome. It was really fun! Something I have always wanted to do that he has refused to do until this night. That is true love! :)

Then we were off to Stop #3: The end of a chapter. Tasted Good!

He drove me to J. Liu!  This is the last restaurant we ate at before Emma was born and a chapter of our married life as just the two of us ended. We were on the hunt for the best Chicken Parmigiana in all of Columbus and this was our last shot. So, he brought me back here for dinner for our Anniversary. 10 years behind us!  They gave us a complimentary dessert of creme brulee and we had a glass of champagne (which we have never done before and it was so good!).

Stop #4 was to:  Our go-to date place for people with no money

lol!  Which is .... Barnes & Noble :)  But they were closed :(    Sweet thought, though!

Stop #5 was to: My favorite place

Which was??  

Home :)  With Emma and I :)

We had a wonderful Anniversary and it was one I will not forget anytime soon. Christopher went above and beyond to shower me with love and I will be forever grateful. We had so much fun talking about our life 10 years ago and how far God has brought us in 10 years.

Here's to the next 10!!