Things I learned about Volleyball today

Today was my Littles first volleyball tournament. I wrote out some things I learned today. All in all it was a great day. I'm a VERY proud Mama! My Little did great. Even Anthony made a point to let her know how proud he is of her and how well she did. It was fun.
We are of the minority, short people don't play this sport. I think they measure you and your parents when trying out and minimum height requirement is 6'.
All tournaments are in warehouses, built by block, aluminum doors and NO HEATER! It's colder than the North Pole and you should dress accordingly if you want to be comfortable and not get sick.
You will be getting up at the butt crack of dawn for every single tournament and you will be traveling very far away! Get used to it, it will be worth it! Just make sure you get your sleep.
It is a LONG day! Plan accordingly. A Leap Pad or another DS might be a great investment.
Man, do I feel out of my element! Thank goodness for great parents on the team!

Blessings Galore!

We have been getting blessed left and right lately! And from the least unexpected people/ways.
I believe I posted (I'll look, if I didn't I will) about us not being able to go to Ant's football banquet. A sweet friend of mine blessed us by paying our way. Totally unexpected, especially from her since we aren't very close and haven't even really talked in quite sometime. Thank you Natalie Tschudy!

Friday I cancelled bible study and went to Jazz. Well I got a text from Christy asking me if I'd be there. I told her I was and she told me she had something for me. So after class she called me over and said, "I know you have wanted one and can't afford it so I wanted to bless you". She gave me a banner that she recently started making (check out The Banner Girls on Facebook).

This past week was NFL Playoff's. Our Broncos made the playoffs and we were stoked! I met a girl who is a friend of The Bray's from church. She lives in Colorado and we converse through Facebook. I asked her about getting me a shirt for Jose. Well, he saw the messages and told me not to do it. I told her and she said, "let me bless you". Wow, really!?!? I told her to let me pay for shipping. She insisted I let her bless us for me being so kind to her. Wow!

Tonight my mom went to go out the front door and she found a bag. Inside was a Mickey Mouse Broncos blanket. It is GORGEOUS!!!! Come to find out Claudia saw it and thought of us and bought it. So sweet!

God is just blessing us in ways I wouldn't expect. I'm beside myself and learning to humble myself to allow others to bless me. I want to post every time we are blessed this year as a remembrance.

Daniel Fast 2013-thoughts and encouragement

Just wanted to share and send some encouraging words. I remember doing the fast last year and everyone talking about how God is revealing Himself to them. How they are "growing" and learning. I was pretty envious and wondered if I was going to feel this way. No, I didn't.
Then this year I went into the fast and didn't know what to expect, what God was going to do, where I was going to be led. But one night during my bible study I read, "we need to be willing to be willing." I told Fod at that moment that I am willing to be willing for His works! Honestly, I always worry what I'm going to go through or what He's going to have me do. Well so far there has been nothing great or grand. I am seeing Jose in his days watching him lean on our Father as we are going through horrible withdraws (I blogged about that one!) and he is growing before my eyes in our Father's strength. I kind of started feeling down and questioning God. Wondering what I'm doing wrong. Well, this my friends is what he told me:
"There are four common categories of toxic thoughts. These are negative, fearful, discontented, and critical. Chances are you are struggling with toxic thoughts in one or more of these four ways. Don't let these toxic thoughts grab hold of you and consume you. The deeper you let them take root inside you, the harder they will be to shake off. Identify those thoughts and reject them today.

Which types of toxic thoughts do you experience most often? What are some examples of your toxic thoughts?"
I am letting those thoughts toy with me. Let me encourage you, if Satan has come and made you question why you are doing this fast, what your getting out of it, etc. KNOW, it's the enemy trying to come in and make you question. Stand strong. God may not use you in the way you think or you expect him to. Just being there to speak life into someone or encourage them is a sign that God IS USING YOU!
Take those thoughts captive and stand on His word!
Huge Hugs from Me!

Daniel Fast 2013

Jose and I are on our Daniel Fast again this year.  Last year we really enjoyed it. Our relationship as husband and wife grew tremendously, the relationship with our kids and most importantly the relationship with God.  We were really excited to start it again this year.
Well, I said and always stand by my honesty.  And being totally honest, we are struggling!  Jose's body has been having horrible withdraws and not feeling good at all. He has been suffering with a headache since starting.  He was driving home yesterday having horrible hunger pains.  He came home and told me the story of what happened when he was driving home.  Pretty cool!  I've been feeling horrible.  I'm exhausted and just feeling very sluggish, having dizzy spells, body aches, sinus feel icky.  Could be lack of caffeine, although I don't drink a lot.  Could be food withdrawals. I could be coming down with this cold all the kids have had.  Who knows but I don't like it at all!

Yesterday when I was just feeling blah, I had a "wow moment".  I realized that my body is detoxing (you should have seen how many times I tried spelling that.  Even my brain and figures aren't working!) of all the junk I put in to it.  That my body is addicted to some of that stuff like it's a drug.  I've seen my mom go through withdrawals, they aren't fun!  I have very vivid memories of my mom coming off of things and her body going into shock from it.  I can somewhat sympathize with someone withdrawing now and would see why they would throw in the towel and say "forget this"!  But, I remember why I'm doing this.  It isn't about me and my flesh, this is about God and His plans.  Not only for my life, my kids' lives but others that I impact.  Others who watch me and are inspired by me.  Others who think, "I can't do this, it's too much" and then just by chance (or I like to believe it's a Holy Spirit Intervention) they run into me or my writings and read this.  Let this be an encouragement that YOU CAN DO THIS!

Jose was talking to me about his experience last night when he was coming home from work and was literally starving.  He felt horrible and was having horrible hunger pains.  He had thoughts running through his head and maybe it was the Holy Spirit that prompted me to send him a "sneak peak" at his dinner.  But he said the Holy Spirit spoke to him and told him, "Jose, these are just small hunger pains you are going through.  Can you imagine the pain Jesus went through for you?  Your pains are minuet compared to the sacrifice Jesus made.  Remember why you are doing this, it's to grow closer to Him."

WOW!  So true!  I've been watching others in my church going through the Daniel Fast also post on facebook or my Pastor's messages he's been posting.  They are really great encouragements.  But what Jose said last night gave me another WOW moment and brought it all into a perspective for me.

We must remember why we are doing this.  I made a plan before I started and wrote down why, who, what.  Why I'm doing it, Who I'm doing it for and What I want to get out of it.  Take a moment to do one for yourself.  When you get tired or weary, go back to your plan and remember why your doing it.

There is NO giving up, NO turning back, NO shortcuts!  Think of it as a woman in labor, because believe you me, we are birthing something!
#whateverittakes