Moving very soon!

The time has come for me to pack my things and be with my husband! This week will be my last week here. We will have to come back when the house sells but other than that we will be calling a new place home! I will be heading out of town the weekend of May 1-3.

Things are coming together really well in Paragould for both Jeff and I:

Jeff has a lot of exciting things going on with the football program. He is cleaning things up and perfecting some things that needed his hand in them. He finally has a desk and computer and we are getting ready to kick off our first fundraiser for the Greene County Tech Football program!

I met with the director of the Communication Disorders program at ASU this past Tuesday and realized just how tough this venture will be. God has answered prayer for providing for my tuition for graduate school. And I praise HIM for that! God has continued to show Himself faithful!

We have found a great group of faithful friends that we enjoy so much! Jeff and I are still praying about what church to call home. I have not had the opportunity to visit with Jeff as much as I would like.

Our house has been shown a few times over the past couple of weeks but no offers yet! We know God will sell this house! We are trusting in Him!

I have to say that our time in Northwest Arkansas was a blessing in every way possible! We are so thankful for the people who have touched, blessed and poured into our lives while we were here. We loved the opportunities we had to minister to the students of Shiloh Christian and First Baptist Church, Springdale. We know that God used our time in NWA as a time to grow us and prepare us for the ministry that is to come! I certainly thought that my last week in Northwest AR would be easier than I am finding it to be, due to me having more time to say 'good-bye.' It is mighty hard!

So, we will say it is not 'good-bye' but "UNTIL NEXT TIME!"

Biggest Loser

I am such a fan of the TV show called The Biggest Loser! I love that this show is about people trying to better themselves and realizing their struggle with weight has gotten out of hand! Most of these people who go on this show could qualify for gastric bypass surgery and they choose to lose the weight the natural way!

The LIVE season Finale is on Tuesday night at 7pm. My favorite contestant on the show is Ali! She has lost 99lbs and looks incredible! I hope she wins! You should watch to see these people's before and afters, they are truly amazing and should inspire you.

These people inspire and motivate me to take care of myself. One of my biggest fears in life is not being healthy and gaining a bunch of weight. I have always been driven to take care of myself whether that is eating right or working out; it is a priority in my life. When I watch The Biggest Loser and I see how hard these people are training in the gym it makes me reflect on my workouts and that I can always push myself harder. Seriously if these people, who have lost more weight than I even weigh, can workout that hard I should be able to!

I firmly believe that you should take care of yourself! If not for you, do it for the PEOPLE who LOVE you!

So here are a few tips on taking care of yourself:

1. Do some sort of cardiovascular exercise for at least 30 min. 5 times a week. - That is bare minimum! Weight training is great to incorporate with cardio for ultimate fat burning!

2. Eat 6 small meals a day: really it is 3 meals and 3 snacks. The more often you eat, the more your metabolism speeds up.

3. Eat Breakfast! Many people don't understand why breakfast is important...When you sleep, your metabolism slows down. So, eating breakfast jump starts your day and will speed up your metabolism to burn more calories during that day. Not eating breakfast will keep your metabolism slow from the night before and you will probably end up binge eating or over eating at a meal or find your self mindless eating and you will burn fewer calories in that day.

4. Drink some Green Tea! Green Tea has a lot of antioxidants in it that are great for your body and will also give your metabolism a boost. White Tea is great too!

5. Eat a clean diet six days a week and give yourself a CHEAT day! There is a book about eating a clean diet - let me know if you are interested and I will email you the name of it! Basically don't over do it on Sodium or Sugar intake, eat red meat once a week, watch out for the bad fat and carbs, eat green food, eat lean protein. Stop eating fast food! (My view on fast food changed after watching the movie called 'Supersize Me' a documentary by Morgan Spurlock - you should watch it). Giving yourself a cheat day will give you something to look forward to and will make up for any lack of calories your body got throughout the week.

6. Figure out good healthier options for the things you love to eat!

7. Get your family, Spouse or significant other involved in your journey and be commited!

There are many more but I will stop at that! I could go on for days!

Please watch The Biggest Loser tomorrow night at 7pm on NBC and be inspired to change your life!

I will leave you with an inspirational picture! Haha!! Love you guys!

My Personality: Sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it!

I am what you would call a type-A personality! I love to plan things out and have a plan-A and a Plan-B,C & D! Seriously, it is that bad! I am trying to be a bit more relaxed but I find it impossible at times! I plan out what I will eat and when I will eat it, when I workout and plan my months out well in advance. Not too good at spur-of-the-moment things; they tend to really upset me! I am having one of those moments right now. And I am trying to win the battle! Writing about it makes me feel as though I am making some progress.

Simply put, I like to be in CONTROL!!! I find my days are wasted if I do not make a list of things I want or need to do in a day. So, I am most definitely in love with routine and work really well when I am in a good one. The days I am experiencing right now are very relaxing as I am not working and get to workout whenever and however long I want; however, they are driving me crazy as well. Because there is NO routine really. I know that I need the rest I am getting because the next phase of my life is going to be so busy. I am thankful to God for this sabbatical I am on. But Lord help me through this battle of my personality!

A bit of everything and a PRAYER Request!

Just wanted to catch everyone up on our lives as of late!

Jeff was on Spring Break this past week and had a chance to come back in town and visit me and a number of other people who also missed him! That was so nice just to have him back here one last time before we are truly gone from NWA. It was bitter sweet! It was a fabulous weekend and the moment he left on Sunday was so emotional for me! I was terribly upset! This time away from one another is getting harder and harder! So, I am asking everyone to pray that our house sells before I start graduate school on May 28th! I know that it is God's will for us to move to Paragould and for me to be with my husband so this house has to sell! It was shown on Sunday night and on Monday afternoon during the monsoon! The buyers on Sunday found a house they liked better and I have not heard back from the people that came on Monday.

My sister also came to see me before Jeff came and we had some great sister time! She is my best friend and truly an angel. I took her to Carrabbas for dinner one night - she enjoyed it so much that she told me she felt sorry for me moving to Paragould! I just laughed! She is so funny!

One last thing! I got a chance to talk to the head of the Communication Disorders program yesterday and he is such an encouraging man! He makes me even more excited to start school again! Who knew I would be excited to go to school!! And when checking my email today it hit me that I am really doing this - I am really going back to school!! Which has been a dream of mine and a prayer of mine for so long! So, I opened my email and found one email entitled "To: MCD Class of 2009" -- That is ME!! Another emotional moment! I am so thankful to God for this opportunity; it is a true blessing that I am going back to school! God is so awesome ALL the time! Not just in the good times but also in the hard times! God is faithful and I am thankful that I am HIS child!

Baby Sitter for HIRE!!

Alright! So, I had the chance to babysit a really cute little boy last night named Jet! It was so much fun! We played outside chasing each other, digging in the dirt (we even found Mr. Worm) and climbed a mountain of rocks!

I keep telling people that I am a really great baby sitter and they should spread the word that I am looking for work! So, for all of you out there with kiddos or with friends that have kiddos in the NWA area let them know I'm great and they need a date night! Ha!! Seriously though, I am available most of the time! I know - it's a bit sad!

So, I'll leave you with this...Hire me for all your babysitting needs!

Beautiful

Golly Jeepers...it is a BEAUTIFUL day! As I was laying on a pallet I made out in the backyard this morning I was reminded of how beautiful God is! And how beautiful the things he has made are! I am so thankful for those little reminders God puts in our lives from time to time!

I was taken back to childhood while laying outside! This weather reminds me of the pilgrim days! Yes, my friend and I used to play like we were pilgrims out in her yard when the weather was nice like this! It was so much fun! We dressed up in little outfits, grabbed some blankets and some sheets and headed to the creek. I loved the imagination I had as a kid! I wonder where that went off to?!? Those were the good ole' days, nothing to worry about except if my play outfit was realistic enough! Haha!

On another note, I am still here in Springdale waiting on the house to sell! Jeff is in Paragould and is missing me and me missing him! The past couple of nights I have been scared for whatever reason and so I have stayed up till 1am ish! I think God knows how bad we miss each other and is trying to get me to just go! So, I am going this weekend; not for good just for a visit! I know God will be faithful in selling our house but I am asking for everyone to please pray that is happens sooner rather than later! I start school on May 28th and don't want to have to worry about this house!

Okay - one more thing and I will leave it for today!! I am trying to gather a list of places I want or need to eat at before officially leaving Northwest AR for Northeast AR! A few on the list right now are Hugos, Pesto Cafe, Bordinos and Emilas! Let me know of your favorites or ones you think I ought to go to before heading out!

It's Official!!!! YAY!!!

It’s official! I am going to graduate school! How scary is that! I got the letter in the mail confirming that I have been accepted into the Master of Communication Disorders program at Arkansas State University.

I had Jeff on the phone with me Thursday night as I returned from the gym and was so nervous to open the letter for fear of rejection! I finally opened it and screamed so loud…Jeff assumed that was a good thing! Needless to say I am so excited! I have waited on this opportunity for two years and am sure that this has been in God’s plans from the beginning of the drama with all the schools I have attended.

I have an abundance of very mixed emotions underneath the load of excitement that I am carrying! Just wondering what it’s all going to be like, if I will still be in love with and passionate about this field, wondering if I will be a good student and wanting to be one of the very best they have, hoping I am still good at therapy and the list just goes on! But I pray that as God has blessed me with this opportunity he will soothe my anxiety about so much! He doesn’t give us something we can’t handle - so I know I am going to tackle this challenge and do my very best! I know this is my calling in life! And if I can be half the speech language pathologist that Nancy Hardman and Carol Morgan are then I will call myself a success! Those two OBU professors have been an inspiration to me and invested so much in me and I am thankful to God for them! And for this new adventure that I am on! Graduation should be December of 2009!