Vacay 2015

 

 A couple of weekends ago my family and I went on vacation to Colorado Springs! I know I totally left yall hangin' after my last post. I had intentions of posting and uploading pics each day but ended up just enjoying the time away and not being in front of a computer screen.

Our first full day in Colorado we went to the zoo. It was a lot of fun! They have a neat sky lift that you can ride over the zoo and get a birds' eye view. It was really neat. My dad opted out of that though because he said he might have a panic attack if he rode it. We decided we did not want that to happen so we let him sit that one out. :-)

They had a really neat set up where you can feed the giraffes. It was awesome. You were eye level with them and they were so friendly and let you pet them and take pictures with them! Chesanie, my brother's awesome girlfriend LOVES elephants and she got to feed one while we were there. She was thrilled! I don't have any pictures of her doing that but it was really neat. They gave her a bunch of fruits and veggies. We are talking a whole banana, an entire orange, etc and the elephant (her name was Lucky) would take it from Ches' hand with her trunk and eat it whole, peel and all! It was neat to watch.

 

 

The next day we went up to Helen Hunt Falls and hiked and enjoyed the view. On the way back down we found a neat little creek and spent some time wading in the water. It. Was. Freezing. But we had a lot of fun! Every night after we got done with our adventures we would go back to our house and play board games and just spend time together! It was just perfect! The house we stayed at had a lot of games. They even had Mall Madness! I used to play that when I was little ALL THE TIME!! I taught Ches and Mom how to play and we had a blast! We even made the guys play with us once because we played Monopoly with them! Sounds like an even trade to me! :-)

 

 

 

On our final full day we drove up Pike's Peak! I gave my brother a hard time about wanting to do this because I really wasn't looking forward to driving up a 14,000 foot mountain (without guard rails). But I am so glad we did. It was my favorite part of the trip! On the way up the mountain they have a lot of little things for you to stop and look at! We had fun with the Big Foot sign! When you get to the top they have a little shop with coffee and donuts and souvenirs. Micheal and I enjoyed some coffee and donuts in the clouds! It was so amazing! And it was cold up there, in fact there were some places where you could still see snow on the ground. It sure felt weird wearing a coat in August!

 

 

 

 

On Monday, we got up and went and had breakfast at Ihop and then played miniature golf. It was a fun way to end our trip before we hit the road back to Texas. We had such a wonderful time on our trip. I am so grateful for time away with the people I love! We can't wait until next year!!

 

P.S. I am not sure why my pictures are laid out so weird! When I was editing this post they did not look like that! Oh well! :-)

 

 

Blessings.

~Manda Jo~

We are in Colorado Springs! We are so pumped!! We left yesterday evening around 7:00, stopped in Muleshoe for some Leals, and then drove all night. It took FOREVER and a day to get here! (Our car is not very good for sleeping, especially when you have 6 people and all our luggage crammed in there. But I am very happy that we all came in one car.  We got here at like 3 in the morning, took a tour of our house for the next few days and then crashed. We got up and around this morning and are about to eat breakfast and head to the zoo! :-)

This is the longest vacation Micheal and I have taken in a few years and we plan on soaking up EVERY moment!

Pics to come!

Blessings,

~Manda Jo~

Thank You!!

First off, the outpouring of love and encouragement I received from you all was so awesome. I am touched. God truly can use so many things to bring forth His Kingdom and according to ya'll, my little blog post was no exception. Thank you for sharing that with me.

So, last time I mentioned how 2015 has been a pretty transforming year for me. I want to use my next few posts to go into more detail on what I mean by that. I am going to try to go in chronological (that is a difficult word to type) order so I can try not to forget anything. I am very type A so I like order and lists and organization (shout out to my rockin' friend Tammy who totally knows what I am talking about right now). :-)

 Anywhoo... go back with me to January of this year. I was introduced to three little words: Trim Healthy Mama (THM for short). In order for you to understand what I mean by that I need to back track a little.

So I know it is so typical for people to go into the new year with a resolve to lose weight and eat healthy. That has been me many times before... but not this year. When I sat down early January to think about the things I desired in 2015, a new way of eating was not one of them. In fact, I was SO tired of hearing about organic foods, wheat belly, no sugar, no flour that I had become pretty bitter about it. In all reality, the bitterness came because there were so many people in my circle who were changing their diets and making good choices and it was forcing me to take a look at myself  and my eating habits. (Not fun). Ha Ha. My boss at work, my Aunt Audra, my friends, people I looked up to all of sudden were all eating right and not only that...they were sticking to it and seeing amazing results. Not just weight loss but health issues were disappearing and they had more energy and the list goes on and on. I told Micheal at the end of December that maybe someday I would look into eating better, but for now I just want to be happy and not think about it! (Denial much?)

A few weeks into the new year I was at work listening to the Focus on the Family Daily Broadcast and the topic was on healthy eating. The man who shared was a great speaker and he was very funny. He got my attention and I became intrigued with what he was sharing. He talked about a few simple things you can do to help build new habits when it comes to what you put in your mouth. He shared that eating right is not about perfection. God gives us grace in that area just like in every other area of our lives. He also said that you ALWAYS eat things that are free. No question. If you are at someone's house and they offer you something, you take it... because its free. Ha Ha! I liked that!

I shared the broadcast with Micheal and he liked what the guy had to say as well. So we decided to incorporate some of his ideas into our eating habits. It didn't take long before I was hooked. It felt so good to know that we were making better choices and I wanted to learn more. This is where THM enters the scene. I am not going to take a whole lot of time explaining what THM is exactly because you can like their facebook page and check it out for yourself. But the basic premise is no processed flour, no sugar, and no milk. (I know... my heart sank a little bit too when I first realized that). But I knew several people who were doing it and being successful and so I decided to dive in and give it a try. And guess what... here it is 7 months later and I am still going strong. That has never happened before. I have never been able to stick to any other "diet" in my life. A few months into my journey I realized what made this different. There are many reasons but the main one is that everything we are asked to give up in this plan has a replacement. That is what made the difference. I had to give up regular bread but I can eat Ezekiel Bread. I had to give up sugar but I can use many other kinds of natural sweeteners. So I can still have dessert! :-) It was an exchange. An exchange that has helped me realize that I do have self-discipline. That food does not have control over me. I have control over it. And that is very empowering.

Through this eating journey God has paralleled this to my faith so many times. He uses it to remind me that I can change my habits. Eating healthy was something I truly thought I would never be able accomplish. And at the beginning of the year God showed me that that is not even close to being true. He says I can do ALL things through Christ! Amen! :-) Conquering my eating habits has encouraged and propelled me to take a look at my life and see what else I can change for the better. It is so exciting. God's like..."Alright Amanda, what's next! Let's keep moving forward and let me show you what else we can get rid of so you can more fully enjoy my freedom."

Friends, Phillipians 4:13 is true!! We can accomplish the things God places on our hearts, but we need to be sensitive to His timing. He will guide you and place people and things in your path to help you along the way. And it needs to be something on your heart for you, not to please anyone around you. This goes way beyond just changing your diet. It goes for every area of life.  I play the comparison game a lot... more than I care to admit. And sometimes I find myself trying to make a change in my life just so I can "keep up" with people around me. Every time I did that, I did not end up with the result I hoped for because I was doing it for the wrong reasons.

The people in my life who were making better eating choices did not pressure me or try to force me to make any changes. They simply lived their lives and shared their testimony and by doing so I was forced to look at my own actions.  That is how we truly become living examples of Christ's love. We just need to be who we be and share what God is doing in us... and then Holy Spirit will take it from there!

So, my first eye opener of 2015 - I really can do all things through Christ who gives me Strength!

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run we perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith." Hebrews 12:1-2

**If you are interested in learning more about THM please find them on Facebook! And feel free to ask me if you have any questions! I am certainly no expert but I will do my best to help you find the answers!**

Blessings,

~Manda Jo~

So my last post was February of 2012... I am not sure how one recaps the last 3 1/2 years in one post! Ha! So you know what I am not even going to try! Instead I will share how God has put it on my heart to dust off the old blog and see what happens.

Lately I have been stirred up (in a good way!). So much has been happening in my life that is new and exciting and amazing and also a little bit scary and a little bit sad. 2015 will be a year I look back on for the rest of my life as transforming. In January of this year I sat down and wrote down a phrase for the year that I wanted to focus on. I came up with "Trust More. Fear Less." And God has given me ample opportunity to put this to practice in very tangible ways. In future posts I will go into detail about all of this, but for now I just want to share my heart.

I am extremely blessed. I can honestly say that all of the major things in my life I have prayed for and desired have come to pass. Marrying Micheal, buying a house, buying a car, going to college, being hired at different jobs, and the list goes on and on. But this year I have had a major revelation. I did not play an active role in bringing those things to pass. When I say active role I mean fervently praying, seeking, speaking truth and partnering with God to physically see my prayers manifested on this earth. And I very much want to change that.

I have a dear friend whom I admire so much share an awesome testimony. She and her family recently moved from New Mexico to Texas. They prayed and prayed that God would provide a home for them and God answered that prayer. Once they moved in to their home some things took place that threatened to take it away from them. They knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God provided that house for them and that is where they were supposed to be. So she and her husband and 4 boys prayed and spoke God's truth over their house every chance they got. She shared that she would walk around her home and thank God for the blessing of being able to buy their home and that this home was theirs in the name of Jesus. And shortly thereafter they found out they were able to keep their home. What an AMAZING faith lesson for her and her family! I mean they can look back on that forever as an example when God completely came through for them and it wasn't by chance! It was because they mixed their faith with the promises of God and watched Him move on their behalf.

Because God is just so incredibly good, many times we are given the desires of our heart just because he loves to bless his children. That has been the summary of my life up to this point. And I am so thankful and grateful and I do not mean to diminish those things at all! But I believe God is showing me that the majority of the time, my job is not to say a few quick prayers and then sit around and wait. Most of the time He is waiting on me to move and speak His promises over my life. He is waiting for me to mix faith with His word so He can do his part! I believe by not doing these things we limit God. He is so excited to move on our behalf but so many times we get in our own way by the words we speak and our lack of faith and unbelief.

I am so ready to use my authority as a believer to bring heaven to this earth! Not just in my personal life (although I believe that is where it starts) but also for God's kingdom as a whole! That is what we are called to do! It is time for us as believers to go after the things God has placed in our hearts! The dreams he buried deep inside of us when we were being knit together in our mother's womb. He wants those things for us! He is just waiting on us to start speaking them, believing for them, and actively pursuing them! So I decided that is what I am going to do!

I want to look back on my life when I am old and know that my relationship with Christ was REAL. Not just in a warm fuzzy feelings way... but in a tangible-God-totally-moved-mountains-for-me kind of way.  When you desire to experience God in that way, it forces you to remove some of the safety nets you have in place and just leap! Do you ever feel that way? Like you get so excited when you hear a story or testimony of how faithful and incredible God is and when you look at your life it feels so boring because you have been so busy playing it safe that you haven't even given God the opportunity to show up for you like that? That is how I feel. Like I am itching to do something big and crazy so that I can know and experience God in a deeper and more intimate way.

ALL of that to say, one of the things God has place in my heart from the time I was young was a love for writing and a love for all things that have to do with marriage and motherhood. I have always LOVED reading blogs written by other women about their journeys and it truly stirs my heart in an incredible way. So I decided I am going to be intentional about sharing mine. I want to be real and honest and raw and just share. Even as I type that I get excited and scared all at the same time. It can be scary to share. It makes you vulnerable. But I have decided that that is ok. Because there is such beauty in being vulnerable. It opens up your heart and allows God to work in you. And I am very excited about that.

I am also excited to have this guy with me through it all!

Ok I am leaping off the diving board and hitting publish!


Blessings,


~Manda Jo~