A Calling

Hello everyone!  I hope you all l-o-v-e’d the pictures that my buddy Chris took of Chad and I 🙂

I’m really excited to share with everyone this story….

In my book Crazy Love, there is a part where the author Francis Chan talks about giving, and how whatever opportunity comes up to seize the moment and don’t worry about finances or anything like that because as long as you trust in the Lord to provide then He will.

So…when i was at church on Sunday there was a group there called the Compassion Group.  I have always dreamt of sponsoring a child but I just never felt like I’d fully commit if I did so I always turned down the opportunities.  However, this Sunday the Compassion Group came to our church and spoke as well as showed a video about how awesome this opportunity is to help out a child who is less fortunate.  I could feel the Lord calling me to help out but I wasn’t sure how.  I went to the table after the service just to look at the pictures of the different children, and to also talk to the people who were there representing the group.  The man helping me and my girl Yo out told us a story about a young boy who was being sponsored through the compassion group and with the help he was able to make it to the US and get a degree.  This man now lives in Ft. Worth and has been praying ever since he was little to meet his sponsor.  Well….he finally met his sponsor and he said it was the greatest moment of his entire life.  After this story I knew right then and there that God was telling me to sponsor a child.  I hesitated for a bit because I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to make the monthly payments every month, but I just knew that I was supposed to help out.  As I was looking through pictures I came across Amelework Silesh, an 8 year old from Ethiopia.  I moved on to others soon after her picture, but no matter how many pictures I looked through her face kept sticking out in my mind.  her eyes had such an effect on me I couldn’t help it.  I just felt so drawn to her, and that’s when I signed up and I am now sponsoring Amelework Silesh.  The most amazing little girl.  I don’t know her but I know that I want nothing but the best for her, and I will be praying for her every morning, every afternoon, and every evening.  It feels so great to be able to do this work in the name of God.  He has done so much for me, and I owe my life to Him so that is what I’m doing….taking it one day at a time and sharing His love with as many people as I possibly can 🙂

Ok, so I hope y’all enjoyed my little gab there….onto a few eats…..

I grabbed the leftover baked sweet potato from Outback and warmed it up with a tad bit of Smart Balance Light butter, and a sprinkle of raisins, craisins, cinnamon, and honey

Practice was really great…the girls worked super hard and got a lot accomplished in the 1.5 hr time slot!  I can’t wait for our first tourney…GO NORTH TEXAS JUNIORS 16’s!!!

I then headed to the grocery store to grab a few things for the week on my way home, and had a little dinner before heading to Chad’s flag football game in Southlake.  I had the rest of the Berry Smoothie from earlier in the morning, half of a whole grain bagel with Smart Balance Light, and honey, with some of Amy’s Split Pea Soup….can I say DELISH?!

When we got to the football game we were running a little late so the closest parking spot was right in the mushiest of all muds……

I was so sad...these shoes are my only tennis shoes so they serve as my bball shoes as well as running, and lifting, and just everyday life shoes 😦

Guess I can’t cry too much…it rained super hard the next day so a lot of the mud is washed off!  YAY for the rizain!

I also had some Yogi Blueberry Slim Life tea prior to the F-FB games!

"You can run after satisfaction, but satisfaction must come from within"

I made some of my Baked Banana Oats Muffins for the week…..but these had a special surprise

Can ya guess what it is?????????????????????????????

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I also enjoy a good cup of Miso in the morning!!!!! (in the background is 2 LARGE cups of H2O)

ok ok….I give up…if you haven’t guessed the surprise by now I don’t know what else to do other than tell you!  IT was a ball of Barney Butter baked into the center of the muffin!!!  What a wonderful surprise!!!!

mmmmmm mmmmm mmmmmm....pure bliss

I think I might just start off all of my Monday’s off with these puppies!  I had a great day!  Classes were great….

I snacked on this little lunch during Environmental Health….

this was the biggest pear ever!!! It got cut off in the picture but it was bigger than my fist!!!

and I had a K-I-L-L-E-R workout….20 min on the stairclimber going between level 10-15.  WHEW!  Then after I completed my “warm-up”…drenched….I began my leg workout full of squats, lunges, box jumps, hamstring curls, RDL’s, Good Mornings, Oblique work, calf raises (90lbs on each leg), hip flexor work.  I finally decided after all that I still wanted more….so I did my usual Monday spin class.  this Monday class was very different…it was CRAZY hard!  I have not been this sweaty since the high school practice with coach Cantrell my junior year where we had to do 100 burpees by the end of practice….oh the good ol’ days when our bodies could do anything and everything.

After spinning, I walked home……very very slowly, and made some dinner so that I could regain some energy for my intramural game!

I made some more of the chipotle mixed veggies, and added some morningstar meatless crumbles and added some taco seasoning, garlic salt, cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, red pepper flake, and chipotle pepper seasoning….SO AMAZING….

This might just have become one of my favorite meals….ever….I can’t describe how much I loved it!

Real Talk won the game!!!!!  HOLLA!  I ended up playing the WHOLE game…and it seemed like every play was a fast break….ugh, my legs were killing….I kept telling myself, “it’s all mental…mind over matter”

I was so done by the time I got back to my apartment I CHUGGED some zico in about 15 seconds…

I usually only drink the mango flavor….I couldn’t tell you if I enjoyed the flavor of this one or not because I drank it so fast that I didn’t even taste it…but it worked!  I woke up this morning STARVING but my body felt pretty good for the most part considering ALL the work I did yesterday!

I had 2 more muffins, and made a banana smoothie and yogi tea

Banana Smoothie:

1/2 c nonfat vanilla organic yogurt

1 medium banana (either frozen or room temp)

1/2 c Vanilla Almond Milk

Sprinkle of Cinnamon

drizzle of honey

1 tbsp Barney Butter

this made 2 servings for me….but if you make this your meal then this would be 1 serving

I then threw together some stuff for lunch and headed out the door!

cut up another HUGE pear, some baby carrots, and a lemon zest cranberry honest bar

I didn’t do too much work at the gym today…my legs were super tired still but I walked at an incline of 15 at speed of 3.5 for 30 min. then worked arms for about 30 min (biceps, triceps, lats, shoulders) and did my wheelbarrow abs….those suckers kicked this bootay or should I say it kicked my abs booty (if they had one).  I went to class, then headed to Massage Envy for my very first massage!!!!

I think I might become a massage envy addict….this was sooo great.  I really needed this!

I got home and warmed up some leftovers and added a little bit of salsa and 1/2 small avocado to the mixture!

its been a great couple days so far!  Just gotta get over hump day and then Spring Break here I come!!!!

I gotta go coach…chad is helping me out tonight, and then on to his intramural bball playoff game at 10:30, then almost an all-night study sesh!