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I have yet again neglected my blog.
I also have neglected my workouts.
I have been struggling to lose my chubby tummy.
This summer, I seemed to gain weight and now is the time to lose it.
How you ask?
Well I am keeping track of my calories that I consume as part of it.
I tend to eat a LOT.
Much more than I need.
It's probably over 2000 cals I have been consuming on a regular basis.
So I am attempting to cut about 500 cals every day.
Last night it was hard, and I could have eaten a couple hundred more calories.
I didn't.
I felt good this morning about my self control and am now enjoying a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee.
I actually felt more like getting out of bed since I was feeling hungry and excited to eat my oatmeal.
The second step to my weight loss goals is to workout.
I was going to the gym everyday for at least two hours.
My workouts consisted of running and eliptical adding up to 7 miles.
I did this for a month and a half and didn't notice a whole lot of progress.
I felt like I built up a lot of endurance and I feel that I can breathe a whole lot better now while working out.
But now, it's winter.
I don't shave my legs as often and going to the gym in shorts just doesn't sound appealing.
I am now doing workout videos.
The CRUNCH series.
The instructor girl feels like she is my friend.
I particularly like the dance off the inches hip hop dance party.
I am begining to love these videos and might get more becuase I feel that they become addictive.
I have been two days on this new lifestyle and I already feel a lot better.
More energetic.
Well I think that's enough about my new workout regime.
It''s almost time for class and I still need to get dressed.

That's all for now!

In His Image

As I finished reading chapter 1 in Genesis yesterday I had not had time to mention in my blog about God creating man. (Gen 1:27) "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. " Actually, now as I just type those words a thought has come to my mind. God had not yet created Eve, but it mentions how females are also created in the image of God. When God created Adam, He must have known there would be a counterpart such as a woman, since I'm sure all the animals had the opposite sex. He would have had to place the XY chromosomes in the male. I have to go work out right now before classs and finish homework.. but if anyone has any insight to that, tell me please. I will be back later with more.

Alright I am back. I only have a few moments till I have to get ready to go to Jake's soccer game! I hope he is feeling well enough to play. I just got back from class and taught a lesson as if i were teaching piano lessons. The lesson I created was with a younger child in mind. I introduced intervals and Clark, guy in my class, interrupted my lesson and said, "I want you as piano teacher!" everyone loved my lesson and those few words made a big impact on my confidence in becoming a piano teacher. I think i really want to take this seriously and teach piano as much as possible in the near future.

OK, to get back on track I am looking at the end of Genesis Chapter 1. I know it seems like I am taking a really long time to read the Bible, but I suppose that is okay. I just want to take it slow and think upon what God is saying to me at this particular time in my life.

So after the 6th day on which God created man...wait a second. As I am reading chapter 2 I suddenly realize that it seems as though the second chapter is backtracking. I am unsure of this, but that's how I read it. The second chapter I believe goes back to the sixth day. Saying that Adam and Eve were created on the same day. I think this makes sense...but perhaps I am reading it wrong. I am not sure.

Anyways, after God created everything, he took a rest on the seventh day.

This is HUGE! The Almighty Powerful God of the Universe rested after 6 days of work. I doubt God NEEDED a rest, but perhaps he took a rest to set an example for us. We are only human and I don't believe we are supposed to work work work non stop without a day to refocus and rest not only our bodies, but our minds.

I must now leave. Soccer time babay! It's such a beautiful day for soccer too!

In the Beginning.

Sitting here drinking my coffee out of my Jake the soccer player mug, I had the thought that I should post my readings from the Bible as a sort of journaling/devotion/keeping me accountable type thing.

So without further ado...

Genesis 1, The Beginning.

As I begin to read how God began to create the world, I am suddenly aware how clear God is about things we debate about such as the age of the Earth. I am not one for debate, but I will give my thought and opinion on this. Perhaps no one will agree with me on this one, but nonetheless, we are all entitled to our own opinion.

I am not a Biblical scholar without a doubt, and this is honestly the first time that I am going to read the Bible straight through. I have attempted this a number of times, but have never succeeded.

Anyways, if I were to take God's word as is, I would plainly see the evidence that the World which we live in was created not billions or even millions of years ago, but only thousands of years. First of all, there is no evidence in the Bible that the Earth is billions of years old. There is no evidence that there was life before Adam on Earth. There could not have been sin before the fall of man. How could the earth have existed millions or billions of years before God decided to make Adam? I mean, I'm sure it could have, but that is not what the Bible says to me.

In my Old Testament class, our professor believed in an old earth. He studied Hebrew, or Aramaic...which ever the OT was written in.. and interpreted the "THE" in the verse.."in THE beginning as "a". His reasoning was something to do with the fact the word in the original language can mean EITHER the or a. I thought on this idea for a while and have recently decided against it. Our professor was saying that the significance of the Bible being translated as A beginning is that it implies it was just ONE beginning. As if to say, it was now a NEW beginning on earth where God was starting fresh with a new idea based upon an already created earth. I find this hard to swallow when looking at scripture. It plainly describes the process and order of the earth being created, from scratch no less. I also do not believe that there could have been death before there had been sin.

I know people may argue that science says the earth is old. Looking at rock formations, soil deposits and fossils, based on our interpretation and carbon 14 dating, we may see results that show us the earth is quite old. I don't know how accurate the dating is, and really do not have any experience in dating things, but from what I have learned in Geology class, Carbon-14 is not used to date rocks. Only things that were once living. From a scientific view, there are a lot of dating methods which 90% of them give far younger dates than what evolutionists choose to believe. I personally believe that dating methods are fallible and the word of God is infallible. When a scientists' evidence doesn't match up with what is clearly stated in the Bible, this does not entitle us to change the meaning of the text. Many have reinterpreted the word "day" saying that perhaps a day was much longer, maybe years? I do not see how anyone could interpret this that way. To reaffirm that a day is a 24hour period, God has even added, "There was evenin, and there was morning- the first day."

I could get into how the flood would have a significant impact on carbon-14 dating, but I have already gone on long enough about this. Far more than I had intended.

This chapter on creation has got my imagination going. What would have been like to SEE the creation of the world..in just six days. How miraculous! I hope God kept a video of this spectacle. Wow! those are the words that come to my mind when I take a moment to visualize what this would have all looked like.

I want to write more, but alas, it is time to get on with my day. Jake is coming to pick me up very shortly to go to town, perhaps I will write more about what I get out of this chapter later tonight..but then again, I probably won't. I have a ton of homework to do! well until tomorrow!

Baby Suprise!

Wow! Everywhere I go it seems like women are awaiting the arrival of their precious lil ones any day now. I am writing about babies because on this particular day, I am struck by the amazing gift God has given not only to us in the form of babies, but the gift of motherhood. I have heard that today Rachel Hunt is going to pick up her adopted baby at the airport! He is the same age as Drew and he is adorable from the pictures I have seen. I know they have been praying for his arrival for a long time now and am sure they are experiencing something they never have before.

Somewhere else in the world, but actually not far off another little woman has welcomed her precious FOUR newborn babies into the world. Jennie has given birth to quadruplets and I am sure Brittney has the 411 on that one. I can't imagine having four babies at one time! I would imagine Jennie must be feeling an overwhelming sense of Love, and with that, I am sure she wonders how she will care for these tiny babes. How awesome it is though that we know God loves them more than anyone and will give Jennie and Nich the strength they need.

Another mother who I get to hang out with most is Angie! She is such a great mommy! She loves Drew sooo much and Drew loves her. Angie told me that as soon as she had a baby her whole perspective changed. She was more concerned with Drew than herself. Putting her babies needs before herself. I do admire Angie a lot for her strength and maturity she has shown as a mother.

As for me, I won't be have any such babies in the near future.

In the future, I do hope and pray so. I think I would like 2-3 children.

I am excited for the day when I do become a mother but I am content with my life at the moment. I mean, I am not even married yet and I am way more excited about that than babies at this particular point. I am just writing this post to imagine how it must feel for rachel, jennie and angie, who are new mothers at different stages and different circumstances, yet they all share one common thing. A gift of love from God in the form of a baby.

Joy! Joy! JOY!

Phillipians 4:6-7 " Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"

I am awake and ready for the first day of school. Class doesn't start till 930, yet I was awake at 545, partly due to Gus licking an icecream bowl Jake had left on the coffee table. The reason I couldn't fall back asleep was mostly due to my anxiety that comes with the first day of classes. Will my prof like me? Will the class be challenging enough that I will keep interested or will it be too much of a challenge and I will give up? Will I be able to handle everything this semester? Thoughts like these consumed my sleepy mind, and before long I had to get up and eat some breakfast. I took the time to have a moment to pray about the day, and no longer did I fell anxious. God has it all under control and even when trials and hard days come, God is always there with me. That in it self gives me great Joy. Knowing God has already has a plan and that He will follow through with it. I have decided to keep a prayer journal and today I am going to share with you some of the Blessings in my life right now!

here are just a few;

I am healthy, I have food and a place to live, I am back in school, My grandma is doing great, I enjoy going to Cascades Baptist church and plan on getting involved somehow. My family is doing great, making new friends on campus, Mandy got a new job, Jake is getting healed up and getting lots of playing time. Jake and I have been dating almost 10 months and its so wonderful. Abbey and I are becoming good friends, I am able to work out and eat healthy and seeing results slowly but surely, I have time before classes to spend time with God and blog a bit. God's faithfulness and love. 

I have a lot to praise God for and have realized that I really do need to praise Him everyday, and be in constant prayer with Him. 

In Love with My Best Friend

My dearest boyfriend is gone for the night, sleeping in a cabin with a bunch of campers. I miss him. I talked to him around dinner time, but our nightly webcam dates this week will have to be non-existant. I have had time this evening to reflect on our relationship and the incredible blessing God has given me in Jake. So many people today are conformists, yet Jake is not. He is so genuine and original, among many things, but those were the ones i had been thinking about this evening. There is no one like him. I love him tremendously, and now it is off to bed with all these good thoughts and feelings lingering, I am hoping they will transend into pleasant dreams.

Mackinac Island Weekend.

Friday was quite an adventure in itself. I went to work in the morning, then hopped aboard a train to take me to windsor. The train ticket was $15 so i thought it was worth it. Then I walked about 45 mins from the windsor train station in the rain, Luckily i had a rain jacket, and my luggage. I bought a ticket for the tunnel bus which costed 3.75! which is cheaper than the toll itself. I went through the tunnel and missed my first stop in Detriot where Jake was waiting for me. Luckily i talked to the bus driver and she dropped me off right there and I walked down the street. I also forgot to mention that we all had to get off the bus and go through customs..which was scary, especially because I was taking the risk of using my passport which was expired!!!! i was sweating bullets. but thank the Lord they didn't say anything and let me across. I also left my luggage on the bus, because i was the only one on the bus with luggage so I didn't know we were supposed to have brought it in and have it scanned. SO a border patrol guy went on the bus before we were allowed to go back on and wait, and he came back in and said everything was clear.. he TOTALLY didnt see my luggage that I had under my seat! which i was very thankful for.

Jake picked me up and we had a lovely drive to his house. It rained pretty hard on the way but I was SOOOOO relieved to have made it!!

The next morning we woke up and had a yummy breakfast and got our stuffed packed for the trip to mackinac island. Jake's Aunt Jean let me borrow her SWEET bike. It was the best bike I have ever ridden and had a nice cushy seat. On our way, we stopped at Abbey's friend's house, Taylor, for her open house. We had a nice big lunch and then ventured on our way to Mackinaw. We arrived at our hotel, The Grand Aqua Inn or something like that. It was nice and had a water park, a pool and a very hot hot tub. We checked into the hotel and then went to get some supper. We drove around, parked at a few restaurants and decided that it wasn't our scene. Finally we decided on an Italian Restaurant. It was decorated with stuffed animals, and I don't mean the cute fluffy play toys, but the once alive, now dead, wild animal kind. There were deer hanging from the ceiling, bears by the fireplace and an assortment of other woodland creatures all over. It was sure interesting to look at.

After supper, we walked around and looked at all the stores. We didn't end up buying anything, but it was fun to look around. We went back to the hotel where Jake and I spent the rest of the night swimming.

The next day, we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel. It was the most beautiful day! We boarded the fairy with out bikes down below. We sat on the upper deck where it was the windiest, but also held the best view. It was very pituresque, but as we all know, pictures never do a beautiful place justice, you just have to be there. I jumped every single time the fog horn went off. When we got to the island, we hopped on our bikes and rode around. It was so exciting. I love this place. No cars to worry about. Our first stop on the bike ride led us to the Butterfly museum. We got stickers to put on ourselves so that they knew we had paid, but Jake refused to put on his sticker because of his issue with stickers haha. After that, we peddeled up hill to the highest point on the island. On the way there, we stopped to pet a cat named whiskers. He was so cute. The houses were all very lovely to look at. The whole day felt very realer than real life, it's hard to describe. Everything felt very vibrant and fresh. Lilacs lined the roads and the aroma was so pleasing to my nostrils haha. When we reached the top, we had a picnic lunch. A seagull had joined us and wanted our food of course. After we had finished eating, Jake gave the seagull a Vienna Finger. The silly bird ate the icing and then the whole cookie. It looked quite disgusting as we could see the shape of the cookie in its neck. The way back down from the top was the most exciting part. I have never rode so fast on a bike and it was very exhilarating. There were no cars to worry about. I had to slow down once for some horse back riders to cross, but that was it. Jake couldn't go as fast as I could because of his old broken bike, but it was still a lot of fun.

we got into town where we looked at the house Jake's dad lived in during the summer's when he was a boy. Then we went and to the fudge shop where Jake's parents worked at when they were younger. I still have yet to eat my fudge..yumm. Then we looked around some stores, and Jake bought me a beanie baby lobster named Pinchers! We got icecream which was delicious. Then we walked to the lakeside where we skipped stones. There weren't a lot of skipping stones so Jake and I made up a game where one person throws a rock into the lake and the other person throws a rock to try and hit the other person's rock in the air. It was fun. Then it was about time to head back on the fairy. I was tired by this point and rested in Jake's arms on the fairy. It was very enjoyable. I think i am spellin fairie wrong..but I don't think I want to change it right now. We headed back to Jake's house and stopped on the way at pizza hut. It was scrumtious. We played the animal game and got to the letter N and quit. It did make the drive go by faster. Jake didn't sleep on the ride home, which suprised me. He was raring to go. Maybe all the pizza.

We got back to his house about 1030ish and got ready for beddy bonkins. It was such a wonderful day and I hope to go again someday.

I shall write about the rest of the weekend later. But believe me, I had an extrodinary time and I am glad the Barney's invited me to go! I have the BEST boyfriend in the world.

I shall post pictures in a little while.