One of the high points (quite literally) was the scary, windy (as in super curvy)  drive up Mount Scott.  Not the highest point in Oklahoma, but part of the Wichita Mountains and very scenic.

The Parallel Forest isn’t actually on a map like I thought it would be.  Someone told me that it should be on our list of “must-see’s” when we visit that area, and given my love for trees, it was an obvious add to the schedule.  It proved a little more difficult to find than we expected, but we found it, and we were NOT disappointed.  The trees were planted (all 6 feet apart) in the early 1900′s  to provide fence posts for a project which was later scrapped.

If you google it, you’ll find that most of the info about the Parallel Forest comes from sites about the “hauntings” in the area.  Surprisingly, we found no such evidence.   Although, we might have seen Bigfoot.

These lovely ladies enjoyed a long hike and some rock climbing and picture taking.

Cameron could’ve stayed ALL day.   Shoes off, climbing all over the rocks, cool grass, beautiful little stream.  She took tons of pictures.

Meer’s Restaurant was another suggestion from a friend.  Best burger in Oklahoma is what they say.  and it WAS good.   Really good.  It’s actually made from longhorn meat. (sorry Texas fans!)  The service was, ummm….not as good as the food.  It was as if they KNEW people would come because they had something special, so they didn’t have to be nice.  Eh, they are probably right.  It was darn yummy.

Spring Break was a rainy week this year.   I took this picture from the car as we were driving back into Edmond.

Despite the cooler temps and some soggy weather, it was a really good getaway!  Check that off of our list of “must-see’s” in Oklahoma!

And speaking of pain…you know what can hurt?  Kids.  They have the unique ability to break your heart like nothing and nobody else can. Can I get an amen, anybody!?  As moms, we seem invincible to them.   If we’ve done our jobs, they know that we love them unconditionally–no matter what they say or do, we will love them.  As Cameron said today, we are their “safe place”.  But what they can’t understand yet, is the pain we feel when they hurt us.  I think it’s rarely intentional, they don’t mean to hurt, but their disobedience, or bad choices, or harsh words, cut like a sword. (Prov 12:18)  Cut.  Like a sword.  Like deep, painful wounds.  Soul crushing pain. Ripping your heart out in a rough and painful manner.  Are we clear yet?

I so badly just want to fast forward  5-7 years from now because I’m confident that “He who began a good work, is faithful to complete”(Phil 1:6) but I can’t… I must endure the hardships of motherhood…a little while longer?? Forever? Does it ever get easy?? Will it kill me before it makes me stronger???  James said “Consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds…they come so that the testing of your faith produces perseverance, that you might be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)

Pure joy?  Instead of crying my eyes out? More like while crying my eyes out.   I know, KNOW, KNOW, KNOW  that God understands with intimate detail the things that keep me up at night. He’s not surprised, He’s not scared. Nothing is hidden from him.  He is still sovereign,still good, still holy, still jealous for me, and He will never ever leave me.    I pray daily for wisdom and perspective.  Wisdom so I will say and do the things that honor him and teach my kids, and perspective to know that what I see in the immediate, isn’t the end…that God is still actively working in me and in my kids to give me a future and a hope. (Jer 29:13)

Maybe I should pray the same things for my physical health and well-being–wisdom to know when to put the Twizzlers away (and don’t go back and get them 10 minutes later!) and perspective–one mess up today doesn’t mean complete failure for the rest of my life.  Perspective can be a powerful thing–I may have to meditate on “perspective” and right a whole blog post of that topic.

Today, though, I headed straight into the living room to see Shaun T! (I don’t know why he’s called “Shaun T”—is his last name a secret?! Hey wait, Shaun T sorta rhymes with insanity…maybe that’s it)  Insanity is crazy, awesome hard, and I love it, love it, love it! Max interval training. Intense. Funny thing is, if I don’t vacuum the living room carpet before I start, there’s enough dog hair down there to keep me from collapsing onto the floor.  It’s the only thing that keeps me not dead.  Now, granted, I’m only just starting week 2, but I’m already feeling a difference.  I’ll keep you posted on the progress.  Here’s a shot of my tv with Shaun T already jogging it out.

As soon as Shaun T was done yelling and encouraging me in the living room, Cam breezed out of her room, ready to go to the gym, with Abbey waiting at her house to be picked up. Ahh! But I’m a champ so I grabbed a some water and a chocolate protein muffin and headed out to find a beautiful sunrise.  This picture doesn’t quite do it justice though.  Did you remember that Friday is my day off work.  Yeah.  No rest for the weary.   and remember that rooster tail from earlier??  Oh dang, it’s crazy now.

Enough of that business, Cory looks a little different now. He got a trim.  Haha. That was a LOT of hair.  Look though…same shirt.  Somebody wanna hire him??  Please??

I made this Snickerdoodle cookie dough dip out of chick peas, almond butter, oats and a few other ingredients.  It’s yummy amazing. Delicious.  Plus protein, fiber goodness. Great with apples, crackers, a spoon.  There’s also Chocolate Chip Cookie dough dip from the same website that’s killer.  You should seriously try this.  Seriously. Now. Try it.

Then what do you after a morning like that and a whole day of shopping with your teen-aged girl???  Go to Smashburger! More yum.

Friday is almost over and I’m trying to watch a DVR’d episode of the Finder with Cory, so I guess that’s enough for now.  I think maybe I’ll start calling these types of posts, “Slice of Life”.   Or maybe “Food I Ate Today”.  Perhaps I’ll put it to a vote.  Later.

If you want to read what I attempted for my eulogy, the first attempt is here and the second is here.  If you don’t click over to read, you’re not missing much…anyway, one other detail I’d like to add for the service is the music.    I’ve never really had a favorite song for very long.  I’m sure there are some songs that I could hear and say “Oh, I’ve always LOVED that song!!” but I can never think of them off the top of my head.

One band that I have loved consistently and increasingly over the last 10 years is Switchfoot. 9-10 albums full of songs with lots of deep meaning, some confuse the heck out of me, and lots of minor chords, aka a bit of a melancholy sound at times.  Lead singer Jon Foreman notes “we try to make music for thinking people. Music has always opened my mind—and that’s what we want”.   I think that’s why I don’t get tired of their songs…they keep my mind engaged.

I have a few specific song choices, Afterlife or Where I Belong or Gone or Burn Out Bright, for example, but really, anything will do.

This would only apply if I die in the next 10-20 years or so….subject to change I suppose.   Will I still like the same music when I’m 60?  70? 80?  Maybe I should ask some 60-80 year olds to see if they do.

You can do so many types of exercises to strength and tone muscles, with or without equipment.  Check out Strong is the New Skinny for tips and motivation. or if you need more convincing, check out the blog post from She’s a Fit Chick on the 5 Reasons Women Need Strength Training!

Don’t be scared, lift something heavy today!

In keeping with that idea, today I’m exploring the idea of offering up EVERYTHING as an offering to God.

Romans 12:1,2 says “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (New Living Translation)

The Message Bible says it like this: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life-your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life-and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.”

Your everyday, ordinary life.  An offering.  So everything I do, work, work out, sleeping, eating, every interaction, is an offering to God.  From experience, I’ll tell you what that means to me.  Part of that is just being mindful of my relationship with God ALL day, during ALL parts of my day.  and  I have to avoid compartmentalizing.  “this is God time” and “this is ME time” –these 2 thoughts should never co-exist.  and I should avoid justifying…”I spent a lot of time with God this morning, so it’s ok to watch Jersey Shore later today”—uh…no.

I’m not good at this. I fail everyday. But my love for God and my desire to please Him brings me back every time I stray.  The rest of the verse says:

Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Amen to all that.

2 weeks ago I found  “Lose a size in 2 weeks” plan and dove right in.  It was tough–6 day/week cardio and alternating strength workouts.  The results are in as of this morning and I have lost ***drumroll please*** 1 pound!  1.  One.  Yep…1.   Now, I know that the pounds on the scale are NOT the end all when we are talking about getting fit….”muscle weighs more than fat, blah blah”.  I measure myself regularly too, and I did lose almost a whole inch in my hips, so that’s good….nothing anywhere else, except maybe my fingers—my wedding ring is annoyingly loose now.

Next week, I’m sure I’ll be on to something new–I already have some ideas in mind.  More and more I’m believing that “exercise” has become a lifestyle habit, and not just something I do for a little while like in the past.  But, I’m always on guard for the waning interest that has been the norm in the past…

I’m one of those people who you can read like a book. If I’m happy, you’ll know it. If I’m confused, it’s written all over my face. If I’m mad, oh yeah, you’ll know it. That’s a good thing, right? I’m true. I’m real. I’m authentic. I’m transparent.

But I think it’s not always good. I know that sometimes when I’m angry–just for illustration purposes, let’s say I’m mad at my teenaged son–it does NOT help the situation for me to show anger. It communicates disapproval and disappointment. Which maybe I am, but my feelings are not the issue that needs to be dealt with or focused on. I read this several weeks ago and it stuck with me, even though I’m having trouble putting it into practice.

The anger of a parent confronted with a child’s poor choice shifts the focus from the child’s bad behavior to the parent’s angry response. Replace anger with empathy and see what happens. Responding to disobedience with empathy rather than anger is difficult, but the reward is great.

from Day 3 of the Parenting by Design devo on YouVersion.

Right. Empathy. Right. So….how exactly does that look?!

Mom: Well, hello, son. I see you are 20 minutes later than you said you’d be.

Son: Oh…sorry.

Mom (Option 1): Sorry?!? You’re sorry!?! You better be because I’ve been sitting here waiting and now I’m going to be really tired tomorrow! You bet you’re sorry, because now you’re grounded!!

Mom (Option 2): I can see that. I’m sorry that you couldn’t make it when we asked. Next time you go out you will have to make up that time. You’ll have to come home 20 minutes earlier than normal.

Yeah, I can see that would be a better response for parents who set firm rules and consequences (which we SUCK at). And also I know that…

human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. (James 1:20 NIV)

Now I just have to figure out how to either not be mad–or hide it convincingly. Probably the former is more effective, although more difficult to achieve. Only complete reliance on God can bring about a miracle of this magnitude.

I saw this on pinterest….I joined just for the fitness motivation, but have gotten sucked in beyond that.  But, I do LOVE the “fitness motivation” page.   It has these little sayings–often paired with motivating pictures…like a woman with really flat abs, or a toned back…you get the idea–and it took me a while to realize these are linked to articles about how to look like that.  I also found some great recipes for healthy alternatives like Chocolate Protein Muffins!  I tried these and they are delicious!

“This is not magic.  It’s science.  You get out what you put in”

Amen to that!

But my current favorite…haha!

“The best ab workout is walking; walking away from the kitchen.

I googled “estimate body fat %age” and found that my body fat is “acceptable”, but oh so close to “fitness”!  I know I have ab muscles, but they are still hidden under a little chub.  Dang it, I want to SEE them!!

I need to:  “Find my comfort zone, then leave it!”   and again remember… “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”!!

Only 2 more days on the “Lose 1 size in 2 weeks” program.    I know you can’t wait to hear the results!!

Enough of that. Here’s another glimpse into the mundane, with a splash of … well… ordinary.

First a trip to the gym with Cameron and Abbs.  We are doing a program we found on Pinterest called “Lose a Size in 2 weeks”.  Riiiiight.  Really, I just wanted a change in my exercise routine. And I’m not gonna lie, the thought of losing that last 5 lbs was creeping at the edges of my brain.  I’ll let you know next week if it worked—although it’s probably for people who have more to lose than we do.  If nothing else, we are learning some great core and strength moves to add to our repertoire.  Here we are getting ready to do the “strength training A” exercises (cardio already finished up!).

Cameron and I went back to the zoo to take a few more pictures.  She’s looking for a picture to blow up and hang in her room.  Here’s one I took of the Redbud’s blooming.  It was a gorgeous day and there was hardly anyone at the zoo.  I took a picture of myself again (right before my haircut, of course).

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A quick trip out to Pop’s for a bottle of Pepsi–original glass bottle for Cory’s birthday.  If you’ve never been to Pop’s it’s worth a stop next time you’re in the area.  100′s of different kinds of bottled soda and the best onion rings in the state!  and this really cool landmark–a giant soda bottle–that lights up at night!!  It’s a little ways out of town up route 66, but I like the drive.  I actually left Edmond twice today and I didn’t get lost once–well sort of…but I made it!

Who doesn’t love the fabulous Chick Fil A chargrilled chicken sandwich sans bread for lunch??  Delicious. Delicious protein.