I am blown away today.

We have had an amazing day raising money to bring our boy home.

You will never know how grateful we are that so many would give sooo much to serve

My garage is full of stuff to sell for our adoption yard sale on Saturday.  Everything from clothes to a storm door! You name it, we probably have it!

I am so thankful for our friends who have donated, big and small, to bring our boy home.

Please pray that God would bless our efforts…bring people and help us raise some cash!

Today, I am thankful for time in the morning to go run.

Just me.

Alone.

In the dark.

Listening to worship music.

Praying.

Thinking.

Planning.

Preparing for my day.

I am thankful…..

Today, I am thankful for my parents. They uprooted their lives almost two years ago to be with Kim and I. They pour out their lives for our us and our children. I am so thankful for the life they gave me growing up and am blessed to have them around so much. It is more than childcare…it is their support and encouragement that means so much to Jason and I.

Thanks Mom and Dad….

I was recently asked to write about our family nights for the Cheerios Facebook fan page. I am a big fan of Cheerios and super excited to share about how our family uses our family nights to nourish our children physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Family Nights are a big deal in our house. About a year and a half ago, we decided to be very intentional about spending time together as a family having fun, learning and tying in a characteristic we want to see lived out in their life. With that thought, we began having themed family nights on a regular basis. We have had nights themed around a holiday, like Valentines Day, a sport, like football, a carnival , and even a backwards night! Our entire night, from a healthy menu,  the decor, an activity, a craft and then to a family devotional are centered on our theme! It takes time to research an idea, be creative, get a plan, shop for the night and then to execute it, but we believe that our kids are worth it! I usually start with a theme and work my menu around it, but I have also been inspired by something I have found on sale, or a cute idea I see on a blog! As a family, we have had so much fun and I know that we are building a foundation and creating memories that will last them a lifetime.  As Parker, Emery and Bradley’s mom, they deserve the best I can give them, and this is one tangible way that I know I am instilling in them the values that are at the core of who we are as Christ followers and as a family. Plus, it is a lot of fun!

For our Do It Yourself Night, we had homemade pizzas on the menu. I had a choice of toppings for our individual pizzas and we all assembled our own!

For our dessert, we had chocolate fondue, fruit, rice crispy treats and brownies.

The kids LOVED getting to dip their fruit into the chocolate for a fun DIY dessert!

Of course, we then proceeded to get it all over ourselves and share it with each other!

We had a lot of fun, enjoying our chocolate feast and I didn’t feel bad because they were eating fruit!

You had to move fast because this dessert didn’t last long.

For our activity we made our own clay charm for a necklace.

We used mini cookie cutter to form the shapes and bamboo skewers  to put our initials in our charms!

After our craft, we were able to talk about who is shaping their lives and what influences them. We also talked about how we can be soft clay that is easily shaped by positive influences or hard clay that struggles to learn what is important. Our activity and our menu were easily tied into the message we were wanting to convey to our kids. We had great discussion and I love how our family nights give them a chance to ask questions and talk about things that they are wanting to know or need to share. I highly encourage any intentional time as a family, but we have seen some great benefits to planning a night around a theme to get your kids excited and we are able to teach vital characteristics and values that we feel are essential.

You can find out more about themed family nights at http://familymuscle.com

97 1150 467 Kelly Stewart 36 110 1:07:55 10:47 2:25:22 11:06 Smyrna TN

Those are my stats!! I am so pleased with my finish! I had two goals for running the half. The first was to finish under 2 hours 30 minutes. The second was not to walk, at all. I really had no idea if it was possible to finish under 2 hour 30 minutes, but I had an idea what my pace was on long runs and thought, I might could do it! When we started it was COLD!! 40 degrees to be exact, so dressing for this run became quite the challenge. We were able to throw layers off and they would be donated to local ministries. I was super excited and nervous at the same time! I had loaded up on Olive Garden the night before which I guess it what you are supposed to do, but honestly, not sure it helped.I did take a Muscle Fuel before, though, and I know it helped!

This is me at mile 6. This was my first time seeing my family. I had no idea what a big deal it would be to see them! They gave me such a boost. Jason handed me a SLAM at this point. Next time, I will wait a little longer to take the SLAM.

Kristi at mile 6. Amber left me around mile 3 and Jason and Sully didn’t get to their
spot fast enough to see her!The next time I saw my family was at mile 10. I looked
over and saw them running up a hill to catch me! So cute.

They were waving and yelling for me. Never underestimate how your words and excitement can build someone up…not just while they are racing either!

This is me at mile 10. This was as far as I had ever run. I was at 1 hour 49 minutes.
I thought the next 3 miles would be doable and our training schedule only called
for 10 miles. BIG MISTAKE. I had no idea how hard the last three miles would be.
I was in some pain and ready to be DONE!!I was quoting, “Be strong in the Lord,
run the good race, run and don’t become weary… please Jesus let the next mile
marker be soon!”I felt myself becoming a tad bit emotional at this point. I saw
a crowd of people supporting a foundation that was established in a girl who my
kids wentto school with who had passed away last year…and the tears started.
I was just soaking it all in and so thankful that I had reached this far and
was able to train.

Our race ended in the stadium at MTSU and when I rounded the corner to enter
I was pumped!!! I added a little kick, heard my name, saw Ashley and Marty
videoing me and SURPRISING me at the finish line…..and

CROSSED THE FINISH LINE!!

My official time was 2 hours 25 minutes and 22 seconds!

Can you see me…about to cross??

I promise I am still running at this point!

Taking deep breaths…thanking Jesus for many things in this moment.

Looking for my medal and some water. Need water.

Walking never felt so good…

Seeing my family…

Realizing again,how much I adore my sweet husband and children.

I was full of emotion at this point and so very thankful.
Here are my sweet running buddies…Amber and Kristi. It was totally their idea to do this and I jumped on their bandwagon.

I can honestly say, I am a changed woman
because of this experience. I know it sounds corny and silly, but truly I feel differently about so many things after running this half marathon.

I learned about being disciplined.

I reminded myself what it feels like to deny myself daily.

I accomplished something that was very difficult.

I tried something hard.

I set a goal for myself, for me, not my family, my friends or my children, but for me.

I remembered how much I love Jesus and spending time alone with Him.

I discovered I love to run.

I know I can do ALL things THROUGH HIM, who gives me STRENGTH.

My sweet, supportive family…

Yesterday, I felt complete joy.

Today is a big day for Jason and me. It isn’t the anniversary of the day we met (not that we remember that day since we were 11) or of our first day, but memorable it is. Let me share why.

On August 1, two months ago, Jason began a program called the 24 Day Challenge through a company called Advocare. We had some friends who had participated and had seen amazing results. The 24 Day Challenge is a nutritional program that consists of vitamins and supplements which are designed to aid in energy, weight loss and core nutrition.  We did a lot of research because we are very skeptical of anything that sounds too good to be true!  We learned that the products were created by a reputable nutritional board, is based on Christian values and had some heavy duty endorsers.  Jason decided to give it a try. We cut out sugars, breads and dairy and he was exercising 3-5 days a week with P90x. We have eaten a lot of veggies, fish, chicken and salads! I have even cut WAY back on the diet coke!

After 24 days, Jason had lost 14 pounds and 3.5% body fat.
As of today, he has lost 26 pounds and 6% total body fat.

My man has worked hard and I am so proud of him!

As for me, I have shared that I am training for a half marathon. That is 13.1 miles or 23,056 yards or 69,168 feet. I have always been active and exercised, but have always disliked running. I mean REALLY not been a fan of the whole logging miles in anything except my car. BUT, I was ready to be challenged and accomplish something that I knew was hard for me. So I decided to do it. I have been training for 12 weeks and have ran 3 to 4 times a week with some cardio thrown in.  I have used some Advocare products from their performance line called Muscle Fuel and also their energy drinks SLAM and Spark.  On my long runs they have made a HUGE difference. So why is today such a big deal.

I ran 10 miles today.

One of the greatest outcomes in all of this has been the fact that Jason and I have developed a little bit of discipline In our lives. We are learning the beauty of telling ourselves no. We are getting up at 5am Monday through Friday to exercise. We have always been night owls and struggled to get up early even though we have desired to be more disciplined in our schedule. Let me say, I am loving the early morning runs. It is still dark, but I crank the worship music and have such a sweet time of prayer and worship while running!  Don’t get me wrong some mornings are HARD, but I am choosing to say no to myself and my bed! I also am thankful to have it done and don’t have to think about it during the day.

This has been such a journey and I am so thankful at what God is teaching, leading and showing us.  How are you being challenged?

This video has stayed with me for two days now…I think it will stick with you too.

LifePoint is partnering with Drawn From Water to begin planting churches in these villages and help in the orphanage. Please consider sponsoring one of these precious children.

Head on over to Family Muscle to win a Family Night Giveaway!!

We are giving away a family night in a box….check it out!

About a month ago, I began training for a half marathon.  I am a fairly regular exerciser. Jason and I did p90x last year and then through last Fall and Spring, I did the pre-cursor to P90, Power 90. They are shorter and I didn’t want to invest an hour a day into exercising! I have never been a runner….ever. I had ran some before we had kids, but since then, nothing consistent. I always seemed to hit the 25 minute mark, and would be either, so bored I was ready to stop at any cost, or so in pain, I just wanted it to end!

Needless to say, I was ready for a challenge. So, when two friends, asked me to train for a 5k, a 10k and then the Half, I was ready to go!

We started really slow. To keep up with how many miles I am running, I am going to post my runs, here.

Week #1 (July 13- July 17)

Monday- Didn’t start yet

Tuesday- 1/2 mile

Wednesday- 1 mile

Thursday- Rest

Friday- 30 minutes of cardio

Saturday- 2 miles

Week #2 (July 18-July 24)

Sunday- Stretch and Strengthen

Monday- 1.5 miles

Tuesday- 1 mile

Wednesday- 2 miles

Thursday- Rest

Friday- 30 minutes of cardio

Saturday- 2.75 miles (supposed to do 3, but it was super hot)

Week #3 (July 25-July 31)

Sunday- Stretch and Strengthen

Monday- 2 miles

Tuesday- 1 miles

Wednesday- 2 miles

Thursday- 3 miles

Friday- 2 miles

Saturday- Lake/Traveling

Week 4 (August 1-August 7)

Sunday- Stretch and Strengthen

Monday- 3 miles

Tuesday- 1 miles

Wednesday- 2 miles

Thursday- rest

Friday- 1 mile

Saturday- My first 5K!!

Week 5 (August 8-14)

Sunday- Stretch and Strengthen

Monday- 3 miles

Tuesday- p90x (Plyometrics)

Wednesday- 3 miles

Thursday- rest

Friday- cardio

Saturday- 4 miles

Week 6 (August 15-21)

Sunday- p90x (core synergistics)

Monday- 3.5 miles

Tuesday- p90x (plyometrics)

Wednesday- 3.5 miles

Thursday- cardio

Friday- Cardio

Saturday- rest (moved run to Sunday- Jason out of town)

Week 7 (August 22-28)

Sunday- 5 miles

Monday- Strength (p90x Chest and Arms)

Tuesday- 3.5 miles

Wednesday- 2 miles

Thursday- 3.5 miles

Friday- rest

Saturday- 5 miles

I am by no means fast, but I am beginning to really like running. I like that training has forced me to be disciplined. I am taking some products from Advocare to give me energy on my long runs and it so makes a difference. I am also watching what I eat and just enjoying the challenge.