do it
thursday morning of our TA staff retreat i woke up tired and not motivated to run. so i stayed in bed.
that's not a very kaci thing to do.
then i went to breakfast. it was fun. we do a pancake breakfast as a staff. but we aren't allowed to do ANYTHING for ourselves. so we have to constantly be thinking of others. it's SO interesting/fun/and eye-opening. it is one of my favorite things we do.
it's even more interesting when it comes to me...haha b/c i LOVE my bfast and don't want it messed with. so the sweet staff has to pay "extra" attention to me and make my toast, defrost my yogurt if its still too frozen (i freeze it at least an hour before i eat it), i drink a lot of coffee and finish out with a rice cake with peanut butter. no worries though....Leah Carr knows me well :)
i also snacked on (aka - INHALED A LOT) some delicious homemade trail mix from jessica stephens...almonds, sugar-free chocolate chips and raisins. it was like crack.
not a very kaci thing to do.
after bfast a couple girls wanted to do a Pure Barre dvd. i skipped that mess and went to the beach.
again, not a very kaci thing to do.
i got myself settled with most of me outside of the big TA tent except for my face. i hate a sweaty face! i just relaxed and enjoyed listening to one of my favorite sounds...the ocean :)
a few hours later i went up for lunch. i grabbed a bunch of hummus and pita chips, fruit and a huge plate of salad with turkey and other yummy toppings.
i went back in and killed more hummus with pretzel chips after finishing my first round of food.
i ate a bite (or more) of basically everything on the counter.
then i headed back down to lay out. i told the Lord that i wanted to live in that freedom to not worry with exercise and/or food.
do you know what He said? "Do it."
as plain as day i knew He was saying...don't hope/wish just DO.
and i'm here to report that i have successfully been DOING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
went to disney world last week and never once set an alarm to exercise. or worried about meals or what i ate.
i simply ate what i enjoyed, tried bites of things i knew would hurt if i ate more than a bite ha and lived in FREEDOM.
i know i talk about this stuff more often than people want to hear. BUT i had to share that i am DOING it.
jay reminds me often that "obeying God" is life. it truly is.
so living in HIS FREEDOM allowed me to....
- love EVERY minute of time with my family without being focused on myself. amen, amen and amen.
- laugh, rest, breath, let go of control and fear
- feel His presence
- be completely engaged in family
- set my mind free to REALLY listen to and get to know my nieces. i got to learn about their fears/joys, etc. i learned about their friends at school as well as their challenges. i got to share with them what middle school (we called it jr high!) was like for me and how the things that seemed SOOOOOO important then do not matter to me at all.
- those girls and vasa are absolutely precious. i pray that they continue to keep Christ FIRST. the things of this world...popularity, clout, sin, jealousy, "being cool" just do NOT compare to Christ.
- it allowed me to live my life instead of feel like i'm watching it go by when i wish i was experiencing it
- it allowed me to really see Gs facial expressions, watch his eyes light up with joy, hear his sweet words of excitement
- it helped me slow down and laugh with my brother and claire
- it freed me to cherish every minute with my mom and dad. no matter what we were doing! sitting by the pool, having a nice supper, shopping at the ridiculously overpriced stores, playing phase 10, riding down huge slides at the pool, etc. every moment a precious memory!
other fun disney moments:
- we stopped for potty/snack break in tifton sunday. my mom told my dad she wanted a "mocha" and G said excitedly...i want a moca-cycle too!
- we stopped in gainesville to spend the night. we ate delicious meals at cracker barrel and then headed to our rooms and attempted to sleep even though it felt like christmas eve.
- we hit up epcot first thing after checking into our rooms. too fun! mimi laughing/screaming on soaring was hilarious. we ate in italy. needless to say that was yummy.
- tuesday we went to animal kingdom. y'all know how much i love animals. so whatever.
BUT we did ride the mt everest ride with the "eddie" as vasa referred to it (yeti)
and NO LIE y'all...it straight broke down. we had to be evacuated. it was hilarious. we were on the part where you are going straight up towards the "broken track" which stops and you go backwards...
well, our track wasn't just pretend broken. that mess was jacked up! we had to sit there in the hot sun while they let every other group off then they came to us at the HIGHEST POINT on the ride! TOO FUNNY.
we got to go behind the scenes, ha. we were all up in that ride. it was cool to see all the inside parts!
they gave us a free ice cold water and a fast pass to do it again. which we did :)
that night we ate at an african buffet........YUUUUMMMMMMM and then danced for at least 30 mins straight outside of the restaurant with the fun band. TOO MUCH FUN.
wed & thurs we went to the magic kingdom which was much more G proof :) he loved it.
wed we went swimming. the girls straight gave me swimming lessons. so i learned to swim laps! we did slide down the super big fun slide. you could hear my mom laughing from top to bottom. the girls also won the disney trivia contest going on at the pool.
that night we went to supper with my parents and josh picked up takeout from downtown disney for his crew.
thursday we did magic kingdom again and had supper at downtown disney. too fun.
josh took his girls swimming that night. we all went to sleep asap in our condo!
we finished our trip with friday morning breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe. YUM. that.coffee.is.like.crack.
such a fun trip.
we rode home separately from the dunlap 7. we stopped and ate delicious bbq in tifton (as if we were hungry!)
coming home was bittersweet. i kept wanting my family to be just across the hall! felt that way sunday too. seeing them at church it just felt like we should all leave together listening to the dunlap kids fight over who gets to ride where :)
i love my family. i do not take them for granted. what a great life.
what a GREAT GOD we serve. He's so intimate, so real, so loving, forgiving, tender and merciful.
i am so thankful to be where i am. i am so thankful that He never gave up on me.
i am thankful for His quiet whisper in my heart on may 22 that solidified my life of freedom.
that's not a very kaci thing to do.
then i went to breakfast. it was fun. we do a pancake breakfast as a staff. but we aren't allowed to do ANYTHING for ourselves. so we have to constantly be thinking of others. it's SO interesting/fun/and eye-opening. it is one of my favorite things we do.
it's even more interesting when it comes to me...haha b/c i LOVE my bfast and don't want it messed with. so the sweet staff has to pay "extra" attention to me and make my toast, defrost my yogurt if its still too frozen (i freeze it at least an hour before i eat it), i drink a lot of coffee and finish out with a rice cake with peanut butter. no worries though....Leah Carr knows me well :)
i also snacked on (aka - INHALED A LOT) some delicious homemade trail mix from jessica stephens...almonds, sugar-free chocolate chips and raisins. it was like crack.
not a very kaci thing to do.
after bfast a couple girls wanted to do a Pure Barre dvd. i skipped that mess and went to the beach.
again, not a very kaci thing to do.
i got myself settled with most of me outside of the big TA tent except for my face. i hate a sweaty face! i just relaxed and enjoyed listening to one of my favorite sounds...the ocean :)
a few hours later i went up for lunch. i grabbed a bunch of hummus and pita chips, fruit and a huge plate of salad with turkey and other yummy toppings.
i went back in and killed more hummus with pretzel chips after finishing my first round of food.
i ate a bite (or more) of basically everything on the counter.
then i headed back down to lay out. i told the Lord that i wanted to live in that freedom to not worry with exercise and/or food.
do you know what He said? "Do it."
as plain as day i knew He was saying...don't hope/wish just DO.
and i'm here to report that i have successfully been DOING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
went to disney world last week and never once set an alarm to exercise. or worried about meals or what i ate.
i simply ate what i enjoyed, tried bites of things i knew would hurt if i ate more than a bite ha and lived in FREEDOM.
i know i talk about this stuff more often than people want to hear. BUT i had to share that i am DOING it.
jay reminds me often that "obeying God" is life. it truly is.
so living in HIS FREEDOM allowed me to....
- love EVERY minute of time with my family without being focused on myself. amen, amen and amen.
- laugh, rest, breath, let go of control and fear
- feel His presence
- be completely engaged in family
- set my mind free to REALLY listen to and get to know my nieces. i got to learn about their fears/joys, etc. i learned about their friends at school as well as their challenges. i got to share with them what middle school (we called it jr high!) was like for me and how the things that seemed SOOOOOO important then do not matter to me at all.
- those girls and vasa are absolutely precious. i pray that they continue to keep Christ FIRST. the things of this world...popularity, clout, sin, jealousy, "being cool" just do NOT compare to Christ.
- it allowed me to live my life instead of feel like i'm watching it go by when i wish i was experiencing it
- it allowed me to really see Gs facial expressions, watch his eyes light up with joy, hear his sweet words of excitement
- it helped me slow down and laugh with my brother and claire
- it freed me to cherish every minute with my mom and dad. no matter what we were doing! sitting by the pool, having a nice supper, shopping at the ridiculously overpriced stores, playing phase 10, riding down huge slides at the pool, etc. every moment a precious memory!
other fun disney moments:
- we stopped for potty/snack break in tifton sunday. my mom told my dad she wanted a "mocha" and G said excitedly...i want a moca-cycle too!
- we stopped in gainesville to spend the night. we ate delicious meals at cracker barrel and then headed to our rooms and attempted to sleep even though it felt like christmas eve.
- we hit up epcot first thing after checking into our rooms. too fun! mimi laughing/screaming on soaring was hilarious. we ate in italy. needless to say that was yummy.
- tuesday we went to animal kingdom. y'all know how much i love animals. so whatever.
BUT we did ride the mt everest ride with the "eddie" as vasa referred to it (yeti)
and NO LIE y'all...it straight broke down. we had to be evacuated. it was hilarious. we were on the part where you are going straight up towards the "broken track" which stops and you go backwards...
well, our track wasn't just pretend broken. that mess was jacked up! we had to sit there in the hot sun while they let every other group off then they came to us at the HIGHEST POINT on the ride! TOO FUNNY.
we got to go behind the scenes, ha. we were all up in that ride. it was cool to see all the inside parts!
they gave us a free ice cold water and a fast pass to do it again. which we did :)
that night we ate at an african buffet........YUUUUMMMMMMM and then danced for at least 30 mins straight outside of the restaurant with the fun band. TOO MUCH FUN.
wed & thurs we went to the magic kingdom which was much more G proof :) he loved it.
wed we went swimming. the girls straight gave me swimming lessons. so i learned to swim laps! we did slide down the super big fun slide. you could hear my mom laughing from top to bottom. the girls also won the disney trivia contest going on at the pool.
that night we went to supper with my parents and josh picked up takeout from downtown disney for his crew.
thursday we did magic kingdom again and had supper at downtown disney. too fun.
josh took his girls swimming that night. we all went to sleep asap in our condo!
we finished our trip with friday morning breakfast at the Grand Floridian Cafe. YUM. that.coffee.is.like.crack.
such a fun trip.
we rode home separately from the dunlap 7. we stopped and ate delicious bbq in tifton (as if we were hungry!)
coming home was bittersweet. i kept wanting my family to be just across the hall! felt that way sunday too. seeing them at church it just felt like we should all leave together listening to the dunlap kids fight over who gets to ride where :)
i love my family. i do not take them for granted. what a great life.
what a GREAT GOD we serve. He's so intimate, so real, so loving, forgiving, tender and merciful.
i am so thankful to be where i am. i am so thankful that He never gave up on me.
i am thankful for His quiet whisper in my heart on may 22 that solidified my life of freedom.
Comments
Post a Comment