One Mama Gets Fit

Let's just lay this out.  My number one goal for 2016?  Get back to Kenya. Hands down that is my number one priority. Our family needs to be home in a routine.  I'm excited for so many things back in Nairobi.  I'm looking forward to greeting all our friends (ok, not looking forward to certain friends that will have already left the country or will be leaving the country!), meeting new people, going back to my Bible study group (oh ladies!  i have missed you deeply!), hosting folks in our home, and the list could go on and on. For Andrew, I'm excited for him to start school.  I think this kid will ROCK school.  He loves learning and soaks up everything he reads and hears.  Plus, just for him to be around his friends more often will be wonderful.  I know he has missed them so much (looking at you Matt, Jonathan, Emmanuel, Matthew, Joel, Aly, Ezzie, and Larsen)! For Nattie, I'm just so happy for her to have a bit of her own space.  ...

How was your 2015? I have been doing a lot of reflecting on this year - easy to do this time of year - and thinking about my goals and things I have my eyes set on for next year. To be honest, the past couple of days my mind and heart has been heavy at thinking of all the people I have known that have passed away this past year. Husbands, a wife, children...my own grandma.  All I can do is pray for these families that have lost a loved one. This year has been full.  For sure. We started off in Kenya and are closing out the year Stateside. Nattie traveled to the States for the first time. We all visited beautiful Switzerland for a missions conference and were thoroughly thrown off by the sun being out past 11pm. Kyle represented BlueSky and SIM at conferences and traveled to a couple different countries for meetings and trainings. We traveled to 18 different States in the fall while sharing with friends and churches about our work and life in Kenya. Andrew t...

I have gained 8 pounds in one week. Yes, you read that right. If you were with me at my doctor's appointment this morning when I saw that number on the scale - you would have seen me bawl my eyes out. I had another RA appointment today.  My doc wanted to go over how meds have been the first week, review more blood work done (which apparently I need to get used to...2 more rounds of blood work were ordered today), and go over the results of x-rays I had done last week. Diagnosis of RA was even more solidly confirmed today.  He put my level of severity of the disease on a scale of 1-10 at a 6 or 7. He also prescribed more medicine to take in addition to the ones I'm already taking. Swell.  (Yes, that is sarcasm.  Yes, I am using that.  Yes, generally I am against sarcasm.) Cue tears. I started to read a bit more on RA this past week.  I found a blog that I really like on this disease.  I have heard from so many folks that either have this...

I remember having chicken pox as a child. It was the only time growing up that I got to miss church.  I think my sister and I thought it was so amazing that we were still in our pajamas on a Sunday morning. Is chicken pox a disease? (I am no medical person but I'm putting it into that category for the sake of this post.) In Kenya, I have contracted malaria. That's nothing to joke about.  That disease is awful. Besides that, I've been generally healthy my whole life (well, if you exclude being obese.  And what a disease - epidemic that is in our nation.) But, yea, I've generally been able to stay away from doctor's office and hospitals. I am grateful. Since giving birth to Natalie, I've had numerous little things that have popped up that have affected my health. My knees giving me pain where I can't walk up or down stairs normally. Intense amounts of pain in my feet that I can't walk or move or workout or anything like that. I...an...

I'll say this first: I'm writing this from a perspective of receiving medical care overseas (which, of course, is different).  So, with that said... I have been looking forward to having a physical done for a long time.   Strange, yes.   I had a lot of questions about things that have happened to my body over this transformation, I want to know all the details on my numbers from blood work, talk about things I can improve on, etc.   But, nothing.  None of that happened. It was an in and out visit. Where's the getting to know the patient?   I didn't even get a chance to tell them I lost the weight.  Don't you think that would be a key factor in some of the other things going on? No "you're in good health". No "your heart rate is...." No "blood pressure is...."  No "what line of work are you in" No questions about if there's stress in your life. No questions about if I...

Mostly for this blog I wanted to write about nutrition and exercise. This one.  Hmm, maybe not so much. Folks, I am losing my sanity. Since June 19th, we have been living out of suitcases. That's 136 days, friends. A lot of days. I'm not even sure how many different beds we have slept in since we left our home. At each new place we visit, Andrew asks "Is this our new home?" Oh buddy. Andrew and Natalie's favorite game to play is "let's fly to Kenya in a plane". Andrew asks us frequently when we are going to go back home. I answer him with we are praying right after Thanksgiving and then Christmas and then we will be back home. But, what if it's delayed more than that? When we were in Charlotte for a debrief time with our sending organization, we learned we have significant more monthly financial support to raise.  With that, we cannot purchase our plane tickets to return home until we hit 90% of our support needed. So,...

Tomorrow begins my 36th year of life. My 35th year of life has been nothing short of amazing. One year ago on my birthday, my husband and I sat at our favorite little sushi and Korean restaurant in Nairobi and we together declared this year as the "year of me". Ha. Sounds a bit narcissistic, eh? Selfish? At first I was like…this is silly. But it wasn't. Not even in the slightest. In my 35th year of life, I decided it was time to take care of me and learn how to be healthy. I am beyond thankful for my husband who has supported EVERY SINGLE DAY of this past year.  He has encouraged me beyond measure.  Only uplifting and positive words have come from his mouth this entire year.  He pushes me.  Motivates me.  Challenges me.  Tells me how proud he is of me and how much he loves me. I am blessed. Learning about nutrition and how to properly fuel my body has been life-giving.  I am forever indebted to Stephanie Martin (check out her ne...