Summer, Laundry, and the OMG Class

Wow.  No other words come to mind as I look back on the last five weeks...except maybe boot camp.  I can see why this class earned the nickname "the OMG class" - oh my goodness how did I make it through that class?

I made it by the grace of God and nothing else.  Thursday I finished the hardest class of my life with my first B ever and officially moved on in the dental hygiene program.  It was brutal.  I shed many tears the past five weeks.  I questioned my sanity and why I decided to do this in the first place.  I was barely keeping my head above water as I attempted to balance work, classes, studying, family and home.  "Home" got the short end of the stick, so on my few days off before fall, I'm going to give it some TLC and catch up on laundry and cleaning.

I'm also looking forward to lots of fun time with my boys.  Thursday night we snuggled up together to watch "Phineus and Ferb. "  Last night we made English muffin pizzas when I got home from work.  Today I'm hoping to squeeze in some geocaching.  They just a couple of more weeks before homeschooling starts anew, so we're going to have some last-minute summer fun while we still can.

Unfortunately my Hello Mornings time and my Hide His Word efforts also got the short end of the stick.  My times were very short.  I feel drained and exhausted mentally spiritually and look forward to spending lots of time in my Ephesians study and my Psalm 143 memorization during the next few days.  I also need to figure out how to make things work better, like my quiet time and my housework plans.  Fall is said to be much easier than summer but I know that none of it will be easy.

Awesome Giveaway - Fit Bands

I have to share the awesome giveaway I discovered over at Work, Wife, Mom, Life! 

Julia is sharing a ministry from a fellow blogger that combines two of my favorite things - fitness and faith.  Fit Bands provide a way for you to memorize or reflect on Scripture while you're working out, running errands, or taking care of your kids during the day. 

I'm really excited about this idea, especially since I'm doing the Hello Mornings challenge.  Me and all of my #hellomornings Twitter friends are working on our goals of spending time in Bible study and exercise each morning - what a perfect tool for both goals!

To enter and to learn more about Fit Bands, go to Julia's blog and check it out. 

Hello Mornings!

Have you ever noticed how much more you can accomplish in a day when you get up early?  I've been making an effort in the past few weeks to get up at the same time every day, and to get up early.  I started the habit when I was in college this past year and needed that early time to squeeze in some studying before I headed to classes and work.  When I finished finals, I started my semester off from school and starting getting up at different times.  I felt awful, so I went back to my old habits.

This past week, I read about the Hello Mornings challenge over at Inspired to Action.  You can click the button below to find out more...



I'm very excited about this challenge!  I think it's going to solidify my commitment to being an early riser, and help me carve out a little more time for exercise, which I haven't been able to add to my morning routine yet.  (I work out three times a week at the gym where I work, but I want to add more cardio at home...to be more specific, more Zumba!)  I love the fact that I'll have accountability partners (via Twitter) to check in with each morning.

My plan is to get up at 5:45 a.m. (eventually 5:30 a.m.), which means that I'll need to be in bed by 10:30 every night.  That's going to be hard for me...I'm a night owl!  I'm also going to gather up what I need each night - Bible and notebook, Scripture commitment book, iPod, etc.  I'll find out who accountability partners are soon.  Finally, I've already picked my songs for my morning worship music: Speak to Me, Lord by Rebecca St. James, Beautiful, Beautiful by Franchesca Batestelli, and Alabaster Box by C.C. Winnans, along with a couple of awesome songs from a church that is part of a ministry in Haiti that we support.

I'm looking forward to what's going to happen in the coming weeks.  Anyone ready to join in with me?