The last week of September. WHAT?! That's so crazy. I want time to slow down! Either that or come up with a better way for my brain to absorb all the memories I want it to so I can remember all that happens. Well, come Monday, come menu. I worked on it yesterday for a little bit. Nothing fancy happening here this week. It's a pantry week, so I'm workin with what I've got here at home. So, my kids might be a little bored with our meals this week. But, they won't starve! I only planned through Thursday because I'll be able to grocery shop on Friday. Alright, this is what this week looks like... Monday- Potato Soup and Grilled Cheese. I got a mix for the soup, so it'll be a low maintenence meal, which is what I want today! Tuesday- BBQ chicken. I'm going to fix it in the crockpot so I don't have to worry about it. This absolutely nothing fancy- chicken breasts and some BBQ sauce. I don't add the BBQ sauce until closer to the end though because I hate when it scorches on the sides of my crock pot. Wednesday- Church night! So, as usual, we'll have sandwiches. Aaron's been on a bologna kick, so I'm sure that's what his sandwich will be. Mine probably turkey, and the girls PB&J. We keep it real. Thursday- Spaghetti. I'm pretty sure I could fix this twice a week and my kids would scarf it every time. They LOVE spaghetti. And I like it because it's cheap! Win Win, in my opinion! Friday- Not quite sure yet. Friday is my birthday, so maybe I'll fix us something super special. I just don't know what that is yet. :-) I'll be eating lunch out, so it'll have to be something that can stand up to my birthday lunch! Weekend Recap
I'm actually having to think really hard about what happened this weekend. Obviously, it made an impression on me. Oh yeah... Saturday I went and got my license renewed. It was absolutely not as traumatic as I expected it to be. My picture is actually decent. Minus not being able to smile with my teeth and making sure my hair doesn't touch my eyebrows (which is nearly impossible). Yesterday was the 2 yr anniversary of our church. It was nice to be able to worship with our church familiy and celebrate two awesome Spirit filled, Spirit led years. I'm excited to see what the next 2, 5, 20 years look like for us! We started up women's bible study again. And I'm so glad! Man, I missed having time to fellowship with the women from Church. We're doing a study called Seed, by Pricilla Shirer. So far it's been 100% on point, thought provoking, and a great Bible study. Last night we talked about Enough. I won't say much more though, because tomorrow's blog post will be taken from it. I hope that everyone has a great start to the week!
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This is probably the post I've been most excited about catching up with. The difference a month makes! Last Friday I weighed in at exactly 20 lbs down from where I started. This had gotten a little crazy during the month of July and I basically took the whole month off. But, August, I owned. I lost a little over 10 lbs in August and I was able to stick to the goals I'd set for myself. I've set new goals for myself for Sept, and I'll share those in a bit. As you read on Monday, I was able to finish my first ever 5k on Saturday. We had a great time and I look forward to doing it again next year. Although, I'll probably do it with my kids next year and walk it. It was almost impossible for us to run so that wouldn't be my plan. But, I had a friend approach me last week about doing another 5k on Sept 30th. She knew I wanted to do a timed race, and this one is. I agreed and now... off we go! Race #2 in a little over 3 weeks. WHAT?! But I'm actually really glad because it'll keep me on track with my training. Before I even did the 5k on Saturday, I'd decided that I wanted to do the 5k that's part of the Indianapolis Marathon on Oct 20th. Over the last few days, Aaron has decided that he wants to run with me then and for his sake, I think we'll register for the 5k that's part of the Monumental Marathon on Nov 3rd instead. That'll give him another 2 weeks to train. We have friends running in that race as well, just not the 5k. That hasn't been totally decided, so I'll keep you update on that. Ok, onto those Sept goals... I need to drink water. Lots more water! So, goal #1 is to make sure I'm getting at least 65oz of water every day. I want to run more than I walk for the 5k on Sept 30th. My goal right now is to finish in under 50 mins. I need to get my eating back on track. I've held stead at the 20 lbs down this last week so it's time to get into gear and get back to eating good stuff instead of just 1200 calories of bad stuff. My goal is to have fruit or veggies at every meal regardless of what or where I'm eating. My birthday is in 16 days. I'd like to be down 6 lbs in those 16 days. I kow that's a push, but I've done it before and I know I can do it again. Hoping for a good weigh in this week! In this hour, 11 years ago, I was walking into my freshman dorm having just finished my 1st class of the day. I happened to walk in and see the tv in the lobby just as the first tower fell. Immediately, I ran up to my room on the 4th floor not totally understand what this all meant. As I walked past other rooms to reach mine at the end of the hall, I wanted to block out the voices of the newscasters on the tv's I passed. I got in my room, shut the door, and turned the tv on urging my brain to take in the details I was hearing and make sense of it all. I called my dad right away. I remember the first thing I said to him is... What's going on dad? What's happening? As if my dad, being 300 miles away, was going to fix this and get rid of my fear. Only to find him speechless as well.
Once I started to slowly process what was actually happening, my mind jumped back to just 5 months prior when I had the opportunity to take in the sights and sounds of NYC with my senior class. Our class picture was taken on the observation deck of one of the towers. I threw my gum off the roof. (Nobody died by the way) We walked in and out of the stores in the mall level below Tower 1. We ate pizza at a little shop around the corner run by a sweet Italian family. I thought of the security guards and all the people on the elevators and in the lobby. Some people that, unknowningly at the time, only had a few months to live. And in that moment, my grief became very real. I grieved as an American. I grieved as a human. And I grieved as a Christian. I was within inches of some of these people. I felt helpless, wanting to rewind the clock back 5 months and warn them. I wanted to yell and scream at them to run! Get out! Even now, 11 years later, 11 years filled with hurt, fear, loss, anger, change, healing, hope... I still get a lump in my throat thinking about that sweet hispanic lady I chatted with for a brief second as she was sweeping the floor in the mall level. The old Italian man making our pizzas at the pizza place. The cute young blonde girl selling suits at the Bacharach across the street. I don't know what happened to them, and I pray they are living healthy happy lives. But, I know for me, thier faces are forever in my mind and my memory. I will always remember. The 2nd full week of September already! Man, this month is going just as fast as the last. And pretty much all the others before it! We've got lots going on this week, as usual! Or weeks have naturally picked up pace with school starting! I was able to use a lot of what we had in our fridge and freezer for meals this week, which is good as this was pantry week! I only had to pick up a few things from the store, and I had a gift card so I got away with spending nothing! Plus, I had some great coupons! Free eggs with a purchase of $10 or more and $1.50 off any cheese purchase. I got some sliced cheese from the deli, and it was $2.89 before the coupon. $1.39 isn't too bad for about 15 slices of cheese! I only planned through Friday for this week. Alright... Here's the menu: Monday: Eggs, Sausage, and Hashbrown. Breakfast is always one of our favorites and it's easy and cheap! Tuesday: French Onion Burgers. Hamburgers browned on the stove and simmered in french onion soup. Lay a slice of cheese on it right before serving. It basically needs no toppings or condiments! Wednesday: Sandwiches. We eat on the run on Wednesday because of youth group. Ham and Turkey sandwiches it is! Thursday: Pancakes! My girls love pancakes. I figured we could handle breakfast twice in one week! Friday: Pizza. Friday is almost the only day this week we've got nothing happening, so we'll order pizza and have a movie night with the girls. :-) All in all, I spent about $15 for the groceries we needed for this week. Oh man, how do I recap this weekend?! Some of you may not remember, but this last weekend was my first ever 5k race! My friend Sarah came in from Michigan and we ran (well, ran and walked) the Color Me Rad 5k. My goal was to complete it in around 40 mins. Well, there were so many people that it was almost impossible to run. And when we got to each color station where they throw the color on you, we had to stop and wait in line to get through. We completed it in around an hour. I knew it wasn't a timed race, but I didn't realize how congested it was going to be! When we did have a chance to run, it was really hard because our pace had to change constantly because we were weaving in and out of people. I'm looking forward to doing a pretty straight forward race where everyone is running and it's not as crowded. But, with that being said, we had a great time! It was a great first race. The atmosphere was electric and everyone was very excited. After it was over it was cool to look out over the crowd and see the formerly white sea of people that were all covered in color. Here are our before and after pictures.... I look a little bit like an oompa loompa because I had an orange color pack busted right over my head. And I still have a few traces of that tattoo on my arm. :-) We had a great time. I think that maybe next year we'll do it with the girls. There were a lot of kids and they all seemed to be enjoying it. Later that day, we had the opportunity to go downtown Indianapolis with Sarah and her husband. We ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (one of my favorites) and then we spent some time walking around and enjoying the city. Sarah and her husband and never been downtown Indy, and it was a beautiful night. We stopped at The Circle to take some pictures on the Monument. Here is Sarah and I in our matching Color Me Rad shirts... As you can see, the color washed off pretty well. There were still a few traces, but for the most part, we got squeaky clean. We were able to hang with them for another day, and they left after lunch yesterday. We had a great time with them and I hope we can do it again soon!
All in all, it was a great weekend! This week was a big week in the Wainscott house! Emmy started preschool! We've been preparing for this for what's seemed like weeks and the day finally came. We walked into the building with her gigantic backpack and her perfectly packed lunch. I was holding back tears, trying to stay strong, and reminding myself that this step of independence doesn't mean she loves me or needs me any less. We hung her backpack on her hook, I snapped a quick picture then I dropped her at the door and she ran off. I called her back for a kiss. She obliged quickly then ran back to her new fun classroom, full of colorful attention grabbing things.
I know I'm jumping ahead a lot of years and she's got plenty of independence to discover, but I've got no idea how I'm going to pack her up and move her to college. She's in preschool for 4 hours 2 days a week, and I'm not going to lie- there was a hole. Even heading into day #2, I'm still getting a little choked up just typing this. I miss my big girl when she's not here. Yesterday was an off day. She was here with me and heading into the day I was thankful for a day for us to just hang out around the house. And about 2 hours into it, I realized that my 3 yr old was still my 3yr old, just a 3 yr old that goes to preschool. And she pushed every single button I've got. She tried to rechalk every boundary we've ever set. She stubbornly stood her little ground until I'm sure she didn't even remember what she was being stubborn about. And finally, I lost it. I made a mistake. Out of anger, I was too harsh with her and immediately felt that stab of mommy guilt. Of sinners guilt. It's humbling when you have to apologize to a 3 yr old. And it made my hurting heart melt all the more when through tears she said... "It's ok, mommy" and I knew she meant it. I'm so thankful God doesn't deal with me the way that I deal with my kids. I'm sure he would have squashed me like a fly on a windshield by now. And I'm thankful for grace, because without it, I would absolutely have to live with that mommy guilt and pain forever. And I'm thankful for a 3 yr old that is willing to set her little injured heart aside and put blind trust in me again, even though I feel so unworthy of it. Thank you, Lord of the blessing you've given me in my children. I pray that I would seek you constantly and immediately and that your Holy Spirit would interupt my sinful human dealings and frustrations with them. Give me your eyes to see them when I can't see past the *BIG* personalities you've given them. Make me more like you so I can help them be more like you. |
HEY, I'M JESSICA!
Christian. Wife. Mommy. Daughter. Pastor. Friend. Saved.Redeemed. Beloved.
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