Hey! It’s me, the long-lost blogger. I have been living life (having both ups and downs) and I do have some positive things to share with you.

As of 1st of July, I am now the Cradle Roll Teacher at Scenic Hills Seventh-Day Adventist Church (with several assistants). I am very thankful for all the support and love freely shared so that the Cradle Roll class can be successful. The room is looking better and better with each passing week, which I’m grateful for. We have wonderful mommies and daddies and children in our class and we are learning about being outdoors and the different roles that Jesus gave to bugs and flowers and clouds and the sun.

Also, my daughter will be turning 3 soon and my baby boy will be 2 so we are thinking of enrolling Hannah into the Adventurer Club at Scenic Hills (similar to boy scouts or girl scouts).

My husband is allowing me to grow a garden and I have some beautiful plants and Jesus is blessing our garden so that in addition to returning tithe as He commanded, we will also be able to share our blessings.  Some of our produce that we have harvested from our garden are 3 tiny corns, 5 small tomatoes, 1 bell pepper, a handful of banana peppers, basil, cucumber, and french sorrel (its fancy lettuce leaves). We also have had the pleasure of harvesting greek oregano, garlic chives, lemon thyme, rosemary and a mixture of spearmint with peppermint as well as a few string beans. Every time I turn our or look in a magazine I think I need a new plant to add to my garden, but lately after doing some research regarding the food sold in stores and certain farmer’s markets, now I would like to start my garden from seeds. Especially seeds that are non-GMO and organic and especially are not associated with Monsanto. I can’t wait to expand the garden further, but in the meantime I’ll smile and talk to our plants to encourage them to grow bigger.

Today was a scary day. I had a dental appointment and I do not like visiting the dentist. The sounds of the suction and the tool to scrape the tartar off the teeth — ooh just sends chills down my back. The lighting tends to make my eyes tired (even with sunglasses on). However, after forcing myself to sit thru x-rays as well as the cleaning, my teeth look better and feel better. My periodontist is very kind and I feel pretty good about the visit so I’ll be returning for my next appointment versus running as far as possible.

Onward to food; I really like food! I especially like cheese and meat and fruits and veggies and beans and nuts and seeds. However, most of you who know me know that I eliminated meat from my diet during my 2nd year of marriage to my wonderful husband. I have been a vegetarian since the winter of 2007. It was really difficult for me and I cried and cried when I made my decision, but I also didn’t want to have anymore cancer be found on my face. I was visiting the dermatologist and he might cut off 4 or 5 questionable moles with each visit. He prescribed several expensive lotions that burned and blistered my skin and I was done with that treatment within 2 weeks. I did some research and learned that thru a vegetarian or vegan diet, you could eliminate cancer. Well it was definitely worth a try. I can very happily say that I no longer have skin cancer and my skin is getting healthier with each passing day.

For breakfast I had juice (made with my juicer): 1 head of green leaf lettuce, 1/4 pint of blueberries, 1 peach, and 3 inches of ginger root. After my juice I had a 1/4 cup of cottage cheese and 1 serving of Whole Soy Lemon Yogurt. I also took some supplements: a multivitamin, Echinacea, yellow dock, and vitamin E.

I had a snack of popcorn (extra butter, not healthy at all) with Louisiana hot sauce — yummy combination! Then I made a sandwich with white squash, banana peppers and soy chorizo (fake sausage) and mayonnaise on toasted whole wheat bread.

I am thrilled to end this post (at least for now… I might add or update later) saying that my current weight is 129 pounds. Look forward to sharing more. By the way, I added the post below because it’s amazing how much plastic surrounds our food and while I was cooking my soy chorizo, I had to pull it out of a plastic casing. YUCK. I might need to look for alternative “meat”.

http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Plasticizers/Out-Of-Diet-PG5nov03.htm

My goal now is mainly to improve the overall health of my family with juicing and attempting a vegan diet. Encouraging my babies in the garden, encouraging their ability to speak Spanish and Sign Language. As for the juicing, I have learned that drinking fruit first in the morning speeds up your metabolism and eating/drinking ginger can speed up your metabolism by 2 percent. That’s huge! So I’ve been juicing fruit and ginger the last couple of days and I feel great! My husband can tell that I am losing inches around my waist. I feel better and my clothes are starting to feel better on me.

I am trying to purchase all my produce needs at local Farmer’s Markets, especially since I learned that Wal-Mart will be selling  GMO (genetically modified organism) corn that has B.T. toxin in it. B.T. toxin ruptured the stomach of rats when they were given the corn to eat. You might say humans are not rats and therefore it shouldn’t matter, but then you need to pay attention to the number of pregnant or nursing women that shop at Wal-Mart for their produce. Then you read the article that states these women have been tested and have shown poisonous levels of B.T. toxin in their blood. NO THANK YOU! I will spend the extra few dollars to shop at HEB or at the Farmer’s Market.

Also I am now with some help going to be leading the newborn to 3 years old in class at Scenic Hills Church. It’s like Sunday school, but we go to church on Saturday, the Sabbath. I am nervous but excited. I have some ideas for the room, but we will see how that goes. I will be visiting the church next week to start decorating the class for the new program and saying “good-bye” to a wonderful teacher. But after 7 years, she deserves a break and needs  some much-needed time for herself. So I have to say “good-bye” for now. I apologize for being absent for such a long while. Lots of changes for happening in a short period of time.

Also, I am using  http://www.mapmyrun.com and http://www.myfitnesspal.com  to count calories and log in  my workouts. If you’d like to connect with me there you can look me up at   “alainawillis”  – Look forward to chatting with you and reading your comments. My weight is currently 132 pounds. Thanks for reading.

Alaina

So God decided to give me three bad sleepers as children, and the snickerdoodle is the worst of the three. The cheesedoodle is the best, by far, and he’s a sleeping champ now. The girls, however . . .

Monday night was a doozy for me. The cheesedoodle, always tired on Mondays, had been woken a little after 6 by his big sister who has been waking around 5:45 for three weeks. At 6:15 Monday evening he climbed into bed and said good night. I didn’t hear a peep from him after that, and what was in my mind was: “6:15 is when he’ll wake tomorrow morning. Oh well, the mackerdoodle will already be up.” and I sighed. By 8:45, when neither of my girls had fallen asleep and both were having their age appropriate levels of mental break down, I completely lost it. I snapped. I couldn’t take it any more. I felt like climbing into my own bed and leaving them to fend for themselves until their father got home from work.

Eventually I found out that the mackerdoodle – extrovert extraordinaire – hasn’t been sleeping because she is lonely, now that she has her own bedroom and no roommate yet. I put her on the couch in the cheesedoodle’s room and within minutes she was snoring. The snickerdoodle still wasn’t having any of it, until Jonathan arrived home an hour and a half early from work and within minutes she was asleep under his influence.

My nerves felt all bunched together. My stomach was churning. I had 90000 things to finish and it was already almost 10 pm.

Jonathan prayed for me, and in that prayer he said, “Our children are an answer to prayer beyond what we had hoped, but even answers to prayers are tainted with sin. . .”

Oh how I needed to hear that. Even an answer to prayer is tainted with sin in this fallen world. The fact that I couldn’t handle being a mama for a moment has no bearing on the fact that my children are a wonderful blessing and I thank the Lord for them. Having a hard evening doesn’t nullify the miracle.

Whatever you’re praying for right now, hear this: when the Lord gives he gives us so much that it boggles the mind and it overwhelms our hearts and our minds. But it will still come to you with the curse of sin in a fallen world. There will be moments that you will want to hand the abundance back to the Lord. That doesn’t change the blessing, it’s just the reality of answered prayer in a fallen world.

God blesses for generations.

When we lived fully sanctified in God, He promises to bless our children.

I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. (Is 44:3)

I will contend with those who contend with you, and your children I will save. (Is 49:25)

All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. (Is 54:13)

My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever, says the Lord. (Is 59:21)

The children of Your servants will live in Your presence; their descendants will be established before You. (Ps 102:28)

When we fail to live and breathe and have our being immersed in the goodness of God, not only do we lose out for ourselves, we lose out for our children. But when we do! How blessed are His blessings. His promises to our generations are filled with peace and safety. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. (Jos 24:15)

If life is miserable, and everything is turning upside down, know that there is always a right side of the world.

Happiness in genuine..

It was challenging to choose just a few songs for each week, and I probably chose more songs that we can get through in the short Sunday School 45 minutes. However, with diverse favorites in our class, I tried to choose songs that would speak to all the members. The uniting theme is our faith and how it speaks to us through music.

On of my favorite hymns is “Standing on the Promises.” An evangelist friend of mine, Mark Purkey, tells the story of his grandmother literally standing on the promises for him. She opened her Bible to Scriptures that promised Mark’s healing and literally stood on them to pray until she felt confirmation in her spirit that her prayers had been answered. Mark credits her prayers as the reason he is here and preaching the Gospel today.

Who of us has not looked for a touchpoint during times of challenge or crisis of faith? I know I have, and many of the people I have ministered to have also reached out for something tangible to connect to. When I was teaching in the jail, I used Mark’s story more than once as I literally stood on the Word to help inmates make a faith connection they could practically use. Some were shocked by the action initially, but many told me that this practice brought them closer to God and more in touch with a personal God who keeps His promises.

I pray that you can find a tangible connection to God for hope and healing when you need it. Perhaps you will find it in the Scriptures or in a faith-filled song. Perhaps you will find it in a children’s story such as “The Lion King” or a “Veggie Tales” movie. Whatever and wherever you find it, my prayers go up that you feel the prayerful support of those of us who minister for God. Leave me a message if you need prayer.

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

• Yesterday, I got an unexpected opportunity to make money.
• I was able to help someone who was in desperate need, this in turn helped others who relied on him.
• I made exactly twice as much as the day before.
• I had fun doing it – it didn’t feel like work.
• I got a free meal out of it.
• Made some new contacts.

On the other hand, it was a very relaxing day and I was not very productive at all, but everyone is entitled to a nonproductive day, right?

Today’s numbers: weight 130 pounds, 20 min 5 sec, 2.6 laps, 124 calories burned, 1.8 miles per hour, and 0.66 miles. I guess I could have forced myself to complete the 2nd lap, but I’m so tired and I just didn’t want to. So it’s off to the shower and to bed. Take care everyone.

Initially titled this blog entry as “confession” because I do have a confession to make. I started writing this blog on Sunday and I’m not sure where the fatigue is coming from, but I am super worn out. Lately all I want to do is sleep and when I force myself to exercise I am basically just counting the minutes until I can get off of the elliptical… it’s not fun right now and I’m not sure why. During my first week of exercise, I had some of these similar feelings, but they were much stronger. I am mildly annoyed and discouraged… the elliptical is a nuisance to me right now versus being my friend. I think I told my husband last night that it was a “friendly enemy”. Anyways, with my home schedule and work schedule and now church schedule changing, my husband thinks I was just worn out and over exhausted. He told me on Friday night that I when he was deployed 3 years ago, he would only take 1 day off per week from exercising which would be Sabbath. Sabbath, being the day of rest, makes sense to take a break from work and workouts.  Some of my Facebook acquaintances have also said I should take a day off to allow my muscles to relax. I was nervous about it; I thought it would feel so great that I would start using it to excuse myself from exercising any other day of the week, but surprisingly not. Surprisingly I felt somewhat guilty for not giving the elliptical something to do.

So to update you, I did use the elliptical Friday night and while I was listening to Christian Music on Pandora and exercising, I felt God tell me to relax for Sabbath, so I did. I completed 22 minutes and then Sunday morning 20 minutes completed = 0.54 miles, 2.1 laps, 101 calories burned, and 1.5 miles  per hour (speed). Wow, what a difference a day of rest will do for you. Last Wednesday and Thursday (work days), my average speed on the elliptical was 1.2 to 1.4 miles per hour. I could not force myself to go any faster and it was torture to keep myself moving, but I did. Sunday, my speed was 1.5 miles per hour and now tonight’s speed was 1.8 miles per hour – YAY!

So that will end my Sunday, which was Mother’s Day — Happy Mother’s Day to my readers who are moms. Sorry, it’s late, but hope you had a blessed day.

Now I have to admit I have not exercised just yet, however my weight this morning is 130 pounds. I noticed the other day that when I put on some Capri pants that usually don’t sit very well, they actually fit better. That’s encouraging! I have also been told my face is slimming down so I will definitely continue on my journey. I’m debating on what I should eat for breakfast. I think I’m gonna make juice this morning, but I have to go thru the refrigerator and see what we have. I’m thinking orange mango juice for breakfast, that sounds quite delicious. I started making my juice  and then I decided to add tangelos and spinach. I know that probably sounds really strange, but it was super delicious!

After breakfast it was story time, but I realized that my hubby took the car seats with him to work this morning in his car… this became a predicament since I had just gotten the babies dressed and told them we were going to story time at the library. Hmm… the only other way to get to the library would be to walk…

Now was I dressed to go for a long walk, nope! I had on t-shirt and shorts, but for shoes I had chosen to wear flip-flops. Hannah and Garrett were dressed, but not to walk that far either. So I put Garrett in the double stroller and at first Hannah insisted on walking, but later decided to ride in the stroller and off we went. I clocked the library from our house and it was 2.5 miles approximately 50 minutes if you were to walk. I think I forgot to look at the time frame which is probably a good thing because I probably wouldn’t have kept walking. I walked and walked and walked up hills and down hills (oh my…. tortuous), my whole backside from my waist down was burning going up each hill. I felt ok going down the hill, but just when I thought I should give up we were able to see the library. We arrived at 11:45am (boo! 15 minutes after Story Time had ended), however we played on the computers and read books and colored and played puzzles. Then after about an hour of playing at the library, we started the walk back home. At first I  thought, wow, this is easier, but then the hills started and oh I wanted to stop and ask for a ride… we don’t live that far … we could have gotten a ride…right? Well I guess the crazy part of me decided that I wasn’t going to give up, so we walked the 2.5 miles back to the house. The last major hill for me to climb pushing the stroller was on Dreamland and oh ugh me oh my, I wanted to stop and leave the stroller there… but my babies had fallen asleep and we were all very thirsty so I was determined to fight my way up this hill. Oh I think I can… I think I can… YES!!! I CAN! I made it up the hill and brought the babies inside the house. They are drinking juice and eating oranges and relaxing right now and I’m downing large cups of water. I think I’ve had 20 ounces already. So I’m crazy, but I don’t think I’m insane just yet… I thinking I completed my exercise today, which means today would be the first day in 19 days that I don’t use the elliptical… oh no!  Well, maybe after a nap I’ll get on the elliptical ….I don’t know, today was a total of 5.0 miles and 1 hour and 40 minutes of walking up and down hills pushing a double stroller which is about 25 pounds and  2 babies approximately 30 pounds a piece. I’m curious as to what you would do, wait till tomorrow to work on the elliptical or exercise later today on the elliptical??? Let me know what you think.

Also I have to say “thank you” to Jesus. Without Jesus inspiring me and motivating me, I definitely would not have tried to walk to the library. Jesus continues to answer my prayers to improve myself and I am seeing that He is making improvements on me mentally. I have been pretty kind today in general, sometimes after working all day Sunday I tend to be “snappy”… but not today so far. Thank you Jesus and my babies are happier to be with me today. I’m very glad and blessed to be able to spend the day with them. Look forward to talking with you more, but now I need to feed this hungry body.

. I finished 20 minutes and 30 seconds = 0.56 miles, 2.2 laps, 104 calories burned, 1.4 speed (miles per hour) around 07:45am. My weight this morning is 130 pounds. I feel tons better compared to yesterday after some much needed rest.

Now to get ready for church and spend time with Jesus and my family. We arrived at church and the babies had so much fun in cradle roll. Then we went to church service and after church we ate lunch and took a much needed nap. I think Randy and I got almost an hour of sleep, we were both very thankful for this.

Then we had a lovely dinner at Mermer and Opa’s house. Now it’s time for sleep to start a brand new week… So glad we were able to rest on Sabbath. Have a great evening and a wonderful Sunday… Talk to you later.

Today I wanted to try to get to 25 minutes, but it wasn’t going to work out since I was exercising in front of my babies. I have gotten better about exercising around them and they are starting to realize that mommy really needs this time so they are much more patient than in the past.

So today’s numbers are 20 minutes even = 0.59 miles, 2.3 laps, 1.6 speed, 110 calories burned, weight is 132 pounds. I wonder if my weight is associated with eating a late dinner. I don’t have much of an appetite and I really don’t have the energy to cook or prepare food. I read story books to my babies and we all fell asleep together. It was about 3:30pm when nap time ended and yet I still feel tired…

It’s time for bed, happy Sabbath

I’ve been asked to be a teacher and in some ways I’m excited, however I don’t like being in front of others speaking…. I even get nervous around babies and small children. Isn’t it peculiar that God will ask you to be in a position that is immediately out of your comfort zone? In my mind, I understand that He is asking that we depend on Him for strength to complete the new task/challenge set before us…. but sometimes/most of the times, we don’t want to leave our nice comfortable space. I did speak with Randy regarding the new position and he started laughing and states they have been trying to recruit you to that position ever since you started taking the babies to cradle roll. So this morning we prayed about it and this afternoon I will need to pray some more…

My occupation, as some of you know is hospice nursing which has definitely taken me out of my comfort zone and in some ways has made me question my nursing knowledge and the confidence I have as a nurse. I am always asking that Jesus give me strength before traveling to a patient’s home or facility to visit and check on the patient. The heart palpitations and the stomach uneasiness start the minute I walk into the office to find out what my assignment will be. Most of the time when I am traveling to a home, yes even with GPS, I will get lost and therefore end up probably 10 or 15 minutes out of my way from the location. UGH! Frustrating! At these times I will start praying again and ask Jesus why I had to get lost and now the family and quite possibly the patient are still awake waiting for me… He always manages to calm me down and get me to the destination. When I’m leaving the home after a long visit, sometimes I will get turned around on my way back to the office, however sometimes I’m “supposed” to get turned around. This happened to me last night and instead I ended up thanking Jesus for allowing me to be a tool to bless someone else.

Anyways, I know I’ve told some of you, my new friends, that exercising would be extremely difficult to keep up while working my day shifts and night shifts, but I am quite surprised to tell you that I have still exercised… my only regret is that I have unfortunately skipped a few days of reading one chapter each day in the Bible. So I am getting ready to take a break from this new post… it’s 09:30am CST and I am going to exercise. Did another 20 minutes and 30 seconds on the elliptical = 0.59 miles, 2.3 laps. 109 calories burned, and my speed averaged between 1.5 and 1.6 miles per hour… Yay! I’ve noticed my slacks that I wear for work are easier to put on… Still not as flattering as when I first purchased them, but they are improving for sure.
So very tired…but I’m happy to inform you that I have exercised for 15 days in a row (haven’t missed a single day).

I’ve also noticed I don’t feel as hungry all the time. I used to snack all the time, but I feel satisfied for longer periods of time and I am trying to drink more water to help with flushing the toxins out of my body. I’m curious how you feel about vitamins… I am finishing off a bottle, but I don’t believe I’ll be purchasing anymore since I want to obtain the nutrients from my diet …besides thAt, it saves money and makes less clutter in the medication cabinet.

Sleep well everyone, it’s now Friday morning…

Today, as you can see started early with this one liner that I wrote before I made myself go to bed. Unfortunately I made a couple of mistakes last evening and I’m hoping I will not be repeating those mistakes in the future. This morning I felt ok considering my restless sleep and I did exercise, but when I typed in my numbers for the blog, I apparently never saved the information. So I am going to approximate for you. What I know for sure is that I completed 20 minutes and 30 seconds = which is approximately 0.53 miles, for sure 2.2 laps, approximately 103 calories burned, and for sure a speed 1.5 miles per hour. I’ll make sure to hit the save button since this is a journey for both of us. I also realized I never weighed myself today…. hmmm… maybe tomorrow will be a smoother day. Well I did weigh myself while getting ready for work, I am 130 pounds.

I went to work from 5pm to 1:45am and I am home now and realized that i havent been reading my chapter a day in the Bible. I think my mood has gotten panicky and stressed because of it so I will need to read today 5-3-12. Also I have one more work shift and then I’ll be off Friday and Saturday… So I’m gonna sleep for now…

My apologies, so here are my numbers for today 20 minutes 10 seconds = 96 calories burned, 0.51 miles, 2.0 laps, and 1.4 miles per hour. My weight today is 132 pounds. I felt so tired while exercising, but my husband instructed me to keep pushing myself and it will get easier. He told me I should be making 20 minutes my new low number of minutes on the elliptical. Well sometimes i feel great pushing myself and other days I feel beat like my body had no chance to recover.

So on Saturday, I woke up to exercise… My new habit which is daily. After exercising, I showered and juiced carrots and then used to pulp to make really tasty pancakes! My whole family liked them. We went hiking as a family, came home to nap and then had a wonderful dinner… Randy also bought me a new juicer, so we drank cantaloupe pear mango juice, it was so yummy.

Sunday morning, bright and early I woke up and exercised… I’m very thankful that I pray and ask Jesus to wake me up to exercise, I listen to a Christian radio station on pandora on my cell phone and just keep my arms and legs moving for 15 to 20 minutes…. Rarely longer. After exercise I worked from 7am till 3pm and then I went to a beautiful tea party at Scenic Hills Church. Boy was I tired when I came home last night…and then there was much needed sleep. Thank you for reading. I’ll make sure to start earlier tomorrow.

This is what many of us don’t want to hear in the body of Christ. This very words has driven many people from church because some of us only want to recieve without first giving and it does’nt work like that. Brethren, the truth must be said and we have to better start accepting it or we reject the blessing of God. If we are Christ’s ambassador, we have to obey His commands whether we like it or not. Christ has shown us that He is a good friend and we will not always hear what we like from a good friend. The advise of a good friend is always very hard for us to take. We think he is not giving us a good advise but sooner or later we will always see and have the impact of that good advise we’ve tried to reject and we will come back to say thank you for the advise.

The scripture says that ”For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edge sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” - Hebrews 4 : 12 No matter how inconvenient that advice might be to your friend, if  you really love him, you will always give him that good advise that is expected from you. Tithe is a seed and what is a seed? According to the dictionary meaning of a seed, it says that ”it is the fertilized ripened ovule of a flowering plant containing an embryo and capable normally of germination to produce a new plant” From this explanation, it has the capability of producing a plant and as we know, a plant will in turn produce many seed which will in turn bring many more plants that is how tithe works. Without sowing, some people want to only be at the recieving end which is not possible. To harvest, we have to first and foremost plant.

He promised that He will open the windows of heaven and pour out His blessing on us and moreso, He will rebuke the devourer for our sake, so that he will not destroy the fruit of our ground. Whom are we if not for His love and the sacrifice Jesus Christ has sacrificed for us that gave us the qualification for this great blessing? Why then can’t we approach the tone Grace by obeying His command which He has given us the capacity and strength which we need to obey this command. I believe it is high time we obey God’s instructions with ultmost seriousness if we want to have an impact of God’s presence in our lifes. There is nothing He cannot giveand there is nothing He cannot do if we are ready to honor Him. He said forever, His word is settled in heaven. Let’s obey Him and we will see open heaven as He has promised not only in finance but rather in all area of our lifes.