Boot Camp!!

I have finally come to that point in losing weight where I better "fish or cut bait" or another not so lady like idiom "@#&$%* or get off the pot". I have spent years procrastinating, and so much money on exercise DVDs and diet books. I almost have a full library now!! My 36 birthday is just days away and I have remained roughly the same weight since my 10 year old daughter was born. I can sit here and give myself every excuse that pops into my mind. Like...I don't have time, I'm in pain, my plantar faciitis flared up, I had cancer ( that one is getting old now)I'm too tired, I'm fine the way I am ............. but,  frankly, I am so tired of being sick and tired. I need to make some big changes, not little ones. I don't want to say that I'll start Monday and then have Monday come and go again.

So.....

What better way to spend my 36 year than to finally get my rear in gear!!

My goals are no longer to lose 10 pounds in one month and to eat like a bird, but to live healthy. Eat right and exercise! I think "they" have been saying this all along and I am now just getting it.

So....

This morning I made my first step in achieving this life long goal. I woke up at 4:45 a.m. to go to my first class of Brundage Boot camp!! Last Thursday I went to a meeting with my hubby who is fully supporting me in this in almost every way except to join me in the early morning workouts.(He says he will be cheering me on at home from his elliptical after he sleeps another hour.) I practically signed my life away on Thursday saying that I will be at every workout and if I don't- they will come show up on my front lawn. I knew when I heard this, there would be no excuses for me and I would get the accountability that I so longed for and needed.

I have never done anything of this kind before. I haven't even moved my muscles like I did this morning for who knows how many years. I left the workout this morning feeling so proud of myself for showing up and busting my rear end. I feel muscles I have never felt before. I am sore, shaky, and I can't believe that I can't wait to go back on Monday!!

I am looking forward to having a better outlook on life. I want to be able to keep up with my kids and not feel so out of shape. I want to feed my body healthy foods that give me energy! Plain and simple, I just want to feel the best I possibly can.

And....

If I can lose some weight and look better along the way, then I say bring on the pain- good pain that is!!

Mandi's 1st Mission Trip to Argentina!!

Mandi is raising support to go on her first Missions trip to Argentina. She has recently sent her support letter to close friends and family. I am posting this on my blog because there may be some people who follow my blog and would like to hear about Mandi's trip and support her in it. More importantly, she is asking for prayer! If you are interested in supporting Mandi in prayer or in donations and you didn't receive a support letter, you can copy and print out the donation slip at the bottom of this post.




Dear Friends and Family,

Hello! I pray this letter finds you well. I am writing to let you know about an opportunity that has come my way. But first I would like to let you know what has been going on in my life this past year.

I am completing my 8th grade year at Central Christian Schools. This has been a wonderful year that was filled with much growth and memorable experiences. This year at school I went on many school trips including Generation Unleashed and Fall Retreat. Both were amazing experiences that helped me grow spiritually.

THE INTEREST
This growth has rekindled an interest in going on a mission trip; something I have been considering for the last two years. At the beginning of this year I had my heart set on going on a youth mission trip to China. However, my parents had an uneasy feeling about it. The more I prayed about it, the more I began to feel the same way; but still I felt called to go on a mission trip.

THE OPPORTUNITY
A couple of months ago, I learned of an opportunity with our church to be a part of a team going down to Argentina this summer to minister to the Sunrise Children’s home. They have taken teams there for several years. The trip is July 16th -27th. Twelve people from our church will be joining some others and heading to San Nicolas, Argentina. Sunrise Children’s Home is a place that takes in children that are abandoned, abused or neglected. Many of the children have been rescued from the streets and from the prostitution trade.

With the blessing of my parents I am pursuing this trip with great excitement!

On this trip we will have an opportunity to help meet some of the needs of the children like bringing clothes, shoes and school supplies. We also plan to build a storage place on the premises that will store the donations the home receives. Further, we will be taking the kids on special outings; doing things with them that they normally don’t have the chance to do. Most importantly, we will be playing and spending time with them and showing them a lot of love.

I don’t know what the future holds for me in missions, but I am starting to think about what I can do occupationally on the mission field and am looking at which colleges would help me meet this goal. This mission trip will be my first glimpse of mission work in another country. I look forward to serving along side my team and showing God’s love to the orphans at Sun Rise Children’s Home.

THE CHALLENGE
I value your prayers for our team and those whose lives will be touched by God through us. I am asking for you to pray for safety, good health, smooth travel, and financial support. Just knowing that you are praying will give me peace as I go into an unfamiliar place.

In addition to your prayers, if you are able, I am asking you to help me raise my support of $2000 to cover the cost of the trip. To make it easier, I’ve included a page that explains the process for giving and a self addressed, stamped envelope.

To find out more about the Sun Rise Children’s Home that I will be visiting, please view their website at www.sunriseofargentina.org.

This is a journey that I believe God has called me to and I would greatly appreciate any level of support you are able to offer.

Thank you,

Mandi Kuhlman






If you are interested in supporting Mandi financially or prayerfullly on her first mission trip to Argentina you can send your donation slip to:

Redmond Community Church
237 NW 9th Street
Redmond, OR 97756

Another Anita Renfroe Hit!!

WRINKLED LADIES

My Prayer

Thank you Lord for giving me four beautiful children to love. To be their mommy is the greatest and best job in the world. Help me to show your love to them every day, all day long. Let my words be gentle, may they find security in my presence, and help me encourage them so they have the confidence to be who you made them to be.

Thank you that each child is uniquely made and fashioned by you. You have a very special plan for their future and you are molding then and shaping them. Thank you that my children know you. I pray that they will grow in you and love you with all their heart. I pray that they will love your Word and desire to read it, and will live their life in close relationship to you.

AMEN

A Picture Worth Posting!

Home Sweet Home

Here is our new house!! I have gotten several requests to show pictures of our new house so those who don't live close to us can see it.

We moved to C.O. 4 1/2 years ago and wanted to buy a house then. We looked at a house that was just like this in a cul-de-sac that was going for almost 300,000. (It is pretty amazing that after four years this house is now half that price.) I loved the layout but we knew that we could not afford it. Since then the market has changed as you all know. Last year we saw that we could probably buy a house because they have come down so much in price. We had looked and looked. We also put several offers out there but they all fell through. Honestly, we were trying to get the tax credit and felt we had to get something soon. Nothing we saw really met the criteria that we were looking for until we came across this house in November.

I remember when our realator saw this house and commented that this was the house for us!! Everything I wanted in a house was there except for an upstairs laundry room. The house had dropped considerably in price and we moved on it, only to be out bid by someone else. This was how it would go the next couple of months. The bid would fall through, we would jump again and the bank would take someone elses offer, but that would fall through. Finally the first of Feb. the bank not only took our offer but counter offered. It was a better deal than what we offered. That doesn't usually happen. The reason all these offers kept falling through was because the house had been through some remodeling and it is hard to get an USDA loan on an unfinished house. Just before closing we found out that they were not giving out USDA loans anymore, we had just made it. The extended tax credit that the government was doing was also ending. We also got a low interest rate before they started going up again. As it turns out- we are now paying about the same per month in mortgage and taxes than we did renting. What a blessing!

I am so thankful that we were patient on this house hunt and that God closed the necessary doors and led us to this one. Sometimes it is very hard to be patient and wait. I had finally come to that place where I was ok with renting, possibly for the rest of my life, when this house came available.

I have posted some before and after pictures. I regret not taking pictures of the master bathroom before it was finished, or of the deck before the railing got put on. We were told that a contractor lived in the house before us and was remodeling it. He had already put in new carpet and hardwood floors. He was in the process of redoing the master bath when the house got foreclosed. The bank rehired him to finish the job he started. He did a wonderful job and we are so pleased.


This is a before and after of the dining room.

This is Jeff's bedroom. He is so happy to have his own room.


Josh was a little sad at first to have his own room (he loves his big bro) but now he loves it!


This is the master bedroom and bathroom. Notice....the bed is made!! I'm trying to keep it that way.





Here is the living room. The other side of this room is the dining room.


Here is Emma's bedroom. It will also be our guest room because it is downstairs and she has the neatest bedroom.

This is the downstairs full bath that I prayed for! It was important to me because my dad has M.D. and it is difficult for him to climb stairs.

I love this room! It is our family room. It connects with the dining nook and kitchen. Now I can hang out with the family when they watch tv and I am still cleaning the kitchen.

I love my kitchen! We had a friend who is a wonderful tiler redo the counter tops. The kitchen has so many drawers and cabinets I can't fill them all!

This is the boys upstairs bathroom. No one fights over the shower anymore.

The only picture I haven't shown you was Mandi's room. She is in the garage!! Yes, it is true. We have a three car tandem garage. The tandem part will be walled in soon and it will be her bedroom. The church's house warming gift is to send several guys over next month to wall in her room, put in a door, closet and a window. Some new carpet was donated from a worship team member in the church. Mandi is very excited about this!!

Well that is it! We are very happy about this house and thank God for giving us a little bit of land in Central Oregon that we can call home. My prayer is that God will keep us here a very long time. I would love to see grand kids in this house!! But first....I want to raise these beautiful four children that God has given us. The 41/2 years that we have been in Redmond has been the longest we have been anywhere and the kids are reaping the benefit of that. It is very sad to think that I only have that same amount of time left before my oldest leaves home. How time flies.

One busy month!!!

It's been well over a month since we moved and life has been so busy. I must say, probably the busiest it has been in a long time! Every time I want to take time to write on my blog I either get interrupted or I am so dead tired that I fall asleep while trying to figure out what to write

Here is a quick update on this last month!

The second to last week in March (spring break) we moved over everything we could do ourselves to our new house which is 2 miles west of the house we rented for nearly 3 years. That week Michael's parents came over to help us. They were planning on staying only a few days but the weather was nasty and they ended up staying longer than they had planned. I look at it this way... God knew that I needed them here! I don't think I would have been moved out and had the house cleaned by the 1st without their help. "Thank you Mom and Dad for all that you did with the move." Thanks also to all the people who showed up to move us over the Sunday before Easter. We had a crew of about 15 people. It only took one trip of about four pick up trucks and a couple trailers. I am so grateful from the bottom of my heart for those men and women who so loving served and blessed us.

The very next weekend was Easter!! Michael was so busy with Easter stuff and putting up new lights in the church auditorium. We were running crazy that week and literally paused to say good night when we finally hit the pillow at night. What a blessing it was Easter Sunday evening for Michael and I to take off to Sisters for a two night getaway (thanks to RCC). For the first time we connected and relaxed in a long time. While in Sisters Michael and I got a couple's massage!! It was our first massage ever! It was Heaven on Earth!!

While we were relaxing in Sisters, Mom and Dad K. kept our kids and watched over the animals. They were stationed out at Eagle Crest for the week. The kids had the joy of hanging out there- riding their bikes, swimming, taking long walks and eating quite well. At our house we had a friend working on our kitchen. We decided that we would remodel our kitchen with some of the money we got back from buying the house (tax credit). We hired our friend Greg to do the tiling. What a beautiful job he did. Sometimes I just stop and stare at my kitchen because I love it so much! (Thanks Greg for doing a beautiful job on my kitchen. It was well worth it!)

The next weekend was the Women's Mini Conference at RCC. My job was to put together the worship for it. I had three other talented vocalist helping me with it. I also had the help of my husband. He spent so much time teaching me how he puts a worship package together so that it flows. I have an even greater appreciation for what he does week in and week out with the worship. With our busy schedule We didn't get to practice as much as we would have liked but God is good and it all came together. The end result... 60 women worshiping our Awesome God!

Tuesday morning the 20th I woke up in a panic. I had forgotten in all my business to call my sweet niece and wish her a happy 4th birthday. So on a whim, I decided to drive over the mountain and spend the day with my nieces. This also meant seeing my sister and parents!! I rarely have a free schedule during the day but the child I care for was gone and I didn't have any piano lessons so I left for the day!! What a wonderful, quiet, drive over and back and a perfect day visiting my family. Thanks you wonderful hubby for taking care of the little details so I could go.

My mom and dad came over to see the house for the first time last weekend. They got to see Josh play soccer and make 3 goals. They also got to peer into our very busy life. I know that it tired them out. Our house is always hopping and the noise level is usually at one volume- LOUD! Sometimes the noise gets to me but it didn't seem to bother my mom much. She says she just toons it out! Maybe that's the grandma in her. The mom in me feels the kids need to settle down a lot more. This helps me look forward to being a grandma someday... but not any time soon!

Last Sunday I had my piano recital. My 14 students played 2 songs each. They did beautifully. I just love teaching and am so grateful for each and every student. With all their parents, siblings, extended relatives and friends- we had about 65 people there. The kids were beaming so brightly. I am so proud of them!

This week my body has finally let down. I got sick on Monday and have been feeling very yucky ever since. It's just a bad cold, but more than anything I am just dead tired. I am so tired that I just can't sleep at night. I know... this doesn't really make much sense. One by one the rest of the family has been getting it. Jeff stayed home two days from school. Emma and Josh are hacking and Michael is starting to get it. It is a good thing that life is finally starting to slow down.

I have two more busy weekends ahead of me. May 1st- is the Women's Tea that I was hoping to sing at with the ladies from the Women's Conference. I can barely sing today so who knows how I'll be by Saturday. Then next weekend is a youth conference call "Do Hard Things" put on by the youth of our community. Mandi and I have been involved with helping put this on for the last couple of months. Michael is putting together a youth worship team for that conference, Mandi is in charge of the prayer team and I will be helping wherever needed.

So this is what you get when I don't blog for over a month... A huge, long play by play! I hope this makes you happy mom! My mother is so faithful in checking to see if I have written. I hope I don't wait another month to blog, but with four kids and a husband needing one computer I rarely get my turn anymore. What I want for my birthday and mother's day combined is my very own laptop!! I have asked for a couple years now but I think it is at the bottom of the list of things I really need. Maybe....someday!

Have a wonderful week and make sure you tell God and your family just how grateful you are for them!!