For the Love

The church I attend has a thing called "Growth Groups", which are basically bible study groups. This time around I decided to join an all woman's group and let me tell you, it's one of these best decisions I've ever made. The ladies in this group are open, friendly, nonjudgemental, and make me laugh to the point of tears. We meet once a week and it's never enough for me. I love having woman in my life that I can talk to about Jesus, faith, and other things that matter..and some things that don't ;)

The book we are going through in the group is called "For the Love - Fighting for Grace in a World of Impossible Standards." by Jen Hatmaker. We have only made it through about half of the book but I would encourage all woman to read this book, regardless of age, marital status, or whether you have children. Some of the chapters are more geared towards married couples or people with children, but I think the lessons within the chapters can be used utilized in anyone's life/circumstances. 

Jen is a wonderful writer. She writes like she's sitting in your living room having a conversation over a cup of coffee with you. The book has some serious chapters mixed in with funny ones. She tackles the things that woman have trouble with but also the things all woman find funny (like wearing leggings without a long enough shirt to cover your baby making factory!!) It's the kind of book that you want to keep reading and never put down. I always read the assigned chapters 2 or 3 times before we meet the next week. You just have to read this book for yourself. I promise you won't be disappointed. 

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the chapters we have read so far. 

xoxo

-K

Catch Up

Hope you guys have had a wonderful couple weeks. This new term of my nursing classes is kicking my butt and we're only a couple weeks in. I've never been one to read my book or study very much and you CAN NOT do that in these classes. At the school I attend you must have a 77.5% to pass your classes and move on in the program. Also, we have a test in one of my classes basically every week and I didn't do so hot on my first one :/

My life has been pretty boring since I've started these classes. On Mondays and Tuesdays I have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to get ready for clinical which are an hour away. Then on Wednesdays and Thursdays I have class from 8:30 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon. I usually try and spend my weekends studying since that's when I have the most free time but I feel like my weekends are always busy too. 

Last weekend we went to the Iowa Deer Classic in Des Moines. We stayed with Ross' brother and his family on Friday and Saturday night. It was so nice to get away from all the hustle and bustle of school and just relax. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures taken from the trip though. On Friday we went to Splash, which is a seafood restaurant, with my parents. Saturday afternoon we ate at Zombie Burger for lunch and we ate smoked ribs, chops, and bacon for supper at his brother's house. On Sunday we got up and headed to The Cheesecake Factory to meet my friend Rachael for lunch. I haven't seen her in literally a year. It was so nice to catch up with her. We just picked back up where we left off like we hadn't been away from each other for that long. 

It's been a rough couple of weeks, not going to lie. Between having to be up at 4:30 two days in a row, having classes all day long two days in a row, working during the week, studying, and still trying find to sleep has been hard. And I know that there are people who can do all this with 5 kids and a full time job and I commend them for that, but I know I couldn't do something like that. I just don't have the time management skills I would need to deal with all those things at once. 

Since we were in Des Moines on Sunday we missed church and our Growth Group. It has been so so so hard trying to find time to fit my God and me time in. I know I need to because it would help me be less stressed but when I sit down to do homework or if I sit down to read my Growth Group book I get really tired and end up falling asleep before I can get the first chapter read. Like today for instance, I didn't get home until 5:30 this evening and by the time 6:00 came around I literally could' keep my eyes open to fill out my study guide. So I moved all my things off the chair and took an hour and a half long nap. It was glorious :)

Sorry for such a long drawn out post but I needed to get that out and it's nice to know there are people out there who will read this and get some kind of comfort from knowing that they aren't the only ones struggling with life! Sometimes you just NEED to put the books away and take that nap because you'll run yourself dry and you'll never get anywhere by doing that. Take some time for yourself, take lots of breaks, you don't have to study for 12 hours straight. Just read over the material for 30 minutes and then take a 15 minute break, come back, finish reading, and take another break after you're finished. When you bombard yourself with a lot of information at once you will not be able to remember it all and it will go in one ear and out the other. 

To end this post I have a couple random pictures I'd like to share.

This is my sister, she played one of the townspeople in the play Cinderella. She's a senior in high school and it's so surreal that she will be graduating and moving onto bigger better things in just a few short months.

This is a raspberry nerds slush I got at Sonic and it is AMAZING! If you have a Sonic where you live I definitely recommend trying this. It's really sweet and I love nerds so when I sucked one up through the straw I loved biting into them and making the drink even more sweet :)

Last but certainly not least, my frozen yogurt from Polar Xpress. I'm not addicted to this place and it's so cheap to eat there. I think this concoction was make up of strawberry and tahitian vanilla frozen yogurt and the toppings consisted of fresh strawberries, fresh blueberries, fresh pineapple, coconut shavings, Kiwi bobas, passion fruit bobas, mango bobas (the little balls), and a drizzle of caramel syrup. Oh so delicious! This cup only cost my $4 and it was more then enough!!

xoxo

-k

To Be Known By Love

After our church service this past Sunday I have had a lot weighing on my heart that I just feel I need to say. We are going through a series called "Brave" and it's just as you'd expect; how to be brave. What being brave looks like and how we can achieve that. 

Last Sunday we talked about journeying towards gratitude which in turn leads to holiness which than leads to generosity. I think that being thankful for the love God has for me and making feel whole and turning that love into generosity towards others is my weakness. I am very harsh towards people and if you mess up and hurt me or any one that I care about it's hard for me to love you again and show you generosity. 

"photo courtesy of simplyablogoflife.com"

Once you step back and think about everything that people have done that God has forgiven them for than why can't you forgive the person that hurt you? Forgiving someone doesn't give them permission to hurt you again or even saying you have forgotten what they've done. Forgiving someone, loving them, and showing generosity towards them is done because you know God's love. He loves you and has forgiven you for all your sins and you are now whole again and can continue on to bless others.

Grace compels generosity.

1 John 4:7-8 says "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes form God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

John 15:12-13 says "This is my commandment: love each other the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friend."

The past couple months I've had a really hard time with forgiving people and showing them grace. No one is perfect but if I know God's love then I can show others that love as well. 

xoxo

-k

P.S. If you would like to watch any of the recorded services from the Brave series you can click the link below. I have also included links to watch some past series as well if you'd be interested in that.

"Brave" series

"Double" series

"Hope" series

"Preseason" series

"Crazy Busy" series

"Drive-Thru Jesus" series

Random Life Happenings

Happy Friday Guys & Gals! 

This post is going to be random and thrown all over the place. There really isn't much point to it except to catch all of you up on what I've been up to over the past couple weeks or so. Now, I'm sure some of you won't find this interesting and couldn't care less as to what I'm doing in my life. However; this blog is not just for you guys to read, it's for me to have a place to write my thoughts, ideas, vents, experiences, etc. and someday be able to go back to and see what things were like or maybe someday show my children.

First off most of you know I'm in Nursing School. Well the term I'm in now is the first term of the actual program. I'm actually doing quite well in most of my classes except one, Anatomy Lab. I don't know what it is about the class but I can never seem to do very good on the muscles or tissue part of the class. I'm really better on my comprehensive exam this next week to bump my grade. I really will be studying hard this weekend so don't expect to see me around social media too much. Today was also my last day of clinicals for the CNA class. I really enjoyed going to those because I got to know many of the residents by name and learned more about them as I was there more often. I heard some amazing stories from some of the people there. <3

As I'm sure you all know, Valentines Day is tomorrow. Everyone of you is probably going to dinner, a movie, ice skating, staying in and renting a movie, etc. Well not Ross & I. Oh no no no..not that cliche old boring stuff. We're going to a gun & knife show! Yay - how exciting!! (Hint the sarcasm.) I'm sure that I will have a good time because I like going to those things and it really isn't about what you do on Valentines Day, it's about who you spend that time with. It just sucks seeing everyone's posts on Facebook about the flowers, stuffed animals, or chocolates they got. Oh well, there's always next year right ;) If any of you live near here feel free to show up so I'm not the only girl that spend her Valentines Day at a gun show!!

The last random thing I want to share with you guys isn't really about anything specific happening in my life, just a quote I found that I fell in love with. It has so much truth to it and if you really read it and put it into effect in your own lives I'm sure you will start to find some peace with anyone that has ever walked out of your life.

Isn't that amazing? I know how hard it can be for someone you truly care about and love to just not be there anymore. It's heart breaking. But knowing that there is a reason that they are no longer there and knowing that you are going on to bigger and better things is so comforting to me. The same is true for them when they walked out of your life. You were no longer part of their journey we call life. You served your purpose, whether you know it or not, and it was time for you both to move on. Don't hate people because they left, don't be bitter towards them, or even angry with yourself because you thought there was something you could have done to make them stay. Just forgive them for the hurt and move on to bigger and better things <3

xoxo

-k

Healthy Living Update!

So I thought I'd let you all in on what's been going on with my healthy lifestyle changes lately. First off, I haven't been working out nearly enough or as much as I want to be. I've realized that I lack more motivation than previously thought :/

I have been drinking more water though which is definitely a good thing. Not as much as I need to be drinking but better than I use to be. I'll drink at least 2 glasses of water a day compared to drinking none before. I usually squeeze some fresh lemon in it to help taste better because I hate the taste of tap water. I know I need to step up my game and drink more but I feel like you have to start somewhere.

As for eating healthy I've been really trying to. Not drinking as many smoothies as I thought I would be but I believe that's due to my laziness of not wanting to spend the extra time making one. I still feel like I snack way too much even though my snacking recently has been some light yogurt, applesauce, or cottage cheese. It's so hard for me to say no to things and resist the urge to keep eating clean. Especially when no one else in my house is trying to eat healthy or work out. I've been trying to get Ross to do some things with me but he says he'd rather get a gym membership and just workout on the treadmill or something. When we do decide to get memberships I think it'll be a lot better because as of right now I can only do body weight exercises because we don't have any equipment. I would much rather run/walk on the treadmill, use the elliptical, or use the weight machines. They help me mix things up instead of just doing the same old things like sit ups, push ups, planks, squats, etc. I know those things can really help but I need variety!! 

I hope that I can find some kind of motivation soon to get up and start making the change that I've wanted to make for awhile! I know my life will be so much better! I'll have more energy, I'll be able to actually wake up in the morning without feeling like crap, and I'll just have more confidence in myself overall.

xoxo

-k

Kale Chips

I've seen from a couple friends on Facebook that they make kale chips but I was always leary about making them. I didn't think they would taste very good and was worried I'd just waste the bag. When I went shopping the other day I purchased a bag so I could throw some pieces into my smoothies. Since I have extra I decided to make some chips tonight. Let me tell you right now these were AMAZING!!! I can't believe I hadn't tried these sooner!!

I just used a handful or two of rinsed kale, I added a couple drizzles of olive oil, and since we don't have our spices at our new apartment yet I just had to use some kosher salt. When we get our spices here I'll be using some garlic powder/salt, some pepper, and maybe some onion powder. You bake these at 350F for 5-10 minutes. I baked mine for 6 minutes and the tips/ends of the chips are crispy and the rest is still kind of soft but I really enjoy it. They are such an amazing healthy yet salty treat! 

xoxo

-k