The harvest and the pruning

We love the harvest. You know, those parts of your life where everything seems to be going AWESOME. It's EASY. It's like Christmas, ALL.THE.TIME. We love the harvest.

The one problem with the harvest is that it ends. A farmer can't be in the harvest season over and over again. That's just not how it works. I found a definition for harvest and it happened to be on a renegade prune website (thank you, google) that said "Harvest time is determined by the pressure the prune flesh can withstand.." 

HELLO. DID YOU GET THAT?! Harvest time is determined by the PRESSURE the flesh can WITHSTAND. Pruning, it's a blessing, really. It's amazing at how situations can happen back to back to back that make you feel beat down but yet, we still get right back up because we KNOW the HARVEST IS COMING!

Pruning reveals who we are. It reveals our priorities. It reveals our trust in God. The last month has definitely been a pruning month and with the heartache of losing my Godmother and having to face some other situations, it's hard, but it's not impossible. I'm still here. I'm still standing. I'm still smiling because I've seen my character shaped in the past month. I've lived Jeremiah 29:11. I'm rooted in more plans that He has laid out for me that I would have never imagined! It's funny how we can make decisions, like I did back in October, and during it think "OHHHH geeze, WHY ON EARTH am I about to do this right now?! WHY!??" and you do it because...well, I cant explain it...it's just something you HAVE TO DO. Then....sometime later (for me it was 64 days later) you know why you were led to do that and it all makes sense. Of course it makes sense, it's God given, His plan makes sense.

PRESSURE is nothing. HIS STRENGTH is everything. Our ABILITIES extend far beyond what we can perceive. HE has placed specific plans out for each one of us, plans of good and plans that do not harm us. WE CAN WITHSTAND IT because HE SAID SO.

 So, if you're in the pruning season, live it up. get ready to grow. get ready to become stronger and GET READY FOR THAT HARVEST!

You just watch, He's about to use you to change the world.

{{Yes, you, my little H.}}

-M

10 days in 2015....

It's only been 10 days in 2015...and I already feel like it's the longest year ever.

The past 10 days have been full of fear, pain, uncertainty and shock.

I was mentally preparing myself to have to leave my daughter and husband for more than 6 months for a last minute work assignment. Praise be to God that I already had a separation date in to leave my current career so they cancelled it this last week. True, I have no clue where I will end up in a few months but at the same token, I know that I will be here on my daughters first birthday. And that, my friends, is all the assurance I need to know that I made the right decision. I love the quote "It's not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are." I value my family over a pay check and status. Done deal.

I had mouth surgery this past Tuesday and it's been rough. Then this morning, I wake up to find out that my Godmother- who I talk to every week and love so much- is in the hospital after suffering through not eating, drinking and 3 strokes. We talk every weekend, I never thought last Friday night when we talked and I was multitasking while giving Hadley a bath, might be the last time that I would ever hear her voice. But while on that phone call, I remembered we both laughed. Hadley lights up Aung Gregg's life and I hope that we can make it out to see her soon.

It's been a challenge. Despite the pain and heartache I've been facing every day this year, I know there's hope. There's hope because God has the final say. There's hope because at the end of the day, when I'm emotionally beat up, He gives me the strength to hold my head up and smile at the blessings He has given me.

You know, this blog is called Nothing Better Than A Smile, and that's so true right now. I  can smile because He's got my back. He has my family's back and He has my Godmother in the palm of His hands. He knows what He's doing. Have faith, in every situation, and Let God be God.

-M

2014 and 2015

2014 was THE YEAR. We welcomed our first child into the world, built our first home, moved in to our first home, both were promoted, celebrated 4 years of marriage, traveled to Scottsdale, grew closer to our friends and family, watched our family grow....phew, it's been a year. I loved 2014. It really was an Ephesians 3:20 year. I learned what unconditional love truly is, learned more about my weaknesses and my strengths and was preparing for a life change that, on the last few days of 2014 was totally unexpected from the initial life change that I was planning for.

To be honest, I'm a mess going into 2015. I'm scared, heartbroken, nervous but at the same time full of faith that God is going to work a miracle once again in my life. I don't want to go into details but the next week or so is really going to change my life--regardless of the outcome.

Please keep me and my family in your prayers. Hopefully I'll be able to write more about how I've felt the past week but until then, pray for a miracle, pray for God's unfailing love, pray that His will be done and that myself, my amazing husband and our daughter are all at peace. I thank Him for the amazing love He's placed in my life and for the perfect family that He has given me. I know that He is the ONLY Way and that He WILL MAKE A WAY.

I'm holding on to him harder than I ever have and am thankful that I'm going into 2015 with a faith stronger than ever. Ready to do His will this year. Ready to see Him work miracles. Ready to watch my baby girl grow and experience new milestones and ready to grow closer to Him with my family.

2015, you didn't begin the way I thought you would have but I know that God has a perfect plan for you this year and we are SO READY and excited for you---although, I will say, you have quite the challenge in front of you--2014 was pretty darn awesome.

xoxo,
Meg

She's been outside longer than she was inside...

Hadley, you are 9 months old baby girl!!! These 9 months have been filled with so much joy, my heart is so full.

Age: 9 months. 

Weight: She was 17.3 lbs. 30 percentile. My string bean :) 

Length: She is LONG. 95% in length. 29 inches. Def has mama's genes there. 

Milestones: Oh my, where to start! She says "dat" and....wait for it..."MAMA"...and "dada" and calls Ziggy "zee". She stands up on her own, scales the couch, plays basketball in our bar stools, plays peek a boo, loves the bath, looks for things when she drops them, figured out what the crib skirt was and loves to pull it up and down...she's such a joy1 

Sleep: *knock on wood* after her top 4 and bottom 2 teeth popped through (at the same time) she's been sleeping like a champ all night. Some nights it's more difficult to put her down and I just give her some mommy snuggles and she starts snoring right away..warms my heart so much. 

Best moment: 3 days ago...I walked into her day care room to pick her up (the best moment of my day already) and she looked at me and let out a huge "MAMA!!!!!!!" and crawled towards me half laughing/half crying because she felt like she wasn't crawling fast enough to get to me. Makes it so much harder to be at work all day!!!! 

Health: Still has that darn cough!!!!!! It's "oklahoma allergies" (really, dude?!) and she has goopy eyes from a sinus thing I think...darn flu/cold season. 

Things to remember:

-She has 4 top teeth and 2 bottom ones
-She's in 12 month clothes
-She does not like wearing shoes AT ALL so we don't
-She is a snuggle bug and I love my baby snuggles
-She started loving the bath this month
-Her hair is slowly growing longer
-We play peek a boo all throughout the house and it's so much fun..especially when she squeals
-she loves her picture on the refrigerator and laughs at it when we walk by
-Zero interest in sippy cup or table food


Hadley, you are our Ephesians 3:20. Our miracle and something even better than we could ever ask, think or imagine. 

Journey as a Beachbody Coach...Ready, set, GO!

Y'all..I am SO excited to be writing this post today. I've been blessed to have the opportunity to become a Beachbody Coach & am SOOOOOOO happy about it.

Basically, what I GET TO do is help others with workouts/meal ideas, be kept accountable by my awesome team and watch lives get changed! What's NOT to love about this?!

I'm in the coaching basics class and can't wait to kick off my first challenge group in February! I'm also a participant in a challenge group and it's SO awesome! Why, might you ask? Well--let's break this down:

1- A challenge group provides a support group FREE OF CHARGE. I used to have a personal trainer (where we would pay....brace yourself....$600/month for!) Now, he was awesome and got me into the best shape of my life before going to Training School for my job. However, having the opportunity to have a huge support group (of both male and females), people on the phone that I can text/call when I need a push/have a question AND being able to get my butt kicked in my own home without paying a gym membership...HELLO SIGN ME UP!

{{Awkward photo but I'm pretty excited about it. I had a baby 8 months ago, and am now wearing jeans that I purchased 12 years ago!!! Thank you to support friends, workouts that allow me to sweat without further injuring my back and eating clean (minus my Oreo obsession!)}}

2- Which takes me to #2--I knew that I wanted to participate in a challenge group, so I had to do my research.  I went onto the beach body website and at the same time, came across a friend from college who was on the crew team with me. She happened to be a beach body coach and messaged me to say hi. Well, I started asking questions and told her about my injury that i'm still rehabbing (I herniated a few discs in my back 6 weeks after having Hadley because I was cleared to go running when I shouldn't have been...darn PT test for work and trying to get back to it!) Anyways...she asked me if I have ever done PiYO..and I did it live a few weeks before talking to her and LOVED IT! But the only problem was, we were canceling our gym membership that the class was at because we hardly used it (life as full time mom, full time Epidemiologist who gets to work at 0630....it gets tough). Well Beachbody has a PiYO HOME WORKOUT! SOLD AGAIN!!!

{{LOVE THIS! If you can't do impact/jumping..this is for you! It makes me feel like I got a great workout in while strengthening my core to help my back out even more.}}

{This is what home workouts look like in my life HAHA} 

3- Shakeology. I love it. It makes me feel SO great and I'm not just saying this. I've waited a little bit to tell everyone about it because I wanted to try for myself and give an honest opinion. I just have the chocolate one, mix it with water, and shake it in a blender bottle and drink. I don't blend it since I drink it on the go at my desk but it tastes SO great. I usually have it in the early afternoon when I used to have an energy drop (it happens when you are up during the night with a hungry baby!), ever since I started drinking it--I have energy ALL DAY! I'm ordering the Vegan Chocolate one for next month & can't wait o share about it.

{{Yummy!}}

So--long story short--I'm now a coach, have more energy and have been so sore from all my home workouts lately!  can't wait to start my coaching journey along side all of you. Stay tuned for the next phase of this--the time the ball gets rolling!

Up & Ready,
-M

Hearing God's Voice Part 1

How ironic that my last post was about being unsure about the future but sure that God has it covered....I know i'm going to look back on these posts one day once His plan comes to fruition and laugh. So, in order to make sure I can do that, here we go with today's thought...I titled it part 1 because I know there's going to be more to this story in the future.

I've been diving in to hearing God's voice. I love my new car with the bluetooth audio where I can listen to podcasts on the way to work (woohoo technology!). One of the Podcasts I have been listening to is Rick Warren's. Yesterday, he talked about how God wants to plant a seed in our mind but if it's landing on hard soil, it can't be planted. What does that mean to me? Well..it means that I need to allow my mind to be nourished by His word, receptive to ideas and able to filter between my mind's thoughts and the thoughts of God that land on my mind.

Well..let's tie this back to the last post I did. While I was writing that and the entire time after that, I was praying. I was praying for God to help me hear His voice and to reassure me that He's got it covered (stupid, right?). He has constantly been telling me "It's OK. I got this, Megan". What's even better, is that 2 days ago God placed something on my heart that I would never have thought about EVER! And now, I haven't stopped thinking about it. I'm taking this as a God-sign. More information to follow later--once I actually figure out what the heck I'm supposed to do. I think I know, I mean, clearly, God placed this on my heart and I've prayed about it to make sure it was from Him and I can say it is.

So, thank you God, for making this post totally ironic. You sure do have a sense of humor. I'm sure that You have it covered and I'm sure that the "unsure" is all part of your perfect plan.

{{This girl. melts my heart.}}

"God, you are my God. I celebrate you. I praise you. You've done your share of miracle-wonders, well-thought-out plans, solid and sure."  Isaiah 25:1 (MSG)

{{Side note: we started painting Hadley's bathroom last weekend. Can't wait to reveal it!!}}

{{At the zoo this weekend with my little giraffe.}}

-M

Sure that we don't need to be unsure.

Today starts a new chapter in our family. How fitting that so many things are kicking off today, December 1st, 2014. I am currently sitting in a week long seminar that is supposed to "teach" us how to transition from our current career to one outside the gate. I'm figuring out my life with a new career, I'm beginning a 21 day challenge with Beachbody & Shakeology/PiYo AND starting the 15 day coaching basics course. HOLY COW. HELLO TO FRESH STARTS! Emotions I'm feeling right now: scared, excited, nervous, positive, negative, unsure, 100% sure....like how these contradict? Isn't this how life goes sometimes? We're so worried about the unknown/unsure and we know that God always has the perfect plan (right?) but we worry worry worry and stay up all unsure for NO STINKING REASON!

Something we can always be sure about: we will never know ALL the answers (so we don't need to be unsure about anything!) but we DO KNOW that God has the perfect plan for us.

Lot's happening around here. Can't wait to share it all. Everything from a fitness/health opportunity for all of us that I am going to lead to home DIY reveals and who knows, maybe even a knew name to get this ball rolling. ;)

Peace out--He's got it covered!
-M