Here Comes The Bride...

It's been almost a decade since anyone in my family has gotten married, and holy cow, that was me:)  But this month is all about my brother and his new life.  Lord, in two weeks my brother will be making the biggest decision of his life, to honor and cherish and love his bride till death parts them.  I pray for both he and his fiance that they would take not just that day, but their entire LIFE remembering that promise that they would do everything necessary to keep each other happy and uplifted.  Lord, I also pray for my nephew and niece that they would remain the utmost focus in this new marriage as they help form this new life together.  Bring them all peace and comfort in YOU through all you can use.  I lift up this marriage union to you and pray for your honor and glory to be present on the day of their wedding and in their life to come, Amen.  Mark 10:7-9

Here's an update with a picture of my brother dancing with our Mom on his wedding day.

In-Laws are Family too

I am so very thankful for the peace among family every time I visit my in-laws and every time my husband visits his in-laws, but regardless of how well we seem to get along...we have our moments.  Yes, the typical in-law moments.  I think we all get along so well because we do our best to make sure those moments happen after the fact in our own heads and we don't let it out "AT the person."  Well, I know that I tend to remember those moments even though they are in the past so when I have to see the person again, it's not always comfortable.  So this time, I decided to take a different approach...pray specifically and in advance and honestly and hard before our time together.  At the end of our days together, we couldn't believe things had gone so smoothly, but then we remembered...God was there, God made peace, God gave us kind hearts, God gave us kind words, God gave us good attitudes, God held us, God walked beside us EVERY step of our time together!!!  Oh what a feeling, to see your prayers answered with such peace...thank you Lord!  Galatians 5:22

Temple of the Holy Spirit (AKA Saggy Pants)

Yes, I know it doesn't seem so spiritual...oh but it is:)  I'm losing weight for my Lord and for my husband!  So if my nickname has become Saggy Pants until I get a new wardrobe, so be it!  Thank you Lord for saving me, what can I say, you are my everything, I will sing your praise!  Proverbs 31:17

Want to Spend An Evening Together?

This is a continuation from my previous post Temple of the Holy Spirit. My husband and I wrapped up a 10 day Juicing Challenge for a few reasons.  We researched and learned so much during this couple week journey that by the time we were nearing the 10 day point, we were confident that we had mastered our goals as we set out for this challenge...understanding what our body's real needs are regarding physical hunger and how we want to proceed in life after the juicing is complete.  We still juice regularly, but we are now taking in solid foods as well.  A couple other reasons we decided to stop after 10 days...it is very expensive and had quadrupled our grocery budget which we don't have the finances to allow ourselves to do that for any longer without feeling like we aren't being responsible with our money, we do not have any current health problems which the majority of those who do the longer challenge are trying to heal up, and lastly I became keenly aware of my slow increase and addiction to the juicing and what the results were giving me.  I know that every time I've lost weight fast throughout my life, it is not something that I will be able to keep up in the long run so I end up gaining weight back and then some.  This time I want it to be honest and a life change so on the morning of day 9 we decided that two more days was enough.  I was praying a lot about self control throughout this process so I always knew I couldn't just quit, I had to plan for an end so I made it to the end of Day 10!!! - Praise God because he was there with me through it all!

Because I have been learning so very much and have access to extra help in a couple areas right now, I am so very confident in the team I have built to help myself succeed.  I never realized how important SUPPORT is on something like life change weight loss until these last few months.  So, when this video came across my Facebook this morning, I decided in stead of simply sharing it and inviting you to watch it...I want to invite you into my home to watch it.  So if you don't live near me I'm sorry, but those of you who do and have ever had trouble with weight loss, I encourage you to watch this movie with me so that I can be here for you.  I would love to pray with you, encourage you and lift you up to God so that you may build a desire so strong for change in your life...allowing your body, the Temple of the Holy Spirit to live as long as God has desired for you and that we not cut that shorter by not taking care of His Temple.  I love you and hope to hear from you in response to my invite.  This is a preview of the movie Hungry for Change and the actual movie is being aired on the internet from March 21-31 so you can sign up to reserve a spot to watch it or I would like to invite you to watch it with me in my home on Friday the 23rd.  Email me to let me know I can plan to see you at BaleyPlascencia@yahoo.com and I'll forward you the final details.  Know that I'm praying for you.
Matthew 18:20

P.S. I have been wonderfully challenged by a beautiful Christian friend about the "Hungry for Change" website and the connection to one of the teachers of "The Secret."  I want to make it clear that I still support this film and my viewing of it because it is directly related to a film that made a huge impact in my life last month, but I in no way am supporting the beliefs of "The Secret."  HOWEVER if you read my Temple of the Holy Spirit post as linked above, you will see that I DO believe there is a spiritual part of weight loss and including God in my weight loss has been WHY I've been so successful this time. 

P.S.S. 3/23/12
Just finished watching "Hungry for Change" with my friend and both of us were very encouraged to continue clinging to the healthy lifestyle choices we are learning and not to think of it as a "fad diet" or "too hard" anymore, just do it...her parting words, "I want to do whatever I can to encourage and pray for you!" THAT'S what friends are for:) Thanks for being a Bride of Christ to ME!

Temple of the Holy Spirit

I've had a hard time controlling my weight all my life.  I've known for quite some time that it's more controlling what enters my mouth than controlling my weight.  I've always exercised and kept moving nearly daily ever since I can remember, I love activities so that part isn't hard for me.  What I have realized is that as positive as I am to the outside world and all those I speak with and see on a daily basis, I am not that positive to myself.  I didn't ever realize I was doing this until it was brought to my attention by my Health Coach (I'll explain more about him later).  I set some goals for the year and at the end my coach asked me what my confidence level was in achieving those goals...after hearing my response, he encouraged me to never look back only look forward at the now and the future.  There is no need to be regretful or to beat yourself up for something you messed up on, just forget about it and try hard again the next day!  My coach was referring to food and eating habits, but I have since then applied these thoughts to my exercise and mental well being to result in the easiest time I've ever had trying to lose weight.  I'm not feeling guilty about what I eat like I always did, I feel excited about getting healthy not just trying to lose weight and I'm not being negative to myself.  All of this has made my relationship with God so much deeper and exciting.  I believe when we read 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, we should honor our God with our bodies in more ways than one and health is one of those ways.

Some resources and ideas that have helped me along the way include:

I found a couple exercise buddies that I meet with at regularly scheduled times and I have scheduled what I will do on the other days where I don't have anyone holding me accountable.

Christian Care Ministry is a health alternative to insurance that I highly recommend you looking into if you don't receive wonderful benefits from an employer or other source of benefits.  We did lots of research for nearly a year on this whole concept as well as the main companies providing the service and Christian Care Ministry was our #1 pick.  This is where I am currently receiving my Health Coach services from as well, it's part of my program to get healthy and SO worth it to have a Christian Health Coach that has been a personal trainer, educator and is committed to holding me accountable through prayer and phone calls.  Their website is like a personal trainer too, with so many more resources than I have EVER gotten from any health insurance company!

Organic Liaison is a fun website with an AWESOME Recipe Book - that's my main resource for using this site, but there are some other fun things about it too like the 100 Days to Dance.

Hungry Girl is a tips and tricks and recipes guide to eating low calorie and I signed up for the email newsletter and use that as my resource more than the website.  Sometimes I get a great recipe from the email and sometimes I don't get anything, but the colors and the fun attitude are part of what keep me going, happy and enjoying this journey!

Health Initiatives Exercise videos and Engine 2 Exercise videos are a FREE way to get exercise ideas for strength training because no equipment is necessary.  I don't like paying gyms, I don't like paying boot camps, I don't like paying anybody really, but I have paid them all at some point along the way...but now I have educated myself so much and armed myself with so much ammunition in exercise ideas that I don't need to spend any money to do it!!!

Free groups that are self help or 12 step programs might be something you need as well and don't even realize it.  There is a way to keep Jesus as your center in these meetings so don't let their "higher power" talk deter you.

I pray that this blog has inspired you and given you some new ideas and resources to help your weight loss journey be successful because I know how important it is to you and your walk with God...one of my favorite lines from a song lately is, "I can do it, I can do it, oh God I need your help"

"They ALWAYS Say..." & It's TRUE, but...!

(They always say) So many studies say that Finances=Fights in marriages and unfortunately (it's true) many divorces.  I just wish that all those involved in divorce could have been educated a little more and been willing to give it more time and another chance because I bet a large majority of those could have been avoided if they had really learned how to simply work together on (but) finances=result of major stress reduction=a saved marriage in several cases! 

I'm always excited to share a resource when I find one and this time it's a Biblical Perspective on Finances.  If you haven't heard of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University yet, then I encourage you to take a long hard LISTEN!  My husband and I have yanked the control back and forth from each other due to exhaustion over arguing and being accused of being the reason for our tough luck for the first 6 years of our marriage, but the first day I was asked to listen to Dave's radio show...we were SUDDENLY on the same page.  We both completely agreed with him, no doubt so we better get with it and do whatever he suggests if that's the only way we are going to agree.  So we did and we've been putting some tools in practice for the last year or more and we finally have PEACE in our marriage.  It is amazing how much STRESS this one things adds to your marriage.  Phew!  And we just began Financial Peace University two weeks ago and it's a 13 week session, but we are excited to implement the rest of what we haven't done yet and make sure we really get the hang of it.  All this to say, PLEASE make the effort to look at your finances TOGETHER so that hopefully you can eliminate some unnecessary added stress on your relationship!  The goal is so that you can live and have enough to give.  Malachi 3:10 - if we are good care-takers of our finances, we will have bountiful blessings to offer to the Lord AND our missions we have passion for!

Precious Christmas Advent

This is the first year that my husband and I have purposefully implemented a "Service Advent Calendar" and it was such a blessing!  It is hard NOT to think about Jesus and what He did for us when you are serving others for an entire month!  It was inspired last year and I didn't take the time to get organized to make it happen, but this year it was SO worth the organization and of course it wasn't nearly as overwhelming to find service acts as I made it out to be last year!  Thank you Lord for helping us make this Season all about YOU!  Matthew 1:21