Meredith's Get Fit Journey!!!

Ok, so I'm officially a dork after this post. Who documents their workouts?!? Well, apparently I do. But there's good reason behind it. (at least as far as I'm concerned) If you know me at all or have read my blog, you know I've been on a "get fit journey" for the past year and few months now. I think things are going really well (70 pounds down). I've learned that it's often important for me to take pictures or write things down so that on my discouraging days, I can go back and look at these things to see how far the Lord has truly brought me over the past year. What better way to start doing that than by blogging about it?!? Some of you (probably the majority of you) really could care less about my progress, but maybe some of you are in the same boat I'm in and we all know that a little encouragement never hurt nobody! :) I'm really excited about where I am right now in my GFJ (get fit journey) and LOVE that I'm gaining strength to do things I've NEVER done before. This time last year, I could MAYBE jog one lap around a standard track. Today, I jogged two MILES!! I walked .5 mile to warm up, then jogged 2, then walked another .5 mile to cool down. It was a pretty chilly Sunday here in Gainesville, but I decided to bundle up and put my game face on. Ok, so maybe not a true "game face". More of an "oh my word, it's so cold out there, I don't want to get out of my car!" face.
Gainesville College Track...we're becoming friends. (And you can see how cold it was today from the lack of people on the track. It's normally PACKED on Sunday afternoons.)

And last, the face of victory! Two miles, baby....two miles! That's a good day right there. :)

Meredith's GFJ advice for today...it takes time. Hang in there!

Spacious Places...

"He brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me." (2 Samuel 22:20) This is one of my favorite verses of scripture because it reminds me that God knows that sometimes, we just need a "breather". In this particular passage, David was under a lot of stress because he was being attacked by his enemies. But because the Lord delighted in David, He took care of him and lead him into a place where no one could harm him...a spacious place. David could just take a deep breath in and know that he was ok and protected by the Almighty. I'm sitting at my sister and brother-in-laws house as I type this, watching the sweetest little nephew anyone could ever ask for. The little fella is asleep in his swing so I'm taking advantage of my time. I needed to have the kind of day that I'm having today and the Lord faithfully knew that. I needed the day off from work...He provided that. I needed some extra special time with my Heavenly Father...He blessed in those few extra moments. I needed to spend some sweet time with my Little Luke...there's nothing quite like it! I've realized in the past few weeks that I've "over busied" myself. I have no one really at this point in my life to take care of other than myself, but somehow I manage to live one of the most busy lives of anyone I know. I'm learning that one of the reasons I do this, is because I fear getting lonely. (kind of riduculous, I know!) But that's the truth. However, I really got to the point this week that I just needed a "breather". I needed to be taken out into a "spacious place" where life could slow down, if even for just a few hours. I needed refreshment. I feel like I'm getting that today and it feels good! :) God is so good and cares so much about His children...He delights in us! Have a great day!

So many things I could title this post...."I Think I'm Getting Old"..."To Date or Not to Date"..."Not Just a Nurse"!!!

Ok, so one of my patient's today was a sweet 19 year old girl. I was taking her into one of our patient rooms to ask her all the usual questions and she was in the process of wrapping up a phone conversation with one of her friends. She ended her phone conversation and I could tell she was very frustrated about something...seeing that she ended the the conversation with an "Ugh!" I asked (being the polite person that I am) if everything was alright. Apparently the poor girl needed to vent. VERY long story short, she's been dating this guy for a few months, but she doesn't really know how serious it is because they haven't really had the whole DTR (Define the Relationship) talk since the first initial DTR talk. All us girls know that there should be one of these "talks" like every day. We gotta know where we're heading! :) Anyway, they go to different colleges and that hasn't really been an issue until recently. Another girl is trying to "move in" on the whole relationship causing a BIG knot in the chain. (Oh no she didn't!) After she was all but crying on my shoulder, I asked this poor girl the least amount of questions possible to do my job, gave her a little "hang in there!", and then walked out of that room with my head spinning! This girl is 19 and exhausted from the whole dating process...I'm 27 and haven't even BEGAN the dating process. I have prayed like never before today that the Lord would get that boy here soon because I'm afraid I'm getting too old for all this!! Accepting applications, Meredith :) (Can you tell it's just been one of THOSE days?!?)

Happy Easter!

I'm a day late on my Easter post due to some technical difficulties, but still wanted to share some of these fun pics of my family's day together as we celebrated such a special day. Easter is no different than Christmas or Thanksgiving in my family...it's celebrated just as BIG and as LOUD because we believe that the resurrection of Jesus from death and the grave is what offers us the hope that we have...that we too are saved from death and the grave...sin. I felt so many different kinds of emotions yesterday as I thought so heavily about what Jesus did for me 2000 years ago. His resurrection is such a glorious thing to think upon but I'm also reminded that He was resurrected because He had to die...for me. I'll never be able to grasp this love...the love of a Savior, but I know that I'm so thankful for it and so incredibly blessed to live in the freedom that I do because of Him. May we not take that for granted or take that freedom lightly! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! :) Dad, Mom and myself after church.
The EASTER BUNNY!! :) Luke thought that was pretty great.

It's amazing that we don't have to be taught that there are usually lots of GOOD things hiding inside those Easter eggs.

Luke's first Easter Egg hunt.

He almost got it!

Opening Easter Baskets!

Ok, so I know I will be hated for this when Luke is in high school, but I couldn't resist getting him a pair of Easter bunny ears for his first Easter. I promise it will not happen again...but how stinkin' cute is that?!? What a fun day!

Super Saturday before Easter! :)

What a crazy fun day! Today has been really busy but nonetheless, really fun! I started my day by going to my Weight Watchers meeting, then to one of my best friends son's 1st birthday....both of which went great. Then this afternoon I met up with my good friend Chad Bugg...but since all the "other" girl's call him Chad Bugg, I've resolved to call him Chuggster. :) We had a fun time hanging out in Buford, eating some yummo pizza from Artuzzi's for lunch. Then we made our way over to R.E.I. and Rugged Warehouse, followed by a trip to Lifeway so I could pick up the new Steve Fee CD that I've been wanting for a while now. And how can you be so close to not only one Starbucks but TWO and not make your way into one of them?!? It's impossible. Don't even try. :) We took our lovely, expensive coffees with us into Petco where we were given a very extensive, valuable lesson on some type of lizard - no, I did not touch it incase you're wondering.

My already very good day ended by spending the evening with some other good friends, Chad, Heidi, Alex and Olivia. It's been tradition for me to color Easter Eggs with Alex and Olivia for many years now the night before Easter. This year, Chuggster had the pleasure of joining me and I think if you were to ask him, he would tell you it's the most fun he's had in ages! :) Much fun was had by all - we laughed hard, ate lots of really bad food, did some massive egg coloring, chatted it up and made some super fun memories! I'm so thankful for such sweet friends and also for the incredible reason that we celebrate Easter! Hope you all have a great one. Enjoy some fun pics from tonight. The Easter Egg Gang - from left to right...Chad Bugg (Chuggster), myself, Olivia, Alex, Heidi, and Chad...and no, he doesn't have anything wrong with his eye...he's just really weird.
Chad...and Chad. (I think they made a movie..."Dumb and Dumber" maybe?!?)

Workin' away! What fun!

Look at our masterpieces! :) You couldn't find a better lookin' Easter Egg!

A Day Off!

So, I have the day off tomorrow and while I really do enjoy my job, I ALWAYS welcome a day off! Who wouldn't?!? I've been contemplating the ways in which I could spend my day and after much thought, I think it's just going to be another busy day! (imagine that!) I'm going to make a checkoff list...which I NEVER do, but because I want and NEED tomorrow to be a really productive day, I feel the need for one. (Gina, you should be so proud!) So, here's my list of goals for tomorrow.... Wake up by 7:30 AM. Spend some time with the Lord. Do some cleaning. Exercise Be at the Mall of GA by around 10 AM. Macy's is having a big one-day sale and I still need an Easter outfit for Sunday! (and some new Spring clothes!) Make my weekly Starbucks run for my non-fat White Chocolate Mocha. Go to Target and finish buying things for Luke's Easter basket and purchase a few other things for my family for Easter. Spend some quality time w/ Baby Luke. (this usually last 2-3 hours) He's crawling now! This will definitely be the highlight of my day! Hopefully visit w/ my friend Sherry and new Baby Jackson for a little while. (see last post) Go to the grocery store to get whatever I need to hopefully make dinner for my family tomorrow night. Hopefully make dinner for my family. Get a few Easter cards ready to mail out. Hang out w/ the fam and watch the American Idol results show. Bed Whewww...I'm already tired! :)

In Love...Yet Again.

Introducing Baby Jackson Nathaniel into the world!! One of my very best friends, Sherry, gave birth to this incredibly precious, beautiful baby yesterday evening. If you can't tell, I am very much in love with him already. Mom and Baby are both doing great and Daddy Justin is a pro! He totally changed a poopy diaper tonight with no assistance! Jackson didn't even make a peep. :) New life, both physically and spiritually, are such miraculous events! We serve and amazingly BIG God!

Aside from loving on babies, I've had a pretty good week so far. It's been a busy one and has worn me out physically, but I can't complain. The weekend is in sight! And what about this incredible weather?!? I'm loving the time change - I hate that it's dark outside when I have to wake up in the mornings, but LOVE that I have several hours of daylight left after getting off from work in the afternoons. I think I officially made it to almost 2 miles in my jogging this week...at least I was pretty close anyway. It was hard as all get out, but felt really good afterwards. Hopefully Spring will be here to stay soon so we can keep on enjoyin' this weather! Hope you're all having a super week.

Weight Watchers Update!

I had my weekly weigh-in this morning and was a little disappointed that I only lost half a pound, but hey, it's better than gaining half a pound! I did, however, wear "heavier" clothes this morning due to the SNOW that was falling in Gainesville today, so I'm thinking I lost at least a good pound. :) Just a few more to go before the big 75!!! I'm hoping to reach this goal within the next two weeks - wish me luck!!

Rome Weekend Recap...

I'm a couple days behind on this post but I still wanted to take a minute to share about my fun weekend! On Friday night after work, I traveled to Rome to spend the weekend w/ my old roommate and dear friend, Gina (aka Flossy G!). Gina's birthday was Saturday so I was glad that I was able to go and celebrate with her this weekend. When I got into town on Friday evening, we had a super fun dinner (LOTS of laughing!) at Longhorn's and thankfully, since it was Gina's birthday and all, I had an excellent excuse to order that Apple Goldrush dessert thing that I have been craving for FOREVER! Yummo! Thanks for having a birthday, G! :) On Saturday morning/afternoon, I had the chance to travel to Chattanooga to spend part of the day with my friend Kevin and again, we did some good eatin' at P.F. Chang's and then did a little shopping. Whoever knew that guys had a thing about buying darker colored jeans?!? I learned a lot that day. Then on Saturday evening once I got back to Rome, I was able to hang out w/ my sweet friends Pam and Cliff. We had lots of fun catching up and having dinner together. I stayed in town through church on Sunday morning and can I just say...WOW! God definitely showed up at church on Sunday at West Rome Baptist. I'm going to paste what Jarrod (interim pastor) wrote on his blog so you can catch a little glimpse of what we were blessed to experience on Sunday. God is so good and definitely spoke to me on Sunday about how my obedience certainly effects His blessings in my life. After church, I had a great lunch at Olive Garden with my friends Gina, Luda, Cliff and Pam Tappan, and Hector and Christy Cervantes. I love and miss these people so much! It was a super weekend and I'm so thankful that I got to experience it! Jarrod's thoughts from Sunday: So, this past Sunday I was able to experience something that I have never been a part of. I have been going to church for 39 (almost 40) years now, and I have never seen God do this. As you all know, I am the Interim Pastor of West Rome Baptist Church and I also lead XL. Well, this past Sunday morning, God showed up at West Rome in an unbelievable way. Check this out… when I got up to preach everyone was standing up from the worship time we had been having. We had already had a number of people at the alter praying and seeking God during the worship throug music time, even without any type of alter call. Then, when I got up everyone started to sit down like they always do. I told them to keep standing up because God was not done. I told them that, where I went to school, you didn’t sit down until the game was over, and I didn’t think it was over. They obviously agreed and the vast majority of our congregation stood for the entire rest of the service. I did the first two points of the message God had given me and then had a time for people to come to the alter. The alter was filled with people praying and seeking God in every way possible. It was amazing. Then, I stepped up and did my third point from my message. After that we took up the offering and people started to sit down for this time. As people started to recognize what was happening they began to stand back up. Josh, one of our “front row guys” never sat down. Then all over the room people started to stand back up and were cheering and clapping for God’s presence in the room. We closed it out with a song called “Something Happens” and it’s about all the great things that can happen when we mention the name of Jesus. At the end of that song it was completely quiet in the room of over 800 and no one moved. I literally had to tell them to go home!!! WOW!!! I’ve never seen anything like it, but I do plan to see it again.

Tomorrow...

....I will blog. Tonight, I will sleep. Stay tuned tomorrow for a recap of the fun weekend I had! Hope everyone has a great week. And if you're not having a great week so far, hang in there! "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of MANY kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." (James 1:2) I have a love-hate relationship with this passage, but am so thankful that my God takes every situation and puts reason behind it. Good reason.