Go Upward Sports

Yesterday was the first game of the season for the Upward league I am volunteering for! This is my second season volunteering for this league as an assistant cheerleading coach. I am volunteering with my good friend, Deanna, who is the head coach. I absolutely love Upward and all the biblical values they aim to instill in every cheerleader and player! They may not keep up with all the fancy stunts, tumbling, and competitions that can go with cheerleading but they keep their focus on the One that matters most. {You can read more about it here} I am so thankful for this opportunity. I admit I am much more comfortable with being a cheerleader {cheered for 6 years in my childhood} than I am being an assistant coach but I get to fellowship with amazing girls and God is stretching and growing me in so many ways that I can't help but be thankful for this opportunity and the time spent with my good friend. I love that we cheer with God in mind. I love that each week we lead the girls to a bible verse to think about and ponder on. I love that we pray during practice. I love that we pray on game days. I love that we have a halftime devotional on game days. I love that not only are we having fun but we are doing it all in the name of the Lord. This past week during practice and game day, we focused on self-control and went over the bible verse

Everyone should be quick to listen.

But they should be slow to speak.

They should be slow to get angry.

-James 1:19b {NIrV}

Self-control as defined in the Upward coaches handbook is "choosing to do what you SHOULD do, not what you WANT to do. No matter how frustrated or annoyed or mad we get, there is always the choice to have self-control." Talk about truth. It really caused me to look within. Sometimes I am so quick to speak and get angry at my parents and bf, that it was a good reminder that I do have the ability to self-control in those moments. After all, they are the people who love me the most in this world. They deserve my best. We will be discussing self-control for two more weeks. I am looking forward to learning more about what the Bible has to say about self-control and I pray that the girls learn useful lessons that stay with them always.

Ringing in the New Year

For New Years, {now ex} bf and I were still driving back home from our Christmas vacation in Texas, in fact we were only two and half hours away from home when the clock was about to strike midnight. We thought we'd be home by then but since we weren't, we pulled off the highway into Tampa, went to a 7-Eleven and bought some cheap {very} tiny wine bottles to toast, then went to a parking lot behind 7-eleven, blasted a Christian music stataion, and set off some sparklers and fireworks we bought in Alabama. While we were doing that, a stranger drove by and asked if he could join us and set off some fireworks with us because he couldn't in his neighborhood. So he joined us. He even lit up lanterns and sent them up and away, which was something I had always wanted to do {ever since seeing Tangled}-so that was cool! It was a random, unplanned, spent with a stranger, and different way to celebrate New Years but it turned out to be fun and just right for us being on the road! Sometimes the best things in life are unplanned.

I also contiuned my yearly tradition {since 2010} of watching the first sunrise of the new year. Let me tell ya, it was not an easy task this year since I only got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep the night before from being in a car/driving so many hours back home. But like every year it was well worth it! I kept up with the tradition I started last year too- of watching the first sunset of the new year.

Sunrises:

Sunsets:

Cheers to a new year of fresh starts, growing closer to God, adventures, accomplishing goals, learning, and to be all that I can be!

Paperwork, Paperwork, & Even More Paperwork

Happy 1st Saturday of 2013! As much as I wish I had something super fun planned the first weekend of the new year, I don't. What I do have planned though {and have to remind myself of}, will bring much more peace into my life in the long run. I am continuing my unorganized to organized project by designating this weekend to sort through, ditch, and organize the piles of paperwork I have allowed to accumulate for days, months, and even years. Prayers for success. This is such a daunting task for me. Perhaps that is why I have let the piles grow so much. I have been avoiding it. This weekend I begin to take action. I dream of finishing this project by the end of this weekend but knowing my sense of time, we shall see. When {and if} this project is completed I will post pictures of my much less, beautifully, organized paperwork.

In perfect timing this morning, while getting mentally prepared to take action on this project, I stumbled across some organizing motivation from a sample on amazon of Maria Menounos’ new book The EveryGirl's Guide to Life . In the book, she devotes the first chapter to getting organized and showcases some pictures of her inspiring, organized closet.

Here are some words of organizing inspiration from her book:

“Disorganization inhibits happiness and increases stress and chances for failure.”

“Think less not more when it comes to your stuff. It’s freeing to have breathing room where you live. The more stuff you have, the more you have to clean, to distract you, to maintain, and to move.”

Her friend, Randal Malone, “concluded through his many trails and journeys, that the key to happiness is organization.”

“Many people treat their houses as giant closets, hampers, or in extreme cases, garbage cans. Bedrooms littered with clothes, desks covered with papers, bathroom counters scattered with products, and closets stuffed with everything you’ve owned since junior high school are all humongous roadblocks! Our homes are supposed to be our sanctuaries from the woes of the world. When you think of a sanctuary, do you really think of garbage and clutter?”

"Since I've become more organized, I am so much more happier."

Thank you for that much needed motivation Maria Menounos! Now off to start this project. Happy organizing!

Tis' the Season to Count Your Blessings

Christmas 2012 blessings:

Jesus.

Fun traditions-Christmas music, Starbuck's peppermint mochas, secret santa, watching Elf over & over, baking cookies, opening gifts at midnight {upbringing tradition}, hot chocolate, Christmas cards, ect.

Overall good health for my family, friends, and I.

Capturing cute pictures of Asher {my dog child} & Nena {parent's dog}. {photographing dogs, especially mine, is not always easy}

Having the week of Christmas off from work.

Going on a road trip to Texas, to visit my sister, brother-in-love, and two nephews.

Spending Christmas with all of them.

Snow on Christmas day!!

Enough snow to make snow angels the next day w/my youngest nephew.

Praying before dinner with my nephews for the first time.

Downtown Dallas being one of them.

Reuniting with good friends, Brenda & Suemi, before heading back home.

My mom and dad taking care of Asher while I was away.

Stopping to dayhike and explore a couple state parks in Northern Florida on the way to and from Texas.

Making it home safely.

Having many pictures of the trip to relive and always remember it.

Rolling down a hill for the first time:

Yummy Colombian hot chocolate and food from El Portal:

On a extremely cold night, went to the Chinese Latern Festival,

minus being almost frozen, it was something new and nice to see:

Lately, while sightseeing or on vacation, I like taking jumping picture:

I love the way the clouds and water collide here: