Practice #20

So my 30 day Bikram Yoga challenge has turned into a 30 practice challenge. Life always seems to get crazy when I'm ready for it to slow down. My goal this week is to practice every single day. It's in my life planner. It will be done. And it's going to be amazing.

In the last few weeks of practice I've hit some major milestones for myself. Two weeks ago during a very laid back practice with Graham, my head touched the floor for the first time during standing separate leg stretching. I was on an excitement high for the rest of class. Every single class I stare at the floor and try and try and try to touch my head to it. It hasn't happened since but once is good enough for now. My hamstrings took a beating after that practice and I had to start all over again. And today during practice with Karla, I was able to see the floor for the first time during camel. Camel is a very difficult pose. However, it's one of my favorite poses. Back bends feel amazing to my spine. Bring on the room spinning!

Additionally, there are other perks to the practice that I have found. Some of these make me laugh so hard. The other day when applying my make up I realized I had a small callus forming on my chin from having my chin on the mat during the spine strengthening series poses. Floor bow pose has also brought on hip bruises and calf cramps. My calf cramped up today and I couldn't help but laugh and roll around on my mat to keep my mind off the pain. I've also found that my hypermobility syndrome has also brought on some interesting experiences. A few practices ago I went backwards in camel and my head didn't stop until it hit the floor. FYI, your head isn't supposed to touch the floor in that way. I also find myself constantly hitting the mirror when in half moon pose. I guess it's my own fault for picking the corner spot. The purpose of half moon is to make your body look like a half moon by bending and having tremendous stretching on the side of the body. Today my arms were completely parallel to the floor on the right side. Score! Thank you hypermobility!

 

This practice has given me many laughs, many tears of joy, and many new friends. If you ever get a chance to experience all of it's wonders, you'll forever be changed in some way.

Blessings,
Kelsey

A New Season

The most challenging season of our life is over and done with. It's in our past but forever in our memory. We learned more in the last 3 months than we have in the last year and half in our marriage. I've learned that I'm stronger than I ever thought I could be. 55-70 hour work weeks for three months straight to pay medical bills has left me physically and mentally exhausted; yet, I have accomplished something some said I could never do. I have dreamed about the day we pay off all of Tyler's medical bills since December 14th. Here we are three months later and it's done. I never thought we'd get here this fast. But I couldn't be more happy with all we overcame to get the job done. At one point I was babysitting four families a week, cleaning four houses and a church, and working 30 hours in my teaching position. Where there's a will there's a way.

Last Sunday our pastor preached a message on joy and worry. He quoted Ecclesiastes 4, which I had never heard before. I feel like this passage covers every second of our lives since Tyler's surgery.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?
 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

 

What a beautiful passage. We have experienced so many of these emotions during the last season. I wept the night of Tyler's surgery. We laughed to forget the world around us. Tyler began the healing process. We broke down when we had had enough. Our friends and family built us up when our heads hung low. We loved throughout the hurt and challenges. We embraced often. And danced with each step forward. Even when it got ugly and it was hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, God made the time a beautiful piece of our life story. Our victory story.

Spring is our time to start over and rebuild what we pushed aside during the last season. We're moving forward each day. Today I came home to our loan approval sitting on the counter. We were approved for more than we need and the payments are in our budget. Now we're just waiting on a piece of land. As soon as we find land the loan will go through closing, which is estimated to occur in June. Four to five months later we will be living in our new home. God is good. We are proof that faith and prayer yields results.

Blessings,
Kelsey

Be Still...

If there's one thing I've learned over the last week it's to simply {be still}. Psalm 46:10 tells us, "Be still and know that I am God." Oh how true. Sometimes I just have to stop and remind myself that I'm not in control. Realizing that I can't control everything is quite a challenge, especially for my perfect melancholy personality. There have been very few quite moments for me in the last week but the ones I have taken have been much needed.

I feel that our sense of normalcy in our home has gone out the window yet again. However, I know that our circumstances will be constantly changing and there will never be such thing as normalcy in our home. We change with the times and with the circumstances. A few weeks ago we went through the process of getting the home we rent appraised. Our landlord offered us first chance at the house and I was being optimistic that we could afford the house. I was very wrong. The house came back appraised at $234,000. That's not pocket change. And it's way over our budget. I guess I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up because as soon as we realized we couldn't afford the house the reality of moving set in. Our lease runs out in August and we will have to find a new place to live. My heart broke that night. I love the house we live in and thought of it as the home we would raise our children in. God has a different plan though. Not an hour after we got the appraisal my awesome husband starts making phone calls to people seeing if they will sell us land. We have two leads right now and I know that what's mean to be will come to fruition. It's not in our hands. It's in God's hands. All we can do is prepare for the land that is to come. We've already picked our our new home through Clayton homes and as soon as the loan goes through our house will be ready to move in in 90 days. I couldn't be more excited to start this new chapter in our lives, but at the same time building a home is a huge step!

In addition to all the house craziness, I got my own wake up call on Thursday. I went for my monthly allergy shots and an hour later I was having trouble breathing and breaking out in hives. I knew that I would have to use my Epi Pen and went into panic mode. After calling Tyler in a panic the Engine pulled up at my work two minutes later. These guys weren't wasting any time. I've never seen the engine move so fast and the guys came to my care right away. In less than 5 minutes I had my vitals checked 3 times, was given my Epi Pen injection, and sent away in an ambulance. We are truly blessed to be a part of the Harrisonburg Fire Department and we have the best professionals around; especially my husband. After spending a couple hours in the ER I was released and sent home. For the first time in a month I spent the evening at home resting. God was telling me to be still and didn't give me any other choice. I needed that. This reaction has also set me back almost a year in my series of shots. It's not that getting the shots is a big deal or super painful, but that puts us back another year from having children. Again, I think it's God's way of telling us that he has a plan and we can't always follow ours.

On a positive note we are so close to paying off all of the medical bills from Tyler's surgery. We've paid over $2,500 in the last 45 days. My heads spins thinking about it and my body cringes knowing how much I worked to help pay the bills. There hasn't been a week in 2013 that I haven't worked between 50 and 65 hours. It will all be worth it in the end. Where there's a will there's a way. And we're finding our way.

My hopes are that with this {blizzard} coming our way that I'll be able to take some time to myself and get my life back in check. I need time to clear my head and rest my body. Snow is the perfect way to accomplish just that :)

Blessings,
Kelsey