My Short Hair Works For Working Out

I love my new hair do all the time.  The messier my hair is the better it looks.  How can you beat that?! I love my hair best when I am exercising and I exercise a lot. There is no pony tail to move over to the side when I lay down for chest presses or crunches, no pony tail to readjust when I stand back up.  And when I am working really hard, the sweat drips off the ends of my hair, making me look and feel really tough.  I ordered a head band to try, but it's nice to know I don't even need it. My hair is short enough now to just hang out of my way. I think this might be the beginning of a long relationship with short hair. 

Grandparents Visit

Dwayne's parents are here for a visit.  His mom is the original Mary Poppins with bags full of limitless treasures.  In the photo above, Adele is playing with one of the toys Grandma always brings out for them. 

I got my hair cut!

I got my hair cut!  I've never had hair this short before. It's always been at least long enough to pull back into a pony tail. But I had been growing really, really tired of my pony tail.  I have to lay down on my back a lot during my personal workouts and during the classes I teach and I always had to loosen my pony tail so I could put my head down flat on the floor. But then I'd stand back up and my pony tail would be all out of whack. I'd either ignore it and let it flap around loose or take the time to adjust it. Now I can just throw on a big sweat band and go.  I did my workout tonight and I already love how it hangs lightly around my face when I do push ups, etc.  I also wanted something with more interest.  My long hair just sort of hung down the sides of my face most of the time, unless I took a lot of time to style it.  This cut is shorter, so it's lighter, so it just pops out.  The layers make it much more interesting, to say the least!

 

A Drop of Lemon Essential Oil

I've been adding a drop of lemon essential oil to my water or kombucha tea. Just one drop flavors the entire glass. There are health benefits. Lemon oil helps flush toxins from your system.  But I am doing it mostly because it tastes amazing. 

Our Exercise Room

Our exercise room is quickly becoming my favorite room in my house. 

Note: This used to be a bedroom and we don't want to take the time and expense to paint, so that's why it's pink.  We'd also have to miss at least a few workouts to paint and I am not interested in missing any workouts right now. I am having too much fun in here. 

 

We have a table set up with speakers so my husband or I can just put our laptops on the table, plug in our speakers, and play our workouts with loud music.  FYI- My dad built that table. The closet door has been removed for the chin up bar and the closet holds some fitness equipment, but it mostly holds books and books and books on a few small shelves we have been able to fit in there.  My girls like to use it as an informal book nook when I am not in here, so I put a few pillows on the closet floor for them, too. 

 

This corner cabinet was a gift from Dwayne's parents. It's been in a few different places in our home since we've had it, but it is perfect for storing all the little things like gloves, waters, tissues, etc.  so it will probably live in here from now on.  Note that I have a little stool with my diffuser on it.  I like to diffuse essential oils when I do yoga, stretch, etc.  It's so nice and encourages me to breathe deeply.   
 

 

Here's a pre-workout picture.  I did Bodypump 90 at home today. I am trying to learn it so I can use it in any classes I get to teach.  Today I also did forty-five minutes of step aerobics and then an hour of Bodybalance.  Note: I took breaks in between to care for my kids, make meals, clean, visit with my husband, etc.  But I really do love to exercise, so it was nice to do so much today. 

 

At this point, I am squatting 60 lbs.  It isn't easy, but I can manage it and I think my range of motion and form are still correct, so I do it.  I still use the bar and weights I got with my Beachbody Pump DVDs, but I have been getting stronger and also the last two Bodypump releases have required the use of loose plates in addition to the barbell, so I recently bought more weights. 

This is what the room looks like right after a Bodypump workout.  I am usually too busy going from one track to another to organize the weights, etc. 

This verse means a lot to me, so I wrote it out and my little girls colored it for me.  The Lord is the one who motivated me to get healthy in the first place, the one who gave me the strength to discipline myself and lose over seventy pounds in a year, and He is the one who still motivates me to pursue even greater levels of fitness.  He's my coach who trains me how to train others.   

Homemade Kombucha Tea

 

I make my own kombucha tea. (I also buy it in the store sometimes, but it's quite expensive. So making it at home can save heaps of money- after you invest in the supplies you need.)

Kombucha tea is basically regular sweet tea that has been fermented with a live culture of bacteria called a scoby or a mother. If you look at the photo above, you can see two scobies in the jar of kombucha.  The scobies look like jelly pancakes. One is sitting on the bottom of the jar. The other is floating on the top.  I know it's weird, but I think it's also totally awesome to be able to do this kind of thing yourself at home.  

So kombucha tea has live bacteria. That's the point.  It's good for you in the same way yogurt or kefir are good for you. Your gut actually needs healthy bacteria. Just a quick Google search can bring up several articles like this one about the benefits of maintaining your gut health by using probiotic foods or drinks like kombucha.   

Click here for a video tutorial with a lot of basic information about making kombucha.  This video will tell you what equipment you need: jars, tea, sugar, etc. and the video also includes the basic recipe that I use (so you may want to have a pen and paper ready so you can jot it down). That way you won't have to watch the video again to hear it when you actually want to make kombucha. Note: If I am making kombucha tea using a quart jar, I just follow that recipe verbatim. If I am making more tea in a bigger jar, I just multiply the ingredients according to the size of the jar/ amount of tea. 

You can also click here for a free e-book that will also give you lots of basic information about making kombucha. 

Like it is with any new endeavor, there is a learning curve when you want to begin making kombucha.  You will have a lot of questions and concerns.  Hopefully, the links I provided above can help answer your questions and alleviate your concerns if you are interested. It took me a while to get used to the idea and get comfortable with the process myself. But it really is quite easy once you get used to it. 

And it's delicious! Today I am drinking plain kombucha on ice.  (What I mean by "plain kombucha" is I just let the tea in the recipe on the video above brew for approx. two weeks, then I tested the PH, then I strained it, and then put some ice in it. Viola!)  It tastes like a strong southern sweet with lemon (only it's better for you than drinking that.)  

Kombucha isn't a miracle food/ drink or anything like that. It's not like you can add this to your diet and still eat whatever you want and be healthy, feel great, and lose weight. But eating/ drinking probiotics is one of many things you can do to improve your health.  It's one of many things I did on my weight loss journey.  It is really good for you. So if you drink it and also eat lots of nutritious, whole, healthy foods, cut out processed foods, count calories, exercise, etc., you will be closer to health and wellness.  

I haven't been brewing for long, but I have already come up with some delicious flavors/ recipes that I will share here in the future. 

My husband calls kombucha "hippy tea."  And I have to admit, it is the kind of thing Fillmore would do.

But even though my husband jokes about it, he likes kombucha. He also buys it for himself when he is at a store that has it.  And even my kids like it!  (My kids didn't drink it at first. It took them about a year to come around to the idea.  I think they needed that much time seeing me drink it over and over again it without dying.)  At this point, though, they beg for it.

Do you drink kombucha? Do you make kombucha, too?  Feel free to post comments or ask questions.

Happy brewing! 

Bodypump 90

I am Bodypump certified!

I was trained on 89, so I know that release really well.

Once I got my certification, I signed up for autoship, but that won't apply until Bodypump 91.

So I went back and purchased Bodypump 90 yesterday. I don't have a class of my own yet, but I am learning 90 anyway.

My mantra through this entire process has been, "Run in such a way as to get the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:24

I don't want there to be any reason (that's within my power) for an employer not to give me my own class.

And I want to feel as prepared as possible when I do stand in front of my own Bodypump class someday.

So, for now, I am learning Bodypump 90 and it's fun.

On 89, the tricep track was my favorite.

On 90, I think the squat track is going to be my favorite. 

 





 

Bodypump Certification- I Passed!

 

I got the official email last night.  I passed my video assessment! Now I am certified to teach Bodypump!

If you want to know more about the details of my Bodypump Initial Training experience, you can click the tag "Bodypump" in the column on the right or at the bottom of this post at it will take you to several previous blog posts about my certification process.

  

It Ain't Sexy, But It's Good

A few of my friends on Facebook posted a link to Matt Walsh's blog post titled We can't end 'rape culture' if we don't end hook up culture.

I read the article. I liked it. But it was hard to believe what Walsh was saying about the way young people are partying these days, so I am not sure I totally saw the connection between hook-up and rape.  I don't have cable television, so it's like I don't even live on the same planet as most people.

But then I heard a song today- Timber by Pitbull featuring Kesha. It was on a new workout CD I bought. I couldn't believe what I was listening to! So I Googled the lyrics to the song to see if I heard them right. 

Here's how they go-

(This portion of the song is sung by a female.  I think that is very important.)

It's going down, I'm yelling timber
You better move, you better dance
Let's make a night you won't remember
I'll be the one you won't forget

Wooooah (timber), wooooah (timber), wooooah (it's going down)
Wooooah (timber), wooooah (timber), wooooah (it's going down)

(The man [Pitbull] starts to sing.)

The bigger they are, the harder they fall
These big-iddy boys are dig-gidy dogs
I have 'em like Miley Cyrus, clothes off
Twerking in their bras and thongs, timber
Face down, booty up, timber
That's the way we like to–what?–timber
I'm slicker than an oil spill
She say she won't, but I bet she will, timber

Swing your partner round and round
End of the night, it's going down
One more shot, another round
End of the night, it's going down
Swing your partner round and round
End of the night, it's going down
One more shot, another round
End of the night, it's going down

Just a quick break-down of the song lyrics reveals some pretty disturbing thinking for both the man and woman singing.

I'll break down just a few of the lines. The lady sings,

Let's make a night you won't remember-

Why won't he remember?  Will he be too drunk to remember anything? Too drunk to make good decisions?

I'll be the one you won't forget- 

So this girl knows that the guy has hooked-up with so many other women that he has forgotten a lot of them, but she is going to preform so good in bed (or in the bathroom or wherever they do it) that he won't forget her. That's not likely. 

Then the man sings-

The bigger they are, the harder they fall-

Sex is obviously just a conquest to this guy, not a privilege to connect with and bless a woman that he loves and cares for.

These big-iddy boys are dig-gidy dogs-

We're dogs, animals. Let's just act like animals. 

... Twerking in their bras and thongs.

So this has gone from a dance party to an orgy apparently. 

I'll skip some of the worst lyrics.

But I feel I have to share the most offensive line of all-

She say she won't, but I bet she will-

That's right, the guy actually sings,

She says she won't, but I bet she will.-

The girl is saying she doesn't want to go have sex now... but given enough time and drinks... 

Is this the way men and women involved in this "hook up culture" are thinking? It appears to be.  And it is not hard to see now how this hook-up culture perpetuates a rape culture.  People are singing about the fact that they are going to sexually use and be used "at the end of night" just like the song says.

I think it's also important to note that these performers aren't singing these songs in the dark, so to speak. They are actually in prime places, being placed in front of young people, even. Unless I am mistaken, (which is quite possible, since I told you I don't have cable television so I am not up on popular culture,) but Kesha, the lady who sings in the song (and who preforms in the pretty pornographic music video that goes with it), appears to be the same lady who performed at the Kids Choice Awards in 2013.  The Kids Choice Awards! Now, she didn't sing Timber at the Kids Choice Awards, but I still think we must have lost our collective minds if we think this doesn't matter. Kids are definitely going to be more likely to listen to songs with her name on them now. And there is never any doubt that what kids (and adults) listen to will naturally influence the way the think, feel, and act.

In his article Matt Walsh says,

"If we tell men that it’s OK to use women like they’re nothing more than masturbatory aides — and that is indeed all that’s happening in the hook-up culture – then we will end up with men who do just that."

When are we telling men it's okay to use women like that?  Well, for one, it is happening in songs and videos like the one I heard today.

Walsh goes on to say, "The ‘get consent’ crowd asks only for the bare minimum, and then rejects those who come up with a strategy that more effectively achieves their desired results.  The fight against rape has to involve more than some paltry little sermon about consent. We need to use words like ‘love’ and ‘commitment’ and ‘marriage.’ This won’t end rape entirely, but it’s the only message that will make a difference."
 

If it wasn't obvious before now, this blog post is an appeal to considering returning to more traditional thinking, feeling, and acting about sex.  At least consider it. Like Walsh says in his article, we've pushed the limits to mere consent. But now men and woman are using each other so often that we have actually come up with terms for it- "hook-up culture." And now the use is perpetuating so much abuse, we even have a "rape culture." These are cultures now! So I tend to agree with Walsh. Consent is too blurry of a line, especially when people are literally so drunk they can't see straight. When it comes to alcohol at sexually charged parties let's start using words like responsibility, moderation, and discretion. When it comes to sex, let's draw the line back somewhere back toward marriage, commitment, and love and see how well that serves our society.
 
A friend of mine once told me how a friend of her husband's came to visit them for a few days. He was a single guy and didn't share their traditional values about marriage and sex, so he wasn't sure he'd enjoy staying with an old, boring couple. But as he watched their relationship those few days, how they kissed in the kitchen, joked and laughed, handled the kids their love had made, and generally worked really, really hard to respect each other, communicate, and get through life together, he said, "You know, what you have... It ain't sexy. But it's good."

True.

Love. Commitment. Marriage. They aren't always sexy, but they are good.

My Kindle Highlights (And Personal Comments) from Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller

I finished Every Good Endeavor by Tim Keller. And I thought it would be a good to endeavor (pun intended) to go through the quotes that I highlighted in the book and try to articulate to myself why the quotes were important enough to me to highlight in the first place.

"fingers of God"

Keller says that "fingers of God" is an old Lutheran phrase used to express what we are as we do our work, whatever that is, here on earth.  We are "fingers of God, agents of his providential love for others." Keller also says Luther and Calvin, both leaders of the Protestant reformation believed that, "God cared for, fed, clothed, sheltered, and supported the human race through our human labor... This understanding elevates the purpose of work from making a living to loving our neighbor."  I have never read anything written by Luther or Calvin. I should remedy that. 

"...a New Jerusalem, a heavenly city, which will come down to earth like a bride dressed for her husband (Revelation 21–22)."

The other day on my drive home from work at the YMCA in downtown Waterbury, I had an overwhelming affection and pride for all the old buildings, tenants, small businesses, churches, and people. I didn't see all the imperfections, dirt and decay, like I used to. Instead, I saw the noble attempts of generations of men and women to build useful, yet beautiful monuments for their families, cultures, and faiths.   Cities are, even with all their imperfections, mankind's attempt to perfect culture and that perfection of culture is what God put men and women on earth to do.  "Fill the earth and subdue it."  By subdue, of course I don't think God meant for us to pave it all over, but I do think He meant for us make the most of earth's potential, so my mind and heart have been changing about cities. 
 
"God worked for the sheer joy of it." 

This quote encompasses what Keller says about work in this book.  God Himself chose to work when He decided to create. Of course, the Bible also explains how our work became harder as a result of the curse, but that doesn't negate the fact that mankind worked before the fall, so our work itself isn't a curse. In truth, we were meant to work. These ideas have already made me even more comfortable having jobs outside the home, something I never imagined I would do. I am also much more determined to support my husband's career more than ever.  He just started work on his master's degree and I imagine it will be easier to let him devote time to that now.  I'm grateful for all the work God has given me to do and how I can support my husband in his work.

The next quote I highlighted is actually a quote by Dorothy Sayers in "Why Work?" in Creeds or Chaos, something else I may want to read.

"...work is not, primarily, a thing one does to live, but the thing one lives to do. It is, or it should be, the full expression of the worker’s faculties . . . the medium in which he offers himself to God.”

This is definitely how I feel before, during, and after I teach group exercise.  All my natural gifts and joys come together in that job and I feel as if I am doing something that I was created to do. I don't think I am the only person on earth who can do my job, but that particular job may be one I was given to do.  Like Eric Liddell is famously quoted as saying, "I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure."  That's how I feel when I am teaching group exercise.

"Freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, those that fit with the realities of our own nature and those of the world."

I feel as if this is a lesson the Lord has been teaching me the past few years, particularly with my diet. I had to face reality and learn to live in the world that God made, the world where I can't eat whatever I want and be free from the consequences of my choices.  Even Christians don't get to just bless their fried chicken and then live free from heart disease. And if we eat dead, processed, unhealthy foods, we will "reap what we sow" in our bodies.

"So the commandments of God in the Bible are a means of liberation, because through them God calls us to be what he built us to be."

I have been following Jesus for almost twenty years and I realized He really has taught me how to be me. I had to submit to His opinions and will, even when I thought I knew better, but I have always been glad when I have done that.  I feel as if He has shown me how to be a better woman, daughter, sister, friend, wife, and mother.  Not that I am perfect at all these things. Far from it! But I can't imagine what kind of woman, daughter, sister, friend, wife, or mother I would be without the guidance and wisdom I've received from my Lord.

Keller quotes a verse from Scripture that I am not sure I have ever noticed before this.

“I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go." Isaiah 48:17

"Many people make the mistake of thinking that work is a curse and that something else (leisure, family, or even 'spiritual' pursuits) is the only way to find meaning in life...  Your relationship with God is the most important foundation for your life, and indeed it keeps all the other factors—work, friendships and family, leisure and pleasure—from becoming so important to you that they become addicting and distorted."

I do love the balance I have found in my relationship with the Lord.  In my experience, whenever something is "off" and I am struggling internally or externally, it is usually because I am thinking, feeling, or doing something wrong, even subtly, and when the Lord shows me where I've gone wrong, I get to experience balance and peace again.    

"...we believe that lower-status or lower-paying work is an assault on our dignity. One result of this belief is that many people take jobs that they are not suited for at all, choosing to aim for careers that do not fit their gifts but promise higher wages and prestige."

As much as I love my job, I have experienced some shame over it because it is quite simple.  I know this shame doesn't come from God, so I have ignored it and I've continued to pursue excellence in my calling as simple as it is.  I know of other women who are pursuing doctorates or writing books or who are excelling so much in their careers that they are making more money than their spouses.  This quote is comforting. I have found a job that fits my gifts, makes a difference in peoples' lives, and brings me great, great, great joy. I don't know what else matters, really.  I realize I can't be anyone but who I am, so by God's grace, I am content with myself.   

“If God came into the world, what would he be like? For the ancient Greeks, he might have been a philosopher-king. The ancient Romans might have looked for a just and noble statesman. But how does the God of the Hebrews come into the world? As a carpenter.”
 
I know that Jesus was a carpenter, but I think He was also an incredible teacher.  He said, "I am the way, the truth, the life." So many human teachers sought and still seek for the answers that He claimed to just be. When I consider the claims Jesus made about Himself, I always come back to the words of Peter when He told Jesus, "Where else would we go?  You alone have the words of truth and of life. We believed and have come to know that you are the Son of God." 

"No task is too small a vessel to hold the immense dignity of work given by God."

This quote may need to go somewhere near the kitchen sink so I can be reminded when I am washing dishes... again.

"...the material creation we are called to care for is good... God takes upon himself a human body... God redeems not just the soul but the body to show how deeply "pro-physical" Christianity is."

This is another thing I feel like the Lord taught me through my weight-loss journey.  I've mentioned this before on my blog.  Thinking back, I believe I neglected my body and allowed myself to get out of shape because I didn't believe the physical world, including my body, was important enough to trouble and fuss over. I thought it was vanity.  Spiritual things were more important. But the Lord showed me that this physical world is actually connected to the spiritual one.  Reality includes spirit and flesh, so I can actually honor God by honoring by body and I grow spiritually by growing in physical discipline.  So, with that new understanding, I have a much higher view of physical fitness than I ever imagined I would have as a "spiritual" person.  

"...when businesses produce material things that enhance the welfare of the community, they are engaged in work that matters to God."

"And every Christian should be able to identify, with conviction and satisfaction, the ways in which his or her work participates with God in his creativity and cultivation."

My husband's company makes boilers that provide heat and hot water to large apartment buildings, hospitals, etc. The YMCA provides fitness classes that enhance people's health and wellness. My husband and I didn't end up working as pastors like we thought we would in undergraduate school, but none the less, our work matters to God.  

"Farming takes the physical material of soil and seed and produces food. Music takes the physics of sound and rearranges it into something beautiful and thrilling that brings meaning to life. When we take fabric and make a piece of clothing, when we push a broom and clean up a room, when we use technology to harness the forces of electricity, when we take an unformed, naïve human mind and teach it a subject, when we teach a couple how to resolve their relational disputes, when we take simple materials and turn them into a poignant work of art—we are continuing God’s work of forming, filling, and subduing."

This quote sheds light on why I am falling in love with culture, art, and history.  It also explains why I am falling in love with food again, too.  Cooking is another way we engage with God's creation. We take all the edible things God has given and put them together in creative ways to make nutritious, delicious, and even beautiful meals.  We had to cook two prime ribs the other day. (Two prime ribs? I know. It's a long story.) So we made one prime rib for dinner and served it to our guests. But we still had another prime rib in the fridge that really needed to be cooked before it spoiled. It is quite a lot of trouble to cook a prime rib just right, so a friend suggested I put the second prime rib in the crock pot. I told her I would never be able to live with myself if I did such a thing! It's prime rib!  I was just kidding, of course, but I did feel a sense of satisfaction taking two lovely pieces of meat and preparing them in ways that made all its best qualities come out. 

"If ministers don’t yet see business as a way of making culture and of cultivating creation, they will fail to support, appreciate, and properly lead many members of their congregation."

When my husband was called away from the ministry and into the business world, we quickly gained a new perspective on what churches expect from normal members who aren't in the ministry. It was much harder to maintain work, marriage, family, home, community, and church involvement than we ever imagined.   

"We are not to choose jobs and conduct our work to fulfill ourselves and accrue power, for being called by God to do something is empowering enough. We are to see work as a way of service to God and our neighbor, and so we should both choose and conduct our work in accordance with that purpose. The question regarding our choice of work is no longer “What will make me the most money and give me the most status?” The question must now be “How, with my existing abilities and opportunities, can I be of greatest service to other people, knowing what I do of God’s will and of human need?”

This quote encourages me. Luckily, my husband's calling (job) provide him with enough money to provide for us. So I am free to just take the job I feel called to and use my gifts to bless the people without regard to how much I make. This country is dying from poor health.  I get to be a part, perhaps just a very small part, but a part of the solution. 

"The church’s approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confined to exhorting him to not be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours and to come to church on Sundays. What the church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes upon him is that he should make good tables."

This is another Sayers quote that I have read and liked before. If I am not mistaken, it is found in The Lost Tools of Learning. Sometimes I feel a guilty for spending my free time preparing my music, organizing notes for my fitness classes, creating choreography, etc., but then I remember that I am honoring the Lord by being as excellent as possible at what I do. Then I don't feel guilty. I just feel free to do what I am called to do.

"Your work is your prayer." -Lutheran leader and businessman William Diehl
 
"...the very first way to be sure you are serving God in your work is to be competent."

 And another quote I just loved from this book is actually attributed to Eric Liddell's father, 
 “You can praise the Lord by peeling a spud, if you peel it to perfection.”

"Thorns and food... Work will be both frustrating and fulfilling, and sometimes— just often enough— human work gives us a glimpse of the beauty and genius that might have been the routine characteristic of all our work, and what, by the grace of God, it will be again in the new heavens and new earth."

"Properly understood, the doctrine of sin means that believers are never as good as our true worldview should make us. Similarly, the doctrine of grace means that unbelievers are never as messed up as their false worldview should make them."

I have often felt so thankful for the work of community leaders, regardless of their faith or non-faith. Of course, I care about their souls, but it isn't like I believe they have to be Christians to do any good. And it isn't like all Christians always do good, either. 

"The complex, organic nature of our sin will still be at work making idols out of good things in our lives—such as our moral goodness, financial security, family, doctrinal purity, or pride in our culture."

I have made an idol out of my marriage, my children, my children's education, my home, etc. too many time to even count.

"Because Christians are never as good as their right beliefs should make them and non-Christians are never as bad as their wrong beliefs should make them, we will adopt a stance of critical enjoyment of human culture and its expressions in every field of work."
 
 When I think of the common grace God bestows on all mankind, regardless of faith, I think about Gracie Gold.  When she skates, I see the glory of God. Is she a believer?  I don't even know.  But she is at least one human being who is fulfilling her calling and it is glorious to behold.

"God created people, not to receive love and honor from them but to share the love, joy, honor, and glory he already had within the Trinity."

I think this answers one of the most basic questions about reality.  "Why did God create us?"  It's comforting to know He didn't need us. He just wanted to give us the opportunity of sharing in His life and His love.  

"And it is certainly true that in the Bible Christians receive many practical ethical principles for how to live and many boundary markers showing us what behavior we must completely avoid. If that were all God provided us, it would be helpful, but insufficient. Because there is a whole category missing— wisdom. According to the Bible, wisdom is more than just obeying God’s ethical norms ; it is knowing the right thing to do in the 80 percent of life’s situations in which the moral rules don’t provide the clear answer. There is no biblical law that tells you what job to take, whether to go back to school, whom to marry and befriend, when to speak out or hold your peace, whether to make the deal or walk away—yet the wrong decisions can blow up your life. How can we become wise so that we make good decisions? The Bible teaches that wisdom accumulates from several sources. First, we must not merely believe in God, but know him personally... We must know ourselves..." and "learn wisdom through experience."

Bodypump Certification - I Filmed My Video Assessment

As many of you know, I am in the process of pursuing a Les Mills Bodypump certification.  I filmed my video assessment yesterday.  I taught the entire release of Bodypump 89 for a live class. The photo above is a screen shot from my assessment video. In the photo I am coaching tricep pushups during the tricep track. 

I made a few mistakes on my choreography and there is one thing I would coach differently if I taught Bodypump 89's core track again, but my mentors don't think any of the mistakes I made are serious enough so I am going to go ahead and send in my video after I film my intro and add it to the beginning of the film.

I told my mentors that I thought the worst part would be the initial training.  But then after the training, I thought the worst part would be the filming.  But now that I am done filming, I think the worst part is going to be waiting for my results!