Temptation of Normalcy

It's been a week and a half since the great flood of 2016 here in southern Louisiana. Houses have been cleaned out, supplies handed out, school has restarted, and employees have gone back to work. Thus the temptation of normalcy arises.

If we weren't affected, we tend to lull our way back into the routine of life. We remember those that were affected, but forget that the work has just begun for them. They can't go back to normal yet. Some are still displaced. Some haven't even begun to tear out the damaged floors and walls. Some still have water in their homes. Some have lost everything and have to think about building a new home.

We do have to do normal things. We have to work. Kids have to go to school. We have to take care of our family and do normal things. In doing so, we have to remember that others are still suffering. The temptation is to forget. The temptation is to stop helping.

Please don't fall into that temptation. Please remember those that are still struggling for some semblance of normal because their houses have been destroyed. Please continue to help in any way you can! The work has just begun. Even if people have gotten all the damage out of their home, they still have to rebuild. They still have to replenish what was lost.

I am grateful for our congregation here at Riverside. People have been volunteering non-stop over the past week and a half. We have had trucks come in full of supplies and people have swarmed in. Our members have helped unload every truck and get supplies to those who needed it. We have had teams go out and gut houses. We have had people make and deliver meals to those that needed it. We have had people open their homes to neighbors who needed a place to stay.

If you are unable to help in any of these ways, please consider donating money. Riverside Church of Christ is collecting funds to help those affected by the floods. Especially those who don't have flood insurance. To make it easier, we set up a gofundme page. We are so grateful for the funds raised so far and the generosity of so many people. We are also grateful for those that have traveled here or plan to travel here to help clean out houses and start repairs.

Thank you for your help in whatever way you were able to help. Most of all, thank you for your prayers. God is awesome and He always provides.

Own It.

If you have read some of my previous blog posts or know me personally, you know that I have struggled with my weight for quite some time. I have tried several different diets and exercise programs and products. Nothing worked for very long and I lost my motivation quickly.

This February I decided, once again, I needed to get healthier and take care of my body. I researched a few different gyms and, thanks to Facebook, found that one of the gyms I was looking at, which was owned by a friend, was having a sale on their membership if you locked in for a year! I talked with my husband, physically went to the gym to check out the environment and what it was like (also to get a feel of the drive), then JUMPED at the chance!

I am LOVING the classes! But I've also hit a few hiccups where I haven't gone as much as I would like to. But I have also learned something. Having an investment in the gym makes me have skin in the game so I CAN'T give up. And having a couple friends who are at the same gym makes going so much easier!

I've also learned that I can no longer say, "I'm going to try." When I do that, I set myself up with an out and thus, for failure. If I say, "I'm going to try to eat healthier and work out" I give myself that chance of when I do miss a workout or eat no so healthy to say "Well, I tried. It didn't work though."

NO! Never again!

I am putting those words out of my vocabulary! I have to own it!

I WILL eat healthier and work out. I WILL lose weight! I WILL be healthy! I WILL get into shape!

This concept really hit home lately when I became an independent distributor for It Works!. I really just wanted the free product credit! (Which I got!) I found myself thinking, "I'll try it out as a company." My awesome upline kept telling me, "You have to say it like you've got it. That is how you will succeed!" But the voice in the back of my mind kept reminded me how I've failed before.

Suddenly, I snapped. If I want to succeed, I have to own it! I'm not just going to try it as a business.

I WILL succeed and help Tanner and I pay off our debt and put money aside for the deductible on our health insurance when we decide to have a baby.

I WILL make money with MY business!

I started MY OWN business, and I WILL ROCK IT!

Of course, I go to God every day and pray that He leads me in the way He wants me to go. So far, it's lead me here. I firmly believe he led me to It Works! and to Dawn and Macie and the rest of my team. I just had to be ready to hear what they had to say and willing to let Him handle the how. He has blessed my business thus far and I am SO grateful for that!

Take "try" out of your vocabulary. Rely on God and own what you do.

Green Pastures.

This past month, life has taken turn after turn. At the end of last month, Tanner and I had our Baby Step 1 finished (Dave Ramsey) and were excited to use that money to continue saving for the upcoming holidays and start knocking out our debt! Then we got the news. Due to work being slow because of the oil industry being slow, Tanner's hours were cut down to 32 instead of 40, he gets a day off every week. That extra money was gone. God is good and we had to adjust our budget, but we weren't/aren't hurting for money. We have enough to continue paying all of our bills, have plenty of grocery, restaurant, and gas money, and we still had some left to put in each of our pocket money, Halloween expenses, and some in our saving for our trip to Ohio for Thanksgiving.

For a while, I was distraught. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I love seeing all the kids dressed up in their costumes and I love dressing up in a costume, decorating our trunk for trunk-or-treat, and giving out candy. I had a whole plan for what we were going to do this year. Unfortunately, adult costumes are expensive (WHY?!) and I was looking at spending 100+ dollars on the costumes, some trunk decor, a "costume" for our dog, and candy. With the news, that was no longer a possibility.

See, I lean toward the saver side. Thus, when we got some extra money in from loving people to which we are EXTREMELY grateful(!), Tanner said we should put it in our holiday fund and I KNEW he was right. I didn't argue. But I was still sad.

On the bright side, we think we can pull off something with things we already have AND still incorporate our puppy! We are still working out the kinks, and Tanner is still trying to get excited about Halloween. ;P I love him so very much, but this is a holiday we differ on. I get super excited, and he doesn't. But that perfectly okay. :) Pink and blue. Not wrong, just different. :)

Anywho, I got to thinking about the timing of this news that we had gotten. Tanner has been looking at going back to college, and we just got our emergency fund fully funded. It was as if it was the prefect time. Tanner wouldn't get stressed with having a full time job, teaching the youth on Wednesday Nights, AND going to school as he would have a day off. Our budget would be fine and if an emergency came up we would be prepared. On top of all that, one of our friends offered to pay Tanner to do some work at his house. Friends are awesome. :)

So, today I am thankful. I am thankful that we have money to pay for the things we need and some. I am thankful for the green pastures God leads us to. He is an amazing and loving God. I trust He will always lead us in the ways to go. God always gives us just enough. I am thankful for the friends God has put in our lives. Our lives have been enriched by them. We have been blessed immensely from our time so far at Riverside Church of Christ.

I'd like to encourage you to focus on the things you are thankful for today. Focus on the green pastures that God leads you to. He has your best interest in mind even if you can't quite see it yet.

"The Lord is my shepherd;
there is nothing I lack.
He lets me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters."
~ Psalms 23:1-2

Positivity Struggles

This past week has been met with many a thing. Tanner and I were glad it was finally the weekend and things looked bright! We spent the day playing video games and relaxing, but finally got stir-crazy enough that we decided we'd use that extra money left in July's budget (woot!) for restaurants to go out and get a snack since it was happy hour at Sonic.

There we decided finally get my car washed! I suggested we check out the family owned place that dries your car after it goes through the wash. We get there, pay for the wash in which they clean out the car. A few minutes after we had been inside, one of the guys comes in wondering whose red Pontiac they had. Tanner stood up and the guy said, "You have a flat tire."

This surprised us both. We hadn't heard anything, the tires didn't look flat at all when we got out. Suspiciously, Tanner went out and checked it out with them. Turns out my car got out of alignment and my two front tires were worn to the belt.

Thankfully, Tanner had the good jack in the back and he got the spare on the one that was flat so they could get it through the wash. My wonderful husband came back inside, frustrated, and told me what happened. My heart sunk. Tanner kept telling me it was a miracle that we had driven on it without anything happening for so long, but all I could think about was that we were going to need to buy two new tires (at least) and we were still working on getting our $1000 emergency fund back in place to complete Dave Ramsey's Baby Step 1 so we could move on to Baby Step 2 which is tackling our debt!

They finished my car and we went outside only to find new scratches on my car door. Both the passenger side, and the driver side.

Passenger door scratches.

Driver door scratch (gouge).

Unfortunately, we didn't see the extent until we got home and thus there was no point in going back. Tanner is also not completely sure they the scratches happened there. Add on to that the tires that could blow any minute if we drove on them.

I cried the whole way home. He was trying to stay positive and all I could do was cry because we were going to have to use our emergency fund once again. (We had to use most of it, since we had actually complete Baby Step 1, last month for Tanner's wisdom teeth removal. Though God provided there too so we had plenty to cover it and we got to pay in cash so we got the cash discount! :D )

It seemed hopeless. I felt as though we were never going to get to Baby Step 2 and we would always be stuck on Baby Step 1 thus we wouldn't get out non-mortgage debt paid off until 2027 or something crazy like that. It seemed Murphy's law had struck again. It seemed like Murphy was here to stay.

Sunday, I was still pretty down. As I got ready for church, my eye started to hurt. I tried all my usual tactics but I started to fear it was my contact. I refused to take them out, much to Tanner's displeasure, and we headed off to church. I suffered through the pain all through class and worship and our youth small group. We got home and Tanner had forgotten as I hadn't said anything for a while. SO, we sat and played video games until I said something about it hurting and he threatened to turn the game off if I didn't take them out.

Begrudgingly, I went upstairs and took the one that was hurting out first. Tanner came up with me, probably make sure I actually did it. :P

OH THE PAIN! Normally it hurts a little if I take out a contact that has been bothering me simply because the eye is irritated. But this! This was SO much worse! My eye watered and it was hard to keep it open! I told Tanner, "It feels like there is still something on my eye!"

I managed to pry it open and touch my eye where I felt something. I looked at my finger and there WAS something still in my eye! To me it looked like a piece of plastic, but Tanner informed me it was more likely some polyester or something.

In all that process, I realized that I had been wearing my last pair of contacts. It was time to order more. Another thing the emergency fund was going to have to cover since contacts are SO expensive and we hadn't planned for that expense. I was able to use what was left for July, as it would have gone into the fund anyway, so I didn't have to pull so much out.

Thus, for the last couple days I have been in a HUGE slump. I was having to wear my glasses so my eyes could heal (and if you know me, you know how much I HATE wearing glasses), we found out that my tire size is such a weird size that hardly anyone carries them in stock, we were looking  at the cost of buying the tires, getting them balanced and such, and then getting an alignment done; it was like the bad was never ending.

Tanner has been staying positive. He realizes the fact that it's not a big deal because we DO have the money we do set aside for these types of things. If we hadn't just gone through Financial Peace University, this would have devastated us and it would have had to go on one of the credit cards because we wouldn't have had the money. Tanner knows that we are going to be okay and that God is going to take care of us. He knows that as long as we stick to the plan, we will be back on track and tackling the debt in no time.

I know all of this to be true. I know that God is going to take care of us. However, I'm struggling to be grateful. I'm struggling to stay positive. I don't have my car to drive, we are having to carpool everyday in Tanner's truck (he drives to his work and then I drive to mine, then back to his work and he drives home), I was wearing my glasses (which of the two pairs I have, were the not a good pair since the lenses are apparently smaller, found that out last night), AND I couldn't eat anything yesterday because I had my medical exam thing for the life insurance I am getting. (Tanner had his done last week for his insurance.)

Today is a little better, though it started out rough due to my contacts being fuzzy while my eyes adjusted and waking up with the same headache I got in the middle of the night last night. I got some food in my stomach, and then coffee, my contacts cleared up and I'm okay. Yesterday, we got my contacts AND tires ordered! Tires will be here Monday and contacts on Thursday.

I'm slowly regaining my positivity. It's been a struggle though, and I'm not sure why. I guess I need to try and focus on the good. I need to focus on God... He is my comforter, I just have to truly believe it and seek Him.

Psalm 23:1-3
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Psalm 46:10
Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. 

It's Just One of Those Days

Do you ever have those days when the knot in your stomach just won't go away? Yep. That's been my day.

I had to pay my first ever ticket today. Of course, I was a little nervous. I think the knots would have gone away after if it hadn't been for the other things weighing on my mind. Credit Card bills (of which I know, without a doubt now, is from the devil), not knowing exactly how much I am getting paid on Thursday, uncertainty about what exactly is going to happen at work tomorrow, and the fact that I have an interview tomorrow and I'm not sure what is going to happen there or what/if I need to bring anything.

Thus, I haven't wanted to do anything at all today. My stomach is still in knots and I no longer know what to do with myself. I'm praying everything will be fine.. I have faith it will. I know God is on our side. I keep telling myself, "Green pastures, Elisabeth. Green pastures."

Guys, I miss my family. I REALLY want to go to Dallas one weekend SOON! However, I know I have responsibilities here. I get off work at 6pm which, if we left right then, would get us there at midnight at the earliest. I have committed to working with the youth group and doing small groups on Sunday mornings after service. Dont' get me wrong, I love working with the kids! They are great! I love watching them grow both physically and spiritually! On the other hand, I missed my sister's last Homecoming Game. I haven't been to one of her performances at a football game (or any other place) this year! She's a senior! She now has a boyfriend! SHE'S GROWING UP TOO FAST! (Yes I know I'm only her older sister and not her mother.)

I really want to see one of her performances! I don't want to next time I see my family being Thanksgiving! That's simply much too far away! I miss getting to see my baby cousins grow up! I miss constantly being around family!

I know I have my church family, and I am so grateful for that. I love them dearly. There is just something about biological family that no one else can fully replace.

I know I shouldn't be super concerned with our finances.. but it weighs on my mind. If I just hadn't gotten that stupid ticket! The whole situation could have been handled without the police, but some people just get so upset and enraged!

It's just been one of those days. I'm just in a slump. I know God will help me and I know he is faithful. I just have to keep on going.

Keep on keeping on. <3

The Joys of House Searching...

As some of you already know, my husband and I are searching for a house. We are already paying 700 a month, so why not get a place we could call our own? Plus, then we would have our parking and we wouldn't be able to hear through the walls. (Ugh.) Thus, the search began. Unfortunately, it has become increasingly difficult. We don't have a very large budget and the houses here are way overpriced. So, finding what we want in the price range we are comfortable with is difficult in of itself.

We found a couple houses that we liked, but both of them recently went pending, meaning someone is in the process of buying it. We were going to look at houses yesterday, but our realtor texted me because she got rear-ended! It was terrible! I felt so bad for her and I'm praying that she is okay!

So, here I am today, feeling like perhaps I've hit a wall. I've been asking myself, "Is this a sign that we aren't supposed to move right now? Should I just stop looking?"

It doesn't help that we were tight on money there for a week and I'm still feeling the weight of that. It's that feeling of not being able to buy anything because we can't afford it. I look at the people around us and wonder how they got to where they are and when we will get there! I'm trying to do everything that I can, but sometimes it feels like no matter what we do, it's not enough.

I know that I need to just lean heavily on God and give everything to Him. He knows what is best and when I have completely relied on Him, things turn out for the better. Perhaps I have just been lacking in that area recently. It's a lot easier to say "Give it all to God" than it is to do. Maybe that's my problem. I know I should, but maybe I'm just not doing it.

I need to stop worrying about money and the house search and everything that has to do with my "new business". (I became an Independent Scentsy Consultant back on the 18th! Which I am super excited about!) Perhaps if I just let everything go and have complete faith that God will take care of everything, things will start falling into place. I'm 100% sure I'll feel better.

It's just so hard to stop worrying...

God is in control. He has a plan. I have got to rely upon Him. God is good all the time.

Keep on keeping on. <3