Self-fullfilling prophecies

Hello, my name is Alyson, and I will be your personal trainer for today.  First of all ladies, don't be afraid to lift weights.  It's good for you.  But most of all, heed this:

Our words and our thoughts become self-fulfilling prophecies.  If you say, "I'm always nervous when I get on planes," What is going to happen the next time you get on a plane?  You're going to be nervous. Sometimes we so closely identify ourselves with our defects that they become who we are.  Our identity as a person begins to lie in our faults.  I heard these three things just in the last two days from clients and friends: "I'm so clumsy."  "I've always been chubby."  "I'm not a finisher."

As a man thinks, so is he.  Your beliefs determine your behavior.  If these negative thoughts are what you're saying about yourself, you are creating self-fullfilling prophecies.  You may say that you don't really believe these things, but your behavior speaks differently.

As a believer, identify yourself in Christ.  "I am a believer in Jesus Christ that struggles with drugs.  My name is John."  Our identity must be in Jesus, not in our struggle.  We all have hurts, hang-ups, and habits.  Don't let them become your identity.

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.  Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"  2 Cor 5:16-17

Lazy Saturday

What girl doesn't love Pinterest and coffee on a lazy Saturday while the kids cartoon themselves into oblivion?  I knew I had nothing to do this past Saturday.  No plans except to water mom's indoor plants.  No real need for conserved energy.  So David and I stayed up WAY too late Friday night.  My kids all woke at their crack-of-dawn hour, and I drank coffee and planned projects for which I had no present energy to complete.  Great ideas for organizing my house and creating a little corner mudroom ...someday.

Donuts for a Saturday breakfast.  I ate two and I didn't exercise.  I got dressed and went out to my garage gym and turned on the music and got warmed up ... and went back inside.  Too tired.

Anytime the boys take their shirts off, Adelle wants her shirt off too.  So does Alayna but we've started the modesty rule with her.  It's hard to be 4 1/2.  My stout little lion girl with her leggings on backwards and cute little toddler buns, chubby little belly and wild hair gets away with way too much.  I said I would never let the baby-of-the-family lenience play into my family.  Never say never.

I cut their shaggy hair today.   It's still long on top, just trimmed around the ears and neck.  Forgot to take finished-product pictures.  These little UFC wantabeees are the best of friends.  Blessed.

Lazy Saturdays are good for snuggling squishy, spineless girls.  Seriously, Adelle could take you down with one stiff arm to the neck.  My little Alayna and her Elmo body just squishes up.  She's a ball of cute.

David let me get away Saturday afternoon and I bought this awesome dress at Old Navy for $8.  It's a very dangerous wrap dress.  My kids were fascinated by it.  I wore it to church on a breezy morning, coffee in one hand, kids in the other ... dangerous.  David bought a Polo Grill Groupon for "casual Sunday" so we went on a date.  It was a great ending to my lazy weekend.  

Now it's 6:27 on Monday morning and time to hit the ground running.  I read this quote from a friend's blog this morning.  This one's going on the mirror.  Read it every day.  Proverbs 3:5-6.

“There’s never been a better day than this one to collapse upon Christ! Quit trying so hard not to need his grace.”  Scotty Smith

It's Christmas time outside

We had just enough snow to go sledding yesterday!  Me-oh-my, what fun.  Dressing 4 kids for snow is a sweaty job.  Sledding with Adelle down the "mountain" then piggy backing her up the mountain is another sweaty job.  I earned my cookies and hot chocolate yesterday.

 Adelle ready to sled.

 Hope, Hillary and Alayna heading down the hill.

 Hudson - he's pretty sure deer can't see him or smell him out here.  :)

 The mommies.

 Hannah, Hudson, Pierce and Harper - that's a lot of weight on one sled.  Super fast.

 Harper and Pierce are buddies.

So, a while back some friends of ours were moving and didn't want to haul all of their Y2K supply with them.  Seriously.  I have buckets of wheat, honey, lentils and salt.  We're set.  Have you ever gotten honey out of a 5 gallon bucket in the winter?  It's a workout.

 Anyway, we can survive on lentils and bread for a long time.

 For Christmas the kids got Build-A-Bear gift cards from Cousin Daniel.  The boys put theirs on ebay and used the money to buy new lego sets they'd been saving for.  The girls and I went to Build-A-Bear and had a blast picking out their new cozy little friends.  Pardon the slick, polished homeschool look.  We're fresh out of the tub.  ;)  (And we homeschool so...)

So, people (grandma, Amanda, Shannon etc) have been on me to keep this blog updated.  I'm so swamped all the time.  I sit down at the computer and think, man I should probably be doing ... a lot of other things.  Be blessed family, this is for you.  :)

Happy Valentine's Day

How about a love story.  12 years ago I thought, hmmm, I'd really like to marry someone like David Frederick.  He's so thoughtful, wise, mature, funny etc.  Then he fell in love with me.  The end.  :)

My, what a gigantic smile you have. Why thank you.

So thankful for my Valentine today.  I love you David.

The Route 66 Marathon

 Nicole and I have each birthed four children.  We honestly had nothing to prove.  Every couple of years we have a baby and this year instead of having a baby, we trained for and ran a marathon.  I was really grateful that I'd already experienced labor and delivery, because pushing through the end of that marathon came pretty close to the same mental toughness it takes to finish.  From about mile 18-25.5 I almost closed my eyes (I could still see the road), calmed my face, tried to relax my shoulders (everything was tight and hurting at that point) and pushed through.  When we came up that last hill (there were a lot of hills) and saw our families cheering for us at the finish line, it took everything in me to hold back the ugly cry.  My official finish time was 5:14:21.  In two more years, when the next "baby" is due, it'll be even faster.

My best cheerleader/supporter through it all took me to Wolf Gang Puck for the celebratory dinner.  It was fabulous.

To make all of this possible, my parents kept the kids for the weekend and gave David and I a huge birthday gift ...drum roll please ... 2 nights at the Mayo in the heart of downtown and only a couple of blocks from the starting line.  Then my sweet sister and brother-in-law drove us from the finish line to QT for ice and back to the hotel where I packed my legs in ice, showered in this huge shower with three different shower heads, then collapsed for a while in a king size bed with a crazy-high-count on some sheets.  Serious bliss.  After our dinner that night I hit the sack early and slept for 12 hours straight.  We hit Brookside by Day for breakfast and got a head start on our Christmas shopping.  Felt great to stay loose through the day.  I taught my class Monday night (a little on the crazy side there), and it's back to the real world.

I am a marathoner.  

Taper, taper, taper

In a great effort to get warm after this frigid morning run, I took a hot shower and made some coffee.  Anyone who runs when it's 23 degrees outside is crazy.  Frost everywhere, or "farkles" as Adelle says (sparkles - she also calls "smarties" "farties."  We have her say that one all the time.  Or, "I'm so fart."  Haha!). My breath hangs in the air like a trail of smog.  My joints refuse to cooperate and warm up.  It's only 4 miles.  It's only 4 miles.  It's only 4 miles.

Race day is now only 6 days away.  I have trained my life away the past few months.  I'm so glad I took on the challenge and have almost reached my goal, but I'm also really glad it's almost over.  It's been hard for me to think too far beyond November 18th, but we're almost there.  It's like the anticipation of a due date - those last 6 weeks are brutal, and I'm about to go into labor.  Oh boy.

Clean, shmean, shower, shmower

I would just like you to know that I look like this all the time.  Showering is such a hassle.  I'm going to invest in some cute hats and call it good.

So this bandit runner didn't get arrested.  Katie and I had a great run on the streets of Tulsa.  

I finally got my driver's license issues resolved.  I had to go see a driver examiner.  The other three times I visited different tag agencies I had actually showered, fixed my hair and put make up on, prepared for my photo shoot that I have to live with for the next four years.  But, you know, I figured it's probably better that I look like I always look on my ID.  So I went to see the Driver Examiner in my ponytail, no makeup, and no nap.  And I wasn't even stolen.  Some crazy computer glitch.  So he took my picture and that was that.  Glad that's over for the next four years.  Isn't it so cool that my driver's license renewal always happens with the presidential election?  My almost eight-year-old thinks so.  :)  Pierce said, if there's someone else out there with your name they probably don't have a Hudson, Pierce, Alayna and Adelle.  Just show us to them.  :)  We saw a bunch of red balloons flying away and he said, "What happened?  Did somebody shoot a clown?"  He's always joking around.  This morning he hopped around with a piece of turkey bacon hanging out of his mouth, cock-a-doodle-dooing.  So Adelle, not fully understanding this joke, put a piece in her mouth and started mooing.  It's always so much fun here.  ;)

This is Nicole, my marathon training buddy.  We just ran 22 miles Saturday.  I think we were delirious. 

Shan Wheelie can appreciate these mad braiding skilz.

This is what I look like when I shower, in case you forgot.  The boys are doing 5K training for the Thanks Giving Day Hog Jog at our Y.  We had to get some chocolate milk and a protein bar for recovery after their first training run.  ;)  

Adelle was doing her best Ninja pose with the boys in this shot.

Princesses and Ninjas - so cute.

(and in the time it has taken me to load these pictures and type this nonsense, I have yelled at my kids three time to leave me alone and let me finish this, which is why I don't update this thing very often.  Confession of a too busy mom).

Alyson Frederick has been stolen

This is how I start every morning.  I just came in from a short run (it's cold out there!).  Poured myself some coffee and sat down at the computer.  It's not long before I hear little bare feet slapping across the tile floor.  "I waked up, mama."  It's hard to believe my baby is so big.

We're in countdown to marathon time.  I have a 9 miler this weekend, 22 next weekend, an 8 mile taper weekend, then the official 26.2.  I missed registration for the 9 miler (Tulsa Run) so I'm going to try to bandit run.  I'll let you know if I get arrested.

Speaking of getting arrested, I went to renew my driver's license yesterday.  The lady said I needed to go to a corporate tag agency (didn't know there was such a thing) because they couldn't do it there.  I'd gotten it done there before.  I've lived in Owasso for 32 years and I don't even have a ticket on my record.  What in the world?  She said someone with my name or birthday was probably into some trouble so I just needed to take my original birth certificate and social security card to prove that I am who I am.  In other words, stolen identity.  Maybe.  I guess we'll see.  I'm going to try to get it all fixed today.

I'm leading 2 Choose to Lose teams at the Y for the next 4 weeks.  These are weight loss accountability groups with a personal trainer (me) and nutritionist to coach you through each week.  So awesome.  I love these classes!  I don't really have time to add more things to my training/teaching schedule, but these are definitely worth the extra effort.

My stroller classes will come to an end pretty soon with this weather changing.  We were out walking and running yesterday in the 75 degree morning when the wind shifted and the temperature dropped 20 degrees in a matter of 2 seconds.  Craziest thing.

I LOVE it when Target cleans out their seasonal flavors.  

Four bucks for good coffee.  Don't mind if I do!

Give Thanks, Embrace Peace and Joy

These are just a few excerpts from one of my favorite blogs: When you are giving everything you have and you can only take so much — Christ kneels close with arms stretched open wide: “Let Me take the rest.”

… “be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:16–18).

Thanks to God is what that calms the wild heart.  Anger makes us sick and weak and bound and the therapy is in the thanks. Thanks therapy is God’s prescription for joy.

I couldn’t sleep. Until I started Thanking Him. For everything. It was the only thing that calmed my heart…”

No big trial here.  Just the daily battle of a tired mom training four children to follow Christ, be thankful, embrace joy instead of anger, and peace instead of strife amidst the busy schedule, dishes in the sink, etc.  

No matter the jarring, a jar of fresh water can’t spill filthy water. When you’re upset, you upset what’s really in you.

What do I want my children to remember — my joy in clean floors, made beds and ironed shirts — or my joy of the Lord? You will be most remembered — by what brought you most joy. The joy of the Lord is your strength and the person of Christ is your unassailable joy – and the battle for joy is nothing less than fighting the good fight of faith.

"You don’t think about how you can open your mouth and let the sharp side of your tongue tear the innards out of a soul —- and there’s no way you can stuff the whole bloody mess back....

Busyness and tiredness are no excuse to lose it.  Peace lives in me.