Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you & yours a very Happy, Blessed Thanksgiving full of family, friends, good food, laughs, & lots of Love!

Miracles & Blessings,

Crossed the Finish Line- Bible in 90 Day Challenge

I COMPLETED THE CHALLENGE!!! 

At 8:30 this evening I completed the Cover to Cover Bible in 90 Day Challenge hosted by MomsToolbox.  

I can not begin to tell you what a major feeling of accomplishment this is for me. I've never been able to complete anything that requires 90 days- P90X, Insanity (which is only 60 days), nothing.

Credit: MomsToolbox

When I originally started out I was using my actual Bible to read. Then I accidentally left it at church. So for a week I was forced to resort to reading with YouVersion. Turns out I liked this method. I was able to see my progress with a bar that showed me how far I had gone, what percent I had read, and how far I had to go. They also sent me e-mails if I fell behind and gave me the choice to catch up or change my end date, if necessary (Which I never did. I was determined to stay with my target end date no matter what.)

I will admit this was no easy feat. I started with waking up at 5:30 a.m. every day. Sunday - Saturday. No matter what. Then my husband decided he wanted us to work out in the morning. This forced me to have to wake up at 5:00 a.m. Of course we fell off with our workout routine, but I continued to wake up at 5:00 a.m. I'd discovered it made my morning run more smoothly with having to get everyone up to take Little Miss to school every day. At least if I wanted to not take her to school before I showered.

Did I read EVERY day? No. I think I missed about 8 days in total. If it wasn't missed, it wasn't completed. This of course put me behind. Saturday morning was my catch up day. One Saturday I actually spent 3 hours reading to get caught up! Gotta do what you gotta do, right? This morning as i was approaching my last book (Revelation) I realized I had 2 days back in August that I somehow never got to reading. I think I'd decided to just jump in where I should've been with intention to come back to it. Well, I'd forgotten. So I spent the first 2 hours of my day reading 2 days worth of Genesis. 

Now I was taking a big risk by doing this. Being 14 weeks pregnant leaves me exhausted at the end of the day. But tonite I grabbed my Bible, sat at my desk, and read. I had a moment where I wanted to just give up and say I'll finish tomorrow. But I just couldn't. I wanted to be done. On time. So I said a quick prayer and pressed through. 

And here I am, writing a post about my completion!!! *Insert happy dance (lookin' somethin' like the cabbage) patch HERE*

Here is my badge of honor.

Have you taken the Bible in 90 Day Challenge? Would you do it again? Were you successful in finishing? If so, CONGRATULATIONS!!! What were some of the challenges you faced in staying on target. If not, what's kept you from taking the plunge?

I think come January I'll do a slightly easier program. Maybe the Bible in a year. Hopefully I'll be able to get Mister to join me. It would be nice to have a reading buddy. 

This is the Bible set up specifically for this 90 Challenge. You just read 12 pages a day. It's that "simple".

Miracles & Blessings, 

 

Getting Empowered

What I'm Currently Reading

I was introduced to Mrs. Ina May Gaskin by Ricki Lake thru More Business of Being Born (Part 1). I was so excited to stumble upon The Business of Being Born. Just to see how strong women really are during labor and delivery. And even more to know that I could take a stand in what I wanted for myself and baby during the labor process. What an eye opening moment for me!!!

I'm in my 12th week of pregnancy and have an overwhelming desire to have as natural of a birth as possible. I've had two others. Both resulted in induction and after 17 hours the first time and a little less the second they ended with epidurals. I tried to hold out as long as I could. But towards the end, I wished for death. I'm exaggerating a bit, but not really.

I suppose, outside of the health benefits for both baby and I, I figure if I could go 17 hours with a pitocin induced labor and take it, I could go the whole way naturally. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain. But my desire for have the natural delivery I always dreamed of is stronger.

To Be Continued...

As I'm typing this post my kids are calling me to come join them in a game of Candyland. So I will pick this up sometime tomorrow. In the meantime...

Have you had a natural delivery after having experienced an induction? What was the difference in pain? Did you find you recovered quicker afterwards? Did your induction result in an epidural? (Don't they almost always go hand in hand?)

Miracles & Blessings,