Tip Towing Through The Tulips : Our Journey

A year ago this month....I agreed to join my sister Krisha on a journey to get healthy once again. As a mother-still not finished having kids, it's seemingly an ongoing process. Get fit and healthy, get pregnant, get sick, give up being healthy, have a kid, and start all over. At times, it is depressing and yes, very very hard. A mountain that takes time to climb. But each time I take on the challenge to get back to being healthy, I learn something new! For my first two children, I lived a couple hours away from my family and faced the task alone....but this last time around-I got the privilege of having all of my sisters, and especially Krisha, by my side.

Krisha and I haven't always been the best of friends, in fact, when we were younger, I was the one she picked on most. But as time has gone by, and we grew up-she is one of my most favorite people in the world. I have always seen Krisha as someone equal to a hard challenge-and what most people don't see-is although she is tough on the outside, she is so good on the inside. What I didn't know-is that she didn't know she can do ANYTHING she set her mind to-and that was one of the most rewarding parts of this challenge-seeing her succeed and realize she is capable....we are all capable of doing hard things and becoming who we want to be.

My AH HA MOMENT: I learned this time around that our mind and how we think about ourselves and the world around us-hugely limits what we can accomplish. Negative talk or thinking keeps us from becoming.    All through this process, we shut down the voice that told us we couldn't and showed it that we can! And with the help from each other-and from our sister Kimberly (who has been on the healthy band wagon a lot longer than we have)-when we didn't think we could-we told each other we can. Expand the bounds of your mind, expand the possibilities of your life. We are capable of so much more!

We started with just walking, then jogging a mile, then three, then five, then six and seven, then eight, and finally ten. TEN MILES-yes that is what I said. Each time we completed one of these goals, we thought we were at the end of our capabilities-and then we turned around and blew it away the next day.

THE INFLUENCE OF POSITIVE THINKING~

Another thing I learned this past year is that our bodies are AMAZING and if we treat them right and feed them the right things, we can do amazing things. They are so amazing that we can abuse them for years and years without seeing the side affects of the abuse. But-eventually it will all catch up to you. We need to respect our bodies and the God that gave them to us-by taking care of them.

Some of my favorite quotes on these subjects:

"The food you eat can either be the most safest and powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison." -Ann Wigmore

" Strength: A river cuts through a rock, not because it is powerful, but because it is persistent."

"Every positive thought propels us in the right direction."

"It is not who you are that holds you back, it is who you think you are not."

"Your mind says you can't....it is lying!"

We are scheduled to run our first 10K this Saturday and plan to finish a Half Marathon by the end of this summer. I also have plans with the help of my sisters, to try very hard with the next pregnancy, whenever that may be-to keep fit during the pregrancy-making my next journey all the more easy.

The Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point after Krisha, Kimberly and I ran the 5K-all of us averaging under 10 minute miles-our best times:) And realizing we are ready for more!

My most recent baby joined us for the after race celebration!

Liv helping us out on one of of our other projects this summer-a garden. We love to get our hands dirty! Maybe it is a nurturing female gene/trait-but I find pure joy in creating and taking care of what is around me and my girls prove to have that same love.