I knew I was about to be on TV.

This morning I am at the YMCA with my best friend and I see a woman walk in that looks familiar. I think to myself " I bet she is a news lady and I am going to be interviewed" I laugh at this thought and then carried on with my work out. 

Mary and I moved on to the weights and I head over to the leg press. My twin and I talked about it yesterday and she can leg press something like 350lbs. 

I wanted a go at this limit. 

I walk over and the thought again comes and I was like, man this is where I am going to be interviewed. I don't know why I thought it but I just knew. 

I know I can't do the same weight at Melinda ( who rocks) so I set it at 50lbs. It was to easy. I move it to 90 lb. Easy as pie ....yummy, but we can't talk of pie...I have goals to reach....I then move the weights up to 150lbs... That was somewhat of a struggle and so I mentally pulled my back injury card and told myself I need to be gentle and not push it even though it did move.....some. I set the weights down to 120 and found the perfect place. I was getting my jam on and around the corner the news lady pokes her head and says she is with News 2 and would I be ok with some pictures of myself going on tv. I said sure I was ok with that, and then they said " it might just be your legs, we don't need to get any faces." I said ok but let me back up some for this part of the story. 

This summer when we went to Washington state I ate some pineapple and had an allergic reaction. This then triggered some type of eczema or psoriasis on my arms and legs and has since given my tons of problems. I am very self conscious about the redness on my legs and look forward to colder months because of pants and the cooler weather bc the heat makes it hurt more. Because it is a new thing I am still working out how I want to approach it and right now I am using how I eat to prayfully help and heal from the inside out. 

This morning I change out of my exercise pants because it had a small tear in the seam and I made the choice to put on shorts. I had pants to put on but I thought maybe if I can get victory over this being self conscious thing maybe it can help someone else have victory too. 

I chose shorts 

I go to gym. 

I get interviewed and they only want video of my legs. 

"Lord, that is funny. I am not feeling the victory yet, I am just choosing to walk it out and now they will be possibly all over News 2 in the next month." 

They ask for permission to do full video and ask me my thoughts on storing my phone inside my sports bra while exercising. I told them I don't because I have heard it can cause Breast cancer. So that is on camera also. The camera guy ends it with video of how much weights I have used and I had moved it down to 90lbs at this point. I later told him that if I had known he was going to get the amount I would have moved it up to 200lbs.  Hehehe. 

When they asked to interview me I said ok but that I was a hot mess. She said we can give you a few mins if you would like. I told her it would not help. 

Here is my selfie from working out. 

I get very red. 

My lesson I am learning is everyone has something to hide. For many of us it is a physical mark or how we feel about our bodies. For others it can be a past regret they want to hide and even others it could be a heart issue or sin they want to hide. It could be a dirty room or the way you yell at your kids or spouse. So many things get hidden and if we all just agreed to bring things to the light then it makes it less scary or shameful. 

So if you seeing me being brave and wearing shorts or a shorter dress maybe it will help you be comfortable to bring your hidden things to the light. Share it with me and we can have victory together! 

My friend Mary and Melinda both said to be thankful that I have two strong legs to walk on. So I am blessed. I am happy. I am still self conscious but grateful for the ability to move. 

Mothers in all countries.

This Labor Day weekend has been packed full. We had a four day weekend and used every inch of it for play time. 

Friday night we did our mock camping. 

We were supposed to head out of town for an actual camping trip and when that got canceled we decided to go ahead and camp in our own space. It was wonderful. We did s'mores over our little fire pit and listen to the crickets ( and helipcotors, firetrucks, and police cars) throughout the night. We woke up with the sun and played in the yard even before going inside for breakfast. I would love for every morning to start with outside play! 

That afternoon we went hiking and exploring and Edward Waren Park. 

In between some bickering and complaining everyone had a good time. 

We went to mckays after that before heading home. 

Sunday Jerry and I got to go to some friend's home and pray over their new home. We got to pray with them and over them for God to bless their new season. 

Monday we got to go swimming with our sweet Finnish friends. They are here in America for one year and we met last school year ( March 2015) when our daughters where in kindergarten together. The kids had lots of fun. We haven't been swimming that much this summer so they were glad to sneak in another swim before cold weather gets here. We ended the night with one last tent sleeping and s'mores. 

Today miss Ava had a play date with a new friend and I got to hangout with the mom. We all had a wonderful time and then ended the day with more friends coming over for dinner. 

Throughout my weekend I got to hang out with 4 different moms. Including myself,we were from different walks of life, different age groups, and even different countries. Some were new Christians, older Christians, and figuring out what that means-christians. We all looked different and sounded different but despite all the differences we were the same. We are moms. God has giving us all the awesome responsibility to care for children. We want to be all the God has called us to be and we want to be all that our kids need us to be. We want to have a clean home and clean kids. We want to provide good meals for our family  and a peaceful place for our husband to come home to. We want to shower without someone knocking on the door for the immediate answer of "Can I have some goldfish?" 

Haha. I just had to throw that last one in there bc it is so true. 

The thing that so brightly stood out this weekend are that cultures can be scary and they can be unknown. Words can go misunderstood because of a language barrier and it seems easier to just skip over that conversation or better yet that person because it is to hard to talk to each other. Beliefs and standards are different based on where someone grew up and this cause us to embrace those differences or to avoid them all together. It is easier to avoid. 

It is easier to stay in our own group, with our own language, with our own belief group. 

God does not want us to stay. 

He wants us to talk to that mom who looks different then you. He wants you to make a play date with that mom who's speaks another language, it may be hard...but it may not be. You are both learning, so be kind about it. They are ok with you saying you don't understand what they said. 

All moms need other moms to be friends with. 

ALL MOMS need to know they are not alone. 

They need to know that their child throwing food on the floor is not the end of the world (or the food for that matter if you go by the 10 second rule ) 

Being a mother is such a gift from God.  Whether we are a mother through adoption or birth our hearts are the same. It is one full of overwhelming love for our child and that looks the same in our countries. 

Make friends with a mom who looks different then you and you will find you have a lot more in common then you might have first thought.