My Body is Rebelling!

Whatever do you mean, Alicia? You have a wonderfully fantastic body that anyone would kill for.

Stop laughing. I'm serious. I had to imagine for just a moment that I was in another world where everything was perfect.

Seriously though, I decided several weeks ago that I had had it. By it I mean I was done with still carrying baby weight from 2 years ago and that I needed a body overhaul.

When I was in college Weight Watchers worked miracles for me. I lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 40lbs and looked really, really thin. I managed not to gain too much weight until my sweet little angel came along and there went the 40lbs. I thought breastfeeding would take it off, but apparently even though Abby eats everything in sight, she couldn't eat the extra pounds off my hips and butt.

Back to where I started, I jumped back on the wagon, even exercising regularly. I've been doing about 30 minutes a night and my legs are KILLING ME!

Unfortunately, my body hasn't gotten the memo yet. I'm wondering if my cells think that I'm starving them so they're hanging onto every morsel I give them. If you know me well, you know that I'm definitely NOT starving myself, so please refrain from posting comments saying things like, "Really, Alicia, you can eat too little and make your body retain weight." Trust me when I say, "I'M EATING ENOUGH!"

This morning I got on the scale and was up a pound and a half. It..is..so..frustrating! Anyway, if you've got any tips (other than telling me to eat more), I'll be happy to listen.

PS - totally unrelated - if you have any tips on how to get rid of sugar ants, I'm all ears. We're up to our eyeballs in them. It's that time of year, I suppose!

Happy Easter

They showed this at church last night for Good Friday.

May you realize the depth of God's love for you this Easter!



Hallelujah!

An Opportunity

Tuesday night I went to a dinner for the graduating English majors. There were several at the party who had already graduated and just came back for the lasagna and fellowship. While we were sitting around the table someone mentioned Converse College. Now, I'm familiar with Converse. It was one of the schools that folks recommended to me when I graduated because it has an MAT program in English. I didn't pursue that route because I didn't want to teach in the public school system. I wanted to teach in higher education.

Well, unbeknown to me, Converse now offers an MFA (low-residency) in creative writing. Oh...my...gosh! I was lookinat MFA programs when I graduated. As a matter of fact, I applied to one in Maine, but circumstances didn't allow me to go. I ended up at Clemson, a fact that I'm sure was providential.

Here's the thing. An MFA is a terminal degree, much like a PhD. If I had my MFA, I could apply for promotion at NGU, and my job would be much more secure. I could also teach upper level writing classes (how much fun does that sound like!). My job would be more secure because I would have a terminal degree.

Here are the perks. It's low-residency. That means I'd only have to be on campus for 9 days, twice a semester. The rest of my study would be done with a mentor via phone, email, internet, etc. Low-residency MFAs are the norm, so it wouldn't be like I was getting an internet degree.

The downside is the price. It's a two-year degree, costing $10,000.00 a year. I don't know what kind of grants or financial aid I could get. But it's only 2 years.

I'm torn. Jason really wants his bachelors, but it wouldn't change his job situation at all. He could go after I finish. Who knows.

What do you think?

Jesus Saves

All my life I've stood in church and sung the hymn "Jesus Saves". We would belt out stanzas and chorus: "We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves." I never thought too much about it. When you grow up Southern Baptist, you take a lot of the Christian lingo and hymns for granted.

We've recently had some pretty intense attacks in our congregation; people are hurting and at moments, Satan seems to be winning. As I sat in service yesterday, I listened to the praise band sing a new rendition of the old hymn, and it occurred to me. Jesus saves EVERYTHING. He saves souls, of course. But, he also saves families and marriages and teenagers from bad decisions. He saves children from injury and sons and daughters from disease.

Our God does more than simply save our eternities, he saves our todays. I don't know that I've ever realized that before. I've often thought of him as fire insurance.

As I walk through this holy week, I hope that I realize just how much God has truly done. Heaven is an amazing, indescribable reward, but having a savior who wants to walk with me and bless me and show his incredible love to me today is beyond words.

I hope and pray that you too know him, that you are awed by his great sacrifice and love for you.

$46.80

That's how much I spent on these groceries yesterday at Publix. ** There was a pack of chicken tenderloins that didn't make it into the picture that were purchased as well.** My mom called me on Thursday and told me about all the great deals at Publix this week. Being the coupon-crazed shopper that I am, I was certain that I had some coupons to pair with these incredible deals. Sure enough, I went through the sale paper, dug through my coupons and tada I saved a grand total of $48.45. Notice that is more than I spent! Woo hoo!

Here are some of the better deals I garnered on my trip:

1. Lipton Iced Tea Bags - on sale for $1.07 each (BOGO). I had a $1.00 off of two, so they were roughly $.56 each.

2. Chex Mix was $1.23 each (another BOGO). I had $1.00 off for a grand total of $.23.

3. Duncan Hines cake mix was $.83. I had $.70 off. So it was $.13.

I know folks who think I'm crazy, but it is an absolute rush for me! I hope you find the joy too! Welcome to the world of savings.

Train Up A Child

Today was a typical Thursday. I got out of class at 12, drove to my mom's, ate lunch and brought Abby home for her nap. She hasn't been feeling well; she's got a really nasty cough that won't seem to go away, which makes naptime and bedtime especially interesting.

Abby knows the drill. She knows that when we get home, it's naptime, and today was no different. I changed her diaper and picked her up. As I was getting ready to lay her down, she looked at me with those big blue eyes, hands folded, and said, "Pray, Mommy." Now, we usually pray with her at bedtime, but we haven't prayed with her at naptime. I know she's only 21 months old, and I know that she doesn't have a relationship with Christ at this young age, but I'm convinced that she knew what she was saying, so I said a quick prayer with her and laid her down.

All of that to say, our children are following in our footsteps, like the picture below, they're going to walk in our shoes. What kind of legacy am I leaving. It's a huge responsibility, but one that pays great dividends in the future.

I can't believe I'm caught up

I don't think I've ever had a semester where I was completely caught up with nothing to file, nothing to grade and nothing to prep. Today is my day!

Here I am, sitting in my office completely caught up.

I'm not naive enough to think that this will last long. I know that after tomorrow I'll have 40 tests to grade.

But for today, I'll bask in my accomplishment.