Diastasis Recti

For those of you who've just had a baby recently, whether a month ago or two years ago, I would encourage you to check out these websites and learn if you have a Diastasis Recti.

http://womenshealth.suite101.com/article.cfm/separation_of_abdominal_muscles

http://www.fitpregnancy.co.za/content.php?sec=getfit&year=2006&month=12&doc=Belly_there.html

http://baby.families.com/blog/5-things-to-know-about-mummy-tummy-or-diastasis-recti

I was still feeling like I had some mama chub on my front belly after almost 1 year from my 2nd baby's birth, even though I am back to my old size and I fit into my old clothes. So I started doing some research online for some exercise about the best way to burn tummy fat when I came across a forum of these moms talking about their bellies and "diastasis recti." What is that I wondered. So I did some research and discovered it means separated abs which occur with pregnancy. Most of the time they come back together on their own, but for a handful of women they don't. (and I'm one of them) I read about how to check to see if my abs are still separated, and they are, so I'm very glad to have found this out, which explains why my tummy is the way it is. So you have to do special exercises to work the transverse muscle to bring them back together. I just want to share what I found just because I knew nothing about it and maybe it would be helpful info to others. It's really important to strengthen these muscles for future pregnancies. Now I just need to actually do the exercises consistently. Lord willing it will be another couple of years before we have another baby, but I really want to get my body in better shape by doing these exercises and running again.

How I Am Today

Usually I'm pretty positive, at least I try to be and see the bright side of things. But it's really been hard for me to do that lately. I think that is why I have not written in so long. I feel like I don't have anything positive or encouraging to say ...oh great, I just totally sounded like K-Love! For those of you who know that station know what I mean, anyways...so yeah, I usually want to be uplifting overall, but I've been so self-focused lately and so down (just in the past couple of months) that I haven't had much to give or to pour out into any body's life (online or in person for that matter). But I really want to keep writing...though I don't know how often my page even gets looked at, but whatever, it's a good outlet for me. So, I've come to the place where I realize that I just need to be real about who I am and write about what is going on in life. Being real is definitely something I am not that good at. I really want to be better at it, and I don't want to be fake and pretend that life is great...so I am going to try.

We just moved to Hawaii 3 months ago, and much to my surprise it's been really hard, a lot harder than I thought it would be. Yes, there have been lots of good things and many blessings but it's been hard for me nonetheless. I've just gone through the stuff of being homesick and feeling down and depressed at times. ( I am encouraged though because I have heard that this is normal for females with such a major move and life change). And I have not gone so far down in the dumps that I've given up and succumb to staying in bed all day, there have just been days of feeling really low and crying, but I'm not always sure why. I still want to be present and a good mommy to my boys and a good wife to my husband. But it's been a struggle because I've been so down. It's just hard feeling so many hard things, like constantly pouring out to my family all day, and not feeling well emotionally or spiritually. But God is working in my heart and answering my prayers, so I'm definitely in a better place than I was a month ago. (rabbit trail: My grandma died at the end of May and I was able to fly out to California for 4 days with Elijah. To be with my entire family!(I had not seen my younger brother in 2 years, and my older sister in 9 months). It was amazing seeing God's timing of it all and working out all the details. So that sure helped with homesickness for family and the mainland, and it made coming back to the island much easier.) So where I'm at now is I am seeing more of my desperate need for God's strength and filling me every day. Realizing how much more I need to pray and look to him for all things. Really seeing my weakness and how much I need him to work in my heart.
God is good. Good in that he lets us go through hard things but he is there to see us through and to bring hope and comfort. ( I can't help it, I have to end on a positive note:)

Grassroots Church

My husband is preaching today at church for the first time. Our church plant is small in numbers, but it is still a great responsibility to preach, so if any body reads this today please pray for him as he delivers the Word. It will be about 1:30pm west coast time as we're out in Hawaii. Thank you!

14 Steps

My worst nightmare since moving into our 2 story house came true yesterday. We have a flight of stairs to the lower level of our house and we usually always have a baby gate up. But yesterday we had taken off so we could bring groceries upstairs and we forgot to put it back up. Well, I left Elijah in the living room with some toys, thinking that I was not going to be gone for long...just a few seconds, but it turned into a few minutes, and alot can happen in a few minutes. Well, after a few minutes, I thought I need to go back to Elijah and just as I was leaving our room to head back I hear a thump thump thump and Elijah is tumbling down the stairs!!!! (Oh my gosh I was so scared, I was shaking was told later I looked awfully white). I raced down the stairs faster than I ever have and I carefully picked him up and we did a quick check to make sure there were no obvious injuries as he had just flown down 14 stairs and hit face down on a hardwood floor!!! I felt so horrible because I knew that it was my fault, if I had been more careful it wouldn't have happened. ....anyways, God protected him and he only had a bump on his head and a faint bruise on his knee,. He is totally fine...I'm so amazed....Praise God for his goodness in protecting him...he is such a sweet little boy we've been so blessed with Moses and Elijah.

We've moved, we're settling, and slowly adjusting PART 1

This is the view of the ocean near our new house. You can't see the ocean from our house but this is the street by our house, we live 5 blocks from the ocean! It's incredible...

It's been a long time (once again) since I've written. So much has happened and I've procrastinated in writing, just because it has seemed like such a daunting task and I've not had too much time to sit and write. My oldest boy only takes one afternoon nap now so I 'm trying to be more organized with my time so that when he does nap I will have finished all my chores and tended to other responsibilities so then I can sit down and write knowing I have taken care of priorities first.

First of all, God has brought us to Hawaii and in such a way that it has been so obviously his hand. There were many things that had to happen that we had no control over, we simply prayed and then waited to see how he would answer. So to briefly recap and summarize our life these past few months here is a short tale:

Back in February we put up 2 for sale signs for our house. One was right in front of our house and the other was in front of our mobile home park. We also made flyers advertising our house but we only put these up inside our park as well on the community bulletin board by the mail boxes. So that was the extent of our advertising. Well, sometime in early March my husband noticed one day that our for sale sign was no longer in front of our park, somebody must of stolen it because it was no where around the surrounding area. So, it was one of those things where we thought, well, we ought to buy another sign and put it up. And we considered other advertising ideas but we just didn't do anything else. So how were we supposed to sell our home one might wonder? God in his wonderful ways likes to bring glory to himself, so to make a long story short...after much prayer, poor advertising and struggling in our faith and trust in God, a young couple calls on the evening of March 22 to inquire about our home. They were driving around our town that day going to all the mobile home parks looking for a place for sale and our park was the last one that they went to that day. They saw our little flyer inside our park and called us up. They drove by that evening and came inside, my husband gave them a tour and we all talked for quite awhile and they really wanted to buy it. They just so happened to need a place that they could move into ASAP, which worked out great for us as we were hoping to be in Hawaii for Easter, which is when the church had it's first service. So in a matter of about a week, we moved out and the details were squared away and they bought our place and started to move in. So, it was a matter of two weeks from the time the couple came to look at our place to the day we arrived in Hawaii. It was incredible to see God at work. Needless to say we packed up our house so quickly and had to get rid of so much stuff! It was like nothing I'd ever have to do in my entire life. We sold almost all of our possessions and moved out here with basically our clothes and a few necessities. We packed away 4-6 totes that Ryan's parent's are storing for us, but we really just cleaned ourselves out and are starting our lives from scratch out here. It's been hard, but good too. There have been so many changes and adjustments, I am still processing it all.

Okay, well I need to stop writing for now and attent to my boys! Moses just came in from the outside and is pretty dirty from helping Papa with the yard work:) I will write more soon!

We've got luggage! Yesterday Ryan's parents gave us a combined birthday present of a good quality luggage set. We are still waiting and praying for our house to sell, but it was a blessing for God to provide in yet another way for us.

Well, Moses and I have gotten the nasty head cold bug that Ryan and Elijah had. Elijah still has a cold so all three of us have been feeling crummy this past week. The weather has been beautfiul here so that is helpful. At least we're not feeling yucky with yucky weather to go along with it.

Healthy Dessert

I just made this really yummy but very healthy pear crisp that I got from world's healthiest foods site. It doesn't have any sugar or flour, I was impressed with how it turned out.
Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 4 d'anjou pears
• 3 cups water
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• ½ cup apple juice, divided in half
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2/3 cup almonds
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ cup rolled oats
• 1½ TBS chopped fresh ginger
• 1 TBS honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
   
2. Place water and lemon juice in bowl.
   
3. Cut pears into quarters, cut out core and slice ¼ inch thick. As you do this place the pear slices in water with lemon juice to keep from turning brown.
   
4. Drain and toss pears with cinnamon and ¼ cup of the apple juice.
   
5. Place almonds, oats, raisins and ginger in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until well ground and mixed. Place in a bowl and add honey and rest of apple juice. Mix well.
   
6. Place pears in an 8x8 baking dish and cover with topping. Bake for about 35 minutes until pears are bubbling.
   

Serves 4