Rays-R-Us!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year 2013!

I didn't keep up with the blog like I wanted to in 2012, and I won't say I'll do any better in 2013, but here's a start! :)

So much happened in 2012! We thought it was going to be a quiet year, ha!

The highlights are:

Fischer graduated, we bought two horses! :), Barry broke his T12 vertebrae (horse) and had back surgery, Gracie broke her wrist (other horse and first cast in our family!), the girls did gymnastics for a few months, Chloe considered karate for 1/2 second, Micah played soccer, we returned to homeschooling, my mom and sister surprised me for my 35th birthday, and Fischer moved to Seattle!

I've posted about my struggles with food addiction in the past, and although I had some slip-ups, I'm happy to report that I weighed in 10 pounds lighter at the end of the year! It was hard to gain weight back after a 22 pound loss, but I have to celebrate the victory rather than focus on the negative.

I'm also happy that I ended 2012 (and am starting 2013) on the right foot. I completed 10 miles in the last 5 days of the year, and did 5 miles today! I am so happy to be part of the Moms Run This Town (MRTT) running club because they motivate me to get up and out, even in 32 degree weather :)

On that note, here are my goals for 2013. There is a lot of healthy stuff in store for me. I'm working on physical, mental, and spiritual health!

- Pray daily!

- Read Doctrine & Covenants w/study guide (a book of scripture that I need further depth and understanding about)... started today! The first 42 books coordinate with my 40-day juice fast!

- 40-day juice fast (with a group): Begins 1/3, ends 2/12, then I'll continue my path on a PLANT STRONG lifestyle.

- Los Angeles Color Run (5k), 2/2

- Return to school 2/4, and stick with it!!!!

- MRTT 12athon challenge (6 miles on the 12^th of each month)

- Fontana half marathon, 6/1

- Run/walk at least 500 miles total (11 per week) as part of the MRTT 500/1000 mile challenge

- Exercise the horses 3 times per week (10 minutes each)

All this on top of homeschooling the kids and being the Primary chorister :) It sounds like a lot, but some of it goes hand in hand with others. I'm really looking forward to seeing how many goals I can reach, and what I don't will continue into 2014.

I've been easing into my juice fast by drinking 1-2 juices per day and sticking with the plant-based whole foods otherwise. I'm also walking/jogging every day except Sunday. I really have so much more energy the last few days. I hope this is how I'll continue to feel! I know it will be challenging and very difficult at times, but this is when I hope to grow closer to the Lord by turning to prayer and scripture study. My goal is to rid my body from all its toxins, change my tastebuds by detoxing from addicting foods and substances (sugar, caffeine, etc.), and be able to lose some weight as I transition to my new lifestyle of eating only plant-strong whole foods.

These are the items of motivation for me to go completely whack-a-do off animal products (all of them!)

Forks Over Knives

Engine 2 Diet

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

A facebook group dedicated to a 40-day juice fast, (aka "reboot")

and MRTT for my exercising

Happy New Year!

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Two years!

This post is a few weeks late, but since it's on my mind, I thought I'd write about it :)

I saw a "Family Circle" comic today that made me think of our adoption process. It said, "We came from Mommy's tummy, but Joseph was adopted so he came from his mommy's heart." So true.

On November 5, 2010 we committed to adopt Micah. This time of year was exciting, nerve-wracking, and emotional for us. We had so much to do to bring our new son home. We were deep in prayer and figuring out the finances, as well as filling out endless forms to complete our first "paper pregnancy." Some days throughout that 6 months I wondered if we'd ever really get to meet our new son, others I would just cry endlessly because I wanted him in my arms so badly, yet there he was half a world away stuck in a dark, cold orphanage (at least that's how I pictured it), others I thought there was no way to gather all the paperwork needed (I literally fought forces to get signatures on some of those forms!) I cried A LOT more during this process than any pregnancy, and my heart physically hurt for my boy. I had NO updates on him at all during the 6 months before we got to Ukraine. I didn't know if he was okay, I didn't know if somehow he might know we were coming for him. I prayed that the Lord would prepare his heart for us. It was an emotional roller coaster and harder than any pregnancy I've had (I've had 6! Four babies and two miscarriages).

The only thing we had were four pictures from one day of his life, a couple baby pictures that belonged to another boy but we were told were Micah's, and one that we just weren't sure if it was Micah because he looked SO SAD!

Then: Jackson Golden and Micah Ray, July 7, 2010 (both were 2 years old).
Both went home with their forever families within weeks of each other in the summer of 2011.

Happy all the time!

Cute little teeth!

This is the picture that captured our hearts. This ONE picture let us know that Micah was our son!

January 2011 - I knew in my heart it was him, but this picture haunted me because he didn't have the same light in his eyes.

Then finally, on May 21, 2011, I got to hold our son for the first time! He jumped over that hut wall like he'd known me forever! This was our first moment. I was crying if you can't tell. There's a good photo of him with Barry too, but I can't find it on this computer :/

May 21, 2011 - Our first moment

And now, here we were are just a little over two years from the day we found out about this complete stranger that God had prepared for our family. What a lucky family we are! He is such an amazing little boy, so full of life and laughter, so full of love. He legally became Micah Charles Ray on June 21, 2011, and I brought him home on July 6, 2011 to our waiting family. What a day! What an adventure!

And here is our little man at 4 1/2 years old. All ready for his second Christmas in America, with his forever family :)

I love having a family!!!!

Well I said HE was ready... none of the rest of us were in this photo :) A perfect picture of a
totally imperfect family with all the love in our hearts to give the children God sent to us to
raise. We are the lucky ones, truly. I only wish Fischer and Morgan could have been at this photo shoot!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Halloween with Mickey Mouse!

On October 12th, we splurged with the littles and took them to Mickey's Trick-or-Treat party this year. We went two years ago when it was at California Adventure, but this year it was at Disneyland! The tickets were a fraction of the regular ticket price. We had limited hours, but we got to ride all the rides from 4-12pm. We had so much fun :) We even took one of the kids' babysitters with us to help watch them so we could go on a few rides together (we ended up only going on Space Mountain together) :)

And we got TONS of candy! We still have some left in fact :)