Yoga two days in a row!!

Yesterday I felt pretty good all day. I don't recall having any major problems with walking like I have the rest of the week. I am going to pretend it is due to doing 20 minutes of yoga and getting out of the house and deepening a friendship. I was exhausted at the end of the day (probably from the 3 hours of standing in the kitchen while we all made our own pizzas), but I felt good and energized most of the day. The yoga is easy enough that it isn't hard to convince myself to take the time to do it. Easy enough that I did it again this morning. Go me!!

40 Days: Day 33

"Forty Days Closer to Jesus Christ"

Day 33: "We may not achieve our ideals in a day, but like stars, they serve to guide us on our way." 

Scripture study: 3 Nephi 11-16
Mark and Ponder:: 3 Nephi 12:48

go me!

I have three pairs of maternity pants that I rotate through that I'd gotten at good will. Two of them are a spandex pull over your belly to your boobs kind and one is a low rise smallish elastic waistband. My favorite are the pull over ones. I usually wear them for two days and then put them in the laundry. Well, yesterday it was low rise's turn. By the time the boys left for school (an hour after putting them on), I had to get out of them. They felt so tight and as I went upstairs I realized they aren't even really making it up my legs. They just don't fit anymore - and it isn't the belly band's problem - it is the thighs. I went to my drawer and thought about pulling out one of my sweat pants but remembered that with one of them I'd worn the week before I had decided it would have to be the last time b/c it was  getting tight and uncomfortable. I decided to try on the leftover size 18 pants from Jared and Aaron I had tucked in the drawer just in case (thinking 3rd trimester kind of thoughts) and found they weren't quite so saggy anymore. I ended up wearing them for the day.

I had been becoming more and more aware of the collection of fat in my thighs and bottom due to the amount of laying around I am doing but yesterday it was glaringly obvious the consequences of that choice. I made a coded comment about it on facebook that sparked quite the conversation. I didn't want any association with pregnancy on it, so any reference I deleted. It is not about being pregnant. It is about not exercising and the resulting extra padding that creates. But there were some good comments and suggestions - like yoga and just doing it.

I spent some time on youtube and found a couple of prenatal yoga videos and watched the shorter ones. Many of them were short - even as short as 3 minutes!! and some were longer. I decided I can do 10 minutes of breathing and stretching and it wouldn't even matter if I'd already showered. I finally talked myself into doing it. YAY! It was easy enough I even did a second video. 20 minutes of yoga/exercise today. Now only to keep it up.

40 Days: Day 32

"Forty Days Closer to Jesus Christ"

Day 32: "We like to be appreciated but if we do not get all the appreciation which we think is our due, what matters? We know the Lord has laid high responsibilities upon us, and there is not a wish or desire that the Lord has implanted in our hearts in righteousness but will be realized..." -Eliza R. Snow

Today's reading: 3 Nephi 5-10
Mark and ponder: 3 Nephi 11:29

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 Eons ago I was feeling under-appreciated and frustrated at home. In a setting apart blessing, I was told that the Lord was aware of what I was doing and appreciated it. It made all the difference in the world and all of a sudden those other feelings didn't matter b/c I knew the Lord saw and cared.

40 Days: Day 31

"Forty Days Closer to Christ" 

Day 31: "The Savior is not a silent observer. He Himself knows personally and infinitely the pain we face."

Reading for today: Helaman 15- 3 Nephi 4
Mark and ponder: 3 Nephi 11:14-15

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Most people love Alma 32 because of its discourse on faith and the whole experiment upon the word analogy, but my favorites are 33 and 34 because we learn who we should have faith in and why. This is the meat of the gospel and plan of salvation!

Last year when I was preparing my talk on overcoming challenges, I discovered these verses in Alma 33 and just loved them, esp verses 21-23:

19 Behold, he was spoken of by ^aMoses; yea, and behold a ^btype was ^craised up in the wilderness, that whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live.
 20 But few understood the meaning of those things, and this because of the hardness of their hearts. But there were many who were so hardened that they would not look, therefore they perished. Now the reason they would not look is because they did not believe that it would ^aheal them.
 21 O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in ^aunbelief, and be ^bslothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?
 22 If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and ^abegin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to ^batone for their sins; and that he shall ^crise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the ^dresurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be ^ejudged at the last and judgment day, according to their^fworks.
 23 And now, my brethren, I desire that ye shall ^aplant this word in your hearts, and as it beginneth to swell even so nourish it by your faith. And behold, it will become a tree, ^bspringing up in you unto ^ceverlasting life. And then may God grant unto you that your^dburdens may be light, through the joy of his Son. And even all this can ye do if ye ^ewill. Amen.

On the topic of loss

A friend posted a link to this post called why miscarriage matters if you're pro-life. Considering my recent post, I have a lot of thoughts on the topic. I don't know if I will ever actually get around to saying them out loud, but in the meantime thought I'd put that link here on the chance I do write out what's floating around in my head.

40 Days: Day 30

"Forty Days Closer to Jesus Christ"

I love today's quote. 

Day 30: "No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility... It is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire."
- Orson F. Whitney.

Today we are reading: Helaman 10-14
Mark and ponder: Helaman 10:4-5

40 Days: Day 29

"Forty Days Closer to Jesus Christ"

Day 29: "If our house is built upon a rock with the brick and mortar of good works, it will withstand the storms and perils of life and preserve us for an eternal inheritance hereafter. If is is built upon the sands of evil with the rusty nails and rotting timber of carnal things, it will be destroyed." -Bruce R. McConkie

Reading for today: Helaman 1-9
Mark and ponder: Helaman 5:12

40 Days: Day 28

"Forty Days Closer to Jesus Christ"

Day 28: "You are chosen to be faithful women of God in our day, to stand above pettiness, gossip, selfishness, lewdness, and all other forms of ungodliness. Recognize your divine birthright as daughters of our Heavenly Father." -Howard W. Hunter

Today's reading: Alma 59-63
Mark and ponder: Alma 60:23