Back home...

Well, we're back home to the 'tropics' of Kansas City! LOL It was soooooooooooo cold and windy in Iowa. I couldn't believe it! Even today, I heard the weather is to be about 30 degrees warmer here in KC! Wow! :)

We had a wonderful, wonderful trip back home to Iowa. It is always a great trip back. It always seems to fly by though! We're still trying to get used to juggling family and friends and our schedule running here and there and trying to fit everyone and everything into all the time we have there.

This trip was great because we got to see so many wonderful friends, too! On Saturday I got to meet up with two of my 'gym friends' for breakfast. My one friend is pregnant with twins and is currently on 'bed rest' until she's due in March, but the doctor gave her permission to come out to breakfast for a bit. (I love that doctor! LOL) I had a great time with them, catching up and laughing! :) Then, I got to visit with a dear friend/mentor whom I have only seen once since we moved. We spent almost 4 hours together, talking and catching up. I miss her so much and it was great to spend the afternoon together! All the while, Steve was with the boys in Ankeny, visiting friends, too. The boys got to hang out with their closest Iowa friends for hours on Saturday, and loved every minute of it! Brennan is such a huge skateboarder and hasn't found any friends here, yet, that love it as much as he does, so it was a huge deal for him to be back with his closest buddy in Iowa and skateboard for 3 hours at an indoor facility on Saturday! He was worn out!

Saturday night we got to go back to our old church. We love it there and miss everyone dearly! It's so wonderful to have people just love on you when you come in the doors there! This trip was so dear to my heart because I got to hear a testimony from someone with whom God is doing amazing things in their heart. I had this gal in my Christ-Life group several years back and one of the main issues she had was that she'd had an abortion and felt so much tremendous shame/guilt over that from when she was only 19, and was now in her mid-forties. It had plagued her her whole life. During that CL group, God did an amazing healing work in her heart and she forgave herself and accepted God's love and forgiveness and God set her free! And, I remember telling her during that time -- "Some day God is going to use this to help set others free." and at the time she was like, "Uh -- no way!" as she'd never told anyone about this before sharing it with our CL group. Well, on Saturday, she came up to me and had tears in her eyes -- she'd just accepted the opportunity to share her testimony at an 'abortion-recovery' workshop at a major women's conference!!!!!!!! It brought tears to my eyes to just look at her and see what God has done in her life. She is of course nervous, but so determined to let her wounds of the past be something that God uses to minister to other women. To just look at her and see what God has done in the past 5 years was overwhelming! I love, love, love seeing His faithfulness as He ministers to His children!!!!!!!!!!!!! That was truly a highlight of my weekend!!!!

Sunday we got to spend just hanging out with my parents at their home (during the blizzard!) and that was a nice, relaxing, and non-rushed time! :)

And yesterday, we had our taxes done (our original reason for going to Iowa in the first place) and then Steve went to the Christ-Life offices and met up with some people there and I got to go back to my old gym!!!!!!!! I haven't been back since we moved and I miss it so much! It was great to get to see so many people again! My life was forever changed there and I loved getting to go back! I met with my old trainer there. He's so good for me! Although, I must say -- I am mighty sore this morning!!!!!!!! I wanted to meet with him, because although I've gotten my medications figured out -- I've had trouble getting my body to respond to exercise again as I don't sweat when I workout, which makes for a frustrating workout in which I feel absolutely awful. So, I knew I needed some help and guidance. I contacted my old trainer because he knows what he's talking about, and sure enough -- he knew what to do! He explained so many things to me and I realized how I was doing some things wrong and how I can gradually progress and get things going again. It was so great to get to 'pick his brain' and have someone know what they're talking about! He took me through a workout and gave me 5 weeks of progressive workouts to get me 'on track' and help my body recover. We're going to meet up again in March, when we go back again, and see how things have progressed. I'm so excited, because I feel like my body is finally coming together again and I'm so hopeful for getting back to where I was at before we moved!!!!!!!! Although I did find out that I've lost 10lbs. since December -- so that was a big -- WOOOHOOO!!!! That is only because my eating has been on track! :) So, I figure now with having my medications figured out and getting my thyroid under control and with my eating on track -- now getting a gameplan for my workouts -- we should be good in about 5 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH! I am so excited!

So, it was a great weekend -- busy, busy, busy, but so wonderful to go back 'home'. :)