Tag Archives: birthday

30!

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Happy 30th birthday to ME!

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I’ve pretty much been celebrating all month long. You only turn 30 once!

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My golden year was pretty amazing. My husband & I did something we’ve been talking about pretty much since we got married (almost 4 years ago, can you believe it?!?). We moved out of South Florida. It happened super fast, too. It was like “Hey, we’re thinking about moving. Hey, we’re gonna move. Hey, we moved.” It was about 2 months from our scouting trip to our move in date. We had been praying about the decision for months & when it was finally go time it was GO GO GO! Only God could have orchestrated such a smooth move for us. My husband is thriving in his new job & we are getting settled nicely.

There were other changes that occurred between last September & this one, but in all of that here’s how I did with my goals:

  1. Read the Bible regularly. – Ok, this one never gets crossed off. I have been doing better & it’s only made me want to do it more. 1) I completed my first year of BSF with the study of Romans & now I am hooked. Cupcake loves the kids’ program, too! Transferring to a BSF group in Georgia was the first thing I did after we secured an apartment. It’s been a great way to get plugged in & meet some people, too! 2) the YouVersion Bible app is amazing. I have done several of their reading plans & turned on notifications for the verse of the day. My favorite feature is the ‘compare’ feature: you can see the same verses in different bible translations, even different languages! 3) I am slowly doing the Becoming MomStrong Bible study. (It was supposed to be an over the summer thing, but, you know. Life.)
  2. Volunteer. – Habitat For Humanity Project June 16!1536245758545.jpg
  3. Lose weight. – Goes hand in hand with #4
  4. Get more serious about fitness. – In June I finally started eating better & exercising 3-5x a week. Instead of going hard & getting quickly burnt out, I aimed to break a sweat for at least 10 minutes a day & focus on strength training for muscles instead of calorie burning cardio. I took a pause from working out while we were moving, but after settling a bit I got back on the wagon & I am happy to report that I have lost 15 lbs! I did this totally at home with no gym membership or equipment using a combination of My Fitness Pal for calorie counting & Fitness Blender for workout videos! (not a sponsored post – I just really enjoy their website!)
  5. Make Spanish more of a priority at home. – This one is also a permanent goal. My husband has been such a great supporter of this. His Spanish is improving as he tries to speak mostly Spanish to Cupcake. It warms my corazon ❤
  6. Throw a fancy dinner party.
  7. Go to a gun range. – I didn’t go to a range, but I did get to shoot guns at a family member’s hunting camp in Alabama over Labor Day Weekend. Half credit?
  8. Go to local high school football games.
  9. Read more books. – Read: Talking As Fast As I Can , Out Of The Silent Planet, Perelandra. In progress: IT, That Hideous Strength, Becoming MomStrong, Dad Is Fat.
  10. Learn a (simple) new make up look.
  11. Get more serious about my book business.
  12. Paint more.  – Some of these watercolors also turned into #28: a letter to a friend! I have enjoyed getting in to watercolors & doing some of the challenges on Instagram. It has really stretched me as an artist!  

  13. Build something with my hands.
  14. Donate blood.  Feb 19 – After the shooting at MSD in Parkland. 1536245942479.jpg
  15. Grow my hair long (& healthy) to donate. 12 inches – June 14th!  

  16. Visit a new city in Florida. – I did TWO! Dec 19: Anniversary trip to Mt. Dora, FL. Jun 29: visited friends near Amelia Island, FL.
  17. Fast.
  18. Pay for someone else’s coffee.
  19. Send a care package to a soldier.
  20. Bake a soufflé. – First I think I should EAT a souffle to see what it’s all about!
  21. Be more intentional about making new friends. – Having just moved to a completely new area, I am definitely focusing on this one now!
  22. Hand make (most) Christmas presents this year. Check!
  23. Pay off debt. – This is the first thing we will do once the sale of our house closes.
  24. Go on a painting/cooking/activity date with my husband. Check!
  25. Go see more local shows/events.
  26. Go to one of the Orlando theme parks. – April 21 – we went to Universal Studios with our moms! Despite the look on her face in this picture, my niece had a great time. 10 minutes after this picture was taken she yelled “THAT WAS AWESOME!”1536247053431.jpg
  27. Work on knife & butchery skills.
  28. Write more letters to friends. – Could have been better, but I’ve sent friends a few cards that I watercolor!
  29. Grow in my relationship with God. – Another one that never gets crossed off. I am excited to go into my 30’s as a dedicated Christ follower. I am working hard to choose joy & be the light. I complain too much and my tongue gets away from me way too often. But I can feel the Father, Son, & Spirit working on me!

I really enjoyed having these goals for the past year. Sometime along the way I also made a vision board for our family. I’m looking forward to setting more personal & family goals for 2019.

Bring it on 30’s!

PS: I made that cute belly badge I’m wearing in the first pictures with my awesome new Cricut! My husband totally surprised me with it. I’m already starting to work on Christmas crafts!!!!

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My Golden Year

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It’s my birthday!

29 on the 29th!

It’s my *Golden Year*.

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I learned that term from my friend, Ryan. It’s the year that your birth date is also your age. I intend to live it up & make it my best year yet!

Since it is my golden year, & next year I’ll be 30, I thought I’d do a variation on the ’30 before 30′ lists I’ve seen floating around.

Here are 29 things I’d like to accomplish my 29th year:

  1. Read the Bible regularly.
  2. Volunteer.
  3. Lose weight.
  4. Get more serious about fitness.
  5. Make Spanish more of a priority at home.
  6. Throw a fancy dinner party.
  7. Go to a gun range.
  8. Go to local high school football games.
  9. Read more books.
  10. Learn a (simple) new make up look.
  11. Get more serious about my book business.
  12. Paint more.
  13. Build something with my hands.
  14. Donate blood.
  15. Grow my hair long (& healthy) to donate.
  16. Visit a new city in Florida.
  17. Fast.
  18. Pay for someone else’s coffee.
  19. Send a care package to a soldier.
  20. Bake a soufflé.
  21. Be more intentional about making new friends.
  22. Hand make (most) Christmas presents this year.
  23. Pay off debt.
  24. Go on a painting/cooking/activity date with my husband.
  25. Go see more local shows/events.
  26. Go to one of the Orlando theme parks.
  27. Work on knife & butchery skills.
  28. Write more letters to friends.
  29. Grow in my relationship with God.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Celebration Week!

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This week is full of celebrations!

So many birthdays this week. Several of my friends have birthdays around this time.

My cat turned 11!

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My niece turned 4!

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& I’m 28!

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However, these are not the biggest celebrations of the week.

The biggest celebration is on Friday, the 40th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment!

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For almost a year now I’ve been working with Secular Pro Life on a special project, #HelloHyde.

Enacted in 1976, the Hyde Amendment prohibits federal funding of abortion through Medicaid. It has received BIPARTISAN support every year since. This election year, it is under attack.

We are putting faces to the statistics thrown around by both sides. The abortion lobby says that the Hyde amendment oppresses poor women.

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We say that 1 in 9 of these people would not be alive if it weren’t for the Hyde amendment.

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So what the abortion lobby really mean is that 2.13 million people would have been killed if it weren’t for the Hyde Amendment.

My parents immigrated to the US from Communist Cuba while my mom was pregnant with me. My mom was never going to abort me, but if Medicaid did cover abortions, how many women in similar low income/limited resources situations would feel pressured to ‘take the easy way out’? Would someone have tried to talk my parents, poor immigrants without a penny to their name, into aborting me for free?

Abortion affects many generations. My niece & I are both Medicaid Kids, & I am currently pregnant, though not using Medicaid. Just because our parents were experiencing hardship around the time we were born, doesn’t mean we didn’t deserve the right to life.

How is repealing the Hyde Amendment NOT socioeconomic discrimination?

The Hyde Amendment shows women that might be facing less-than-desirable pregnancies that they CAN do it, & there are programs that can help.

Thank you to the Charlotte Lozier Institute  & Dr. Michael New for their study. The data was also broken up by state. Here’s Florida’s number:

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Find your state meme on Facebook.

We also have a YouTube video to share.

On Friday, September 30, we will be having a tweet fest. We encourage Medicaid kids to share their picture with the name tag found on hellohyde.org. We encourage anyone who’s not a Medicaid kid to retweet as much as they can & share the graphics.

See you at the party on Twitter! Happy 40th birthday, Hyde!

What’s next now that the anniversary has passed? Read here for the next phase of our mission!