Focusing on the Family

Hi friends. It is Monday evening about 11pm and I am laying on the couch with the TV on in the background. BBT (Big Bang Theory) just finished up - love that show! - and now I've got "Friends" on. Also love.

This is the first time in a while I've felt the freedom to write. Every time I wrote a post over the past several months I felt like I should be doing something else instead. And that something else was studying.

This past Saturday I finally took my ACE GFI (American Council on Exercise, Group Fitness Instructor) certification. And I passed! I can't even believe it. I thought I might have had a chance of passing when I took the practice test and did OK on it. But even then I still missed a lot. I was convinced that I didn't study enough. I really thinking cramming the night before (go college!) did me some good.

So, now I am certified to teach group fitness classes. Woo-hoo!

What do I do now?

I sit on my couch, eat chips, and watch TV. Woo-hoo!

I am sooo relieved not to have anything to study for. I feel like for the past several years I have been studying for something ALL THE TIME (CPT, Teaching, and now this). It is nice to be back in a position where I am not obligated to open a text book at night, write a paper, or look at flash cards.

I miss blogging terribly. And I have gotten so out of it that when I become ecstatic now to do it, I get ready to write and forget how to use my pen. I don't want that.

I remember I came to a point once where I truly felt like a good writer. And I felt like everything I wrote flowed and made sense. I want to get back to that place. And that is my hope.

I'm really excited to be Focusing on the Family too. And not just my family, but the magazine. I have several issues of this free magazine, along with others like All You, Country Living, and People, stock-piled up on my dining room table waiting for me to devour their pages. I can't wait.

But seriously. Focusing on the Family, in every sense of the word.

I subscribed to the magazine a few weeks ago and I get one every few months. It has great articles about family, spouses, kids, coping with all kinds of issues, and much more. Recipes, motivational ideas for children, and lots of other good stuff. I am getting a lot from it and excited to dive deeper into learning the purpose it might bring into our family home front.

And I'm not just Focusing on the Family through my subscription, I am really focusing on the family here, at home.

Now that school and certs are behind me for a looooooooooong while - and hear me, LONG - I am so glad to be able to rest. In Him. In family. In the joy of every day life. Reading and integrating, blogging, exercising, cooking, prepping, and organizing. I am able to really focus on the family instead of trying to multi-focus.

My current read is the soon to be completion of the "Son of Hamas," which reveals the story of a Hamas insider and his discovery to the Truth all while living through secrets and terrorism. It's a little hard to follow, but overall a cool revelation story. I'm looking forward to reading several more books in the months to come that have been sitting on my bookshelf calling my name!

I am so grateful for all the opportunities in my recent past. I'm grateful for my continuing education, for the licenses obtained in my direct line of passion, and the ability to use them in ways that God leads me.