Spring Cleaning April 6, 2011

So I’m starting spring cleaning. Not necessarily literal, though I am literally doing spring cleaning as well since I am moving out of my beautiful wonderful place But despite a not so great circumstance I found a place with two other wonderful Christian girls and I’ll be saving money on rent. So while I am sad to leave I just keep thinking saving money is always a good thing. Plus I believe that while an unexpected so soon change, that it is a good change and one that the Lord is bringing about even if through his own mysterious ways

The not so literal spring cleaning is that which I’m doing of body, soul and spirit. I’ve kind of become complacent in the routine of my life which is not always bad when you have routine but I’m convinced that complacency is never the Lord’s will. I desire to always be content in my circumstances while never satisfied so that I keep learning, keep growing and reaching for the best that God has to offer.

The body part is rather simple. I started weight watchers. I bucked against all of my friends’ suggestions that I should try it out. After all I have always been active and I do know how to eat healthy. Yet even with all my activity and head knowledge of what’s good versus bad I have continued to stay plateaued at my current weight. Thus I gave in and now I’m completely obsessed with points, weekly points, activity points and weigh in’s hahaha. Not only that but I’m training for my 2nd half marathon. I’m competing in the San Diego Rock N’ Roll Half adn I’m actually excited. It’s June 5th and I’m stoked partly because I’m so far been good and consistent with my training plan, but also because I’m raising money for it. All money that I get through friends, family and business partner sponsorship will be going towards Urban’s community outreach and youth programs. Some things that have been part of community outreach have been First Sunday where we give household items, clothing, food, toiletries and etc to those that are low low income families and individuals that could otherwise not afford the items and each First Sunday we provide a free hot meal after service. We’ve also done 3 space makeovers for three different single mom’s who needed creative ways to have as many as 4 kids in either a studio or small one bedroom apartment. (These were one of my favorite outreaches!). We are also starting our Urban youth program for junior high and high school students and since we haven’t had these programs for the first two years we will now need to get some of the necessary resources for this ministry in order to be as effective as possible. (If you would like to sponsor me just leave me a comment and I’ll give you the info you need!)

The soul part  of my spring cleaning is already started as a work in progress. About a month ago I decided to cut back on the amount of shows I was watching in order to have more time to do other things. I am continuing to cut back and one of the reasons is because I want to read a new book every two weeks alternating between literature/fiction and Christian non-fiction. Also I’m being a little more choosy about the the music I’m listening to. I was astounded about a week ago as I began singing a song that I had heard several times over on the radio and thought was catchy but as I sang I realized the lyrics I were singing were honestly just trash. While I’ve never been super concerned about bad language and such mainly because I’m around it at work and when I was doing track, I still believe that out of the heart the mouth speaks and I don’t want that trash in my heart. I’d rather think upon and listen to things that are edifying and encouraging.

The spirit part is a little more intense for me. I have determined in my heart to wake up earlier so I could spend time with God before I begin my day. For those of you that may know me I’m not a morning person. I hate waking up in the morning. In fact I have getting ready for work down to 20-25 minutes so that I can spend as much time as possible in bed sleeping. While I’m sad to see my sleep go the fact of the matter is days just are better when you start them with God. So I’m getting up at 6:30 every morning and going for a walk through downtown or the harbor so I can pray and get my blood pumping at the same time. Then my goal in the evening after spending time at the gym or running is to spend at least an hour in the Word studying. Not just reading but working with a Bible commentary and textbook to glean as much as possible. I’ve always loved the books of the prophets in the Old Testament so that is the focus of my fifty days of spring cleaning. The goal of course is to develop the habits in this 50 days to continue on after the fact.

So yeah that’s what I’m up to currently

Oh and I am taking a vacation! It’s going to be the first “me” vacation. Most of my vacations are centered around others whether family or friends which don’t get me wrong are pretty enjoyable, but most of the time I end up more tired from the week of “rest” than if I just stayed a work. So with my me-cation in mind I am renting a car and starting up the coast, I’ll stay in Santa Barbara and relax, walk the beach, go for a bike ride or maybe just stay in my room!  Then I’ll head up the coast the rest of the way to hopefully meet up with AK and Sister Sue in Salinas since it’s the next step on the way. Then I’ll head to Santa Cruz to park at mi madre’s and venture in at some point to see GMa and Paha in Fremont and the city to see T. Then whenever I’m ready I’ll venture back down maybe even leisurely to San Diego. I can’t even begin to express how excited I am! I even finally came into the 21st century and bought a digital camera so I could actually document my travels through my me-cation

Anywho just thought you all should know!

I’ll probably be blogging through my spring cleaning progress and studies in order to keep myself accountable and on track so keep your fingers crossed. I may be back to stay in the blogosphere

Live Life Extraordinary,

Alayna

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