This one hurt...

I hopped in my car to head to the gym this morning and noticed that my gas gauge said I was nearing empty. I was immediately frustrated. You see my husband drove that car home last night and now here I was at 4:30 in the morning trying to figure out how I was going to have time to stop for gas. Grumble, grumble, maybe class will get out a few minutes early today...

But today was one of those classes that not only didn't get out early but ran a few minutes late. I jump in my car hoping that my low gas burning Prius will get me home and send a quick text to Erik, I'm trying to practice love so it reads some thing like: "So if I can make if home without running out of gas can you plan to leave early enough so you can fill up the tank on your way to work? In the future when you are driving home late at night and the gas level is low please fill it up, I don't have time in the mornings!" Five seconds go by and my empty light starts flashing. I'm furious. Like want to scream all kinds of make you blush kind of names mad as I get off the freeway to get gas.

As I'm fuming away in my car I think, "Love is slow to anger." I could tell you all the thoughts I was having in that moment, all the reasons my anger was justified, all the excuses I wanted to use to not be honest. In that moment I didn't want to practice love I wanted to be mad. I wanted to be mad because this wasn't the first time we had had this conversation. "Love keeps no record of wrongs." Ouch, that one hurt. I wasn't mad because my husband didn't notice the gas was getting low, I was mad because I already had a list of past transgressions and this was just more fuel for the fire.

I got real with myself in that gas station parking lot, if this was the first time this happened would I be this angry? Absolutely not, it's easy to forgive things the first time. "Love keeps no record of wrongs." You guys, if I'm not keeping a list of every mistake then shouldn't this feel like the first time? Conviction, I felt it and I chose to do some practicing. 

Grace. Forgiveness. Love.

These thoughts keep rolling around in my head today. If I had a list of mistakes for my husband in the storage of my heart who else's list am I hiding there? Do you have some lists hiding away too? I can tell you that trying to wipe the slate clean today wasn't easy but when I made the choice to practice loving the way I've been called to I felt lighter. To be clear I am positive that my practicing in this area is far from over. Fortunately (maybe unfortunately) I've found that when we have something we need to learn we are given lots of opportunities to practice. The weeks ahead may be filled with challenges but I am determined to keep practicing. 

Practice

Something happened today that has never happened before, I was dying at the end of my 6am crossfit class when someone came up to me and said all the other ladies were jealous of how I killed that workout.

What?!? Are you talking to me?

I'm not sharing this to toot my own horn, I have so much work still to do, but it did make me stop and think. You see just the other day I was thinking about how many years I've been doing crossfit and feeling just a bit pathetic that I'm still often at the bottom of the leader board. Today as I was letting the feeling of accomplishment soak in a bit it hit me that the reason I'm finally seeing significant gains is because I've been practicing more regularly. The past few months I have been the most consistent in making it into the box than I have ever been and this is paying off.

It may seem obvious, but today I had a light bulb moment about practicing: When we practice regularly we get better. We talk about this a lot when it come to sports or playing an instrument but what about other things that are harder to measure? 

The happenings in the world around me have had me pretty down lately. I've been feeling overwhelmed with a desire to avoid conflict but speak truth, to hide from the political drama but still be light in a dark time. I keep asking, "How can we love best right now?" and coming up short. This morning driving home from my workout it hit me: We practice.

You guys we weren't born knowing how to show love to others, it is something we have had to learn. When we were young maybe our parents helped us practice showing love before we even knew what the word meant and then as we grew different influences around us helped shape our view of what it means to love. We probably tried throughout the course of our lives many different ways to show love with varying degrees of success. Each success or failure helping us learn what love looks like. The question is do you still practice? Its easy to become complacent in our abilities when we stop exerting the effort to improve.

Today as I thought about my own half-assed effort to practice love regularly I decided to do something different. As we enter the month that we remember to celebrate love tomorrow I propose we start practicing what we preach.

Practice Love.

In this time of turmoil in our world, when we don't know how to respond, let's practice love. The challenge I'm putting out to you is that for every day this month you choose to practice loving someone. This could be a family member, a stranger at the grocery store, the homeless man on the corner, the Facebook friend who keeps attacking you on Facebook, the disadvantaged around the world... the possibilities are endless. The goal is to be able to reset our way of thinking about those around us, instead of thinking about how they are impacting us we will begin to think in terms of how we can show them they are valuable and loved. 

Will you join me in this challenge? Will you spend some conscious time each day practicing pouring out love on the world around us? I was reminded a few days ago that a few people can alter the course of history. Can we be the people to start a movement of love? I think we can.

If you are joining my in this practice I'd love to know about it! Comment below or tag me @ineveryinch in your instagram/ facebook posts showing how you are practicing each day with #practicelove

Together we can pour love into the world around us.

Slow Cooker Sesame-Orange Chicken

It's a new year which has me trying to create a bit more calm in the chaos, a bit more simple in the complex. This week my goal was to plan meals and cut back on food waste by buying only what I needed for them. Easier said than done but I will count this week a moderate success anyways, baby steps right?

In my search for inspiration and a few new meals to try I pulled out "Against All Grain" by Danielle Walker. I love this cookbook but haven't taken the time to make too many of the recipes yet. I've been in a rut. When I happened across her recipe for Slow Cooker Sesame-Orange Chicken I was eager to try it. I love me some good Chinese food but it is hard to find any minus the gluten. I've attempted to throw together my own combos a few times but none have turned out quite how I wanted. This one hit the spot. I think the secret is in the tomato paste and the simmering of the sauce at the end but I'll let you decide if you agree. I did change up the recipe a bit from the original. All the ingredients are the same but I prepped this meal the night before so my Hubs could throw it in the slow cooker while I was at work. If you are making this all in one afternoon leave out the ziploc bag step and just add directly to slow cooker. Danielle suggests serving this over cauliflower rice but cauliflower was not on sale this week. I opted instead for sauteing up some red cabbage "noodles" in sesame oil with a splash of coconut aminos and rice vinegar for added flavor.

Slow Cooker Sesame-Orange Chicken

Ingredients:

• 2lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1/3 Cup Coconut Aminos
• 1/3 Cup Honey
• 2 T Orange Juice
• 2 T Tomato Paste
• 1 T Toasted Sesame Oil
• 2 t minced garlic
• 1/2 t ground ginger
• 3/4 t sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 t cracked black pepper
• Garnish: Sesame Seeds

Method:

• Wisk together all ingredients minus chicken and sesame seeds
• Trim any visible fat off chicken thighs and put them into a gallon ziploc bag
• Pour sauce into bag with chicken, seal pressing out all air and stick in fridge
• When ready, dump chicken and sauce into slow cooker spreading chicken evenly across the bottom
• Cook on low for 4 hrs
• Remove chicken and chop into smaller pieces
• Transfer sauce to a sauce pan and simmer over medium heat for 20 min or until it has reduced by half
• Add chicken back to sauce and garnish with sesame seeds

Swingset Pychology

Jasper and I walked to the neighborhood park today. I realized it had been months since we had made this little trip down the sidewalk so it was long over do. The weather was a perfect combination of winter bliss: cool temps combined with beautiful blue skies and warm rays of sun, divine.

Our walk was a slow one as Jasper tried to master his foot powered motorcycle. I found myself internally repeating, "We don't have to rush, just enjoy this time."

We made it to the small park consisting of 3 swings and a small playground set with toddler slide. Jasper's first request: Swing! No surprise here, this has always been his favorite part. I get him settled in the toddler swing and begin pushing. The smile on his face is worth a thousand words. He is beyond happy. Why don't we do this more often? Time, that's right I never have enough of it. Life is spent running from one thing to the next, from work, to home, then crossfit and back home to eat and go to bed. When we do have time at home I'm hurrying around cooking or trying to catch up on the growing pile of laundry. Lately it's felt more like a juggling act in a circus than my sweet life.

But here I am enjoying the fresh air and giggles from my guy. My heart is full. I decide to take a swing myself and demonstrate pumping my legs for Jasper. I've done this in past trips to the park but never for very long. Those swings you see are made for kids with bottoms much smaller than my has been for several years and within a minute or so the metal chains always start to dig in and pinch making it an uncomfortable experience. I didn't really consider this until after I was on the swing pumping my legs with Jasper cheering me on. Wait a minute, no pinching, no digging in of those darn metal chains? Here I am swinging away and just enjoying it. Then it hit me, I'm smaller than I was the last time we were here. I can swing with my son with no concern for being too fat for the swing. A smile broke out on my face that still hasn't left, not just because I'm losing fat and gaining muscle, not because I'm creating new healthier habits, not because I'm looking skinnier but, because I know I'm becoming a better mom. Inch by inch, pound by pound I'm proving that I can be a healthy example for my son. Inch by inch, pound by pound I'm getting closer to being the mom that actively plays with her children, the mom that encourages physical activity by example not just words.

This realization today has brought me to sweet happy tears knowing that even if this schedule of trying to make time for everything feels crazy now, in the long run it is so worth. If I can just keep finding the benefit and beauty in everything inch.

Thanks

I've had this blog space sitting blank for awhile now, waiting for the perfect chance, the divine inspiration to type up my first official post. Every time I've thought to sit down and write there is always a reason to not so here it has sat, a blank canvas waiting, waiting, waiting....

As I was driving home from work today I was struck with thoughts of Thanksgiving, preparations and schedules, things to be done. While I was hurrying down the road my thoughts shifted instead to thoughts of thanksgiving, gratitude and appreciation. I thought, "What better way to start my blog about finding beauty in every inch than with a list of things I'm thankful for?" So here it goes...

My Little Family:

What a joy it has been to watch my little baby grow into a little man (two years old, how did that happen?) and to watch my Husband be his father. There are few things in life that provide as much sweet bliss as listening to Jasper's contagious giggle while Erik is doing something to encourage him to continue. I only wish I could soak in each little moment we all get together, save it for the days when the waters aren't quite so calm and peaceful. For now I will do my best to savor each sweet gift of together time we get.

Changed Lives:

I am continually reminded of the dramatic change that God has done in my dad's and therefore my families lives. Each time we all hang out or talk on the phone I am washed in the truth that God is a miracle worker, a life changer, a pain healer. What a tremendous blessing to be able to witness this reconciliation first hand.

Grandparents for Jasper:

Before I was a parent I never really considered what an enormous role Grandparents would play in our babies life. Now I can't imagine life any other way. We are blessed with two sets of parents who love being Grandparents more than most things in life and I'm starting to think that Jasper may be more fond of spending time with them than he is of me. Really though what more could I ask for? So thankful for his Grandparents near and far.

Crossfit Fort Vancouver:

Never did I think I would enjoy working out so much as I do with the people of CFFV. Trust me I will talk more of this again but here I'll try to keep if brief. If you've known me for any length of time you know that finding a healthy balance in my life in regards to nutrition and activity has been an ongoing challenge. I wont lie and say that the challenges are gone but I will say I am having more fun getting stronger and getting my butt kicked over and over than I ever thought possible. I'm loving working for every inch lost.

Growth:

I am so thankful that God is not done with me yet. This is evidenced in the growing experiences he keeps placing in my life. Thankfully, as he has promised, he never leaves me hanging, he's always there to be the strength in my weakness, to push me a little farther away from me and closer to him.

Friends:

We have the most amazing group of friends. I find myself often just stopping and thinking about how blessed I am because of them. This life would be so much harder without friends new and old who listen when I need to talk, who drink when I need to drink, who give counsel when I'm lost, who make me laugh when I want to cry and who share their lives with me.

Thanksgiving, a time set aside to remember all we have to be thankful for, reminds me that I need to be stopping to find the beauty in every inch more often so that I can remember to be thankful for all the amazing blessing I am given on a daily basis.