One Year Ago

Today is May 17th.

Do you know what that means?

Well, today might just be a-regular-ol'-Thursday for you, but for me it's much more than that.

Today marks one year since I hit the pavement for the first time after having my sweet baby girl, and the day I became a mom on a mission: mission-get-my-body-back.

This morning, I laced up my shoes, put little-miss-Alivia in her jogging stroller and off we went on a celebratory run. Just the two of us. Just like we did 1-year-ago-today.

Only a few things had changed.

Alivia is now a big 20-plus pound "toddler" and pushing her was much-much harder than day 1.

&

This morning when I stepped on the scale I didn't see 169lbs like I did a year ago, no, I saw my goal weight: 135lbs exactly.

What a blessing the past year has been.

1 year, 1 marathon, 1 round of Insanity later and this mission-is-complete...

for now.

The You Can'ts

I have a list of things I-never-thought-I-could-do.

One thing on this list would be eating peanut butter on my pancakes and I have completely perfected that. I am just so sad I wasted 22 years of my pancake-eating-life with just butter and syrup. I have seen the light, thanks to my peanut-butter-lovin-husband.

If you are like me you limit yourself with the "you can'ts".

You can't loose those last 10lbs. You can't do those push ups. You can't fix this. You can't pursue your dreams. You can't run 18 miles. You can't, you can't, you can't.

Well, guess what?

You can. 

We are knee deep in our marathon training, and I am pretty sure I have more aches and pains than an 85-year-old-grandma. BUT that doesn't mean I can't accomplish the goal sat in front of me.

Running has this ability to make me a big emotional ball. I am not sure why, but I imagine it is because I have to push myself out of my comfort zone, push through, and concentrate on the goal. Sunday morning Mr. Armstrong and I laced up our running shoes at 4:00am to tackle something huge. 

18 miles.

At mile six on Sunday I almost had a break down. Not because it hurt, not because I wanted to stop, not because I was weak, BUT because I felt the strongest I have ever felt. Every single "you can't" was gone, and I knew I could.

Note to Self: 

Cross {run 18miles} of my list of things I-never-thought-I-could-do.

Pursue your dreams today. 

Whatever they are. 

You can.

2 Letters

Hello Mr. Armstrong.

I love you more than chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-ice-cream, french fries, and a good book. You are the mac to my cheese, salt to my pepper, and the peanut butter to my jelly. Sometimes you get on my nerves with all of your coffee machines on my  kitchen counter and the way you clean when I want you to snuggle. But please know I still love you more today than I did yesterday and the day before that. Thanks for making me run and workout when I would rather sit on the couch and eat everything in the kitchen, reminding me to read my Bible, and pushing me to better myself. You are my inspiration, my love, and my #2.

hugs, hugs, kiss, kiss

M

Hello Little-Ms A,

I love your chubby legs more than a warm winter day. Your rolls make me grin ear to ear. Your curly hair has you wrapped around my finger, and those deep brown eyes of yours have changed my world. I love when you smile, and I would make any silly noise/face to make you do so. You smell so sweet after your baths, I just hope and pray I can always remember that smell. Please remember 15 years from now when I am embarrassing you in front of all of your friends-and-boys that you are my princess and I only want the best for you. So, that means no boys until you are 30, sorry. Thank you for sleeping so much better these days. You are my sunshine, my heart, and my girl.

You are beautiful.

Momma

Little Human

This is my baby.

Not the best picture, just taken with Mr Armstrong's old phone, but non-the-less: there she is. The day she was born, blue hands and all. Wrapped in the same pink blanket that she still uses almost every night. She had those blue eyes I always wanted her to keep. She was so little, her cry so quite. 10 little finger, 10 little toes. Perfect.

So, how did this happen?

Those blue eyes have turned brown, and that quite cry is now a scream that comes with every "No" she hears from her Papa and Momma. 10 fingers that get into everything, and 10 toes to take her where ever she wants. Ornery.

Time is a jerk. 

This little human has wrecked my world.

Hello Stranger

It has been too long.

Two weeks too long to be exact.

This is what you have missed:

A trip to the zoo.

 This Oklahoma winter has been amazing! Alivia and I are soaking up the 60 degree days.

Aliva's 9-month-well-check. This girl is a shorty!

Our first snow of the year!

 Runs, Runs, and more Runs!

Only 42 day until the Little Rock Marathon!

Don't worry...

We have done more than Dr's. visits and running over the past 2 weeks.

Barely.

9-Months

I just can't belive it.

9 months ago at 12:55PM  Miss Alivia Nicole Armstrong entered this world. That day our world changed forever.

We abandoned our normal world and started our life with a brown-eyed-curly-haired little girl. Just thinking about what she means to me brings tears to my eyes.

I desperately want my baby girl to forever know that she is beautiful, and I tell her so everyday. I want her to be a strong, independent, smart woman, and I pray that I have the capability to teach her how to be those things. I want her to someday forget about boys and follow her dreams. I want her to have a passion for others and willing to serve. I want the world for my girl.

It is hard to wrap my mind around how fast the past nine months have gone by. Right now I am watching as she crawls around the living room and is pulling up on every object she can get her chubby-little-fingers on. It seems like yesterday she was laying in my arms sleeping the day away as a newborn princess.

Now she is a banana eating, "papa" saying, crawling, standing, little monster.

She is a turkey.

My turkey.

And I am madly in love with this girl:

This is what we posted on Instagram today:

Hi, I am 9-months-old today!

 I am wearing a big-green-bow...

 and pink tights, and polka dots socks...

 and all I want to do is climb on my mom...

 and chew on stuff I'm not supposed to...

what a beautiful day to have a month-birthday!

XOXO

Change

(source)

My husband is good at a lot of things.

He is a good motivator. He is a good diaper changer. He is a good cook, and cooks way better than I ever could. He is a good coffee man. He is a good husband and father, he spoils us rotten with his love. He is a good runner. He is a good duster... and the list could go on and on and on...

He is also good at posting Facebook statuses that are full of suspense. Things like: "Change is coming" or "Something exciting is happening in our lives and we can't wait to share with you". There is a big problem with Facebook statuses like this: People begin to assume I am pregnant...

Well, Happy New Year everyone, we are not pregnant, but we do have some changes going on in our lives, and they are exciting and terrifying at the same time.

As of January 6th Brandon will no longer be employed by Henderson Coffee Company. After many months of praying and thinking about what God has in store for our lives we made the decision for Brandon to quit his job.

As a family we feel called to the community of Perry.

As a family we feel called to make this change.

As a family we feel called to put aside the desires of this world.

Brandon is going to be taking on more of a roll within our church, and the coffee shop: HeBrews. We are hoping that it won't just be our church we can impact, but other churches in our-little-town.

This change is bringing new things into our life. Part time job-s are in the near future to help ends meet. Our budget is being revisited and decreased, but we know God will provide.

Our goals are:

To unite the churches of Perry Oklahoma for the Kingdom in the year twenty-twelve.

To fill in the gaps.

To provide time to those who need it.

To be out of our comfort zone spiritually and financially.

We are excited about the things that will take place this year through our service. We are nervous about change because we are humans and sometimes it is hard to trust. We are anxious for Friday to arrive and this "season" of our life to end and a new one to begin.

Join us this year, it could be a crazy one.