Celebrating Yes!

I am taking an online 30 day ecourse on Happiness is your Nature. This week the focus is on the inner critic and today's assignment is to reflect on how far I have come in the past 3, 5,  or 10 years and how much I have gained in my life. I have chosen to reflect on the past 3 years. 

Thee years ago I began my journey of better health. Three years ago I was overweight with little muscle strength and eating a lot of fast food, lots of sugary coffees, soda, pizza 1x a week, cooking quick unhealthy meals (mostly prepared/packaged foods). I never thought about going to the gym for boot camp and/or Crossfit.
Then I found a great deal for bootcamp online (July of 2011) and decided to support a local company/friend's husband. I was terrified at first by going due to my fear of what the other strength levels my classmate would be and if I was going to be the only overweight beginner. My fears dissolved quickly when I stepped into the gym and saw other classmates just starting out like me. 

In April 2011 I met Natalie, my health coach. When we first began meeting I would not look her in the eyes while I talked about my food choices because I felt so ashamed (though Natalie never ever made me feel this way). One of the many wonderful things Natalie did was going shopping with me at the local store to help me in making better ingredient choices for cooking and snacking. Since moving to India one year ago she has been my rock in the ups and downs of my journey in overcoming the challenges of living in India and being more gentle with myself. I continue to have a food log and use myfitnesspal on a daily basis. Do I want to keep a food log and online tracker for the rest of my life, no. But for now these tools are amazing for me to use in keeping track of my daily choices and helping me to work on mindfulness. I do have treat days three times a week and I am not DEPRIVING myself. This is my process of making healthier choices.
I never thought I would love lifting weights, doing high intense workouts, and working as a team with other classmates focusing on being stronger and healthier. I am so thankful for Riley Athletics (in Seattle) and Potens Crossfit in Hyderabad. 

I continue to work hard on being more gentle with myself, mindful in my eating choices (especially social situations and after dinner kitchen roaming are HARD), taking one step/day at a time and that the number on the scale is not the only factor in staying healthy. I am my own person, NO one can take that away from me.

This wonderful journey continues as I become healthier for myself, my loving Husband, and our extremely active son.   

2011

2014

My Saturday morning date!

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1ovH1JG

K1

Harrison started K1 on June 12th at Gachibowli Globe Toters. This year he will be riding the bus home (giving mommy 30 extra minutes a day!) Daddy (well technically Faiyaz) drops him off at 9am before Bill heads to work.

I love his uniform!

Our first homework assignment on June 27th- welcome to the world of schooling Harrison

What an experience

Today I had my first experience with an orphanage. It was incredible...the smiles from the babies and toddlers were heartwarming. I spent an hour playing, singing, and cuddling some amazing God given children. I will be volunteering every Wednesday morning from 10-11:30am at Sarah's Covenant Homes, (http://schindia.com)

Before moving to India one of my goals while living in Hyderabad was to become a volunteer where I could help children and/or families in need. On July 17th we will be celebrating our 1 year mark for living in India. 

I began helping others by attending many ABC fundraisers (https://www.facebook.com/ABCinhyderabad). I told myself may times that I could give monetary donations but just did not feel as though I was strong enough to go volunteer at an orphanage. Many training sessions passed over the past 11 months and after praying and reflecting on where I wanted to volunteer, my heart kept reaching toward the ABC (Advocates for Babies in Crisis) organization. 

I finally attended the training session last Friday 20 June 2014 and as soon as the training started I knew this was the right organization for me. ABC helps to support the government ran orphanage along with Sarah's Covenant Homes which focuses on children with disabilities. ABC volunteers go to SCH on Wednesday mornings from 10-11:30am (PERFECT time for while Harrison is at school!) 

My highlights- 

-Smiles from babies and toddlers as soon as I walked into the play room 

-Humming and rocking two toddlers to sleep, the sweet heavy eyes and adorable soft snoring 

-Reading, playing, and singing with smiley, loving toddlers 

-Before I left one little girl wrapped her arms around my neck to give me a huge hug

This was a priceless experience. God is so GREAT! 

Sydney, Australia part 2

Australian Museum

Tyrannosaurs on special exhibit and where we spent most of our time.

Hard rain on our ferry ride to the Taronga Zoo

The rain was so hard it was a MUST for Bill and I buy ponchos!!!!

View of the city from the Zoo 

We did see a lot more animals but I think we were too cold and wet to take a ton of pictures. 

Scenic World in Blue Mountains...Here were are riding the scenic railway (52 degree incline, steepest passenger train in the world).

Breathtaking views and if you look closer you can see the mountains have a blue tent.

Scenic Skyway- glass floor as we glided between cliff tops

Scenic Cableway- (Australia's biggest cable car. Descends 545 meters). The view from the cableway was so beautiful.

 

I love our little family....

Daddy and Harrison took the trail to the waterfall- one of Harrison's favorite parts of the day.

Ferry ride views as we ride to Manly Island for the Manly Sea Life Sanctuary 

Sweet little penguins! 

We also saw lots of sharks but they were too fast to capture a picture

Sydney, Australia part 1

Everyday started with a cup (or 2) of cappuccinos! 

Harrison and I went downtown on the wharf to explore while Daddy attended his Rotary International Convention 

A great clean space to run around and a huge branch that Harrison wanted to take for his collection...

Waiting for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra Concert 

Absolutely beautiful music 

Breathtaking Sydney Opera House 

Harrison's highlight of the night was finding a leaf almost as big as his face 

We were in Sydney during their annual vivid lights show where downtown buildings were lit with beautiful lights. 

"Look Momma a castle clock!" 

Sydney Tower Eye

Sydney Opera House 

Harrison's favorite thing to do...riding the trains 

Such a beautiful city, I was in Heaven 

Harrison was so excited to go explore the Australian National Maritime Museum 

Harrison thought the submarine was really awesome, but too scary to go inside 

Before living the museum a boy must buy a Hook and sword at the gift shop! 

Our next stop was the Wild Life Sydney Zoo
Sleepy Koala's 

Koala's = so adorable!

As well as the Kangaroo's
Its was a very rainy day and the animals were quite tired. However we did get to see one Kangaroo hoping around.