Just a Starfish

I was trying really hard to find my "thing." Like...I really wanted a symbol, an emblem, something that when people looked at it, they thought of me. I wanted something that stood for everything I was for. But I wanted something that also was creative, ingenious, unique, and applied to me. I might even get a tattoo of it now...but don't tell my Mom!

People, let's be real, I've been on the hunt for something to represent me since I became a coach last August. I've been trying hard to be out there and branding my business, but I wanted an insignia, I wanted something that was mine!

After months of searching, I texted Jared and said, "Yeah, so I'm really into starfish now." (completely out of the blue of course...) and he responds with..."Okay?..". I love how he just accepts the things I say, without really questioning me..hah.

Y'all are going to think this is so cheesy and that I'm lame, because really...a starfish? Seriously?
But after so many late night pinterest fests, a ton of googling, and even some starfish quote searches...I really do think that the starfish symbol is the one for me! I bought a starfish ring and I sent my two new coaches starfish necklaces, so there is no going back! :) This is it. I know it is!

I've been reading lots of articles on the representation of certain animals and symbols, I've read researchers explanations, and I've read blogs about little girls who love finding starfish on the beach. You name it, I've read it. But I really want you all to understand how much deeper this runs for me than just a symbol.

First, I LOVE the ocean. I think it is one of the most magical places that God has created. And I love this verse from a hymn we sing in church (I've posted it before..but who cares!) "If we with ink, the ocean fill or were the skies of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill and everyone a scribe by trade. To write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry." I'm a beach girl at heart and I'm in awe of the creation that lies in the ocean itself.

Second, check out these meanings of a starfish! (I gave my own little explanation after each one - AKA why I like the meanings :) )

• Strong  - this one is an obvious amazing one! Starfish have a harder outer body, so physically they are strong. In my fitness journey, I need to be strong.
• Patient  - Starfish aren't necessarily the movers and shakers of the world. They kinda just hang out. I need to be patient - with myself. In waiting for results to happen, in changing my habits, in my bad days.
• Ancient - I just love the idea of antique and archaic, long-standing. They've been around a while, they can get old, and they last!
• Magical - they are just interesting and cool creatures! 
• Healing - Did you know if a starfish loses a limb, it can regenerate and grow it back? can we actually grow back our limbs? No. But we can heal. Our hearts heal, our minds heal, and our bodies can heal. With time. A great reminder of necessary healing.
• Sensitive - We have emotions! and sometimes emotions can control us. I love the fact that they represent sensitivity because this emotion can be taken in a negative way. It's okay to be sensitive, it's okay to let that sensitivity show!
• Longevity - see ancient. They live for a LONG time! 
• Renewing - I love this word. Renew. I want to be renewed, spiritually, physically, mentally. Starfish renew their limbs when they lose one. We can renew ourselves!
• Perceptive - I have always prided myself on perceiving emotions. I tend to notice facial expressions, glances, eyes, and notice when things are going down that might not be on the surface. When we as humans become more perceptive to others, we become kinder, more understanding, patient....#mygoals
• Resourceful - they take what they are given and use it. And they are innovative in finding other ways to make things work. They are intricate creatures that God created - their body system so interesting and intriguing. AH. I love starfish!

Third, I found this awesome passage about an article on Starfish. You can go to the article Symbolic Stafish, here. But, I have posted a small snippet of the article because I think it's awesome.

"So, in my way of thinking, the starfish is a great representative for this concept. They are the stars below, mimicking the stars above. Their remarkable ability to sense, move, regenerate - all that good stuff is available to us humans on earth.

Am I saying we can re-grow an arm if we lose one like the starfish can? Well..that's a stretch. But I will say we can regenerate our attitudes, our beliefs, our mind-sets. We can grow knew limbs of thought that take us to higher levels of experience. We can lop off parts of our belief systems that no longer serve us. We can replace these phantom limbs with higher-minded ideals. We can cut off our bad habits, and regenerate good ones. You get my point.

The starfish's ability to re-grow their bits and pieces is also symbolic of healing and renewal. This also ties in with water symbolism. Water is symbolic of healing, purification, cleansing. Water is also symbolic of emotion and intuition which ties in with the starfish meaning of sensory perception.

In terms of healing, the starfish can be a grand ally in your journey of renewal. If you're struggling with emotional or health challenges...consider the power of the starfish. Consider Hermes' statement: "As above, so below" (and vice versa). If the starfish can heal and re-grow...so can we as humans. Our regeneration might look a little different. But, through neuro-network patterns (retraining pathways in the brain) we can certainly regenerate new avenues thought that facilitate healing."

Fourth, some of you have probably read the starfish story.
However, I'll post it here for you as well.

Fifth reason...check out this call to Authenticity! Doesn't it just make you want to cry with Happiness!!!!! YES: 

This health and fitness journey is no where near over, and it's going to continue for the rest of my life! However, I'm so excited to have a symbol of renewal, healing, and a symbol of infinite divine love. :)

No matter how badly I want to help the entire world..I remember that each and every person I'm already working with has been touched. And I see that and feel that! (Thank you for your messages!)I will leave you with this question..no matter what field you work in, what state you live in, what life you lead...

I don't know about you...I'm feelin' 22

Hah! I'm 22, today. It's my birthday and I love birthdays. I thought all my fun birthdays were out of the way, you know...turning 5 - kindergarten! turning 10 - double digits! turning 13 - I'm teenager! turning 16 - I can drive! turning 18 - legally an adult! turning 20 - no longer a teenager! turning 21 - I can drink!

...but since T Swizzle's song "22" topped the charts, I've been looking forward to this birthday for such a long time. I even forewarned my students that the song will be on repeat all day...and it definitely was (still not tired of it!). and that I'll be making a video montage of my entire day! I'm celebrating another year of life! I'm celebrating my spunky, fire-cracker, self! I'm celebrating turning 22!

A whole heck of a lot has happened in the past 22 years, and I often find myself reflecting, remembering, and looking back on my life when my birthday rolls around. It's like it's that one day out of the year meant to celebrate you but also to remind you that life goes by SO FAST and that each year gets faster and faster. Getting older never really phased me, I've always treasured every single aspect of age and the different milestones

My 22nd year of life has completely flown by and been filled with some of the most important memories of my life: the majority of my engagement, wedding plans, student teaching, college graduation, my wedding, moving into our first home, my first big girl job, becoming a Beachbody coach, starting a health and fitness journey, the majority of my first year of marriage with my best friend, getting a kitten AND a puppy, and so many more seemingly insignificant things that make this year so significant it's indescribable. I'm so thankful for 22 years of an amazing, God-filled, blessed life that will surely only get sweeter with time. What a year it has been!

So this blog is going to be a party combo of so many things celebrating! Hopefully you'll get to see lots of pictures too! I'm going to include my you tube video montage, my new updated lyrics to Taylor Swift's.

My "new" version of Taylor Swift's lyrics, 22...to perfectly fit my lifestyle at this point. Haha, I wrote these to fit my 22 year old lifestyle at this point...

It feels like a perfect night, to put on my jammies
and go to bed early, uh huh..uh huh
It feels like a perfect night, to watch some TV,
and plan some lessons, uh huh..uh huh
YEAHHHHH, I'm tired of doing laundry all the dang time
It's never ever ending 
oh YEAHHHHH, 
Tonight's the night I'll try to stay up past 9
it's my bedtime
Oh OH!
I don't know about you, I'm feeling 22
I have a puppy who just loves to chew
You don't know about me, but I bet you want too
Supper will be alright, if I don't burn it 
cause I'm 22, oh oh! 22, oh, oh 
It seems like one of those days
My students won't listen, too many snapchats
oh oh, oh oh 
It's going to be one of those days
where I'm so busy
that I just give up
and turn to Pinterest
YEAHHHH, my life is pretty boring, kinda normal
The closest mall is miles away, so YEAHHHH
Tonight's the night that my shows are on anyway
It's time, they're on!
Oh, Oh, I don't know about you
I'm feeling 22
I've got a big old house with a pretty view
You know about me, even if you don't want too
This is a small town so I'm related to you
so now I'm 22, oh oh
22 oh oh
it feels like one of those nights, where we watch the TV
it feels like one of those nights, where I'll be sleeping
It feels like one of those nights, I'll take a selfie, and then I'll post it
and avoid the dishes.

I don't know about you, I'm feelin 22. :)


TODAY WAS AWESOME!
So..I went to school, had amazing fiestas all day, was blown away by cards and well wishes when I returned home, enjoyed a great vanilla coke (my secret love!), went out to dinner with my love for a delicious steak and topped it off with my first ice cream cone of the season! It was a truly fabulous day - the love I felt was palpable!

Here's a video montage of my day :)
Enjoy!!

Thank you all for making this day wonderful! :) You are all great!

Humbling...

The Easter season always brings about a renewed sense of humbleness for me. Knowing that Jesus died FOR ME and I was on His mind as he hung on the cross - just blows my mind. My heart immediately humbles just thinking about it. For me? Me?? The wannabe elementary teacher who moonlights as a Spanish teacher, just married, working on weightloss, trying to find a new job, attempting clean eating recipes. Who spends her free time watching Keeping up with the Kardashians, home improvement shows, and Teen Mom. Who avoids cleaning at all costs until it needs to be done. Who has a rust bucket of a car. Who is a normal regular 21 year old girl with an explosive (mostly annoying) over the top personality.  I mean, I'm not that great for someone to die for me. It's not that big of a deal. and I'm also not the greatest Christian.

Sometimes swear words leave my lips in times of anger. Sometimes I talk about people when I'm annoyed by them. I don't serve others with a selfless heart like I should. On days when my job is the most frustrating thing in the world and my students don't listen, I don't go to them to figure out where to make it better for them, I just shut down and give them homework.

Jesus died for this! ^^ he died for ME. he died for YOU. He died for every single person in this crazy messed up world because he LOVES us!

I've never understood the intense kind of love that makes you die for someone. People talked about it alot at times, especially when 9/11 happened and a lot of people went to war. Not only were there people dying for our country, but they were dying for their partners over there. Taking bombs and bullets daily for their friends. I didn't get it. I didn't think I could ever feel THAT MUCH for a person to die for them. Until I got married - there's some sort of thing that happens when you decide to spend the rest of your life with someone. It becomes less about the lovey dovey kissy hand holdy life and more about the permanent best friend that you get to live with every day. I would die for Jared in a heart beat if I had too, because I love him that much.

Jesus has this intense love for EACH AND EVERY person in this world! He feels the way I feel for Jared for everyone. My mind is blown - and I get goosebumps just thinking about the intense amount of love that He has for us.

There's an amazing hymn in our hymn book about God's love, titled, "The Love of God". The verses are simply beautifully written and the words are beyond comparison. One line says this, "Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the sky of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill and everyone a scribe by trade. To write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry nor could the scroll, contain the whole that stretched from sky to sky." If we fill the ocean with ink, pretend the sky was parchment, use every stalk on earth as our pen and everyone began writing about God's love, we'd drain oceans, and we wouldn't even have enough room in the sky to write about it :) HOW AMAZING.

But back to Jesus, because he is what this entire weekend is about. He died and came back to us on Easter Sunday so we could have a new life! For this, I am eternally grateful and plan on telling Him so when I get to heaven. I often think of God's amazing grace in an old hymn..and if you know us Mennonites, you can definitely hear the 4 part harmony.

"Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin...how can my tongue describe it? Where can this grace begin? Taking away my burdens, setting my spirit free, oh the wonderful grace of Jesus, reaches me.

Wonderful the matchless grace, the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea, the rolling sea. Wonderful grace all sufficient for me, for even me. Broader than the scope of my transgressions, sing it, greater far than all my sin and shame. Oh magnify the precious grace of Jesus, praise his name!"

AH. Thank you God for sending your son, thank you Jesus for your amazing sacrifice.