Another Day Off

Well peeps,

It's another freezing day in Denver, Colorado where snow and rain just continue to fall and then melt within 24 hours. It's crazy how weather here changes so fast. So as I have ample amount of time to write Kenya support thank you's, finish graduate school essays, blog, hopefully write a newsletter, and catch up on some rest I wanted to discuss a few things today because they have been on my mind a lot recently and their on the topics of Crossfit and eating Healthily.

I cannot express how my journey with Crossfit has not only allowed me to experience more joy in my workouts and training, but also provided me with what counselors call "self-care." The other day someone asked me how do I have the energy to go from a physical demanding job to doing these insane workouts? Well my training has become my way of release and pushing myself to new and exciting limits!

Just this week, I started feeling like my body was telling me to do more. Now that could be because I've had the last 2 days off from work, but this feeling is so rewarding and exhilarating when you can go from sprinting 400meters in 4 rounds of a METCON (Metabolic Conditioning) to a strength WOD of doing Olympic weight lifting movements.

The bit that I love about Crossfit is that it not only trains you to be extremely fit to lift and do some pretty cool movements, but it also trains you to do other things. It's Cross-training. For example, O and I have started attending a kick boxing class at our gym. It's only once a week, but because we do Crossfit and supplement our training with running workouts, we are finding ourselves being able to punch and kick harder every week, as well as push the group when it comes to sprints and mobility, AND we can enjoy the class rather than hate it. Our kick boxing coach, Gigi, has loved our enthusiasm and spunk in the class that she has requested us to participate in her other classes to add another level of intensity to the group.

Below is a pic with one of my WOD's that is killed me, with the latest music selection that is rocking my workouts (OneRepublic's new album) and how much time I had left. It was legit and if you don't believe me, try it and let me know. Here's also a pic of how legit O is getting with her tire squats!

The other part that Crossfit has allowed me to be cross-functional is my journey with yoga. When I added this to my weekly schedule it was all because I am not flexible at ALL. I have never been able to touch my feet when I bend over. It's bad. So I originally started for that reason, and the other day our instructor showed us a strength and balance move (frog to crow to plank, without letting your feet touching the floor) and two months ago I never would have believed that I could do such a move. Well... now I am able to do it a couple times easily! So sweet!

Alright so that's my Crossfit bit. Onto diet and health. If you guys didn't watch this past season of the Biggest Loser on NBC, you really need to go to Hulu or Netflix and see what is happening in our society. I'll be honest, the biggest culture shock that I've had coming back to the US is how few fit people there are today! It's just shocking and the Biggest Loser gave America a wake up call.

Besides getting their contestants fit, looking good, and sharing weight losing secrets, they attacked the reality that child obesity is real and for the first time, we have a generation that won't outlive their parents.Which is insane to me!

To give you an idea how O and I made our very limited budget, our priorities are: 1) housing/rent, 2) food, 3) gas to get from point A to point B, and 4) gym membership. Since we are still in transition and are in an amazing "God Send" situation with a host family that has blessed us in so many ways during our short time in CO we haven't had to deal with the rent item just yet. When it comes to food, we do live on a short weekly budget. We spend around $100 a week on groceries from King Super and Sprouts! Talk about budgeting. Now my wife is one of the best people I  have ever met when it comes to budgeting. So what is her secret? Well O goes to King Supers and Sprouts websites before we go to the store and looks at what is on sale. Over the last several years she has built a recipe bank through her collection of Jamie Oliver books, The Homesick Texan, and other such books, as well as have a plethora of blogs and pinterest ideas.

From there she builds our menu for the week and then it's off shopping. So let's be clear that one of the major reasons that I'm seeing such amazing results in my training is because O is so committed to making sure that we get plenty of proteins, good fats, fruits, and vegetables. One thing that we have found together since being back in the US is that both of us react to glutten products. We have started buying glutten free bread, snacks, and I cannot tell you how much a difference we feel/experience.

So guys, yesterday I cooked dinner. It was simple and pretty incredible! I made chicken tacos. First I made guacamole, which a lot of people have their own opinion of what this crucial element to tacos should consist of. All I use is 2 avocados, splashes of cumin and salt, a nice portion of garlic, and a couple squirts of lemon juice. That's it. If you're scared about adding those things, just do it minimally and keep adding those ingredients until you've nailed it! I can say that it has taken me a year of doing this to finally be able to produce perfection in literally 3 minutes.

For the tacos all I sauteed was chicken, 1-yellow pepper, beans, a hint of garlic, and of course cilantro! and it was awesome! You can see in the pic above that it looks appetizing.

So there you go. Hope you guys have a great day wherever you are in the world under whatever circumstances. Remember life is a journey, not a destination, and our choices we make are not isolated decions about the here and now, but about who and what we will serve now and in the future!
Cheers guys!

We are loved, this is His City, and He's not done here yet.

So... Yesterday I had actually started writing my next post about mine and O's adventures through Crossfit's open workout competition that we were unofficially participating in, but due to today's occurrences at the Boston Marathon I changed my thought.

Now let's back up a few months. If you had followed our last blog in Kenya, O and I experienced a bomb blast in downtown Nairobi. To be clear, we did not feel the blast go off, but we were 6 miles away from the blast, as opposed to being a few thousand miles away to today's. But both have huge affects on one's mind and outlook on life.

So what I experienced today, hearing about a blast on twitter, via the Kenya Redcross, yes my friends across the pond care about us over here and were the first to come up on my feed with the latest news. Then I turned to the TV, saw the images and unlike Nairobi, our images from our phones are much better quality, hence our ability to see and view some pretty horrific sights that are just sad to be displayed throughout the world where some our mourning and others rejoicing (that's just the reality of such an event).

So what is the affect on me? Well seeing and even somewhat hearing the blasts from today send these shock waves and goose bumps through me. It is hard to see the video footages that are coming out every hour with blood all over the sidewalks, but encouraging to see the "good samiritans" who put their own lives at risk for others. Those are the images I have running through my mind, but what words I have running through my heart is "God is in this city." He knows what happened, he is hurting, and he has a plan. Now my working friends would say where's God's love in that situation and how can you have faith in such false statements. And the truth is I know and believe and will have any conversation about my God's love for me, you, and this world.

My hope is that this one event hasn't nor will it change God's master plan for his creation. It is ongoing and it has already won. We don't have to be afraid of the bombs that happened in Nairobi or Boston. We do have a responsibility to act, to help, to love, to inform, to care for, and many more things, but we also have decisions to make that as my pastor preached on yesterday "not only affect the here and now, but display who we are serving yesterday, today, and tomorrow."

So as we're sharing our stories of tramatic experiences (which is great and healing), posting our thoughts on social media, and praying, remember who we serve and His love that He endured on the cross, scourning its shame, and is now seated next to the Heavenly Father. We are loved, this is His City, and He's not done here yet.