The Way I Live…

Well, it has been like FOREVER since I blogged.  Not a good way to attain and keep followers and readers. 

Today, I was reading a blog post by one of my favorite photography gurus and from one of the first blogs I followed and read backward in until my eyes were tired… very tired.

Anyway, Karen Russell from My Life… just not on the road I expected (but it’s still dang good) posted long ago about her work at a pregnancy center and posted again today about it.  The pregnancy center is dear to her heart because she was once a young teen expecting a baby and not sure where to turn.  She posted a giveaway today… you could win a spot in her class just for making a donation to the pregnancy center where she works.  As soon as I saw the post, I wanted to share it with people and here is why…

As many of you may or may not know, I was also a teen mom.  I didn’t know I was a teen mom until the state sent me a letter telling me, but I was.  I was a freshmen in college when I learned that Trevor would come into my life.  It was quite a rollercoaster but never once did I hesitate in knowing what was going to be the best.  I am not saying I wasn’t scared shitless, because I was.  I am not going to say I was alone, because I wasn’t.  Trevor’s dad was there for me, as was his family and my family.  We (two teens) could not have done it without all the love and support we received.  I can not imagine going through all of it with no support.

I was one of the lucky ones.  I did not need the help and support of a community pregnancy center.  I was able to take the love and support of so many in my life and get through it all and I now have an amazing 19 (almost 20) year old to thank God for. 

Get to the point already Robin…

Well, I would like you to do something right now. 

First of all, stop and say a quick prayer for all those who are just finding out they will be having a baby soon (and were not planning on it… wink wink) and give them a little prayer hug to help them through this day. 

Next, if you know of a local pregnancy/women’s center you can donate to or volunteer at… do it!  If you don’t have a local one, read Karen’s post and send some money to the one she volunteers at.  I don’t know the resources in my local community/area but plan to do some research so I can donate locally as well.

And because a post without a picture is boring…

Here is THE Karen Russell at a class I took in Billings, MT.  Totally and completely OOF… Out of Focus!  But, I love it anyway.

And… One of my boy, Trevor.  The boy who turned my world upside down and has been with me through it all… Love you – Trev!

The Way I Live… is unhealthy.

Staying up until midnight is not a good idea.  But… I did get to read this… from The Brave Girls Club.

So, in order to get unstuck… I am going to go to bed!

Just For Today…
1.  Tami helped Emma with her headache.
2.  I was able to be there when someone needed me.
3.  A full year at Bowman Glass
4.  I may see someone I miss a bunch this weekend.
5.  Christmas tree lights are off the tree and rolled up (hey, it’s March 1st… what can I say)

Onward!

I will be doing a post this weekend about an event that YOU (each and every one of you) can participate in.  I was the first person to officially sign up.  I’m so excited… if you want a sneak peak, here is the website… Team Gleason 5K/10K/Half-Marathon Event.  The image below is of a man I have never met, but who inspires me every day!

The Way I Live… What am I going to do… continued…

Has anyone noticed I love to use the ellipse ALL the time as I write and I don’t use it correctly?  Well, it is a part of me.  So there…

So a recap…
I am stuck.
I am signed up for a 1/2 marathon.
I am going to work on CYC (Crystal Wilkerson Challenge).
I am signed up for SBBC (Spring Bootie Buster Challenge).
I am doctoring to work on some medical issues.

and…

I am going to do a couple of other things as well.

1.  Implement a chore and allowance system at home.  It has been a long time coming and needs to be put in place soon.

2.  I am doing a cleanse via the Advocare program.  I know little about it, but my co workers are doing it and I am joining in.  Can’t hurt to flush the system out.

3.  I joined a group in town and will be trying to eliminate 7 things from my diet for a minimum of 21 days.  Is everyone ready… gluten, dairy, eggs, sugar, peanuts, corn, and soy.  It is a part of The New You Program (NYP) at the Journey Wellness building in Bowman.  If you want to know more about it, let me know and I can get some contact info to you.

So… the next thing I want to do is send an email to my friend Amanda Duran from Grow Soul Beautiful and Click. The Good News to see if she can help me build a checklist chart like she has shown on her blog.  I know if I try to build it, I will get too complicated and wrapped up in the chart and it won’t be a functioning piece of paper.  I even found the post I was recalling in my mind.  Amanda is amazing as far as setting herself some goals and attaining them.  She has run a boat load of marathons and travels around the world.  And… she is my photo friend.  I am a lucky girl to have met her.

 (Click. The Good News)

A couple of blog posts that I am going to write in the days coming…
-my time in MT and thoughts that came to surface
-One Day at a Time… small package that made my day (and continues to do so)

And I shall leave you with one more quote image from my ‘pictures’ folder.  I have no idea where I found this actual version; therefore,  I can’t site the source.  I do know from googling around that Deepak Chopra is the source of the quote itself…

Based on this quote… Great Changes are coming to the Welch house and to my life.  Can’t wait… oh hold on a second.  If I sit and wait, nothing will ever happen.  I have to make the changes!!!  I get it. I get it!

Just For Today!
1.  Starting to gain momentum.

Onward!

The Way I Live… Feels much like a broken record these days. And I basically have decided I am STUCK…. Yes, Stuck again.  Or is it still?  Who knows and quite frankly who cares.  I just need to be unstuck.

What am I doing to get unstuck?  Well, I am going to have to make better choices in life and act on things.  Funny thing is, as I write this, I am thinking to myself… “Are all the people reading this thinking I am all talk and no action?”  Because to be quite honest, that is how I feel.  Like a bunch of hot air.

I was searching for some pictures to share as a part of this post that is going to be 100% all over the place since I am just letting things flow from my fingers and deleting and rewriting and deciding what to share and what is ridiculous and what I am willing to share and be honest about and where to draw a line between what I want the world to know and my secrets.  Just can’t sort it all out.  Regardless.  Here is the first thing I found in my ‘pictures’ folder to share and I want to print and make myself believe this…

In reality, I know this is true, but I haven’t been so great at following through.  Before I go any further, I shall give credit for this image to Crystal Wilkerson from www.crystalwilkerson.com  I love her work.  She has posted a few challenges and has a planner that I purchase primarily for the quotes and awesome printable look.  I am 100% behind on the current challenge she has going, but hope to jump in and actually DO the work.  So, CYC (Crystal Wilkerson Challenge) is one of the things I am going to work on to see if I can change my world.

The next blip of an image I saw was also from Crystal’s work and here it is…  It was a part of a 30 Day Challenge she was doing last year.  I fell off that wagon too, but if I recall correctly, she did as well.  Life came up and changed her plans and the challenge sort of stopped midstream.  I missed seeing her posts in my blog reader even if I wasn’t doing the actual work. 

I was just talking to Jodi (from www.touchingyourheart.net) and as I may or may not have mentioned somewhere in the world, I am signed up to do a 1/2 marathon in May.  Have I started training for it?  Not physically.  I printed a training program twice, almost bought a treadmill and here I sit… fat and miserable with bad knees, bad left foot, bad right hip and no ambition to do the work.  I am not going to promise that I will do it, but I am going to make some changes to fit activity into my life again.  I signed up for the SBBC (Spring Bootie Buster Challenge) and will work my way through that starting March 4.  If you look it over and want to join in the ?fun? use Jodi Tivey as your referral person.  She could win some socks.  In addition, I will be working my way to the 1/2 marathon or a 5K or something in May.  We shall see how it all pans out.

So far, I have CYC and SBBC… woofda…. that is 2 things.

I am also still doctoring with Dr. T at SWHC to get my SEVERE Vitamin D deficiency under control as well as working on my thyroid.  I am hoping those two things will pull me into some sort of normal and won’t make me feel like I have ADD.  I tested borderline for it, but I don’t know if it is a true diagnosis since I made it through so much of my life just fine.  I was living on the edge the entire time, but I was at least functioning.

Woofda… this is getting long.  I think I am going to post and start a to be continued for a few days from now.  I will continue writing, but there is no reason anyone should have to endure reading this long on a blog… BLECH!  To Be continued….

Just For Today…
1.  Got “my” book looking good at the shop.  Progress!
2.  Supper with Mom and Dad in Rhame.  (I really miss Hunter’s Table and Tavern…. from the early days)
3.  Late night chat with Jodi.
4.  Phone chat with Trev (I REALLY REALLY miss him!)
5.  The donuts were to die for today!!!!

Onward!

Please take a quick journey over to www.touchingyourheart.net and read Jodi’s post about our virtual run/walk we are working on for Saturday, February 9th, 2013.

This is the race bib we hope to see in pictures posted to the Facebook event for Run to Remember.  Don’t forget Instagram (#virtualruntoremember and #touchingyourheartblog) and Twitter #virtualruntoremember.+

You can find a PDF file here…Run to Remember 2013 Bib Word to print.  There are two on an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper so you can share with a friend.  I plan to write a few names on my bib to commemorate and remember who I was walking for this particular year.   Feel free to write or draw whatever you wish in the middle space of your race bib.  Pin it to your shirt and take a picture to share with us on the FB page.  If you aren’t a FB user, you can email us at robin.welch@me.com.

Taken from www.touchingyourheart.net… by Jodi

As we were beginning to work on the details for the Hug Your Kids and Wear Blue for Calvin’s Family Event to mark Calvin’s one year in Heaven, we started talking about the Virtual Run/Walk for Sherry Arnold that we were a part of last year and the event we did in conjunction with it to honor and remember loved ones gone too soon. That day touched our hearts in ways we cannot describe…it was just a simple thing to do but yet it was such an awesome way for our community to come together to remember our loved ones.

We were beyond thrilled to find out that there is indeed a 2^nd Annual Run/Walk to honor Sherry to be held on Saturday, February 9 and immediately started making plans to be a part of that and to host another Run to Remember for our local communities.

So….we would like to invite you to join us in participating in the 2^nd Annual Run for Sherry and our 2^nd Annual Run to Remember (which is really a walk if you aren’t a runner). We will be meeting again this year at James Field (baseball diamond) in Bowman on Saturday, February 9^th from 2pm to 3pm. We believe in keeping things as simple as possible, so we will start the event with a short prayer and moment of reflection (and a group picture of course). You can run, walk, bike, rollerblade…whatever!! This is a family-friendly event…bring your kids! You can go as many laps and for as long as you want. You can click to see the information for The Run For Sherry and print a running bib from their site. The picture at the top of this post is the awesome running bib that Robin has created for our Run to Remember. We will have some preprinted running bibs available the day of the event, but you can also head over to Robin Rae Photography and print a bib of your own.

If you are unable to join us in Bowman, ND…this is where the virtual part comes in!! You can join us no matter where you live!! Any time of the day!!! Just do what works for you!!

Robin has created a Run to Remember Facebook Event page for us all to come together in a community-based fashion to share our thoughts, names of loved ones you would like to honor and remember, etc. We would love for you to post pictures from your run/walk to that page so that we can all join in and share the day! To add a little fun, you can also post your pictures on Instagram with the hashtags #touchingyourheartblog or #virtualruntoremember. If you are a Twitter fan, use #virtualruntoremember.

If you have any questions, you can comment below or on the Facebook Event page, or email me at bowglass@gmail.com

Please help us spread the word for this event….we realize it’s kind of short notice, but sometimes that works the best!!

Much love to you all and remember…

~jodi and robin

Many times throughout the last year, I have thought of my dear friend, Misty, and her family. A year ago today their lives were perfectly normal. They were working on their family farm/ranch and doing what they would have normally done. A year ago tomorrow marks the day their lives, mine and many others changed forever. On Super Bowl Sunday, February 5, 2012, Misty and Trevor’s son, Calvin was in an accident while doing what he loved to do, help and work. This accident took his life at the young age of 4 years old.

Following his death there was an outpouring of support for his family. People in communities across the state and nation put on their blue shirts, coats, hats, ribbons or whatever they could find. Blue ribbons hung from the doors of businesses and balloons floated through the sky the day he was laid to rest.

I am asking that we show that same love and support to Trevor, Misty and the entire family again tomorrow by putting up a blue ribbon, letting a blue balloon float through the air, wearing a blue bracelet, t-shirt, hat or whatever. Let us remember to say a prayer for the Steeke family tomorrow and through this entire week.

Something struck me to the core that day and I will forever remember something Misty said to me. Hug your kids!

Yesterday, our friend, Katie posted on her Facebook page and on Calvin’s page as well as a reminder of the need to pray for the Steeke family. Katie was gracious enough to let us share her post with you here as well. Her family took Misty’s words to heart as well…

On this date in SuperBowl history…. facts, figures, bets and food. But, the true story lies in the beauty of the young boy killed SuperBowl Sunday a year ago. Calvin, a Rhame, ND 4-year-old, was FUN SPARK!! He lead hundreds and thousands to live more deeply – love more fully. We adopted a family “Calvin hug” a year ago… it’s our promise to Calvin’s Mom and Dad. To hug more. And today we were on our knees when one of our sons said, “Calvin. This is your day. It’s your heaven birthday.” We miss him terribly… please pray for his family. — Written by Katie Dilse of Scranton

As the days without Calvin here on Earth have come closer to a full year, we were remembering our time together at the baseball field to remember many tragedies of those who were gone too soon. We would like to invite you to join us in our 2^nd Annual Run to Remember (which is really a walk if you aren’t a runner). We started last year as the family of Sherry Arnold was shaken as they lost her incredible spirit and created the Run for Sherry virtual run/walk. We joined in with their event and added to the day by remembering Calvin, Susie Limesand, Rusty Limesand, and others as we walked together as a community. We will be meeting again this year at James Field (baseball diamond) in Bowman on Saturday, February 9^th from 9:00am to 10:00am. We will start the event with a short prayer and moment of reflection (and a picture of course). You can click to see the information for The Run for Sherry and print a running bib from their site. We will be creating a running bib for our Run to Remember as well.

If you have someone you would like us to add to the list of people we will be praying for and thinking of as we walk/run, please comment below or on our Facebook pages.

-robin and jodi

I wanted to quickly share this in case you don’t have yours ready yet.  Just click and Print as many as you would like.

Have a great day everyone!

A real blog post is coming… I can feel it in my bones.

CLICK BELOW and you can print your own Super Bowl Board.

Super Bowl Board 2013

Uffda.  Not sure when I fell off my blogging track or my healthy way of moving forward track or any of it.  I just know I fell hard and am going to pick myself back up.

I decided to look back to my last, “The Way I Live” post and see how I was doing.  Well, I can clearly recall what the post was about and the time I wrote it.  My island of despair is still a mess and my house is so bad that when the cable guys came the other day I could have cried, but I am sure they have seen worse and I know they have seen perfection as well.  Same when the boiler went out and the most awesome plumber in the land came to the rescue AGAIN on a cold day.  Thanks Tony from S&T Plumbing!  I just have to make small goals and get them done a bit at a time.  Most important… I need to get the STUFF out of my house.  We have too much STUFF! 

Boy, I can’t stay focused…. anyway.  The post from a couple of days ago is pretty important right now.  I think I do have something important to say and to share.  Will I reach thousands of readers, nope.  But, I might reach ONE.  Yes, ONE person may read this in Texas and realize they are not alone and they won’t know me from a hole in the ground, but knowing they are not the only one feeling this way and fighting the demons and trying to figure it all out may just help them through the day.

So, what is today about.  Not sure, but will let you know a few things.

- I am working on my health through medicine and other methods.
- I am trying to take my meds on regular basis.
- I need to focus on little bits of my house at a time.  (We emptied the bedroom into the dining room and now I need to empty the dining room into the dumpster, The Cedar Chest and into the ‘proper place’ things need to be.)
- I am looking into buying a treadmill so I can get back to moving.  I like walking and running.  I don’t “love” it yet, but will get to a place in my life when I won’t want to be without it.  1/2 Marathon is in May… gotta get ready.
- Still drinking water, not soda! Go me!
- Using my oils and other supplements.
- Volunteering to help with some things I feel are important.
- Working as many days a week as I can at Bowman Glass (rocks… I get to spend the day with one of my best friends)…
- Camera is hanging on a hook behind the door.  Need to get it down!
- Wear my Team Gleason shirts as often as I can.  Just makes me feel good, not sure why.

I have so much more to add, but need to get back to the girls in the bathtub and maybe work on that Island of Despair some more.  The floor is a sticky mess in the kitchen and my dishwasher has been sick so I better get the dishwasher loaded.  (Goal… getting my girls into better habits and being more responsible for things around here… this is not going to be easy but MUST be done).

Just For Today…
1. Water was yummilicious!
2. I love my comfy yoga pants.
3. I took my meds, vitamins and oils all on my own.
4. Got a new hair color… very refreshing!
5. I blogged!

Onward!

…remind me to tell you about the issues I have with reading a book and stopping…

And one more thing.  I was reading one of my absolute favorite blogs and Karen reminded me of a challenge that she set last year and I was feeling all bummed that I didn’t meet some amazing goal.  But… I did.  I did two 5K events this year!  I was a part of the Diva Dash and a 5K for the Lion’s Club here in Bowman.  In May, I will be partaking in a 1/2 marathon which I am excited and totally nervous about.  I know I can do it, since I have done 13.1 miles before in my life.  Just not at this age and size.  Anyway, I just wanted to post a quick picture of me and the girls after the Diva Dash so I can link it up to Karen Russell’s blog post.  She rocks! 

Fun with my friends… Sarah, Katie, Keri, Tami, Darcie and Me! 

What you are about to read, I did not write. But, is the kick in the ass that I need to get going again. I get an email daily from “The Brave Girls Club” and some days I read them and am amazed how these women know just what to say to me to spark something inside of me. Other days, I don’t even get through the first paragraph. Well, tonight, I sat down, read from beginning to end and here is what I read.  

Dear One of a Kind Girl,

Your story has a lot of medicine in it that is just the cure for so many things. Are there parts of your story that you have never told, or that you are afraid to embrace?

There is nothing quite like the feeling of being with someone who knows exactly where she came from, exactly who she is and embraces all of it wholly and completely….no hiding, no facades, no proving, no upping.

WHAT IF you could share the WHOLE of who you are without flinching? What if there are things that you have lived through or experiences that you have had, or knowledge that you have earned or wisdom that has become a part of you that you could share…and that IN THAT SHARING, saved a part of someone who needed your exact story to make it through another day?

Please don’t hide anymore. Please let any shame go. Please do not be afraid. Please know that who you are is beautiful and true and that every piece of what you are made of can have a beautiful and divine purpose when you don’t keep it hidden away.

Incredible girl, please embrace your story. All that you have lived through makes you the beautiful, complex, interesting and wonderful girl that you are today. Someday you will even understand why it had to happen the way it happened…..but for now, embrace it, share it….and keep living the story of your life. Live it all the way.

You are so loved!

xoxo

Click the link and check out the site. It is amazing.  So amazing, they just may have convinced me to get back to my blog!

See you all soon. I was about to write that I need to make a plan and get back to the blog, but heck… I will just get back to the blog and to hell with the plan. 

onward!

It has been a long time and I could write a post that goes on forever and ever, but instead I will share with you something that rarely happened in the past, but I am hoping will happen more often in the future.  Family pictures!

Here is the whole family at the farm.  We were out for an early Christmas today and everyone was there.  Jacki and I decided that we were taking a picture of everyone.  So, a self-timer and a step ladder were used and the picture turned out just fine.  Funny how many people were concerned they were not dressed for a picture.  Ummm… what you wear does not matter, just take the picture so you don’t miss the chance. So…

The Osendorf Families from Rhame (and Bowman)
Wish you and your families a
Merry Christmas
and may
God Bless your New Year!!!

In the back… Trevor, Matthew, Bobby, Brenda, Cole, Nana (holding Sophia), Jason (the tall one), Papa, Me, Chad…

Front Row… Jackson, Emma, Olivia, Jaci, Jaylee and Jacki