"I love your blog posts. Why don't you write more often?" -Says momNow, let's set a few things straight. First things first, my husband is a champ and he NEVER criticizes whether I cook, don't cook, or even whether I burn-the-only-thing-I-tried-to-cook. But it doesn't matter - I still beat myself up with the fact that I don't have the time I need to serve him in a way that I actually could rock out if I had a little more time. Which leads me to my second point. I actually LOVE doing every single one of those things I listed above. I LOVE blogging. I LOVE coaching. I LOVE playing hide-and-go-seek with kid #1. I LOVE cooking. And I really really really LOVE when kid #2 is flashing that beautiful grin instead of screaming her face off.
Because I don't have time.
"I love it when you coach. Why don't you coach more often?" -says CrossFit Client
Because I don't have time.
"Mommy, I want to play hide-and-go-seek. Why don't you play hide-and-go-seek with me?" -Says kid #1
Because I don't have time.
"I love your cooking. Why don't you cook more often?" -Says hubby
Because I don't have time.
"Waaaaaa-aaaa-aah." -Says kid #2
Because I don't have TIME.
In case you're wondering what I mean by that...
Exhibit A
Exhibit B
See? Now you know why I almost went crazy this past year.
I love every little squishy part of kid #2, but we say often around this house that "there is a reason God made her so cute." And there is.
But I digress.
The point is that up until recently, we've been in a LOT of debt. Not strictly financial, though that has played its part. But definitely emotional debt (Take a little life and add two kids, add four jobs, add a house and a dog and a little red wagon...and somehow marriage gets subtracted on in that equation). We've been in STEEP time debt, especially in said marriage^^.
And let's be honest - I really thought that's just where we were supposed to be. That life was supposed to be hard, that money was supposed to be gone, that someone else was supposed to be raising our kids for us while we worked our tails off trying to get back to zero at some point before we died so that we didn't leave a mess in the hands of our kids when we finally got to leave this God-forsaken earth and go meet our Savior, who would likely tell us what a great job we had done with our little bit of time on earth.
Wow - longest run-on sentence ever.
And we hadn't been doing that great of a job either.
Our finances were in crisis. Our marriage was headed that way. Our kids missed us. Our friendships were shallow (which became BLARINGLY obvious when kid #2 dropped a bomb on our world and decided to not EVER sleep, ALWAYS cry, and just generally confine us to homeland unless we were willing to just throw caution to the wind and let her C.I.O.). Frustrations mounted for L at work while he tried to hold everything together at home. And I struggled a LOT with depression. Post-partum? Or my-life-is-out-of-control-and-I-don't-know-how-to-deal-with-it? Who knows. Not sure if it mattered at the end of a very long day, to be honest.
And Jesus saves. Hear me say that. Jesus SAVES. But the "justification" part gets a little tricky at times. By that, I mean life feels little long sometimes when you're working out that salvation over 80 years of money problems, marriage problems and prodigal kids. And when you're at a place where you're grabbing for anything that might let you hang on, you get willing to do whatever it takes.
Even start a home business. ;) Enter AdvoCare.
I was NOT looking for AdvoCare. I was looking for a way to help our family climb out of this mess, a way to earn a little side income - at the time so that I literally could afford to pay a babysitter for the times we needed to both be at work and didn't have the extra in our budget to hire a sitter. It's sad to think back and see that as my motivation, when all that has flipped on its head and we are now spending more time together, raising our kids together, living out our dreams together.
And speaking of dreams, one of the things that actually held me back the most at the beginning of said "home business" was that I somehow felt that the dream life portrayed by the Distributor kit DVD was a life of ease, a life of reclining by the pool, a life of all organic foods, and a life of 5-star vacations. I have to admit - I DO like it when life's easy, I DO like going to the pool, I DO think regular produce tastes like dirt compared to organic foods, and 5-star vacations actually DO sound like fun to me. But is that MY idea of a dream life? Heck no. My dream life very simply involves being able to DO LIFE with my husband. Side by side. The good, the bad and the ugly. In it together. Through thick and thin. Through sickness and health. And though we both have things we truly enjoy doing - CrossFit, Outdoor Experiential Ed, etc., it would really be awesome to be able to do those things because we LOVE them and not because we rely on the paycheck they bring to us.
And believe it or not, what we've found is that AdvoCare actually does help folks - and is helping us - do just that. We are creating more time together, and that is straight-up saving our marriage. We are climbing out of debt so that we can be the givers we know God wants us to be one day. We are investing into the young lives of the two precious gifts God has given us so far, and looking forward to the day when we are financially able to welcome more kids into our home through adoption. There is so much that we are looking forward to doing for Christ here on this earth should we be here another 40 years, and we are going for it, even if He only gives us 4 more years. AdvoCare is providing the vehicle for us to run hard after the things we feel God has called us to, and we are taking it by the horns.
L wants to be a marriage counselor one day and is in grad school right now - AdvoCare is helping us get to a place where schooling becomes debt free, and will eventually help him offer his incredible gift to other marriages regardless of their income. I now know that I was born to be a coach, and AdvoCare has helped me navigate safely and effectively through the process of helping folks find solutions to weight management, energy and sports performance with absolutely top-of-the-line products. But even more than that, as we engage in the lives of others around us, we are finding that AdvoCare allows us to help others reach out and grab hold of their goals and dreams as well.
And if none of that sounds believable to you, hear this (mom): I have made my bed EVERY DAY for the past week. Boo-yah. If that's not change, I don't know what is.
If you're my friend, I'm not going to start pestering you with AdvoCare. But I'm NOT going to shy away from talking about it, because it is changing our lives. I'm the first to admit: as with anything - it may be for you, it may not. All I'm asking is that as we move forward, please have respect for this amazing vehicle that is allowing us to pursue the life we feel God is calling us to lead. We cherish our friendships with you all, and simply ask that if you are confused as to why this has become so important to us, please ask us. We are happy to share without asking you to sign your life away on the dotted line. Our business isn't pressure, it's service. And if anything, I know for sure that even IF AdvoCare is right for you, it's only going to be right on your terms and in your time (just as it was for me). And that's perfectly okay.
I do hope that if and when you see AdvoCare, you think of it positively because of the integrity we have as we represent it. Not unlike the way that I truly hope you see us and think positively of Christ because of the integrity we have as we represent Him to the best we can. We are not perfect - never will be. But we do have a heart for others and we are trying. Thanks for being our friends on this journey called life.
And for sticking with me through the longest post ever. :)
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