As The Crow Flies- And Everything In Between: This Earthly Body

Greetings Friends,
It's been a while! Since I've last written so much has happened but I'll try not to give you too much information overload ;).

1. My amazing husband, Isaiah Lepper was recently promoted from the youth intern position and given the Job Title: Youth Venture Director over a teen center run through our church that is located on Boadway street in El Cajon. Youth Venture is an amazing ministry that has “teen centers” that cater to the youth of East County and my husband was blessed to call the Broadway Youth Venture home away from home when he was younger. He has been very blessed by the faithful volunteers of this ministry and he is very excited to be following God’s leading through Youth Venture! I’ll post the link below for more details.

2. After much prayer, counsel, and the Lord's leading I have decided to continue with my small- group girls as one of their leaders and I am following them into high- school ministry. So far it has been such a blessing, and getting to spend time with them and have small group meetings over summer has been wonderful.

Now, for the bulk of my blog- post. Last week I took a trip to the doctor because of a nagging headache and feeling like I had a fever, with that said I actually made an appointment a couple months ago for the end of August to have her look into my hormones due to a long journey over the last year that I will share some of in a second. Anyways, I went to the doctor seeking relief for this awful headache and happened to mention that I meant to visit her a few weeks later, and something was brought up about my thyroid so she had me go to the lab within her office to have my blood tested, which I hate. Now, to go back in time some, slight TMI but, I started taking an oral birth control a few months before Isaiah and I got married. I was having horrible symptoms and felt like a 1st trimester pregnant woman 24/7, at that point I switched to a different birth control after being on the first a few months and within the first week of this new one I had thrown-up three times. This ridiculous experience thus brought that to an end and instead of trying out ten different types of birth control to find the "right one" and putting myself through a human guinea- pig trial we decided to go with alternative measures to prevent having kiddos for now. With that said I gained about 20lbs in this whole trial- and- error process, I don't doubt that some of that was "stressed out with wedding planning, finishing a degree, being incredibly busy" weight however, people constantly told me that I would shed the hormonal weight gained in no- time. Well, this did not happen and about 5-6 months later I found myself frustrated, hitting the gym 3-4 times a week, eating more healthy and struggling to lose a pound. I went to one doctor, who I am no longer with, and mentioned everything that had been going on and I was told that it must be my metabolism slowing down, that the first year of marriage commonly makes people gain weight, and that I need to exercise more due to working a desk- job. As a side note I will mention that I had been at a pretty consistent weight since I graduated high school about five years ago, I have worked a desk- job for three years now and the first two I barely gained weight, and until now I ate what I wanted and hadn’t exercised much in years..I digress. So, while some of what they said may be true, I won’t doubt them fully due to a lack of a physician’s degree in my hand, however I’d like to think that I know my body and the fact that it should not be rocket science to lose a few pounds. Any nutrition friendly friends, feel free to prove me wrong J. With that said after having my blood test results reviewed by my new doctor, I discovered that I have a high level of testosterone and my doctor wants me to get an ultrasound of my thyroid because she mentioned it feeling “enlarged” when she did a spot- check. So here I am, in the midst of a physical journey, hoping to either prove myself sane, or figure out where to go next. With that said, a dear friend that I went to San Diego Christian College with happens to coach for team Beach Body and encouraged me to purchase the “T- 25 workout series”, which involves doing the intense- cardio filled workout for 25 minutes a day, five days a week and clean eating at the same- time, which I started three weeks ago. This is what has lead me to start the “Paleo Diet”, which I am still currently doing now, and my doctor happened to suggest going on that diet to help- out with my high- testosterone levels so, what started as a clean eating regimen for the 60 days challenge may just become a lifestyle diet, with a few cheat meals throughout the process of course. For information about the Paleo Diet and the “Beach body Challenge” I’ll post some links below. Anyways, since starting this diet/ workout routine I have felt better, had more energy, and so far I’ve lost about seven pounds (maybe more due to weighing myself after eating lunch).

All the while God has been showing me a lot but something that comes to mind now is 2 Corinthians 5:1-4 “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. ²We grow weary in our present bodies, and we long to put on our heavenly bodies like new clothing. ³For we will put on heavenly bodies; we will not be spirits without bodies.^[a] ⁴While we live in these earthly bodies, we groan and sigh, but it’s not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies that clothe us. Rather, we want to put on our new bodies so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life.” This truth has encouraged me because, while I should probably not expect a crazy- slow metabolism now or for my body to start slowing down too much already (I’m only 22), in the coming years I know that this will happen. I know that the aging process is not always pretty and that pregnancy, which I hope to experience one day, does very different things to the body and so I may never have that “picture- perfect” bikini body, and that is all right with me because I don’t expect the perfect “body” until I get to heaven. However, at this point I do have personal goals, and a personal goal weight that I am striving for and I hope that my thyroid results, a healthier diet, and consistent exercise will help me with that as I have seen it work for others that I consider an encouragement (Bethany Haendle & Hannah Hems). So with a lot of help, prayer, encouragement, and love another portion of my journey has begun. Get ready for some yummy Paleo Recipes to hit the blog folks! :)