Network Marketing

I've been thinking a lot about my life and things I'm involved in, the things that people accept about me, and the things I have been supported in doing and the things I haven't. It's hard to do something you love when not very many people close to you support you. The thing I have in mind is my Juice Plus business. I love it and I'm not ashamed or embarrassed of it at all. I truly believe it is an amazing thing and can help/ change a lot of people's lives through their health. I've seen it happen. It's amazing how many people are turned off from hearing about it (or other products) because they hear of it from a distributor. I think network marketing is amazing. You pretty much have a personal shopper of a whole store. Someone you can go to if you ever need anything from them. I love being a part of NSA and everything they represent. Being a part of changing the health, and through that, the lives of people is such a blessing. In my mind the only thing I have against network marketing is the pushy distributors that just don't know when to drop it. I'm sure I've had my moments of extreme excitement and kind of threw up too much info on someone, but you know when you're so excited about something you just want to tell everyone and say everything on your heart to the first person that'll listen, and you just can't help it (without some practice). I have been extremely hurt by some people I really care about, but I've never lost my passion for what I get to share with people. In reality if you really think about network marketing it is the same as any other entrepreneur starting out their own business and telling every single person they know about their product and what they do. Eventually you go in to the store, check it out and maybe buy something, maybe not, but you go to show your support none-the-less. If you know someone in the network marketing business, don't completely shut them out (or that part of their life), be honest with them, have an open mind, if you start to feel pressured to buy something, tell them and be honest (but don't ever buy anything out of pressure). Just be honest out of love if you sincerely care about the person. I can't emphasize how much negativity there is on people who try to follow their dreams and try to meet goals in life. If someone you care about is venturing in network marketing or any new adventure, support them, encourage them, pray for them and just whatever you say make sure you say it with love. I will also do my best to do the same. 

Colossians 3:16-17 

^" Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father."

For the watermelon drink, I had lemons and strawberries at home that were going to go bad before I could eat them all so I just blended those up in the blender (peeled the lemon and took the green tops off the strawberries). I didn't need to add any liquid because the liquid from the lemons and some from the strawberries was enough to help it blend and then I just put them in ice cubes trays and froze them. I thought I would use it for lemonade later but I never did that. So I just chunked up a watermelon and whenever I want one of those drinks I :

                                    1. just put a bunch of watermelon in the blender (it is a lot of juice so when you  blend it you don't end up with much. You'll see what I mean when you try it.)

 But that'll be all your liquid (you don't need to add water or anything like that)

2. Also put in like 3 or 4 of the lemon strawberry cubes

                3. And put in a few ice cubes depending on how slushy you like it.

When I first started doing the drink I didn't add any ice cubes and the texture was weird. It's so much more refreshing with the ice cubes in it to make it nice and slushy. At first I also put a couple mint leaves in it because I have a ton of mint growing and don't really know what to do with it and it was pretty good but Curtis wasn't too fond of it so I stopped doing that. Let me know what you think!

It's a new year. A new day. 

I can't believe how quickly the days go by now. So much happening and changing. Riley is growing into such a little person. I absolutely love her and couldn't imagine my life without her. She has added to our family so much and I'm so excited to see what God has in store for her as she grows. I'm now preparing myself for our little guy that will be joining us (outside my body) sometime around April 2nd. I can't wait to meet him and see how him and Riley are together. I know Riley will be an awesome big sister. She already loves babies that are smaller than her and pretty much just kids in general. 2013 will be an awesome year. Our family is growing. We just found out about a new family member coming later this year. So both Riley and Sawyer will have cousins about 6 months age difference from them. LOVE that! I grew up with a lot of my cousins and I loved it. We're hoping to move into more of a forever home sometime this year. Just praying a ton about where we should go. For now we want to stay local. I hope to grow my Juice Plus business and help encourage people to make healthy choices and changes in their everyday life. I wish I had more social outlets and interaction with people. It's hard sharing something that your passionate about with people when you're at home with a baby a lot of the time. I know in time God will bring like minded friends into my life. It's been hard not having anyone  along side of me to be accountable with and just encourage each other about health. Curtis is awesome with the way he eats and stuff, but there is something different about having girl friends that love food but also love being healthy. I would love to join a gym sometime this year with a pool. I love swimming and I think I would be a lot more motivated to go if there was something there that I could look forward to. I also really used to enjoy doing Pilates. I also see this year being a year of crafts, health, growth, change and love (and always coffee and a spot of tea) Anyway. Just felt like blabing a little. Can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for us and our friends! Hope you have an awesome blessed day!

2012 is going so fast

I can't believe it's already september. My baby is 8 months old already and I'm 10 weeks pregnant with another. Riley is changing so fast sometimes it's hard to keep up. I love watching ever moment though. Curtis just got back from a 6 day trip to Nashville with his band buddies. Seemed like it was a really fun and good trip for them. Sometimes I'm jealous of his trips and time out and away from every day life. I feel like this year is flying by and so much has happened, but at the same time so many things that I wanted to happen haven't happened. Someday. I want to try to write more, but we'll see what happens. I like writing with a pen and paper so much more. I feel like I get more out when I do that. 

"Poor people"

POOR PEOPLE ? One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, 'How was the trip?' 'It was great, Dad.' 'Did you see how poor people live?' the father asked. 'Oh yeah,' said the son. 'So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?' asked the father. The son answered: 'I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.' The boy's father was speechless. Then his son added, 'Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are.' Isn't perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen if we all gave thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don't have. Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends! Pass this on to friends and acquaintances and help them refresh their perspective and appreciation.

Time

Since my hours at work have been lowered, I have had so much free time. I am absolutely loving it and I'm finally starting to feel like my time at work and my time for other things I enjoy are at a good balance. I'm nervous about my job ending, but I know that God always provides exactly what we need. I feel like I'm getting to a healthier place and God is opening up doors for me to be a stay at home mom and wife like I have always dreamed of. I have my photography I can still do, I'm blessed to have a business I can work from anywhere and educate people about health and nutrition. I couldn't imagine not having Juice Plus in my life. I love the people I get to work with and everything they're about.
Changes are scary and hard sometimes, but God is with me every step of the way and there is a total peace about the timing of everything. I can't wait to see what He has planned.

.Friends. I love this story.

One day, when I was a freshman in high school,
I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school.
His name was Kyle.
It looked like he was carrying all of his books.
I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday?
He must really be a nerd.'
I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.
As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him..
They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt.
His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him...
He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes.
My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye.
As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks.' 
They really should get lives.
' He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!'
There was a big smile on his face.
It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.
I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived.
As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before.
He said he had gone to private school before now.
I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.
We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books.
He turned out to be a pretty cool kid.
I asked him if he wanted to play a little football
with my friends.
He said yes.
We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.
Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.
I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!
' He just laughed and handed me half the books.
Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends.
When we were seniors we began to think about college.
Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke.
I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never
be a problem.
He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship.
Kyle was valedictorian of our class.
I teased him all the time about being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech for graduation.
I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak.
Graduation day, I saw Kyle.
He looked great.
He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school.
He filled out and actually looked good in glasses.
He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him.
Boy, sometimes I was jealous!
Today was one of those days.
I could see that he was nervous about his speech.
So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!'
He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled....
' Thanks,' he said.
As he started his speech, he cleared his
throat, and began...
'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years.
Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends....
I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.
I am going to tell you a story.'
I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the first day we met.
He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.
He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.
He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.
'Thankfully, I was saved.
My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.'
I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.
I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.
Not until that moment did I realize it's depth.
Never underestimate the power of your actions.
With one small gesture you can change a person's life.
For better or for worse.
God puts us all in each others lives to impact one another in some way.
Look for God in others.