One Year of Eternal Life

Earlier this week marked one year since my mom has passed. I keep saying this over and over but it's just so surreal how one entire year has already flown by since she left this earth. While planning for her anniversary of eternal life, I was bummed... bummed I was planning these events in honor of her memory and also bummed that one year marks the release of mourning of her loss.

My family and I hosted a beautiful lunch for close family and friends to come and honor my mom's memory. Then we had a blessing at her grave site and of course shared a meal over chitter chatter amongst each other. Both of events were simply beautiful and felt very free'ing. We shared testimonies about my mom and what a lovely woman she was, and how her memories impact us every single day.

After celebrating my mom's life and her entering the gates of heaven to eternal life, I feel at peace. Not to say that I won't ever have another bummed or sad moment, or that I won't shed a tear thinking about how much I miss her. BUT what I can say is that when I think about my mom and how she gets to rejoice with our God in Heaven, I am beyond happy for her and want to celebrate that moment as much as I am able to when I think of her.

Reflection Friday

{source}

I wish I can catch all of my memories and place them in a jar of life so that 1) I can remember and reminisce myself and 2) I can share those memories with my children, grandchildren, family and anyone who will listen! I've written many blog posts on J&BT, and even more when I was blogging here... that sometimes I go back in the archives and reflect where I was at a week ago, a month ago, even a year or more ago! Reflecting makes me grateful for where I am and what I have today.

All of that to say, I thought of something I can do to help bring my memories back to life. I can take one day a week and reflect here on J&BT... back to years ago, or maybe even short days ago. One of the most powerful messages I heard at my church was to feed your miracle. In other words, once you have received your blessing(s), be sure to share that blessing with others and bring it to life as much as you can! That's what I intend to do with these reflection posts... bringing my blessings back to life to remind myself of how amazing God is, and also in hopes that they might inspire you!

// My Mother
A year ago at this time, my mom was battling stage 4 cancer that she had just found out two weeks before she had passed. Her strength and calmness during those weeks in the hospital was extremely reflective on how she was her entire life. She was a woman of great patience and understanding... of love and forgiveness... of humility and honor. She was my mom and I am so proud to say so!

// Finding My Determination
A few years ago, I thought my career was over. There were major budget cuts in the university I worked for, and unfortunately our entire department was let go. That was the first time I had ever been a part of a major lay off and it was almost as if I was mourning a piece of me. I've left a job in the past, but on my terms. This time I had no control of departing ways. Reflecting back, I know that time was meant to happen and it allowed me to be fully present when I gave birth to my LO. A total blessing in disguise!

// We travelled back home!
To visit, that is... The LO and I flew back to LA to celebrate my mom's one year of eternal life. We left on an early morning flight in hopes that it would be sleepy time for my LO, and it turned out to be  just that! I was grateful that he slept most of both flights, but there were also short moments where the small space confined him so much he was flopping like a fish! BUT we made it safe and sound and we're looking forward to celebrating my mom and spending time with family.

Husker Bowl in Nashville

This past football season, the Huskers definitely had their share of highs and lows. We started strong and went about halfway through the season undefeated. Then we went out on the road and had a heartbreaking loss against Wisconsin during overtime, and then another loss on the road against Ohio State. Since those two losses, our guys sort of shook off some of their confidence they started with. All we could do was continue to support them and cheer them on as they played their best. We certainly did better than last season... and better yet, we were bowl eligible! Bowl games are quite an honor to be a part of... families have the opportunity to travel with their husbands and fathers and experience the Husker family intimately and sort of behind the scenes. For me, it's eye opening and rewarding to see what my hubs loves about football and the players!

We had the pleasure of spending a week in Nashville for the bowl game over the Christmas holiday, and I just fell IN LOVE! I didn't expect to love it as much as I did, but the historical places and love for country music was so hard not to lust over.

Both Nebraska and Tennessee teams stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and it was nothing short of gorgeous! Since we arrived on Christmas Day, we all had a Husker family Christmas meal and the kiddos were greeted by Santa! My LO didn't like this Santa, just he like didn't like the Nebraska Santa. It made for a great infamous screaming picture though!

The resort was absolutely stunning! It was entirely saturated with holiday goodness, from snow tubing, to a human sized nativity display outdoors, to huge Christmas trees lit in the middle of the resort. It was perfect eye candy for the kids and our LO surely enjoyed staring at all of the lights!

We've been SO lucky to have family come and meet us for each bowl game that we've been fortunate to travel to. My family flew out early in the week and we all spent some QT exploring the Music City together! 

Despite the hubs busy practice and meeting schedule, we made it to visit the County Music Hall of Fame Museum, and oh em gee... what a place to fall in love more with country music! It was huge and full of the very beginning of country music, what started off so different than what it sounds like today. ALL good music but to hear country music in the 30's-40's was so eye opening for me... I have a greater appreciation for the story telling back then!

Sadly, we didn't end up pulling the W against Tennessee. We fought though and fell short in the 4th quarter. Needless to say, I'm so proud of our players and coaches for improving themselves and the team since last season when we all first started together. We can only get better each day, and I know this off season will be a hardworking one where our guys will be getting stronger and more physical in the weight room!

Have you been to Nashville? What's some of your faves to do?

Hello 2017

It's 2017 and feels like ages since I last blogged (well... probably because it has been!). The lovely thing I enjoy about a new year is that everything feels so fresh... a fresh start to whatever you want the blueprints to look like for the year. I'm a stickler for creating new goals at the beginning of the year, probably just like the majority of the bloggy blog world! Last year I didn't have a chance to think of any goals. But this year, I've put quite some thought into what I want for myself in 2017.

I'm the type of person that likes to see what I am working towards (hence, why I actually write them down on paper). To take my accountability check one step further, I thought why not share some of my self-reflection on the blog!

I thought about my priorities for 2017, specific goals I'd like to accomplish, and things I can tell myself in the moments I feel like giving up. I'll spare you the deets, and just share some of my PRIORITIES for 2017:

// Be kind to myself
I totally believe the words of, we are our own worse critics. For me, I am critical of everything I do, both positive and negative. I'm always reflecting in my mind, saying things like, "I should have started that months ago..." or "Why didn't I say this instead of that..." Though I think some of that self-talk is THE MOST to overcome, this year I strive to be kinder to myself. I will celebrate accomplishments more often, both big and small. I will be more forgiving if I skip a morning of workout. I will appreciate more ME time rather than feel guilty for it. I will love myself more than I did yesterday.

// Be a patient wife
I'm sure it's known to many by now that my Hubs has a demanding job. Football is year round for strength coaches because during off-season, the guys are working out and conditioning. That means that hubs is at work a lot. Most of the time, I'm accepting of this lifestyle... but there are those few times where I wanna curl up into a ball and think about how nice those 9-5 schedules really are. At the end of the day, I do realize we're blessed to be where we are today and I wouldn't have it any other way! The coaching world is such an honor to be a part of, for the hubs, for myself, and now for our children. This year, I will be more patient and understanding of the long days being home holding down the fort with our LO, 2 dogs and home!

// Be a flexible mommy
I'm a rookie to this mommy life. To be honest, I don't know what or when or IF I'll ever qualify for veteran status, but I'm constantly learning new things about parenting. One thing I want to prioritize this year is being more flexible with planning, scheduling, and just being with my 16 month-old. If we don't make it to the museum because it's time for another nap, then so be it! I realize that my child is really not the same as anyone else's child. So if he doesn't fit into someone else's solution for sleeping, or feeding, or daycare, IT'S OKAY! We will find our own solution so long as it works for my LO.

// Communicate frequently with family and friends
I've always loved to chit chat and catch up with my peeps, especially since we moved away from home to Nebraska 2 years ago. When I say I want to prioritize communicating with my peeps, I really mean to actually pick up the phone and call more often. Last year texting and being with baby just made sense... he seems to pick up this attention need when I say HELLO to someone on the phone. Not this year though... I'm making it a point to Adele it up and "Hello... how are you?" my faves!

// Work-life balance
Typically, I've always struggled to find this balance, but with the weight more alongside the work part. Last year, the weight fell on the life side, specifically being a mommy and staying home FT with my LO. I didn't start working again since having the baby until late 2016, and I started part-time. This year, I'm still teaching in the Spring, but I would love to pursue more of my time into teaching opportunities and looking into professional development to further this aspect of my career that I'm actually really enjoying!

Long winded post, but I wanted to share some snippets of my blueprints for 2017. I'm excited to get started with transforming some areas of my life this year, and even more excited to be blogging again!

What are you looking forward towards this upcoming year?

ME Time

{source}

Being a member of my family and full force mommy, an employee in the workplace, a loving person to my friends, a member to society, I becomes WE really quick! I take the responsibility [and pride] of providing service to others, which I can tell you I wholeheartedly take pride in. I don't expect to be compensated for my actions... it genuinely fulfills my heart when I can help someone, ANY one, out.

Having said that, it's so easy to focus on others that I tend to quickly forget about ME. Life gets busy and moments are made in the blink of an eye... so much so that it becomes hard to manage my time. But let me tell you... the more crazy busy it gets, the more I make it a point to DO ME. I'm not saying that I'm getting ready to ditch my family or friends or work... not even close! What I mean is that it has become pivotal to take time each day [or week] to do something for me. It can be watching my fabulous reality TV, getting a mani and pedi, blogging! Things that fulfill me and give me fuel so that I can continue to service others with all of me.

I want to encourage you all to DO YOU. Take time and treat yourself with alone time, shopping time, coffee or wine time... whatever YOU time may be. When's the last time you did something for YOU?

Who's Leading?

This entire election process has been physically and mentally draining. I'm actually surprised by this feeling because I have never felt this defeated before in presidential elections. BUT I think we all know how ugly this entire process has been [all the way up to the final results!]. Now that our president-elect has been chosen by the American people, you can't help but think about LEADERSHIP.

To me, a leader is someone who does the right thing... who values followers... who helps achieve common goals and has a long-term perspective. In light of our shift in leadership, I wanted to share with you all a few leadership traits that have great impact in the workplace, in life, or even on the field!

1. Drive
Leaders who have motives with a great level of effort have a sense of drive. They are ready to perform as best as they can to do anything and everything necessary to accomplish goals and lead their followers.

2. Honesty
Being transparent and open with others demonstrates honesty in a leader. Leaders who are honest value thoughts and opinions of their followers, and feel that collaboration amongst the group can have a greater impact.

3. Motivation
Motivation is having the desire to influence and lead others. Motivation can transpire to leading by example, in which the leader would perform alongside followers, demonstrating expectations and desires for the task at hand.

4. Communication
Leaders who use verbal and nonverbal cues to clearly articulate ideas, expectations, goals and expertise are likely to have an effective approach with their followers. Followers appreciate when their leaders have an open-door policy to come and go as they wish and have honest conversations.

5. Confidence
One of the main jobs a leader possesses is to have self-assurance that they can get the job done, as hard or easy as it may be. Confidence demonstrates that the leaders possess self-control when having to put out a fire or when things can tense.

These 5 leadership traits are what I look for in a successful leader, and what I hope to see our next President demonstrate to the entire country. Granted the environment or situation may impact the level of drive, honesty, motivation, communication or confidence from our leader. BUT, I expect to see our President lead by example with high levels of integrity, for liberty and justice for all!

I Found Nemo

I know I'm a bit delayed with sharing the Halloween festivities, but never too late to be sorry! This year, I had a grand time dressing up my one-year old and actually taking him (and carrying him) trick-or-treating! He was so occupied watching others pass him by in their cute costumes that he didn't realize he had fins or a tail on him!

My Nemo just kept swimming...