Made to Crave - book review part 1

I'm currently reading the book "Made to Crave" by Lysa Terkeurst (the president of Provers 31 Ministries). I'm only about 5 chapters in, and I LOVE it! it is so encouraging and inspiring. it has really helped to begin to change my focus and perspective on this weight loss journey. although it is a physical, mental, and emotional journey, however, it is an extremely spiritual journey.

In "Made to Crave," Lysa discusses everything, from her weight loss journey to making peace with your body to using Scripture as a way to combat the temptation of food. Although I have thought about the spiritual side of this journey before, Lysa puts it in a way that makes sense and is very simple, yet is very profound and inspirational.

As Lysa explains it - the book is not a "how to" book or a weight loss guide, although she does give advice for healthy weight loss such as suggesting to meet with a nutritionist, etc. Rather, this book is to encourage people in their weight loss journey to include God in that journey. She explains the importance of not leaving God out of the equation because the journey should be just as spiritual as it is physical.

Today, I read something in the book that really stuck with me.

In Chapter 8, Lysa references her friend's blog, and this friend was on a weight loss journey of her own. Her friend says that one week, when she lost 1.8 pounds, she was discouraged and had to ask herself some questions to make sure her heart was in the right place and she was being obedient to God. These are the questions she asked herself:

Did I overeat this week on any day?

Did I move more and exercise regularly?

Do I feel lighter than I did at this time last week?

Did I eat in secret or out of anger or frustration? (and may I, Lauren, add boredom or sadness or stressing)?

Did I feel that, at any time, I ran to food instead of to God?

Before I hopped on the scale, did I think I'd had a successful, God-pleasing week?

This seems to be a great way to evaluate my heart and make sure that I'm finding my identity in Christ and not in a number on a scale, while still trying to live a healthy life.

so more to come on this as I finish the book. if you've read "Made to Crave", I would love to hear your thoughts on it.

love,

Lauren

San Diego - here we come!!!

WE ARE MOVING...

...to San Diego!!!

In case you haven't heard - Chris got a job at Skyline Church in San Diego, CA as a graphic designer and worship service producer (behind the scenes/anything digital or print for the worship service). Skyline is building a new worship space (scheduled to be open in Jan/Feb), so we are super excited for what is to come in the near future for the church and for what God has in store for us. This is such an amazing opportunity for us, and we feel that He has blessed us with this job. This year as been rough, and we feel like we are starting to move to the other side of things and, as you know, hindsight is 20/20. Although we still don't see the whole picture, he we are beginning to see how God has been faithful to us this past year, and even why he allowed us to go through this year.

so, here are the details:

Chris' last day at Starbucks - 7/29 (TOMORROW!!!)

Chris' parents come to Indiana to help us pack and move - 8/1

Lauren's last day at DCS - 8/4

MOVING DAY - 8/6

Arrive in Sacramento - 8/10

Move down to San Diego - the last week in San Diego

Chris' first day at Skyline - 9/1

We are so excited, and can't believe this is happening. It still really hasn't totally sunk in!

I still haven't found a job, although I haven't really looked very hard yet. I plan to hit that hard this weekend.

We have been looking for houses on Craig's List and have found some that we like. It's incredible how the rent is going to sky rocket as the square footage plummets. ha. (not so funny). while we are in Sacramento, Chris and I plan to run down to San Diego for a couple of days to find a house before we move all of our stuff down there.

We would really appreciate it if you would be in prayer with us as we pack, finish at our jobs, say goodbyes, clean the house, move across the country, look for a job, find a house, and move our lives to San Diego.

Will keep you all updated as things continue to develop.

With Love,

Lauren

love. dreams. and weight loss. {an update}

wow - it's been almost 3 months since I last posted.

here's a quick recap:

May 23: Chris and I had our 3rd anniversary. it was a monday and we were leaving the next day for my brother's wedding, so we didn't really celebrate on the actual date. But we went to Kansas City for the weekend after the wedding to celebrate. i can't believe it's been three years. the last three years. it's been a crazy 3 years. we've gone through so much: good, bad, ugly, and everything in between. I'm so blessed to have Chris as my best friend and husband. I LOVE YOU!!!

May 27: Shay and Haley got married! it was a blast! if you don't know this about me, here's a free random trivia about Lauren: I LOVE WEDDINGS! i love everything about weddings: the flowers, the dress, the cake, the invitations, the people, the dancing, the love, and especially the photography! it just can't get enough of it. and for it to be my brother and new sister's wedding was just the icing on the cake (pun absolutely intended). :D

May 28-30: Chris and I celebrated our anniversary in Kansas City. Sorry - didn't take any pics, but we had fun walking around The Plaza (an outdoor mallish place). We went to dinner at Brazilian restaurant (all you can eat meat - yummo!), got gelato, listened to music, and enjoyed every minute.

June 11: we helped move Shaley into their apartment in Marion.

Our close friends, the Schwarze's, moved to Australia to be missionaries for two years. we've spent lots of time with Shaley. we went on a little trip (more on that in the future). ace is still a big ball of energy. and we have been anticipating what God has in store for us.

The Lord gave me the word, dream, for this year. The word dream has never really appeared to me. Maybe it's because when I was in junior high, "dream" was written on a ton of pink and blue girly things surrounded by clouds. (if you were a junior high girl around 2000, and you shopped at the store, Claire's, you know what I'm talking about).

change is coming for the Snider's (no, i'm not pregnant), but nothing is set in stone. as things pan out, I will keep you all posted. please be in prayer for us as we prepare and seek what God's will for us is.

if you read my last post i mentioned starting a new blog. it's in the works, and have no idea when it will be up.

now for a weight loss update:

minimal progress at best.

unfortunately, i seem to have lost the initial motivation with which i began this whole journey. it's frustrating, especially knowing that i could have lost a lot more weight since i started this process.

i'm trying to figure some things out - like what i need to change in order to continue losing weight. the good news is that i have been maintaining, i just haven't been losing. i think it's partly that i feel i need a weight loss buddy (someone else trying to lose weight and work out with), but i don't really have someone here for that. chris is very supportive, but he gets quite the workout at Starbucks and usually isn't up to working out with me. also - i think i just need a fire lit under my butt. not sure what that looks like exactly, but i need it. i have so many goals and dreams - so you would think that that would be all the motivation that i need. obviously not. so i need to figure out what it is that will trigger the switch in me to jumpstart my weight loss again.

i realized last night that i have so many dreams and goals i want to pursue, but so much of my mental, physical, and emotional energy is spent on this weight loss journey. i need to reach my weight loss goals so that i can focus on pursuing my other dreams. the sooner i reach my weight loss goals, the sooner i can start pursuing my other dreams with all my energy.

so...i think i'm going to apply/audition to the biggest loser. i'm waiting until they post the website for the application. your support on FB and Twitter would be awesome! i feel like getting on BL13 is a bit of a long shot, but you never know.

so there is my update on our lives right now. as i said before - changes are coming, and i'm excited for the future. i will keep updating as things progress!

thanks for stopping by!

~L

coming soon...

...a new blog!

i'm excited to announce that i have a new blog coming soon.

it's called, "More than a Scale," and it is specifically to document my weight loss journey, share recipes and workout tips, and inspirational stories and to hopefully give motivation and inspiration to others trying to lose weight and get healthy.

so stay tuned for the launch of this new blog!

love,

lauren

another milestone

today, i crossed over to another "decade" in my weight. this is huge. since i don't remember the last time i was in my last decade, i really don't remember the last time i was at this weight. i'm still in the upper numbers of this "decade," but it's progress. it keeps me motivated to keep moving those numbers down!

my goal is still 30 pounds by May 27th (my brother's wedding). at this point i've lost 8 pounds toward this goal, so i have about 2 months to lose 22 pounds. a big goal, but i'm going to do my best!

this new goal has been slow going. it's been hard to get motivated again. but i'm doing it. i think before Paige's wedding, i had my numbers off a bit. so if i've figured it out right this time, i've lost a total of 29 pounds in 5 and 1/2 months. thinking about it, it doesn't seem like much in that amount of time. but i don't want to lessen what i have accomplished, (and i can't compare myself to those on the Biggest Loser - ha). i've made a lot of changes, and i'm still developing those habits. and i've lost almost 30 pounds!!!

thank you for all your love and support. i really appreciate it!

love,

~lauren

cake pops [part 2]

since the practice batch was such a hit, i decided to make these cake pops for Haley's shower.

this time, i took some pictures along the way, so you could see "the process."

i didn't get any pictures of baking the cake or rolling the balls (that's pretty self-explanatory).

after rolling the balls, put the sticks in and then refrigerate for a few hours (i refrigerated overnight).

i had the cake balls sitting out while i was coating them in chocolate, but they started to warm up again and fall off of the sticks. so, i put them in the freezer and would take a few out as i needed them.

the mess i was making.

it may be hard to tell in the above picture, but i put water in the pot, then put a glass measuring cup into the pot. i melted the chocolate in the glass measuring pot because it was a smaller area, (smaller than my small pot), and made dunking the pops easier. (this idea was curtesy of my very creative husband).

if you have one of those double pots where the water sits in the bottom and heats the top pot, i would recommend using that. i don't have one, so using the measuring cup was a great alternative.

i used double stacked Styrofoam cups to put the cake pops to dry. i would recommend a Styrofoam block (you can get these at Michaels or other craft stores), but i was too cheap to buy one. these worked pretty well, but sometimes the pops made it too top heavy and they fell over. ha. other than that, they worked well.

and here they are...

at the shower, i tried to come up with a creative way to display them. it didn't quite come out the way i had envisioned, but it worked out ok.

i used Starbucks plastic cups for the stands. chris pokes holes in them, then i covered them with gold tissue paper, and stuck the cake pops in the holes.

this was a bit time consuming, so i ended up flipping some of the cups over and just placing the pops in the cups like a cake pop bouquet.

i also stood some on a plate just for a different look.

i was pleased with them, and they tasted delicious. i totally recommend these for a party! enjoy!

~lauren

Haley's shower

last weekend, Haley's bridesmaids from IWU and I threw her an intimate bridal shower, so that she could celebrate with her school friends that likely won't make it to the wedding.

we had a blast and lots of laughs.

here are some pictures from the day.

some delicious food...

we had a potluck desert table (actually 2 tables).

lots of people brought snacks and deserts - we

had way too much food, but it was all delicious!

one of Haley's bridesmaids, Anne, made this

framed picture - so creative and gorgeous.

this was Anne's flower arrangement, too.

i made this 'B' our of tissue paper flowers.

i got the idea and the DIY tutorial from

hostess with the mostess. go here to find out

how to make the little flowers.

cake pops! check out my last post where i shared

how to make these delicious pops of yumminess.

then check out my next post for some more yummy

pop pics.

we played a game where Haley had to answer

questions about Shay. if she got a question

wrong, she had to hold a marshmallow in her

mouth. it was hilarious (maybe not for Haley,

but it was for the rest of us).

another game.

lots of laughs!

group picture.

and of course, the silly pose.

me and my (almost) sister.

me, Haley, and sam. (sam was a bridesmaid in

my wedding).

Haley and her Indiana bridesmaids.

thanks, Haley, for letting us shower you. i'm so excited and blessed that you will be my sister. i can't wait until May 27th, when you get to marry my brother! love you, Hales.

~Lauren