Get pumpin'

The grass isn't greener on the other side-it's greener where you water it.

Awesome take-away from the start of EastLake's new series, Relationship Rehab, which we began last Sunday. There were so many new faces, and group sign ups went live, and the energy was just electric! I can't wait to see who God brings into our church family over the next few weeks. The series lasts another six weeks so there's plenty of time to jump on board to see why I'm so crazy about this place. If you live in Lawrence and are reading this, we'll be at South Middle School this Sunday, 9:30 and 11:00 am! This Sunday's talk: "Fight Less, Love More".

As I mentioned, growth group sign ups went live on Sunday and we're already at 200 people. This makes me happy not because I'm numbers driven, but because this means 200 people are plugging into our community and will see some sort of life change this fall. That could be through something simple like meeting new friends, learning a new skill (CPR/shooting a gun/making dresses for African children are all group options!), hanging out with people who are in similar situations (dads group/toddler group/40 + group), and/or learning more about their relationships with God, their spouse, friendships, etc.

I joined Body Pump and I'm leading a group on Tuesdays called Grace for the Unglued. I'm super excited about this group and likely will be blogging about it. It's for women who want to learn how to deal with life when it's beyond our control without acting out of control. Aka, a book for women who desire to make wise choices in the midst of raw emotions. Aka, we all know we women get crazy with the things that come out of our mouths from time to time, so how do we practically take next steps using biblical principles to be more kind yet honest, so we can handle ourselves with grace when life throws us those moments when we want to react first, think later? That's my group in a nutshell.

Speaking of body pump, I did a trial run on Saturday. It was just me and three other women, and Leah, the group leader. I am sooo proud to say that I actually finished the entire class! It was so much fun too. It's a weight lifting class pretty much...you get a bar with different sets of weights (we had 2.5, 5, and 10 lb weights), and it varies depending on the exercise and your strength level which weights you use. The music was awesome, it's super high energy, and Leah is a great motivator. It was a total body work out from triceps/biceps, chest, shoulders, back, abs, thighs, lunges, etc. I was pretty sore Sunday and even into Monday but it's a good feeling. Can't wait to do it again with more people! If I can do it, anyone can do it. It's a good feeling to accomplish something I previously wasn't sure I could handle. Did I mention you burn 800-1000 calories in one session?!