changes

this monday brings change in the soper household! nothing too drastic, but change none the less. today is zach's first day at the university. he's taking three classes this semester on top of his working full-time schedule and i really admire him for it. he already wakes up between 3:30-4am every morning for work and on top of that he'll have a monday/wednesday afternoon class, as well as tuesday and thursday classes from 6-9. i'm praying a lot for this transition as we still love hanging out with each other all the time, and this will definitely change that a bit. i hope school is easy for him and that it really pays off. i'm proud of him for going back to finish and i really hope he loves it. he's going in for finance and he has 2 years left. i hope it goes by fast and he can get into his career shortly after graduating. :) i am incredibly thankful for the job he has now that not only allows the schedule to go to school, but also pays well for us to be paying rent as well as paying off school as we go. both of us hate the thought of debt and are going to extreme measures to avoid it. :) so far, so good!

another change, not as big--but still going to be a challenge of my own is a diet/exercise plan i'm going on for a good month. today is day one. it's basically no carbs or sugars except you can have toast at breakfast and you can eat the sugars in fruit. i am going to be eating a lot of salads with protein as well as fruits and vegetables. i can have any seasonings i want as long as there are no sugars in them. i'm feeling a little nervous about it, but i've had about a week to prepare my mind for this, and have really tried to "motivate" myself to have the discipline to do it. the reason i want to do this is for many reasons. one, the obvious is that my relationship with zach has made me "comfortable" and i have gained a good 10 lbs that i want off. :) second, i do feel like food can be in many ways an idol even if it sounds weird. i will think about cooking, eating, or even watching the food channel which are all fine things, but i want to remember it's not EVERYTHING. and lastly, i have never had the discipline to do it. if i can be disciplined in this area of my life (which i always find a reason to give in...) then i know i can be more disciplined in my spiritual life as well. its something i need to do to prove that i have a handle of this area of my life, because i've never had to worry about it in the past and now the older i get, the slower my metabolism is becoming.

in addition to the diet, i have started an 8 week running plan that is supposed to build my endurance. for those of you who know me well, know i DESPISE running and can never keep it consistent in my life. well, i am proud to say this week i have accomplished week one which may sound easy but it's all about baby steps. week one i had to go out 3 times and walk 6 minutes and run 1 minute, repeated three times. so sherry and i have been going with her cutie dog amos this past week. this week, it's walk 5 minutes and run 2 and repeat it 3 times. :) anyways that is probably boring, but i figure if i say i publicly and announce it here, then i am held accountable to keep up with it. by the end of the eight weeks, i should be running 30 minutes straight. see, that still does NOT sound doable to me at all...we'll see how it goes. i'm just excited to live a healthy lifestyle, and get in the habit of it all. it's important to me.

this weekend was fun! we had dinner with the toppers and then went bowling friday night with some friends after, followed by catch phrase at the toppers again! saturday was running, grocery shopping, getting our bathtub drain fixed, and hanging with zach before church, then after we went to becki's for a bonfire in celebration of cute kristyn's birthday! sunday i went running again, then rushed home to get ready and clean our house because we had friends coming over for the fantasy football draft! after the draft we ran to chipotle with friends, then spent the night in watching none other than football. :) and now the new week begins, changes welcomed! if you have any no carb recipes please send them my way, and if you see zach please encourage him in his schooling journey! we are so thankful for God and all His blessings, and although we don't know what this semester will look like, we are excited for the challenge.