A Change of Heart

This post is hard for me, but it is important. I recently shared that my husband has decided to pursue graduate school, and that we are moving to another state to make that dream a reality.

I remember sitting, criss-cross-apple-sauce, on my bed one night in February of 2013. I must have been working on my computer or something... I can't remember exactly. I had remembered passing conversations where Matt had mentioned grad-school before, but I didn't think much of it any of those times. I actually had our life planned out already, and it did not include graduate school, and it definitely did not include leaving Houston, much less Texas. I remember that night, because it was the first night I cried about grad-school. I mean, the ugly kind of cry... sobs, really. Pretty selfish, huh? My sweet, gentle, but also very ambitious, love-of-my-life husband made his intentions about graduate school clear to me. He wanted more for our family than my little thought-up plan. And my reaction was to cry? I see now how selfish I was being, thinking about MY job, MY family, MY home, etc. But, his dream, I now know with all of my heart, was straight from God. I just needed a little quite a bit of convincing. The Lord took care of that, and I am so glad He did.

In January of 2014, I heard a song for the first time that I know God had planned for me to hear. "Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)" by Hillsong was that song. Since then, I have probably listened to it about 450 times. Each morning when I would get to school, I played a Christian Spotify station, and when this song would come on, I would just play it on repeat. Every time I listened to it, I felt God's presence and was calmed.

You call me out upon the waters

The great unknown where feet may fail

And there I find You in the mystery

In oceans deep

My faith will stand

When I listen to that verse, I know God knows what He is doing. It may sound silly to some people that I was so upset, but uprooting our life here in Houston was just not what I had planned. And, it was unknown, and I was unsure. It made me sad and scared.

Your grace abounds in deepest waters

Your sovereign hand

Will be my guide

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me

You've never failed and You won't start now

I was selfish, and I did not want to leave "home," but the Lord changed my heart. Who am I to think that God did not have a plan? I think God knew what he was doing when he brought together a boy who loved risk and a girl who liked to plan. I prayed a lot. Matt prayed a lot. He didn't want this to just be his adventure--he wanted it to be our adventure. Over time, my prayer changed from "Lord, change Matt's mind," to "Lord, change my heart." And He did. He absolutely did.

And so, more than two years since the process began, I am sitting here on my bed, criss-cross-apple-sauce, writing a blog post about it all. As I look around right now, I see bare walls, a lot of saran-wrapped furniture, and packed boxes for days, but what I feel is a lot of things. Anxiety? Of course. Fear? A little. But, I am so eager to start this adventure with my college-sweetheart. The Lord has taught me so many things since we got married in 2012, and I know He has a lot more to teach me.

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Savior

For now, though, I choose to fully enjoy this next chapter of our life as the Bormanns, and I promise to blog about it along the way!

P90X Days 8-17 | Memorial Day

Before I talk about this past weekend, let's talk P90X. Today I completed Day 17 of P90X, and I am proud to say that I am still as motivated and committed as I was on Day 1.

Here is what I did on Days 8-17:

Day 8: Kenpo X, Ab Ripper X

Day 9: Chest and Back

Day 10: Plyometrics

Day 11: Shoulders and Arms, Ab Ripper X

Day 12: Yoga X

Day 13: Legs and Back, Ab Ripper X

Day 14: Rest

Day 15: Kenpo X

Day 16: Chest and Back

Day 17: Plyometrics

There are a few things I have already learned about myself throughout this process, even after only two and a half weeks:

• One thing that I have realized from this challenge to myself is that I have not been drinking enough water. I had to make that adjustment immediately. Every day, but especially when you are exercising regularly, water is an essential part of your diet. 
• Another thing that I have learned is that you would rather have "quality over quantity" in your work-outs. Upper body strength was not something I ever worked on heavily. Even in high school, as a softball pitcher, your strength comes from your legs. It has to, or you will throw out your arm. Needless to say, upper body strength/arm strength is something that I lack. The Chest and Back work-out is a variation of different push-up routines and pull-up routines. This work-out kicks my butt, but I love it. And through this work-out, I have come to realize that it is much more important to execute each exercise correctly (quality) than to rush through repetitions without focusing on form (quantity). 

Now on to Memorial Day Weekend...

Y'all. Three day weekend. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. We headed to Galveston as soon as we could on Friday after work. A mini-vacation was exactly what we needed. Although, it was a little bit of a tease, since it seemed like summer, but it is not summer yet.

It is also very easy to forget why we have this holiday. I am forever grateful for all of the men and women who have served/are serving our country. They deserve way more than one day of remembrance. Thank you!

Like I said above, we went to Galveston for the weekend with my family. It was a wonderful and relaxing long weekend full of beaching, boating, sunning, eating, and laughing.

Saturday, we went out on the boat and fished and then spent the day at the beach. We took it pretty easy. Then on Sunday we blew up the big float for lounging in the canal (pictured above). And then we took the boat out to go tubing (pictured below). Look at hubs, such a stud.

[Let's get something straight real quick--I do not take risks. I do not like water that I cannot see through. I cannot see through Galveston water.]

Okay- so we took the boat out tubing. As you can see, I was pressured/forced onto the tube with the one other person in the family that is just as petrified of risks as I am, my Mom. I guess we know who I take after. This is us right before our ride (on which we told my dad that he was not allowed to let us fall off). I think I may have even threatened that if he knocked me off, I would be crying when I got back into the boat.


    

        















As much as I would NOT like to admit, we survived and were fine. We faced our fears, and we were not knocked into the water (where who-knows-what lives).

That evening, we introduced the family to Kuub. It is a great yard game that does not require much skill, because no one is really wonderful at it (or everyone is), but nonetheless, it is fun.

After a big dinner, we had fully intended on teaching my sister how to play 42 (dominoes), but being a competitive family, she and my brother started building towers with the dominoes, and here is what happened...

I have a video on my phone of this tower tumbling to the floor right after this picture was taken, but we won't post that. 

This morning, the fun-filled weekend came to a close. We cleaned up and packed up and headed home. My favorite part about the trip home is that Avery acts like a dog for about the first 15 minutes of the car ride with her head out the window with wind in her hair, and then crashes, crawls up into the front seat, and acts like a little baby. I love it. 

Although I was able to fit P90X into our vacation, I still ate like I was on vacation. My dad assured me it was allowed. However, I went to the grocery store today for this week's meals, and there will be some healthy eating over at the Bormann house this week. For you, that means there will be some healthy recipes coming your way! 

Or at least healthier! Be on the look out for this one coming soon. This was dinner tonight! Hubs loved it, and so did I!

How was your Memorial Day Weekend?

Are you getting your body beach-ready?

Let's do it together!

Why do we Love?

"We love because He first loved us." 

1 John 4:19

Happy Valentine's Day to my main man!

4CY

This morning, my high school softball coach, Tina Young, went to be with the Lord. She fought a seven year battle with cancer after being given no more than nine months to live. An absolute miracle.

If you are reading this and either haven't met me or did not meet me until after high school, you do not know about the thing that consumed the majority of my time for thirteen years of my life--softball. It is crazy to think that I have not been playing for almost six years now. Regardless, when I think back to my four years in high school, I think about softball.

I have been at a loss for words most of the day, and I think that was mostly because I thought that if I really sat down to think about the loss of this inspirational person, I'd probably just lose it. Much to my surprise, however, here I am, sitting down and taking it all in, and all I can think about is her joy. Pure joy. If you never had the opportunity to meet this woman, you missed out. Luckily for you, she touched so many lives, that you will see her joy lived out in the lives of all of her students and athletes. Coach Young was truly an inspiration.  As a teacher, I would love to say that the biggest impact made on my life in my high school career was in the classroom, but that would be a lie. The biggest impact made on my life in my high school career was on the softball field. Tina had a lot to do with that.

She coached me.

She helped me.

She taught me.

She lead me.

She inspired me.

She encouraged me.

She laughed with me.

She cried with me.

She fought for me.

She believed in me.

She challenged me.

That last one has been on my heart for a while now. She challenged me. A lot. She pushed me out of my comfort zone on the field, and she helped form me into the best player I could be. She was talented at doing that. I know this list does not only apply to me. I have spent today looking at all of the social media posts from so many previous players of Tina's, and I have been in awe of the number of people she touched. Before my senior season, I was told I could not pitch anymore without risking a more serious back injury, and she believed that I had more to give than softball. She was so much more than a coach.

She was a helper,

a teacher, 

a leader,

an inspirer,

an encourager,

an empathizer,

a fighter,

a believer,

and a challenger. 

She meant so much to so many, and my prayer is that she is always remembered for the impact she made and her joyous spirit.

4CY

God is Good || Half Marathon

God bless MLK Day! This weekend was incredible and extremely full, and having today off just makes it all so much better. The women in our Sunday School class went on a retreat this weekend. It was such a wonderful time of sweet fellowship and time to "retreat". We had some great sessions and activities. One of the things we did while there was choose a word for the year that we wanted to focus on. After much prayer and thought about this time in my life, I came to the word, TRUST. Merriam-Webster defines the verb trust as "believing that someone or something is reliable, good, honest, effective; to place confidence in, to depend on or rely on, to have faith in". I want to focus on trusting God and his perfect plan for us which he has already laid out before us. I want to be able to give up control and let God do his work. Philippians 4:1-20 is my prayer. Yesterday, verses 6&7 were my prayer.

Have you ever accomplished something that you know full-well you did not accomplish with your own strength? I have--yesterday. About eight months ago, I signed up for the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, and I began training in July. I then stopped training in August--when school started. I was disappointed in myself, but I soon got over it because I knew I had already taken on too much. That said, I had come to the conclusion about mid-October that the 2014 half marathon would not happen for me, and to be honest, I was at peace with that. Fast forward two and a half months… some of you have read about our family fitness challenge, and that's where things began changing for me. It has been almost three weeks since the challenge began, and since the beginning, I have been running almost every day to get my daily work out. In order to receive a point for a work-out in the challenge if you are just going to run, it must be 3 miles, and that's what I did… almost every day. The farthest I ran was 3.5, and I'm pretty sure it was on accident. On January 9th, I sent my mom a text, "Would you maybe still want to run the half?" I was not with her when she received the text, but I can bet money she almost fell out of her chair, but I was 100% serious. Where did this confidence come from? The Lord. There is absolutely no other explanation. Fast forward again ten days…

Here we are (my mom and I) before embarking on this 13.1 mile run! The weather could not have been a bigger blessing! When we started, it was right at about 50 degrees. We both started in long sleeves (with plans to shed them at mile 3). I also started with ear-warmers, because my ears are very sensitive. Just waking up and getting downtown was an accomplishment. As odd as that sounds, it was for us. We were out there, doing it. With each step we took, we surprised ourselves. We hit mile 3 feeling really good, and then all of a sudden, we were at mile 6 feeling just as good.

My sweet dad and amazing husband were at each of the mile markers above cheering us on and encouraging us to keep going. Matt had a blast taking selfies at each of these mile markers, as well. He was such an encouragement. I told him it was even better than running with him, because I would look forward to seeing him at each of these places. My uncle picked us up at mile 3, and the three of us ran the entire way through mile 9. I was completely overwhelmed and blown away at that fact. But once leaving mile 9, I was hurting pretty bad--feeling the "not-training pain" in my legs and shins--so my uncle went on ahead of us.

That is where Philippians 4:6-7 came in. My prayer-warrior of a mom, truly an inspiration, started reciting these verses. It seemed like those last four miles all kind of blurred together. We could not believe we were at mile 12. And then at about 12.5, my uncle randomly appeared from behind us (after he had seen a friend and stopped), and the three of us got to finish together! We did it!! Praise the Lord! Although I would never recommend not training to anyone, I will say with confidence that with God's strength, there are so many things that we can accomplish. We truly can do all things through Christ who gives us strength.

To make it even sweeter, I got to trade in my old kicks (that have now been through two half marathons) for some much-needed and much cuter new ones! A gift from my parents for running yesterday. 

I wear a Fit-bit for those of you who know what one is. If not, it tracks my steps, mileage, sleep, calories (in and out), activity, etc. It connects wirelessly with an app on my phone, and before going to sleep last night, here are my results from the day… 

How crazy!

What can you accomplish with God's strength? 

Bormann [Blogger] Life

First post. A little strange, but here goes nothing! My husband came up with the idea to start this Mr. & Mrs. blog as we come up on our One Year Anniversary of being "The Bormanns" along with our awesome golden retriever, Avery, who I can already foresee will be written about quite a bit I'm sure.

We have started this blog for a couple of reasons. Matt, or the Mr. as he will be referred, has a wonderful job that he loves, but he has recently decided that along with that job, he would like to tackle graduate school. So, being a smart guy, he reads a lot, which in a round-about way brings me to reason #1 that this blog has been created. He is reading the book, A Guide to Christian Ambition by Hugh Hewitt, and the author wrote, "The advantage of blogging is that it will oblige you to live in the world of ideas and debates, and to do so at the modern pace. At present, no great blogger has emerged with a distinctly evangelical world view. When one does, with humor and insight attached as well, that person (or persons) will have an enormous impact on the world." So... more on that quote later when he is posting, because you see, there will be two authors of this blog- hence the "Mr. and Mrs." and the plural form of "Life with the Bormanns".

If you haven't been able to tell by now, I am a teacher. I teach 7th grade science, and I love my job. This brings us to reason #2 that this blog was started. I have stories, oh do I have stories and lots of thoughts, and really let's be real- our era is web-based. So much of what I teach and what my students learn is on the computer or computer-driven. My classroom is fully equipped with an ActivBoard, nine iPads, and four laptops. Remember the day of the dry-erase board? Old news. What about the chalkboard? Completely foreign. It's all about the ActivBoard now. I teach a flipped classroom. What? Yes, flipped as in upside down. No, I'm just kidding.

So here's the deal. My students listen to our science team's pre-recorded lectures on YouTube at home, and then in turn are given class-time to work on what would have been homework for the unit of study. So far, so good. Have I mentioned I just graduated in December of 2012 from the best university in the world? Yes, you guessed it, Texas A&M University, in the good ole College Station, Texas. This means I began teaching in January 2013. This also means I have the very best mentor a first-year teacher could ever ask for. But again, more on that in another post.

So, here's to another blog being created on Blogger, hopefully one that entertains the heart, challenges the mind, and glorifies the Lord, because really that's why we're here.