The Lions Rohrer!

I think every couple of months I’ll come back and write a new entry. I don’t know how some of you blogger’s can keep up daily…even 2-3 times daily! I’m a slacker I guess!

I just finished two books this month. They were both by Francine Rivers. I’m growing to love her writings.  I just finished Redeeming Love and The Atonement Child. AMAZING! I love how these books draw you in and are not only entertaining to read but they also draw you closer to the Lord. I’ve typically stayed away from reading Christian books because I think they can be a little cheesy but I think Francine Rivers does a great job.  Next on my list is The Shack by William Young. My husband read it a few weeks ago and really liked it and now It’s my turn!

I’m still searching for a job. No luck yet. I did have two interviews at one place that I thought would be a lot of fun to work for. I felt like both my interviews went well too. This past week I got an e-mail from them telling me that they will not be hiring at this moment because of the downfall in the economy. That’s fine and dandy but did the economy change within the last 3 weeks of the interviewing process? NO! It’s been the same. So why would they interview in the first place? Oh well, I found out that if I stay with interior design I definitely need something that is more hands on and not sitting behing a desk all day. I really enjoyed interviewing with this company because I got to fabrics together and draw up furniture layouts etc. I’ve missed that. I’m still looking for the right job. I don’t know if its even out there. In the mean time, I’m putting in job applications and helping my husband with his cleaning business.

On another note, I’m super excited because my gym is having an Aerobithonthis Saturday! I’m only going to do a couple of the classes because my side is hurting from when I was sick for about a 3 weeks ago from coughing so much. I don’t want to push it but I don’t want to sit around and do nothing either! It only really hurts when I do abs or something so I’ve been trying to stay away from those!

Indianapolis Monumental Marathon!

Phew! I did it! 13.1 miles! On November 1st I finished my first ever 1/2 marathon! I am so incredibly thankful that I was able  run injury free and finish this race I had been training for for the past few months. I never thought I could actually do this! Just this past year I’ve started focusing on running more because I wanted to challenge myself a little more and could barely run 1-2 miles. So I set out on entering my first 5k back in April and now I’m running 13 miles! God has been so good to allow my to accomplish this huge goal for myself!!

This past Saturday my husband and parents came down to Indy to support and cheer myself and some family friends on as we ran our 1st marathon. The weather was an answer to prayer. It was gorgeous out and the route had beautiful scenery. I was so nervous we were going to have to run in the cold northern rain at the butt crack of dawn but thankfully the Lord blessed us with perfect weather!!

I woke up at 6 that morning from our hotel room to start preparing myself to the race ahead. The whole time I was getting ready I was praying for safety and for a good run. I ate half a banana right when I woke up and had a Cliff Z bar around 7am when we got to the race starting location. It was still dark out and a bit chilly but it was to warm up soon.

We're ready!

I'm focusing!

Proudly showing off my medal

 YAY! I’m so excited I was able to finish the race! Just 10 min after I finished though the winner of the full marathon crossed the finish line! haha At least I beat him! I wasn’t super excited about my time 15 min later than what I wanted but I maintained a 10 min mile the whole way through so I’m pleased about that. I want to run another 1/2 maybe next spring or fall so I can improve my time! My husband was really proud of me and I’m so thankful I had family there to cheer me on! I’m so blessed!!

Bible Study!!

A friend and I have just started doing a bible study this past week. I’m so so excited about it!!!! I’ve been wanting to go more deeply into my daily time with God so when my friend suggested doing one together I had to jump on that offer!! We went to the bookstore and came out with “Women of the Bible” It’s a study of 52 women in the Bible. We are reading about two women each week. I just started so I’ve already read about Eve and Sarah. WOW! It’s so much fun! I’m learning a lot and learning about myself. I love spending this time with the Lord. Today I finished reading about Sarah, Abraham’s wife. It talks about each woman’s name and what they mean and how the meaning of their name plays out in their life in the Bible. Today a question was asked about what our name means. I knew what my name meant but I wanted to research it a little more. I went online and found more things about my name.

Lisa: Consecrated to God, Devoted to God, Satisfied with God

I LOVE the meaning of my name!!!!! The following question asked if we could change our name or the meaning of our name what would it be? Well, I have to be honest, I’ve always wanted a longer first name because I so badly wanted a nickname from it (haha)  but after researching the meaning a little bit more I don’t ever want to change my name! I LOVE IT! I just need to make it a daily act to be satisfied with God and God alone. WOW! My parents must have been on to something when they picked my name! haha Actually, my dad choose my name (I think he said there was a actress on a soap opera ha!) b/c he liked the sound of it so I don’t know if they knew what it meant when they named me. They might have though. I think I need to ask them! I guess I have a lot to live up to now! It’s kind of exciting! I’m excited to continue my bible study and can’t wait to see what else I’m going to learn and hopefully grow deeper in love with God!!!

God is awesome!

GREETINGS! It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been on here. A lot has happened and I just didn’t want to take the time to get on here and type about it. To start off I’ll share a few pictures of what’s been going on:

 The Redskins were playing and I had to show my support! The hubs is from MD and a HUGE ‘Skins fan so I am too

 My parents and sister and I went up into Michigan to go apple picking and they had such a huge variety! OH! And this fruit farm made it into Whole Foods Local magazine issue for eating local! It’s called Tree-Mendus Fruit! Love that place!

The Redskins won and Aaron got his Diary Queen ice cream cake. A perfect day in his eyes!

Some Good News 

WHOLE FOODS GROCERY DAY!

My other sister and I, I have two sisters and a brother, I’m the youngest of the four, love Whole Foods. We don’t have one near by in Northern Indiana so we have plan trips to either Indianapolis or Chicago. Chicago is actually a little closer but we chose to drive to the one in Indy or Carmel instead. I have two gift cards to WH that I got for my birthday back in July from two of my siblings and have been holding on to them til we had the chance to go FUN grocery shopping! I came away with so many goodies I don’t normally buy b/c they are too expensive for my weekly grocery budget so I just went wild when were got there! I took a few pics in the process:

Me with some of my goodies!

I didn’t buy a lot of fruits and veggies b/c I can get those easily at home at my reg grocery store or the year round farmers market. I wanted to make sure I was able to buy the things I don’t usually get to enjoy…like peanut butter PUFFINS!! These things are AMAZING! My sister and I were starving on the trip home so I opened a box of the Puffins (I bought two!) and we totally fell in love and it was a nice little snack! My husband didn’t know what to do with all the yummy food so he just tried to eat a  Mojo bar with the wrapper on. He loves working out so I always enjoy buying new protein bars that are tasty and good for you! He appreciates my thoughtfulness Oh and look what I got in the mail when I got home from my grocery trip:

Kashi coupons!

Some Sad News

I’ve already tried a few GREAT recipes in the Moosewood cookbook that even my meat lover husband enjoys! And I just can’t seem to put this other book down! French Women Don’t Get Fat…it’s a great read and has some great recipes in there too that I’m excited to try!  I’ve also rented Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers that I’m going to start reading soon.

God is so good! While I’m laid off at this time, I’m enjoying the extra free time and time spent in the Word. I’m praying God will provide the right job for me and I know He will. 

Our Iron Gym came in the mail this past week! I was a little skeptical when the hubs was putting it together but all in all it’s a great piece of work out equipment!! Here’s me trying to do an easy pull up…

 I tell you the truth…it was freaking hard to do a regular pull up with my palms facing away. I couldn’t do it the first night I tried! haha So I tried the above pull up and it was a little easier and I could do maybe 2 or 3 of those ones.

Last night I tried to do a regular pull up again. I didn’t have high hopes b/c I knew how hard it was the first time I tried BUT I got 1.5 pull ups completed!!!! I did it again this afternoon and I did another 1.5 pull ups. My goal that I’m going to be working on is to do 5 pull ups at one time. Ha! That seems so little but it’s so stinking hard! After the first time I tried doing ANY kind of pull up, the next morning there were muscles in my arms that I didn’t know existed and they were SORE!!!!

 1/2 Marathon Update!

My half is coming up…Nov 1st to be exact! I still haven’t even signed up for it though! I NEED to do that ASAP! Well after taking a week off from running ( I just couldn’t get myself to do it this week for some reason) I took on the 12 miles that I was scheduled to do this morning. It was SUPER cold out this morning too. I probably should have worn some light gloves or maybe even some ear warmers. With living in the Midwest it’s getting pretty chilly…fast. I hate it! I’m kinda nervous for the race in November b/c I KNOW it will be even colder. Anyone have any suggestions for good clothing for running in the cold?

  Back to my run…one more mile to go!!! I told myself I wasn’t going to worry too much about my time since I took the whole week off. I was a little bummed with how long it took me but I walked a little more normal. Towards the end of my run around mile 9 or 10 my hip started to really hurt like I pulled a muscle or something. I put some Icy Hot on it but I still need to put and ice pack on it to help it out a little. I don’t think I actually pulled anything, I think it was more of my legs being on the road for this long that made it sore. I’m going to ice it tonight and hopefully I’ll be good to go in the morning. Tomorrow I’m going to try to fit in some lifting and focus on my upper body or maybe go for a bike ride.

 It’s the hubs BIRTHDAY tomorrow and he’s going to be 28!!! OMG that seems so old! ha! He’s four years older than I am and I can’t imagine being that close to thrity! Even though he’s a few years older than I am I never think about it b/c he doesn’t act that old! I’m not saying that in a bad way either….he’s the most fun person to be around! I love every minute of it! He’s the best and I hope he has the best birthday ever!

That’s all for now!

PASSION/PURPOSE 

Growing up I always knew I wanted to do something with art. I loved art. My favorite class in school was art. My favorite teachers were my art teachers. Art gave me a way to use my creativity to create something beautiful and know that there was time and care spent into making it. As I got older and was in high school I decided that Interior Design was the way to go. I loved fabrics, color, furniture etc. and I LOVED creating beautiful spaces. I decided to go to Purdue University and major in ID and I absolutely loved it! It was my life! I would buy design magazines and go to book stores and to find architectural and design books and just sit there and read them. I’d put much time and effort into my work because I loved doing it. I’d pull numerous all nighter’s finishing projects (partly b/c I wanted it to be perfect and another part because I’d sometimes wait til the last minute…I tell myself I work best under pressure ) I even ended up getting sick b/c of my devotion to design! ha!  I’d get so excited about designer furniture, which by the way my favorite piece of furniture is The Barcelona Chair by Mies Van der Rohe and The Eames Lounge Chair by Ray and Charles Eames.

Barcelona Chair

Eames Lounge Chair & Ottoman

  My dream was to be featured in Architectural Digest as a designer. I wanted to work in a large city and live the life I always wanted. I wanted to make myself a successful professional in the design world then get married, then have kids and then go back to work at my super designer job and still be able to manage it all. This was my passion, my purpose…or so I thought.

But you should notice one thing is missing here and that’s God and what God wanted me to do with my life. Not me. Something changed in me, I wasn’t happy at school. I wanted something more. So through much prayer and counsel with some amazing godly people I left my education at Purdue being a junior and having a year and a half left to graduating to going off to a bible college for a year in upstate New York where I knew no one.

As scary as it was at first I grew to love it there. That year at Word of Life was one of the most amazing years ever. I met some of my closest friends, I studied the word of God, lead people to Christ AND met my husband there. So all in all I’d say it was a pretty darn good year! I’m so thankful for the direction change God had urged me to take even if it would take everything I had planned for my life and up root them! After that year I finished my design degree at a community college and got married (to the best guy ever!!!)

From there I entered into the 9-5 daily grind. I started working at an architectural firm after graduation, where I am today. While I’m so super thankful for my job, especially with the economy the way it is, It’s not my dream job and that’s because my passions have changed. I’m at a crossroads in my life. Is there such thing at a quarter life crisis?? (That reminds me of a John Mayer song…ha!) As God became #1 I lost my original passion and so thought purpose. It is no longer interior design. I never would have thought that back in college but I’m ok with that now. I always thought that this is what I wanted what God wanted me to do and was so proud of myself for knowing that so early in life!

For the past year or so I’ve been trying to think about what my passions/purpose is. And surprisingly I have no idea. Well I know my spritual passions and purpose: to show others Christ, to be a loving wife, to put God first. But what about my job and what I’m supposed do on Earth in the mean time to live out my spiritual purpose? I love the Lord, I enjoy design but not to the extent of before, I enjoy food and exercise, children, spending time with my family, I like being creative but I don’t necessarily want that to be my career choice. I’ve considered cosmetology, going to culinary school to learn all about cooking and baking (Aaron and I would love to have a deli/cafe/coffee shop later on in life and it would be great to have some actual knowledge of that stuff), or working with kids or even going in on my husbands cleaning business. Ideally, I want to be a mom that stays home and cares for her children. That’s important to me. However, that’s not for another couple of years and I need to do something til then. Life is too short to not do what you love. The problem is, what is it? ha!

My husband is in a christian rock/blues/funk/…well he’s in a band that plays christian music! haha. He’s always had a passion for music and loves the Lord. He wants to serve God full time and he feels called to do that with music. It’s so encouraging to watch him follow his dream. I want to be there to support him and encourage him while he listens to what God has called him to do.  We both hope that this can be his full time career in the future. If you think about it our futures are unclear to us.

Don’t you hate that? Don’t you wish you had everything mapped out?  I do!!! This has been the hardest thing for me to figure out. What next? Well maybe I’m not supposed to figure it out right now. I’m pretty sure God is using this as a tool for me to trust Him and to draw near to Him. He’s pretty clever like that. I love my God.

The other night the hubs and I went to see a band called Braddigan in concert.

 If you’ve hear of the band Dispatch you’d LOVE these guys. Aaron and I were huge fans of Dispatch in college and found out that, Brad, a former member, now had his own band and he was playing about a hour away and we just HAD to go see them. I’m glad we did. It was such a great concert.

 He sang a song based off of Romans 11:36 (yeah he’s a christian! Who knew!?) “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things To Him be the glory forever.”

Re-read the verse. What a great verse. Aaron and I were talking about this last night. Everything that we have and that we do is from God. Duh! But everything that we do and have needs to glorify God! Easier said than done right? Even if this isn’t my dream job I still need to glorify God through it. And I’m still working on that. Even though I’m not sure what my passions are I have hope that God will reveal those to me in time. It’s so great to know that God has our best interests at heart. He knows what our life will be like in 5 years we don’t. My God is a great God.

I’m trying to pray and spend more time with God through this. He is guiding me. I’m thankful for that. I’m in the process of finding a new bible study. I’ve noticed bible studies/workbooks work great for me because it guides me in to what to study. Anyone have any ideas?  What are your passions? …if anyone is even out there! ha!

*sorry if my writing style is all over the place…I don’t really have a writing style!

Once I figure this thing out I’ll let you know.

I had plans to run outside after work today but it’s kind of raining and I’m not really in the mood to get soaked so I’ll have to rearrange my plans and head to the gym for my work out. This stinks b/c I didn’t plan this ahead of time (I usually bring my gym clothes to work so I can go directly to the gym from the office) so now I have to go home first, change, get back in the car and drive to the gym which by then I’m sure will be packed with everyone else who decided to work out indoors. Finding an open treadmill is hard around 6:00 in the evening and that means I won’t get home til around 7-7:30ish.  Luckily, I’m trying this new recipe for a lasagna that has been cooking in my crock-pot all afternoon (thanks to my hubby who started the timer around lunch time) so dinner is super easy tonight. All I have to do is make up a quick spinach salad to get my veggies in and we’re good to go! Aaron has band practice tonight so I might eat dinner alone if I get too hungry and can’t wait til 9:00 to eat. Yuck. Last night we ate dinner at 9:30 b/c we both had a lot of things going on after work. I hate that. Oh well! I have to eat!!!

ALERT!!!!!

1 month from tomorrow I run in my FIRST half-marathon!! OH MY! I’m super excited and super nervous!  I just hope I’m well prepared for it. I’ll write more about my training later…I have to get back to work!

So I got a phone call this morning from the hubs. It went a little like this:

Hubs: “I found something I’d like to buy and that both of us would use!”

Me: “What is it?”

Hubs: “I saw it on TV”

Me: “Oh dear…are you serious?”

Hubs: “But I think you’d like it too!”

Me: “Ok what is it then?” (Not really sure what to think yet)

Hubs: “It’s called the iron gym! You can do pull ups, push ups, and you even get these straps that help work your abs all in one”

Me: “How much is it?”

Hubs: “One easy payment of $30!”

Me: “Are you serious? You really want this thing?! It’s from an infomercial!”

Hubs: “YES! And you know you’d use it too.”

Me: “Well if you think it’s a good purchase we can get it….”

End of scene

The conversation went on a little more but you get the point. And so we ordered it. It actually looks pretty cool and it can hold up to 300lbs so I think we pass the weight limit. :) I’ve never bought anything like this off of TV before but there’s a first time for everything! ha! Well I guess I’ll be working on my pull ups now. I haven’t done those since high school or maybe it was middle school! Either way I know I was pretty rockin’ at them in middle school gym class.

Check it out:

Oooooh yeah….

Just wait…we’re going to have some rockin arms…right in the privacy of our own home! SWEETNESS!

I was feeling a little down last night. I didn’t get in the Word yesterday either. I told myself I would get up early this morning to do it but, of course, I didn’t because I’m so not a morning person. I’d much rather sleep in til the absolute last minute but have just enough time to get ready, make my lunch, kiss my hubs good bye, and drive to work. This morning was very much like that. I went to bed later than I normally do (my best friend is in town this week and she came over and didn’t leave until close to 11:00) so logically I just wanted to keep sleeping (and hit my snooze button!) and therefore woke up late. I was bummed. When I’m bummed or down I tend to feel one of two things: I either feel sorry for myself or just get frustrated with myself…it’s a toss up.

As I left home and prepared myself for another 15-20 minute drive to work, I put in a CD (our cd player finally works AFTER the car battery died and spit out the jammed CD that had been in there ever since we got the car about 1 year ago…wonderful). I put in The Glory Revealed CD which is a compliation of various christian artist . It’s a great CD…all the songs are verses directly from the Bible and sung with song. What a glorious idea Well, it’s just what I needed this morning to get out of my rut. I was able to stop thinking about myself (which, admitingly, is hard to do sometimes) and instead use those thoughts to think about God’s goodness and worship along with the music. I felt renewed this morning…much better than how I was feeling last night. God is good. So while I didn’t get to read when I woke up I was still able to meditate on God for about 20 min. Morning drives are good for that sort of thing.

hmmmm…oh yeah and while driving to work today I saw a rainbow!? How strange is that?! Well, it wasn’t a full out rainbow but rather a small rectangle shape that was vertical and to the right of the sun. I have no idea what it was all about but it was beautiful to look at.

It’s almost the weekend!!! My brother is coming into town and we’re all going to the Michigan/ND game on Sat! I’m not a huge football fan but it’s always fun tailgating and enjoying the atmosphere!