Day 2

So I know it's not technically day 2, but it's been super hot and pretty much all I have wanted to do is eat popsicles and sit under sprinklers reading water proof books.  So today, most likely inspired by the elements, I decided to chuck water balloons at the dogs as my method of terror.  I didn't have any real water balloons but I figured regular balloons filled with water would work just as well.  No longer having my sister here I decided to call upon a much cooler person to help:  my mom.  In typical mom fashion, the minivan became our vessel of transportation.


It worked pretty good, the splash of the water really scared them.  But Copper seemed to get over it pretty quick.

So we did it one more time and I soaked him.  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that one...  In summary, I think that today worked a little better than last time did.  The dogs did seem a little scared this time so I guess you could say,  "mission accomplished!"  Thanks for driving and taking pictures mom and dad, you make all my dreams come true.

Day 1

So I got the help of my darling sister Danielle again as I started my adventure today.  Our first step:  find an instrument of fear.  We soon spotted an intimidating looking ball.

Next we got in the car and Danielle was assigned as the assassin.

Finally we drove out of the driveway, turned around and drove back in.  Danielle aimed, she fired, she nailed one!!!  Right in the chest!  The kind of hit that would mortify any dog into a lifetime of good, healthy car-fear.  We soon learned as he barreled his way into my car the moment I opened the door that our ingenuousness did indeed fail.

He wasn't scared of cars at all, in fact he seems to expect to have toys thrown to him out of cars now.  

Turns out he actually thought the ball was a giant chew toy.

Oh well.  Tomorrow is a new day and with is hopefully some clarity into the best way to instill a lifelong fear of cars into these dogs.  

In other news, isn't my nephew the cutest?

  

Adventure of the Week: Mortify Dogs of Cars!

Let me tell you a story.  Get your tissue boxes out.

Once upon a time there was a lovely little dog, we'll call her Tinny.  All the dogs in the countryside wanted to be just like Tinny.  Tinny was patient, she was kind, she did not envy, she did not boast, she was not proud, she was not self-seeking or rude, she kept no record of wrong...   I think we all understand, yes?  Tinny was the Mother Theresa of dogs.  One day as Tinny was thinking about how much she loved every person in the world she noticed her best friend Bob the mouse (Tinny was not prejudice) was hanging out under a car.  Tinny loved to play with Bob the mouse and Bob the mouse loved to play with Tinny, almost to an unhealthy degree on both sides now that I think about it.  Little did Tinny know that that very car would soon be traveling off to school and that Bob the mouse would unknowingly lead Tinny into the very track a car tire was also heading.  That was the very last day Tinny ever got to wonder about how she could help stop world hunger, and the driver of that car, we'll call her Gina, never got over her fear of hitting dogs.

Like Gina, I get freak out when I drive my car into the driveway and dogs are literately smudging their faces on my window trying to get to me as I am wildly dodging other dogs who refuse to move out of my parking spots.  Not only is it dangerous, it's rude and it makes me want to roll down my window and punch them in the face....and then pat them and tell them how sorry I am....

Objective:  Have Car-fearing Pooches

Procedure:  Do whatever it takes to scare my dogs of cars:  throw water balloons at them as I drive by, blast high pitched noises out of my stereo, borrow someone's Rottweiler, ect, whatever it takes until they stay away from cars for good!

I just think this is funny.  And it was definitely the least depressing picture I could find when I looked up "Dog hit by car."

Day 7

So my sister is home for the week and she decided to join me in my adventure for getting a smokin' body, at least for a day or two.  We foolishly decided to do a workout called "Abs Now!"  It was beyond hard.  That little Czech lady is a man.  We hardly made it through half of it before we were both modest little balls of sweat (well at least I was, Danielle got blessed with better genes I guess.)  It was terrible.  We didn't finish.  Here's the workout we did: http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/04/28/abs-now-workout/

Day 6

I feel like a dirty little ball of sweat right now.  But you know, in a modest, Christian way.  I sure hope I burned off those 3 cookies I ate today.  Oh and also that brownie.  A dog just literately came and licked sweat off me as I'm writing this.  I smell awful, I'm not going to lie.  I've gotten into this terrible habit of not wearing deodorant, mostly because I'm pretty sure I don't have a scent unless I am rigorously sweating.  Either that or I just happen to always be around people who are extremely polite.  I did this workout:  http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/06/15/dead-mans-burpee-challenge/ did 75 :)

Day 4 and 5

It's my day off!!!  Praise the Lord.  Yesterday I attempted to do a workout and made it through about half of it.  My butt was in too much protest.  Tomorrow will be great!!  I did this one:  http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/05/23/run-the-world-workout/

Day 3

I don't want to talk about it.  I did this one: http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/05/31/amazing-abs-workout/  ...sorta

Day 2

I made it through the work out!!  35 in 10 minutes (if you're doing the workout you'll know what this means).  I was really happy until I saw someone else had 79 in 10 minutes.  Then I remembered that Solomon said it was really unwise to compare yourself to others, or something like that.  I tried to look up the verse but I couldn't find it, but I did find a bunch of other articles on how you shouldn't compare yourself to others so I guess if you can't find it in the Bible turn to Wikipedia, yes.  Anyway, yay for me!!
Here's the workout I did: http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/06/21/take-me-exercise-challenge/

Day 1

True to self I waited a day before I actually did a workout.  It was hard, there was lots of balancing and jumping.  My legs felt like jello after the first set of the four.  Let's be real I only did two of the sets...but I'm still very proud of myself, and I told myself that as I was laying on the floor afterwards.

I did this workout  http://www.bodyrock.tv/2011/07/01/fierce-friday-workout/

Adventure of the Week: Get a Smokin' body

So yes, yes, yes, we are all fearfully and wonderfully made, but sometimes I find myself wondering as I'm shimmying into my spanx, "maybe there is more to life...."  Low and behold I may have found my answer in the form of a feisty little Czech girl named Zuzana.  Lets be real, she has like the best body I have ever seen on a girl, looking at her abs hurts my feelings, it's weird.  She does these 12 minute workouts everyday and posts them on her website http://www.bodyrock.tv/category/bodyrockers/. 

Am I being naive in thinking that you could possibly get such results only working out for 12 minutes a day?  Probably.  My sister, who is generally much smarter than me, seems to think so.  But she could be wrong, she's been wrong before.  Like that time when she was all like, "I will never have a boyfriend" and now she has a boyfriend.  Totally wrong.  Yes, I think I just convinced myself, this will work. 

Objective: Get a smokin' body
Procedure:  Do one Zuzana work out every day for a month

(Thought I should probably add this)  I love my body, it's great, it's super, I would run around naked if it was socially acceptable and God said it was alright.  Love your bodies, love God, love yourself, love puppies.  Work out, because it's good for you :)

Back...

Hello Everybody!

It’s Tina again, just writing another newsletter.  I’m back here in pretty little Tulsa again.  Well actually if I’m being completely honest Tulsa isn’t all that pretty, it’s a little dull.  Sometimes I like to pretend like Tulsa is pretty and imagine that the infectious amounts of construction cones are really giant candy corns enticing people on their way to work with happiness as they glitter in the sunlight, or that the smallest, ghetto-est mountain in the world, Turkey Mountain, is actually a billowing fortress of licorice and the puny trees really a forest of candy canes!  Pretty much I image Tulsa as candy land. 

When I first got back we had “monastery” for a couple of days.  We would go into this big room with all these couches and candles and lamps and just spend time reading our bibles and talking to God for a couple of hours.  At first I thought it would be really boring, but I actually really enjoyed it and time flew by.  It was a really good time to reconnect with God since I had done a lousy job at staying disciplined over break.

We have jumped back into school and ministry again.  We do a lot of different ministry things like working with homeless people, kids at an orphanage, youth kids, inner city kids, and people in poorer neighborhoods.  We had this one ministry day where we had a list of random but interesting things to do in Tulsa, like go to a fire station and thank the fire men, (then thank God afterwards because they were so good looking), find an orthodox church and have a conversation with their priest (still not sure what an orthodox church is…), give a bible to a girl at a bus stop, pay someone’s bus fare, give a sandwich to a homeless person, and stuff like that.  It was probably one of my favorite outreaches so far.

I am seeing a lot of progress in myself since I have come out here.  The more I realize who I am in Christ the more confident I see myself getting, and bold to do the things God has called me to.  I am learning a lot about myself and learning to not put my identity in things that aren’t God, which has been a hard thing to learn!  I’m really excited to finish off this year and see what new ways God is going to mold me as I keep following after Him! 

Thank you so much for all the prayers and support and care packages!  It’s almost always that I’m having a terrible day that I will find that I have a letter or a care package sitting in my room which, honestly, you can’t continue to have a bad day when you’re eating chocolate or reading a letter from someone you love.  I will still need about $800 to finish off this year, so if you’re wondering what to do with any extra money you can always think of me ;)

Thank you so much for all your prayers, this year has been awesome, but also really tough so I really need them!  Love you all!

Tina