I can believe its been almost three weeks since Competition Day. What an amazing experience! I have been desperately trying to sort my thoughts the last three weeks in order to share with you. So many thoughts and feelings have been flooding my mind. Not to mention all that I was unable to write about during my training. There was so much happening during that time that there was just no time to write. So again my hope is to rewind a bit, break it all down and share what I experienced. Of course it doesn't stop with "Competition Day". This was a life changing experience for sure! It has been quite an adjustment since then getting back to a normal life. Well, first of all what is normal life? I've been trying to figure that all out. It looks much different now than before competition. God revealed so much about my relationship with Him, answered prayers, and revealed things about myself that I never knew or thought possible. I am ready for the next chapter. Because this journey is just beginning. Competing was just the first step. I am so excited to see what God has planned for me next. Also my prayer is that I will continue to be an inspiration to you and others to discover the person God desires YOU to be! So I hope you will continue to join me as I add more pieces to my puzzle called life. Again I am so thankful for so many who have been a support to me through this journey. I am truly blessed! ~ Melissa Professional photos were taken at the NGA Mt. Rodgers Bodybuilding, Figure, Physique, and Bikini Championships in Woodbridge, Va. by Robert Thomas Photography.
you can view these by clicking the link WWW.robertthomasphotography.photoreflect. com Mt. Rodgers bodybuilding event. Note: click Physique category to view my photos.
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I knew training would be hard but last week was my hardest week so far. Depletion had set in! But I believe that God was teaching me a powerful lesson. Because it is in the times when we are weak that His power and strength can truly be seen. Monday afternoon after Boot Camp and on my way home from picking up my daughter I was feeling worn down and particularly emotional. Hungry, tired, and completely depleted I questioned my own abilities to see my training through. I thought, how will I make it through these next five weeks. To make matters worse I still had weight training to do for that day. Then I heard these words on the radio by Christian Music Artist Mandisa. "Overcomer" Staring at a stop sign Watching people drive by T Mac on the radio Got so much on your mind Nothing's really going right Looking for a ray of hope Whatever it is you may be going through I know He's not gonna let it get the best of you You're an overcomer Stay in the fight ‘til the final round You're not going under ‘Cause God is holding you right now You might be down for a moment Feeling like it's hopeless That's when He reminds You That you're an overcomer You're an overcomer Everybody's been down Hit the bottom, hit the ground Oh, you're not alone Just take a breath, don't forget Hang on to His promises He wants You to know The same Man, the Great I am The one who overcame death Is living inside of You So just hold tight, fix your eyes On the one who holds your life There's nothing He can't do He's telling You Maybe you have heard it many times as I had but on this day at this particular time her words hit me like a ton of emotional bricks. As tears streamed down my face I prayed, "God I do not feel like an "OVERCOMER". He whispered, but you are. Look how far you've come. Mandisa repeated these words again... You're an overcomer Stay in the fight ‘til the final round You're not going under ‘Cause God is holding you right now You might be down for a moment Feeling like it's hopeless That's when He reminds You That you're an overcomer You're an overcomer When I got home I picked up my weights and pushed through my training for the day. I know I did not have the physical and mental strength in me to get through that workout. But it did come, by relying on Gods strength! You see God used my physical and mental depletion to draw me to Himself. I know I serve a powerful God! Too often I do not tap into the power He so freely gives. I focus on mySELF and think I can do it on my own. I don't typically follow celebrities, musicians, etc. but I decided to do a little research on Miss Mandisa and the story behind the moving words of "OVERCOMER". What I found was a more amazing woman than her inspiring song. God has a awesome way of piecing things together because in her recent blog post on October 16, "An Eternal Perspective" , she talks about exactly what God was trying to teach me. In her opening paragraph she states, " If you've been to one of my concerts, you may have heard me talk about followers of Christ having resurrection power. That same power that raised a man from the dead can raise us from [insert impossible situation here]. Jesus said that, “whoever believes in Me will be able to do what I have done, but they will do even greater things…” (John 14:12) I don’t know about you, but there are some situations I am praying for that could really use some supernatural resurrection power!"
She goes on to say that when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, He allowed Lazarus to die first. Death was necessary ingredient for God to be glorified. To see Mandisa's full blog post "An Eternal Perspective" click this link http://mandisaofficial.com/home/an-eternal-perspective/.The same is true for me. I must die to mySELF in order for Him to raise me up, to become an overcomer. I am continually amazed by what God has been teaching me and how this journey has transformed my life. Did I completely overcome my struggle through my feeling of depletion? I wish I could say yes. The truth is I felt even worse the next day. But, I continued to push through. And I'll have to say I have a awesome and gracious trainer who takes care of me. She adjusted my training and so far this week my energy is back and I've been feeling good! Will that be the last time I feel depleted, tired, worn down and want to quit? No, I'm sure it won't be. But, less than four weeks left and I am continuing my training " Stay(ing) in the fight ‘til the final round"! Because I Am an Overcomer!I hope that you are encouraged by Gods message! And I pray that whatever fight you might be in that you see yourself as an OVERCOMER too! Inspired by His Power, ~Melissa Last weekend we were invited to a Masquerade Ball Murder Mystery Party. This was hosted by our niece and nephew, the newly weds and frequent gathering hosts of the family (not a huge age difference in age by the way, in case you were wondering). They are always fabulously creative with theme, decorating, and food! Naturally I was excited to take part in this creative event. I had never done a murder mystery party before but I'll have to say I was most excited about dressing up and wearing a mask. This was a perfect opportunity to use a little creativity myself. I started off with a pretty little black mask from Target, though very nice on its own needed embellishments! Though I must admit, that this OCD Mama never intended on wearing a mask without my own creative touch. So I dusted off my craft supplies (yes its been that long) and got to work. Simple really, I just used some glitter glue and a few chipboard cutouts. I added a peacock feather hair clip , a $3 find at Wal-Mart! And there you have it! I am sad to say that I did not get photos of me wearing my mask. I was very busy role playing a murder mystery. I am happy to report I was not murdered nor was I a murderer. I was, however, the recent ex-girlfriend of the murdered (played by my nieces father, a bit comical in itself) and the murderer was my best friend, or so my script/clues said (played by my nephew). Surprisingly I was only accused only once out of 17 characters. Although I must confess I don't believe I have the best of role playing talents. Maybe I did not reveal me clues well enough. None the less it was a fun night. Hats of to my nephew and his bride! You did a wonderful job!
Thank you for letting me share my little creative project with you! Maybe it will inspire those of you wanting to take up your own costume design of an upcoming Halloween celebration. I say go for it! It doesn't have to be complicated or completely from scratch. Start with some simple elements and embellish (my most favorite word). I would love to hear or see your costume creations and ideas so send me a comment or e-mail melissakmacgregor@gmail.com. ~Melissa OCD Mama It has been about three weeks now since I officially began training for competition. I truly had hoped to journal more at this point. But, breaking into life of competition has been an adjustment for me and my family, for sure. The first week and a half was pretty hard. Outside of taking care of my kids I felt like my life was centered around diet and workouts. My body was tired and sore from increase in training (weights & cardio) and the depletion of calories. Don't misunderstand, I eat constantly. In fact I eat six to seven times depending on the day. The diet in itself has taken a lot of planning and organizing. Preparing meals for each day takes a lot of work. Then there is fitting those meals in between transporting my kids back and forth to school (remember my two different pick up times) and my work outs. It has been a challenge. I started out preparing all my meals in the evenings for the next day but that was exhausting. This left little time with my family and more time in the kitchen than I wanted. Then I got a bit of a handle on the process by cooking most of my food on Sunday and dividing my meals in storage containers for the week. I am now able to pull out the meals I need each day, pack them into my cooler in the morning and head out the door. Easy Peasy, lemon squeezie! No room for cheating! I've tried to make it as little change as possible for my kids, but for my husband it has meant a little extra help. OK that is saying it modestly, he has helped A LOT! He has been super supportive and a true blessing to this whole process. He helps me prepare my food and helps with the kids when I need to fit in a workout. He always asks, "What can I do?" I would not be able to do this without him! On the subject of "breaking in" the news, I find that reactions from family and friends have been interesting. Several times I got the question, Are gonna get ALL those muscles? Well yes, that is kind of the point of the competition. Am I going to become She Hulk in the next six weeks? Well no, that would be a slight misconception there! I assure you that this would be far from reality (for me at least). Training naturally (meaning no drug enhancement) that just won't happen. Over all my family and friends have been supportive. Some I will call "my groupies', those promising to come to the competition waiving signs and cheer from the audience. Then there are my "Facebook fans" my most overwhelming reactions of all! Early on I struggled with sharing my news and progress on Facebook. As a Christian woman I was worried that many would think it was immodest or about vanity. But, stepping out of my box (because after all that is what this is all about) I did share a few posts on Facebook. Here is one of my posts. God is "dragging" me out of my box on this journey of mine! I had a hard time with the vulnerability of taking photos of my progress but I am also amazed by the result! It seems a bit surreal! I am discovering how amazing these bodies God gave us really are! For the sake of modesty this is all I am ready to post right now! I could not believe the support I received on Facebook. I had so many encouraging comments in support of what I was doing. And most of all I was amazed that church friends who had seen the post were asking me abut the competition. But really I feel God is using this opportunity to stretch me to bring me out of my box (my comfort zone) and help inspire others. I do not expect it to be an easy journey (and it hasn't been) but it has been an amazing one so far. As my lifestyle, diet, and body continue to change over the next several weeks I hope you will support me too. Even if it is nothing more that prayer through this journey! "I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me." Philippians 4:13 AMP Philippians 4:13 has been my life verse. Though not the version I have memorized I love how it uses the words "Christ Who empowers me". I constantly have to remind myself that He is the one who empowers me, especially when I feel weak! I need to remember this when I am not feeling confident or when I don't feel I have the physical strength. And I am taking it one day at a time. I would love to hear your comments here as well. Do you struggle with confidence or worry about what people think? I'd love to hear how you deal with your struggle or maybe how God is dealing with you. Thank you for joining in my journey to competition I know there will be much more to share! I promised you some big news so here it goes....
Those that know me or follow me on Facebook know that the last five months have brought on quite a fitness "addiction". Following my new found addiction I was presented with an opportunity that would bring a life changing experience for me. For the past few weeks I have been praying, pondering, and struggling with my decision to pursue this opportunity. This will bring my commitment to fitness to a whole new level. Though I am terrified of the "new territory" I am blessed to have support from my husband (the love of my life), family and friends (the few that already know). This is going to be a challenge but I am excited to share the journey with all of you on my blog. I'm going to keep you in suspense for a few more brief moments.... so keep reading! I want to start with a testimony of the last few months and the amazing transformation I went through. Make sure you read to the end then you will see my big surprise! My intention was to give you a blog post each week but last week was a long, hard, and busy week to say the least! This OCD Mama is still struggling with the new back to school routine. Though my mid-week left me feeling depleted (physically mentally and creatively) I still want nothing more than to be there for my kids. If you are a follower of my FaceBook page you know that last week was my daughters birthday. This celebration brought definite highs and lows to my week. I was able to spend time in my daughters class the day of her birthday bringing cupcakes to her and all her classmates. This was one of those definite blessing to not working outside the home. But on the other hand much of my busyness entailed preparations for her party on Saturday. Weeks ago I did what any crafty mama would do looking for inspiration for her sweet little girls Minnie Mouse birthday party....I went to Pintrest! Ah, yes Pintrest! My favorite place these days to feed my OCD mind. After all it is THE place to find all things to inspire ORGANIZATION, CREATIVE (projects), and DESIGN. There I found fabulous ideas for Minnie Mouse party favors, food ideas, decorations, even Minnie ears made from Oreo cookies. As the party got closer and my overloaded to-do list left me more overwhelmed, my grandiose ideas were replaced by simpler solutions. Though I thrive on being organized and get gritty over crafty projects I have discovered God is teaching me to let things go. Despite the fact that my daughters party turned out nothing like the vision in my head, she had a great birthday party. She and all her friends (actually mostly her brothers friends) had a blast. But I have a confession, though I am trying hard to let "some" things go in order to enjoy my kids more, I am still an OCD Mama through and through. I guess I just need to take my own " Wedding Planner" advice and give myself more time to plan. Maybe I should start on the Sweet 16 now! I want to know the cool and creative ideas and themes you have done for your kids birthdays. Leave me a comment and share how you got your ideas. Did it turn out how you envisioned?
Tomorrow I hope to bring you a bonus blog post with some BIG NEWS! I want to share with you something I have been pondering and praying about for a couple months now! This is a life changing decision for me and I'm super excited to share it. So I hope you will come back tomorrow to read about it! Blessings, ~Melissa Welcome to my first official post as the "OCD Mama". To fully understand what defines me as an OCD Mama please take a moment to look at my About page if you have not already. I hope you will find the humor in the double meaning.
I find it ironic that my first post to my newly revamped blog "OCD Mama" is on the first day of school! Ok maybe not so ironic when you're a Work-at-Home Mama and it's the first day of "just a little bit of freedom after a LONG summer". I have to admit that my full fledged creativity has not unleashed yet after a hectic and eventful summer. But those creative juices did start flowing a bit during my morning of freedom in one of my favorite stores, Hobby Lobby. Actually I believe the organization side of my brain is monopolizing a bit.To be quite honest my OCD tendencies (in its true form, not the creative meaning) have left me a bit overwhelmed. Well, correction, this is where the two OCD definitions collide. Now that school has started my brain is flooded with to-do lists ,organizational ideas to deal with what's on my to-do lists, then a creative approach to my organizational ideas for my to-do list. You get the idea! My brain feels like a jumbled mess! And I desperately want things to fall into place.....LIKE RIGHT NOW! Am I the only one? I am so thankful though for one of my biggest encouragements www.Proverbs31.org and the daily devotions Encouragement Today that I recieve in my e-mail box every (week)day. Today's writter Glynnis Whitwer talks about dealing with those times we want to procrastinate because we are afraid of the changes we need to make today or because we are overwhelmed and can't think straight. In addition to her devotion in Encouragement Today she added to her own blog http://glynniswhitwer.com/, a creative way of organizing her To-do lists and ongoing projects, a project management binder . I am often inspired by Glynnis and the wisdom she shares about her gift of organization. I may even share in another post the binder I created (over a year ago). Unlike Glynnis I didn't exactly stick to it......maybe I should get that thing out and try again! On the top of my organizational To-do list would be to figure out our new school year routine. This year I am challenged for sure. My oldest (son) now has a full school day but, my daughter still only a half day. My commute one way is at least twenty minutes. This means A LOT of driving. Then there is squeezing in a nap for the younger one in a two and a half hour time frame. Unfortunately that doesn't include my travel time home and back to pick up my son. Today my daughter played in her room rather than take a nap in our tiny time frame. She finally fell asleep in the car on the way to pick up her brother. I'm not sure if a nap in the car is the solution but it's exhausting just thinking about it! It seems as though its just going to be a long year with lots of driving. What are your methods of organization for your family, school, work and fun activities? Did you have to reorganize your schedule this new school year? I'd love to hear your schedule solutions and daily routines. You can leave me a comment or email me at melissakmacgregor@gmail.com. Be on the lookout for my upcoming "guest" post on www.gymnutfitness.com I will be sharing my amazing transformation (body, mind, and spirit) in the last four months. Also I'll be tweaking the design of my blog so be sure to stop by to see what is new!
O.K. so my plans for my blog this year did not go as planned. I truly hoped after giving up my business in January I would continue sharing some of my knack for creativity and organisation through my blog. But, God just had other plans for me and my family this year.
So what did happen? Well, the story is quite long to share all of it right now but, I hope to be a bit more focused in 2013 and share a few of those stories . In the mean time I would like to share my most recent project, my family's 2012 highlights. Yes, involving some creativity and organization...... not to mention a few headaches, late nights, a near meltdown, and finally a just in the nick of time order placement for Christmas delivery! This year has been filled with lots of change for our family, some self discovery, tons of re-organization, and a little creativity to get us through it all! For this particular project I discovered that I DO NOT have the patience for the digitally creative projects! But overall I am pretty happy with the result! Don't look to hard for mistakes.....the just in the nick of time order did not leave time for a "once more lookover". And yes, I am trying to contain my OCD tendencies to worry about any imperfections. But, I look at those pages filled with my babies sweet faces and am reminded that the mistakes don't matter. Those memories are now bound there for us to cherish for years to come. Just another nugget of truth I re-discovered this year..... that making memories with my family is one of the most precious things in my life! I hope you enjoy my family photos and memories for this year. My most favorite pages are 11,12, & 13.... This is not the end, I know we have a few more memories to be had for this year and I am looking forward to 2013! Thanks for stopping by so I could share my most precious moments of 2012! ~Melissa
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Putting myself in the” Spotlight” is certainly not typical for me. I usually try to keep the focus on my clients or whatever I may be creating at the time. But to give you a fair introduction, with the help of my dear friend Sarah Kittredge (Kitt Creative) and her talent for capturing the beauty through a camera lens, I decided to give it a shot! I am inspired by photography, so I am sharing my thinly veiled spotlight with Sarah. They say “A picture paints a thousand words”, so my hope is that you can see a little more of me in these photos by Sarah Kittredge , than I can share with you in words. So allow me to introduce myself through the beautiful medium of photography. I often feel awkward in front of the camera and most times find reasons I don’t like myself in a photograph. But, Sarah is an amazing person and photographer, able to bring out the best in anyone she photographs! Her easygoing personality and her showering of complements throughout the session made me feel like a model. She experimented with some playful poses that perhaps show the “dreamer” in me. Yes, I’ve always been a dreamer… my first grade teacher told my mother that she would catch me daydreaming in class. I guess I never stopped. Sarah has such a talent and knowledge about how lighting works in photography. Her ability to use natural lighting is amazing. Although a bit cloudy that day she was able to use the natural light that flooded the studio. In this photo I sat in front of a picture window draped with white sheers. But, it seems as though I were sitting in the heavenly realms. Beautiful! I love the timeless look of Black and White photography. Of course these two photos would be on my list of favorites. Maybe it’s my tendency to gravitate to the soft monochromatic tones (the organizer and perfectionist in me). Or the modern artistic nature it brings (my artistic and creative side). Again, Timeless is the word! I must point out that I am wearing my signature colors brown and turquoise. You will find these colors in my wardrobe, my office décor, and even in my personal creative projects. You may also notice my absolute FAV brown sweater; I could wear it every day of the week. Doesn’t it look cozy! It fit’s every mood…the dress it up days, or just going comfy days! So there you have it! This is ME folks! Sarah Kittredge, you managed to show more of me through a camera lens than I could have ever imagined! Thank you for sharing your gift/talent with me!
**For more about Sarah Kittredge and Kitt Creative visit www.kittcreative.com Inspiration is out there! Today I found it in the beautiful art of photography! Let’s go find some more! ~Melissa |
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