Posts by Rachel Spoelhof
How Motherhood Brought Out the Best of Me
I’ll be honest, sometimes as a mom I think about what I gave up and what I lost when I became a mom. A career, time for myself, passions I could faithfully pursue, control, sleep…the list goes on and on.
But if I really stop to think about my life now, I realize that I didn’t lose anything when I became a mom, I GAINED everything! Someone to love and care for. Someone who needed me. Someone that relied on me for everything. That isn’t a burden. It is a blessing.
When I look even deeper at the woman (not mom, just woman) I’ve become the last 5 years, I see that motherhood brought out the best of me. I’ve learned selfLESSness over selfishness. Priorities over (my) planning. Stopping instead of going. Connecting instead of staying in my comfort zone.
I’ve learned so much of myself as a mom and these are lessons I never want to stop learning. I’m so grateful for all the changes in my life and I know that even in the hard times (and there are lots of those) that I am growing more into the person God designed me to be.
What is the best thing you have learned about yourself since you became a mom?
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Take the POSITIVE Promise
Have you noticed that negativity is everywhere right now? It’s all over social media and the news, so many people complaining and angry. With the post-election emotions I fear things will only get worse. This makes my heart so sad and I don’t want to be a part of it – not on social media, not with my family, not with my friends.
Starting today, I’m taking a POSITIVE PROMISE vow and I want you to join me! With this promise it is my hope that we can all become a bit more positive and healthy with our thoughts and actions.
The promise:
I am completely worth it. I believe in God’s plans for my life. I believe in learning from the past, but I won’t let it define me. I vow to keep POSITIVE for the next 30 days. This means I will not complain, blame, or justify anything. I am going to do something few dare to do. I am going to look for the blessings in life. I am going to find the positive in situations rather than acknowledge the negative. This is a habit I want to build for me and for others.
It starts with one person. One promise.
Are you in?
Take the positive promise. Share this post with the hashtag #POSITIVEpromise
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Have a Healthy Holiday Season
Our Fall challenge is wrapping up and we are so excited to offer you another way to stay plugged in with healthy habits this holiday season.
The holidays are and have always been a favorite in the Weisser family. It is a time to connect and a time for traditions and time together. However, in the past, I have so easily succumbed to the negative effects of parties and traveling leaving me feeling bloated and lacking energy and motivation.
Luckily, I don’t worry about that anymore and I embrace the crazy and fun holiday season. Since changing my nutrition 2 years ago, adding the minerals and nutrient dense foods my body was craving I have found a balance between exercise and healthy eating and sitting on the couch sipping hot chocolate. PLUS, with nutritional cleansing, you can always take a day or two of intermittent fasting to get your cells happy and get back on track. PLUS, you can eat chocolate. HAPPY DANCE!
So what IS this solution? It’s a community of men and women sharing recipes, workouts from professional trainers, snacks, and holiday healthy life hacks to keep you healthy during the holidays and in life! You don’t have to be using our nutrition that we are always talking about (because we LOVE it), but we will be talking heavily about it because IT HAS CHANGED OUR LIVES. It is how we’ve found a convenient and healthy balance to fuel ourselves and our families.
How do you join? We have a private group on Facebook so comment here, on Facebook, or email us at weisserwomen@growingweisser.com.
Important dates:
Saturday, October 29 at 9am PST is a LIVE event to talk all about the challenge and the nutrition we use. This will be in the Facebook group so you will need …
Read MoreLess is More
Are you feeling overwhelmed? Do things just keep piling up and you have no idea how to tackle them.
STOP.
Take a step back and refocus. Why are these things piling up? What is REALLY important?
I find that it is so easy to get weighed down by the small stuff. We think we have to be doing and going all the time. But is that really important? We’ve been talking a lot this month about setting goals, focusing on goals, and having a positive mindset.
Goal setting gives us a focus. And I would challenge you to narrow that focus down even further, down to ONE THING. I just listened to a great podcast, LINK HERE, about living a life of focus so we can have more by doing less. According to Geoff Woods, we need to identify ONE thing and do it every day, day after day. Taking a little action every day toward our goals. Over time those small actions will have a compound effect and a massive payoff for you life!
I have been working on positive affirmations, and this week, I found one that really spoke to me because it was right down to the heart of MY one thing — Being a present, loving mom for my kids. Here’s the affirmation: “If I do nothing today but hug my kids, I’ve done enough.”
It doesn’t have to be big to be great. There are opportunities for greatness all around us. We just have to focus on the right things!
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Easy Fall Crock Pot Tacos
“Easy.” The descriptive word I use to look up all of MY meals, so I threw together this nice and easy one for YOU.
But this one is special because it has all the ease and fun of Mexican tacos with the fun flavors of Fall! The secret is Trader Joe’s Fall Harvest Salsa! This salsa is so delicious on its own, but thrown in a simple crock pot recipe and it is PALATE PLEASING!!!
Ingredients
4 Chicken Breast
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can corn
1 jar Trader Joe’s Fall Harvest Salsa
2 TBS Trader Joe’s taco seasoning (or use our homemade recipe!)
optional ingredients: taco shells, tortillas, grated cheese, avocado, lettuce
Instructions
Drain and rinse beans and corn. Add chicken to crock pot first, then beans and corn. Add taco seasoning. Pour jar of salsa on top. Cook on High 3-4 hours or Low 6-7 hrs. When chicken is done it will shred easily. Shred chicken and serve in taco shells, soft tacos, or as a salad with lettuce. I had mine in a bowl with Trader Joe’s Pumpkin chips! YUMMY!
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Tremendous Tacos
Did you celebrate National Taco Day this past Tuesday?
I love tacos, so this is officially my new favorite food holiday! I was excited to try this new taco recipe from Mealime, but looking at the recipe I just knew it needed something in the tacos besides beans.
Beans are high in protein, fiber, B vitamins, iron, potassium and minerals, BUT can also be hard on the stomach SO I added sweet potatoes to this recipe to increase the health benefits! Sweet potatoes have the health benefits of potassium, beta-carotene, vitamin C, and soluble fiber PLUS they are delicious.
These tacos also have the added benefit of being vegetarian, so they are great on your wallet and your waistline. I always try to incorporate more plant-based meals where meat it either not a part of the meal or is just an “accessory” to the meal.
Sweet Potato and Black Bean “Tremendous Tacos”
(adapted from Mealime’s Black Bean Tacos with Tomato & Avocado Salsa)
- 1 avocado
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1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed
- 2 large or 4 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
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½ small bunch cilantro
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½ pint grape tomatoes, halved
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1 lime
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1 medium red onion
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8 small corn tortillas
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black pepper
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2 tsp chili powder
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1 tsp cumin
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1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
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cooking oil of choice (coconut, olive, or avocado)
- Cheese, shredded
- 1 cup rice
- Chicken or vegetable broth (optional for cooking rice)
- Rinse rice. Cook in chicken broth or vegetable broth according to packaging.
- Peel and cube sweet potatoes. Add to a sauce pan and cover with water. Bring water to boil and boil for 8-12 minutes (depending on size of your cubes). You will know sweet potatoes are done when you can easily stab with a fork. Once done, drain water and
Love Languages
Do you know your love language?
I am reading the book, The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. I love the idea of recognizing how we show and feel love. It is so practical.
Recently, a good friend encouraged me to do the test verbally with my children. Although I have yet to do the test, I am seeing first hand how valuable it is to love our kids using their language.
I have been having a hard time with my 4 year old. We are very similar, and butt heads a lot. School has been helpful, she has her own thing, but we have still had hard times. This past Saturday I made time for just the two of us. We went shopping at a local consignment shopping event to get her shoes and pajamas. SHE WAS IN HEAVEN. She probably hugged me and told me she loved me about 20 times. I realized how much she needed that quality time, for me to say YES to time with her, and for her to be alone for a little bit away from her younger sisters.
This past week her behavior has been better, and she was recognized at school for good behavior 3 days in a row! I was able to take her to pick out small prizes after school and even set aside a little money to get a treat she has been wanting from Disneyland.
I feel like the love languages have given me a tool in my tool belt to recognize that my husband, and children all have unique needs and ways they feel loved. I am excited to put this more into practice to work on all of our relationships and to help my girls recognize their love languages and how we show love …
Read MoreWhat is Success?
Do you think about success and how it looks in different areas of your life? For example, what is a successful marriage? Successful parenting? Job success? Personal success?
How do you define success?
According to the dictionary, success is “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.”
Last week I shared the importance of writing down your goals, and even sharing your goals with others. Why? So your path to “success” (however YOU define it), is drawn out. So you can define daily action steps to get to your goal. The path might not always be straight, in fact, often our path to success is riddled with failures. However, when we know where we are going, we CAN take those daily steps to get there.
I love this definition of success from Robert Collier, “Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”
What does this mean to me? It means success takes work. Success takes consistency. Success takes planning. Success takes patience.
This definition also breaks down the path to success in daily steps. We might feel like we aren’t moving forward towards our goals, but daily action steps keep us moving. Daily action steps give us a plan and a way to track how we are moving toward our goals.
I know the journey WILL be tough. So arm yourself for the journey. I am really enjoying the devotions from the YouVersion Bible app. I recommend “Staying Hopeful” and “HILLSONG – Let Hope Rise.” Today’s devotion from Let Hope Rise states, “Singing songs that remind us of the goodness of God, we shift our focus from our own hardships and struggles to his consistent faithfulness. Even more, worship reminds us not to mistake the presence of such hardships and struggles as the absence of …
Read MoreFit For Fall Begins!
This week we jumped into our Fit For Fall Challenge!
Why do we LOVE challenges? Challenges provide a community of support and accountability PLUS help you get focused on your goals.
Having goals is so important. It keeps you focused and helps direct your daily actions.
This week we challenged our group to write down their goals and share them on Facebook. The process of writing down goals is important for actually accomplishing your goals.
I love these 5 reasons writing down your goals will help you accomplish them from Michael Hyatt (Who has one of my favorite podcast! Check him out!)
- Forces you to be specific
- Motivates you (and guides you) to take action.
- Provides a filter for opportunities that arise. You can ask yourself “Does this help me get closer to or further from my goal?”
- Helps you persevere and overcome resistance.
- Helps you see the journey – how far you’ve come!
What are YOU working on? What are your goals?
I challenge you to write them down and SHARE them. If you share on social media tag us @growingweisser!
Here are my health goals for the next 60 days!
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Don’t Be Afraid to Get Real
I’ve been learning so much the last few years as a mom and in my life about the value of being real. Letting down some of those defenses we put up and allowing ourselves to be a little vulnerable, to let people in, and to allow people to see the REAL us.
That looks different for everyone, but for me, that means showing the good and the bad. Knowing that it’s ok to admit I’m not perfect, in fact far from it.
What has happened through this vulnerability and openness is connection – realizing that MY struggles are others’ struggles. Learning from our mistakes and growing together. Talking through the parenting wins and loses.
Recently I shared on my social media that I was struggling with an injury. I was blown away by so many people who have checked in to see how I’m doing, friends who have told me “I understand how hard this is.” Hearing that concern and knowing I’m not alone in my feelings has given me comfort, and even more than that, CONFIDENCE that I can and will turn this into something positive.
What struggle are you holding on to in your life?
I encourage you to seek God, tell Him about your struggle, and pray about finding a safe place where you can talk with someone about it and get real!
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