moving out to follow him...

I ran my first 3 miles straight last night!!! It felt amazing! The hills are what get me, but besides that I am loving being able to go longer and farther. Dustin got me an awesome bike for our 1 year anniverary last week, so now we will be riding bikes to cross train on our off days for running. I didn't realize how expensive bikes can get! It is freakin' ridiculous.. 6-7 THOUSAND for a bike! Not a motorcycle...a bicycle! I obviously didn't get one of those, but mine is really nice! It is a 2009 Fuji Road Bike and it is pink! He got the tires switched to road tires so I can keep up with him. And then I got a pink helmet, pink waterbottle holder, and black and pink pouch. I love it, and I especially love this new life we have started together. That is being healthy, working out, reading, going to church, eating right. It is amazing what little changes can do to the big picture of your everyday.

On a larger note, I will be moving out soon. Those close to me know it has been my heart for awhile now, but the time has come that he has realized what needs to happen too. I guess prayers for a long time have been answered as I needed that extra push to do what is right. It is going to be so hard, and to be honest it would not be my preferred situation. One of my favorite songs of all times is "If you want me to" by Ginny Owens, and one of the lines in the song says:

"This may not be the way I would have chose it.
When you lead me through this world that's not my home.
But you never said it would be easy.
You only said I'd never go alone."

I need to keep in mind that God is first, and that his desires for my life are the right ones, because he has the master plan and I need to be obedient to follow and trust in him alone.

Krystle and Harrison's Engagement Pics...

We had a family trip in August to Destin, Florida, which is where I took my sister Krystle and her fiance Harrison's Engagement Pics. We got there 30 minutes too late and only got the last 5 minutes of sunset : ( But other than that, and after some editing, and deleting tons of pics where Harrison is making all his funny faces...I think they turned out pretty good!



Peace. Love. Visvas.

Run Jenna Run...

So last week I started running! For many different reasons, but I will just copy and paste the gist of my beginning that I wrote about in a forum on RunningAhead.com. (An amazing site for all runners, beginning to way advanced).

Hi! My name is Jenna and I am 23 yrs old and new to running! I played sports all my life and would consider myself a pretty athletic person, even though I have always hated running! Trying to keep a good workout regimen to stay in shape after having it mandatory daily in high school has been a very up and down road for me. I would go through periods during and after college where I would go to the gym consistently for a couple weeks to a month, and then would slowly go back to not working out at all. My goals for working out in the past have always been to lose weight, for I have had a constant struggle with weight issues all my life.

It has been in the past few weeks that I have really noticed all the people that I know that are "runners", how all of those people are people I look up to and are motivated by not only because of their running endurance, but because of how they look life, treat people, and mostly treat themselves. You can tell a major difference in those that are run on a consistant basis, and the thing is they are just people like you and me! You see the stories of people that were extremely obese and took up running and it completely changes their life. If they can do it, and the people I know personally can do it...then heck, why aren't I!

So after at that lengthy intro..I am going to do this! But I know myself and I know how have been in the past..extremely motivated for a short while and it fades. So my question to the "seasoned runners" is, how do you do it?!? How do you stay motivated to make it part of your life...for life?! What advice would you give a newbie like me to stick to it when I feel that 5 miles straight could never be in my future because I can't even run half that now!? I am super excited to start this life change, and appreciate and take in any and all encouragement I can get!

I got some amazing advice from people that have been running for years. Here a couple of my favorite pieces of advice:

1) If you are serious about this, you NEED to make this second nature. Once running is optional it is easy to skip it and say you are too busy. If you schedule your workout daily (and the timing can vary), then schedule your other stuff around it, it becomes an afterthought to do the workout and a part of your life. Otherwise it is just to easy to do what you've described happing in your pace, which is gradually phase it out. -Spaniel

Many people encouraged joining a running club, but for right now I have learned that I really enjoy running by myself. I get intimidated by those who run faster, and being last in a group because I am so new to running would discourage me rather than encourage me. I think it must be a personality flaw of my uber-competitiveness. People also encouraged me to start on a C25K program (Couch to 5K), but it starts off really slow, and it is all timed running vs walking...which I guess is good for some people..but I like to listen to my body, push myself when I can, and progress at my own pace. And so far that is working really well for me! I ran my 1st mile and half straight yesterday! The website has a running/training log that graphs and shows your progress. That really encourages me to see how much I have done by the end of the week, and to make sure I am updating it! I think there is a way to link it to my blog, so I am going to try and do that.

Ok, off from Running now... today in class I was in such admiration of one of my classmates. As I think I have blogged about, I am in school part-time again for web-design and 90% of the school are High School students that are bussed in. It is wierd being in this type of environment again, but I actually really enjoy it. Well there a couple kids, who honestly I think are hilarious most of the time...but then after 10 min later you are like oh my gosh shut up! haha. Well anyways, today they were joking about I guess some website and kept going "Buddy Christ, Buddy Christ", and this guy goes "Hey, how about you guys stop that seriously. It is offensive. I am up for all your other jokes, but seriously stop that". If it had been any other student, they probably would have made a joke about it, but this guy is a true example of what I think a Christian with impact on the world is. He is super nice to everyone, and doesn't push his views or constantly talk about it to where it is annoying to those who aren't Christian. By his attitude, demeanor, the way he treats people, and can relate to every single person in their own way, makes it to where there is no way you could not have complete respect for anything he says. I really admire the way he makes an impact for the Lord everyday without making anyone feel uncomfortable about it. I probably didn't get this story across as powerful as the moment was today, but it really made me an impact not only on me, but on the entire class..which I think is awesome.

P.S. I am super excited for Dallas this weekend! Yay!

Peace. Love. Visvas.

Rainy Day.

Today was the first day I felt fall around the corner. It was drizzly, dark and the cold wind reminded me of the beginning of season change that I love so much. It inspired me to finally make my own inspiration board... and hopefully there will be many more to come!

Rainy Day.

Creatively Overwhelmed...

So school has been going great! It is amazing that me...Jennah Liston, loves going to school! It works out really well because I can do alot of my work for Community Partners in class because I go through the lessons extremely fast. It also gives me alot of time to tap into my creative self and look at blogs of other creative inspirations. I get so excited and inspired looking at all these blogs, pictures, design, graphics that I get way overwhelmed. It is really frustrating. I know I have the talent and inspiration to do alot, but when I get started on a project my ADD kicks in double time. There is so much I want to do with my life, my time, my day...and I feel like I have spent way to much time wasting it away.

My cousin is going into her 2nd week in Gana, and I am so proud of her. She is teaching in orphans in a remote village there and will be in Gana for 10 months. There is no electricity, no running water, and very limited communication with any friends and family. It takes a VERY special person to be able to give up that much of their life to serve to a higher calling. I think that it is amazing how God works so strongly in indirect ways that people don't even realize. My cousin went to Gana expecting to impact hearts for the Lord to the people she would encounter on a daily basis, but what she probably didn't expect was the opening of so many hearts back here in the states because of what she is doing. There are always reasons to pray, infact, back in the day praying was living, living was praying, every thought being focused on something higher. But that faded in me as my life fell further away from the truth. Yet now, out of love for my cousin and inspiration for what she is doing, I have been given a reason to pray alot more. I don't know if it is just that, or being inspired by her, but I have been more open to the Lord then I have in years.

Here are my favorite pics she has sent so far from her trip:

Live. Love. Visvas.