That Faith Thing: It’s More than just Words and I Want to Live It.

Designed by freeclothing.co to raise awareness and bring an end to child sex trafficking. Check out their products and support such a great company!

 

With the Arnold Classic going on this weekend, I needed to wear my beloved tee shirt to raise awareness against child sex trafficking.  Specially designed by freeclothing.co when I competed in the Arnold myself.

I love that shirt, and freeclothing.co designed it for free out of their awesome hearts in the cause to raise awareness while I competed at the Arnold. A company worth supporting.

Large events like the Arnold, Superbowl, and the PGA Tour means alot of people in one place with alot of money which increases the demands of human trafficking.  While I’ve heard the argument that woman can do what they damn well please with their bodies, it’s the demand for this industry that drives predators to find even younger and more innocent victims to traumatize, to keep up with such demands.

Devastating that the average age in the United States to be trafficked is about twelve years old and as young as four.  If that doesn’t break your heart……

I wanted to help awareness to why this wasn’t ok and never will be ok, so when I attempted my first professional snowboarding tour, I carried the name love146 to work towards an end to child sex trafficking. It was on that tour where I made a huge mistake when I left my boots untied before sailing through the air for 80 feet; crushing and snapping both ankles.

My brother pushing me in the wheelchair.  Blurry, but one of the only photo’s we have.

 

In a wheelchair for months and had to learn how to walk again, I had asked a friend to train me for my first figure competition which happened to be the Arnold Classic (she later started a business called The Body Biz),  just months after being cleared to walk without crutches.

I still wanted to represent love146 although competing at the Arnold was a completely different sport than boardercross, but it didn’t matter.   I reached out to freeclothing.co to design and sell tee’s for my figure debut to continue raising awareness.  (With their good hearts, they did the design work for free, so please go support their business!)

Evelyn and Dolly who were the first to encourage me to do Figure Shows. Wearing our love146 tee shirts at the Arnold!

After the Arnold Finals: Tia Trent with First Place in the Tall Class, and me with fifth place. 

 

Although I am not competing this year at the Arnold, I will be competing at the USASA National Championships at Copper Mountain, Colorado next month.  Please be aware and do not support human trafficking, because the victims were lured as children, and the more the demands increase, the more children are lured.  It is an ugly cycle.

So I had to wear my beloved shirt this weekend as I raced to qualify for nationals in boardercross.  It was only three races ago that I was carried off that mountain in Oregon (Mt. Hood) and was bound to a wheelchair.

I would be lieing if I said I wasn’t afraid while getting back into racing boardercross.  Because of the structural damage to my ankles, it took me a long time to find a stance I can even ride comfortably.  It isn’t the ideal stance for the particular sport of racing, but its the best I can do right now, and just happy (and a tad scared) to be back on the board.

The practice runs looked like I have never been on a board since I tumbled and crashed all the way down.  But each run, I slowly gained a bit more confidence.  The feeling to overcome is one of the sweetest monumental experiences to go through.

It’s not like I do it just for that experience, but I really do want to make the most out of life.  I am inspired by the book of Ecclesiastes.  I am inspired by Christ. I hope to live my life in faith… not just talk about it. So if my actions may inspire one person, then that’s all I can ask for.  Inspire to not feel sorry for ourselves, inspire to not settle, inspire to live fully and whole-heartedly.

That faith thing…. it’s more than just words.

 

Crashing in practice runs trying to get used to being on a board again. 

A fun shot my husband took of me. 

I want to live life to it’s fullest, not to wait til I’m retired, or to look back and regret not living it to the best I could. 

My favorite action shot!  Thankful for my husband that took this and supports my love for competing!

 

My husband.  Worth waiting for and believing the best in each other. #luckygirl  P.S. Check out that bikini in the background #lifegoals

To Support an awesome tee shirt company, check out freeclothing.co!

To support love146 to work to end child sex trafficking, go here!

 

Video the day before the Arnold:

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Thankful for Gods Love Through You

Thank you for your prayers, words of sincere encouragement, and support through dads battle of ALS. Through it, I have seen Gods love through you.

 So thank you for every prayer, every good thought, and every honorable memory you have shared. 

He has been unable to speak and paralyzed for two years now of which I can’t imagine how it feels to be trapped in your own body unable to speak or move. Nor do I never want to know.

Let me use this moment to remind us all, that we have only one body on earth to live in, so honor it well and use it for good.

Garlic Keeps the Doctor Away

  
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.”

Was stated by Hippocrates, the Ancient Greek physician and also known as the Father of Western Medicine.  He perscribed garlic for ailments, and modern science confirms the benefit of it.

‘One large 12-week study found that a daily garlic supplement reduced the number of colds by 63% compared with placebo (4).

‘The average length of cold symptoms was also reduced by 70%, from 5 days in placebo to just 1.5 days in the garlic group.

Another study found that a high dose of garlic extract (2.56 grams per day) can reduce the number of days sick with cold or flu by 61% (5).’

More Here

To fight and prevent the common cold or flu, add more garlic!

Homemade Garlic Tea Recipe:

1. Chop or crush 3-5 garlic cloves 
2. Pour boiling water over cloves and steep for 10 minutes. (Use tiny strainer or French Press)
3. Remove garlic (or eat it if you can!)
4. Add one tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar for more health benefits.
5. Add honey and lemon (more the better because this is potent!)

 

Chop 3-5 garlic cloves

 
 

Pour boiling water and steep 10 minutes

 
I am actually drinking this right now, as I do any other time I get sniffles or a cold to help me push through the sickness faster. 

Due to the above, I am canceling massage appointments because the sound of sniffles isn’t relaxing during your session, because I prefer not to share any germs, but I will also smell like garlic after this potent concoction!
So when you drink this, best to do when you don’t have to be close to people for obvious reasons. Don’t forget to add lots of honey!

To check out how garlic can also help lower blood pressure, cholesterol, lower risk of Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia, improve athletic performance, and improve bone health, read more here.

Continue to choose more natural ways for your health, this being one of them. 

Your Story is Helping Mine

While sharing your story of how you grieved, it’s helping me along my journey, too. Thank you.  No matter what life may throw your way, ask God to keep your heart soft, never allow it to be hardened.

For nothing can grow in a hardened heart.

I closed my eyes, asked God to help prepare my heart, and took a few deep breaths before playing the song I have never heard before, In God’s Time, by Randy Houser.  A friend sent it the day I shared about our miscarriage.

In God’s timing, my husband and I look forward to starting a family soon, but for right now, it’s allowing space to simply grieve.

It’s easy to wish away the pain, except that is exactly where He meets us the most.  And that is where I am now.

After sharing about going into labor four weeks after the baby’s heart stopped beating, it was then I could hear how others grieved.

“Some of the things that helped me grieve healthily is to quit holding back tears.  The more I cried, the more I faced reality of the situation, the more I talked about it, and let it flow with people who love me, the better and better I felt.” – Carrie.

In less than a week, at least a dozen friends have shared their own story.  I must admit that hearing their stories are helping me grieve my own.  So thank you, to each of you that has shared and encouraged me.

“My miscarriage really helped me learn to trust Him.  Funny how that works, huh? I don’t think I even slightly fathomed the concept of ‘in my weakness, He is strong” until then.  I’ve never felt so broken or dead inside, but he brought me back to life.  And now, when I wonder about that little life, I like to imagine him or her snuggling up and reading books with Grandpa in Heaven.  It brings me peace and makes me smile.”- Beth

The tears began streaming to hear Beth’s faith; to hear how God brought her through a time where she had never felt so broken or dead, but then felt brought back to life.  Many of us get stuck in that place of being broken or feeling dead, but don’t work through trusting to come out on the other side, and simply remain there, in that place of untrust, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness.  The list goes on.  But to hear my old friend I haven’t seen in years share the LIFE of coming out by trusting Him.

I remember years ago asking God to show me the beauty in suffering, and now He is showing me the beauty through grief. The stories I am hearing, the feelings I am feeling all may hurt, but all so beautiful.

I want to be in the presence of God and walk through the place of brokenness and grief instead of skipping over it.

“It is just a pain that we have to go through.  You can’t go around it and you can’t shortcut it.”- Maggie

Maggie encouraged me that it was ok to hurt, and it’s ok to love someone you never knew.  That grieving for your child is an expression of love.

It is an expression of love to grieve?  I never thought about it that way, but continued to help me through my own journey. To simply be ok to grieve.

After many years of walking through inner healing and helping others through theirs, I should know better not to try to skip over this one. The healing power of Jesus is in the present, not trying to fast forward.

Thank you for all your love, prayers, encouragement, and your own stories, for it’s helping us seek God even more. He does have a bigger plan beyond our own and we will not lose faith.

 

 

 

When We Hoped to Share Good News but Turned out Painful

We were once excited for this season to make an announcement that we were expecting a baby but instead these past few months have been relying on God to work through pain and grief.

Miscarrying four weeks prior, I was on schedule to have a D&C in a few days since I was still carrying the baby.  Prayer and meditation helped me through as the pain and cramping kept getting worse.

As I was meditating through the pain, the nurses and the on-call physician advised me and my husband to rush to the emergency at St. Anne’s, where they took me directly back to a room covered and soaked in blood.

The I.V.’s were started in both arms, and I continued to meditate and answer the medical questions as best as I could. 

“Well, you are three centimeters dilated and in labor….. You are in labor.  That is why you are in pain.”

The doctor peeked up from ‘down there’ with all these tools, and cradled a phone in her ear to report to the surgeon on call. Within an hour I was under anesthesia for an emergency D&C.

I was dilated three centimeters?  And in labor?  I didn’t realize that was a possibility being that I had miscarried four weeks ago.  At this point, I was pregnant for eleven weeks. 

Prior to going into labor (which seems so odd to say), the doctors were not concerned about the miscarriage because they are quite common.  They believed me to be healthy and explained that losing the heartbeat had nothing to do with my health, but that it’s simply a common thing.  

“Sometimes it’s just Mother Nature’s way of saying that this pregnancy isn’t going to work.  If the DNA does not line up perfectly, the woman’s body is designed to naturally abort the baby.” 

It made sense when he explained it like that, and that perhaps the baby was sick.  He continued, “Now, if this would happen three times in a row, then I would consider testing for underlying issues.”

I closed down emotionally, shrugging it off as something normal.  I didn’t go through any grief.  But then a dear friend that is also a Spiritual Director encouraged me to grieve.

“Bailey, it’s still a loss to grieve.  It was still a life.”

I didn’t think of it that way, because grief hurts, ya know?  I even choked back tears when she said it. But it doesn’t mean I need to ignore the grief.  I didn’t need to wail in a corner, but simply allow myself to acknowledge grief.

I can’t say that I have really allowed myself to acknowledge it.  It’s easier to just block it and deem it all normal and get back to where I was.

It was in the middle of playoff season for the Columbus Crew SC who won the Eastern Conference Championships and was getting ready for the MLS Cup Final.  I am the team massage therapist and this was during the most critical point of the season. I needed to focus on each one of those players to give everything I could to help them succeed, to help them recover, to help them maximize their performance and deal with injuries. 

As an athlete, you need to focus on the goal, and I wasn’t about to distract them by sharing what I was going through for over a month.  They were all living a moment of a lifetime experience which I was honored to be part of, not to distract from.

I put a smile on my face each day, wearing at least two layers of pants and extra protection, and then extra-extra protection in a gym bag where there were times I needed to run out of the training room.  

We never announced that we were pregnant, so please don’t be alarmed you didn’t know.  Even our family and closest friends were shocked to hear that I was in labor and being wheeled back for an emergency procedure, and we asked for their prayers.  They didn’t know we were expecting, as we were waiting to announce. 

We are thankful for the prayers from family and friends. Thankful for the friends that shared their heartache of similar experiences, and followed up with me daily to make sure I was healing and emotionally well.

I was even more thankful for my husband who more than understood, but was compassionate, patient, and loving.  He held my hand and was willing to do anything to help. We were heart broken, but know there is still hope.

As many have asked when the next show is;  I won’t be training for Figure Competitions until we start a family.  There is a time for everything, and being ripped and shredded isn’t one of them in this period of life. People often ask, so only God knows when the next show will be.  However, to quench my competitive thirst, my new snowboard will be arriving shortly to race boardercross again (I don’t have to be ripped for that!). 

Thank you again for your prayers through these past few months.  God has a plan for us, and that matters more than anything, and we will keep Him as our focus.  He’s there through the pain, through the grief, through the suffering, as much as He is through the success and celebration.  

Through everything and in all things, I am thankful for what God is doing in my life.  Not just in the good times, but even in the harder times.

#bethankful

1 Thessalonians 5:18

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cherished Moments

I choked back tears today while making my way to the fresh produce section of the store when I saw a man patiently wait in line with a mountain bike to buy.

In my thoughts, I got excited for the person who could be the lucky one to receive it. The lights in his or her eyes when they would see it.

I couldn’t help but reflect on the moment my brother and I came home from school to see new bikes waiting for us in the living room. There is a photo of us somewhere, and half of me was airborne to jump on it out of excitement.

We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, even with Dad working two jobs, but he would do anything to have moments with us to see our eyes light up too.
Whether it was a new bike, hikes, vacations, spinning us until we were so dizzy we couldn’t stand up, or tickling us until we nearly peed our pants (which I did a few times). 

It’s hard seeing Dad struggle with ALS, being paralyzed and unable to speak for two years now. The responsibilities Mom probably never expected, or the fate Dad would have never wanted. 

We all see a deeper faith in both Mom and Dad than ever before, if only they knew. 

What we don’t know, is when it will be our last Christmas, or our last day, or our last breath.

Thank you Dad, for that bike. You and Mom even put pom-poms on the handles like every little girls dream. 

A Life Lesson I Learned from Buddy the Elf

  
‘Bye Buddy… Hope you find your dad,’ Mr. Narwhal rose out of the icy waters of the North Pole when Buddy the Elf began his journey to find the dad that didn’t even know he was born. (Mr. Narwhal Ugly Christmas Sweater on Etsy here.)

There is a long list of reasons of why I love this movie so much, but my newest reason is the life lesson I got out of a hilarious flick.

What seemed like such an innocent mission turned disastrous as Buddy was rejected over and over again by the man he called Dad. He thought he could meet him and first make snow angels for two hours, go ice skating, and then eat a whole roll of Tollhouse cookie dough as fast as they can, and finish off with snuggles.

While Dad was on the ‘naughty list’, not wanting any part of the deranged elf man, and was more concerned with his work and making money. 

 

By the way, i make this face with every cup of coffee I drink, hoping I will someday convince myself to like it.

 
Little did his dad, Walter Hobbs, have any idea that the answer to his problem, was exactly his problem…. Buddy.

While we all want to avoid and ignore our problems, usually that is where an answer waits us.

By the end of the movie, Walter realized he was a terrible Dad and needed to finally learn to put his family first. Because of it, he lost his job as a children’s book illustrator, but gained riches instead.

He was able to start his own company with Buddy’s very own story of how he traveled through the land of candy canes in search of his father. 

It took finding an opportunity within the problem instead of avoiding it, even with all the frustration, and losing his job.

We sometimes need to lose something to gain something.

He lost his job, but instead gained a family and a more satisfying career.

I know for myself, I can be so driven I keep forcing myself forward, but sometimes I just need to sit in my problem or frustration and look at it as an opportunity.

We learn and grow from moments like that.

Learn and grow from problems, dont run away from them!

 
I’ve gone through years of professional training to learn, apply, and teach, and years of healing to face my own fears, wounds, and heartaches. The awesome thing is we never stop being put in situations to learn and grow from or to be healed of.

Answers can be found there, and it’s all part of a story.  

Reflect on your own life and where it’s frustrations and problems are. There is a story there, possible redemption there, be willing to learn and grow from it.

And don’t forget to smile, because smiling is your favorite!

  

  

And don’t try to hug wild raccoons.

The Most Adventurist and Laughed at Car that I call Mine. #paidoff

  

 

My car has been such a champ! I have driven it to, from, and through the Colorado Rockies multiple times, to the east coast for surf trips, and last minute beach camping trips. 

It has taught many non-stick-shift drivers how to drive a standard and has loaded many snowboards on its roof since 2006. 

   

It squeals so loud, I’m sure it wakes and annoys the neighbors (sorry guys). It has blown out multiple domelight’s, headlights and taillights. It has taken out a few construction cones, and has a ventured some off-roading as much as a dirtbike-like engine could do in this little four-cylinder car. 

It has sweetly earned the love and adoration of Europeans, being one of the smallest cars they have seen in the States before the Smart car was introduced. 

It is carried my massage table to many homes, Hilton’s, The Loft Hotel, Crowne Plaza, and Hyatts for therapeutic massages and spa parties. Parked in the drive of many mansions, paid the valet and tipped the concierge’s more than enough to make me realize I actually didn’t get paid much at all after giving it all away. 

It comforted us beach campers late at night when a lightning storm demolished our tent, to give us cover until surf rose in the morning.

It has pretended to appear like a jeep, with its fog lights, spoiler, snowboard rack since I first bought  with only 21 miles on it. (Not really a jeep but I pretended it was… And is.)

It witness the OSU pharmacy building roof catching aflame from yet another lightning storm. Prior to, parked in a lot to admire the beauty of the flashes and patterns of rain hitting the pavement. In awe of Gods power and then the show really lit up on that building. I heard that cost OSU a lot of money to repair.

It has fiercely parallel parked like no other with its short status within the tightest spots of Columbus and downtown Denver. 

And I have cried many tears driving through states, through breakups discouragement failure and even success. 

It has picked up a few hitchhikers and saved A few stranded on the side of the road.

It saved its owner from expensive resort lodging by parking in below zero weather in the freezing winter months. Thanks mom for that sub zero sleeping bag. If you knew I planned doing this, you probably would have never bought it!

  
It even found itself on the wrong way of an exit ramp in downtown Columbus. Gosh that was embarrassing. 

It’s been laughed at in it’s old-age with screechy sounds throughout the most elite of neighborhoods, and of its rust patches, and duct tape mirrors. 

It’s also been paid off for five years leaving me with no car payment to ever worry about. 

Last night, I thought it breathed its last breath of fuel, as it stalled and mid intersection, steering control and everything. 

Praise God it was still guided to the shoulder on my way to a massage appointment, the dashboard lit up like Christmas trees with all the check engine warnings. 

That it may be its last day, but it started right up as of ready to start the day again. When will it be it’s last breath?

Someday we will find out but I sure hope it isn’t in the middle of an intersection.

National Championship is a story all in itself.

Until then, peace out– its time to meet my family to watch the new Star Wars. I am so happy my eyes filled with tears to watch a preview. #nerdalert 

Start loving the little things in life.
  

Letting Go to Enjoy More Life

 

I had a revelation while giving a massage, that people think they need to take on so much pressure to get relief. So much pressure, they are tensing and squirming but don’t want to let go, which is so silly. There can be many reasons why they choose to take the hard way, but my job is to come in and train their minds and bodies differently.

The answer lies in learning how to connect your mind with your body to learn how to let go instead of taking on more.  

 

This needs to be applied to life. That many of us, (myself included) try to see how much we can load onto our own backs of which we are not created for, instead of letting go.  But what if we choose to let go? You get a better massage for one…. and a much better life FULL of good stuff, not just responsibilities and work.

We keep bending and bending until we break, which causes stress, disease, and illness. Not to mention lessens our quality of life and simply being unsatisfied.  We keep taking on more because we have it stuck in our minds that the more we do and the busier we are, it defines our importance and value, which is also where our minds need to be trained and transformed differently.

The truth is that seeing how much we can take on actually takes away from our importance,value, and mysteries we are yet to discover.    The less we are loaded down, the more we can just BE, the more we can just live, the more we can do what we love, be with who we love, achieving goals, traveling the world,  going after dreams, and discovering mysteries (my favorite!).

It’s the art of letting go to tap into your best.

With learning to let go, we can be more of who we were created to be, destined to be, and who our hearts crave to be but we can’t see it through the muck of being so damn busy.

So instead of trying to take on more, the answer really lies in letting go. Whether it’s letting go of busyness, addictions, fears, obsessing what others think of us, or that daily latte. We all have them, big or small.

Spend some time reflecting on your life, seeing how busy you really are and what you really need to let go of. I know I am.  I know I don’t want to keep loading up my plate and carry all this tension. I want to live life, not be weighed down because of what I sign myself up for.

What are you still holding onto that weighs you down to keep you from moving forward? What do you need to let go of?  I know I will be praying about the same for myself!