The Miracle of Life

When I share my miracle baby story with others, I feel like they think I've lied to them. But that isn't the case...I just haven't truly been 100% transparent because this is a journey that's so private, and I have a lot of hurting friends.  But God is a BIG God, and He truly deserves ALL the praise in this story, so I'm sharing today in hopes that I can encourage you.


When I was 15 years old, I was formally diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS for short.  I was told that it would be difficult to get pregnant.  I was told that I could go on birth control to regulate my cycle and metformin to control my weight and all sorts of other medication to help where needed.

At 15, I didn't care.  I didn't do anything to help my body.  At 18, after I graduated high school, I made the decision with my parents to go on birth control so that I could live a somewhat normal life at college.  Ten years later, I took myself off of it with no intention of getting pregnant.  I just knew it was making me crazy...and it was.  But that's a story for a different day.

In April 2013, I started my health and fitness journey. I knew I needed to lose the "married weight" that I had gained, and it was then that I started really digging into PCOS and what it meant for my life.  I knew that one day I would want to have a family...even though the thought of having kids scared the crap out of me.  I knew that I would need to change my lifestyle in order for it to happen.

I really dug into the research of PCOS:

• Women with PCOS have a higher risk of miscarriage.
• PCOS is the number one reason for infertility.
• In pregnancy, women with PCOS have a higher risk for gestational diabetes, larger babies, and preterm birth.
• Women with PCOS have a higher risk for Type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, depression, sleep apnea, anxiety, endometrial cancer, and so much more.

Okay...great. So having a family was probably going to be difficult.  But I continued to research and I learned that I could control so many different factors if I just watched my diet and I exercised. If you've been following me on social media for very long or you know me in real life, you know that my eating has been a source of pain in my life.

From restriction and deprivation to binge eating to restriction and deprivation to binge eating...the cycle went around and around and around. I couldn't get off that carousel of disastrous behavior.  About a year ago, a food freedom course was released that I decided to take.  It was kind of like a class with some videos that I watched and really learned the why and how behind the program. I then implemented right away.  I was still so skeptical because I was allowed to eat things that I had been restricting and depriving myself of.  But I kept going with the program.

I was on the road to healing myself of so many mental aspects of the deprivation and restriction. I was on the road to healing my body.  I was on the road to leveling my hormones out.  I was on the road to feeling the best I have ever felt...inside and out.

In November 2018, I turned 30 years old.  As I got closer to that number, I realized that it may be time to start trying to have a family.  After all, I had no idea how long it would take because of all the statistics stacked against me.  We hadn't really wanted kids before...and if I'm being completely honest, I haven't had that longing to be a mom my entire life like so many women do.

**Before I share the next few things, please let me say that I am not against modern medicine. It's a great thing sometimes.  It's needed sometimes.  I am not looking down on anyone who chooses to go a different route than I have. This is simply my story.

But I knew this:  I did not want to go on any medication.  I had researched the various medications that can be used to help women conceive.  I had researched the medications that help women lose weight.  To me, the side effects were not worth it.  I also knew that adoption has never been off the table for us.  When Tyler and I were dating and getting a little more serious, I told him that I didn't know if I'd be able to get pregnant.  Thankfully, that wasn't an issue for him, but we talked a lot about adoption.  I also told him that IVF wasn't an option for me.

So back to the story...I have never missed a yearly appointment with my OBGYN.  That's the only doctor that I've ever seen on a regular basis.  I wanted to be sure that I listened to what she has had to say, any advice she could give, and for a long time, I just needed to go so that I could renew my birth control prescription.

She has always asked if we were ready to get pregnant and the answer was always "NO!!!" until October 2018.  I told her that my upcoming birthday was definitely making us consider it.  Can I just say that she has been one of the most encouraging doctors that I've ever had?!  She has never once talked to me about my weight. She has never once considered that PCOS might just be a huge hindrance in getting pregnant. She wasn't concerned about my age. She was not negative at all.  She simply said, "We don't call it infertility until you've been trying for over a year. So have fun with it."  She ordered some baseline bloodwork for me so that we would know where all my hormone levels were at, and that was it.

At this point in time, I had regulated my cycles to about every 74-76 days (this was coming from months and months and months of no natural cycle).  It had been consistent for several months, so I knew that if we started trying after my doctor's appointment, it would probably be about January before I'd need to take a pregnancy test.

I put off my bloodwork for about 6 or 7 weeks.  I was mainly just worried about my HA1C levels.  I wanted to get a few more weeks of good, healthy eating in before I went to get it done.  The day before I decided to get get my bloodwork done, I took 4 pregnancy tests...which all came back positive.

Complete shock is the feeling that came over me.  I knew on that Thursday morning that I would need to go get my bloodwork done...so I went the next day.  The next Monday, I had a call from my doctor...confirming my 4 home pregnancy tests.  I think she was as shocked as I was!

At my pregnancy confirmation appointment, I met with the NP who had looked over my chart.  She simply laughed and reminded me of how great a story I had.  She wasn't wrong, but it took several months to grasp what God had done.

HE did this.  I may have learned how to treat my body and honor Him with it, but HE was the One who answered my deepest desires.  And He is the One who continues to answer my prayers...the fact that I've been able to carry our Little Cheerio for 28 weeks so far and the fact that I passed the Gestational Diabetes test...and I didn't just pass.  I passed on the first time with 10 points to spare.

Can I just say that in all the glucose tests I've had before...none of them have come back in the normal range? They've all been slightly elevated. Yet...God answered.  He answered and He proved me wrong.

Science is a good thing.  It helps us understand sometimes.  But God is greater than science.  He is bigger than the statistics.  This little miracle of life has proven that to me time and again.

I want to continue sharing my journey...and I will.  It may take a few days, but I want to share my pregnancy experience with you.  But I felt that I needed to share the honest story on how God has worked in our lives and how Little Cheerio came to be.

The Lord is good.  He's good even when things don't work out the way we want them to.  He's good in the midst of struggle and heartache.  He is good when the prayer is answered.  He is good.  Trust in Him, friends. <3

Four Years of Missing You

Prior to Tuesday, May 19, 2015, I was so hopeful for that year.  But that morning, I got a text message that shocked me to my core.  Granny had a stroke.  A couple of hours later, I got a phone call telling me that I should come home...there probably wasn't much time.

Alone in my car for five hours as I drove across the state of Missouri, I had a while to think.  I thought of every good thing about my Granny...how she loved others, how she cared for others, how she never thought twice about doing kind things for others.  She was a servant.  I thought a lot about my own life.  Where was it going?  What good thing did I have going?  My relationship with Jesus was more of an SOS-relationship.  I called on Him when I needed Him.

At that point, my mom had been inviting me to BSF (Bible Study Fellowship). Although we lived hours apart, the study was offered in St. Louis...in several different locations.  I had looked into it, but I never jumped at the chance to go.  She continued to invite me for four years.

I remember so vividly making a decision in my car that I was going to turn my life around...quit living for myself...and I was going to work on my relationship with Jesus.  I made a commitment that day to seek out a BSF class.  Unfortunately, BSF is on a schedule that coincides with the school schedule.  So they had already let out for summer break, and I had to wait until September to join.

I got to the hospital with time to spare, because she was still talking.  Her eyes were closed, but she was talking.  Her speech was slurred because half of her body was paralyzed, but she knew who I was and she automatically asked about Tyler.  He was in Detroit that week for work and wasn't with me. I talked to her. I held her hand.  I don't know how much longer it was before she didn't respond...it may have been a few hours.

My family is large.  We are weird.  We do things differently.  But we love Jesus.  The majority of us got to be there with her at the hospital...in her room...for days.  The staff at the local hospital was very kind to us in allowing us ALL to be there.  I grew up in a small town, so most of the staff knew us anyway.  But that's one thing I won't forget in all of this...the kindness they showed to us.

Granny taught little kids at church.  In fact, the Sunday prior, she was teaching.  She also taught a Sunday School for adults with mental disabilities.  She loved singing with her kids and adults.  She loved to sing with her grandkids.

Remember how I said we are weird?  One of the first holidays that Tyler spent with my extended family, a sheet of paper was passed out with music on it.  We gathered in a circle and sang before we prayed for the meal.  I'm surprised he's still around, in all honesty!! :)

So while Granny was in the hospital, we sang to her...hymns, children's songs, our family song...we even wrote the words to her favorite hymn on the hospital board. :)  I told you...we are weird.

We didn't know what to expect. We didn't know when Jesus would call her home.  So that evening, we all prayed together before we left the hospital.  We said our "see ya laters," and we headed home for some sleep.

It was a long few days.  On Thursday, my husband finally had made his trip to me.  He arrived at Granny's house at the same time the ambulance brought Granny home.  Granny absolutely hated hospitals and doctors.  We knew that she would rather be at home.  So we got permission to bring her home with the care of a hospice nurse.

We gathered in her home with no care of how quiet we should have been.  Granny loved her crazy family, and she would have loved having us all there.  Unfortunately, it was a party to send her Home.  The girls were celebrating awaiting her Homecoming with a tea party...which she also would have loved so very much.

On Friday, May 22, 2015, shortly after sunrise (her favorite time of day), Jesus called her Home.  I was truly so happy that she was no longer suffering here. But in the months to come, I was literally heartbroken.

Fall of 2015, I joined my first study in BSF.  That year, we were studying Revelation.  If you're not familiar with BSF, it is a very in-depth study.  I had no clue what I had gotten myself into.  Fast forward to December and we moved to Oklahoma City.  I knew that I wanted to finish out the study because it was so good.  I joined a class here, and I'm so glad I did!

As I look back on what Revelation taught me...it's that Granny was in heaven with her Savior.  As much as she loved her family, she loved her Jesus more.  She wouldn't want to come back here after meeting Him.  I was okay with that.

Finding Food Freedom

I'm BAAACCCCKKK!!!!

After taking many months away from the health and wellness industry, I am back.  God called me into a season of rest back in August/September.  As I look back on the journey, I had no clue what He had planned for me. He used this time of rest to show me the many idols that I had placed in front of Him...including food. Food was all I could think about, and I was struggling with admitting it to the group of women that I was supposed to be leading.  What kind of leader is that?!

God is gracious. He is kind.  After many months of being in my personal coach's GRACEcamp and surrendering my food and thoughts to Him daily, I have been freed from the shackles that I was once wearing.  God doesn't want us to live in bondage. He came so that we may have LIFE. Jesus died for our FREEDOM.  Why do we act like we are still slaves to sin?

It is time to LIVE in our FREEDOM!!

With that said, I am SO excited to be opening up my VERY first GRACEcamp in April!  We will be focusing on the food freedom course that I have been doing and working through.  To be honest, I loved this course so much that I became a certified mentor for the program.  It's truly incredible.  Here's a little bit more about the program:

If you have followed me for any period of time, you know that I have struggled with food restriction, binge eating, and emotional eating.  It's no secret that when it comes to my health and fitness journey, I really stink at the nutrition aspect of it.

I am so excited to share that for the first time, my company has designed a "nutrition first" program. Exercise is just extra credit! This program is designed to help you get a handle on your eating habits.  There is no counting calories.  No measuring food.  No using food containers. No cutting out food groups. No deprivation or starving. The best part?  You can follow this program even when you're out on a date at a restaurant, on vacation, or at a party!

It's a solution that's effective because it was created by a woman who understands.  Not only did she lose 100 lbs on this program, she became a registered dietitian nutritionist so that she could help others lose the weight and win the weight loss war.

Ilana figured out how to eat large amounts of food and lose weight and keep it off at the same time.  She figured out that it was all in her mindset.  The system that she created allows you to feel full and satisfied while giving you strategies that can help you in real-world situations such as eating out, traveling, cravings, and more!

This is not a diet.  It's a mindset shift.

What’s the best part about this weight loss program?

The 2B Mindset is simple to follow. You will learn simple strategies to get you drinking more water, enjoying wholesome food and simple ways to prepare them. And it will shatter the myth that the bathroom scale is your enemy. It's Simple. Enjoyable. Sustainable. 

Who is the 2B Mindset for?

• Anyone who wants to lose weight — happily — so they can keep it off for good!
• Those frustrated with the deprivation of traditional diets.
• People overwhelmed with all the weight-loss products/info out there.
• Anyone challenged by junk-food cravings.
• Those for whom other diets have not been successful in the past.
• Those who feel guilt or shame when overeating.
• Those who love to eat food,
• People who love to travel but don't know how to stay on track.
• Anyone who doesn't like or want to workout.
• Those who love to workout but struggle with food.
• People who aren't seeing results with just exercise.
• Those who struggle with:
• Yo-Yo dieting
• Emotional eating
• Sugar addiction
• Scale obsession
• Portion control
• Motivation to workout

When can I enroll?

I am always enrolling new clients for this program!  It's an ongoing nutritional plan that doesn't have a start and end date.  If you would like to be considered for the group, please fill out this contact form so that I can get in touch with you!

Member Benefits:

• The 2B Mindset Program
• Grocery Shopping Tips
• Weekly Meal Ideas
• First month of nutrient-dense superfoods that support your goals
• One-year subscription to Beth's Netflix of Fitness
• Accountability within our ladies-only community
• Beth as your coach
• *All packages come with a 30-day money back guarantee.

What's Included:

• 41 videos in the 2B Mindset Program
• 21 videos to teach you the basic principles of the program, including education on food groups, what to eat and when, and real-life strategies for every eating situation (such as eating at restaurants, at parties, while on a trip, for vegans/vegetarians, etc).
• 5 videos to overcome common weight loss struggles and gives advice on weight loss challenges.
• 15 recipe videos that show you have to cook time-saving, delicious, easy, and satisfying meals in no time.
• PLUS videos on how to adapt the program to need-specific lifestyles such as vegetarian, vegan, and even pregnancy!
• PLUS there are 6 extra videos in the library that offer more in-depth training on some of the principles.
• The Getting Started Guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to get started.
• My Go-To Guide accompanies the videos and highlights key takeaways, recaps the food lists, features grocery shopping lists, and more.
• 2B Mindset Recipes which includes over 30 of Illana's favorites.
• My Tracker, which has room for 90 days of meal and progress tracking, and other key indicators that play a role in helping you achieve your weight loss goals.
• A 30 oz water bottle that has motivational reminders on it to help keep you on track daily.

Would you like to be considered for my April Finding Food Freedom workshop?  Make sure you click the application HERE and apply.  I will connect with you and see what options match your goals and financial season so that we can get you started on your journey to food freedom!

Girls Trip 2018

Last spring, my mom called me one day and asked if I wanted to go on a girls trip with her.  Did I even have to think about that answer? NO!  My answer was an obvious yes.

Tyler and I were planning our Europe trip, and she and my dad had already committed to taking care of Scout for us.  So I knew that we would have to plan around that.  Since I was getting emails from Scott's Cheap Flights Premium Membership, I suggested Ireland since that was the most recent in my inbox.

My mom doesn't like to fly.  So she politely turned me down.  About a week or so later, she came back to me and said that she wanted to go to Colorado to see her brothers and their families. If you tell me we're going to Colorado in the summer, I'm not going to turn you down.

Wait....wait....wait...

If you tell me we're going to Colorado, I'm not going to turn you down.  Colorado is probably my favorite place in the US.  Granted, I haven't been to all 50 states, but Colorado holds a lot of memories and pieces of my heart.

We went in August, and we left on a Monday morning, so my mom came to OKC on Sunday afternoon.  I did convince her to fly, and we ended up both flying roundtrip on Southwest for less than $200 total.  Y'all...if you don't take advantage of Southwest's sales, you're missing out.

We took a very early flight out, which had us at the airport at 5:30 am or something crazy.  Neither one of us normally sees that time of day. HA! But it was worth it.  We got to Denver at 7-something that morning, got our rental car, and started driving towards Colorado Springs.

I had put the car rental in my name, thinking we could do some switching around if we needed to.  We even talked about putting both of our names on the reservation.  However, that cost an extra $25 PER DAY!  It ended up being just fine, and I chauffered my mom around the state for the week.

We stopped in Castle Rock for some breakfast and shopping.  We then headed on towards Colorado Springs and made a spontaneous stop at Focus on the Family.  I'm so glad we did!  I hadn't been there since I was a little girl when my parents brought the whole family.  I didn't remember most of it, but I have so many memories of listening to Adventures in Odyssey. 

We wandered around, and it was so neat to hang out with Whit for the day.  I pretended to be a kid again, and I went down the slide. I was also excited to see that they brought back the magazine called, Brio.  This was a magazine that I loved to receive in the mail when I was in junior high and high school.  I even have a Brio Pen Pal, and we are still in touch today!

My uncle Billy and aunt Birdie live in Colorado Springs, and they were our first stop on the trip.  We were so blessed by their hospitality the few days that we stayed with them.  My cousin Jessie was also there, and it was so good to get to catch up with all of them.  We don't see them nearly enough.

Jessie was a fantastic uber driver ;) and carted us off to the Red Rocks Open Space for a morning of hiking on one of the days.  I absolutely love nature in Colorado.  I really wish the weather was cooperative enough here in Oklahoma to allow for hiking every day. That would be my choice of exercise.  There's just something about being in nature, in the mountains, that brings me closer to God. I'm in awe of the creation He made.

Looking over at Garden of the Gods.

Jessie is very observant. She was pointing out the little details, and I loved that!!

It was a beautiful day to get out and enjoy the mountain air.  We really enjoyed hanging out with them! 

On Wednesday morning, we left Colorado Springs and headed towards Breckenridge.  It just so happens that Breckenridge is one of my favorite little towns, and again, it holds a million memories for me.  We decided to head up to Peak 8 at the Ski Resort.  I'll also tell you that Breckenridge is my very favorite place to ski, but we don't ski there often because it's so expensive.  

The gondola begins at the parking lot in downtown Breck.  It's free, so we hopped on and rode to the top just to see what we could see.

We didn't stay up at the top very long, so we rode the gondola back down. Then we headed to the main street.  We had already planned to treat ourselves to Starbucks drinks. Priorities, right?!

We also knew that we were going to eat at Downstairs at Eric's.  That's our favorite restaurant to eat at, and it's such a fun atmosphere.

The town and the scenery are absolutely beautiful...no matter what time of year you visit!

I love how you can see the ski area in the background.

We stayed in Frisco for the night...it's cheaper than Breckenridge and only a few miles down the road.  It's easy access to I-70 as well.

The next day, we headed toward Estes Park. But there were several places we stopped along the way.  Georgetown is one of our favorite quick spots to stop.  It is the quaintest "village."

It's a tradition to take a picture in the middle of the street each time we visit!

We didn't really have plans on this trip.  We had a loose itinerary, and we knew where we were staying each night.  But we just stopped wherever we felt like it.  So as we were driving the back roads to Estes Park, we stopped at a beautiful sightseeing pull off.

I had never really driven in the mountains before.  The hairpin turns, the climb in elevation, the cars following too close for my comfort...that was all an adventure.

We kept traveling until we got to Winter Park.  We had decided that we were going to go alpine sliding.  I hadn't been since I was a kid, and we both think that Winter Park has better alpine sliding than Breck does.  It was actually a little more expensive than we thought it was going to be.  But hey! When at Winter Park...

We made it a challenge to see how many times we could get down the mountain to get our price per run at a reasonable number.  We ended up going down 5 times before it started raining. We still had quite a bit of driving ahead of us, and we weren't sure we wanted to wait until they could get the track dry.  So we ended up leaving.  But it was such a fun experience!!

On the chair lift up!

Here's a video of one of my runs!  If you ever get the opportunity to go Alpine Sliding, you should!  It's so much fun!

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing more about the second half of our trip!

Helpful Apps

If you are planning any sort of trip such as this, I would love to share some of the apps that we used that were really helpful.

When planning the trip, we used Trip Advisor a lot! This helped us learn which hotels would be a good option for us, and it also helped us plan activities within each city/country.

Visit a City was helpful to us, but I didn't use it a ton.

In London, we found the Tube Map to be most helpful.  This allowed us to figure out what line we were supposed to be on, where we needed to transfer, and how long it was going to take us to get there.  It worked without data, which was the best part.  However, there was some "real time" stuff available if you did have use of a cell phone plan.

I had downloaded Open Table because most of the hotels that offered Afternoon Tea hosted reservations there.  In the end, we didn't need it.

The London Pass app was helpful in planning which things we wanted to see.  But it also can host your pass there as well.  We had the physical pass because we were uncertain of how often we would need to find wi-fi.

The Gatwick Express app was helpful for us in finding times that the trains ran to and from the airport.  You can also purchase your tickets on the app as well.

In Paris, the Paris Metro app was most helpful for getting around the city.  It also told us which line we would need to be on, when we would need to transfer, and how long it would take to get to our destination.  We are both good at reading maps, so it helped to have a map of the transit of the city.

We used Google Translate for the majority of the trip.  If we didn't know what a word was, we'd type it in the app and it would tell us.  It would also tell us how to say English phrases in the language we needed.  It worked offline, but if you are connected online, you can hear them read it back to you so you know how to pronounce it.

Pocket Maps is super helpful too.  You can download maps of whatever city you need so you know where to go.

Rick Steves offers his audio guide on an app.  If you're wanting to know more, he offers guides for almost anywhere!

The SBB app was helpful in Switzerland when we were trying to figure out which trains to be on.  Unfortunately, we needed to be hooked up to wi-fi to use it.  But we'd try to plan ahead and take screenshots of our routes that we needed.

There are a lot of apps out there that can be helpful.  Find the ones you like and use them!  These are the ones we found most helpful.