Hello! I am April!  I'm so excited to have you here. So.. a little about me.  I am happily married to my husband Jeremy. We have two boys and are a military family, so transitions and change are a big part of life for us. As crazy as life gets, I wouldn't have it any other way. I have not always been into health and fitness. In fact, it wasn't until I had my second son that I found a passion for running. Not so much out of interest, but from pure desperation to find the body that I so desperately wanted. However, a funny thing happened as I began to run. The longer I ran and the more I accomplished, the more running became less about the run and the weight loss and more about God. You see, the struggles and the pain that came with running drew me in to God. For the first time, I learned to lean on Him and to find my strength in Him. Running was the catalyst for something so much greater than I ever could imagine. It was on those runs that I truly began to know and have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I look back on the journey that I've been on and I am so thankful for God's grace in my life as He has continuously pursued me and led me down a path that has been so incredible rewarding.  As a health and fitness coach I am now able to help women in the deepest way. It's been such a blessing to able to help women learn how to live a healthy lifestyle and create a ripple effect that impacts not only them but their entire family in a positive way. I truly believe that our focus should be on the insides; our self worth, how we feel when we look in the mirror and what we do to our bodies. To heal and overcome, we must first transform our insides. That is what this blog is about; healing form the inside out. When we take care of our insides by eating properly, exercising regularly and meeting our emotional and spiritual needs the outwards stuff will take care of itself. I truly believe that God wants to be apart of every area of our life, especially our health and fitness. It is through health and fitness that I was set free and found true freedom in Christ and I love sharing this positive and encouraging message of hope with other women. 

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Current Devotional

Moments of Impact: A 30 Day Devotional
Moments of Impact is a 30 day faith based devotional that will stir your soul, encourage your heart and teach you practical principles to help you overcome the biggest obstacles on your health and fitness journey. Join me for 4 weeks as we learn just how much God cares for us and how to apply practical tips to becoming healthier. In week 3 we will dive deeper into overcoming our biggest obstacles before finishing with how to find our true identity in Christ. During these 30 days we will laugh and cry as we find new hope and a new perspective to help us achieve great success, not just within our health and fitness journey but also our lives. Space is limited to 10 women and is Free and online. All are welcome. Message me for more info and to get your questions answered.   
November group Forming Now! Begins Nov 24th.  For more info please message me HERE

Reviews:

 I really loved the close knit feel of the group and being able to hear from and share with other women my struggles.Sometimes we can feel so alone and like we are the only ones who have struggles in our spiritual walk and our physical fitness journeys too. So knowing that I am not alone and that others struggle as well really made me realize that I am just human and many of us have gone through similar things in life. The devotionals were very relatable and easy to apply to my every day walk and gave me encouragement to start the day with my focus on the right things. I loved how there were real life examples along with the scripture for each day. - K


I would say that this devotion has really helped me with not only my spiritual walk with God, but putting God in my fitness walk as well! You really know how to express both of them! I loved it, and hope they enjoy it just as much!!! - A


I enjoyed the last 30 days! The devotionals spoke to me,convicted me and encouraged me. I loved how simple and private it was. I was able to read and share if I felt the need or simply read and get to hear from others struggling so I knew I wasn't alone. Praying for you the next set of women brave enough to take the journey and let God speak to your heart. - S



 

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Living in a house with boys, there are certain things that are a given: Superheros, wrestling and sloppy joes. When Mom decided to hop on the crazy train and start eating healthy it was bound to trickle down to my guys before too long. Fast forward almost 3 years and eating healthy is just a normal way of life for us now. They survived the transition, one slow step at a time. It first started with switching to whole wheat and not buying pop. Then I started bringing in more varieties of fresh fruits and cut out the chips. The slow and steady pace worked. Do we have it all figured out? Absolutely not! But.. as a family, we are moving in a positive direction. Will we give up pizza night and ice cream, probably not. haha It's all about moderation. With that said I love finding recipes that are healthy but burst with flavor.. to the extent you don't even realize it's healthy. Yup, foods out there exist like that. This recipe is one of our favorites: Clean eating Sloppy Joes. My boys love these and don't even realize the difference. They get to be boys and love the things boys love and mom is satisfied that there are tons of healthy things inside including a serving of veggies!

So.. try it out. Test it. I have no doubt you will love it to!


Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb lean ground turkey ($3.00)
• 1 onion, diced ($.80)
• 1 green bell pepper, diced ($.90)
• 3 Tablespoons honey
• 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 Tablespoon garlic powder (if you don't love garlic as much as me definitely go for a little less)
• 1 can no sugar added natural tomato sauce ($1.50)
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste ($1.00)
• 1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon hot sauce*
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce*
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar*
• 4 rolls (for clean eating I tried Gillian's Gluten Free  from Whole Foods, not the best but not too bad either) ($5.00)

*if you don't have these ingredients on hand you can replace with Worcestersire sauce. 

Cook the onion and bell pepper over medium heat about 2 minutes. Add the turkey, salt, pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, turkey, and honey and cook over medium heat about 10 minutes, or until turkey is completely browned (stir constantly).

Reduce heat to low and add red wine vinegar, hot sauce, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar and stir it all together. Now add the tomato sauce and tomato paste and mix until it is all completely mixed together. Cover and heat over low for 5 minutes.

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I love the mornings, at least the portion of the morning before the sun comes up. It's so quiet in a house that is otherwise bustling with life. And by life, I mean cartoons, giggles... Fighting..haha. As a mom, life with boys is a true blessing but also a challenge on some days. For some, it may be crazy to wake up at 5:30am to simply read, enjoy my coffee, and pray. However, this little time in the morning truly sets the tone for the rest of my day. As another Monday rolls around I'm reminded that even though getting up and spending my mornings with God are important there are other ways that I can honor and please God, and that is by simply living out the gifts that God has given me. The gifts and talents that God has given to us, they are blessings and when we use them we are pleasing God. That's easy enough right?! David  (Yes, from David and Goliath) praised God by tending to his sheep, leading a nation and loving his children. He did what he did best and God was honored by that. Of course, most of us don't have sheep to tend to, but we do have our families. We have jobs and talents to sing, draw, cook, create...  all of those things are blessings from God and can be used to give God glroy. As women it's tough to find the balance and to create that little bit of quiet time each day, but today I wanted to remind you it's not an all or nothing. Today I encourage you to praise God in your way, with your gifts, even if that's making PB and J sandwiches and loving on your babies. We have all been blessed and when we are aware that those are blessings from God and treat them accordingly, we honor God and please Him.

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Just a little heads up... I tend to be a little stubborn. When my husband reads this, he may just choke over his breakfast thinking.. "uh.. yeah!!" I can rest assure that I'm not the ONLY stubborn woman out there, right?!  We think we have all the answers and are doing things the right way. You should see me organizing the dishwasher after someone has filled it. I remember my mom doing the same thing when I was a kid saying.. "You can get more dishes in if you do it like this..." We've gotta be careful sometimes and conscious about checking ourselves to make sure our stubbornness isn't getting in our own way.  This reminds me so much of my health and fitness journey. I think back to the years I spent trying to lose weight. I was doing things my way.. you know, the right way but never really moved forward. I found myself often times on a seesaw, losing some weight then it going right back up. I never saw long term progress, it was a constant back and forth motion. You've been there, I know you have. We ALL have. The question is.. Why do we keep doing this and why are we never seeing results?

Yesterday as I was driving around doing my errands, I was thinking about what makes the successful people in our life successful. Do they have more luck than the rest of us or possibly were they born with some unique talents? Most likely not. The more I have studied the behavior of successful people the more I've found that they all have one thing in common and that is a TEACHABLE SPIRIT. They all are willing to put aside their pride and their stubborn behavior and seek out more knowledge; tools to help them find greater success. Turns out, not only is that accurate but it's also biblically based. The bible tells us we should have a teachable spirit, eager to grow and learn beyond where we are currently. Proverbs 13:8 says, "Poverty and disgrace come to him who ignores instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is honored." If we want to find success we have to be willing to accept instruction and even correction. Ouch! I know it hurts to swallow our pride and admit there are better ways to do things, but what if we did open our hearts to other ideas and new ways of doing things? What if they were the things that helped us move forward once again?

When it comes to our health and fitness journey, the back and forth motion can be so frustrating, frustrating to the point of failure. We have to get off the ride my friends and begin moving forward. We have to check ourselves and ask ourselves if what we are doing is actually working. Is it moving us forward or are we constantly falling back? We have to equip ourselves with the proper tools, learn new skills and often times try NEW things. Be teachable.. or as we say it in my business.. "Be a sponge".. soak up as much information and as many skills as possible to propel you forward. You can do this, be humble, be willing to try new things and most importantly be teachable!

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I've never been one to have a temper or to say hateful things intentionally to hurt people. It's safe to say that I have a sensitive heart, it's apart of my pearl personality. Encouraging and building people up just happens to come naturally for me, so when our pastor at church started a new series called "Watch your Mouth" I thought it would be interesting but not necessarily for me. Boy was I wrong! Words can be so powerful. We all know that. We've been hurt by others, simply by the words that have come out of their mouths. I mean.. who hasn't survived a elementary playground?! Sheesh, kids are cruel! We have all been wounded and more importantly, we have wounded others by our words. As I reflected on this topic this weekend and what my words said about me, I found that my words were less about hurting others and more about hurting myself. I realized that while I may not be hurting others around me with my words, I was damaging myself by my own words of defeat and discouragement. How many times have we done that? Often times we are cruelest to ourselves, we say things that we would NEVER say to anyone else. That's what I want to share with you today..

If you aren't in the loop, I recently discovered I have a back condition that has prevented me from exercising. Daily activities exhaust me and I end many nights with a heating pad and motrin just so I can sleep. Physical therapy starts soon, but it's been quite the struggle for me. I don't know why it's been so tough... but the feelings of frustration and bitterness have been a constant struggle for me. Each day I dive into the Word and find His strength, but if I'm not careful words of discouragement, defeat and frustration creep in and pour from my mouth. Today I was reminded of how powerful our words are and how they direct the path that we are on. I was reminded that if I continue to speak words of defeat that is the direction I will lead... but if I speak words of victory and healing, likewise that is the direction I will go. (James 3:3-12) How can I call myself a Christian who believes God is bigger than any of my problems and is the ultimate healer if with the same mouth I declare defeat and delayed healing? It doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?! I just wonder how many are guilty of this.. proclaiming God can do ANYTHING.. that NOTHING is impossible with God, but yet in the same sentence we declare our defeat.

Even though right now my struggle is health related, I can't help but look back to my health and fitness journey, and the long and bumpy road it took me to reach many of my weight loss goals. There were times that I would beat myself up in the mirror, critiquing and criticizing the bumps and bulge. I wonder now how much easier that journey would have been if I would have spoken life into my journey rather than defeat? I love what proverbs 16:24 says, "Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body." We can choose to use our words to hurt and discourage or we can use our words to build up and bring LIFE into all area of our lives and the people around us. Today, I encourage you to reflect on the words that are coming out of your mouth. Are they words of life and encouragements or are the hurtful and full of defeat? Lets let today be the day that we spread more love, more kindness, and more appreciate for not only the people around us, but to ourselves as well.

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I recently celebrated my 30th birthday. I think I'm still coming down from the sugar high of all the festivities, but it was incredible. God truly blessed me with a wonderful weekend with the ones of love the most. As I sit here.. 30.. and SOO much wiser **insert eye roll** I am reminded of God's grace over my life and the ways he's been moving in me, in the most powerful way. I would have never guessed that 2014 would be shaping up the way it has, with so many struggles, obstacles, and downright painful experiences. My goal for the year of running a marathon (or running any race for that matter) have disappeared and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't struggling with feelings of frustration and bitterness over what I've lost. This weekend, I looked out on the sparkling waters of the Potomac river and admired the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in the distance.. less than a year ago I was bolting across that bridge with such strength and confidence as I wrapped up my most memorarble half marathon of the year. I felt unstoppable and somehow there I was, standing on the side of the river with an aching back, simply from walking and holding my purse. I felt broken and my heart ached at what I'd lost. It was in that moment that God whispered to my heart. He reminded me that he was still there and that he has a plan for me, that it may not be the plan I had for myself, but his promises assure me they will be so much better. That's what I want to talk to you about today..

I think it's so easy to find ourselves holding on to God's promises like everything is always going to be perfect. The bible talks about if we have enough faith, God will move mountains for us. Matthew 17:20 says, "He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Do I believe that God moves our mountains? ABSOLUTELY.. but, if you are anything like me, you may find yourself wondering why the mountains in your life aren't suddenly disappearing? If we believe enough, shouldn't God be stepping in to take it all away, to restore everything back to factory setting.. or even better?! If we believe enough, shouldn't things be looking a little more rosy for us? This is when God spoke to my heart, straight through my heart aching bitterness. He reminded me that sometimes he wants to help us move those mountains...one small rock at a time. Yes, God can move our mountains but often times he wants us to have enough faith in him, to lean on him as he helps us move the mountain bit by bit.

God is a good God and he loves us (1 John 4:19), but just like any loving parent he wants us to learn and grow. As a parent we can't do everything for our children, we have to step back and let them do the work. Yes we are there every step of the way, guiding, instructing and giving support. We help them grow by allowing them to struggle a little along the way, but in the process they get wiser, stronger and more capable so when the day comes they can leave home and be successful on their own. Our God is no different. If he removed every mountain for us, it would hurt us in the long run. As a loving father, he may step back and let us work through the "mountains" in our life. Always there, givings us strength and providing us with everything we need to learn and overcome. When we are faced with these mountains, we learn to lean on him more, to have more faith and essentially grow closer to him. THAT is why he allows these things to happen to begin with. In our times of adversity, we grow closer to him.. we learn to depend on him more than anything else. It is in our toughest times that we grow the most. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." I may not know why I'm having to overcome this mountain of mine, piece by piece. It would be so much easier if he just dealt with this mountain in one big chunk. I know more days are coming that I will struggle but I know that I can rest assure that I won't take a single step alone. Every day God is with me, guiding my way and directing my path and he's doing the same for you. When we trust in God with everything we have, he will guide our ways. He will give us the strength we need to move every mountain in our life, even if it's one tiny rock at a time. He is there and we are never alone. 

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