Here's the extra special addition to our lovely hop. It's an oh-so-easy opportunity for you lovely participants of the Aloha Friday Blog hop to get some exposure to your blogs!!  What do  you have to do to enter?  Just link up to the Aloha Friday Blog Hop Below!! It's that easy!!  No extra forms or hassle, just link up!  Each week we will pick a linker to featured at random and invite you all to say ...

Aloha Hoapili translates as Hello Close Friend. So, without further ado let me introduce you to this week's featured friend ...

Nancy at Chic Boutique Blog .

Nancy blogs all about nutrition, families and life in general. Want a little taste of her blog? Check out these posts to find out what you've been missing:

Wordless about Nutrition  Cooler Totes  Chinese New Year

Now let's start hoppin'! Click on the links in the linky to visit some lovely bloggers and make new friends. Oh, and don't forget to link up yourselves!

Aloha and have a great day people!

Here's the extra special addition to our lovely hop. It's an oh-so-easy opportunity for you lovely participants of the Aloha Friday Blog hop to get some exposure to your blogs!!  What do  you have to do to enter?  Just link up to the Aloha Friday Blog Hop Below!! It's that easy!!  No extra forms or hassle, just link up!  Each week we will pick a linker to featured at random and invite you all to say ...

Aloha Hoapili translates as Hello Close Friend. So, without further ado let me introduce you to this week's featured friend ...

Sarah at The Not Quite Military Wife .

Sarah blogs all about being a newlywed mama and a military wife. Want a little taste of her blog? Check out these posts to find out what you've been missing:

Crib Training Conquered  Little Miss Soaking Up The Sun  Attempting a Four Hour Schedule

As it's the end of June our lovely June hop team wanted to go out with a bang by hosting a giveaway for you. Have a look at the lovely prizes on offer above, then enter to win via the Rafflectopter below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now let's start hoppin'! Click on the links in the linky to visit some lovely bloggers and make new friends. Oh, and don't forget to link up yourselves!

Aloha and have a great day people!

I truly needed the time off. I personally have been going through a lot in my personal life, nothing like the hell I endured in 2009 but this was pretty tough and involved a lot of soul searching and for me, really becoming on fire for Jesus.  I know a lot of you don't believe in God or in Jesus for that matter, but I've never made it a secret that I'm a Christian (I proudly proclaim it).  I'm not going to go off on a tangent here or try to make anyone feel uncomfortable, I just am sharing the hugest part of my personal life with everyone out there in the bloggy world.  If it means I lose followers, so be it.  I'm not the kind of person to shove beliefs down someone's throat or make someone feel bad, we are all sinners...not one person is free from sin and I believe that showing God's love is what I'm called to do so I just want to share all my love with all of you.  Bottom line, Jesus is the 1st priority in my life and in the last few months, I've just really surrendered my entire life to Him and His Word, Will and Way and thus have found a peace and fulfillment I never knew before.

So what have I been doing? Well, I'm still working for my parents... not the funnest job in the world but considering the company will someday be mine and I plan to take it from a small company to a large one by hiring the right people and letting them take it to new heights (in the next decade or so), I really have to start getting in to the flow with it. It's not like guys are calling at my door wanting to date and marry me and take care of Alaka'i and I so I have to do it for myself. LOL. Seriously though, there's nothing wrong with being a stay at home mom, heck, if I could swing it and get married and have a great Christian man, dude I would do it in a heartbeat but... it's not happening for me...at least not yet... and I'm not looking. I spent too many years searching for love in all the wrong places. Only had 2 boyfriends in my entire life and though the most recent wasn't as bad as the first, let's just say I'm not looking for a guy. I think IF I were to ever get a guy, it would have to be God who would bring him into my life and IF it happens, awesome, if not, must be God's will.

The hardest thing about being a Christian for me is the believing that I am beautiful. The Bible says that we are all created in God's image (Genesis 1:27) and that we are all "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14).  I do believe the Bible cover to cover, no ifs ands or buts about it... I can also look at people, all people and see their true beauty but when I look in the mirror, I fail to see it.  I think it's because of years of enduring bullying and then when I got into drugs and depression and then getting dumped by Alaka'i's "donor" and the abuse I endured emotionally and physically from him only then to get into a relationship 2 years after he left with a guy who made sure I knew I was "unworthy" and took great joy in making me feel bad about myself... It's an amalgam of years of believing I was worthless that makes it difficult for me to accept that I have worth and am beautiful.  Whoa, gettin' deep here yo!  Seriously though.. I know in God's eyes, I'm beautiful and I can see my better attributes and I know the gifts He's given me but as the world keeps reinforcing the fact that skinny and hot is what is considered beautiful and most guys (even Christian ones)also believe this, it makes it not so easy to look at myself and say "Jean, you're beautiful".  I feel like I'm lying to myself when I try.  It's a process that I have to work on and let God work on me and change my heart towards myself.  Maybe someday I'll find a guy, maybe not, either way, God's will be done.

Anywho... so I've been out and submitting my life to God, spending my time getting involved with my church, spending quality time with Alaka'i and then doing my day job.  One of the things I've been praying for is for God to be my comfort and just take the stress I feel away from me so I don't get so stressed and can better handle my hectic schedule.  He's done it and now I'm at a place where I can come back and blog.  I used to be a person who ran to food for comfort, not anymore. I know it sounds trite but I asked God to take it and He did.  I broke down in April and cried out to Jesus to be my comfort instead of food because one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control (Galatians 5:23) and I can't call myself a Christian and be an effective witness to His love in my life while I'm eating away my pain. Am I saying being fat means you're not a Christian? NO!!!  I'm saying for me, my weight is a DIRECT reflection of my spiritual health because overeating is all about me feeling bad about myself and self-hate so I had to give it to God.

About a month and a half later, I'm 20 lbs lighter (without juice fasting).  I work out 6 days a week, walking/jogging at least 5 miles and then doing more as I feel I can.  Watching my size shrink and my double chin waste away is pretty stinkin' awesome.  My goal is still far off but not as far as it used to be.  I'm thinking that by my son's birthday in December I'll be pretty close to it, God willing. The funniest thing is the food I used to feel a need for and crave is no longer appetizing to me.  Crazy but true.  I still cook regularly for my son and parents (I live with my parents...yeah...)  and I eat small portions and lots of veggies but I still eat little bits of the yummies I love to indulge in but nowhere near as much as I used to.  I try to juice at least a few times a week but I am so busy I don't have much time.  The greatest blessing for me lately is becoming active in my church One Love Ministries.  I joined the young adults group Relevant Ministries and just became a leader with them for the social media side which I'm pretty stoked about.  My son is now in the big boy middle school youth group and I am just on fire for Jesus.

All glory, honor and praise to Him!  I just wanted to give you all an update as to what's up with me and why I was gone. I am back and in a big way. I have lots of reviews, features and more coming up so stay tuned.  I just always try to be upfront, honest and real on this blog and keeping the most important side of my life from y'all would feel like I wasn't being honest. To speak boldly about my love and faith in Jesus is definitely stepping out of my comfort zone but so worth it.  Is my life perfect? No, nothing is perfect for anyone.  Am I happier? Yes, I love the Lord and I love fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I love all of you too!! Happy to be back!

Praying you all have a blessed day!

Aloha,

Here's the extra special addition to our lovely hop. It's an oh-so-easy opportunity for you lovely participants of the Aloha Friday Blog hop to get some exposure to your blogs!!  What do  you have to do to enter?  Just link up to the Aloha Friday Blog Hop Below!! It's that easy!!  No extra forms or hassle, just link up!  Each week we will pick a linker to featured at random and invite you all to say ...

Aloha Hoapili translates as Hello Close Friend. So, without further ado let me introduce you to this week's featured friend ...

Leyla at This Day I Love.

Leyla blogs all about life, love and her littles. Want a little taste of her blog? Check out these posts to find out what you've been missing:

Kiddies and Tidy Books  A Mile in Memory  A Birth Story

Now let's start hoppin'! Click on the links in the linky to visit some lovely bloggers and make new friends. Oh, and don't forget to link up yourselves!

Aloha and have a great day people!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here's the extra special addition to our lovely hop. It's an oh-so-easy opportunity for you lovely participants of the Aloha Friday Blog hop to get some exposure to your blogs!!  What do  you have to do to enter?  Just link up to the Aloha Friday Blog Hop Below!! It's that easy!!  No extra forms or hassle, just link up!  Each week we will pick a linker to featured at random and invite you all to say ...

Aloha Hoapili translates as Hello Close Friend. So, without further ado let me introduce you to this week's featured friend ...

Gertrude at The Chosen Remnant.

Gertrude blogs all about life, spiritualist and dealing with life.

Want a little taste of her blog? Check out these posts to find out what you've been missing: Dealing with bitterness Rough Days If you had the chance

Now let's start hoppin'! Click on the links in the linky to visit some lovely bloggers and make new friends. Oh, and don't forget to link up yourselves!

Aloha and have a great day people!

I haven't really posted in a couple weeks. I'm so very sorry for neglecting this blog.  I've had so much going on in my day job and in my day to day life that it left little time for writing.  Truth be told, I'm a stressed out person, super stressed out and I needed time off.  For those of you who aren't all that familiar with my blog, I'm a Christian. I don't shove my beliefs down anyone's throats but I like to share my love and devotion to Jesus and I believe that sharing Jesus' love with my readers is the priority.

Lately I've just been burdened because I feel like I can't do anything 100% because I'm stretching myself too thin and burning the candle at both ends.  I'm back to dieting and working out which depletes me at night so there's no late night blogging sessions so the blog gets neglected.  Daytime is consumed by work and my son so it's a very delicate balance and juggling act and I feel like too many balls have been dropped.  I am working on Sponsor Love posts for early next week and the Aloha Hop goes live tomorrow.  This week's hop has no co-hosts with Sarah and I as May has 5 weeks and the last week is a "break" for me as far as coding and co-hosts go.  June 7th will launch the June team of the Aloha Friday Blog Hop and I may be stepping away from it at least as a main host for awhile.  I am not sure exactly how it will work out and I'll still be sharing it on my site and doing the mass email but it will no longer be something that is "mine".

I am so proud of the Aloha Friday Blog hop, how much it's grown and how many wonderful ladies and blogs I've found because of it. I will continue to interact and love on everyone that participates but as a host, it's a lot of stress and time and I can't afford much of either it seems. I'm wrestling with issues not only with the blog but with my own personal life and walk with God and not having time to do anything right.  I apologize to any of you that are let down or upset with me for stepping back and doing this but it's something I need to do.

To those of you in the June team, don't worry, you're still co-hosts!!  I am transferring all the emails and the lists to a new email: alohahop@gmail.com so that Sarah can easily access it all.  If you're interested in co-hosting with Sarah, shoot us an email there.  Please keep in mind that the Aloha Hop is a really time consuming enterprise and that she's going to need someone willing to do the work, network and be a partner with her through it all. Sarah is one of the most amazing bloggers I know and I'm so honored to know her and to have spent the last 6 months having her as my co-host.  If she will have me, I will still be hosting in some way shape or form to help network, spread the word and email everyone but my part in it is going to be far diminished.

My blog will still be up but I really just want to post things I have a passion for and lately I feel like it's all business, no fun, all work, little about what I love.  Time for a shift in focus as I step back and let a new team bring a fresh face to the Aloha Friday Blog Hop.  Thank you all for being a part of the growth, the love and the Aloha.  My focus has to shift to Jesus, my son and my day job.  I can no longer burn the candle at both ends every day, it's just too much for me.  My blog will still be here and I'll be regularly writing on it but it will be shifted in many ways.  I want to love blogging again instead of dread it. As a result of me stepping back from the Aloha Hop, I've reduced the prices of my ads in half permanently.

Love you all.  Thank you so much for understanding.

Aloha,

Jean