FAMILY MEMORIES!

SPECIAL MEMORIES!

Everyone that knows me knows that I'm always taking pictures. Photography is one of my hobbies and loves in life. This has to be one of my favorite moments that I captured this past week when my daughter, Canada VanderVelde and grandson was here. I was just downloading all my pictures and came across this one and the tears just started to roll down my face. It was such a special, fun filled week and hard to see them go yesterday.

I can't believe how much Henry has grown and changed since the last time I saw him. He is talking so much and the things he says just makes me laugh all the time. When we were out and about he would say "Hi" to everyone and wave. I loved how he put smiles on everyones face and stopped them in their tracks. Just seeing this little guy light up peoples life was so special. And to see how my daughter cares for him and interacts with him. I was so improessed with her. I couldn't be a more proud mother and grandmother.

It's hard to be away from them as much as I am, but I'm so happy to have these special memories. I look forward to being home this summer and more memories. In the mean time, I will have these photos to look back on and some face time.

These moments make you realize how speical and how prescious family time can be. I hope you all make the most of every moment today and enjoy your family!

My Morning Personal-Development

🌞🌞🌞MY MORNING🌞🌞🌞

"The Beautiful Thing About Learning is no One Can Take it Away From You!"

You may all be tired of hearing me talk about personal-development, but it has become such a big part of my life. By starting my morning with a life's lesson it brings so much positive energy to my day.

One of my biggest struggles is keeping from becoming depressed. Most peole wouldn't know this about me, but it's one of those hidden things I don't often share. Why do I suffer from depression sometimes? Being away from my family. My children and grandson are a day's drive away and I only get to see them a couple times a year. This is very hard knowing how much that I'm missing. I talk to them as often as I can on the phone and  we video chat sometimes, but it still isn't the same.

So I could be depressed, sit around on my coach and choose a miserable life. But that isn't me. So I lift myself up and find ways to stay poitive and think about all of the good things in my life.

Yes I'm away from my family, but I'm also helping to provide a better life for them. This was one of my deciding factors when I joined the Army was a way to provide for my family. It has added so much to our lives I'm very thankful for that. They have become very strong and independent individuals and I'm so proud of them. Life hasn't been easy.

Another postive that I have brought into my life is becoming a Beachbody Health and Fitness Coach. Honestly, this is what has brought personal-development so deeply seeded and back into my life. I'm so thankful for the tribe of women I work with and the friendships I'm building as well as the coaches I have brought into Beachbody and my customers. I don't know if you realize how much you bring to my life everyday!!☄ Thank you 👏👍 and keep brining on those positive vibes!! 😉❤

Have an Amazing Sunday! Coach Jo

Welcome to my Blog on this Sunny and Cold Saturday!!

Sunny Saturday!!

I'm sitting here today thinking what direction do I want to take this blog? What is it that I feel I need to put on paper and share with the world? What is it that burns most in my heart and mind?

This is something that I have been wanting to do for a long time and I finally decided that now was the time to make it happen. I have a journalism degree and I love writing. One of the things on my bucket list is to write a book. Today marks the time I have decided to share my life story.

I plan to post at least once a week. Probably on the weekend, but possibly more depending on time and where my thoughts take me. I have several people that have been telling me I need to put my life experiences on paper and share. Some of the things I will be writing about are life experiences, my struggles  as a single mom as well as some amazing memories for when my two children were growing up, life after joining the Army at age 40 and my new found love of health and fitness and my new journey as a coach.  One of the greatest things I look forward to sharing is life as a Grandma. I am a motivational writer and I look at life with my cup half full. I always try to find a positive or a learning lesson in most everything I do.

Since I have become a coach I have discovered so much about myself. This has also carried over into my life as a Solider and Army Officer. I have such a desire to be a great leader and set a great example for my Soldiers in the best way that I can.  I have been diving into self-development and just reading whatever I can get my hands on. I've been getting up earlier and earlier and earlier every day because there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day for what I want to accomplish in a day. I have never felt so ALIVE!! I hope to share a lot of that with you.

I have also become part of an amazing group of men and women with my new coaching business and I learn so much from them. They inspire me so much in ways it's even hard to put on paper. One of the things we recently discussed during one of our video conferences was knowing your Roles as a person. I hadn't really thought about all the roles that I play. For example: Mother, aunt, community leader, grandma, army officer, coach, fitness leader, financial provider, biker chick, etc. This really made me start thinking about what all it is that I do. I'm sure if you sat down and started making a list you would also come up with more roles than you had imagined. So now that I have discovered all these roles what do I do....I'm trying to determine what is most important in my life and where I should be spending most of my energy and my time.

So I hope you will want to follow my blog as I begin to share my life story. Possibly you will be able to relate, or something you touch our heart or help you in a time of need. I hope it will also provide you some laughter, inspiration and maybe even inspire you to do something special with your day or the rest of your life.

So until my next blog, enjoy and make it a great day!!

Coach Jo