So True!

To read the latest parallelism of quilting and life, click here.

I love my sister! :)

Blessed.

That is how I feel right now.
I am so thankful for all the blessings in my life.
This Thanksgiving holiday was incredible. I spent Wednesday at my aunt and uncle's house here in Arlington along with my mom and dad while Dan was at work. We spent the day cooking for our annual big extended family Thanksgiving held at Northwood University in Cedar Hill. What a blast we had...cooking, laughing, catching up. The highlight of the evening was when my cousin who serves in the Army arrived from the airport. How blessed we were to have him home.
Thanksgiving Day was full of family, food, fun, football....and rest. Amazing.
We wrapped up the weekend by going to the North Texas Youth Convention at the Hyatt Regency in Dallas. I love to see young people go after God hardcore....and give! Give of themselves at the Dallas AIM trip and give in the Speed the Light offering the last day...almost $45,000! Absolutely incredible.
Blessed, indeed.

Minor Setback

I had a really good week at Slim 4 Life two weeks ago. I had lost 4.4 pounds and was only ounces away from 70 pounds, literally.
....And the closer I am to 70 means I'm that much closer to 75. (Dan promised me a surprise when I got to 75, FYI.)
I was super excited that Friday! I couldn't wait until I weighed in again on the Monday before retreat. I was thinking...could it be I would possibly be able to hit 75 before the retreat?
Um....NO.
I gained three pounds on that Monday weigh in!
THREE POUNDS!!!
Devastation. I really did not know how it happened. I mean, I had a bite off of Dan's plate, but that's not out of the ordinary. So I went back on Wednesday and had lost a pound of it.
Okay, I can deal with that.
Then Friday before I left for retreat I went to weigh in again.
I GAINED ANOTHER THREE POUNDS!
And I know I didn't cheat this time.
The only thing I can think of is that I had gone to work out and lifted weights before both of those weigh-ins. I don't think I'll be doing that again. I'll just stick to the cardio. Maybe that will work.
Anyway, I hated it because then that really meant that I had to be an angel at the retreat.
I can honestly say, I wasn't a complete angel, but I did not eat one square of chocolate or consume one iota off of that snack table. Not one bite.
The only thing I did have was a helping of the amazing chicken salad Shaunna made. Then one time I put some creamer in my coffee...but I made sure it was the sugar free kind. So that's not really cheating.
And it paid off!
I weighed in Monday morning and I lost 4.2 pounds! I think that trek Rhonda and I took up that steep hill probably had something to do with it, too!
The retreat was amazing, by the way.
Simply amazing.

Excited!

...to see me some SAF peeps!
Can. Not. Wait.

YAY!

My sister has joined the blogging world!
Stacy is a ridiculously talented quilter, mostly self-taught. She has started her blog to post tips, shortcuts, and a bunch of other stuff about quilting! She's just getting started with the whole blogging thing, but I know she will have some great stuff to come!
Way to go, Sister!

He almost made it

...to be 100 years old.
My last grandparent went to be with Jesus on October 17, at 99 years of age. One of the ministers at the funeral said that since we believe in life at conception, he DID make it to be 100 years old. :) Of his parents, brothers and sisters, he was the longest living member of his family.
It's strange to think that the generation of my grandparents is all gone. I should have listened to their stories better. I should have learned more from them.
Before the arthritis in his hands caused him to stop, Pa loved to make knives. Pocket knives, hunting knives, any kind of knife you could think of, he would try to make it. He liked to use different types of material for the casing, as well. One series of knives he made the casing out of deer antler.
Below are a few pictures of the last time I was with him and some pictures of the knife he made for me. It is a real, operational lock-back knife, but it's only about 1 1/2 inches long, blade open. Did I mention he wore a size 14 ring? I don't know how he did it with such large fingers, but one thing about my Pa was that once he got his mind on something to do, he was going to do it.
Now...I did learn that.

Another First

When was the last time you had a HUGE smile on your face as you were trying on clothes?
Hmmmmm....yesterday!

After church, Dan and I just wanted to do some dreaming and have some fun. All my clothes are pretty big on me, so I've had to come up with some creative ways of 're-inventing" old outfits. I don't really want to spend a lot of money on clothes because I'm not staying in one size for very long. However, since I haven't bought a lot, I haven't really been sure what size I was at.

I haven't been able to shop at a regular department store in a couple of years. Okay, let's be real...probably the last ten years. Not even the plus size section in a department store. I had "moved on" to the extended sizes of the specialty shops. So it was a big deal yesterday when he asked me where I wanted to go try on clothes at, and I said, "Macy's." (Side note: I actually said Dillard's first, but we ended up going to Macy's. Totally not important...just free information.)

So, we went to the plus size section and I started picking up items. I chose a size that I didn't think I would be able to fit into, and...you know where this is going...all but two items fit! You have know idea how excited I was. I could not get the smile off of my face in that fitting room!

Another first, indeed!

(For perspective's sake, I'll just say that the last time I wore that size was circa 1996. Whoa.)

A First

Back in June, I joined a program called Slim 4 Life to lose weight. In Texas, I think they are primarily in the DFW area, but they are in other states as well.
I am not gonna lie, the program is hard. And costs money. In fact, I'm sure I would have probably quit already if I didn't have a "vested interest" in seeing it through.
But it works.
Of all the diets I have started and stopped, I have probably lost about 1000 pounds. But for the first time ever in my life, I have lost 50 consecutive pounds since June. Of course, there were days that I gained a couple of ounces here, or gained a pound there, but it always came back off.
I am so thankful for this opportunity. Every day I wonder why I didn't start and stick to something sooner. I think of all the time that I wasted being miserable. Don't get me wrong...I'm not finished. I still have quite a bit more to get to my goal, but every milestone is worth celebrating.
If you are miserable, don't wait anymore. Don't waste anymore time. I don't care if it's Slim 4 Life or Weight Watchers or Curves or counting calories on your iPhone or walking every day or whatever it is. It doesn't matter. Just do it. Today.
The results you see won't only be in your body, but also in the way you see things, the way you respond to problems, and the realization of the way you cling to things that "comfort" you.
It's a wild ride.
Well worth it.

Here are a couple of pictures. I'm just gonna first say that I H.A.T.E. the first picture. Not just because it's the "before" picture, but seriously, the only good thing about that picture of me were the three other people I cut out of it when I cropped it. Just saying.

After all that....

I dropped the choir class. :)

Evidently, I unknowingly did the process backwards. You are supposed to audition openly for one of the two choirs they have on campus. They choose which choir you will be in for the semester, then you add that choir class to your schedule.

I chose the class that fit into my schedule and went to the audition thinking that I was auditioning for that choir alone.

They chose to put me in the choir that did not fit into my schedule.

I sent a very nice email to the director, thanking her for letting me audition but that it wasn't going to work out with my schedule. She very quickly replied with an "Aw, shucks....Buh-Bye" type of email, and we were done.

The good news is that I spoke to financial aid, and I don't have to replace the class! So not only do I not have to worry about another class, I got the refund for that class!

Double blessing!

A Fish out of Water

...well, that's how I felt, anyway.

I needed a one hour credit course for the semester to satisfy my financial aid requirement. I had already taken weight training, and the other sport activity options didn't really suit my fancy. I'm not really a martial arts or scuba diving kinda girl.

So, I started looking at other subject courses, and, unsurprisingly, my eye wandered over to the music division. I spotted a choir class that was one hour credit and fit into my schedule, so I added it to my registration shopping cart and considered the matter taken care of.

....Until last week when I got an email from the music department informing me that I was receiving the email because I had signed up for one of the two campus YEAR LONG choirs that requires an AUDITION on the specified dates given on the website. Follow this link...yada, yada, yada.

I tried looking for another one hour class, but by this time they had edited the course offerings since it was the week school started. So, I signed up for an audition, thinking that if something else came open, I'd go for it.

Well, yesterday was the day of audition. I had to prepare a one minute excerpt of a song and sing it classically, then they would go through scales on the piano to see what my range was.

I've been through all of this before many moons ago when I went to college the first time. I did the whole marching band thing in high school, and I've been singing for, like...oh....MY WHOLE LIFE!

Don't get me wrong...I know there's a difference between singing for fun and singing classically. But it's funny to see how people react to a "non-music major" coming to audition for a university choir. I'm standing outside the door of the audition room with about 5-6 other people waiting for their turn.

At first, they look at you while they try not to look at you.
Then, they decide to be nice and introduce themselves to you because they might have to be stuck next to you for the semester.
Next, they try to "size up" the competition by asking things like
"What part do you sing?"
"Do you sight read?"
"Are you a music major?"
When they find out I'm a nursing major, they say, "Oooooooh......that's cool."
Pause.
"What made you try out for the choir?"
In other words, "Why are you here?"

By the time I get into the audition room, I was surprisingly frazzled. I didn't think my nerves would be that bad, but I guess it just got to me. The director asked pretty much the same questions as the students. I had chosen to sing part of a classical version of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" that I had sung in a recital about 16 1/2 years ago. Because I was frazzled, I didn't think it was my best, but the director was visibly pleasantly surprised that I wasn't terrible. She said that there shouldn't be any reason why I couldn't be in the choir, but they would send the email confirmation Sunday, after all of the auditions were completed.

Ay, ay, ay...what did I get myself into???

The calm before the storm.

Kind of an ironic statement seeing how it is currently raining outside.

My world right now is calm. I'm sitting at Starbuck's just chillin' while Dan is at work. I could probably be doing a million different things right now, but I choose to be calm at this moment because I can.

No work schedule today.
No homework today.

School starts tomorrow.
I'm ready, though.

I can't believe that I started school a year ago.
One year, 5 A's, 3 B's, and 1 C ago.
WOW.

God is so good!
He is so faithful!
He takes care of us in the biggest and smallest of ways.
What a mighty, gentle Savior I serve.

I hope I look like my Father

The older my husband gets, the more he looks like his dad.

But, last night...I don't know what it was...maybe it was the extra stubble on his cheeks and chin from not shaving the last couple of days at camp...or maybe it was seeing him for the first time in a few days that really made me aware of it.

We were having a serious conversation, sitting across the table from one another, and I just blurted out, "Wow! You look so much like your dad today!"

Tears filled his eyes and he said, "That's funny because I am really missing him right now and wish he was here. He would understand."

The reflection of his father was most evident to me during a time of uncertainty and confusion for Dan.

How does the world see us in our times of uncertainty and confusion? Do they still see the reflection of our Father in us, even when we may not "feel" on top of it?

I want to look like my Father every day, but I hope that the resemblance is stronger when I need Him the most.

A Change of Pace

Most of my time at the youth department is spent doing all-things-camp, which is not surprising...seeing how I was hired as a camp assistant.
But one day this week I got to do something a little more creative with just an idea of the end result.
Earth-shattering....no, but a nice change of pace.

...and satisfaction that my boss said it was just the look he wanted.

Not bad for a "newbie."

Memorial Day

I am thankful for...

...my Granddad Earl W. May who flew on B-52 bombers during World War II. As we were going thru his things after he passed away, we found his Army uniform with his original orders still folded in the inside pocket.
...my husband's PaPaw Clinton Elliott who was blinded in World War II when a Japanese plane purposely slammed into the USS Lexington on which he worked as a gunner and mechanic for the Navy.
...my dad L.D. Hinson who served as a military policeman in the Army in Germany during the mid 1960's.
...my dad's sister Colene Hillyard who served in the Army during the 1970's and 1980's. She broke her back in two places as well as her jaw while stationed in Germany.
...my dad's brother Roscoe Hinson who served in the Marines in the 1970's.
...my cousin Deric Lane who served as a cook in the Army in Korea when 9/11 took place.
...my cousin Beaux Lane who currently serves in Iraq.

What an amazing heritage I have. I am honored to call you family. I have this beautiful day off to honor all those who work this day to ensure the freedom to have this day off is protected. Thank you to all who have served and currently serve our country well.

On a break...

...from my Drugs and Behavior class. I'm taking a MayMester class that is two weeks of lecture, then the final. Every class time is almost four hours, so he gives us a 30 minute break in the middle. Good thing...I'm on information overload! There are two tests and a small project. I made a B on the first test, and my project is almost done.

If you remember from a previous post, I mentioned that I needed a 78 on my final (the day of Fine Arts) to make a B in statistics class. Well, in case any of you are dying to know, I ended up with a C in the class. I will admit, I was a little disappointed because I really wanted to be Superwoman and pull off a B despite the busy weekend, but in reality, I'm just happy I passed! :)

Started work at the district office officially this week. They gave me the sweetest little vase of yellow tulips for my desk! It was very unexpected and most thoughtful!

Okay...break is over now. Some of my fellow students are way too eager to learn about certain drugs and their behaviors. Today is alcohol day. Sheesh.......

Wedding Guest

After Fine Arts was over, I was sitting at the table with my friend Janelle, talking about a wedding of some of our friends that was going to take place in the next few weeks. Janelle and her husband Kyle were both going to be in the wedding party, along with their daughter, who was going to be the flower girl.

We were joking about what they were going to do with their son Tyson while they were all in the wedding. I told her that he could just sit with us. She'd be walking down the aisle, and just plop him in a seat with us as she walked by. We had a good laugh about it. I did tell her that he seriously was welcome to sit with us if her parents weren't going to be there or something else came up. I didn't think much more about it.

Until last week when I was in class and get a text that said something to the effect of, "I know we were joking at Fine Arts, but can Tyson really sit with y'all at the wedding?"

Of course!

So here are a few pictures of our adventure with Tyson at the wedding. We were seated at round tables, which made it a little easier, to tell the truth. We were all set up with Batman, Spiderman, and Mr. Tennis Ball, but the iPhone won out.

He was so good. At the reception, Kyle came to the table and said, "Tyson, you wanna come sit with us now?"

Tyson sweetly said, "No."

It was so cute, but I felt really bad! :/


Photo by Tyson



Photo by Tyson



Dan getting Tyson set up with a game on my phone.



Tyson going to TOWN on that game. It's amazing how fast they catch on.



Mom (Janelle) and big sister Mallory



Peek-a-BOO!!!

Fine Arts and Finals

Since I dropped down to part-time at Kirkland's, Dan and I both have been so excited about me being more involved with the North TX district Fine Arts festival. Because it's always been on Mother's Day weekend (yes, I know it's the worst weekend to have it), I have always been required to work on that Saturday of the festival. I've helped print/separate score sheets, send out letters to evaluators, evaluated on Friday night, but I've never been able to be there the whole weekend....until this year!!!

Or, so we thought....

The first day of this spring semester, we are at the end of my first statistics class and my professor says, "Oh, and by the way, you need to keep Saturday, May 8th, open from 12:00-2:30. That is when our final will be."

Really?!

REALLY?!

And right in the middle of the day. Of course, this is the one time when I wouldn't mind it being at 8:00 in the morning, but they schedule it at noon?! What's up with that?

Anyway, it is what it is. Not sure how I did. I needed to make a 78 to make a B in the class. Truthfully, I'm not sure I did that well, but we'll see. I won't know anything until grades come out in about a week.

On a better note, Fine Arts was awesome!!! :)

YEP! That just happened!

Today I was standing by the counter at work, and my attention was caught by a family shopping near the counter area. The mom and older kids were shopping around, and the dad was holding the youngest, about a year old. He started tossing her up a little in the air, and she just laughed and giggled. It was so cute.

Then it happened.

My coworker who was standing behind the counter saw me watching them and then asked:

"Do you have grandkids?"

I said:

"Girl, I don't even have kids, yet."

What I wanted to do was smack her upside the head.

She always rubbed me the wrong way, anyway.

It's Almost Over!!!

...this semester!!!

January seems so long ago, yet it has flown by! I'm taking four classes this semester: chemistry (which I'm holding a solid B in...YAY!), Texas politics (unless I bomb the final, I should get an A), technical writing (the biggest waste of time this semester, but again, unless I bomb my last presentation, I should get an A), and statistics (praying for a B).

Fine Arts is like two weeks away! There is SO much to do, so last week I went up to the district office to help Rachel after school. That will continue one or two days a week until Fine Arts is over.

We had a workshop in Texarkana last weekend. It went really well. Made some good connections with students and the youth pastor there. Dan will be going to Tyler this weekend for a workshop/rally there. If you remember, say a prayer for direction for us where Ready Now is concerned. That's really all I'll say about it. We just need direction.

Work is going pretty well. I only work one or two days a week, which is bad financially, but great for school. I will be taking a May-mester three week class after spring finals, then a class during the first summer session. Even though it will be hectic, I will also be working part time at the district office in the youth department. It is a temporary summer position to help Rachel with data entry for camp...and various other things, I'm sure. I'll probably still work for Kirkland's like one day a week. Will I ever be able to let it go??? Just kidding. Since this is a temporary position at the D.O., I don't want to totally give it up because I'll pick up more hours in the fall again. We'll see.....

And, yes, I know.....I totally fell off the wagon on updating you on our weight loss situation. We had to drop out of the Biggest Loser competition because of schedule conflicts with workshops. I have maintained my weight loss, but need to get back into the regimen. Dan, on the other hand, has been dropping weight like crazy. Since August, he has lost over 50 pounds! I'm so proud of him!

The steps of a righteous man.....

If you have ever been in a situation where you've doubted the handiwork of the Lord, you need to read this.

This is the blog of our DYD. He and his family have just gotten back from China to pick up their adopted daughter Chloe. We've been following his blog, and it's all amazing. But this particular entry is God showing off fancy.

What a man, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man!

Dear Lord,
Thank you so much for a wonderful husband.
Not only did he go to the grocery store to pick up things we needed for the week, he also had my prescriptions filled for me that I was going to get tomorrow, along with more tissues.
But most of all, Lord, he didn't even complain when I asked him to pick up the item that all men at least inwardly cringe at when asked to pick up said item.
A good man, indeed.
Bless him, Lord.
Amen.

Random pics

Just a few pics from spring break and an Easter snapshot of me and Danno.


Mucho appropriato...you have no idea! :)



A break from shopping to have lunch with my very best friend Kristi and her kiddos Camden and Kenzee.



My Katie-girl should not be 17. Where did the time go?!?! I'm not a proud aunt or anything, let's clear that up...



So handsome in a suit...(big sigh!)

Not good....not good at all...

I bought a three pack of tissues for my purse/bookbag and a box of tissues this week.

Just used the last tissue from the box.

On my last pack of travel tissues.

Graduated from allergies to sinus infection.

To the store I go.....

Spring Break Ups and Downs

I had forgotten how refreshing having a spring break can be!

I requested to work a couple of days the beginning of the week so that I could have a few days to go visit my parents in West Texas. The plan was that my parents and niece would come to Arlington for a day or two, then I would go back home with them for a couple more days. Then Dan would drive down on Friday, and I would ride back with him Sunday.

Well, that was the plan.

We have this thing (I have to call it a thing because it's not really a joke...it's not really funny) with my parents and their plans to come visit us that dates back to when we lived in San Angelo. Every time we had plans for them to come, someone in and/or having to do with their church passed away, and they would have to stay. One time, they had arrived to San Angelo, we had dinner and were in the middle of our traditional card game when they got the call someone had passed away. They got up and headed back home to take care of the details.

It's just part of the job of being a pastor. I can't get mad about it. How selfish would that be? Someone has lost a loved one they will never see again until they go to Heaven, and I'm mad because my weekend was interrupted? I would be lying if I said it never bothered me because it usually takes a lot of planning to get all of our schedules to cooperate at the same time, but on the other hand, I have to look at the bigger picture and remember how blessed I am to have such caring parents who work so hard to be the hands and feet of Christ.

So, yes, I was bummed last Sunday when Mom called and said that they weren't going to be able to come because of a death, but it all worked out! I ended up flying out bright and early Wednesday morning and got to Seagraves in time to help Mom and the other church ladies get the fellowship hall ready to feed the family at noon, just before the funeral. So many came to celebrate the life of this man that there was not enough room in the sanctuary to hold everyone! I stayed in the back since I didn't know him well only to find out that one of the girls I graduated with had come and I didn't see her. Dad told me he thought she was there, so I contacted her via Facebook. We planned for lunch the next day along with another friend who was also in town for spring break. Our lunch ended up being a three hour long visit. We had such a good time reminiscing and laughing about the silly things we did and said growing up. Good times.....

Friday I took my niece with me to Lubbock so we could shop for her a banquet dress. We found "the" dress in round one of shopping, but then we broke for lunch with my long time best friend and her two kids. Round two of shopping found a dress Katie loved, but it was vetoed by her mom. So we had some crankiness after that. Second choice was the dress from round one, so we went back to get it. When we got home, Dan and Rosie and Katie's mom and stepdad had already arrived, so we sat down to have dinner...steaks grilled by Dad! Yummo!

Saturday we had planned to go to the cemetery where Dan's mom and dad are buried, about 1 1/2 hours away from where my parents live. We haven't been since July, when his mom was buried. We woke up to snow and ice, but we decided to go ahead and go. We got about 1/3 of the way there and turned around after the third rollover we came across, along with the increasing amount of ice on the road the further north we drove. It was so hard. I felt really bad for Dan. We will have to plan for another time to go sometime soon.

We got up early Sunday morning to pancakes made by Mom. Mmmmm. Normally we stay for church, but headed home early this time. All in all, it was a great week, but I wish the weather would have cooperated with us on Saturday.

It's Been CRAZY!!!

...so I'm just now posting what I should have posted earlier this week.

Last Friday was my birthday, and I got a new laptop! I am so pumped about it. So is Dan, mainly because I'm not using his. LOL! I actually received it before my birthday because my actual birthday was spent helping our friend Shelby Brown with her wedding!

Shelby's parents (Gaylord and Fredna Brown) are missionaries to Malawi, Africa. They were able to come home before Thanksgiving and I think are supposed to go back sometime this month. Before they came home, we had met with Shelby and Josh about what they wanted for the wedding and reception. Josh is the children's pastor at the church where the wedding was held. The sanctuary is absolutely GORGEOUS. It did not need much decorating at all, so the majority of the work was done on the reception. Shelby isn't extravagant, but she has great taste. The reception was held in the gym, so the trick was to make it to where it didn't look like a gym with some tables and a couple of cakes set up. I think, overall, it turned out well. Her colors were orange and gunmetal grey. I will admit, I had my doubts about the color choices at first, but it really came together nicely.

We were so busy, I was not able to get a lot of pictures, but I took a few of the reception decor. The first few pictures are from the sister of the bride's collection of pictures. The last couple of pics are some end-of-the-day-crazy-type pictures of the brother of the bride and one of the bridesmaids.

Mr. and Mrs. Josh Denman and wedding party.

The cake topper was custom ordered from Italy. Too cute!


It didn't come out well in the picture, but the lanterns were a mingling of solid orange and solid white.





Caleb couldn't help but hit the sauce after the reception. :)

Take one down, pass it around......

Weight Update

We had our weigh in Monday night, and I lost another two pounds! This brings my total to 11 pounds and 3.73% weight loss! This was the mid-way weigh in, so those who fell below 2% were eliminated from winning the grand prize. We've both made the cut so far. We didn't stay for the main workout, though, because I had a chemistry test Tuesday morning. We did an eight minute walk, then we left.

By the way, I passed my chemistry test. :)

It was a loss....

BUT BARELY!!

I knew this weigh in was going to be difficult for two reasons.

First of all, come on, it's VALENTINE'S DAY the day before the weigh in. REALLY?! I did well with my calories all week, but I did go over Saturday and Sunday. For the overall week, I came in under on total calories, but I just hate going over in a day (or two!). On a positive note, I did order dessert on Valentine's Day, but I did not eat it all. SCORE!

Secondly, during last Monday's workout I strained a muscle in my neck, so other than walking on campus, I had not done any working out during the week.

So, taking this into consideration, I was okay with .5 weight loss. Not jumping for joy, but thankful it wasn't a gain. Total weight loss to date is 9 pounds. Once again, the Red Team won the amount of weight loss and percentage! WOO-HOOOOOO!! AND, this week we won the team challenge! FINALLY! It was a hard one, too! I'm ssssooooooooo proud of my team!!!

Next Monday is the first elimination round. They will eliminate those who have not lost at least two percent of their starting weight. By eliminate, they mean not eligible for the prize at the end. Everyone is still welcome to come to the workouts and weigh-ins.

Here's to a big loss this week!

Monday's Weigh-in

The results are in!

I lost 7 pounds since last week, for a total weight loss of 8.4 pounds and a total percentage of weight loss of 2.5%.

Unfortunately, the Red Team lost the team challenge AGAIN, BUT we did win the weight loss...pounds and percentage...AGAIN!

GO RED TEAM!!!!

Just putting this out there...

I've been stewing on this for awhile now.
Since the beginning of January, as a matter of fact.
I was driving to work one day thinking of the new-ness of the new year...a fresh start...a new beginning full of possibilities.
The thought just kept going through my mind about 2010 being the year of the favor of God.
In general...for everyone.
Then, I thought, well, what would the favor of God mean for me, personally?
Of course, you all know what I thought.
The favor of God, to me, would be Him blessing us with a child.
So, then I thought....what does "Favor of God" mean?
Do you know what it means?
"Favor of God" literally means Grace.
I love that.
Whenever God blesses us with a child, whether it is through means of adoption or my own flesh and blood, it truly will be my Favor of God...my Grace.

The Biggest Loser

Some friends of ours at a different church invited us to participate in their Biggest Loser Challenge for eight weeks. We meet twice a week. Mondays we weigh in, work out, and have a team challenge. Then on Saturdays we have another team challenge and another workout. We are responsible to work out 2-3 days on our own and watch our food intake.

WOW.

My body is SO SORE!

It's a good thing, though, I know.

We team up with a partner that we don't live with to keep each other accountable and build a relationship with. There are a lot of people that are participating. Probably 60-70 people. We are divided up into two teams, each with a professional trainer. We start out together with stretching, then separate to different areas to have our team workouts, switch areas, then come together for the team challenge. Our team's trainer, Valerie, is deceptive.

She is super sweet.

Then she kills us.

I love her, though.

I had to work the night we started, so when I started on Saturday, there were only two days left before our first weigh in. I did lose a pound, though! So my first official weigh in will be Monday night. So far, I've been below my daily calorie intake and have worked out twice. Our team (The Red Team) won the weigh in challenge (weight loss and percentage) as well as the Team Challenge Monday night! We were super excited because we had lost the team challenge on Saturday and had to do the Circle of Death. That's probably what pushed us over the edge for the weigh in! haha

You know I'll keep you updated if the results are good.

If you don't hear from me however.....

Just kidding. I'll try to be good and post my results, whatever they may be.

Can I just say....?

I think my Texas politics professor is Chuck Norris's brother.

This dude is hard core, and let me give you a few reasons why.
By the way, it took almost an entire class session for him to give us his resume.

He's a marine.
He's a pilot.
He's a scuba diver.
He worked on Capitol Hill.
He worked at NASA.
He worked in the Texas Capitol.
He is a park ranger for the eastern part of Alaska.

Oh! And he's a professor at three different campuses.

I have a feeling this class will not be boring.

Goodbye, Christmas break.....

Hello, spring semester!

As much as I have enjoyed being out of school, working part time, cooking, and being the occasional lady of leisure, it's time to go back to school.

Truth be told, I am looking forward to the routine. I tend to be more productive when I have a routine....and I am less prone to snacking.

Ah, there's the rub!

It took me three months to lose ten pounds last semester and about five weeks to put it plus five more back on! Evang-elastic-ly speaking, of course. I've not gotten on a scale but I can feel it. UGH!!!

So, since my classes are mainly in the mornings, getting out around noon, I will have coffee and a granola bar for breakfast. On days I will stay on campus to study or for my afternoon lab once a week, I will have carrots, string cheese, and an apple for lunch. This way, I am not spending money for lunch on campus and they do not require refrigeration or microwaving. Plus, I have my handy reusable water bottle that I fill with my Brita water system I started using last semester. I love that thing!

Dan and I will also be taking advantage of using the campus gym, although he is doing very well on his own. He's lost about 25 pounds. I'm so proud of him! He's looking good! We finally had to break down and buy him some new jeans because I told him that it looked like his jeans were gathered in the back because his belt was so tight.

So, that's our health care plan we'll be working on. As far as classes, I'll be taking the chemistry class I dropped last semester, statistics, technical writing, and Texas politics.

Here we go!!!

God is great, God is good.....

Yesterday we were supposed to leave around two for Livingston, TX. We had planned a Fine Arts workshop a couple of months ago with the youth pastor and were so looking forward to it.

Well, as you all know, it's been down right frigid here the last few days. As a result, our water froze night before last. Without boring you with all the specifics, it was apparent that the water pump had gone out in the trailer. As Dan was working on it, trying to figure out what the next step to do was, there was an extremely loud pop out behind the trailer. Scared us to death. I thought it was a gunshot, but it was the transformer about twenty yards behind our house that had blown...and left us and our neighbors without electricity.

By this time, it is two o'clock, and we were already supposed to have left for Livingston. We have no water or electricity. I finally got a hold of Oncore and they sent someone out to restore the power. Dan had been talking to the repair man about the water pump and made arrangements for him to come to the house while we were gone to make the repairs.

We finally pulled out of Arlington around five, not feeling very confident whatsoever.

Kinda defeated, actually.

We came to the conclusion, though, that for all the trouble we had, something good MUST come out of this workshop!

And it did!

It wasn't any one thing that I could put my finger on and say "that" was what made it good, but it was just good! The kids were receptive, and we even got them to sing a song that they are going to perform tomorrow in church. They are pretty excited about it.

AND we found out that the water pump did not go out. The motor had just frozen up in the cold. We have water!

Thank you, Lord, for your provision and favor. You are so much more than I deserve.

For a couple of days...

I'm home!

At my mom and dad's, that is.

Got here this evening, in time for the Tech game, I might add! We will have our family Christmas tomorrow, spend some much needed time with my best friend in Lubbock Monday, then leave again on Tuesday. It always goes by too fast. :(

Speaking of my best friend...
I forgot to mention that she graduated from nursing school in Lubbock on December 18! I am so proud of her. I know most of you don't know her, but Kristi and I have been friends since we were 12 or 13. Our dads are both pastors, we've covered for each other, got in trouble together, we both have an addiction to peanut buster parfaits from Dairy Queen, got engaged and married within 3 months of each other, we actively compete to see who can move around the most (not really, it just seems that way!), and she is my inspiration for going back to school.

Congratulations, Kristi!!!