Repeat (Week 9)

Another slow one.... half a pound again. Hey, I am just letting her catch up, that's all... (Three down since we started).... Back to carrots, celery sticks and salads, I think......

(But, hey, sixteen pounds in nine weeks isn't TOO bad, right? Eh, doesn't SOUND great...)

Words to Live By

God's been lighting a fire under our rear ends lately and the following verses came in our email the other day. I wanted to share. I love how God calls to us, changes us and continues that work!!

Powerful, Irresistible Grace!

The Power of God's Grace in Our Lives - For Conversion

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

Ezekiel 11:19,20 NIV

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In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten.

Jeremiah 50:4,5

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Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Philippians 1:6 KJV

My first truly slow week (Week 8)

At least it wasn't stagnant or a week where I GAINED. That would be worse. I lost half a pound this week. There, challenge buddy, that should help you catch up if you are doing a pound a week.... What are you anyway?? I'm wwwaaaaiiiiiitiiiiiiiiing......

And prizes? I don't know, maybe this is where we should here from the audience. E and I are having a contest (in case you are tuning in for the first time... or maybe I wasn't overly clear before - completely possible.) A couple weeks ago, she challenged me to see if I can LOSE as much (or more??) as she GAINS in the next (then it was 9) seven weeks before she has her baby. She figured she would be gaining another 10 pounds (approximately). And, hey, every contest needs a prize, so this is where you guys (my adoring public - *cough* *snort* *choke*) come in..... So put your thinking caps on.... We need a good one!!!! (This means stop hiding and put in your two cents!! C'mon, I'm actually ASKING for it now...)

'Tis the Season

Remember the helper? And the fire he was so willing to help with? Well, this picture showed up on the front page along with an article about said fire the following day:


















And on the day this picture was published we were out fighting ANOTHER fire. ALL. DAY. LONG. On a big hill. With lots of woods and brush. And several very nice, very expensive homes. No, none of the homes were damaged. Just their backyards/woods. Because one of the homeowners decided that such a breezy (I do mean BREEZY) and warm (I also mean warm.... if you are dealing with flames, turnout gear, hoses, hills and walking) day was PERFECT for burning their pile of leaves at the edge of their woods. Um........... I think all I can say at this point in time without getting rude is "WOW." Last I knew, twenty-three (yes, you read that right, 23) fire companies responded for this fire. And fought it for two days. *sigh* Spring is one of my favorite seasons. I love the smell, I love everything starting to grow again and turn green. But I get slightly irritated and really tired when everything is very very very very very dry because of VERY LITTLE rain, and people get the brainy idea that "today would be a good day to burn stuff!" Especially when we go to the same hill with the same woods and brush several times every year. You'd think they'd learn......

But, hey, the guy in the photo? I think he's pretty hot. AND, we are VERY thankful for his job and bosses.... Not only were they great about our fire chief calling him out of work two days in a row, but they pay him for his time lost to boot....

Got It!! (Week 7)

I did it!!!! I've reached the 10% goal!! This means I've lost a total of 15 pounds in the last seven weeks. Some weeks were good, some were slow, but it has been continuously downhill. :) (Not many situations where that is good, huh?) This week I lost two.

So, challenge partner, what have you GAINED this week?

P.S. The ticker is changed... if you missed the first one, too bad, so sad......

At Least He Wants to Help

This morning we took the kids for their first trail ride.... A couple spills, but they are none the worse for wear. They did GREAT. The Boy loved it and the Girl would like to continue to blaze her way around the farm. She is a little less inclined to dive into something brand new... Even if it is just a new trail. While we were out riding, we passed our neighbors house and they were burning a small junk pile. How fun! We then returned home and got cleaned up and ate.

Just after lunchsupperdinner today, our fire company got toned out for a brush fire. I grabbed our gear and ran out the door and look up the hill.... And saw a HUGE column of billowing black smoke. I knew right where it was coming from... That little burning junk pile was now burning something that definitely should not be burning. I got to the fire hall and met J there (he had been on his way to work and turned around) and away we went along with the rest of our crew. Now, today was not overly warm, but in turnout gear at a fire on a hill hauling fire hoses, it is HOT. I called our cousin's/neighbor's house and asked them to send the Boy up to the top of the hill with water. I SO desperately needed a drink. However, somewhere in the message passing, there was a mix-up. Half an hour went by and I called back.... Is he coming with water? Several minutes later, the Boy called from his aunt's phone and asked if the fire company had gotten the fire out or did I still need him to bring water. "I only have five buckets full. Do I need to bring more?"

Um, Bud, I AM the fire company and I have a tanker and an engine and they work together to pump tons of water onto the fire... No, I don't need any buckets of water. But I sure would love a Nalgene filled with ice cold water if you could work that out for me.......

Not so Speechless

I don't know how many of you follow American Idol faithfully (or not so faithfully). I watch it from time to time. I happened to catch this past Wednesday's episode, and was FLOORED when they closed with "Shout to the Lord." I did notice the change from "Jesus" to "Shepherd", but was still absolutely amazed that NBC had aired it......



Apparently, there were enough complaints........ but wait, not about the song itself, but about the OMISSION of Jesus' name!!..... NBC aired it again... American Idol started Thursday's show with "Shout to the Lord" sung with Jesus' name included!!



This should be a good testimony to the ones that say our voice doesn't matter.... Stop being quiet. It made a difference Wednesday night.... You never know what else your voice and opinion can change.

Almost There!!! (Week Six)

I lost TWO POUNDS this week!!! That leaves me with two more pounds to go for my initial 10% goal. (If you want to see how cool THAT looks on a ticker, you'll have to head to the bottom of the page - quick! before I post the next goal!!)

Oh, the next goal? I'd like to get rid of five more at the least, seven more at the most. So, if I am looking at seven, I have a total of nine pounds left to lose. Woo hoo!!!! This could be doable in time for summer!!

Conclusions

I've conducted an experiment recently... It started about three weekends ago and is finishing this weekend.

The question: Which is harder to handle: boys or girls?

In order to answer this question, I had to have objects to study. My two - one of each - wouldn't suffice. So, three weeks ago I shipped off The Girl and gained a boy. The weekend was filled with all sorts of ruckus. Loud laughter, banging, gun noises, cars crashing, and of course, the Xbox... They stayed up late whispering and playing, and in the morning when they woke up WAY earlier than parental types felt was appropriate, they very quietly went to the living room and located the Xbox again. Any disagreements that arose were swiftly dealt with in a wrestling match and then they were back to playing.

This weekend I shipped off The Boy and gained a girl. The difference was noticeable immediately. There were no gun noises or crashing cars, but there was instant chatter. We've had roll play, bossiness, changing outfits (at least five a day per girl), talk talk talk talk talk, babies, barbies, more chatter... The bedtime was semi-late, and in the morning, when they definitely did wake up MUCH earlier than parental types KNEW was appropriate, there was no such thing as quiet. It was right back to talk talk talk talk talk, roll play, babies, bossing, chatter... even coloring quietly involves chatter with the voices at non-whisper settings. Disagreements were settled by parents threatening to send the extra child home if we can't all get along and then everything was fine.

Experiment finished, I am not sure if the question can be answered as posed. Different? VERY. One group harder than the other? Not really... just depends on the parental types' moods. Do we want guns and crashes and banging or talk talk talk talk talk? :)

Oh yeah, an UPDATE (Week Five)

Wednesday I was bad, I know.... I didn't post. And I just KNOW you were all waiting with bated breath to see how my week went. But it was my birthday, and I didn't WANT to post. Take that. Besides, I felt that it would have been depressing to post it, and I wanted to focus on love, sunshine and flowers.

So, ANYWAY.... one pound. One measly little pound.... Wait..... no...... I LOST A POUND!!! I haven't stopped losing and I haven't gained. So all is still well..... So it went slowly this week..... No big deal.

There, I feel better.

My Girl

She's started out skitish... isn't that a little bit like her mother starting something new.... She's had a few spills, one that really hurt, but she has picked herself up, brushed herself off and gotten back on her bike.























And you know what? She's not bad! She has, however, informed me that daddy is a better teacher than mommy.