New Year!!

Happy New Year!!!

I hate to say it but I am really glad 2008 is over, it has been a long and trying year from losing my mom to starting a diet, but I have persevered and am ready for a new and great 2009.

Many thanks to friends and family that have stuck by me and cheered me on through all of the wild things that have happened. The hardest part of losing mom was that it was so unexpected and I was not at all prepared, although I am not sure any of us are ever prepared for the loss of a loved one be it human or pet. This has definitely been a year of losses for our family, my mom, Kevin and Elizabeth's wonderful dog Stoli, and our dog Sadie, who moved in with a friend when we moved to mom and dads, as her hair aggravated moms allergies, we found out yesterday that she had to be put down due to a large tumor growing that was ruining her day to day life and she was suffering, I have always heard it said that deaths come in 3's well that is my three and I am praying that 2009 holds happy times and little stress. I have been about as stressed as I can get and not sure I can take much more at this time. Well enough for my whining.

2009 what can I say but that I have a lot in store for me this year!!

Juston will be finishing his Junior year in high school and looking forward to his Senior year which I will definitely not be doing at all, he should not be that old yet. Bill will be looking for a job as he has been released by the doctors finally, and with God's provision it will be a short and relatively painless process.

As for me personally I plan on losing more weight with the good Lord's help and pushes and pulls from my biggest supporters, you know who you are. I also plan on this year being a year of spiritual growth and quiet time spent with my heavenly father who only gives us as much as we can handle, although I do question him about it at times, you know me have to have the answers or it drives me crazy. I am also looking forward quiet and fun times spent with family and friends, days of shopping included.

Today I begin my 100 days Weight Loss challenge, we will see where I go with it, this will be a time of finding inner knowledge and strength and also a time of finding myself again, I have been lost the last couple of years with all of the challenges that have come our way. I plan for this challenge to help understand why I eat when I really don't need to and even some things that don't even have anything to do with weight loss I believe many things will be revealed to me.

My wishes and prayers for family and friends is that all are blessed with good health, happy times and wonderful memories. Love to you all!!

Dawn

Another Week!

As I am on my weight loss journey to weight loss joy, I am reminded how harsh we can be with ourselves, sometimes that is a good thing and it motivates us and others and at other times it can be very harmful and detrimental to our own good, we must know our bonds and we must know and recognize who and what we are, we are all children of a risen KING and he loves us no matter what we look like or what we think of ourselves. His book of life encourages all of us to take care of ourselves and to help take care of others in the process. The last two years have not been easy but I have grown through the process, and I am still growing, the loss of my mom taught me that I have to take care of myself now before it is to late to do it, and I so much want to be there for my son when he is my age, 41 is to early to lose a parent, no matter how old that parent is.

So at this point in my journey I have lost a total of 31 pounds, this has been an up and down process but I will perservere and make it through, I am determined to. I have an awesome support system through my husband, my son who is very athletic and through my sister-in-law who encourages me daily to keep going.

At this time of year I am constantly reminded how precious life is and how much God gave up when giving us his son, I know my mom is gone on to a better place and awaits us all.

Well not much else to say except 7 days until Chirstmas and Jesus's Birthday!!

Chirstmas Is Almost Here!

I am not real sure how I feel about Christmas this year. This will be our first Christmas with my mom gone, it has been a long year without her and some of my days are really easy and some days are very hard. Thanks to friends and family especially my sister-in-law Elizabeth, on the days that are hard she is there to pick me up and inspire me to keep moving and keep praying, that is encouragement we all can use.

My real inspiration right now is my son, he is such an awesome kid, has great grades and is very supportive with my weight loss ups and downs. I just can't believe that he will be a Senior next year it just seems like yesterday when he started school. His Junior football season is over now and he lettered for the 2nd year, but now he is working on getting ready for Powerlifting, he really enjoys this sport as it is very much about beating your personal best, it really keeps him in shape through the winter months for football and it also keeps him very active, which is awesome so that he does not just sit at home all the time and play video games, although I must say he does seem to find plenty of time for that.

May we all be blessed during this Christmas season, and may each one of us remember the real reason for the season and may we all be thankful for the things we have.