I'm still here......

I’ve been avoiding writing here in my blog.  I keep thinking that I will share things when I really get a grasp on it.  Yet do we ever get a grasp on it?  It’s the journey, I suppose.  In my journey, I have been SO blessed.  But it is also SO hard.  Like I’m sure it is for everyone.  I have been experiencing times of eating good and times of making bad food choices.  I am now 15 pounds heavier than my goal and I do not like that.  I do NOT want to gain my weight back.  I do NOT want to go back into a negative, self-loathing state.  I am in a new place and a new environment and I have to work HARDER now to keep the positive momentum I started.  I had so much motivation in Oregon and here I find myself stumbling to find my motivation.  I am new.  I am unknown.  I am isolated.  But I don’t have to stay that way.  One of my Oregon friends reminded me a while ago that I am not unknown to Him (Jesus Christ).  I am not forgotten by Him.  And she is right.  It is through my Savior that I was able to reach the unimaginable goal of losing my weight.  I cannot ever forget that!  And it is through Him also that I will keep this weight off and not get drawn back into a life of sadness and sorrow and self-hating.

I went to a women’s fireside this morning and heard a mother/daughter speak and sing to us about their trials and faith.  Their story was amazing and inspiring and I found myself weeping.  One thought that the daughter shared was that our suffering comes from seeking our will over God’s.  That following God’s will won’t take our pain away but it will take away our suffering.  I’ve also thought about the concept that when we suffer, it can mean that we need to repent.  I first talked about in the first weeks of my journey back in this post.  At first that sounds preposterous because it isn’t always our fault when we are made to suffer.  Yet maybe it’s our lack of not forgiving someone else, or not handling a situation as we know God would want us to that makes us suffer.  There is still so much pondering on that I need to do.  

A friend sent this Youtube link.  It was everything I needed to hear set to some beautiful music and I’m so thankful she sent it.  I’ve watched it several times and  written the words down so I can remember them.  Although these are words from a leader of my Faith, I think someone may also be needing to hear these words and be inspired as I was.

What does all this have to do with health and weight loss?  For my journey, it has everything to do with it.  Because my journey has been one of letting go my will and turning to my Savior and submitting to His will.  Miracles have happened in my life because I have turned to Him.  It’s about changing me on the inside as well as the outside.  I know that I NEED HIS help to do this!

A couple fun things to share.  We had a fun time with family at the park the other day.  I love being closer to my sister and sister-inlaw.  I even practiced playing baseball for the first time in years the and I can still hit a ball pretty far!  It was way fun.  

Also, Brent and I rode our bikes for a 10K the other night and I didn’t even break a sweat.  That felt good.

 And, we had some good friends from Oregon visit us just yesterday... our first to do so!  We had dinner and played games and laughed a lot.  We were overjoyed to see them... and I secretly wanted them to stay for several days.  It was so nice to see their friendly faces from our Oregon “home”.  Life is good!

Life moves pretty fast...

...If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”  as Ferris would say.   I can tell you, I am trying not to miss life, but working on enjoying it.  Are you enjoying life?  I am alive and kicking as I hope you are too. 

Food wise, I was noticing my trend in mindless eating and often eating more than I needed.  So, I’ve recently took a stronger approach to my eating and I am more dutifully eating every 3 hours now and small portions again.  I have specific things I’ve listed out that I am eating to balance out the healthy protein and carbs - including Medifast food as I already love those meal replacements.  I already feel better about it.    

Exercise wise, I am keeping active but I haven’t been running in like 2 weeks.  Brent and I would like to run a 5K coming up here so we need to get our butts in gear.

But, EXCITING wise, 

We now have two miniature dachshund girls!!  

Introducing Zoey and Chloe.  

They are 2 years old and already house trained.  How lucky is that!  Boy, do they add a new dimension to our home and family.  We love it!!  They have so much energy and within hours they have accepted us as their new family.  It is amazing how they can come from the only home and family they've known for 2 years and so quickly give us their total acceptance and love.  It kind of reminds me of our move here and how we have left the only home we've known for 14 years.

And the previous owner said she went jogging with them and they are used to going 3 miles.  Perfect!  I have gone short distance jogging with them and their little legs can cruise!  Sometimes I could not keep up with them.  They will have to slow to my pace.

And here is one of the fabulous views we had one evening in our valley.  Peaceful, serene, quiet, calming, gorgeous, dry and hot describe our new area here in Utah.  We love it!  It will take some time to get settled in socially, but the area is perfect. 

 Life is good!

We are Family....

We got kitties - Happy are we!

We have KITTIES!!  They haven't even been with us 24 hours yet.  Tommy and Tango joined us yesterday.  They are 13 weeks old and we're tickled pink to have them.  My youngest said yesterday "Moving here just got ten times better!" Tommy is the grey one, Tango is the orange one.

Saturday I went running again and with a running partner this time.  It was awesome.  We went 3 miles in 35 minutes.  She showed me a whole new running path and we had a nice visit.  Sure makes moving here a little nicer.  Hopefully we'll go running again this week.

But one downer is that my weight is up a little from my norm.  In just a week it jumped like 8 pounds.  Yikes!  It has to do with what I'm eating, which included eclairs from a baby shower and cake & ice cream from a birthday and too many PB & J sandwiches.  Now I'm pulling in those reins!  I've got my knox blox and lots of healthy food in the house.  And I've got my kids watching me like a hawk!  They know I don't want to go back so they watch what I do around desserts.  Sometimes it annoys me but overall I am thankful.  :)  Life is good!!