Jealous much??

We were driving to church last Sunday night and I was telling Brad about an article I read on Kirk Cameron here. Basically Cameron has resolved not to kiss any woman besides his wife---even with acting. That started a conversation between Brad and I and he said that he thought that was very wise of Cameron. He told me about a time in high school where he was in a play and had a kissing scene. He said that the girl he had to kiss was his girlfriend but that he could only imagine how uncomfortable he would have been if it wasn't his girlfriend he was kissing.

And let me tell you...My stomach started flipping and my heart just started a going...and to be honest, I was getting a little mad. How dare he kiss a girl in high school!! ;) I was thinking that had I dated in high school I probably, maybe, wouldn't get so jealous when I hear about the past relationships...but nonetheless the jealousy reared its ugly head. But as we continued driving I let my mind wander a little more and God hit my upside the head with a 2x4. If I get so jealous over a petty past relationship that my husband had, then how jealous does God get when we put things before Him? I'm telling you 2x4 upside the head. And a big 2x4 at that! I don't want to live my life in regret over the things that I have put before my Heavenly Father. It's my goal to put Him first in all things.

Complete

Here I am, Oh God
I bring this sacrifice--my open heart.
I offer up my life.

I look to You, Lord
Your love that never ends
Restores me again
So I lift my eyes to you, Lord

In Your strength will I break through, Lord
Touch me now, let your love fall down on me
And I will be complete in You.

Here I am, Oh God
I bring this sacrifice--my open heart.
I offer up my life.

I look to You, Lord.
Your love that never ends
Restores me again
So I lift my eyes to you Lord

And by faith, I will walk on, Lord
Then I'll see beyond my Calvary one day,
And I will be complete in..

I look to You, Lord
Your love that never ends
Restores me again
So I lift my eyes to you Lord

In your strength will I break through Lord
Touch me now, let your love fall down on me
I know your love dispels all my fears.

Through the storm I will hold on Lord
And by faith I will walk on, Lord
Then I'll see beyond my Calvary one day
And I will be complete in You


***I want to be Complete in Him.

Has it been 4 days since I last posted?

Wow, time sure does fly!!! Tonight is my First Place meeting! I'm anxious to see how I've done this past week...I know that I haven't eaten the best, but as long as I haven't gained I'll be happy. It's been a busy and somewhat of a difficult week. I started having my dizzy spells again and they have really kicked my butt this go around. I went to the doctor and she pretty much blew me off and put me on medication that I'm supposed to take 4 times a day. "It may make you sleepy though." Hello??? I have 5 kids. Being sleepy during the day is a luxury I can't afford! I've been monitoring my blood pressure and pulse and they keep doing funky stuff so I made an appointment with MY doctor on Monday. I told them I want a COMPLETE physical. I'm going to find out what's going on.

We've had revival at church this past week too. I wasn't in service Tuesday or Wednesday night because I had nursery, but Sunday am, pm and Monday pm was awesome. We had several decisions for Christ too! God is good! I want to go and see "Fireproof"...that was very random. I must be losing it!!!

We didn't have anything to eat for breakfast today so I took the kids to Bob Evans. We had a nice little math lesson sitting in Bob Evans. I totaled up how much the kids food cost and then we looked at how much it would cost if we just made it at home. It was a bit of an eye opener for the kids. We have all of our homeschool material minus our math! YAY! I'm working on lesson plans now and we will start with this new material Monday morning! The kids don't know yet. We've been doing little stuff, but we are really going to do a lot this coming week. I'm excited! Alright, I gotta go get ready for First Place! I'll try to update this tonight. =)

Happy Anniversary

Not that Brad reads my blog, but Happy Anniversary Sweetheart! =) It's hard to believe that six years ago I was in the bridal suite sweating like a pig and getting all "dolled" up for my wedding. I was looking for a CD that had pictures from the wedding and I can't find it anywhere. But once I do, I'm going to take a trip down memory lane and post some of them. I do need to go to the store and pick up something for my dear one, so while he and the kiddos are napping, I'm gonna run out.

Happy Sunday!

My weight loss journey

So we've started First Place 4 Health at church and I'm pumped! We are in week 3 now and so far I've lost 7 pounds. I know it's not a whole lot, but it's a start and it's got me determined. I was looking back at pictures when I was pregnant with my now 4 1/2 year old and I was amazed to see that I looked better at 3 months pregnant than I do now!! It's a shame that I have let myself get to this point, but I'm not letting myself get any farther and I look forward to seeing numbers fall weekly. The plan is not difficult either. It's a matter of portion control and paying attention. On my daily calorie level my food gets broken down like this:

Fruits: 1.5-2 cups
Veggies: 2-2.5 cups
Grains: 5-6 oz equivalents
Meat: 5 oz
Milk: 3 cups
Oils: 5tsp

Everyday we have to write down what we have eaten and how much of each category we've had daily. Then we have to write whether we need to increase, decrease, or stay the same. I think that part of the journaling has been huge for me! My second week on the plan I did 27 miles on my elliptical and seriously messed up my knee, so I haven't gotten back on it yet. I'm gonna do my pilates and see how that does and I think I'll get a knee brace because that may help give me just a little extra support. My knee was hurting so bad on Sunday that I about cried going up and down the stairs at church. It doesn't help that the stairs are STEEP. It was painful!!!

My goal is to be at least 17 pounds less than I am now come Thanksgiving. I'm gonna get there and I'll keep ya updated along the way. =) And maybe just maybe I'll post a before, during and after picture....but until then....happy trails to you...until we meet again...happy trails to you...

The Bailout

Okay, so I'll admit that I hadn't really stayed up to speed on the whole bailout deal. Then I started reading articles and listening to Dave Ramsey. If you were like me and didn't follow the whole bailout here's the quick summary from Ramsey's website:

Companies that had billions in subprime loans were feeling the effects of their stupid decision to make those loans in the first place, and practically gave them away for pennies on the dollar. But since no one wants these loans, and they've had to mark them down to market value, it has frozen the market. If we temporarily change the rule that forces companies to do that, that will free the market up.

Go here and see what Ramsey has to say about shaking things up with our Congressmen. Merrill Lynch was sitting with $30 billion tied up in sub-prime loans with houses. Personally, I think they were stupid to do that, but I'm just a stay at home mom so what do I know right? Granted, I would rather see the bailout of some sort than everything going topsy turvy on us. Ramsey says:

Why don't we just take the FHA insurance program and extend it across these sub-primes? What that means is that you and I are guaranteeing the lender that they're not going to lose as much or any money on those mortgages. Now I don't like guaranteeing them, but I like it better than buying them. In other words, instead of $700 billion in tax-payer debt going out there to bail out these companies, just extend the insurance out. You could probably do that for less than $40 billion. It's like a 95% savings!

I gotta say...I agree whole-heartedly with Ramsey on this. Only time will tell what's gonna happen. The next couple weeks will be interesting.

Presidential Debates

Hmmm.... I really don't get into politics on my blog. It's just not something that I do, but I'm sitting here watching the Presidential Debates and thinking, "What is happening to our country???" We have 2 presidential candidates that I don't like. I don't like Barack Obama and I don't like John McCain. But my question is who is the less of the two evils? John McCain is talking about accountability and how in his cabinet there will be accountability. Obama responds with, "Yes, there needs to be accountability but not just in times of crisis...." I can't type as fast as they are talking. bummer. McCain has a fundamental belief in the United States of America and under the right leadership our best days are ahead of us.

McCain---get spending under control. It's completely out of control in Washington. (I think Dave Ramsey would say, "It's this simple, SPEND LESS THAN WE MAKE!!!!")

****side note***WHAT???? We spent 3 million dollars on DNA research on bears in Montana??? WHAT?!?!?! Are you kidding me? Can someone tell me why?

Obama---McCain is right, earmark spending has been abused. Tax cut for 95% of working families. Hmmm...interesting. Do I like that?

I do find it kinda funny that McCain won't respond directly to Obama.

Hmmm....where will November lead us?

A day with the fam

Last night we set the tent up in the backyard and had a little camp out. Brad and I were both exhausted and the kids of course didn't want to go to sleep. =) They kept giggling and teasing each other. Brad and I couldn't stay mad at them! We were driving down the road tonight and our 4 year old informs us, "I want to learn to burp my ABC's." That's just what I wanted to hear. My 4 year old want to lean how to burp his ABC's. A lot of good home schooling is doing, huh? I guess any way he learns his ABC's will work. He cracks me up.

I told Brad tonight, "You know, if it weren't for you that my life wouldnt' be so chaotic." At that point the kids were all going crazy in the back seat so the comment seemed to fit. ;-) On a serious note, God is so good. He has truly blessed me with Brad and our kids.

Homesick

We've been here for well over 4 years, but still I get homesick. The past couple days have been some of those days. I miss VA and I miss my family like crazy. I do love it out here and if this is where the Lord wants us then this is where we will be, but there's that rebellious part of me that says, "I don't care what the Lord wants, I want to be with my family." And I know that on one hand that's understandable, however, on the other....Being in the Lord's will is so important to me. And who knows, maybe His will will lead us back to VA.

Oh, how I wish that would be His will.

Moving back and forth

We (I use that term loosely) started homeschooling the kids last week and what an adventure it has been so far! To start with I got part of the original curriculum only to discover that I *hate* it. So I have been "writing" our curriculum up till now while researching a new curriculum. And oh what I've found. First I've found that I really don't see one complete curriculum that really speaks to me. BUT I have found several different ones that put all together is perfect. We'll order some tomorrow and hopefully we'll have some curriculum sometime next week. I got The Oregon Trail, Where in the USA is Carmen Sandiego, and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego in the mail today. I was so excited. The kids have enjoyed them so far. =)

What else. Hmm....Oh, I've done my elliptical 6 days in a row now. I've gone 25 miles since last Friday. I'm really proud of myself. I want to be healthy for myself and my family. But more than that, I want to take care of the temple that God has given me. God is so good. He has blessed me more than I can imagine. Brad and I will celebrate our 6 year anniversary on the 28th. Life has changed A LOT in 6 years.

Okay, off to bed I go. More later.