remember when i was telling you that i was trying to fit into my wedding dress by my birthday?

well, it went really slow for the first few weeks, then all of a sudden its kicking in!

it is still really tight, but i can zip it almost the whole way up!

mowing our half acre yard with a push mower, and writing down everything i eat on livestrong.com have been the main helpers. i have also been using the wii fit that we have had for almost 3 years.

i am super excited that my clothes are fitting better, and i might be able to fit into some older clothes that are packed away.

my head isn't in any of the pictures because i still have an enormous double-chin. thats all i have to say about it for now.

i love my in-laws!

this summer we are vacationing with my husband's parents.

for most people that would be a nightmare, but for me it will be a week of relaxation and edification with people who love me and my girls.

we are going to lake superior and we are going to stay in a rental house on the shore.

i am looking forward to hiking, picnicking, and hanging out with my family before our oldest starts kindergarten.

my in-laws are delightful. i've probably said it before, but they treat me like i'm their kid. they give encouraging and godly advise. they are so laid back and fun; i'm completely ready to go NOW!

i love the coasts; i have been to maine and northern california, and i love the wild power of the ocean and the cliffs. i used to give my husband a hard time because he said that the lake superior coast was the same.

when our big girl was 3 months old we went to the north shore and it was amazing. the last day we were there a storm blew in from canada and the waves were crashing 12 feet above the cliffs. And then i stopped making fun of him for comparing the ocean to lake superior.

the other thing i love about it is that it is possible for us to go there on a budget. we can get there in a day and rent a place with a kitchen-et. we bring almost all of our food, and mostly window shop. the area is so amazing that we do not get bored.

also, the company will be lovely. i imaging walking around town with my mother-in-law and the girls, hiking and dining out with my husband, and long talks about God by the fire with my father-in-law.

it will be like heaven on earth.

wordless wednesday

bummed

my neighbors broke up over the weekend.

they weren't married, but they had been together for something like 5 years.

suddenly, on saturday morning a moving truck was outside their house and all of the furniture was being taken away.

she had waited until he had gone to work so she could sneak out.

we had just hung out with him thursday night and he was talking about them buying a house together in the future, and going to a concert in a month.

i see this from both sides. i think it was mean to move out without talking to the other person about it, but i can understand the need to get it done without second guessing yourself when you see how bad you are hurting him.

a few years ago i was contemplating leaving my husband, and i decided that the only way i could do it is if he wasn't home when i left. i wanted it to be a smack-in-the-face wake up call that he needed to change.

but it would SUCK to find out that your girlfriend is leaving you only when the neighbors start texting you and asking if you are moving!

now he is alone in a completely empty house, with only 2 of the 4 dogs. so sad! we gave him an extra chair we had, but it looked so lonely in the empty living room.

they are both really nice, and i'm going to miss talking to them in the driveway. i find myself hoping that they will make up. however, i do not know the details of their relationship, or why she felt like she needed to leave. mostly i just hope it is for the best, and that he will take us up on our offer to come to church with us.

Das Hound

Gratituesday

today i am thankful for my individuality.

i am not the exactly the same as anyone i know. i don't parent the same way, eat the same things, believe the same things, or perceive things the same way as anyone.

we have similarities for sure, but we are not the same.

i have friends that think the same way about money. i have friends that parent the same way. and i have friends who are stay at home moms like me. some of these friends overlap in certain areas, but no one is in all of them.

sometimes i wish for a friend that i could talk to about anything, but really i think it is a way for God to keep me closer to Him.

so i thank God that He is making me who i am. i want to lean only on Him and i believe my individuality is just one of His tools.

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i recently set a goal for myself that seems unreachable right now.

i am going to turn 28 next month and have my 8th wedding anniversary in a couple of months and i decided that i want to fit back in my wedding dress as my birthday present to myself.

i have never been small or skinny, but we took a family picture a few weeks ago and i HATE it. i look so much fatter than i feel. i feel curvy, marilyn monroe-ish. but i looked like a swollen version of me (with a giant double-chin).

so i have been using livestrong.com to track my exercise and calories for 2 weeks and i've lost about 3 pounds.

as you can see i only have a couple of inches before i can zip it (that's all i'm hoping for really).

i don't know how this is going to go. one and a half pounds a week does not seem like enough to get it done. i have been carrying this extra weight since before i had my kids, and i'm tired of it making me feel older than i am.

i don't set a lot of goals, but when i do i really want to accomplish it. so i'm trying to think of this as a long term thing. a path, not a destination. not easy for me to do.

gratituesday

today i am thankful for provision. throughout my life i have been provided for.

obviously my parents provided for me as best as they could, but what i'm talking about is how God has provided for me.

the thing i'm most thankful for is how God provided for my safety. in this world where anything can happen, almost nothing happened to me.

God provided me with a highly tuned instinct in situations regarding my safety and the confidence to trust that instinct.

just a few months ago the neighbor two houses away from my parents, got arrested for child molestation. i lived near that man for 20 years. he always creeped me out. my mom would tell me not to be rude, but i couldn't stand to be within shouting distance of him. what a blessing that turned out to be!

as a teenager, i hung out downtown and drank with my friends, but even drunk i verged on paranoid in certain situations. i thank God for that now, even though i was accused many times of being a buzz kill or downer.

now, instinct can only go so far, and i am most thankful that God provided for my safety. i know that for the most part there is nothing i did to prevent the most horrible things from happening to me.

these days i don't think much about my own safety, but i pray constantly for God to provide safety for my children. i understand that their safety may not be in His plan, so i continually pray for the strength to trust Him no matter what. and i am thankful for a savior who cares enough about me to listen.

the other part of God's provision that i am thankful for is monetary.

my husband works hard as an instructional assistant at a middle school, and tutors in the evenings. even so, we have been hanging around $19,000 for the last 3 years.

yet, God has made sure that we have everything we need, and almost everything we want. through God's prodding we even paid off our car, and credit cards. it has been 2 years now since we even used credit cards.

we are not as conscious of it as i would like, but i feel that we understand that every dollar comes from Him.

especially when something unexpected happens. when our car needs work, or whatever else happens, God has already set something else up so that we have the money to pay for it. this has happened our whole married life. i don't know what else to say about it except that i think it is God's way of constantly reminding us that we need Him.

and so i am thankful that He has his eye on me.

Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

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