Many Thanks

I would like to thank you guys for being so encouraging through this Biggest Loser Challenge! All your nice comments mean a lot to me.

We had our final weigh-in last night and overall I lost 8 pounds and 15 inches! YEA!

After my Thanksgiving setback (gained 6 pounds) I lost 5 pounds which put me at gaining a pound since our last weigh-in. I'm a little disappointed about that, but I'm thrilled with the inches I lost.

Turns out I lost the most inches out of everyone on our team! WOO HOO! The person who won the whole contest lost something like 30 pounds and 20 inches. So while I'm not THE winner, I'm still technically A winner because I'm lighter, thinner and stronger than I was 8 weeks ago.

Our team (The Blue Team) came in second overall and we're very proud of that. I am happy to have met these people and hope to remain friends with them.

Thanks again to all my friends and family for your support and encouragement over the last 8 weeks! I will continue to work toward my goal of 32 more pounds before we go to Ireland. I'll keep you posted on my progress. Here's the "Before" and "After" pics side by side

Ethan's First Day of Public School

Most of you know that I home school my boys. It's not that I don't have faith in the public school system, I just wanted to teach them the first couple years. I wanted to spend some time character building and I really wanted to teach them to read.

This year has been rough with Ethan though. I don't know why, but we've been really frustrated with each other druing school time over the last several months. There was one day that was the last straw. We ended the schoolday with both of us in tears. You can imagine how productive that was!

I decided he needed to go to school. I wasn't willing to be that stressed out about home schooling when I could easily send him to a school that would teach him just as well as I would. (If not better.)

The next day I took Ethan down to the school and registered him. I chatted with the principal about when he should start and we decided right after the Thanksgiving break would be ideal. *insert sigh of relief*

Ethan got to meet his teacher and even got some homework, to be done over the Thanksgiving holiday. (A reading log, some spelling worksheets and a page of math problems.) He was thrilled! He also got a new backpack, lunch box, books and new school clothes for his birthday, which was a week before his first day.

He counted down the days until his first day at school anxiously... as did I. When it finally came, we decided to walk to school because it was a pretty nice day. We waited outside for the bell to ring and I walked him into his classroom. I gave him a quick hug and left in a hurry because I was starting to get choked up. I got myself under control on the walk home.

All day I thought about him and prayed for him. I hoped that he was having fun and didn't get lost or made fun of.

When it was time for the bus to drop him off at home, my sister, nieces and other sons went out to the driveway to see him get off the bus. I was ready with my camera, of course. Finally we heard the squeak of the school bus breaks and it stopped in front of our house. He got off and ran up to us smilling from ear to ear! YEA!

I asked how his day went and he replied in a very serious tone, "Good, but Mama, I have some bad news. The fire alarm went off at school today and we had to go outside. There wasn't a real fire though, it was just pretend."

We all laughed! Apparently I had forgotten to tell him about having fire drills. My bad.

It sounds like he had a good first day on the whole. He's really seemed to get into a routine this week and he really likes his teacher and classmates. WHEW!

Major Set Back

Yesterday was our normal weigh in day, but because this is our last week our trainer said we'd wait until Thursday. Whew!

I'm totally thankful for that because dispite running 6.2 miles on Thanksgiving day, I still gained weight! Can you believe it? Apparently I ate too much pie... oops! But really, can you blame me? Pie is pretty much amazing.

So here we are, the day before I have to weigh for my final total loss and I'm frantic to come up with a solution to my Thanksgiving over indulgence. UGH! I've decided to go for a long run today then go do some weights at the gym tonight. Then I'll go for another run tomorrow morning. I'm even thinking about hitting the sauna... which I hate.

I'm determined to come out of this ahead of where I started. If that means I have to work extra hard to burn off all that pie, so be it.

I'll let you know how the weigh in goes on Thursday. Please pray for me!

"Crazy Runners"

I've always sort of made fun of runners. Not because I don't like them, but because I have always thought running measured very close to torture.

I mean, think about it. Why on earth would you willingly run somewhere when you could, oh I don't know, walk, bike or heck, DRIVE?

What can I say? I'm lazy and not ashamed to admit it. That is until I noticed the ill effects of my laziness. YIKES!

If you're a follower of my blog, you know that I've been doing this Biggest Loser thing. I started off walking on the treadmill because that's really all I could do. Then it got to a point where I wasn't working hard enough anymore. The next logical step was to run.

Really? Do I have to?

I've been running consistently on the treadmill and the street for about 5 weeks. I still don't love it, but I sure love the effects!

A friend of mine talked me into running a 10k (6.2 miles) on Thanksgiving day. At first I thought she was crazy, but then I figured it would be a good way to burn those Thanksgiving Day calories. So I registered.

This is us crossing the finish line!

It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. We took it slow and steady. I think we were one of the last people to finish, but the point is WE FINISHED! I am very proud of that. 6.2 miles may not seem like much, but for someone who has never liked running, it was a big accomplishment. In fact, I'm thinking of framing my race number... ; )

Who knows, maybe you'll see me in the Portland 1/2 Marathon this year!

Making Progress!

This week I wasn't really expecting to lose anything. Not because I didn't try, but because I've gotten used to getting on the scale and not seeing much of a difference.

I was pleasantly surprised though!

When I weighed in on Tuesday I had lost 3 pounds! WOO HOO!!! I almost didn't believe my eyes. My trainer came over when he heard my exclaimation and congratulated me. It was nice to finally see some real results.

Hopefully it will continue... we only have one week left.

Operation Christmas Child

Every year our church participates in Operation Christmas Child. It's put on by Samaritan's Purse http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/index/ and they distribute gifts to children all over the world who wouldn't normally get anything for Christmas.

What you do is get a box that's about the size of a shoe box. Fill it with toys and return it so they can ship it.

This year is our first time participating in OCC. Our boys each picked a box at church a week ago. They were asking why we were taking these boxes home, so we asked if they like opening presents on Christmas Day. Of course they all said "yes". We explained that some children don't get to do that because their moms and dads don't have money for presents, or they don't have a mom and dad at all.

They seemed to understand how sad that would be. We asked if they would like to give presents to those children so they'd have something to open on Christmas Day. All three of them said that was something they wanted to do. We then explained that's what the boxes were for.


All week the boys bugged me about shopping for the kids who were getting our boxes. I didn't have time until yesterday. We went to the store together and picked out all sorts of fun stuff to put in the boxes. We chose to give boxes to little boys the same ages as our sons.


Today we sat around the table and packed the boxes up. Each of our boys drew a picture for the boy who will get their box and we included a picture of our family.


We're hoping to continue to do this every year as the boys get older. We think it's a great way to teach them how important it is to be generous.




I'm very proud of how excited our kids were about this and hope they will always feel that way about giving.

A Near Stand Still

This week I worked SO hard! I was at the gym 6 days and worked really, really hard while I was there.

Dispite that, I still didn't even lose an entire pound. UGH!

The good news is that I did lose a pants size and I am able to go faster and longer than I used to.

My friend talked me into running a 10k on Thanksgiving, so I'm working on getting used to running on the street. It's tough, but I think I'll be able to do it. The nice thing about running that far on Thanksgiving Day is that I won't have to worry so much about what I eat!