5/29/2008

Day 1 of 63

Nothing really much to say today except that everytime I *think about cheating or eating more than my portion of things I think about how little time I have to drop this weight. I haven't had time to workout which is a bummer but I am MAKING time today. I'm going to the gym on my lunch break since it's just around the corner. If I can't for whatever reason, I'm going AT LEAST start with taking a walk around the neighorhood. I still have painful gas in my back and I think I just need to walk it off.

I got my first official star on the Liquid Diet Discussion board the other day. I met my first goal and when I loose 2 more pounds, I will get my first 25 pound Loss banner :-) Hopefully weigh in day tomorrow will bring me that! Alright well, lots of work to do as always. Chat later, God Bless!

5/27/2008

Day 1 of 65

Suddenly I feel like my time to drop this weight is totally dwindling! AHHH! I have 65 days to loose 60 pounds. Is that right? Well I am down to 229.4 so I've broken into the 220's! So far I'm down 23 pounds. I was SHOCKED to see that number and I'm busting out my jogger today and everyday this week to start a jogging program. It's that Couch to 5K thing that lots of people are raving about. I'm sure I can do it. Sounds very do-able. I was going to order more products from New Lifestyle BUT I need to finish the Vanilla and Strawberry because they are not my very favorite but they are not bad. I just natually flock to chocolate and mocha shakes. I do love the sloppy joe so I might order a box of those.

I'm taking a vacation day today. I need it. I'm so tired. We had a good time in San Jose but I feel like there's just not enough time for me to spend with each of my siblings and mom and dad. When I'm there, I talk to my mom for 20 minutes, then I run off and talk to my sister Nancy for 20 minutes then I go talk to my sister Lorena for 20 minutes. I think I might've spend too much time with Nancy and not enough with Lorena so I'm going to try and call her a few times this week just to talk. My husband had a talk with my brother and he confessed to what was going on with him. He's been trying to get better for two weeks on his own. He knows we went out there to specifically talk to him and that touched him. He knows we love him and that we're worried about him. I'm going to try staying in touch with him as well in between my visits.

Well I need to unpack and clean up my house a bit. I have painful gas, like in my upper back and it's killing me! I need to take more gas X to try and get rid of it. Anyway, till later. God Bless!

5/22/2008

Day 1 of 70

We went to another Dodger game last night but this time my little man stayed home. We saw a couple there with about a 18 month old and she was screaming her head off. When I took my my son to the last game, he wasn't that bad but he was crying. I was making him stay on my lap and he didn't like that very much. It's hard taking small kids to those types of events, even if it is loud. They want to run and be free..LOL.

Man I have been such a witch in the evenings. I really need to try and be more mellow. I just freak out at the smallest things and then everybody's mad at me (yes including my little ones). I mean I don't go crazy (like yelling and crying and all that) but I guess I can be mean and not very like-able. I can't wait for AF to go away. I've been so moody. I've had a headache for 2 days too and I hate to keep taking exedrin but I'm going to have to cave in today and take some. My hands are swollen today too and I'm not sure why. I had Subway for dinner which is probably why I'm only down to 232.6. OH and the other day I had a burrito for lunch with chips and salsa because I was "stressed" at work. I'm so tired of making excuses for myself. I guess I should be happy that I even lost almost 1/2 a pound today. I broke into the 232's and that's great but I wanted to be 224.8 by today and here I am 7 pounds too heavy for that goal. So...I know what I need to do. I'm just letting stress take over me. I seriously need to make it my goal to go to bed at like 8pm. The evenings are my absolute weakness. Once 5pm starts rolling around, I start to struggle. I'm not eating anything during the day BUT New Lifestyle shakes and foods.

I'm going to San Jose this weekend to see my family. You know what that means...struggle struggle struggle. That's life for me though. We're staying in a really nice hotel though because my hubby is supposed to sit and talk with my brother which I am so happy about. I'm going to have to spend these few days in prayer about that whole situation and pray that the Lord show my brother that drugs will keep leading him in the way of distruction. Pray for us please?!

Till later God Bless!

5/20/2008

Day 1 of 72

I'm trying to stay positive. I don't like feeling down but I do. I just keep thinking of all my blessings....like I say all the time. I don't have much time to post today. I came in to work today again because of our weekly meeting and I have to meet with each member of our team and try and squeeze in a separate meeting within out department to discuss many issues we are having.

Weight wise. Weight is back down to 233 with a 1% loss in body fat which is nice. I feel like I am retaining tons of water. My fingers feel like sausages comparared to what they've felt like in the past few weeks. I am totally dehydrated too so I brought a huge water jug to work to drink water out of. I'm going to go for a walk later today to clear my head.

We went to a Dodger Game last night and it was ok. I took my kids and my son was of course was a little pain in the butt. We have tickets to Wednesday game as well but we're going to try and get a babysitter for him. If not I'm not going. I'll tell my hubby to invite some of the guys and they can enjoy the game. Alrighty well till later. God Bless!

5/19/2008

Day 1 of 73

So I've been sort of down since Friday. I've been on the verge on tears just about all weekend. I got a call from my sister on Thursday about my brother. He's been struggling with addiction to pain killers and who knows what else. He's a young guy has everything going for him but this addiction is getting to be quite noticeable. Everyone is calling me to talk to him about it but I'm 400 miles away and he won't answer my calls. I'm the only one he'll really talk to. My husband talked to our Reformer's Unanimous Director about what he thinks we should do. Should we drive out there and try to get him into a drug program? Should we stage an intervention so that he realizes that we care about him and he needs to see that his addictions are hurting him and his family? Well, he recommended that my husband fly out to San Jose alone so that my brother realizes that he went out there, on his own, just to talk to him about what is going on. My husband is pretty raw and I think that's what he needs. So that's the plan. I called a couple of drug recovery counselors and one highly recommended that we read a book called "Get your loved on Sober: Alternatives to nagging, pleading and Threatening". I tried looking at Border's but they didn't have it so I'm going to run to Barnes & Nobles on my lunch. Hopefully they have it. Once my husband talks to him about it. I'm going to make a special trip out there alone as well. I don't want him to end up in jail or hooked on drugs for the rest of his life.

So besides that, my husband has been a little on the edge lately as well. He's ready to be in a house. I think he's outgrown the fact that we are still renting. His job is not a steady one and with his back, he can't really go back to working as a Carpenter. He's gotten to the point where he makes great money - when he works. The Union is slow in work but when he does work his back totally goes out on him so it's not like we can really afford a mortgage. He wants to REALLY move to Clovis. I'm ready for my kids to have a home too BUT I'm not moving unless God gives us the ok on it.

There's just so many things that are bugging me right now and I just have to keep giving it to God and pray that everything works out the way He intends it to work out. He is so merciful and continues to be so I really should not let any of these things bother me.

The weekend also brough on a 1 pound gain. AF is here and I am hoping it's mostly water weight. I scrubbed my house down on Saturday and was sweating like nobody's business. Then we went to my co-workers house so my husband could do more plumbing work. He has a really nice house with a pool so we went swimming to cool off from the 100 heat weather! I got a little tan on my super white shoulders. I have a total farmer's tan so I got a little color to match my arms...LOL. I came to work today to get some things worked on that my boss requested us to do before tomorrow's meeting so till later. God Bless!

5/16/2008

Day 1 of 76

Day 1 of 77 was a good one! I woke up feeling a bit thinner today. My wedding ring turns and turns on my finger and when I am super cold it actually falls off my finger!! Pretty soon I'm going to get to the point where I have to wrap a bandaid around the band in the back to keep it in place. Good problem! I actually need to get an actual ring size adjuster so I don't look totally ghetto :-) I'll look for one on Ebay.

I decided to not wait and weigh in early this morning so I don't start drinking things like water and coffee. Guess what? I am down to 233!! I am SO happy and I'm glad that God gave me the strength to get through these days where I am sticking to my shakes and New Lifestyle products.

I need to start taking my vitamins today again. I felt really dizzy before bed last night. I think I was just really tired. It was 11pm and I get up early to work so I'm sure that had something to do with it. It was also hot, and I was on my feet for a few hours. I decided to make more meals ahead of time and use my Food Saver thing to preserve the food. I made my ground turkey Pita mix with black beans a little bit of corn and some other yummy things. We stuff this mixture in the Western Bagel Alternative Pita which has less than 15 carbs per pita! Then I made Steak Fajita mixture as well for lunches and use the Low carb tortillas to eat them as "Fajita Tacos". I made my little ones some Spanish Rice and mexican soup because they don't always like to eat the low carb stuff I make for Serg and Alexis.

I'm a happier camper today. I've been spending more time with the Lord, I've been sticking to my Liquid Diet and I'm seeing the results. Now I need to work on sticking to it! God Bless!

5/15/2008

Day 1 of 77

I finally weighed in and I am at 234.8! Relief. I had not gained but a pound or two of water in the past so last night I started to worry. I re-read my post, felt like I was being a bit braggy about not gaining. I wasn't, it's a relief but I'm not bragging by far! My belly and fat legs tell me I have nothing to brag about as of yet! LOL.

I'm looking forward to being in new weight territory. I asked my husband "do you think it's too much to ask if my goal is to loose 10 pounds this week"? He said "Absolutely not". I felt even more confident that I could do this. If I really set my mind to it, stick to my shakes 100% this week and throw in some workouts, I CAN be 224.8 next week! Is that crazy or what!!!???

One thing that has been going through my mind is a line from the skit I worked with the bus kids on memorizing for their performance this past Sunday...."I am what I am becoming". I mean the skit is like 2 pages long and that's what stuck in my mind.

Today I am excited about actually trying the New Lifestlye Diet Sloppy Joe. It sounded disgusting and looked pretty nasty in the package. How good can it actually be right? Well, let me tell you...........I took someone's recommendations on the Liquid Diet Forum and cooked it on the stovetop instead of in the microwave..it is SOOO SOOO SOOOO good. I'm not kidding. It's such a wonderful break from the shakes and it's almost as low in calories and everything else as the shakes. I have to admit, yesterday work drained me. I came home with a toothache, tired, cranky (but trying hard not to be). I seriously did not want to cook but decided on what to make until Alexis BEGGED me to let her cook something. She made these.... (this is a sample pic but they looked pretty much like this). Quesadillas with low carb tortillas, jalapenos, grilled chicken (she made it and it looked very moist) and a bunch of other yummy things.



My sister in law came over later in the afternoon asking me to put some tires and stuff on Ebay for her....ugh..I don't even want to put my stuff on there. I'm making my hubby do it though. I really don't have the time. My husband ran off to school and after my sis-in law left, my kids watched the Bee movie with what's his name...Seinfeld? I haven't even seen it. I took that opportunity to escape to my room to read my bible and pray about a few things. After I was done, I put my head back to "rest my eyes" and totally knocked out! My husband woke me up and asked me if I was ok. I had been asleep for at least 2 hours. My unfinished shake was sitting next to me and he was trying to make me drink it but I refused and crawled under the covers.

Alright well I need to work for another 1/2 hour or so then I am off to the store to stock up on some low carb stuff for the fam. GOD BLESS!

5/14/2008

Day 1 of 78

Today has been full of revelations for me. It's hard to describe how this all came to me, I know it's from God because it's all stuff that I don't like to "hear". I haven't been the best Christian, wife, mom and person overall. My walk with God has got to improve. I haven't been spending ANY time with God. I've been too involved in my own head. I asked God for help. I just get myself locked in a box and don't care what's going on around me. I'm not upset, sad or angry, I'm actually elated that I sincerely asked God for help and He's extenting His hand out to me even though I have been so unfaithful (like He woulnd't).I just felt like I ask and ask and ask and after a while He wasn't going to respond. You know??

I kinda see this as a spanking (it sounds funny I know) but I do. I'm like at the stage where I am over being hurt by the spanking and now realize that it was for my own good. I just think who would I have gone to if I did not have Him? All I need to really say is I feel so blessed.....I AM so blessed.


Weight related: I'm going back to stricly shakes for at least a week. No L&G. I just can't handle that. My willpower has slowly been dwindling. I don't gain when I cheat so I continue to push my limits. It's done a number on my stomach and my energy levels. Food is outta sight for me right now (eating wise, I still have to prepare food for my family) so I can focus on many other things. I feel good about this. Actually......I feel like a new me. God Bless.

Luke 13:23-25

Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?" And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and He will answer and say to you,'I do not know you, where you are from,'

5/13/2008

Day 1 of 79

Gosh I really really struggled this morning to stay on plan. I know it's all those leftover carb cravings from bread. I didn't weigh today because it was a little weird morning. We went to a bon fire last night with another family from our church. It was really nice. The kids had a good time but I am tired. We didn't go to bed til really late. I got up to work and I drank my coffee and REALLY REALLY wanted to eat cereal. Not sure why. I'm not really a cereal person. I know I was waiting too long to eat breakfast so I just made myself fight the cravings and drank my shake.

I'm finally catching up a bit more at work. I worked an hour of overtime with the OK from my boss and once the time came to sign off...I was off! Not like I usually do. I probably work like 10 hours a day (2 unpaid by choice). One of my accounts is California and they are so so busy all the time. I just off loaded my South Carolina accounts which has helped TREMENSOUSLY. They are also very busy and I spoiled them rotten so they are a bit demanding.

This morning I threw on a pair of bermuda shorts I bought a while ago but were a bit on the tight side. Today they are loose on my legs and waist. I was pretty shocked and happy because they are SOOO comfy! I'm supposed to hang out with my husband later today which will be nice. I'm going to clean my house a bit more during my lunch break (since all I will be doing is driking my shake) and we should be able to spend some quality time together.

Well nothing insteresting really to talk about so I will see ya later. God Bless!

5/12/2008

Day 1 of 80

Oh man what a weekend! Nothing out of the ordinary but just busy. Me and my husband ate Quiznos last night (the bus kids performed and we all the workers throw them a party afterwards and buy them dinner) so insted of getting them pizza we got them Quiznos but I think we *might of got food poisoning! My husband was up hugging the toilet last night and I've been doing that this morning. I dunno, it's weird! I woke up with a major migraine too and so did he. He took my kids to the babysitter and my daughter to school but he was scared to leave the house. He's coming back home after he's done so we'll see if he feels any better. I feel a tad better but still. I told him, that's what we get for cheating.

On Saturday morning I weighed in and was down to 234.8 so I am hoping I will be relatively close to that when I weigh tomorrow. I can't wait to be in the 220's! That will be a huge for me....I know once I get into the 220 I'll want to be in the 210's but one step at a time...

Once I am off for the day I will need to scrub my house down. I didn't do anything this weekend and you can totally tell.

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day! I had a super great one and I felt so appreciated. My husband bought me a Coach purse...which scares me cause I know that they are not cheap! I used it yesterday and I told him I didn't want to put it down anywhere because I felt like I was going to mess it up. By mid afternoon I was yelling at him and told him it was too much responsibility to "take care" of it!! The most I pay for my purses is usually like $20-$30. He didn't want to tell me how much he paid for it so I went online (I just had to know) and the stinkin' thing is like $450!!!! I am really praying he didn't pay that much because I am SO cheap, and I'm going to resent that purse if he did!

Anyway, gotta get back to work. Til later. God Bless!

5/09/2008

Day 1 of 83

I've finally increased my Metformin to 1500mg. I haven't had the guts to do it because you basically get the symptoms of morning sickness and you also get the runs. Ew. I know. I've known that my dosage was not enough and I thought, why keep taking it if it's not helping me 100%? So..I just went for it. I take a 500mg pill in the morning and 2 in the evening. I felt so sick later in the afternoon though. Like just blah. Work is super stressfull right now. I just have lots of work and not enough time. I didn't even take a lunch break yesterday.

So another short post because I really have to get going. Need coffee too! I had not had any because I wanted to weigh myself and guess what? Some good news! I am down another pound to 235! I am so happy to be coming into unchartered territory and the good news is that I do snack on healthy things throughout the day so I totally do not feel deprived. Down 17.4 pounds...PRAISE GOD!!

I made a new soup from the "15~Minute Low Carb Recipes" book by Dana Carpenter and it was really really good. In fact, even though the tomatoes and green chiles I put in it were a bit spicy, my 3 year old LOVED it. It was so funny cause she would take a bite and say "MMM" but would yell "Mom why did you put hot and spicy in it"??!! She would say this in an angry tone over and over again everytime she took a bite. It was hilarious. Next time I will have to find less spicy canned tomatoes so she can thouroughly enjoy it. My son liked it too but he couldn't take it. He would scream when he took a bite and clean his tongue off.. LOL... I'm so bad. I thought it was funny. Ok well gotta go...looking forward to the weekend finally!! God Bless!

5/08/2008

Day 1 of 84

I don't have much to say today except that I am doing an all day shakes day and a L&G for dinner OR lunch. I weighed in today and there was only a .5% drop in my BMI, weight stayed the same at 236 which I am pleased about because I sort of did the snacking thing AGAIN but on healthy stuff. I know I can easily overdo it, even on healthy stuff. I was not bad but still. I rather see that scale go down so that's what I am going to aim for today. We have church tonight so I am going to try working out at home today. I got Jillian's workout DVD from Blockbuster so I am going to check it out. Hopefully I can keep up.

Well I hope you have a great day. Chat later. God Bless.

5/07/2008

Day 1 of 85

I was supposed to go into work today but I was sleep deprived from the night before and there was just no way I was going to get up at 3am and get on the road by 4am. There was like not even a 1% chance. Not to mention gas prices. I have plenty of things I've been jamming along on this morning.

I had a full eating day yesterday. Very healthy but no shakes involved. I knew I was tired and I didn't want to fall off the wagon with my eating so I just ate, but I ate healthy. I had 2 small burritos made from La tortilla factory tortillas. I scrambled two eggs and grilled them in Pam. I added salsa and drank my coffee. I had one burrito on the way to work and the other one like 2 hours later. Then I had a Subway sandwich for lunch. I actually ordered a footlong and ate half of it. The "bad" was that I ate the other half on the way home. I was falling asleep driving I had to..LOL. I got to Alexis school to pick her 25 minutes early so I took a mini nap while I waited. I still wanted to sleep when I got home but I didn't want to totally knock out which is what was going to happen.

We went to Trader Joe's to grab some Bell Pepper mix because it's only 1.29 and it has red, yellow and green sliced (frozen) bellpeppers that we like to add to egg scrambles. I made my hubby a ham, cheese and bell pepper omelet this morning. MMM. I need to drink a shake in a minute...getting hungry. I also bought some blue chips, chunky salsa (which is low fat of course and has no salt added to it) and hummus. I was totally snacking on stuff while I put things away. Alexis loves hummus now so we ate like 5 or 6 chips with the hummus dip. Then I had a couple of the pretzels filled with peanut butter I got for my son. He loves salty/sweet stuff. You can have 11 of those pretzel things for only 14 carbs and 8 grams of protein. I had like 3 of those. I had a very light dinner that I made in addition to 3 other dinners I have vaccum packed in the fridge and freezer. I am making a mexican soup today that is super easy to make and involves a pack of coleslaw mix (has shredded cabbage, carrots and broccoli). Should be good.

Weight update. I got on the scale (not wanting to because of the snacking) but I was down another pound! I'm now at 236 which I really haven't seen for a while. SO I was pleasantly surprised. Now I have to watch myself for tomorrow's weigh in. Ok gotta go. God Bless.

5/06/2008

Day 1 of 86

Did I already say that it really helps when you think "one day at a time". I guess that's why I've been posting "Day 1 of ....". I had a great strictly shakes only day yesterday and I felt SOOO good. I HAD to keep making myself drink them every two hours though because I didn't feel hungry so my brain automatically thinks "Don't drink a shake if you're not hungry cause ya know...that will save you calories". I had to push (ok...shove) those thoughts aside and drink my shakes. I ended up facing the scales after all. I had not had anything to drink yet so I thought "Why not just do it, face the reality already"!! So I got on the scales and I was up to 237.8...basically a .4 pound gain. I was surprised but thought, hmm...my cheat with pizza will certainly catch up to me by Tuesday even Wednesday(yeah I had pizza....it's my weakness and I'm suprised I didn't shove pizza down my throat sooner than this). Totally ALL God. This morning I was curious to see if I would see like 250 pounds on the scale but I lost .4 more pounds. I broke new ground and I'm down to 237 on the dot!! The scary scary thing is my BMI is up to 47% (from 46%). I guess I'll actually have to work out to get that # to go down.

My "excuse" for not working out was that I had to go see Lillian at the hospital. She had bybass surgery yesterday (after her heart attack from a week or so ago). I went to see her Sunday and took her the T.V. Guide she asked me to bring. She told me her surgery was scheduled for noon and would take 4 to 5 hours. I agreed to come check on her at around 6:30pm the next day to make sure the surgery went well but when I showed up to her room she was completely sedated and had a breathing tube in. I immediately though something went wrong when I saw this and all the machines around her. The nurse in her room hit me with a barrage of questions when I walked in and put her guard down when I told her I was from her church. She started to then tell me that the surgery went very well but that she was going to remain sedated for 2 days. I felt so bad because Lillian is just a crazy lady (in a good way), she thought she was going to come out of this surgery and kick it and watch TV (thus her request for the TV Guide). Little did she know, this was a major surgery. I was even going to bring her a coffee!! She made me feel THAT at ease about this surgery of hers. I called our RU director and gave him an update so he could pass it on to Pastor which has been visiting her with his wife a couple of times a week. I told them they probably should not come until Wednesday at the earliest and that I would keep checking on her and keep them posted.

I could NOT get to sleep last night for some reason. My mind was just going and going. I finally made myself count sheep (I kid you not, I was desperate)...I kept waking up though so I'm probably running on like 2 hours of sleep right now IF that.

On the way to work today I listened to one of the sessions that I attended at the ladies conference and I am SOOO glad I bought the CD. I needed to hear some of the teachings from this pastors wife. It was about honoring your husband. One of the things that husbands seek from their wives is honor. I've been a brat to my husband these past few days and I don't really like that. I'm going to try and find a way to post that message on here so you guys can have a listen. I am telling you, this message is EXCELLENT for the wife and mom in us.

I'm at work today and have millions of things to get done today so I will chat later. God Bless.

5/05/2008

Day 1 of 87

Geez I can't believe the 80's are rolling around. I didn't even dare weigh myself today. I ate badly last night and I'm too chicken to face the evil scales. This is going to be a good week for me, I've steered away from working out from dumb reasons and I'm determined to get back on track. Being tired all the time is just not cool. I went grocery shopping last night and today I am going to cook and cook some more. I want to be able to walk out the door for my workouts without skipping out on something else (like making dinner). My family is low carbing it so I have had to really plan out their meals for the week.

I will probably weight tomorrow, I guess depending on how chicken I am. It's probably going to take me till Tuesday or even Wednesday to see my weight back to where it was on Friday. We'll see.

Our church banquet was excellent. Alexis was able to come and we all took a picture together. I'll have to scan it and post it. I look F A T in the pic. Funny I thought I looked thinner and then I see the picture and was like YUK! It's always like that isn't it?? I can imagine what I would of looked like if I had 15 more pounds on me. Anyway, I should not be so negative. Everyone had a great time and everyone was very generous with their giving. God really worked on everyone's heart I can tell you that!! The total raised for the building was over $800,000 and there is no one really that I can say is wealthy at our church. Most of these people are really sacrificing.

Alrighty well I am really busy (still) so I need to get back to work. Chat later. God Bless!

5/02/2008

Day 1 of 90

I didn't even have time to post yesterday! Too too busy. I am back down in weight and have lost .4 more pounds which is almost half a pound :-) BUT today is my 1 month anniversary and I was supposed to be down 20 pounds to meet my 80 pound weight loss mark by July. I guess I will just really have to stick to program. I've been drinking shakes for breakfast and snack but low carbing it for lunch and dinner. I've been pretty good but I start to push my limits so I'm going back to just a lean dinner. I have to or I will see myself up 15 pounds quickly. Plus I have NOT worked out all week which is why I seriosuly think I have been so tired all week. I mean it's like I can't get enough sleep. Totally not me. If I didn't have the IUD in place and if I had other pregnancy symptoms I'd say I was pregnant (I'm not though)..I'm getting my "scheduled" AF in a few days and I can tell it's coming. Anyway, I am going to ask my husband to go with me to the beach today so I can do the killer stairs. I am going to scare this tiredness off of me or something!! When I stay indoors.....I want to snack. Grant it I snack on a few almonds and soy nuts but still! Soon enough it will be chocolate and we have WAAAY too much See's candy in this house (alexis's fundraising candy).

Today is our church banquet and I am planning on wearing a pretty cute dress I'm just hoping I look OK in it. I tried it on last week and it fit. We've prayed about what to give as a cash gift but this year we are just going to do our weekly commitments. A lot of people are giving thousands of dollars but we just don't have that. When we get our tax rebate check we are giving more than half of it to the church and I think we are going to give $35 or more weekly besides our tithe and bus ministry. Equal sacrifice not equal giving.

I've started looking into starting my own little business. It's very preliminary but I've gone to the City twice about getting my business license and I also attended a free seminar given by the city yesterday. I talked to my sister yesterday and she's willing to invest in my little venture so that was very re-assuring. I may not need her help though which is always a plus but we'll see. Costs add up faster than you think. Anyway, I will share more of this little plan I have when it starts to take off. I think the devil has been really discouraging me to go for it but I think a lot of people that start their own business feel insecure...true some make it and some don't but it's worth a try! Yesterday's message was great. I felt like it confirmed that I was reaching out for the right thing. God Bless!

Deuteronomy 8:18

But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.