Swimming Lessons

Emma and Ella are taking swimming lessons this week. Sara had appointments this morning so I got to take the girls. They love the water and are having so much fun with the girls that are teaching them.

Hunter went with us and he is not to fond of the water. I did persuade him to get his feet in the water, but I should have known with his leg problem he would fall and he did. He got his clothes all wet and I had to strip him down. He was definitely ready to go bye-bye after that and he let me know it too! He didn't cry, but he was adamant about leaving.

At the end of lessons the girls got to go down the big red slide. Emma loved it, but Ella was not very excited. It took a lot of coaxing and determination, but she did it and loved it!

HUNGRY, HUNGRY HIPPOS!

I wanted to find some things that I could do with the girls this summer when they came to stay with me. I remembered that my boys had a Hungry, Hungry Hippos game when they were little and they loved to play it. Last time I went to Wal-Mart I looked to see if they even sold it anymore and they do! I bought one and the girls love it too. We have spent a lot of time playing lately. I finally have to tell them that's enough and put it up or they would play all day. It is so noisy, it just about drive anyone not playing crazy! Fun times with the grandkids! We're making memories.

And the Verdict Is............

I had a fun afternoon at the lake with a few friends. Debbie had just got a different boat and invited Melvena, Linda and I to go out for some fun. I was determined that I was going to ski since I haven't done it in probably 15 years. Not only did I intend to ski, but I was only going to slalom. That is all I ever did before. To my disappointment I was unable to get up. The very first try, the rope pulled the muscles in my forearms and I was instantly in pain. I tried a couple more times, but it was too late. I had already messed myself up to bad. I hate the realization that I am not able to do some of the things I was able to do when I was younger. In fact it makes me down right mad! This is Debbie and Linda getting us ready to go out.

After I tried to ski, I was exhausted so we went out in the middle, grabbed a life jacket and jumped out in the water and just chilled out for a while.

My arms were still hurting, but I decided I wasn't going to let it ruin the rest of the day. We threw out the tube and Linda and I got on. It's a good thing we put on our chapstick before we got started, because we kissed the water pretty good a couple of times. Arms and legs went flying!


We tried riding that tube lying down and on our knees and sitting up. Then we tried each of us doing different things at the same time.

We had a lot of fun, got some good sun and wore ourselves out. That was Thursday when we went. Today, two days later, I am so sore I can barely move, but it was worth it!

Learning New Technology

They say you should never stop learning, so I have been trying to get out of my box and try new things. Some of my friends and family have been texting me, so it forced me to learn how to text back. It was taking me forever and a day to reply back on my razor phone 1): because if I don't have my bifocals on I can't see what buttons I am pushing and 2): I have to really concentrate on where the letters are and how many times I need to push the same place. So I decided a while back to invest in a slider phone in order to be more efficient at replying back sooner than the 15 minutes it was taking me. My boys have harassed me unmercifully about having a teeny-bopper phone, to which my reply was "Hey, whatever it takes!"

Last week my friend Debbie came over and was talking to me about her face book. She said you should give it a try. I never was interested in it, because I new my kids had face book pages and I didn't want to intrude on their territory. I didn't know how any of it worked and didn't know they had to accept me as a friend before I could even view their page. However, after she left I decided I would look at it and decide whether it was something I could keep up with or not. Well I started Friday night at 9:00 and didn't get off until 11:30. Now, anyone that knows me very well at all knows that that is way past my bed time, but I was enjoying looking at the pages of everyone that had accepted me as their friend. When I finally did go to bed, I couldn't go to sleep for a long time. I just couldn't get my mind shut down.

Last night I was on it until 10:30 and again, I couldn't shut my mind down for a while after going to bed. I guess I am going to have to stay off of it just before going to bed! I know, I am weird. Justin and Tyler have razzed me to no end about being a texting and face book junky. It is really cool to be able to connect with people you haven't talked to in forever. So far, I haven't been able to find many people I went to school with on fb. Maybe THEY are technologically challenged! Or maybe they just have better things to do with their time than I do.

For now I'm just trying to stay up with the times.

Honestly!!

I have officially been convicted!! Today I was reading the Proverbs 31 devotional I get every day and what Lysa wrote hit me right between the eyes. It was all about temptation and the struggle with weight issues. I have been so guilty about making excuses for not losing the 20 pounds I need to lose. Satan has planted all kinds of lies in my head like: "You can't lose because you had chemo and radiation, so your metabolism is all messed up, plus the fact you have hypothyroidism. You better just get used to the way you are and be content with it." Although there could be a little bit of truth to that, the reality is (confession time) I recently read the book by the Biggest Loser's Jillian Michaels "Master Your Metabolism" and she said we should be eating organic as much as possible. So I made a trip to Oklahoma City to the Health Food Center and bought a fridge full of organic fruits and vegetables, which was very expensive. The very next day I was hungry so instead of taking the time to fix a salad with the veggies I had bought the day before, I went to Taco Mayo and got a chili-cheese burrito and a taco. I did forego the large coke I really did want and opted for a tea instead. What a sacrifice I made! This mind game I am playing has got to stop.

Here is the devotional written by Lysa TerKeurst:
"Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress." I Timothy 4:15 (NIV)

I think we all get to a place sometimes in our life where we have to honestly assess, "How I am doing?"

It's not really a conversation I have with a friend or family member. It's one of those middle of the night contemplations where there's no one to fool. There's no glossing over the realities staring me in the face.

I know certain things about myself need to change but it's easier to make excuses than tackle them head on. Rationalizations are so appealing:

I'm good in every other area.
I make so many sacrifices already.
I need this comfort in this season of life- I'll deal with it later.
I just can't give this up. The Bible doesn't specifically say this is wrong.
It's not really a problem, if I really wanted to make a change, I could - I just don't want to right now.
Oh for heaven's sake, everyone has issues, so what if this is mine?

And on and on.

But excuses always get me no where fast. This is especially true for me in the area of healthy eating. Even if that's not your issue, I suspect this same script of rationalization has played out in your mind over other things.

So, the cycle continues day after day, week after week, year after year.

A whole lifetime could be spent making excuses, giving in, feeling guilty, resolving to do better, mentally beating myself up for not sticking to my resolve, feeling like a failure, and then resigning that things can't change.

And I don't want to spend a lifetime in this cycle.

Nothing will change until I make the choice to change . I have to want it, spiritually, physically and mentally. The battle really is in all three areas.

Spiritually: In Colossians 3 1-5 we are told to set our minds and our hearts on things above. In order to do this, we have to put to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature which sets itself up as an idol in my life.

Idolatry is trying to get my needs met outside the will of God.

Bingo. Can't deny it. This described food for me at times. Again, it wasn't a huge problem where I was medically in danger. But, any idolatry, no matter how small is a problem.

Physically: According to an extensive study done by Northwestern University, calorie restriction is the key ingredient for managing weight issues. (The link to see this study can be found on Lysa's blog today.) Of course, they state that exe rcise is also important but good nutrition is crucial.

Bingo. Can't deny it. It does matter what I eat. My weight is a reflection of what I consume.

Mentally: Don't settle. Don't compromise. What happens when you cut the "com" off of the word compromise? You're left with a "promise."

We were made for more than compromise. We were made for God's promises in all areas of our life.

Honestly. I am made for more than a vicious cycle of eating, gaining, stressing - eating, gaining, stressing...

I am made to rise up, do battle with my issues, and using the Lord's strength in me, defeat them - spiritually, physically, and mentally - to the glory of God.

Dear Lord, help me be courageous enough to speak honestly to You and to myself in those areas I'm giving in to compromise. Show me how to rely on Your strength for more self-discipline in my life - not for my glory but for Yours. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Memorial Day Fish Fry

For Memorial Day we invited all of Justin's family over for a fish fry. We had a really good day with lot's of really good food. I had made four freezers of ice cream on Sunday so I could please everyone's tastes. I made two Butterfinger, one peach and one vanilla and there is very little of any of them left. My nephew Taylor only likes vanilla and the poor guy always gets left out, because no one ever makes just plain vanilla, so I decided it was his turn.

Everyone in the whole family was able to come, except for Daniel, who had to work this weekend and our brother-in-law Mike. His mother has been battling cancer for almost 10 years now and is coming to the end of that long fight. He was planning on coming until this morning when he got the call that she had a really bad night last night and was in a lot of pain. They decided they would do a CT scan this morning and when he got to the hospital, decided he had better stay there with his Dad and Sister. They had to go back to Tulsa this evening, because the girls still have four more days of school. I'm sure it will be hard to leave since they don't seem to know what the next hours or days will hold for his mother.

We spent a lot of time visiting around the table. We always find things to laugh about. In the afternoon, the guys went out to the shooting range and shot their guns. They had to quit, because it started raining. I think they were hoping to stay out there a while longer, but they had a good time while it lasted.

It's a Girl's Day Out

Saturday Mom, Lisa and I had a girl's day out. We went to Oklahoma City for the day. It started out at the Cemetery putting flowers on my grandparents graves. It was the first time I had been there since my grandma passed away a year ago in February. My Aunt and Uncle was waiting for us when we got there for a short little visit. We put flowers on their graves and then went over a ways to see my great grandparents and other aunts and uncles graves.

From there we went to Bricktown and ate at Crabtown. I love to eat there. We all three shared a bowl of Red beans and rice and then treated ourselves to a shrimp boil. It doesn't get much better than that. My Mom treated Lisa and I to the Broadway production of "The Lion King". I was so excited to get to go to a Broadway play. I have never been and it's something I have always wanted to do. A few minutes after we got into the building, we spotted James, Linda, Emily and Kevin Suderman. We talked to them for a few minutes and then started comparing our tickets to see where our seats were. We noticed that we were in the same section. Wow! what are the chances of that? Upon further examination we saw that our seats were in the same row. Really? Not only that our seat numbers were all consecutive. We were so surprised! Especially since they bought their tickets in December and we bought ours the end of January. We had a wonderful time and loved the show.

After a quick trip to Sam's and then to Braum's (of course) we went on home and ended up driving through a toad strangling rain starting at Cherokee Trading Post and it didn't end until we got to Watonga. It was raining so hard and there was so much water on the road that there were two people that had hydroplaned and had accidents just after the Cherokee. It was a little scary. Anyway we made it home just fine. Thank you Mom for the wonderful treat. It was a lot of fun.