Update on Weight Loss

I haven't written in a few weeks so I thought I would just post an update on this lazy Sunday afternoon.

As of today I have lost 20 pounds. It is such a slow go and I get so discouraged at times with it. I just have to remember that I didn't put this on in a few weeks even tho it seems as if I did. I have been overweight for all of my life except for when I was first born. So 50 years of gaining weight and losing weight on some fad diet as taken a toll on me. I have messed my metablelism (msp) so I can't expect to take off that many years of abuse. Had I known at 16 what I know now I would have tried harder to take care of myself. When you are young you don't really think about how you are going to feel 35 years later.

I try to get my daughters to eat healthier and exercise more but they seem to think the same way I did when I was younger. I knew everything and really knew nothing, my girls are the same way. But, isn't every one like that? You can try to tell them your mistakes so that they don't make the same ones but, they have to make their own just like I did. I just wish I could spare them the pain and heartache I know that is bound to come their way. But as one of my daughter's always says "Momma it might not be that way for me" I pray that it isn't. :)

Kayla has gone to Winter Jam tonite with the youth church group. She has been looking forward to it for a few months. I hope that she enjoys it and has a good time.

Chris is sick tonite so we are staying in out of the damp air. I hope that when it rains it will wash some of the pollen out of the air. We have a white car but this morning on our way to church I noticed the hood of it was pollen yellow. Spring is one of my favorite times of the year, I love the all the flowers when they bloom but I know what the flowers brings. I think the pleasure of thier beauty far out weighs the fact that pollen messes up everyones sinus'.

Guess that is all for now. I am going to try and start the Day Book tomorrow I just hope that I don't mess it up. It may take a few times to get it right!

My new journey

On Decemember the 27th I started a new journey, first I was told I had diabetes and that I had to lose weight. I started out at 262 and as of today I weigh 248. I loss of 14 pounds. I suppose that is good in a little less than two months.

About 15 years ago I was diagnosed with RA, I went to a RA doctor on the 12th and he is almost certain that I don't have that. He said that I had Fibromyalgia and Hyper Mobility Syndrome (this is where joints move to much). He put me on meds for the Fibro and told me to strengthen my muscles for the Hyper.

I still feel that God can use all this for His honor and glory. I don't know how just yet but when it is time I am sure He will show me, lead me, tell me how to do it. I think that God gives us things sometimes to test us to see where our heart is. My heart belongs to God first and fore most. It hasn't been a walk in the park by no means but I know from whence my help comes. (Psalm 121:1) With God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)

I am going to try at least once a month to post my weight loss and progress here in hopes that by doing this there might be some chance that someone will see this and be encouraged by it. Please feel free to post your comments, helpful tips and any other ideas that you might have.

Welcome to my journey and May God richly Bless you!

Where are you gloves?

I recieved this in an email and I really enjoyed reading it. I thought you might too. I don't know if this is a true story or not but whether it is or isn't we need more Christians with this boldness. Enjoy!

WHERE ARE YOUR GLOVES?

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, 'I will work for food.' My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: 'Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square.'

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

'Looking for the pastor?' I asked.

'Not really,' he replied, 'just resting.'

'Have you eaten today?'

'Oh, I ate something early this morning.'

'Would you like to have lunch with me?'

'Do you have some work I could do for you?'

'No work,' I replied 'I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.'

'Sure,' he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions. Where you headed?'

' St. Louis '

'Where you from?'

'Oh, all over; mostly Florida.'

'How long you been walking?'

'Fourteen years,' came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, 'Jesus is The Never Ending Story.'

Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God

'Nothing's been the same since,' he said, 'I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.'

'Ever think of stopping?' I asked.

'Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me, but God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.'

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment and then I asked: 'What's it like?'

'What?'

'To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?'

'Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me.'

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused, turned to me and said, 'Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.'

I felt as if we were on holy ground. 'Could you use another Bible?' I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite. 'I've read through it 14 times,' he said.

'I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see' I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

'Where are you headed from here?' I asked.

'Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.'

'Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?'

'No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next.'

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.

'Would you sign my autograph book?' he asked. 'I like to keep messages from folks I meet.'

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, 'I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope.'

'Thanks, man,' he said. 'I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you.'

'I know,' I said, 'I love you, too.' 'The Lord is good!'

'Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?' I asked.

A long time,' he replied

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, 'See you in the New Jerusalem.'

'I'll be there!' was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, 'When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

'You bet,' I shouted back , 'God bless.'

'God bless.' And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them... a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words: 'If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?'

Today his gloves lie on the desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. 'See you in the New Jerusalem,' he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will...

'I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.'

The devil

The devil has been after me for most of the day today and part of the day yesterday. I have asked God to remove the hurt that is in my heart and I am sure He will. The hurt has caused ME to have a selfish heart and I hate it!

I just feel that people are not what they want you to think that they are. When you see them in a certain place they are just so sweet and loving but then you can see them at a different place or the same place and treat you like you have the worst disease there is and they are afraid they are going to catch it from you.

I try to think that they are just having a bad day or they have something weighing on their hearts. I always try to give someone the benefit of a doubt.

I honestly believe that the closer you walk with Christ the more it upsets the devil and he just throws things in your path. I know he would like for me to think things like: well that old so and so, I will never speak to her/him again Or why do you want to go back there, they are gonna just treat you so bad.

But, I am a child of the King and I will not let the devil have a victory in my life!! When I hear the devil knocking on my heart door I just ask Jesus if He will get that for me. Jesus has never failed me and I know He is not going to start now. I will continue to speak to the person/people who hurt me, let me down and I will continue to go back to the place that let me down. Cause I know that is what God would have me do.

God brought me there and I know that He will see me through this. There is forgiveness in my heart because God forgive me for my sinful nature and I am sure not one to cast the first stone!

God is so good!!

Favorite Poem

This is my favorite poem, I don't know why I like it so much. You would think that since I to memorize it in 7th grade that I would hate it!

"WRECK OF THE HESPERUS"

It was the schooner Hesperus,
That sailed the wintery sea;
And the skipper had taken his little daughter,
To bear him company.

Blue were her eyes as the fairy flax,
Her cheeks like the dawn of day,
And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds,
That ope in the month of May.

The Skipper he stood beside the helm,
His pipe was in his mouth,
And he watched how the veering flaw did blow
The smoke now West, now South.

Then up and spake an old Sailor,
Had sailed the Spanish Main,
"I pray thee, put into yonder port,
for I fear a hurricane.

"Last night the moon had a golden ring,
And to-night no moon we see!"
The skipper, he blew whiff from his pipe,
And a scornful laugh laughed he.

Colder and louder blew the wind,
A gale from the Northeast,
The snow fell hissing in the brine,
And the billows frothed like yeast.

Down came the storm, and smote amain
The vessel in its strength;
She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed,
Then leaped her cable's length.

"Come hither! come hither! my little daughter,
And do not tremble so;
For I can weather the roughest gale
That ever wind did blow."

He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat
Against the stinging blast;
He cut a rope from a broken spar,
And bound her to the mast.

"O father! I hear the church bells ring,
Oh, say, what may it be?"
"Tis a fog-bell on a rock bound coast!" --
And he steered for the open sea.

"O father! I hear the sound of guns;
Oh, say, what may it be?"
Some ship in distress, that cannot live
In such an angry sea!"

"O father! I see a gleaming light.
Oh say, what may it be?"
But the father answered never a word,
A frozen corpse was he.

Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark,
With his face turned to the skies,
The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow
On his fixed and glassy eyes.

Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed
That saved she might be;
And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave,
On the Lake of Galilee.

And fast through the midnight dark and drear,
Through the whistling sleet and snow,
Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept
Tow'rds the reef of Norman's Woe.

And ever the fitful gusts between
A sound came from the land;
It was the sound of the trampling surf,
On the rocks and hard sea-sand.

The breakers were right beneath her bows,
She drifted a dreary wreck,
And a whooping billow swept the crew
Like icicles from her deck.

She struck where the white and fleecy waves
Looked soft as carded wool,
But the cruel rocks, they gored her side
Like the horns of an angry bull.

Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice,
With the masts went by the board;
Like a vessel of glass, she stove and sank,
Ho! ho! the breakers roared!

At daybreak, on the bleak sea-beach,
A fisherman stood aghast,
To see the form of a maiden fair,
Lashed close to a drifting mast.

The salt sea was frozen on her breast,
The salt tears in her eyes;
And he saw her hair, like the brown sea-weed,
On the billows fall and rise.

Such was the wreck of the Hesperus,
In the midnight and the snow!
Christ save us all from a death like this,
On the reef of Norman's Woe!

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Old wives tales

Good morning or maybe I should say good afternoon seeing how it is after 12! lol

I know that in your family some of your family members or maybe even you yourself has old sayings that you say. In my family we had several different ones. I thought how cool it would be if I added a few of my families sayings or mommaisms as I call them and you could share some of yours as well.

‘I just as soon hear a sow against a splinter!’ Great Grandma Boyd said this one day when she was waiting for her preacher to come on the radio and she tuned in a few minutes early and the song Pistol Packin’ Momma was playing.

‘It builds character’ I always said this to my daughters when they complained about doing the dishes.

‘You will never know it in a hundred years.’ Mom’s saying when things went wrong or you were having problems.

‘Thunder before seven rain before eleven.’ Grandma Boyd always said this whenever she heard it thunder before seven.

‘Nothing goes over the devil’s back that don’t come up under his belly.’ Mommaw Timb’s advice whenever someone is doing something wrong and they think no one will find out about it. (I think that this one is my favorite.)

' All that glitters is not gold' Mommaw Timbs said this whenever someone was going to get something that they thought was really good for them or they thought it was golden.


That is just a few of them. Now do you have any you would like to share?

God Bless you today and always, Tammie

New to this

Hey everyone, I am new to this so please just bear with me, I will get better as time goes by, I promise!

I really don't know what to write about this first time other than things that are going on with me at this time.

I found on Christmas Eve 2008 that I am a diabetic. It upset me at first but then I gave it all to God and He is helping me everyday. I pray that He will use it for His honor and glory. I am on meds for it and seem to be doing really well. The wieght is coming off, not nearly as fast as I would like but I as long as I am losing that is good.

I have other health issues but try not to let them get me down. I AM TO BLESSED TO BE DEPRESSED!!

I have two wonderful daughters and one son in law. Praise God each of my family members have been born again, so there is no worries for me about their destinations.

I am the teachers assisant for my Sunday School class, we teach the young children ages 4 through 6 or until they go into first grade. They are some really sweet kids. I love each and every one of them and they are special to me. It makes me feel so good to be at town and have one of those precious kids run up to me and give me a big hug and tell me they love me. To me innocent love from a child is most precious.

I have a great church family, especially my training class on Sunday Nights. Our teacher is so special to me. Our class is called "Share and Prayer" and that is what we did last night. We all shared and then took turns praying for each others needs. You know the Bible says "that where two or more are gathered in my name I (Jesus) well in the midst" Jesus was with us last night. We were all in agreement and was praying for one common cause, the healing and blessing of Christ on our prayer requests.

Ain't God Good!!??

Ok guess that is enough for this time and I will get better as time goes by.