Blessings

Everyday abounds with blessing. Every.single.day. Even the tough days have blessings hidden somewhere in the messy toughness. Sometimes the blessings have to be searched for, hunted out like hidden treasures. Treasures are special. 

Some days are fun days with visits to brand new store openings and waxed eyebrows and new makeup. 

Somedays are full of sunshine and warmth and following behind two out of five of your favorite people. Sometimes you watch your husband help a lady out of a deep snow stuck mess and you see the blessing of a hard working, kind hearted man who just happens to be one of the biggest blessings.

Somedays are days of Monday that begin beautifully with great ideas and hearts full of love of Christ work ideas and future plans.

Mondays of sunshine and sitting outside. There is also blessing in the hard parts of Monday, growing pains and hearts in need of love and encouragement. There is blessing even in the ugly because from the ugly comes healing and new growth. 

 In the challenges there is opportunity to help grow children that live faithfully as truth-transformed adults.

Jounery

Friday is my weigh in day with my THM accountability group so I guess Friday will be my day to post about my journey on the blog. 

As of today I have lost twenty-two pounds since my start date. The whole taking pictures and documenting the loss seems odd to me but I know I will be glad once I get to the finish line to have these photographic reminders.

I had to take this shirt in a couple of inches on each side. I am not ready to buy new clothes, especially long sleeve items. I took two shirts in last night and two supportative undergarments to make due until the size difference begs for something smaller. I do plan on getting a new church outfit for spring. Other than that I am holding out for the next size down because that is coming up really quickly. 

Also, I am not wearing white socks, that is a furry lining in my shoe.

The photo successes this week; I am wearing make-up, my hair is actually done and clothes are not hang around the house clothes. I should have chosen a different shirt but we shall see what I come up with next week. 

The Imperfect Life

Those of us who choose to write our lives out for others to read and view often only show the picture perfect pictures. 

I want to show the perfectly imperfect moments of life. 

My wonderful husband had a two day class in Anchorage, Alaska so he went to the Cabela's store there, of course. Have you met my husband?? Well, he is Mr. Outdoors, I love that about him.

He brought everyone back a hat and a shirt. The girls got sweatshirt jackets and they are so cute. I can wear Elisabeth's but I will not wear unless there is an emergency circumstance. 

I hope Judith forgives me for sharing her eyes shut picture but it shows life, real life moments where I had a certain teenage boy take pictures and he only took a few and never gave us warnings, thus no blog worthy pictures. I love him though. 

Oh, and Benjamin, well, he never stands still, enough said. 

Yesterday, we had friends over for lunch. Somehow we have only had enough bowls for the breakfast cereal for a few and the lunch for ten. By dinner time I decided to have lunch leftovers no normal sized bowls clean so I ate my soup out of a measuring cup.

Benjamin's corner office. He is posting pictures on the wall and there always seems to be something in the floor. And, I love this. 

While my husband was away something happened to the toilet in the master bathroom so this is what my man brought home for me today. Toilet is being fixed as I post.

Thanks for reading about my perfectly imperfect life.

Tuesday

Morning school time with Benjamin, a little math worksheet.

We had friends over for lunch. We spent our time talking and the kids played inside and out  

so no pictures. 

Back to school after friends went home. Grammar and Geometry were going on this afternoon. 

Benjamin asked for an office a couple of months ago so Daddy helped him claim the small desk in the boys' room but he rarely goes in there alone. I unearthed his table in the corner of the dining room this past weekend so he now has his office space. And he has been able to share this table with two friends for meals in the past few days. 

This corner will be Benjaminized for a while and that is perfectly okay with me.

Recommended, Actually a Must Have

I read through a borrowed copy of this book quite s few years ago and while I liked the book I just was not there in my life.

A couple of years ago I won a copy of the updated version from the author. I read a few chapters and the book was shelved in lieu of other books and life in general. A friend mentioned this book to me at Mom's Night Out so I pulled the book off the shelf and started reading again. The time for this is definitely now in our lives.

I highly recommend reading this book.

Times, They are a Changin'

Life is very differen around here. The big kids are growing up and with growing up comes outside activities and responsibilities. 

This is how Benjamin spent his Sunday afternoon, laid back and watching a movie because he was the only one of four that was at home for the afternoon. He does know how to kick it back. Emmy knows how to take it easy as well. 

I am beyond thankful for the early years with our crew when we made the conscious choice to limit outside activities. We did not put our Blessings in activities to keep them busy or entertained. We spent time with them and we just let them be kids who played. Play is good, too much entertainment, not so much.

Twenty-one point eight

Today is the day that I share what my awakening is all about. 

This picture is from January 13, 2015. Please excuse the bathroom selfie, there were no toilets exposed in the taking of this photograph.

 

I didn't tell anyone outside of those living with me and my support group of my changes but I did tell myself that if I made it to the twenty pound mark I would write a blog post. I am almost one-third of the way to my goal and this has happened in just ten weeks.

 

And, here I am today. Twenty-one point eight pounds gone. 

I will say that these jeans are too big but today is a day of school, cleaning, cooking and home so I threw on the old baggies to spend my day at home and then I realized I had made the goal weight for sharing my journey on the old blog here.

I have gone down one pant size and I no longer have to shop in a special section of the clothing departments.

 

What am I doing? Have you heard of Trim Healthy Mama? I heard of THM as soon as the book was published but not being a bandwagon jumper I looked at it and decided it was not for me (boy was I wrong). Fast forward to the end of December when I was looking on Pinterest and THM pins kept popping up. I decided to give online research one more go and I ordered my book that night. Little did I know that two other local friends were also discussing THM the same evening and a built in support system was immediately in place. Now I have three local THM buddies and a fourth beginning slowly and learning how to make this work for her. 

My journey began on January 5, 2015.

I am not going to go over how THM works and researching online gives a glimpse of how this lifestyle works. If you need a change, buy the book. The book is definitely worth it. This is not a diet, it is a lifestyle and a way of life that is easy and enjoyable. I still eat pretty much whatever I want it is just what I eat when and with what that makes the difference.  Oh, and I have dessert all.the.time. 

I will make sure and get a better current picture soon and I will have a Resurrection Day picture to share I am sure, because I am going to need new clothes because nothing spring fits any more.

Tuesday Morning Around Our House

Beginning our morning with math

Ending our math time with a game of "Go to the dump"

Do you have a smoothie and a minion on your table? I do.

Moose and dog walking

Last week I almost ran into the cow moose that decided to run out in front of me on our little road. 

Today we found one of the places in which they were bedded down.

I love watching him walk in all of his winter gear. 

Yes, we still have this much snow. 

Sunday morning the temperature was -30ish today we warmed up to almost thirty above zero. Spring in Alaska comes a little slower but spring does come and is coming soon. 

Blackbeard the Pirate

I just happened to be working upstairs when the cast came up for their pre show lunch break. I was able to get pictures of each of my actors in their costumes, premakeup.

Judith as Lt. Maynard

Benjamin as a parrot.

The entire cast of Blackbeard the Pirate 

The beach bums

My parrot on stage

Cast party and shirt signing.

 A cute six year old moment. Benjamin's group was first out of 

the dressing rooms and costume return line so he was eating before the oldest cast members completed their costume return. He looked up at me and asked where the party was. I guess all the party decorations and party food wasn't his definition of party.

Elisabeth as a beach bum and a friend that was a pirate.

This was our second opportunity to participate in a Missoula Children's Theatre production and I highly recommend this process. Six days from audition to production and great people to work with. 

Blackbeard the Pirate

Meet my little parrot, he got his t-shirt and he has participated in his first play. Tomorrow is the big day.

Daily Life--Our Week

Three of the four are spending the week practicing to perform in this play this weekend.

We are trying to spend our mornings on our lessons.  Benjamin and I played a math game. He won.

My go to and to go drink containers are Mason jars. These on sale babies arrived in the mail today from The Mason Bar Company.