A good start

Well, like a lot of things I do, I started out with this blog pretty well. Then I got busy and just left it by the side of the raod. Typical. Well, part of my New Year's Resolution is to be better at blogging. I don't really believe in New Year's Resolutions...it is just a way to feel bad about yourself if you don't achieve the goal. And why do we have to start at the new year. Why not have a February 1st Resolution. Ot a Half New Year Resolution.

My point is that I had though of setting a goal of losing weight bacj in the begining of September. I wanted to do this and thought I would wait until the new year. Then I thought...WHAT!!! Why am I waiting. If I WANT to do this, then Just Do It (thanks Nike). So I decided to do it.

I started in the middle of Sept at 240 lbs. Way too heavy. I was consistent and changed my diet right away. I dropped a great deal of weight pretty quickly and kept it all off during the holidays. A huge accomplishment. As of today, I am at 209. I feel great and I am excited about adding in my exercise now. 31 lbs lost on changing my diet alone. That tells you how bad my diet was.

My advice...if you WANT to do something, don't use the time of year or any other situation as an excuse not to start working toward it. I thought in September that I would gain a bunch of weight back during the holidays. But as it got closer, I felt more confident that I could do it.

So now, the treadmill is coming back in the house from the garage and baseball season is starting. I manager my sons team, so being out on the field doing the drills with the kids will help a lot.

Remember - Live like there is no tomorrow!!!

Sports Nutz

That is our family. In a previous post I told you about our possible schedule. Well, it happened. Jackson made the football team at Grace Christian School and we now have at least 1 sport to practice or plat on all 7 days of the week. That goes along with regular school work, church, scouts and some leisure time.

So far so good. It has been about 2 1/2 weeks and things are actually going very well. Jackson has a great attitude with everything...including his homework. Benjamin, I think, is feeling a little left out. But we are trying really hard to spend extra time with him. I will play chess with him while Jackson is finishing up his homework instead of letting him watch TV or something. Just to spend that extra time with him is good for him.

I will keep you posted with all the happenings.

Fortune Look-alike Meter - Take 2

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Fortune Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Lindsay Lohan

Ok - I am just beside myself reading about LL and the way she has come after Sarah Palin. First, when did LL become the moral compass for our society. Should that happen, I am moving somewhere else...maybe Canada, but I will not be a part of a society that listens to a closet lesbian who can not stay out of trouble with the law. If LL really knew anything about Sarah Palin and what she believes (in fact what all Christians I know believe) she wouldn't go running her mouth off. What I (and most other Christians I know) believe is that yes, homosexuality is a sin and it says so in the bible. But do I hate homosexuals. No, in fact just the opposite. A motto I have lived by since accepting Jesus is, "Love them 'til they ask why." That seems appropriate. I do love them the way Jesus loves them. But instead of trying to understand a different position, LL goes and bashes Palin. If Palin was a Muslim, there would be so much outcry and backlash against LL that she wouldn't work for years. But since it is a Christian, it's no big deal.

Guess what....IT IS A BIG DEAL!!! Why do we as a society of Christians let people continue to get away with bashing us. We need to stand up for ourselves and say enough is enough. When did it become politically correct to bash Christians? When was that morally ok? Can someone tell me please. I missed that part of the meeting.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!

Patriot Day

Today, our scouts at Pack 611 from Cypress, CA held a flag raising ceremony for Grace Christian School, where a majority of the boys go to school. We did this for 2 reasons: (1) We wanted to do a good community service project for our school and (2) we wanted to remember what happened 7 years ago when cowardly men killed thousands of innocent people.Before I spoke today, I did some research on what Patriot Day was and how it came about. Here is what I learned. On December 18th, 2001, the Congress of the United States of America designated that September 11 of each year as Patriot Day. Patriot Day is different than Patriots Day in New England. In the Presidents proclamation on September 8th, 2008, he wrote,

Since 9/11, we have recognized the threat posed by terrorists to the safety of the American people and worked to protect our homeland by fighting terrorists abroad. We are confronting terrorism by advancing freedom, liberty, and prosperity as an alternative to the ideologies of hatred and repression. Our Nation pays tribute to our courageous men and women in uniform serving around the world and the devoted members of our law enforcement, public safety, and intelligence communities at home who work night and day to protect us from harm and preserve the freedom of this great Nation.
Seven years ago, ordinary citizens rose to the challenge, united in prayer, and responded with extraordinary acts of courage, with some giving their lives for the country they loved. On Patriot Day, we remember all those who were taken from us in an instant and seek their lasting memorial in a safer and more hopeful world. We must not allow our resolve to be weakened by the passage of time. We will meet the test that history has given us and continue to fight to rid the world of terrorism and promote liberty around the globe.

I encourage you today, to take a moment from your day to say a prayer for all those who serve and protect us, from around the corner to the far away places. Be thankful that we live in a country where we can worship God in whatever way we choose without fear of punishment or retribution. That our loving and gracious God is always with us, even when we are afraid and alone.
As I spoke and watched the flag go up to the top of the pole and back down to half-staff, I looked out at the 500 or so people that were there and could see that several where in or nearly in tears. It hit me then, that this is my generations defining day. Each generation has one. For my parents it was the JFK assassination, for my grandparents it was the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I can, to this day, I remember the whole morning very clearly. In the shower, I could not catch my breath...my heart was racing. I knew something wasn't right. I got out of the shower and laid down on my bed and turn on the TV for a few moments to catch my breath. That's when I found out. Total shock. I was very late for work that day and then next several were very difficult trying to get our payroll all over the country without the use of the airplanes.

Do you have memories of 9/11? I would love to hear them.

Ben and the art of carving food

So last year for a school science arts and crafts festival, my youngest, Benjamin, wanted to do somehting with me that was really fun. I suggested making food of some kind. He really likes to cook. So we went on a journey to find some kind of food that we could do for the festival.

No bake cookies...maybe. We wouldn't be able to really use a stove or oven or anything of that nature at the festival...but something to display. I remembered taking a cruise where they put all kinds of fruits and veggies out that were cut into different things.

That was it...food carving. I scoured the internet in the hopes of finding something we could carve that looked like what it was supposed to be...low and behold, I found a lot of things.

Below are 2 of the items we carved. There were more, but I don't have those pictures here right now. Enjoy.