The Story Behind the Picture

Today I have a guest blogger - my hubby, Craig! Its short and sweet, but it says so much. Now, without further ado...I present..a Blog by Craig...



Good looking little dude hua... That's my little 10 year old boy.

It all started about 14 years ago when I met my wife. Sometime before we were married, maybe about 3 to 5 months after we started dating, we went for a walk in a park. My wife ...saw a little tree there and got a naughty idea. She scratched "Craig + Liz" in the tree. This was back in 1995 sometime. After that day, many things have transpired in our lives, like getting married and having a child.

For the first time in about 14 years, my Son and I happened to be driving by that park, and I said, "I wonder if I could find that tree that Liz scratched our names into." Well, funny thing, it was right there after 14 years, very readable. When she did it, it was a couple feet lower, and much smaller.

So I had my Son stand under the little time capsule. My wife and I never would have imagined at the time 14 years ago, that we would have our little 10 year old boy, standing right beneath that little spur of the moment message. At the time, I don't think we knew we would be married and go through all the good times we have had since then.

Maybe I'll visit it in another 15 years, and put my grandson, or grand-daughter under that tree for a picture.

Again With The Weight Thing

Alright, people...I need to lose 5 lbs in 3 weeks. Sounds pretty easy. But that means...no fresh peach pie (see below), no Sam's Club-size bags of Doritos in the house, no fun BBQ's with friends, and definitely no stopping at my mom's house on an empty stomach! (Ok, so its too late for that last one today...but in the future...)

(Sigh)....reminds me of last time I was planning a trip to see some old high school friends. Yeah, I can just be happy being my old chubby self, until all of sudden, out of nowhere, a trip to see old friends comes up! Discipline is a wily and evasive creature...but I've discovered that with the proper motivation...I can capture him! At least for while...

I know we're talking about weight loss here, but I just gotta tell you how excited I am that I made a pie! I. Made. A pie.

Awesome.

OK, so I used the Pillsbury prepared pie crust...but still, I picked the peaches off my little tree, sliced them up, mixed them up with all the pie-ish stuff...and baked it! Now that I see how easy it was to do, I might even throw caution to the wind next time and make my own crust.

But that'll have to be after I lose those 5 lbs.

Just for the record...I need to lose 40. But I figure losing 5lbs will take me back to - at very least - the weight I was last time I saw these friends. ha!

Which reminds me, I've been working with a fitness trainer for a few weeks. She's part of a Networking group I belong to, and she offered the members a super duper good price, so I took advantage of it. We arent doing anything that I couldn't do myself at home....(did I mention that wily creature called "Discipline" already?)...but with her, I am forced to go, even when I dont feel like it. And believe me, there have been plenty of mornings that I haven't felt like it. I only see her twice a week, so I reeeeeeaaaally need to do something on my off days...like walk or something. I keep saying that. But that's about all...I just "say" it.

I swear I just saw that wiley creature stick his tongue out at me...

I guess that's it for now. Little Boy's playing at a neighbor's house, so I'm gonna head on over to my jewelry making studio (aka...the table in the corner of the office) and play with some beads. This weekend I made a bunch of sparkly, glassy, crystally stuff. But today is definitely a gemstone day.

Church Update

Last year, I wrote a post about how discouraged I was feeling about church. I had been wanting...no - really needing to hear some MEATY in-depth bible teaching. I mentioned in that post that the church I was attending gave "lighter" messages on Sunday, so as to make it easier to bring someone who doesn't usually attend church. They do the more in-depth studies on Wednesdays. But with Little Boy's homework struggles, it was kinda difficult for me to get away on a weeknight. So I was really feeling kinda like I was dying on the vine.

I kinda feel like explaining the whole thing again, but really, I already said my piece in that post last year.

• As a side note, when I wrote the above line, I had to stop and think...is the phrase "say my piece", or "say my peace"? Both make sense in their own way. But according to the Free Dictionary online, it is "say my piece". I am sort of a geeky word and phrase lover...so it pleases me to share that info.

But I digress.

As I mentioned in my previous post, it's been almost a year since I've posted anything here, and I wanted to update you on that issue because I know that my loyal readership has been waiting to hear the conclusion of that matter. Yup - all my fans....both of you.

In the "church" post, I also mentioned that I had found a listing for a local church that claimed to teach in just the way I was looking for. And when I looked up their location, I remembered seeing signs at their building promoting "Apologetics Month" . So I started listening to their podcasts and really, really enjoyed it.

Eventually, I went to check it out. I have to say, I love it. The pastor..."my" pastor is an AWESOME bible teacher. I attended their "5 Weeks of Apologetics" and they had some amazing speakers. I find myself excitedly awaiting Sunday morning to I can "get to" go to church! They teach the bible verse by verse, covering original language, who it was written to, how do WE practically apply it to our lives, etc.

Now...the next step here is that I have to meet some people there. I have been quietly lurking, not really getting to know anyone. I attended the Women's Study on Thursday mornings a few times, but various things kept coming up on that day/time, and I finally gave up. And since Little Boy was still struggling with homework, I didn't even consider attending stuff on weeknights.

BUT..it's summer vacation! Yay! And so I think its a great time to take advantage of that time and go to some midweek services. The Women's study is on Mondays and the Midweek service is..well, midweek (Wednesday)!

I'm tempted to attend Wednesday because of the awesome teaching. But I'm thinking I should attend the Women's Study for the sake of getting to know other women there. But I reeeeeaaaallllly would like to attend Wednesday for the teaching.

Maybe I'll throw caution to the wind and attend BOTH!

Little Boy and I DID volunteer for a Ministry there too! We're part of the...um..."(...mumbling while covering my mouth...) Ministry".

Oh, OK, it was the DONUT Ministry, OK? Ha ha! Once a month, we clean up the donut cart after services. Little Boy loves it because he gets to eat whatever is left over. and I have to say, he is a good little kitchen cleaner!

So that's the story. Found a new place. Love it. Learning a lot. Next phase: stop lurking quietly and get to know more people.

Let brotherly love continue. Hebrews 13:1

ALMOST A YEAR?????

Really? Has it been almost a YEAR since my last post?

See what happens when you are a SAHM? You get too busy to blog.

But the Blog Bug has been gnawing at me lately. So here I am.

So to start things out...I dont have much to say today. Seems like I've gotten used to the quick one line updates about life on Face book. So here I am on blogspot, with unlimited room for my thoughts.

So my mind goes blank. It figures.

But, I'm back. And I plan on carving out some time here and there to restart this beloved activity. Me spewing my thoughts. Yeah, I love it. See ya soon.