Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Restart #9287474646464

**WARNING! This is a pity party. Forgive me before reading!

All I can say is praise the Lord for mercies that are new EVERY morning. This first 3 weeks of school has been SUPER stressful, more stressful than any other school year I can remember. Not really sure why but it has definitely taken a toll on me physically. The thing that people often forget (including patients) is that weight loss surgery fixes the physical issue of being obese, not the emotional issues and brain issues tied to being overweight. I confess that I have always been an emotional eater: happy, sad, mad, scared......I ate. The most eating happened though under stress. So with this super stressful few weeks, as I stepped on the scale at the doctor's office yesterday and saw a number of 208, I fought back tears. Tears of frustration over not having the will power to stick to my portions and good food choices. Tears of anger for letting myself fall back into this mess again. Tears of failure feeling like no matter what I do I will always be fat.

I'm tired of being fat, I really am. That's why almost 18 months ago I went through a life changing weight loss surgery. I am still down 77 pounds from my highest weight and down from a size 26 pants to a size 16. But come hell or high water, I will be out of the 200's. I have to go back to the doctor at the end of October for a follow up. I have set my goal to be back down to 190 before that date. I guess this post is sort of a way of publicizing my failures so that I can learn from them and move forward. It will also help hold me accountable to that date 2 months from now so that I can work towards that goal. Praying and believing for God's mercy, strength, and fresh mercies for the mornings after I screw up.

Monday, August 6, 2012

Back to life, back to reality....

If you are a music nerd like me you were singing the title to my blog (Hint.... Soul II Soul). LOL!

Well tomorrow is back to reality for me. I head back to work for preplanning and then our students come back on Friday. Right now, we have 25 boys on our roster and I am super excited about another great year. For whatever reason, this summer has seemed to be the shortest ever. And I will admit that I have had a sucky attitude about having to go back to work. But when I think about the difference that I can make in the lives of these 25 boys, I have a renewed energy. I am thinking this sign may be going in our classroom somewhere.


Teaching is one of the hardest jobs.....EVER and I DARE anyone to say it's not. So I approach this year enthusiastically, yet seriously. We must constantly remember that we hold a child's future in our hands every single day. One year can make or break a student's self-esteem and future goals. So to all of my teacher friends, I pray that you all have a wonderful school year and that you will facilitate, engage, listen, encourage, support, cultivate, and learn with your students everyday!


Summer Vacation 2012---in pictures

We had a WONDERFUL vacation together this summer. 

Our family vacation started with a day at Sea World in Orlando, Florida. We rode all the rides and saw alot of the shows. Here are a few pics to sum up the day.
Silly girl in a shark mouth

Riding with her daddy

Now riding with mommy

She is absolutely obsessed with dolphins



After about 11 hours at the park we drove back to our hotel and crashed for the night. The next day we got up and headed to the port to set sail on the Carnival Ecstasy. First on Destiny's agenda once we got on the ship was the waterslides of course. We enjoyed a nice dinner and show that evening. Then we had three days of ports in a row....Freeport Bahamas, Nassau Bahamas, and Half Moon Cay. We got rained out in Freeport and we enjoyed a very low key day in Nassua. In Half Moon Cay we had a GREAT time playing in the BEAUTIFUL ocean and beach. The final day of our cruise was a sea day where we hung out at the pool, took a nap, I got a massage, and just relaxed. It was a PERFECT day. Here are just a few of our pics from the trip.















So that's our vacation in pictures. We had a great time and are getting ready to head back to work. I absolutely love having my summer time off with my family. We are blessed and have enjoyed every minute together.  Here's to another great summer!