Finally! Furniture!

I made a few great finds at a garage sale last weekend. I don't like to accumulate junk (especially since we decided to go to Africa) but I couldn't pass these two things up. I bought a round drop-leaf table that has some really cute details for $15 and a rocking chair for $10. Not bad, eh? Well, I have to admit that they both need quite a bit of work, but I just love to give old objects a new life so I think I'll have a lot of fun with these projects.

We have had a very interesting furniture situation at our house this year. We thought we were going to be on the mission field and so when we moved in with my in-laws to do fund raising, we sold all of our furniture. We wanted to have local furniture in Africa rather than ship American furniture so that the Tanzanians would feel more comfortable in our home. Great concept, except we didn't go to Tanzania as soon as we thought and so when we moved to Abilene, we found ourselves in an empty apartment. Well, not completely empty. We had a bed and a TV cart with our electronic equipment on it. So the bed became a couch and a table too. Wow, talk about multi-functional furniture! After we'd been here for a month and a half or so, we finally met someone with a truck (even if we bought used furniture we had no way to get it home before that)! So we got a couch and a coffee table too and that made dinner time much easier. We're slowly adding to our collection as cheaply as possible since we'll be selling almost everything again in a few years when we actually do end up going to Tanzania (Lord willing)!

One thing we've really realized is how little you really do need to get by. How much extra stuff we surround ourselves with. And sometimes I feel like the rich man in the parable that Jesus tells who torn down his barns to build a bigger one. The more stuff we get, the bigger house we need to hold it in and the more organizing baskets and furniture and do-dads that we need to manage all the stuff!

While finding this furniture at the price I did is a real blessing, I pray that the Lord does not let me get out of control accumulating much more than I need!

Flowers, a Crown, a Hobo, and Old Friends

I have fallen behind, friends, and it's been hard to get myself back on the horse again. I was posting so frequently there at first. Maybe I'm more of a sprinter than a marathon runner? Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on myself to say something witty and entertaining. Well, I can sum up the highlights of this week with the following 4 events:

• I got flowers from my boss for Administrative Assistant's Day. I was so surprised and felt very special! This is where I'd insert a picture if I had a digital camera. Darn.
• JJ and I got to go to a Casting Crowns concert for free because a friend gave us some tickets! And they were good seats too! Nicole Nordeman was there as well. I really enjoyed it, although it took my ears quite awhile to recover from all that NOISE!
• A very good friend, we'll call him Spazzy McGee, came to visit this week. He had been helping with the rebuilding in New Orleans and caught a few rides to make his way to Abilene. We did a little karaoke one night with him and some other friends so I got my "fix". He's just been making his way around the state visiting various friends, catching a ride when he can and taking the good old Greyhound too. It was great to have him here, especially with us still being so new in town.
• I have gotten in touch with a few old friends. One from my time as a missionary intern in Mexico City and two from elementary school (we figured out that it's been 22 years since we've seen each other). I got in touch with all of them in a really cool "isn't it a small world" kind of way and that made it a really nice surprise.

I will weigh in tomorrow and this will be the official end of my short-term goal. Here's where I was on Wednesday:




So it looks like I won't be making my goal, unless by some miracle I lose 3 lbs. by tomorrow, BUT I will persevere! Look out fat cells, you're toast!

Four More Weird Things

Aggiejenn at Reflecting Him tagged me to write about six weird things about myself and so I decided that rather than ignore her tag because I'd already done 6 weird things, that I would just do a twist on the meme. I really wanted to "honor" her tag, especially since it's the first time I've specifically been tagged by someone! Woo-hoo! Soooooo, without further ado, here are 4 weird things about places we've lived because this post was getting entirely too long to do 6. (I must add that the apartment we're in now is the 11th place we've lived in almost 10 years so now I've got to figure out which 4 to write about. Decisions, decisions.)

1. Our first apartment was in a somewhat-seedy part of town and we had some interesting things happen while we were there, and now that I think about it, they all happened in the middle of the night.

• People would knock on our door at 2:00 am asking for cigarettes.
• A woman knocked on our door after being attacked by her boyfriend. She ran away before we could help her and we later found out she wasn't badly hurt and got help from the police soon after that.
  
• A drunk guy drove into our parking lot to drop someone off and then passed out with his car running. We had to call the police to come and get him (at first, I thought he was dead). The first thing the guy did when he "came to" was flip off the police. Very couth.

2. Our fourth house was a parsonage (preacher's house) in a small town that had one stop light. Before we moved in, they told us we could paint the interior any color we wanted. Big mistake. I chose a bright blue for the living room and a bright yellow for the kitchen. The kitchen wasn't so bad, but what in the world was I thinking with the bright blue? When we moved out, it took the youth group many coats of paint to "undo" our artwork.

3. In this same small one-stoplight-town we did actually have our own grocery store. We did not shop there long, however, because one day I witnessed something which deeply disturbed me. As I walked past the meat department, I saw that the butcher was actually cutting meat and smoking at the same time. And the cigarette had burned waaaaaaaay down and he had not "tapped the ashes off" of the end of the cigarette. (Sorry, never been a smoker so I don't know the lingo.) Basically, picture a man bent over a bunch of uncovered meat with these ashes dangling dangerously from his mouth. Needless to say, I started driving to a neighboring town about 30 miles away for most of our groceries after that.

4. When we lived in Maryland in house number 6, we very nearly burned our house down. On one quiet night at home, we decided to start a nice fire in the fireplace and cuddle up on the couch. JJ decided that he wanted to burn a pizza box and when he put it in, he accidentally knocked the flu closed. Flames started shooting out the front of the fireplace and licking the mantle. We frantically looked around for a way to put the fire out. JJ found a tupperware container full of water in the kitchen sink and ran with it to put the fire out. The trouble is, the water sloshed on the floor and he slipped and fell. He slid straight into the coat closet. By the time he got up and ran to the fireplace with what little water he had left, the box had burned up and the crises was over. Thankfully, there was not much damage done and now we are just left with a really funny story!

Now for an update on the whole weightloss thing. I've been remiss in my posting this week because I've been preparing for an out of town guest (woo-hoo!). So here's the whole scoop on the progress towards my goal.

My short-term goal is to lose 10 lbs. in 5 weeks, which would be next Friday. It looks like I will not meet my goal at this point, but this goal has served its purpose. You see, my total weightloss goal is 74.6 lbs. At first, when JJ set a temporary goal for himself I kind of wondered what the point was, but now that I've done the same (with some encouragement from Heather at One Woman's World) I see the value of it. I was losing at a rate of about 1.5 lbs a week and I set this goal to lose 2 lbs. a week so it would motivate me to exercise and it's done just that. But I wonder also if this has kept me from losing the weight because I'm building muscle. That's what I prefer to tell myself anyway.

So here's the "skinny" (pun intended). I have lost a total of 20.2 lbs and a total of 17" (adding up the # of inches I've lost from my bust, waist, hips and thighs). So even if I do not lose the 10 lbs. by next Friday, I have still "won". How can losing 20 lbs. be a bad thing? !!!!!!!!!!! I refuse to be discouraged about it!!!!!!! Yay me!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's PLAY!

Did you ever play "office" as a kid? Occasionally, when we tired of playing school, the neighborhood kids and I would. We'd shuffle paper around and make very official-looking marks and we felt quite important. This whole topic came to mind because of my new office job, you see. I realized what a child I can be when it dawned on me that one of my favorite things about work is my rolling chair. I get to roll back and forth between my desk and my file cabinet. And if no one is around, I push off and gleefully glide from one place to the other. (Yipee!) I also like my stamps. I just love to stamp a paper with the words "copy" or "paid". (I have black or purple ink to choose from - how cool is that!) I jam out to Carly singing "You're So Vain" or I crank out "Hit the Road Jack" or the Dixie Chicks. AND I bought some bubble gum scented bubbles to blow on the days when I'm feeling a little stressed or bored or someone has a reason to celebrate (like the doctoral students who pass their thesis defense).

Life's too short not to add these playful moments into my day. And they remind me not to take myself too seriously. I just hope that my coworkers don't start picking up on my behavior and have me committed! Maybe I can find someone who will play with me. . .

Ants on a Log and Other Wacky Foods

I have rediscovered celery & peanut butter. I really can't stand celery by itself, but add peanut butter and a few raisens and you have culinary magic, my friend. So I was eating this for lunch the other day (don't fret, the p.b. was low fat) and I told JJ that it'd been a long time since I'd had ants on a log. First, he was disgusted at what I was eating. (He makes it a general rule to stay away from anything green.) But then, he was impressed with the naming of my odd fare. (He thought I had made this name up myself.) I wanted to take the credit, but alas, I could not.

Then I started thinking about other odd foods or food combinations and odd names for food. A girl I knew in college used to like peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches. Believe it or not, I tried this with sweet pickles and liked it. I don't eat it very often, just when I really feel like grossing JJ out. Then there's the snack I enjoyed growing up, bananas with cheese melted on top. Delish! And I hope I don't ruin these yummy cookies for anyone by telling this story, but a roommate of mine used to call no-bake cookies "cat grunt cookies".

Now, I know I don't have a ton of visitors or anything, but I thought it'd be fun to ask y'all if you had any odd dishes you like or funny names for food you'd like to share. After all, there is such a wide array of vittles out there to enjoy!

Easter Thoughts

Kevin has some great thoughts on the resurrection that I'm sure I could not top and so I'm not even going to try. Just go and check out what he has to say at On the Road Towards Mwanza. I knew we had Kevin on our missions team for a reason (other than the fact that he and Charity produce the most darling children!)

Happy Easter, everyone!

Six Weird Things About Me

Mel at Actual Unretouched Photo posted 6 weird things about her. I decided to join in the fun, although after compiling this list I don't know how really weird or entertaining all of this is. Anyway, here's my list. Take it or leave it.

1. I used to be a clown in high school. No, I’m not referring to a “class clown”. I actually dressed up as a clown for kids' birthday parties. A group of us went to nursing homes, too. You see, I didn’t really realize how dorky this was at the time. Why didn’t somebody tell me?
2. Because of the clown thing I know how to make balloon animals and juggle (although I’m pretty rusty at the juggling thing.)
3. After about 9:00pm, I turn into a pumpkin. If I am not doing anything active like playing cards with my Hubby or visiting all you lovely blog-type people on the net, I will fall asleep. If you ever come over to my house and stay late and I fall asleep, please do not be offended. I do this all the time.
4. I like to sing karaoke. I’m not that good, but it’s fun to watch other people make fools of themselves too. Especially JJ. My favorite songs of his are “I’m Too Sexy for My Shirt” and “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar”. I used to do “I Am Woman” but he pretty much ruined it for me by making it his song. Thanks a lot!
   
5. I have this weird thing about being consistent. Ex: I started this exercise tape and I noticed that sometimes, I do things in a mirror image to the aerobic ladies and sometimes I go right when they go right (which means we’re actually going in different directions, right?) After a few times, I couldn’t stand this and so I started doing everything in mirror image. And now I have to think about it every time. (I must add here, although it may be obvious, that I am the only person in my living room doing this tape. It makes no difference what direction I go in and yet, I must obsess.) Please see Where I Am on the Anal Scale for another example.
6. Most Sundays I go to Wal-mart. For fun. And most of the time, I don’t even buy anything. However, this is not a long-standing habit. This is because Little Country Church where Hubby preaches is in no-wheres-ville West Texas and we spend all day there on Sundays (we live far enough away that we don't want to pay the gas money to go bak and forth between morning and evening service). The only thing open in town is a few fast-food restaurants and the Wal-mart. This is a very sad tradition and yet I have come to accept it as a necessary part of not going completely and absolutely berserk with boredom every Sunday afternoon.

Me and Modern Technology

Yes, these 2 terms used to be mutually exclusive. But check this out. In the past month or so, I've stepped into the blog world AND learned how to use the "shared music" feature of iTunes at work. And last, but certainly not least, (can I get a drum roll please?) . . . ta da! I got a cell phone! Little old me! (Am I hearing groans of disappointment? What were you expecting? Rocket science?)

You've got to understand, I've never had one before! Even though JJ's had them for work purposes, I never could justify one for myself. I was beginning to feel like Wilma Flintstone, talking on that horn-shaped thing they had in those good ol' caveman days. And actually, when I told people I didn't have a cell phone, some of them looked at me like horns were growing out of my head!

So now it's my turn. It turns out that now I get one through my work. Ha! As I was reading thorough the manual (trying to figure out how the tricky little bugger works), I found some very helpful hints. Here are just a few:

• Do not dispose of your battery by fire or with hazardous or flammable materials.
• Never store your phone in temperatures less than 4 degrees or greater than 122 degrees.
• Do not drop, strike, or shake your phone severely (even when the person on the other end is acting like a complete moron).
  
• Do not use your phone in highly explosive areas as the phone may generate sparks. (I'll have to remember to stay away from all those highly explosive areas that I frequent!)
• Do not disassemble the phone.
• Never place your phone in a microwave oven as it will cause the battery to explode.

Well, I'm sure glad they told me. Now that you have this valuable information, go and do (or do not do) likewise.

You Know You're in West Texan When . . .

• You can invite someone to eat all in one word: "Squeat" (Let's go eat!).
• A large drink is approximately the size of a small lake. (Other terms for this size include "mamma jamma" and "herkin")
  
• Average female hair height is about 2 inches taller than all other states in the union.
• You hear the state name in every other commercial (it's "Texas size" or "Texas tough").
• You have restaurants with names like "Texas China". (Who eats there? Honestly!)
• There is a smorgasbord of road kill available. Choose from deer, wild hog, wild turkey, road runners, armadillos, skunks, and many, many more.
• When spring arrives, everything turns brown (from the dust storms)!
  
• You can refer to one person using the word "y'all".
• Watching prarie dogs popping out of holes in the ground is the entertainment while sitting at a stop light.
• Children actually say the pledge to the U.S. and the state flag. (Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one and indivisible. - Just in case you wanted to know.)
  
• You believe that in your town, there actually may be more cows than dogs.
• Using the Texas flag in your decor is considered very chic.
• When someone says they're "fixin'", they really aren't offering to repair anything.
  

Hit the Road Fat!

I was thinking of the song, "Hit the Road, Jack" today and I thought how easily the word "fat" would fit into that song. (I don't know how I came to this conclusion - it's just how my warped brain works.) And of course, after a thought like that, I just couldn't resist the challenge. As I drove to LA Weightloss and waited for my appointment, I wrote this song.

Hit the road, fat, and don't you come back no more, no more, no more , no more.
Hit the road, fat, and don't you come back no more.

I've been workin', exercisin' and I don't even cheat,
But then soon after dinner I want somethin' sweet.
All I do is look at all that junk in my trunk,
And I say the phrase that gets me out of my silly funk.

Hit the road, fat, and don't you come back no more, no more, no more , no more.
Hit the road, fat, and don't you come back no more.

Now baby, listen baby, gettin' rid of this weight.
A few months down the road - I'm gonna be a size 8.
Oh, I'm eatin' all my fruits and all my veggies too,
I can see my toes again, I've got a new attitude.
I guess if I say so, you'll have to pack your bulges and go.

That's right!

Hit the road, fat, and don't you come back no more, no more, no more , no more.
Hit the road, fat, and don't you come back no more.

Delight Yourself in the Lord

I decided to take up Shalee's challenge and write about an answered prayer. This idea originated from an April 4th post on GiBee's site. I've thought about this for several days and you know what I've found? I was so overwhelmed thiking about answered prayers that I had to narrow it down to one prayer. Maybe my own little brain can only juggle one thought at a time. (Then again, I suppose juggling implies more than one thought. But I digress.)

I must preface this in a similar way that Shalee did and say that I am not claiming to be a super-holy got-it-all-together kind of gal in writing about this prayer. It is intended to be a testimony of the faithfulness of God.

When JJ and I had been married for about 5 years, we started trying to have kids. After a year had gone by with no results, I began to see a fertility specialist. I did the whole fertility med-thing and the monthly visits to the doctor. After artificial insemination failed, that was, ultimately, the end of the treatments. It was at that point that our insurance stopped paying for any infertility procedures and it was the end of my ability to cope with the whole thing as well. The meds were making me too emotional and I felt I was unable to deal with every day stuff.

Of course, the whole time we were going through this, we prayed for a baby. We were a part of a young marrieds ministry at church where my friends were popping out babies left and right. I found out that one of my former middle school students was pregnant at the age of 13. We heard on the news about children who were mistreated all the time. I was crying out to the Lord on a regular basis. I just wanted to scream at Him, "HOW IS THIS FAIR? How can you allow the mistreatment of your babies in unfit homes when you know we would provide a loving, Christian home?"

We always knew there was the option of adoption. I had always wanted to adopt, even if we had been able to have our own children. As time went on, we saw that the timing was just not right and I continued to pray and struggle with our situation.

I believe it was about the time that we decided to "take a break" from fertility treatments that our good friends invited us to join their missions team to Tanzania. JJ and I both knew that this was what we were being called to do. We had never thought about missions in Africa and had, several years earlier, told a missionary who was encouraging us to go there that Africa was just not for us. Then I began to understand Psalm 37:4 which says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." He did not do this by giving us what WE wanted, but by changing our heart's desire to HIS heart's desire. And he was not finished with this process, as we would soon see.

So we dropped everything and began pursuing Africa. We did not give up on the idea of having children. In fact, we then began dreaming of adopting a Tanzanian child. The path to Africa has not been as direct or short a path as we would have chosen. But over this time, God has worked on us in many ways, molding and shaping us as indivduals and strengthening us as a couple. Because of this, our perspective on having children has changed as well.

I have always pictured myself as a very active part of JJ's ministry to the Sukuma tribe in Tanzania, working with the women and being by his side every step of the way. The other women on our team, who have been there for several years, have been unable to do this because of their children. Each family has 3 children and it just has not worked for them to go out to the very rural, remote areas which have no electricity, plumbing, etc.

So as God worked on us, his will seemed to take shape. I could minister much more effectively without children. In the history of our churches in the area, there has never been a ministry to the Sukuma women. In a culture where there are very clear boundaries between the sexes, only a woman could do the kind of ministry which is really necessary among the female population. In our case, God's answer to my prayer for a baby was, in one sense, a "no", but as Beth Moore says, if God says "no" it's because there is a bigger "YES". And the thought that God could use me in this way to serve a population that is so neglected and yet so precious is the biggest "YES" that I can imagine.

What a blessing that the Lord has given us contentment with exactly where we are. And now I can honestly say that not having children is not a sacrifice or a burden that we have to bear. It's a choice that we have made and we joyfully commit ourselves to the work that we believe that God has entrusted to us.

All 'Round Good News . . . I Think

Well, we got our car back and all they did was give it a tune up. It's starting (and running) fine now. We're just hoping that nothing is wrong with the starter and that the car won't throw a tantrum again at just the wrong moment.

I have exercised 5 days in a row now and it's paying off. We finally got to weigh in today and I've lost 2.6 lbs. since last Friday (which makes a total of 17.2 lbs. in 10 weeks). AND, I was able to wear a pair of pants and a skirt that were still a little too snug a few weeks ago. I'm still at the point where only JJ and I can see the progress, but it won't be long before it really begins to show. The results I'm seeing help to keep me motivated to exercise.

I'm still a little behind for my goal that I set for the end of the month, but I think if I keep this exercise up, I'll be OK. Now if I can just manage to get to the grocery store and get some food in this house! I'm still behind from the car being in the shop! Oh yeah, and I've got about a ton of laundry waiting in the wings as well. How just 2 people can generate this much laundry is beyond me. I'm hoping as we get smaller (and our clothes get smaller) that maybe we'll have fewer loads of laundry every week. Or maybe this is just wishful thinking. . .

The Great Dodge Strike of '06

Like most strikes, this one comes at a most inopportune time. On Saturday I noticed the car was hesitating a little when I started it. Then Sunday, everything was fine. We drove our 45 minutes and back to the little country church where Hubby preaches without incident.

But when it was time for JJ to go to the library to work on some big papers he has for graduate school, he turned the key and the car only growled at him. I think it was grumpy. Not nearly as grumpy as JJ was when he realized he had 4 papers and 1 rough draft due in the next 10 days (ranging from 5 to 20 pages in length) and no way to get to the library.

Actually, he did have an alternative. His two legs peddling him on his bike. You see, we are a one-car family. I just thank the Lord that we are close to the university.

By some miracle, the big hunk of metal started Monday morning so I was able to get to work and then to the mechanic. But this means we didn't have the car to go to the grocery store, LA Weightloss to weigh in, or to JJ's boxing club that he started going to last week. I just did not realize how much we depend on our car. And a big chunk of our income depends on us getting to our little country church every week.

Even as I write this on my lunch break at work, a friend came by to say hi. She's a graduate student, and like a lot of other students around here, does not have a car at all. Mary, say hello to perspective.

Thank you, Lord for the many things that I do have and give me patience and perspective when things don't go my way.

Let's Not Major in the Minors

I was trying to keep things pretty light and non-confrontational here at "Mary on a Mission", but I just can't keep my mouth shut on this one. I recently read the transcript from Nancy Grace's show on CNN when she interviewed the Baptist pastor Tom Ruhkala about the Church of Christ. (If you'd like to read the transcript yourself, I do not know how to insert a link here yet, but just go to http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/27/ng.01.html. You have to scroll down quite a bit to find it, but it's there.) Anyway, he says some unflattering things about the Church of Christ, to put it mildly, and I decided to write a letter in response. I will probably never send it as I imagine he'll be pretty difficult to contact for the next little while. (Can you imagine how many members of the Church of Christ would love to talk to him right now?) Anyway, I decided to post my letter here. At the very least, my mommy will read it.

Dear Pastor Ruhkala,

I recently read the transcript of the interview that you did on CNN with Nancy Grace. I have grown up in the Church of Christ and so you must know that I write this letter with great sadness.

My reaction is due to several things. First of all, I understand that there is a minority of my brothers and sisters who are closed-minded and feel they are the only ones going to heaven. I grieve that this attitude is still present, although to a very small degree in the Church of Christ. However, I think it is unfair to label all of the Churches of Christ as having this mindset. I’m sure there are some of your Baptist brothers and sisters with whom you disagree on some things. It would be unreasonable of me to say that all Baptists believe the same things and so I am asking you to extend our churches the same courtesy.

Secondly, I take Jesus very seriously when he says the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself. I feel fairly sure that you and I can agree on this issue. I find that many of the debates that divide us as Baptists and members of the Church of Christ (or Methodists, the Christian Church, etc.) are of little consequence in light of Jesus’ command to love God and man. Therefore, I feel that speaking out against each other (in public or private) is not helpful. Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Finally, Pastor Ruhkala, I need to make it clear that I very much feel that you are my brother in Christ. As I thought about your CNN interview, one passage in particular came to mind that I would like to share with you in closing. John 13:34-35 says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” As a woman who truly has a heart for those who do not yet know Christ as their savior, I feel that it is more important as Christians to show the unity of love than be divided by our differences. If it means that more people will follow Christ, then don’t you think that we should focus more of our energy into loving than debating and dividing?

Thank you for your time. I do want to extend my most sincere apologies for any of my brothers or sisters that have ever said an unkind word to you or ever mistreated you and hope that in time, you will come to know the Church of Christ as a loving body of people who are only trying to please their Father.

In Christian Love,

Mary
A sister who is looking forward to meeting you in heaven

On a lighter note, my short-term goal is to lose 10 lbs. in 5 weeks (which is the end of April). So far, I'm a little behind. Here's a chart of my progress and thanks to "One Woman's World" for the idea from tickerfactory.

Yep, 2 in One Day

Again I find myself following in my friend Shalee's footsteps and posting twice in one day. This is because she has infected me with the Indie Virus. This is a great little idea that someone started to encourage people to visit little known sites and see what's out there. Terrific! (I could really use the help since I'm still in my first month of blogdom.) However, I'm still SO new that I do not know anyone to infect that hasn't already been infected! Now that's sad! So I am officially reserving the right to infect someone later on down the line. (How long is the incubation period for this thing?)

Now That's Progress!

I've been writing a lot about exercise and weight loss this week, but another great thing happened last night. We went out to eat at Red Robin, home of the bottomless fries, for JJ's birthday. He's been looking forward to this ever since we started LA Weightloss 10 weeks ago.

We had picked out what we were going to eat before we even got to the place. I am married to a creature of habit when food is concerned and he has his favorite dishes in every place that we used to frequent. Red Robin is no exception so there was no question as to what fare he would choose for the feast. He was having a MONSTER BURGER. With fries. And ranch dressing. And a DIET Coke (now that's a triumph all on it's own)!

I, on the other hand, had set a goal for myself of losing 10 pounds by the end of April (not off to a good start, by the way.) So I figured I'd better be at least a little good. After all, it wasn't my birthday. So I had a sh'room burger with no bun and a side salad (OK, OK, I'll be honest - I snuck 2 of JJ's fries too). And do you know what we discovered? It was not nearly as satisfying as we had expected. It was good. And it was especially nice to have our friends with us to enjoy the celebration, but we could have done without the burgers.

This is really encouraging to me. Food is losing its pull on us and it seems personally, that is a victory far and above weightloss alone. Our attitudes are changing and it gives me hope that this will not be a temporary change for us.

I was also able to see the bigger blessing. We've only lived here for 3 months and we were surrounded by friends who wanted to celebrate with us. We had such a great time laughing, talking, and of course making disgusting jokes (one of which included belly button lint. Believe me, you don't want me to go into it!)

And THEN, to top it all off, there I was, celebrating the 31st birthday of the man that I have been married to for almost 10 years. This is a man who is intelligent, talented, hard-working, a great friend, and just lots of fun to be around. God is so good.