Apple bottom Jeans, boots with the fur!

Before you ask, I do not own either of these.  I just could not think of a catchy line to title the blog.  I don't really have a life lesson for this entry but I did reach a milestone in my weight loss journey.  Thus far, I have lost over 45 pounds and have begun training for the Louisiana half marathon, with the goal of doing a full marathon next year with my friend Dustin.  Let me tell you about the milestone.

As is the case with most people that have gained weight, I have that one pair of jeans that was kept and hid at the bottom of the dresser drawer.  You know what I am talking about, its that pair of jeans, dress shirt, or suit that was purchased before the weight gain, squeezed into until the buttons would no longer come together, and then was stowed away in the dresser to serve as a constant reminder of what once was, and to drive their victim (i.e. Me) to a binge of depression eating to comfort the feelings of sorrow which ultimately drove the waistline further from  fitting back into the jeans.

Last night I was looking for a pair of jeans to wear to a VBS parents night, when I came across a pair of Aeropostale blue jeans that I purchased 4 years ago.  If you have ever walked into an Aero store, the sizes only go up to a guys 36 inch waist, which in the real world is actually about a 34 inch at best.  When I bought the jean I could barely fit into the jeans, or breath once I was in them.  Needless to say, I wasn't wearing them for long before they found the bottom of the dresser.

As I was looking, I thought I would try them out.  I really was looking for motivation to workout harder and stick to the diet even better.  I was extremely surprised as they slid over my waist comfortably and then buttoned WITHOUT any sucking, grunting, or cursing!  I could actually fit a couple of fingers between the jeans and my waist - which means I am can now go shopping at Aeropostale, and that I a weigh less then when I bought them.  Here are some pictures to show what  I am talking about.

There is one amazing thing in these pictures.......The soap that my wife keeps in the bathroom is awesome.  Okay, just kidding! Before you get jealous, that guy in the pictures belongs to Janel.  The jeans cost $34.50 at Aeropostale this week.

Until next time.

The world is my oyster

Have you ever been to an amusement park and seen a pearl diver?  One of those places where a person will dive down, gather oysters and then you get a surprise as to what size pearl will come out of the shell.  Have you ever wondered how those pearls got in the oyster.  Unfortunately, oysters are not  born with a pearl, they actually produce the pearl as a way of removing an irritant that gets into their shells.  When  piece of sand or small rock gets into the oysters mouth, they produce saliva to coat the particle and it eventually turns into a beautiful pearl.  So when you see a lady wearing a real pearl necklace, try not to laugh to hard when you remember that she is wearing oyster saliva around her neck.

Anyway, I say all that to say this.  I was on a run this evening and I got one small piece of something in the toe of my shoe.  Normally, one little particle wouldn't even be noticeable, but I was running in Vibram five finger shoes and I don't (can't) wear socks with them.  Therefore, that one little piece of something quickly became a problem and ended my run much earlier than I was hoping for.  I now have a small blister on the pad of my big toe - NOT COOL!

As always, these things in life make me think about some life lessons.  Sometimes in life, we get small irritants in life that just rub us the wrong way.  At that point, we have the choice of either doing something to get rid of the aggravation or we can ignore it util it causes an even bigger problem.   Often when we do something to get rid of the thing that is aggravating us, we end up with our own pearls to share with the world.  Take for example, Patience.  I was always warned as a child to not pray for patience because God would grant it in a way that I would not like.  Well, I did pray for patience and God gave me Morgan.  I love this child to death, she is truly a good kid, but she does push my buttons very efficiently.  We are working on me being more patient with her and others, and one day that "pearl" is going to be amazing.

Don't let those small things in life get under your skin, choose to figure out a way to get rid of it.  That way you can have your oyster, and eat it too!        

Love Hurts, and scars. Love wounds and marks

Today I experienced one of the most traumatic things in my entire life.  Mind you, I have witnessed my wife going through 18 hours of labor -and before all the mothers say "YOU didn't go through 18 hours of labor,"  watching your wife is not at all easy (you ladies say some pretty mean things that you have selective amnesia about later), I have lived through one of the worse natural disasters in history with Hurricane Katrina - which included living in a house with 15 people, 5 animals, 1 bathroom and zero electricity, and a pregnant wife for a few days until we decided to try to get to my family in Florida, I have been through death and loss of family members and ministered to families in the same circumstances.  But today had to be one of the worse I have ever gone through.  I took both of my girls to the doctor for their check ups...BY MYSELF.

Before you roll your eyes, I have always taken the girls their doctors appointments, and I have no problem doing so.  Janel is not a fan of doctors, doesn't like shots, and since my schedule is more flexible, I have taken the girls to the doctor all but 1 time in the combined 6 years of parenthood.  Today was different then all the other times I have taken them to the doctor.

This was Madison's 1 year appointment, so I expected for her to be getting shots - smartly, I gave her Tylenol before going into the office to help off put the pain and fever - what I was completely unaware of was a new "fun" activity they do at this check up.  On top of the 3 regular shots they gave her, there was also the finger prick tests for blood hemoglobin or something like that (I was in a daze when she was trying to explain it because it was the last thing they did, and I had already seen 4 needles, of which I am not fond).  This test consists of them stabbing Maddie's finger and squeezing out 2 tubes of blood.  Of course this caused my beautiful child to turn into the spawn of Satan and scream continuously for the next hour.

Morgan, I thought, was going to be easy as pie.  A 5 year check up is normally just to make sure she can hop on one foot, speak full sentences, and is toilet trained.  This would have been excellent, if Janel and I had not been concerned about her petite size.  If you know Morgan, you know that she is small for her size and has actually been getting picked on at school for this - please pray for her and us as we work through this in her life.  I asked the doctor about it, and she decided to do a thyroid test.  Sounds great, except for the part where they draw 3 viles of blood from Morgans arm.  Imagine this, I am holding Morgan in an MMA body triangle, with my arm over her shoulder across her body to keep her still.  A nurse is holding each arm to keep them still, another nurse is holding a screaming Maddie, and a nurse is holding Morgans legs between her knees and is about to stab Morgan in the arm.  If you were not counting, that is 5 grown adults to control 2 children that combined weigh 52 pounds.  It was a freaking circus in that room.

The best part of all of this was, I paid $50 in co-pays in order to have the pleasure of the experience.  You should have seen the eyes of the kids that were in the waiting room as we walked through after we were finished.  I believe I heard one of the parents saying "see what happens when you misbehave at the doctors office," but I may be wrong.

I love my children, and to see them go through that was difficult for me, but I know that it needed to happen.  So as the band Nazareth tells us "love hurts, and scars, love wounds and marks" but sometimes it is for the better.

Until next time.