Happy 4th of July!

What a great time we had with friends and family on July 4th! We had about 30 people here to celebrate the holiday.....we swam, ate hamburgers & hot dogs, hung out and enjoyed the day!

Pictures to come soon....I promise! :o)

Max's Birthday

Max's Birthday

O, happy day!

Just had to share our celebration. Donato has lost 53 pounds and I've lost 34. :o) Thank you all, who have given constant encouragement. I couldn't do it without you! xoxo

Max, Kim & Chris

We went to Beacon Hill this evening, to take some pictures of little Max and his mommy and daddy. They turned out great. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do. The evening was cool and couldn't have been more perect. Chris, of course, kept us in stitches and Kim was glowing like a star! :o)

Max should be here in about 18 days. Donato & I cannot wait! xoxo

The Sky's the Limit!!!!!!!!!!!

Donato & I have both reached a big milestone!!! He has lost 40 pounds after 5 weeks of dieting, and I have lost 25 in the same time. We are looking forward to a new wardrobe! :o)

Thank you all for our encouragement!!!!!!!!!! xoxo

Meltdown.

I'm having "one of those days".

TWENTY. ONE.

Today is day 24, and I have lost 21 pounds. I am so happy!

Donato has lost 31. That's just crazy to think about!! :o)

We are happy and thankful.

So thankful for all of the encouragement we're receiving from family and friends......couldn't make it without everyone!!

SEVENTEEN. AND. UH. HALF.

That's right. I am 17½ pounds lighter.

Donato has lost 29 pounds.

Unbelievable.

We.

Won't.

Give.

Up.

:o)

Sweet 16!

Day 16..... I've lost 16 pounds and Donato has lost 23.5. We are SO excited! :o) Love, -tam

Fourteen baybeee!!!!

I won't say much....just that I've lost 14 pounds in just 10 days!!! Donato has lost 17. :o) We are happy.

Weekly Weigh In - March 20, 2011

Well, here we are, only 5 days into our new way of living and eating right. Which to most, really means nothing, I suppose. But we are really excited! :o)

I was expecting to be disappointed with this new diet. Why?

Every time I try to diet I will lose a little - and it takes so long, suffer through a horrible eating regimen only to quit 'cause I don't lose a lot weight and I get frustrated 'cause it's not going fast enough and isn't instantaneous. Well....I feel really good, am generally never hungry and I am losing weight. Hallelujia!

10 pounds less.

I have to admit that it feels really good, it certainly motivates me to keep disciplined and stick to my daily meal plan.

So let’s break it down shall we?

Things I did right this week:

I followed the meal plan, ate sensible portions, no large helpings, no seconds, no double portions. We measured everything and kept track in a daily journal.

Ate most of my fruit and vegetables raw.

Drank at least 6 bottles of water a day.

I did 20 minutes of aerobics a day (except on my free day).

Things I didn’t do right this week:

On day 4, we had to go to a wedding, which threw off our meal schedule. We didn't eat our first meal 'til about 12:30pm. This made for a very "cravy" and hungry evening. It was not a good idea to skip breakfast.

Lesson learned and understood: Breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day.

Things I want to do next week:

Do 45-50 minutes of physical activity every day. This is going to be a big challenge....and we're ready and excited for it! :o)

Continue to follow the meal plan diligently.

Drink more water.

I am so excited for the week to come....I'll try to limit my diet update to once per week....but I can't make any promises! :o)

The First Day of the Rest of my Life

I was recently asked by a brave soul, why I was so overweight if I didn't eat a lot. Without skipping a beat, I replied to her that my sedentary lifestyle is about 80% to blame. Each day I get up, get ready, go to work, sit at my desk and work all day, come home, have dinner, sit and watch TV, then we go to bed and start all over again the next day. I'm just too tired to do anything else. I am first to say that my eating habits aren't so good either. I make bad food choices....I'd much rather have the big juicy cheeseburger, carne guisada tacos, homemade mashed potatoes or yummy cheesecake over a piece of fruit, a lean piece of chicken or yogurt, any day. Match that with my sedentary lifestyle...well, it just equals to simply being overweight and unhealthy.

You don't have to be a math wizard to figure out that if you take in more calories than you burn in a day, well....the calories will just accumulate day after day after day. I have become very lazy doing my same ol', same ol' routine, mindlessly, every single day. And as we all know well....our days become weeks, become months, become years, very quickly. And....here I am.

For those of you who know me well, you know that the years of excess weight have added to the stress on my knees; I now have osteoarthritis. It makes it much more difficult for me to exercise these days. Time, weight and simple use, make my knee joints feel much more painful to do even the easiest of things...riding a bike, spending time in my garden, just standing around, even walking....those common simple things are to me, like climing Mt. Everest. But as someone once told me and this has stuck in my head, "People climb Mt. Everest every day." I will never forget those words. They have become my new motto. I made a sticker with those words and they look at me every day from my monitor at work......and they will encourage me on my weight loss journey ahead. (thank you, Angel.)


A friend of mine has lost over 100 pounds in the past year. I asked her how she was doing it. She recommended the book, "Fat Smash Diet" by Ian K. Smith, M.D. I picked up a copy at Barnes and Noble this past Tuesday and began it the very next day. I read through it within about an hour and a half. It is very easy....very sensible....very good. Donato & I are through with day one and are in the midst of day two. You're not going to believe me when I say this, but just changing my diet and adding exercise (another major change), the scale reads that I am 6 pounds lighter today. I know that much of the weight in the beginning is going to be water weight loss.....but I am amazed how just changing a few things can make such a big difference. I am ready to do this, and though I whine whenever I am "craving" something (not hungry for something), I have to pray and ask God to help me through the craving, and realize that I'm not really hungry....I just crave certain foods. The diet is great in that you get to eat 4 smaller meals throughout the day, along with 2 snacks. It's really going to be easy to follow. This week is the hardest and next week will be a little easier....after that things shift and get nicer, as far as a few more things we can add to our diet. I highly recommend the diet, along with exercise. I bought Jane Fonda's "Prime Time" workout DVD's (don't laugh, it's been a while for me), and I'm off and climbing! :o)

I will try to update everyone here in my blog on a weekly basis to record how my diet and exercising are going. I am already receiving lots of encouraging emails, messages and texts. I can't tell you how wonderful that is! I need all the encouragement I can get....thank you! :o)

I'm glad in God, far happier than you would ever guess—happy that you're again showing such strong concern for me. Not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me. You just had no chance to show it. Actually, I don't have a sense of needing anything personally. I've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I'm just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. I don't mean that your help didn't mean a lot to me—it did. It was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles. -Philippians 4:13 (The Message)

Overcoming Jealousy - Causes and Cures for Jealousy, by Karen Wolff

When you look closely at the word jealousy there's something vital that stands out. The feeling of jealousy makes you feel lousy! Karen Wolff of Christian-Books-for-Women.com considers the causes of jealousy and then describes simple, practical steps for overcoming jealousy.

Current Status

How do you define jealousy?

The word "jealously" in Webster's dictionary is defined as "zealous vigilance." Somehow this definition doesn't seem to carry the powerful force of emotion in jealousy. The Bible says in Proverbs 27:4, "Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?" (NIV)

That seems to give a little more meaning to the word.

Background

What ever happened to the days when people were genuinely happy for one another? Do you remember those days when nobody ever wanted something that someone else had? Oh, wait! Those days never existed.

Jealousy is probably one of the world's oldest emotions. It's been around since the beginning of time. Look at Cain and Abel. Now there's a prime example of jealousy run amok.

Causes of Jealousy

What causes jealousy? Why does it start and how do we overcome jealousy?

Common Causes of Jealousy:

•Unmet expectations. Many times we place unrealistic expectations on ourselves and the people around us. Often times we feel things should come easier and faster to us. Then if things don't happen when we think they should, we inevitably run into someone who already has what we want. All of a sudden, we feel this surge of ugly, green emotion called jealousy.

•A sense of entitlement. For some reason we have this ingrained attitude that we are entitled to things. Kids leaving the nest for the first time believe their own standard of living should be the same as their parents. They don't consider that their parents have worked for years and years. Many times people with financial problems feel "entitled" to buy things on credit, even though they know it's a bad idea. Having the nicest car and the newest toys seems more important than getting out of debt.

•Insecurity. It is so easy to look at other people and wish we had what they have. And so many times it doesn't stop there. We start berating ourselves for not having what they have. Then we begin to believe negative junk ourselves. The next thing we know, we've developed insecurities in our relationships.

Cure for Jealousy?

So what can we do about jealousy?

After reading about all the stuff that can cause feelings of jealousy, we may feel like we're doomed. We may think we'll always come up short in some area of life. But that surely isn't the case.

Overcoming Jealousy

Here's some good news! There are a few things we can do to stop the jealousy ball from rolling right over us.

How to Overcome Jealousy:

•Stop comparing yourself to other people. You were created as a very unique and special person. God had a plan for you long before you took your first breath. Relish that thought. Love the fact that you're special. What God has in mind for you isn't the same as for someone else. So you don't have to feel bad that you don't have all the qualities, features, money, or anything else that someone else has. Your journey is just that — yours.

•Stop worrying about you all the time. Find a way to be a blessing to someone else. When you change your focus away from yourself, all of a sudden your self-image improves. You get to experience the feeling of satisfaction that only comes when you're a blessing to someone else. Your priorities start changing, and one day you realize that the things that used to make you so jealous and so nuts, don't bother you so much anymore.

•Stop wanting what other people have if you're not willing to go through what they did to get it. When you see a person who is physically fit and looks positively great, it's easy to feel really jealous. But are you willing to work out every day? Are you willing to eat healthy and look for ways to be healthy? If you're not, then there really is no reason to feel jealous, is there?

•Start focusing on all that's positive in your life. God has given you so many wonderful gifts that many other people don't have. Focus on using those gifts to help someone else. Since your mind can only consciously think about one thing at a time, doesn't it make sense to make sure that "one thing" is positive and is moving you toward the really great things in life?

Resolution

Breaking free from jealousy starts with your thoughts. When you change the way you think, you change the way you feel and act. The easiest way to change your focus is to begin by helping others. It will definitely be time well spent. Or better yet, thoughts well spent.

Prayers for Mr. Gonzales

Lord, please heal Ray's dad.

Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise. -Jeremiah 17:14 NIV

painting by, Jenedy Paige

Our new home.

We feel so blessed - we move into our new home on April 1st. Get ready for a house-warming party! :o)

The More I Seek You - Kari Jobe (another favorite)

Revelation Song - Kari Jobe (one of my all-time favorite worship songs)

9 months, 2 weeks & 6 days 'til we leave for Disneyworld!

Sesame Street: Diana Krall Sings Everybody's Song

Sesame Street: Norah Jones Sings Don't Know Y

Dumbo-Baby Mine "A Mother's Lullabye"

In My Arms - Plumb

Plumb - Always

MAX xoxo

How can it be that my grandson isn't even born yet, and I'm already in love with him?! He looks exactly like Chris did when he was a baby....it just warms my heart. A new love that has stolen my heart already. I cannot wait 'til Maxton Reign Jaso is here so I can hold him and shower him with love and kisses!

I just wanted to share a couple of the 3D pictures they took of him today. He's perfect. (Psalm 139) xoxo

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you had a cussy day today! Happy "love" day! xoxo

beautiful painting by Debbie Marie Arambula

Follow Me...

Follow me on my blog, twitter and FB! :o)

GOMER'S HOUSE

Love.

Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' -Matthew 22:37–39

Love. I honestly can't think of a better word to describe my friends Stephanie and Denbigh Cherry. They genuinely love the Lord with all their hearts.....it is evident in everything they do, say and are. They are lovely people.

It has been a joy to watch God stretch them and grow them as they restore this lovely house, "Gomer's House" in Fentress, Texas - and all in order to love people, and to love and bring glory to the Lord.

It is my honor to present to you this blog entry from my friend Stephanie Cherry.

In the beginning our marriage, God had given us opportunities to house different people in our small, single family home. Then five years ago, God started turning our hearts to provide a place of healing for people. At the end of 2007, God told us to sell our home. Not knowing where we were going, we put our home on the market. In April of 2008, our house sold for full price even though the exact model next door had sold for $10,000 less just a month earlier. This began our Abrahamic season where we stayed with four different friends for a nine month period. During this time, we began fervently asking the Lord where we were to be and exactly what we were to be doing. He showed us pastors that were hurting, people hurt by pastors, missionaries in need of refreshing, and we personally lost two brothers to drug addiction.

How was God going to tie all of this together?

One day we prayed and asked God for a miracle of direction. While perusing Craig’s List for something completely unrelated, we found a 3 story, 100 year old house in a town we had never heard of. God miraculously provided the down payment and we were set to begin. As we moved into the house in January of 2009, we began to see how God was going to use us to reach such a wide array of people. This glorious house is situated amongst a poor and drug ravaged neighborhood.

God graciously brought us people to completely redo all of our plumbing and much of our electrical so that we could live in the house. Volunteers have continued to stream in over the course of the last year bringing much of what we needed.People always ask if we know that Gomer was a prostitute. Two years ago, while studying the book of Hosea, God clearly told us that this was to be the name of the respite. Hosea was one of God’s main men during his time and his wife was a drug addict and a prostitute. If this was going on in Hosea’s home, we can only imagine the need for healing in homes of ministers today.

We thought that God would finish our house before He started sending people to us. Several months after we moved in, He started sending people to stay and rest and find healing. It is a beautiful testimony of how God can use 5,500 square feet in need of desperate restoration to minister. .I ask that you pray for the people living in Fentress. Pray for those here that are captive to drug and alcohol addiction to be set free. Pray that their hearts would be prepared to hear the good news and receive Christ.

Several times during prayer for the drug addicts in our neighborhood, the very people we have been praying for would knock on our door. They often volunteer here.

We are humbled that God is allowing us to work with him in our community. We are currently praying about a door that has opened to start a church here.

22ONE7 Ministries

Thank you Stephanie, for sharing what the Lord is doing in you, your family, your ministry and at Gomer's House.

Please pray with me for the Cherry family and for Gomer's house. If you'd like to learn more about their ministry, you can visit their blog by going to: http://www.stephaniecherry.com/

"Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” -Revelation 22:17

†Gomer's House is being restored to serve as a respite to the least, the last, and the broken.

My Daily Journal, entry #1

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW...
Today is a holiday…..it’s MLK day and I’m so thankful to have spent the morning in my favorite spot...at my desk at home, in front of an oversized, old panel window that overlooks our yard where lots of big oak trees live. I enjoyed the sunrays as they peeked through the branches and lit up my library and warmed my face...the sunrise was nothing less than spectacular. I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the morning...the birds were singing and seemed to be rejoicing in it too! The morning was so beautiful and it was such a great way to start the day. Thank You Jesus! :o)

I AM THINKING...
What a fabulous life I am blessed to live and how full of gratitude I am that I live each day in such beautiful surroundings with so much love from family and friends.

FROM THE KITCHEN...
We haven't planned for our dinner tonight, but I am in the process of researching a low-calorie diet and the benefits of it. I am also in the process of cutting out two things from my diet...sodas and fast food restaurants (I’m gonna try to the best of my ability, anyway!) Donato and I want to improve our health and feel the best place to start is with our diet. I'm looking for tasty, low-calorie recipes if anyone has any to share!

I AM WEARING...
I spent the entire day in my comfy, flannel PJ’s! I loved it.

I AM READING...
A great book called Crazy Love, by Francis Chan. I AM LOVING IT! I began the book a few weekends ago. I’m squeezing in time to read it….it’s so hard to read because I work. But when I do get to pick it up and read, I have had to force myself to put it down in order to do what I need to do! I can hardly wait to get home to continue reading it.

I AM HOPING...
That the day ends as beautifully as it began.

I AM HEARING...
The sound of birds outside my desk window, against the sound of a very quiet house. Is there any more beautiful combination?

AROUND THE HOUSE...
We are hustling and bustling around still trying to get Chad packed up to move to UNT in Denton. I’m working on organizing all of our closets, setting up the new pantry, and all at the same time trying to plan out the grandbaby’s room and planning the baby shower! Needless to say, it’s crazy wild around here these days.

ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS...
I am excited to learn that the Dell Streak cell phone that I’ve been wishing for is on sale for $99! I can’t wait to get it next week!

A FEW PLANS FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK...
Donato & Chris plan on packing up all of Chad’s things into a big Ryder truck this week and drive it up to him in his new apartment. It’s sad to see the house slowly packed up and it is starting to look empty. I will do my best to keep busy and not get too emotional about Chad going off to school. I think I’ll continue to work on organizing closets and such, and I will work on learning how to coupon-clip.

PICTURE THOUGHT...
I love this picture of Emory and me. He was slowly drifting off to la-la land and just rested against my cheek until he finally fell asleep. I know times like this won’t happen too often once he grows up….and he is growing so very fast.

66 Love Letters, By Larry Crabb - Week 1 - Genesis 4-18

(notes coming soon...)

66 Love Letters, By Larry Crabb - Day 1 - Genesis 1-3

I just started Larry Crabb's study of the Bible called, "66 Love Letters". It is only day 1 and already I am so excited about what God is already saying and revealing to me. I can't wait to know Him more deeply. I'll try to type a little something about what I read and study each day. Feel free to read my thoughts and journaling as I venture through the Bible this year.

Please remember, these are just my thoughts....they are raw and not edited. I welcome and appreciate your comments.

Day 1 - Genesis 1:1-3 (The Message)

After reading these three verses in Genesis, the thing that struck me the hardest was in Genesis 3:12(b): God said to the woman, "What is this you've done?"

Now, I'm not saying that the rest of verses 1-3 weren't packed full of great things...I was just swept off of my feet by the idea....the picture of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and He walks up to Eve and asks her point blank to her face, "What is this you've done?"

That just simply blows me away.

I mean, honestly....in that moment that I read this, I imagined me being Eve and just the thought of being in God's physical presence and having to answer Him when he asks me..."Tammy, what is this you've done?"

Gulp.

My emotions overwhelm me.

Okay, maybe I wasn't actually there in the garden that day and maybe I didn't actually eat the forbidden fruit on that day....but I have a lifetime of sins that I have committed. I imagined me doing one of the ugliest sins I have ever committed in my life....that in itself is so shameful to think about. But then I imagined God walking up to me and saying, "Tammy, what have you done?" What would I say? What would I do? How would I act? Just thinking about it, I am experiencing feelings of shame, embarrassment, remorse, inadequacy....it all surfaces immediately.

Do you think that's why God confronted Eve in that manner? Did He want her to feel all of those things? Did He want her to be overwhelmed by her emotions? Was that part of His plan?

I am perplexed by this.

All of my life....as long as I can remember....I have been a person who tries to avoid confrontation as much as possible. The thought of making a person feel that ashamed or embarrassed because of their sinful actions hurts me to my core. Maybe it's because I've experienced that place - that horrible moment of being found out....exposed. It is the most shameful place I can imagine. Going there is a huge fear of mine. Because of that, I usually sin in one way or another just not to go to that place (I lie, accuse, etc.). I guess I don't like or want to confront others about something they've done wrong, because maybe I think that if they get terribly upset and explode, their reaction may be to confront me of my sins. My secrets are terribly rotten and they will reveal my ugly, sinful desires and my selfish ways and heart. I don't want to go there. Just in writing this out, it has made me sheepishly realize that do not like confronting others, not just because of hurting them, but because it may hurt me too.

Through my shame and hurt, I am currently thanking God for slowly and lovingly removing my blindfold...

In Larry Crabb's study 66LL study guide, he talks about narcissism, which is defined as "radical self-centeredness....an obsession with one's personal well-being. It is a universal moral flaw." Interestingly, he says, "No one loves, not purely, not without mixed motives."

Gulp, again.

My mind once again sends me back to Genesis 3, where I am astounded to find myself standing in the center of the Garden of Eden, looking at God square in the face...as He asks me the dreaded question I don't want to hear, "What is this you've done?"

Like a little child, I just want to curl up into fetal position, hide and cry in shame, because I know what I have done and God already knows.....I can't lie or accuse my way out of this one. And I did it all for my own satisfaction.....my own moment of glory and control.....for me to be able to say, "You're not the boss of me....I am my own boss!" As He is standing there in front of me asking this question....all I can think of now is falling to His feet and asking for His forgiveness.

The words the Lord speaks to Eve, Adam and the serpent were those of someone very angry.

I just imagine dying a thousand deaths while I look at God's face and mouth as He says to me:

"I'll multiply your pains in childbirth; you'll give birth to your babies in pain. You'll want to please your husband, but he'll lord it over you."

And THEN, having to hear and witness what He says to my husband....BECAUSE OF ME!!!

"Because you listened to your wife (ouch! this of course is my word, not God's) and ate from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from, 'Don't eat from this tree,' the very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long. (remember: I'm still standing there, watching and listening as God pours out my husband's punishment because of my actions...!) The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, planting and tilling and harvesting, sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up as dirt."

I can only imagine dead silence and stillness in that moment.

It goes on to talk about Adam then naming his wife Eve, and God making them garments to wear out of skin and then God driving them out and banishing them from the Garden of Eden.

But I'm still stuck on that other part.

Was there any other discussion between God, Adam and Eve? Did Eve or Adam cry and tell God how incredibly sorry they were? Was there remorse? It doesn't talk about that in Genesis.....but if it had been me, I would've wanted to talk about all this! Now I have to leave and am banished from the Garden of Eden? Will I ever see God again? Will He ever talk to me again? Can I talk to Him? Do I even care?

What have I done?

"God, I don't want to remain blind to my self-centeredness or to excuse it as someone else's fault. And I don't want to underestimate your loving determination to make me other-centered. As best I can, I now open my mind to hear all that You're saying to me, and I open my heart to whatever You want to do in me. In Jesus' name, Amen."

(I can't wait to continue reading the rest of God's love letters...)