10 Pounds to Reach 1/2 Way to Goal

As some of you know, I have agreed to a "tell all" blog entry when I reach half way to my goal weight.  I missed last week's weigh in so I could take the kids to appointments.  So today's loss of 5 1/4 pounds is for a two week time span.  As of today, I am 10 pounds from being half way to goal!  That awful before picture and my progress pictures are coming soon!

I have to say, this Summer has been tough on my diet.  The kids are always eating and I'm stressed by the upcoming move with getting all the planning and preparations ready so food is extra tempting as a cool refreshing treat right now. However, I'm committed to making this lifestyle change stick!

Camp Joy Memories

Today I had the pleasure of taking my teen daughters to Camp Joy near Ava, Missouri.  I attended there as a child, my family volunteered there, and our family had their first Fleming Family Reunion there 45 years ago.  (Yes, the same family reunion that we just attended for its 45th meeting for 3 days over the 4th of July at Camp Mission Point.) 

Camp Joy is a special place to me and to my family.   It embodies most of the values that we hold dear.  The name J-O-Y stands for Jesus-Others-You as the priority list that we should each seek in our lives.  Plus Camp Joy is a community event and a community effort.  One man named Oscar Cunningham and his family had a vision for a youth Bible camp for the rural churches around Ava. They had a passion for inspiring young people to consider a path of service to God and others.  Oscar took his vision and passion and shared it with others in the area.  People, who could build, came and helped build.  People, who farm, donated cows and hogs and veggies and fruits.  People, who could cook, came and cooked.  People, who could serve up God's love to young people, came and enjoyed their time serving.  It is truly an amazing environment created to welcome everyone to consider a life lived for Christ.

In front of the Girl's "cabins"....I think I need to find a picture of
the real "cabins" that we had 30 years ago.

Now Camp Joy is not your average camp.  It has no pool, no water slide, no grand activity buildings, no paved roads, no lake, no luxury cabins, no fancy kitchen/dining facility, limited wheelchair access, and limited air conditioning.  By materialistic standards, it is a below average facility.  But what Camp Joy has had from the first time it opened its doors to campers is a desire to welcome Christian and un-Christian youth to consider a life changing commitment to Christ in a wholesome, activity filled week away from the distractions of everyday life.  It is a chance to slow down, to be loved and to learn about God's desires.

Sidewalks!  Everywhere!  What a great addition!

Will my kids have a good time?  I have no idea.  They have been to above average camps and if they focus on facilities then they may be disappointed.  Little do they understand that the camp as it exists today is high class compared to the camp that I attended 30 years ago.  There have been so many improvements, and the commitments to serving Christ are evident in the improvements. 

The boy's "cabins".  Aren't they nice!

Will they think it is as great as I do?  Probably not.  They have not seen us sacrifice and work to make the camp the place it is today.  My grandparents died and we moved from the area before they were born.  This is an area where they vacation, not where they live and invest themselves.  My kids have no idea how important Camp Joy's ministry was to us.  They don't know what a sacrifice it is or what it meant for a small farmer like my grand-dad to donate a cow and the butcher fees.  The world that I lived in the 1970s is gone.  I knew only two faces at the camp today, but I do know that the passion and commitment of the community to carry out Oscar's vision is alive and well.   


Now my laugh for the day:

We came to the next to the last bridge before we got to camp. 

Grace did not want me to drive across it. 

She got out of the car and took a picture.

 

Grace let me know that I could send the photo to MoDOT

because they must not know about this bridge. 

Then I pointed out the sign in the tree and explained that "MoDOT cares".

 

I actually thought the old bridge looked pretty good....about the same as it did 30 years ago.

(I found it comforting to know that some things don't change.)

Day 185: Weight Loss

For those of you who have been wondering, I am continuing to diet and this week I lost 3.75 pounds which brings me to a total of 84 1/4 pounds lost.  This puts me at 40% of my way to my goal weight.  Needless to say, weight loss over the Summer is harder with all the kids home and snacking on things like cool, sweet treats. 

I have 25 more weekly weigh ins this year, but I have only 11 more weigh ins before our 15th wedding anniversary.  I am trying to reach the 1/2 way to goal mark in time for our anniversary.

The Start of Our Country Vacation

Day 1

Our first morning on the farm started a bit later than our mornings at home thanks to everyone being extra tired.  Before, I was even out of bed; David was quizzing me on the finer points of free ranging the chickens that he convinced me to bring with us.  He is sure that a “free ranging” chickens is a bad idea without a fence, even if we are in the middle of 40 acres.  During these morning “free ranging” instructions, Mark came in the bedroom and curled up in my covers as I said, “Give them about ½ the regular amount of food because they are going to be eating a lot of bugs”.  Then Mark suddenly flipped over and looks at me with a very angry face as he says, “I am not eating bugs!”  Well, Daddy and I lost it laughing and quickly explained to Mark that we were talking about the chickens!   

The boys outside playing.

(Yes, this means that we traveled with our family, plus supplies, plus 2 dogs and 2 chickens in a box…until the chickens escaped the box and ran around the back of the bus.)

Then while Daddy got kids dressed,  I started what I thought would be a modest breakfast of about 18 blueberry pancakes, but then Vanessa wanted eggs and David wanted bacon.  Finally, after two hours of my playing the role of Cracker Barrel short order cook, I got the kitchen closed!  Then we started a busy day of unpacking, organizing and fixing (just in time for the air conditioner to freeze up).

It took what seemed like forever to get settled.  David was busy sheparding the chickens like sheep because he is sure that they will get killed or wander off.  We had a light lunch in the midst of our work, but by dinner, we were done and ready to relax with food, lemonade and time sitting in front of the fans!

Jon with his lemonade

Day 2

Obviously the kids aren’t eating bugs because they had a 52 pancake breakfast to start the day and they were back for cheese sticks and popcorn for a snack by 10:30am.  Grace and David went berry picking and ended up hitch hiking back home.  Apparently, no matter what you teach your kids, the rules don’t apply on the farm and with Cousin Carl…of course, I did not care if they rode with him!  However, if I was him, I’m not sure that I would have made room for sweaty kids in my car (who I found out later had “forgotten” their deodorant)!

5 cent ice cream and 10 cent soda!

Then a lighter lunch of Ramen noodles with veggies and leftover grilled chicken from dinner last night.  The boys, Vanessa and Hannah settled in for some movies in front of the fan with Daddy while David, Grace and I snuck off to town.  We went to the Ava Drug first.  We ordered our 5 and 10 cent ice cream and coke and Grace also opted for a $3 tuna salad sandwich with chips.  (Of course being a dieter, I skipped it all and was the big spender because I ordered a 75 cent iced tea.)  Our total for the outing was $4.26!  Then we picked up a case of popcorn for $3 and bought some cards and toiletries.  Finally, we headed to Wal-Mart for a head of lettuce and a wading pool.  They had a pool on clearance with 3-D sharks on the bottom and it came with 3-D goggles.  I expected David to want it, but I laughed when 17 year old Grace wanted that one too!



Pool fun



Dinner

The kids spent the afternoon in the new pool.  Then we had slow roasted pork tenderloin, collard greens with pinto beans, mashed potatoes and pumpkin custard pie for dinner.  I’m not sure why the kids eat so much here, but once again they cleaned their plates a couple times and emptied the pots and pans!

I can't decide if I should caption this one as
"One of the sexiest photos of my hubby ever"
OR
"This is what teachers do poolside on their
summer vacations...wading pool side".

It Came Back!!!

Jon in his stroller right after it
was returned.

We are so happy and excited and relieved!

Jon's medical stroller was left in front of our garage this morning.  Some wonderful person returned it to us and just in time for vacation!  I was dreading the thought of vacationing without it, but now I am ready for our trip to the farm and family reunion.

Many thanks to everyone who prayed with us about the return and to everyone who passed the word through fliers, Facebook posts and word of mouth.  It has been so uplifting to see so much concern by so many.  We are thankful for the police's help and for the media's work to bring this to the attention of the public to help us find it and for the person who brought the stroller home.

"I've lived in the US for most of my life"

Today is an important milestone in my list of David's life events.  However, he disagrees.  David insists its just another day, but he happily accepts the special lunch out with Daddy and he is not complaining about a dinner of his favorites. 

As of today, David has been in our family for longer than he lived in Haiti.  As of today, he can say, "I was born in Haiti, but I've lived in the US for most of my life." 

It seems like David has been a part of our home forever, but the unfortunate reality is that his adoption took a long time and he was an older orphan.   David has a real history that started before he got to America. 

David using chopsticks the "American way"...LOL!

In truth, this day is bothering David a bit too because it makes him realize how much of his younger years that he no longer remembers.  And in truth, it bothers me a little too.  It makes me realize just how much time he was not under our loving care and how much time he was not building memories with our family that we can share with him after he has forgotten his early years.

Despite the bitter sweetness of today, it does mean that David has been in our family for 5 of his birthdays and Christmases.  This will be 4th of July #6.  He is already planning what fireworks are needed with Daddy.  Better yet, he doesn't remember that he was the little boy who hid in the basement his first Independence Day and he kept yelling in fear, "They coming."  He wouldn't even look out a window and we all slept downstairs with him that night.  This year, David will be making the noise and loving it....No one could convince me that adoption isn't one of the best outcomes after early tragedies.  I'm so blessed to be a small part of it.

Managing Stress and Wheelchair Thieves

The missing chair.

As most of you know, we are planning to move later this Summer and the stress of packing, fixing up, cleaning up and finding potetial buyers is a bit crazy right now.  Add to this that we will soon go on vacation and my house has a true circus of boxes!  Ring 1 boxes are packed to move.  Ring 2 boxes are sorted to give away or sell and include things like clothing that our youngests have outgrown, homeschool books, and regretable home decor that I purchased while under the influence of the 1980's. Ring 3 boxes are stuff for vacation like water wings, swim suits, board games, crock pots, extra bibs, diapers.wips, Oxygen tanks, feeding pumps...the uniquely, usual stuff that our family takes on vacation.  Then there is sometimes a Ring 4 accumulates, which is often placed beside the garage. It is the ring where we put stuff that we are moving to make room to make my Ring 1, 2, or 3 stacks bigger! 

So it was out of Ring 4 that someone came in our yard and took Jon's pediatric stroller that we use all the time so we don't have to always take the lift-equipped, deisel-gussling bus.  Yes, I was actually stupid enought to sit this valuable piece of our lives in our yard.  It was folded up like an umbrella stroller folds and I am thinking that the theives thought that they were stealing a jogging stroller.  I have been praying and posting on facebook in hopes that the person would realize what they have and bring it back!  Please be praying with us.  It was purchased for Vanessa and we passed it on to Jon when Vanessa outgrew it.  It seems that insurance will cover most of the replacement costs, especially since Jon needs it.  We have actually just been saving the insurance company money and saving us the co-pay money through "hand-me-downs".  However, we have been warned that it will take a while to get it approved and ordered so please pray that we get the replacement before Daddy's summer vacation is over.  There is never a "good time" to have something like this happen, but having Daddy home to help lift/carry Jon is going to make this problem much more manageable.

This situation has angered so many people, but I'm not angry.  I'm disappointed by the realization that people do steal things, even our stuff. I'm frustrated by the inconvenience to us and limits that this puts on Jon's summer activities such as the water park where power wheelchairs are really not a good idea.  But what I really want and am praying for is for it to just be returned....afterall, we really are very blessed, Jon wasn't in the chair when it was taken!

Day 162: Weight Gain & Kids Who Cheer Me Up

Today was a REALLY bad day.   It was the worst that I have had in a while so I guess I was overdue, but "Wow, oh wow!" 

If I had know, I would have stayed in bed this morning with the covers over my head.  I won't go into all the terrible highlights but the day got rolling with weighing in and having a dreaded and feared gain.  My first gain in 162 days of dieting.  I am not surprised because trying to sell our house/buy another has me stressed and I've been staying up late packing so I'm not getting my rest and of course, my kids are at home eating all day long!

Other highlights were a professional group's error that is causing me to look like I don't pay my bills.  The dryer went out.  I broke my key off in the ignition.  I had a terrible headache and the kids seemed to be extra loud.  Plus we added more "to do" to my list for getting the house ready.  I tried to turn the day around with a diet approved lunch salad from Subway, but Nate got it and dumped my drink into my salad which made it wilt to an icky, slimy meal.

One last highlight (or lowlight, more appropriately) was finding out that our realistic first option for a house in Kansas (not the dream group home) is going to be auctioned for cash so we may not be able to get this most affordable home. 

My Kids to the Rescue

The little guys just knew I had a headache, but they brought some much needed comic relief to my afternoon. 

First, Mark let me know that his tummy was hurting and a few presses on his tummy revealed that he was obviously constipated.  I asked him if he had pooped today and he said no.  I asked, "When did you poop last?" and he said "In the potty."  (I love these funny "still learning language" conversations.)  So we reviewed that I was not asking where, but when...like yesterday or Sunday...and his answer was "Someday".  I think he meant Sunday so after drinking a cup of warm water and a bathroom visit, he let me know that the water fixed his tummy ache. 

Then Luke crawled on my lap as I was on the computer looking at the newest Camp Kivu pictures and saw this picture of Grace in a raft.

He asked if Grace is still at camp (for the thousandth time since she left 9 days ago).  I said yes and he pointed at the picture and said, "This is Grace at camp."  I said yes and in a very concerned voice he asked, "Her camp flooded?"  Now I must tell you that I was tempted to just say "Yes!"  As a mom I find my kids going rafting to be terrifying.  Frankly, I would prefer that Luke think that he should only do that if the camp floods!  However, I was a good mom and explained that camp did not flood and that she was having fun.  Much like I feared, Luke let me know that he wanted to go to camp and do that. 

Lastly, at bedtime, I kept hearing cricket sounds and I started checking all the windows to see which one was open because the air conditioner is running.  I climbed over a bed and around moving boxes and still found no open window.  This whole time Matt who was supposed to be going to sleep, kept trying to tell me something and I kept telling him hush so I could hear the cricket.  Finally, he insisted on telling me something and he said "The noise is from Jon's crib toy."  I almost died laughing because sure enough, Jon had activated it himself and it was playing a lovely cricket's tune.

Day 155: Weighing In

Well, today was my 21st week in a row that I have lost weight and it has been a tough week.  With the kids home from school for the Summer, someone is always eating and I have to cook a lot more than usual.  Tonight, we had supper that included 1 pound of hamburgers with cheese, 1 pound of sloppy joes, 3 pounds of grilled chicken, toasted buns, raw veggies, 2 pounds of pasta and cookies for dessert.  It was hard to JUST have what I could have and nothing extra!

As of today, I have lost 72 1/2 pounds since I started planning my diet carefully on January 8th.  This means I am now 35.5% of my way to reaching my goal weight and today that goal seems a long ways away!  But I continue on my journey to better health through what seems like the "Summer of Kids' Endless Snacking".


My dinner plate...Lots of raw veggies to curb my hunger!

Day 127: Weighing in for Week 17

Losing weight is hard work!  There is lots of meal planning, cooking, and not much eating!  There is exercise (ideally) and there is watching out for stress that can stop weight loss in its tracks!  Frankly, I'm getting rather worn down by the whole process and especially by the constant cooking of tasty, but not the tastiest of foods.

So today's weigh in was a good time for the encouragement of  breaking the 60 pound mark.  As of today, I am exactly 62 pounds lighter than I was on my 40th birthday on January 8th, when this all got started.  That may sound like fast weight loss to you, but it feels pretty slow to me.

This means that I am now 30.4% of the way to my goal.  I still have a long way to go, but 4 more pounds and I'll be completing 1/3 of this battle!




Dieting means lots of lunches that look like this.

Mother's Day in an Adoptive Family

My parents: I look like them, and we
have been a family my whole life.

Mother's Day is not all fun and happiness at our house.  It is not that it is bad either, but it is different when children have a family of origin.  Like many families, our kids make plans and loudly whisper secrets the week before.  They make cards and gifts and pick dandelions.  They tell me to go back to bed so they can "surprise" me and everyone works hard to celebrate me. 

However, as an adoptive mom there is a "shadow" over the day.  Some of my children acknowledge it and others think it doesn't matter, but I know it matters.  Maybe it doesn't matter at age 4 or 6, but it matters a lot by the time the kids are tweens because the "shadow" is a part of their history, their genetics and their future.  Most of my kids will have children that look more like a stranger than like my hubby and I.  That is not a bad thing, but the future will reveal more about their past and they will wonder whose nose their child has and if members of their first family were very tall and if they liked the same things. 

To make this day tougher, our children have already lost their first parents to death or abandonment or unfortunate circumstances.  The question of why does God let bad things happen is very real, especially around Mother's Day.  We don't want to rewrite the past into a fairy tale, but we don't want any of our children to ever think that they were unloved for even a second of their life!  So we focus Mother's Day on God's love.  God loves me and blessed me with the incredible experience of being mom 10 times!  God loves them and when bad things happened, He helped make a path for them to be in our family as He had planned for them.  God is the reason that we are a family, and we try to focus our thanks to God who gave birth mom's and caring orphanage workers and brought about adoptions.  It doesn't make the celebrations any simpler, but I wouldn't want it to because God had beautiful plans for each of my children and those plans started in the womb, not when I became their mom.  

"A child born to another woman calls me mommy. The magnitude of that tragedy & the depth of that privilege are not lost on me." -Jody Landers

David Turns 11!

David chose his birthday celebration to start with going to a movie with his big sister and hero Grace. 

Then he chose for him, Vanessa, Corrine and Grace to head to Carousel Park.  This was Vanessa's first trip to the park and David took lots of pictures.

Finally he ended his celebrating with presents and his favorite meal, which is breakfast with lots of bacon.

A Wedding & A New Addition

On Saturday, we attended Amber and Stephen's very cold and very lovely outdoor wedding in a wonderful country setting.  The entire ceremony was very intentionally planned to reflect Christ's relationship with the church and the outcome was a spiritually uplifting experience.  And as a BONUS the musician played the hammered dulcimer flawlessly.  It was truly a privilege to be in attendance.

For those of you asking, "Who is Amber?"  Amber is our house hero Angela's twin sister and she has been Jon's devoted care giver for over a year.  More importantly Amber is as awesome as Angela, and therefore quickly became one of Jon's most favorite people.  Amber has not only bathed, fed and dressed Jon most weekdays, but they have ridden horses, went swimming, tried hairstyles, worked on school lessons, learned to drive a power wheelchair and much more!  So Jon wasn't exactly thrilled that she got married and moved away without him!

Of course going to a wedding has risks.  There could be tears, lots of hugs, good friends, frost bite (joking, but in this case), and to my surprise there could be orphan puppies.  Yes, we went to a wedding and got a puppy.  Who knew?!

We were leaving the wedding and some cruel person had dumped 4 puppies in a taped closed box on the side of this isolated country road.  Another family that we know was looking at something in a box so we stopped and of course my kids jumped out of the car to look too.  Before I could even assess what was happening, Matt had a puppy, David had a puppy and Corrine had a puppy.  All of them wanting to keep "their" puppy.  (Keep in mind that Corrine just got a puppy!)  So in a moment of parental weakness...by the way, if you have ever seen David and Matt's eyes light up over dogs, then you understand what caused my weakness...I agreed that we could keep one.  (Don't worry, our friends kept one puppy and we made sure the other two would be found good homes.)

So we brought Oreo home and he is about the calmest, huggable, lovable puppy ever.  Oreo made fast friends with our already beloved Pippi and the two are great playmates.  Needless to say I was feeling pretty good about this decision to add Oreo until David put me on the spot about why we couldn't keep all the puppies.  David had observed that Oreo cried the first couple nights and he pointed out that the puppy was missing his mom and siblings.  David told me, "Mom, I'm surprised that you wouldn't keep their family together.  You kept Mark, Luke and Matt together."  With a lump in my throat, I started explaining that it was time for the dogs to live in different places and have their own people families, just like it will someday be time for him to have his own place to live.  (BTW-I THOUGHT my answer was fabulous!...and pride does come before the fall.)  David responded, "But I'll still be in our family and see my brothers and sisters.  Oreo may never see them again and maybe not even remember them."  At this point, I knew I was in dangerous water!  This wasn't about Oreo, this was about David who doesn't remember his family of origin.  So what did I do?  I said, "You're right David.  I should have taken them all.  I just didn't think we could keep up with so many dogs."  David's response was, "I just wish that you would have listened to me that day."  This broke my heart!  So in a final effort to "fix" this situation, I explained, "David, we wouldn't have been able to keep them all because the city has a law that limits the number of dogs that we can have."  David responded, "That is sad because I would have taken good care of them all."  I said, "I know you would have and I'm so pleased that you are so thoughtful as to want to keep Oreo with his family."

Have I mentioned lately that I have the BEST kids!

Cinco de Mayo Baja Grasa (Low Fat)

With Cinco de Mayo this month, I have been experimenting with low fat dishes that are full of flavor to satisfy my love of foods from the southwest.  These are what I've tried so far.



Enchilada Chicken

I put chicken in the crock pot with my homemade enchilada sauce and let it cook on low for about 5 hours.  Then I added a cup of the sauce and red beans to the rice and water in my steamer for a flavorful and easy Spanish rice.  I topped it with black olives and cheese.  This was yummy and easy!




 



For a light lunch, I put some cooked lean taco meat and the leftover Spanish rice (from above recipe) in a raw 1/2 of a green pepper and I topped it with cheese.  It could be baked for stuffed peppers, but the raw crunch is very satisfying.









I LOVE green chili and I LOVE cheese sauce.  This next one will become a frequent dinner at our house.  It has so much flavor.


I seasoned my raw chicken with Ms. Dash Fiesta Lime seasoning and then seared the breast in a pan with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil. When it was well seared, I added lime juice and chopped green chili. Then I covered it with a lid and let it simmer until the chicken was done.



Then I took 3 wedges of low fat Laughing Cow Veggie Cream Cheese spread and added 3 tablespoons of milk and 2 tablespoons of green chili.  Finally, I microwaved it for 1 minutes and stirred it until it was smooth.  Lastly I drizzled some of the cheese sauce over the chicken.  This was definately our family's favorite of my experiments with low fat Cinco de Mayo foods!!!

 

May Snow & Pippi

Today was not the typical May morning.  Our puppy Pippi got to play in snow for the first time.  It was a very quick trip outside to play because Pippi did NOT like the snow.  It is a good thing that its melting fast because Pippi doesn't want to go outside to potty.

Turning 13: Workman Style

We have a tradition in our family to take our children on a retreat over their 13th birthday weekend.  The retreat is a surprise place with a surprise activity list, and it is geared around the likes and preferences of the birthday teen.  Corrine turned 13 last weekend and is our 3rd teenager so she and I (mom) went to Branson for the weekend.

During our retreat, we had a lot of fun together.  We went to see the Haygoods, which is Corrine's favorite Branson show.  I had not seen their show and I was impressed.  It is fair to say that Corrine has good taste in Branson shows.  We also took an outing on the Branson Belle.  (I refuse to call this a cruise!)  Corrine had never been on the Branson Belle and the show was excellent.  Plus Corrine also enjoyed the indoor pool at our hotel, shopping at the outlet mall and eating out.

Our Workman Retreats are more than just fun.  We completed 5 sessions on what we want for and expect from our new teen as she becomes a young adult.  We cover all the "hot topics"...dating, drinking, drugs, peer pressure, fashion, personal safety, mood swings, kissing (and all that stuff), and more.   We also talk about "other parents" and why their decisions are not going to look like our decisions.    In our sessions, we cover a lot so by the end of our weekend our new teen has a lot to think about! 

So far each new teen's retreat has been just as rewarding for me as it has been for them, and I strongly recommend our tradition to other moms.  The retreats can be simple and inexpensive or they can be elaborate and costly, but the outcome is the same so moms don't need to be rich to make a lasting impression.  I use a program called Passport2Purity and build on it to cover topics like personal safety and helping hurting friends (especially those with complex situations).  Until now my kids' friends have had fairly simple and one dimensional problems, but I know very soon my teen's black and white world issues will start looking more gray.  I want to be one of the resources that they use as they officially define their own values, and a retreat weekend helps set us on a path to work together to navigate the teen years.

A key scripture from our weekend was Philippians 2:3-8:

 

³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,

⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
 

Our Fabulous Pharmacist

Nate and I had the pleasure of telling people how great our local pharmacy has been to us.  The TV story did not cover the fact that Nate's medication must be made and requires special skills.  Few pharmacies will make it and the hospital even thought that we would need to have it shipped from the hospital on dry ice.  However, we were able to get it here in town and from a very dependable source.  Tim Mitchell and his employees do a great job for all our family and we recommend them highly.


Click on the picture or link above to go to the news story.

We have several amazing local business here in Neosho and it was nice to see one of them recognized.

Day 106: Winning the Weight Loss Battle

Meals like this are paying off!
Baked Swai and Grilled Asparagus

Today was our weekly weigh in at TOPS again.  I had expected a low loss, but I lost 4 pounds!  This brings me to 53 3/4 pounds lost in 106 days!  Needless to say, right now I'm feeling pretty positive about this dieting lifestyle.  With today's loss, I'm now 26.3% of the way to my target weight.  It is nice to be over the quarter mark since I have so much to loss, which can become depressing to think about.

BTW-I must brag on Corrine and Grace too.  The three of us together have now lost 104 1/2 pounds this year!

The BEST Baked Fish Seasoning

• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika (I like the smoked paprika)    
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt (I do 1/8 teaspoon)
• 2 medium lemons, quartered or 2 tablespoons of juice added to the baking dish

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or longer if the fillet is thick.

Sibling Fun Day!

Today David and Grace went to Carousal Park in Joplin.  It was just the two of them on a special outing, and they both had lots of fun! (A few higlight photos below, but they did it all...go carts, rides, mini-golf, concessions, slides, bouncers, and house of mirrors!)

David doesn't like to go anywhere
that doesn't have food.

A bit fearful of the ferris wheel.

A favorite ride.

Mr. Workman's Birthday!

Today was my hubby's birthday, and our family tradition is to make an extra special dinner for every family member's birthday.  This year Matt chose Homemade Spaghetti with Meatballs for Daddy and Daddy agreed with his choice so my afternoon was spent in the kitchen with my helpers.  (For a meal that I cannot have on my diet.) 






After dinner, the boys helped Daddy open his presents and they were very disappointed that he would not share his Candy House Chocolate Covered Almonds.  However, after big pieces of birthday cake the boys seemed to have forgotten about the candy...we'll see if they really forgot...tomorrow.



Hubby says my mom uses his
favorite gift wrapping.
Note: The trash/gift bag

Since Grace, Corrine and I are all dieting, I made a side dish of a veggie bake and had rice as an option instead of home made pasta.  My homemade pasta sauce and meat balls could be worked into our diet plan and since we all had a good weigh in today no one complained that the veggie bake did not compare to cheesy bread! 



Our "diet" plate. No homemade pasta or lemon pudding cake for us!