My Beloved

I've been "tagged" for the first time. So here goes...

1. What's his name?

Gary James Monteith Jr., but he goes by Jim.

2. How long have you guys been married?

We will celebrate our 15th anniversary this New Year's Day. We start each year off right. And, neither of us can ever forget our anniversary! :)

3. How long did you date?

Ok, here's the good part...He helped some old friends of his move. As payback he told them they could introduce him to a good Christian girl. His old friends had gone to church with my folks for years. The wife of the couple said I was the first person she thought of. She called to ask if it was ok to give him my number. I said it was fine...I'm thinking "free meal"! We talked on the phone every night for a week. I mean four or five. hours. a. night! We finally had our first date. Two. I repeat TWO weeks later he was slipping that beautiful ring on my finger and asking me to spend the rest of my life with him.

4. How old is he?

Quickly approaching 45...like in about 25 days!

5. Who is taller?

He wins this one hands down. He is 6'7", and I'm only 5'7".

6. Who can sing the best?

Again, him hands down. I have to really try hard to make it sound good, but the beautiful notes and harmonies just flow out of his mouth.

7. Who is smarter?

Him again. I had to quit helping Jake with his math homework when he was in about 4th grade. Now, I got great grades in school...I just swear they've changed the math! Jim will tell you that I've got him beat, though, especially in the arena of the kitchen or household things.

8. Who does the laundry?

Finally one I win! :) Jim absolutely CAN and will do it, but I have this slight control thing. Need I say more?

9. Who pays the bills?

I do. Even when Jim quit full time work to go back to college full time, I've always paid the bills. I guess I look at it as one less thing he needs to stress over.

10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?

If you're looking at the bed, I always sleep on the right. It used to be the other way around, until I was BIG pregnant with Jake. Not really sure anymore what caused the switch...possibly for me to be closer to the bathroom, or so I could sleep a specific way. Jake's now 12 1/2 and we've never gone back to the other way.

11. Who mows the lawn?

Now it's usually Jake with some help from Jim. Before Jake was able, it was always Jim.

12. Who cooks dinner?

I do. However, Jim's the "grill master". Let's just say that I cook inside and he cooks outside. :) Except for the mornings he makes us awesome omelets!

13. Who is the first to admit they're wrong?

Hmm...I guess I'd say we're even on that. We don't argue much.

14. Who kissed who first?

This one was mutual! :)

15. Who wears the pants?

Jim. I am soooo thankful to be married to a man who is not afraid to step up and be the spiritual leader of our home. He is an awesome man of God, and I pray Jake absorbs every little piece of that...I know we're doing all we can to make sure that happens.

So there you have it...all about my beloved. Consider yourself tagged!

M.I.A.

Ok. To say that I haven't posted in a while would totally be an understatement. My reason for this absence? Life. And a little bit of a lack of creativity. In short - I guess I just didn't want to take the time to figure out what to write. My apologies to my great throng of readers...all two of you. :)

So today while I've been sitting at home with the rain outside I have surfed the net and drooled over lots of really neat blogs. After doing this for a while, I've decided that I'm going to attempt to change the format of my blog a bit. My plan is to roll out some specific topics for certain days of the week. I'll begin Mondays with :

Menu Plan Monday

I'll also try: What's Cookin' Wednesday (will hopefully include a photo of a great dish along with the recipe); Thankful Thursday (my thankful thoughts for the week); and Free Tip Friday (some great tip I've learned in life - could be domestic, relational, spiritual, etc.).

My hope is that knowing where I'm supposed to go on certain days will keep me motivated to make the post. I'm not going to guarantee anything here, folks, but will promise to do my best. I am excited to try the new format and will probably change my background and photo also at some point.

And we're off...

You're never too old to learn.

I'm here. I'm really here. I was just doing....life.

Today was Diabetic Education Session #1. It went MUCH better than Jim or I either imagined. This last week wasn't that much fun for Jim. I actually made him eat fish for dinner one night and made him taste a fresh peach. (For those of you who don't know - he doesn't like fish, and the only fruit he eats is apples and bananas.) You should have seen the look on his face today when the diabetic educator told me I didn't have to make him eat fish OR fruit. It was like a weight was lifted off of him, and he realized this new way of eating wasn't going to be horrible after all.

The session today focused on getting the patients to realize what carbs do and where they come from. By the time we left the session, we had a meal plan outlining how many servings of carbs he gets at each meal and snack and also how many calories he gets per day. In two weeks we go back (actually Jim will...I'll be at the Joyce Meyer conference) they will teach about fats.

The two ladies who worked with us today were great. Jim and I both expected an old lady with a ruler she would use to smack our nuckles, but we got just the opposite. What a pleasant surprise! They were real and personable and interested in us and our life. What an encouragement for Jim! We learned that no food is off limits really...you just have to plan your meals...if you want that one scoop of ice cream for dessert or a piece of cake, then you must make sure you have an allotment of carbs left in your daily plan. These dishes of ice cream and pieces of cake can't be the norm, but an occasional treat.

My plan is that by Monday I'll have a meal list made up to get us through the next two weeks. Then I can just repeat the meals for the next two weeks, or make adjustments if needed after his next education session.

I've said it before, and believe it even more now...this diagnosis of diabetes is not a good thing, but I think that we can make a good thing from it. We're making these changes as a family, and Jim will have our support. We should both begin to lose weight, especially when we get more activity into our schedule. Up until now we've been really good about talking about making a change, now we HAVE to. I want Jim with me for MANY more years, and he wants to be with us for many more also. These are steps we must take for that to happen.

Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray for us. If you have any great low-fat recipes, please send them to me. Any questions or suggestions...send them too.

Until next time...

Change is coming

Change has been officially announced in our household as of today. My husband has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Thankfully his numbers are still relatively low, but they're still high enough to qualify for the diagnosis.

I went to the bookstore today and purchased two different cookbooks and a book solely about type 2. Since I'm the chef of the house, I'm going to have to learn a different way of choosing and cooking foods. The doctor did not set him up with a diabetic educator yet, so I'll be investigating that. I know one of the hospitals we have access to has an educator, so it's just a matter of coordinating the details with the doctor's office.

To be honest, I'm concerned. I won't say that I'm afraid because I know I can change. But...it's changing the way I was raised to cook. Maybe we'll get into all of this and I'll find out it won't be that big of a change...maybe just switching out a few ingredients. Truthfully, we don't fry our food. Most things are baked and not breaded. I'm thinking a lot more chicken and turkey and a lot less beef.

I know it will be a slow process to learn all of the ins and outs. Please pray for us. Pray that the learning process will be smooth and that Jim will make right choices in what and how much he eats. We will all three eat what he eats, so that will help. If I have to, I'll clear every food item out of our house and only restock what's allowed. Diabetes is not a good thing, but this will be a good change for our family. We CAN do this!

Success!

The first day of 7th grade was a success! Yeah! As excited as Jake was, I knew it would be. He really is such a good student. His least favorite subject?...social studies. Well, God was lookin' out for him. When Jake was telling me about his day he said that his social studies teacher was SO cool. Jake thinks he's great! Maybe social studies will move up the ranks from least favorite class this year.

I did really well this morning, too. No tears! Our morning went very smoothly with no glitches whatsoever. I couldn't have asked for a better morning. Thank you God! :)

In case you haven't checked out the list of blogs I read, there's one by Sarah Markley that you really should check out. She's the sweetest woman from California. I absolutely love her writing style. She recently made a "confession" about her weight and needing to lose some of it. Her confession was done for accountability purposes. Those of you reading this who know me personally know that I have struggled with my weight for MANY years. Well, I'm here to join Sarah in her quest for weight reduction. This has been a matter of prayer for me for quite some time. I've made numerous attempts before to drop the pounds, but I don't think my heart was completely in it. Now, I've turned it all over to God and given Him complete control. So, I'm in it for the accountability also. PLEASE ask me about my progress - I will not be offended - I WANT you to do this. Keep me on my toes!

Unlike Sarah, I will not be sharing my current weight with you (sorry, just not gonna do it!). Let's just say I have a ways to go. :) Portion control is my main issue, followed closely by exercise. Last week was a successful week for portion control. I added exercise into the equation today. I'm on my way!!!

God > anxiety

This is our weekend before school begins. We have the obligatory before-school-starts haircut scheduled for today. School supplies are ready to be loaded into the backpack. Camera is ready for that ever-dreaded first day of school picture. We're all set, right? Well....

I'm already missing my Jacob. This is the first summer EVER since he's been in school that I've worked part time. We've been together pretty much every Monday and Friday of the last three months. Ya'll pray for me Monday. I have this feeling in the pit of my stomach that it's gonna be as bad as that first day of kindergarten...the brave face at school, but tears all the way home (me, not Jake!). My child is growing up - 7th grade already. Only six more first days of school. More and more I hurt as much as I love that he's growing up. I am so proud of the young man he's becoming - that's the love part. I am also realizing that the years are going by so much more quickly and that before I know it he'll be picking a college or branch of the military to go into - that's the hurt part.

God has shown me that since my mom died I have grown increasingly afraid of losing Jim or Jake. I know that He will take care of them, but I still have moments of gripping fear. Just like with Mom, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that, should something happen, they'll be with the Lord - but they will be gone from me. I know it's a selfish thought, because being with Him is our ultimate place to be. So, what do I do? I cling to Him, trust Him, believe Him. Psalm 94:19 tells us "In the multitude of my anxious thoughts within me, Your comforts cheer and delight my soul!" That's the verse I'm claiming when anxiety and fear try to grasp hold of me. Satan knows my weak spots - however, I have God's Word as my ammunition against him. As a child of God, anxiety has no place in our lives. Even though it may show up sometimes, God is stronger than it...never forget.

***All about love***

Well, to be truthful, I've had to work up the energy to write this post. I am by no means a fancy-schmancy writer, but I believe I am having writer's block. My mind can't settle on a topic.



Since my last post I've enjoyed my cousin's beautiful wedding, school shopping with Jake, and reuniting with my best friend from grade school through high school and beyond. Guess I'll just post my thoughts on each instance...



Megan's wedding: As I said, absolutely beautiful...and sweet. You could just look at the bride and groom and see the love they have for each other and how excited they were to finally join their lives into one.

School shopping with Jake: The list this year for 7th grade had a few questionable items on it, but we purchased everything anyway. Why do they really need a 3" binder - have you seen how WIDE those things are??? In the middle of walking through the selection of supplies we saw the scissors. Jake asked if he needed to get any of them, and I said no. He was SO pleased. The first year EVER he did not need to get scissors for school. Yippee! BUT, wait, that's another confirmation that my baby is growing up. Not yippee! I truly miss my grade schooler; however, I couldn't be more proud of my 7th grader. He really growing into a nice young man. Tonight was the "official end" of our school prep work. We got him registered for school, got his schedule, found his locker, and had the school pic taken. THEN, we were off to Red Lobster for the "mommy/Jake dinner while dad's out of town". A pound and a half of snow crab legs, a bowl of clam chowder, seafood stuffed flounder, grilled shrimp, crab topped linguini, and a basket of cheddar biscuits later, we're home and ready for a nap! But, there's leftovers in the fridge, and a fun time was had by all!


Reuniting with old friend: This took courage on both our parts. We've been friends since grade school - best friends. Some time after high school we had a "falling out". Can't really tell you why now. Then we mended things. About 5 or so years ago...another separation. Again...can't really tell you the cause of it. Two weeks ago, thanks to Classmates.com (not an advertisement), we again found each other.


I think the last 5 years have been the hardest of our lives. Not because we were not together as friends, but because of junk in our lives. I faced the loss of my mother, loss of grandfather, new wife for dad and strained relationship with them. She faced the end of a marriage, the loss of her home and church family, and people in the church turning on her. We're both at a much different place now in life and have both matured. (heck, we're almost 40!!) :) We had the courage to send each other messages, which led to emails, which led to an overnight visit during which we talked for about 12 hours (no tv, no nothing!). It was a fantastic visit. We live almost 2 hours apart now, so we'll be dealing with a "long distance relationship", and with school getting ready to start we'll both be busy with our childs' activities. But you know, just KNOWING the other person is there again means a lot.


...beginning a new life together, letting go a little more, new meaning to an old friendship - guess this post got a little deeper then originally thought, huh...and really - it's all about love!