Our Christmas In Pictures

David with his new guitar shirt, wallet & candy!

Taylor with her "Learn to draw" book

Hannah with her Bratz doll

Taylor with her Pixos

Hannah and her new pink guitar

Our Christmas tree on Christmas morning

David with his new wheel for his playstation(which means he will be spending even more time on it, LOL)

A nativity set from my Momma

David and my brother in law Quincy(Crazy men, LOL)

My sister Sacha, brother TJ and Me

My sister Sacha, my momma, my brother TJ and Me

My sister, my Momma and Me

A British tradition-Crackers which have a prize and a paper crown-we're sportin em! LOL

Me and my sweet nephew Will

Thankful

I am thankful for~

1) That I made it through my third surgery this year and God had his hands on me all three times:)

2) My husband David who takes extra special care of me after surgery....he's a sweetie pie:)

3) My friends who helped me out with getting the girls to and from school, called to check on me, sent me well wishes, brought us food, and prayed for me..I LOVE YOU ALL!

4) My momma who loves me so much and went out of her way to help us out of a certain situation that lifted a huge burden off my shoulders-she teaches me how to have a giving heart every day!

5)Christmas specials on tv...make for great family time together:)

6) Yankee Candle's Christmas Cookies plug ins-AHHHHH!!!

7) This is the last week of school before Christmas vacation and that means a break from driving..YAY!

8) God's unwavering provision in my life..I love my sweet Jesus!

9) Lifesong church..can't say enough about the people there and the work that Jesus is doing through them:)

10) $3 prescriptions-ROCK!

11) The nurses at Hillcrest Hospital-it's probably my favorite hospital in the upstate

12)Lortabs are wonderful when recovering from surgery-just sayin!

The Power Within

All my life I have been the "fat" kid in my family and always the subject of ridicule. It left me with virtually no self esteem and scars to last a lifetime. It also instilled in me an "I can't" attitude and I used that excuse for almost every aspect of my life. After thirty two years, I think I have finally come to that point in my life where I truly know who I am and what I am capable of in life. It's obvious that my surgery/weight loss has inspired this change, but no matter the reason, I welcome it with open arms because it is long overdue!

298 pounds was what I weighed nine months ago and I was nothing but a miserable shell of a person. I had sunk to a point of no return and I needed a life line to pull me out of the darkness or I would never make it out alive. My life line isn't and won't be for everyone because my life line is a drastic measure and has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, but my life line was blessed by God and it has saved my life! My results are not typical. Some people who have gastric bypass surgery do not do as well as I have thus far and I often wonder why out of all the people to have this surgery, was I one of the blessed ones to do such amazing things and reach such remarkable goals, but I have and I am SO THANKFUL for that because it has brought me back to life and opened up a part of me that I never knew existed! In nine months, I've lost a total of 126 pounds and still going! I have gone from a size 28 pants to a size 12! I have 11 pounds to go to get to my goal of a normal weight of 160 for my height! If you would have asked me nine months ago if any of this was possible I would of said without a doubt-"I can't do this!" But now, nine months later, and many goals later, I'm about to embark on my next goal-A 5k race and then sometime next year, a half marathon! I would NEVER have imagined myself even wanting to try this, but now that I have found myself again, I've also awakened the power within me and I say "YES I CAN!" Any goal I want to achieve I now believe is only an arm's length away, all I ever have to do is just REACH OUT AND GRAB IT!

THANK YOU JESUS FOR OPENING UP MY EYES AND RESTORING THE POWER WITHIN ME TO BE ALL I CAN BE AND LEARNING TO NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN!!

Grateful

I have so much in my life to be grateful for. Here are just a few:)

~I am so grateful for a savior that loves me unconditionally despite all my flaws!

~I am so grateful for my sweet little family who make this life worth living.

~I am so grateful for my momma who loves with all her heart and has taught me to do the same.

~I am so grateful for the time we spent with our family during Thanksgiving last week.

~I am so grateful for God's provisions.

~I am so grateful for our heat in our home!

~I am so grateful for my friends..I love each one of them in their own special way:)

~I am so grateful to be able to celebrate the birth of our precious savior this month!

~I am so grateful for my health/weight loss...I have never weighed less than my husband and now I do!!

This Week's Rundown

It's finally here, Thanksgiving week and I do love Thanksgiving! Family time, good food(which I can no longer eat a lot of, but rest assured I can still eat some good stuff, lol), shopping on Black Friday, and most of all remembering all the things in your life that you are most thankful for.

On Monday I went to the girl's school for Taylor's parent breakfast and spent some time with her. I love going to their school and seeing their sweet little faces when mommy arrives..priceless!

Yesterday our church Lifesong was giving away free Thanksgiving dinners to needy families in our community and while I ran some errands I felt God tugging at my heart strings to purchase a turkey since they needed more, so I did and brought it by the church where people were lined up and I helped with the distributing process which was a blessing. To be able to give back to your community is awesome and God did amazing things yesterday! The church had planned to give out 100 meals and God provided 300!

Today, I am meeting a friend that I haven't seen in a few years and I'm so excited to see her and catch up! We will probably go get our Christmas tree today too..YAY!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we'll be going to Easley to spend the day with David's family. David wasn't here last Thanksgiving, so I'm so blessed he'll be with us this holiday season! We'll also be taking Thanksgiving dinner to David's dad who lives alone and would not get Thanksgiving dinner otherwise.

Friday, my brave friend Nicole and I are going Black Friday shopping at 2am in the morning, LOL! Some people think we're crazy, but I like crazy and I'm always up for a little girl time which goes hand in hand with shopping! So, YAY for FRIDAY!!

The rest of the weekend entails relaxation, something we'll all need by the time this week is over! I hope all my friends and family have a WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING and that we all take the time to praise God for all the blessings he has bestowed upon our lives, not just this week, but EVERY DAY~there is always something to be thankful for!

Family Time Saturday

Today I got to spend some time with my family and especially my sisters...we went to Heritage Park and had a picnic then went to see "New Moon". Here are some pics of our day:)

Thought Closet Makeover To Be Continued......

For the past six weeks I've been doing a bible study called "Me, Myself & Lies" a thought closet makeover and oh, what a makeover my thought closet has needed!

I have learned so much about myself through this study and most of the things I learned were things I didn't want to learn, but they needed to be learned and God knew it all along, that's exactly why he brought me to it in the first place!

I made some new friends that I pray I'll keep a close relationship with and be able to be open and honest with because I know God placed them in my life for a reason!

I learned that my thought closet is filled with lies and is filled with ME when it needs to be all about HIM! I learned that I am a control FREAK that needs to be put on a leash at times so that others don't fall prey to the monster within me! I learned that I assume too much which in turn, only brings me misery. I learned that my actions reflect everything that I am and may speak more to others than they should! I learned that despite all the lies, rubbish, and negative talk that I speak to myself, God loves me anyway! I learned that I need to speak truth to my soul in order to answer God's calling for me as a christian woman!

My thought closet makeover will always need to be "To be continued" because it's a daily makeover that requires constant attention to detail and now I have all the tools I need to revamp my entire wardrobe!

Family Pics

This year was the first time in seven years that we've had our family pictures taken and they came out amazing! I'm so thankful to my mom, Maria for doing them and for the first time in a long time I felt beautiful in every single picture:)

Precious Family Time

Today we had some precious family time and it was one of the best days of my life!

This morning we went to Walmart in Greer and dropped off our "Blanket Bundles"...what an awesome feeling to be able to give to someone in need and also teach my girls a valuable lesson in the process! We will do this again next year for sure! We even got to meet Kristin Roberts from HIS Radio and take a pic with her:)

We came home for lunch and then went to Greer City Park to snap some pictures. They have done an amazing job downtown and it was a gorgeous place to take pictures. After that, we took the girls to Kids Planet in Greer so they could play awhile and then it was off to Dairy Queen for some ice-cream..YUM!

On the way home we decided to stop by the "Campbell Covered Bridge" and it was gorgeous there as well. Another great photo op! I am lovin my new Canon XS Rebel camera, it is amazing! The weather was so beautiful today and I am just so thankful to God for such a beautiful day spent with my family who I treasure so much!!

Our Day In Pictures