Seems like an eternity since I have had any time to really get on the forum and just visit with folks so I thought I would just give an update on how things have been going.
Oldest is still on college, doing fantastic his sophomore year and is majoring in vocal music and is loving life, he plays guitar and piano too. We are really excited for him and have been going to a lot of his concerts and traveling to see his group perform around the state. Good to see our kids succeed and grow up! My youngest is into basketball now and we spend weekdays at practice / games and weekends at games, somewhere my crazy demanding job fits in there somewhere too.
I took on a new personal challenge about 5 weeks ago to get healthy and change my life, lot's of reasons why.. I shared with my friends on FB one of the several reason and I will add it to this post too. I've dropped about 33lbs now and still going, my eating habits have COMPLETELY changed, what I eat, when I eat and how much I eat are all different and guess what I LOVE IT. Personal accountability, you guys have heard me say it here over and over and over, your watching me take that to my own life as far as my weight is concerned.. All in all things are well with me, I haven't had a lot of time to do anything but work, work, work and then go to the same busy life things everyone else with kids has.
We played the last BB game this weekend and I'm hoping to get more to on the site to help new folks, answer questions and just try to be available. Hope things are well with you all too.
CAp
The Ring
Any one that knows me has probably figured out pretty quick that my best qualities are an inner desire to serve, tenacity, stubbornness, and a need to make things better. Patience has never been my strong point, I have struggled with patience in every aspect of my life. I've had issues with patience in my personal life, my work life and even in my spiritual life but over the years I have had no choice but to deal with it and I'm getting better. I recently posted that I would start revealing more about my journey and struggles with my weight loss, believe it or not wisdom and truth I think are being revealed to me and in hopes of helping someone else I shed this information to my friends and family…
It all starts about 21 years ago when I made one of the biggest mistakes ever, not knowing what I was personally going to lose I took my wedding ring off with the permission of my wife with justification of being a new police officer. You see I didn't want anyone to know I was married and to track my work life back home to my family. I look back now and see that while I had the best intentions for my family’s safety I lost an opportunity to show the world that I was forever connected to my wife. I can't tell you how many years now I have wanted to get that ring back on my finger but there was just no way that it was going to fit. It was all my fault, no exercise, no control, no limits, easy office jobs and the weight just piled on. We can all relate can't we, the easy life of an American that we just take for granted day after day. Eating what we want when we want. Eating out and super sizing it just because we can with no regard for the consequences that was me.
Here is what I found out… losing weight is just like getting in debt with a credit card. Man it's fun for a little while but at some point you have to pay regardless if it's money or food, if you don't pay then fees start to add up and that includes the penalties, sluggishness, lethargy, depression, more eating. Debt to debt, slavery to debt slavery to weight. You can't get out from it can you. I was there, I'm still there but I see the end, I found my hope, I have the desire, the win, my food card has been cut up.
Over the years Kristie and I tried to get my wedding ring on several times, we would run across it looking for something in her jewelry box or I would ask about to see it, there was just a constant painful reminder that I was overweight and while I would go up and down a few pounds realistically I was so far away from putting that ring on my finger the only way I was going to get there was a real lifestyle change. Frustrated, defeated and overwhelmed before I even tried I put the ring back in the box and handed it back to her countless times, no way I can ever make that kind of change.
This past 5 weeks have been fantastic for me, this short story is my first real milestone released to you, you see for the past 2 weeks every morning my wedding ring has sat on my vanity next to my sink in the bathroom, every morning I looked at it as a reminder. I don't think I have ever wanted something so badly, just to put my ring back on. I don't want to make this all about the weight loss, there is a huge psychological win here for me, a relational win for me and my wife. That ring has been in a box dark in a closet for 21 years, my boys have never seen their father with that ring on his finger which represents a never ending love for a woman, a commitment made almost 25 years ago.
I tried to put it on a few times last week and while I was able to force it on the real goal was to wear it not force it, back to my patience problem. Last week I put the ring up and told myself not to touch it until I knew I was ready. I walked in this morning and knew, I put my ring on comfortably, thanked God for the wisdom, guidance and he has provided me along with unmeasurable thankfulness. I share this with my friends and family because I want you to be a part of our lives, I want you to know us better, now when you see my ring on my hand you will know there is more than just a wedding ring, it's a ring of love & hope a ring of change…
Today when Kristie gets home she will see that ring on my hand she will never see it off again. When Tristan comes home from school he will see his dad with the ring on and it will be more than just a ring dad got when mom and dad were married, this is going to be the day that dad made a change and the reminder it all started that day. When Evan comes home from college he will know to never make the same mistakes, I love my family, and today it begins.
Oldest is still on college, doing fantastic his sophomore year and is majoring in vocal music and is loving life, he plays guitar and piano too. We are really excited for him and have been going to a lot of his concerts and traveling to see his group perform around the state. Good to see our kids succeed and grow up! My youngest is into basketball now and we spend weekdays at practice / games and weekends at games, somewhere my crazy demanding job fits in there somewhere too.
I took on a new personal challenge about 5 weeks ago to get healthy and change my life, lot's of reasons why.. I shared with my friends on FB one of the several reason and I will add it to this post too. I've dropped about 33lbs now and still going, my eating habits have COMPLETELY changed, what I eat, when I eat and how much I eat are all different and guess what I LOVE IT. Personal accountability, you guys have heard me say it here over and over and over, your watching me take that to my own life as far as my weight is concerned.. All in all things are well with me, I haven't had a lot of time to do anything but work, work, work and then go to the same busy life things everyone else with kids has.
We played the last BB game this weekend and I'm hoping to get more to on the site to help new folks, answer questions and just try to be available. Hope things are well with you all too.
CAp
The Ring
Any one that knows me has probably figured out pretty quick that my best qualities are an inner desire to serve, tenacity, stubbornness, and a need to make things better. Patience has never been my strong point, I have struggled with patience in every aspect of my life. I've had issues with patience in my personal life, my work life and even in my spiritual life but over the years I have had no choice but to deal with it and I'm getting better. I recently posted that I would start revealing more about my journey and struggles with my weight loss, believe it or not wisdom and truth I think are being revealed to me and in hopes of helping someone else I shed this information to my friends and family…
It all starts about 21 years ago when I made one of the biggest mistakes ever, not knowing what I was personally going to lose I took my wedding ring off with the permission of my wife with justification of being a new police officer. You see I didn't want anyone to know I was married and to track my work life back home to my family. I look back now and see that while I had the best intentions for my family’s safety I lost an opportunity to show the world that I was forever connected to my wife. I can't tell you how many years now I have wanted to get that ring back on my finger but there was just no way that it was going to fit. It was all my fault, no exercise, no control, no limits, easy office jobs and the weight just piled on. We can all relate can't we, the easy life of an American that we just take for granted day after day. Eating what we want when we want. Eating out and super sizing it just because we can with no regard for the consequences that was me.
Here is what I found out… losing weight is just like getting in debt with a credit card. Man it's fun for a little while but at some point you have to pay regardless if it's money or food, if you don't pay then fees start to add up and that includes the penalties, sluggishness, lethargy, depression, more eating. Debt to debt, slavery to debt slavery to weight. You can't get out from it can you. I was there, I'm still there but I see the end, I found my hope, I have the desire, the win, my food card has been cut up.
Over the years Kristie and I tried to get my wedding ring on several times, we would run across it looking for something in her jewelry box or I would ask about to see it, there was just a constant painful reminder that I was overweight and while I would go up and down a few pounds realistically I was so far away from putting that ring on my finger the only way I was going to get there was a real lifestyle change. Frustrated, defeated and overwhelmed before I even tried I put the ring back in the box and handed it back to her countless times, no way I can ever make that kind of change.
This past 5 weeks have been fantastic for me, this short story is my first real milestone released to you, you see for the past 2 weeks every morning my wedding ring has sat on my vanity next to my sink in the bathroom, every morning I looked at it as a reminder. I don't think I have ever wanted something so badly, just to put my ring back on. I don't want to make this all about the weight loss, there is a huge psychological win here for me, a relational win for me and my wife. That ring has been in a box dark in a closet for 21 years, my boys have never seen their father with that ring on his finger which represents a never ending love for a woman, a commitment made almost 25 years ago.
I tried to put it on a few times last week and while I was able to force it on the real goal was to wear it not force it, back to my patience problem. Last week I put the ring up and told myself not to touch it until I knew I was ready. I walked in this morning and knew, I put my ring on comfortably, thanked God for the wisdom, guidance and he has provided me along with unmeasurable thankfulness. I share this with my friends and family because I want you to be a part of our lives, I want you to know us better, now when you see my ring on my hand you will know there is more than just a wedding ring, it's a ring of love & hope a ring of change…
Today when Kristie gets home she will see that ring on my hand she will never see it off again. When Tristan comes home from school he will see his dad with the ring on and it will be more than just a ring dad got when mom and dad were married, this is going to be the day that dad made a change and the reminder it all started that day. When Evan comes home from college he will know to never make the same mistakes, I love my family, and today it begins.