Wow! It's been way too long since I wrote! As evidenced by my lack of weight loss, I'm sure! I h aven't gained any back to speak of, but I have been holding right at steady for a little over a month now. I got off track with the eating...not like way off track, but enough to not be losing anymore. I have been staying fairly consistent with the exercise, which is probably what's helping me to hold steady. I really need to just kick it into gear and get started losing on the rest of this! I still have a good 70 pounds to go! Baby steps, I guess...baby steps!
Things have been challenging for me lately in a lot of ways, but I am trusting the Lord for His provision and guidance. Of course it seems I am always facing challenges on the homefront, which is still the case, but I'm doing the best I can to deal with that. Took my husband to the cardiopulmonary specialist today and they are going to get him set up for a sleep study soon, which should help a lot, getting him set up with a sleep apnea CPAP machine thingy...maybe with some air pushing up his brain he will get some energy and wake up some of those neurons in there. Yea, that'd be cool!
My kids are wonderful fun...I am so thankful for them. I love being their mom and my heart swells with love and gratitude with every little giggle and look from all those big, sparkly blue eyes. Mother's Day is this weekend...and I tend to get weepy anytime I think of the joy I have from my 3 precious little ones.
There is really far too much that has happened for me to remember it all, but one thing I did want to share was my latest read:
I don't know if my book picture worked here or not, but if it didn't--I just finished reading Me, Myself, and Bob by Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales. I am a HUGE VeggieTales fan...have been ever since I began watching them with my kids about a year ago or so. They are so well done and so funny any grown-up can enjoy watching them, kids or sans-kids...really! The songs are catchy, the messages are great, and the characters are just...well...plain old cute! Before I started watching the Veggies for myself, I knew there must be some value to them, because the kids in my confirmation class seemed to recall even the most minute of details about pretty much any Bible story we would dive into. "So, how did you remember that?" I would ask, several times over again (especially when I didn't remember some of those details myself!) and the reply, over and over would be "VeggieTales, of course!" Yes, my confirmation kids had lots and lots of Bible knowledge, courtesy of the VeggieTales. That to me, said a lot.
I had heard a little of the rise and fall of Big Idea, the company Phil Vischer founded that was the home for the Veggies, and a while back found his blog. He detailed a lot of information about the history of the Veggies and that sort of thing, and then I saw he was coming out with a book that told the story. While I was at the local Christian bookstore the other day, Bob the tomato happened to catch my eye on the book cover, so I got the book and I could hardly put it down. It grabbed me from the very beginning with just how simply fun and funny Phil Vischer is. He's got a cool sense of humor that I connect with and to read about how he began in animation and his story, and then to see how the Veggies came into being was really, really just fun reading. He is very honest about his own shortcomings and the book doesn't mince any words about the downfall of the company. It really is refreshing to read.
When he gets to the demise of Big Idea, it is really sad in what it meant (the Veggies wouldn't be quite the same from that point on), and also in what it did to so many who poured their heart and soul into the ministry. They lost their jobs and their livelihood and also there was the death of a dream. Even through these dark periods though, the humor is there and the lessons become clear.
Toward the end of the story, Phil Vischer talks about so many of the things he learned in the whole process. The thing that stuck out to me more than anything and what it all boiled down to in the end, was that it is more important to follow the Lord...to seek Him for Him...than it is to follow our dreams, even if they are dreams for Him. The dreams are great and the things we do for His glory are great, make no mistake. But we miss the boat if that distracts us from seeking Him just for the sake of Him. What a lesson there is in that....I know that far too often, I am seeking after "stuff"...good stuff mind you, but it pales in comparison to the "incomparable riches" of simply knowing and dwelling in Him.
I hope and I pray that I will seek Him...simply for Him...today, and each day! It's a lot harder to do than it is to say, because I get so caught up in my little world...but He is so much bigger! I pray my all in all will be found in You alone, Lord!
