Measure Me Monday

This week I lost 3.0 pounds which makes the total 10.8 so far. I am now 1/4 of the way to my goal! :o)

On Thursday (or Friday) I went to JC Penney to find something "summery" for me to wear as far as shorts or capris. It always upsets me to buy a certain size, but I picked out one size smaller than I was wearing before, just to see if it would fit. And guess what...it did! So not only have I lost 10.8, I am down one size. Yay!

This is only getting slightly easier. I do not feel compelled to turn into Sonic or McDonald's anymore, but I do think about getting McD's breakfast from time to time. I did have it (McD's breakfast) once this week, and I wish I could say something like, "It's just not as good as it was when I was eating it more often." But it was so yummy to me! ;o)

And I am really starting to realize how much I love walking at nighttime. When the kids are all asleep, I head out on my own, and I just love it!

Thanks for your encouragement throughout my journey!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

What an absolutely GORGEOUS day to be outside. This morning I left at 10:00 to meet my mom, dad, and sister to head to the St. Louis Cardinals game. I was a bit leery earlier in the week about going since I am a big baby when it comes to being in the heat. But wow, it was so pretty, only a Cardinals victory could have made the day better - that or if they scored 6! ;o)

I jokingly said to them how fun it was to be with my "original" family. Just the four of us. I can't remember the last time we did something together like that. It was fun to talk and laugh and remember how the car rides to St. Louis used to be.

Now don't get me wrong...I wouldn't trade my "new" family for anything! But on days like this, it was just a nice treat to hang out with the ones who are so dear to me. The ones who I spent the first 21 years of my life with.

It was a great day.

And thank you, Josh, for your willingness to take care of all three kids on your own. You have no idea how much it means to me when you let me recharge like that. You are the best.

My Evening Walk

Thank you, Josh, for setting up your iPod for me to use tonight during my walk. You tried to pick out the songs you knew I would like, and you even showed me how you wear it when you use it. This was all quite helpful and so sweet of you considering I am not an iPod kind of girl!

But as I set out to begin my walk, I just couldn't use it.

I looked up ahead, and I saw a few lightening bugs. The sun had already set, but there was still enough light for me to see quite clearly. In the still of the evening, I just couldn't help but enjoy being on my own and absorbing all of the little details. As I looked up at the sky, I could see the crescent moon, and I thought the sky looked so beautiful. As I passed each house, I could see that the lights where on, and I wondered what each family was doing. I found myself praying for each family on my second time around the neighborhood, and I also thanked God for such a nice area in which to live.

I kept a fast pace, but my mind was slowly taking it all in. I can't remember the last time I went for a walk on my own. I enjoyed seeing a rabbit quickly cross my path. I loved hearing the crickets, because I miss that familiar sound of summer when it's gone. The warmth of the night brought to mind the days of my youth when I would play a late-night softball game.

It was just a really nice walk.

So, I'm sorry, Josh, that I didn't use your iPod. I thought it would make my walk more enjoyable.

But the joy came quite naturally.

Measure Me Monday

Thank you for all of your title ideas! They were all so cute. Each time I'd read one, I'd think to myself, "Why didn't I come up with that?!" Mindy's was my favorite, so I'll be using hers! :o)

This week I've lost 2.6 pounds. It wasn't as big of a loss as last week, and actually, I was just shooting for 3. But I had one day of weakness on Thursday, and a weekend full of family gatherings (and eating) so overall, this week turned out pretty good. I hope next week I can tell you I've lost 3!

To My Dad

You were my first love, always there for me
You taught me how to walk and how to dream
God gave me your eyes
But it was you who taught me how to see
Now I can stand on my own
But I know that you'll never let go

I'll always be your baby
No matter how the years fly by
The way you love me made me
Who I am in this world
I'm a woman now, not a little girl
Wherever this life takes me
I'll always be your baby

You are my hero and that will never change
You still can dry my tears with just a smile
The one I've leaned on
From my first steps to walking down the aisle
Now there's another man in my life
But I know by the look in your eyes

I'll always be your baby
No matter how the years fly by
The way you love me made me
Who I am in this world
I'm a woman now, not a little girl
Wherever this life takes me
I'll always be your baby

Your faith, your love
And all that you believe
Have come to be the strongest part of me
And I will always be your baby

Always Be Your Baby by Natalie Grant

(This would make a nice song for father's day, but I'm pretty sure there's no way I could make it through.)

Listen to the song by clicking here.

A Few Brief Road Trips and Events

I mentioned that I would write about some of the things I did last week, and who am I to let anyone down, so here goes! :o)

Last Thursday, I traveled with my sister and dad to Springfield to look at houses for my now-grown-up sister. It's still weird to me that she is an adult (thought, technically, I guess she's been an adult since 21). In May, she graduated from MSU, and this fall she will be teaching business at Williard High School. We had a great day, and I was able to leave Caleb, Sarah, and Gabriel at home with Josh. Those of you familiar with nursing know that being away for 9 hours is unheard of...I did take a manual pump with me just in case I started to feel...umm...like I needed to pump! But I was able to make it the entire day. It was a really nice mini-vacation so to speak. I love my children very much and always miss them. But sometimes mommies need to recharge!

** This just in: the seller accepted my sister's offer on the house she really wanted!

Then on Friday, Josh, the kids, and I went up to the St. Louis Zoo. I just love that place, and the kids always have a great time! My favorite is riding the train, and the Sea Lion show is fun, too.





























Saturday I woke up at 4:00 am to get ready for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in St. Louis. My mom and sister spent the night at my house the night before, and we all loaded up in the car an headed out by 5:15 am. Gabriel went with us!

We met my Aunt Cathy just in time to watch her participate in the Survivor Processional. This is always an emotional experience, but I had many more tears this year as I watched her walk by. I hope to participate every year since it's a cause near and dear to my heart. My grandma also is a breast cancer survivor.











































So there's the scoop. It was a busy but fun few days!

Our Morning Visitor

Josh was out earlier this morning mowing the yard in hopes of beating the heat (even though it was 85 degrees by 7:00 am, I guess it was better than waiting until 4:00)! Our neighborhood runner (as I call him) was out making his morning rounds, and he must have picked up a box turtle on the road as he jogged by our house. He gave it to Josh, probably because he knows we have kids who would be thrilled to see it.

And they were.

Josh brought the little guy inside, and I grabbed a towel so we could place him on the floor. I found this to be a great way to keep the kids still and quiet (I need a box turtle at my disposal at any given moment). "Shh...we have to be quiet and we have to walk softly so that the turtle will know he's safe and he'll come out of his shell!" I said to them with sincerity.

So they waited.















They would giggle from time to time, but really, this was the most patient, quiet, and still I've seen my kids for that length of time. The turtle would slowly poke his little head out of his shell, and then go back inside. He did this several times, and the kids thought it was so cool. They wondered when he would finally come out for good.

Then he finally did.
















We let the turtle crawl around in the small area by the front door for a while, and then we explained to Caleb and Sarah that he needed to go back home, and we should take him back outside. Without disagreement, they gladly took him out to our front yard.















While we were outside, Caleb decided to draw a picture of our visitor.




















We enjoyed our morning with a visit from the turtle. I'm hoping he'll come back when I need the kids to be quiet again.

Singing in the Rain

Next time I buy a house, I will wait until the hardest rain to drive by and see what the yard looks like. But then again, what fun would that be for the kids if we didn't have an occasional lake for them to play in? :o)

The Competition - Week 2 Weigh In

Our first weigh-in last Monday gave us our starting numbers. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed with how much I'd like to lose, but I know I didn't become 40 pounds overweight in one day, so obviously I need to take this one day at a time and try to retrain myself about food choices. I'm hoping my addictions will cease to enter my mind, and while I've been doing so good, those thoughts of soda and McDonald's have not left me. I'm not saying I'll go the rest of my life without any junk, soda, or a trip through McD's, but right now I'm trying to get away from it in hopes that my body will quit wanting it. Will it ever?

So I hopped on my handy dandy Weight Watchers scale this morning for the official number. I have lost 5.2 pounds! I contribute my success to cutting out soda and McDonald's completely, drinking lots of water, working out on my elliptical and walking around the block, and making better food choices. On several occasions, I chose fruit over cake/brownie/cookie which is amazing for me. Really, it is! I'm trying to eat veggies, but the only one I like is broccoli, so I'm seeing lots of it. :o) I love Special K, and it has become my best friend.

There's my update on my weight loss journey. I will be posting my progress every Monday.

And by the way...I really love alliteration, so someone needs to help me find a title for each of my Monday posts in regard to this! M_____ Mondays - what could it be?

To You

Dear Loyal Readers,

I'm sorry I've neglected you. I promise to compose an entry with lots of details about the last few days (which have been so busy). Such an entry will include:

• Trip to Springfield with my dad and sis KID FREE to look at homes for her.
• Trip to the STL Zoo with Josh and the kids.
• The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

So stay tuned.

Love, Chrissy

The Potty Report

We have now completed one full week of successful potty training! Hooray!

The first day we started was followed by three full days of non-stop accidents, and absolutely no successes. I was very frustrated and almost gave up, but a friend encouraged me to keep going (even after Sarah peed on her floor), and I also felt encouraged after reading one of the blogs I check in on from time to time. I thought, "Surely after all these accidents she will put together that wet undies = potty = need to go sit on the toilet!"

And she did.

It was like a new kid on Wednesday. The light switch was turned on, and she had an accident-free day. I was so excited. Really.

Of all the things in my life that I might list as making me feel accomplished or successful...NONE of them make me feel more successful than potty training my children. Sound silly? Perhaps. But that's just me! :o)

Results

Yesterday I received a phone call about my biopsy results. There were no "bad cells" detected (to put it simply). I will go back for a follow up ultrasound in 6 months to see if there are any changes. This will be good, too, because I will be done nursing and they can see more clearly what is going on.

Thank you so very much for your prayers. :o)

A Friendly Competition

Today begins another attempt on my part to lose weight. This time, I may have actually found some good motivation! My best friend from back home just had her third child in April, and she wants to lose weight, too. We have decided to utilize our competitive nature and have a contest between the two of us. The woman who loses the most percentage of weight by November 1st is the winner! The loser takes the other out for dinner. And guess what...in November we both turn 30, so what a better way to mark our big birthday than to be skinny, too! :o) We both want to lose about the same amount, so I couldn't have picked a better accountability partner. Thanks, Kassie!

I do have one other motivating factor. This weekend, Josh was cleaning out one of our filing containers and found a Maurice's gift card for $50. I checked the balance, and I've never used it! It still has $50 on it! I love that store, and I would love to treat myself to a mini shopping spree in November.

I've had a good day. I've had no soda and no McDonald's - I know, hard to believe! ;o) Even though I'm about to kill my family and I want to smuggle in McDonald's somehow, I know that I'll be ok. Maybe if I just go to bed by 7:00 these cravings will go away in my sleep!

My Biopsy

For some reason, I didn't feel the need to share this before today, but now I'm going to go ahead and tell you about my appointment to have a biopsy this morning.

It's been about four weeks now since I first felt a lump in my right breast. At first, I simply dismissed it as having to do with nursing because often small lumps can occur in breastfeeding moms. But after a phone conversation with a friend, who got out one of her nursing books that said if I felt it for longer than a week and it didn't go away, I should see my physician, I decided to contact my OB/GYN. She agreed and wanted to see me.

After her exam, she scheduled an ultrasound to determine the exact size and if it appeared to be nursing-related or not. Evidently, the radiologist who reviewed my ultrasound decided that a biopsy was necessary, so next I was scheduled to see a surgeon who evidently is the next person to visit with in this process - a long and drawn out process I might add. Next, I was given the date for my biopsy which was this morning at 11:00. I'm not sure if it was a fine-needle biopsy or a core-needle biopsy, but a needle was used, and it wasn't an open biopsy (where the lump would be entirely removed).

My results will not be available until next week.

Everyone who I've told about this has said, "Oh, are you worried?" or "I bet it's really hard to wait." I can say with complete honesty that I am not worried. Really, I'm not. Is it because I think it's nothing? Not really. I guess I just know that this is completely out of my control, and God's word even tells us...

"Do not worry about tomorrow..." Matthew 6:34

Is that easier said than done? Yes, in many cases. Right now I'm thankful for the peace God has given me about the situation.

And I'll be sure to post what the results show when I find out.

Psalm 121

¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

² My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

³ He will not let your foot slip—
He who watches over you will not slumber;

⁴ indeed, He who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
He will watch over your life;

⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

A Small World

I remember traveling down to SBU on that hot, August day in 1998. My first year of college was about to begin, and you would think that someone like me - a girl that had gone to many, many week-long church camps and conferences, one who went away for instrumental camps, etc. would be perfectly fine with being away from home. But I wasn't. When dad gave me a hug to say goodbye and kept his sunglasses on indoors, it made it all the more difficult knowing he was sad, too. I watched my family drive away, and there I was at my dorm, on my own. I did not know anyone on campus.

Welcome Week was a time period for entering freshmen and transfer students to get to know others and for upper classmen to show us around campus and help us become familiar with the surroundings before classes actually started. We were set up in small groups of about 20 or so, and we were led by one girl and one guy.

I found it to be so wonderful that the girl who led my group was from Rolla! And better yet, she went to church in St. James! Yay! Someone who knew where my hometown of Owensville was located! We discussed our common thread, and I just thought she was the sweetest thing. She truly made my first few days much brighter and kept my spirits up.

Her name is Cheryl. Would you believe...I now attend the church where she attended as a youth! How crazy is that? I will never forget how dumbfounded I felt when Josh and I first went to our Sunday school class, and we mentioned we were graduates of SBU. Peggy, our Sunday school teacher, said her daughter was a graduate from SBU as well, and I inquired what her name was.

"Cheryl Welsch."

"No way!" I think I said out loud. "She was my small group leader at Welcome Week!"

And now, we share more than just a common thread of knowing where each other's home towns are located! We share common friends. It's still amazing to me when I think about it!

She came to visit yesterday, and it was so fun to see her. Here we are at my friend Sarah H's house. Sarah H has become one of my best friends, and Cheryl was in her wedding 10 years ago!














Sarah H and her kids on the left, Cheryl with her little boy in the middle, and me with my kids on the right.

It's amazing where our path in life takes us. My Welcome Week leader at SBU...now her mom is my Sunday school teacher. It doesn't get much more amazing than that! :o)

Mommy! Come here!

It doesn't take long for a new mother to start to decipher the different cries from her newborn. It's quite amazing I think. I remember hearing this sort of thing before I had kids and just couldn't understand how that could be. But it is. You know if they are crying because they are hungry, wet, tired, etc.

When the child becomes older, you learn what sort of tone they are using when they call for you. If I hear Caleb or Sarah say, "Mom, come here!" I can tell if it's because they are excited and accomplished something, or if it's a "Mom, come here!" because they are hurt (or their sibling is hurt).

So this morning, when I could hear a since of urgency in Caleb's voice when he said, "Oh, Mommy!! Come here quick!" I wondered what could be wrong. He was just playing in his room, so I couldn't imagine what it could be. Did he see a bug? Did Sarah shut herself in the closet? Did one of them pinch their finger in a container? Who knew...

I raced into his room, and I saw him sitting there with his Batman toys. He looked up and me and said sincerely...

"Mom! Spiderman is stuck in Batman's car!"

I held back a chuckle. "Okay, let's see if Mommy can get him out of there!" I said to him.

And I did. I saved the day. After all, it was quite an emergency you know.

Tears

Recently, a friend blogged and asked, "What moves you to tears?" I commented, but I must say Ashley, I have been quite teary these days. I'm not sure if there has been a day that has gone by in the last week and a half that I have not cried. Sometimes it's just watery eyes. Sometimes it's outright bawling.

I've already written about my friend who moved to Bolivar. I've come to realize something over the last few days since she's been gone. I might actually miss her children just as much as I miss her. You see, as a mom, I pray daily for my kids. Before Caleb met Alli, I prayed that God would send a wonderful friend to him. Someone who liked to play. Someone who genuinely wanted to be around him. Someone who had Christian parents and who would be a good influence in his life. After all, a child is not only influenced when they get older...they are influenced right from the start.

God sent Alli. Fortunately, He also gave me the chance to become great friends with her mommy. How neat is that?! :o) But then, when I learned of their intentions to move, I felt a sense of emptiness. I wondered who would fill that gap? Caleb does have other friends...yet...it's just not quite the same.

When I was praying about this earlier today, I could hear this scripture in my head:

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

Finally, after weeks of not understanding why God only had the Causey's in my life for such a short time, I now feel comfort in knowing that He will still provide the friendships my son needs. He will still provide for me as well.

I miss them very much. And I still cry about it from time to time. But I promise, Ashley, I will not discount the wonder of my tears.

Caleb and Alli on AWANA Award Night