Our New Home!

The seller affectionatly was refering to this room as the red room but let me set the record straight and say it is PINK, or maybe magenta or fuschia. And this is our room so we are painting it a color that is more friendly on the eyes.

The floors post carpet but before sanding. There are some stubborn stains that did not come up with even with the sanding so we are trying creative tricks to get them out before we restain.

This is the dark blue carpet that did not look all that bad but the smell sad it all!



God is good! It has been quite the journey over the past couple of months that has lead us to our new home. Many frustrating days occurred along the way where we really thought we were not going to be getting our house or maybe any house. But God's timing is perfect even though it is often very different than the timing that we would choose. We were supposed to close over 3 1/2 months ago but because of many surprises along the way it was severely delayed. The whole process is quite a story but I hope Travis will write that one for me. For today I just want to say that we are totally thrilled. Our closing what really well yesterday and we enjoyed learning about funny things about the house from the seller while we signed the paperwork. There will be many more pictures to come but here are a few. This weekend we are working hard to get some projects done so that we can move our stuff in the next weekend. We don't have a whole lot of time to spend on it because Travis is also studying but its working out. We are so blessed that someone from our church that knows what they are doing is helping Travis sand and refinish the wood floors on the first and second floor. We are doing some painting, and cleaning as well but the floors are the main project.

We are really glad we decided to pull up the carpet because it did not smell too lovely and when we got it up we realized that some pet of theirs must have decided it was a good place to relieve itself. Yuck! We are really excited about getting to meet our neighbors and we have met some already and getting more involved in our neighborhood.

Yeah! Delayed announcement but Travis passed is American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) exam! He is now a certified planner! He had a lot of barriers to accompishing this and had to attempt it more than once. Poor thing first tried to study for and take the test right after Zion was born and we were both pretty high maintenance right about then. We are proud of his hard work and studying and of all that he is doing and wanted to share this very exciting news. Way to go Travis!

The Run

Thanks to all who sponsored me in my 5K race. I ran it in under 32 minutes. Not too bad considering the terrain. the last mile was entirely uphill. It was a beautiful course and I'm in good enough shape to appreciate it! I'm used to running on the treadmill, however, so the hills made it tougher than I thought it was going to be.

Seven months ago I never would have imagined myself running in a race. Interestingly enough, I also would not have considered myself out of shape! I weighed 275 lbs, but it was pure hard core muscle! Not so much I found out. I imagine that there will be plenty of people that read this and will not understand the mind of a fat guy, but maybe there will be someone out there that is like me and will be motivated. I think I overcompensated for so long for being fat that I really believed that I was not as fat as I really was. Yeah, 275 is not huge like "Biggest Loser" huge (at least when you are 6'3''), but it ain't small either! I also am pretty strong and can out lift guys that actually look like they're in shape. My work ethic is pretty strong as well, so I'm not lazy by any means. These things allowed me to remain in denial because I could compare myself to other fat people (and some skinny ones) and feel pretty decent about myself.

The Challenge
At Christmas I was given a book and a months worth of groceries and a challenge. As most of you know we have been living with the in-laws since October. Reba's mom was going to cook all of our meals based on the ideas in this book called "The Ultra-Metabolism". Initially, I thought this was going to be ridiculous, and that there was no way I would loose weight, because I didn't really eat unhealthy and I wasn't that fat...just big-boned! But since the entire family (except for Lin) would be going on this month long eating plan I decided to take the plunge. I also thought that I would show everyone up and not loose any weight, so that people would once and for all get off my back about it. I also had been trying to work out again so I went back to the gym to use the elliptical 2-3 times a week at pace of 5-6 miles in 35 minutes. That's a treadmill pace of 3-4 miles in 30 minutes.

On January 1st, I started out at a weight of 268. I think I lost some weight with the whole moving process and I'm not sure why. I wasn't trying. By January 5th I weighed 258 lbs. I was stunned and encouraged. At that point, I bought myself a little application from App Store for iPhone called Weightbot that tracked my progress and measured my BMI. I also set a goal weight of 215 just to see if I could do it. I was now seeing daily progress. In one month I lost 20 lbs. What started out as a month-long challenge became a new way of thinking and a new way of life.

The "Diet"
Our culture is dysfunctional. On one hand we look down on those that let themselves go. We hold "pretty" people up on a pedestal and look to them for leadership and something to aspire too. But on the other hand, we make it extremely difficult to do the things necessary to become pretty people. Yes, some people are blessed with "ultra-metabolisms" and a pretty face. while others have to actually work at it.

One of things I've come to learn is that most of the food in the grocery store does not lend itself to health and neither does our pack-everything-into-as-much-little-time-as-possible lifestyle. If we have no time for the things that count, why are we doing the things that don't? So, I've had to make choices. I think that is the biggest challenge to becoming healthy. The choices you make about what you put into your mouth and what you will do in the next 30 minutes may effect something ten years down the road. Make good choices right now. It may be hard right now, but it will get easier to make the next good choice. The opposite is also true: make a bad decision now and will get easier to make a bad decision the next time. Also true-make a bad decision now and it will get harder to make a good decision next time! I've taught this lesson to so many troubled youth and I wonder if they may have listened to me more if I would have practiced it a little better on the part of life that has been so visible for so many years.

I'm not going to explain to you the diet. You can read the book yourself if you are interested. It will do a much better job explaining the necessity, not just to overweight people, of the importance of making good choices about the food you buy and eat.

I am now at 231 lbs and am so excited to get to my goal. I went from a 42 waist to a 36 and a 48L suit to a 44L; an XXL to an XL. Even my ties fit better! I have not put one ounce of weight back on body through the last six months even though I've gone through a couple of trying times with work and a really big test.

The Run
So, I decided to go for a run. 5K is only about 3 1/4 miles. I've gotten up to 7.5 in a workout, but usually only have time for 3.5 in 35 minutes. I knew I would be able to handle it, but I think the reason I did it was because I wanted to. What!! I wanted to. I hate running! It hurts my bad knees and makes the feet hurt. That's what I used to say. They still hurt, but I'm more mentally tough now than I've ever been in my entire life and pain no longer controls. Good decisions. I ran the race because it sounded fun and it was fun to be there with people that do this for fun. Nobody made me. I am doing this for me.

I was also able to raise $225 for a great program called Y.E.S. Kids. Its a program for youth put on by the Community Development organization or our church in our soon-to-be neighborhood. They mentor youth and require them to get a job and learn a skill while in high school and then give the kids that finish the program a scholarship to college. None of the kids in the program would be able to afford college without it. Its an amazing program and 100% of the proceeds will go to the scholarships. Its not to late to contribute, but your checks have to be to me by the 24th. I will let you know when I get to my initial goal weight and what my next goal will be. I plan on running in a few more races this summer and am working up to a marathon next summer.

I hope that whatever thing is keeping you from slaying your giant that you will wake up and conquer it. For those that don't know...we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. Through him we are more than able to do all things. He has come to not only give life, but also to give abundant life. What does that mean for you? I don't know, but you can always ask him.

More of Z

Thanks to aunt Bethany Zion got her very own tutu which encourages even further her love for dancing and playing dress up. Aunt Bethany made it!


Zions new pool on Memorial day. She was not afraid of this one.

San Francisco

We found a neat beach of the highway...I felt like it we were in a movie. It was really pretty with all of the rocks and hills.
A jellyfish. They were everywhere!

We had to climb down a long ways to get there but it was coming back up that was not so fun.


Streetcar.
Chinatown
This is where they invited the fortune cooking. (no, it was not orignally from China.) And these ladies still sit here all day and make them which we got to watch. It was really neat.
We went to a free tea tasting at this tea shop in china town and we were quite entertained by the older man who put on the tea tasting. He had a very interesting senses of humor and told us all about the health benefits of different teas.
A fun fountain you can walk through
Alcatraz. At Travis request we got tickets to go on the ferry to see alcatraz. I was not totally excited about it but I ended up really enjoying it. It was very interesting and you listen to an audio tour while you walk around with actual prisoners and guards that were there when it was open narrating.
The recreation yard.
no caption needed

The view back to san francisco on the way to alcatraz.
Sea lions
Fishermans warf
Its hard to see but this is a dog with a cat on his back and on the back of the cat is a rat!
The rose garden at Golden Gate park.


It was great because most of the things that we went to see were totally free!

We really enjoyed the Japenese tea garden and had a tea break in the middle of the garden.



Golden gate bridge

Lombard street- the crooked street which we also drove down.


I had to go to San Francisco for work so Travis came out a day later to help me and we got to stay an extra day to enjoy the city. It was so fun since we had never been there before and was a great break to just spend time together. We missed Z as she stayed here but really enjoyed the time together. Thanks to an awesome deal I got we got to stay at the new intercontinental there and got a free awesome breakfast everyday with amazing fruits and fresh foods. Oh yeah and the work meetings went good too (-:

RAndomness

Travis and I put together a little shower for his friends at work. I made a diaper cake with little birds and the cupcakes had little birds nests made from toasted coconut with little chocolate eggs. It was fun to put together and to make the food.
Travis turned 32! We celebrated his birthday late because he was busy studying on his actual birthday but the following weekend we grilled out and here is modeling his new outfit! (-:
I took Zion to the childrens play festival at the University of Pittsburgh we saw a play of the books runaway bunny and goodnight moon and then a Mr. Rogers show and Z got to meet neighbor aber from Mr. Rogers.
For mothers day we re did the landscaping in front of my parents house. The bushes were way overgrown and thanks to Travs muscles we were able to dig them out. There was a lot of BIG holes but we filled them in planted some baby bushes and mulched. All of my brothers and sisters, Travis, Zion and my sister in law did it together and we also built them a garden bed in the back. Here is Zion showing off the after. If you saw the before you would be very impressed.
SO our little fish who loved to swim was terrified of the pool when we took her to the Y where Travis works out. She said the pool was too big. Sadly I guess we waited too long to take her back to the pool so she will have to get used to it again.