6 months ago...

6 months ago, on January 30th, I began exercising. Since then, I have exercised 6 days a week most weeks. In fact, last week was the first week I hadn't exercised 6 days, but I did manage to get in 5 days because I took our little DVD player and an exercise DVD with us. Plus, we just did lots of walking. I have never maintained an exercise program for more than a few weeks so this is super exciting for me!

The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy for me with Vacation Bible School and then vacation. Hopefully this week, I can get back in the swing of things because it's about to start getting crazy here! Lots of stuff coming up and I feel a bit overwhelmed. Just going to tackle it a little bit at a time and try not to stress out.

Over 50 pounds lost!

Just a brief little thing to share here! When we weighed in at church yesterday, I was under 260 pounds and have lost about 54 pounds since the fall of 2010. About 30 of that in the last 3 months. God is so good! I am loving the First Place 4 Health class that we're doing at the church. Our members as a total have lost 117 pounds since we started in June!

I miss my dishwasher!

As I mentioned quite a while back, our dishwasher died (back in January). I've tried really hard to have a positive attitude about it and not let it bother me too much. But days like yesterday, I really, really, really miss it. This is the pile of dishes I had to to wash by hand after lunch yesterday:

This was on top of trying to get 7 kids down for a nap (including an infant). Yeah, I really miss my dishwasher!

Broke the $5000 mark!

Just since we started Financial Peace University up again in February, we have paid off a little over $5000 in debt.

$200 towards student loans
$118.02 + $75 towards our Napa bill (PAID!!!!)
$386.78 towards our 2007 tax bill

$125 towards our 2006 tax bill
$375 towards one credit card
$345 towards one credit card (settled in full-so PAID!!!!!!)
$75+388.26 towards one credit card (settled in full-so PAID!!!!!!)
$250 towards one credit card (

$500 towards our Bass hospital bill

Bass physician’s bill $35.50+26.91
$18.80 for a doctor bill
$1412.33 towards our house

$333.36 for 2011 real estate taxes

$340 for 2011 Oklahoma income taxes

For a total of: $5004.96

Big news!

It's official! I will be teaching an online child development class as an adjunct instructor for Western OK State College in Altus starting in August. I will be teaching Health, Safety, and Nutrition. I went down to my parent's on Friday night, then met with my friend/boss yesterday morning. She walked me through the ropes and gave me the textbook, etc. I am so super excited to be doing this. And nervous of course! :) But it's a huge opportunity for me and will be a great experience. And God willing, it will lead to bigger things eventually.

It's not enough income to quit my day job, but it will be some extra income to go towards debt!

I guess it's really obvious

I guess it becomes really obvious when I am struggling because I have a hard time writing on the blogs. That's not the only reason I haven't been around much, but it is part of it.

I posted about Car Troubles back on June 8th. We had been praying fervently that the car would be fine and it seemed to be doing well. We'd driven it to Enid a couple of times and church once and it seemed to be fine. But last Friday, Tom took it to work and when he got home Friday afternoon, it was bubbling over in the overflow tank. :( So...we're going to get it checked out one more time and then make the decision about what to do. Please pray for wisdom for us as we make this choice.

The news isn't all bad though. I had an interview last week and started a new baby this week. She's 2 months old and just precious. I am so excited and grateful! AND, I am going down south on Saturday to meet up with my friend and get training on teaching an online child development class starting in August. I am so excited (and very nervous!).

And, I haven't told too many people this yet, BUT we get to go to Vegas on our vacation next month! My parents gave us free flight vouchers, I got rooms for $29 a night downtown (we're staying 2 nights), and so we'll just need food and entertainment money. Since there are alot of free things to do in Vegas, I'm thinking it will be a fun and cheap vacation! Although I am sure it will be hot!

That's all the news for now. Would appreciate prayers continuing for us.

Book Review: One Year Bible

I have always wanted to read through the entire Bible, but have never actually done it.  I tried once, starting in the Old Testament, but ended up quitting. I've seen the outlines where you can read different sections of the Bible and get through it in one year, but have never done it.

Recently, I started hearing about the "One Year Bible" which has the Bible (both Old and New Testament) broken down into 365 daily readings so that you read the entire Bible in one year. I found a used one on Amazon and ordered it. The one I got is a Zondervan and is the New International Version. Each day has a section from the Old Testament, a section from the New Testament, a Psalm, and a Proverb.

I love it! It is so easy to read that day's section and doesn't take as long as I always thought it would to read enough each day to get through the Bible in one year. If you want to read the Bible all the way through, I highly recommend buying a version of the One Year Bible!