Reflecting

As I look back on this year and reflect, there were so many changes going on in our lives. I have felt this has been a wonderful year with all the changes.

At the beginning of the year I still had my 5 nieces and nephews living with me. They had actually come to live with us in August 2011. It was fun having them and having to say goodbye to them in August 2012 was a bit hard. Life has forever changed having them be a part of our lives. We now want more than ever to look into becoming foster parents.

This year, one of the biggest changes has been acknowledging that I now have an 18 year old son. I am very proud of the young man he has become. We were working on his order for his senior stuff and I could hardly contain my tears realizing that he is grown up and soon will be out on his own. My prayer has always been and always will be that I could be the best mom to him and raise him to be a good man. He is looking to go into the Airforce, which again was a hard one for me to hold back the tears but at the same time briming with pride that he has turned out so good.

One if the biggest changes for me this year is that after 4 years of taking a break from really trying to lose weight and eat healthy, I decided it was time to get started again. I had lost 70 pounds from 2004-2008 and was super excited about that, but then went through some life changing events and had gained back most of what I had lost. So at the beginning of the year I had joined weight watchers online. That worked to some degree for me, but it still wasnt really what I needed. I really needed to have support of an actual group. So I started searching and found a PRISM group that wasnt too far away. So in May I joined that group. I had found a wonderful group of ladies that really gave me the support I was looking for. From May to October I was going faithfully and was gradually losing the weight. But as finances got a little tighter, it was getting harder to get the the group. About this time I also met a new friend which was encouraging me to try the couch to 5K program. I was a little nervous about me running, but as we got into it, it felt great! Then I decided that I needed to find a group a little closer to home and found a TOPS group, which I had actually been to before so everyone there was very welcoming and happy to see me back. By December 1st I had lost 45 pounds, was running and a part of a couple of weight loss groups. And on December 1st, I ran my first 5K.....I was hoping to finish in at least 45 minutes but we did even better....we finished in 36:57 minutes!!! Woohoo!

I eat mostly organic fruits and vegetables now and have been following for the most part not eating white flours and white sugars. In fact, I hardly eat anything processed any more. It feels so wonderful to be feeling like I am headed in the right direction. I still have some weight to lose and that is what my goal is for this next year......to continue on the path to health. I am hoping to run a few 5K's,walk a half marathon with another friend and walk a 10K with my cousin and if my friend has her way this year, we will be running a half marathon. I also will be a part of the Portland to Coast this next year which I have wanted to do forever. This last year has been a stepping stone for this next year, it has set the foundation of things that I want to accomplish in 2013. I am looking forward to more chapters of my life being written this next year. And I plan on trying to blog more this next year so that I can look back and see what things I have acomplished throughout the year.

As I say goodbye to 2012, I am welcoming 2013 with open arms!!!