Catching up

I am not good at this blogging.......It has been over 2 months since I have "blogged". I think of things I want to write then I get busy with something else or I feel like what I will write just wont be that interesting so decided to forget it.
A few things have happened since I blogged last. We went on our annual beach trip to the beach in February. I do it every year to honor my mom since she passed away on February 9th. Its a time to reflect and spend time with my family. I can hardly believe its been 9 years since she has been gone. I keep thinking that time will make things easier but it doesn't seem to work that way so far. I miss her so much more each year. We had a good vacation and as usual, it was way too short! I love the beach and hope to live there some day!
We had a French student come stay with us for 3 weeks. He shadowed my son at school for the 3 weeks and got to see what it was like to be in America. We took him to the beach and rode on go-carts and took him hiking. He seemed to have fun and we hope that he had an enjoyable time. He had fun playing video games with the boys and I had so much fun listening to all of them while they were engaged in their games together.
My oldest son signed up to join the United States Airforce. He found out that he will leave for boot camp in July which means that our trip we were going to take to Disneyland in August needs to be held off for a bit. I am very proud and nervous at the same time! I have been doing a lot of reading up on things to prepare myself and to understand more of what he will be getting into.
We just finished Spring break which means the kids were home all week and we had an extra boy all week which was nice because it keeps the kids more at peace. I felt spring break went by too fast! It will feel good though to get back into routine.
On my weight loss journey news, I finally reached my goal of getting under 200 pounds....woohooo!!! It has been a long journey (9years since I actively started trying to lose weight), but I am happy to be well on my way towards reaching my ultimate weight loss goal. This is the lowest weight I have been in 22 years!!!! I feel like I owe a lot of thanks to my husband for being so supportive through this journey! He has only walked the last 5 years with me on this journey, but I feel like he has given me so much! I have very awesome friends that have encouraged me and pushed me in ways I didn't think I would ever be able to do (like running).
I am also happy that I am on my way of working on my heart and getting closer and closer to God each day. God has brought just the right people into my life that have helped me want to grow again. I have even found a bible study that I am a part of now and enjoying the friendships that I am making there.
I have some fun events coming up.....I am doing a Biggest Loser 5K with a friend in a couple of weeks. Then I have a TOPS convention coming up and I love hearing all the great success stories. Then I have a 10K that I am actually in training for right now coming up in May. It feels so good being able to say that I am "in training". I am a little nervous about the 10K because there are some pretty good hills on that one, but I am looking forward to proving to myself that I can do it!
Life is good! I do have some thorns that are coming in from different places that cause a little pain in my life, but I am trying very hard to turn those things over to God and allow Him to deal with them and teach me how to best deal with them.
On this Easter Sunday, I am so very thankful for the gift God has given me-JESUS!!