Weight Loss Update

Well...another update. I’m down to 308.4 lbs today. :) It’s still coming off!

I’m in a competition at our health club for overall weight loss and body composition. I’m meeting with a trainer two days a week and I’m getting my butt kicked! In a good way...;)

Thanks for the continued prayers!

Weight Loss Update...

Well, I had to post again!

I’m now down to 318.8 lbs. today!!! That’s 30 lbs. on Bodybugg and 38 lbs. from my heaviest weight!

I’m getting to the point that I need some new clothes...however, I can still wear the one’s I’ve got for now and I will be getting smaller. So...I’m going to wait for maybe 10-15 more lbs.

:)

New Yates' Family Website

I really hope to create a website for our family over the coming weeks. I'm a rabid Mac user now, so I'm going to be using iWeb. :) First time doing that, but it should be an experience. I'll be posting pictures to our Flickr page in the near future, but you can keep up with a lot of what we're doing at www.412youth.com. Since youth ministry is my life...that will fill you in. Pictures available as well!!!

Weight Loss Update

I just HAD to post this!!!

I’ve been using the Bodybugg system (the armbands that you see on The Biggest Loser). This is a system that monitors your actual calorie burn each day. My goal is to eat 1000 calories less than I consume each day which will equal a minimum of a two pound weight loss for that week.

I began this process the second week of January and I weighed 348 lbs after Christmas. At my heaviest, I weighed 356 during the summer of 2008.

I weighed this morning and I am at....326.0 lbs! That’s a loss of 22 lbs since I began this program and 30 lbs from my heaviest! Needless to say, I’m very excited.

My next goal is to get under 300 lbs to 299. I’m running six days a week and weight lifting three days a week. I also officiate basketball, so that gets me even more active!

My first goal was to be able to play Wii Fit with my girls, but I had to be under 330...first goal met!

I would just like to ask that you continue to pray for my weight loss. I’m on a roll, but life can throw curve balls at us and I’m an emotional eater. I just want to keep this life change. :)

Thanks so much and THANK GOD for HIS strength as I continue this journey in my life!!!!

Pound For Pound Challenge Widget

Thank You, President Bush

I find myself at a loss for words today. We have a new president. This is a time to see what will happen. I must admit, I am a republican and I did not vote for President Obama. However, he is my president and I will support him as God’s Word will allow me to. I will pray that God will direct him in his leadership of this country.

I just want to write a thank you to President Bush. He has been much aligned and slandered...however I believe that history will prove that he was one of the best presidents that America has ever seen. I cannot say that I agreed with everything he did while he was president, but I find myself sad that he is no longer our Commander-in-Chief. I believe that he always did what he thought was right for America, no matter what the personal or political cost of those decisions. That’s the test of a true leader.

Thank you, President George W. Bush for believing in America and for serving her well. Enjoy your rest. I’m sure you need it. :) God bless you and your family!!!

Matthew 5:17-20

A Prayer to God

Heavenly Father,

I am so amazed by the love that you have shown me. As we begin each year, it’s an easy time to think back on the year that has been and the year that will be. Each year, I feel like I need to do more for You, to be more for You, to just be more like You. While all of those things are worthwhile desires and pursuits, what I really need to do is just seek YOU. As I seek you with ALL that I have (my heart, soul, mind and strength) all of the above pursuits will be accomplished by YOU in me. It’s not about me accomplishing anything...it’s about YOU accomplishing everything in me and through me.

I try to take responsibility for so many things in my life that, really, aren’t my responsibility. Not that I do not strive to become less and You become more in my life like John the Baptist declared. It’s just that I need YOU in my life. I don’t need to seek anything/anyone else. As I seek you, I will change. That’s the renewing of the mind...seeking You with all I have.

Thank you so very much for Your salvation. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for paying the debt that I could never pay. I don’t deserve your love, yet you give it freely and abundantly. You are my Adonai (Master), El Shaddai (the one who provides) and Jehovah-Maccaddeschem (the LORD my sanctifier)!!! You are Immanuel (God with us).

I love you, Jesus. Take all I have. Help me to live with all I am for all that YOU are.

Man...what a summer so far...

It's been awhile since I've posted...but life is going okay. Summer has been a bit anti-climactic this time around as the youth ministry does not have a "big" trip planned this break. So...this gives me time to rest after a HUGE youth room project. We just got back from Boyne Mountain with Jeannie's parents...we had a great time. I didn't golf all that well, but it was FUN! :)

Life is...interesting right now. Each time Jeannie's parents leave to go back home, or each time we leave them...it gets harder. As Kylie gets older...it gets harder. We are 100% convinced that Michigan is where God wants us...we just get "homesick" from time to time. It's easy to forget that we are transplants in MI and don't have any family around whatsoever.

God is speaking to me right now. He desires more of me. I desire more of Him. I want my life to continually be looking like Him. I am apalled at what I see in my life sometimes. The words to this song really describe where I'm at right now:

"The Only Thing"
Ronnie Freeman

I heard someone say the other day
They'd seen in me true love displayed
Blessed by something I had done for them
No sooner had they said these words
I found myself somehow disturbed
Uneasy as I took their compliment
Cause I know the heart inside this man
I know the truth of who I am...

The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
I know me well enough to know
No matter what this life may show
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus

If you could walk the hallways of my heart
And see things as they really are
I wonder if you might be surprised
Seeing faded walls of pride and fear
Rooms I've filled with faithless tears
And corners where I've stood in compromise
But you'd see the work His grace has done
You'd know just how far I've come

In a thousand years
When the dust of this world clears
And I look back on my life
And see in perfect light

The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
I know me well enough to know
No matter what this life may show
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus

I am nothing...Christ is everything. I guess I find myself a bit depressed. I feel like I'm in a state of transition. I don't know what kind of transition, however. I'm turning 30 next month...it's an interesting thing for me. Most people just try to explain it away...saying that I'm still young. I still am young, there's no disputing that. I guess it's just a time of introspection for me right now. Taking stock of my life and relationship with Christ, if you will.

Well...that's me for now. I hope to be posting some stuff I'm learning in school this Fall...I hope I can get back to classes.

God bless, have a great day and thanks for reading!