raising redheads: Weekend and Weight. Oh what fun.

Apple N' Pork was awesome! I went both days with no kids! I was telling Jeni on Saturday that I dont really know why I have been so excited about it other than this is the first year in 3 that I havent been pregnant or with a newborn for some event. It just felt nice and easy. It was refreshing to know that I'm finally to a place where I can leave them with someone for a few hours and enjoy myself a little. I got a new fence for the front of the house and a fall wreathe to hang on it that is so beautiful! I also got a new shoe cabinet (well it's antique but its new to me. haha) It was so much fun!

Saturday night we went to a wiener roast at my grandma Donna's house. It was a blast! We took our friends, Katie and Adam and their kids and Abby and Andy also went with us because Andy has never been on a hay rack ride! He had such a good time and Nora loved it too! I know I have said it 100 times but I just love this season! I love looking at my husband and knowing I fell in love with him in a hoodie. I remember the exact night and the exact moment when he kissed my forehead that I was completely, ridiculously, obsessively in love with this man and to this day...I still am. He's such a great daddy and husband and friend and I am just so blessed beyond words. I am more thankful this year than ever before that the Marine Corps is behind us and he is home for good. God is such a faithful and loving God!

I am struggling a little bit in my mind lately with my weight again. It's not that I struggle with feeling OVERWEIGHT, it's just that I cant get a handle on not thinking about it ALL the time. I feel quite obsessive in my mind and I hate that it consumes my thinking. I am content and happy with myself and yet the enemy knows it is my weakness and that he can trap me into self absorbed thinking. I hate that. I find myself constantly comparing myself to this image of other women. What is it that I am after? No one's body is 'perfect.' I think as women we all have some small struggle with it anyway, but I just want to meet this picture of perfection that I have built up in my mind--only I know realistically that will never come because nothing I do will put to ease or put to rest this thinking. Only God can free me from it and daily I am praying that He would help me love my body as much as I have learned to love the rest of this woman that I am! I truly do. I feel at peace with every other part of me.

Please, Lord, help me to feel beautiful always. Help me to achieve healthiness and not be worried, anxious, or obsessive about a number or even an appearance. You have perfected me in your image, O God, and I know this. I am trusting you. I need you and I love you.

Danny boy and I at the cookout. He's so handsome.