I knows its been a bit since I reported a weight update. Time gets away from me sometimes…. As of 5/17/2009 Bobbys lost 43 lbs. & i’ve lost 48 lbs. Thats a total combined weight loss of 91 lbs. We’re hitting it real hard in the gym and have totally changed our eating habits. I’m not gonna lie to you and tell you its been easy. It’s been rough at times, but nothing worth anything comes easy. If you want something bad enough its possible. You just have to be willing to do the work. So I challenge you out there. If you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, determine in your mind right now to change. Take it day by day, start slow. Make better food choices and get up and get moving. Your body will thank you!

as of 3/29/2010 bobbys lost 34 lbs. & i’ve lost 39 lbs. (woot woot) We’re trucking right along… Told bobby the other day, that together weve lost a 73 lb. person. OH, MY!!!

Corey Haim: 1971-2010
80’s era teen actor found dead wednesday 03/10/2010 in what is being termed an accidental overdose. Haim is best known for his role in the movie “Lost Boys”. In a 2004 interview with British tabloid the Sun, Haim described his drug addiction: “I started on the downers which were a hell of a lot better than the uppers because I was a nervous wreck. But one led to two, two led to four, four led to eight, until at the end it was about 85 a day — the doctors could not believe I was taking that much. And that was just the Valium — I’m not talking about the other pills I went through.”
This got me thinking. How many times in our lives have we said, or thought, if I had that (fill in the blank ________________), I would be happy. If I was rich, or if I had that car, or if I was that skinny, or if I was with that person, or if I had that job, or that outfit, or if I went to that school, or that college, etc. We’ve probably all said it or thought it at one time or another in our life. The news about Corey Haim and the news we hear everyday should prove the opposite is true. People, places or things cannot make us truly happy. They may temporarily satisfy, but they’ll never fill that void. God created us to worship Him. He created in us a restless heart that only finds rest in HIM. Acts 17:24-28 says, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
He wants us to seek Him, reach out for Him, and find Him. He’s our heavenly Father and the love He has for each of us is immeasurable. Money will run out, friends/spouses can leave, weights can change, cars can break down, styles can change, jobs can end, BUT God’s love is real, it lasts, it’s unfailing. Won’t you trust Him today?

On Valentine’s Day, Meg* went all out, giving her husband, Peter,* his favorite candy and tickets to a hockey game. Later that night, she wrapped herself in a special outfit purchased just for the occasion.
Peter got her a card.
At the grocery store.
That he purchased on the way home from work.
He didn’t add anything to it, either. He just signed it, “Peter.”
A couple of days later, Meg tried to explain that she felt a little taken for granted. Apparently, Peter misunderstood her intent because two months later, when they celebrated their anniversary, Peter didn’t get Meg anything.
“How could you not get me anything for our anniversary?” she asked Peter the next day. “Especially after our conversation about Valentine’s Day.”
“Well, I thought about getting you something, but it didn’t work out,” he replied. “And then I knew not to get you a card because you said you didn’t like that last time.”
“It’s not that I didn’t like the card. It’s that the card alone seemed a little sparse. But even that is better than nothing …”
Several months later, Meg had a birthday. This time, Peter got her a present – a kitchen tool set. Several weeks before, Meg had asked to borrow Peter’s tape measure and screwdriver. Peter figured that Meg should have her own small set of kitchen tools so she didn’t have to borrow his.
Meg recounted all this and then explained how she had tried to get her husband to read several how-to books on loving your spouse. He would read the first few pages, lose interest and never pick the book up again.
“I’ve realized this is never going to change,” she confessed. “But I love him anyway.”
Because …That last statement of Meg’s, “but I love him anyway,” is one of the most profound theological statements on marriage I’ve ever heard. Most of us base love on because, not on anyway. I love you because you’re good to me. I love you because you’re kind, because you’re considerate, because you keep the romance alive.
But in Luke 6:32-36, Jesus says we shouldn’t love because. We should love anyway. If we love someone because that person is good to us, or gives back to us, or is kind to us, we’re acting no better than anyone else. In essence, Jesus is saying you don’t need the Holy Spirit to love a man who remembers every anniversary – not just the anniversary of your marriage, but the anniversary of your first date and your first kiss. Any woman could love a man like that. Or if you love a wife who lavishes you with sports gifts, who goes out of her way to make you comfortable when you get home from work and who wants sex anytime you do – well, you’re doing what any man would do. There’s no special credit in that!
But if you love a spouse who disappoints you, who can be a little self-absorbed – now you’re loving anyway. In doing that, you’re following the model of the heavenly Father, who loves the ungrateful and the wicked.
… Or Anyway
Will you love only because? Or are you willing to love anyway? Will you love a man or woman who doesn’t appreciate your sacrifice? Will you love a husband or wife who takes you for granted? Will you love a spouse who isn’t nearly as kind to you as you are to him or her?
Just about every faithless marriage is based on because love. Christians are called to anyway love. That’s what makes us different. That’s what gives glory to God. That’s what helps us appreciate God’s love for us, because God loves us anyway. He gives and gives and gives – and we take Him for granted. He is eager to meet with us, and we get too busy to notice Him. He is good to us, and we accuse Him mercilessly when something doesn’t go just the way we planned it.
But God loves us anyway. To love anyway is to love like God – and to learn about God’s love for us.
That’s love, the way God intended it.
This article first appeared in the Couples Edition of the January, 2007 issue of Focus on the Family magazine. Copyright © 2007, Gary Thomas. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.