November 30, 2010

Thanksgiving Successes



Just so you know I wasn't a complete turkey during the Thanksgiving holiday, I thought I'd share some of what was great about it...

We spent the weekend before Thanksgiving on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico. Our church has a special friendship with a Navajo church on the reservation there. Several trips are made throughout the year to visit with our Navajo friends and serve with them in various ways. On this trip we delivered fire wood to families in the surrounding areas and served Thanksgiving lunch after the service on Sunday.

Pine Hill Baptist Church

3 days in with no shower. Not a problem for me, really.

The trip was a blast and such a blessing! When we got back I decided to do a home project. I have been wanting to paint the front of my kitchen cabinets with chalkboard paint for a while now. I ran across an almost full can of paint, had a little time and decided to go for it.



A little tape (thank you Norma), a few squirts of paint and wha-la!



Before I began to focus on my weight loss and "lifestyle change" (Can't believe I actually use that term in a serious manner now!) I did a LOT of home projects. It is something that I love to do but I think I began to throw myself into projects so that I wouldn't have to deal with how miserable I had become. I have had to focus so hard the past year on my health in order to be successful that I haven't done much "crafting" around the house at all. It was nice to do something like this just because and I love how my cabinets turned out!!!

Thanksgiving Day was a full day spent with family! I enjoyed getting ready and not having to worry about being uncomfortable in my clothes. I was able to focus on more important things...


My target dress...I wore a blue jean jacket with it most of the day.

Me and my main squeeze ♥ Yes, he's a HOTTIE.

I enjoyed taking pictures with my family rather than dodging the camera. That was a holiday first!

We had super exciting Saturday after Thanksgiving. My dad is a high school football coach and his team is in the playoffs. They pulled out an underdog win and are now only two games away from the Texas state championship game! I have been watching my dad coach football since before I can remember and nothing would make me happier than for him to be able to claim a state championship!We'll see. Still a few wins to go...


Mom and Dad after the big win. Go Tigers!

We finished up the week at our family cabin. Lots of chaos (with 5 kiddos under the age of 5, 4 of them boys) but lots of good memories made. It was the perfect end to the Thanksgiving holiday.

Kiddos working on ornaments for the cabin tree

Even though I did not stick to my plan 100% as I mentioned yesterday, I realize that I have made huge strides in the way that I approach the holidays. Anxiety was at bay for the most part and food was not the focus. It felt good.

And finally a random picture:


Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! My son found this in my car floorboard today. It is my ID badge from when I was a teacher a couple of years ago. This just scared me at first. And then it made my day.


Photobucket

11 comments:

Charbelle said...

Keelie you look beautiful love the dress!!! Your main squeeze is a total hottie!! I had my own version of a Thanksgiving day food success, I enjoyed the day, didn't overeat and I figure I sweated/burned a ton of calories while standing there washing the many many many dishes since I had dish duty!!!
Your cabinets look fabulous!! Happy Wednesday!!

Can do mom said...

Love the mission work, love the cabinets, love the family time at the cabin, love the photo of you and your hubby, love your dad's underdog win, love that you are keeping on even after a small setback, love the comparison photos, love your ability to keep a positive outlook.

You truly are an inspiration, Keelie; to me and many others.
Blessings to you!

Anonymous said...

You look simply amazing and happy! I love the comparison pictures and your dress is adorable....so is the hubby!

Molly said...

You did good! Why are we always so hard on ourselves? Why... because we have big expectations and goals and if we weren't hard on ourselves we wouldn't get anywhere! It's what we learned that's important, it's the turn around! Happy day!

Katie said...

Love the pictures! Glad anxiety was under control.

Kate said...

I think the thing I like so much about you is that you're beautiful from the inside out. That old picture says it all.

Also, what an amazing idea for your cupboards. I NEVER would have thought of that!

Unknown said...

Love the cabinets!!! What a neat idea!

The pic at the bottom.. worth a million words. You are beautiful and I'm glad you know it and feel it inside and out :)

Chris@Joyful Mother said...

You are amazing!! Yep you are. :)

Looks like lots and lots of fun with the fam. Your kids are so adorable. Love the target dress....CUTE!!

Can I confess to you??? Back in the summer (when I found your blog) I had made a "commitment" to lose around 50 pounds by my 40th birthday. Wellllll....my birthday is tomorrow and I never lost the 50 pounds. Maybe 10 at the most and I think I gained some back. My life has been a bit stressful lately (not much money) and then I am never motivated to exercise. So that has been placed in the back burner. If I allow it I can really feel so so awful about not meeting my goal and about myself in general. I can really beat myself up about this whole thing. But I just can't allow this failure to bring me down more. I've been down lately anyway with just the struggles with finances etc...

God is currently ministering to my deepest part of my heart. I feel like I still have so much to learn about myself. Anyway...just confessing to you...because I'm sure you can relate to the ups and downs of weight-loss especially before you became successful at it! And you definitely are a SUCCESS!

Chris xoxo

Ginger said...

I LOVE your cabinets; that will have to happen at my house.
Most of all I love your whole attitude; God is using your journey to bless so many others. You can't even fathom the reward.

99ToGo said...

LOVE the cabinets! Love, even more, what you're writing on them :)

The dress is cute, the comparison picture is awesome, and your family is obviously such a blessing for you!! Glad your Thanksgiving went well :)

Kristi said...

Awe, great post!

LOVE the difference between the teacher badge and now! You look Fab! Love the pic of the kiddos painting too! Oh, and you look great for 3 days dirty! Hehe! ;-)