The Journey

My sweet little man is 6 months old. He is so much fun. Tonight he sat on his dad's lap and couldn't keep his eyes off of me. I kept making silly faces at him just to hear his deep chuckle over and over. I do believe I have emerged from the "new baby" stage. What does that mean? Well, for one it means that I can no longer say I'm exhausted from my "new baby". He's pretty close to sleeping through the night and he is on a fairly consistent schedule. It also means that I have no more excuses not to exercise. No more, when the baby sleeps through the night or when I'm rested, or ... you name it, I've probably said it.

Let me give you a little big of background. I have never been much of an exerciser. I played sports in high school. but I really use the word "played" loosely. I was on the volleyball and basketball team, but I was not good. (and I'm not just saying that!!!) In college I had a short time of losing weight in an unhealthy way and then exercising in an unhealthy manner. Thankfully God worked in some mighty ways and that was straightened out before it became habitual. When I lived in Haiti after college, I exercised sporadically, but let's be honest. When it was always 90+ degrees- I mostly just came home from teaching and crashed in front of a fan.

It wasn't until I moved back to the states that I decided to do something about my health. I was pretty quickly adding on the lbs because of all of the great food that was suddenly available to me (no Micky D's in Haiti people). I started watching what I ate and for the first time in my life I started running. I was so blessed to have a dear friend be my running partner and for 3 years we met each morning before work and hit the pavement. I never felt better.

Then I - met my husband, and was married and moved to his town within a year. I quickly realized that running by myself was not my favorite. Not at all. And besides, that about 3 months after saying I do, we were expecting our first baby! And then to sum up the last 3 plus years-exercise=not so much, pregnant, baby weight, slimmed down, pregnant, baby weight, and.. that's where we are now. With lots of baby weight still sticking around.. and remember? My "new" baby- not so new.

I know that some of you have heard of Lysa Terkeurst and her new book Made To Crave. I had a sweet friend give me this book a few weeks back and I just started it this weekend. LOVE. that's all I can say. Another friend told me that she thought that if she could have written it, she would have said the exact same thing. I am only a few chapters in and I already am excited for the journey that God is going to take me on in my desire to be healthy and live a life that pleases Him.

This book isn't a diet book. It's not meant to tell you how to lose weight. It's actually meant to go along with whatever you (I) choose to do to lose weight and be healthy by a Bible study that will help us "want" to.

I am excited about this journey. I've made some steps to start it, like exercising 5 days a week, keeping track of what I eat, but the big part was missing. God needs to be the center of why I do what I do. Without Him, I cannot succeed.

I'm going to take the next few weeks to share what I am learning with you. Please feel free to share any insights with me. And, if you don't mind, would you please pray for me? I can use all the help/support I can get!

Love,

Shan

(PS- I do know that Graham is technically still "new" and that it hasn't been all that long- it's really not about that weight and what the scale says, but feeling good with myself and being happy with my body- you know?)