We're 2 parents and 4 kids who live in Chico, California. We try to serve God every day. We like playing at the park, watching movies, reading books, riding our bikes, and traveling.
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Links
Très Bébé Photo - Our lifestyle portrait photography business. We specialize in captivating portraits of babies, children, pregnancy, and families, and we donate half of our session fees to one of four children's charities.
Divine Reflections Photography - Greg's nature photography business. He offers fine art prints and stock licensing of nature images from across the United States.
La Dolce Vita - Our friend Nancy blogs about her kids, her faith, and her life in general.
Ebispo.com - Erik Dungan blogs about faith, theology, popular culture, Christian entrepreneurship, and technology. Erik has a lot of interests in common with us, so this blog is of particular interest
I am a planner. Not a planner in the super detailed-type-A sort of way, more like life planning, think-through-all-the-possibilities sort of way. I like to think everything through, at times to the point of ridiculousness. After all it is one of my favorite lies to tell myself, if I plan for every possible contingency then maybe I am the one in control? Right. And so it was with that mindset that I have approached my weight loss journey…I thought I had mentally weighed out every possible issue I would be truly challenged with. That was just stupid.
First, I do not need to know the future. A theme seems to be running through my adult life so far and it can be summed up in just one sentence: Do I trust God? Often I will say, "Yes!" and then go back to trying to control things myself…that, dear readers, is NOT trust. And when I recently got the proverbial curve ball thrown at me I could hear God's still small voice ask me yet again, "Do you trust me?" Ever so aware of my lack of strength or my ability to do even do one day on my own, I chose to answer, "Yes." And then I stopped planning…but not before I almost fell back into my familiar pit.
Yes, I was doing great. I was exercising and eating just like I was supposed to… until…
…the reality of the fact that there are certain foods I will NEVER eat again began to sink in and my weight plateaued.
…I struggled to figure out what was next for my professional life.
…both my adult daughters moved back home, and then one moved back out.
…I got into a disagreement with my husband.
…my littles decided to color their bedroom walls.
…I let someone manipulate me into believing I was worthless, yet again.
I could go on. Maybe you can relate to some of those things, maybe you can't. The point is that I was finding myself slipping into that old familiar pit. I was at the edge. And then I forced myself to remember…
…how far I have come. I am not where I want to be, but thank God I am not where I used to be.
…that I can do all things through Christ.
…that it doesn't matter what I do as long as I am doing what God has for me.
…that God is big enough to deal with my kids, and with my big fat feelings.
…that God was the center of my marriage, and I will not give that up.
…that one can always paint walls.
…and that I am NOT worthless.
And then I realized something…
I really am learning how to fight for ME. I really am different…and God is SO not done with me yet. And to think how easy it would have been to just give up, to try to "plan" things out again…to once again choose misery over freedom. And then I had my "ah ha moment", I realized I really am learning how to trust Him. And dear reader, my mind cannot fathom the depth of the power there is in that one statement. No matter what comes, I trust the God of my yesterdays, todays and tomorrows.
For the latest information on my weight loss journey, check out my latest video:
I sat in the doctor's office waiting for what seemed like my 1,000th appointment. I was tired, my body hurt, and I was so sick of being ill. I couldn't remember the last time I had a good night's sleep that lasted for more than a few hours. My body was quite literally attacking itself, and I still had no answers. All the different medications just weren't working, and I quite literally felt like I was falling apart. I felt rather hopeless that today's visit would offer anything new. Probably the same old thing: you just need to lose weight.... Why did they always make it sound so simple? Did they think that somehow over the last 25 years I had missed the fact that I was fat? It just wasn't that simple, and I knew even as I sat there that a diet was just not the cure. If it was, then all those costly programs I had participated in over the years would have worked.
December 2011 [Click the picture to enlarge]
A slender, handsome young nurse called out my name to check me in. Great, I thought to myself, maybe I won't have to get on the scale THIS time. No such chance. "Please step on the scale, Crystal," he requested. I took in a deep breath and stepped on. Every muscle in my face cringed. The number ping ponged around until it landed on THE number. Tears filled my eyes as I stared down. 311 lbs. What? Was that right? How DID I get here? I had promised myself I would NEVER be one of those people; I would never get into the 300's. Yet, there I was. Surely the visit could not get worse then this.
It's time for a new list of goals and dreams. Some of these should be fairly easy, some of them will be extremely challenging, and some will depend a lot on available time and money. Some of the items are just for fun, and some are very serious life goals. Some items are unfinished ones from my first 101 things project, and some are completely new. I'm not going to live my life solely to accomplish everything on this list, but I am going to use it to remind myself of some of the things I'd like to accomplish over the next three years.
And now, here's the list, which will be updated as I go.
On the Waterfront – Jan 21, 2011
Stagecoach – Jan 27, 2011
Blackmail – Feb 3, 2011
The Jazz Singer – Mar 11, 2011
Duck Soup – Oct 12, 2011
High Noon – Jan 10, 2012
Breakfast at Tiffany's – Jan 13, 2012
Dirty Harry – Feb 14, 2012
069. Purchase a headstone for the grave of the twins
070. Build or purchase a touring bike
071. Purchase at least one canvas of our family to hang in the living room [December 8, 2010]
072. Purchase 2 books for my photo book collection [2/2]
On This Earth: Photographs from East Africa (Nick Brandt) – January 10, 2011
Chased by the Light: A 90-Day Journey (Jim Brandenburg) – January 27, 2012
073. Design and purchase our wedding album
074. Buy a new tripod
075. Build a $1000 emergency fund
Photo Business
076. Take a winter photography trip to Yosemite
077. Photograph waterfalls in North Carolina in the spring
078. Have a new logo designed for Divine Reflections Photography
CSU, Chico has a program that allows local elementary school students to attend top-notch performances during the school year. Today, Emily got to see the musical A Year with Frog and Toad, and I got to go with her. We both enjoyed ourselves. She was captivated for pretty much the whole time, and I liked the music. (Don't laugh; the cast was talented!) Besides, it was great Daddy-daughter bonding time.
I've checked another goal off my 101 Things list: the photo stream in the left sidebar is now automated. It pulls family photos from our photography business site as they are added. I hope you enjoy this new site feature!
Crystal posted a picture of a pot of my chili over on the Très Bébé blog, and several people have asked about the recipe. So, here it is. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt and ground black pepper, to taste
2qt bottle of tomato juice, preferably low sodium
1 can chopped mild green chiles
2 14oz cans red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 14oz cans small white beans or pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 14oz can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp cumin
¼ c chili powder (adjust to taste)
½ tsp ground red pepper (adjust to taste)
salt and ground black pepper to taste
Directions
Brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic. Season with salt and ground black pepper to taste.
Add all the other ingredients and stir well.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for as long as you can stand to wait.
Serve with toppings as desired. We like shredded cheese and sour cream. And corn bread on the side.
Notes
You could also do this with dried beans instead of canned. It would probably be even better, but we use cans because I don't typically have the time to soak and pre-cook beans.
This recipe is a modified version of the chili that I ate at home growing up. So, my Mom gets quite a bit of credit for this.
It's not malicious, mind you. I just tend to get really busy and forget to water them. Or I'll get busy and forget to bring them in from the cold. Or I'll get busy and let the weeds totally choke them out. Or, worst of all, I'll actually keep them alive and then get too busy to harvest the crop at the end of the season.
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