Christmas Remarks

Well, here I am some 24 hours after the madness that is Christmas in my family started. Now there is time to sit and reflect on the joy and fun that only comes during this special time of year. The tradition in my family is to first open our presents, go and visit with my dads family and then have my have everyone here at my house for presents and dinner, followed by some sort of board game, usually Trivial Pursuit. (And the only way to play is the boys vs. girls) 

Working my way through the day, i have to admit first that it is hard to not snack at all. So I refuse to weigh myself for a while. I am also not going to beat myself up for snacking, because it is Christmas after all. So I wont give up and I'll keep working on the list of things that I want to do.

I have finally gotten to posting this on the 27th, after i arrived in california for family vacation. I will get up and post some tomorrow the 28th

Security

Good Morning... 

Yesterday proved to be a rather unproductive day, spent trying to stay warm. I realized that when I am not warm, I have serious trouble getting going for the day. I guess that might confirm that God doesn't want me to move to the Antarctic. :D but maybe He does, I don't know. 

This mornings reading came from the book of Colossians and was about how in Christ our lives are hidden which Chambers manifested as solid ground. Noting that if we are following God's path provides security that cannot be found elsewhere. If we do what is recorded in the Gospel of John, and walk in the Light that is Christ and not let our hearts be troubled then surely we can be given the peace of Christ. We are in the season of Advent, our hearts have been preparing for the entrance of our Savior into the World. Tomorrow is the day that we celebrate His arrival, and the Light that we are to follow will be born into the world. No more do we have to live with troubled hearts, and finally peace shall be in our lives, because our paths will be made clear. Like Mary we need to guard the words of the Lord in our heart to ponder what they mean. However we cannot just leave them in our hearts, it is mandatory to act upon the things we learn when we ponder them. Today the goal is to walk in the Light, because it is here. God Bless!!

The Problem

A Post regarding my financial and weight goals
A lot of things clicked for me the other day while I was bumming around my house doing odds and ends that still need to be finished when I go home today. One thing I did was watch the BBC show, You Are What You Eat. There was a man on the show the yesterday who had some similar problems to myself. One of them was that he had a serious drinking problem.
Now, I don't necessarily thing that I drink as much as he does but i know i drink more than I should, and sometimes even for bad reasons. That is something that I am in the process of working on right now. Let me explain a little bit. I have a hard time dealing with what i precieve to be negative or unpleasent emotions (guilt, shame, etc), and when I am faced with dealing with them I have a drink to try and aliviate the problem. NOT good. Secondly I tend to drink more when I am in situations that are forgien to me, and that I am not comfortable in. Again, NOT good. So thats the first part of my 'drinking' that I need to work on, is not using it for those reasons. The next part of the drinking for me that links back to the show is related to the weight issues that I am trying to work on. Not only does it have sugars and calories that I cannot afford, it also gets me eatting more than I need to. So yeah, drinking the way i am now = not a good way to obtain my weight and financial goals. By not drinking I can allow God to help me move through those emotional problems and learn to deal with them accordingly.
The other part of the show that I thought was cool, was that she mentioned how vitally important it was to eat breakfast and not snack through out the day. Jillian mentioned that when one doesn't eat breakfast they are more likely to snack throughout the rest of the day. All this being said, I have resolved the following solution for my weight goal, atleast for now.
1. I am going to stop snacking.
2. I am going to cut back the drinks. (GO FOR THE WATER)
3. Join Curves for exercise.
Yesterday I also made progress regarding my financial status. It wasn't alot, but as I was putting away stuff that I brought home from school, I went through and decided to sell some textbooks of mine that I no longer needed. I was already promised money for some books from this past semester so I added them together with some books from the past and made over a $100. With that money I am going to join Curves and spend money on next semesters textbooks. (hopefully I wont have to spend too much money) but we'll see, you never know with Gordon.

Thats all I have for today, by thursday I will have joined Curves (i hope) and started my no snacking routine. I'll keep you updated on how that goes. I will have also taken the spiritual gifts inventory for my internship. God Bless

7 months and counting

Here I am, a little over 7 months away from one of the biggest moves of my life. August 1st mark's the first day of my internship in Modesto California. Im not scared or nervous yet, but I know as the days start to count down and I get ready for this big move the nerves will start to kick in. There are plenty of things that have to happen between now and then, if I want to maximize my time there. I think the biggest thing that needs to happen, is just a sheer dependence upon God, that He will move me in the right direction.

What is Modesto? At Gordon I am a youth min / Spanish double major and I am packing up to go to Modesto for a year long internship (August to May) with Youth For Christ. YFC is a parachurch ministry that is working with both english and hispanic speaking youth in the city of Modesto. I am going for the 8 months to work with the hispanic population. It is different than time away in Spain, in that I will have more responsibilities. (i.e. I have to pay for housing and food, even do my laundry) I know it is a time in which God will stretch me and grow me.

This blog is really my attempt to keep not only myself, but others who may be interested updated on how God moves me, and how my life changes. Here are a few things to expect...

1. Official approval of my internship --> I have already received unofficial approval, but I have to put in the paperwork, and that comes in January. So look forward to hearing about that.

2. Walking at Graduation --> Despite the fact that I will still have an internship, I am petitioning to walk in May with my class and complete the credits by Dec 2009. I have been reassured that this should not be a big deal,and that I should have no problem. I'll let you know when the petition goes through.

3. Weight struggle --> something that I have been struggling with since, oh goodness I don't know when. Lets just say, as long as I can remember. So I had a great break through in Spain, from all the walking, and was able to lose weight, and well American way of life and allowed me to gain it back and then some. I am looking forward to making a difference, once and for all. This may be a subject of many blogs, as I know it will take a lot of time and energy. My personal goal, is to lose 50 lbs, which gives me about 10 lbs a month. I'll keep everyone updated. and hopefully ya'll will see the results.

4. Finances --> Like I said, I am going to be paying rent and everything of that nature. For the first part of my internship, I need to be doing full time work, which will not allow for outside or income. The second part will be part time, and I can do some part time work to make money. All that to be said, I need to watch what I spend money on, and start saving for the coming year to be prepared.

Anyways, I think its time to get to bed, and rest, up tomorrow to clean my room.