Today is August 12th! I can't believe that 21 years ago this morning, Andrew and I drove to Alexandria, Louisiana to embark on our new life. We became parents for the first time!

At 3:46 in the afternoon we said hello to Amanda Lauren Thomason. Wow! Where have all those years gone? I can't believe my first born is now officially an adult. It is almost as scary as it was all those years ago. We now move into a different phase of life with her. We have raised her, for good or bad, she is the woman that we raised her to be.

Which with a first born seems like a trial and error type thing. As first time parents, we made mistakes and had to learn from those mistakes. However, in spite of our clumsy attempts, she turned out well.

Would I do something differently? Yes. Am I thankful for the person she has become? Yes! But I don't take the credit for that, I owe God all the credit. Without Him and His help, things wouldn't have turned out as well. So I just want to say Thank you Jesus for the precious gift you gave to me 21 years ago today. And thank you for seeing us through those 21 years, guiding us and helping us to bring her up the way she should go. I trust you to continue to guide her and lead her throughout her life.

Andrew celebrated his 44th birthday on Monday. And we will celebrate 22 years of marriage August 27th. So we have a lot going on in the month of August.

My parents are coming up for a visit. They are planning to head this way on Sunday or Monday. Be glad to see them. I wish they would come more often and stay longer when they come.

Andrew and I had planned to run our first 5K this weekend. However, due to unexpected circumstances, we aren't going to be able to participate. The problem? Lauren has to work early that morning and Megan has a lock in the night before. So that left no one to be at home to see to my little man. We decided that we would forgo the 5K run so Megan could participate with the youth group. There are always other runs...in fact, I found the perfect first 5K for us to run. September 18th is the Asheville Citizen-Times 5K and half marathon. So we decided since my parents are going to be here, and since August 27th is our anniversary...we are going to go to Asheville for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary and run the 5K! I am so excited about this. Asheville is one of my favorite cities anyway. I attended University of North Carolina in Asheville for a short time many years ago. I fell in love with the city then and have always dreamed of one day living in the area again. So how great is it that I can go there to do something that I have dreamed of doing for years...running in a race! Even though it is only a 5K, it is a start and "the journey of a thousand miles" begins with a first step!

Have you seen these things? These Kettlebells? I first saw them on The Biggest Loser and then I started seeing them in the workout magazines. I really wondered if it lived up to the hype. After finding this workout in Prevention Magazine I decided to buy one an give it a try. Today was my second day of doing the 20 minute workout and I have to say, Wow! I am sore! It is moving muscles that I haven't worked lately, that is for sure. The workout is designed to be done three days a week plus cardio on the other days and it touts that you can lose 11 pounds! We will see...Since my weight loss has not just stalled, but stopped, I needed to do something to kick it up a notch, so hopefully this will do it! We will see. I am going to continue to run three days a week and train for the 5K next month, along with the kettlebell workout three days a week and we will see if I can lose some weight between now and the Asheville Weekend!

Today's Quotes

"The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangable, and achieves the impossible."

~unknown~

"Oh, my friend, it's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you have left."

~Hubert Humphrey~

"So often times it happens, we all live our lives in chains, and we never even know we have the key."
~The Eagles~ Already Gone

"The greatest discovery is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes."
~William James~