Good News!

Steve got a call from the Doctor yesterday. He is cancer free! :) What a relief and thanks for your prayers.

Atheist

Penn Jillette is a well-known atheist. He is the taller, louder half of the magic and comedy act Penn and Teller. He is the one who said, “I cross the word ‘God’ off every bill I touch…” He said, “I'm beyond atheism.” Listen to what Penn says when a man gives him a Bible... Very convicting.

Update

Here's an update for everyone. Steve had a mole taken off last week. It came back with Melanoma in it. Yesterday he had to go to get more taken out to make sure they got it all and that it hadn't spread. It was a bigger deal than we realized. Here's what we saw this morning when we took the band aid off. Pray for the results to come back clear. Don't want anymore of this stuff happening. Wear your sunblock people!

Love/Hate relationship

I now have a love/hate relationship with the snow plow guy. Thank goodness they are able to plow our roads or we'd all be stuck. Even trucks are getting stuck in this deep stuff. But we have shoveled and shoveled and every time the snow plow comes by we shovel again. Isn't there some way to plow without filling peoples driveways after they've just spent two hours already that morning shoveling? It is a lot of snow! This morning Steve was at the doctor and the plow went past. So Keith and I bundled up and headed out. My ribs are killing me! I can only imagine what Steve and Jay are feeling because they've dealt with all the snow drifts too! Let me tell you that was a chore. At least the wind has died down. Right now the snow is still falling. I am now the sole shoveler because Steve can't do any physical activity for the next two days. Guess I will be one buff shoveling snow queen by the time this week is over. I'm just praying for no more snow, but I know that wont happen. The only day we're not supposed to get snow is tomorrow. Well, there's not much you can do about it. You just have to suck it up and deal with it! :) Happy shoveling!

Here is one video of Jay knocking snow off his roof. I have one more, but haven't been able to get it posted yet. I'll keep trying because you can see the other one better!

News Report

Here's the latest news in our neck of the woods. :)


The current snowstorm set a single-day record as 19.4 inches of snow fell at International Airport today.
The previous record was 13 inches accumulated in 1950
Major thoroughfares in the city are continuously being plowed, but continuous snowfall has kept driving to a minimum.
Authorities are asking motorists to stay home unless it is absolutely necessary.

Most major school districts and daycare facilities have shut down.
Several school districts began cancelling classes for Friday by 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Officials at the hospital had to cancel all non-emergency procedures today. Those scheduled for elective surgeries are being asked to call their physicians to reschedule.
City Hall shut down.
Meanwhile, bitter cold temperatures will continue throughout the rest of the week, with overnight lows Saturday and Sunday reaching eight below zero and five belo zero respectively.
Authorities advise people to wear layers of protective clothing because exposed skin can freeze in a matter of minutes.

Snow Day

We are officially snowed in today. There will be no going anywhere! The city has closed their streets. But, it has been fun. We've been shoveling snow, eating waffles and pancakes at the neighbors house, playing rock band, and just enjoying the canceling of all activities. It is crazy the amount of snow we've gotten. It's been snowing for over 24 hours, and isn't showing any signs of stopping! Pretty sure records will be broken. I thought you'd enjoy some fun pictures from this morning. For those of you snowed in I hope you're staying toasty warm and safe today. Enjoy the slowed pace of the day. I don't know about you, but it's taken me a bit to just say "Oh well, everything will have to wait! I'm just going to relax and do nothing but play." The kids and Steve out shoveling us out this morning. It was so deep we couldn't use the snow blower! Jay looks like a snow monster all bundled up! He must be from Alaska. Kelly didn't want to miss out on the action! Keith wasn't to thrilled to be out working. Here's a new way to arrange a flower pot. Keith worked hard he deserves some hot chocolate.

Neighbors helping neighbors....I think.

Close to finished. Jay really did work too, he didn't just stand around the whole time. :)

This first picture is taken at our neighbors at 10:51 AM. We thought the snow coming off the roof looked cool.


This picture is taken at 11:55 Am and hour later. Look how much more snow.

Cheering for EWU basketball game

Kelly got to cheer at the Eastern Washington University basketball game last weekend. She did such a great job and was so stinking cute! As I was fixing her hair for the performance she said: "Mom I love cheering!" She is having a great time doing this. If you want to see the pictures bigger, just click on the photos. Thank you Coach D.J. for all your hard work.

Good Quote!

"Evangelism and theology for the most part go separate ways, and the result is great loss for both. When theology is not held on course by the demands of evangelistic communication, it grows abstract and speculative, wayward in method, theoretical in interest and irresponsible in stance. When evangelism is not fertilized, fed and controlled by theology, it becomes a stylized performance seeking its effect through manipulative skills rather than the power of vision and the force of truth. Both theology and evangelism are then, in one important sense, unreal, false to their own God-given nature; for all true theology has an evangelistic thrust, and all true evangelism is theology in action." J.I. Packer

Good Day!

I weighed in and lost 1.2 pounds last week. Pretty impressive considering it was Thanksgiving. :) Only .2 to go to goal! Then I got home and Steve had gotten high speed internet. FINALLY! Blogging will be so much easier now. :) No excuses not to keep you up-to-date.

Day after Thanksgiving

Usually, I try very hard to just stay home on the busiest shopping day of the year. No sale is worth the crowds you encounter in my opinion. I know a lot of you love it, but my patience with people rushing around to get the very best deal possible wears thin. But, this year with my sis being in town, we headed out in the afternoon, and evening and met up with Mom, Dad, Kristin and Theresa downtown. It was not as busy as we thought it would be. And we really had a great time. Keith was at a friends birthday party so we only had Kelly and she got to do some shopping with all of us catering to her every need. :) Mom planned on getting her a new winter jacket, so we headed to Nordstroms and got to shopping. She wound up with new jacket, new dress with adorable shoes to match and a new pair of Keen winter boots. (Very cool!) I wish I had pictures of all that, but they were all on Mom's camera. Kelly at one point got very shy and would barley speak and I asked her later why she did that and she said, "I'm not used to having Grandpa and Daddy shopping with me." The funny thing about that is she was just trying on shoes at the time. :) Crazy kid. When we were done shopping, we went to a movie (Madagascar 2), then went our separate ways. It was fun, and I'm glad I headed out. Here are a couple of pictures from the evening. Downtown is always so beautiful and festive at this time of year. I love it!

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My sister, Uncle Kit, Aunt Jan, Adam, and my sisters friend Theresea came to visit. We all went to Mom and Dad's house to enjoy thanksgiving dinner. I thought I'd pass on some pictures to give an idea of our day.

Uncle Kit, Aunt Jan, Mom and Dad

Adam, Keith, and Steve hanging out in the livingroom.




The ladies decided it would be a good idea for the men to serve us dessert. :) We did not make it easy on them with our many demands, but they were good sports and it was a lot of fun. :)





Uncle Kit, Aunt Jan and Adam spent the night at our house. It was a lot of fun having them to ourselves. Of course the kids were so excited to have Adam spending the night. :)

We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. But mostly I'm thankful for the relationship I have with the Lord Jesus Christ, and for the family and friends he has blessed me with. I hope your thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine, and you were able to take a moment to thank God for all he has done for you! :)

Did it!

I did it! I made my goal. I started in Feb. 2008 and have made my goal on Dec. 8th 2008. I've lost 49 pounds! Here are some before pictures. These pictures show how far I've come. :)

And now for a current picture! :)

It was a little tricky getting Keith to take a good picture of me, this was as close as we could get! I just want to thank EVERYONE for being so supportive. I could not have been as successful without your help and encouragment. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true. I had people calculating my points before having us over for dinner. People calling on Monday's to check in to see how I'd done through the week. (I hated the few times I had to say I'd gained!) People made sure wherever we were eating, it had something that would be easy for me to figure my points. No one ever invited us to a buffet. Thank you very much. And others told me I inspired them to loose weight too. This meant a lot to me. So even though I know it sounds chessy, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I've been asked if I'm going to lose even more weight, and so far I'm pretty happy with where I'm at. But, I think I will lose a few more pounds just so I can easily stay under my goal weight so that I don't have to start paying for weight watchers again! I've gone from a size 18 to a size 8. You have no idea how wonderful I feel. I'm so happy to have made this lifestyle change, and to not have to sneek off with peoples cameras to delete photo's of myself. I can stand tall again. :)

A Beautifully Wonderful Perfect Day

I've stolen the title today from a blog I would like everyone to read. It is a family down in Texas that just gave birth to conjoined twins. I'll let their blog speak for itself, but it touched my heart, and I know they could use continued prayers from as many as possible. Check it out, but have some tissues near by.

www.goodtimesdelgadostyle.blogspot.com

Halloween

We had a really fun Halloween. This year everyone got involved. We went for dinner and trick-or-treating at Erin and Scott's house. All the adults at the last minute pulled together costumes but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Thank you Scott and Erin for opening your home to us and providing a wonderful meal.

Healthy Weight!

I just realized today that after Monday's weigh in, I am no longer considered overweight! I am now within my Healthy weight range for my height and age. :) Wow!!! That is awesome. I'm going to go get some sushi! :)

Appledays

Every year we try to make it to Appledays. Some years we've gone with family, some years with friends. This year we went with our friends the Carvers. Erin and Scott have three wonderful boys that Steve and I adore.






Brandon is Keith's very dear friend





Ryan and Kelly are future husband and wife, (If Erin and I have any say in it) :)






Aidan their four year old is just loved by everyone.





The event really started on Thursday night when we went to the Carvers to make apple pies for the apple pie contest.















The only year Steve has gotten a higher award than me was the year he entered into the contest as a man and he was the only man in the contest. Every other year I have placed higher than him. (For the record!) This year Scott and Steve entered a pie together, and Erin and I entered a pie together.

Carver's couldn't join us until Saturday afternoon, so we went up Friday so we could enter the pies Saturday morning. Now, there is a small question as to whether or not Steve switched the pies, but he's not fessing up to it, so I guess we have to take him at his word. Next year (even if it's raining) I'm walking the girl pie up to the judging table myself. I do have to give the guys credit though, they did win third place in the woman's division as Stephanie Carver, Erin and I did not place.

Carver's joined us around 1:00, we headed to Country Boy BBQ. It lived up to it's name, and had a very entertaining pig we all had to climb on, and the food was really yummy.


Then we headed to Leavenworth. Erin and I walked around a bit with Ryan, Kelly and Aidan, while the Dads and Keith and Brandon handed out tracks and tried to witness to drunk people. :) (It was the first weekend of Oktoberfest) Even Ryan and Kelly got into handing out Million Dollar Bills. One guy just would not take one from Ryan, but Ryan was persistent. Finally the guys girlfriend said "Just take it from the kid!", so he took it. As they were walking away, the girlfriend said to the guy, "Anytime a kid tries to give you something that's not covered in snot, you always take it and say thank you!" Maybe they'll read the back and remember that cute kid that was insistent that they look at the Million dollar question on the back.

The rest of the weekend was spent at the cabin with a quick trip to Tall Timber Ranch (the church camp I went to growing up). We visited the ropes course at the camp and the adults sucked at balancing on the log. The kids did great.




Of course every night we were up late playing cards and laughing. One game Steve, Erin and I totally cheated while Scott was distracted with kids because Scott was beating us horribly, but Erin I and did beat the guys at Rook. Fair and Square. :) (By the way Scott and Erin did you know it's easier to set someone if they bid 85 instead of 80?)

We had a wonderful campfire where we found out Scott has named himself "The fire master" Steve messed with him by giving him wet logs which Scott did not appreciate. Poor Scott, I think he got picked on that weekend. :) But we wound up with a beautiful warm fire, roasted marshmallows, and ate smores.




The last day there we took a walk along the river. Ryan and Kelly wanted to climb a big rock surrounded by water. Neither one ended up in the river. Which was impressive.


Thanks for the wonderful weekend Carvers! We are so truly blessed to have you all in our life. We look forward to many more times spent with you and eventually for the girls to beat the guys in pie baking. :)