Slogging along

When you are sick don't you just feel so much more weighted down? Its harder to get things done you had planned and stuff starts backing up and before you know it you are faced with a dirty house, a mountain of laundry, incomplete school work, days behind in the bible study, eating poorly, and just feeling miserable. I got a cold. The worst day was Monday when it moved into my chest and I was hacking up a lung, or at least it felt that way. As usual when I get sick, I didn't feel like doing much so no exercise, and we ordered dinner out 3 times! Not good when you are trying to lose wight and get fit. I went ahead and weighed myself today and my scale is kind of well, crappy, so it can be hard to read. I either stayed the same this week or lost 1 pound. Either way I am happy with that, because I know what I did, and at least I didn't gain.

I do have to give all praises to God because I asked people to pray for me for this cold/cough to go away and today I feel so much better! Usually when a cold moves into my chest its there for weeks so I am so happy to feel like I am on the upswing of this. I really wanted to get better fast because I had to miss bible study yesterday due to my coughing and I didn't want to miss my last MOTs meeting today, and we are going to The Living Desert Reserve tomorrow with the Yucaipa Moms group and are supposed to be able to feed the giraffes! *Julie if you are reading this I should have invited you to join us, I didn't think about it until just now. If you are free you are welcome to come, we are meeting there at 9am. Let me know.* Then Friday is Elijah's 6th birthday and we are taking him to the Yucaipa Regional park because he said he wants to go fishing and catch his first fish. I sure hope he does. We have about 40 people who have confirmed that they will be joining us there for his birthday party so I am really excited about that for Elijah. It is such a blessing to have friends and loved ones who can come out on a Friday morning to celebrate with you and enjoy nature. I remember when Elijah turned 3 we didn't even have a party for him because we didn't have anyone to invite. Our friends had moved away, and we didn't know anyone local. So much has changed for the better since then. Oh yeah, I also have to give another shout out to God. A few days ago I was going over our list of RSVPs for the party and was adding up the cost since we will be paying the vehicle entrance fees to the park for people coming, and fishing fees and I got a surprise envelope on my front door. My neighbor who is a strong Christian left us a card thanking us for letting him park his car in our driveway. Its been about 9 months to a year that he has stored his car there and he thanked us for letting him do so, and left us $100 cash! He signed the card, "In His service" and I really think he was following God's will. That was totally God's perfect timing in action. That money will cover all the fees for the party so we can just enjoy ourselves and not worry about the cost. My mom offered to pick up all the meat for our BBQ which is another huge blessing. So, Yay!

I would like to take a moment to comment on the inauguration yesterday. I watched it in awe of seeing so many people braving the cold to watch this historic event. I must say I did tear up watching it. I couldn't help feeling moved by the importance of the day, the hope in so many people's faces, the fact that we now have our first African-American President, the fact that we live in a country that has peacefully changed leadership 44 times! I was also very moved by the prayers said during the invocation and benediction. God is still in the hearts of so many people in this country. I thought the First family looked incredible! Michelle Obama's yellow dress really stood out in a good way, although I could have done without the green gloves. The two daughters were so cute, and are such beautiful girls! I pray for our new president and all of our country's leadership to make wise decisions for us, and that this change will be for the better.