Monday, July 26th, 2010

What a Whirlwind

Our vacation didn't go as planned. Instead of relaxing at the river, while tent camping, for 1 week we were delayed by rain, then rained out and had to leave our tent and air matress. It stormed the whole week we were there. However, because we weren't at the campground we were able to see a lot more friends and family. We got to camp one night with Julie, Shawn and Jareth. We got to have dinner with my dear friends Emily & Aaron and their daughter, Audrey, and Kim with her son Riley. We had lunch with Stephanie on Wednesday, lunch with Dianne on Thursday and had dinner at my 'foster' parents house Dale & Dedee Thursday night.

My sister was wonderful the night of her LPN pinning ceremony. She's so beautiful, talented, and ambitious. We're so proud of her and are tremendously grateful that we got to share in that celebration with her and the whole family. She'll be entering the Bridge Program to get her RN next January. For now she works . . .

As soon as we got home I jumped in, head first, to the Back to School Outreach at church. We provide backpacks and school supplies for kids who need them. We start passing out packs at 8 a.m. and the families are lined up before 6 a.m. We did things a little differently this year. We didn't get as many donations from the congregation as we'd hoped so the budgeted money ran a little thin. I got to shop all week for supplies and packs. I love shopping for the kids!! We organized, counted and separated the supplies on Thursday and rested on Friday. I was so excited on Friday night that I could not sleep. The alarm went off at 5am on Saturday; I was at the church by 6:20 and hit the ground running. Things were very different. And somehow we ran out of supplies before backpacks. We handed out 524 packs (of the 500 goal) and supplies. It's so much fun to see the kids and parents get excited and be grateful for the volunteers and the outreach.

Now that that is over, I get to foucs on Hawai'i!! I had to buy some new shorts as all mine require safety pins to stay up. :) Since my birthday 5 weeks ago, I've given up refined sugar, high fat and carbs. I've lost 10 pounds in 5 weeks. I'm back down to the same weight I was when I went into the hospital in Dec. My blood sugar is on target, and I'm feeling great! The shopping is fun; for the first time in years the even didn't end in tears and depression! I even bought a "little black dress" that fits and is super flattering!!

I have lots of things that need to be done before our 9-day countdown is up! My mind is racing. We've both been on overdrive since July 7th. We will need Hawai'i to relax, but I am sure we'll need to relax even when we get home because we'll be on super overdrive while we're there to make the most of our trip.

Exciting times!!!