Yet another day

Alright, I skipped a day.  Mr. Christy (Mr. HD Maven) and I discussed my pictures (which he took) for my "before" pictures... and he was obviously NOT okay with my posting on them on the mighty worldwideweb for the entire world to see.  I can't say I was super excited about it, but for completely different reasons.  God made men and women so uniquely different- it amazes me how differently we see things sometimes.  It's kinda cool, I have to say.  I've learned to appreciate these differences rather than fight them every time they come up.  Which is often- because we're different. 

So, I'll share this awesome picture from last July that shows what great shape I was in.

That is my beautiful daughter, Isabella with me- but I'm that large lady on the right... with a very complimentary outfit on... let's just not get in to that.  It was hot.  I'm letting it go.  I'll share yet another view...

This is an even awesomer picture!  Mr. Christy likes to play paparazzi when he has the camera and this type of candid shot is his specialty.  If I didn't treasure EVERY picture of my beautiful daughter so much, I would have deleted all of them. Sorry Mr. Christy. 

I'm not going to dwell on these photos, but my point is, last summer, I weighed about 40 pounds more than I do right now.  It was hot.  It was miserable.  And I don't want to "go back there."  But, as I said before- it will be by God's grace.  Nothing in me has the self control or will power to not overindulge on a regular basis.  I pray for God to protect me in this area- because His grace is sufficient- in EVERYTHING.  (People need to know this.  God cares about the little stuff- that's a BIG DEAL to me.)

On that note- be blessed today in all you do. 

~HD Maven

The beginning

Nearly 7 years ago I thought about starting a blog... about our impending move from the "big city" to, well, the wilderness.  I thought about it, but never got around to it.  It was going to be all fun & informative about the city girl marrying the country boy and moving to the country... and getting my first opportunity to feed baby cows, have some chickens, and share my cooking adventures (is this sounding at all familiar?)  Well, it's never too late to start- and I'm pretty sure I have so much more to say now- ha! 

I will start with my most recent adventures, which involve the misery (and glory) of losing weight.  And continuing to cook and bake and LIVE.  These are mysteries to those of us who struggle with our weight.  Can I cook, and bake, and not gain weight?  I can!  I promise you, I cannot do it on my own, however.  I pray- daily, hourly, regularly for self control in this area.  I struggle.  It is what it is.  We all have our vices, and FOOD is certainly one of mine.  The curse is that I'm a good cook.  Really.  I'm not just saying that.  People have told me!  (And by people, I mean friends who know I'll hurt them if they don't tell me how good my cooking is)... but I digress.... I've also come to acknowledge that cooking/baking is one of my spiritual gifts- really, the act of service, I suppose.  It seems ironic that it's a vice (for me) and yet a gift.  Weird. 

I'm preparing to post my "before" pictures.  This takes the utmost humility, which I can say is NOT my strongest gift.  I'm embarrassed.  Humiliated.  Ashamed.... but I will post them.  Just not today.  I think I might be ready tomorrow- we shall see.  Stay in touch, you don't want to miss this kind of humiliation for anyone, really. 

~ H.D. Maven