A Visit With Friends

Well, this picture was taken the Saturday before Christmas when Mike's parents and brother were down visiting. The couple on the left in the picture is John and Robin Beaton, friends from Guam. I'm very thankful that we live in the same general area (about 40 minutes away) as the Beatons. We've enjoyed several opportunities to get together with them and each time walk away being thankful for the fellowship. Once again, our friends from Guam often end up feeling a lot more like family than just friends. Thanks to the Beatons for always welcoming us in and letting us know when other friends from Guam are traveling through.

Test. My blog has been down much of tonight, so I'm testing to see if it is back up.

Well, I thought I would report in on the diet progress. I'm now 31 pounds down. I have 19 more to go. I've had a few weeks of slow going where I only lost a half pound each week, but I guess that is better than gaining and I made it through the entire holiday season and continued to lose rather than gain. So, I try to use that to encourage me when I get frustrated that the weight is coming off more slowly now.

Cody in the Bathtub

Okay, I promise that ALL of our blogs won't have to do with Cody, but he is still the new and exciting in our house. The other day, Mike got up early and left for work. He took Cody out and played with him a little before leaving. I should have had another hour and a half of sleep, but Cody didn't think so. He pestered me until I finally got up. He was just a wild boy that day running around the house like a maniac. I was in the office working when I heard his metal tag clanging against the bathtub and found him hidden in there. He was just so cute peeking around the corner that I had to snap a quick pic.

My Boys

Mike's Christmas Present - Cody

Meet Cody, the newest member of our family. Mike has always loved Rottweilers and I started looking for one to get him for Christmas. Because I wanted him to be involved in the decision, he knew ahead of time, but that is okay. We went and looked at a 3 year old, but to be frank, the dog scared me to death. It was then that I came to the realization that I would need the dog to start out a little smaller and grow with me so I wouldn't be afraid of it eating me.

I found a breeder who had 3 month old puppies for sale, so I decided to call. She told me that she actually had a 5 month old boy who was crate-trained, house-trained and leash-trained. He also was recently neutered, so that is an expense we won't have later on.

So, we went to see him last Saturday and he is a beautiful dog. He has a very sweet personality and has already settled in well with us. The last two nights he has slept out of the crate and just camps out by the front door, without wandering around looking for trouble. The Lord really blessed us in finding the perfect dog - I anticipate that he'll be a great companion for years to come.

Suz

In the beginning of November, my friend, Susan Wagar, came down from NBBC to see the NBBC soccer players play in the Nationals tournament that happened to be only an hour from my house. She stayed with me and we travelled back and forth to the games. I finally got the film developed, so here is the pic of us at the soccer game.

Susan is one of those friends that you gain in college and hope to have for the rest of life. I got to know her through riding with her (and Linda Lewis and Joy Wagner) to church at Grace in Iron Mountain (back in the days when Grace still had an evening service and it wasn't quite as hip and cool to go there for the two services, do all your shopping and get back to campus by 3:30 p.m.). We had tons of fun and began developing a great friendship. She took care of me when I received my volleyball concussion and was there for me to cry on when I broke off my promise-ring-almost-engagement relationship. I have tons of NBBC memories that have her in them.

Having Susan for a friend made my college days at NBBC much better and I'm thankful that the Lord allowed our paths to cross. She was definitely a positive influence on me and she even allowed me to graduate (even though I accidentally called her "Suz" instead of "Miss Wagar" in one class). OOPS. :)

I'm a believer.

Well, a little over 9 weeks ago, I decided that it was time to do make a serious change in where my body weight was heading. I had gained a fair amount of weight since getting married (something as a single woman I vowed wouldn't happen to me) and needed to turn the weight gain around.

After watching several of the commercials, I began thinking about the Nutrisystem program as advertised on tv. It sounded like just what might help me as it would teach me proper portion sizing and types of foods to eat and could be something I'd learn from long-term and not just a quick diet.

So, with my husband's full support (though he has NEVER criticized me or made me feel bad about my weight, just accepts me completely as I am no matter what size), I ordered the system and began the diet. We figured that by not eating out, drinking pop, etc, it wouldn't impact our food budget as much and is a good investment into my future health.

The current result being this: after 9 weeks, I've lost 24.5 pounds. I'd actually lost that much after 8 weeks, but maintained the week of Thanksgiving without going up or down. My goal is another 25.5 pounds and I'd like to make that by the middle of February at the latest. I'm committed to see this happen.

I love the food, love the diet and would recommend it to anyone. They say "results not typical", but I think that is just because society is law-suit driven and I can totally see someone not following the diet, not having good results and trying to sue them. If you follow the diet, you will be full and yet feel better each and every day. It has even helped me lose weight in weeks when I didn't have ANY time to exercise. I love feeling my tummy shrink and starting to get back in clothes that only depressed me 9 weeks ago and seemed impossible to go back to.

So anyway, just thought I would share my success with you. Once I'm done with my goal, I'll post before and after pictures.

The Viking Guys

My Dad is a complete Minnesota fan. He loves the Vikings, the Gophers, the Twins and any other team that calls Minnesota home. So, my sister, Danelle, had this brilliant idea that for Christmas the 4 of us girls get my Dad an inflatable Vikings guy. We also decided that if we gave it to him at Christmas that it would be a little late as football season would be almost over. So, they set him up for Thanksgiving and my Dad (after nearly two hours) happened to look outside and see this guy. As is obvious from the pictures, he is clearly happy with his present. He apparently ran right upstairs to put his jersey on so he could come outside and take pictures. It is great when a good idea comes together. Thanks to Danelle for her brilliance. Apparently her new name is "Queen of Gifts".

My Girls.

Here you go - the long awaited picture of my volleyball girls (minus Deborah who wasn't at this pizza party). This picture was taken after the hard fought semi-final game where we lost to the eventual champions in the 5th game 17-15. The girls played the best they had all year and I was very thankful that they worked hard and never gave up. It has only been a few weeks since that game, but I already miss working with this great group of girls.

Now I've started assistant coaching with the basketball team, so I get to work with a few of them in that sport. I enjoy it and look forward to the season.

Thanks to Briana for the picture above. She was our senior and is the one in the center.

And the winner is:

Drumroll Please...

My Team Won! Whohoo! They did a great job and won 25-11, 27-25 and 25-13. I did feel a little bad for my sister's team because I think most everyone expected her team to win. It probably wasn't fair because my husband bribed my team. He told them that if they won, he would give them a pizza party...and if they won DECISIVELY, he'd give them 2 pizza parties. After the second game, we called him on my cell phone (all the way across the gym from where he was video taping) and asked him if winning in 3 would count as decisively. He agreed and now we owe them 2 parties.

Tomorrow night we go to the Semi-Finals against a school called Heritage Prep. They are the number 1 team and only had 1 loss all year. Hopefully my girls play well whether we win or lose.

I will say this to be fair to Barb: her girls had an off night. My girls had an on night. Had that situation been different, the outcome most likely would have been different.

However, for now we bask in the glory of our victory and hope for good play tomorrow night.

Showdown of the Sisters

Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 6:00 p.m.

Well, it's official. On Tuesday night, the volleyball team that Barb coaches and the volleyball team that I assistant coach will meet in the 1/4 Final game of the playoffs. My team has the home court advantage. To spice things up a little, my parents happen to be coming into town that evening and will be able to come watch the showdown.

Of course, both Barb and I would prefer to be on the court playing against each other than having our teams play against each other, but this will be fun too. I like to say that this one doesn't really count since she is the coach of her team and I'm only the assistant coach.

I guess the positive result is that no matter what, we know that one of us is going into the semi-finals. I'll let you know later the result and hopefully have a picture of my girls too. I like to call them my girls even though I'm only assistant coaching. I love each one of them individually and I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to work with them. They've come a long way this year. We ended our regular season 16-2 and in 2nd place on our side of the conference. I'd say that is a pretty great year!

To my sister and her team: Bring it on. :)

Me and My Man

Today I'm super thankful for my husband. Granted, I'm thankful for him most every day, but sometimes I just feel the need to express it. Mike left work yesterday evening to come to the volleyball game I was assitant coaching even though he knew that he would have to go back in and work late. I was able to go with him and help him, but had he just stayed there and not come to my game, he probably could have been home by 8 or so instead of midnight. That is just one small instance of his awesomeness - a drop in the bucket of all the greatness he contains. :) He has a true servant's heart and I love that about him. God blessed me indeed when He gave Mike to me.

PS - Our volleyball team last night beat the undefeated team on our side of the conference. I LOVE beating undefeated teams. I was so proud of the girls. I'll have to get a team picture soon so you can see them.

Family Update:

Here is a picture of two of my sisters, Danelle and Lynelle (twins), from this summer. Lynelle already has two kiddies of her own and one on the way due in December, I believe. Danelle, just recently let us know that besides the three that she already has, she has another one on the way due in May. So, with Barb having 2, Lynelle soon to have 3 and Danelle soon to have 4, we'll have 9 nephews and nieces on that side of the family. Praise the Lord for these coming additions.

A busy 5 weeks.

I was just looking at the blog and realizing it had been 5 weeks since I'd posted. In the beginning I was delaying to give more chance of finding "6 Flip-Flop Loving Friends". Then you know how it goes...you get busy...tons of other stuff to do...and before you know it, 5 weeks have passed.

I am still alive. I'm loving assistant coaching volleyball and being back in the gym. It looks like after this season, I might be assistant coaching basketball too. I just love being with the girls. They are a great group and I feel privileged to be able to work with them and try to teach them something. They probably think I'm evil because I like to work them hard and push them, but I only want what is best for them and to somehow bring out the excellence in them. It's fun. Coaching again has also brought back tons of memories of my girls in Guam. They will always have a place in my heart and I'm thankful that they were patient with me as I was developing my philosophy of coaching.

Well, I'm off to bed, but promise to try to keep up better in the future.

In search of 6 "Flip Flop Loving Friends" who have 6 "Flip Flop Loving Friends" of their own.

Have you ever done one of those chain things where you do something like send someone something, then get six other friends to get involved and in the end, you get a bunch more than what you sent in the first place? Okay, so a friend sent me one such activity invitation.

Basically, I received the piece of paper that asks me to participate. I send one pair of flip flops to her friend whose name and shoe size are on the paper. Then, I send the activity invitation to six of my friends who each send one pair of flip flops to my friend. Then, each of my friends send the invitation to 6 of her friends who each send 1 pair to me. The end result is supposed to be that you buy one pair of flip flops for someone and get 36 pairs in the mail. Now I can imagine you wondering what in the world would you do with 36 pairs of flip flops. Living here in Florida, I wear flip flops year round, so it isn't a problem for me. Maybe you can find something creative to do with them if you get that many. I think it sounds like a fun new adventure, and it would cool to get your mail every day and find a different pair of flip flops in your size. I'm guessing that the $10 or so I might pay for the pair I buy, postage, and sending the little paperwork on to my 6 friends is worth the excitement of getting tons of flip flops in the mail. I'm going to consider it "Entertainment Expense".

Therefore, I'm wondering if there are 6 of you who would be willing to join in the fun and think you can get 6 of your friends in on it to keep it going. I don't want to send it to people without them volunteering because I don't want them to feel pressured into participating if they don't want to. So, if you would like to join in, please email me at sandranmike03@hotmail.com with your address so I can send the paperwork on to you. Let's see what great flip flops we can get out of the deal. :)

News on Dakota

Well, it looks like we won't be getting Dakota as I thought earlier today. We found out that the current owner may have found her own new place for the dog, so they won't need a foster home.

So for now we just wait to see what the future holds.

Meet the newest member of the Herriage household (coming very soon). Mike has always loved Rottweilers and has been doing some research on rescued dogs. Long story short, we've applied and apparently been accepted as Foster Parents for a Rottweiler Rescue Group. We actually had to have a home study where a couple came in to see the environment the dog would be in. They also brought one of their Rottweiler dogs to see how we interacted with her. We passed the home study and thought we were going to soon be the foster parents of a 3 month old Rottweiler. We found out this morning that there had been a miscommunication and we are actually going to have a 3 year old dog named Dakota. This picture is of her. We are hoping to get her this weekend, but we aren't exactly sure when the timing will work out as she is currently in Miami and needs to be brought up to us. Her biography says she is NOT good with cats (which we are just fine with since we have some neighborhood cats that like to hang out in our fenced in back yard - they are in for a rude awakening). However, she apparently is very good with other dogs.

So the next project is to quickly get the house dog ready and get the crate and toys and food and water bowls and all the other stuff that comes with being a pet owner. We have to get everything ready so that when they bring Dakota, they can see that we are prepared and ready to take good care of her for as long as she is in our care.

So there you have it. We'll post some more pictures once we actually have her here. Since we don't have kids, you might have to endure dog pictures for a while. :)

This picture is actually 3 1/2 years old. This is my last group of seniors that I coached in soccer on Guam. Coaching was a large part of my life in Guam. I coached high school girls volleyball, basketball and soccer as well as high school boys volleyball. I loved every minute of it. My girls were very special to me and sports was an avenue I could use to get to know them better and to hopefully have a positive influence on their lives.

I post this in honor of a potential opportunity that has come forward for me. As many of you know, we've really struggled to find the right church since moving to Florida. We've been members of our current church for almost 6 months and have been attending there for almost 9 months. The church has everything we want as far as music and preaching, but we have had a hard time fitting in and finding fellowship. This past week, I was presented with the opportunity to help assist the volleyball team and I can't tell you how excited I am about the opportunity. I love coaching and am looking forward to getting to know these girls and hopefully teaching them something. It also appears that Mike might have the opportunity to be involved in the sound ministry, so we seem to be getting our foot in the door a little. So anyway - that is what is new here.

Sisters, Sisters

Well, here is the latest picture of all of my sisters and I. Barb is on the left, then me, then Danelle and then Lynelle. Barb is the oldest of us all (way older than me), then the twins are in the middle and my parents wisely saved the best for last. :) We were all able to be together this summer at the lake. It was great to spend time with all of them again and see how their families have grown. I'm thankful that the Lord gave me such great sisters.