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.

Rachel Beaton and Jacob Ashmore became Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Ashmore today. We had the privilege of being there with them for their special event. Congratulations to both of them.

Happy Anniversary To Us
7/19/03

I can't even believe that it has already been 3 years since that day. What a gift of God. I was reminded again on that day how God's plans are so much better than our plans. Growing up, I always planned that I would go to college, fall in the love the summer before my senior year, get engaged the Christmas of my senior year and get married right after graduation. This was my plan for my life. God knew better though and instead added in the awesome experience of Guam and all that came with it as well as meeting the true man of dreams and the one I knew without a doubt that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I'm so glad God protected me from trying to make my original plan come true. Of course, there were several times along the way when I thought that maybe I would be the one who never got married - especially during the 2 1/2 years of patience required of me while I was sure Mike was the one I was to marry and he was sure he wasn't the one. He finally did come to his senses though, stopped playing hard to get, and realized what I had known all along - we were supposed to be together. After that, the whirlwind wedding plans from the other side of the ocean began to come together in a way only God could orchestrate. As you can see from the picture, we were able to have a large wedding party and enjoyed having many close friends make it to the wedding beyond the ones in the picture.

Now we are 3 years down the road and I'm just as thankful to be the one by his side. I look back on the memories we've created and look forward with anticipation to see what God has for us in the future. In the mean time I choose to be thankful for each day we are given together. He truly completes me in a way I never could have imagined when I was an independent single woman. I'll wrap this up before I start getting too sappy but suffice it to say that I love my husband and praise God for giving Mike to me and vice versa.

Grandpa Johnson & I

Well, I've been thinking about my Grandpa a lot since vacation. It was so great to spend time with him, but a hard reminder that there might not be very many times left. He has lost much of his eyesight and his health in general seems to be failing. I'm blessed in that I have all four of my grandparents alive right now. Grandpa was always special. He just had that knack with the grandkids. Every year for the past 33 or so years, my family has taken a week at the lake for vacation with several relatives, including Grandma and Grandpa Johnson. When my sisters and I were younger, Grandpa would come to each one of us individually at the lake and sneak us away to town for ice cream cones. Then he would tell each of us "Don't tell your sisters, but you are my favorite". This actually worked great for him for many years - we all thought we were his favorite and he got four ice cream cones each time. :) Then one day came the big fight in which one of the sisters broke out "Yeah, well I'm Grandpa's favorite"... and his secret was out. We've never let him live that down.

He used to also play softball with us in the backyard when we were really young. He would hit the ball and go around the bases, picking up a granddaughter at each base. Of course, we all loved it.

I have tons more memories of my Grandpa, but I won't fill up the whole page. I'm so thankful that the Lord gave me such a special Grandpa. My heart aches at the thought of being without him sometime soon, but at the same time, I know that he has a special day coming where with clear vision he'll see his God and his Saviour and hear "Well, done, thou good and faithful servant."

We're Back!!!

Yes, I actually made it through 8 days of no internet access. We were able to go up to Michigan to spend a week at the lake with my family. My grandparents on my Mom's side were there as well as my parents, all three of my sisters, two of my brother-in-laws, all six of my nephews and my one niece, my Aunt and Uncle and my cousin and her daughter. We had good times. I'm thankful for the time we could have together. It has been three years since were were last together and we partied like maniacs.

Mike and I also took a Wednesday trip down to see my grandparents on my Dad's side (whom I haven't seen in 4 years and Mike had never met). As an added blessing we were able to see my Uncle Phil (whom I haven't seen in 6 years) and his family. We also met my 3 year old cousin, Tyler, for the first time.

All in all - a good experience. Now we have a bunch of work to do to get caught up on all the Ebay stuff, but it was worth the time off.

I'll post pics soon. :)

We are NOT moving this weekend.

Well, it is official - we are not buying the new house. Alas, the dreams of relaxing in the hot tub after a long time go by the wayside. Basically, the week before closing (which was supposed to be today) I began getting more and more stressed and feeling strongly that we should NOT buy the house. Part of that came from trying to get quotes for homeowners insurance on the new house. We actually had someone quote us $6000 for a year of homeowners insurance. Craziness.

One night as I was lying in bed, I began thinking of all the fixed expenses we'd have in the new house for as long as we had both houses and I started freaking out. So, I made a chart. The totals made me believe even stronger that we should not buy the new house while our house was still not sold. Even though we received pre-approval for financing that way, it made me nervous. After all, the brilliant finance guy who did the calculations wasn't going to have to balance the checkbook.

When we first entered into this whole deal, everyone was telling us we should sell our house almost immediately as the market is so hot down here and there are no houses on the market. Within two weeks, the bubble burst and our realtor said no one in their whole office was getting any calls and the news stations were reporting that the market was beginning to tank due to overinflated house prices anyway.

Long story a little shorter: basically, we are relieved to not be moving right now. Our house will stay on the market for the next 5 months and we'll see what happens. Thanks for your prayers.

Me and My Dad

I can't remember a single volleyball or basketball game that my Dad missed when I was in 7th - 12th grade. He made time to be there. He and my Mom drove many miles sometimes to be there. It was important to me and it was important to him. Sometimes everyone in the gym knew he was there as he shared his exuberant cheering with all, but I would rather have an exuberant father in the stands than one who stayed at home. My parents and I would often ride home together after the away games and that gave us a great chance to strategize over the whole game - the goods and the bads.

We played "Pig" at the hoop he set up for me. My Dad was a good shot, too. The only way I had a chance of winning was to stand at the free throw, turn around, arch my back like I was doing the limbo and hurl it over my head towards the hoop. I had to perfect that shot so I always had one he couldn't quite get.

No matter what sport, my Dad was supportive. He even made it to a few of my college games. He and my Mom were there for my last home volleyball game at Northland. He even was able to watch me play soccer once on Guam when we, the faculty team, were playing against my high school girls team.

I knew sports was a realm that my Dad and I could always connect in, so I got involved as much as possible and I put my heart into it too - because I knew my Dad was up there in the stands cheering me on. I think that had a definite impact on the type of athlete I became. I wasn't the braniac in the family (all of my sister's were valedictorians - I was 7th in class rank). There were other areas that my sister's clearly had been more gifted then I. They all played brass instruments like my Dad - I played the flute. So while they had their areas to connect - I had sports. We had a good time together through the years at all those games and on all those trips. I was truly blessed to have 2 parents in the stands supporting me when so many kids are lucky to have one.

So Dad, thanks for helping make me a stronger athlete and for being there. Happy Father's Day.

Possible New House

Here is the update. Yesterday we had the house inspection. It went well. There are two things that need to be dealt with before closing and I think the sellers have agreed to the fixes. Our realtor thinks we are still on track to close in 12 days. I go back and forth in my mind between whether we should or shouldn't get the house. I don't know if that is the Lord preparing me that it is going to fall through, or what. We've decided to leave it in the Lord's hands. There are still several ways the deal could fall through, so we are praying that if He doesn't want us to make this move that He solidly closes the door. Thanks for your prayers for us during this time.