Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Kaylen's Baptism

Kaylen was baptized on March 11, 2012. She accepted the Lord about a month or two earlier during Sunday School with her small group leader, Brooke. They children's service did communion and explained what it meant and that we needed to ask the Lord to come into our hearts. Kaylen said she wanted to pray. Ms. Brooke asked her if she wanted to talk it over with her parents first and she said yes and went back to her seat. Then a few seconds later she decided she couldn't wait and wanted to pray right now. I am so proud of her! She has a real understanding of what this important decision means and I look forward to see what God plans to do with her precious life!!!!

She was excited for days beforehand. She kept telling me she wished it was Sunday at 4 o'clock. During the praise and worship portion of the service she hung out with her best buds, Rylie and Andrew. Here she is right before the service started.
She was squeezing me so tight, I could barely breathe! This girl was sooo excited!!!
Kaylen takes good care of her brother and he adores her. They are great friends and play perfectly together. I really enjoy listening to their conversations. She sought him out to give him a hug before things got started.

Tripp was great through out the service. I expected him to have a tough time since it was so long and Kaylen was last. He far exceeded my expectations!!! And isn't he so handsome in his church clothes?!?!
Here are my three favorite people on the planet!!! Not sure why we can never get Tripp to smile on camera... he really does smile all the time!
And it's her turn. I couldn't help it, I was so overjoyed that I bawled. She was so cute and small in that big ole baptism. Pastor John had the nicest words about us as youth leaders and what an honor it was to baptize our little girl. It was really a sweet moment and I am so glad God has given me Kaylen and I got to witness this event.
Here she was listening to everything she was being told.

Down we go!!!
And I love this picture. She is new!!! What a statement!! :) Okay, so I am a proud momma... I know. :)
And would you believe the only picture I have from our party is the one of the cake?!!?
We had lots of friends and family at the party. In fact, all grandparents and aunts and uncles were all present. Our community group really came out and supported us. And our closest friends from outside the church. We felt truly loved on from everyone and it was one of the best days of my life. I tell ya, there is nothing better than seeing your babies come to know the Lord on a personal level and make that statement of commitment in front of others. We had all in attendance sign a new bible for her so that she will never forget that we all support her in her walk with the Lord.

We all love you so much, Kaylen!

Thursday, March 01, 2012

Hard Work

Okay so this post isn't really going to be interesting to anyone so only read if you feel like boring yourself. I wanted to document my stats so that I will remember where I came from and why I continue to do what I am doing in regards to my health. Many of you know that I had gestational diabetes with Tripp and pre eclampsia with Kaylen. Since then I have decided that I am going to do all that I can to keep from landing myself in the category of type II diabetes or high blood pressure.

Anyway, my work does a yearly screening and I thought my stats were interesting since last year's was right before I started my lifestyle changes.

Here goes:

Date: 2/22/11
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 142
BMI: 22
Glucose: 137
Resting heart rate: 84
Blood Pressure: 118/68
Bone density: 2.1
HDL: 56
LDL: 99
Total Cholesterol: 166
Ratio: 2.9
Triglycerides: 53

Okay after a year of eating right and exercising...

Date: 3/01/12
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 127 (15 lbs. lost)
BMI: 20 (down 2)
Glucose: 91 (drastically different... think that is due to a serious diet change)
Resting heart rate: 72 (lower from running)
Blood Pressure: 110/70 (about the same)
Bone density: 2.6 (even better than last year and both are completely off the charts)
HDL: 78 (went up 22 points... the higher the better!)
LDL: 82 (went down 17 points... the lower the better!)
Total Cholesterol: 170 (4 points higher but this doesn't matter because my ratio improved)
Ratio: 2.2 (went down by 0.7)
Triglycerides: 52 (went down by one but they were fantastic both years. They only have to be below 150)

So we will see what next year brings. I have tried hard to improve my health in the last year and I feel better than I ever have and I have been sick a lot less. Here's to many more good reports! This does help me to know that the little choices I am making daily do help and we all need constant encouragement. It seriously is hard work!