No Excuses, Only Results

This is the wrist band that was recently given to me my my wife's cousin Cheryl. She's a Health and Fitness coach. Here's a link to her website. You can also like her Facebook page. She periodically comes out with weight loss challenges that are sponsored by various health and wellness companies with weekly prizes for winners. Be sure to check her out.

Since the beginning of the year, my wife and I have been on our weight loss kick. To date, I've lost 36 lbs while Karen has lost 24 lbs. For a while I was doing great. Over the past month though, the scale has started to creep back up. Karen and I had our own weight loss challenge for the month of June. Who ever lost the most weight percentage wise would win $50 to spend however they wanted. Neither one of us won. We both ended up gaining weight in the month of June.

So here I am...again. Making a commitment to myself and to my family to not only lose the weight that I regained, but to keep losing weight until I reach my ultimate goal. My motto now is the same that's on my wrist band, "No Excuses, Only Results".

How do I relate this to the scriptures? That's easy. This reminds me of D&C section 89. This section is devoted to the Word of Wisdom. To those who don't know, The Word of Wisdom is a law of health revealed by the Lord for the physical and spiritual benefit of His children. The Lord revealed which foods are good for us to eat and which substances are not good for the human body. He also promised health, protection, knowledge, and wisdom to those who obey the Word of Wisdom. Heavenly Father wants us to be at our best not only spiritually, but physically. We are promised blessings if we do so. I'm just trying to do my part.

Happy Independence Day!!!

Happy Independence day to all. Today we started the morning off with our annual Flag Raising and Pancake Breakfast Ceremony in our ward. We all had a great time. Especially Allyson. She went last year but was too young to enjoy the food or festivities.

Karen and I were ask by the Bishop to give a brief talk on what the fourth means to us since we both served in the Navy. The fourth is a special day for me. This day commemorates the day we declared with one voice that we are free to govern ourselves. I like to relate this to the premortal existence when we chose to follow Heavenly Fathers Plan of Salvation over the alternative. In doing so we were able to keep our agency to choose for ourselves. All our decisions have consequences, good or bad. But, at least they're our choices.

As a first generation American, this day has a special place in Karen's heart. Many years ago, Karen's grandmother moved to America with her daughter to provide a better way in the land of promise. Though she loved Jamaica, she felt that her and her family would have better opportunities in America. The pursuit of the American Dream.

For me, there is no greater nation than the USA. I love it so much that I was willing to serve my country in the military. No country is without mistakes. And though the U.S. has many, I can think of no other place that I would rather be. God bless America.

Below are a few of the pictures that were taken at the breakfast.

Whole World vs My Soul

Recently I made the decision to start listening to more uplifting music. This was on the heals of realizing that the music I was listening wasn't very savory. So I decided to turn the dial to our local christian station in Atlanta, 104.7 The Fish.

The first songs I heard was from an artist I've never heard of. His name is Toby Mac. The song was called "Lose My Soul". The hook of the song says, "I don't want to gain the whole world and lose my soul." This was a very powerful line to hear after just making the decision I made. I've spent too much time being in the world and not simply being of the world. Too many times I feel that we let the adversary seep in and negatively influence the decisions we make. I felt that this was Heavenly Father telling me that I made the right decision. Just thought I would share this with you.

Catching Up

Well...I guess I wan't lying when I said that I procrastinate lol. It's been a while since my last post. That doesn't mean I had nothing to say, just that I "didn't have time". My wife found a quote the other day that says "When you say you don't have time, you're really saying that it wasn't a priority". I see this quote getting me in a lot of trouble.

4th of July Talk
Yesterday my wife and I got a call from our Bishop. I instantly thought, "Another calling?!" I already have two! It turns out that he wants Karen and I to give a 5-10 minute talk on what Independence Day means to us since we served in the Navy. This shouldn't be too difficult...I hope. We are giving this talk on the 4th at our Annual Flag Raising and Pancake Breakfast. I can't wait to eat....I mean talk.

Roku and BYUtv
Over the weekend Karen and I decided to buy a Roku streaming media player. We have a Wii that we have been using to stream Netflix and Hulu. That's all we used it for though. So we though, why not get a Roku so that we can still have Netflix and Hulu, and a ton of other channels to choose from. One of the biggest selling points for me though was the ability to get BYUtv on the Roku along with Mormon Channel. For a mormon who doesn't have cable, having BYUtv in the home now is a huge blessing! We finally have a way to watch General Conference in our home, not to mention all of the other shows.

I recently got into a show called "The District". For those of you who don't know, it's a documentary that follows the lives of 8 LDS Elder and Sister Missionaries while they are serving in the San Diego, California mission field. It documents some of the highs and lows of their missions. I was surprised to find that it doesn't just show the success stories of people getting baptized, but it also shows the rejections that the missionaries face while spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. This show has given me a greater understanding and appreciation for the work that missionaries do. Click on the link below to check it out.

The District