Turning the page to 2013

Before I go into much, I wanted to post how very proud I am of the recent accomplishments of Jacob and Erin. I am not sure if I ever posted how well Jacob did on his ACT, SAT, and PSAT exams. He did extremely well on all 3. So well, that we have been bombarded with college information; more then we have ever seen before. He is officially a semi-finalist for the National Merit Scholar. We anticipate that he will be a Finalist but we will not find that out until the spring. On Saturday, he was officially accepted into Case Western University with a $30000/year scholarship. It is quite an accomplishment. Unfortunately, the school costs 58,000 to attend! So, unless God works out some more scholarships, Jake won't be heading to Case Western. He will find out if he was accepted into the University of Chicago this week. That is where is heart truly is. But.... he will have another financial obstacle to overcome with that school as well. We are very, very proud of him. My prayer for him is that he will go tot he school that God desires him to be at and where he will grow spiritually as well. That does not mean that I am wanting him to go to a Christian school. Sam is a a very secular school and has grown more then I could ever have hoped. As for Erin's accomplishments....Wow... she is ready to graduate in 1 week! Depending on how well she does on exams and papers, she may end up graduating with some form of Cum Laude. That is amazing! Not only has she accomplished amazing things in school, she has surpassed anything we could ever have hoped for with soccer since. Well... at least anything we ever hoped for since her major surgeries. This year, she was selected to 2nd team all conference and selected as the Sportswoman of the Year. She served as captain for the second year in a row. Her team qualified for Nationals (for the 4th year in a row!). Then, at Nationals, she was selected to the All-REgional team and the National team for the tournament! I am so proud of my girl. On top of that, she was invited to try out for a pro team and asked to consider being an assistant coach for the college next year! That's my girl. :) Sam should not be forgotten in the list of accomplishments as well. AT Toledo, he is suppose to have 3 semesters of Internship/Co-op's in order to graduate. It typically begins no earlier summer semester of sophomore year or Fall semester of Junior year. Well.. my boy got an internship that begins January 6th! He will be a "big-boy" now...working for a company called Materion. It will be a regular engineering position. I am so proud of him! Let's not forget Emily and Caleb. We are very, very proud of the 2 of them as well. Caleb graduates in May. He is serving as an intern to a church as well as finishing his senior year, working part-time to help support his new family (Emily), and working as an intern. What a great husband he is to our daughter! Emily is serving as a full-time nanny, working part time as a secretary for the church they are attending, and preparing homemade meals and loving her husband. She loves being married. They have a wonderful marriage and are completely...solely... dependent on one another (and God of course!). They are able to support themselves AND put away lots of money into their savings account. What a blessing it is to watch them grow as a young married couple. I miss my girl, but I know that being in Chicago has been the best thing for the 2 of them to really get a great start on a beautiful marriage. As for the little ones... who aren't so little anymore.. they are fantastic as well. Mark and I are truly blessed parents. I could go on much longer, but my purpose right now is to begin a journal of my T25 experience. I have really been struggling with motivation to workout. As a result, my muscles and body have changed in ways I do not care to go into detail. Let's just say that I look much softer and fuller then I did at Emily's wedding. It is amazing what sedation can do to a body. Add a LOT of junk food to it and wow..... in just 6 months... I have gone down the drain. :( I tried to get motivated for insanity again, but lost interest 1/2 way through the first tape. I was just sick of it and too out of shape to think about completing any of it. I tried to run, but it hurt and I hate running. In the past 2 months, I have noticed a long dent in the side of my thigh/hip (fatty area) that is bugging me to death. It is just on one leg and every time i look down, I get disgusted. You would think that was enough to get me motivated, but NO! I would rather just complain and worry about a silly dent in my leg. I just kept on eating junk and doing very little about it. I had Mark move the elliptical upstairs for me to workout on. I did... about every 3rd day or so. Then we joined the Y because Jacob wanted to work out. I watched him work out every morning at 5:30. I watched Mark begin running again and work up to 4 miles a day... and I complained about my lack of working out. I have made it to the Y about twice a week. I feel good when I am done, but still haven't put a lot of effort into it. It just seems like an overwhelming task. My body is getting old. It isn't as easy as it use to be. Sedation is so much more comfortable. So, thanks to some infomercial, I got stuck on lusting after T25. I fixated on it (it doesn't take much for me to fixated on something though). I kept telling Mark that I wanted it though everytime he told me to get it, I didn't. Finally, I purchased it yesterday off Craigslist (a sketchy transaction I might add). And last night I did my first workout. This morning, I have already been up and loving it. I figured that it would be kind of cool to post how things have gone. So. here is goes. I made it through the first 25 minutes with little problem. I needed to modify a few of the exercises (it is set up so that you are able to modify). By no means do I look as good as these people doing it, but I at least was able to do it and did not feel overwhelmed. I was happily surprised at how quick it went). When I hit the 15 minute mark (10 minutes into the workout) I was tired, but saw I only had 15 minutes to go, so I wasn't defeated. AT 10 minutes I was excited because I still felt somewhat strong and knew I could do 10 more minutes. 5 mintues... ecstatic. I was a little sore this morning, so this workout did not go as easy as last night.... but it still was great. My goal is to eat great while I am doing this. I would really like to see what my body does if I do both really well. I will take pictures tonight so that I have some before and then if I actually do it all the way through, I will take pictures of after. I will also my measurements and weight to keep track of all that. I am really interested if this kind of workout can truly change a 50 year old body.