Hello … I’ve missed you all so much and have so much to share so I’ll wait here while you grab that cup of coffee or tea… or glass of wine — no judgement here!

First up — many of you have asked about how the weight loss is going.  It’s wonderful!  I’ve lost 56 lbs and can eat almost anything.  The one thing I don’t care for is sweets — and since I could once polish off and entire carton of Blue Bell ice cream in one day, this is a huge change for me.  Also, I still love food — oh yes I do.  I just eat much less of it and get full much quicker.

I still have about 20 lbs to go and my goal is to be at that weight by the one year mark which is about 3.5 months away.

Authentic Girlfriends: Real Women Finding Real Faith — have I mentioned how much I LOVE this study.  Yes, I know I wrote it (along with Karen Barrows & Melinda Garman), but I LOVE this study.  The Lord used it in my life as I lived it, as I wrote it, and as I’m speaking on it.  I opened the study several weeks ago and decided to ‘do’ the study just like any other woman would.  I was blown away at what the Lord had put on those pages.  Just blown away.  God is so amazing to allow me, such an unworthy Jesus girl, to write for Him.  I stand in awe.

Life has been full of family, friends, work, church — most fantastic, some not so much, but that’s life.  Today, I’m preparing to have the whole family over for Thanksgiving tomorrow and thrilled about it.  It’s so rare that I am with my Mom, my girls, my man and my brother and sister.  It will be a fun day full of laughter and good food!

I am excited to introduce y’all to some fun new person in my life.   Shellie Rushing Tomlinson — this chick rocks!  She is the Belle of All Things Southern, an amazing storyteller, blogger, radio chick and overall wonderful communicator — and she LOVES Jesus!  I have to let y’all in on a little secret — I’m a long time fan of Shellie!  I fell in love with her blog years ago — of course, she’s a souther gal with some sass, so what’s not to love.  I connected with her through another friend and now Shellie has asked me to participate in her  A Heart Wide Open Christmas.  I was so thrilled when Shellie invited me to be a part of this amazing journey to a more Holy and Peace filled Christmas.   I am in such need of this and I hope you’ll join me.  You can sign up at A Heart Wide Open Christmas .

God knew just what He was doing when He prompted Shellie to invite me along on this journey.  The last two years around here have been rough during the Christmas holidays.  Two years ago, my Dad was in ICU over Christmas and last year we lost Daddy just before Thanksgiving.   I said yes to Shellie and two days later I got the call that my Mom was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer.  Not what you want to hear — ever.  So for the past eight weeks I’ve been walking this new path of surgery, CA125 numbers, chemo treatments and all that surrounds a cancer diagnosis.  So, if every I NEED a Heart Wide Open Christmas is this year.

I’m excited to be back… and watch for me. I have much more to share!!