The Lord Provides a Way

It has been a long time since I've visited my blog. So much has happened! I think that the wedding of our son Matthew to Christina "Jelly" Roushar is the biggest event to write about!

They were married in the St. Paul MN Temple on December 30Th. It was a beautiful wedding. The sealing room was full of family and dearly loved friends. We are so pleased that so many wished to attend. They had to bring in chairs because there were upwards to 60 people in attendance. The spirit filled the room as the priesthood holder spoke to Jelly and Matt. In that moment as I sat beside my son, my heart became so warm with love and of the spirit. It was the most amazing feeling.

The week was full of festivities. I provided two meals for the families. One was the grooms dinner. I made Hawaiian Haystacks, a favorite of our family. I had two friends make authentic egg rolls and sushi to go with them. It was a hit! The next day I made soups and salads from the leftover veggies and meat. Many friends made bar cookies to go with the meal. All the extra bars we had went to the reception. It all worked out amazingly well.

There was one hero amongst us that I must mention. Karissa Showalter, the newly baptized girlfriend of our third son Ryan. She , being a new member could not attend the wedding. So she spearheaded our luncheon, helped prepare food right along side us for several days before both meals. She was amazing! We dearly love that sweet gal. I think we are all hearing wedding bells for her and Ryan in the future. Well, they talk about it all the time, but have not actually become engaged yet. lol!

Our son Jason and daughter in law Julie flew in the day of the grooms dinner. My parents JoAnn and DeWayne Hess flew in the day before that. Everyone was here except Hunter who is on a mission in Lone Pine CA! I missed my sisters, but totally understood the things that kept them away. Perhaps next wedding they can make it. I can only pray that it will be so.

I did go off my diet for the two days leading up to the wedding and for a couple of days afterwards. It wasn't hard to get back on track. I was so sick of rich foods! Bleck! I have no desire to go back to that way of eating again. After I'm done with HCG I will be going into the Zone Diet way of eating for the rest of my life. You balance protein with Carbs. It's a way of life for me. I never want to get sick because of what I put in my mouth again. I'm in control of my appetites now. I no longer have food cravings and they not longer rule my life! It's amazing! I am no longer in bondage to the natural man. I'm prayerful every day that I can stay the course and do this hard thing. I am winning! To date I have lost over 50 lbs! I'm measuring myself this Saturday and I'll be able to tell you how many inches I've lost. I know it will boggle your mind. It sure has boggled mine!

Life has taken on a different luster for me. I have some pain in my back due to the accident a year ago. But, I don't have all over body aches any more.

My mind is clear of the "fibrofog" that I used to experience with my fibromyalgia. I sleep deeper. I can do so much more since I lost 50 lbs. My joints don't hurt when I walk. My hips stopped popping out the joint.

My chiropractor is amazing and keeps me going as my body changes. I need adjustments every other week to keep up with the changes because I'm losing so much weight. I welcome this. It's a great tool to keep moving due to my medical history. My blood pressure is perfect! My liver continues to heal and I have not had pain in my right side for weeks now! YES! That is such a relief!

My kids noticed right away how much more energy I have. We used to have to park near the stores so I could go in. I was weak and in pain and they were so considerate. When we shopped, not only could I go all day, I could park way away from the doors and walk quickly and keep up with them and was not winded in the least! It was truly a milestone.

This has been a wonderful, happy, busy, spiritual, uplifting revelatory Christmas season. I am so filled with gratitude for all I have learned about my spirit, my body and my own inner strength. I can do hard things with the Lords help. I can call down angels to protect me from the adversary as I go through this process and I have on the tough days. No longer are the voices whispering in my ear that I can't accomplish this program. I pray each time I bless my food that I can keep going until I reach my weight loss goals and beyond. I know that angels attend me and attend you when we have righteous goals. Make sure you ask for their help. The Lord provides a way for us to do what is right. This is one of those things.

A Wedding!

Our family is on that wonderful journey we all go on eventually. That of watching your son fall in love and get married to his eternal companion. We are so excited that soon we will have the daughter we have wanted for so long.

As a mom of four sons, I knew that one day I might be blessed with four daughters who would love our sons and marry they for all eternity in the temple one day. We are about to be blessed with such a moment. May 15th our son Jason Edward Otis is planning to marry Julie JoAnn Flink in the Jordan River Temple. It's so exciting!

We are in the midst of planning and praying our plans will go through without too much opposition. To date the opposition is strong, but we are overcoming the obstacles the adversary is plying us with so liberally. It is making us stronger and wiser. It is something we expected and have been prayerful as to what to do about it all. I guess this is good practice for the other sons getting married one day.

I am working on my faith right now. Renewing the faith to give my youngest son over to the Lord for safe keeping as he makes choices. The rules are tried and true in our home and his older brothers have thanked us for having them during missions and when they came home. We don't wish to compel any of our sons to do things our way, but as an adult the choice to stay under our roof does come with a standard set of rules. The choice is theirs to stay or go, but we hope they are prayerful in those choices and not driven to choose differently by someone who would influence them for reasons of their own. It's tough being a parent of single adults who do come home between semesters. For the most part it's rich with amazing blessings. I'm grateful for every moment we have until they are married and on their own 100%.

Life happens quickly. I remember being 19 and getting married to Terry. I thought I knew everything until I was 3 months pregnant and on an airplane with my childhood Island below me. We were leaving all I knew and loved for the Island of Hawaii. It was a time to cleave to my sweetheart and proved to be a huge blessing in our young lives. We had to work all our problems out together and to pray together and learn together. It was one of the happiest times of my life.

I'm excited for our son and his soon to be wife and all the adventures they'll have along the way. I know they will have a ball and that they will be prayerful together. I"m sure other weddings will soon come our way. It's like waiting for Christmas to come. You know it's coming, but not quite sure what surprises you will get. It's all good in the end. I'm a strong believer that the Lord will never give any of us something we cannot handle--with the Lords help.

So, just a couple of weeks before I get on the airplane for Utah! The invites have been mailed, the reception planned and now we get to prepare the house for guests and try to balance planting the garden, cleaning the house, packing and getting every needful thing ready. Amazing what you can get done with a family working together.