Weight Loss Progress Report

Things are going well since the last report. I have lost 80 pounds since September 25th, that was the day I started my liquid diet. I am 52 pounds from my goal weight. I hope to reach this weight by August. It will be the first time my parents have seen me in person since before my surgery. I have one prayer request. Please pray that I continue to work on emotional eating. I am doing better but know that if not in constant prayer I could slip at any time. The exercising as well as the protein intake are still going well. Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement. They are much appreciated.

New Addition to the Family Already

Here is another email sent out by the Wilkinson's.

Hello Friends,

Yesterday morning Sean left our home. He has been with us for five months and his cheerful chatter and happy little personality are missed tremendously.

While we were sending Sean off, we received a call to take in another baby in need. We are calling this 2-month old, little red-headed treasure, Hazel. (I know, I know, someone you know who's very old is named Hazel) She's healthy, but not so happy - - we're working on that! And so, once again we've boarded another God-directed emotional roller-coaster - hang on for the ride. . .

Attached is a picture of our family right before Sean left, and another of the new addition, and one more of the current "baby burritos".

God bless,
Dennis, Mistin, Sierra & Hazel

Goodbye to Sean

Here is an email I received from Dennis and Mistin, Sean's foster parents.

We have loved him these last five months. We prayed and dreamed and hoped to adopt him, but God in his sovereign wisdom has seen fit to let him go away from our home. He will be leaving us on Thursday morning.

Please pray that God in his mercy would preserve Sean from the negative influences of the world that he will now be exposed to. Pray for his salvation. Pray for us too, we have grown to dearly love Sean and our hearts are very heavy right now.

Thank you for your prayers,

Dennis & Mistin (& Baby Sierra)

Please continue to uphold them in prayer.

Outings with Ms. Georgia

There have been big developments with the Yoder boys. A few weeks ago they spent the night in preparation of the BIG Day when their new sibling would arrive. That went fairly well. Levi and I disagreed on the music that should be listening to while trying to sleep. Needless to say when I still hadn't fallen asleep at 3am I decided I was going to listen to the music I needed to in order to keep some sleep. Uri also decided he was going to get up at 7am that morning instead of the 8am that his mom said he should wake up. All in all in was a great time. Every time I see Levi he asks if he can come over to my house. Actually he sys, "Ms. Georgie's house" with longing in his eyes. I try to oblige as much as possible.

Here are some pictures of a few of our outings. I don't know if I will ever be able to live up to the first outing when we went to the aquarium at the Mall of America. Every time I go to pick them up they ask for the big fish. Hopefully this summer we will go to a few different zoos.

This picture is a miracle. In Uri's short
lifetime I have only been able to take
two pictures of him smiling. On this day
alone I have two.

We also went out last Friday night to take some pictures. I didn't have much success. But here are a few that turned out okay of Levi.



And then there are Uri's pictures. You can tell he clearly doesn't care that I am trying to get a nice picture for his mom and dad. He just does his own thing. But in this one Levi is doing the same thing.



I quickly scraped the idea of trying to get some nice pictures that night. It was a fun time however. I did get great video of some of our favorite games.

Urgent Prayer Request

Yesterday I found out that Sean, one of the foster children that lives above me will be leaving next week. The state made his parents decide what they were going to do with him yesterday. His father has decided to take him. I know that many of you might think that is great. Which it probably is. It is just hard to see Mistin and Dennis hurt again losing another child. We were all sure they were going to get to adopt him. Please pray for the following:

1. God would give Mistin and Dennis a great peace.
2. Sean would grow up to become a great man of God.
3. Sean's dad might change his mind and see the good in allowing Dennis and Mistin to rise his child.
4. All of us who know Sean will also be comforted and continue to uphold him in prayer.

Keeping in Touch

It has been exciting to see how many people I have lost contact with stumble across my blog because of someone else they knew. I woudl really liek to keep in contact with all of you. When you post a comment could you please leave your email address. If you are hesitant about leaving your email address out there online please email me at gbryant@express-scripts.com I do get your comments but then I can't get back in touch with you.

I would love to hear from the following people who have posted comments recently: Katie, Pam, and Christina. I can't believe you guys thought I wouldn't remember you...especially you Christina. How could I forget about you when I made you bleed playing floor hockey in gym class or all of our education classes together.

Elizabeth Heath is Getting Hitched

So many of you know my cousin from Northland. She has taken the big blunge and is getting married August 12th. I am super excited for her and I can't wait to meet him at the wedding. Don't they look adorable in their matching pink shirts!! Beth I am extremely happy for you.

I had a request for details. I don't know much. His name is Brad Schubert. He is a twin. They met at Bob Jones. He is from Illinois and he went home one time and brought Beth for a surprise visit to see. I don't know if it was love at first sight then or not. I don't think so. They are both graduating in May. He wants to be a youth pastor and he is going to grad school at Bob Jones in September. That is all I know. Here is her email if you would like to contact her: Eheath@bju.edu

Weight Loss Progress

Man o man has it been nuts here in Minnesotta!! I have had a crazy busy month since the last update and I don't really think anything is going to slow down in the near future. I am feeling wonderful. I have not been sick at all this past month and my energy level has been up. I think I am back to normal, as normal as I could be with my family background that is!

You will notice that in the picture below my hair has been cut very short. I had to do this because it was falling out in large quantites all day long. It still falls out in the shower but since I mouse it in the morning it doesn't fall out all day. I actually really like this hair cut. I have never been able to have a short haircut because my face was too round.

I have three prayer requests for this next month:

1. I would make time in my super busy and always getting busier schedule to exercise. I haven't done it in a week now and that is not good.

2. The shampoo I got to thicken my hair would work and it would stop falling out soon.

3. Now that I can eat normally for me that is, I am struggling with the same things that made me overweight. Pray that I will only eat when hungry and I will not use food to mask any other problems/emotions.

Finally, the grand total since September 25th: 73.6 pounds I am 58.4 pounds away from my goal weight. Please pray that I continue to do well.

Natanya and I went to see Little Women for my birhtday. I even put on make-up for this.