Hi everyone!  Well once again, it’s been a few days since I’ve last written…just a few.  I hope that everyone is doing awesome!  Can you believe we are entering the holiday season already?  Wow time sure does fly.  Which is why I write today.  

Today marks a very special day in my life.  Today I celebrate my one year post-op anniversary!  That’s right.  One year ago today I had my bariatric surgery.  Can you believe that?!  It just blows my mind to even think about that!  At this very time a year ago, my family and boyfriend (at the time) was waiting patiently as I was completely out of it, in the OR, all while a wonderful doctor changed the course of my life.  Best decision I ever made!

This last year has been a major year of changes.  I can’t say that the beginning of the year started off well – it was quite rough.  At times it made me question my decision.  But I trudged through the hard times and learned that I’m a fighter.  I don’t give up.  There were days I wanted to, but I knew someday this would all pay off.  And it has.

Let’s take a step back and look at my very first entry on March 24, 2011.  In that entry I mentioned a few reasons as to why I was going on this journey.  Here’s a recap:

1.  I need to be healthy again.

2.  There are two things in life I want to experience:  being thin(ner).

3.  I want to experience pregnancy someday.

4.  I want to improve my emotional state when it comes to a relationship with my {future} husband {whoever that might turn out to be}.

5.  I want to run.  I love running actually.

6.  I want to be able to go do things without being in pain at the end of the day.

7.  I want to feel beautiful.

8.  I want to love being me.

9.  I wan to live this life according to God’s plan for me.  I think I’m standing in the way of that, right now.

10.  I want to be able to say I lost half of me..and the better half stuck around. 

 Although I still struggle with 7 & 8 on a daily basis (what woman doesn’t?) I can sit here and say that I have achieved every single one of those items on my list!  Well, ok not the running part completely – but I DO run better than I ever have and enjoy softball so much more now because I can run the bases without being completely out of breath (of course that was before I got pregnant, lol)

So not only in the past year did I have life-altering surgery, but I lost a ton of weight (110 pounds), gained a stronger self-confidence, got married, and now we’re having a baby!!!!!!!  🙂   My dreams are finally coming true.  They didn’t come easy – but that’s okay.  It’s made me appreciate the blessings even more!  Is life perfect right now?  No – it’s never perfect.  But it’s right where I’d hoped and prayed it would be.

11-7-11 will always be a monumental day in my life that I will never forget.  And on 11-7-13 I will hopefully have even more to celebrate.  Our little bundle of joy (well, we think it’s only one right now, lol)  should arrive around 6-3-13.  Please keep us in your prayers though as we have our first appointment on 11-9.  As a first-time momma, I won’t hide the fact that I’m really nervous and scared that something is wrong.  I think it’s normal to feel that way.  I just want to hear our baby’s heartbeat and know that everything is okay.  This baby was a total surprise too.  We got the all clear to start trying two months early, but never did we expect that it would happen as quickly as it did.  We’re excited, nervous, scared, happy, and everything else in between.  But God IS faithful and He ALWAYS delivers on His promises.  Without Him, I wouldn’t have gotten through this past year.

So today as some may or may not celebrate yesterday’s outcome of the presidential campaign, I’m going to simply choose to celebrate life – mine, mine and my husband’s, and my baby’s.  I have a lot to be thankful for this month.  How about you?

Until next time…

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” {2 Corinthians 5:17}