Sundry Joys...

Today was the beginning of the Bible Quizzing Season. JOYful, JOYful...a time of intense practice and studying, and a time of fun and friends as the tournaments begin. Jessi and Justin have learned 20 and 15 verses this week, respectively. They are studying the book of Luke and are doing very well so far. Jessi is learning 5 verses each day for the Senior Division and Justin is learning 4 a day for the Junior Division. They had pizza and juice before a team meeting and overview of what is expected. They will have their first tournament the end of January. Jessi has to know over 90 verse while Justin needs to know 65 by then. Marissa is opting out of the quizzing experience but she will be learning verses each day as part of her homeschooling.

Mark and I need you prayers. We are facing a big decision over the next week and want to make the right one. Mark wants to be sure that we follow Biblical principles as we make this decision. Our hope is in the Lord and we trust Him to lead us to make the right decision. Not a lot of JOY in this section but I keep reminding myself...the JOY of the Lord is my strength.

Tonight at dinner, Jessi was having a moment of "attitude" and we were discussing how she needs to be careful not to be disrespectful due to the impact that could have on her soul. ALL of a sudden, the whole house started shaking, rolling and rocking. Earthquake! After the shaking stopped, we all were holding hands, making sure everyone was okay, while Mark checked the gas lines and such, when I said, "See, we have to always be ready for God to come for us." Jessica immediately looked at me with a white face and said, "I was just thinking that." She felt that God had made sure she got the impact of what we were discussing! I have to agree the timing was PERFECT! :-D I think she will not soon forget that discussion and I pray that it helps her to be more careful of her attitude. Oh, the JOYS of teenagers and pre-teens!

Now, it is time for bed and I am exhausted. My eyes have been hurting all day and I have been fighting a headache. My glasses help a "little" but only to keep the blurriness from getting worse.
Oh, and thanks for stopping by every now and again to catch up on the JOYS of the McVay household!

A Resolution?? The Joys of Dieting!

Well, here we are in 2009 and still overweight! However, I am determined to do what I can to lose the weight this year. I have noticed other friends who have blogged about this same topic and are determined to lose weight in '09. I wish them success!

To help with motivation and tracking my journey of loss, I joined a really cool website called SparkPeople.com. They have a nutritional tracker which gives you a suggested menu for each day, counting the calories, carbs, protein and fat grams you intake. Their exercise tracker helps you build a custom plan for your lifestyle and goals.

I WILL lose weight....Slowly...50 pounds over 12 months averages a little over 4 pounds a month. I am challenging Mark and Marissa to lose weight as well and challenge all 5 of us to exercise regularly!!!! I am tracking all 5 of us through SparkPeople so that we can each see how successful we can be at getting healthy.

It is time to take control of our health, physically AND spiritually. Along with the diet and exercise, we will endeavor to spend less time on the computer and more time reading and learning the Word of God. We have already made strides with making the Bible first priority yesterday. We read and discussed several chapters from Proverbs and Psalms and we prayed together as well.

Are these resolutions? Probably....but not ones we are going to break!!

In Jesus' name, we have the strength to overcome our physical weaknesses of junk food and lack exercise! In Jesus' name, we have the power to overcome our prideful ways, lack of spiritual growth, and the power to stand strong in the face of compromise around us.

I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me! So can Mark, Rissa, Jessi and Justin!
As well as YOU my blogger friend!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!