Hey all :)

It was a good and healthy week, and after popping out visibly over the weekend I am also up to 215.8 (though at least smidge of that is sodium from some absolutely fabulous homemade popcorn). I feel good and look good, have stayed on plan very well. So why, you ask, would the blog title imply I am taking a little bit of an online break? Usually, in the world of weightless blogs, that means falling off the wagon big time.

Well for me, it's an indicator of wonderful success! Remember how I talked about trying to finish/establish my schedule, and needed to improve my home management? Well after a TON of prayer, the Lord really guided me through and helped me achieve that end, and I not only completed my schedule, but I actually implemented it for the first time today. And even more miraculous? I stuck to it like glue, without a ton of issues. It took a lot of prayer and some discipline, but it paid off in a very productive and smooth day for the entire family.

The schedule itself has literally been six months in the making, and actually writing it out, cutting out the pieces, praying over it and running it by my husband and then sticking it together and pinning it up on the wall... That took two hours over the weekend and all of my free time Monday afternoon. But it was totally worth it. I biked my kids down to the park, cleaned for an hour and forty minutes, and walked a weighted, aerobic mile with a Leslie Sansone DVD. I also got laundry folded, three meals made with complete cleanup, AND an hour nap. Heck, Callie even got a half hour of preschool in. It was a huge success, and I know it my heart this is what I have been needing to do for two years. I only regret that procrastination and sin kept me from completing it, but the Lord has been so faithful in answering my prayers in this area and I feel a complete sense of peace.

In addition to honoring and assisting my husband, spending more time daily in scripture and prayer, and being a better mother to my children, this schedule also gives me two times the daily exercise - with my kids AND a workout alone, during their nap. Food is about the last thing on my mind except during mealtimes, and I am having even LESS trouble sticking to my food plan than normal, given a more structured day.

Now, after all those good things, here is one more arguable good thing - my time during the day is being monopolized by much more important things than food and weightloss, or the Internet, I have scheduled computer time each day, but it is more limited than it used to be and in this forced maintenance mode I don't really benefit from a lot of blog involvement on my own little corner of the internet. I'm happy, things are going well, and spending more time away from the computer is a GOOD thing for me. So given these factors and my limited internet time, I will still do a basic weekly check in, but in general I will be updating less and have less to say for at least a little while. I feel really at peace with a less active presence online right now, and have cut out most websites I used to visit completely. The blog I follow, 3FC, and a few other select sites will still be on my daily visit list, but I just don't have a lot to say right now about life and weightloss.

Everything is good, and good makes for boring, repetitive blog topics unless you're a particularly committed blogger (trust me, I'm not!).

So I'm still here, every day, cheering you all on. I just have less to say right now. Life's uncomplicated and happy, I am blessed and have finally gotten the biggest 'issue' left untouched in my life under control and with great success. Like weight management, home management and my relationships with those I love are an ongoing process that I have to work on and succeed in daily. Right now I am feeling very called to focus on both of these, but I don't need to or have mental energy to expend recounting every boring detail online.

I still log my weight daily, I am exercising MORE than I have in four months, and I am more committed than ever, even in this maintenance, to do the very best I can. I am praying about this and feel very strongly that, right now, I am being led away from being online more than is essential. I did not want to get quieter online without an explanation, lest you all assume what *I* would, which is that this blog went the way of so many others and I fell off the wagon but was too ashamed to admit it, so I just disappeared. The reality is 100% the opposite, and I am very joyful for it.

I may do some blogging about the details of my schedule, and log my weekly exercise time in when I post my weight update for the week, but in lieu of greater details just assume that things are staying very much the same - comfortable, managed, and progressing very well indeed.

Praise the Lord - none of these wonderful changes in my life over the course of this journey are on my own power, its all grace and His faithfulness to me, in the end :)