how i lost 40 pounds

Hey everyone!  Ready for the newest member-led-marketing, get-rich-quick scheme to sell to your friends?  I have just the one for you!  Let me tell you how I lost 40 pounds in the last 9 months:

Before

After

0)  hate yourself for being "so fat" after your body miraculously produced two children and nourished them with milk and then sustained all three of you through some exceptionally difficult times emotionally.

1)  start counting calories, then stop when you realize it doesn't actually change how you eat - you just enjoy compulsively checking how many calories are in things like Sonic BLT Toasters and 8 oz of raw milk.

2)  start working out - get a membership to the YMCA if you're motivated by financial investment like me.

3)  get overwhelmed by life and depressed.  This only works if you're in the camp that loses appetite when sad (this is me).  The very pathetic reality is that I frequently couldn't swallow food over the perpetual lump in my throat.

4)  have a tumultuous romantic entanglement. (see #3 also)

5)  have a health scare where you have elevated liver enzymes and your hepatologist tells you the only treatment is losing weight.

6)  do yoga twice a week.

7)  decide it's finally time to stop nursing your 2.5 year old son.

Seriously people . . . I have no idea how I lost weight,  People are always complimenting me and asking me what I did.  I feel like this whole thing was completely ruled by my emotions.  If anything, the working out and yoga are what seems to be the most likely causes.  But I guess what I'm saying is:  I don't recommend my method to anyone.  Celebrate who you are today.  Thank your amazing body, made by God, for serving you.

dearly beloved

One of the sweetest privileges of the life of a clergyperson is being invited into people's lives at their critical moments.  At the birth of a child, at a deathbed, at a major surgery.  And at weddings!  Particularly being a young clergywoman, it's fun that I have been able to marry many of my friends.  I have now done weddings in Kansas, Tennessee, New York, Texas, Arkansas, and Indiana.  I have had to become familiar with how each state licenses their weddings, which is interesting.

I have so many fond memories of these weddings.  These are some of my oldest and closest friends:

Jimmy and Julie (I was lightly pregnant with Vicki)

Ryan and Michelle

Amanda and Paul (I was heavily pregnant with Todd)

Amber and Andy

Julianne and Parth

Chase and Carly (with my assistants)

And, this October, Stephanie and Sean!

Formal marriage is becoming a less-universal part of life for people of my generation.  I understand the reasons why, but I think there is something so sacred about coming together and vowing your love and dedication to one another in front of a group for support and accountability.

In my wedding homilies, I always try to emphasize the role of the gathered community.  The people who are present at this wedding are not just spectators, there to observe a pretty setting and have a great meal.  They are active participants who are vowing, with their presence and their words, to help this couple weather the storms that will come.

Marriage ain't easy.  If anyone knows that, it's me.  Sometimes it's a monumental struggle,  And sometimes it's better to call it quits.  But to make it, you need more than just each other.  You need all the people there to lean on.  Something about that just speaks to me.  And it's not lost on me that the people who supported me (and Jeff) the most through our divorce were . . . the people who were at our wedding.  They took seriously their covenant to help us dissolve our union (and care for the offspring of that union) with as much grace and love as when we made it.