Wednesday, June 28, 2006

10 Possible Causes of America's Obesity Epidemic -- Besides Gluttony and Sloth

Found this at WebMD. It made me smile.......and eat some more.'-)


10 Causes of Obesity

The Alabama group puts forth these 10 "additional explanations" for obesity:

Sleep debt. Getting too little sleep can increase body weight. Today's Americans get less shut-eye than ever.
Pollution. Hormones control body weight. And many of today's pollutants affect our hormones.
Air conditioning. You have to burn calories if your environment is too hot or too cold for comfort. But more people than ever live and work in temperature-controlled homes and offices.
Decreased smoking. Smoking reduces weight. Americans smoke much less than they used to.
Medicine. Many different drugs -- including contraceptives, steroid hormones, diabetesdiabetes drugs, some antidepressants, and blood pressure drugs -- can cause weight gain. Use of these drugs is on the upswing.
Population age, ethnicity. Middle-aged people and Hispanic-Americans tend to be more obese than young European-Americans. Americans are getting older and more Hispanic.
Older moms. There's some evidence that the older a woman is when she gives birth, the higher her child's risk of obesity. American women are giving birth at older and older ages.
Ancestors' environment. Some influences may go back two generations. Environmental changes that made a grandparent obese may "through a fetally driven positive feedback loop" visit obesity on the grandchildren.
Obesity linked to fertility. There's some evidence obese people are more fertile than lean ones. If obesity has a genetic component, the percentage of obese people in the population should increase.
Unions of obese spouses. Obese women tend to marry obese men. If there are fewer thin people around -- and if obesity has a genetic component -- there will be still more obese people in the next generation.

"We do not claim that all of the additional explanations definitively are contributors [to obesity] but only that they are as plausibly so as are the 'big two' and deserve more attention and study," Allison and colleagues conclude.

Here's the web site: http://www.webmd.com/content/article/124/115592.htm


Anybody able to explain that "fetally driven positive feedback loop"? wha?%-(

Random Photo



















Our kids whoopin' it up with CJ on our last trip out East. Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Friday, June 23, 2006

Oh yeah,

I forgot to mention that I had posted a photo album of more VBS shots.

It's at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mamateresa/VBS2006

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Cyndi Chowning

Cyndi and her husband, Richard, have been living and working in West Africa for many years. Before that they were at ACU and before that, Kenya.
She was a really great friend and mentor. Between her and Becky V. I learned all I needed to know about living, working and raising a family in Africa (or America, for that matter). Her husband performed our wedding, employed Todd at ACU and traveled Africa with us. All three of her kids are amazing. Her oldest daughter and I share a birthday.

Her funeral is Saturday.

I will miss her very, very much.



The Last Night of VBS

The last night of VBS was pretty amazing. Our little actors did a fabulous job, and the adults were pretty great too.
The kids had "met" Jesus and "followed him" in the scene before this one. It really was a well written play.















And while I don't think Heaven will actually look like a Prom, I do think this was pretty awe inspiring to walk into yesterday.
















And it all turned out good in the end....

















And then the real work began.

Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Things we've learned during VBS
















Being a scribe isn't as easy as it looks.


















Hunter really enjoys acting. (and I think he's pretty good at it, but I am biased)























Temperatures below 95 are nice.....until it's your turn on the water slide.

























Costumes aren't all that hard. Posted by Picasa

















And, most importantly, archers should NEVER, EVER wear loose long sleeves.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Todd makes summit!



















Todd sent me this photo via his phone. He's not allowed to call but I guess he snuck this one off. It got a bit squashed in transit, but it still looks like a spectacular view! Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

O.K.

I think I'm recovering now. Everything is falling into place as the week progresses. I promise you I knew it would, it was just that mean time.

Anyway. Josiah is much better this week (no "ticks").
Hunter has 2.25 of his 4 scripts down pat.
All costumes but 2 are complete and laying out neatly in a room at church.
I looked online and found out how to "treat" the bees living in my garden. (It looks like it snowed in my yard. Hopefully they won't be around tomorrow.)
Jr. High class went relatively smoothly Sunday morning.
I asked the children's minister for Wednesday night off so I can finish up costumes.
Bruce and Chris came over tonight and fixed my van!!!...and Ginger even came and visited with me while they did it!
I'm making real and steady progress on the book edit.
I actually did some laundry and picked up my living room today after a completely useless but rejuvinating "lazy day" yesterday.

The "car repair shop" didn't shut down in my drive way until almost 11 tonight so I've decided to forgo the movie night I kept promising myself as I slogged through my chores today. I'm rather proud of myself for that.......for knowing that I should sleep instead of watching Alias episodes until 3am.

Now if I can just quit blogging........

Friday, June 09, 2006

Isn't it ironic?

The irony of my cousin Richard's death struck me today. He spent a year in Iraq. His dad is in Iraq right now and so is his brother.

Richard's truck fell on him in his own drive way.

I've never believed that life is supposed to make sense. Somehow this just proves it.
Lord, please comfort our family. I pray your peace.
Amen.

Therapy

I am feeling seriously overwhelmed right now. I know that journaling is therapeutic so I'm gonna just write everything down that has added up to make this feeling of anxiousness that I can not seem to shake.

I don't need answers or advice and there's really nothing to be done about most of it. I don't want anyone to fix anything. I just need to put it all down and take a good look at it all so I understand myself a little better.

1. My van's not running.
2. My husband's leaving town tomorrow for a 7 day trek.
3. Some bees have made a hive by my front door.
4. Hunter has 8 days left to finish memorizing 4 seperate plays, 3 acts each (he only had 2 weeks to do it in the first place.)
5. I have to make costumes for VBS in that same amount of time and I have no clue what I'm doing.
6. I have 7 more chapters to re-read and check for a book edit that should have been finished about a year ago.
7. Josiah has picked up a new "tick". Besides making noises constantly because of sinus drainage, he is also shaking his head and blinking hard, like he's trying to clear his head, continuously....i.e. every 10-20 seconds or so.....I have no idea who to even ask about it.
8. My cousin was killed yesterday when the truck he was working on fell on him.
9. I can not go to the funeral in Southern Louisiana next week unless I somehow find a way to finish everything I'm supposed to have done and leave all three of my kids with someone for a few days.....not likely.....on either count.
10. I am teaching Jr. High on Sunday mornings (30 of them) by myself and I'm teaching 2-3 year olds on Wednesday nights (thankfully, not by myself).
11. I am suppposed to read 3 chapters a week out of Love and Respect for a Friday morning Bible study.
12. My house is, once again, an abyss of laundry and toys and trash (though my sink is clean).



Any one or two of these things, or even 5 or 6, would be perfectly fine, especially since most of them are no big deal in and of themselves. It's just those few majors thrown into it all that I think are making it harder for me to deal.

Quite honestly, without VBS this would all be o.k. I guess that's my straw. I also realize that it's too late to do anything about that. I'll just have to limp my broken camel back on through it all.

Maybe the key now that I've figured that out is to just get those costumes out of the way this weekend and be done with that part of it. We'll have to stick it out on Hunter's lines for the plays, but he's amazed me at how fast he's learned it so far.......I just have to trust him to keep on amazing me.

And pray for peace that passes understanding...........and boundless energy........and loving patience............and miraculous sewing skills.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

What do you get......

.....when you remember at 3:30 that your child must be a frog by 5?


















You get a real sense of appreciation for your pack-rat tendencies.

You get really, really creative.






















And, most obviously, you get a kid with sewn up pants on his head. Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

You learn something new every day....

Today it's meme. I was hitting Next Blog a couple of times and ran across a blog that was fun. It suggested that you grab the nearest book, turn to page.........anyway, I'll be doing that in a minute. First, though, it was headed as "...a meme for all you meme lovers out there." So I looked it up at www.wikipedia.com. Fascinating. Check it out. It's too big to cut and paste here.

Here's the book thingy:

1. Grab the nearest book (not the coolest you can find, the one actually nearest to you).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post that sentence in your journal (blog) along with these instructions.

So, due to my past posting, Donald Miller's Through Painted Deserts is what's nearest me right now. The fifth sentence (if you start with the first full sentence) reads:

"You were right about the cereal, Paul."

I think it's supposed to be fun, not earth-shattering. :-)

Monday, June 05, 2006

Josiah tried to copy his aunt and push his daddy in.

















It didn't work out the way he planned.


Posted by Picasa














.........or did it?

I promised photos of Todd's dunk....
















Todd in the water (I missed the push).

















Todd attempting to get out of the water.....with some "help".
























Who's this so innocently eating ice cream? Could it be the culprit?

There is, after all, no photographic evidence........ Posted by Picasa

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Here she is.
















I haven't been able to catch Todd on it for a photo shoot.

It's supposed to get 125 miles to the gallon but it's only
been getting 80........is that a bad thing? It sure beats
the snot out of 17 mpg, which is what the other two
vehicles get.

We all love it!!! Posted by Picasa

Friday, June 02, 2006

Hair Cut

I cut my hair this morning.

I just thought I should tell you since no one else will notice.

I cut about 5 inches off the length and layered the rest. It looks so much healthier. You'd like it.

:-D