Mysteries of the body fat test...

After a little over a month of living in DC we finally joined a gym...Gold's. It's a fairly nice place, reasonably priced, and most importantly of all, we can find parking.

With our membership we each received an initial session with a trainer. So we had scheduled those sessions for last night. I went first.

After answering a bunch of questions about my medical history and previous workout experience, he brought out the tape measure and body fat pincher. I think it's actually good to have these measurements so I can track progress other ways, in addition to weighing myself.

Anyway, on to the body fat testing. I was actually a little excited about this (I know, I'm crazy) because I'd never, ever had it done before. It looked a little intimidating and after he assured me it wouldn't hurt*, he proceeded to pinch me in four spots--bicep, tricep, back and abs.

A few seconds after the final pinch, a number flashed on the digital screen. Because I had already seen the scale on the paperwork, I immediately knew what that reading indicated.

Okay everybody, are you ready? Aren't you just dying to know the outcome of the test? Here it is. Get ready.

I'm obese.

Okay, no I'm not, but that's what the body fat test showed. Yikes! How's that for a little depressing. I mean I'd like to lose a few pounds (maybe 10) but I don't think that in anyway constitutes obesity.

Okay, rant over. Just had to share.


*Actually, he lied because it did hurt...especially in my ab region.

Meet the renters...

I'm headed down to Richmond this morning to meet our new renters. They arrived into town last night from Texas. So I need to go down to give them keys, etc.

Looking forward to finally meeting them. This is another loop closed. We continue to thank God for taking care of all the details.

Buy a map at the zoo...

We took a trip to the zoo today. Woohoo...it was a lot of fun. We had some friends come into town this weekend and we decided to go to the zoo before they headed back to Richmond.

We were so excited that the zoo is free...so excited that none of us bothered to spend the $1 to buy a map. We wandered around wondering where things were. And every time we didn't know which direction to go, we said, "We should have bought a map."

Anyway, here are some cool animal pictures. Enjoy.

Panda trying to keep cool.

Baby panda.

Elephant playing.

Gorilla butt.

Gorilla eating a snack.

Tiger cooling off.

Sea lions getting a tan.

Seal getting a treat.

Baby meerkat (not a great pic but they were so cute).

Scary dragon.

Have you ever seen one of these at the zoo?

Me, Sandy and Angela.

Sometimes it's the small miracles...

Actually, most times it's the small miracles...if there are such things.

Today I had planned on tackling the undesirable task of balancing our checkbook. The last time I balanced it was back in February and I had 4 statements sitting on the desk.

So I gathered all the paperwork and got started. I had 0% hope that I would actually get it to balance...there were too many things working against me.

• it hadn't been balanced in 4 months
• I was using the calculator function on my laptop (not the most efficient)
• there were quite a few transactions since the end of the last statement, so even more opportunity for subtraction errors
• and so on...

Long story short...it balanced to the penny on the very first try. I was completely dumbfounded. How can this be? Even when I'm caught up and only have one month to do, there's always at least one error that I have to track down and resolve before I get the thing to balance.

I honestly believe this was a miraculous event. I had even come to decision that if it didn't balance on the first try, I would set it aside and try again tomorrow. But...no need for that. It's done and boy does that feel great.

I'd make a terrible thief...

Yesterday afternoon I was feeling a little tired and in dire need of chocolate. After a meeting, I stopped by a coworker's office to "steal" some M&Ms. Now mind you that it's really not stealing, but since she wasn't in her office, it kind of felt like that.

I looked at the M&M contraption for a minute or so, swinging the globe of M&Ms back and forth. The problem? I couldn't figure out how to get them out.

So, I walked down the hall to another coworker's office and said, "I was trying to steal some M&Ms, but I can't figure out how."

I barely said the words and instantly there was laughter coming from not one, but several offices. It appears that I brought some much needed amusement to their afternoon.

And when I relayed the story to the person whose contraption it was, she said, "You'd make a terrible thief."

I guess that's a good thing.

A real, live scientist...

Last night was the first meeting of the NCC small group we decided to join, Inklings Reloaded. It's a small group focused on the writings of C.S. Lewis and for the next 2 months we'll be reading and discussing, The Screwtape Letters.

There were 14 of us there last night, each so unique with different ideas, backgrounds, dreams, etc. We spent the first little bit introducing ourselves. Then we read and briefly discussed the Preface of the book.

Before we ended we split the group into 2 smaller groups and had the opportunity to share prayer requests with one another, followed by a time of prayer. We had a really great time and look forward to getting to know people in the group a bit more.

I got to talking with the woman next to me and asked her what kind of work she'll be doing (she had talked about finishing her doctorate and interviewing for jobs). She's a research scientist. Wow...I've never met a real, live scientist before.

I had to laugh because I always struggled with science (I cried every day of physics class my senior year in high school), but she loves what she does. It's just a reminder that we are all created so uniquely and have very different things to offer this world.

What a fun night.

A whisper from God...

I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that God has ordered our steps and guided us to exactly where we are right now...sitting in our place in DC...working at NCC.

I'm the kind of person that needs numerous signs...and then just a few more to make sure we're on the right track. And God is always gracious to accommodate my need to be sure we are doing what we're supposed to be doing.

And I'm 100% sure we're where God wants us to be.

I say all that to say this...God whispered to me this weekend.

As you probably know last Sunday was our farewell service at Crosslight...and it was extremely difficult. During worship we sang one of my favorite songs...Surrender. The words* are amazing and always remind me of all the ways I hold out on God and all the things I daily need to give Him.

Yesterday at 5:05 p.m. was our first ever service at NCC. And guess what? We sang Surrender. God is so good. He knew I needed something when even I didn't.

*Lyrics to Surrender

I'm giving you my heart
And all that is within
I'm laying it all down
For the sake of you my king

I'm giving you my dreams
I'm laying down my rights
I'm giving up my
For the promise of new live

And I surrender it all to you, all to you
And I surrender it all to you, all to you

I'm singing you this song
I'm waiting at the cross
And all the world holds still
Counting all that love

The sake of knowing you
The glory of your name
To know the lasting joy
Even sharing in your past