I Will Carry You

Having recently discovered Angie Smith's wonderful "Bring The Rain" blog (see earlier postings on this blog to find out more) I have been reading her book which tells the story of Audrey in full, using excerpts from the blog at times.


It is a harrowing read.


But it is also a life affirming read. I never fail to be amazed at how Angie is able to maintain her humor through periods of extraordinary pain. At the same time, her honesty in expressing her feelings of doubt and abandonment that we all go through at some time, but because of our perceived need to appear superhuman "super-Christians" we tend to hide.


I am sure that people will experience peace and healing through Angie's words, and her frank acknowledgment that she is a work in progress. These days we need permission to struggle, to be vulnerable, to be anything less than on top of life.


How often do we look aside to people who are falling apart in front of us and thank our lucky stars that we are not as weak as they are. Truth is, we are all probably experiencing some level of turmoil, and maybe wishing we weren't going through it alone.


Anyway, back to the book. I won't sugar coat it and pretend it isn't heart wrenching, because it is. I won't promise you won't cry, because you probably will, but this is a book that NEEDED to be written both for Angie Smith's sake, and for the sake of countless unnamed others who need to be told it's okay to doubt, okay to weep and wail, okay to have a go at God.


Perhaps the most powerful thing that emerges from this story, is that a child can touch numerous lives, even if it only lives for a matter of hours. Audrey has reached and inspired more people in her 2 hours of life than maybe I have in my 46 years on this earth.


Now there's a challenge!

A New Take

We've been doing the beautiful song "Hosanna" by Brooke Fraser for some time now, but a friend of mine recently came across this version by the Lakewood, Houston guys, and I absolutely love it, especially the delicious guitar solo at the start. So...enjoy!

Still the President

I recently ordered a copy of President George W. Bush's new autobiography, "Decision Points", which is out today, and also caught his interview with Matt Lauer on NBC last night.

Whilst I thought the interview was maybe a bit too far-reaching for the hour available, and would have preferred to have heard GWB speak for longer on fewer subjects, I appreciate that this was effectively a book plugging interview! One thing which came over loud and clear though was the character and principled nature of the man.

Needless to say, those who oppose him will sneer at his emotional nature, his attachment to his family, and to family values, his love for his country, and his desire to to his very best for America. Those kind of values do not sit well with modern day liberals. However, those qualities that make up the 43rd President are markedly lacking from the current administration, and that would not have escaped any of them who might have deigned to watch last night.

I will be forever ashamed that I allowed media propaganda back in the UK to influence my feelings about GWB when I really had no evidence to back up my point of view. Having seen for myself a lot more of his side of the story over here, and discovered how the majority - albeit a quiet majority - still appreciate the heck out of the guy, and spoken to people (my boss included) who know him extremely well, and are in a far better position to judge his character than a legion of armchair pundits, I look forward to reading "Decision Points", and also look forward to the day when someone of his ilk will be able to steer America back to greatness.

Day 22 (24) The End

So here we are at the end of 21 days of 500 calorie dieting and it's been a very interesting three weeks.
I started off at the horrific weight of....*mumble mumble mumble* and now I am 28.6lbs lighter after this first round of HCG. I'll tell you immediately that I plan to do this again at the start of January, but also I am determined to keep this weight off by healthy and sensible eating (mainly!), and of course regular exercise, otherwise it'll just come back.

I'm not going to lie and say it's exactly been the most fun three weeks of my life, but it's definitely been effective, and has not had any detrimental effect on my health - in fact, I feel great. The last week has really dragged though, and I'm definitely looking forward to a bit more variety -- without upping the quantity!!

So this is my last posting on this particular topic. This blog will return henceforth to something approaching normal -- whatever that may be!

Day 21 (23)

Well, yesterday the people of America delivered a decisive and
irrefutable repudiation of the administration's arrogant casting aside of the will of the majority. Woe betide the administration if it does not take heed of this. 

Whilst not a landslide, this was certainly a cause for some optimism. As things stand, the GOP candidate for Oregon governor holds a slender lead. The only sad thing about this race is that whoever wins will be pro-abortion, and the cold hard fact is that Chris Dudley (R) would certainly have had more votes had he been pro-life.

Anyway, on the weight front, with one more weighing day to go, and on the last day of taking drops. the weight loss is back in the right direction. 1.2lbs lost yesterday, taking the total loss to 28.4lbs. I think the target of 30lbs might just be out of my reach, but that's okay. We'll see how we get on on this last day.

Day 20 (22)

Something of a blip today, so I'm told. In any case, it's an annoying blip, as I somehow managed to gain 0.8 pounds yesterday. However it may have happened, I am determined that it'll be a one-off, and so for the last two days of drops I'll be increasing the dosage to four times a day.
This will not happen again.

By the way, since I am unable to vote today, and most Americans reading this today can, USE YOUR VOTE. The hope of this nation depends on it.

Day 19 (21)

Monday - 9am: Well that was a good weekend for weight loss, with around 4 pounds disappearing into the ether. Still feeling great but looking forward to introducing a bit more variety this weekend.
The figures for yesterday: weight loss overnight 1.2lbs. Total now exactly 28lbs (or for my British friends, 2 stone exactly).
Make your Monday a good one.