Guess who turns 1 today?

Josie on the day she was born!


A year ago today, we were all just anxiously awaiting her arrival. As we sat in the delivery room at Crestwood Hospital in Huntsville, AL, we knew our lives were about to change. Finally at 7:19 pm, Josie Layne Widick was born into this world. Never has there been a greater girl born.

A lot has happened in a year, especially the big move from Guntersville to Houston. And now, as we celebrate her first birthday, we have arrived at my parent's house in Lebanon, TN to support my sister as she is about to have her surgery.

I thought I'd place a few pics so you could see how she looks now that she's a whole year old.

Josie's new toy for her first birthday!
Josie takin a dip in the backyard.
Josie in her rocking chair holding the Raggedy Ann doll my mom made for her.
Josie and I about to go see the Alligators at Brazos Bend outside of Houston.

Praying for my sister

Tomorrow, Wednesday May 27, we will be flying home to Nashville to be with my family for my sister's surgery. We will be there till late Saturday afternoon, and then we'll fly back to Houston.

At this time, I ask you to all take a moment over the next few days and say a special prayer for Mary Anne. The surgery is scheduled for Thursday morning. They will check her lymph nodes first to make sure nothing has spread, and then begin the procedure.
My sister got a new haircut with the pink highlights, in support of Breast Cancer Awareness.
Faith got a pink hair extension put in her hair.
Even my mom got in on the action. Never thought I'd see this, but its pretty cool, to say the least.

While I'm not going to be putting a pink strip in my hair, or my beard (thanks to all that suggested it), I did buy a pink polo shirt and will be wearing it to support Mary Anne.

Getting fit is a God thing for me now

I joined the gym on May 4th. Since then I have been consistently, doing weight/resistance training 3 times a week, doing cardio on those days for 20 minutes, and then doing cardio two other days a week for 40-60 minutes.

I never realized how spiritual working out could be. I get the best thoughts and ideas while working out. Most of them are centered on God, and what I can do in my life to honor him. I have been to the gym now a total of 12 times since I joined, and there have been days when I didn't want to go at all, but I powered through and made it.

Everyday, as I pull into the gym parking lot, I'm amused by people who are waiting on a car to pull out of a spot that is closer to the door. That just cracks me up. I also have a pre-gym ritual I do each time I pull into the parking lot:

1. Pray
2. Listen to the song "He's A Pirate" on the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack

I go into the gym, get changed, put my ipod shuffle on, and head upstairs to do my 20 minute cardio warm up. Then, on the weight days, I move on to my area to do my resistance training. On days when I'm just doing cardio, I will either stay on the same machine for another 20 minutes, or move to another one.

I've realized that there are some songs that really get me going while I'm working out or running. Here are a few, and if you have any other suggestions, let me know:

1. Baba O'Reily by The Who
2. The Distance by Cake
3. Here Is Our King by David Crowder Band
4. Stronger by Kanye West
5. Vertigo by U2
6. Nuisance by John Reuben
7. Separate Ways by Journey
8. Pierced by Audio Adrenaline

Anything I'm missing?

By the way, please remember to pray for my sister, Mary Anne Walton, who is having surgery on May 28. Lord willing, Kristen, Josie and I will be making the trip to be up there with her.

For a Lifetime

I can't even begin to count the amount of times I've posted about struggles with my weight. This would probably be the 6th or 7th time in past three years I've brought this up. However, I would like to hope that this time is a bit different.

Kristen and I are very budget conscious, and we have a very limited budget to work with. Now that we have a child and we are a one income household, some things have been restricted in our home. After we moved to Houston, we found that there were about 6 different gyms within a two mile radius of our home. As I looked around, I found that all of them were anywhere from $35 to $55 a month to join. I thought that was preposterous. However, in wanting to commit to getting in shape, I went and looked at one.

The one I looked at happened to be called Lifetime Fitness. When I walked in, it was unlike any gym I had ever seen. It was so clean, full of smiling happy employees going out of there way to make sure I knew where I was going. I spoke with a customer service guy who showed me all over the place, and I was sold. We had a decision to make -- do we both join for $100 a month, or do I join for $50?

Kristen is very happy jogging outside, and she does it quite often. She also enjoys doing her pilates dvd in the living room. She is real committed, however, I am not. We decided that I would join for now, and if we come into some money later on, she could join (they offer free child care as part of your membership, and child care area is stellar to say the least).

The first time I went to the gym, I was set up with a personal trainer who was tasked with the job of measuring how fat and out of shape I really am. With a sister who was just diagnosed with cancer at 35, and a brother who had a heart attack at 36, it concerns me greatly that I have not taken care of myself. With the test, the following was determined:

1. For a 6'2" guy, I weighed 254 pounds. This puts my body mass index (BMI) just slightly into the obese category. However, the BMI is rarely correct.

2. My cardiovascular endurance is in the very poor category.

3. My bicep strength is in the good to excellent category.

4. My sit and reach was in the poor category. This is that exercise when you put your feet against a box that has a guide on it that measures how far you can reach with your legs completely straight. I have no flexibility whatsoever.

5. Based on the computerized model taking into consideration my heart rate after a brief stress test, I am in the overweight category, almost into the obese category.

6. My overall fitness is in the "fair" category.

What all of this means is that I'm completely out of shape. Out of 254 pounds, 82 pounds of my body is complete fat. My body size should only have approximately 19 pounds of fat. I am told by their computers that if follow their plan for 42 weeks, at 3 times a week of working out and 5 times a week of cardio, I can reach those goals, and get down to 191 pounds.

The most sobering part of this was the actual age versus body age category. I am 31 years old, but my body age is actual at 41 years old. This is based upon my body composition, my cardiovascular strength, flexibility and my strength rankings.

So this week, I have been to the gym 4 times. Here's to many more weeks, and a greater health and total lifestyle change.

Introducing Henry Ian Cusick as...

So we're at church on Sunday morning. Calvin uses a video clip to demonstrate anger, from the film "The Gospel of John". I had no clue who i would see in the clip of Jesus overturning the money tables in the temple. Watch the clip below, at around the 7:00 minute mark is where we started our clip Sunday morning:



Striking resemblance to this man?



I never knew Desmond was also Jesus...at least portrayed Jesus in the Gospel of John.

Update on my sister

Mary Anne will be having surgery on May 28. She asks all of us to pray for her. One way you can keep up with what's going on is on her new blog: "A Journey of Hope and Peace" Please follow her journey, and post some encouraging comments on the way.

You can also join the facebook group: "Support for Mary Anne" started by her husband, Kevin Walton. I sent many of you an invite through Facebook, but if I forgot, please go and join!