On a need-to-know basis

I've been contemplating lately. I feel there are things you can't understand about me and my weight loss journey until you know more about me. I know I've told my journey with weight in a previous post, but I'd like to share more with you. I truly find inspiration in all of you and your blogs and feel as if you are on a need-to-know basis. Haha. So here is a list of things about me I feel you should know to get me:

1) I love Jesus, but I'm not that good at it. I am a Christian. I will not shove it down your throat, but Jesus is my lifeblood. I see myself as a dirty and wretched sinner only cleansed by him. I believe this world is utterly and completely saved by the hands that made it. My husband is a former pastor and currently taking a break to finish school until we go back into ministry. So yes, I'm a pastor's wife.

2) I am from everywhere. I grew up my whole life just outside Louisville, Kentucky. Moved to Birmingham, Alabama when I was eighteen. Left when I was nineteen to marry and move to Crystal Lake (just outside Chicago), Illinois. Left after a year to move back to Talladega, Alabama. I love every place I've lived and carry a part of them with me. I miss the people I've left behind, and I can't wait to see where we go in the future.

3) I am poor and probably always will be. I don't say this for sympathy. I say this because it sometimes explains my poor food choices. I am not always able to get the health food. I usually end up with more processed food in my grocery cart than I am happy about. But it's cheaper, and I feel like to get me you need to know that I am not making excuses for myself--it's just my situation. It is also a well-known fact that pastors do not get paid well so I don't expect to ever be rich. :) Right now, my husband is in a secular retail-based job. I stay at home with our 15-month old, and we basically live off of student loans as we are both full-time college students as well. We have never believed that we had to give up marriage to finish school or give up school to stay married. We believe that we can do both and succeed in both. Which brings me to the next point..

4) I am determined. Because I haven't lived my life in the order that the world laid out for me, it hasn't always been easy, but I think because of this I have become more determined. I am more determined to finish college now than I was when I was eighteen. I am more determined to be a good wife and mom than ever before. I am more determined to succeed with the lap band because I had to pay out of pocket. If I ever think of giving everything up, I just look at the price tag of my surgery! Lol.

So there's just a few things about me. I hope it can put some of my struggles a little more in context for you. I don't want sympathy, just understanding. :)

In other news, I've been hovering at 244.8 for a week now. And (TMI ALERT) I haven't had a good poop in a week. I am sooo constipated, so I am having my husband pick up a laxative on the way home for me. Coffee isn't even helping, and it used to be a sure-fire fix. Maybe it will help me break 244.8, too!

Well, that's it for now. Love reading your all's blogs. You all fascinate, inspire, and encourage me.