Wedding of the Century

That is a picture of my sister Andrea and her new husband Matt.  This past week was action packed with VBS every night, and then straight on to Knoxville for Matt and Andrea's wedding.  It was a gorgeous affair, and I had the honor of singing Malotte's "Lord's Prayer" at the wedding, and Sister Hazel's "This Kind of Love" at the reception for their first dance.  The rehearsal dinner was in the skybox at Neyland Stadium!

It was a great weekend and I love ministering in Kingsport, but times like this really make me miss Knoxville A LOT.  People here in Kingsport have often asked me "What is it about Knoxville???"  Well, honestly, for me, it's home.  I supposed wherever you are born and raised will be speical to you no matter what.  All my family still live there, my favorite teams still play there, and I have some incredible memories there.  Plus, it's close enough that I can get there within 2 hours if I need to.

Anyway, my sister popped up on Facebook last night, which surprised the heck out of me because she is honeymooning in Costa Rica right now.  She said she is literally in the jungle and that the only form of communication is the Internet.  Funny, I always thought of Costa Rica as being a 3rd world mission field, being just south of Nicaragua.  Who knew it was a hot vacation spot?

Also, last night Jonathan Smith, Andrew Gibbons, and I had the privilege of leading a 21 year old lady by the name of Tiffany Lawrence to the Lord.  It was wild because she wasn't even the person we were looking for at that house during visitation.  I love God ordained appointments!

Well anyway, that's all for now.  I'm exhausted.  Like, the can't keep my eyes open, head hurts, need to lie down and close my eyes or I'm going to vomit kind of exhausted.  So I'm going to go find a quiet corner and hide for a few minutes to try and shake the nausea, just in case you come by the church and can't find me for the next half hour or so.

Week One of NutriSystem Down and VBS, Funerals, and Weddings, Oh My!

If I live through this week it will be incredible.  I am on my second week of Nutrisystem, VBS is in full swing, I have a funeral this afternoon, and my sister is getting married this weekend.  I am singing in the wedding and at the reception, so I've got a lot going on there, plus it's in Knoxville, which complicates things.

VBS started last night, and it went really well.  I think VBS is an incredible idea that has worked for decades, and is STILL a viable and effective evangelism tool for the church.  But dang does it wear out the teachers and workers.

Now, as for the Nutrisystem...I tried this last year and looking back on my journal entries I lost an average of 2 pounds per week while on it until about the 13th week, where I just stopped losing.  I don't know what happened, but my weight loss completely petered out around that 13 unlucky week, and never started back again.  I went about 2 months without losing weight before finally just giving up on the program.  Almost a year later, I had gained 27 of those pounds back and started looking pregnant again.

I had decided around January of this year that I would try Low Carb again.  To be honest with you, I really gave it an honest go for about 4 months and didn't lose any weight.  I KNOW I was doing it the right way because I was hyper careful, and I'm REALLY well educated and REALLY well read on the subject.  I even bought a membership at the YMCA and averaged 5 days a week working out.  Nothing.

Well, here I am after the first week on Nutrisystem again, and what are the results?  My official first weigh in 9 days ago was 213 pounds.  My weight this morning is 206 pounds.  There's an extra two days in this first week because my official weigh-in days are on Mondays, and I started on a Saturday morning, but still...two days ago I weighed 208, which would be 5 pounds in 7 days, which is still incredible.

So anyway, I will be making entries every Monday morning specificially related to my weight loss.  I am also taking measurements, but I don't have those on me right now, and I'll probably only post those once a month anyway.

Brian's Weight Loss Chart:

October 1st, 2007:  230 pounds (My heaviest point, and the true beginning)

May 23rd, 2009:  213 pounds

June 1st, 2009:  206 pounds

Mid-Week NutriSystem Update

Okay, I am a pretty firm believer in only posting weight loss numbers once a week, but I thought I'd go ahead and post these.  I started NutriSystem on Saturday morning at 215 pounds.  This morning, after 5 days, I'm at 208 pounds.  7 pounds gone in 5 days sounds like a pretty good way to start.  I'm not hungry, I'm not MORE tired than usual.  I do think I probably should clean up my CPAP machine and start wearing that pain in the butt again.

Anyway, here's a few of random pictures that I think are funny:

It's Memorial Day, We're All Sick

Well, today is Memorial Day 2009 and we're all a coughing, hacking, sick mess over here.  Thanks Traci.  I love you anyway.

I am taking a break from Low Carb for a while because frankly, I wasn't losing weight, but gaining, and I just can't handle it anymore.  Desperate times call for desperate measures, so today I'm OFFICIALLY starting NutriSystem again.  The last time I did it I lost something like 40 pounds, so I'm going to give it one more go.  I began eating NS two days ago, and I've already lost 4 pounds, so I'm pretty optimistic that this will work.

Now don't get me wrong...Low Carb is a perfectly fine, healthy way to eat, and my decision is in no way a reflection on my Low Carb pals.  It's just that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results.  So, I'm trying something different.  Like I said, desperate times...desperate measures.

And you may think I'm insane for starting on a holiday where eating is the centerpiece of the day.  Nope, that was intentional.  Part of my epic failures of the past have been "giving in" on holidays.  I figure I've got a ton of momentum right now since it's at the very beginning, and if I can make it through this holiday unscathed then it will set the benchmark for my future holiday eating patterns.

So today I weigh 211.8 and my goal is to get to 160 and re-evaluate from there.  So the march is on in the war against obesity.  It's a march of 52 pounds this go around.  If I reach my goal weight, then my total weight loss since coming to Sunnyside will be 70 pounds.  Epic.

I Hate Being Fat, Round 2 **ding ding ding**

Okay, so the fight is on.  It's Low Carb in one corner, and NutriSystem in another.  I have fought for both sides and against both sides at different points in my life.  I have lost more than 40 pounds at different points using both systems, so both systems work.  I have kept the weight off and sustained each way of eating for about the same amounts of time.  In both cases, my health and bloodwork improved.

So here I am, back up to 215 pounds, desperate to do something to take the weight off.  I'm already hitting the gym 6 days a week (5 at a base minimum in the case of holiday weeks like the one coming up where the gym is closed on Memorial Day).  So the only thing left to do is adjust what goes in my mouth.  I have proven myself to be an absolute failure without a structured way of eating, so an absolute, hour by hour plan is a necessity for me.

I've been doing Low Carb now for 2 months and the total weight loss I've seen so far is a whopping 15 pound weight gain.  I know Low Carb works, so before you start to bash LC, just back off.  It's a healthy, proven way to not only lose weight, but control your health as well.  But, it's not working for me right now, and a change is in order.

So, I'm doing a four month experiment starting tomorrow, depending on when the Big Brown Box comes from UPS.  I am signed up for NutriSystem again.  My plan is to take it one month at a time.  If I lose weight in month 1, then I will continue on to month 2.  If I lose weight in month 2, then I will continue on to month 3, and so forth and so on.  I can cancel anytime (like I did last time), so the instant it stops working for me, I'm done.

Here's the deal: at this point, I don't care if it's something gimmicky, if I can't sustain it, if it's unhealthy, I don't care.  At this point, I HAVE to lose at least 60 pounds.  PERIOD.  I don't care how it happens as long as it's legal.  Can I sustain the strict calorie reduction of NutriSystem?  I don't know.  Can I sustain the strict carb reduction of Low Carb?  I don't know.  All I know is I have succeeded with both plans in the past in losing weight, and I failed to sustain both of them in the past.

I guess the point is that I need your prayers.  My back hurts from the extra strain placed on it by my belly.  My ego hurts from so many people at church commenting to me that I need to lose weight (YEAH, that REALLY happens EVERY week to me.  And believe it or not, most of the time the snide comment is accompanied by a nice humiliating pat on my stomach).  Step number one is to simply lose the weight.  Once I get there I'll figure out what to do next.  I can't deal with that far down the road right now.

I was born and raised in the highlands of East Tennessee on the border with North Carolina, but I am a Scot just the same. My bloodlines go through Clan Donald on both sides of my family. Author and historian David R. Ross often discusses that there are remnants of the Scottish clan system still in place. I can attest to that because we are NOT a clan society in Clan Donald, but are truly still a clan (a family). We have tried with all our might to maintain our oral histories and traditions within Clan Donald, especially here in the Mid-South. I am a piper and have the opportunity to play (and teach) quite often. In fact, most every day I stand outside the church and pipe for my beloved Scotland even though I know she can’t hear me.

I am indeed 6 generations American, but I was a thousand a Scot before that.

I am a Scot, as were each of the thousands of generations of Sharps (MacIlherons) who came before me, and as will be the generations coming after me, starting with Emori.

Now, I am a proud American as well, and I won't speak to that today.  But I will say that I am very patriotic, ALWAYS stand at attention with my hand over my heart when the Star Spangled Banner is played, and sing it with all my heart.  I get a tear in my eye when I see a color guard fly Old Glory, and think of the men and women who sacrifice every day for my selfish freedom.  But I am also a Scot.

I have never been to Heaven, but I am a citizen of Heaven.  No one questions that.

I bring all this up because this weekend the Scottish Games season kicks off with the Gatlinburg Scottish Festival and Games.  It is a short opportunity for me to go be with my people and be myself without fear of being made fun of for who I am.  In fact, those without kilts on will be the outcasts.  The liberating freedom that comes with these games is incredible.  As chaplain of Clan Donald's MidSouth region, it also allows me to minister to people there as well.

2009 is also the year for Homecoming Scotland.  According to the official website it is "an events programme celebrating Scotland's great contributions to the world. In 2009 join us to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns’birth, Scottish contributions to golf & whisky, plus our great minds and innovations and rich culture and heritage."

I could do without the whisky part altogether though.

Here are a few short videos that express how I feel about Scotland:

Flower of Scotland, the REAL Anthem for All Scots:

David Ross, Author and Historian on our kilt:

The Edinburgh Military Tatoo...Watch especially starting at 1:30.  If a tear doesn't come to your eye, well, then you're not a Scot and you'll never get it:

Here is the offical TV Ad for Homecoming Scotland:

And finally, an ancient form of music from dear Alba called "mouth music".  It is sung in the mother tongue of Scots Gaelic:

Coffee! You Can Sleep When You're Dead!

Oh Vanilla Biscotti Folgers Coffee, wherefore art thou? Why has thou caused my coffee pot to explode, spreading your caffeinated goodness all over the office counter, leaving my handcrafted mug of happiness empty and wanting? Oh poorly made coffee maker, how you vex me!

Have you ever awakened to the sound of bagpipes, only to realize that you just woke up 5 minutes before you were supposed to be at work, and you have a 30 minute commute, your shirt is not ironed, and you really, REALLY need to shave, take a shower, and properly spike up the hair before going in?  No?  Well, that has been me for the past two weeks.  I'm just so exhausted that I flat sleep through two alarms, one of which is the aforementioned Great Highland Bagpipes.

I once saw a fellow piper notice someone asleep at one of his concerts and he promptly advised the person sitting next to Sleeping Beauty to check his pulse because the last person that slept through Scottish Bagpipes was actually dead.  Well I'm pretty sure I'm not dead, but I do feel like the undead this morning.  And there is still no coffee to speak of.

Apparently, if the cone shaped coffee filter folds in on itself during the initial stages of the brewing process, that causes the whole operation to go all 3 Mile Island on itself, ruining not only the lovely pot of caffeinated brew, but everything within a 10 foot radius of Mr. Coffee himself.  Who knew?

Anyway, I know this wasn't a very spiritual post, but right now I feel about as spiritual as the bottom side of a Dr. Scholls.  And no, I'm NOT gellin'.  I'll get back to you after the adrenaline has settled from my Top Gun meets Talladega trip into the office, and the caffeine has taken over from Vanilla Biscotti Office Coffee: The Sequel.

I'm off to mop the office.