New addition the family!

I just got a new betta fish... my last one died a couple of weeks ago. This is fish #3 and the first two I had a little over two years each... which I think is good for a fish. The first one I had was Oscar and he was bluish green, then the second one was red and his name was Fish. I know not very creative... I just couldn't come up with anything. Well this one is dark blue and part way up his fins he turns red... Alex said he looked like Superman... so that is his name now! He is a crown betta so his fins are spiky, which is cool. He is actually pretty small, but these pictures make him look kinda big. He's quite feisty too. Here are some pictures of him in his new tank, which hangs on the wall like a picture frame...

Mental Health Vacation...

I took a few personal days at work and spent some time at the beach. It was very nice to have a chance to relax with nowhere to be and nothing that had to be done. I spent a long time on the beach the first day I was there and here are my two favorite pictures... 

Devotion...

I recently began a devotional book with my sister called "Spiritual Secrets to Weight Loss." It's one I just happened to run across in Barnes & Noble while looking around one night. My sister and I are trying to read 5 devotions each week (so we don't feel lot of pressure if we forget one night) and then emailing each other our thoughts on what we've read. 

The author of the book is married to a pastor and is a doctor... Dr. Kara Davis. So, she brings a unique perspective since she is a Christian and has expertise in the medical field and understands how our bodies work. I've been working on the whole weight thing and I felt like something was missing and decided to do a devotional as I work on improving my eating and exercise habits. I have truly enjoyed this book so far and I've just started the third week... it lasts for 50 days. 

I thought I would list a few things the book talks about and if anyone is looking for a good devotional, even if you don't want to lose weight, this is a great book. The entire title is "Spiritual Secrets to Weight Loss... A 50 day Renewal of Body, Mind, and Spirit." 

Here are a few things I've gotten out of it...

1. We should live a life that shows love for God and one way to show love is through sacrifice. For example, God showed love by sacrificing Jesus, his only son. So, what things can we sacrifice in order to improve our health? He made a huge sacrifice, we can at least make small ones, like not getting that second piece of pie. 

2. We need to appreciate food for what it is... a wonderful blessing from God. 

3. God is a God of power and authority and we are to totally rely on him. We have to realize that we can not modify our lifestyle with self-determination and will-power alone. 

4. Thankfully God is a God of second chances... if we do fall in our attempts to live a healthier lifestyle, he will forgive us. However, we are not to take God's nature of patience, kindness, and grace for granted. 

5. As we grow in our love for God sacrifice will become easier because our desire will no longer be to please ourselves, but to please God.

6. We have to be cognizant of how we use our time. The author points out how we dictate so much of what we do by time and this causes a lot of stress. We have to realize that the time we have each day will not change, but how we use the time can change.

7. One of the days talks about idolatry and how we often think of an idol as something tangible, but the author points out how food can become an idol for a lot of people - something I never thought of. She brings up several compelling arguments that show how people can allow food to become like an idol, but she encourages us to not over look it but to turn to the Bible and pray. 

Those are just a few things I have read about and was able to summarize in a short amount of time. I guess it was more than just chance that I found this devotional. It seems to really be a good one for me right now.