And there go the twenties...

Well, I am officially out of my twenties.  I turned 30 years old today!  WOW!!  My friend Nathan told me that his 30th birthday really bothered him.  But these are just numbers and besides that, no matter how old I get, my husband will still be 20 years older than me! ha!!!  LOVE IT!!  

So I'm really just embracing today.  When I was younger I always figured that I would be married right out of high school and begin my family.  Boy did God have other plans.  I ended up not getting married until I was 27 and we are still waiting patiently, ok, no so patiently to start our family.  I know God has a plan and that HIS timing is perfect not mine.

The past 30 years have been awesome.  God has blessed me with such a wonderful family.  I'm so thankful to be so close to my parents, my brother's and their wives, and my nieces and nephews.  I have a wonderful extended family: aunts, uncles, and cousins.  I have awesome friends who are great and always there when I need them.  I now have a wonderful In-Love-Family since marrying Boyd.   

And last, but certainly not least.  I have an INCREDIBLE husband.  God truly did answer my prayer when He brought Boyd into my life.  He is so very sweet and so loving.  He always makes me feel special.  He was up at 3:00 this morning telling me Happy Birthday and up at 5:00 this morning fixing my birthday card.  And now he has called 3 times so far just to say Happy Birthday.  He's the best.  But my favorite part about him is that he loves Christ with all his heart.  

I AM BLESSED!!!

Also, to go along with the twenties, I'm happy to say I have now lost 22 lbs.  wootwoot!!  I've been doing this lifestyle change for 5 weeks now and it has been hard, but it feels so good. 

LOVE,

ME     

Heart Sick!

I remember dreading my Senior year of high school, because we had another new Science Teacher.  YUCK!  I didn't like science and I sure didn't like the previous teachers we had.  And to top it all off, our science teacher was living in a camper on my Aunt's place.  Oh great!  Well my very first day, I got the call that I had a tumor and would need it removed and would be out of school until the middle of October.  WHAT!!  During that time off from school my science teacher was GREAT!  He helped me with my homework.  Sent messages to me encouraging me.  He was actually pretty cool and made science so much fun.  Even though he and I didn't agree on evolution vs. creation, we had great debates and finally agreed to disagree.  He even ended up being our Senior sponsor.  He helped us raise a lot of money so we could really enjoy our Senior trip.  While I was deciding what school I wanted to attend, SBU in Bolivar was really are my mind.  Mossman, my science teacher, was from Bolivar and his wife and kids lived there.  So he really encouraged me to consider it, especially since they would be close by and would help me when I needed them.  "It never hurts to have family close by", he said.  So school ended, went on a Senior trip and had a blast.  Came home, got ready to head off for college.  Saw a lot of Mr. Mossman and his family while in Bolivar.  Ate a lot of meals at their house.  Babysat their kids.  Played on a softball team with them.  Just enjoyed my time with them.  

Eventually Colin and his wife divorced and both remarried, but I still stayed in contact with them and the kids.  I kept updated on him and the kids by email.  And now the past several months I have enjoyed keeping up with him through Facebook.

This morning I got to work and pulled up facebook and my pastor that I had when I was in Bolivar left me a note saying that a Mr. Mossman had shot himself and that he thought I might know him.  I thought to myself, no, it can't be him.  I looked it up in the Bolivar paper and sure enough, it was him.  He and his new wife were getting divorced and he kidnapped her at gun point on Tuesday morning and made her get into her car and they drove to Bolivar where she then tried to escape and he shot at her.  She did get away and he continued on toward Stockton where police found him dead in her vehicle.  He talked to some of his friends on his phone but he would not tell them where he was.  This still feels like a nightmare.  What kind of war was he fighting inside his head?  

I was looking at his kids' facebook and noticed that he had taken pictures with them on Monday night and his facebook on Monday night stated that he loved his kids.  Did he know what was going to take place the next day?  Anyway, my heart is just breaking right now for his kids.  I can't imagine what must be going through their heads.  If you think about it, and are reading this, would you please say a prayer for Shelby and Gage.  Here is the last picture that they have with their dad.  

Love and prayers to Shelby and Gage!

No, No, Your Eyes Are Not Deceiving You...

You thought I was gone forever right?  Nope, just too stinkin' impatient to wait on pictures to download.  And I'm really not interesting enough to blog without pictures! ha!!

Anyway, a lot has happened since I blogged last time, but that's all in the past now, and I can't remember much of it anyway.  

A friend of mine has been struggling to lose weight and so I though this would be a great time to be accountability partners with eachother.  So we started back on February 15.  I'm watching my calorie intake and working out 5 times a week.  I have done the whole "diet" thing more times than I care to admit, but this time (I've also heard myself say that) I'm changing my whole lifestyle.  It really has been easier this time around than the times before.  Don't get me wrong, there are times when I am in tears because I'm so hungry and have considered eating Boyd (kidding, he's too skinny anyway).  But I HAVE to do this.  I don't have a choice now.  

I'M MISERABLE!

 I'm afraid to go on amusement park rides because I'm afraid they will ask me to get off because I'm too big;

I'm afraid to see some old "friends" I haven't seen in a while because I'm afraid what they might think; 

I'm afraid that I may be the cause of my husband and I not being able to have children because of my weight;

I'm afraid that if I don't get a grasp on my addiction to food that I will continue to be on a downward spiral to the grave.  (don't get me wrong, I long for Heaven, but I would rather go in the rapture, not because of something I could've prevented);

I'm afraid that my nieces and nephews will pattern after me and I want to be a better example to them.

Do you see the pattern?  I'M AFRAID.  My name is Kayla Combs and I have a food addiction and I'm afraid.  Who wants to live their life like that.  NOT me!

So, I'm going to use this blog as sort of an accountability for myself.  It's embarrassing that I've posted this picture of myself, but I'm not hiding the fact that I'm fat, so guess it shouldn't bother me.  So here it is...

This is me and my dad in January in Oklahoma.  My dad has always tried to encourage me to lose weight.  He sees how miserable my mom is and he does not want me to be going down the same path.  My mom had always told me since I was little, "please sis, you can wear my shoes, but please don't ever get big like me and wear my clothes".  But guess what, we wear the same size.  Way to obey your mom, Kayla!  Anyway, their support means the world to me.  When I've tried "diets" before, I've gone to visit my parents and my dad has mapped out a place for me to walk and usually walks with me.  And when I call my mom on Mondays (my weigh in day), she always ask how I did and tells me she's proud of me.

I'm doing this for myself first and foremost.  I need to do it.  But I also want my husband to see a different me.  A happier me who feels beautiful.  Even though he tells me, I haven't felt beautiful in a long time.  I want to do this for my parents.  My mom especially because she has just recently been told that because of some of her health issues, she is going to have to stay on a medication and she's not going to be able to lose any weight.  She will have to fight hard to not gain weight.  So, just because it's too late for her does not mean it's too late for me.

And I cannot accomplish any of this without the help of my friends and family, but most important, without the help of my Lord and Savior.  In order to stay on the straight and narrow path to a new life style, I need to keep the path between my Savior and I clear of debris that might get in my way!

Ok, I've written a book now.  I have so far lost 10 lbs.  I will try to keep this blog updated often and keep track of my weight loss.  I'm excited about this journey.

And I will try to put up some pic blogs once in a while too.  When I have like 2 years to wait on them to upload!

LOVE ALWAYS!!!

Philippians 4:13 (King James Version)

 ¹³I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The first weekend of deer season is always a busy time of the year for me. Ever since I can remember, I have watched my nieces and nephews for my brothers so they could hunt all weekend. And I always decorate for Christmas that weekend. So Friday afternoon I started out by picking up Caleb. He got in the car with our foster son. They started chit chatting away. Then they got into it. And Caleb finally said, "KK, he is arguing with me". Wonder where he has heard that word! ha!!! And then got home and Bub, McKenna, and Trinity came over. We had a great time. We played some games on Friday night.

Saturday we got up and had biscuits and gravy. Mmmm good! Then we went outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. We worked outside ALL day Saturday decorating and cleaning up the outside a little. In the afternoon while Bub and McKenna were working outside, I brought out a blanket and Caleb and Trinity took a nap outside. It was all I could do not to go over there and lay down with them.

All our hard work paid off though. We even tossed big plastic candy canes into the trees. Not sure how we will get them out, but it was fun putting them up there.

This little cedar tree McKenna decorated with all kinds of things. It looks so much better in person.


















McKenna also helped me with this. She put the garland up. I need to figure out a way to have it lit up at night. It's so cute. Now if we can just keep the kitty's and dogs out of it.
















And this is the big well house. Bub got up on the roof of it and helped me hang the ice cycle lights. He and McKenna got up there and put the cross in place and then put lights on it as well. I think it turned out really well.














We ended our weekend with going to church Sunday morning where Trinity and I sang "He Knows My Name". Then we came home and ate Fried chicken, mashed taters, gravy, corn, greenbeans, etc. Then we started putting up the tree. McKenna does a great job of "fluffing" the limbs, and Bub "fluffs" the top of the tree. My lights didn't work though, so we took a trip to Forsyth and I bought 3 boxes of lights. Got home, ran out of lights. So we still didn't get the tree done. We went to Hercules church last night. Trinity sang "Walking on the Heaven Road" and McKenna, Bub, and Trin sang "He Knows My Name". They blessed my heart!!!

I had such a great weekend with them all. It is such a healing time for me. For just a weekend, I get to feel like a mom. I love it. It does my heart good. I always tease my brother Ron that he is stingy with his kids and that he always wants them to himself. But I am SO thankful that he is that way and his kids will be thankful one day too.

So thankful for a wonderful weekend. I will treasure these memories that we made this weekend. I hope the kids will too!!

New Do!

So last night I went to get my hair done. I was sick to death of it and have had the same color, cut, etc for a while now. I wanted a change. So my friend from way back, Suzanne, just opened her salon up just a month or so ago, so I called her and made the appointment. I told her she could do whatever she wanted to do with my hair. People thought I was crazy, but you need to look at her website (http://www.studiotrendz.com) and you'll see why I had total confidence in her. Thank you SO much Suzanne! I love my hair!

So here is the before picture. We forgot until she already had foil on my head. I can't believe I'm posting this before shot for all the world to see, but oh well!!!

















This is the after shot. I don't like this one as well as the next shot. But I wanted you to see the cut/length of my hair. You should have seen all the hair on the floor. Crazy!!!!

















This is the picture I like because you can really see all the cool colors. I had a such a great time. I was there over 3 hours, but we had a lot to catch up on. I hadn't seen her since 1996 so lots of things had happened since then.

Movin' On Up...

When dad and mom came up at the end of August they had planned to maybe pour the foundation of their new addition. They never dreamed they would leave this Friday and have it built and dried in. WOW!!! My brothers and dad know how to get 'er done. Anyway, we had such a good time getting together and working (ok, so the women mainly kept the men fed and "watered"). Tearing down the old porch was kind of bitter sweet. That's where my Grandma slept the last 18 years of her life was on that porch, so that was hard. The picture above is a before picture. This was before Labor Day.

And this picture was taken this past Sunday September 27th. Looking good huh. This is probably the way it will look until they come back sometime in the spring.

This is so exciting to see work being done, knowing that they will move home eventually (sorry Tishomingo people). This past time is the longest they have been here at one time since they moved away in 2002. We have so enjoyed having them here and it is going to be SO hard to see them leave. Especially for the grandkids. They have been so use to having Papa and Granny around and going to all their school and ballgame activities. They won't be back until Thanksgiving now. But that's not too far off.

Well I guess that's it for now. If you want to see more of the house pictures, I have them on my facebook page. It doesn't take as long to download them on there.

Have a blessed day!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAMMY!!!!

Today is one of my best friend's birthday! Woohoo!! We have known each other for a very long time. We first met when we were both singing with the New Life Ambassadors. I thought she was a snob (love you Tam), but turns out she's not and we became fast friends. We had a blast singing together and I was so sad when she became a Senior and wouldn't be in the group anymore. But little did I know that's when our friendship would really blossom.

We have been through a LOT of ups and downs, but our friendship stays the same. We don't get together as much as I would like either, but when we do get together, it seems like we've been together everyday. We are able to pick up where we left off.

Tammy, thank you for being such a great friend. Someone I can talk to about anything and I know you will listen. Thanks for all the many prayers you have prayed for me. I am so blessed to have you in my life. You are a treasure!!!

I LOVE YOU TAMMY!!!!