Day 130 - 38.18

Ok, so that number doesn't represent a Bible verse or a chapter in any book I'm reading...hmmmm....just what is that number and what does it mean?

To me, it means BUCKET LIST, as in.....I ticked off 1 of my items :)

No, it doesn't represent that I ate 38.18 ding dongs, or walked 38.18 miles (YIKES! Not adding that to my bucket list!) Okay, enough with the games.....it represents.....(sorry, I may need a drumroll here, as this is pretty exciting to me....)

MY 5K TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As Hannah Isabel says, I DEED IT! or I DID IT!!!

I spent the last week in NY working....whew and it was a lot of working, that is for sure!
But I kept up the running, trying to push a bit harder each day as I knew this weekend I was signed up for not 1, but 2 (AM I CRAZY???? YES!!!!) 5K's!

So on Friday, my friend, Brenda and I ran along the Hudson River up through Battery Park...although we weren't sure, I thought it seemed pretty close to 3 miles.......or at least hoped so to prepare for this weekend....

On Saturday, Kelly, Jenny (one of my "non biological" daughters :)) and I (along with my sister, and nieces, Allison and Molly) ran in the Ferguson "LIVE WELL" 5K.....

Kelly and Jenny were kind enough to pace their running with mine....and together we crossed the finish line at, you guessed it: 38 minutes, 18 seconds... running the whole time! WOW, what an accomplishment from someone that couldn't run up my hill most of my life! The weather was cool and didn't rain after all, so it worked out great!

Then again this morning, Kelly and I headed to Forest Park for the GIRLS ON THE RUN 5k....Kelly is a coach for this great organization, which empowers young girls, among other things, with their health.....Unlike Ferguson, which had a nice size crowd of about 800 participants, there had to be a couple thousand here! Kelly, Carrie (another "non biological daughter" - I adore my daughter's friends!) and I ran together on this one....we tried to run with the girls at the school where Kelly is coaching but with the HUGE crowd, it was impossible, plus they were with their parents, etc....

This one had a few more hills than yesterday, especially the 1/8 mile hill at about the 2.5 mile marker but we plowed through and finished again without walking! YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was breathless in St. Louis (get it, sleepless in Seattle!?) when I crossed the finish line!

As I sit here typing and counting up the miles I have run this week, I am shocked and thrilled....no, I don't want to be a marathon runner or even run every day....but I do want to continue to work hard to stay in shape and run along the way! This journey is truly a testimony to what you can do if you put your mind (and your feet!) to it! Believe me, it wasn't EASY to get started but worth every ache and pain (I'll remind myself of that when I can't move in the morning....)

This getting healthy journey is awesome.....I have never felt so good in my entire life....but my true message is....to those reading this that have been in this place for a long time AND YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE, kudos to you.....wish you would have hit me over the head a long time ago.....but I know now that no matter what you did or said, it had to be ME MAKING THE DECISION TO GET IT DONE....

For those still "on the couch" or "on the fence" still choosing ding dongs (and I understand, because I like them too :)) over workouts.....WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! Ding dongs will never be completely off the market for you.....but the opportunity to get in shape before life hits you with another challenge because of your weight and inactive lifestyle may slip away....don't let that happen....

So just for today, make a decision FOR you instead of AGAINST you......Just change 1 thing this week towards a healthier lifestyle...but the trick is, once you change it, you can't go back! So if your decision is to start drinking more water, don't do it 1 day and then stop......Ok, clock is ticking, what's it going to be?!

On another note, I said I would weigh in every couple of weeks and I did......I was a bit afraid as when I was in NY, I wasn't quite as clean as last visit.....but I did workout every day except 1 and also made sure I did get in some healthy eating.....so the scale was kind and actually went down a bit :)

158.2 pounds.....
Now, just figuring out how to keep it there....
Have a wonderful week!

Day 122 - Keep on moving......

Well, I did it! Today I only had a little bit of time to fit in some "running" (or trotting as I call it)....Kelly and Charlotte said they would come along....I took off first as Kelly was getting ready and said she would meet me at the top of the hill (on our street) with Charlotte....

I took off, walking past the first 3 houses, just to get my heart pumping and then started the "trot"....and went to 7 Pines Drive and back WITHOUT STOPPING! YAHOO! My first "non stop" 2 mile run :)....

2 miles may be "peanuts" to most people, but I'm telling you, before this whole LOSE A TON thing, I barely could walk the dang 2 miles.....now I can TROT them - haha!

This just reminds me what I have "relearned" through this whole experience. YOU can do what YOU put your mind to....Kelly and I were talking about that earlier today...what a difference from a year ago, where I am right now with my physical strength and endurance... I have a long way to go, but have come a long way!

I'm just continually amazed at where the strength REALLY comes from.....that little thing sitting on top of your shoulders.....as I mentioned in our last airing on SHOW ME ST. LOUIS......If you can get your mind to do it, your feet will follow!!!

Had a great evening with some old friends.....It's so surreal when I see people I haven't seen for a while and they are so surprised to see the weight I have lost.....I'm kind of used to this weight now and actually, although I'm proud of what I have accomplished, still see that I have work left to do! But for those that have been used to seeing me padded with another 30 plus pounds on for many years, they are now calling me "skinny".....

SKINNY!?!?!? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? I haven't heard that word associated with me for 100 years! Unless someone asked me if I wanted a "skinny cow" ice cream treat or something like that!? Although I am FAR from skinny, I must admit when someone uses that word, it does bring a smile to my face, almost a laugh, as SKINNY and MAUREEN have never been much of a pair.....

So tomorrow is Mother's Day - I'm so thankful that I'm a Mother to 2 such amazing young, beautiful women! And GRANDmother to 2 such amazing, young beautiful babies!!! How blessed can 1 person get! Although they are now in Heaven, I also had 2 amazing beautiful women to look up to - 1 was my mom, Marie - and the other was my mother in law- Mary.....2 ladies that I adored and respected and couldn't have asked for better role models!!!

I head to NY tomorrow for 6 days for work....It will be a very busy hectic schedule for sure...but I will enjoy the adventure.....

Just for now, enjoy your adventure, whatever it may be this week! But most of all, CHERISH your mom if you are BLESSED enough to still have her physically in your life....for those of us whose mothers have passed on, CHERISH the beautiful memories of your MOM....Happy Mother's day and God bless and keep all mothers wise and strong and full of the love they so freely give away!!!

Day 116 - 159 pounds!

What next?!!?!?!?!?!

Friday's final airing was wonderful......Diane, 57 years young, WON it all! Thanks for winning it for the "seniors in the contest", Diane!!! Kathleen came in 2nd and Taira in 3rd....all amazing, wonderful women and now friends! I'm so happy for them and for all of us, as we gave it our all and are now in a new healthier place!

Out of the "at home contestants", I came in 3rd, behind Becky and Cassie...man, I was only 1 percentage away from 2nd place....I'll attribute that to my dang broken foot, but still quite happy and proud of my 30 pound weight loss! But it's not over?!?!!? Many of us said that on Friday...

So what next!? How do we keep it going.....

After the show, a few of us went to have a celebration drink (and 1 person had a celebration dessert - not me, believe it or not - ha!) with JC, the cute, sweet head trainer throughout this competition.
It was great sitting around, celebrating our hard work and laughing and sharing....but the 1 theme that continued to come out, was THIS IS NOT OVER! All 5 of the contestants there all said the same thing, we have more weight to lose and we are not stopping!

I have thought a lot about this and wondered how can I make THIS TIME different from other times when I have lost weight and eventually gained it back....

Well, 1 painful way, that I have decided is that I will continue this BLOG, and post my weight every 2 weeks, just like the other weigh ins...that will help keep me in check....so if it goes down, YAY, and if it goes UP, then time to stop and figure it out........With all my friends doing the weight loss thing, I figured, I can get gets of advice when it goes up....you know, I'm not just writing this blog to GIVE advice, but rather to SHARE what works and what doesn't....to SHARE the ups and the downs.....

It was a very busy 1st week back from vacation....I was off Monday, but cancelled my vacation day on Tuesday and after about three 12hour work days, Friday finally came....My dear friend found out her boyfriend is in stage 4 cancer, so prayers for George please.....so instead of gym time this week, I found myself working late and then heading out to dinner with my friend while she was in town...I wouldn't have had it any other way, she is so dear and definitely didn't want her to go back to the hotel and be alone.....Friday was the show and celebration so by Saturday, I knew I needed to HIT IT HARD! But instead on Saturday, I headed back into the office and spent the entire day there...by 615p, I left the office and went to the grocery store and came home....thinking oh oh, this isn't the way to keep the weight off!

So this morning, I got up and got moving.....first Buster, my 10 year old overweight pup, and I took just a short trip down the street and back...that's as far as he can go....Next up was Charlotte, my "granddog" that would run until the "cows come home" whatever that means....you get where I'm going....

So I told Charlotte, okay, girl, make me sweat on this one....so off we went up the hill, a few houses and we started the run.....about half way into my usual 2 mile walk, I decided to mix it up a bit and push myself harder, especially knowing I hadn't done much this week, so I changed the course and off we went.....By the time we got home, we had done 4 miles.....and I figured out that I had run 2.9 of those 4 miles and walked the other 1.1 mile -WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now that is what I'm talking about.......It feels GOOD!

Along the way today while walking, I met Becky, with her 2 sweet labs and for those that know me, it isn't hard to believe that we stopped and talked for probably 30 minutes.....all because we were letting our dogs say "hello" first - ha! Becky and I hit it off, and the conversation flowed from 1 subject to the next....she is an extremely smart, talented young woman, who, like so many others, is unemployed right now, but looking for work..in the meantime, she has gotten her 2 sweet labs certified for "touch therapy" at the Siteman Cancer Center....funny how 1 disappointment in life (getting laid off) can lead to 1 of the MOST REWARDING THINGS SHE HAS EVER DONE IN HER LIFE!

Made me think alot about this today....and I came to the conclusion....that life throws you a lot of curves, you all know what I'm talking about...those challenges that knock you down, scare you, take the wind out of your sail......what I truly understand now, is that it isn't the CHANGES in life that make you who you are, it is YOUR RESPONSE to those CHANGES in life that really shape your life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just for today, think about that the next time that life throws you a big old curve ball........how will you RESPOND?! How will your life be forever CHANGED!?! It's all up to you on how you want to RESPOND and CHANGE your life.................Thanks for taking this journey with me....hope you can continue......would love to hear from you...what is working, what isn't and what we should do next!?!

Have a great Sunday.....I already have and it's only half over!!

Day 113 - How on earth did the "Finale" get here so quickly?!?!

Only 1 day left before the big finale....wow, seems impossible to believe that this day is here already....but there were times, you remember, when the sweat was dripping off my brow, as I barely kept my balance on the half ball (still can't remember the names of some of this equipment - ha!) or when the trainer would say "10 more" when I was seriously ready to lay down on the dirty gym floor due to lack of oxygen and energy....and now, NOW I"M NOT READY FOR THIS DAY TO BE HERE :(

Happy?! Yes, very much so.....I'm down 30 pounds from January 7th
Proud of myself?! Yes, very much so...as Hannah Isabel would say "I deed it!" although I still want to get another 7 pounds or so off....
Scared?! Yes, very much so.....as hard as it was to lose it, it is even harder to keep it off!!!!
Fat, fat go away, don't come again another day........................

It's so easy when you are IN THE ZONE, but what happens if I happen to drive OUT OF THE ZONE?! Then what? I talk to my friends at work and hear their struggles and recognize every one of them as struggles from my past, that I don't want as a struggle in my future....

So what is the answer?!
Keep on moving
Eat healthy, treat yourself here and there, but "live" in the zone with your diet
Keep the stress OUT of your life

It was about a year ago, when I started gaining my weight back that I had previously lost on Weight watchers...we had gone on a trip to Greece with the family and while I did great on the trip, I got back to my job and TONS OF STRESS at work....seriously, I don't know what happened next...but within a month or 2, I had gained 25 pounds back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The sad part was that I wasn't really overeating....but I was experiencing lots of stress at work and lots of long hours and those 2 things added up to lots of desk sitting and weight gain!
I was so frustrated and miserable....and it seemed like no matter what I did, I couldn't get in "the zone".....then in December, along came the LOSE A TON opportunity....and the rest of the story, you know!

So this time, I'm going to put into practice what I learned.....you see when I did lose 30 pounds on Weight watchers before, that was great, BUT, I wasn't exercising the way I did this time....
Man, this time I WORKED for this weight loss....It still seemed to come off more slowly than I would have liked, but it did come off but with lots of sweat and exercise and healthy eating! I feel healthier than I have in years.....

So, tomorrow, during the LIVE finale on SHOW ME ST. LOUIS on Channel 5 @ 3pm, I'm going to think about that moment, how great I feel, how happy and healthy I am, and try to lock that memory in......Let's feel great about where we are and what we have accomplished! It was never easy, but boy was it worth it!

And to the 3 finalists, my good pals, Diane, Kathleen and Taira and all the rest of the LOSE A TON group- you girls are ROCK STARS!

We did it girls! We made it to the end! But the "end" is just really the beginning....the beginning of a new and healthier way to live and live longer!!

So just for today, remember the "end" is not the "end", but rather it represents a whole new beginning.....what is your new beginning!?

Day 110 - Diet tip #99....Share with Hannah :)...Just in time for the FINAL weigh in...ready or not!?

After spending 6 short, but glorious days with the kids and granddaughters in Abu Dhabi, I'm home......As with every adventure, I learned a few things on the trip...

1) Diet tip #99 - If you want to stay on your diet, just share with Hannah Isabel, my adorable 3 year old granddaughter....If it is anything good, she will keep the big "half" and give you the small half - ha! A child after my own heart and thank you Hannah for helping Grandma stay on her diet the whole trip!

2) Walking/running in Abu Dhabi is not only a great cardio workout, your sweat glands work in overdrive as well! I'm pretty certain that all of those toxins you sweat out of your body are lying on the sidewalk somewhere between Emily and Luis's beautiful villa and the corniche.....as that is the stretch I journeyed over each day in Abu Dhabi....I'm sure there were many "locals" wondering who was that strange American woman, running in that get up, with water bottle in tow, and sweating like crazy! Hope it did burn some of those calories!!!!

3) Time spent with your family is PRICELESS! No, this isn't a NEW revelation, just definitely worth repeating.....Hannah Isabel, at 3, is smart, funny and adorable....Eva Marie is so precious and just starting to try to coo....to cute for words! I love my children and grandchildren and thank the good Lord above for the tremendous blessing I received with Emily, Kelly, Luis, Hannah and Eva!!! (and Doug to :), but I was focusing on "kids" right now...)
and Buster and Charlotte too of course, those 4 legged kids are priceless as well! And they were as glad to see us as we were to see them!

4) 15 1/2 hour flights are hard on the body and that was just from Dubai to Atlanta! Man, coach class is not the best sleeping arrangement, no matter how you sit in the seat! But did manage to get in some cat naps and took a long stretch halfway through the flight..Also caught a few movies.....Best part was making it from "door to door" in only about 20 hours, instead of the usual 24 plus!

5) Spending 6 days in Abu Dhabi did not give us enough time to fully get on "their time", so hoping the switch back to "our" time will be fairly easy.....After a few cat naps on the plane last night, I have been up since arriving in Atlanta at 6am today....but I can feel bedtime coming very soon....

6) Camels and sand storms are ALIVE and WELL in UAE! I got a first hand look at both of them....still tasting the sand in my mouth....got some great camel pixs too!

Day 110 came much quicker than I thought it would...tomorrow is FINAL WEIGH IN~ I seriously have NO idea how much weight I have lost....I was doing well before I left but hoping to lose a few more pounds before our final weigh in....hoping some of that sweating in Abu Dhabi paid off...but will have to wait until tomorrow to see if it did or not....I know that I am very proud of my accomplishments on this journey....I'm not done yet, regardless of the "final weigh in" tomorrow....this is a journey, not a race.....so I will keep going to get to my goal weight and also to my "fitness" goal...Hoping to do a 5K in a few weeks....Plus I "pitched" the idea of a LOSE A TON reunion show the end of the year to the Producer...As hard as losing the weight is, it is even harder to keep it off....hoping a "reunion show" will keep us all in check and give us the opportunity to get to a good weight and maintain it for a while until we can really grab hold of our new body and new weight....

Until tomorrow, think about what your plan is to not only attain your goal, whatever it may be, but to MAINTAIN your goal as well......Off to bed....filming at 830a in the morning at the weigh in....will likely air something on SHOW ME ST. LOUIS on Wednesday....all I know for sure is the FINALE is LIVE on this Friday, April 30th on the 3pm, Channel 5, SHOW ME ST. LOUIS show...be there or be square :).....via DVR of course!

Day 102 - Changing MY world, 1 bowl and trot at a time...

Ok, so what the heck do I mean with that title?! I know, sometimes my titles are a bit strange to say the least, but I have to pull you in with something!? Although I'm not sure if anyone (other than my family who has to - ha!) is still reading this blog, after all, it is over 100 days now!!!

So, I learned something big this weekend......even though I was extremely disappointed that I'm NOT in Abu Dhabi yet, playing with Hannah and Eva (and Luis and Em too of course!), I did make the most of a few unexpected days off at home....

My dear friend Terry, just went through breast cancer surgery and is doing AWESOME! But she is amazing, so not a surprise to see her incredible determination go full steam ahead with this journey! So I thought this was a perfect opportunity to make her a meal now instead of waiting until I returned from my trip....she just had surgery this past week...so this is leading in to my DISCOVERY....

1. Did you know that you can make TEXAS CAKE without LICKING the bowl, before you put it in the dishwasher?! Bigger surprise, you can put the icing bowl IN the dishwasher WITHOUT licking that too!? I wouldn't have believed it either, but I experienced it this weekend......I guess you could say I BEAT THE BOWL AND BEATERS! LOL! Now many of you are thinking this is absurd, but for those SWEET ADDICTS and BAKERS, you KNOW exactly what I'm talking about.... I must say CUTTING the cake was a little bit tougher, but I had just a small taste, will have to conquer that part later....I sent all the cake somewhere so I did get it out of the house, but doesn't it figure, Kelly took a plateful to the Trivia game night last night and this morning, some of that dang cake was staring back at me when I woke up today...but I just said NO to that plate and went on to the next discovery....

2. Did you know that you can RUN when you are "walking your dog"? Yesterday, Kelly, aka Jillian from Biggest Loser, went on the 2 mile walk with Charlotte and me.....I wanted her to "inspire" me to move a bit faster on my walk.....as we started climbing the hill to the top of our street (honestly, when did Mount Everest move to St. Louis?!?), she turned to me and said, "let's go mom".....YIKES! GO WHERE?! Up this mountain?! With me and what vehicle? My 2 legs?
Those old wobbly things? Ok, let's go.....
Well, RUNNING may be a bit strong, I like to call it TROTTING......envision the Clydesdales...without all the leg fur.....Off we went, trotting up the hill, me gasping for air...
Ever since my radiation, hills are KILLERS! But I just kept trying the breathe in through your nose and slowly exhale out your mouth....and it WORKED!

But that little snot, when we got to the top of Mount Everest (actually Burlewood Drive), I was ready to walk, but nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, she said, come on, let's keep GOING.
WHAT?! Are you KIDDING ME?! Going where.....to an oxygen park?!

But you know how the roles change and all of the sudden our kids are telling us what to do...
well off I kept going, trotting and puffing and breathing.....to the next subdivision where the Drill Seargeant allowed me to stop trotting and walk a nice brisk pace....We kept alternating between trotting and walking until we finished our 2 miles....

ALLELUIA! 56 years and I'm trotting....I don't care if apparently I am a "slow learner" (that is what they say when you don't do something at the "right age" but eventually get there), I am there!

This morning, I did it AGAIN just to make sure I wasn't dreaming this whole TROTTING business....Charlotte and I (the drill seargeant had another something to go to...) took off and did the 2 miles....trotting and walking all the way....who knows, I may end up liking this after all..

So leaving this afternoon for Dubai and some time with the kids...can't wait....

Until tomorrow, try out one of those "trots" yourself......and just say NO to any bowls that come your way!!!! Enjoy this beautiful Sunday...I will...all the way to Dubai!!!

Day 100 - So what does the Iceland Volcano, dormant for about the last 200 years, have to do with me, you ask!?

No, I'm not relating myself to an exploding volcano, although sometimes, I like to think my planks are pretty explosive.............NOT! :)

So last time we "talked", I was taking a quick 4 hour nap (2am-6am) before heading off to see my children ACROSS EUROPE to the Middle East (that should give you a good hint of where this is heading, or in this case, DIDN'T HEAD :(....

Yesterday morning, up and moving early, last minute things thrown into the suitcase, bags all accounted for (and spreadsheets done to help me remember all the contents, since 3 of the 5 bags are full of "surprises" for Hannah and Eva :)....and a few for Em and Luis too of course!
Kelly is up to take us to the airport...tearful goodbyes at Lambert as she wishes she were going to, she misses these babies too, especially not having gotten to even touched sweet little Eva yet in person, and Em and Luis too of course ..

SIDE NOTE:
Grandparents have a bad habit of FOCUSING on the babies; it's NOT that we forget about our wonderful children, in this case, Em and Luis...but come on...these little perfect babies, just can't get enough of them....you know the picture....at the airport...there they are, 4 of them waiting and off the plane we come and we RUN...................and go right for Hannah and Eva, as Em and Luis stand smiling from ear to ear.....so proud of their amazingly perfect little creations...
But that doesn't mean they don't give us a little trouble, since we went right for the kids and as the tears of joy flow, say, hellllllllllllllllllllloooooooooooooooooo, we are glad to see you guys too - lol! It is "just the way it is in grandparenthood"....you young folks will find that out soon enough :).....we learned that when our kids were young from our parents - ha!

Anyway, back to yesterday's "adventure"....................

So we head into the airport, with our wonderful skycap assistance, bags piled high, me with my purse, the size of Texas, and my laptop, Doug with his carryon (you remember the one, with enough food to serve the whole plane?), and his bag of "reading material"...do you have the "Griswald image" yet, you should! Check in goes well, 4 bags checked and off we head to the gate....long long lines, everyone wants to travel today it seems... we make our first "airport friends", a cute couple from Edwardsville, a bit older than us (believe it or not!) who are heading to Barcelona on a Mediterranean cruise (birthday compliments of their 4 sons - NO PRESSURE kids :)!).....they are on our flight from stl to JFK also...

Security always poses a fun adventure for my "fake knee" husband....so after the normal pat down and bag search, we are heading to the gate, where we make a few last minute phone calls to the credit card company and bank just to confirm, YES we ARE going to be spending money in the MIddle EAst, so don't hold us back please!

The flight from STLJFK is a miniature plane, at least that is what the seats felt like. a 70 seater that most men bumped their head on as they entered the plane....but who cares, i'm going to see Hannah and Eva and Em and Luis, it's well worth it!!! We take off and I close my eyes for a little nap, man that 4 hour nap last night is catching up with me....

Once at JFK, I'm getting excited, 1 flight down, 2 to go....we bumble off the plane, all our carryon gear in tow, and come face to face with the airline screen and notice large RED letters on the 350p flight JFK to AMSTERDAM.................CANCELLED......
Although we are scheduled to leave JFK to AMSTERDAM at 630p, that set off an alarm...between Doug and I, we have over 54 years of airline experience...international flights just don't CANCEL, like a domestic flight would....too hard for airlines to "reposition" their planes.. So we head over to a nice DL gentlemen who proceeds to tell us about the........
VOLCANIC ASH issue, but doesn't seem too alarmed, it's just the 350p flight cancelled, not YOURS! RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Long story a bit shorter....here's a play by play of the next 6 hours at JFK...
-By the time, we get to the next terminal, our flight is CANCELLED
-We head to DL ticket counter, which of course if BULGING with other happy passengers and the DL agent tells us to CALL the 800 number listed on the screens "we don't rebook people here" WHAT!!?!?!? ARE YOU SERIOUS???!~
-We are starving by now, so we head to grab something while I dial up the 800 number .....
within 2 minutes, the automated answer has DISCONNECTED me, no, not because there was ASH on the line, it was because "they are experiencing a high volume of calls, can you please call back later"! SERIOUSLY, HAVE I ENTERED THE ASHY TWILIGHT ZONE?!!!
-We call our dear friend Brenda, who works for Delta and seriously was probably happier than ANYONE when our flight actually left today, as she was free of our questions for the next 10 days...OR SO SHE THOUGHT! We just wanted her ideas on what to do next.....she gave us another number to dial but in the meantime, I had already redialed the 800 number and immediately asked, via the voice response unit, for REPRESENTATIVE...btw, that is KEY when you are calling anyway, don't go through all the prompts, just ask right upfront for REPRESENTATIVE and it bypasses a bit...
-After no less than an hour plus on the phone with Yolanda and lots of going back and forth (they seriously just told us to stay at JFK until Sunday and they could get us out!!! Of course the $300/night hotels were on us!), we had a plan: They would fly us back to ST. Louis that evening and rebooked us on Sunday (which was the first available flight) but instead of Abu Dhabi, we would fly St. Louis to Atlanta nonstop to Dubai...Dubai is 60 miles away from Abu Dhabi, but it apparently somehow bypasses the "ash", still not clear about that part...maybe the "southern route", don't know....but the catch was (and there is always a catch)...we would have to go back to the ticket counter as they couldn't make the changes in the reservation but would document it well...
-Back to the ticket counter and literally after 2 hours with Latoya (our new best friend at Delta!), she had booked us back to St. Louis last night, and booked us to leave on Sunday afternoon now from St. Louis to Dubai via Atlanta.....by this time, I was not feeling well for some reason, hot and a little nauseous (must be from all the ash)....so they had a chair for me....Doug thanked Latoya with a big tip! and off we went to catch our bus back to terminal 2 for our flight back to St. Louis
-We nearly missed our flight as the guy driving the bus to terminal 2 decided to take an "extended break" from driving, but thankfully we made it! And had an awesome flight attendant, who after listening to our story, insisted she give us some "drinks", which Doug graciously took her up on....I stuck with my water...

We were back in St. Louis by 930p last night after a LONG TRIP to JFK airport, although our 4 checked bags are stuck in the ash somewhere, supposedly (at least that is what DL baggage center said) should be back in St. Louis by 1pm today.......

We called Emily with the sad news....
1. We are NOT on the way as planned, although we did a "practice flight" today
2. We are still coming but now our trip is cut down to 7 days :(, plus we need a ride from Dubai!

But there is always good news, which we can't forget....
1. We are SAFE, a little older from the experience but safe - ha!
2. We had another opportunity today to build the virtue of "patience" (not sure how good the build went ha!)
3. We are rebooked on Sunday....although we really were pushing for flights today, apparently they are still not going, so hopefully by Sunday we will be heading out....AGAIN!

Life never gets boring, does it!? Ok, off for some exercise...much needed after all that sitting yesterday!!!

Just for today, find your reasons to be thankful....you can find them...somewhere buried under ash....
And prayers for all those affected by that and the China earthquake..no shortage of things to pray for, that's for sure!