I'm A T-Tapp Success!

No, I am not at my goal weight.  No I am not "done."  Yes, I have made amazing progress.  Yes, I still have a long way to go.

Over a month ago I was contacted by the staff at T-Tapp.com and was asked to write a T-Tapp Success Story!  They had noticed that my posting about the success I have experienced doing T-Tapp  was very encouraging to other women on the T-Tapp Forums!

After getting encouragement from several friends and online friends I decided to take them up on their offer and I wrote the following as my T-Tapp testimony.  It will be live on their site, I am told, on Tuesday, August 12!

Here's what I wrote for that story:

My T-Tapp Success Story

Before I began T-tapp in June 2012, then 11 months of doing T-Tapp!

First I need to give you some background for you to see how significant this “Success Story” is in my life. As a child and teenager I was very aware that I was not skinny like all the models and popular kids in school. I started my first diet in junior high. Through high school I tried every fad diet that came along (that I could afford), and even tried diet pills and ended up anorexic during my senior year, getting to my lowest adult weight of 135 (I am 5 ft 10 in and have a large bone structure). After recovering from that I swore off dieting. I went to college the next fall and during my freshman year I gained weight like never before. I ended up weighing 185 when I went home for summer break. That summer I succumbed to my anorexia again, but this time I was an exercising maniac. I did alternated aerobics and weight lifting while eating next to nothing. By the end of the summer I was down to 150. I kept on my regime, eating one small meal a day (if at all), living on diet pills and diet pop. I even became an aerobics instructor that year. This continue until the next fall. Then I became engaged to my best friend, swore off dieting, and promptly put on 20 pounds when I went on birth control pills to prepare for being married.

Fast forward 15 years. I had not dieted in the least, and had gone through 8 pregnancies. I had lost the baby weight after my first baby, but never again. I was usually around 220 - 240 between pregnancies. Then I found the Atkins Diet. Long story short, but I lost weight and got down to 190, but it wreaked havoc on my health. After another pregnancy, the loss of a dearly beloved niece, and a miscarriage I suffered from severe adrenal fatigue (diagnosed by a naturopathic doctor). I began to take my health seriously. I ate right and took supplements and was able to recover and went on to have more babies. I then seemed to be around 240 – 250 between pregnancies. After my 10^th baby I even did Curves for over a year and got fit and lost a few pounds, but had to step down after I got pregnant with my 10^th baby.

Fast forward again. I didn't diet again until I found myself pushing 280 pounds after spending months in the hospital with our 11^th child, Esther, who has Down Syndrome and was born with a heart defect, which required open heart surgery when she was just 3 months old. All the hospital food and sitting around really did a number on my weight, and being 45 didn't help either. I also, for the first time, hod my blood pressure elevated high enough to require that I go on high blood pressure medication. So when Esther was 1 ½ years old we were introduced to the Body For Life regime and both my husband and I tried that. I was able to regain my health and strength over a period of 3 months and drop about 30 pounds, but then it stalled. The program was just not doable in the long run when I had a large family to care for. 30 – 45 minutes every day and eating separate meals just didn't work. I was able to maintain the weight loss, but even thought I tried several times, I just could not stay with the regimen. One benefit from losing the extra pounds was I was able to go off of high blood pressure med, but my BP was still hovering in the upper ranges of normal. Good but not great.

Two years after starting BFL I was still at 250 and I got pregnant at 47 years of age. We were surprised to say the least. Due to some pregnancy complications (mostly due to my age) I was on bed rest starting at 30 weeks, put on high blood pressure medication again, and ended up having Carese 3 weeks early via emergency C-Section due to cord compression. She was so tiny but so healthy. I was thrilled to be able to go home with my baby so quickly. I was looking forward to gaining the strength that I had lost during all the bed rest! Only problem was, I injured my knee when she was 6 weeks old, and it turned out to be a major knee injury requiring me to be on crutches off and on for the next 4 months. Needless to say I got weaker and gained more weight, topping out at an all time high non-pregnancy weight of 285. My blood pressure also remained high, requiring me to stay on medication.

Just after I was off crutches I heard about T-Tapp! I was sent a link to Charlotte Siems website (http://charlottesiems.com/ ). I was amazed that a fellow mom of 12 could lose all the weight and keep it off for years. I knew that if she could do it, so could I! I ordered the MORE 2 and did my measuring and started my 14 day boot-camp the middle of August 2012. I still had pain in my knee quit often and iced it every night. I also got involved in the T-Tapp Forums and found a great resource for encouragement and advice! After just a few weeks of T-Tapp I was pain free and going quickly up and down the stairs and I was able to discontinue using blood pressure medication with the approval of my doctor. It was amazing! I was losing about 4 inches per week for the first month or so. I was consistently doing my workouts three times a week. By the beginning of December I had moved on to MORE 2 and I had lost over 40 inches! I was struggling with some shoulder and back issues by then (due to nursing my baby in bed at “my old age”, so as I turned 49 I found my self very limited in what I could do in my workouts. I continued to do what I could and turned to the T-Tapp forums for help too. I learned about Magnesium and finally gave it a try. After over a month of back spasms, they went away the first time I sprayed Magnesium oil on my lower back! They did come back, but each time I used the MO and used ice and they went away again. I started a nightly routine of spraying MO and after a few weeks they were gone. My shoulder continued to give me trouble, but that was easier to work around than back spasms!

Through the rest of that winter and spring I sporadically did MORE 2 and tried to eat relatively healthy foods and even did a few bouts of being sugar/white flour free. My inch loss slowed to about 4 inches a month. I was very busy processing our newest journey, that of international adoption. After a wild month of fund raising in April I decided to take May off – no workouts, eating whatever. That was the first month since starting T-Tapp that I actually gained inches – a whopping 16 inches in just 4 weeks! Not good!

Once our paperwork was submitted for our adoption and we began the wait, I realized that I really needed to get ready for two trips abroad! But I had pushed myself too hard for too long. I was still nursing a toddler “at my age” and not getting enough sleep most nights. I just couldn't get myself moving, yet I pushed myself to get some projects done anyway. Very quickly I found my self showing signs of adrenal fatigue again. So I did a short round of juicing, resting and taking supplements recommended for adrenal fatigue. When I hit day 8 of the juice fast I simultaneously “hit the wall” and could not go on and heard about an awesome new book about eating healthy for moms! I worked my way off of the juice fast and started doing my MORE 2 workouts while I waited for the book. I started the “Trim Healthy Mama” way of eating three weeks ago and it's amazing – even makes use of some of the amazing things that I learned about from the T-Tapp Forums!). It's healthy and balanced, and I'm eating a wide variety of foods and does not seem like a diet at all. This is very doable for the long run as I'm eating nearly all the foods that I like to eat, with just a few tweaks and being careful about which foods I eat together! I was sure I would gain back inches eating this way, but I didn't, I continued to lose inches! I also started a 28 day T-Tapp challenge so I was doing my T-Tapp faithfully again for the first time in months (I still have a little shoulder pain, but I am finally able to do all the movements again!). From the beginning of June until now I have lost 31 inches (including re-losing those 16 inches that I gained in May), for a total overall inch loss of over 70 inches in 11 months. I was finally able to use a friend's scale and found that I have lost about 30 pounds since I began this T-Tapp journey.

Best of all I'm starting to have some energy again. Also my blood pressure is now averaging the BP of a teenager! It's the lowest it's been in over 10 years! I still have days where I struggle, but I've had some wonderful days of tackling long ignored projects too! I know I have not even made it close to my “goal weight” but I really have no idea what that weight will be. I have about 70 pounds to lose to get to the weight I was when I got married, but with my T-Tapp “long, lean muscle fibers” I might still fit into my wedding dress but weigh more and be in better shape! My daughter is very similar to my build at her age, so if I go by her measurements I have about 45 inches to lose – now that sounds very encouraging and do-able to me!

So, you may ask, “What is so successful about your story?” No, I'm not at my goal “measurements” and no where near my old idea of “ideal weight”, but I have made great strides in the past 11 months. With the exception of one month, I have consistently lost inches, even when I was rarely doing my T-Tapp. I'd go for weeks without doing a workout and yet find I had lost little if any strength or endurance! But when I am consistent with my workouts, I do lose the inches faster. I have succeeded at losing 2/3s of my extra inches in less than a year. That is success. That is inspiring. I'm inspired to keep on keeping on – for the rest of my life. My goal is to be able to do the 15 minute workout someday. 15 minutes, three times a week for life sounds wonderful. So does finding a new “goal measurement”. So if you take anything away from my story, remember to “do what you can,” take your measurements, and throw out that scale!

That's it, that's my story up to last month.  As of this week I've been doing T-Tapp for an entire year.  I've never done any exercise program for that long!  And I'm back at it even after our family vacation!  In fact, I'm going to try doing the Basic Workout every day and see how that goes!  Also, I am now doing the BWO+ that I had mentioned in my testimonial as something I hoped to do someday!  I've been doing that workout for almost a month now!  Hurray!  I'm due to measure, as I try to measure 1 - 2 times a month, but my measuring tape is missing!

Happy Birthday to Priscilla!

The girls had fun at our yearly family reunion!  We all did actually!

Today is Priscilla's 3rd birthday!  We had really hoped to have been to visit her by now, but that was not in God's plan.

Esther wanted me to smell the flowers!

 However, we did get our I800a approval letter in the mail today and we have already gotten it notarized!  This is the last document that we have to send in so that our dossier can be submitted.  I do still have to get it apostilled, and sent in, so it looks like we will be getting submitted around the end of August or beginning of September.  That means we'll probably be travelling to meet her late in September or sometime in October.  Yes, that is right around the time that Jeremy and Samantha are getting married - but God knows that and has all this in His hand!

Esther flouting all the rules - eating in Daddy's chair!

We have had a very busy summer, but I'm not exactly sure what we have been doing that has made it so busy!  Ha!  We did just get back from a week long camp-out and boy am I tired!  Here are some highlights of our summer so far (our camera was missing for nearly a month, so there aren't very many photos, sorry about that!).  I'll post photos of our camp out next time around - too tired to find the camera tonight!

Jeremy  on his birthday really digging into his gift...
Sam's not so sure about his love of gummy bears!
Jeremy is still working away at the bear, but he's down to the feet now!

Right now my near future is full of thoughts of starting our school year early, but also the need to do a school room purge to prepare as well.  To prepare for our camping trip, we gutted half our trailer and rebuilt it to work for our family and it was a great improvement.  But right now, our front porch and yard are in need of serious tidying due to the destruction phase of the remodeling.

Our goats are doing well.  We were able to sell the two wethers so we are now down to three goats, and only one of them really giving milk.  We will probably be getting one more goat in September and depending on how that works out, we might sell one of the ones we have now.  The little girls are doing so well on the goats milk.  It's really helped them with their gut issues!  At least up until we went camping, but I'm sure they'll get all healthy again soon!

Esther all ready for church too!

I got the book Trim Healthy Mama just over a month ago and we've been eating so healthy (at least the three oldest girls, Daryl and I have been).  I'll post an entire blog post about that one soon!

I was so excited to get my copies of Three Decades of Fertility!  I gave one to my mother, sold one to my friend, and have given a couple of others away too.  I did find out that I only get commissions from PDFs sold through my link, so I'm working on placing an order of the paperbacks to resell locally and to give as gifts too.  I'm reading through the book and it has amazing stories and great wisdom to glean from these women!

Car seats donated to our family in honor of our adoption,
from Evenflo directly - amazing providence!

Overall this summer I've been just staying home.  I love to be home most of the time.  I just feel like I do everything better if I'm not running around doing things away from home.  Maybe it's because I'm getting older, maybe it's because it takes a lot of time to keep a busy, large family running...dare I say "smoothly"?

My boys and their toys!

Or maybe it's because I'm 49 years old and still nursing a toddler?  I've tried to wean her, but she wants nothing to do with that operation!  She'll take a bottle on her terms, and she's one strong willed little girl!  I've got my hands full with her already!  We are working to get her to understand that the world does not revolve around here.

Princess Carese all ready for church!

 Each one of our children has had to be "de-throned" as I call it.  Sometime between 2 and 4 it becomes obvious that the child thinks that they are royalty and that our family was created to serve their needs...but they soon find out that they are wrong.  But it takes a concerted effort on my part to de-throne them as it's not easy and they do not like the process at all!  Princess Carese is hanging on just fine still, but her time is coming and she's had hints of it already!

She's a beautiful princess though, and her antics keep us appreciative of the gift that she is.  Instead of an empty nest, ours is bursting with little and big people and every size in between.  Each child is such a gift to our family, with their unique talents and personalities.  With so many living together we also have ample opportunity to see our sinful natures and know where we need work.

Growing up with most of my older siblings having moved on, I rarely had to deal with irritations and frustrations in the daily scheme of things and I was able to come to a pretty high view of myself.  But God wasn't willing to let me live with that thinking and has been pushing me to my limits most of my life...constantly causing me to realize my need for Him and His grace in order to overcome my sinful tendencies.

Time to close my rambling thoughts for now...once I find the camera (somewhere in the trailer I'm sure), I'll post a camp out blog post!  Until then, enjoy these last few weeks of summer!  I know I will!

Three Decade of Fertility is now Available for Ordering!

You can order it in PDF ($6.99), or kindle/Nook ($8.99) or in Paperback (my favorite - $14.99!

Please use the link at the top of the left hand column, or click on this banner:




I got my own copy in paperback ( and a few to give as gifts) and I have been reading it.  This book is amazing.  It'a like sitting down in a living room with 10 women who have "been there, done that" more than most women in the world.

They share their struggles, their triumphs, their losses and their blessings.  And then you even get their answers to some tough questions, like how do you deal with repeated miscarriages and pregnancy loss?

What can you expect if you are to carry a baby to term in your 40s?  How can you deal with the wear and tear on your body after so many pregnancies?  How do you manage a family with babies and teens and 20 somethings all at the same time?

This book does not preach anyone way to look at fertility as each woman has followed God's leading as He has taken each one through their unique journey of faith.  I'm sure you will enjoy this book, and I  know I can't wait to read more chapters...but I'll be fighting for reading rights along with my daughters and they are anxious to read it too!

Please comment if you have read the book and tell me what you think!

More Quotes from Three Decades of Fertility

No, no new letter yet.  But I have something just as good!  Last fall I was asked to contribute to a book about childbearing years.  The authors all have two things in common.  They have all given birth throughout their childbearing years.  Some had many children (like me) and some had only a few, with long time spans between having babies.  The second thing they all have in common is that they are women of faith.  Faith in the God of the Bible, and they each recognize that He is the author and creator of life, and that God uses our childbearing years to create us to be Christlike.

Relinquishing control (or perceived control) of our bodies to the creative work of pregnancy and childbirth has many correlations to the walk of a believer.  We have to take a back seat in order to really see the glory of what Christ is doing in us.  If we fight against God and choose to give in to our natural desire to control our lives in any way, then we are not allowing God to be Lord of our lives, and we will suffer for it.  If in no other way, we suffer from stress.  Because we are not God, we are not created with the ability to control most things, so when we try, we are putting stress into our lives.

Anyway, all that to say that this book is a great collection of stories.  Stories of faith and trust.  Stories of learning to recognize God's hand even in times of difficulty.  Stories of triumph and stories of intense heartache.  I wish all women of faith could read this book and learn of these women who have, in so many ways, "Been There, Done That."

Three Decades of Fertility will be released in paperback and E-book on July 29, Lord Willing!  You can use the banner at the top of this or the link near the top of the right side bar for ordering (I will get a commission on your order so thanks in advance for ordering using my link!  With two trips to an Eastern European to rescue Priscilla, I'm sure any extra income will come in handy!).

But without further ado, please watch the trailer below, and click on the image in my side bar to read more about this book, and get a sneak peak at some of the stories, as well as other parts, of the book!

Another Teaser...

Release Date is July 20!

I will be an associate selling copies via this blog...stay tuned for links!

Please spread the word - pin this/blog this!

It will minister to so many women!

Here's a quote from my chapter/question answers:

"The very thing you fear most will not be sent your way without the grace that only God can give. When I have been in trying and difficult times, God's grace has enabled me to endure in ways that I could not have understood beforehand. So when I worry about the “what if”s, I am on my own. I experience the trials in my imagination without the grace that God will provide if and when that trial comes to me from His loving hand. God does not promise that His grace is sufficient for the "what ifs" - but He does promise in II Cor 2:9 that "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" and in Phil 4:13 "I can do everything through him who gives me strength" - He will give us the strength to do what He asks us to do, and the grace needed for each day."

May I introduce our latest additions to our family!

We have joined the ranks of so many of our friends in owning milk goats!  We have now reached "hobby farm" I do believe - over 50 chicken (25 meat chicks right now) and now goats!  We aren't gardening right now, but oh well!

Esther and Carese both have milk allergies, as well as several of our other children.  We tried out goat's milk on Esther and Carese about a month ago and they both did so well!  We have been thinking about getting milk goats for over two years now, and my oldest three girls have been working that long to convert our horse shed/area into a goat's shed.  They finally got all the remodeling done just last week.  Just to be clear - this is our big girl's project!  I want the milk, but I'm so done with animals (in the past we've had chickens, rabbits, sheep, goats and a pig...but it usually ended up in my doing all the work).  So this is a business for the girls.  They've paid for everything except the goats, and they will be continuing to purchase all the feed.  The plan has been that when we get milk, they will get "reimbursed" for their expenses at a reasonable rate.  They are hoping to make a profit...I really have no idea if they will or not!

Just when the remodeling was done, we found the perfect set of goats on Craigslist.  And guess what?  We knew the owners very well (she used to work for me!).  God's timing is amazing isn't it?  She was wanting to be finished with goats completely, and so when we bought what was left of her herd, she also gave us a milking stanchion and a few other items that will come in handy!

Caramel and her twin boys, Joshua and Caleb (yes, Ruth D, they are named after your boys as their temperaments and behavior reminded our girls of your boys!),  and Peaches (a yearling) and her baby doling, Apricot!  Then names of the kids are not set in stone yet...

Caramel is a purebred Lamancha, and her boys' (both wethers) father was a Nubian Dwarf.  We will be finding new homes for the wethers later this summer.  Caramel is a Lamancha/Nubian cross and is 3 years old, and her daughter has the same father as the boys.  We will be testing out a purebred Nubian to see if the noise will be OK sometime in July (after she kids), and if that goes well we will be selling one of the girls, but we aren't sure about any of this yet.

The goats are of the quiet variety and even though the shed is directly out from out bedroom window, we can't hear them unless the window is open!  We have an air conditioner in that room, so we don't have the window open when we sleep, so it works just fine!

Carese loves the new goats, Esther isn't so sure yet.  Elizabeth did goats for the youth fair this year and really enjoyed it and loves the goats too.

The first two milking tries have not gone well, as the mother's have not been milked much/at all recently.  But Jessica did successfully bring some milk in the house this morning.  She has much work to do to keep Peaches from sticking her feet in the bucket, and keeping Caramel from sitting down when she thinks milking is finished!  Those girls are stinkers!

We can go through a lot of milk around here if I don't restrict it's consumption.  I'm sure all our children would think it amazing if they could drink all the milk they want (this is possible if was have two good milking goats!).

Here's a cute video of the fun they had when they discovered our picnic table!  Joshua and Caleb were playing King of the Hill - I think they were showing off for Apricot.  You can tell which mother is Peaches as Apricot is always by her side!  All the play going on for Jessica's dog, Sebastian, all excited and he just had to run in there and do something!

(our camera is missing in action...hopefully I'll post more photos of the goats at a later date!)

Announcing the engagement of...

Jeremy and Samantha

Engaged 6/8/13

Jeremy and Sam  (as she prefers to be called), first noticed each other over a year ago. Jeremy spent a few months getting to know her father (more like her father getting to know Jeremy) about a year ago.  Last December, Jeremy was given permission to court Sam, and she was very happy to be courted by Jeremy.

Just shy of 5 months of courting, Jeremy planned a very special day at a local park.  At the previously planned appointed time, his brother, Jonathan, would "disappear."  Jeremy very sweetly asked Sam to marry him, and she agreed!

There is no date set yet, but the ring is gorgeous - Jeremy did an excellent job of picking it out all by himself!

Photos courtesy of Sam's sister, Ali's Shutter Bug Photography Blog

Needless to say we wholeheartedly approve and are so proud of Jeremy in being such a godly young man and seeking to glorify God in this and every area of his life.  And we look forward to adding Sam to our list of godly daughters!