Some background

My name is Karyn.

Obviously, according to the "introducing me" paragraph to the right, I am very overweight. There have been times when, as far as I was concerned, that fact was the most important thing about me.....at least that is how I acted. My weight influenced and sometimes even controlled so many things about my life and my happiness.

But the indisputable fact that I am fat is NOT the most important thing about me. So, although this blog will be focusing on my weight/fat, I thought I would start by sharing other things about me.

• I married Jim, my high school sweetheart, 31 years ago when we were 19 years old. We had been dating for 4 1/2 years. We are more in love today than we have ever been. He is and has always been, my rock...my best friend.
  
• We have raised 5 children....4 sons, 1 daughter. Our oldest son is 30 and our youngest is 19.
  
• We also buried 2 daughters....our second child died of SIDS (crib death) at 14 weeks in 1980 and our 6th child was born with a congential heart defect in 1988. She lived for about 3 weeks.
  
• We homeschooled our children beginning in 1990 when our oldest was entering grade 7 and our youngest was just 16 months old. This is the first year since then that I have not had to "do" school on a daily basis.
  
• My 4 older children are married so I now have 3 more daughters and another son, all who add much to the family.
  
• I am proud Grandma to Emma (8), Elizabeth (7), Sophia (5), Seth (6 mo), Kaden (6 mo) and a new little one to be born at Christmas time.
  
• We live on an acerage in the middle of farmland in Central Alberta, Canada. I love the freedom and solace of living in the country.
  
• Our children/grandchildren all live within an hour of our home....for now. Our daughter and her husband (and our little Seth) will be moving to Zambia in just over a year - they are missionaries with Youth With a Mission - our SIL is Zambian.
  
• Other than my husband and my family, my interests are pretty much all sedentary (as would be expected of an obese person).... I love to read...always have. I also enjoy photography, scrapbooking, & journaling. I would like to learn to express myself with paints and drawing so occasionally I "play" in these areas. Although my desire to do so is very small, I am determined to find some kind of interest that involves movement to add to my list of interests.
  
• A relevant fact of my life is that my husband works in the Oil and Gas industry. For the past 8 years, he has worked in remote areas, gone for 6 - 8 weeks at a time, then home for a week...except in the spring when the "Oil Patch" shuts down for the frost to come out of the ground - then he'd be home for anywhere from 3 weeks - 5 months (without pay). I have been taking at least a week every month (sometimes more often) during this time to go to where he was working. This translated to much travelling for me, which turned into my feeling like I had 2 different lives, one with Jim and one at home. Last fall, he started to work in the US...to begin with, he worked in Louisiana for 5 months. I went with him and we lived there for the winter. It was wonderful to have him "home" every night for supper and to have him all to myself, but we missed our family very much. We were only able to come home for 4 days every 6 weeks or so. That situation was changed asap....now he is working in Wyoming and I am living back at home. The best thing about this situation is that he is gone for only 2 weeks, and then home for 2 whole weeks. We are all loving this!
  
• The most important, relevant thing about me is my faith. Jesus is so much a part of who I am and what I do, that I almost forgot to mention Him. I am far from being a perfect representation of Jesus' life and love, but I am a great representation of His Grace and Mercy. Without His love, I would have given up a long, long time ago. Because of Him, no matter what dark paths my life has led me along, I have always had Hope and His love has made the bright paths even sweeter. He is a very important part of my journey to success.....After all, God has said that His plans for me are for success. (Jer 29:11). This verse, in "The Message" version of the scriptures, says "I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you , plans to give you the future you hope for" . This promise from the Father undergirds the bridge I am crossing.....from fatland to fitland.

These are the basics of who I am....all these little facts come into play while I am working toward the goal of being a comfortable size, being healthy and fit........and a myriad of other benefits of losing over 100 lbs.

I'm looking forward to "meeting" others on this journey....in fact, I've already read many of your blogs and have been inspired and encouraged by your successes and your honesty when you take steps backward or when the scale just won't budge. It will be good to have some companions who really understand.