Challenges

Good Morning family and friends,
Sunday morning, just had a nice email from Barbara Lammerding, what a true friend she has been. I'm grateful for so many blessings that God has given over the years. 36 years with Nan, every year a huge blessing, a super family with Nikki and Steve and the girls working hard, doing the right things and still finding life a struggle,  Keanna running a 3 mile yesterday in Hayward hoping to help her school Liberty High to place 3rd so they could go state championships but they did not quite make it, still competing and doing very well, then lunch with her and just appreciating the miracle of life, the joys of family.  Kallie meanwhile was competing in a Cheer contest where her group from Brentwood placed 5th.  She is doing so well in school and in preparing a Christmas list, wow!
Then there is Jason and Jo with Timothy and Mia, working long hours, Jason commuting sometimes up to 4 hours a day to get his job done, they have Julie visiting, Jo's mom who took some time from work and is here visiting.  Jo teaching and suddenly having a week off, enjoying having more room in the home they live in in Fremont.  Great kids and enjoying a new French Bull dog who is still learning how to be a good doggie but adding so much joy to the home.

I'm facing huge challenges right now, a tax bill that hit yesterday from IRS, an attempt to refi my place, to get it cleaned up and fixed up enough to pass the appraisal for FHA, me under the deck last night trying to shore up some weak spots, so sore this morning that getting up was a challenge.

My precious Moon, my friend in Houston who will be returning to Singapore in January, trying to help her get ready to return.  She meanwhile helping her daughter Crystal who has already won Miss Singapore and is now competing in Miss World, Moon spends hours every day on the phone advising, listening, teaching Crystal how to handle each day as she competes with the world now.  She is finding that some of the girls who look so lovely in the photos can be very mean and threatening.  So I wish Moon and Crystal the best and give what support I can.

I ask for your prayers that God will guide me, help me, help with my work and give me peace.  Every day I want to be a better more caring person, to do good in my work and to do my part of God's family.

Sending love to all

tim

Long time no write

Dear Friends and Family,
Sunday morning, have walked 3 miles, now working on appraisals and doing laundry, fortunately can do both with few steps in between.
I wanted to share a photo of Crystal, Moon's daughter.  She just won Miss Singapore and is enjoying the challenge of representing her country, visiting children, doing TV performances and keeping very busy.  She is a talented young woman and her mom and her spend hours every day planning every detail of her costumes, her make up, what words to speak when in other countries, how to be the princess she now is.  I'm so proud of Moon for her total commitment to her family and to Crystal her precious daughter..  

I have been busy lately dealing with the challenges of both cars failing in the same weekend and the costs to make them run again, wow!  Work has continued to come in for which I am very thankful and so far my health is pretty good.  I did not keep the weight off that I lost in the program so find myself once again trying to get a handle of eating too much and the wrong things.

Yesterday Kallie and I were heading to church when she realized she had not dressed for church so we ended up here at the house.  We built the first fire of the season as it was chilly and looked over possible Christmas gifts, she has quite a list!  We had lunch at Red Robin and discovered they have changed the vegeburger they serve, I looked at it and thought it was meat, they assured me it was not meat.  I don't like change but I had it on my plate so ventured into eating it.  It is excellent and I was relieved.

On Friday Moon drove over a hour to reach the Houston Pet Hospital where doctors are accredited to perform tests on Gucci that are required before she can fly home to Singapore.  We don't get results for 6 weeks and the visit was $332.  When we get the results then we can apply for a dog license for Singapore and make better plans for Moon and her to fly home sometime in January.  But Gucci is worth it, a very precious little part of our family.

Well I suppose its time to return to work now, I go see a little condo in Antioch at 4 today and write up reports for properties I have seen this week.  Keanna was in a running meet yesterday in Hayward and placed 38 out of over 200 runners.  Turns out she is really fast and loves running.  When she and Nikki recently went to New York and Washington DC she ran often, in Central Park and on the Mall in Washington DC, pretty exciting stuff.

Sending love to all, love those people God has surrounded you with with your best.!

Love Tim

Update

Dear Family and Friends,
Its been awhile with a lot of things happening, very thankful for a Loving Protecting Father in Heaven.
My special friend lives in Houston and is OK, shook, frightened but doing all the right things too. At the moment she is worshiping in her church that managed to stay dry.  She can drive to some nearby locations and avoid streets that remain covered with water.  As the hurricane struck we decided that she would purchase as many meals as she could from a local Asian restaurant.  So she had food enough to last until Wednesday.  She lived by her TV watching the news accounts of waters flooding areas that were near to her.  Freeways filled with water and she was able to purchase gas ahead of time.  Rain blew into the roof and leaked through her ceiling, that caused her a lot of worry but her water and power remained on for the entire time.  On Wednesday she was able to find a Walmart that was open and stocked up, ATMs had stopped working, banks were closed and she constantly worried that more water would be released and flood her out.  It did not reach her but was not far away.  She did the right things, went to her bank when it opened and wrapped her legal papers in plastic as the bank said the vault was not waterproof.  She and Gucci rode out the days of raining and finally she sent me a photo of sun peeking in her window, her storage place also stayed dry, that is where she has many boxes that are set for shipment to Singapore.
We are very thankful for her safety but so sad for so many people in Texas who did not have a good outcome.
Dana has stayed in touch, she is Nan's sister and lives in Houston.  They stayed dry, kept their power and are fine.
I'm working hard and can finally relax a bit with Moon being safe and calm.
Sending love to all,

tim

P2P

So I was asked to give a little talk tonight about my experience in P2P, I was nervous but I was able to express how I felt about the program, very positive, caring and life changing for so many including my family, Jason is in the first challenge and has lost weight so far, Nikki is a veteran of so many challenges and has lost a great deal of weight too.  I've found some of the weight I lost but still go to the gym and really feel so much stronger and better.  Its an incredible group of people and my very favorite coach, Tiffany came to hear me speak tonight, she was so helpful in urging me to keep after it when I was unsure or felt I just could not be sore anymore.  She no longer is the coach in the evenings as she has to care for her little ones at night, I miss her inspiration, it was good to see her.

Been working long hours and so thankful for the work that comes in every day, its a huge blessing and God is so good to me.  Been renting the motorhome too so that helps make its payment every month.

Loving life, so thankful for family and for my dear friend Moon, she is so incredible and right now her daughter Crystal is in the Miss Singapore pageant, very exciting and she is doing well so far.

Sending love to all,

Tim

A new week begins

So its Sunday night, and tomorrow the new week begins, was able to see two properties today, do some office work, welcome the motorhome back from a short rental, great helpful people.

So tired, so worn out, have great help from Susan and Steve, appreciate the work that pours in, just wish had more energy to keep up better, need a vacation but one will not be coming soon.

Talk to Moon often which I enjoy, hope she comes here in September before she travels to Singapore to see her family.

Right now Crystal, her 20 year old daughter is a contestant in the Miss Singapore Contest, very exciting, she sings, she wears beautiful clothes and we pray she will do well, no matter the outcome its a great experience for her.  years ago Moon was in the Mis Singapore contest and finished as of the runner ups.  So its in her blood.

Right now I think I'll just go to bed early tonight.

Kallie is back tonight from visiting her grandmother, Steve's mom.  She has been there for a week and is happy to come home.

Love to all

Tim

Great day

How nice to be able to have a great lunch with Jason, Jo, the kids and Jo's mom Julie.  Great food and such a nice time.

Thought I would try to include a photo today of my moment at P2P when I won my personal challenge, God was really good and Nikki was a huge help to me.

Now rest,

Love to all

Good News

Good morning,
Just back from the weigh in at P2P, excitement in the room and success for me.
I got up at 6 and walked 3 miles just to be sure I would make goal of 20.2 because I thought I started at 191.2 but this morning when I looked carefully at the last certificate it was 191.7.  So when I weighed in I was 171.2, that meant I had lost 20.5 pounds which was great news.  There were perhaps a hundred people in the room of all races, all sizes and genders, some scared of the weigh in news, others just excited knowing they had made it.  My friend Victor, a former Richmond policeman had lost an amazing amount again, in two challenges he has lost over 63 pounds and looks amazing, super nice encouraging guy and so happy for him, he told me today I had inspired him, I thought he inspired me, always so encouraging and helpful.
So now I'm off to see Jason and family, we go to an honest lunch of real food!  Talk about a celebration.  Just after the weight in and I knew I had succeeded, God really did the hard work, I went to Starbucks and had a multi grain bagel, have not had one for about 8 weeks and it tasted as good as I remembered.
I am so thankful to Nikki who led the way, P2P saved my life in several ways, when I started a challenge a year ago my heart did not feel right, my cardiologist had an ultra sound and they discovered the narrowing aortic valve, so in August I had open heart surgery and 3 months later was back able to drive after Clayton and Jerry helped me survive.  Then in January I had a complicated Ablation procedure done by Dr. Chin in Santa Clara, Ray helped me get there and Jason brought me home as I remember, that solved A fib and Flutter totally, What great work by Kaiser people.  Then a few months later I felt ready for the first challenge, its been a life changing experience all the way, the most positive group of people I've ever encountered, I mean never a foul comment or negative put down, just great great great.
I'm rolling the $497 into a years membership as I want, need to keep on working out with the class 5 days a week, I have a dream of being fitter than I've ever been in my life and its within my grasp now.

So this is my story today, grateful to Nikki, excited about today's success and so happy that Jason has joined Pleasanton challenge which starts in two weeks.

Love to all and thanks to God

Tim