Weight loss update, week 12

I've been at this weight-loss thing for 12 weeks now. Wow! Go me! I'm proud of making this commitment to my health and sticking with it this long. Joining Jenny Craig has helped with that significantly, I think: the structured plan, the weekly weigh-ins, and the feedback. I don't love everything about the program, but it has helped immensely to feel like a lot of the effort has been taken out of this for me. I just have to do what I'm told and stay the course. Which is not nothing; it's still taken considerable commitment. But as someone who has never done a structured weight loss program before (I've always been a DIY dieter), well, the difference is quite noticeable. Have I ever stuck with a weight-loss effort this long before? Yes. But I was always really struggling by this point in the game previously (I also lost weight A LOT more slowly when doing the weight loss on my own). Add in the stress of my job plus caring for a 16 month old, and I don't think there is any way this weight loss would have happened without the additional support and ease factor this program has given me. 

Over the last 12 weeks, the weight has come off pretty rapidly. And while yes, it has taken effort and commitment, it hasn't felt like it has taken herculean effort for the most part (a major exception was this weekend when Will decided to bake my favorite kind of cupcakes. Arrrgh! WILL!!! But despite the significant temptation, I did not indulge, and I was proud of myself afterward. The cupcakes are tucked out of sight somewhere in our kitchen, at my request, and I am not going to be seeking them out. I knew that if I had to look at them, it would just be a matter of time until I caved and ate them.)

I went into this week's weigh-in feeling...I guess the best way to describe it is open-minded but unsure. I'm so close to the finish line at this point, who knew what the scale would show? I was diet-adherent this week eating my planned Jenny Craig cuisine and lots of veggies plus yogurt, although I actually underate a couple of days because I was (first) caring for and cleaning up after Magpie who caught a nasty stomach bug (I love you, Magpie, but gross!), which sort of killed my desire to eat, and then (second) a few days later I was dealing with mild symptoms of said GI bug (I have learned that it is hard not to catch someone's virus when they repeatedly vomit all over you). But the sickness seems to have passed for both of us, and I have returned to my regularly scheduled diet. 

So, moment of truth, what did the scale show this week?

Weekly Weight Loss

Starting BMI just after Thanksgiving = 25.2 (officially overweight)
Week 1:     - 4.4 pounds (back into normal BMI territory, less than 25!)
Week 2:     - 0.8 pounds
Week 3:     - 3.6 pounds

Week 4:     out of town so no Jenny food and no weigh-in (Christmas travel madness!)

Week 5:     - 4.4 pounds since last weigh-in

Week 6:     - 2 pounds

Week 7:     - 1.6 pounds

Week 8:     - 1.4 pounds

Week 9:     + 0.4  pounds
Week 10:     -4.2 pounds  

Week 11:     -0.2 pounds  

Week 12:     -3.0 pounds 

Grand Total So Far: 25.2 pounds lost (BMI = 21!)

Yup, I was shocked too - I LOST 3 POUNDS!!! Needless to say, I was thrilled with the weight loss this week. I couldn't believe it! Looking back, I think that probably a good chunk of the weight loss occurred in the prior week but didn't show on the scale for some reason. It just seems more realistic that I lost 1.5 pounds each week than that I lost basically nothing last week and then 3 pounds this week (especially now that I don't have far to go with the weight). I've been doing all the right things all along, so that makes more sense than these strange fluctuations. 

So yay!! Very, very soon I'll have to choose my weight loss stopping point. At the MOST, I might lose another 3ish pounds, but we'll see how it goes and what feels right. Wow! So close now!

Mo

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Suzanne sends you a thank you note

Hello kind readers of Mo’s petri dish. I have so many thoughts swirling in my head as I sit to write a thank you note to you all, it’s hard to put them into any logical order. So I will put them in emotional order, which is to say no order at all. Emotions aren’t interested in order.

Your generosity toward a total stranger has restored my faith in humanity. This is not just a cliché statement to be taken lightly. My faith in humanity, and otherworldly things for that matter, has been put through the wringer in the past six years. But just when I need it, something or someone reminds me that this isn’t just a mean old world where we’re all on our own. And in that moment I find the faith of ten mothers plus two, and am able to soldier on.

Sometimes it’s a photo in my email box of Diana, smiling and laughing with her friends at her orphanage. Sometimes it’s a song whose lyrics seem to be written just for the 65 waiting families caught in the Kyrgyzstan adoption moratorium (I have a whole Pandora station of them at this point). Sometimes it’s a total stranger writing, “Let’s get that girl home!” in a note attached to a $25 donation to my travel fund. In your cases, it was a lot of those notes and a lot of those donations. A. Lot.

Your generosity went far beyond your dollars. You were generous with your time, by allowing my story to hi-jack your regularly scheduled programming here on Mo’s blog. You were generous with your empathy, by sharing little glimpses into your own seemingly interminable waits to become mothers. You were generous with your friends, by cross-posting my story on your own blogs and Facebook pages.

I’m humbled by all you have given me. I wish I had more to give in return. I wish I could post a photo here of my precious and beautiful Diana, so you could see how she has refused to let her spirit be crushed by her circumstances. I wish I could post the photo of us hugging and laughing on her 4^th birthday, during adoption process #2 in 2012. But We have been told to be careful about publicly sharing recognizable photos of our children at this delicate moment while we are on the brink of being able to re-re-start our adoptions. After all they aren’t our children, yet.

I hope those of you who gave so freely of yourselves will stop by the Kwyltyng To Kyrgyzstan Facebook page from time to time to keep tabs on the progress of this, Diana’s and my third adoption process. The moment I’m allowed to post photos of her I will post them there. Then you will finally be able to “meet” the child your big, wonderful hearts helped unite with her family, at last.   

And Mo, I just. I’m. Seriously. I can’t begin to tell you what a blessing you and your energy are in this world and in my life. Everything good written above, and much more, applies to you. You are a giver and a gift.

One last bit of housekeeping: Some of you show up on my fundrazr page as “anonymous.” But paypal keeps me abreast of who donated what. So you’re all attached to the appropriate number of quilt raffle tickets, and I will have a way of reaching you if you are a lucky winner.

Thank you, bless you, keep strong, and good luck in the raffle!

Suzanne

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Grand total

Thank you all so much for your generosity to help my friend Suzanne raise funds to travel to Kyrgyzstan to finally and hopefully permanently reunite with her waiting child Diana.

All told, you folks raised $815 that we will be matching, for a total contribution of $1,630. Just Wow.

Amazing and incredible.

Suzanne is still fundraising, but the above amount is the amount that Will and I will be matching, with gratitude to all of you for being so generous for someone you don't even know.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Mo

P.S. If you want to check out the progress on all the quilts being made for the raffle, click over to Suzanne's Facebook page, Kwylting for Kyrgyzstan.

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The kindness of strangers

A few days ago, I posted about my friend Suzanne's quilt raffle fundraiser to travel to Kyrgyzstan to finalize her adoption of Diana after waiting in legal limbo for six long years. I was hoping that some of you might be moved to help. I thought that a few small donations would come through, and that that would be amazing since you don't even know Suzanne. I thought a little bit at a time, and all together, we could help to bring Diana home to her waiting family.

I never in a thousand years expected the kind of response that you have shown, and it just teaches me (like I needed to relearn this about you?) that you guys are amazing.

As of today, you have collectively donated $740 to help Diana get home and into her waiting mama's and sister's arms in the United States.

Wow. Just wow.

As promised, Will and I will be matching your donations dollar for dollar. So that means that so far between you guys and us, Suzanne is $1,480 closer to her goal.  And hey, some of you might even win one of the many beautiful handmade quilts being sewn for this project. But of course, winning a quilt is not the point. The point is that there is a lovely girl who needs to get out of that orphanage and into a family, and there is a lovely mama in waiting who never has never given up on her, even when the going got tough (and has stayed tough, for years now).

You are amazing. And I am humbled, ever so humbled. Thank you so so much for reaching out to help a stranger and a little girl.

I promise to keep you updated on Suzanne and Diana as their story progresses.

But in the meantime, thank you. Thank you so very much.

Mo

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International adoption nightmare, with hope finally on the horizon

Little Diana has been waiting six years in an orphanage in Kyrgyzstan. She was matched with my dear friend Suzanne for adoption when she was five weeks old. 

Way back then, in 2008, Suzanne flew to Kyrgyzstan and fell in love with Diana. But then before Suzanne could bring her home, all Kyrgyz international adoptions were put on hold, leaving Diana, and 64 other Kyrgyz orphans, in limbo. Two of the children have since died. And over the years, some of the families have moved on to less arduous adoption situations.

But my friend Suzanne is not a giving-up kind of person. In fact, she is heroic. She has traveled to Bishtek multiple times to see Diana. She has traveled to Washington DC and lobbied U.S. Congress. She produced a heartrending video that was translated into Russian to lobby the Kyrgyz public and legislators to help these waiting children. 

As time has dragged on and Diana has grown from a baby into a toddler into a young girl, Suzanne has taken classes on the issues involved in adopting an older child. She's learned to speak some Russian. Adoptions briefly reopened and a few parents were able to bring their children home in 2012, but they closed again before Diana's case could be brought before the courts and finalized. 

There are 18 children still waiting, growing up in an orphanage instead of with the American families who have come to love them. Diana is one of them. And Suzanne has never given up on her, even as Diana has grown from a newborn baby into a school-age girl.

Diana and Suzanne. Per adoption protocols, Diana's face is not shown.

Now, again, Kyrgyzstan has re-opened their intercountry adoption program. It is Diana's chance to finally come home. My friend is busy redoing her adoption dossier, signing on with yet another adoption agency, and completing all of the documentation necessary.  She is planning to travel to Kyrgyzstan to spend the 6-8 weeks the finalization process will take visiting Diana and helping her adjust to the upcoming transition. She will be traveling with the three-year-old she has adopted domestically while waiting for Diana. 

My friend Suzanne is amazing. But the cost of her six year journey is staggering. She has spent thousands upon thousands of dollars trying to get Diana out of that orphanage and home with her family. She is now working to raise money for her upcoming trip.  And she could really use your help. With the assistance of many friends, she's created a project called Kwylting to Kyrgyzstan to raise money for her and her daughter's travel to Kyrgyzstan. For every $25 donation Suzanne receives, she is giving a raffle ticket to win one of the numerous beautiful quilts that are being handmade for this most meaningful project (see a sampling below). Will and I will be donating ourselves, of course. And Will and I also pledge to match 100% of any donations made through this blog (just say that Mo sent you). All proceeds go to Suzanne's travel costs, and should she exceed her fundraising goal of $10,000, Suzanne plans to donate all remaining funds to the other 17 waiting families.

Please click here to go to Suzanne's fundraising page or click here to see her project's facebook page to view the incredibly beautiful quilts that are in the process of being made.

Can you help Diana come home by donating and spreading the word? After waiting six years in an orphanage, it is so past time for this beautiful young girl to finally join her family.

Mo

the beginnings of a beautiful, colorful quilt in Diana's honor

another quilt in progress, this one monochrome

yet another gorgeous creation on the way - this one a baby/toddler quilt 

the beginnings of something beautiful

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