Hello

I was invited to post to this forum, as I've been on OH for almost two months but didn't know this forum exists. A little about me... I served in the Arizona Tucson mission over ten years ago. I'm a convert to the church, and am currently inactive. I have been married for six years to a wonderful non-LDS man. I'm currently seeking WLS as nothing else seems to help. I live west of Phoenix.

Well masked mysteria member, welcome to our board. My name is Melody and I live in Idaho. We woke to frost this morning and it looks like Fall is fully here. I'm so glad you found this board. We are very quiet and inactive most of the time but we need new blood to get us going and motivate us. I had my surgery 3 or 4 years ago, it's pathetic that the date isn't edged in my memory. I lost 140 lbs and this is the best thing I've ever done. I would do it again in a heart beat. I'm also married to a non member. I was inactive for 15 years and decided one day that I needed the church in my life and in the lives of my children. It's also the best thing I ever did was go back to church. It's also the hardest thing I ever did. Satan kept me believing that people would judge me for being inactive for so long. Well, guess what. Satan was WRONG. I was welcomed bacj with open arms. No one said one word of criticism to me or judgemental to me. They just all loved me and offered their support and friendship. Your sign in name is Lady Lithia. So until I know different, I'll address you as that. Come often to the board. We'd love to get to know you. Melody

Thank you for your welcome. You can call me Lithia, it's my altar ego. Until I get approved for the surgery, it's mostly just Pie in the Sky to visit this site... and if I don't get approved I would prefer for my attempts to grab that pie in the sky to not be associated with the real me. The mask is in honor of Halloween, as we're having a "halloween spooktacular" over on the RNY forum. The weather sounds lovely where you are... it's not supposed to get over 98 degrees here. But our swimming pool is a COLD 80 degrees. I keep hoping hubby and I will one day move to Washington state where the natural color is green, and they have real weather, but then, he'd be all for the move as soon as I want it, so it's really me thats holding us back! I do not think that I will remain inactive forever, I do not deny who and what I am, I just am not currently going to church. I try to continue to be a good moral example to my students, even if I am inactive. Thanks again for the warm welcome.

Hi Lithia! Glad you found us. This board is very quiet. Sometimes it takes WEEKS to get a response. But we're all good people ... from different walks of life, with varying degrees of activity in the Church. Hope we can be a source of support to you as you progress on your weight loss journey. Laurie

Laurie, Have I met you yet? My memory is horrible. I've been known to approach new members of our ward 3 or 4 different weeks and welcome them to the ward and ask them their names. If I'm doing the same thing to you - Sorry. My name is Melody and I live in Idaho. I noticed that you are from Southern California. I spent all my childhood in various places in Southern California. My father was in the Navy. He went all over the world, WE stayed at various basis all in Southern California. When my father retired from the Navy we were living in Camarillo, Ventura county. I spent about 8 years there so I consider myself growing up in Camarillo as that was where I graduated from High School. Any way, welcome to this board and PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE post and help us get actie again. Where are you in your journey? I am post op from a lap RNY either 3 or 4 years ago. This date should be edged in my memory but I told you I have a horrible memory and I really don't remember how long its been. I just know that I'm under goal and feel wonderful and I would do it again. Enjoy conference this weekend. Don't miss the Saturday morning session as that is when we sustain the church officers and we will learn who the newest member of the first presidency will be. It should be exciting. Melody

Yep, I think we've met here on the Mormonism Forum. I've been around OH almost 6 years, too and am almost 3 years out from my Duodenal Switch surgery. My surgeon is really conservative, giving really long common channels to eliminate the side effects caused by this malabsorptive procedure, so I never got to my goal, but I did get close. But I'm healthier and my joints are much happier, lol! I've lived all my life in the San Gabriel Valley area just east of downtown Los Angeles. I do love Camarillo ... hubby and I like that area for getaway weekends, but now that he's in the Bishopric ... that doesn't happen too often. Wow ... didya hear? Henry B Eyring is the 2nd counselor in the First Presidency of the Church! I was thinking ... maybe we could all ask the others who've joined the Mormonism forum to be our "friend" ... there is a list here somewhere. I'd like to see our board more active ... I know that I don't feel comfortable on my state board ... it seems they are always planning the next get together that includes people getting drunk and taking silly pictures of themselves. They've also been less than kind because I had a different surgery than most and I was told I'm not welcome to post to their "what did you eat today" threads because it's unsettling to the others. (DSers don't dump, so we can have sugar and fat because only about 20% of fats are absorbed by DSers****ep getting nasty PMs because I can eat cookies and the like (they forget my priorities are protein, water and vits, first before goodies) *sigh* Laurie

Laurie, thank you for the welcome! (I'm wearing my halloween costume, but I'm still Lithia). So far my progress towards surgery is at the "hurry up and wait" stage. I'm feeling pessimistic that I'll be approved for surgery... the insurance company might ask me to go on a TWO-YEAR supervised diet. (worst case scenario), or ...? Who knows. My non-WLS goal is to lose 10% of what I weighed on the day of my surgery consultation by the first of January. That means I need to lose 22 more pounds, and have already lost 11 lbs. (I've lost 29 since July 1st). Luckily (?) for me I have been highly preoccupied by my "real" life. I'm up for a teaching award and had to spend the last week getting my classroom cleaned up, and preparing a special lesson to be observed. The foundation giving the award chose the day before fall vacation (yesterday) to visit me, interview me, and observe me teaching, so it could have been difficult, but I have good kids, so it went well. I'll find out in NOvember if I'm a finalist. Later in the day I learned that one of my students was hospitalized, so I've spent the weekend worried and disturbed by her fate. They speak spanish (thank goodness I served a spanish speaking mission, I can communicate well with them), so I couldn't get as many medical details as I would have liked, since medical words aren't in my vocabulary. ~Lithia