You are automatically now on my friends list. Gwen was not telling you to limit or quietly jump in. She is good about letting everyone know about what is already out there to help. So , like me, jump in feet first. You will do fine. Good luck iwith the sermon and I will be praying for your hip.!

Hi Jim:

My bad hip's aching today and I should be working on the Sunday sermon I have to deliver. My wife's the other pastor at this church and she's off leading about 50 or 60 women on a special retreat this weekend...But I procrastinated and wrote a 'gentle reminder" to my PCP or GP or whatever he's called, asking him to write a letter of recommendation that my surgeon will send off with a ton of other documentation to BCBS of Pennsylvania in order to get my approval for a laparoscopic gastric bypass in April sometime...
(Note, I'm from Chicago, but my religious affiliation (The United Church of Christ--the one that's in the news regarding Obama's speech in Hartford last year.) anyway, we UCC clergy have BCBS of Pennsylvania, even if we live in Illinois...but I'm babbling.

Hey, I am honored to have added you to my friends list. Feel free to do the same, adding me to your list (or does the computer somehow do that automatically?) I confess I am really slow with learning about the threads and all the ins and outs and whereabouts of ThinnerTimes. Frankly, I have sort of avoided all blogs and stuff in the past, because when I jump in, I jump in with both feet and make a pretty big splash...So I have tried to slow down a bit here at TT.
I never really "lurked" mch here or anywhere else before. And there was something Gwen said rather generally about us 'newbies' and maybe I am just too sensitive, but I felt she was gently and politely letting us know that etiquette-wise we shouldn't come on too loudly right away..And of course she then sent that amazingly helpful list of stuff to review...Hey, I think this TT stuff is great. I really resonate with some great comments from you and a lot of other folks.
But I didn't want to come off as a turkey, especially since I am really just an over-excited rookie about this incredible adventure/journey.

Most recently I read some of the stuff about people's relationships changing--like that poor women who's dumb husband wouldn't give up smokes and was rejected for surgery and now she's dealing with a morbidly obese diabetic husband who seems to be making it real tough for his ex-eating buddy/wife. (Sorry, I don't mean to sound like a critical jerk. I feel sorry for the guy, and especially for his wife who's worked too hard to be sabotaged by him.) But enough...Anyway, I best send this to you know. I have a meeting this evening, but if it's not too late, I will jump back into Thinner Times when I get home tonight.
Blessings and Peace! Thanks for being my friend!
BillH

Hey Bill, how are you doing Brother? I hope well. Keep us informed of your dates and progress.