Happy 8th Anniversary Babe!

Today is my 8th year anniversary with my beautiful and loving wife Rina Lasi Peters Toketa! When I was 19, eight years ago today I said "I do" to my best friend. It's crazy cause we were sooooo young, and I'm sure that a lot of people didn't give us a chance to last very long, but here we are 8 years later! I just want to take this moment to thank you babe for all that you do for me and all that you are to me. I could not imagine not having you in my life. Thank you so much for giving me 3 beautiful kids and being such a wonderful mother to them. I love you so much! I can't wait to share the rest of eternity with you.

I wrote this poem for you I hope you like it.

Here we are. Eight years in, and I love you more than the day I married you.

We’re still winning in a game that we came into as the underdog.

In a time that the adversary so easily re-writes the story from “happily ever after” to “another broken family”

But still, here we are.          

At times our journey together has been rocky, and we can’t help but struggle along.

We’ve endured through those times of pain, sorrow, and loss.

But the love we share still remains so strong.

And here we are.

Thank you so much for all that you are to me, a beautiful wife, best friend, and loving mother.

You and our children are my purpose, my life, my very heart beat.

I hope to make the next eight years, even the rest of our lives better than what we’ve had so far.

Eight years has gone by so fast, but I’m blessed to have eternity to look forward to.

And here we are. 

I love you babe!

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Goal setting and Goal getting!

Today I'm putting something out there that I've ignored far too long. My health! At one point my highest weight was 490 lbs!!! I am surprised that I haven't had any major medical issues that would be cause for hospitalization. (knock on wood!) I've spent too much time just ignoring it. I was mad at myself for letting it get this far out of hand, but still I didn't take action to fix it. Until now! I've been back and forth going to the gym for a period of time and  then eating healthy for a period of time and then I give up. That's why I'm putting this out there now, because I want to make my commitment known. Before I would keep it under wraps, I didn't want to tell people how much I really weighed because I was embarrassed, I didn't want to let people know that I was dieting or going to the gym because I knew that later down the road they might ask me, so hows your diet going? or how are your work outs going? And I would have to tell them, "Oh you know.... NOT SO MUCH!"

So I have set a goal to make myself healthier and most importantly I have a plan of action! I am going to lose 60lbs by my son Noa's birthday on March 7th 2011 (5 months). Now I know I need to lose much more than 60 lbs but this is just the first step. I AM going to get my goal, because in committing to get this goal amongst my family, friends, and peers I know I won't give up. I can't  and will never give up on the people I love, it's just not in me. And that's what this is really about being able to be there for them for as long as I possibly can, 60 or 70 more years at least!

Let the fight begin, cause I'm bout to GET IT!

Beginning the Journey; Day 1

For those of you who really know me, you know me as the strong silent type. The one that sits back and observes, the one that has very little if anything to say.  For me to be publishing my OWN blog and sharing my thoughts and feelings with people I might barely know, it just isn't I mean wasn't me. But then I learned something, I wizened up and realized that there are things and goals that I want to attain, but cannot attain by simply "observing". I must change! Albert Einstein defined insanity as this; "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". If I want to attain my goals and become the person that I want to be, I must change.
So today I have committed to taking action, I will be a creator of the life that I want and that my beautiful family deserves. I am no longer going to be afraid of "haters" casting judgment, or afraid of being embarrassed. I'm just going to do me, the NEW me!