True Beauty

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."-1 Peter 3:3-4
Trying to figure out what to type on here and then it hit me, it hit me that there are a lot of people out there that could be vain and worry about their looks or worry about what people think when they see them. To be honest, I am one of those people, but I really don't consider myself vain more like I have a low self-esteem and it's an on-going battle that I seem to never win. Just when I think that I won, things happen that make me lose. I refuse to lose this "battle" and it's funny that I keep on losing because James keeps on telling me that he fell in love with me because of what I have inside and not what I have on the outside (if that makes any sense) and it's an added bonus that I am beautiful, too.
In the following pictures, I feel the most beautiful (click on the pictures if you want to see them bigger): See the common theme? If you don't, the common theme is that I am smiling. I feel the most beautiful when I smile. When I don't smile, people think that I am in a bad mood or that's something is wrong with me (refer to the Crazy blog for more details). I know that I am a beautiful woman, but I just feel at times that I could be better. What I mean by that is if I could lose more weight...goodness, I am already doing again! I really need to stop doing this.
I guess I get all of these "issues" because whenever I see my Mom, she reminds me that I need to lose weight and when I was younger, my little sister would say that I am ugly (she has since apologized for saying that). I really can't say anything to my Mom because it's rude to be disrespectful to your parents, but frankly it's getting old. Although the last time I did see my Mom, she noticed that I lost weight in fact, that's the first thing she said.
My name is Andrea and I am a beautiful and wonderful woman who has a awesome husband (whom I believe God sent me) and I really couldn't ask for more. What I just wrote is what I need to keep on telling myself and when I do say these words, I know that I am beautiful inside and out. I didn't mean for this to be a depressing post, but this is the only way I can actually admit to myself that I have "issues" and that I can get over them. With God and James by my side, I know and believe that anything and everything is possible and I will beat this "battle" once and for all!