What a crazy year 2008 was. It all started with the Perfect Weight America campaign kicking off a nationwide, coast-to-coast tour in San Diego on New Year’s Day, and for the next six months, I ran myself ragged. I probably spoke at community halls, health food stores, churches, and public events a 100 times. I was tailed by a camera crew much of the time and must have filmed dozens of segments for our weekly TV show, “Extraordinary Health,” seen on cable outlets. I hate to think how many miles I traveled on the Perfect Weight America tour bus . . . thousands, for sure. And the air miles I racked up flying home every Friday or Saturday and back out on Monday to rejoin the tour . . . let’s just say that I padded my Delta SkyMiles account big-time.

Then we had the oil shock in May and June, when the per-barrel price of crude oil broke all records at $147 a barrel. Suddenly, the cost of keeping the Perfect Weight America tour bus filled with diesel became ridiculous at $5 a gallon. The economics for transporting a crew of six or so around the country became prohibitive, so we took a summer hiatus.

When the fall rolled around, it was clear that the American economy was headed for a huge downturn, and we saw that happen in September and October. You remember the headlines: Shearson Lehman. AIG. Government bailouts. GM, Chrysler and Ford.

I needed to stay on the home front to lend leadership for Garden of Life during these challenging economic times. I’m pleased to report that we’re holding our own, but it’s been all hands on deck at Garden of Life. Same with the home front. Back in February 2008, Nicki and I completed our second adoption in six months, so at this moment, we are parents of Joshua, 4, Samuel, 18 months, and Alexis, 15 months. You could say that we are up to our armpits in diapers, and there’s a lot to do around the house and Nicki needs my help.

So with everything going on at Garden of Life and at home, I hope you—my loyal readers—will extend grace as I bow out of the blogging game for a while. I’m not sure if or when I’ll return, but there are plenty of blogs of 2008 that you can scroll through. I think I wrote something like 153 blogs last year, so there’s a lot of fun stuff to read as well as health information that you’ll benefit from.

So let me thank you for coming by and checking out what I have to say. I know you have literally millions of other outlets you can search through on the Internet, and the fact that you chose to click on “Jordan’s Blog” and read what I wrote means a great deal to me.

May you find great health in every way in 2009.