One More At the Table

My mom is visiting with us for 10 days!! I've been busy getting ready for her arrival and now we're busy enjoying her company.

I was a little nervous having her come and stay, wondering if our diet choices would leave her uncomfortable or feeling poorly.  So far, all is well.  She's been so helpful to me in the kitchen. I sure wish I could have her here everyday!  Having an extra pair of already trained hands in the kitchen is such a blessing!

These two (my mom and my oldest) are the BEST kitchen helpers!!

Last night I made a variation of a new recipe, Southwestern Black Bean and Quinoa Casserole.  It turned out lovely and everyone liked it.  I was excited to cook up some quinoa.  I don't think I've used it before.

 

I used a veggie cheese product on about 3/4 of the pan.  Most everyone said it wasn't really needed so I think I'll just skip it next time.  I didn't think it was worth the cost and ingredient list. It drives me crazy how "vegan" foods can be so ridiculously processed and unhealthy. 

My weight hasn't dropped much in the last few days. I'm sort of plateaued again, which makes sense, I guess, since this was O week.  I keep forgetting about that.  I do feel like the new skirt I bought is fitting a little less snugly, so that makes me happy. :D

It felt SO good to hear my mom say how great I am looking right now. She really focused on my face and how different I look. Then, she mentioned that I look great from behind, too! Wow!! First time I've heard that one. :D

I haven't gotten in much exercise lately. But, I'm out of my funk I was battling last week. I was so stuck in carb-heavy-swamp that I didn't think I'd ever get out.  Back on track and feeling really great about it.

I also started making up some green smoothies this week for myself and the youngest children.  I'm finding it an easy way to get in my greens when I don't have time to fix up my breakfast salad. I love that I'm seeing my 1.5yo and my 3yo guzzle their greens each day. Woohoo!

Daniel Fast - Day Twenty-One

June 30, 2013

Day Twenty-One

The End. 

Today is the last day.  A bit of fanfare as Elizabeth and I discussed the closing of the fast.  We had a nice conversation regarding what we learned in the last few weeks.  I expressed my gratitude to her for her eagerness and cheerfulness during this fast. Without her excitement over this endeavor, I'm not sure I would have pressed on.  It was especially hard when other members of the family were complaining, cheating, or just plain angry that we were even doing it.  Her sweet disposition and firm resolve helped me stay focused and cheered me on.  She kept me from feeling alone.

She shared that she was very grateful the Lord led me to take on this fast.  She was greatly encouraged by my willingness and determination to stick with it, even in the midst of that first week's struggles and pain.  She was challenged to see me press on when it was so hard.  I didn't realize how the Lord would use my time of humbling to encourage my girl so much. 

I will always look back on this fast with reverence and awe.  The Lord used something so simple to reveal Himself in so many powerful ways.  He used it to also reveal me in many ways. Ways I needed to see so I could confess, repent, and be turned.  Not only is my physical body changed, my mind is better able to understand the patterns and habits that have held me for so long, and my relationships with my family have been strengthened like never before.  Purging my physical body of the toxins may have been painful, but seeing how my wrong choices were damaging my life as a mother and wife was devastating.  You've given me this "land", Lord, and I so want to truly "live" within it.  And that leads me to....

The Beginning.

I see now that this Daniel Fast was the precursor to a major work the Lord desire to do in my life.  Physically, He is at work healing my body, teaching me how to make the best choices, and making me stronger for His tasks.  I didn't know it then, but this fast prepared me to receive that plan.  Eating as a vegan for the last 3 weeks, and a very restricted vegan at that, has shown me what I thought was impossible.  I could live like this because I DID live like this.  I can survive and even thrive on vegetable. Shhhh...don't tell my mother!  And I do believe that changing my habits and choices of food heals because I've experienced it happen in the last few weeks. 

Fasting from my social media hangouts revealed how much I've been missing in my family, church, and community life.  My days are so full, I don't know how to fit it back in, visiting with my internet friends. Yet, I spent so much time there before.  Time wrongly placed.  I'm still unsure how to fit that in, but it won't be the habit it was before.

This fast revealed my need to deal with my emotions in a biblical way.  Rightly handling my disappointments, frustrations, anger, irritations, these are all important priorities that the Lord is working on in my heart.  Learning how to put off the sinful ways I handle these things and put on the commands of the Lord is a primary focus for me in the coming weeks.

This Beginning is exciting.  It isn't a simple resolve. It isn't a New Thing to try out.  It's a response to the work of the Holy Spirit shining the light of God's word on my heart and life.  He has shown me the sin, and now that my repentance and forgiveness are firm, I can begin to enjoy His transformation of my life.  I can take my first step in truly LIVING in this precious land He has given.

Thank you, precious Lord.  May you alone receive the glory for your work in my life.  May it be that you will increase and I will decrease.

Daniel Fast - Day Eight

June 17, 2013

Day Eight

Great day!

I'm on my own with seven of the children and we had a great day.  We got up on time, chores and breakfast were a little late, but overall it was a good start. We headed out for a couple of hours worth of gardening, transplanting flowers around the house. It was great. Felt good knowing I started the day with some productive activity.

Schooling, shopping, choring, all sorts of things got done today.  I felt upbeat and happy to be with my children.  The food thing isn't really bothering me much aside from just deciding what we will eat. I do feel like it's getting costly to feed all these people and stick with the diet.  I'm going to start using up our eggs for the little girls and save the nuts and seeds for the rest of us.  Two more days and Benj gets to move over to the modified fast. He's excited. ;)

I started reading the book, Eat to Live: The End of Diabetes.  I actually picked it up a couple of weeks ago and wasn't impressed. I sat down with it again today and am drawn in.  I'm reading his description of toxic hunger versus real hunger. Were I not on this fast, I think I would have just blown off his writing. Now that I'm experiencing what he's talking about, it holds a little more weight with me.  I don't want to be seeking out a man's way of diet right now, but I am intrigued with his ideas and what I'm learning about why my body is reacting the way it is right now. 

Still having pain in my ankle that I injured 8 years ago. It's been bothering me a lot lately, though I haven't damaged it again.  Otherwise I'm doing well. Joint pain, muscle aches, cramping, head aches, those are all gone.  I still have some tinges of lower back pain, but that is fading. 

Water is finally satisfying to me again.  I wasn't drinking much water at all because it was so bland. Now that I'm getting over my coffee fix and diet soda binges, it's refreshing again. I love feeling it's goodness and knowing that my body is healing with every swallow.

Looked at some old pictures with the children tonight.  Don't know if that was a good idea or not. So much time gone by in a flash.  My whole life I've disliked what I've seen in photos. So sad. Praying the Lord releases me of my preoccupation with my self and my image and enables me to walk in the freedom of sanctification, growing stronger and closer to Him.

OH!  I was in bed by 9:30pm last night!! That's another issue I need to work on. I stay up WAY too late.

Super Model Week :)

I did it. I'm wearing my *normal* jeans again. :)  I'm so excited. I mean, not about wearing jeans so much, but that I can actually fit in them again so soon. I gained more this pregnancy than most of my others, so I was not very optimistic about how I'd start out size-wise.  This is a real boost to my motivation. :)

I haven't weighed myself, yet, but hope to later today. I wanted to take a picture to use as my After Baby/Before Weight Loss marker, but our camera batter is dead and we have yet to locate the charger. Either way, I'm hoping to mark tomorrow...one week from delivery day...as my starting point for my Next New Start.

My plan for now is to Pay Attention.  With my last baby, I walked away from the delivery 5 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight. I was elated. But, I somehow let that go to my head or something because 6 months later I was up 20 pounds. So frustrating.  So, my biggest effort at this point is to Pay Attention to what goes in and what effort must come out to balance it.

I confess, it's been hard already. Those chocolate chip cookies and brownies that have been delivered..the ones I said I was NOT going to eat because I still need to keep off the sugar to avoid the thrush...yeah. Well, I failed.  This after baby time is super hard because I feel so ENTITLED to the treats and splurges after a season of being "so good".  And, really, I wasn't even so good the last few weeks. It sure is easy to deceive ourselves in order to satisfy our flesh, isn't it?

So, in order to Pay Attention I need to:

1. Keep my plate colorful and include at least 1 raw item at each meal.
2. Keep my portions smallish but frequent, similar to the GD diet. I find that I get so hungry and tired with nursing, that eating happens more often. If I keep my meals smaller, at least I won't be eating as many calories when I need a snack to keep me going on those nursing marathons.
3. Drink water!  I feel like I'm drowning, but I need the water.  I still see some swelling, so I think I need to work at flushing out my system.
4. Move. I don't have any exercise plans right now. But, I do need to work on getting in some kind of movement, even when I'm feeling so tired. Some stretching would be really good for me right now, as I'm in between all this sitting with nursing and lying with trying to catch an hour or so in between nursing sessions. My back is starting to really hurt and my legs are cramping up. I need to work on some basic stretches a couple of times a day just to keep myself loosened up and ready to take on more when I'm able.
5. Enlist my amazing daughter.  Her success at self-discipline and weight loss is an incredible movitator for me. She's heading up meals right now, so that's a mighty help. However, I need to get more diligent in thinking like her to avoid the sugar.  What Would E Do? needs to be my new motto. ;)
6. Weigh myself weekly.

So, it's going to be a slow start, but it's definitely going to be a START.  I'm determined NOT to put off Paying Attention. I'm determined not to make excuses and think I can coast for any amount of time and come out ahead. I'm determined to keep my mind and heart fixed on being Healthy and Strong and let the numbers fall where they may. I'm determined to ENJOY this journey this time around and not allow it to become a source of defeat or bitterness in my life. I'm determined to JOIN my family in creating fun and lasting memories of a life lived with energy and productivity. I'm also determined to allow myself the REST I need to keep up with this energetic and productive crew. ;)

All this determination is bound to fail from time to time, so I'll appreciate what support and encouragement you can give, ladies. So hard to believe I'm on this side again. Very exciting. :)

I'll list my goals and such tomorrow, Lord and baby willing. ;)

Sunday March 25, 2012

Today's Good Things:
I got a great night of sleep
Got some real cleaning done, though still not nearly as much as I would like to believe I could do. ;)
Worked just half a day or so and came home to rest and enjoy some family worship
Ate well, numbers good, remembered to test. :)

Today's Not So Good Things:
My hand has a bump at the base, just before my wrist. It looks like swelling or fluid and it hurts. I have no idea what I did, but I noticed it this morning shortly after waking. Weird.

We had a good day working. It was raining, so it felt like we should be in getting things done. We made a lot of progress in just a few days. I posted a couple of entries on our family blog if anyone is interested in seeing photos of the house.  Just click on that linky thing and you'll see the first one.

Thanks for all of your encouragement ladies.  I didn't get any belly pics yet, Heather. I did think of it, but just kept forgetting. I was bummed because I forgot to get a pic of us eating our first meal in our new dining room too! Pizza in lawn chairs and a picnic blanket. Great memories. :)  (but I was good and only had 1 piece. :D)

Good Ouch.

I went to bed with tylenol last night. I just knew my feet and calves were not going to let me sleep. ;)

Good, productive day, though.  I admit, I was more than a little stressed and irritable. My children were at that level of excitement that creates the selective hearing no mother enjoys. The girls and I spent 2 hours at Walmart shopping for cleaning supplies while my boys worked with fil on the house. Once we got back, got lunch served, cleaned up, and set up littles with a movie for quiet time in the RV...I was beat!! And I hadn't even worked on the house at ALL. Ugh.

So, I am feeling like a slouch because I'm not doing my share on the work. Yet, just keeping up with normal stuff in the midst of it all is enough.  I'm hoping that once the "newness" of the yard and event wears off, we can have a bit less chaos and a bit more progress made on the cleaning. I did get 2 window sills and two baseboards washed before the littles decided that was all they were doing for the day. Then I proceeded to clean up all the soapy water they left behind. Good memories. ;)

Eating wasn't great yesterday, but it could have been worse. My oldest is already taking on the task of making sure we have the "right" foods on site for the weekend.  She sure is a great asset, that girl. ;)

I can't even describe my joy in walking through this house.  The character, charm, memories it holds, and potential for beauty just overwhelm me sometimes.  That has to be a good thing, but the dear old house is so filthy not many people could see past it.  But, when you know it is a gift given by a Father that LOVES, dirt, peeling paint, nasty carpet and all....you just can't help but rejoice!  It's like he chose to wrap it in all these lovely layers of hard work and togetherness so the unveiling can be as wonderful as the gift itself.  Thank you, dear Father.  Such a gift swells my heart.

Saturday December 24, 2011

Today's Good Things:
Lovely morning opening gifts with our family
Made wise choices for dinner, avoiding the unhealthy carbs.
Controlled myself to take one small bite of "petz" which had enough sugar in it to last. ;)
Enjoyed a mid-morning nap

Today's Not So Good Things:
Still not getting my exercise in
House is pretty trashed, but I'm letting it be okay.

I feel pretty good about how my day went today. I did well with my choices at dinner at my il's as well as eating at home. I haven't been keeping up with my snacks as well as I should, but I'm still working to be careful. And, I'm applauding myself for that considering we're smack in the middle of the Season of Indulgence.

I spent my day yesterday an emotional wreck. I felt I had ruined Christmas by not working hard enough to make it special. I know I could have worked harder, but I am so grateful to the Lord for His patience with me.  He is gentle and His burden is light. If only I would truly learn to carry His burden rather than the one I strap on myself.  Today was a precious day with our children and again, with David's family. I believe our most meaningful Christmas Eve we've ever spent with them.  I'm humbled to see the Lord continuing to work and build our lives up and closer to Him. 

Tomorrow we spend our day focusing on your word.  Please help me to press forward with a heart eager to serve and obey.

The Vacation Challenge

We just got home from a 12 day whirlwind road trip.  11 states, 3500 miles. That's a ton of driving, visiting, touring, eating on the quick, and...sigh...sitting.

I started out really well. I was being ever so careful with my food choices, trying hard not to indulge in the Munch Your Way Down The Highway tradition. The first couple of days I made sure to get out for walks before we started the next stretch of driving or sitting to visit with far away family and friends. However, as the trip got busier and our stops got shorter, much of that ceased. By the time we were making our mad dash home, I was crunchin' the chips with the best of them. *blush*

However, I still believe I did *much* better than I have in previous times. We didn't stop at as many of our favorite eating places on this trip. We often find ourselves eating our way along as a part of making memories. We did still enjoy some unique favorites, like U.P. pasties, cinnamon raisin biscuits from Hardees, and Arby's roast beef sandwiches. I even deterred us from ordering fries and filling in with carrot sticks and apple slices with our Roast Beef Delights. :-) We skipped some others and I made sure our meals eaten from the camper featured greens as often as possible.  We guzzled plenty of water, though my fiber is down right now, so I'll be working on that.  I did cave and get the pop tarts and cold cereal that everyone loves for vacation, but generally we snacked on peanut butter celery sticks and fruit for our sweet treats.  I'm wishing we had been able to make more time for active touring at our destinations.  We got in some swimming, a bit of walking, but not as much hiking as I had hoped. It was tough to do it while visiting with others and fitting in so much in so little time.

Overall, I'm pleased with how we did. We still have a lot of room for improvement, but I am clearly making better choices as a way of life. Even vacation life. :-)

Wednesday March 30, 2011 Feeling Springy

Today's Good Things:
A bit of extra sleep this morning
On track with lessons and chores
I did great with food choices/calories today
Gorgeous weather got me out for my afternoon mile AND another family mile after dinner :-)
Enjoyed using my new washer..yay!
Watched a movie all to myself. That was lovely.

Today's Not So Good Things:
My sweet boy's pet gerbil was found "expired" this morning. Funeral was held after lunch. ;-)
Afternoon snack was too carb-y
Missed my Morning 15
Staying up too late to get this in!

It was simply a lovely day.  (well, not counting the sad details of the burial ;-) ) The weather had that hint of warmth to it. The sun was shining down and in and filling up my mind with thoughts of clean windows and walls and basements and yard. Ahhhh...I can still smell the freshness. It won't last long, as I hear tell we are to have 6-12 inches arriving by Friday. Give thanks in all things, right? Right. :-)

I'm finally finding the groove again of paying attention and caring about how I eat during the day. Two days in a row I took the time to make my own lunch rather than gobble down what was easy at the table.

I did end up feeling a little edgy by the end of the day. I think I was just getting to that spot in the week where I needed a little time to myself to regroup and relax.  I seem to need that alone time every so often to refresh my mind and remotivate my brain.

Tomorrow is Thursday which is our wrap up day for the week. I'm so grateful! I admit, I am the one who is counting down the days until spring break. I am the one who is longing for the freedom of no books, tests, and assignements. I am the one who is wishing it all away instead of enjoying and embracing the moment as I should. Serves me right to have winter blast me yet again. I will be grateful and I will rejoice in the challenges of our days. I wonder how the family would feel about turning this next snow into a Farewell To Winter Party? That sure would turn the frowns around! :-)

Tuesday March 29, 2011 Date Night

Today's Good Things:
Fair day with lessonwork
Fair day on calories (minus the choc. chips...grrr.)
Afternoon and evening walk today - 2.5 miles total
Amazing Date Night

Today's Not So Good Things:
Those blasted choc. chips
Over on my eat to lose goal of 1500 cal
Missed my morning 15
Up with sick baby for a couple hours during the night - yawn

Today was a good day in my thinking. I was thoughtful about my food choices. I passed on the high carb lunch and was able to pull together a nice salad with some leftover lentils. That was a good save since I mindlessly nibbled on too many chocolate chips that are meant for rewards for the *children*...ahem.

What topped off my day, however, was the wonderful way my children blessed me tonite. Tuesday night is our regular "date night". Typically we order pizza for an easy dinner and clean up and send the children to bed early to read while my husband and I enjoy some time alone. Well, today my oldest daughter got the idea to have a "restaurant dinner" at home for the two of us. She and her sibs worked all day to decorate and set up a Table for Two in our mudroom/pantry. We were sent off to dress up fancy for our romantic dinner. What a precious night! Both my husband and I were giddy with excitement and bursting with joy to see our children desire such a blessing for us. It's been a tough couple of weeks and this was an unexpected and much cherished gift.

So, I enjoyed the extra calories. Each one helped to create a memory I will treasure forever. :-)

The Birthday Weekend

It's been crazy busy making me crazy tired and I just haven't had time to post.

This was a birthday weekend. My sweet boy turned 9 years old. We had a great time. Lots of treats, but also spent the afternoon at the pool working some of it off. It was such a lovely time. We needed that time together to reconnect, de-stress, and shake off the winter blahs.  I loved seeing the children play and wrestle with Daddy in the pool. I also enjoyed getting in 25 minutes of treading water. Good way to burn some calories while playing "Fish" with my sweeties.  ;-)

I didn't meet any of my weekend goals. I actually lost sleep, ate poorly, missed my workouts again, and didn't get anything prepped for the weekend.

I'm not feeling bad about that, however. It was a special weekend and I was busy making precious memories. :-)