Day 3

Last night, I went to bed with a headache. Partially from dehydration. I did not drink enough water at all. We are continuing to work out, but today was really challenging-hardly any energy. The little kids have a cold, so they were up and down all night. My stomach has been very upset and I don't have much energy. Still, my hunger pangs are at a minimum. I think that this is mental, since I can eat in a little while. The girls are hungry.......still, I am thankful we are able to do this together.
God is really pressing on me about how I respond to the people in this house as well as others.
I am doing ok at times, failing miserably more often.

Day 2

So far, so good.....we're having good results and are still exercising...only day 2 though.
Lunch was hard to not eat-it smelled really good. But I have it made compared to dd2.
She doesn't see the light at the end of each day like I do. She has purposed in her heart just like Daniel. She wants to do this in the Lord's strength. DD1 is really wavering and in this half-hearted which is a bit discouraging. We have to keep our eyes up.....

Hold My Hand, Please

I snapped this picture while we were in the car today......

 

 

I tend to forget how big they get sooo quickly and how small they are at the same time. Thanking God for this moment and how I can grab His hand any time....HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Day 1,Total Honesty

    I had the sudden realization of a couple of things yesterday and this morning.
      The first one is that I cannot go on a full-bore juice fast. I am still nursing. Even though dd3 is going to be 2 in a few days, from everything I am reading, it can't be good to be passing my toxins from the juice fast/cleanse straight into her system. Just the possibility that it might make her sick-no thank you. The compromise that I have been able to come up with is this: juice fast breakfast and lunch then have a real snack and real dinner.
     The second thing I realized was about myself. Even though we just started this, I can see I am too hasty in a lot of things. Like responding to the people my family. Jumping into things without researching them enough. I can see God is going to use this in ways I don't even know about yet. I pray I am listening and learning....

New Directions

A few days ago, I stumbled onto a blog....it has changed my life. For the better. This blog post is what got me really going. I actually went to the blog looking for a post about fasting, but didn't see it. What I did see was a woman sharing her faith and her heart very honestly and openly. I saw that she had written an ebook  about her struggle with weight loss. After reading the sample pages on amazon.com and seeing it was on sale for only 2.99, I purchased it for my kindle fire. It was wirelessly delivered to mine AND my daughter's....she read the book before I had the chance to.
It is about juice fasting and how the Lord used her illness to draw her close to him, especially during her fast, which she did with 3 of her older daughters. We are getting ready to try a 30 day juice fast, now too. We are starting tomorrow. DD1 [for 2 weeks until she goes back to college], DD2, and I.
We have already started doing Beach Body's Turbo Fire apx. 1 week ago. We took our measurements and weighed ourselves before we started working out so we have our starting points.  I am going to try to keep our challenges and progress logged here as we go.
I highly recommend, just as Cherly Long from Treasures From a Shoebox that you watch the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." I'm warning you just like she warns:there are a couple of scenes that are going to have to be your discretion. One of  Joe in his underwear and a bikini scene. And some evolutionary ideas.
Please consider watching it as you ring in the new year and WATCH OUT, you might want to start juicing yourself.

Officially Part of the "Big Table" and Bread Baking Class

Our littlest little recently became an official member of the "big table!" She is so excited and I am too, even though all of these milestones mean she's inching her way to being grown up.....
Here she is at her first "big table" night with her sister:

Our dd also taught our 2 ds a bread baking class. It was fun for them to make a mess and fun for all of us to eat!

YUMMY!  YUMMY!!



Praise God for Letters From Faraway

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!??

    We got a long awaited letter from Mehameden last week! We have been anxiously looking for one from him so we'd know how he was doing. He's old enough to write his own letters now. Then they get translated by a Compassion worker into English for us. This time, he told us some really exciting news. He got to go to Adis Ababa (the capital) and get some training with 3 other students from his center. He "exchanged experiences with children from other projects." I can't help wondering how much fun he had with all of the other kids. He asked how we were doing. He asked if we were safe. He says he and his mom are fine. Attached to the letter is his school report for the year. He is 3rd in his class of 41. He's being promoted to the next grade. He has been asking for prayer for his studies. His must be working hard and it's paying off. They just celebrated their New Year in September, and he asks for prayer for his mom and "lessons of spiritual life."
He wishes us Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
These letters are so precious to us. We are so thankful that we can be a small part of his life.