Looking back while looking forward

We had our last day of school today. I am so excited, very much ready for the break. I also find it very funny that I am getting so excited for next year. We will be doing 5 days a week with a First Grader next year. I do find that somewhat intimidating. I know that we will once again get in a groove and it will become rather enjoyable. It is just that 5 days a week is a lot of time and work. I look forward to the consistency though. We have been doing a lot of activities, involved in 2 MOPS groups, AWANA, play dates, and just crazy busy. So I look forward to waking up on weekdays and just doing school. We will be together and home. That I look forward to. we had to much go, go, go this year. 

I have gotten some of our curriculum for next year, I am getting ready to plan some of our beginning of the year, and am also looking at some of the fun we will do during the summer. Learning never really takes a break does it?! I have a conference in June I am heading to for 3 days and am really looking forward to spending time learning and connecting with other home school families. 

Some of those things that encouraged me at the end of the year were finding my list of goals for the year, and seeing that we have pretty much surpassed them. Having Kay Kay read me a book. Watching as the last few days of school the girls were still wanting and needing to be challenged as they learn new math skills. Then this as a regular thing I come across...

Reading

(Why are you interrupting my reading?)

And a general enthusiasm for what we are reading. Books scattered everywhere, being looked at constantly and the question "Mom, will you read this to me?" being more common. As well as "does this say...?" as Fret is reading everything. Kay Kay insisted we can not stop Peter Cotton Tail stories and need to continue them during the summer. So, it is only natural that I am excited for next year too. 

It's good inside my fence.

I have been spending a lot of time lately looking over the "fence" and checking out the grass in everyone else's yard. This weekend I got one of those "heart checks" and realized how immensely I am blessed. I need to stop grumbling and enjoy what I have been given. What I have been given are the things that I really want, and I truly am happy. So, a few bits of happiness from my day.

We were learning about plants, how they grow, how they draw water through their roots, and of course went and picked out seeds to plant. We all planted some seeds, noting the stark differences in seeds. The girls all picked fun flowers and I planted cilantro. I don't think I could ever plant enough cilantro. i seriously use a mass amount. Fret planted Sweet Peas, Kay planted Petunias, and Lou Lou planted Columbines. We'll see if they grow, and if not we had fun anyway.

The girls went out and played once we were done and I sat on the hill reading and soaking in the sunshine. Can it get any better than that. Lou Lou, who was doing one of her favorite activities, sweeping things off with a pine branch came up to me and said "this is the funniest rock ever mom! It looks like a toilet!" The best part is how she says toilet. more like toe-let. Of course her sweet four year old voice is priceless. She was rather shocked when that was the rock I wanted to keep so I could take it and photograph it. Needless to say, my kids already think I'm nuts. At least this way it will never come as a big surprise to them.

Then while I made lunch the girls played on the patio pretending it was Fret's Birthday and playing strange games. I made lunch to the chorus of the girls cheering for their sisters. Really, how could life not be perfect on this side of the fence?

How's your family?

I ran into someone on Saturday that I grew up with as a child. We had gone to church together, rode on the school bus in elementary school, and our families knew each other. I think we even stayed at their house once when my parents went out of town. Needless to say the "how's your family" question came out. Which I noticed both of us happened to give a very slight and almost unnoticeable pause.

She put it rather well though. "They're good, you know, families are a mess" Right, so how do you answer that question? Do you give the "good, they're good" and list off the number of children we have all produced, leaving it at that and not getting into the other ugly aspects of how we are really doing? Do you get into the messy dirty aspects of how my family is now broken with my sister barely speaking to any of us, and how do you give the reasons for that one? Especially when I can barely understand. Do you let her continue to think of my family the way it was back then, with us all being close, strong Christians and seeking hard after God? (This was at a Christian women's conference after all)

So, in that brief pause I decided to give parts of it. We're good, I have produced 3 amazing children and married almost 14 years, and my family is good. Giving brief information and glancing over the fact that yes, I have many nieces and nephews, leaving out that I have not got to meet them all. Not mentioning that holidays and family functions are smaller, different and always tainted with a bit of sadness. I did tell her small parts about my sister as she remembered her well and asked about her. I did notice though how I tried to make it sound not so bad, and kept it brief.

As she spoke, I could see it in her eyes too. How her family has the parts that it hurts to share. That she doesn't want to break the memories I had of them. Walking away and both of us laughing saying "I'm going to tell my mother, she'll just flip," we want the other to be able to say joyfully we ran into each other. How much sadness do you put there?

I did find it a bit easier in that she went to my High School quite a few years ahead of me and knew my brother in law and sister in law. It is always so much easier to steer things that way. It also reminds me how lucky and thankful I am to have married into the family that I did. I have truly been blessed.

So, yes my family is good, seeing people from so long ago just makes me long for the family I had back then. It reminds me that I used to get to attend church as a full family, that Easter was celebrated as more than eggs and enough candy to make my kids barf for weeks. It reminds me of my father leading Sunday School, and reading the Christmas story together. It makes me think of all the ways that my family is broken in the not visible ways. Not just people not talking, getting along, or the fights that happen when most of us get together. It reminds me of the family that had been knit together in the loving hands of God. The family that talked of Sunday School, read our Bibles, prayed. That is what makes me most sad, when I think of the memory people carry in their minds of my family, and how very far from that we are.

Juice Overview

So, after a 7 day complete juice fast I have some lovely benefits. I lost a total of 7 lbs. Gained back 4. They say 3 is average of water weight, and I went to Savannah where I was eating at restaurants the whole time. So, 4 lbs is understandable. I do have a decidedly different view of food. I love juice, and raw food. It tasted fabulous and  my body feels so much better when I am eating and drinking healthy. My skin glows, really looks so much better. I lose weight, I want healthy food and my stomach doesn't hurt. Back on regular food, granted restaurant after the first two days of eating here, made me have a completely different outlook. We tried so hard to eat as well as possible, but it was so hard. There was oil and butter on everything. So much was fried, we had to avoid that, but then the veggies were limited.

We had looked up a juice bar a few blocks from our hotel, and tried to contact them. We went the first morning and it was so not a juice bar. They said they didn't have a lot of interest, and stopped keeping a lot of produce on hand. Granted this was supposed to be a smoothie place, so they should have had some on hand. They dug out the veggies they did have, and brought the juicer out of a store room. After trying for a  few mins and getting a line where there had been none when we entered he gave up. Refunded our money and made us a smoothie on the house. Jo put the money in the tip jar figuring he shouldn't have to pay for our breakfast. Which was essentially Tropicana juice blended with ice. Lousy smoothie place. No real fruit used. Boy, could I taste the difference. We tossed it and ate the nuts I had in my bag from our airplane snack. We had to get to the conference.

So, back to the fast. Do I think it helped? YES! I can not express how much better I feel. Detoxed for sure. Do I think it will help me lose weight and become more healthy? Yes, I can tell how different I feel about food, and how much I love the way healthy food makes me feel. I don't even really want "dead food". We ate seafood the whole time on our trip, and as many veggies I could get. Did I want the hamburgers etc.? Not really. Doesn't have that much of an appeal. I want healthy food, and small amounts. I also find myself being content with small amounts. One bite of fabulous peanut butter cookies was enough. Not really needing to eat a huge one or two to be happy.

Now that we are back home, first thing I had was a juice. Followed by salads and veggie soup for the day. I feel so much better! so, we will be doing one or two juices a day with raw food for the other meals or a light chicken or fish with lots of veggies. Trying to move towards 50% veggies, 25% protein, 25% carbs.

I also was amazed at how much more spiritual I found this fast. I started it as a detox, to get me healthy and headed in a more healthy direction. It turned from a more physical thing to a much more spiritual thing. I felt very connected to God, found myself praying for strength, help to tame my grumpiness etc. I read my Bible more and was so very happy. I could feel more than just my body being transformed. I was more gentle, patient, kind and loving. Not at all what I expected.

Oh, one more added benefit, my hip that got seriously injured 9 years ago in the car accident (that still bothers me from time to time) hurt for a few days. Really sore. After that, nothing. I read that this can happen. So, we'll see if my body finally had the spare energy to heal it.

I definitely will be doing this again!

Feeling healthier Day 3

Today went rather well, had fun at school, enjoyed spring in the Rockies and had a snowball war. The girls and I built a snow fort, and then had a great snowball fight. They were shocked when they left the fort to get more snow, and I took it over. Rather funny. Fret did laugh and say "Hah! You have no snow in there" I managed to nail her despite not having the snow to make a snowball the size of my head. Funny how regular sized ones seem to do the trick.

So, I stood on the hill, watching the girls sledding, making snow angels and general frolicking in the snow... The thought that entered my mind was that I feel fasting is supposed to make me feel deprived. I was so far from that. I was full, laughing and just feeling blessed.

The hunger is still off and on, but I feel great and seem to be getting less cravings for food. I still find myself just wanting to chew something, but am feeling so good that I have no desire to end my fast and eat. I am feeling great and can not wait to see what other good benefits I have. I am a little achy in my hip, but don't really know why.

Day 2 and Medical tests

So, I just was passing out last night at 9:00. I am typically knitting, reading, playing games, something at night. Rarely do Jo and I lay on the couch just watching a TV show. He did surf the net looking up juice fasting info. I lay on his arm wrapped in a blanket. Then, when it was over and we would have typically watched one more, I did the fall into bed thing like a zombie. Slept well. Woke up to pee. No surprise there. I woke early this morning and went back to bed. Just to early to get up.

All in all yesterday went pretty well. A lot like day one. Not too bad. I wasn't all the hungry, and enjoyed the juices. I do like them better fresh and cold. I had to take Jo to get his endoscopy and brought juice. I had no way to keep it cold, and realized it tasted better as soon as it was juiced too. Oh well, still not bad. The good news is that Jo does not have ulcers. He has spots of deterioration, but they have not ulcerated. His hernia is still there, not healed but not needed to operate on. The test last week shows that his gall bladder is functioning fine. We could still have it removed but it would only have a 20-25% chance that this would make the pain go away. The good news in all this, is that Jo can go ahead and start a juice fast today! I am hoping this will give his stomach a chance to rest and heal, and the weight he will lose will help the hernia.

The hardest part of the day was when I started salivating over the taco meat. Seriously?! Taco meat! I really wanted the taco salad I made for Jody. I had yet to make my juice and was feeling a bit grumpy. But after my juice and a little quiet time my attitude was completely changed. I got the girls their dessert of chocolate birthday cake and ice cream, laughed with them, joked and had no problems. Must have just been that aromatic taco meat on an empty stomach. Granted I was a bit worn out from the day too. I did fine at more samples at Vitamin Cottage. Just that taco meat... not at all what I expected.

This morning I have loads of energy, even more after having this lovely juice.

The Brain Stimulator

1 oranges
1 hard pears
1 yam
1 grapefruit
1 apple

Scientists have determined that we use only 10 percent of the brain. Living on coffee and donuts reduces that percentage to 2 percent. Here is a juice to stimulate all of that unused percentage back into activity. For this juice to be effective, you need a five-day juice fast to clear the coffee, donut and junk food residues out of the bloodstream. Once clear, this wide-spectrum, nutrient-rich juice will stir the brain into super-activity. Better memory, sharper thinking and good study techniques are the tools for great marks. No more morning brain fog. Now you can leap out of bed to study while brushing your teeth and preparing for the day.

So, hopefully day 3 is even better. Few headaches so far, and I hope it stays that way. I am honestly happy I had taken myself off coffee a while ago or this could be worse. I am feeling great and am loving how good my body feels!

Juice Fast Day 1

I started a juice fast today. Thanks to Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and the encouragement to make healthy changes in my life I decided to just go for it. I am now at the end of my first day and I will say it had both it's ups and downs. Started very well with a delicious Green Fairy drink, and then moved on to a rather orange juice. That one was made from red bell pepper, carrots and apple. Liked it very much. 

I was very hungry by about 10:30AM and was rather surprised. Really it was my first day. How could I be so very hungry? But I was. I made the girls a snack, mixed up the orange juice, put it in my travel cup and put everyone in the car for emissions test and a quick swing by Costco for some more Spinach. Costco at lunch time was "sample day" as Kay Kay put it. They said that they were getting a feast. They really were, and it smelled fabulous. It made me realize this was not the best thing for me, but probably saved me a lot of calories! They even had fun sized candy bars. Opening a Snickers for Fret was not fun, but really less tempting as I would have thought. 

I went home and made a "snack" juice. Seriously awful! I was able to get it down, but one of the good suggestions I had heard was to sip it slowly. That helped this morning. I was able to spread it out a little more and was able to enjoy the energy slowly. Less chance of a slump. This was awful though, and no chance to sip or desire. Had to run out quickly though. Was unable to brush my teeth and that nasty flavor stuck with me for a while. At dinner I was wary of just trying out a juice. But, it was once again very good. 

I have been keeping full, had nice energy, but will admit that I am a little foggy brained. Hoping for a smooth day tomorrow, and that I will be able to keep the hunger at bay. Hooray for will power, and able to make it through day one! Hoping for some of that good sleep and clarity of mind.