Perspective

I want to serve with my children.  I don't want to drop them off someplace to go and serve the Lord.  Something about that bothers me.  So, when the opportunity to deliver flowers arose (ha...a-rose) I decided to walk forward and pursue the opportunity.  Our church has quite a history.  Quite.  There are many Saints who have served and given and loved the Lord through First Presbyterian Augusta, and now many of them cannot join us any longer.  They are too frail, or suffer weakened immune systems, or their minds have become fuzzy and they spend their days "shut-in."  On Sunday mornings we have beautiful flowers on the altar.  They are lovely!  So, on Monday, someone comes to the church, organizes individual bouquets and delivers them to these dear Saints.  The first time we went we followed another person who has been doing this for years.  She was so very helpful and I was hoping to follow her for a few months.  We did, however, need help on other days.  So, I took the 4th Monday.  My children were nervous not knowing what to expect, honestly, so was I!  Our sweet choir director plotted my course and even printed out directions in order.  (That's right, I lack navigation technology.)  So, we made our bouquets, Julia and I, (that alone is worth it...working side by side my daughter) while Caroline drank from the water fountain (for like 45 minutes) and Anson and Ella cleaned the sanctuary for bulletins.  We got 3 vases that were arranged quite nicely for amateurs and loaded up for our adventure.  We visited 3 ladies.  Precious ladies.  I won't go into every meeting, but this is what I walked away with.  I will have some serious "me time."  Like, serious.  I will have hours, even days all to myself and from the way these ladies ushered us into their immaculate homes...I won't want it.

Mrs. Toole raised 4 boys.  When I mentioned that we had soccer that night she said, "Oh, that's so much fun!"  I muttered something about how I bet with 4 boys she probably never thought she'd have some quiet time and she said, "And now I just say, 'Lord, what should I do today?' "  She's 92, she's got "me time."  She was encouraging and no one cares if my children touch their things or even lay on the floor with their 2 year old dirty croc feet on their white walls.  In fact, they tell us to please come back when we can stay longer.  We can go to the park together.  I leave with my passel of children, they close the door and it's quiet...again.

I struggle with keeping a clean house.  Like, really struggle.  There's always dog hair and random stuff all over the place.  We pitch in and try and within a few hours...sometimes a day or two...we're back again.  Fighting entropy that's what we're doing.  This fallen, chaotic world doesn't stay clean for long when there is so much life in the home.  So. much. life.  Thank you, Lord!

There will come a time when my books will all have a place on the shelf because one day I'll say goodnight to the moon for the last time.  One day, the kitchen in the living room will become dusty and a 2 year old will be 20 years old and will be working in a big kitchen.  One day the boy's magic tricks will not litter the floor because he'll be out of here doing something awesome like translating Bibles.  My pioneer ladies will have traded their bonnets and aprons for real work clothes...hopefully aprons! I'll walk into my house and I'll know where my brush is because my girls won't have used it and neglected to put it back.  It will be quiet and orderly.  Somehow, I think that I'll hate it.  I don't know that I want all that me time.  I think I want "we time."  I want to make the most of these fleeting moments.  Even on weeks like this one when the education we are all getting is how desperately we need Jesus.  When asking for forgiveness happens far more than asking what a subjunctive conjunction is and what kind of sentence you find it in.  Amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant  only matter because, "I love, you love, he, she, it loves, we love, you love, they love" is only possible because He loved us first.

We did have an opportunity to clean today, and move some furniture around.  I know it's good to have an orderly home, I just want to be aware of how quickly it won't be so hard.  So, I took some pictures so you can see what it looks like now.   Sometimes I think about sharing how we school, but then think that probably it wouldn't be that interesting. :)  So, I just want to give a shout out to all the Mamas out there that are really stinkin' tired.  Hold on...do what you need to do to get a little rest, but don't be too dramatic, because you've got some serious "me time" in the years to come. Serious.

 This is how I see my house most of the time.  I am in the kitchen looking through our little pass-thru.  See the pink Crocs on the table?  That crazy girl!  I think those are her dirty clothes...anyone want to join us for a meal?  HAHAHA  My desk needs to be cleaned off, but Anson and Julia cleaned theirs.  Maybe I'll give you a tour one day, mostly because I think it's fun to see what other folks do with their space, so maybe I should share.  My Julia turns 9 tomorrow and that is hard to believe.  You know what she wanted?  A slate.  Yes, a slate.  I love her.  I'll be back, sorry I've been gone so long...also I'll update you on life after the juice.   For now...I gotta hang balloons!

Day 10...Looks Like We Made It!!!

Hooray!  Day 10!  I stayed up last night making our soup (I think I mentioned that) and was so excited to come home from church and enjoy a nice WARM meal, rather than a cold drink.  It was SO worth it.  I didn't nibble a bit as I prepared lunch, which was certainly tempting!  I'll blog through the pictures! :O)  I will say that our scale broke a few days ago, or at least stopped being accurate, so Mike went out and bought a new one this morning.  It isn't digital, so the weight isn't exact, however here are the figures.
Starting weight: 164.4
Ending weight:  154 ish
I don't feel like the pictures did a very good job at showing much of a difference, maybe that's why people take those types of pictures with less clothes.  Oh well!  The other number that I'd like to share, but don't have available, is the cost.  We borrowed the juicer, which saved us $300.00.  We borrowed the high-end Breville and it was certainly key in our being able to complete this little adventure.  The trips to the store were every 2-3 days at probably $40-$60.00/ trip.  That's after the initial trip where we bought all organic and spent $120.00.  Why would I say that?  To let you know that this isn't something we want to go back on.  We wouldn't mind doing a 3 day fast in the future for a reboot, but we don't want to put ourselves in this way again.  We want this to be the starting point, not the end only to have to come back and do it again.  We will juice every morning, the children as well, and perhaps we'll juice another meal at random points, maybe the weekend.  I think the greatest advantage of completing this is just that: completing it.  I said no to Mom's homemade cookies today (although she did break off a piece and put it in my mouth...yum) and just plain do not want to overeat.  I've got most of our meals for the week planned, including snacks.  I'm finding my way in this, and hope that I'm on the way to a healthy body that can serve the Lord for a long time.  If you are considering this I would say that you should find an awesome juicer and a buddy.  Like most things, this will be easier with someone who knows what you are doing and wants you to succeed.  I had my husband and my best friend. (Note, my husband is my best friend, but also my best friend Kelli is juicing) I also think you need a goal.  Not a weight loss goal, per se, but a finish goal.  Decide (ahead of time) how long you are going to juice and what you are going to do next.  Knowing when you finish and what you have to look forward to are key in being able to press on.  Then,  do it.  Make your mind up ahead of time and just juice it! Below are a few pictures, some pertaining to juice, and others to what I was doing while juicing!

Caroline was not cleaning the bathroom, but her sister was! I love that my children are old enough to help with these tasks, and they are pretty good at it!  

For math this year we are switching gears.  Time Life put out some math books that we are using and this was a game we made up based on one of the "lessons" from the book.  It's a rendition of ski ball only the bags are marked $.25, $.50, $.75, and $1.00 so they had to keep score with money rather than points.  This is for my girls, Anson uses Saxon.  

Here's Jules hoping for $1.00 because I said I might give them the amount they scored.  At the sound of this, Anson wanted to play rather than watch!

This is my Ella.  She's in 1st grade!  When I see my house in pictures I get overwhelmed. There is stuff EVERYWHERE!   She's in the kitchen/laundry room. :)

Mr. Bigstuff!  

This was a cool and rainy day, so I said yes to hot chocolate and marshmallows.  Remember...I'm sipping on juice while they are sipping on hot chocolate!

I caught this sweet picture.  My Caroline LOVES books.  I think most 2 year olds do, but mine especially. :)

Cheese-a-Rita!

After Julia scored over $7.00 I told them they could keep $2.00 of their earnings.  Only putting myself out $6.00...which is bad math on my part!  They all bought altoids with their "earnings" mostly because they love the tins they come in.  The large tins are perfect for Legos.

Alright, back to the fast.  This is lunch today.  My other girls wanted to stay with my Mom for another round of church, so it was a smaller celebration.

This is the Acorn, Apple, Carrot soup and a simple spinach salad with strawberries, walnuts and a balsamic vinegar dressing.  I'll eat the soup a few times this week for lunch.

This was dessert.  It TOTALLY handled my sweet tooth.  Everyone agreed.  These are simple and most people have everything you need right in your pantry.  All I needed to purchase was the coconut oil, which was on my list anyway.  Alright, below are my befores and afters.  I put the skirt on, but didn't want to change my shirt, can you tell a difference?  It's OK if you can't.  I can see a small difference here, but a bigger difference in how I feel and how my clothes feel on me.  Also, I should have shut some doors...good grief! I'm such an amateur a this whole picture blog thing.  So, now you know what's lurking behind all the doors.  

YAY for Team Wessner!  We started and finished and will continue this healthy habit daily.  Here are a few things that I will take away:

1. It isn't impossible to say, "No."

2. There will always be a chance to eat, for instance at the shower, I'll get to eat that food some other time. I didn't HAVE to eat it then.

3. I should not eat until I'm sitting at the table.  No snacking while making meals.

4. My husband is the BEST!

5. The Lord may come get me whenever He wants, but I want to be able to say that I tried my best to take care of the things He gave me.  My body and my family being the biggest things.

6. Trying something new feels good.  Learning how to do something helps me remember what it's like and be kinder to my children as they learn.

7. Fasting is extremely beneficial and needs to be exercised more often in my Spiritual life.

I'm sure there are more things, but I'll leave you with that for now.  Thank you so much for checking in.  Blogging this experience helped me to stay focused and in a way it was a source of accountability.  I didn't want to post the "I just couldn't do it" story.  Because, I could...and I did.  Now, tomorrow, I'll try again.  My motivation will be to depend on Jesus, not food to make me content and to serve the Lord no matter what I do.  So, I'll keep you posted!  Have a wonderful week!

Day 8 and 9...almost there!!!

What you need to know is that sometimes when I start shaving my legs I think, "I don't really want to do this today, why did I start?  Now I have to finish."   So, that only takes a few minutes, imagine 10 days drinking every single meal and the water in between!!!  This has probably been one of the most challenging 9 days for me...mentally!  It wasn't physically hard.  The juices are good, and they fill you up and you have energy and lose weight...easy right?  Yes, but every single time you walk into the kitchen there is NO NIBBLING!  Not a date, or a walnut, or an apple or a cracker.  It's totally mental.  That's the game I've never been willing to strengthen, my mental game.

I am so very thankful that my husband did this with me, I don't know how far I would have gotten. Mike and I made a decision that we wouldn't kiss until we said, "I do."  That meant, no kissing.  We held hands and hugged...and that was it.  It was a long 6 month engagement! :)  I decided a few times that kissing probably wouldn't be a bad idea.  We were engaged after all.  We WOULD be married, right?  Mike said, "No."  I grew to love that over the 6 months.  There was an element of safety in his no because I felt like I could trust him.  I felt like if he wouldn't kiss me, his betrothed, he wouldn't kiss another during the course of our life together.  He said it and he meant it.  He also said we'll go 10 days.  So, we have.  Tomorrow we will actually be breaking our fast a little early.  A full 10 days would be Monday morning.  A few days ago I was trying to think of how I wanted to continue juicing and how I wanted to stop.  I'm a little "over it." Mike and I decided that the entire family would get juice in the morning before their breakfast.  Our juice will be our breakfast, but the children will have food in addition to juice.  Already we've seen improvement in the way they feel.  So, back to breaking the fast. I wanted to eat before I juiced again and if I was juicing Monday morning than I wouldn't be eating first.  Also, I wanted to break the fast with a nice meal.  So, I decided that Sunday lunch would be a great time.  This way Mike and I can enjoy the meal together and wake fresh Monday ready to enjoy a juice.  I have already made lunch.  I must confess that I did try a spoon of it and it is DELICIOUS!  We will be enjoying Acorn, Carrot, Apple Soup with gluten free crackers and "reese cups" for dessert.  I am so excited!  I will need to work on the meals for the rest of the week, although I did pick up one of my favorite lunches at Costco.  The microwavable quinoa and brown rice.  I add a few things to jazz it up, but it will be something that I can easily do and easily enjoy.  I will say that if you are interested in doing something like this, the Reboot website is REALLY helpful.  There are recipes and meal plans that can help you move past the reboot and into a healthier lifestyle.  So, that's the plan for tomorrow and I'm thrilled!

I will say that two days this week were really rough, in the morning, until we realized what we did wrong.  We had a beet juice both days and both days it made Mike and I especially,  feel pretty rotten and I got a good bit of reading done in the restroom.  We juiced an entire beet.  I have juiced the beet and had no trouble and juiced the leaves and had no trouble, but the shoots make us sick.  My children drank it, most of them. They were not bothered by it, other than the wretched taste, but they had less than we did.  Julia cried and after chugging mine and wanting to gag I told her to stop.  I couldn't drink much juice the rest of the day I was so afraid it would taste horrible again.  I drank my snack for lunch because watermelon and blueberries sounded better than the green juice.  We made it though the day alright, but whew...it was something else!

I found that I like the green juices with lemon, so in the future I'll keep those on hand.  I love the peach pie, as you all know, and will serve that as dessert in the future.  We'll crush ice and enjoy it!  I certainly have noticed an increase in energy.  I'm just not as slow, especially during the lull parts of the day, mid-morning and mid-afternoon.  Which is why I want to keep this up.  It's strange that it feels doable. I think after doing it for 10 days, 5 times/day, once a day seems like cake!  I look forward to trying new things and incorporating them into our everyday.  I am going to try some beet chips and work on snacks and desserts, those are the areas that really trip me up. I can plan a healthy meal, but I top it off with Moose Tracks!!!! I'm really hoping for the best with these chocolate peanut butter cups.  Also, this seems doable because I can buy this food at the grocery store.  It's not crazy stuff.  It's fresh.  Maybe I'll figure out how to eat seasonally, but for now I'm going to get past lunch.

That's another thing I would like to work on.  Sunday lunch.  One of the things I learned from Marannook is that the Sabbath is that...a Sabbath.  Every other day is leading up to it.  We prepare every single day for our day off.  I was irritated last week because I wasn't prepared and I really want to improve in that area.  I want to do this like I like it! :)  What I mean is, when I'm in the kitchen I want to be there with great joy.  This is my life.  This is my calling.  Feeding these people that God has given to me.  Being prepared so that I'm not strung out.  I want to be a better woman. I want to be the woman that God made me to be.  I look forward to the process.  I know that it won't be finished until I get to Heaven, so I want to press on and enjoy this ride.  Even if it means that I'm the only one in the kitchen. I do say I want peace and quiet right?  Perhaps I should thank the Lord for that sweet gift to prepare my heart for Sunday.  Now, I am off to read and rest my head...I've got a big day tomorrow!

Thank you for checking in!

Day 7....Determination Sets In

This is a little early, but waiting until the end of the day makes bedtime later.  My children worked really hard on their school work this morning so that I could visit with my sister and cousin (and they played with their cousins) so now they are in Lego Land and Caroline is asleep and I must tell you... my feet are up!  I must also tell you that the toilet overflowed and the floor needs to be mopped, the juicer is  still in the sink from this morning and lunch for 10 people still needs to be cleared, but I made a decision to sit a minute, and then I'll work. (Probably a bad order...but it's raining!)

So, Day 7.  I was expecting a better day since yesterday and it has been.  First of all, I think the bloating was related to something else more monthly than dietary.  So, that is being resolved.  And I feel a little more empowered that I did this at a tough time of the month...a munchy time.  So, it's possible to say, "No, thank you."  (Dang it, I overloaded the washer....now I have to get up...wait...yup) It wasn't overloaded, it was not balanced so it was banging around.  I could hear my mother, "Alison!  Get in here and do this right!"  So, where was I?  Day 7.  I'm not digging drinking any longer.  I will, however, finish.  This morning I went ahead and chugged my "un-beet-able" which is, by the way, beatable.  Now I have to focus on the water.  Yesterday I only had 3 of the 5 juices for a few reasons, but wasn't insanely hungry.  I would like to mention that the plantains that I had last night are currently sitting on the kitchen table.  Renee brought them left over and I almost had 1 and stopped.  There was no real reason, other than eating them last night, that I needed one.  I think I'll put them in the freezer and when this is over pull them out and do something tasty with them.  I've never had them because they look like bananas, but I really think they'll help with my sweet tooth.  So, I see where the danger (for me) lies in little "breaks."  So, there will be no more breaking, unless I'm going to break it.  In fact, Renee brought a little dish that looked really delicious.  It had some noodles and ground turkey, squash, tomatoes...Ashley (my sister who was also here) said it was great and the children ate it, too.  Here's the thing, I bet it was good, but do I want to break this over someone's tasty leftovers?  How often do we do that?  Our standards are constantly reduced for something that isn't even that worth it.  I mean, I'm sure it was good...but I haven't eat (UGH besides that plantain) in 7 days...my first meal is going to be BANG-A-RANG!!!  It makes me think about my life in general, especially before I was a Christian.  There was so much settling and not enough standard.  Not enough appreciation for that which was pure and beautiful.  I resort to this animalistic nature when it comes to food.  Then I don't even get the best.  I don't wait to prepare something worth eating.  So, I need to investigate some options and start working a little bit harder on meal prep.  Especially having delicious combinations on hand to ENJOY not just fill a void.

It's telling, going back to just taking what's available.  It's called settling...or not believing.  We have asked the Lord where we should serve Him, where we are best suited and are HUMBLED by what He is pointing to.  More on that some other time, but for the better part of my life I think I was scared that nothing better would come along, so I just took what was present.  Not waiting for the good stuff.  Another food analogy was that this summer we could have cookies with our lunch, but some nights the dessert was REALLY worth waiting for.  If I stuck to my rule of only one dessert/day, which is still too much dessert, then I shouldn't have had dessert, but since I wasn't self-controlled, I had them both. (Until the end of the summer)  So, the dessert, where it was still good, wasn't as special.  So, I am seeing a pattern.  If I peeled it back and back it's a trust issue.  Not trusting that God had good things for me.  Or, even being willing to wait until Heaven.  Is Heaven worth the wait?  Do I think that great things are worth waiting for?  I won't go on...you see what I mean.

So, I think I'll probably need to have a snack this afternoon because we are going to the Chiropractor tonight, which is awesome because it's my Uncle and he should have some incredible juicing tips...and we all feel so much better when we leave!  Since it's Thursday I'm thinking about heading over to Earthfare to pick up what we'll need and then have the children eat for free, sparing me that meal preparation!  It's getting easier, but it's still nice.  So, I'm thinking I'll work in the kitchen and get that looking better and be able to work on some school stuff tonight.

That's all for now.  I would encourage folks to try this.  It reveals what we wouldn't normally see, or even want to see.  There is something good about being pushed and living to tell the story.  Even if it's pretty lame that the story that was so hard is that you drank only fresh food for 10 days...how many people around the world would love that?

Alright, time to get back to life....I've enjoyed this little chat and I'll post more if there is more.  If not, I'll write tomorrow on DAY 8!!!

Blessings!

Day 6...OR DAY3?

Today was just plain hard.  My eye was irritated so I couldn't wear my contacts and for some reason wearing my glasses makes me tired and cranky.  So, I could liken myself to Alexander and his terrible, horrible, no good very bad day....EXCEPT that the day was not ruined!  HOORAY!  The children had a little bit of Lego time (they tried to tell me it was Geometry....I told them I might have gone for Architecture, but not Geometry...well...maybe...) In any event!  I heard that people really struggle on their third day because of the detox and what not, well, I think today was my third day.  It's also getting difficult to drink every meal.  I did a little bit better with my water in the morning which has helped with how bloated I have felt.  I didn't do as well in the afternoon, thankfully there is tomorrow!

So, I did break the fast for a minute this evening.  I have a really neat cousin who recently got back after spending 2 years in Cameroon.  She went with the Peace Corps and tonight she had a  presentation.  She had some of the Cameroonian food, which she said she would, so I was prepared, but I have never tried plantains, and so I did.  They were very tasty and I only felt "guilty" for a minute.  Honestly, I think that's what I needed.  Just a little normalcy. It's bizarre that I almost feel ostracized because I'm not eating my food.  I make the meals for the children and clean them up and I have finally stopped trying to eat the food while I prepare it.  I'll bet I eat 4 meals/day with all of the food I eat during prep time.  Maybe a piece of chicken here, some chips there, that sweet spoon of peanut butter!  All just for no good reason.  So, that habit is just about kicked.  Tomorrow I'll have 2 of my cousins over and my sister, and I'm planning on having a few snackie type foods out, but I'm not going to break this over snacks.  A few plantains I'm not counting!  It's learning how to gather without my mouth full of food.

I think that's really it.  I don't want to carry on and on about how the day was, because it was just rather poor Ali.  Which is ridiculous because I am eating the best food in the house!  Poor me why?  Because I can't indulge?  I can't overeat or graze all day?  Nah, that's for the birds....I had power plantains and I can do this!

One silly thing that Kelli reminded me of while I was lamenting is future Ali.  Here is the back story...I have some super neat siblings.  My one sister, Ashley, is really funny...I mean super funny.  She was telling me a few months ago (after she had her 3rd high maintenance child only 18 months after her 2nd high maintenance child) that she would do things in the present in order to help herself in the future.  As in "present Ashley" would set out the diapers and wipes for the late night feeding so that "future Ashley" would have an easier time and be able to get back to sleep.  She then (in her post partpartum delirium) would thank "past Ashley."  Is that insane...and brilliant.  It's viewing being proactive as serving yourself, in a way.  So, I've been wondering what future Ali thinks about present/past Ali during this fast.  Here's what I think she might say...

Dear Past Ali,
YOU DID IT!  You didn't think you could, but you did.  You paused for a minute to chew some plantains, but you moved on!  You made a decision and stayed the course and I can't tell you how much I thank you for that.  Today, while getting dressed, I pulled the zipper right up on the skirt and it felt so nice.  I walked past the mirror and was surprised to see a little less of me...or us...whatever the case may be.  Whenever a meal is served we think about it.  We consider if we'll enjoy it for a while or if it will leave us sort of empty and lethargic.  There is a plan for snacks and treats and it's so enjoyable. It was worth the work to have some new cravings and new habits.  Not to mention a new "normal" weight range.  It will fluctuate, but it's much easier to move forward from here.  Future Present Ali is certainly more confidant and I have you, Past Ali to thank for it.  So, thank you for having self-control and for not being consumed by that which you should consume.  Life is more than that and with these new healthy habits under your (smaller) belt...you'll have a nice long healthy one to enjoy!  Much love!
Future/Present Ali

Weird, right?  Almost like I have crazy people living in my head....well, this is actually helpful to me as I consider how disappointed I would be if I stopped.  10 days is long, but people do a lot of things for longer...things that are harder...like live in Cameroon for 2 years.  Day 7...here I come!  Bottoms up!

Day...Halfway!!!

Good evening!  I was on my way to bed and realized I hadn't blogged yet.  I am actually enjoying the opportunity to blog regularly.  So, thanks for checking!  Today I accidentally licked Caroline's spoon (of cold oatmeal) and then spit it out. I am SO NOT eating something like that first!  Maybe warm with butter, brown sugar and fresh strawberries!  It made me question what I really eat all day.  I don't love this fast, but I am enjoying being able to stick to it.  I'm looking forward to "conquering" it, if you will. When I say I am not enjoying it it's because I do enjoy a delicious meal.  I am thinking when I bow my head in a few days, I'll really mean it.

The morning started off with a Hawaiian Sunrise.  I was surprised that it didn't knock my socks off.  It was tasty, don't get me wrong, and fresh in the morning, just very grapefruity.  I actually enjoy grapefruit, with a little sprinkle of...sugar...of course.  I even had that thought...I should sprinkle some sugar on this!  What a way to go down! :)  I didn't, I have children and they would have totally been disappointed.  I would have been too.  It made enough to feed all of us, with pretty full cups.  It was 1 pineapple, 2 peeled grapefruit, and 6 oranges.  If you are interested.  Mike really enjoyed it.  He brought some mangoes home from the store, I'm excited to see what those end up in.  So, I've got some pictures, I'll let them do the talking.  Some of them are from a few days ago...

This little gem is from Saturday.  I attended a baby shower and then needed to make supper, and juice.  I took this to let you all know that you can do it!  If I can pull it off, so can you!  This is titled, "I'll put the kids to bed if you'll do the dishes." :)

This is what the sink looks like.  I take the juicer apart right after the juice is made, but I inevitably don't have time to wash it, so I let it soak in warm water so that it doesn't get too nasty.  I clean it after every juice, that's 5 a day!

Supper.  See the green?

This was my supper. I really must get better about my water consumption. It's so hard to drink water when you've been drinking all day long.  Maybe I sip on my drinks too long and need to just guzzle them so that I can then sip my water until the next one.  I'll do that tomorrow.

It's amazing what sounds DELICIOUS.  This was what the children had.  Probably needed more greens less rice, but man...it smelled SO GOOD!  I didn't even lick my fingers.

Anytime we are taking pictures Caroline wants hers taken.  Isn't she getting big?  She enjoyed her juice, it was watermelon crush.  They all get in line for that one.  It was good on Saturday, but I didn't add enough mint, in fact it was supposed to be basil, but the next time I made it I dumped the mint in and it was a real summer treat.  With some Sonic ice it would be top-notch. (Did you know you can buy Sonic ice?  Thanks, Jenn!)

This is Anson.  My favorite son.  He always smiles and says, "Mom, I'm your only son."  I think he might still be my favorite.  That boy loves supper!

This is today's lunch.  Green lemonade.  I only used 4 Kale leaves because they were really big, 3 handfuls of spinach, 3 celery stalks, one cucumber, an apple and a lemon.  Also, I don't think I will often take pictures of my food. How do people do that for all those food blogs.  What must their kitchen look like?  Is that why they set up outside?  So, this much food makes this much drink....

This one is rather frothy, I think I left it blowing for too long.  It filled me and I didn't eat my snack, just went straight to dinner time...another green...a new one tonight, Sweet Broccoli. It was smoother than the others, not one of Mike's faves, but I liked it alright.  As far as green goes. :)

In other news, this is what my desk looks like, in my living room.  I meant to take an after picture to show you how I have stowed all of my "stuff."  It's really growing this year.  I have a 5th, 3rd and 1st grader and I am accumulating books that I need to teach them.  They have a home now, the top of my desk still looks a little like that, but again...those of you who think you have to have a ton of space to homeschool...you don't.  I'll post pictures soon of the shelves that Mike built and some of my little storage solutions.  Now that I see I can put pictures on here pretty easily.

OK, this is a picture of one of my ideas that I'm digging and it's not the red thing that needs to be cleaned off.  It's the pictures hanging on the wall.  We use Classical Conversations curriculum although this is our first year not in the co-op.  The first 6 weeks is drawing and then the weeks 13-18 are studying famous artists.  This is the first year it dawned on me to use the works of the artists we'd be studying when investigating drawing/art.  So, I downloaded some prints from the internet (tried to stick to those that weren't copyrighted) and uploaded them to Wal-Mart and had them shipped to me.  Now, I want my children to put their hands on them so I slipped them in this plastic sleeve and then get this...that wall is steel apparently because I used magnets to affix them!  We pulled them down today and it was so easy!  I just want to have things out where they can see them and there really isn't much room.  So, there are 4 more on the other side of the room. I also ordered some postcards from Dover Publications that will also enhance our art study.  Each year I feel like the Lord gives me a new "subject" to be excited about and this year it is Art. 

In the morning the children either do their personal study or we read together from A Child's Story Bible.  (The one by Voss) Yesterday we were reading together about the Tabernacle.  This was fabulous because we taught Julia's class in Sunday School and she had the paper that I told her not to throw away...or so I thought.  

"Jules, go get that paper, it'll be perfect."  

Her sheepish reply, "Mom, I don't have it."  

Me: "You are the worst student ever!  I told you not to throw it away."

Her, smiling, "Well, I don't have a good place to put it, so it just ends up crapping up my desk and eventually you'll throw it away anyway, so I went ahead and did it for you."

So, we went on.  We discussed the details and the sacrifice to which my favorite son added, "You wouldn't be able to stand it, girls.  The smell of that sacrifice was like 14,000 stinky farts."  Y'all, he was totally serious.  I didn't know he was there to smell it.  Turns out that his awesome 1st grade catechism teacher (like, really an awesome teacher) had them smell what burnt hair smelled like so they could understand how fetid (that's a vocab word this week...I hope I used it right!) the sacrifice was.  That's how his 5th grade mind saw it.  So, there you have it, we say crap and fart...at Bible Time. I'm thankful for that smell...it pointed to the One who was to come.  The One that would put all the sacrifices to an end.  Now we are called to be a pleasing aroma to the Lord, not 14,000 stinky farts.  

So, that's a wrap.  Things in the digestive tract are moving slowly, but moving.  Mike and I both feel fine and are looking forward to moving into day 6 and the second, and final half of our fast.  I need to get a plan.  Even though it feels like I won't be eating a meal for a while, it'll be here before I know it and I want to have a good choice!  So, until tomorrow!

Day...4 and still going!!!

I must confess, I have quittin' blood runnin' through my veins!  I get nervous starting most things because of this unfortunate trait.  It was one of the reasons Mike hesitated in walking forward with homeschooling. His exact words, "Babe, I have no doubt that you'd do a great job.  There is one thing that concerns me."  "Lay it on me!" I replied confidently.  "You...don't...finish things, and I just don't want this to be something you don't finish."  That was so very good for me to hear and it has helped me immensely!  I pace myself and I'm aware of my capacity.  I say, very often, "I need to be realistic." Whether it's spending a dumb amount on a filter that will get the stinkin' flouride out of my water because I don't know if I'll go to the clean water well (Earthfare) enough, or whatever it is. I'm constantly thinking, "Will I really be able to keep this up."  I could not juice for 60 days.  I don't think I could juice for 11 days...but I can do this for 10.  I'm going to do this for 10.  I want to finish this because I'm excited about all of the fabulous food that God made for us that I NEVER eat.  Now, I have some ideas.  I will probably juice at breakfast when this is over, and sometimes for dessert...y'all, for real, Peach Pie is SO GOOD!  Here's what it is:
2 Peaches (pitted)
A handful fo blueberries
1 red apple
1 sweet potato
Dash of cinnamon

After a day of "Garden Variety" or "Un-Beet-Able" I'm thrilled for this sweet treat.  If you have a juicer and you've never tried it...it's worth a trip to the store...or plugging in your juicer!  So, I'm proud of myself.  Even if I'm still feeling a little bloated.  UGH  We haven't been drinking our tea, however, and I think that may have something to do with it, so we had it tonight.  It was, actually, a very nice cup of tea and some good time with my husband. I think I can juice and have tea time!  Hooray!!!

So, other than the bloating, I feel pretty good.  Mike and I have heard that you are supposed to be so very energetic and so we're looking for it.  We don't know if we really are energetic, or if we are just supposed to be.  Either way, it's 10:13 and he's getting pineapple ready for tomorrow and I'm not about to fall over.  I do feel like I should mention that this comment is made after homeschooling 3 children and juggling a Sweet Caroline.  It's pretty nice.   What's not so nice is how often you have to go to the store. I can totally see us planting an acre of kale one day in order to do this more "realistically."  Mike, bless him, has been making the runs and I'm so glad!  We've gone a total of 3 times from the beginning until tonight.  It's intense.  So, that's the downside, but we both keep reminding ourselves that we committed to this regardless and we knew it would be sort of expensive.  The other thing is that the recipes get sort of old.  You are cycling 12 recipes around and you eat 5/day. So, tonight we (mostly he) did some research and we've got some new juices in the lineup.  We'll wake up tomorrow with the Hawaiian Sunrise which is juiced up of 2 grapefruit, 1 full pineapple and 6 med. oranges.  Then we'll try a new supper juice.  Supper is always green.  Tomorrow we'll be supping on Sweet Broccoli.  I'm sure it's as sweet as it's name! :)  Actually, we are having fun with it.  Trying new things. There are so many combinations and so many people that are juicing and they are rather helpful.  So, day 4 is great.  I did some Ali math and told Mike that after today we were halfway there and he corrected me (gently...like only he can do) and said, "No, after a full Day 5 we are halfway there."  He's right, but sometimes I just need to do some crazy math to make things appear a little easier than they might be.  The more I say, "no," the easier this becomes.  I think that just might be another change in the future.  No coke.  No sugar until it's planned and prepared for, and that might be a never (but that's super extreme and I'm not sure how I feel about that) but realizing the things that trip me up, trip me up because I allow them to.  So, "no" might be the most powerful tool I have.  We've heard it all our lives, those of us who grew up in the 80's.  "Just say NO."  So, I reckon I will.

Now, it's bedtime.  I also know that I haven't posted my weight, I will...but there has been some loss!  YAY!!!

So, have a wonderful day, and if you think you can't, believe me....we've all got that quittin' blood.  There's other blood, ya know...it didn't quit.  Not a drop was spared until the wrath of God was totally satisfied.  Yeah, pretty awesome, and He calls me His.  That's better that Peach Pie!