Fast Finale!

We MADE it! Wahooo!!!! We just polished off our last 'fast' dinner of marinated Portabello mushroom caps, asparagus, and brown rice and have already stocked the fridge with our faves for next week!

So.... Was it worth it? Definitely! Having no basis for comparison, I imagine it to be similar to someone who trains for a marathon... Their body screams at them the entire time, it's a test to their will-power every step of the way, but when they cross that finish line they feel amazing. Yes, my body SCREAMED at me the ENTIRE time!

I didn't realize just how susceptible to temptation I was until I started saying NO to it... and then realizing HOW much time/energy I was needlessly wasting. I've always been slightly ashamed at my own lack of self discipline, and while I'm not saying from here on out I'm going to see every last thing I ever commit to through, it is nice to have at least have ONE success to build from :)
Don't get me wrong, I think in the grand scheme of things I've got better than average self discipline... When Kevin or I sent long term goals for our family or financially we see them through. However, looking at average now-a-days... I'd rather not use that as my basis for comparison.

So where to go from here???? In all honesty, tomorrow will likely be a train wreck in terms of indulging just about every craving I've had for these past three weeks... and since there have been a LOT, that train wreck could spill into Tuesday/Wednesday. After cleaning up the carnage however, I'm falling back on my original 'resolutions'. We've joined our local Rec-Center, so I've found my 'work-out' plan... having been off facebook for 3 weeks now, I'll ease back into that, we decided to bail completely on our cable and turned that off, so I'll use my computer to catch up on my fave show's, and with a whole new arsenal of healthy dishes I should be able to incorporate quite a few more with some regularity! Yes, as we bring January to a close, it would appear that 2011 is off to a rockin start!

Texas Visit

Man this week is FLYIN! I can’t believe I’m half way through my trip back to Texas, and what an awesome time it’s been! For those wondering how my resolve is holding up, I’m happy to say we are still intact, though it has not been easy by ANY stretch!
Thus far I've been exposed to a FREE Rudy's BBQ lunch, countless Chuy's offers, candy bowls at EVERY desk, and somehow managed to make it through a lunch at Olive Garden nibbling on my soup and salad, eyeing the breadsticks the entire time, yet not grabbing one... Whew!!! The kicker came when I had forgotten about the ‘Andes Mint’ drop after you paid the bill, and our server didn’t just drop two of them, one for each diner, it was a full handful! Pushing them across the table to my friend was just adding insult to injury! If I didn't have airtight motivation, I'm not sure I could have lasted, but now that we're officially half way through I think I can make it!

It’s crazy coming back to Austin as a visitor, knowing where everything is, yet not having a ‘home’ here any longer. The hardest part about moving across the country is the distance it puts between me and those I love. Having a network of women that I can just call up on a whim and ‘hang out’ with… doing nothing, yet having a wonderful time… that network is always the HARDEST part to leave! It’s easy to get discouraged from time to time, moving to a new place and not feeling those strong connections right away. Coming back here has been a great reminder that it is SO worth the effort to continue putting yourself out there until you do! I have SO many wonderful women in my life, whom I NEVER get to see enough, yet the connections we’ve made along the way overcome the time/distance barrier, and its wonderful being able to fall back into step with them on the few occasions we ARE able to really catch up.
Ladies… whether you are in Michigan, Texas, Virginia… or wherever, thanks for being awesome, accepting me (crazy quirks and all) for who I am, and letting me be a part of your life. You all inspire me in your own special ways, whether it’s your strong faith, self-discipline, ability to face adversity with grace, sense of humor, healthy lifestyles, etc… you are seriously an amazing group and I’m blessed to have you!

Three more days to soak up time with my girls in Austin, for those I missed on this quick trip, when I come back I'm looking you up first! Ya'll have been the BEST diversion EVER from thinking about the crazy cravings for queso that course through my being!

P.S. Yes, I’ve checked in with my men often, and Kev seems to be managing like a pro with the food he had left behind, and enjoying his time with Caleb and Logan. My nightly chats with Cub does continue to ratchet up my excitement for heading back home though… Ahhhh can’t wait to hug those stinkin cuties!

Land of the Free and Home of the Flavorful

When you live in a country that affords you every personal freedom/luxury under the sun, the natural progression is to embrace it as your right, not your privilege.

We made it to the end of our first 'work week' with no; meats, sweets (including artificial sweeteners, or anything with sugar in it) dairy, or animal byproducts (eggs, etc..), and drinking water as our only beverage. It's crazy thinking that even as restrictive as it's been, that we are still better off than those that lived thousands of years ago. Pretty sure back in the day they couldn't run to their local Trader Joe's and have their pick of any fruit/veggie they desired whether in season or not! Lovin my strawberries about now, and no, I don't care that I paid $5 for the basket of 'em!

Five days in and its glaringly apparent just how much I took for granted!

While I am TOTALLY jonesing for so many amazing flavors, I am actually fairly amazed and impressed by the varied menu we've been able to maintain this week.
Since a couple of you asked, and I'm going to call that "by popular demand"... as I think there are only a couple people that actually read this regularly :) below is what we've been munching on this week.

Monday:
Breakfast: Oatmeal with Apples, Cinnamon, and Allspice (Apple Pie Oatmeal)
Lunch: Lentil soup with veggies for me, and a split pea option for Kev (no meat)
Dinner: Stuffed Green Peppers (Stuffing: Brown Rice, Black Beans, Corn, Cilantro, lime juice, and Cumin)

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Kashi Flakes w/ dried strawberries & Soy Milk
Lunch: Bowls of Grammie Sum's Veggie Soup (sans the meat) (tomatoes, celery, carrots, onions, head of red cabbage, all through a food processor, brought to boil and then a box of Barley. Salt and pepper to taste)
Dinner: Grilled Marinated Portabello Mushroom tops and baked rosemary sweet potato fries.

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Granola with fruit and Soy Milk
Lunch: Brown Rice Tortilla's (found them at Trader Joe's) then made a black bean salsa mixture for the filling w/ lettuce (Black Beans, Corn, Avocados, tomatoes, cilantro, jalapenos, and onions)
Dinner: Whole Wheat spaghetti with a sugar free marinara (surprisingly hard to find), sauteed onions, mushrooms, garlic, and zucchini

Thursday:
Breakfast: Granola again (it was good :)
Lunch: Kev had left over sgetti (That's short for Spaghetti for those who thought Caleb may have just nabbed my computer and started typing) and I had some more of Grammie's Veg soup... I seriously love the stuff!
Dinner: Weird... It was the EXACT same as lunch, except I also made us a each a Strawberry/Romain/Walnut salad to go with our red wine/vinaigrette dressing.

***Notice the theme going here... repetition ;)... Make LARGE meals, then you don't have to keep coming up with NEW stuff, you can enjoy the LEFT OVERS!!! ****

Friday:
Breakfast: Went with raisins in the 'ol Oatmeal this morning... Look out!
Lunch: Decided Lettuce Wraps would be a nice variation (Same mixture as before)
Dinner: Veggie stir-fry in a "curry simmer" I found at the store meeting the ingredient criteria, and will put it over a bed of rice. Salads on the side.

While it does take some creativity, and lower set of standards when it comes to judging dishes as a 'success', its not impossible to maintain a quasi-normal menu!
If you're wondering again what in the world I'm using as my 'guide' on what we can/cannot eat, we found it at the following website: http://daniel-fast.com/.

Next week will be extra tough for both Kevin and I. I will be following the fast while away from the house, being that UBER picky person at the restaurant... and Kev... Well.... He won't have ME! Who else did you think I was making all these varied dishes for... I could eat my Grandma's veggie soup for lunch AND dinner for all 21 DAYS! Don't worry babe, I'll stock you up!

What if He Does?

You ever have that feeling where you think what you are doing is totally logical, and everyone will understand... until you hear yourself explain it to someone else... sans a few key details... and you realize just how crazy it all sounds? Yeah... Me too!

I think I need to go a little deeper into the why, surrounding the current 'craziness' (as I'm sure some have deemed it already) I've decided to subject myself too.

By all accounts, Kevin and I lead a very blessed life. That doesn't mean I don't still hope and pray for things. Most recently our prayers have been directed at healing for Caleb, in the hopes his seizures will subside and we can avoid a long term drug as the solution. Along with prayers for my own family, I continue praying for God to answer a few prayers being asked by those I love.

When our church started explaining the concept behind the fast, one of the arguments (that obviously struck a chord with me), was to bring those things you cannot wrap your brain around in terms of finding a solution to, and give them up to God. Then use the time of prayer and fasting as a way to offer our faith in him that he will hear and answer our prayers.

So that was going all fine n' dandy... until God decided he wanted to test my resolve! Hmm.... What could you be referring to Julie??? How about my boss, TOTALLY outta the blue, sending me a note explaining there was a little surplus in the travel budget for the quarter and he would like me to come down for some face to face time before the quarter ended (in case you missed the timing of this fast, it happens to coincide with my works quarter end, 2 weeks from now!).

(A glimpse into the inner workings of my mind) "Awesome! Man, I can't wait to visit with all our friends we left behind, oh and the food... CHUY'S HERE I COME, and I think I'll take that with a side of Salt Like BBQ... mmmm mmm good! What, I'm flying home on Saturday... guess that just means I'll have to head out with the girls for some drinks on Friday night.... I should REALLY get this on Facebook so they know I'm coming to town and we can start coordinating!"

Does anyone else see a problem with the above little day dream I had???

While there may be sections for the Adkins Diet and Weight Watchers Diet on most restaurant menus now-a-days, I'm fairly certain I haven't stumbled across any Daniel Fast menus recently! Not to mention, I felt like I was in the stone ages today when I sent a text to each of my friends individually trying to coordinate plans, vs posting to Facebook and managing from there!

So the question, quite literally, BEGS itself again: Why don't you just cheat a little, curb the rules, stay good for the most part but give yourself a couple freebies? Don't get me wrong, I am SERIOUSLY tempted.... But....

The way I see it, I've asked God to essentially HEAL Caleb and answer a secondary prayer, that myself along with quite a few others, have been putting before him for a really LONG time (not my prayer to share)... If both prayers were to be answered, the lives of those impacted would be changed forever.
I have a hard time justifying my right to ask something SO huge of him, if I can't even honor him with a commitment I made that would span a mere 21 days. Put in that perspective... giving up a Chuychunga with a side of Salt Lick, in the hope that maybe by honoring him he will hear/answer the prayer I've put before him doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me.

What if he doesn't answer it?

I tried. I didn't just sit by and do nothing.

My question to you... What if he DOES?

My Name is Julie and I WAS a Facebook Addict

The addiction was FAR worse than I thought. I'm going through withdrawals for goodness sakes!! I have probably glanced over at my personal computer 10 times today, itching to log on to Facebook, "just for a second" to see what was going on. My mind immediately started concocting ways 'to score my next hit'... If Kevin read me any comments from my page surely that was legit... or if I logged on via my phone, with the screen so small, I would be on for a fraction of the time, so THAT must be o.k...

"No one would ever have to know"....

When that thought crossed my mind, I knew I was done for. First, I was TOTALLY embarrassed that I'd let something SO stupid zap SO much of my time and thought. Then I remembered, someone WOULD know... which was immediately followed by the thought, "and this was why you needed to get off it in the first place".

Lesson learned for the day, and its really a mind bender so try to stay with me: Addiction is Addiction, no matter the substance being abused. Some of you are probably like... that's it... I was ready for the quadratic equation, and you give me 2+2???? I can't help it, when I realize my response to giving something up elicits thoughts that I can liken to someone suffering from alcohol/drug withdrawals it kinda opens up your eyes a bit!

So tack one more on to that list of 'unsuspecting' addictions... those things our World condones, supports, and propagates, things like work or working out... Well Facebook, T.V., Twitter, etc... should rank right up there cause man it just sneaks up on you and before you know it your hooked, pouring all your free time right down the drain.

Just 2 days into the Fast, and already seeing some rewards! With 19 more to go, I can't imagine what kind of perspective I'm gonna have when it's all said and done!

Awakening Fast Kick-Off

I don't believe in coincidences. Things happen for a reason, whether we understand at the time or not.

Last Spring Kevin and I were neck deep in decision making mode, and to some the choice we made STILL doesn't make sense. Kevin was offered a position at Intel (Austin), on paper something that could have been construed as a 'better' offer. I had a pretty sweet gig going with Dell, Austin had been/still was a great city for us, providing a cost of living that was unparalleled for the city we got to live in. We had built a great life; with friends we loved, an amazing church family, and a great family friendly neighborhood. Austin hands down was the EASY choice for us to make... security, comfort, a healthier financial position... it would have been cush!

A few of my posts from last year alluded to why we went against the grain, and left what appeared to have been a very comfortable future behind. We wanted the adventure of the unknown, we wanted to step out in faith and see what God had planned, and I couldn't be happier we did.

Two weeks after we arrived, we attended our first service at DC Metro Church. I've likened it to our Church in Austin only instead of 10 years old, its 3 and growing. The energy is contagious, the messages empowering and moving, and the people are SO incredibly welcoming, it almost feels like they were just waiting for us to come home. From the moment we found it, I've been signing us up for EVERYTHING under the sun... I wasn't making the same mistake I had in Austin and waiting for friends to find me... I was gonna find me some friends!

Over the course of the 4 months we've been attending I have felt stronger in my own faith, and as a result my confidence continues to grow in pushing my limits spiritually. Last year... I NEVER would have written this post... the whole time I would have been thinking it, but paralyzed by what someone else might think if they read it. I'm almost embarrassed to say that now... that I cared SO much about what other people would think that I denied who I wanted to be.

Well, if your reading this because your curious as to my recent proclamation of signing off Facebook, TV, and curbing the diet... Yes, it was influenced by our church, however, I am doing so in coordination with almost 1 Million other people from over 1000 churches World Wide. There is no edict passed down from a church leader on what you have to give up, its all a personal choice, but the motivation is knowing its part of something larger and that we'll be able to draw encouragement along the way. The intent... to give up those things that come in between you and God (time stealers... duh Facebook and T.V), choosing to incorporate the "Daniel Fast" (http://daniel-fast.com/), was something Kevin and I felt would be a challenge for us as well.

The question I've gotten since from some is... "This isn't lent, why not save it till then?" To be honest, I haven't been at this church yet to witness what they have in store for lent, maybe it will be something similar, maybe not. However in the ~20 some odd years I was a part of the Catholic church, despite the MILLIONS+ who claimed fasting during lent, it was never something I felt motivated to do... it always came across with the heavy guilt message that I just could never find it in me to respond to.

This message was 100% different, and it's only something I've found/heard since attending a church in the non-denominational sect. The message that comes across feels more like... "You have nothing to prove, do it IF you WANT to". Learning it's not about 'proving' how faithful you can be, and that God's not going to smite me where I stand if I mess up, removed all the pressure... allowing me the opportunity to actually feel a desire to do this.

Ok... next logical follow up... why in the WORLD would you ever WANT to???

I think that's something that comes from God... and for me... it came. We are in a great place, with amazing support and leadership, and I can't wait to see what comes next. Not to mention, even from my post just 2-3 days ago, where I had laid out my resolutions... To me it was basically like God saying... let me help you out with that and give you a jump start! In that regard, I'll take all the help I can get!

Keep us in your prayers, if you're the praying type, and if not, try to limit the judgments if you can.... I don't THINK I'm hurting anyone by doing this, so it shouldn't really affect anyone else anyway! Will keep ya' posted how its going along the way, and if you have any interest in knowing what our meals for the day/week have been, in case you're thinking about something similar let me know and I'll start adding them to the bottom of my posts!

2011... Let's Do This!

It would be unrealistic to have expectations of topping the epic year that 2010 marked in our lives. However, in my opinion some of the greatest achievements can come from setting, and then realizing unrealistic expectations... So with that, I am setting out on 2011, with equally high expectations, against a radically different backdrop.

2010, while absolutely fantastic, was all about outward change. Changing the dynamic of our marriage with Kevin graduating, changing the size of our family by welcoming Logan, changing our surroundings with a move across the country, churches, jobs, and a change in friendships from local to long distance and meeting new friends along the way. Yes, there was a LOT of change in 2010, and I LOVED every minute of it.

My goal for 2011 is to realize an equally dramatic inward change.

What will that look like? I haven't a clue. The one thing I know is it will be a challenge in self discipline, patience, faith, and forgiveness.

So what would this look like if I were to make a list of the standard 'resolutions' for the New Year.... Maybe a little something like this:

- Limit my T.V. to 4 hours a week (Including weekends... Ouch!)... Modern Family you will ALWAYS make the cut! (Yes, I'm sure some weeks 5 or 6 hours might creep in, but its a goal people... something for me to strive toward)
- Limit my Facebook Time to 15 minutes a day... just enough to read the updates, make a comment or two, and get out. (Same as above... I'm sure we'll have the occasional brain fart, where I end up looking at the clock and hour later, wondering what happened...)

Sooooo... What am I going to do with all of my new found time???? (And looking at the above two goals... I think there is gonna be quite a bit of time :) I think I'll start with the below, and see where it goes from there.

- Up my 'work out' regime from 'nothing' to 'something'... I plan to have a more tangible goal by the end of the month... but for now, the goal is to FIND something.

- Create a weekly menu for the family, in an effort to limit waste and improve our diet

- Read the Bible Cover to Cover... I've wanted to do this for a long time, but man ~2000 pages is pretty intimidating! 2011... This is OUR year!

- Get more involved in our church and community.

I think from reading the above goals, the challenge in Self Discipline is apparent. The by-products of my attempts at the above, will be learning to practice PATIENCE, by accepting my 'resolution' won't effect a change over night, FAITH, that through perseverance and relying on God the changes I want to see for myself will not only take hold, but stick... and being able to FORGIVE the inevitable bumps in the road that will disrupt me, without completely derailing my efforts!

When I asked myself WHY I wanted to do this, and put my goals out there for the world to see, two answers came back. First, I wanted the accountability.
I'm not cynical about much, but when it comes to resolutions I am. I've always thought they were mouth service, a warm fuzzy that you wanted to change something, but never did. Well... now I have to either put up or shut up... cause its out there, in black and white.

The second answer is a little trickier to explain, and multi-faceted.

In the past I've been comfortable in my faith... I go to church, partake in small groups, and continue working on being faithful in giving of my "time, talents, and treasures". However, as our family grows, and our boys become more cognizant of our character and beliefs, demonstrating what I've witnessed a faithful life to be, will speak volumes over any church attendance record, or year end charitable donations receipt, and that is what I want to model for them.
However, something I've struggled with over the years is accepting others attempts at changing, when I didn't know it was something they were consciously working on. When I woke up one morning and someone I thought I'd known well, is suddenly talking/behaving differently, I couldn't help but wonder what in the world is going on, who IS this?!? I also understand that when I'm the one working on the change, there likely will be some in my life that don't understand it or just won't accept it... I'm to the point now, where I'm o.k. with that.... It's obviously my hope that everyone that reads this will think, "awesome, totally support it, whatever that means", cause like I said before, I don't really have any expectations for what it could be... just hoping people will roll with me on this.

Don't worry... I'm not going to be bringing in 2012 holding a sign proclaiming "The end of the world is near" :)