February Reading Wrap-Up

      Another months past.  Another several books read.  I feel the need to clarify that these reading wrap-ups are simply what I read this past month, not my recommendations to you!  Reading recommendations can be tricky things depending greatly on personality, interest and personal conviction.  If you have a question about a certain book please just ask away!

        Books #1 and #2 were The Wide Window  and The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket
     

       Half the people I talk to find them horribly depressing.  The humor is genius though.  I've grown quite attached to the poor, dauntless, loyal, quick witted Baudelaire orphans.  

      Book #3 was The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan.

           It is the second book in the Wheel of Time series.  These books are not ideal for a cozy curl up book.  They are long, scary and delve deeply into a whole new fantasy world.  I enjoy them, but they wouldn't quite make my favorites list.

          Book #4 was Twelve Baskets of Crumbs by Elisabeth Elliot.

       This was another book of short chapters covering a wide range of Christian life topics.  If you're only going to read one, I preferred "Keep a Quiet Heart" over this one, but it was still excellent. Elisabeth Elliot is quickly becoming one of my favorite people ever.  I admire her greatly.

         Book #5 was The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer.

        This is one of my all time favorite books.  It's one that I try to read through once a year. It was the first spiritual book that I ever read that simply staggered me.  Reading through it for the "I have no idea how many" times, I came across so many quotes and prayers that have actually been instrumental in changing how I think about God.  It's main focus is who God is.  And as Tozer says, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.".  I would recommend this book to everyone!

         Book #6 was It Starts With Food by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig

         This book is the "why" behind the Whole30.  If you are considering trying our this program, be sure to read this book.  Even if you do it half way through your thirty days like I did!  The information is easy to understand and really makes you question your food choices and how they are affecting your health.  I found it encouraging though, not condemning

        Book #7 was Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens.

         My oldest three girls have been reading Oliver Twist in school this past term and I hadn't read it since high school.  All term I had intended to get it read but hadn't gotten around to it.  Enter my amazing reading buddy!  We decided to read it individually together (make sense?).  We read 100 pages a week and finished it in four weeks.  It was so much fun to do it together and got us both through at a nice brisk pace.  

         I love Dickens.  His characters are so very colorful, beautiful, disturbing, pompous, pure hearted, or evil.  Such an artist of the written word.  There are several Dickens novels I have never read so we'll see what the rest of the year brings.

        Book #8 was Heir of Novron by Michael J. Sullivan

       This was the third book in the Riyria Revelations Trilogy.  These books have a high degree of violence and magic and I would not recommend them to just anyone.  I greatly enjoyed them though.  The completion of this series left me pleasantly depressed that it was over.  Loved the twist ending and totally didn't see it coming.  Though I probably should have.

         Book #9 The Case of the Missing Moonstone by Jordan Stratford

           I picked this randomly off the library shelves to see if it was a good one to pass on to my girls.  Meh. I wasn't a huge fan.  Nothing really wrong, just nothing really right.  

           Book #10 was The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence

           This another book I attempt to read once a year.  This rivals any other book I've ever read as the most life altering.  Written by and about a 17th century monk I'm always inspired, encouraged and challenged.  I can't get enough of this one.  Please read.

           Book #11 was With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray

       I had never read this book before but was abundantly encouraged and challenged.  I've never considered my prayer life as soberly as I have these past couple of months and this book was a perfect addition along my path of learning how to honor Christ and grow my faith through prayer.

       It feels funny to end here since I'm already into some pretty great books.  I guess that just means I'll have a good list for next month!  

Whole 30 Days 12-23

    Wow!  How did that happen?  The first couple of weeks passed rather slowly but once we hit the teens the days have flown by!  I'm continuing to feel pretty good.  I can't say I've got "dragon blood" flowing threw my veins yet, but I feel better than I did before.  As much as I would have loved to see a huge transformation, this has been a good first step on the path of figuring out my health issues.  I can't believe there is only one week left!!!!!

     I'm not going to recap all of our meals, mostly because we've been figuring out what we really enjoy eating and are repeating meals more and more.  At the end I'll highlight our favorites!

Whole30 Days 8,9,10 and 11

      Running behind here so I'll keep it brief!  Whole30 is going awesome!  To be honest, days are passing pretty slowly.  But as long as I've got a plan and stick to it, it's pretty breezy!

     We encountered our first whole day away from home this week which I was pretty nervous about.  I was asked to bring soup to the meal so I just made sure to bring something on plan and there were plenty of fruits and veggies available as well.  It wasn't difficult at all to just eat what I was supposed too.  I think that's the beauty of the "no cheating or you start over" rule!  It's pretty motivating to just stick to the plan!

      Speaking of rules...... they are also pretty strict on their "DO NOT weigh yourself until the end" rule, but full disclosure~  I'm breaking that rule.  If you really want to know why I'll tell you.  As a result I know that I've lost a couple of pounds (which with what my body has been doing is a huge encouragement!), I'm continuing to be headache free, I really think my energy is getting better.  I added exercise back into the routine after giving myself a break for the beginning.  It's going good so far and not totally zapping all of my energy reserves!  So overall, I'm excited!!!

     Sorry for the awful food pictures!  My camera battery charger is LOST!!!  I feel like crying!  My ipad is a terrible substitute but at least it's something!

Day 8~

Breakfast~ Butternut Hash   with fried eggs and pineapple

Lunch~ Leftovers

Dinner~ Mongolian with Zoodles  (YUM!!!)


Day 9~

Breakfast~ Breakfast Casserole (substituting asparagus for brussel sprouts and sausage for bacon)

Lunch~ This was our day out of the house so we ate apples, walnuts and larabars on the run!

Dinner~ Rustic Beef Soup    


Day 10~

Breakfast~ Sweet Potato Apple Bake  ( Our currant favorite!)

Lunch~ Jerk Chicken, Spinach Salad, Red Potatoes and Fruit Salad

Dinner~ Guacamole and veggies, fruit and leftover chicken

Day 11~

Breakfast~ Scrambled eggs, sausage and honeydew melon

Lunch~ Curried Shepherd's Pie  (without peas!)

Dinner~ Baked chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans

Whole30 Days 5,6, and 7

        Popping in quick for an update!  I'm still feeling amazing.  No headaches.  Less fatigue.  Not really any cravings to speak of either.  Day Six brought the beginning of the mental challenge though.  Yes, we have amazing food to eat, but we've been eating the same thing for six days.  How are we going to make in another 24+?  God abundantly answered my prayers for my body going into this so my prayer now is for my mind.  And again He's answering.  Today was surpassingly better!  One week done!  Yippee!!!

Day 5~

Breakfast~  Asparagus Benedict and Zucchini Latkes

Lunch~  Leftovers

Dinner~ Chicken Cutlets, red potatoes, carrots




Day 6~

Breakfast~ Sweet Potato Hashbrowns, Fried eggs, Sausage and Fruit

Lunch~ Chicken Vegetable Soup

Dinner~ Steak, Red Potatoes, Asparagus


Day 7~

Breakfast~  Sweet Potato Apple Bake (So, this may look not very appetizing.  Oh, my, goodness.  Maybe this is just Day 7 talking, but this was incredible!!!!)
 
Lunch~  "Throw Everything In" Salad! (Leftover chicken cutlets, tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, pumpkin seeds, pineapple and Whole30 ranch.  With leftover sweet potatoes!

Dinner~  Thai Meatball and Egg Drop Soup  Another recipe I was skeptical of, but this was a home run as well.  I only put in about half of the hot pepper it called for and it was still borderline spicy for us.  Yum!!!!!

(I feel like making all of these exact meals over again tomorrow!!)

       

Whole30 Days 2,3 and 4

        We just finished our dinner on our fourth day of our Whole30 journey, so I thought I'd update on how things are going!

        In the Whole30 book days two and three are referred to as the "Hangover" days and days four and five as the "Kill All Things" days.  Needless to say I was a little nervous, not just for myself going into these first few days but facing a whole houseful of "kill all things" people.  However, I have been amazed at how easy and doable these four days have been.  Not only are we eating incredible food but I haven't woken up with a head ache once!  And my kiddos are acting like their normal selves.

        I prayed that God would bless our efforts and obviously my faith in those prayers were not very strong because for some reason I was still surprised to experience such perfect answer to my prayers.  He is so good.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

(I intended to take pictures of each of our meals but I'm finding we are so eager to just dig in that I'm forgetting!)

Day Two~

Breakfast~ Loaded Chili Sweet Potato Fries  

Lunch~ Chicken Salad ( We threw in strawberries, almonds and everything else you can imagine! Mmmmmm!)

Dinner~ Hawaiian Beef Bowl ( This might be my favorite meal so far. Soooo yummy!!!)

Day Three~

Breakfast~ Peppers, Onion and Potato Egg Bake

Lunch~ Jerk Chicken, Red potatoes and fruit salad (fed this to ten little kids and they all gobbled it up!)

Dinner~ (Sunday Snack night!) Veggies with guacamole, fruit and coconut cream, leftover chicken

Day Four~

Breakfast~ Sweet potato hashbrowns, fried eggs, sausage and fruit

Lunch~  Slow Cooker Unstuffed Cabbage Roll Casserole

Dinner~ Chicken Fajita Bowl with seasoned red potatoes and fruit salad

I've honestly loved everything we've made so far!!!!!

Presence

          "Our Father, we know that Thou are present with us, but our knowledge is but a figure and a shadow of truth and has little of the spiritual savor and inward sweetness such knowledge should afford.  This is for us a great loss and the cause of much weakness of heart.  Help us to make at once such amendment of life as is necessary before we can experience the true meaning of the words 'In Thy presence is fullness of joy'."
                                 ~ A.W. Tozer

        This prayer just caught my breath today.  Of course I know God is present.  I know He is near.  When my two year old points at the window and says "God outside!", I add with enthusiasm "God is EVERYWHERE!!!".  But do I know it in my soul?  If so, where is the spiritual savor and the inward sweetness that comes from that knowing?

        The cry of my heart recently has been a plea for God to draw my heart to Himself.  I know even that I can't accomplish on my own.  And how readily He answers such prayers.

        Life is so quick to weigh us down.  To distract us.  Let us not forget that God is near.  May that knowledge humble our motives, embolden our actions, comfort our fears, and delight our hearts.

Psalm 73:28

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;

Whole30 Day One!!!

          Oooooh boy!  Ever since we made the decision to take on this Whole30 journey I've been a bundle of nerves and excitement.  What is Whole30?  Pretty much exactly what it says.  Thirty days set aside to only eat the basic of whole foods;  meats, vegetables and fruits with some healthy fats with the purpose of giving your body a "reset".  I'm not going to give an in depth look at the program but it is extremely popular right now so ask almost anyone or just google it and you'll find more information than you'd ever care to know!

          Why Whole30? For the past five years I've dealt with hormonal imbalances and different levels of fatigue varying from annoying to extreme.  Along with that came those pesky pounds.  While I was pregnant with Darin everything balanced out wonderfully and I felt great, but it didn't take long after he was born for the same old stuff to come along.

          For a long while now I've had a strong desire to do something.  When my husband so graciously supported me in saying he would come alongside whatever I wanted to do, I felt so blessed.  How many lean, strong, healthy men would agree to doing such a crazy thing for their wives?  He's the best.  Ever.

         So here we are!  All eight of us jumping in together!  We went shopping yesterday and came home with more fruits and vegetables than I knew this home could hold!  Day one has been a breeze, but somehow I imagine that rougher days are ahead.  Prayers would be appreciated!!!

Day One~

Breakfast~ Vegetable, Sausage  and Egg Bake

Lunch~ Loaded Chicken Salad 

Dinner~ Chicken Cutlets, red potatoes and salad