I decided to jump into the January fast with Celebration church. It is being promoted by about 300 churches this month. Here is a brief description by Pastor Kerri of what it entails. Basically, anything you feel called to sacrifice for a season, so that you can draw closer to God. She offers some basic tips on what they recommend to help with detoxing and cleansing the body during this time.

I decided to go to a fruits and veggies only, as I am a carb lover! But I also noticed how much this Daniel diet resembles the Hallelujah Diet that my Dad has promoted for years. He is good buddies with some of the guys in NC that teach it.  It is a strict vegan diet and lifestyle, a fabulous MUST for those who are fighting serious illnesses. They even have a catalog of the testimonials on the site.

Like Kerri, I am also going to add in the vinegar. My Dad was so tickled when I told him that others were now learning his little secret! He has religiously taken vinegar with some grape juice every night and has been told by his docs that his blood readings are exceptional! Some of this may be hereditary (35% we know) as I have also been told by the life insurance company that my blood is elite. But I reeally would like to keep it that way. It is also being recognized as a great detox for the live and gallbladder and entire GI tract. So I will take Kerri’s advice on that, adding some lemon, or maybe even grape juice if necessary to get it down.

Of course, I am able to cheat a little with the whole fruits and veggies thing being on live-enzyme metagreens and Ageless for energy and stamina.  The hardest part will be cooking carbs for my 12 yrold 6′2″ athlete who wants to bulk up.

He has decided to give up video-games for the month. We know they are an overstimming  trigger for his brother, Bear, afer only 30 minutes of playing. It is not a good scene. So we thought it would be exceptionally peaceful around here for the month. Then we can re-evaluate whether we want to introduce them again…or maybe not…

They usually only play them for allowed time on weekends, but we might find we enjoy each other so much that they are no longer necessary.

I have not been sleeping good because I am so excited about the plans and goals we have for the year…believing it is going to be an awesome 09. I have had some really good conversations with Wildman lately about our year. It is not common to catch him for lengthy conversations, as he is a constanlty moving target (hence the name Wildman) and does not sit still for very long, (unless there is a football game on). So I have been very pleased with the effort he has made so far in conversation and planning our year as a team.

Momma is pleased.

 Most people do not plan to fail. They just fail to plan.

Zig Ziglar

My fasting is going great and I cannot believe that I am not hungry and have not lost energy or stamina. I have a great live enzyme green drink (like drinking 8 salads) for morning and it is curbing my previous desire for sweets, balancing blood sugar. It feels as if I have just given my body a rest from all the intestinal abuse. On the spiritual side, I am more focused on God’s word and hearing His voice in all I do, how I parent, my relationship with my husband. I am just hungry for it all. I feel like I have more time to focus on it all. maybe because I have not been worried about planning what I will consume every hour. (I am still having to feed everyone else, but it has not been too bad) If you were on my newsletter and checked out the link to go with the fasting program, it did not come on until today. There is a great testimonial about a mom and her son’s drug issue. We were once there ourselves as teens, but thank God for praying family members.
This is going to be an incredible month for so many. I am anxious to see what all God does.

On another note- I spent the morning on eggshells watching Bear-7 ’s basketball game. I remembered all the lip biting years watching my brothers play and getting soo tense with basketball. It is so fast and high energy. So I know I have years and years of that stomach churning in store for me with athletic sons. This is a wonderful age right now where the kids are all so eager and they are like a swarm of bees following the ball. If they do get it, dribbling is optional. Oh- the thrill of a son grabbing it and leaving everyone in the dust to score a layup and so what if it is for the other team!!! It is the effort that counts! Sometimes they are limited in the players they can pass to because someone is picking their nose, and then the next guy does not want to touch the ball. I will probably take my camcorder next time. It will all go by so fast. Oh the joy of boys.
My cup is runnething over.

I had such an awesome time in the quiet presence of God yesterday in our worship time at church. I have really been praying about where God is leading me in ministry and all the things I feel called to do. I know inasmuchas I have such grandiose plans to impact others, there are still very obvious and specific needs in my home, as wife and mom. I will be implementing some changes in focus on this blog and in my newsletter and website soon. I know it is going to be a great year.
Starting school routine again tomorrow will give me a new perspective. I will also be going to the Jan Women’s connection mtg in mandarin. Looking forward to sweet fellowship with other moms. Wed is the official start for our church’s 21 day fasting program. The site will include a schedule for prayer and study in the Word concerning fasting and prayer. This is a great way to begin the new year believing for some incredible things and seeing the year kick off spiritually grounded. I am doing a liquid fast, since all of our supplements and superfoods are so absorbable we could live on them, I will be sacrificing the gluttonous joy of eating, (which is a major comfort to me!) – also including some days of the Danial fast.
God is amazing. We had so many years of nutritional focus with Joshua’s metabolic challenges. I began to study alkaline diets for Rob and I, and how cancer cells cannot grow in an alkaline environment, and of course the Daniel diet is soo alkaline. God knew this all along, even if Daniel did not.
Today the boys and I had a goal of doing some yardwork. Just the basic goal of working as a team and raking and bagging leaves is a hyooge accomplishment. It is so easy to get distracted with the new ripsticks, and I tried to roll with it as we had the whole day. We did manage to get a lot done. The day was so beautiful (75 deg) and I love the feeling of cleaning and taking care of the land that we are blessed to own. I even had to go back out tonight and see the night sky – FULL of stars and calm. That is when I think of Joshua the most, and the wonderful Father who is caring for him now. As much as I have disciplined and delegated and referee’d and scolded today, it still was a good one for us. I have blisters on my hands from raking, and yet still my cup runneth over.
Thank you God.