End of Day 6

I will be going to bed soon, so I say Day 6 is over, and again a success!  I did have one *tiny* lapse, but I’ll describe that later…

We have presented ourselves with a few challenges the past few days.  Thursday night, the kids wanted to eat at one of their favorite places, Chick-fil-a.  My husband figured we could handle it, so off we went.  And we DID it!  They had their nuggets and strips, played in the playground, and a couple of them even traded the toy inside the kid’s meal for ice cream!  He and I shared a large fruit bowl, and drank our water!  Friday was relatively uneventful (except the power went out in my building for the 2^nd time this week and I again went home early).  It was the 5th anniversary of our wedding, so my husband and I wanted to go out and be a couple.  In our culture in this day and time, that usually means going out for dinner.  Well, that was out of the question!  We had babysitters lined up, and pre-purchased movie tickets, so we popped our own popcorn, grabbed some water bottles, stuffed it all in my over-sized purse, and enjoyed a few hours of each other’s company.  It was an early movie, so we wanted to go do something afterwards, but couldn’t come up with something to do… Typically we would go get a drink or dessert somewhere…  This left us both feeling a bit empty – and there was a very short discussion about throwing in the towel.  But, we just picked up the kids, came home, went to bed early, and knew that today was another day!

Today was FULL of challenges!  We had a full day planned – 50 miles from home!  At 9:30, we loaded up the car with the kids, the coats, a movie for the road, bananas, cutie oranges, nuts, and bottled water.  And it worked!  We went to a pre-inauguration event hosted by Mary Fallin for Oklahoma families at the Science Museum of Oklahoma.  They served us all lunch there, courtesy of McDonalds.  The kids all got nuggets and apple slices, apple juice or water.  The adults were offered a salad (or nuggets).  We decided we could do the salads; we would just have to pick off the tortilla strips and cheese.  Plus, only one of our kids likes apples slices, so we got those as well.  Picking the stuff off the salad was tedious, so we didn’t eat too much of that – besides, there was a WHOLE museum to explore!

After a few more stops, we decided we needed an early dinner, and headed to Souper Salad.  My husband thought this would be a good choice for us, but it was harder than we expected!  Lots of salad and fruit choices, but also pasta salads, breads, pizza, and more!  We both did well!  My favorite thing I found to eat was a baked potato, then there was a vegan soup on the line today, so I poured the soup over my potato!  YUM!  Our next stop was church, and I had eaten red onions on my salad.  And they were STRONG.  I needed SOMETHING to get rid of my dragon breath.  I fretted about it all the way to church, every time someone spoke to me and when we dropped the kids off at their classes, and I didn’t want to SING with that taste/feeling.  Worship is my favorite part of a service, so I HAD to do something.  I prayed about it, and found some Extra gum in my purse.  So, I chewed it for about 10 minutes, felt SO MUCH better, and threw it away.  Definitely not on the Daniel fast, but it got me through church without any more stress!

We headed home – security! – after attending church, and we both feel revived and ready for another week!  I am excited that at this time tomorrow, we will have been on this journey an entire week.  I am stronger than I thought I was, and God provides.  2 truths I should know, but that are being sharpened by this experience!

Back to Normal?

Today is Thursday- day 4 of the fast.  I still think I am doing well.  Today, my family routine for the New Year SHOULD be getting back to normal.  We picked up the girls from their other dad last evening, and they go back to school today after a 2 week holiday break.  Extra-curricular activities start again, too.  Everyone, including the 3 year old, went to bed on time last night, so that’s a good start to normal, right?

Yesterday, my husband attended a funeral with my mom and I.  It was a very long, very emotional double service for a high school classmate of mine and his wife.  They were killed in a tragic car accident on Christmas Eve, leaving their 8 month old daughter an orphan.  The husband was also a friend of mine in college, serving as a house boy for my sorority , which his older sister and mother were members of, and I, along with my mother, are active alums with.  There were easily 500-600 people there.  It was intense.  And sad.  So, I am not sure I would have eaten much yesterday, anyway.  I worked from 8-12, then at noon, my husband, mother and I met at my house to go to the church, so no one had lunch.  But again, food was replaced with prayer, and my God provided strength to get through that painful afternoon.

The evening turned out much happier.  We had our GIRLS back and the house was alive with giggling 8 year olds!  We made Daniel fast baked potatoes for dinner, and watched Minute to Win It as family.  I think the thing that surprises me most about this fast is my headaches!  I am not having any cravings, I don’t feel deprived, but I had a bad headache again last night!  And my husband wasn’t feeling very well at all, complaining about his head.  I had a dear friend text me and ask how it was going - saying day 3 was always her worst day.  Amazingly, I would say my day 3 was 100x better than my day 2!

So, pressing on.  Today presents new challenges with having to feed all 3 of my kids dinner, and the crazy busy-ness of being a parent of 3 active kids is fully restored.  I love music and find worship to be a very satisfying part of my walk.  Today, the song that keeps playing in the background of my head is "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus." The chorus is so touching: "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,In the light of His glory and grace."  (Hebrews 12:2) So true after yesterday and as I journey through this fast.

Thankfully, I feel like my emotions are holding up during this season, so I will keep praying for that, but I can also pray for more patience as I know this will get harder with a full house.

Day 3 – Fast

First off, I want to explain a little about our fast.  My husband and I are doing what is known as a Daniel fast.  Its basically a vegan diet – fruits, vegetables, water, nuts, juice, whole grains. (See www.daniel-fast.com/ for more info.)  The purpose of the fast is to have a spiritual experience where you deepen your relationship with Jesus and seek answers through prayer while growing in knowledge of the bible and God.  So, we are eating, just not like we used to, and definitely not as much.  I have never been a big meat eater, but I knew I would miss dairy and sugar.  And Diet Coke.  We rarely had it in the house, but I would drink it when we went out to eat, and I would stop at the convenience store and have one a few times a week.  I haven’t had any real “cravings” since we started, but I knew I would have withdrawals.

Everything was really going well with the whole process.  I haven’t strayed from the plan food wise, and I have definitely been seeking God more.  I haven’t struggled with hunger or thirst; haven’t questioned why I am doing this.  I have had a few people stop by my office or message me and ask how I was doing, and honestly, I could say I was doing well and actually enjoying what I am learning.

Until yesterday afternoon, that is.  While I can still say I am not struggling with food or hunger, I was definitely sick yesterday.  I started noticing a headache around noon.  I figured it was from caffeine withdrawal, and I wanted to just deal with it and not take any medication.  By 3pm, I was really hurting.  I left work at 4:30, picked my son up from day care, and came home to plant myself on the couch.  I dozed on and off until my husband got home about 5:20.  I told him my head was killing me and I felt nauseous – my typical migraine symptoms.  He told me his head was hurting earlier and he and taken some ibuprofen.  I asked if it helped and he said yes, so I asked him to bring me some.  I slept off and on until about 7.  My husband had made me a salad, and some celery with peanut butter, but every time I woke up and smelled it, I wanted to throw up.  I stayed awake until almost 9, when I thought I was dying, and my husband brought me acetaminophen.  Then, I was out for the night.  I woke up at 1:30 and felt amazingly better!  And for me, that’s about how a migraine goes!  This one was shorter than usual – and I attribute that to the praying I did while I was conscious.  And the prayers of everyone walking this journey with me.

So, here it is day 3.  I feel pretty good considering what I went through yesterday.  I am going to start today of right and keep moving forward.  I can’t wait to see what God reveals to me today!