While I was organizing and getting ready for school I found something I had written and tucked away in the back of my notebook. It's as written with no corrections. I have comments at the end.
"Those of you who live close by know that our family has been plagued with sickness in the past six months, not serious , but minor fevers, viruses and rashes. These little illnesses piled on top of each other day after day began to get very frustrating and I allowed them to cloud my thinking. I started on a desperate search for the 'miracle cure' for my family. My one year old had both ears infected, a viral rash that covered her entire tummy, such a runny nose that it was bleeding and conjunctivitis. My nine and twelve year olds were on inhalers for bronchial spasms, my fifteen year old had a fever every other week and had so many blood tests that she knew where the best veins to get blood from were. My five year old, my husband and I felt terrible. That final week I was desperate.
After asking around, I was completely overwhelmed. I had looked at pharmaceutical grade vitamins, whole food diets, vegetarianism, hallelujah diets, doctor's strict orders, exercise regimes. One afternoon as I was racing my children from one event to another a wise friend saw how close I was to a breaking point and said, 'God knows what your family needs.' Now, I know of God's sovereignty and believe that is my sanity over worry, but I had completely forgotten to pray about this whole issue. I was busy searching and getting opinions from other people. As I write this I wonder, 'What is the answer?' I still don't know for sure but I'm positive God would have a healthy mix of rest, exercise and good nutrition for my family.
We have always been active (basketball, soccer & running) but not everyone was exercising regularly. The first day that I walked for an hour I felt the best I had since I could remember. I'm working on being more thoughtful about all of our activity levels. I'm not getting any healthier just because Ray is training for a marathon. No one else's heart rate is up because we are sitting on a bench watching one of the girls play basketball or soccer. So, I am making a conscience effort to have everyone doing something active outside more often. That makes the rest at night come easier too.
Good nutrition is coming slowly. We may still need some vitamin supplements but the girls are learning to like whole wheat better. I have always known prepackaged foods aren't great for you, but they require a lot less thought and energy. The girls are planning to try homemade granola this week to replace store bought granola bars. Water is slowly becoming everyone's beverage of choice.
When you visit us, don't be surprised to eat whole wheat muffins and fresh fruit for breakfast or pitas for lunch. You may even find a meatless lasagne and spinach salad for supper. But don't worry, the secret stash of oreos and Mayfield chocolate is still here. God hasn't changed my mind on chocolate yet."
An update for the year and a half since I wrote that: We are still learning. I am walking twelve miles a week and love the exercise and the godly conversation with a dear neighbor. There are girls exercising in their rooms on their own. Ray finished his sixth marathon this year. Hannah is making all of our family bread and Rachel just made a batch of granola to eat with yogurt in the morning. Our own garden (blessed abundantly by God) has produced 65 quarts of green beans, 16 quarts spaghetti sauce, 18 pints salsa, still counting tomatoes, 18 pints pickles, 200 ears corn, peppers, watermelon, and cantaloupe. I am finally using the apples from our trees for jelly, applesauce, pies and cobbler instead of letting them lay on the ground. Our cookie jar is filled with oatmeal chocolate chip cookies made with whole wheat flour.
We still have the random fevers and rashes, but less often. We all feel much healthier and it's great to see the girls choose healthy options more than ever.
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