Old Salem

In early October, we made it to Old Salem, NC for a short trip to play in the field and eat way too much junk food. Some traditions are too good to stop. Every girl needs a serious game of kickball every now and then. We missed Rachel and Adrian's family with us.

Accident Update

I've been asked many times how I'm doing since my car wreck.  It seems as though everything is back to as normal as it can be.

We have a new van, but miss the music that had been downloaded to our old van. I put a major scratch on this one when I opened the garage door on it too quickly. So it appears that we can't drive a vehicle in perfect condition.

Hannah and Abigail didn't have too much trouble recooperating from bumps and bruises. Abigail took much longer to get through the fear of parking lots and loud noises. She still needs warnings before we turn on the food processor or to be held close when a siren gets close.

I am learning that my healing will take much longer and may not ever be complete.  My neck almost always feels like I have a "crick" and makes a clicking noise when I turn my head sometimes. The back of my head and neck hurt more when I am really tired and it gets difficult to hold up my head.  But none of it is unbearable.

The week of Christmas, I somehow managed to get a stress fracture in my left foot. So for the time it took that to heal, my neck definitely felt better. Now that I'm back to exercising a little, I have to ice my neck more often and go slower than I would want. But I am exercising and back to running through the house. And I have new shoes too!

New Year's Resolutions

Here they are! I have prayed over these and know that it isn't anything earth shattering, but I think it's where God would have me change. There were a few more things but they are a little too personal to put out there.

2014 Goals

Tackle household projects list- one a month
Attend or acknowledge funerals and weddings - This may not be on anyone else's resolutions list, but I think it's important to people to show up to these events.
Financial- save a dollar for each week of the year. $1 for week one, $2 for week two, $3 for week three and so on
Physical- three days a week exercise, dessert 3 times per week, drink a cup of water before every cup of coffee
Parenting - daily physical contact, waking them with a hug or back rub, write in the girls' journals weekly
Marriage - kiss every day (not just your every day run of the mill peck on the cheek), put kids to bed by their bedtime
Learn to use iPad, audio books, download pics and music
Scripture- memorize even when we aren't in school, read from a physical Bible not the iPad
Read 10 minutes of a book besides the Bible during quiet time

Dieting

Do the calories count if I snack on chocolate while I'm making a salad? 

I've been having a lot of issues with my weight lately. Yes, I know I'm not over weight. My weight has just been redistributed in the past few years and I'm not a fan of redistribution (of weight or wealth). At the beginning of the summer, I couldn't button a pair of shorts that I bought last year. 

Rachel's baby is only five weeks old and she's working hard on her weight and already gotten back into her jeans. Recently, at the grocery store, Rachel and I saw a new mother with a baby younger than Rachel's but the mom had obviously gotten back into her regular clothes quickly and beautifully. Rachel noticed her too. I told her that there will always be someone skinnier, shapelier, healthier, stronger, ... you get the idea. We have to do the best we can with what we have. We have to honor God with our own bodies.

I'm never going to be a body builder, elite runner or super model nor do I want to. I just have to take the body God gave me and use it for His glory. I know that when I'm eighty years old, I will probably have some health issues. If I do what's right with my body now, those issues may not be as severe. I don't want my children to have extra burdens then because I didn't have self control or was lazy now.

I'm not a heavy eater, but I do like food, especially chocolate. If I don't practice self control while I'm eating, I'm not glorifying God. I don't usually consider myself to be a lazy person, but when it comes to exercise I might be. It's much easier to sleep thirty minutes longer than to get up and walk. 

I heard of a study that found for women over forty they have to do sixty minutes of cardio exercise a day to maintain their weight if they still eat the same amount of food that they ate before they were forty. I don't have sixty minutes a day every day of the week to exercise, I don't have any day of the week that I have sixty minutes to exercise. Since the episode with my shorts at the beginning of the summer, my goal has been the normal thirty minutes at least three times a week. Some weeks, I've done a little more, some a little less. 

I've always known that I wouldn't be able to maintain eating the same amount that I've always eaten. Haven't you ever heard anyone say, "Enjoy it now, you won't be able to eat like that forever."? There was a time when I could have had one of Natalie's delicious orange muffins and Kelly's cinnamon rolls for breakfast, but not anymore, 
today I have to choose.  I have even cut out eating chocolate every day (gasp). 

Now writing a post like this could have some negative ramifications. Please, just know my heart. I want to glorify God with my body, not condemn others. In the past few weeks, two different people have told me that they had gained fifty pounds that they want to loose. I was shocked, because I don't notice things like that. Honestly, I'm too distracted to notice or examine other's weight issues or judge them about that. 

So tomorrow, I'll wake up, exercise, eat a cinnamon roll (I ate the orange muffin today) and put on the shorts that I couldn't button several weeks ago. 

News

It's no secret that our family has a lot going on in general, every family does. Sometimes, though it seems as if God has given us more than we can handle. I'm thankful for scripture on days like this. The short version of our life today? Ray's parents are very sick and he is spending a lot time traveling back and forth (his siblings are too); I am having a baby in November; Rachel is getting married in December; she and Adrian are building an apartment in our basement; and now our 'go-to' girl has been side lined.

Sarah had two different concussions last year, one during basketball season and one during soccer. Since then she has been plagued with constant headaches and dizziness. She never had this before, but has them constantly now, some things make them worse but they never go away. We've seen several doctors with no result. We've had some ridiculous diagnoses, but each doctor kept saying that she would grow out of it.

We saw a doctor this week who specializes in sports medicine who gave us some pretty shocking news. Okay, not so shocking, it's been in the news every day.... Concussions are serious! He was very firm about her diagnosis and treatment. She did poorly on the impact test and has to get those scores up. She cannot do anything physical until all symptoms are gone, nothing that raises her heart rate at all. There is to be no concentrating on anything, including school, TV or computer. She isn't allowed to do anything that causes a slight increase to the headaches or dizziness. And there was to be no discussion of how long this would last.

I am still trying to get my head around all of this. Does this mean no running and dancing around the house? What about bounding down the stairs? Can she yell upstairs to call her sisters to the table?

She definitely can't go anywhere near a basketball court. This was hardest thing to take - no basketball. At this point in her life, it's hard to see past this point because basketball is what she loves, almost as who she is. She loves the game, her team and coaches and she's worried about letting them down. Ray and I love for her to play and we're sad for her too. There is great joy for a parent to watch your child use her God-given talents well.

Had we made her sit out last season until every symptom was gone, she may have gotten better then. Instead we have to take drastic measures now. We'll be seeing two different kinds of physical therapists and a neuropsychologist this week. I'm not sure what all of it means other than a lifestyle change for us all, especially our bright, cheery Sarah.

Sarah, #12, with some of her favorite people in the world, in her element.

Why Running is Good for My Marriage

Reason #2

It keeps me in shape.

Don't get me wrong, I am by no means in model shape! I am fifteen pounds heavier than I was twenty years ago. But I am also stronger, healthier and never felt better. When you are stronger physically, certain aspects of your marriage are better. Intimacy is an important part of marriage so I recommend - staying physically fit. Now that I'm forty-two, I can't eat like I used to and I have to exercise more. Recently, I heard a news report that middle aged women have to exercise for an hour a day! to maintain their level of fitness if they don't change their eating habits. I can't exercise that much so I have to be careful on my eating too. In the end the trade off is worth it. My husband is happy with the shape I am in and I feel much better too.

Ray has a new booklet coming out on intimacy in marriage. Since I know I have unmarried readers here, I won't go into detail. Please, feel free to contact me by email for questions. lori@nourishedintheword.org

I Did It!

I ran 3.2 miles in the freezing cold. It was my first race to run and I learned a few things. The biggest thing I learned is that I am a whiner. I already knew that I don't like to be cold but when the wind is blowing too, I really don't like that. Hot chocolate, fuzzy blankets and stuff like that are more of what I like. Rachel convinced me that I only needed one shirt. She was forgetting that I wouldn't actually be running the whole time. I also found that shin splints seem to know when the worst possible time is to start hurting. On the course I was passed by little kids with their doting parents, by a lady wearing Chanel sunglasses and a Burberry scarf and hat, an old lady wearing cheetah print tights, and lots of really old people. When it came down to the finish I did finish ahead of the lady wearing the Chanel sunglasses, but I was still holding my water cup. I couldn't bring myself to throw it on the ground, even though I know that's what you are supposed to do. I also couldn't bring myself to spit like the other runners. I even heard some of the parents teaching their children how to spit while they ran. Ewww, gross. My time was less than 40 minutes, but Ray said not to worry that I should be able to shave 10 minutes off of that in no time. Ha!

The pictures are: Us before the race began, Ray leaving ahead of us to run the half marathon, Rachel pulling away from to beat me in the 5K, and the red and green men who ran one of the longer races. Notice there are no pictures of me after the race.

I Have a Dilemma

Ray signed me up to run my first race tomorrow. And tomorrow is going to be COLD! We have had the coldest winter on record in Georgia and all I want to do is get under a blanket and drink hot chocolate. If you know me at all, you know I'm very cold natured. Also, I have been running on the treadmill for the past few months and haven't even come close to running a full 3.2 miles (which is what I am supposed to run.) Now that we've spent the money - do I suck it up and run? or do I take the t-shirt and say I should have? Just thinking about it puts a chill in my bones.

Update on Running

I'm still running....
We had some weird things going on in the neighborhood that made me too afraid to run/walk by myself here so Ray got me a membership to the gym where he goes. I am doing very light weight lifting and getting on the treadmill for 30 minutes at a time. I figure that getting up at 5:00 am is so good for me that it cancels out the fact that I am actually losing sleep. If you get up to exercise you don't need that sleep, right?