Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Renewal - and I mean it this time

Well, 2008 is here. In the midst of the craziness that was December I seem to have lost track of many things. I won't re-hash all the mistakes and poor choices I made. Instead, my plan is to just fix it and keep moving forward. This week is still crazy as far as scheduling goes so my goal is simply to make better choices with my food and prepare myself through prayer and some time spent organizing things for a new schedule and structure to start next week.

I have gotten very spoiled to sleeping until 7:30 everyday. That ends tomorrow. Paris goes back to school in the morning. I can't imagine it's going to be pleasant for any of us, but I intend to put a smile on my face and be a happy, loving mom when I drag her out of bed. Getting up earlier is clearly going to be part of my new structure. I'm not going to attempt the 5:00 am jogging again. I enjoy jogging, but it was clearly too much and since the "stress" in my life hasn't really decreased I think it best to not push myself there. Instead I plan to get up about 5:45. Two days a week Ill go for a brisk walk before Easy leaves. The other 3 days I plan to do some resistance training with my bands. I also would like to work in some ab/trunk strengthening stuff on my exerball. I'm thinking I will do that each day after the kids go to bed. OK, so that's the physical stuff.

As far as food - mostly just getting back to what I was doing as I lost the 30 pounds. That means getting back off the DP, increasing my water intake, no more splurges on sweets (which I really haven't done a bunch of anyway), and eating more veggies. The other big change that is looming is going gluten-free. Easy and have have done some reading and a lot of talking and praying and we feel like adopting a GF diet is something we must do. There is a lot of anecdotal research out there supporting the positive effects a GF diet can have for ASD kids. In addition, I've learned that sensitivity to gluten can cause a whole list of symptoms (like migraines, fatigue, and IBS to name a few) that are present in other people in our house. We're still in the planning stage, but we got some great resources and things for Christmas that will help us and we intend to have made the change complete by February. We are commiting to a year GF so we can truly see if it makes a difference for our health. Any advice in this area is welcome, and we do ask for your prayers regarding this area of change for our family.

Now on to spirtual development. The book club I'm part of is dedicating this year to reading things that help us identify and implement God's purpose and dreams in our lives. For me this obviously includes writing and teaching. Easy and I have identified a space in the house that is going to be my "nook" to keep papers and things out as I begin trying to organize things I've already written as well as things that are still rolling in my brain. I ask for your prayers most particularly in this area. I don't know where this call to write will take me, but it is clear it is something I must do. I know that spending time with my Father daily is crucial to Him using me in this way so I ask that your keep me in your prayers that I head the Spirit when he prompts the fruit of self-discipline in my life. It will truly be by His power, not mine that I can accomplish anything.

To help in this area I am renewing a commitment I had over the summer. For most of the summer I turned the TV off at 6:00 pm every evening during the week. At the beginning of the fall I told Easy I thought I should just DVR the shows I like to watch and save them for Friday & Saturday evenings - I never followed through with this and have been sucked back into the world of couch potato-ho0d once my kids are in bed. So, here is my renewed commitment....M-Th the TV will turn off at 6:00 pm and not be turned on again until the following day. On Fridays and Saturdays it will turn off at 6:00 until the kids are in bed. As for daytime TV - we're really not home a whole lot in the day so it won't be much of an issue, but I will return to the 9:00 AM turn off time on those days that we are home (excluding Saturday). I will allow it to come back on after 3:00 pm only when they ask for it. (instead of just turning it on as a reflex!)

Okey Dokey. You have my renewed commitments. I know this post was full of logistics, but my hope is that most of them will not be. I want to return to using this blog as a way to share my spiritual and physical remodel - clearly that is more than just a logistical process. Have a great week and my prayer for each of you is that you take a moment and ask God what commitments you can make that will better His kingdom this year.

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