the next 30 days

For the next 30 days I will be going on a baking hiatus. I will probably bake once in a while for James only and probably only in his presence. (If he's watching i'm not likely to snitch cookie dough or lick the batter bowl.) This is in an effort to go very strictly on the Atkins plan to make headway toward my summer weight loss goal of 30 27 pounds. I've managed to lose a pound or two here and there, slow and steady but I know if I do Atkins it will come off much faster. So. . . . . . So long, pound cake, cookies, muffins, french toast. Oh how I love to bake and eat sweets. hopefully it is a temporary sacrifice and when I reach my goal I can go back to indulging now and then. 

Along with my baking hiatus I am going to tone down my running just a bit. Its always hard for me to run when I'm on strict Atkins- my energy wanes for the first several days.  I am going to give my body a chance to get acclimated to the change and focus on long walks with my little girl for awhile. i'll probably still try to run about twice a week for 1-2 miles but that'll be it for about a month I think. 

I think it will feel good to give myself permission to just walk after training for the 5K I ran on Saturday. (no i will not admit the time just that I DID NOT walk.) TO be specific James and I ran it together. It was our 5th anniversary see and we got the idea it would be cool to run the 5K to sort of honor it. We did. I had trained all late Winter/Spring for it. He trained exactly 2 weeks and finished well ahead of me. Men!  I'm so proud we did it though. It was a blast! We are hoping to do at least one more in the Summer and then maybe one in the Fall eventually working our way up to a 10K. We dream. . . 

The rest of this week is going to be spent getting ready for a quick trip to Brevard, NC to visit James' Grandmother and Kl's great-Grandmother. We plan to drive through the night Friday hoping KL will sleep and the head back Sunday afternoon. It should be an adventure and hopefully not too tiring. It is a beautiful place so i am looking forward to great pictures! So until then. . . 

The good, the bad and the beautiful

This past weekend KL and I took a trip to Natchez, MS to an Old Time Music gathering. It was a good  idea. We rode with my mom and my sister and my mom played with KL much of the day giving me a chance to indulge my dormant hobby. I also got to show off KL to friends that I had not seen in over a year. In fact last year when I attended the same gathering I was about 4-5 months pregnant.

We arrived Friday evening and checked into the hotel. The bad came when it was time to sleep Friday night. KL apparently has something against sleeping in a pack and play in a strange hotel room. I don't know why. It was a very nice room with a King Size bed, with lovely pillows and beautiful comforter for mom. Too bad mom didn't actually get to do much sleeping in it. Oh well. We awoke Saturday morning feeling not so refreshed and proceeded to the grounds of the gathering. That was the beautiful part.

The weather turned out very cool for mid May in Mississippi. Very cool indeed! But it was pretty much perfect because the event takes place entirely outside or in old buildings with no artificial air flow.  The music was enchanting as always. I was privileged to jam a bit with precious friends and listen to other friends. I judged a contest and participated in one as well. If I had known how little sleep I was going to get I'm not sure I would have gone but probably. It was worth it.

(this pic is  of a couple of friends from a couple of years ago at the same event.)

Today

Today is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. 

Those are such simple and familiar words but ones I need to repeat over and over to myself. Everyday is a new opportunity; to serve; to minister.  Life can seem pretty bleak when your 6 month old baby girl is teething and nothing you do seems to help her feel better. The two of you haven't slept much and the house is a wreck and you wonder how it will be possible to ever have another child since you can't even manage the current chaos very well.

Everyday isn't like this though. Most days she naps when she's supposed to and sleeps decently through the night.  On those kinds of days I forget to rejoice. I take for granted to the blessings of that day and go about my merry way thinking what a wonderful mother I am that my child is so happy and contented today. The truth is I am not such a wonderful mother at all. I am completely dependent upon Christ everyday whether I acknowledge it or not. 

So today, the tough day, I will rejoice and be glad because God has given me a precious little girl and the opportunity to minister to her though her pain. He has given me the opportunity to grow today to be more unselfish and more giving.