Greens, greens, and more greens!!!

My sister is getting married in June and I have decided to try to and get into better shape for this cute little black dress we get to wear. Well...easier said than done! I started doing some research about weight loss, average size for your age and height, diets that work and don't work, etc...there is so much information out there that's it's almost overwhelming. I'm not taking diet pills and I'm not doing some crazy diet that consists of nothing but brussel sprouts and beets. After talking with several people who have lost weight successfully and have kept it off I finally came up with a plan that I knew wouldn't be easy but that I knew I could follow if I just stuck with it. I try to exercise three time a week and I've decided to eat about five to six times a day (that's a good start because I do like to eat :) But in order to do so, I have to control my portions; I eat only until I'm satisfied and nothing more. I'm told that when you eat five to six times a day it keeps your metabolism working constantly. When you eat just two or three times a day your metabolism slows down and your body stores what you eat as fat for a future energy source. I eat lots of fresh fruit, veggies, protein and whole grains and try to stay away from processed foods. I've read and heard that dark green veggies are what your body really needs! The first week was horrible cause I kept cheating and eating what I wasn't suppose to. The second week I did a little better but not by much, the third week I actually stuck with it but didn't really enjoy it and now my fourth week, which is what I'm on now, has gone so much better that I've been eating really good and I'm actually beginning to crave fruits and veggies. Saturdays and Sundays aren't all that great and I have to try harder on those days but the rest of the days are pretty good. Here is a typical day:

Breakfast - Yogurt and toast or whole grain muffin
Mid morning - One piece of large fruit
Lunch - Salad with lots of greens like spinach, romaine, broccoli, and peppers with some protein like turkey breast or chicken, a few almond slices and a small piece of fruit.
Afternoon - raw carrot sticks or celery
Dinner - Grilled chicken breast or fish, 1/2 cup of barely steamed veggies and
maybe a little whole grain pasta or brown rice
Evening - Granola or popcorn without anything on it

Of course I vary a lot of my meals and I don't eat the exact thing everyday but as long as its healthy, raw, or whole-grain I'll eat it. Now I've been doing this for four weeks and this past weekend I was getting a little frustrated thinking 'is this really working or even worth it?' But yesterday at church I had several people tell me I looked like I was losing weight!! Yea!!! I was so excited, I guess it is working it just takes lots of persistence and stick-to-it-ness!

What did I get myself into!

It was time again to find a formal dress for one of my concerts. The problem is, when you start dress shopping you realize that most stores out there have no concept of modesty...agh!! If you do find something, they are asking several hundred dollars for it. I guess because these other dresses have so little fabric they don't have to charge much for them...a little rant and rave of mine! Anyway, I was getting so frustrated knowing that I don't have several hundred dollars to spend on a dress nor am I willing to back down on the convictions that the Lord has given simply to save some money and time. So it was decided: my mom and I would make the dress. We went to Joann Fabrics and I found a beautiful pattern and some of the prettiest purple satin (all on sale I might add). We bought everything for a grand total of $32.48 and took it home to start this long gone art of sewing your own clothes. Everything was going so well...I had gotten the pattern pieces cut out. We looked at the pattern again, as we kept doing many times to make sure we were doing things right, when we noticed the print that was so small on the bottom of the pattern that you almost needed a magnifying glass to read..."For Stretch Fabrics Only." My mom and I just sat there and looked at each other. We had just cut everything out IN SATIN, which by the way has no stretch to it at all. How was I going to get this dress on when there was no zipper, buttons or anything to give me extra room to get in. Then the brilliant idea came to us...let's put a zipper in. I'm sure we can squeeze one in somewhere. It shouldn't be too hard. Haha..Right! Well off we were to try and get this new found zipper idea and this dress to work. We took the first seam and realized that sewing this thing wasn't going to be all this simple. If you have ever worked with satin you know that it snags and doesn't like to stay together when sewing cause it so slick. It was really going to take forever know since I was having to go so slow to make sure everything was matching and not slipping apart. Slow and Steady, Steady and Slow seemed to be the motto here. But it finally started coming together. A few times we had to take several seems out when we realized we sewed the wrong thing or didn't cut one of the pieces big enough (ahem! maybe I was bigger than I thought :) Either way, now we were down to the last thing...the dreaded zipper. It took us almost two hours to get that stupid little thing in there. And then I sewed the fabric to close to the zipper that zipping and unzipping literally took almost five minutes cause we had to make sure I didn't snag any of the fabric in it. I told my mom, 'that's ok, I'll only have to wear it once and I can manage a five minute zipper.' I put it on one last time to make sure everything fit and then the zipper got stuck! AGH!!! What else can go wrong with this dress. I had the dress half-way zipped and then the zipper wouldn't go any further up nor down. All I could think about was what had I gotten myself into, now I'm not going to be able to get myself out of this dress. But with some coaxing and a lot of prayer my mom was able to get the zipper undone! The only thing left to do was to put it on the next night for my concert. I put the dress on and it felt like Deja Vu all over again! The zipper got stuck. But like the night before with a lot of coaxing and prayer the zipper finally zipped all the way. I was so proud of this dress my mother and I had made! Who cares if it took us three weeks to make! I was so thankful to have a modest dress to wear! And I received lots of compliments. Maybe I'll have to try making another dress one again, only this time with the right pattern, the right fabric, and no added zippers!

Overheard in an Orchard

Said a robin to a sparrow
I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush around and worry so?
Said the sparrow to the robin
Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me.
~Elizabeth Cheney

I read this and started thinking...So often when I see people in this world, I see them as these two birds saw them: stressed out and worrying about things. Like the sparrow said, they have no Heavenly Father! They have no peace and quiet in their soul. But have you ever thought that when the world looks at us Christians and sees us stressed out and worried about things, that maybe they don't see Christ AT ALL or maybe that he is simply not powerful enough! Oh, we say that we trust in God, and that we know he is there for us, but if we truly did trust HIM, then we shouldn't even have an ounce of stress or worry on our face or in our hearts. I wonder how many people I have turned away from Christ without even knowing, simply because what they saw in me was that I couldn't/wouldn't trust HIM fully!

Notable Quotables!

1.It is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity
2. A man who trims himself to suit everybody will eventually whittle himself away
3. The problem with those bumper stickers about tailgaiting is that you have to get really close to the person's car to read them
4. Two nickels short of a fudge pop on a hot july day
5. Did the sun just come out or did you just smile
6. The thing that impresses me most about America is that the parents obey their children
7. For Sale: Parachute. Only used once, never opened, small stain
8. To my best recollection, I can't remember
9. We can reach our world, if we will. The greatest lack today is not people or funds. The greatest need is prayer
10. If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip
11. You have the brains of a worm and half its looks
12. The wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead
13. The reverse side also has a reverse side
14. Did you think that the missionary path was all glory? Then you have not read of God's greatest Messenger to earth, who sat and wept over Jerusalem, crying out, "I would...but ye would not
15. What you don't see with your eyes don't invent with your mouth
16. Oh1 Do not attck me with your watch. A watch is always too fast or too slow. I cannot be dictated to by a watch
17. We thought because we had power, we had wisdom
18. Thank goodness I was never sent to school, it would have rubbed off some of the originality
19. In no other way can the believer become as fully involved with God's work, especially the work of world evangelism, as in intercessory prayer
20. debt is sacrificing your future day needs for your present day desires
21. I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions
22. There is no frigate like a book / To take us lands away
23. It's amazing what can be accomplished if you don't worry about who gets the credit
24. He must increase, but I must decrease

Clothes Crisis!

My closet is full of clothes, my shoe rack has more shoes than I can count, I have a plastic tote full of purses and a jewelry box overflowing! Yet somehow I managed not to have anything to wear! It was 11:30 at night and I had clothes all over my bed trying to decide what to wear to church the next morning! A cute dress, my favorite shirt and skirt, jewelry I was trying to match an outfit with, cute red heels and a million other things. I marched back and forth to the bathroom with each outfit trying to decide which one looked the best. But to no avail, I found nothing!! How does this happen? I have a closet full and yet nothing to wear! All this time of marching back and forth with different outfits, I hadn't noticed my younger brother sitting there watching me with much amusement on his face. I guess he could tell I was frustrated and he came to the bathroom door and said..."I think you should wear the red sweater and black skirt," and he turned around and walked off. Well what does a thirteen year old brother know about fashion I thought! I was still frustrated and decided to go to bed and sleep on it. Maybe a revelation of what to wear would come to me in the morning. Well morning came and I found myself driving to church, when I noticed what I was wearing...the red sweater and the black skirt! I had gotten up late and I was still undecided about what to wear, so out of frustration I put on the last thing I had tried on the night before. Maybe I'll go shopping tomorrow to find something cute for next week! My brother saw me walk into church and commented to me..."I see you are wearing what I told you to wear," I gave him one of those half older sister smiles. But to my surprise I had several nice comments on the outfit I wore. I laughed at myself on the way home...maybe my little brother does have a sense of fashion. I think next week I will have him pick out my outfit...well maybe not;)

Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown: Isn't there anybody who knows what Christmas is all about?

Linus: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night ..."

There once was a teeny turtle..

There once was a teeny turtle... wait!! I can hear you now, 'a teeny turtle? Whats that suppose to be?' They say if a child learns something the right way it will stick with them for the rest of their life! When I was younger I used to watch a Bible program that came on TV. This particular show always started with a song...'there once was a teeny turtle, immortal, invisible' (or so I thought :) It has stuck with me since, but I have never been able to remember the rest of the words. About a year ago, one of those moments came to me and I broke out in this song. My friend Rachel was standing there with a strange look on her face (how many 24 year olds go around singing about a teeny turtle) and she asked me to sing it again. My face was *slightly* red when I realized I had broke forth in song about this turtle! But here I went again and as I finished my spectacular performance I looked over to see Rachel doubled-over with laughter. After she regained her composure she asked where I had learned the song. So I explained and told her I never understood why they were singing 'there once was a teeny turtle, immortal, invisible' on a Bible program, but the song stuck with me and I had been singing that glorious refrain of eight words since then. She looked at me and just started laughing even harder! Then said very slowly and emphatically "there once was a King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible. God only wise." Now my face was *really* red! All these years I had been singing about this 'teeny turtle' when it really was 'King Eternal.' No wonder this 'teeny turtle' didn't make sense. How embarrasing! But, to this day I still break forth in song about that 'teeny turtle' just for laughs!