Whole 30 Week 1-ups and downs

                                             🎉 We made it through an entire week! 🎉

 The first few days had their ups and downs. There were a few days I definitely wanted to throw in the towel! (and a few I was not very fun to be around!)It was hard to get used to a very different way of eating, as well as giving up a lot of bad habits. For the first week I felt like I spent A LOT of my time either planning, cooking, shopping for or thinking about my meals. I had some frustrations when I prepared meals and didn't like them. It was a bit tough eating Whole 30 when I was around other people eating the foods I would normally eat. It took some getting used to not having snacks in the evening-that bowl of sugary cereal or chips I'd normally have.

I noticed a few positive changes already though and Mike could really tell a difference in how he felt.   I could quickly tell that eating a higher protein, filling breakfast helped start my day better with fewer mood swings and crankiness. (Don't get me wrong...there was definitely a few bouts of crankiness in there!) I noticed as the week went on that I was needing fewer snacks between meals. I felt full but not that miserable over-full feeling. Mike noticed quickly that he was having more energy and feeling much less shaky throughout the day, especially before meals. He started checking his blood pressure and it was into a healthy range which was much lower than it had been just a few weeks before! That made him very happy and motivated to keep going!

Here are a few observations I made about my own week.

~It was very clear how much I depend on foods being sweetened, even meats! I could quickly tell how much I missed having sweet sauces added to my meats.
~I could see how much my moods quickly shifted if I didn't eat enough or the right things at meals.
~Going without Coke Zero wasn't nearly as hard as I expected. I started drinking unsweet tea instead and enjoyed it. I've been brewing an individual black tea bag along with a flavored herbal tea for some flavor.
~Having friends do this with me was a HUGE HELP! My friend, Holly, started about a week before me and my friend, Darla started a few days after. Having them to text and share ideas or just vent about my feelings was such an encouragement to keep going! If you're going to do this, I highly recommend you recruit a buddy to do it with you.
~While I want to try new foods and new ways to prepare them, I needed to find some foods I liked and work around those. I started out going too far off my tastes and was just discouraged and frustrated. Things got much easier as I started to figure out foods I liked.


Here are a few of my meals that I really enjoyed.

 I microwaved a potato and topped it with chili. www.laurafuentes.com/paleo-chili-recipe-all-meat-veggie/ 
It was filling and my boys even enjoyed the chili.

 This is a salad from Chipotle. I was really concerned about being able to eat out with friends. This is their pork carnitas with guacamole and salsa. It was so good! It allowed me to have lunch out with a friend!

 This pot roast was very flavorful and easy. I seasoned it and seared it in the pan then added the veggies and roasted it in the oven.

There were a few meals I wasn't as happy with. I tried spaghetti squash but didn't get the right texture. The flavor with the meat sauce (spaghetti sauce from Sprouts with ground beef) was good but I need to try again to get the right texture. Lunches were a bit hard. I would've loved to have just grabbed a sandwich or fast food but couldn't. After some trial and error I found a few salad dressings I liked and that helped. 

One of my big concerns was holidays and eating meals with other people. We successfully navigated that when we had friends over for Easter. I made taco meat using my own seasonings, guacamole and salsa. Mike and I had taco salads while our friends had soft tacos. I found a dressing recipe I could modify enough to taste like Catalina dressing and added some plantain chips for crunch. It was a great meal and we enjoyed spending time with friends. Passing on the cheese dip and chips and the brownies was a bit tough but we managed! Then, there's all the darn candy my kids have now! 😅

At the end of the week, I re-evaluated my meals I had planned for this week. I made a breakfast casserole that's pretty good. I'm planning some meals this week that are close to things we normally like. Tonight I'm going to make stir fry with a teriyaki sauce recipe I found. Later this week I'm going to cook some pork chops and steak tips. I've found some ways to thicken sauces which will help with flavoring meals. I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out. 

In spite of a few rough times, I'm happy I'm doing this. It's been good for me to learn some new ways to cook and to branch out of my norms. I'm learning a lot about how foods can be affecting my and family's body. I highly recommend the book It Starts with Food. Its been very eye-opening and motivating to work at making changes for myself and my family. The boys have liked most of the dinners I prepared (I added some things for them sometimes).  I'm helping them start to make better choices for snacks and meals as well. I look forward to seeing how we continue to grow through this. 

I've started week 2 and feel much less overwhelmed and more knowledgable already. I'm getting into a good routine with meals and it doesn't feel as time-consuming. We can do this!

Whole 30 Here we go...

Tomorrow is the BIG day! I took a trip to Sprouts this evening and got all stocked up on fruits, veggies and meats. I was nervous about how much it was going to cost, but it really wasn't too bad! It helped me to remember that this is all healthy, real food and to think of how much we will save by not eating out as often. (We went out twice this weekend and spent over 1/2 of what I spent on all this food! I'll save at least $5-10/week by not getting drinks at 7-11 or On-Cue.)

I came home and made a recipe I'd been wanting to try for Chicken Detox Soup. http://www.aspicyperspective.com/chicken-detox-soup/. It was really good! Since I started with dinner tonight, that means that on Day 30, I can eat a cheeseburger, fries and a shake. 😉 Mike really liked the soup too and it made enough that I can eat it for lunch a couple days.

I spent some time this evening getting prepared for the week. I fried some of the sausage I had made to have it ready for breakfasts and made these yummy looking egg "muffins" with sautéed red onions, mushrooms, spinach and mini bell peppers, and a little taco seasoning. We tasted the sausage and it was really good. I'm looking forward to trying the egg muffins tomorrow. It'll be an easy breakfast to heat and go since we have an early appointment tomorrow.

 For lunch, I made some chicken salad using the chicken I boiled to make broth, some whole 30 mayo, celery, grapes, slivered almonds and a little avocado. I'll have it on top of cucumber slices. I also made some delicious blackberry vinaigrette dressing using light tasting olive oil, red wine vinegar, lime juice and some fresh blackberries. 

Dinner will be grilled chicken marinated in pineapple juice and coconut aminos (I had never heard of it until recently. It's an alternative to soy sauce), grilled pineapple, potatoes and salad. 

I've got some unsweet flavored teas that have caffeine to help me do without my normal Coke Zero. I've been cutting way back on Coke Zero already and have been fine. I never believed it that diet soda caused more sugar cravings but I actually can tell that I'm craving sweets less as I've cut back. So, that's progress already.  

Mike and I are both feeling motivated and ready to see how this helps us. I think I'm prepared, both physically and mentally. I hear that's a key to being successful. I feel a sense of accomplishment knowing that I'm making choices that will benefit all my family. Wish me luck! (or better yet, say a prayer for us!) 😁

Whole 30...Lets do this!

Mike and I have decided to do the Whole 30 challenge a try. (Let me clarify, Mike talked with a co-worker who had completed the Whole 30 and had great results so he wanted to do it. After much reluctance, I agreed.) If you've never heard of Whole 30, this explains it, http://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/. It's basically a 30 day commitment to eating whole foods and avoiding things that may be causing negative affects in your body. (added sugar-real or artificial, alcohol, grains, dairy, legumes) It's not about weight loss (though that's often a result) but about changing your eating habits and attitudes towards food.

For anyone who knows me, this is NOT natural for me.  I love sweets, Coke zero, and most forms of "junk food".  I've always been naturally pretty thin and haven't really struggled with my weight. So, I've used that as an excuse to eat whatever I want. While my health isn't bad, I know I could be healthier, have more energy and be in better shape. Also, the big 4-0 is looming around the corner and I know staying healthy isn't going to get any easier. 

I started doing lots of reading online about the Whole 30 and read a post saying that to help yourself be successful in the program, it's good to know your "why?".  I thought through that and came up with my reasons why I want to do this. 

1) Mike. 

 ~If he is motivated to want to get healthier, I want to support him in that. It would be much harder for him to do this on his own while the rest of us ate whatever we wanted. He's generally healthy but he would like to lose some weight and have more energy.  He works very hard at his job and is often pretty beat when he comes home. He would like to feel like he has more energy to enjoy being with our family after work. He has some family history of health problems and doesn't want to be unaware that he needs to keep himself in good shape. So, even if he was my only reason, that would be enough. But, there are more. 

2) My own physical and emotional health.

~I'm a busy mom and, like all moms, often am tired and want to just sit in peace and quiet. There's nothing wrong with that, from time to time. But, I am pretty sure if I were eating a healthier diet and not indulging in so many processed foods I would have more energy. I struggle with mood swings off and on also. I'm hopeful that eating better will help with my moods as well. I know theres no guarantee that my health will continue to be good but making better choices certainly can't hurt. 

3) My boys. 

~13, 1l and 8 year old boys are active and always up for adventure. They loved exploring national parks last summer. They love camping, hiking, swimming, anything outdoors. I know the time we have with them at home is quickly passing and I don't want to miss out on as many fun things as possible.  They're starting to be in the adolescent years when they will be able to go on longer hikes and explore new places. Mike and I know we will have to work at it to be able to keep up with them. 

4) Breaking bad habits. 

~ Like I said, I have built up a lot of bad habits of eating anything I want without thinking of how it affects my body. I have gotten into a bad habit of cooking what is easy or going out to eat. I need to break the hold that sugar, diet soda, and snacking has on my life. I want to begin to change those habits in my boys now too. I'm not going to expect them to follow the diet completely but I do plan to begin changing some of the ways we all eat. 

5)Last, but of greatest importance, I want to honor God with my whole life. 

~ My deepest desire is to live a life that honors and pleases God. Taking good care of my body is definitely a big part of that. If the foods I'm eating aren't helping me to be the best wife, mom, friend, mentor, Christian, that I can be...something needs to go! I am not a slave to my desires or cravings, but am a slave to Christ. He is a worthy master. Food is not. 

After a couple weeks of reading and planning, we are starting this coming Monday, April 10th. I have two weeks worth of meals planned. I intend to either duplicate that for the next two weeks or reevaluate and plan more. It worked out great that my good friend, Holly, had just decided to do this also. It's been very helpful having her as a support and encouragement. We've shared meal ideas and recipes. It will be great to have someone I can text if I begin to struggle or I want to quit who will encourage me to stick with it. I've already purchased some sauces, spices, drinks and snacks. I've made my own mayo, sausage, and chicken and beef broth (why is there sugar in beef broth?!?).  I'm going to Sprouts again (this week was the first time I ever set foot in a health food store!) this weekend to stock up on my meats, fruits and veggies. I'm feeling motivated and excited to see how this has positive effects on me and my family. I started weaning myself off coke zero and have only had two all week and shockingly, I've been fine! 

If you are interested in keeping up with this journey or considering doing it yourself, stay tuned. I'll be posting about my meals and how I'm feeling. Seriously, if I succeed at this...ANYONE can! 😉

Here are my menus for the 1st two weeks. Yep, I have a binder. 😀

Long due updates

Please bear with me as a I catch up on 8 months of progress. I started this blog in August and then school started for the boys and life got very busy. For awhile, it felt like nothing was ever going to happen on our house but it finally did! I'm going to try to show you what's been going on for the last few months and then try to post more often to keep updates coming. School is almost over so I should have a bit more time soon. :)

Here is what our house site looked like for quite a few months. Mike and my dad spent many hours with chain saws clearing the area for the house without getting rid of all the trees. After they got the main area and drive way cleared, the big equipment came in and got things done very fast. They put Mike and Dad out of business very fast. :)

Of course, the boys loved watching the machines at work!

In January, things really started happening! We were very excited to see this sign go up!

 We couldn't be happier to be using our friend, Pete Jackson, and Stonewall Homes as our builder. He does GREAT work and is a really great Christian man who we trust completely. He and his wife are friends of ours too.

When the foundation was poured, things really began to feel real. I could finally picture that there was ever going to be a house in the middle of that forest.

That was a lot of concrete!

At the end of February, the walls started to go up. So exciting!!

It was really fun having stairs so we could see the second floor too. All those high ledges and a balcony without railing made this Mom a bit nervous though! The boys, of course, weren't bothered by the heights!

At this point, things were changing all the time and it was really fun to start being able to picture ourselves living in this house.

 Can you see why that would make me nervous?!?!? I was very happy to see this go up. :)

I think we'll really enjoy this balcony. I for-see lots of girls nights out here.

After several "discussions" and 5 or 6 paint samples, we finally decided on exterior colors that we love!

For the past few weeks, the electricians and plumbers have been hard at work. They have passed all the inspections and the next step will be insulation and then the brick and stone. We are hoping those will happen next week. It's fun to start being able to plan how we will use and decorate all the rooms. Our little rent house is feeling pretty cramped and we look forward to spreading out again. :) We are very grateful for a nice home for this time, we certainly don't want to stay forever thought. ;)

The boys love going out to the house and playing in the trees and on the big dirt pile.

We had an Easter egg hunt at our house and an egg on a spoon race. We are enjoying already making memories in our new house. We can't wait to live in it and make great memories with family and friends for many years to come. God has been so gracious to provide this for us.

We have a plan!!

Just this past week we got our finalized house plan from our architect. We LOVE it! We couldn't be more pleased with the work of the architect who we used. If you ever need an architect in the Oklahoma City area, we would strongly recommend Wendell Milam of Total Dimensions Design. He was so easy to work with and was committed to giving us the plan we wanted. He would send us sections as he finished them and allow us to make any changes we wanted. By the time we got the final plan it was pretty much exactly what we were wanting. He wasn't quite as fast as some other architects because this isn't his full time business but something he does on the side but the quality of the plan and the price made it well worth the wait.

We also had a meeting with our builder, Pete on Friday. We discussed all the details of what we wanted in our house. It was fun to think through all the details and made it begin to feel more real. It was a bit overwhelming too though! LOTS of decisions! We met for four hours and didn't cover every detail even. Thankfully, Pete is also a friend of ours and we enjoy spending time talking with him. Hopefully, he feels the same way. :) I'm really looking forward to seeing the house begin to come together. I think I'll be a bit nervous until we get back Pete's estimate of the cost of our house. I'm crossing my fingers that we didn't go overboard in our house design. :) We tried to plan our home to be comfortable and useful to us as well as our family and friends. We attempted to think about how it will work for our family in the future also since we hope to never have to move again!

Pete has arranged for a man to come out to the land to begin clearing the area for the house site. He is supposed to be out sometime next week. Mike and my dad have already done a lot of work to prepare. What started as a forest has already begun to take shape into what will become our yard.I'll post a picture of the progress soon. I'll also post some pictures once the "Dirt Guy" (as Mike refers to him) comes this week. 

Front View of house:
(We made a few minor changes when we met with Pete but this is pretty much it. ) It will have tan siding at the top and natural looking brick and stone.

 First Floor:

 Second Floor:

Let this adventure begin!

I may have shed a tear or two at the thought of leaving our house on Lairds Woods Circle. It has been a wonderful home for the last almost five years. Lots of great memories happened there. We moved in with a joyfully-expected baby in the womb, an adorable almost 3 year old and a funny barely 5 year old. We moved out with a wild and affectionate four year old, a sweet and funny 7 and a half year old and a caring and energetic almost ten year old!

Oh, how we’ve all changed and grown in our time there. We experienced an abundance of great times and a sprinkling of very hard times. We watched our little family swell with joy and hold fast under the grief of losing our two babies in the womb, Gabriel and Nathanael. We grew closer to the Lord through praising Him in the good times and trusting Him in the tough ones.

We filled our house and back yard (and even the surrounding woods) with family and many friends. We took walks to the lake to fish and feed catfish. We explored trails in the trees. We caught fireflies and watched deer, coyotes, turkeys and a few roadrunners. We played in the snow and enjoyed the Worlds Most Epic backyard 100 ft slip and slide! We decked our halls indoors and out to celebrate our Lord’s birth. We awoke for Christmas morning and rang in the new year (well before midnight) with many cherished friends. Those walls heard more laughter than could be counted and some tears that only My Lord captured in a bottle(Psalm 56:8)(and for the sake of being real, a few too many raised Mommy voices at times). We read books before bed and watched movies all snuggled on an air mattress in the living room floor. Mike and I sat on the back porch and felt like our hearts couldn’t be more full as we watched our sweet boys romp and play on the trampoline, climb in the tree house and roll in the grass. After many years of rejecting pets (except two Beta fish(shhh…the boys think there was only one who lived a long time. We agreed to get cats and welcomed two cute little kittens, Jessie and Josie, into our family. Those two little kitties got lots of love! We were sad when Josie disappeared but enjoyed bringing little Jovie into our home. Jessie wasn’t thrilled at first but quickly adjusted. In those 5 years we took a few really great trips (Disney World, Branson, Iowa, Hawaii and a few more) but we always loved coming back to our own home. It made this Mom’s heart happy to have her boys always say how much they loved to be home. When we first lived in that house Isaac hadn’t even started kindergarten. Now as we move out he is about to go into 4th grade and Elijah will go into 2^nd grade.

Jeremiah will (hopefully he’ll cooperate) be starting some Pre-k lessons at

home in the fall. When we moved in Mike and I were about to celebrate our 6th

year anniversary. Now we have sailed past the 10 year mark and are more in love and can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for our family. It’s hard to think of leaving the Lairds Woods house but God has already proven that He has great things in the works.

On March 7th, 2013 (and the week prior) our hearts were heavy with the acknowledgement of the 2 year anniversary of the death of our baby Gabriel. We decided it was time to do the much-dreaded task of picking out grave markers for our two babies. Since we believed firmly that, even in the womb (lost at 4.5 and almost 6 months pregnant), they were people with value we felt it was only right to honor them as such. I had never even visited the site where they were buried. It was too painful and I felt I had said my goodbyes already. But, I felt as if I should. Only a cold and dreary

day Mike and I (while the boys were with Nana and PaPa) walked out onto a brown field at a cemetery and I saw where they had been buried. My heart felt kind of numb and heavy. I knew that they weren’t in the dingy grass but walking in perfection on streets of gold in the presence of my Savior. I knew I would see them someday and all tears would be gone and all things would be made perfect. That was a tough day (few days really).

The next day we were about to go get the boys at my parents’ house and Mike said that first he wanted to drive by and see some land he saw for sale. Our long-term dream had always been to buy about 10 acres of land a little farther out of town and build a home in the woods. We envisioned a retreat for our family and friends and a place for our boys to grow and explore God’s creation. We didn’t know if or when that dream would be fulfilled but we certainly dreamed about and discussed it often. Inthe past few years the Lord had blessed Mike very unexpectedly with advancements in his career that had made this dream seem more possible. We drove to this land, which was only about a ten minute drive from our current house, and saw a 10 acre plot full of oak and cedar trees. In the early spring it was hard to tell how it would look in full bloom but we could definitely see potential. We began to get cautiously excited. Mike called the realtor and found out that the price was under what he had expected. After praying for a few days and showing it to my parents for their opinion we made an offer! It was accepted and the realtor told Mike that there had been two more offers already and someone had wanted to purchase all 30 acres that were for sale together. We felt like God blessed us that we got it! We couldn’t believe this adventure

was happening! We talked to our friend at church who is an amazing home builder and began pouring over the abundance of house plans on the internet. We got some pretty good ideas of what we wanted but couldn’t settle on one plan. After staring at computer screens until our eyes were almost crossed, we decided to find the one we liked most and have an architect alter it. The first architect we checked into was good but very pricey. I began to get worried and discouraged again (Mike, of course, remained the calm one to talk me off my ledge). Then, God showed himself faithful again. One day at Elijah’s baseball practice I was chatting with a Dad of a teammate and he said he was a builder and a painter. I asked if he knew any good architects. He immediately threw out a name and a great recommendation. (Turns out he had worked with our builder, Pete, for years too) We checked into the guy he mentioned and got nothing but great reports of his work and his prices couldn’t be beaten. We were going to save several thousand dollars by going with him! Thanks again, Lord! But, just wait. That’s only the beginning of the ways we’ve been amazed at His provision.

We decided that we weren’t going to begin the building process until we had sold our house in order to avoid getting in a financial bind if ours didn’t sell quickly. We began packing things up to de-clutter and making some improvements in order to get the house ready to show to potential buyers. We planned to try and sell it ourselves for a few weeks to try to save on realtor fees. Our goal was to begin showing it by June 1^st. I posted the information about it on facebook and asked friends to spread the word. We had one family show a bit of interest but the location wasn’t what they were wanting. I was anxious that it wouldn’t sell but tried my best to trust God. Again, Mike was always calm and assured me it would all work out. He’s so annoying like that. :)

On May 3, I sent a text to Isaac’s piano teacher asking her a question. She wrote back saying; “It’s funny that you texted me. My husband (who is a realtor) would like the info on your house. One of his clients is looking in your neighborhood. Would you mind emailing me info?” I told Mike and said ”Yes!,” and sent her the info. The potential buyers were coming into town May 13th and wanted to see it then. We spent a whirlwind 10 days whipping that house into shape and prayed a lot. They saw it twice and were ready to make an offer by the end of that week! We were thrilled and shocked that we sold our house before we even planned to show it!! We started saying, “Wow, Lord! This dream might actually happen!” The offer they made was even at the price we were asking for the house! Amazing! My faith started getting a little less shaky at this point. Then we heard they wanted to close by June 28th. We had about 6 weeks to secure a rental house and move!

We began searching for houses while also finishing up the school year and beginning to pack. Then, at the end of May a devastating tornado hit Moore, OK just north of us. While we were mostly grateful for our safety and that of all our friends, we became a bit concerned with how this would affect the rental housing market. It definitely did. Rental houses were very hard to come by. Most would not accept pets and wanted a full year lease. We knew we would only need the house for about 6-9 months. I started to worry again. One realtor told me that with the time of year and the current housing need that it was very unlikely to get a lease for less than and year and to look into apartments. I reached out on facebook again to see if anyone knew of a house available. I also began searching apartments. I began to resign myself to the fact that we might get an apartment and a storage unit. That did NOT sound fun with 3 kids and 2 cats but I knew we could do anything for a short time. I comforted myself and the boys with the fact that apartments have pools. Then, on May 31, while we were driving to get out of town for another big thunderstorm, Mike got a text from Pete. It said something to the affect of, “My wife said you guys are looking for a rental house. I have a house coming available at the end of June. If we all survive this storm I’ll show it to you soon if you’re interested”;. HA! Um, Yes please! Seriously, Lord?!? Needless to say we were all unharmed (except a bit of hail damage to our car) and we saw the house. We loved it! It was just what we were wanting. It was smaller so we could save some money, not far from our current house or the land, on a quiet cul-de-sac with a big backyard. And the price was less than what we thought we would pay for some apartments! Since Pete was building our house, he didn’t even have us sign a lease but said we could just live there until the house is finished. Could that have happened any more perfectly?!? I started thinking we must be heading in the right direction since God continued to bless our plans and answer our prayers beyond what we expected. I’m not saying God would’ve been less good or faithful if we were in an apartment but we were grateful for his abundant provision

We moved into the rental house this past weekend. (or are still moving). We were amazed at how well everything fits. It’s less than half the square footage of our Lairds Woods house. I am not unpacking everything. We are living a “minimalist” existence for the next few months. I’ll have to do dishes more often and go grocery shopping more frequently. There is certainly no spare room to leave piles of laundry or toys laying around. This may be good for the boys and me to make some better habits. The boys are super excited. Isaac commented on how big the rental house is! Jeremiah is making us laugh by calling it “Pete’s house” So, I guess according to him, we are living in Pete’s House for the next few months. The house is cute and cozy. I’m hoping this time with less “stuff”; can be a good lesson for us all that we don’t need so much stuff in order to be happy. I’m praying we learn some lasting lessons that we’ll take with us. We are viewing this as part of a big adventure and enjoying it.

Our land is a beautiful field full of big, beautiful trees. There are a few rolling slopes and a couple nice clearings. We have already found an area that Mike and the boys have dubbed the Camping Spot. We also came across an area with some big rocks jutting out over a sloped area. There are not many trees over it. We have decided that will be the perfect spot to do some star gazing and cloud watching. We have dreams of many summer evenings with friends and family outside. We look forward to seeing it covered in snow too. Our desire is to build a home that can be a great place for our boys and their friends to have lots of great adventures and enjoy God’s world. We plan to host family holidays and parties with friends for many years to come. We imagine that our grandkids will come back and enjoy this place like my children do my childhood home. We want our home to be a retreat from the world and a blessing to our family and others. We want to glorify God with our home and all our lives. We want it to always be our boys’ favorite place to be. Both Mike and I grew up in a similar setting and loved it.

As we were out walking on the land last week and discussing where the house and the yard would be, I looked around at all the beautiful trees. Most of them are huge oak trees. I immediately thought of the passage in Isaiah 61:3 “that they may be called oaks of Righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified. I prayed that passage for my sweet boys and for all of us. I so desire that my children will grow to be strong men of God, rooted deeply in God’s Word, who will stand firm through whatever God allows in their lives. As I read this passage I was astonished to realize that it is contained in another passage that I felt the Lord revealed to me in a really amazing time in my life on a mission trip to the Middle East in college. The larger passage is “The Spirit of the has anointed me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit, that they may be called oaks of righteousness that he may be glorified.” Isaiah 61:1-3.

I realize that this passage was written by the prophet Isaiah regarding a specific situation but really when you think about it, it’s the mission of all believers. As people who have been saved from our sins by Jesus’ death and resurrection, we are anointed by God to bring good news to everyone and set captives free from the grips of sin and death. (Romans 6:17-18).

We are also given the ministry of reconciliation that does heal broken hearts, comforts the mourning, and results in praise to God (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) When we live this out in the power of the Holy Spirit, God is glorified in us. How amazing is God that He would show me that passage as I was seeking Him in the summer of 1999 and would bring it back in a new way in the summer of 2013? I can’t praise Him enough and am in awe of His abundant grace to me since I am so unworthy. He has been so good to me. Even in the hardest times in the past few years, He was SO good. Even if I had never seen this dream of ours fulfilled, He would still be so very good. But, since He is blessing us in this way, I want to give Him glory and share it with others. If no one but me reads this, it will be a good way for me to remember for years to come what He has done. I can’t wait to watch the rest of this journey play out. 

Our boys have changed a lot in the years that we lived in our house at Lairds Woods Circle. 

Then:

Now: