Day 1 of fast revisited

So today I began the day with regret that I broke my fast last night. Not to mention the headache from the original "Day 1" returned about noon. I started the day with stomach cramps (probably from the enchiladas) and had severe hunger pains again which I had all but lost by day 3, I think.

I started drinking water and since Shane was home most of the day we talked ALOT about fasting and this book I'm reading. (Side note: i suggest books to Shane ALL THE TIME and sometimes through my incessant "you have to read this..." comments, he will begin reading the suggested book but rarely does he finish anything I suggest! BOOOOOOOO!!!!😭) Anyhow, around 3:30pm I suggest he go on a "no solids" fast with me and read this book. HE RELUCTANTLY AGREES!! YAY! double the blessings right?

So now when to begin... "tonight" he says "that is AFTER we have a long awaited date night out." Well, OK so at 3:45pm I broke my fast again with some fried chicken livers and ocra lol Then ran a few errands, picked up our oldest 3 kids from church after we celebrated my oldest daughters birthday with ice cream there, came home, nursed Marissa to sleep, got little kids ready for bed and we headed out just the two of us for a super late dinner. It was the first time in well.... Years we went somewhere without a baby in tow.

At dinner we decided that we would both do the modified liquid fast for 7 days which includes any form of liquid (tomato soup, juice, smoothies, shakes, cream soups with no chunks and pretty much anything you can drink) than I want to continue with the water only fast for another 7 or possibly 14 days for a total of 21 days.

I am so excited to see what God will do with our family with both of us fasting and praying. I would LOVE if someone would give me a brand new fully loaded 15 passenger van.... Hint hint😉

Day 3 of water fast

Man this day was the most challenging of all. The baby woke up to nurse more often as I noticed my milk supply has gone down throughout the day and she has to eat more often. I spent the day praying, reading my book and working. Till around 3:30 when I began making dinner. I had already made the enchiladas but i needed to put them in the oven. The smell was overwhelming. But during dinner i went upstairs to take a shower and "get away". We then went to church.

It's Wednesday night so we work with the youth. I work the cafe and am usually pretty bored before service so normally I eat snacks. My favorite snack is the little Debbie nutty bars we sell in the café...... Omgoodness I could hardly stand it tonight. But I persevered. Later on though I had my first off plan "cheat" as I allowed myself to have a Sprite. Well... It's a clear liquid right? I believe that was my first mistake.

I left there and took my nephew home (he comes to church with us Wednesday nights) and I thought I would be hanging out a little while talking to my sister but conversation seemed forced which is not usual for us. Probably cause I was trying to take my mind off food. I decided it was time to go. Once home I had this overwhelming urge to break the fast and eat those enchiladas. I kept telling myself that "I HAVE SACRIFICED" and "I had done great on my first water fast considering." and "I could always start back tomorrow". I spent the next hour reading the book, praying, working and finally deciding to cave.

I went and made myself a bowl of those enchiladas. But With all that steamy cheesy goodness it did not satisfy. A little while later I thought a fresh orange might be satisfying but it wasn't... i won't embarrass myself further by telling the rest of what I binged on but I will tell you NOT ONE THING SATISFIED.

I am heading to bed now feeling terrible. I made it exactly 3 days on this water fast and apparently learned nothing other than I STILL AM A SLAVE TO FOOD! 😭 Lord help me.

The saying "tomorrow's another day" fits nicely here. Starting at 12:30am I am officially on another fast. I will make it to 7 days and then 21. Here's to starting over from day 1 😞 I think I'm going to be sick now😨

Adventures in chickens part 2

We finally got the coop built and the attached run. And put the red heat light inside the top so that they would stay warm. We left them in the coop during the night and most of the day and then let them out for a few hours in mid afternoon. We did this routinely till they were big enough to stop the lighting. They began laying in August 4 (around 4 months)

We were told all 6 were hens but once they started laying we noticed we weren't getting 6 eggs each day and then one day while pruning the garden we heard a distinct cockadoodle-doo. Now we had to figure out which one it was. We had gotten several different breeds of chickens so we didn't notice any distinct differences in thier appearances. Probably a week was spent running out there to see who it was when we heard the crowing and finally we saw him 😃

We live in a HOA so no roosters allowed. We then spent some time on YouTube trying to figure out how to cull a rooster. After doing our research it was time. My husband got the hatchet and sharpened it. In one quick motion, he chopped off its head. The head now laying on the tree stump was still opening and closing its beak and eyes while it's neck and body was squawking and flailing about in my husbands hand. (I had heard the saying "...like a chicken with its head chopped off..." but I had never imagined the horror of it.) It's Something I NEVER want to see again! Good thing we did not raise these for Meat. 😲

Day 2 of water fast

So I woke up without a headache which was surprising since I had a headache (it seemed) all night. But I did wake up with nausea and my body felt achy All over. Miserable night😞

Today the girls had piano lessons at 2:30 so I was going to try to get out by noon so I could go to the grocery store before thier lessons. Shane had a delivery so he wasn't here to help with the kids (especially Phoenix who woke up with a fever. I think he's teething. Went through 3 shirts in a couple of hours with drool). He got home around 12:30 so I wasn't actually able to get out of the house before 1:30.

So i took 3 kids with me to the post office and then this terrible craving for egg drop soup came over me. While I was driving I passed this Chinese restaurant by the post office and it was like a little voice inside saying. "If you can only have clear liquids what about that egg drop soup from that Chinese place. You have time to pull in and get a to go order." I had past it and thought "well, there is that one up near the dollar store." And I was off. I was convincing myself all the way to the door that it would still be a fast even if there are egg pieces in the soup. "After all, I can still drink it and not chew, right?" I get myself and the kids out of the car and head to the door now battling whether to skip the egg drop soup and go with the won ton soup with no won tons but the restaurant was CLOSED!!! Oh thank God! I decide would be better to get some broth from the grocery store instead and heat it at the church where the girls have piano lessons. I read my Fasting book the whole hour.

After thier lessons went to the grocery store (Walmart) and I was beginning to feel agitated. Kept praying to get through this day. The kids with me however continued to giggle and laugh incessantly which grated on my nerves the whole time we were shopping. I got home and went straight upstairs to nurse the baby and came down to the overwhelming smell of tacos. My husband had cooked!! I LOVE TACOS! I COULDN'T BARE ANOTHER SECOND. So I announce that I wouldn't be joining them for dinner but instead i would be going to the Y to sit in the sauna and read and relax. This annoyed my husband who apparently expected me to sit with them through dinner and do our nightly devotion while they all ate. He says "what about family devotions?" I in turn say "Please, with this fasting and praying I will be way more "enlightened" then you even if I skip!" (Air quotes and all) This invites an argument about how I've been on him to start a family devotion time and then I'm going to skip? Now in tears I am like "I'm sorry that I can't sit through "taco time" to do devotions tonight. Have some compassion!!!" I turn to the kids now sitting at the table eating and explain to them that I will probably miss a few dinners for the first few nights because it is the hardest the first 3 days. And then I leave for the Y.

I sweat in the dry sauna for about 35 minutes with my Fasting book and pray. Then I pray on the way home for God to fix whatever this mental addiction to food is. See I haven't felt hungry most of the day but my mind has been telling me I need this or that. It's in my mind!

I get home and my husband and I make up. Although I did hope that they would have cleaned up so I wouldn't have to look at the leftover taco fixings. They had not. But strangely they no longer looked "good" to me. THANKS GOD! I went on to make enchiladas for the next night with the leftovers and never once was tempted.
Around 8pm I began having leg cramps that were very painful. I also developed diarrhea today. I decided to go to bed around 11:30pm after drinking that nasty fennel Greek tea for my milk supply. I decided not to take the metformin tonight with my Zyrtec and prenatal vitamin. Slept OK.

Day 1 of water fast

So I began my water fast at midnight after I ate a Bologna sandwich ha-ha I know! It's the weirdest thing. I am a type 2 diabetic so a sandwich with real bread is a luxury. 😂

I went to bed determined. I have read a lot of things mainly how to do this while nursing since that is a concern. Just about Everything I have read says don't. Just like when you want to diet while nursing. The main concern here is toxins being eliminated through breast milk and of course, low milk supply. First I am going to start by saying I'm preparation for this fast I have spent the last 3 weeks fasting intermittently 16-24 hours at a time sometimes skipping a while day. The reason for that is to slowly release the "toxins" as to avoid them being dumped into my system. I do know that any kind of fat loss also releases toxins but there have been no studies that show those toxins eliminated through breast milk. I will be paying close attention to my sweet Marissa during this time. If her stools change or her interest in nursing, I will quit the fast.

The second concern is low milk supply. I am drinking a gallon of water a day at least and I am forcing down that awful fennel Greek tea once a day to help with supply. Again l will monitor this closely as I do not want to give up nursing at this time. She is 4 months.

So I was thinking that getting out of the house today would help take my mind off hunger so we decided to take our 10 kids to the Ymca to swim. We packed lunches and water bottles and headed out. Before leaving my headache came back something fierce so I broke down and took some ibuprofen... booo!😭
We had a picnic lunch at the Y before going in and man did that bread look and smell delicious. I had brought with me 3 20oz bottles of purified water and I kept guzzling to rid myself of the food  thoughts. At this point, the hunger pains had gone away. It was just a craving... like in my mind. The devil tempting? Maybe... but I persevered😉 Hunger wasn't an issue till I was in the 21st hour and then I actually felt pain in my stomach. I went to bed around 10:30pm after taking my multivitamin, metformin and allergy pill (Zyrtec). I thought it would help with the headache. It did not. Tossed and turned all night with headache and kept drinking water which made me have to pee several times in the night. Day one was hard with general exhaustion and headaches. 😞

Prelude 7 day Water fasting: my experience

So through much prayer and preparation, I have decided to do a water/clear liquid fast for health and spiritual growth. For approximately 3 weeks I have been fasting between 16 and 24 hours a day to get my body prepared for a longer period of fasting. I am setting my goal at 7 days so far but from all that I've read 21 days and beyond is where you see the most breakthrough. Some breakthroughs i am praying for during this time are:
1. Restoration of the nerves in my foot (no more diabetic nueropathy)
2. Clarity in my purpose and more anointing in that purpose.
3. Complete reversal of diabetes
4. Weight loss
5. Financial breakthroughs (following the 3 ways to worship by Jetezen Franklin from his book Fasting)
6. Salvation for our family members who are lost.
7. Deeper more meaningful relationship with God ( I feel a drawing to come up higher. I want to feel a fire inside).

These of course are not in order and they are not all that I'm expecting. I am completely fine with God surprising me with favor I never imagined 😉.

I started my fast at midnight on Sunday June 5th and began reading the book "Fasting". I am excited!!

Boys new Double Bunk Bed

So our 3 oldest boys are about to get another roommate as my 15 month old HAS TO leave my bedroom. I don't mean that in a mean way but it is starting to get cold at night and being the hot natured person I am I NEED the fan on in my room which is not helpful to my sweet boy. No matter how many times I get up to cover him at night he tosses around too much for his blanket to stay on. So we were on a mission to find another bunk bed that would fit in their already small room. Unfortunately the measurements of the room did not allow for two store bought bunk beds in the room not even in an "L" shape. So my husband decided to build his own. He found several plans online for individual bunk beds and combined them to come up with a double bunk design with a playfort underneath, rock wall and monkey bars :)

Why is a man working with his hands so hot?

So first thing was buying all the materials and cutting and sanding. Then he put the frames together (total of 4)

Busy weekend so we will have to take a little break on the construction but the boys don't mind sleeping down stairs on the couch a few nights ;)