Message for God

So, Christian came home from school last week with an envelope in his backpack. It was labeled "God". I looked inside and found a blank index card. I asked him what it was for, and He said "it's a message for God!" I asked him what he was supposed to do, and he said we needed to get an orange crayon and write a message to God on the card, so I decided to jump on it and do it with him right then.

Orange crayon in my hand and Christian ready to dictate, this is what he said:

"God, I know that you love us, and we'll love you too forever. I want to live with you forever. I just can't tell you how much I love you! Thank you for making the whole earth, and thanks for everything, God. Amen."

There were a few other things mumbled in there under his breath, but that's what I was able to catch and write down (and what I wrote down was word for word what he said). He sounded so grown up and like he has a relationship with God already at the young age of 4. My prayer is that his relationship with God will continue and grow throughout his entire life and that he will truly know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior! What a wonderful start, and I thank his pre-k teacher, Mrs. Wessley, for making that moment with my son possible!

Where to go from here...?

So I'm looking back at this blog and trying to decide whether to continue or not - as well as what the content will be. I think I might begin to share about the family for anyone not in contact with us on a regular basis to keep up with our lives. I'm kind of laughing at myself - it's quite a dorky and self-centered little blog so far with only the details of my crazy diet. My intention at the time was to document the changes in my body those two months, but it wasn't as drastic as I had hoped, medically speaking...no results on my medical issues as proof that the diet did what I set out to do. But oh well! That's over and done with. On to more important things, I guess! I'll try to post sometime in the next week, but if not, then I will definitely post about our upcoming trip to Disney when we get back. I am anxious and a little apprehensive about our first big vacation as a family of five. Grandma and Grandpa Benson are coming with us, so we will have some extra hands, but the two-day drive down may kill us...I'm praying hard that it goes quickly...

Woohoo!

Here's a couple pictures - as close as I could get to before and after, but I think (and hope!) you can see the weight loss in my face (just a little?!).  I know it's more evident in my body, but I didn't take any good full length pictures for before and after, so this is all I've got.

I stepped on the scale this morning, and I have officially lost 20 POUNDS on this diet!  

Now I'm deciding whether to buy a new swimsuit or not.  Shopping for swimsuits officially got very complicated since I had babies and inherited a beautiful baby "leftover" belly.  I feel like this purchase is going to take much research and probably me going to try swimsuits on in the store before I come to a decision.  But when do I have the time?  I was hoping to have lost more of the baby belly with this diet, but I guess it would help if I worked out...at all.  One step at a time though, right?

Nearing the end

I am in shock and feeling a little bit of denial.  I was feeling like the pounds had stopped coming off for awhile.  Once I hit 15 pounds, it seemed to just rest there for over a week (which was unusual since starting this diet).  I was frustrated.  But the past couple of days, the pounds have started falling off again, and I can't believe my eyes!

3 days ago, the scale said 136 (16 pounds down, so I was excited!).  2 days ago, it said 136 again (okay, I can deal with 16 pounds!).  Then all of a sudden, yesterday it says 134!  That's 18 pounds!  And then again, this morning, I was in complete shock.  I stepped on the scale, and it went up to 135 and then adjusted to 133!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WHAT?!?!?!?!?  So I tried it again, thinking the digital scale could be off.  Nope, it still said 133.  That's 19 lbs.!!!!  I am THRILLED, to say the least.  I haven't been at this weight in three years, since before I got pregnant with Keira.  I was so discouraged resting at 137.  I know....waah, waah...15 lbs.  So terrible to have only lost 15 lbs.  But eating what I'm eating (and NOT eating what I am not eating for almost 2 solid months!), I want to see results!  So I am relieved to have gotten past that plateau.  I definitely want to stop the official diet as of April 30 and start adding some foods back in sparingly, but I really wanted to lose at least 20 pounds first.  Hopefully my weight loss will continue.  I'm not going to add too much back in - just enough to satisfy some of my cravings.  And I'm going to make an effort to begin exercising on a regular basis, using the treadmill Dan bought me.

Unfortunately, Dan and I have been dealing with medical bills from the gallstones and kidney stones, and we've found out our insurance basically covers nothing.  So, I probably won't be able to be tested again to see what progress I made, but I am encouraged that I have not had any real pain since starting the diet.  I'm just bummed to not be able to get proof that this diet works and builds your body up to begin healing itself.  As long as I'm pain free though - that's what matters most, next to being the healthiest I've been in my entire life.

Dan and I also decided last week that I am able to have a short vacation!  I'll be taking Carter with me since he's still nursing exclusively, but only one baby is a vacation when you have three kids, age 4 and under!  I'm very excited to be going to Florida with my college roomie in May, and I'm excited to have a new body to put in a bathing suit!

I'll keep you posted on the diet if anything else develops (and I may post some kind of before and after pictures when it's all through), but overall, I'm very pleased with the results and would recommend this to ANYONE, whether it's to lose weight or to address a major health issue.  I would do the hallelujah diet again in a heartbeat!

15 POUNDS!

That's all I really wanted to say...  :oD

Quick Diet Update

12 pounds down!  8 to go until I get to buy some new clothes!  Dan has motivated me by telling me when I hit 20 pounds, I get to buy an article of clothing for every 5 pounds lost.  Once I hit 20, I get to buy 4 items of clothing - woohoo!  I'll have to get me some NICE jeans - maybe he should have put a price limit on those four items...

I've been having some pain in the gall bladder area (front right side of my abdomen), so I'm not sure what that's about.  It doesn't seem associated with anything I eat (since I'm not eating any real fat or any dairy whatsoever), so I'm hopeful that it's the good "twinges" and something of a healing nature is going on in that area.  It's not really painful - just subtle discomfort that comes in small waves.  I don't feel anything most of the time.

It's been 26 days, and I've got 29 to go, so we'll see if I can bring the total weight loss to 25 pounds in that time.  Wouldn't that be incredible?!  Okay, I now have renewed motivation - maybe if I got on the treadmill a few times a week, I could push it to 30 pounds!  Sweet!

More to come...

A sick salad and sick kids...AGAIN

I was back to 142 on the scale today - 10 pounds down!  I am very happy to be able to say that now - can you tell?  (pssst...I've lost ten pounds!)

In other news, I got to hang out with my friend, Jill, last night.  After hitting a couple of stores for odds and ends, I stopped at Red Robin to get a basic salad to take back to her house while we watched American Idol.  I ordered their new southwest salad with avacado slices, black beans, and corn but had to ask that they leave the chicken and cheese off (sad day!).  We got back to Jill's house, and what I found inside my salad was GROSS.  I could not believe what they gave me, and I was so disappointed, because I typically LOVE Red Robin.  The three avacado slices were rotten with little brown spots all over them, the lettuce was mostly iceberg with some romaine thrown in, and the lettuce looked old and was slightly brown around the edges.  I was able to pick out the avacado and most of the bad lettuce, but seriously?  They didn't even take money off since I asked for no chicken, so I paid $9.51 for a nasty, rotten salad with NO chicken?!  I was so annoyed!  I chickened out and didn't call to complain, but I still might if I get up the nerve.  I just couldn't believe what they gave me for the money I paid, and I had to wait almost 15 minutes for the stinkin' thing!  Give me a break!  So, I'm finding out this diet is hard to maintain while eating out - at least here in the midwest burbs.

Meanwhile, I now have sick kids for the fourth or fifth time in the last 3 1/2 months, and I am ready for winter to be officially over and warm weather to arrive!  Christian came down with a fever and a cough over the past day and a half, and Keira now has a cough.  Thankfully, Keira seems fine other than her cough which is mostly at night.  Christian's fever is gone today, but he sounds pretty bad with a cough, some sneezing and the sniffles.  Carter just seems tired, but the kids are all over him all the time, so I'm praying he gets some good immunities from breastfeeding so he doesn't get sick again.  He's probably been sick more than he's been healthy in the first four months of his little life!  Poor boy!