Well, for anyone wondering how our funny family is surviving this most amusing detox, we're doing great! Most of us, that is. I'm almost completely off the caffeine. I refused to go cold turkey as I have done that before and the headaches were not worth it. I'm managing to drink it black, which shocks me, and by the end of the week I think I should be fully off caffeine. So far, with the slow weaning, I'm completely headache free which is such a miracle and an answer to prayer.
As you might expect, so many lessons are being learned, even by the children who are challenging me the most in this little experiment.
My oldest, who I thought would struggle out of all of the kids, said last night, "I think this is really good that we're doing this." I agreed a little too quickly. When we started to examine why she thought that, it was clear, she knew she did go to the sweet white stuff just a little too easily and deep down she knew something needed to change as well, but there was no way she could have done it on her own. She's starting to find out that other food actually tastes good, too! Last night, she also mentioned how much she loved the salad I had made! I was shocked! She kept going back for more servings (vegetables are unlimited and there was no creamy dressing).
My oldest boy has been really struggling as he normally just helps himself all day, or so I found out. Now, he feels, there is nothing to help himself to that doesn't have to be prepared - i.e., no bags of bread for a quick slice of toast, no cookies, no bags of chips, etc.....sorry son, just a plate of veggies and homemade hummus! At first I was rather perturbed and wanted to snap at his reactions, but then I quickly explained instead - "You may not be thankful to me now, but you will thank me when you are older and your joints aren't achy and you are living to a good, long age! You will thank me when your children are making wise choices and not struggling with sugar addictions and when they aren't ridden with disease!" Well, of course, there is no guarantee of all those things, but he got the point, and being my most sensitive and most quickly to repent, he came around and said, "I do want to eat healthy and I am thankful.....I JUST LOVE BREAD STICKS!" Fair enough, but I think he understood, this is a long term plan, just like the financial plan - if and when we get out of debt, there is NO WAY we are going back to the way we used to live. It's not a free card out of jail to go spend like crazy. We will have to continue to live frugally and wisely so it won't happen again. Same with food.
On a completely different note, it has to have been the coldest week since we moved into the farm - we've had multiple times where the water to the house froze and poor RM has to go thaw it out. Yesterday a pipe in the kitchen burst, so it has been a week to remember. Living here definitely has its challenges and is not for the faint of heart. But I'm grateful as RM knew exactly what to do and had it fixed quite quickly. Had we had to call in a plumber, it would have cost us 1000s of dollars. We are definitely counting our blessings.
So, this wasn't a particularly financial debt post, but as you can see, so much of our life is inter-connected. The physical, the spiritual, the financial - and God is speaking into each one of these areas. Just as we're hoping to see the debt weight go down, we also hope to see the physical pounds in our life slide away as well. A friend sent an interesting quote from Tozer yesterday speaking about discipline in our lives and how so few have this. He compared it to a violin and how if a violin didn't have taut strings, but instead let them hang loose and didn't have them "disciplined", that it would be impossible to play beautiful music. That's essentially it. We are challenging ourselves to be more disciplined in all areas of our lives - it is so good for us! Hard, but good! It can only benefit us down the road, especially as the kids grow up and become adults. We are trusting beautiful music will be the end result!
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