This past week has been really good for Mike and I. Oh it had it's hard moments since we had like 5 big events in the past week that all included food!! We're talking wedding cake, fruit salads, chips and salsa, cookies, lemon cake, shredded beef, doritos,...that list could go on! (my mouth was hating me, but my waistline is thanking me!!) I had to make a dessert for one of these events and boy did I want to lick that bowl! It was a dessert I haven't made before so I almost talked myself into eating one bite just to make sure it was good. I mean you can't bring a bad dessert to share! BUT I did manage to show restraint and didn't even lick my fingers after making the cookies. Here's the cool part: at every one of these events they had chicken of some sort and bread! Though there were better looking options I was so thankful that there were things on my list!
So what did we learn this week??? I feel like the picture God gave me was that we needed to gain new perspective. I was running and listening to a song about God lifting us up and I just had this pic in my mind of trying to see something but not being able to, so God had to lift me up so I could see what I was missing. Then I was in the grocery story and I told Davis that he could pick a donut (it was sheer torture not taking a bite of that thing!) and he couldn't see them all and he said, "Mom, can you lift me up so I can see all the donuts?" He realized he couldn't see everything and needed help getting a better picture of what was really there.
I feel like for Mike and I, we needed a new perspective in the area of food. God has really, for the last month, been challenging us in this area. One night this week Mike and I just had a great conversation about food, that sounds kinda silly but we did. To be completely honest we have made food an idol in our lives. It's often the first thing I turn to when I'm frustrated with myself or circumstances around me. For Mike overindulging has been a struggle (he said I could write this! :) We were just chatting about how selfish and wasteful it has been of us to over eat. Mike's comment was "why has no one but you told me that I needed to stop eating so much and that food was an issue for me?" My response was probably because people feel like it's too touchy of a subject. On Sunday I was super frustrated and normally would have felt justified to eat whatever but since chicken and rice doesn't quite seem to satisfy that craving to indulge, I instead shared with Mike my frustrations and just prayed about them. We are not there yet but God is giving us a new perspective on food! We are working to find the balance between the times God gives for us to really just enjoy his creation of food and being careful to not constantly be over indulging. Ultimately in both areas we just want to be so thankful that we have the option to eat every day and realize the blessing that this truly is!
Ok, so during this week we got creative with our 7 options! One night I made chicken fried rice! I used a little bit of sesame oil and though it was a little dry it was pretty yummy. We started mixing applesauce, rice and a touch a cinnamon at night for a snack...you should try it! Then yesterday I was getting desparate for there to be more to my chicken and bread sandwich. Don't judge what I'm about to say before you try it...I decided to have a chicken and peanut butter sandwich! I know it sounds weird but I have a recipe for thai chicken wraps and the peanut butter sauce/chicken combo is really good. And you know what? The sandwich was pretty good too!
Ok, maybe that looks gross but it really was pretty tasty. I don't know if I'll continue on with that one, but it was a nice change!
Seriously, I wonder if I could make money selling a book about what I learned from 7! Sorry almost done with this blog but I have to share what we did with our kids to get them thinking about how blessed we are to have food whenever we want and how there are many people who don't have food! One night we all had chicken and rice for dinner and then I took the boys to Wal-Mart so we could get stuff to make homeless bags. These are bags filled with things that will last awhile, to keep in the car so when you see someone in need of food you can give them this bag. So off we went to Wally World.
This is what we came up with for our bags...Doritos, nuts (I picked these & the water!), water, gum, caramels, cinnamon rolls, and peanut butter crackers. I went to the store thinking I would pick out everything but then I realized if I really wanted the kids to own this idea that they needed to choose what we picked.
Putting bags together!
Then after each boy made a bag we would stop and he would pray for whoever might receive that bag. Their prayers were so sweet!
Kara's contribution...eating the extras! :)
The finished bags! Now I can't wait to see who God brings along for us to give these bags too! What a week! This week hasn't been as bad as I thought but I will be excited to add some variety back in to the diet tomorrow!!! Oh and FYI looking at pinterest this week was self-induced torture but it was nice to at least look at something that I knew tasted really yummy!
Next week is clothes...now to try and pick 7 clothes (not including under garments!) for next week. This should be fun!
amazing becks!
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