I Am Out of Control!!

There. I admitted it. The ugly truth. I am totally out of control. In many different ways: I eat too much, and the wrong things; I watch too much television; I'm on the computer and facebook way too much. And I neglect the good things I should be doing. The Bible study lesson I need to do for BSF that is on Wednesday mornings? Usually done on Tuesday. Sometimes at night (like 10:00!). Karys asks me to play with her. I am usually on the computer so I tell her not right now. I don't feel like being productive in any way so I have the kids watch some television. See what I mean? Out of CONTROL!!

But God is working on that with me. I said that my New Years resolution was no junk food for half the year. Starting this month. I made it probably 5 days. Cue Jen Hatmaker's book, "7." I had asked a couple of friends a couple of months ago that I know like to read if they wanted to start a book club and read through a book together. I had forgotten about it and one of them brought it back up. Then she told us of another girl that had asked her to read this book with her so we added her to our "club." Then this girl knew of another girl that wanted to read this book. So we have this really cool club now. ;)

This book is AMAZING. I don't think it's something you can read and not be changed. The main idea of the book is that she has chosen 7 areas of life that she thinks she and her family are doing in excess and cuts them way back for one month each. The seven areas are: clothing, food, media, possessions, waste, stress, and spending. If you've never read a Jen Hatmaker book, she writes in a way that you feel like she's talking to you. And she's funny. So the whole book is written like a diary/blog (day 1, day 2, etc.). In the first month she did food. And for a whole month she had 7 foods that she could eat: chicken, spinach, eggs, sweet potatoes, avocado, apples...and I can't remember the 7th. But she's honest about it. Mid-month she tells the chicken that she hates it for being dry. :)

So of course since my food intake is so out of control the food chapter was great for me. It made me think that I wanted to do this, but I was afraid I would do it for the wrong reason (to lose weight). I brought this up last night at our first "book club" and one of the girls said maybe there wasn't anything wrong with that. Trying to be healthier isn't a bad goal. And if I take some of the choice out of my food I have more time to hear what God is telling me. And if I start this just to lose weight, at least I've started, and then God can use it and change my thoughts and reasons.

Then I decided that just being more strict on my food wasn't my only big battle. Media is a huge one. I usually spend all of naptime watching TV (so that's like 3 hours) and then after the kids go to bed we're usually watching TV for another 2-3 hours. So I've got 6 hours a day that I can watch TV, but I have no time to get my Bible study done?? Something is very wrong with this picture!! And that doesn't even count the amount of time on facebook...probably another 2 hours. So I'm doing a full time job just in media?! Just typing that out is crazy.

So I'm going for a combination...which I know might sound like I'm taking on too much, but I think I can do it. For one week (starting Sunday) we are going to go without any TV. I don't know exactly what Ryan wants to do, but I know he agreed to no TV. I'm going to also be abstaining from facebook and most of the internet in general. I'm going to have to get on it a little bit to log my food on myfitnesspal, and check for emails that need responses, but for the most part the internet is off-limits.

I told Karys today that in a few days we were going to turn the TV off and not turn it back on for a few days. She didn't believe me. :) But I tried to work with her to make a list of fun things we could do: play outside, play with Play Doh, do crafts, play games, etc. etc. I think the first couple of days of this will be kind of hard. But that's okay. It's kind of like a fast...and it's supposed to be a little challenging. Because when things are hard we can ask God to strengthen us in our weakness. After one week with zero TV, I plan to phase it back in gradually. The first part of the plan is to watch in the evenings. After we do that for a week, I guess we'll see where to go next. If it seems like a good plan, we might keep it up! :)

So it all starts Sunday! I'm not doing my food like Jen did, but each of the girls in our book club decided to do it in a way they thought would work for them. I'm made out a menu and I'm going to follow it every day until our book club meets again. Here it is:

Breakfast: eggs, potatoes, 1/2 banana (which will be difficult because I don't really like bananas, but I know I need to branch out!!), 1 glass grape juice
Lunch: salad with peas, brown rice, apple or applesauce
Dinner: grilled chicken breast, broccoli, green beans
Snacks: carrots or oranges
Drinks: milk or water

I'm excited to see what all the Lord will teach me once I give up the things that are keeping me from knowing Him more. No media to get in the way and no constant snacking/desire for sweets to lead me astray! I will update again in a week from Sunday when we've seen what happens when you turn off the TV and get creative with your time! :)