My 1st Daniel Fast

At the start of 2010, when all my Lifechurch.tv friends fasted, I did not. I found out about it the day before it was starting, too late to wrap my brain around the concept. So I vowed to try it in 2011. The Daniel Fast is basically a vegan diet, no coffee or sugar, no soda, no processed, bleached white flour. The concept of fasting is to grow closer to God and when your physical body is having a craving, you feed your spiritual being by praying and reading the Bible.

Let me start with some honesty...My name is Stace and I am addicted to coffee. I drink it first thing every morning. After school I stop by the gas station to get my 32 ounce fountain Diet Coke and then after dinner I make another pot of coffee. Bad, right?

I wanted to reflect on my experience, since it was my first and I may never attempt it again. :) The first five days I had a massive headache from caffeine withdrawals. I would wake up in the morning thinking about it like a true addict. It was my biggest sacrifice and struggle. Once, when Scott and I were shopping for fruity, herbal teas we had to go down the coffee aisle and we literally had to stop and pray for resistance right there in the middle of Wal-Mart to combat the urge to buy the coffee and quit the silly fast. Ridiculous, I know this. Luckily, a friend told me about Pero and I drove to Whole Foods that very night to buy some. It's roasted barley and rye for heaven's sake, but it's hot and brown and tastes decent with soy creamer.

By day six, the headache was gone, but then came the leg cramps. I had not done any extraordinary workout, so I attributed it to some sort of deficiency. So I ate bananas and put muscle rub on them. I know it says that Daniel used no lotion, but that wasn't gonna work in winter. Oh, and I forgot to mention the acne that popped up on my face!! I literally looked like I was having a teenage breakout.

Olivia, my nine-year-old daughter, participated by default. We gave every tempting, perishable food to our middle son and his wife. Olivia went over to her cousin's house to play and the first thing she did upon arrival was go into the kitchen and ask her aunt, "Do you have any meat?"

She also asked if when the Daniel Fast was over, could we please have 21 days of unhealthy eating. And my husband declared that after this fast was over, we'd do the Paul Fast, where" all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial" (I Cor.10:23).

It was hard not to look for a weight loss on the scales. Scott and I both needed to shed a few pounds, but the weight was not falling off. We had a saying, "It's not what we're losing, it's what we're gaining."

By day nine, I hit my stride and began to feel vibrant. I read the Daniel Fast reading plan on YouVersion every morning. I looked forward to the interesting creations my sweet husband was coming up with in the kitchen. My faves include: foccacia, potato soup, Nutrein nuggets (from Tom Thumb) and bean tostados with cilantro guacamole.

The fact is, we made it! Not all of my friends can say that, not to boast. It only proves that it was not easy, especially in our fast food nation. I asked Scott if he wanted to wake up at 12:01 am and brew a pot of coffee. We've opted for sleep. I have been contemplating which things I've enjoyed and want to continue. I am not going back to Diet Coke. I can't even have one because then I'll crave it and fall back into that habit. I am going to continue being vegetarian (I had been for two years and had gone astray). I will enjoy my coffee every morning, but maybe in the evening I will drink Pero or Bengal Spice tea instead.

The last day of the Bible reading for today, said "No matter how deep you are now [with God], go deeper still. I hope that by dedicating the first part of the year to Christ, that I will continue to go deeper still in 2011. God blessed us immensely during these 21 days and more importantly, I pray He was blessed by our sacrifice and obedience. He is the only One worth giving up my morning cup of coffee for.

Amen...that it is finished!

staceLOVESscott

Dear Scott,
We are writing a story.
I love drinking coffee with you.
You know how I take my coffee.
I love that you are a talented writer and are dedicated.
I love that you read a bedtime story to our daughter.
You are committed to me.
You are an awesome homeschooling dad.
You are passionate.
When you play the piano it is like you are giving me a gift.
You are succeeding in life.
You are rich.
You have strong morals that do not waver.
I love holding your hand in the car.
You are handsome.
I love cuddles.
I love sharing my dreams with you.
Thank you for giving me a beautiful, precious daughter.
I love that you talk to Trey on the phone everyday.
You are following God and are a good leader and example to me daily.
You are fun and funny.
You are wise.
We are growing old together.
You play with our kids and grandkids.
We are making memories and traditions together.
You are an amazing chef and baker.
You know BIG words and random facts.
You are good at mental math.
You are my own personal exhorter.
I love the way you look at me.
You took away my loneliness.
Even though you are down to Earth, you let me dream BIG.
You care about our marriage; it’s important to you.
You are strong: physically, mentally and spiritually.
You have a good taste in clothes and design.
I appreciate that you don’t ever cut me down, but do a lot of building up.
You forgive me when I mess up and still love me.
I trust in you.
You care deeply about others.
We both love to travel…Road Trips!
When you eat lunch with me, I get excited when I see you coming down the hall.
I am proud to be your wife.
My life is better because you are part of it.
You have taught me a lot about love.
I cannot imagine my life without you.
Thank you for loving me and teaching me about life.
You are everything to me.
I love you.
Your Babycakes,
Stace

Love Note to my husband

Do You Love Your Body?

I am reading a book that is making me mad. Scott asks why I don't stop reading it. Simple enough, but the curious part of me wants to hear what other garbage/lies/bad advice these two moms can dream up. 101 Ways to Help Your Daughter Love Her Body seems like it would be a helpful tool for the mom of a daughter in today's culture, right? Sort of. I agree with a lot of the ways, but as Tom Dugan would say, "There's just a little bit of doodoo in the brownies."

If you don't get the reference, let me explain: Two 12 year old girls are wanting to see a PG-13 movie and are begging their dad to allow them. They explain how it only has a little bit of cussing and a little bit of nudity. They'll cover their eyes on those parts. So later in the day, he makes brownies and offers some to the girls. He holds back the tray of delectable treats and says, "Wait. Before I give these to you, I want you to know that I put just a tiny pinch of doodoo in this batch of brownies." They're gagging and freaking out and refuse to eat them when Dad makes the comparison between the brownies and PG-13 movies.

Our society is feasting on doodoo brownies every day. In fact, yesterday, when we took Liv and our niece to see Toy Story 3 we saw a prime example of this. I always anticipate the pre-movie animated short, but was unimpressed by Day and Night. Clever idea. But it had a little bit of poop in it. Why does the dopey night figure have to gawk over a sun-bathing beauty? Normalization of lust makes me nauseous. I often wish my life had not been infiltrated with people I love being sexually abused. I wish I didn't know human sex trafficking exists or that I could live blissfully with my head in the sand. But I am sensitive to the these innuendos. Especially when the message is being force-fed to millions of little kids (a.k.a. The Future).

Off the soapbox and back to the book...apologies. The book has common sense advice (that I often slip-up on). For example:

• Don't obsess about your weight in front of your daughter. Guilty.
• Don't weigh-in daily; weekly is sufficient. That's part of my morning routine and then I track it on my calendar. Guilty.
• Don't make negative comments about your body. Guilty.

Okay, so upon further retrospection, maybe I dislike this book because it is convicting.

But here's the part I disagree with. The crap. You are out shopping with your daughter. She chooses an outfit that is inappropriate for her age. You compromise and buy half of the outfit. The skirt, but not the shirt and then proceed to use the school dress code as your authority. No, here is what you do. In the southern wit and wisdom of Celia Rivenbark: Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like A Skank. You, the parent, say, "No, daughter you may not have this outfit. There is not enough fabric for the price or to leave any mystery. Go pick out something else or we can go home." Be the empowered parent.

Another negative habit that I am thankful I do NOT suffer from is comparing your old/flabby body to your daughter's youthful/thin one. Some moms do this, apparently. #13 Understand where your body ends and hers begins. Really? I have, however, compared my legs to my mom's legs and she wins! See...I probably shouldn't say/do that kind of criticizing.

So here lies my inner turmoil, my challenge: I must work extremely hard to be at peace with my body especially in front of my daughter because it is integral to our well-being. So yes Husband I will finish the book, even though it may infuriate me at times (and convict). In the same way, I will live in this world and I will speak out against injustices against women where just a little bit of doodoo is enough to make me vomit out a blog.

Mothers of daughters, any wisdom to impart? How do you show your body some love?