Welcome, Holy Spirit

I woke up this morning, and I honestly did not want to get up. It was too early, but the girls were already awake and playing in their rooms. I tried to call to mind all the great things that would happen in the day (if I would just get up) but none of them sounded even remotely great! And guess Who showed up this morning, as John 14 says, “to remind (me) of everything (He) has taught (me)”?

I am finding myself living in John 14-17, ever since Lent. I do not move quickly. I’m trying to memorize these four chapters, because I want them to become a part of me. How I’ve longed for Jesus Himself to be the One to wake me in the morning, talk me down from ledges, give me that pep talk! And He says He is…through His equivalent, the Holy Spirit.

A couple of years ago I had a breakthrough in my heart, right in the middle of a breakdown in my body. At my worst in the adrenal fatigue and sleep disorder, in worship one day, the Lord said, “You are not a slave to what you wake up to.” All in one moment, I understood! My “day”, my attitude, my happiness, was not like a card I was dealt that I had to receive. Sure, I’m dealt a card (by the Lord) but that card is temporal physical realm stuff that does not have to affect or at least not crush the Life inside of me.  By the Holy Spirit’s power (translation: when you just utter the words, “Please help me, Holy Spirit, I cannot change myself but I want to have a good day”), we can be steadier than we imagined even though we wake up to a multitude of unsteady possibilities. I’m not a slave to how I feel, physically or emotionally, and I don’t have to go with a negative flow of people around me either.

This is good news for Mrs. Moody over here, who is married to Mr. Moody, and who happen to have two little Miss Moodies, one being adopted which proves it’s not necessarily hereditary, just HUMAN! He is stable…He is our stability. He is happy…He is our happiness. He is creative and energetic and ready for a new day…He is our creativity, energy, and excitement for life. He can do that in us, we just have to ask. He wants to! I believe He PROMISES fullness of life for our inner man, regardless of how the outer man might be failing (2 Corinthians 4:16: We don’t lose heart! Outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.) In all our desire for healing of these earthly physical problems we suffer from in our lives and those we love, I pray we never idolize that restoration more than the kind He clearly, always, longs to give to those who ask.

I can receive no credit for having one of the best, sweetest, memorable days with my daughters today! Morning meditations, Homeschool. playing outside in the water…and feeling that there was no where else I’d rather be and no one I’d rather be with. I can’t create that kind of peace and joy out of what I have to work with.  They are the fruits of the Spirit. I wouldn’t write about this if it were an isolated incident. Okay, whoopee, Lyndsay had a good day. No, I’m saying this is pretty much every day of my life! And for that, I say “Thank You, and WELCOME, Holy Spirit!!”

First Time Gardening Joy

 My garden is very little, and all the plants are so small…but I have really enjoyed watching it grow. I love watering it, seeing it soak in the sunshine every day, and feeding it once a week. It’s just neat to see beautiful things happening with just a little water, sun, and attention.

 Jack dried green pepper seeds a while back, and we planted them right into the ground. I was kind of amazed to see them come up at all, but there are about 30 little seedlings. I’m pretty sure that’s not the way you’re supposed to do it…but we shall see!

 A pretty little row of cucumber plants, with the ever so important blossoms.

 Just pretty.

 First Fruits of our “labor”! I am so excited! This is a gorgeous little guy!

You make beautiful things, You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things, You make beautiful things out of us.”
Gungor

Thoughts about This…

Pretty vague title, I realize. So, I’ll spill the beans…my thoughts are about the desire to adopt again! There are many reasons why this may never happen, so let’s not get too excited, okay? (I was just talking to myself). The bottom line about this decision, far off as it may be, is if the Lord is specifically and strategically planning for us to bring another child into our family. It is not even an argument about adoption being a good thing, a topic on the very heart of God, and something all Christians should pray about…but just like i would tell any Christian, don’t do it until God is telling you specifically to.

I tell Selah all the time (she’s 7), “Selah, it would be a bigger help to me if you would do the things I ask you to do instead of ignore those things and pick out something else that you just think I want you to do.” So. How does one know? If the desire and idea is there, if there is excitement about it, if there is opportunity,  if there are resources,  if you know it is something God loves…that would seem to be enough, but it’s not. We have to know His voice personally about this, because He knows the end from the beginning. He has obviously given us part of His heart, His heart for the fatherless, but He gets to choose if that heart would be better used for adoption, for sponsoring lots of kids, for a different ministry altogether. That’s why He’s the One calling the shots. He knows the best way to make His stuff work out.

Right now, I believe I will bring the topic back up in January 2013 even though I hate to wait that long and at that time see how secure Jack’s job is, how my health is, and a list of other variables. There are rules to go by, and reasons why we may not even be eligible to adopt. One thing I want God to reveal specifically is: Are there callings and things in our lives that are not supposed to move aside for another child? For example, if I am led and given opportunity to sing a lot, or travel with a missions organization, or if I am just thoroughly swamped with my home and family, something would have to budge in order to handle another adoption and a third little person who will come with his or her challenges.

On the other hand, this is how I really feel:
To me, it’s a person and I’d much rather just go for it, knowing we are saving a life and showing God’s love to someone who may not know Him otherwise. I’d rather just jump in and deal with whatever challenges and changes may come, knowing this was more important. But the fact is, I don’t get to decide what is more important, because I can’t see the impact of my obedience. For example, if Mary Beth and Steven Curtis Chapman adopted more special needs kids from China (because they had the heart, desire, opportunity, resources, etc) and they spent their lives caring for them, and it took all they had to do that, they would never have started Show Hope or Maria’s Big House. They had to LISTEN. They had to live the life they had, and I have to learn to do the same.

It is a good thing I’m not in charge.

On the Tip of My Brain

There are a lot of things I want to write about. First of all, I have to say that I am reading One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, and that is making me breathe deeper and think deeper, so I have a lot to say for the first time in a while. Secondly, my youngest (the hurricane, you know her, right?) she’s upstairs yelling, “Mommy! Mommy?” so my first of all and my secondly may just balance each other out.

There is a lot I want to write about, but first I think I’ll start with external and move inward! I am realizing that this past year has been a blur that I don’t want to repeat. I started feeling fabulous for the first time in like a decade last June, 2011. I began running miles daily out in the sunshine, taking on all kinds of projects, and just plain loving life like never before! Sister Bridge took so much of my Fall, as I was already homeschooling, doing Enrichment classes with the homeschool co-op, and I was recording the CD one weekend at a time. The Holidays are always enough to knock people off their feet, and I was no exception to the rule, yet I kept going, onto finishing the CD, remodeling the basement, and eventually ending off that year (at the end of May 2012) with a 2 week vacation that was wonderful but took me from my normal/healthy routine of eating and sleeping well.

So, it’s no wonder that I am knocked down. Not completely, but enough to see that I cannot do it again. I have to go back to the slower life, where I actually sit down at the table to eat lunch with my kids, where I don’t have so much on my mind that I have to live by a messy ever-growing list, where I realize that if I am to be a homeschooler and a homemaker I must be…home.

It’s one thing to enforce disciplines on myself in order to feel well, like be in bed by 10:30, eat only what is nutrient dense most of the time, have a time each afternoon for prayer, Bible study, and rest, exercise. That’s great, and I’ve been enforcing that stuff on myself since I was a kid (off and on, to be specific!!) But it’s something else to know in my heart and soul that having a full calendar does not equate to having a full life. Just like having lots of relationships and lots of “ministry” opportunities does not equate to obedience. In my heart, regardless of the disciplines that do indeed make me feel better physically/mentally/spiritually, I have to believe and live out the belief that I don’t have to be more than I am.

I’ve said all this before, but here I go again because it’s on the tip of my brain. God is specific and strategic, wise and brilliant, trustworthy and personal. He’s got this. He will give me strength, ability, opportunity, and resources for wherever, whenever, however, to whomever,  He wants me. Because I believe these two sentences, I can live the life I have. There were years where I could not do that!!! But I am free to just want Him, and live the life He has clearly given, trusting if there is more, He will make the space and then make it filled. Because He’s bigger than me, and because I am happily surrendered to Him. He’s got my life to do “something” with or not.

Right now, my “something” may be small, but I’m going to do it with all of my heart.

Day 9, My Last Full Day of Detox

Okay! So, this has been a good week and a good experiment. My 10 day detox will end tomorrow, because of the birthday dinner tomorrow that there is no way I’m gonna miss! Here’s what I have gotten out of it:

*By God’s grace, I have discovered many of my allergic reactions were caused by one of my supplements, Vitamin B.  Bummer…but I’m excited and hope that this was the only culprit. (Other than roast beef, but that’s a different story!)
*I didn’t do this for weight loss, but I did lose 10 lbs. However, add this to the list of things learned: You may see the scale go down on diets like this, but there is no change in the parts of my body that needed shrinking.
*My stomach has shrunk, and that’s perfect for going right back in to my Body for Life plan that I used to do–I needed to get back to that structure of 4 or 5 mini-meals, each consisting of a palm size portion of a protein and a complex carb, which can be fruits, veggies, brown rice, whatever.
*I feel certain that I really need that protein. Doesn’t have to be animal protein, but protein none the less. The weight loss is probably muscle loss, sad to say.
*My plate will be 50-75% fresh fruit and veggies…and the other stuff, I will be pretty excited about eating since I haven’t had it in over a week.

It’s been a good reboot. I’m glad I did it, and now it’s time for moderation. Moderation is actually harder, more complicated, more time and thought consuming, but obviously worth it. It is good when you learn to stick to something and be in control and not be ruled by your feelings or cravings. We can show our bodies who is in charge and eat what we think is wise…we can, even if we don’t feel like it. 🙂 I really appreciate my husband and my friend Sarah for their support and encouragement these 10 days!!!

Day 6 Already

Is that right, is it Day 6? Yeah, i think so. This week has been crazy. Multi-tasking every minute. But the busyness has probably made the fruits and veggies only fast much easier. I really expected suffering, I truly did expect a difference in sleep, energy, whatever. But instead, my only complaint is that I have to use the restroom 4 or 5 times in the middle of the night now! TMI? 🙂

This has been good and I could be enjoying it even more if I wasn’t too stubborn and cheap, um, frugal, to go buy more and different stuff at the grocery. I will say adding red onions and a sprinkle of all natural salad spices to my salads has been the highlight the past 2 days! Oh, and yes, I most certainly am using salad dressing. I decided when I started this that I would, otherwise, I really could not do it, and the point is to do it…and I say “whatever” to those legalistic details!

I’m breaking the fast on Sunday afternoon because of a big birthday dinner for Jack, Selah, and Jackson. I can definitely see myself eating a lot more f&V only meals in the future, because it really was simple, made my grocery list fun and easy. Plus, when you’re eating f&v only, you can go back to just knowing you’re eating healthy and stop the whole insane thing of counting carbs, calories, and fat grams for every bite you put in your mouth. 🙂 I am looking forward to tortilla chips (organic blue corn of course!) and cheddar cheese…Funny, but those are the two things I’d like to have.

Gotta get to sleep. Even as important as nutrition is, I am a total mess without lots of that. Good night!

Day 4 Detox

Hey! Yeah, I’m still here! Day 3 I did not have a chance to write, but it was a good day. Surprisingly, I haven’t been really tired or grouchy or headachy. In fact, this morning I woke up wanting to plant a garden! I don’t have the ground tilled yet but we did go and buy a few plants. It is going to be the tiniest garden ever but I am so excited. They are in potting soil in containers right now until my neighbor/Jack’s uncle can till the ground in the one small area of our yard that has sun. I. Am. Excited.

So, I am hungry. If I was juicing, I know I would be doing even better, because for example, I ate 1/2 a cucumber, some raspberries, and some craisins for breakfast at 9. By 11, I was starving of course. At 12, I had a berry/spinach smoothie. If I was juicing I could have had a whole basket of nutrients by now, but its hard to eat as much as you can juice.

I think this is pretty hilarious, though. I have lost like 9 pounds! I’m not taking it seriously of course, because at some point I will start eating more calories and will stabilize at a weight higher than this most likely. But the good things that are happening are:

1) I plan to always have 50-75% of my plate be fruits and veggies.
2) I will make my grocery list and cost consist at least half of fruits and veggies, instead of getting just spinach, carrots, and 2 kinds of fruit each week like I used to buy.
3) I’m getting in the habit of eating fruits and veggies when I’m hungry instead of grabbing a quicker, sweeter, snack.
4) My stomach is surely shrinking.
5) I’ve always wanted a garden and now I’m doing it! YAY! I have no idea if it will produce (we have a lot of wildlife out here) but I am totally pumped.

One day this week, I’ll take pictures of the food I eat all day and share them on the blog.

Day 2 of F & V Fast…and Day 2 of Being Home

Hello! So…are you curious about how its going? Which part? The f & v fast or being home after two weeks of sweet blissful vacay?

We’ll start with the fasting first. I am grateful because my sleep last night was not affected by being hungry! I usually eat a Zone bar with my meds and many times I have tried to go without it and laid awake for hours. Thankfully, last night I slept great, and pray I also will tonight! I’ve had lots of spinach salad, tomato soup, apples, raspberries, carrots, strawberries, broccoli and peppers. Oh, and Craisins. Thank God for Craisins. I’m actually enjoying the food a lot and have more things on my list for the next time I go to the store. Surely what I bought will last at least 5 days! That is one thing I have noticed though…how quickly the f & v go when that’s all I’m eating!

I’m thinking the next trip to the store will include what I already bought plus frozen fruit for smoothies and pineapple, red onion, red pepper, green pepper, and corn on the cob to GRILL! YUM! I could eat that everyday, no problem. I am a little tired, and I feel a little “down”, but I honestly think that is more from just being a little overwhelmed emotionally, not what is going on physically.

Which leads to the next thing I was going to write about: Coming home from an awesome vacation where I didn’t have to think about practical things, the calendar, or housework. I jumped back in way too fast because I felt like I had put some people off for long enough. Whew. Right now I honestly want to evaluate some of the things outside my home that I am doing. “Technically”, I have the time to do many of these things, but is it taking my mind, attention, and patience away from my kids, home, husband, and walk with God? If I were to let years go by and not be “really here”, I’d really have lost in this race. Total fail. That doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to do anything outside my home!! I just need to constantly live with and pray through the tension of the balance and choose very, very carefully.

A few more pics for ya~from Epcot, my favorite! (Great field trip, homeschoolers!!)

 Selah and Jack ate in China…with chopsticks as you can see!

Yemi and I ate in Morocco. It was incredible…but I’d rather go to the real country of course!

10 day fruit and vegetable fast…

Before we left for vacation, I watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead on Netflix. It is so good, and I highly recommend seeing it! There are a lot of documentaries about health on Netflix, and I’m not sure if all the information is true or not, but this one is a testimonial and it’s impossible to miss the truth in it! Our bodies need a lot more “live” whole foods and a lot less of the stuff that has been through so much of a journey to our plate.


So, I’ve decided to do a 10 day fruit and vegetable fast. I know that I need protein, grains, and other stuff as well, and will add that back in after the 10 days, but it’s my hope to finish off the 10 days, “detoxed”, and with a new fresh vision for whole food eating.


My hopes are to back off (if not totally get off of) the acid reflux meds I take, and I also really hope to stop having anaphylactic allergic reactions. I periodically have these crazy reactions and I don’t know if it’s food, something in a med or supplement, or my environment. Because they are such different types of reactions than what I have to cats, dust, etc., I believe it is something I am ingesting. Also, of course I hope to see if any changes happen to my body and weight. I’m planning to simply walk 30 minutes a day, which is less than what I normally do for exercise, and drink plenty of water like I normally do.


Today is my first day. I had fun stocking up on fruits and veggies at the grocery, and I also have some other good whole foods for my family to eat, like fish, brown rice, chicken, zone bars, whole grain cereal, cheese, and almond milk. Yep, that was my grocery list! So easy! Those of you that know me, you know I already eat well and feed my family whole foods, but I had started to slip a little. Before vacation, we ate out a couple times a week, and there were a few too many granola bar type snacks being consumed instead of fruits and veggies. Now, I am excited about making sure there is a serving (for everyone) of a fruit and a veggie every time we eat. Here’s my plan:


Kids Breakfast: cereal, milk, fruit/spinach smoothie   
        Lunch: cheese, wheat crackers (triscuits), green peppers, strawberries
        Snack: almonds, raspberries, broccoli and dip
        Supper: fish or chicken, rice or quinoa, salad with lots of other veggies and fruits cut up in it
       (I am really blessed that my kids love fruits and veggies, mainly raw ones. I realize I’m lucky, but I also believe that if they are trained to eat these things first before they get any other food, they’ll get used to it and even prefer it. My kids at Disneyworld were always choosing fruit over cupcakes and broccoli over other buffet stuff. I wouldn’t even do that!)


My diet will mainly be fruit/spinach smoothies, big salads (I splurged on Craisins to help me!), and any fruits and veggies I want. 


 It certainly does make things simple.


I’m going to try to get on here everyday to write about how I’m doing…It’ll be some accountability. Let me know if you want to do it with me! When I’m done with the 10 days, I’m already thinking about how to possibly stay at something like 75% f & v daily, and one day a week, like Saturday or Sunday, be an off day to have the stuff that is a “sometimes” food as I tell my kids. Feel free to follow! I doubt it’s going to be easy, and I wouldn’t mind to have the company!

Our Family Vacation

I thought I’d put a few pictures on my blog–it’s been forever since I’ve done that! We got home from a family trip to Florida last night; it was so much fun and we made a lot of memories together. 🙂

 EEYORE!! They all pretended to be all sad and disappointed like Eeyore, but that is pretty hard to do at Disney!

 CINDERELLA!! As I’ve said before, I’m not “into” Disney or the princesses, and I don’t even let the kids watch most of the movies, but Cinderella is a winner through and through.

 BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!! Dad and I scored like crazy on this ride…never mind that the ride got stuck right in front of a target for 10 minutes…

 Jack and Selah rode Splash Mountain together, after much drama…and it was worth it. Her favorite ride!

 Chef Mickey’s was an awesome breakfast buffet and the kids got to spend lots of time with Mickey, Minnie, Donald (not Daffy, JACK!), Pluto, and Goofy. Very fun, and very yummy.

 I do wonder if the characters get tired of 1,000 lips heading their way every day!

 At the airport–the kids first airplane ride that they can actually remember!

 Jack and I got to have a date–an awesome meal outside during sunset and a walk on the beach…Ah…

 One of my favorite moments: Yemi meeting Tiana and asking her to dance. They danced and talked for a long time! And Tiana told Yemi she could come back someday and work in her restaurant. Yemi told everyone she met from then on out that she’d be coming back to work in Tiana’s restaurant!

The whole trip was thanks to my wonderful, fun, and generous Mom and Dad. And we all would add to that a huge thanks to the LORD!