Been Awhile!

Wow. 

Just thought I'd take a peek at my Little Lambie Girl Blog 

that I haven't touched since JUNE! 

WHAT?!

I only have 3 followers, but EACH ONE OF YOU is SO IMPORTANT! 

It's crazy the timing though. 

My last post was written when we were STARTING to move...and now...5 MONTHS later we are FINALLY MOVING!

in 13 days! 

When we get HERE I want to spend the month of December

 

PREPARING

to start 2011 off with a BANG! 

 

And get back to on the road to

 

Becoming the Woman God has Called Me to Be. 

 

I've been spending this night remembering, anticipating, and GRATEFULLY praying ...looking forward to a new season, a new life in New Bern, NC...a new YEAR! 

I can't wait to take you all on the journey with me!

Again, it IS a journey! 

Ups and Downs...Successes and Failures...

 

but ALWAYS

 

"Running for the Prize!" 

I can't wait to OPEN what Jesus has in store! 

Peace of the Lord be upon you this night...

We Must Remember....It's a Journey!

Well, it's about 10:00 pm on a Monday night. 

All the kiddos are tucked into bed. 

Bill is away on his Worship Retreat.

And I sit...listening to the sound of the air conditioners...that I could not hear all day because of the constant rumble of little munchkins

trying to occupy themselves as Mommy 

tried to get hold of her thoughts

and make sense of HOW to 

go about turning your life upside down...and packing to move. =)

Let's see...how many times in the past have I done this? 

Well...moved from Nashville to Northern Virginia just Bill and I. Not too bad.

Moved from McLean to Fair Oaks...just Bill and I. Not too bad. I do remember the horrible job of CLEANING the condo when we moved OUT to go to 

the COTTAGE in Oakton...again, just Bill and I. 

We were 10 years without children. 

I remember arriving at the little teeny tiny cottage and spending our first night LITERALLY surrounded by boxes that touched the ceiling. I remember our dear friend, Joe, eating smoked salmon and crackers on fold up chairs in the center of this towering fortress around us. = )

Then we moved from the cottage to our townhome at Penwith in Chantilly. I was pregnant with Caela. This began the moves where my parents...poor dears...came EACH TIME and literally spent 2 to 3 days just throwing things in boxes to move us. 

Cottage to Penwith...

Penwith to Centreville (a rental when I was pregnant with Daniel)...

Centreville to Bristow...

Bristow to Roanoke (I was pregnant with Gracie)...

Roanoke to Christiansburg (Gracie was a wee baby)...and OH!! THE STUFF!!!  

Ah...those were the days! Packing and moving while being PREGNANT! UGH! 

Now, it's no pregnancies, no husband around, and 5 children fluttering about like fireflies. = ) 

Moving is not one of my favorite things to do AT ALL!!! But I know it's up there on everyone's LEAST FAVORITE jobs to do. 

So, you ask, why am I sharing about MOVING on my Little Lambie Girl blog? 

WELL....because since April 23rd, when Bill was released from his job with DSS, I have been in a limbo state...and my exercise routine, chocolate and coffee intake...and healthy diet have all pretty much gone out the window.

I know, it happens to the best of us, right? But when we fall off the horse we NEED to get right back up again! 

I know that the reason I'm struggling so much with focus and getting things done in a productive way right now with this move is because my body is just not happy. As my friend, Amy, says..."Choose Freedom" and I haven't been doing that the last two months and I'm feeling it! 

I had been praying for weeks for my hubby, Bill. I was seeking the Lord diligently for Bill to lead him to a place of being able to have an exercise routine, eat better, drink less cokes...WELL!! He has answered ALL of these prayers and I look at the energy, the focus, and the productivity in my hubby and know that that's where I was 2 months ago. 

Like I shared in my Post Title...We must remember it's a Journey!!! 

We will have Life come in and rearrange our priorities, our focus, our schedule...etc. We WILL FALL! We WILL have detours in our diet, exercise, schedule...and after we realize..."OH MY! THIS is why I'm feeling the way I do! This is why I'm so tired! This is why I feel sluggish and grumpy and impatient!" 

The Lord made our bodies to function with the right fuel...the right amount of sleep...intake of water...vitamins...disciplines...and when those get all out of wack when LIFE takes a new turn ...there are some that are REALLY SET in their disciplines and there are others of us who have to struggle harder to maintain those disciplines...and it just takes longer to reach the same desired goals. 

Food, exercise, sleep, disciplines...all work together to bring balance and LIFE! We need to be lifting each other up in prayer on our journeys and trusting that as we take 4 steps back and 2 steps forward that ONE DAY we will reach the "GOAL". 

My heart is to one day be FULLY consistant, disciplined, and steadfast in each of these areas of my life. I know that as a mom of little ones and multiple children it's harder to accomplish this, but I WANT TO! 

"Jesus, strengthen your little lambie girl and all my other lambie girl friends out there who want to live out the verse, 'I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.'"

"Man does not live by bread alone..." - Post #2

Look at what the Lord made...fresh...beautiful...desirous.

Look at what man made...ugly, processed, needing to be packaged. 

I have been going through a process in this FASTING journey. I picked up this book several months ago and just started reading it again yesterday. In the second chapter it talks about 

"King Stomach."

This is my WORST enemy in this journey to not only FASTING, 
but in my journey towards health and wholeness. 

I started my journey April 12. It is now over a month later and I feel I have taken 2 steps forward and 10 steps back. 

I know that we are in a HUGE life change process, the kids have JUST gotten out for the summer, and we just came out of a 10 day stint of rain..which ALWAYS brings me down. But sometimes I feel like I should be stronger than I truly am in regards to the area of food. 


But ....I'm NOT! = ) 


During this time of discernment and seeking after the Lord for provision and direction I had sensed Him calling me to Fast. I was able to press in for a week. Not a full fast, but for all day and eat after 5 pm. Then some days I felt released to just eat normally as a break. 


Now I find myself wrestling with every moment of the day to keep food from entering my mouth! = ) And it's not just sweets, but whatever is available. 


I feel defeated, tired, overwhelmed, and irritable. 


I know the Lord is faithful and GRACIOUS, but I'm frustrated that my true heart's desire is to have my eating under the submission of the Lord as in everything else ...and the precious honoring of Him with what I CHOOSE to put in my body...."Present your bodies as living sacrifices unto the Lord" and I am saddened daily...hourly...minutely that it SEEMS my desire is NOT for my Lord and honoring Him, but for FOOD and that instant gratification. 


I know this is a journey. I know "His grace is sufficient" and I know "I can do ALL things through Christ that strengthens me"...but I also know that I am a weak and fragile flesh that must bring all things captive under the Lordship of Christ. 


I pray that one day my "thorn" will be ripped from my side to expose the freedom of life without this madness, but for now, it is an challenge and a focus to wrestle within for the throne of my life to have Jesus FULLY ENTHRONED on my life in EVERY AREA...


I ask for your prayers and I pray that by my weakness you will be encouraged that you are not alone in this FIGHT! That in our weakness He is STRONG!!! 


Thank you, Jesus, for this INCREDIBLE promise!!! 


I leave you with this remembrance:

It was in the LAST SUPPER...the last MEAL He shared with His disciples...that He said, 

"DO THIS in remembrance of Me...and Love one another as I have loved you." 

To eat unto the Lord is what we hunger to do, not unto our flesh. 

He will give us our desire as we continue to delight ourselves in Him and

lay our lives before Him.

"Man does not live by bread alone..." - Post #1

"What is that?", you say... THAT is my coffee spilled all over the pavement last Sunday morning. Yep. GONE! 

As you know, I've been grappling with 

"Should I or shouldn't I drink coffee and chocolate?" 

I went with my dear friend, Amy's, deal and was trying to do two cups in the morning. It worked for awhile, but then...yes...got out of control again. 

Sunday morning I felt like I heard the Lord speak to my heart to NOT drink coffee. I REALLY felt this is what He said. Of course, I sat there, in my car, driving to church ...justifying.

"Well, maybe He means just for CHURCH." 

So, when I got to church, I sat in my car and grabbed my 1/2 full cup of coffee and proceeded to start drinking and WHOALA...it drippled ALL DOWN MY WHITE SHIRT!!! 

"Did you or did you not HEAR me say...no coffee?" ...of course, with a sweet kind gentlemanly love underneath. = ) 

So..as of Sunday I have not had coffee, and OH MY GOODNESS! I feel better concentration coming and just a lack of RACING that would happen with coffee. I have replaced the caffeine with coke until I can wean myself off of caffeine. 

It's a HUGE trial and error thing this FOOD thing! 

In sharing this story about my coffee "word" I want to share that I am on a research project on FASTING. 

Many of you have fasted, I'm sure, but I am in a place I'd like you to journey with me in, where I am feeling the call to FAST again and really want to delve into what place FOOD has in our pursuit of intimacy with God. 

Until next time I will leave you with this...

~ Satan used food to tempt Eve.

~ Esau was stripped of his birthright because of food.

and Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness with food. 

There is a profound place that food plays in the life of a Christian..and us MOMS really struggle so much more with it, I believe than other groups. 

A sweet young friend wrote this on her FB post:

"oh my dear sweet coffee, brew now, brew strong, for you are ever needed."

What an example of how coffee/food can become our LOVE and IDOL where Jesus needs to sit. 

I'M ON SABBATICAL!!! = )

Hello, my peeps. = )

Ok, I'm WAY OFF on my postings, aren't I?! = )

Well...this is where I've been. Not always physically, but spiritually...looking out on the beauty and hangin' with Jesus! 

I'm WAY OFF on my eating...not bad on my exercise, AT ALL! But the eating...well. That's a different story. = )

I don't know if it's the layoff...the change in having Bill home...the pressing in in intercession this past week...or WHAT? But I stopped posting because I just didn't have enough room to write out my CHOCO list! = )

Please, say a prayer for me. I am gearing up to begin again on Monday. Fresh start. But this time...ONLY diet and exercise and leave the rest until I'm settled into these. 

I want to modify my friend, Amy's, "Sugar Shock Challenge" and keep SOME sugar...but do her three meals and healthy snacks for two weeks. So pray for me that I can be ready for that, ok? 

Much love ~ My Journeyers! 

Cheryl...the Little Lambie Girl

DAY TEN and ELEVEN:

OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!! 

 

Knowing that Jesus and His angels are watching you EVERY DAY! ...but then you have those days where you just wish you could be INVISIBLE! = ) 

 

Yesterday was ROUGH! WHEW - EEEE!!! 

 

I didn't post yesterday because I pretty much went off the charts with my CHOCO intake. I was a mess most of the day with chronic fatigue...ended up canceling my appts. for the day and going home and being in bed for 3 hours. 

 

Today was MUCH better! I had a better handle on my eating...though I think I did eat more CHOCO than I wanted to. 

 

Well...let's get down to business, shall we! 

 

Weight (taken Mondays):

April 18, 2010...194 lbs

Time with Jesus:

Yesterday was an attack day. I woke in the middle of the night with just a HORRIBLE dream about Bill! We ended up getting into an argument in the morning about NOTHING and after he left for work I just felt the Lord say to my heart, "What if he doesn't come home?"...I called him immediately and apologized for my part of the argument and just cried! Because I LOVE HIM SO MUCH and I don't ever want to be away from him and not be RIGHT! 

So as an aside, today, as I chart my course. I wanted to ask..."Do you ever look about your house and see the things that just make you LOVE your hubby? 

Here we are! Carefree and lovin' our early years! 

Here...

is my hubby's shaving kit he uses EVERY MORNING!

His special soap...

And his slippers with little Gracie's feet in them...

After I called him I went to get ready for my day and was met with all these reminders that this precious man has been GIVEN to ME! And that I need to LOVE what has been entrusted to me as my Husband. And was SO GRATEFUL for him in my life! 

To proceed. = )

Today, was a MUCH BETTER day! I had such sweet times with the Lord and He just encouraged my HEART ALL DAY!!! In my CHILDREN, in His provisions, and in His affirmations that I am right where He wants me. = )

Exercise Accomplished:

YEH, MAN!!! = ) I walked ALL OVER BLACKSBURG today...for like 2 hours! HILLs, HILLs, and more HILLs...pushing 100 lbs of pure baby lovin'! = ) 

Did some core stuff, too! 

Yesterday I did get to the gym in the morning and did 3o minutes on the eliptical...YAY!

What I Ate Today:

~ Had 2 cups of coffee...WOW!
~ Better on the water.

Choco treats: Just for today..yesterday I couldn't even write it all! 
Big oatmeal fudge brownie, a few M&Ms, scoop of choc ice cream/whipped cream/choco sauce, 2 oreos

Breakfast: Breakfast drink


Lunch: apple, carrots,


Snack: avocado


Dinner: New "make up" recipe...rice, kidney beans, onion, tomato sauce...YUM!


Night snack: Something good.= )

My goal is to scale down slowly to gluten - free, minimal meats, and minimal to no dairy. My desire also is to bring my family to this as well. 

Did I Stick to My Routine?:

To be OUTSIDE as much as possible...YES! 

 

Cleaning Accomplished for Today:

off day.

My Ponderings for the Day: 

Consistancy...patience...focus....these are the three things I am on my journey to reach!


peace of the Lord ~ Cheryl

DAY NINE:

 

Daniel 4 years ago. 

You walk out the tough stuff...and WHY? One reason...for little men like him. = ) 

Today was one of those breeze threw days. You have GREAT intentions, but! WELL! 
It just don't happen!  

Not off to such a great start this WEEK TWO, gotta tell ya!

Weight (taken Mondays):

April 18, 2010...194 lbs

Time with Jesus:

Today was sweet. I intended on taking the girls to the Huckleberry Trail for a good killer walk, but they BOTH decided to fall asleep in the car...so I stopped and got out my rocking chair at the Gateway Trail and rocked in the SON for about an hour! Just a sweet sweet time in sweet solitude.

Exercise Accomplished:

Nada! Haven't even STARTED my new 3 week exercises. MUST fit it in.

What I Ate Today:

~ Had 4 cups of coffee.
~ Better on the water.

Choco treats: 1 small Hershey's with almonds bar.


Breakfast: 2 eggs, banana


Lunch: BAD! Sonic! Jr. Double Cheeseburger, 3 tots, apples with carmel, mozz. sticks. GOOD GRIEF!


Snack: popcorn chickens (4)...at walmart


Dinner: New "make up" recipe...as my kids call them...of rice, eggplant, tomatoes, onions, black beans, spices. 1/2 a pc. of bread.


Night snack: Something good.= )




My goal is to scale down slowly to gluten - free, minimal meats, and minimal to no dairy. My desire also is to bring my family to this as well. 

Did I Stick to My Routine?:

Nothing to report.

 

Cleaning Accomplished for Today:

off day.

My Ponderings for the Day: 

It's truly a day by day deal. My biggest struggle...truly...is FOCUS. But I must say, right now, while the weather is GORGEOUS I am trying to be OUT in the SUN with the little ones...AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE! But I also, must say, the last few weeks, I have known SUCH JOY in getting up and starting my day! EXCITED about what the day will bring...how the Lord will guide. I am trusting Him to strengthen me in my decisions through out the day...and hoping to be OBEDIENT as much as possible. He is SO FAITHFUL, SO TRUE, SO AMAZINGLY LOVING! Thank you, Lord, for your indeniable reality and grace in our lives.


peace of the Lord ~ Cheryl