For the last 6 days this has been my lunch and dinner.  Actually two of them for lunch and two for dinner. Looks like pond scum, right?  Actually, it tastes better.  It is juice.  Juice from kale leaves, cucumber, lemon, celery, spinach, ginger root, and green apples.  You could put green pepper in, but I opted out of it after the first day.  Why in the world would I do this?  Well, on July 1st, my dear husband, Mark, decided to go on a juice fast.  60 days.  Ever seen "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead?"  Same deal.  Mark's brother did it first.  60 days.  Lost over 70 pounds.  So Mark decided to try it.  We got him a juicer for Father's Day, and he started the 1st.

When our daughter, Celia, came back from the LCMS Youth Gathering, she saw the difference in weight in Mark.  He had lost about 15 pounds.  You could really see it in his face.  She decided to try it for six days. I thought, no way, she will never be able to do it.  She could not drink that stuff for six days.  Maybe it was me saying she could not do it, but she did it.  And now she is eating a lot better.  A lot.  I kept encouraging Mark, but I know the best way to encourage someone is to get into their shoes and live it with them.  So six days ago, on Saturday, I started the fast.  Sunday and Monday were awful.  Tuesday, I barely drank down the stuff.  I think I had a bad cucumber or something.  Wednesday was better, and today, well, I see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Only one more meal.  Losing weight, well, maybe four or five pounds, but that was not really why I did it.  I really wanted to experience what Mark is going through.  Walking through a grocery store while fasting, not easy.  Walking by fast food. Really hard.  But I know he can do it.  Over 50 pounds he has lost.  He is adding years to his life.  I praise Our Heavenly Father for helping him thus far. May it all stay off.  

Still July.

Never got any pictures posted from that concert in June at Concordia.  But there are some on the web somewhere.  Also on FB.  No worries.  Only grace.

A friend asked me something today.  Actually she asked it Monday and I just saw it today.  She is a young mom.  5 kids aged 8 and under.  I never had that many that young.  When my oldest was 8 I had 4.  When she turned 10 I was pregnant with twins.  Anyhow, this friend asked me if I could go back and do this stage different, what would it be?  Then she asked, what is your biggest struggle now?  First of all, I feel honored that anyone would care about what I think.  I guess I am in that stage now with three teenagers and they all think I am stupid.  Stupid hair.  Stupid clothes.  Sigh.  But, if I could go back to NY when my oldest was 8, well, I really do not want to go back there.  I was arrogant.  I thought I had it all together.  I thought I had so much to say to young moms.  Just do what I do and life will be great.  Stuck up.  I really do not like who I was then.  I guess I wish I could go back to that me and give me a kick in the rear.  Naw, not a kick in the rear.  I really should have given me a hug.  Because that is what I really needed.  A hug.  If I could go back to that stage right now, I would hug my kids.  I would hug my husband.  And I would love him better.  But I am so glad that I do not have to look back and wish.  Because God's grace covers it all.  He takes all our mistakes and makes them miracles.  He redeems the years of locusts.  Joel 2:25.
My biggest struggle now.  I believe it has been my biggest struggle since infancy.  Giving Him control over my life.  Putting God in the center.  The kids.  They will grow.  I have tried to come to terms with that.  After having my heart ripped out this fall when Dorothee left, I realized I have put too much of myself into these kids.  They will go away.  That is God's plan.  I need to spend more time at my Savior's feet and loving Him. I need to spend more time helping my husband and loving him.  Yes, when the kids were younger, they DEMANDED my time.  But I should have let others help me.  The older kids should have helped me more with the younger kids.  They did, but they could have done more.  But again, I am thinking back and I should not.  Grace.  Grace covers everything.  I set my eyes on the prize.