Paleo for PCOS (and more!)

Hey ladies! It's been a while since I have written an entry but I have to share this. Fourteen days ago I started eating "Paleo." If you don't know what it is, in short it is eating the way our Paleolithic ancestors ate. Meats (grass-fed, preservative free), most vegetables excluding potatoes, beans and other starchy ones, nuts and fruits (I think there may be some stipulations on the fruit but I am just learning so right now I am eating 1-2 servings of any fruit per day). No sugar or processed foods. This is a very basic run-down and I not claiming to know it all or even half of it but I am giving it my all and I am already seeing results! My original intention was to do the Whole30 program (http://whole9life.com/category/testimonials/) but I was starting on Nov. 1 and with Thanksgiving right around the corner, I knew I wouldn't make it the complete 30 days. So I decided to just introduce myself to this way of eating and do the best that I could with my knowledge thus far.

My progress:
1. For the first week, I lost about a pound every day. Now I know this isn't about the weight loss entirely but those of you with PCOS know that when you are successful at weight loss it is a huge victory.
2. Before beginning this diet, I had always experienced some really intense heel pain. I always  thought it was from wearing flip-flops pretty much 365 days a year and maybe in part it was caused by that. Now 14 days into the diet and I have literally NO heel pain. It used to be so bad that I could hardly touch the backs of my heels and now nothing! That in itself was amazing to me.
3. Finally, A.F. came back all on her own! I can't believe it! It has been at least a year since I have had a cycle that wasn't medicated. Now I am not 100% sure if this is due to the diet changes or if this is purely coincidental because this happened on about Day 11. If it was the diet, I likely didn't ovulate because I would have needed 14 days but it is possible that my hormones are coming under control.

I am so excited to see what other great changes happen to my body as I become more proficient in this way of eating. I wanted to share this with you PCOS ladies out there who are interested in changing your diet to help with your condition. If you have done or currently do Paleo or something similar, I would love to hear your testimonials, so please share!

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours.

*Edit: Here are some great links regarding Paleo: Whole9, Everyday Paleo, Caveman Strong

Home Educating Family Publishing

Home Educating Family Publishing

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Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus...

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, 

Look full in His wondrous face,

And the things of earth shall grow strangely dim,

In the light of His glory and grace.

Such a well known song, such powerful lyrics.

In the time since I have written we have taken some steps in our infertility journey. Last month I took Clomid (a hormone that stimulates ovulation) for the first time. I am not sure what prompted me. At the time, I truly believed that it was our next step defined by God but after much prayer, many tears and another failed cycle I realize that it was simply my fleshly desire to hurry God's plan along. Today I am at a point that I don't know what God's plans for us are concerning children. It has been a really long couple of years and I am tired. 

Someone recently posted a YouTube video of Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus on Facebook. As I listened to the lyrics God starting working on my heart, telling me that my focus had turned so much upon having another child that I was no longer looking upon Him. I had made a pure and wonderful thing, the blessing of a child, into an idol; into something that spawned jealousy and pain. 

It is now time for me to set my mind on things above, not on things of this earth (Colossians 3:2). I am deciding to look upon His wondrous face and endure sufferings here on earth with a joyous heart. 

Joyous heart? That's right. This doesn't mean that I am happy, that have forgotten all about having another baby. It doesn't take away all the pain and I can't guarantee that I'll never shed another tear over the matter. But what I can guarantee is that I will be content, that I will understand and embrace the concept that all of this suffering is leading to greater things. Things from above. Things that are better than I could have ever imagined. I trust in my God, although it is not always easy to relinquish control I will do it. I lay my life plans in HIS hands to do as He see best. He knows the whole picture, He knows of things to come.

Adoption? 

 A biological child?

Foster care? 

No more children at all?? 

I don't know how life will play out but I know I will not be alone. He is by my side. 

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed. -Deuteronomy 31:8

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours.

The Blame Game

Amidst my hours and hours of internet research and reading on PCOS, I have found that is very common for infertile women to blame themselves for the problems within their bodies. Until last week, I did not fall among these women. I had my head on my shoulders, knowing for a fact that it was all in God's control, there was nothing I could do to fix the problem and on and on. I was so glad I did not think it was my fault...ugh! I hate when I start to get a haughty attitude! God has a way of handing us over from time to time to our ugly behaviors. About a week or so ago I got clobbered with a big huge rock with the words blame all across it! Wow does it hurt! I can't stop thinking about the fact that if I could just lose some more weight maybe my fertility would come back, if I could eat this way or that maybe it was help me ovulate, maybe if I wasn't so lazy, if I could motivate myself to get off the couch THEN I could have a baby. No matter how hard I try to go back to not feeling any blame it just keeps coming around again and again. I am a huge believer in personal responsibility in all aspects of life but had never accepted any for my current situation. Now it's raining down on me and I don't know what to do. I don't know how to change  all the things that I have control over. I don't know how to get motivated! Even my spiritual life feels dry. This battle is a never ending swim upstream.

My apologies to you women out there who have felt blame and I have perturbedly thought: "Why?" "How could you feel guilty about something you have no control over?" ... Now I know. Now I know.

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours.

Soul Cysters Weight Loss Challenge Giveaway

I know all you women out there suffering from PCOS you know how hard weight loss can be. I am going to be entering the Soul Cysters Weight Loss Challenge starting on Aug. 1 Right now Mrs. O's Life is giving away 2 entries into the contest. I am really hoping this will motivate me to drop a few lbs before I start taking (or while I am taking) Clomid. Check out her blog and take the steps to start your own weight loss journey or further the one you have already begun!


Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours.

While I'm Waiting...

Lately, my life seems at a stand still. I feel like I am sitting here waiting upon the Lord to act on my behalf. We are coming up on two years that I have been dealing with my heart's desire for a child. I have found a great peace with God and realized that I there is a large chance I will never give birth to a child but I still have high hopes that my future does hold more children. 
I have had a great conviction to begin foster care, my husband however has not had this 'great conviction.' This poses a huge problem as you might imagine! I know that my husband has a huge heart and desires to serve God but sometimes he needs a push or a pull to realize that a path is for him. I normally have no problem nudging him along but this time is different. At first, I tried begging, pleading and convincing, no results. And then, I felt God's working hands pulling on my heart and telling me the one word that I am absolutely no good with: WAIT. Ugh! Seriously? More waiting?? So I tried to convince myself that it wasn't really GOD who wanted me to wait...mistake. So after more begging, er, nagging and a little praying, essentially God told me to shut my mouth and let Him do the talking, moving, happening. 
It's now I realize that God can do a much better job of making things happen, perfecting things and calling people to action than I can begin to imagine. No, my husband did not miraculously come to me and abruptly announce that he was ready to sign up for foster care but I can now accept the fact that God is working things out. Working in His own time to perfect this situation, to perfect our hearts to receive children hurt by a sinful world and to perfect the love that we will give these children. 
And so, as the song says:
"I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait..."

If you feel inclined, please lift our family up in prayer. That God's will may take shape in our lives. 

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours.

Learning and Sewing

It's been over a month since I last posted...life get's so hectic sometimes, I completely forget about blogging!  I hope you haven't all abandoned me in my absence.

This weekend our small church had a great opportunity to have John Clayton give several lectures. This man is a former atheist who became a Christian while trying to write a book bashing the bible. Ironic? In case any of you are interested his website is doesGodexist.org He is a scientist and former high school teacher. He was incredibly interesting and really made me begin to examine some of my views and some of my actions. Anytime someone can shake you sand wake you, you'd better take advantage of the opportunity!

In unrelated new, I took on another sewing project --curtains for my pantry. We had a set of bifold doors but one was broken and I really despise those things. My *dream* solution would have been frosted doors with "PANTRY" etched in the glass but the budget just wouldn't allow. I was looking through a Country Living book and saw the ideas of using curtains in the doorway and thought it was super cute.  Here is a pic of my curtains:

 

I left the curtains a little long because I was in such a hurry to begin sewing that I didn't pre-shrink the fabric and know that they will likely shrink a bit in the wash.  

That's the excitement here on the homefront.

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours. 

Made To Crave

Last night I participated in a small group study on this book. I have high hopes for this book and study leading to big changes in my life. Made To Crave was written by Lysa Terkeurst, President of Proverbs 31 Ministries.  In this book Lysa points out that intense cravings for food can actually be sinful and she works to provide biblical application for overcoming these addictions.

It brought me such joy to come together in God's name with a group of ladies to support and encourage one another with an issue that we each struggle with minute by minute, day by day. After listening to the first session of Made To Crave, I realized that often, when working to produce good fruits, I conveniently forget that one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. I hadn't realized that all this time I was in a spiritual war, wrestling with my fleshly desires for food, needing self-control! It was such a revelation to me.

There are 5 more sessions left in this study and I am eagerly awaiting each of them. I will continue to  write about each of these sessions and the book as time progresses. In the meantime, if you have often been in your own spiritual battle for self-control, longing to be filled with something but not realizing that something is the Lord alone, I absolutely recommend this book. You can check it out HERE.

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours!

Our Family's Purpose Statement

What's your family's purpose?

Sorry I have been M.I.A. lately!  Last week was super busy!

Lately I have been focusing on getting our home organizing and maintaining a cleaner environment for my family. I am just in the baby steps but so far it is going well. Yesterday, I received Tsh Oxenreider's Organized Simplicity in the mail, what I have read of it has been awesome! If you don't know who Tsh is, check out her site here: SimpleMom.net. She is starting Project Simplify on Monday, so head over there and see what it is all about! Anyway, in her book she suggest created a "family purpose statement" and that is what we were working on as a family tonight. It was so much fun to hear each others answers and coming together to set a purpose for our family. Here is a very rough draft based on Tsh's suggestions:

We believe our purpose as a family is to serve God. We will accomplish this by:

• valuing integrity and love
• making our home welcoming and comfortable, filled with love
• prioritizing growth in God above lesser values
• exemplifying a servant's heart

Tsh posted a fun graphic for her family purpose statement and I think that would be something really neat, so I will probably work on it later tonight. I will post when I am finished!

I think I was really attracted to this idea because it gave us time as a family to sit down and hash over our family's values and our ideas for the future. It was a great discussion and I think it will help keep us focused on what we are truly called by God to accomplish!


Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours.

Snapshot Saturday

These photos are actually from last Saturday but I didn't get a chance to post them and since probably won't get to post any photos from this Saturday, I thought I'd share!  Rob and I had plans to go to a state park about 4 hour away but that didn't work out. Instead we went to a local park. Nothing too exciting but it was great to get out in the fresh air!

View from the Hawk Viewing Deck.

My hubby bubby enjoying the day.

Me (and a tree).

Tangled trees and palms.

Little walkway.

Palm

This is the pond area, lots of pretty ducks and birds.

This walkway went up to a picnic area.

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours.

One Thousand Gifts

About two weeks ago I began reading Ann Voskamp's book titled, "One Thousand Gifts." I just finished chapter three and let me just say, this book is a huge eye-opener. In her book Ann says, "I discover that slapping a sloppy brush of thanksgiving over everything in my life leaves me deeply thankful for very few things in my life." As I am reading her book I begin to realize the truth of this statement. Ann began to list all the small things she was thankful and working her way to one thousand...but the journey continued. Now Ann has written this book and continues to blog about the things she is thankful for on her blog, A Holy Experience. I encourage you to check out her book and also her blog. It may just lead you to your own epiphany!
As for me, I will be starting my "hunt" for things to be thankful for today. Sometimes I will list here and sometimes I will be just writing them down on scrap paper, etc. I will let you know when I get to ONE THOUSAND!

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours!

Wintery Weather

We had some beautiful weather through the weekend and it really got me in the mood for SPRING! I love the sunshine and cool breeze! Today, however, we got blasted with another "artic front," as the weather man loves to say. It is rainy, windy, and c-o-l-d.

Nothing a good cup of coffee can't cure!

A few more weeks and the weather should be warming up. Can't wait to plant some flowers and work on my spring ambition, a garden retreat.


In unrelated news, God had a word for me last night and I just love it when He speaks to us so clearly! 
But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. -Psalm 69:13   
**That is absolutely without a doubt my prayer right now...this verse was a reminder that our needs are not new to the Lord. He hears us loud and clear!  So if you have a need speak up, let it it be heard and at an acceptable time, God will make his answer known. 

I hope all of you are keeping warm and safe out there. Winter's sleep will soon end and we will be greeting with the wonderful awakening of God's creation! I can't wait!

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours.

 

"O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word...-1 Kings 18:36

Have you ever had a period of time where God keeps revealing a certain passage from the bible to you, over and over again. Sometimes we don't quite get why and then suddenly it all becomes quite clear and God speaks to you through His word. Since A and I first read the story of Elijah in his bible curriculum, I have been seeing this passage (1 Kings 18-19) come up in conversation, studies and bible readings. I immediately was drawn to the story the first time I read partially for the humor in Elijah's taunting of the Baal worshipers and partly because I was touched by the gentle way God chose to speak to Elijah. It wasn't until yesterday in our Sunday sermon that God chose to personalize this passage for me.
Our pastor was using Elijah's story to show how depression can take over us even after a "mountain-top" high. After God put to shame the Baal worshipers through Elijah (1 Kings 18:38-40), Jezebel began to plan an attack on him. (1 Kings 19:2) Elijah had just been used to glorify God (and as you may know that is such an amazing experience) but directly afterward he was forced to flee for his life. These kinds of highs and lows are so real to our lives. I know that many times I after experience a remarkable time with the Lord I come under deep spiritual attack and often end up having to deal with some hard emotions. This situation isn't unique to Elijah or even to me. But there is more to Elijah's story, even while struggling to protect his life the Lord calls upon him (19:9). God doesn't want Elijah to sit in his sorrow, He calls Elijah to work for Him. The same message applies to us, although God may allow us to be in our own self-pity for a little while, ultimately (if we accept) He will pull us out of our pain and call us into action for Him.

One other aspect of this story really made an impression upon me was God's method of speaking to Elijah. He sent a mighty wind (in my mind, something like a tornado?), an earthquake and a fire. But God did not choose one of these glaringly obvious methods to speak to Elijah. He chose the simplest of all, a whisper (19:11-12). Amazing right!? Our God is capable of calling out to us by any means necessary but sometimes He chooses the most humble of ways!

I  really began to consider this whole story in terms of my life... I need to pull out of my thoughts of sadness and dwelling on things I cannot change and instead focus on seeking to serve My great and mighty Lord in whatever way He chooses for me right now! I need not look for Him in some miraculous event but rather in the quiet hours of life. I am waiting upon His whisper of a call for me.

Shhh. 
Listen.
The Lord may be whispering to you.

Until next time, may Christ's blessings be upon you and yours. 

Snapshot Saturday

This is my second Snapshot Saturday, hope to be more frequent with these.

After a three days of being iced over, it was 60 degrees and beautiful sunshine EVERYONE wanted to feel the beautiful weather:

These were abandoned for 

 

 

 

BUBBLES!

Most of the green is gone for the winter

But some remains

And a certain someone thinks it's tasty!

And last but not least my fabulous Saturday find. Nike shorts + NY&Co. Bermudas for $4 @ Goodwill

All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling. -Oscar Wilde

Lately I have been doing a lot of reading from many who are suffering through the battle of infertility. Each of these women describe their feelings with meaning and purpose. Some describe feeling like they are a failure because they cannot do what their bodies were created to do, some describe feeling like they are letting their husbands and loved ones down, and still others describe the feeling of no control, that fertility is not within their control. Hearing all these women communicate their feelings in their writing, I began to examine my own emotions and thoughts about infertility. The only problem was there weren't any. I don't feel like a failure or like I've let anyone down or even still I'm not driven crazy by the lack of control.

I feel hurt.
Pain.

I feel a deep black hole devoid of any emotion beyond sadness and bordering on numbness.


Now don't misinterpret this. This feeling doesn't consume my life. I am no longer in a state of depression and can carry on, actively participating in my own life. However, if I stop, only for a moment and begin to dwell on the situation of no baby, this sort of blackness envelopes me.

I am continually praying that if for whatever reason, God chooses to never give me another child He will take away my hurt and fill it with His unfailing love. I know He wants only the best for His children and I accept that. I just need His comfort, His grace and love to fill me...overflowing, abundantly. I have the utmost confidence that the Man who died on the cross to save me has compassion enough to ease my aching burden. If I focus on that, a glimmer of Light fills that blackness, breaks through the pain and makes it bearable once again.

And that is how I feel about my inability to conceive. It can't be wrapped in a single package or confined to a single sentence. I don't know if even makes sense to anyway one else but writing it, expressing it, brings me one step closer to understanding it and moving beyond.

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours.

If you have an hour, will you not improve that hour, instead of idling it away? -Lord Chesterfield

Happy Monday! The beginning of another week. This weekend the hubs and I were discussing our lives and what we are doing and where we are going. Have you ever had one of those moments where you take a look at your life and ask: What in the world am I doing?? When did life lose it's mission and become about just getting through another week??

I have begun examining my own life and looking for some purpose for it. When I consider this I am called back to Romans 12:2, the beginning of which says "Be not conformed to this world..." If we live our lives just to get through the week, to get dinner made, the laundry done, to get one kid to soccer and the other to gymnastics what are we truly live for? Are we not being conformed to this world in every step we take racing from one activity to the next? Our mission in life is to reach out to those in need, whether it be material need or spiritual need.  "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." -James 1:27

I encourage you (and myself) this week, this month to take one step toward helping someone in need. That person could be your best friend or a person on the street, just share the gospel with them through your love, your actions. I remember hearing some say once: "You may be the only "Jesus" that person ever knows." What will you represent of our Savior?

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours.

Rise and shine

Good morning! I hope your new year is off to a great start! This is always such a refreshing time for my heart, mind, soul and body. This year I haven't set any specific resolutions but my goal this year is to break away from the hold that electronics have on myself and my family. In this day and age there is not a place we can go that we don't have access to some sort of electronic device. Even some campsites I was looking at offer free Wi-Fi. So this year we are taking a step back, canceling our satellite service and making a deliberate effort to spend more time doing activities together that do not involve computers or video games. We have been off to a pretty good start and I realize that although in the past I spent a lot of time on the computer, I actually like my life better when I am off the computer.

So what were your New Year's resolutions? What efforts are you taking to make sure you stick to these goals? I wish you great success in achieving these goals and a blessed new year.

Until next time, may Christ's love and blessings be upon you and yours.