Hi Mom, I’m Writing About Food Again

Why yes, this post is for my mother (I’m pretty sure she’s the only person who has kept my insight stats alive the past two years), but you’re welcome to read it too.

I think my last post was October 2015, and prior to that I hadn’t been really active since May 2015 – about 3 months after I started this blog. I really enjoyed everything about it but was in the midst of some major life adjustments that have certainly altered my perspective on food, cooking for myself and my family, and meal planning. You already know all this, Mom, but I’ll just explain for those who don’t…

Last June my husband and I welcomed two missionaries into our home for 2 months (for one) and 3 months (for the other). We had parties and get togethers every weekend, showed them our local surroundings, spent tons of time together each night, and overall adjusted to living with two new roommates, one of which became like a family member.

As if that wasn’t already a sort of biggie, within those three months we also:

1. Planned a huge 30th birthday party for my husband and invited his family (who is spread out all over the country) to come stay for the event. Which meant I hosted 5 more people for a weekend, but it’s all good.
2. The following week I started a new job that is an hour commute from where I live (we’re talking 43 miles one way), but I absolutely love it (still!) and have really enjoyed working there.
3. My husband left his job to go back to school full time (major life change and faith step for us)!
4. And the world continued to turn round.

So after that crazy/wonderful summer, we thought we were sort of settling in to a routine, but then experienced some unpleasantness that really rocked us. Yet, God is so good that He knew exactly what He was doing and only this week were my eyes really opened to thank God for that trial because it brought my husband and I closer together, we finally obeyed God’s calling to switch churches (after 4 years of Him calling us to do so) and He was so good to even tell us which church to go to, and we’ve grown so much in our relationships with Jesus and each other that I’m just praising Him for right now. The Holy Spirit really helped me understand that right now wasn’t possible without that initial trial that pushed us out of our comfort zone and forced us to seek Him with everything. Still praising Jesus here!

Yet, while we were in the midst of that, God allowed my husband and I to take our first vacation by ourselves in the 7 years we were married (and on our 10 year anniversary of when we started dating). We’d previously always only traveled to see family, but decided to go somewhere by ourselves last March and fell in love. My husband and I already have our tickets for our next vacay this year (we leave in May!!) and can hardly wait to invest in our marriage again.

Oh, and I also had an extended peak at work where I was working 50-60 hours within my 4 day compressed work schedule for about 15 months. NBD.

So now I’m thanking God that overtime period is over, the work was completed, and we’re now back to a normal schedule. It’s great!

I guess some things that seems minor to me with all the other majors are that we also did extensive house renovations (added a fireplace, re-tiled the house, etc) and major garden improvements (hello mature blueberry bushes, a new raised garden bed, 30 different types of vegetables, and new rose bushes). Yay!

I am a pretty active person, but the last two years really challenged the idea of how active I should be. During this time I also suffered with plantar fasciitis that was so severe one podiatrist told me I needed surgery on both feet, I was wheeled around a zoo in a wheel chair (every little kid’s dream but not so fun in your 20’s), and am still suffering through strengthening my feet to be able to do things I love (cooking, gardening, running, etc). I also developed two pinched nerves in my neck and two more pinched nerves in my shoulders with radiating pain and numbness down my arm–thank God for the medical profession–and which are mostly healed now. Yet all of these things were really signs of me pushing myself too hard.

Now, while still physically recovering, I’m feeling much more at peace with the routine my husband and I are starting to settle in to. To be honest, we’ll never have a true routine but that’s ok. I’m re-learning how to say “no” when I’m taking on too much and how to say “yes” to me time again, and I feeling so much more at peace with the balance that’s being re-established in my life.

Now Mom, this part is truly for you (if you kept reading and made it this far). I’m thrilled with how you’re doing on your clean eating journey and wanted to start adding my meal plans back to the blog so you guys can get some ideas of what you might like to try. Meal planning has always been my key to eating clean, and this past year that’s really been a challenge for me. However, I started planning again this week and hope to continue planning in the weeks to come and will update y’all on what we’re eating. I hope it helps you guys find variety in this new lifestyle.

I love you.