Seven foods

There is a lot I want to write about... I think this "crazy food thing" I'm doing is probably the most all-consuming at the moment.

It all started with Jen Hatmaker. She and I have a love-hate relationship that she knows nothing about, wherein, she makes me feel guilty, makes me know grace, inspires me, challenges me, insults me, and makes me laugh all within a few sentences in her books and blog. I say all of this with the highest regard for her and her ministry, and I am BEYOND grateful for her passion in waging the war on our current culture. I appreciate her realness and humility through it all, and this is why I keep reading her work.

So, my buddy Jen, I promise I'm not a stalker, wrote this book called 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. It is essentially a book of seven challenges to hopefully draw attention to the most common areas of excess in our lives and help us rid ourselves of all that distracts us from Christ. In the first chapter, she talks about our love for food - quantity and variety. This has always been an area of struggle for me. I have often referred to myself as a "food addict", and I have actually compared myself to drug addicts when talking about my love for scratch that obsession with no, still worse than that- fatal attraction to French Fries - like, I literally did this when talking to a drug addict... not my finest hour. All of this to say, when I read this chapter, my throat started closing, my breathing became shallow, and my heart had palpitations. I knew I had to do something about this.

The challenge to wage the war against food excess is to choose seven foods and eat only those foods for a month. WHAT?! Seriously, I am not happy with Jen about this right now. So, I looked at nutritional value and versatility, and I chose the following foods: 1. Chicken 2. Avocados 3. Black Beans 4. Whole Wheat bread (this includes tortillas) 5. Carrots 6. Apples 7. Salsa (I know there is more than one ingredient in salsa, but I'm counting it as one food. deal with it) I have also decided not to go to restaurants unless it is for a special occasion - mainly because it is hard to stick to "7" at a restaurant, but also because it is a privilege of excess to have someone else prepare my food for me. I'm also only drinking water with this challenge. (this is probably the easiest part... I like water)

I began the challenge on May 1st, and I plan to go throughout the month of May. I have already scheduled in "Grace Days" on which I can eat whatever I want and get a free pass for that day. I decided to do this because there are always special occasions that come up. I have decided to only allow myself 3 days of excess. 1. My first Mother's Day 2. The day after I am done working (I haven't told y'all yet, but I am going to be a STAY AT HOME MOM ON MAY 17TH!!! WAHOO!!!) 3. I haven't decided what my third day will be, but I'm planning on eating fried seafood.

I'm on my 5th day, and I am already seeing some ugly things come out. I think this is a good thing. The other night, I prepared food for Superman (6 months old and eating real food... it's incredible.), and he ate chicken, like mom, but he got broccoli instead of carrots as his side. I was actually JEALOUS of my 6 month old's steamed broccoli. how demented is that?! My co-workers went to lunch this afternoon, and I actually felt left out that I had to tell them "no" because of my decision to do this challenge. It is also a little exhausting every time I explain why I am eating another black bean, chicken, and avocado burrito for lunch (5 days in a row). It's good for me.

Anyway. I recommend this book for all Americans. I think it is exactly the kind of challenge we all need. It's uncomfortable, and it's hard. But - it's worth it.

This is what my g-chat conversation with Austin at work looks like when we are both doing the 7 challenge

The foods:

Superman was Adopted!

Done. The theme of the past few days is "We are DONE!" I can not even begin to explain how ready we were to FINALLY have Bug be officially OURS. Praise the Lord that everything went so smoothly, and it was such a sweet time for all of us.

We finalized the adoption in Fort Worth, so we decided to make a special weekend out of the experience. Our families came from out of town - Georgia, Austin, Amarillo - and we all celebrated all weekend! It was a blast!

We chose a theme for the adoption: "Superman was Adopted". We chose this because we love the redemptive themes of the Superman story: His parents wanted to give him a better life, sent him to earth, his adoptive parents loved and supported him, he realized he had powers and used them to save lives, he knew his weakness and fought against it throughout his life to triumph over it. We see so many Spiritual parallels with the Superman story: Bug came to live in our home to have a better life/more opportunities, we will love and support him throughout his life, he has a power within that is greater than any power on this earth (The Lord), our biggest prayer is for him to claim the Power of Christ and use it to lead others to saving grace, we pray that he will know his weaknesses and triumph over them using Scripture. He is our little Superbaby!! I don't care that I am cheesy... it's fun!

The ceremony was short, but it was powerful! We stood before the judge with all of our family and friends. They asked us all to raise our hands and swear to care for this child and do everything in our power to give him the best life possible. Then they asked Austin and I specific questions. Some were just asking about the facts: his name, birth date, has he lived in our home for 6 months, etc... Then came the tear-jerkers... "Do you, Austin, promise to love, cherish, and care for this child, fulfilling all of his needs, physical and otherwise, and love him as if he was your natural born child? YES!!! And do you, Elizabeth, promise to love, cherish, and care for this child, fulfilling all of his needs, physical and otherwise, and love him as if he was your natural born child? *tears* YES!!! Then, because of your testimony here today, I grant this adoption and therefore change this child's name to..." *gavel bump* PICTURE TIME!!! 

We took pictures with the judge, caught the whole thing on video, and then had a celebration in the lobby of the courthouse with some special cookies made by my talented friend with Sweet Emotion cookies. (you MUST check her out... they are THE BEST cookies EVER!!!)

The sweetest thing, to me, was when we were all done with the ceremony, Bug latched on to my neck and dramatically laid his head on my shoulder. He is usually not still long enough to snuggle like this. Within a couple of minutes, he was sound asleep! It almost felt like he KNEW that something BIG happened, and he was simply so content and relaxed that he just fell asleep! This might not seem like a big deal for most babies... but this baby is NOT one to just fall asleep. He is BUSY!!! He is so interested in everything going on around him that he doesn't have time to sleep unless we remove the distractions and lay him down. It really warmed my heart. It felt like the perfect ending to this whole journey.

 My mom gave Bug a Bible with his full name engraved on the front and his adoption date inscribed on the inside. It will be such a special treasure to commemorate this day for him for years to come. We all went to a big breakfast afterwards and enjoyed each others company. It was such a sweet time!! We will never forget it!!

I can not express how much I appreciate all of the love and support we have received from people far and wide... even those of you we don't even know! We have gotten so many emails, calls, texts, comments on the blog, comments on facebook and instagram, and private messages offering so much love and encouragement. My heart is so full. I wish I could express how much this means to all of us! We are so blessed.

Romans 8:14-16
"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God"

3 weeks until Forever!

We have three weeks from today until Little Bug is OURS. Not just in our hearts. Not just in our arms. OURS. He will bear our name, be in our will, and grow old with us as his parents. Forever.

I feel like, for the past 5.5 months, I have been holding it together (mostly) and pushing ugly thoughts to the back of my mind of all of the things that could happen to disrupt this adoption. In a way, I feel like I've been playing Jenga, (remember Jenga?). All of the paperwork, home study, match meeting, etc. was like carefully stacking the blocks to build the tower. Once Little Bug came home, I felt like every week we have removed a block, so delicately, to signify counting down the days until we can pack up the game and stick it back in the closet. Every time a block gets removed, or time whittles down, more and more anxiety mounts. I hold just a little more breath inside. My hands shake even more. I guard my tower like Gollum with his ring. Now, there are just three more blocks... Three more weeks... The game is almost over. And I COULD NOT be more READY!!!

Even though is has been emotional and, at times, terrifying, we have felt and experienced God's hand throughout the whole experience. I know, without a doubt, that God has ordained for Little Bug to be our baby. I KNOW that nothing will happen to disrupt His plan for our lives. I think this is a perfect example of how many times we BELIEVE that God is working for our good, but we STILL live in fear that something will disrupt His plan. How small-minded we are!!! If I TRULY believed God without my finite understanding, I would dance with reckless abandon around my silly Jenga tower! I would let my baby play on it. Let the dogs sniff around it. Let the box fan blow right on it! I would TRUST that NOTHING can separate us from God's love or His plan for our lives!

Romans 8:28: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

Romans 8:31:  "What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

Romans 8:38-39:  ^"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Can you tell that Romans 8 is my favorite chapter of the Bible?! 

I want to encourage you all - no matter what is going on in your life - to cling to the truth that HE who is FOR us will NEVER be against us. NOTHING can separate us from HIS love. HE will work it all for GOOD in your life! CLING to this! If you must cling to anything in this life, THIS is worth clinging to.