Take My Hand.

Needless to say there are only so many ways to prepare for adult life, without actually doing it.
You can get all of the schooling, and knowledge your brain can hold, but there comes the time were you just have to live.
You have all of these dreams and expectations, of your dream life, dream house and whatnot…it’s “PERFECT!” right?
When I got married of course there was an adjustment period. But after three years of being Mrs. Aaron Cook life now is not what I pictured it would be like three years ago when I walked down the aisle towards my love while wearing probably the most beautiful dress in the universe.
I thought I would be a mommy by now, be healthier, be a better homemaker, have a bigger house with more land to do all of the stuff we want to…
Life isn’t what I thought it was going to be, and you know what…that’s great! I feel like my life is much richer from the lessons I have learned and am still learning! I have a beautiful marriage to the greatest man, I am very blessed in that area to be sure. If I just keep my eyes on God everything will turn according to His Will.

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This Weekend.

In fitness:

Aaron and I brought over my family’s old tredmill from my parent’s house on Friday. I used it for the first time today. Ah, I feel like I am improving already.

In coupons:

On Friday we also went shopping. We were in dire need of groceries. Before that our last shopping trip was in August! Whew, I know! I am so thankful for the coupons my mom lets me clip from her mail. She sees them as a waste of time but she gladly hands them over to me whenever they come. Along with our Kroger card, we saved $49.25 on our groceries. We would have saved around $50 if we remembered our bottle returns!

In auctions:

I went to my first farm auction with Aaron, Brian and Logan on Saturday. Aaron’s buddy Dale Jones and his wife Amanda joined us. Aaron bought a sprayer that he is going to give to his Dad so he can spray the apple trees next year. I found something that I liked. It was an old laundry wringer. It went for $45. Yeah, if it was at a yard sale for $10, I might have been more interested in purchasing it.

In weddings:

All of the Cooks had the pleasure of being invited to Chad and Jenny’s wedding. Chad is one of Aaron’s friends.

 After the auction we snagged some McDonalds for lunch. (Yeah. But hey, it wasn’t like I pigged out on that much of it.) I got a grilled chicken sandwich, a small order of fries, and water.  We drove to the Marshall’s house (Amanda’s sister, Michelle and brother-in-law, Eric’s [who is also standing in the wedding] place) so the boys could change. The wedding began at two. The Cooks sat in front of the Jones’ and the Marshall’s, who sat in the back row because they have little ones. Dale and Amanda have a 2-year-old daughter, Samantha. And Eric and Michelle have a baby, Emily. This was my first time seeing Emily. She is beautiful!

The ceremony was very nice, simple and the sermon done by the pastor was very good! Aaron and I stayed for the reception with the Jones’ and Marshall’s. We visited, ate and visited more. There were litle bells on the table that you could ring so that Chad and Jen would kiss each other. Samantha thought they were pretty neat. Afterwhile of watching her play with them I got the idea to loop them on the ribbon she had for a belt. She danced with bells around her waist and had a ball.  We left at 9:30-ish.   

In family reunions:

Sunday was the Gilbert family reunion, during Sunday school Aaron and I left and drove three hours to my father-in-law’s home town of Adrian, MI. After we arrived with ate, and visited. I finally am able to put names with faces!

In closing:

Aaron and I have grown to much closer this past year. Almost every day we mention something about that. I am so blessed to have him. There are some feelings that just don’t have words.

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Allergy Funk.

ARGH! Here I am again, sniffing, sneezing, looking like a dope breathing through my mouth. I’m crabby, I don’t feel well and I want to go to sleep. And the problem is I don’t know what I am allergic to, but it is something at the farm. I go there, an the next day I wake up with it. Then I say away a few days and I feel fine again.

 

This is so irritating. I want relief!

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Keeping your head clear.

Monday after doing my bags of corn, I began to develop a sore throat. Ugh, not what I wanted!

Yesterday I didn’t do anything productive, I rested and napped. I was also popping horehound candies, and I was amazed at how much mucus my nose was producing! Which was a good thing because I could blow my nose to get rid of the junk. I also sipped on a tangerine drink mixture and before bed I tried to clear my nose with the steam from chamomile tea. Ahh, I love herbs.

The second day of being sick is not fun either. I feel sluggish, lazy, tired. The house is a mess because we haven’t been home much these past few weeks so all we do is drop stuff off and run. I don’t feel like doing anything, but there is so much to do!

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The Sin of Gluttony and the Food Culture of America.

Something has been on my mind today, when is something not?

What is our culture’s view of food?

Fast food.

Comfort food.

Have it your way and have it now.

Eat great, even late.

Gluttony is really not looked at as a sin anymore. It is now something to laugh at, make a joke of. Cartoons of overweight goobs come to mind.

What did God intend food for?

Pleasure?

Fulfilling a lust?

What about as fuel for the body? Sure, I like food that tastes good, who doesn’t? But when does it become a sin?

Our American culture has their traditional mealtimes backwards. A small breakfast, or none at all, a bigger lunch and a huge grandiose dinner with (sometimes several choices of) dessert. Then, when bursting at the seams, make sure there are no crumbs on our plate or the surrounding area, we pry ourselves away from the table and roll ourselves to our next activity thinking of our next meal. That may sound a bit dramatic, but hey, have you seen the health charts and statistics? I can’t make this up! 😉

For normal people with a normal schedule, our meal times should be as follows. A large breakfast, to get our metabolism woke up and running, a smaller lunch and perhaps little meals to help us get through the day, then at dinner we have the smallest meal of all. We don’t need a big meal, a large amount of it will just be empty calories because our day is mostly over. Eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch and a pauper at dinner.

Holidays are closely related with food. These should be the times when we can allow ourselves to feast. Not every dag’gone meal and snack in between!

Could we really survive on more plain meals? Could we learn to eat what our bodies are actually craving and not just what we are in the mood for? Actually go without a dessert? Or dare I say serve fruit in it’s place? Well, I don’t know about you but this little chick has had enough of the disgusting attitude of our culture towards food. Food is fuel. Who’s with me? Bring on the wheat germ.

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The Evidence of Change and Conviction.

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Beauty is not how skinny you can be.

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Uncomfortable and Trendy.

My take on the Duggars:

I really like watching the Duggar Family, when I have the time.  I enjoy watching a family who really loves God and loves each other.

But there is something I have noticed in the way that they dress now.

Call me weird, but it kind of is dissapointing. The girls are wearing ‘tighter’ clothes and going more for what is ‘in’. One of the daughters (I know her name I just won’t mention it) wore a flowy knee length skirt on a windy day. I was surprised. I could see her short leggings.

I understand styles and preferences change. But the longer this family is filmed the more their clothing has changed. I don’t know that family’s situation but it seems to me like they are changing just because they are on television.

I just got finished with looking at a headcovering website. They have discontinued a lot of their “more extensive” coverings and are selling a lot more headbands now. If you ask me, a headband is not a covering. The headbands they are selling, although they are pretty , they do not fall under the “covering” catogory in my book.

Why do I feel this way?

Maybe it is because I struggled with the issue of clothing so much in the past. I was more focused on the trendy and eye-poping then covering myself up.

When I was loosing my weight, I will admit, I looked good, and I knew it, so the “body complimenting” jeans came back. I wore them for those reasons. Not to cover up my body. But to show it off.

Now I know that is not the main goal of a lot of my friends who do in fact wear jeans. But as I stated above I had a secretive goal (or lack thereof) to show my weightloss off to MY glory. I was lying about the nature of God and misrepresenting what a follower of Christ is.

When I began wearing skirts and dresses again, I purchased a very nice jean dress. I wore it to church. I knew my purchase was a mistake when  one of the older ladies complimented me by saying, “Oh, that shows off your figure so well!” Upon cleaning out my closet the dress promptly went back into a bag to be donated to the same place where I got it from. The dress was modest, but not my correct size.

I guess you could call this an ”as for me…” type of issue. If there is anyone out there who is considering that type of lifestyle change, don’t knock it until you try it but, don’t take my word for it. Please don’t. Ask God. He won’t turn you away for asking.

It is what I went through and what I am still going through. I still really enjoy clothing, which I think is good. Although, Christians should not be CONSUMED with fashion, it isn’t wrong to want to look nice.

Cruising through the different modesty sites I love looking at the different colors, patterns, styles.

But how much is really too much?

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60

New total: 60 pounds gone!!! 🙂 Praise God.

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59

I have lost almost 60 pounds! 59 is the new loss!

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