Maren turns SEVEN!

I have a seven year old, who has all the makings of a teenager already. She wanted a birthday party with some friends, and wanted a new outfit for it. Really?! I thought we had a few years before this. So James took her shopping the weekend that I was sick, and just said to her "Go ahead, look around" in the girls department at Target. She looked at him like he spoke a foreign language, but quickly adapted getting to browse a clothing department. That's my girl. But she didn't find anything she liked. That's my girl too!

What a good daddy to take her to THREE stores to find something that she loved. She is very into Nancy Drew, despite the horrible trauma the movie first caused. Who would have thunk? And now wants a Nancy Drew mystery style birthday party, and was looking for a specific preppy skirt and button down shirt to look just like Nancy. She never did find anything preppy that she loved, and settled on a (very Maren-style) cute outfit, but so not Nancy style.


Tonight, on her actual birthday the kids got to stay up late and watch Wipeout while eating pizza and cupcakes. She opened her presents from Kellan and Maxwell, as well as Grandmommy and Aunt Gina in Utah, which everything had a "ohhh I love it" face. Sort of hard to get a good picture!

James loves to build suspense, and he put a push pop candy (Sooo not anything I would ever buy in case you're wondering!) and a giant bouncy ball in a bag. My humble little girl said she loved it, even if it was something cheap and insignificant! No grumblings at ALL about such a present.

THEN, James walked out with this:

And of course, she quickly showed how much she loved that MORE than a pushpop and a bouncy ball! She's been asking for a guitar, and wanting to play with James, so he got her one to introduce her to it.

She has been doing such a good job at managing her responsibilities (if we ask of course) and has asked for more such as 'babysitting' Max and laundry. She loves working independently at her school work, and loves to tell secrets, play with makeup, and talk on the phone. Oh how I love having this little girl as part of our family!

Wisdom of children

I am SO over being cold! I sound like such a brat though, really I am grateful for my warm home, and my great car that keeps us warm while we go from place to place. But it's those moments of having to walk in the air in between house/car/place, and place/car/house. Such.a.wimp.

But maybe it's because I can't wait for all of the fun events we have coming in the spring! I'm turning 30 (eep!) and James and I will be celebrating 10 year anniversary. And my sister in law will be getting married. (those 4 weeks are going to be jam-packed, because there will also be Mother's day that nobody better forget ;) And Kellan will be turning 6!) Hurry up spring!

I totally get it why it feels SOO long for a child to have their birthday come around every 365 days. They have that in their mind every single day practically. Well, that, and Christmas. So it feels like it takes forever. But as an adult, I am thinking about my task that needs to be done in the next hour, the next 4 hours, the next morning. Always thinking. Always planning short term accomplishments. And before I know it, an entire year has slipped away with me thinking "Where did the time go?"

So now I get it. And I'm looking at life like my children do. Sure, all of my tasks will be the same, but they won't be at the forefront of my focus anymore. I am giving myself time to get excited for adventures and celebrations, and I'm finding that I enjoy the days more when I notice the good stuff I'm waiting for too. Hurry up spring!!

A swift kick

I've always had very sensitive bowels. I used to LOVE drinking a glass of 2% milk every night with dinner, even on dates when I was single. And it never occurred to me that doing that was the source of my stomach pain. As a teenager I thought that it was normal to be bloated and gassy and irregular. I don't even know that person anymore! Because now I am the person who doesn't drink dairy at all, and the subject of regular bowel movements is something we think is very important in a healthy body.

I'm still super sensitive, I know within minutes if I ate something with MSG (monosodium glutamate, or spices, go ahead and check the labels in your cabinets) so I may seem picky, or maybe you might think it's harmless, but really it's one of many ingredients that I didn't even know how bad it bothered me until I cut it out of my diet.

I still have a sensitive gut. Some people get indigestion, or colds often. But health for everyone always comes back to your bowels. We all know that we need to eat food for our nutrition. Our body uses that food as fuel, and to replenish the blood cells and life that continues to be used and work within every system in our body. But how many of us realize that if our bowels aren't healthy, the nutrients can't pass into our systems? The bowels are like pipes, but if they flow clean without buildup and mucus, the nutrients pass into our blood. If it's coated with plaque, our systems suffer. For some of us, it's our immune system. For others of us, it's our hormones. Or our bowels themselves. What goes in the body should be for our health, and how it comes out let's us know signs in our health or disease. And how long we leave it uncared for will determine how much of our body starts to become unhealthy.

So I've always known this and try to live by this.

2 years ago I got salmonella poisoning, so did my 2 big kids. That threw my immune system to the dogs, and I got influenza A and pneumonia that lingered and reoccured 4 times that year. I was breastfeeding, so I couldn't take much aggressive actions. But I gradually got back on a routine.

But I've been slacking. I've been eating convenient things that I know irritate me, because my busy life exhausts me. It's like a double edge sword, I know how I've been eating isn't going to help me in the long run, but I get unbalanced and busy. Then when I don't feel well as an effect, I feel more unbalanced and stressed!

Then with processed eating while we traveled to Utah, through the holidays, while James was dealing with a kidney stone complication, his surgery, I knew it was taking it's toll in my bowels. Also, I probably pay more attention to this than the average. I'm not surprised though In having inflammation producing appendicitis. Not fun.

I know a lot of people think I'm crazy to not rush for surgery, but I'm a logical person. "itis" means inflammation. And that causes pain. I know what has caused the inflammation. And I've been talking about cleansing and flushing things for a long time but I haven't had the commitment. It's the Master Cleanse, which I want to commit for 8 days to do, but if you read my blog then you know how much I love to cook! Because I love food! And 24 delicious meals is a lot to resist, only drinking liquids. But this is probably the swift kick that I needed to take care of myself. I know doing this will make my body feel a thousand times better. I don't need to rush to get something cut out, that can improve by a liquid fast, cleansing the bowels, and decreasing the inflammation. Our bodies are equipped to replenish and heal, the fact that your skin and hair grow is evidence of a constant replenishment cycle. We just have to keep a balance, and support, and every system works with the same intelligence.

Be careful of the goals that you make for yourself. Mine was to improve a lot of areas of my health that have been taking its toll in me. I just have felt too busy, too many irons in the fire to do it. I know the Lord has a big plan for our family this year, and this call to take care of my body will ensure that I can be a proper tool for him. So this is my journey to restore my neglect. I welcomed the appendicitis as a wakeup call. And now I'm excited to start this year off heading in the right direction again.