Yes, I do still know how to write....

...though I'm sure there are some of you who doubt that. But I'm back! I'm home! I'm writing again! Everybody cheer!!!! :-)

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity for me. I'm busy planning for a class that I'll be teaching, and last week I was in Ohio helping with several Bright Lights conferences. I'm going to post some pictures from that trip below. It was great!

As far as the weight loss journey, I'm still plugging away. The weigh in before I left on the Bright Lights trip had me up 2 pounds to 180lbs again, but it was "that time of the month" and I frequently gain weight during those weeks. I wasn't too stressed about it. I was still eating healthy, exercising, and feeling great!

About a week before I left, I began mentally and spiritually preparing myself for the trip to Ohio, because I really really REALLY wanted to exercise my spirit over my flesh! I didn't want to come home having gained a lot of weight from making stupid choices. I simply wanted to maintain my weight and keep it within 2 pounds of my last weigh in. I knew that because I wouldn't be exercising like normal, I could expect to gain a few pounds. But I really wanted to keep it to two or less. I spent time in the Word, reviewing my "most helpful" passages of Scripture that talk about walking in the Spirit. And I prayed that I would walk in the strength and grace that the Lord freely provides from me. One thing that I really struggle with is "peer pressure eating", which is when I eat something only because there are other people eating, too. Not because I'm hungry, but because it looks good and I want to "fit in" and not have to explain why I'm not eating. Hmm...sounds like lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life. Yuck! I don't want to be living that. So, I purposed to "set my face like a flint" and stick to the principles of eating that the Lord has shown me over the past few years.

And praise the Lord, I had a GREAT time at the conferences. I have to give a HUGE thanks to the wonderful chefs for our group of leaders. You ladies made such delicious and healthy meals that it was easy to find something good to eat! (Love you, Sarah Joy and Lindsay...who don't even know this blog exists...oh, well!) Anyway, I was so proud of myself. Not in an arrogant way, but just happy with how I did. God's Word is true! His divine power has given us "everything we need for life and godliness". (2 Peter 1:3) I chose as many fruits and veggies with lean protein and whole grain breads as possible, and I felt great! I never experienced the "blahs" that often come when you eat lots of sugar, fat, or preservatives. And seeing I was only getting about 4 hours of sleep each night, I was so grateful for that!

And then, I had an interesting conversation with my mom at 11:15pm last Friday night. I was laying in bed and chatting with her about my day, how the conference went that night, and also what things were going on at home. We talked for about 20 minutes, and as we were about to hang up, she quickly mentioned that some of her friends that are "women who are following God's leading in regard to eating with their families and who eat a very raw and unprocessed diet" (in other words, her health nut friends - LOL! I love you ladies!) were at our house that day for a get together that my mom was hosting, and they suggested that I really REALLY should try cutting dairy out of my diet for two weeks and see what happens. They think that I must have some kind of allergy, because I can't seem to drop these last 15 pounds. I've resisted that idea in the past, because...well, because...I DON'T WANT TO GIVE IT UP!!! Do you know how many products have dairy in them??? Well, just try cutting dairy out of your diet, and you'll discover there is a huge sea -no, a gigantic ocean of things that you can't eat. It's hard. I'm not going to hide my feelings, and those of you who were with me on the Bright Lights trip know that I was complaining at every meal about what I couldn't eat! (I'm working on my attitude...:-)) Couldn't have cheese or sour cream on my taco salad, couldn't have cereal and milk for breakfast, no coffee for me - can't drink it without creamer, and good grief! - even Werther's have cream in them.

So anyway, I decided that starting last Saturday, I would cut dairy out of my diet. Now, if I'd been thinking, I would have waited until I got home and began exercising again and was back into my normal routine before starting. But, I didn't think of that. So, I'll be going off of dairy for almost 3 weeks, which might be better, because I should be thoroughly cleansed of it by then. This morning, as I was bemoaning the fact that I couldn't have my cereal for breakfast ( news flash - Bekah LOVES her cereal!!!!) I had a great thought. I was going to make homemade pancakes for breakfast and then drizzle honey on them. Yummy! I went and got my laptop out and did a google search for a recipe for dairy-free pancakes. And I found a ton of recipes. So with hopes that I could still manage to save my poor, pitiful breakfast, I clicked on a recipe and was ready to begin cooking. Yeah, well I encountered a small problem. You can't just cut the milk out of pancakes - you have to replace it with something. And I didn't have any almond, soy, or rice milk on hand. WAAAAAA!!!! This had turned into a disaster! I made a mental note to pick up some "fake milk" at the store today, and ate my dry cereal from a cup. Not exactly a happy morning. But, I've since been to the store and bought all of the ingredients I need for pancakes, so tomorrow morning should be much better!

I also started working out with a different DVD that I had gotten from the library, and I have a feeling that I'm going to be sore tomorrow. It felt so good to exercise again, but why don't I ever remember to ease myself back into it??? This blonde will figure it out one of these days...

Well, I think I finish this post and then start another post with pictures from my trip. I hope that some of you still get on here and read this, even though I never post anymore!

Love, Bekah