"Thought breeds thought; children familiar with great thoughts take as naturally to thinking for themselves as the well-nourished body takes to growing; and we must bear in mind that growth, physical, intellectual, moral, spiritual, is the sole end of education." ~ Charlotte Mason

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

This past week

I started my detox diet this week, it's going well. I started out with a liquid diet for five days and have now added vegetables and fruits back for the next five days. I'm starting to feel so much better. I had suspected that I could quite possibly have some issues with gluten like Graham. This was a sure fire way to get off foods I may be allergic to or sensitive to. The first couple of days were rough, I was craving coffee and sugar the most. BUT I felt so much better by day 4. I had been feeling like I had arthritis in my knees and was alarmed because I am only 36 years old! By day 2 the symptoms were much better and by day 4 they were completely gone. I've been taking care to get more rest and have reduced my responsibilities and stress levels. I have also stopped having familial tremors for the time being. :) I'll be adding an exercise routine in to my life at some point in the next few weeks but I'd like to loose a bit more weight before I do that. All in all I am feeling better about how things are unfolding. I hope to be feeling stronger, physically, so I can have enough energy to bike ride and play with my kids. I like to be outdoors with them come spring and summer. We enjoy nature walks, bike riding, swimming, taking walks - all that good stuff but I was feeling sluggish, not rested and stressed out, I have a feeling the spring will see a more rested, energetic me! :)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Familial Tremors

I've been having what is known as Familial Tremors which is an inherited condition in which primarily the hands/head/eyes involuntarily tremor. It is not life threatening nor is it Parkinson's Disease but it's been upsetting me because I feel like I am getting older then I'm suppose to be. My Mom, Aunt, Grandpa and Great Grandma had them starting around their 50's. By the end of my Great Grandma's life she had them quite bad (but she was 90!). They're very slight right now and often affect my left hand especially when I'm holding something like my iphone, Kindle or coffee mug. The things that are suppose to make it better are: to reduce my stress level, cut out caffeine, increase physical exercise, and get more sleep. So I've decided to make some changes in my life to concentrate on my health and my family. I've gained some weight, more then is usual for me but we suspect that is from my issues with my gall bladder. I was barely eating anything when I was in so much pain yet I was gaining weight. We think it was because my body went into starvation mode and packed on the pounds from what I could eat. :( I'm hoping that after I have taken care of all this my health will improve and I'll feel better with more energy to do the things I need to.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

New Year Focus - the Word for the New Year is: HONOUR

I haven't posted for a while, we've been quite busy the last couple of months but I'll be posting more now with the New Year.

I thought I'd post something we've decided to do for the new year. We've chosen a word to focus on throughout this new year (a little like a New Year's resolution). The word for our family to focus on in the next few months is: HONOUR. In addition to our first fruits we'll be learning all we can about honour. We've designated an Honour wall in which we'll put everything we can about honour - verses, words that have to do with honour, sayings about honour, acts of honour - written, coloured, drawn - ANYTHING really, so long as it's about honour. :) I'm not a hurry, we have the next coming months to learn about it, practice it and encourage our family to honour each other.

I'll be taking resources from the National Center for Biblical Parenting http://www.biblicalparenting.org/ to help me find creative ways to teach this essential concept throughout the year. I also found this book we'll read through this coming year as well:

My hope is to be able to blog about our experience as well. Just thought I'd share what our focus for the new year is! :)