Day 5 was another easy day. I didn’t see a change in weight, which surprised me. I thought for sure I would have ADDED a pound after the apples. But the weight I lost during the apple fast is being kept at bay.
Ben and I enjoyed making a smoothie together in the morning and I had some peppermint tea during my quiet time. I’m amazed at how not hungry I am; how just a small amount of food satisfies! From what I’m reading, the high nutrient content satisfies much quicker than the non-nutritive junk food we so often amuse ourselves with.
Bible Study was amazing this morning. My most profound takeaway was “Nothing tastes as good as peace feels.” And when I get on the scale, never mind the number… just ask myself, do I feel peace about what I ate yesterday? Peace is the goal, not being skinny. Doh! I feel so much pressure lift off my shoulders when I think about that. And really, that is my goal. I desperately want to be relieved from the burden that food creates for me; it hinders my ability to hear God and act on His direction. It doesn’t matter if I’m 120 or 170 pounds, as long as I am unhindered to do God’s work. That’s the mission. That’s the call.
After Bible Study, we took a field trip to Costco for Taffy to pick up some things. After that, I took her four kids to my house for the afternoon. At 3 I picked up Matt, Nolen’s guitar teacher, from the train station and he gave Nolen and Makenna back-to-back guitar lessons. The blender had a busy afternoon. I made hummus. I bet it took me 20 runs in the Blendtec to finally get it as smooth as we wanted. But the final product was out of this world! The kids couldn’t stay out of it. I finally had to close the lid so there would still be some left for Ben.
Autumn also stopped by for a visit so we just hung out, looked at books and chatted… and ate some hummus.
The next big mountain to climb was providing a RAW dinner for 8 kids – Taffy’s 4, my 3 and Matt – along with me and Ben…. So TEN in all.
I made a big salad with the spring mix and baby spinach and added strawberries, fresh mandarin oranges, grapes, tomatoes, sunflower seeds and quinoa. I tossed it with the balsamic vinaigrette that I already had made. I was so busy in the kitchen that I don’t know if anyone really liked it… but it was gone. So at least they ate it. I made Ella, Gracie and Braelyn bowls of Muesli. Ben helped me with two batches of smoothies and that concluded dinner for 10.
I was EXHAUSTED. Ben took 6 of the kids to the church and I gave Ella & Gracie baths. After bath-time, we all wrapped up in blankets on the couch and fell asleep to Pride & Prejudice.