I found my inspiration!!!

The last few weeks have been hard in regards to weight loss. I mean I just really didn't care. I had no desire to eat right or work out.

All that changed last weekend. I won't go into detail, but I will just tell you that I have found my inspiration. Something I thought I had lost forever. With that being said, I reached the 20 pounds gone mark this week! Can I get a what, what? :) I am so excited and can't wait to keep going. I know that I will have hard times again, but I am SO glad to be out of that slump.

hard water? Here is the answer...

For a while now our dishwasher has not been cleaning our dishes very well. I mean, it cleans them in the sense that we feel safe eating off of them, but there has been a yucky film type stuff on our glasses and silverware and even the bottles and sippy cups. We finally decided to buy something to help with it and let me tell you something...it rocks! I couldn't believe how shinny our glasses were when the dishwasher was finished running. I totally should have taken before and after pictures so you could see the difference. Oh well, you will just have to take my word for it. :)

I guess I should actually tell you the products name, huh? It is called Lemi Shine. I got mine at Target. I guess I need to mention that Lemi Shine does not know who I am and they are not having me promote there product, although if they wanted to send me a years supply for free, I would totally accept it. Oh and Target isn't paying me either, again if they wanted to I wouldn't mind ;)

I should mention that my amazing husband made that sign for us to put on the dishwasher so we would know when things are clean and when they are dirty. Isn't he the best? I will answer that for you, YES he is!

Two things...

First I would just like to make a request to anyone who makes candles. My request is this, PLEASE make a candle that smells like baking bread!

Who's with me? Is that not one of the best smells out there? I love it. Which brings me to my second thing...

I made bread! I really did it. With out a bread machine even! It was so yummy and surprisingly easy! Here are some pictures of the yummy goodness. And I will include the blog link of which I got the recipe.

Ian even helped me a little with the kneading!

Dough rising. Fun huh? :) I just realized I don't have the other pictures of the final product so you will have to wait. In the mean time, everyone write letters to candle companies asking for a baking bread candle! :) Oh and here is the link to the recipe...The Simple Dollar.

What I learned...

8 days, 17 hours and 22 minutes. That is how long I went with out Diet Dr. Pepper.

Now many of you may be thinking "she failed," however it is quite the opposite my friends. While I did not make it 30 days with out soda, I have succeeded in learning the lesson God had for me!

Let me explain. I hope you are listening because what I am about to say is deep.

Sunday at church one of the elders spoke. Now this particular person is one that I absolutely enjoy listening to. But friends I will be the first to say that this was not a fun lesson to listen to. I am pretty sure God spoke to Dr. Rice and said "listen this lesson is for Jessica C., but she probably won't listen unless you speak it to the whole congregation." You see, it was about how we take things and make them our gods (little g) instead of turning to our God (big g). Man it hit home with me. As you are about to read. I am guilty of turning to Diet Dr. Pepper as my god. It started out so innocently because well it is a 0 point drink, so no harm done. But then it turned into a drink that I wanted...needed even for situations that seemed hard, sad, frustrating or even on joyous occasions. Read on to see what I have learned...

When I am stressed I drink a Diet Dr. Pepper, when I am angry I drink a Diet Dr. Pepper, when I am sad, happy, lazy, bored you guessed it...I drink Diet Dr. Pepper. What is wrong with this? Well in and of itself Diet Dr. Pepper is not bad. It is not a sin to drink it. No where in the Bible does it say don't drink Diet Dr. Pepper. You know what is a sin? When you look to Diet Dr. Pepper for relief, strength, an out from your situation. Why is it as a God believing person that I didn't go to God in all those times? My honest to goodness first thought has always been "do we have any Diet Dr. Pepper?"

What has changed...

Tonight for dinner I had some Diet Dr. Pepper. You know what? I enjoyed it, but even better, I felt no sense of relief, no burst of energy and no new attitude saying "you can do it." I simply felt the burn of the soda and honestly a little tummy ache because of all the sugar. I didn't even finish it! And you know what? I am SO glad! I am glad that God showed me that I no longer NEED Diet Dr. Pepper to get through tough situations. I NEED God! Such a simple thing that took all of 30 years, 11 days, 17 hours and 22 minutes for me to figure out.

Tell me, what has God taught you lately? Is there something that you put first or something that you "use" to give you relief rather than going to God? I would love to hear your story.

I leave you with this quote from Amy Parham's (season 6 contestant of Biggest Looser) book 10 Lessons from a Former Fat Girl. "There is no substitute for the relationships God brings into your life. Food cannot be your boyfriend or girlfriend. Food cannot even be your friend. Turning to it for comfort, acceptance, love, respect or to feel warm and fuzzy will never satisfy the longings of your heart that are intended for a relationship with God and others."

I just need to vent a little...

I have to be honest, this day has been really hard. Not only did I not get much sleep last night (Owen woke up at 12ish, 3ish and again at 6:30ish), but I can't go to the fridge and grab my usual stress relief drink, diet Dr. Pepper.

Again, just being honest, I am not doing this 30 day challenge for the health benefits. I am not doing it to get off of caffeine. I am not doing it to hear from people about how I will eat less by not drinking soda. I am doing this because I can. Because I chose last month to begin doing challenges 30 days at a time. Have I cut out fries completely just because I didn't eat them for 30 days...NO. Do I have any intention of cutting out soda completely after this challenge is up, no not really.

With the day that I have had I posted several comments on Facebook expressing just how much I really wanted a diet Dr. Pepper. And to be honest, I probably would have had a much better day if I would have been able to drink one. However, many people used the comment section on my status to "encourage" me. To be honest (and well you will see I am going to be honest) very few of the comments did encourage me. In fact they made me pretty mad and even more frustrated then I already was. You see, I don't need people to tell me about the science and the health of not drinking soda, I know that it isn't the most healthy thing in the world. I needed friends who would say "no matter what you chose today I will stand by you and support you and will still be your friend", I got that from two of my friends, whom I love dearly. One didn't do it via facebook comment, the other did. But both meant the world to me. One of them said this " 2011 is your year of "what if I DO succeed at the things that I have always told myself I can't" :) You are stronger than you realize, and where you aren't...His strength will be made perfect in our weakness! Love you, and am praying for you!"

I loved that. His strength will be made perfect in our weakness! Those simple words were part of what I needed to hear. The other was this "I know you are having a hard day and whether or not you decide to change your challenge, I just want you to know that I will support your decision no matter what you choose."

To my two friends who said just what I needed to hear...THANK YOU. I did not give in to the diet Dr. Pepper. I did get tea and honestly I did eat more than I needed.

To my friends who might get offended about what I am writing, I am not out to offend you. I just needed to vent. I still love each of you and appreciate the thought of your words. I know none of you meant to upset me. But when someone is quiting something they are very much addicted to there is only so much they can take (and by "they" I mean "me").

So there you go. For those who can still drink soda, please drink one for me and enjoy it with all of your heart!