Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

faith & spirituality

So much to say

It’s been the kind of day where things are coming together and life is good, and if you could read my thoughts, you’d hear something like this:

  • Meal time in the days leading up to vacation is an adventure. For lunch, yogurt, chips and salsa, raw veggies and ranch dressing. Dinner is shaping up to be “clean out the fridge” night. Wonder what I can make with applesauce, Greek yogurt, green olives and couscous. Hmm …
  • It’s amazing how much Isabelle has learned from just a few weeks of swimming lessons. She water runs through the pool, not really putting strokes and kicking together, but a month ago, she wouldn’t even let go of the teacher to “swim.” And Mommy and Daddy were superimpressed that the teacher grabbed her hand first to jump off the platform in the deep end because no one else wanted to do it. I’m not sure if it was bravery on Isabelle’s part or naiveté.
  • Making friends is fun. I exchanged numbers with another mom at swimming lessons today for a potential park playdate. I’m not the best at making friends. Awkward is a good way to describe it. I’m never sure if people want to be my friend as much as I want to be their friend. Sometimes I’m timid. Today encouraged me.
  • God knows exactly what I need. Illustration:

I’m an easy target for the sun’s rays, and I’m about to spend a week at Bible camp with high schoolers. Outside. In Illinois. In July. Notoriously the hottest week of the year. Baseball caps just don’t cut it for me anymore, so I’ve been keeping my eye out for something more wide-brimmed. My husband cringed when I told him what I wanted. I couldn’t pass up this beauty. $2 at the thrift store. Husband thinks it’s ridiculous. He’s right; ridiculously awesome.

  • I like taking advantage of deals to provide for my family. Bought $35 worth of clothes at  Kohl’s today and didn’t spend a dime of my own money. Then, found a few more things I needed for the fam at Dollar Tree. Spent less than $10. And besides the hat, bought a pair of shorts and two tank tops at the thrift store for less than $15. I’m not an extreme couponer, but I do think I’m a bargain hunter. Going to try to squeeze in one last hunt tomorrow at CVS.
  • Sometimes, there’s a good reason to get lost. On Friday, while following a friend to the park, we took a couple of wrong turns. We were never really lost, but my friend ended up leading us through some unfamiliar parts of town. Today, I needed those parts of town as I was redirected due to an accident and road construction.
  • Being neighborly takes time and effort, but it’s worth both. We’ve spent several of the last days chatting with our neighbors over the fence between our yard and having unplanned and unbusiness related conversations with our landlords (our other neighbors) when we’re all outside. It’s taken us 3 years to develop these relationships to this point, and in a year, we’ll be in a new neighborhood God-only-knows where. And even though I sometimes feel like we’re a bother or wasting their time, something inside of me sings when the kids feel comfortable enough to want these relationships in their lives.

Whew. No wonder I’m tired and sometimes talk to myself. One more day till we head for Illinois, where more adventure awaits.

Putting money where my mouth is

It’s time for a change.

I’ve been stuck in a rut for a couple of months now, weight-loss wise, and this weekend I found myself back to square one. Any weight I’ve lost in the last year is back on my body, and I’m supremely frustrated and ticked off at myself.

Sometimes, it’s a matter of not getting to the gym often enough and being too sedentary. Summer, after all, is not my ideal time to be outside in the heat and humidity. But that shouldn’t stop me.

© Jay Crihfield | Dreamstime.com

The bigger issue than exercise — because I actually like to exercise — is food, which I also like. Too much.

I have little to no control over how much I eat. Or, more accurately, I don’t exercise control over how much I eat.

Late-night snack craving? How ’bout some ice cream followed by some chips?

Kids making me crazy? I’ll just pop some chocolate in my mouth and everything will be fine.

I’m not extremely disciplined for my own sake, so while wondering how I might change this set of circumstances, I was presented with a reality that I cannot ignore.

Photo taken by Lalrosiem Songate, general director of the EC Church of India, on a visit to Liberia

It is this: Every 30 minutes, 1,000 people die from starvation. Probably that number is higher. I think the statistic might be outdated. Even so, while we sat in our Sunday School class yesterday, eating cheese puffs, cookies and bagels with cream cheese, people somewhere else in the world died because they don’t have enough food to eat. It was enough to make me want to vomit.

These two events have led me to a personal challenge, and I’m asking you to join me in some way over the next 6 months.

Here is the challenge:

Photos by Lalrosiem Songate. These are children in Liberia. I don't know if they are orphans, but they stir my heart.

For the next six months, I will pledge $5 for every pound I lose to help care for widows and orphans in Liberia through the EC Church’s micro-enterprise program. (Click here for more information. It’s No. 8 in the Giving Catalog.)

I will weigh in on Tuesday, July 5 to determine my official starting weight, and I will aim to post weekly about my journey, including what I learn about hunger and poverty in the process. You can follow the posts under the category “my loss their gain challenge.”

I’m making this public because I need accountability. I need your emotional support, and I need to hear your experiences with weight loss and overeating and, let’s face it, food addiction.

Beyond that, I’m asking you to take the journey with me. Do you have weight you want to lose but just can’t seem to take it off? Pick a cause close to your heart and make the same pledge. Or, if you want to live vicariously through me, make a pledge for my weight loss, too. At the end of the year, I’ll be making my donation based on the number of pounds I’ve lost. You can do the same at that time.

Excited. Nervous. Scared. Intimidated. Hopeful. I am these things and more.

And ready for a great adventure.