40 Day Renewal

Austin is officially 6 months old today!  What a big boy!  He is happily jumping in his Jumperoo, looking outside, and gnawing on his fingers.  I'm sure we've got similar weather to you, unseasonably warm and beautiful.  We'll definitely be going for a walk this afternoon to soak up the gorgeous rays!  If you were here, you'd see us looking like this walking down the street:

I think I forgot to mention last time about Dave's latest project to help our community.  He is co-hosting, along with our pastors, a 40 Day Renewal series at our church.  It goes through the 40 days of Lent.  You can check out the daily blog here to take part (sorry I dropped the ball, we're already on day 22, but it is never too late to make changes to bring you closer to God!).  While it is about losing weight and regaining health (or whatever changes you need to make in your life - meditating more often, reading your Bible, talking to God, organizing your weeks, etc), it also isn't at the same time.  The bigger focus is on your "Big Why" and the changes that need to be made to renew your focus and bring it all back to God.  We're also diving into what is your Purpose.  Why are you here?  You can read about that at the bottom of each daily post.   Hope you can plug in!  We've got people from all over the world taking part -- it's really neat to see the impact that can be made from what started as just an idea earlier this year.

While the little man is occupied for a few more minutes, I just wanted to upload a few recent videos we took of him.  Hope you enjoy!  He has changed so much since the last round of videos were shared.  And thank you for the emails last week, loved to catch up with some of you guys!  Lots of changes for so many great families in the last year.  :)!  What an exciting spring and summer to come!

 

Austin is about 3 months old here.  This was the first time he really had an all-out giggle fest.  Our friend Justin is facilitating the giggles.

 

4 months old

5 months  -  learning to crawl

  

5 months -- ready for a nap, slap happy

5 months  -  night of his baptism

Spring Time Changes and Growth!

Philippians 3:10-12 (NIV)
I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

I absolutely love spring time, the changing seasons, the flowers and grass, the return of birds to the sky and trees.  I also love to read thru the Easter scripture and reflect on it, what it means to me, to us.  Philippians 3:10-12 is the part that really jumped out at me today.  It is everything Dave and I have been trying to say and to do for so long, and will continue to do.  I think it applies to a lot of you who read our blog and you will find hope and encouragement thru rereading that verse.  Happy April 1st!  Celebrate Spring!  Celebrate all that He has done for us!

Dave said his Part 3 Boards tests went, to quote him, "Alright."  Sooo, we'll have to wait and see when that little white envelope comes to our door with his scores..  I know he did fine, but he and his buddies were a little nervous about at least one of the sections as it was a bit harder than they anticipated.  Thanks everyone for your prayers and encouragement again!  Every little bit of support helps!

Last weekend, actually it was longer than just the weekend, he was gone for 6 days -- Wednesday thru Monday -- to a Maximized Living Training Camp in Florida.  He and 5 of his guy friends from ML drove down for Florida in an old van which I think they borrowed from another friend.  Why did they drive down you might ask?  Because it happened to be Spring Break weekend and ticket prices TRIPLED the norm, reaching over $800 a person, normally around $150-$250.  Cost to ride down with 5 other people in a van?  $65 each round trip.  Yup, that's why.

This was Dave's second time going to a Camp since he came to chiro school and both experiences have been so amazing for both of us.  He comes back a changed man (for the better) each time.  At the camp, the coaches help you to break down, leaving your weaknesses and inseurities behind.  And their slogan is "What happens at camp, stays at camp" (much different than the similar Vegas tagline..), meaning not even I am allowed to know what went on a camp or what the issues were.  All I need to know is Dave comes home a stronger, more powerful husband and doctor each time and that helps me to likewise be stronger and more powerful to save MORE lives in my community.

Now Dave transitions into Finals WeekS (big "s" because finals are this week AND next week, hence we have to stay around here yet again for Easter so the guys can study together).  On top of more studying, yesterday he co-hosted an event for their Maximized Living club called "Dinner With the Docs".  He and Vernon organized the event for students.  They brought in three super successful doctors from the Cities to speak, to tell their chiropractic stories (mistakes they made, where their passion comes from, why we do what we do thru Maximized Living) to encourage students who are not already ML members to join, come to the next seminar, that sort of thing.  Unfortunately I couldn't be there (I'll explain why next), but I think Dave said they had a huge turnout of 30+ non-member students (give or take a few because I can't remember the exact number).  So that was really great!  Dave was very happy when he got home with how everything went.  The students were impressed by the doctors' stories and many had signed up by the end of the night.  A great night for the ML club!

Here's what's been happening in my life lately...It’s been kinda nuts.  Dr. Suzy was in a car accident last week (she’s okay, but was injured pretty badly and still cannot adjust patients for 2 more weeks minimum), so I’ve had to kind of carry on more responsibilities of the practice.  Christina is almost ready to have her baby (due on April 10th) so she will be leaving shortly as office manager -- have to learn so much yet before she is gone!  We have also recently undergone a complete software switchover to a much better, more efficient system, and while it’s better for us on the office managment side, it’s very new and confusing for patients.  We are also in the midst of hosting our bi-yearly health & lifestyle makeover series called Rev It Up!, so I have been doing a ton of marketing and prep work for that.  Basically my life has been Revolution Wellness Center 24/7 for the past few weeks...many extra hours put in to make sure everything is going great and the patients hardly notice all the drama.  :)  Oh the life of a Chiropractic Assistant!  haha  So that is why I ended up missing Dave's dinner event.  Haven't been getting home until 9/9:30pm most nights lately.

I'm taking some ME time this morning before heading out to babysit for some adorable kids at 12noon.  It's already 60 degrees out, so I'm confident it will be shorts weather by the time I need to hit the road.  I think we'll be doing some walking, biking and other out door fun this afternoon!  :)

Catch you all later!  Going to post some more recipes from this past week to Healing Cuisine.  I rolled out a facebook page for my recipes blog this past weekend and it's been a great hit!  I'm excited to see where Healing Cuisine goes in the coming months!

Hope you all have a blessed Easter weekend!

Daniel Fast

This weekend we were in Lincoln, NE doing health screenings at a ginormous community Home Show for Dr. Dan Sullivan.  Neil and Cody joined us for the 7 hour drive there and back.  Well, the drive back took quite a bit longer due to white out conditions and slippery roads, but we made it back in one piece none the less.  We left around 3pm and got home around 1:30am, sooo...  still catching up on sleep and it's already Wednesday!  We had a good trip though.  Dr. Dan and his wife Amanda let us stay with them in their new house -- so nice of them!  We alone saved around 40 lives and Dr. Dan and his staff worked quite a few hours, too, so we're hoping we helped 80 or more people!

I forgot to take pictures of us all in action so you can see what a screening looks like...whoops.  Dropped the ball.  We'll get that done in the future.  The home show was one of the best events we've been to in many months.  Great energy, great people going thru, so friendly.  We enjoyed every minute!

On the way home we saw a 5 or 6 semi pile up with around 20 or more cars mixed in.  They shut down the two major highways, one of which was basically our only way home.  So we had to take this little county road out of Lincoln toward Omaha, and that was bumper to bumper due to the accident.  It was crazy to see that severe of an accident so up close.  Made me very thankful to be safe thru our entire journey there and back!

Switching subjects, since we got home Dave and I are starting a cleanse based on the principles I learned at my nutrition and detox seminar.  And on top of it, we're doing a cleansing diet based on Daniel from the bible.  Some of you may have heard of the Daniel Fast before?  We hadn't until Suzy, here at Revolution, mentioned it to me as it was something she is doing with her fiance right now.  It's basically a fast where you eat what Daniel ate when he took on the challenge to show the value of a natural diet (v12) and went on to prove its success (v15).  His regime is the basis for the Daniel Fast.

Fasting is simply to abstain from food.  In its broader definition, it can mean to abstain from certain types of food.  We should lead a fasted life -- a life that is not caught up with giving our flesh everything that it wants.  When we fast, purposely denying our bodies and bringing them into subjection, we become sharper mentally, physically and spiritually.  This is our foundation for doing this.

We are also starting to read thru the bible in chronological order.  We want to grow together spiritually during these younger years of marriage to make for stronger years ahead.  What better way than to submerse ourselves, right?  Doing this has also been a goal for both of us since we were young, to make it thru the bible in its entirety.  Here's the site I used to get the print out of verses to read each day:  http://www.ewordtoday.com/year/.  We're using the NIV version, but you just pick the one you want right on the site.  What we loved about this site is that you can pick your start date and it adapts the readings to your date.  It's great! :)

There are many different kinds of fasts.  A complete fast  is no food, no water. (This should be a very short fast or it could be your last fast, unless you have special instructions from God. haha!)  In Daniel Chapter 1, it tells about Daniel and other children of Israel who were captives in Babylon.  Some of them, who were good-looking and smart were picked and brought to the king's palace to be taught the language and education of the Chaldeans.  There was an appointed daily amount of food and wine from the king for these young men.  Daniel obtained favor and was given the opportunity, for ten days, to prove that the vegetables and water that he and his friends wanted to eat would make them healthier mentally and physically than the ones that ate the king's food.

After 10 days, they looked so much healthier than the ones who ate the king's food, that all of the other young men had to eat the way that Daniel and his friends were eating.  This has been called the "Daniel Fast".

Have you ever fasted?  When was the last time that you fasted?  We never have, but are excited to be trying it!  We've been eating a diet that heals your body at a cellular level for over a year now, but doing this fast combined with a detox will cleanse our body of chemicals, heavy metals, rancid fats, and any other biotoxins that might be lurking in our many layers.  Fasting can be very cleansing and life-changing -- mentally, physically and spiritually!  Try a 'Daniel Fast' where you eat only raw organic nuts, fruits and vegetables for any amount of days.  We're starting at 30 days, but after reading more about the diet most people start out only at 3 or 7 days.  If you're not used to eating healthy, organic produce, this may be a challenge for you.  Try it!  You'll love it!  You will find a new way of life.  Let him guide you on this journey:  Jesus is 'The Way, The Truth & The Life'. (John 14:6)

Blessings for a great rest of the week everyone!  We love you!

- E