We took it up a notch.  This morning’s walk went from 1 mile to 1.3 miles.  We have a plan to walk that amount for 2 days and then we will amp it up again to 1.6 miles.  Our goal is to be walking 2 miles every morning by the time that we leave to go home.  We have also decided to only drink juice today – a mini juice fast.  We will eat some watermelon for dinner, but that will be our only food intake for today.  We are both feeling a bit more energetic this morning, so we are setting some good goals.

 Tomorrow is the end of week 4 and we’ll be posting some stats the next day. We’re trying hard not to make weight our primary monitoring system. There are some other ways to measure success. We have watched our blood pressures normalize and Tiff’s, even went so low that her meds had to be adjusted.  We have used our ability to talk while walking as a very important gauge of improvement in our lung capacity.  The length of our walks, and the pace at which we are walking, are good indicators of our heart and leg strength improvements. We also find that we are looking forward to our morning juice – it’s as if our bodies are saying that they want all that nourishment right away in the day. 

We made a big mistake in honor of Mother’s Day.  My favorite cake is Carrot Cake. The best carrot cake there is, is a recipe that I got from my sister Virginia – it takes a lot of work but it’s the best!  Anyway, Tiff found that a local vegan bakery made vegan carrot cake cupcakes.  She had to order them ahead of time but could only order them in half dozen increments.  She ordered 6.  We picked them up on Friday and I did eat 2 of them on Mother’s Day, several hours apart.  Eating that amount of sugar was a big mistake! I woke up this morning hungry, which I have not woken up hungry in weeks.  I have been craving sugar off and on throughout the day today and, believe it or not, wanting to eat meat.  Clearly sugar is a trigger for me, and it needs to be avoided.  Lesson learned – no more obvious, processed sugar.

Today has been a productive day for us.  We continue to work on Hannah’s house, trying to turn it into a home that she is proud of and enjoys.  She is learning the difficult task of being a homeowner and, we hope, by getting things looking nice for her is helping to minimize some of her stress in that area.  I continue to look for ways to help my girls with their current level of stressors.  I asked Tiff yesterday what can be done to lessen the level of stress that she has at home with a full-time job, has the responsibilities of being a pastor’s wife, husband who works 2 jobs and a 13-year-old son.  Her answer was short and to the point – “I need a sperate house from them”.  We had a good laugh over that one 😊. 

I want to take a minute to thank those of you who have sent responses to this blog, sent us cards of encouragement to Hannah’s home and sent financial gifts to help offset some of the costs of this adventure.  I have thanked each one individually and responded to every blog post response – I just wanted to say thank you publicly.  You each know who you are, and I hope you know how much this is appreciated 😊.

Tiff and I have been having some good prayer times together.  As we discuss things and people, one or the other of us is sometimes prompted to pray for them.  I really enjoy praying with her, her prayers are beautiful, and heart felt.  It’s a joy to know that your children know the Lord and love Him.

Day 27 is done, day 28 is on the way.  “A diamond is simply a lump of coal that performed well under pressure” – George Bernard Shaw