It's Like A Coma. (Or a comma...)

Addie enjoying a rare fit of sunshine on the back porch.

Okay, I wasn't in a coma, I promise. It just felt like it. Life picks up speed at a dizzying pace around here as Addie gets closer and closer to walking places (she's pretty stinking speedy at scooting, which is what's keeping her from walking I think), I stumble on new books to read, dream up new projects for the house, or simply set ridiculous goals for my personal schedule. (I was that kid who, when asked to make a schedule, had stuff blocked off for every minute, but I have since learned that it is better for me to prioritize than schedule otherwise I am prone to much crabbiness and stress.) And after a week or two of running around like a crazy lady I wake up one morning thinking, "Where am I? How long have I been out of it?!" Then I get out of bed and get back to work.

 I also wasn't stuck in a comma. But it felt like. Blogging just ended up being put on pause for a bit as I got caught up with other things. Like accounting homework. (Our local library system offers free online classes at around college level and I decided to take an accounting class; it's been very informative and only gives me small headaches/panic attacks.)

So! Here's the deal.

•  I went gluten/processed sugar free for two weeks. I specify processed sugar because I did have raw honey and fruit; some people think that's cheating, I think it's sanity. But I digress. It was really good! While I was actually doing it I didn't realize how much better I felt, but afterwards I really noticed how much *less* well I felt while eating sugar and gluten. Really, you can blame the whole blogging absence on this little experiment! During the process, I had so much more energy, my brain was able to focus easily (or at least, more easily than usual), and I just had that drive to get stuff done. It was awesome. Then, after two weeks of get-up-and-go-ing, I had a white flour/sugar laden cinnamon roll and needed to take a nap. Immediately. After eating the cinnamon roll I thought I could just avoid bringing the bad stuff home and only eat it if I was out and some was offered to me (no sense in torturing myself in public, right?) but it turns out that I'm around sugar a *lot* when I'm out of the house so I'm currently considering having a designated day where I can have a *little* bit of sugar and/or flour.
  
  
• I'm reading five different books at the same time.
  Your's, Jack -C.S. Lewis. It's a collection of his letters. Fantastic! (I've mentioned this one before, I know, but it's a big book!)
  The 4-Hour Chef - Timothy Ferris. Different, but interesting. He is ridiculously smart, but not a Christian as far as I can tell so you have to kind of sift through all the hoopla in the first chapter or so, but the actual cooking process he describes is so fascinating!
  Surprised By Joy - C.S. Lewis. (This really has nothing to do with the point of the book but did you know that Lewis went to a school for about ten years where he was pretty much taught NOTHING? I didn't.)
  The Bible - Working my way through the new testament before heading off to the old, I'm just starting Galatians.
  Jesus + Nothing = Everything - Tullian Tchividjian. First, I love this guy's name, I mean really, how awesome is that? Second, this is what I'm reading for the ladies book group that I go to on Wednesdays. I feel like my vocabulary is too limited to tell you how great this book is. My favorite quote so far, "Whatever progress we make in our Christian lives -- whatever going onward, whatever pressing forward --  the direction will always be deeper into the gospel, not apart from it, or aside from it. Growth in the Christian life is the process of receiving Christ's "It is finished" into new and deeper parts of our being every day, and it happens as the Holy Spirit daily carries God's good word of justification into our regions of unbelief..."
  
  
• I'm taking an accounting class. It's eight weeks long and there are only two left (yay!); it's been helpful i.e. I can now use a double entry system for keeping track of all sorts of accounts, but it definitely reminded me how much homework freaks me out so I will probably stick to reading books from the library for any future learning needs.

• There is a GIANT piece of paper in my room waiting for me to cut it down to size and tack it to wall, where I plan to fill it with really great marriage quotes. Things like, "Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave." - Martin Luther. And, "The bed is the heart of the home, the arena of love, the seedbed of life, and the one constant point of meeting. It is the place where, night by night, forgiveness and fair speech return that the sun go not down upon our wrath; where the perfunctory kiss and the entirely ceremonial pot on the backside become unction and grace. It is the oldest, friendliest thing, in anybody's marriage, the first used and the last left and no one can praise it enough." - Robert Farrar Capon
  
• I have letters that spell out the first part of Psalm 34:8, waiting to be painted and stuck on the wall above my kitchen sink.

And then there's this:

My lovely family, that I am so privileged to care for! I'm always amazed at how much laundry and dishes we manage to generate as a family of three, but it's all worth it as we continue to strive to mirror the relationship of Christ and the Church for the world around us. (That thought is not mine, I read it in that really awesome book "Seven Virtues of A Godly Wife And Mother" but it's been such an encouragement to me on the days where I ask myself, "Why do I do this?!")