daniel fast 2013.

We're doing something a little different in this new year. Together with our church family, we'll be fasting for the next three weeks, following the Daniel Fast plan, which combines prayer with a diet of only plant-based foods and water, as a way to focus on spiritual nourishment. While it will be challenging, I'm looking forward to this time, and focusing on the discipline of more dedicated times of prayer in 2013.

We spent much of the weekend preparing for the fast, so our kitchen is stocked and ready with fruits, veggies, nuts, beans, and some whole wheat pasta.

I typically plan my meals each weekend, so I've included a list of our meals for this first week of the fast below. I'll be posting more updates throughout the fast with our weekly meal plans, and what we're learning during this time.

Monday
Baked Oatmeal (I'm subbing unsweetened dried cranberries for dates) // Creamy Avocado & White Bean Wraps (omitting the cheddar and subbing olive oil for the canola oil) // Vegetable Pad Thai (from this book)

Tuesday
Baked Oatmeal // Balsamic Pasta Salad with Roasted Vegetables (omitting goat cheese) // Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Beans & Greens

Wednesday
Applesauce & Hazelnuts (using homemade unsweetened applesauce) // Creamy Avocado & White Bean Wraps // Avocado-Lime Black Bean Salad & Cranberry Wild Rice Pilaf (a variation of this)

Thursday
Banana, Berry, Peanut Butter Smoothie // Balsamic Pasta Salad with Roasted Vegetables // Mexican Haystacks (subbing beans for meat) & Green Salad

Friday
Applesauce & Hazelnuts // Butternut Squash, Carrot, & Ginger Soup // Cauliflower Crust Pizza (using vegan flax eggs...yikes!)

Saturday (happy birthday to me!)
Oatmeal & Dried Cranberries // Butternut Squash, Carrot, & Ginger Soup // Quinoa with Roasted Vegetables and Sweet Potatoes

xoxo

P.S. I'll be pinning Daniel Fast recipes here over the next three weeks.

it's the end of the year, and what a year it's been.

Wow. 2011 has come and gone. What a year. Honestly, I start to tear up every time I think about it, because this year has been so full of change, growth and unexpected blessings. And my only conclusion, my only theme as I look back at this year is that God is so good. God is so good.

Last year at this time, Landon and I were just barely thinking about looking at grad school opportunities for Landon. We hadn't told anyone, but we would spend our nights researching and wondering and praying. We were both ready for a change. In January, we started applying to different places. Different schools, job opportunities and graduate assistantships as they came along. 

In mid-February, we were eating dinner at Air Thai (if you're ever in Lebanon, Oregon, be sure to stop for some pad thai!) when Landon got a phone call. He stepped outside to take it, and ended up missing the entire dinner, so I knew it must be important. It was a professor from Hardin-Simmons University. Landon had sent him an email the week before inquiring about a possible grad assistant position at HSU. From there, Landon was put in touch with the head track and cross country coach at HSU, and things started to fall into place. We waited another month or so to tell our families (partially based off of the philosophy in this TED talk, and not wanting to jinx ourselves), and I announced it on The Bright Life in early April. We were moving to Texas in May. 

We decided to only take one car and whatever we could fit inside. And fit we did. I sat on two blankets in the front seat, with one bag under my legs, one at my side and two on my lap. There was a lot of stress while we were packing, and a lot of, Are we really doing this?

The second night of our trip, we stopped for burgers just outside of Sacramento. We weren't in the restaurant more than 20 minutes, but when we got back to our car we found a shattered window and four missing bags. Our computer, our wedding video footage and my baby blanket, among other things, were all gone. 

Our Christmas Eve service this year was based on the idea of God's interruptions. That God's timing may not always make sense to us, but that His plan is always best. At one point, the question was posed, "How has God broken into your life this year?" It brought me to tears, because I think our break-in, in some ways, was actually God breaking in to remind us that He's in control. That we may spend hours, days, years accumulating things and memories, but they don't matter in comparison to His plan. 

We made it to Texas after over a week of traveling, and settled into our little house. The summer stretched us in many ways, but God's blessings were apparent in each challenging situation. We had to find a new church, so we visited the closest one to us. We were overwhelmed by how welcoming the church members were, and we continue to be blessed by our relationships there. We survived a summer of crazy hot temperatures, which made the fall and winter even more of a blessing. And we learned to rely on God, and not our bank account, because our bank account clearly wasn't going to sustain us. And again, God's blessings and provision carried us through. 

I have more joy and more of a sense of God's presence and plan than I ever have. I love, love, love seeing Landon pursue something that he has a passion for, and I really enjoy my job. I don't know what 2012 will bring, but I'll try to plan less and trust more, because God is so good.

Happy New Year!

xoxo.