Healthy & New

My WW Journey - Weight Watchers Journey - began this time in Mid-March of 2020.  Nearly a year ago, I invested in better health, reaching my weight loss goal of 20 pounds (often 22), and learning to eat differently than I have most of my adult life. Sugar has been set aside for the most part while learning to use bananas and other ingredients for a natural sweetener.  Pasta and flours cause digestion issues for me, so I had removed them before WW. If you've ever tried an "elimination diet" you know that its a process of removing trigger foods and then re-introducing them to your diet to see if they are the problem foods.

My latest new-to-me foods are combining seasonings in new ways, and eating foods once reserved for soups and main courses, but for breakfast.

Breakfast changes:

cooked old fashion oats that have been topped with figs, yogurt and nutmeg

cooked barley (!) topped with slivered almonds, dried cranberries, and cinnamon - the barley is cooked but I haven't tasted this yet

cooked steel-cut oats with apple and cinnamon, topped with maple labneh - that's a new one for me. Its a strained yogurt similar to Kefir.  This is next on my list.

Lunch changes:

Cinnamon as a savory. Cumin and coriander, allspice and cinnamon are cooked with onion and garlic.  I shook my head and thought it was a mistake, but my oh my!  it is tasty.  Mix this into cooked lentils and brown rice and top with a Greek Yogurt and turmeric sauce. All I can say, is move over black bean salad!  I have eaten the black bean salad with brown rice for lunch every.single.day for 7 months.  It took four months of eating this and oatmeal for breakfast to get my digestive system to relax and accept this new healthy way of eating.  Move over bean salad!  Welcome Lentils and cinnamon and spices and onion and garlic! It.is.so good I have to keep myself from eating the whole batch at once! (Yes! there's still the urge to over eat when you love the taste)

The recipes can be found in WW Healthy Kitchen Program Cookbook, pages 3, 13, and 124 which is available at Kohl's or Amazon. The recipes will be most beneficial to you, of course, by understanding the plan. This program cookbook is also available for free by earning points for logging your food, weight and exercise on the WW app.  More information on the local WW programs are here.  If you choose this new way of life, we could both benefit.

I never really set out to change that much. My terms were to lose weight and make better food choices. I figured that was doable and enough. Control. Hanging on to the old habit, and not trusting that the new way will be better, but totally awesome.  A similar situation happened when I was working out with a trainer. "Don't you feel better?"  I never knew I felt bad until I felt better!   I never knew eating could be so enjoyable without my favorite foods until I tried new-to-me foods and spices.  I never knew life in Christ could be so awesome until I surrendered and claimed Jesus as my Savior.  

Here's to learning and trying new things - You'll never feel so good!

Cinnamon as a savory.  Barley for breakfast.  Labneh on your oatmeal.  A different way for a better you, living a good life!

Thanks for stopping by.  Be blessed!  sb

HOPE POPPY

 I created a new Memorial Garden in the spring of 2020.  A perfect corner, the spot was filled morning sun until 2:00 p.m. and because getting the heat from the sun and no wind, it seemed an ideal place, and almost created a "greenhouse" effect with the warmth.

Among eight new perennials, were two poppies - one white and one pink/salmon color.   I couldn't wait for all of the new plants to grow and bloom.  This is what brings hope to my soul every year - the perennials know when its safe to grow up out of the soil. Somehow they know when the snow is gone and when its time to bring Hope to the earth.

All of the perennials - butterfly bush, dahlia, holly hocks, lavendar, blanket flower and 1 poppy - grew and bloomed.  However, the salmon/pink poppy never even grew to a bud.  I was disappointed, but there's always next year, I thought.

Now its fall, October 6 to be exact and I was surprised that my poppy decided now was the time, or maybe never in 2020.  Now? I thought. Though excited, I was fearful it would never grow fast enough to get to blooming maturity, before the cold air would be the norm. And there's always a fear that snow will come early.  I called this late bloomer poppy, Hope.  

  

I've been watching Hope Poppy grow taller and stand strong, and hoping this warm corner, despite the cold temps in the daytime and with leaves falling fast and the season ending early, that my Hope Poppy will bloom.

When it snowed on Saturday, October 17, I snipped it off as close to the ground as possible and put it in warm water in the windowsill with the brightest light. And hoped. At first its neck was bowing down to the floor, but I whispered, "Don't give up now.  You've been given a chance. You have a beautiful blossom to reveal!"

Though its colder by the window compared to the corner Memorial Garden in the summer, I placed it here so that the bud would hang over the radiator heat. Here it has a pseudo corner garden spot, the best I have to offer, for my Hope Poppy.  

Every day I check on Hope Poppy's neck, and within the first 24-hour period I saw that she was reaching for the light.  Hope Poppy isn't done yet!  Today I saw the color of her blossom more clearly. "You can do it  Hope! Can't wait to see what you look like in full bloom - yes, there is Hope!"

Raising Hope, giving Hope Poppy a chance to bloom and survive, has been one of the most enjoyable and "hopeful" things I've done during the last seven months (Apr - Oct 2020).  Not only did I check her out each morning, and at the end of the day, but several times during the daylight hours I viewed her progress.  Each day I was sure this was as far as she would grow, thinking that water and sunlight might not be enough.   So with that thought in mind, I started to appreciate Hope Poppy even more at each stage of growth. I was just thankful I had given it a chance for warmth in its first year.

I really enjoyed getting close to Hope Poppy; to looking at her neck and the fine hairs on the leaves and stem (neck). I saw how strong that neck curved to reach the light and even when I tried to change the position of stem in the vase, Hope Poppy still stood the same way.

                                                            

In this day and age, when many are discussing the rights of an unborn child to live despite the way it was conceived, I couldn't help but think of Hope Poppy as such a child. Perhaps you might think of a new life, yes, even the life of a human when you look at the progress photos of Hope Poppy.  I became quite taken by the parts of Hope Poppy that could be a body, a pregnant body, one that was growing despite the turn in its life of blooming late, and being rescued from death of an early snow.  I could see before my eyes that this plant, this poppy, this living thing was going to show me how it would continue to grow and bulge and reveal its intricate parts that I would have never seen if it was growing in the garden.  There are parts that look like blood vessels, and the petals that remind me of a wrinkled little child.  

All those petals, folded up inside the body. Each day the body separated just a little more as the wrinkled petals pushed their way out.

Here, she hovered over the radiator and absorbed the heat.

Have you ever thought that just maybe you were meant to do something that you never thought about doing before?  This is that moment.  Please join me in viewing Hope Poppy's entrance into the world - late, but oh, so beautiful.  

As the wrinkled petals pushed their way out, the body with blood-vessel-looking sides was revealed.

Now that the petals have pushed out, we can get a sneak peak of Hope Poppy's face.

I was intrigued by the many hairs on the stem and leaves.

Even when I moved the heavy stem to stand taller, it ended up leaning down to hover over the radiator. It was that heavy.

I realized I couldn't stand by and just wait for Hope Poppy to "pop". It wasn't that I didn't have time or that I was busy with other tasks. I heard the old belief in my mind, "a watched pot doesn't boil" so I went on with my day and planned to check in just a little later.   Like a mother in labor, the baby, the poppy would be born or bloom when the time was just right.  

And the time came.  I didn't see it happen, but I was so delighted to see that this plant, perhaps combined with light and warmth and maybe a little CO2 encouragement from me, (my voice of encouragement), has bloomed to full size in a most amazing sight.  

Isn't this late bloomer beautiful?!

I trimmed off about 6-8 inches of stem and a few leaves. A vintage Ball jar was perfect for Hope Poppy. Something special holding something special.

Continuing with the analogy of new life, a life that may not have been planned this way, or even a life that may have been forgotten or lost, this is the beauty that was meant to live and bring meaning and joy.

I've never seen a poppy open quite this wide. Perhaps its the type of poppy.  My red poppies open around July 4, but if I don't see them, they last one day and are gone. Beginning with the next season, when my red poppies and white and salmon poppies grow to bud stage, I will clip their long stems, bring them indoors and perhaps I will see the growth and birth of those poppies in a whole new light - just like a whole new life.  I have been so honored by Hope Poppy. Perhaps it is God's way to explain new life in a beautiful unexpected way. 

The day after Hope Poppy bloomed indoors in my pseudo garden on the east windowsill, an early snow fell heavy on the trees and bushes, but not on Hope Poppy.  

It is my hope that whatever you are struggling with now, that you will know the joy and hope of healing, of help, of answers.  It is my prayer that you will know the love that comes from life and that is Jesus. Be blessed!  SB

HERE'S THE CHURCH, WHERE'S THE PEOPLE?

This is a children's finger game I've played with my grandchildren:

"Here's the Church, Here's the Steeple, open the doors and see all the people.”   I started thinking about the message of Pentecost, and how we could remember what it should mean to us.

Here's my own idea for our hand and fingers to remember what's important:

HAND, ALL Four FINGERS & THUMB = five or fifty days after Jesus's Resurrection = coming of the Holy Spirit = Pentecost

THUMB = Unique to the hand, special = How am I living each day

POINTER FINGER = How am I participating with those around me in the church and the world

MIDDLE FINGER = the tall finger - Am I standing tall, using my spiritual gifts to bring others to Christ?

RING FINGER = love finger – straight to your heart – Do all my activities point to the one I love? Jesus Christ?

PINKY = Small - My contributions, my prayers and participation may be small, but I am part of the

WHOLE HAND - When we participate in all the areas (thumb and four fingers), the Holy Spirit will be free to use the church of Jesus Christ for God’s purposes in the world. ©Susan Boback

It's not always possible to be actively participating in all five ways, but this will give us some perspective, in the hopes of bringing Christ to all the world according to his purpose.

Have a great day! Enjoy a cup of tea, on the porch, under the sun umbrella or by the water!

THOUGHT FOR THIS DAY

MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2013



RECIPE FOR MAKING FRIENDS

Half a cup of Friendship and one cup of thoughtfulness

Cream together with a generous amount of powdered tenderness.

Beat all vigorously into a bowl of loyalty.

 

Add:  one cup of faith

         one cup of hope

         one cup of charity

 

Be sure to add to each:

one teaspoon of happiness that sings and sudden tears of heartfelt sympathy.

 

Bake in a good natural pan and serve repeatedly.

 

Dear Lord: guide us to share and care for others.  May the values of faith, hope and charity be visible to others as they seek friendship.  Thank you for your love.  AMEN 


What are your stories of faith, hope and charity?  Who has been a life line for you?