Will the pattern continue?

This is the question I have been asking myself every minute the boys have been back in town. Tomorrow will be the pivotal day. Will I continue exercising? Last week I spent 530 minutes exercising, that is just under nine hours total. This week, I am not expecting those numbers, but I am aiming at around 5 hours. I am praying for cool weather so I can take the boys walking in the park. Pray for me this week as I try to fit fitness into my family life. I am sooo glad they are back.

How to eat low-carb and feed a family

 This is low-carb chicken nuggets - the breading? Crushed pork skins, I dipped them in sour cream thinned with water then shook them all up with a bag of crushed pork skins then fried them in Canola Oil in my cast iron skillet. My children, hubby and I loved them.

 This is Chipotle Lime Roasted Zucchini Sticks
 Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees, spray cookie sheet with Pam, cut up zucchini into  quarter inch by 3 inch sticks (fries) and place on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with grill seasoning of your choice and cook in oven for 15min or until done. Great fries alternative.

 Who doesn't love cantaloupe? So far this season, Food Lion has had the best....

I have two little boys who love mac-n-cheese. This is not low-carb and I am not allowed to have it. Pasta has tons of carbs, no benefits. Fix this for the carb-lovers in your family and load up on the fruit and veggies.

Working it all out

This week has been a week of ups and downs. After getting on the wii scale and still not losing a pound earlier in the week, I was bummed out, however, when I went shopping Friday night at Kohls, and not only fit into a size 12 bluejean, but it was not a tight fit. I was so excited a did a little dance in the dressing room and jumped up and down. I might have even squealed, but I am not sure.
There is two things that are a low-carbers' worst nightmare: 1) Birthdays and 2) Weddings. I had both this weekend... So I ate a little piece of chocolate chip cookie cake and one cup cake at the wedding. Will it ruin my diet, no. This is part of it being a lifestyle and not a fad-diet. I can still work carbs in and not feel guilty. It will happen, the key is to not let it spiral out of control.
Also, I reached several milestones this week in exercising. I walked over five miles Thursday on the treadmill and rode over 7 miles on the bike. I was so into it, while watching Paula and Rachel on the Food Network that I had to literally make myself stop. Exercising is so addictive. Saturday morning I had another momentous break thru when I ran half a mile without stopping. I know that is not much, but for me it is a small mountain. Also, the boys were home this morning and I was still able to go out and hit the Fitness Center at SEBTS.
So to summarize this week... There is always a time to eat cake, just make sure you burn the calories on the treadmill to cover the indulgence and when you think all that hard work isn't paying off, go shopping.
I want to wish my cousin Ryan and his new bride Christian a happy marriage, it was a beautiful ceremony.

My month without children almost over...

I know what you are thinking, "A month without children? what does that mean?" Well for the last 3 1/2 weeks my two precious boys, Wesley (8) and Jeremiah (5) have been spending time with their grandparents. My husband, who is in seminary, is in a three week Theology II class that is five days a week, four hours a day and he works at night gets home around 4am. He is awesome, but we asked the grandparents to keep the boys, so Aaron wouldn't have to study while keeping the boys. Anywho....
Since the boys were out of town, I decided that I would take this golden opportunity to start exercising. I don't mean just a thirty minute walk in the park (which is enjoyable). I am talking about 60-90-120 minutes of 4mph walking with 6mph running thrown in, exercise biking for 6 miles and lifting weights. The first two weeks I went every evening after work and met some great gals. The third week, I went every morning (VBS that week and fitness center closed at 8pm) at 6am, way to early after two weeks of sleeping in each morning. This week my goal is to go every morning and evening. Monday was a bust since I overslept, but Tuesday was a go.
I never thought I would say that I love to exercise, but I do. I went to my parent's house this weekend and missed my Saturday exercise session, and I felt yucky. Exercise makes my feel like I can do anything. It wakes me up in the morning, it makes me feel like I have had a productive day when I get home. The sweat is my monitor on how many calories I am burning.
When I started, I was just walking at 3.8mph, and could only run .1 mi. But now, I can walk at 4mph, and I can run .5 miles without stopping. I know that is still weak but I am getting there.
Since this is my first post about weight loss, I wanted to let you know how I got to this point. I don't think at 210lbs I could have run any (well without keeling over), but through what I refer to as Pam's Low-carb Lifestyle change, I was at 175lbs when I started exercising 3 1/2 weeks ago.
The change is simple (why I can stick to it). I can eat all the veggies and fruits I want (minus corn and bananas) and I eat proteins (meats, beans, eggs). I can eat all the meat I want, but the longer I am on this diet the less I want lots-o-meat. No processed carbs, that means pasta, rice, bread, sugar. I try not to eat over 20 processed carbs a day. Are there days where I go over, yes (thanks mom), but I limit it. I don't say, "I have blown it already, lets just eat whatever". Get back to the rules. I still have sweets, I am a sweet-a-holic. I have learned great recipes that are low-carb, but still quench the chocolate cravings. Also, low-carb frozen treats and candy are great, just don't eat too much.
Well that is the general idea of my lifestyle change....
Come back later this week and see what I weigh this week and also I will post my favorite low-carb dessert recipe, Chocolate chip Cannoli Cream.
So will I stick to this wonderful exercise program once my cuties come back to town? We'll see, I can't say a firm "yes" although I want to... You know how it goes, time, energy, time all goes to children. I'll keep you up to date on that as well. Can't wait for Friday, that is ETA for my precious boys.

The result of taking Jesus out of our lives

In the news recently I have noticed an increase in the number of crimes involving children. From the 18 year old who is charged with rape in Gaffney, to the 18 year old who died two weekends ago from alcohol overdose, to children being abused and abducted the list goes on.
Why are the youth of America committing heinous crimes? Why are we committing heinous crimes against the youngest and weakest of our race?
These are two of the many questions that stick out in my mind as Christmas approaches this year. At a time when children are supposed to be carefree and happy, they have to constantly be on alert for someone wanting to hurt them. And at the young age of 18, many children are facing jail time for violent crimes they committed.
There are many headlines this week along this subject line but I am going to comment on two(well okay more than two, I just can't help it). First, the man in Columbia, SC who is dressing as Santa Clause and posing in pictures with children and then giving them rides on his motor bike. How twisted do you have to be to take advantage of this season of year to hurt innocent children.
No one has found to be physically harmed by this man, but he is not acting in good faith, by taking a child without their parent’s permission and giving them a ride. I can't imagine the parent's distress to find their child missing.
The second story is the Gaffney Sexual Assault cases. An 18-year-old. I can’t get that number out of my head. Where does an 18-year-old learn this type of behavior? Then I see the case of the mom in St. Louis, Missouri. A mom sold her 9-year-old daughter to a man for $20 a trick for him to molest the little girl.
Not only did the mom sale her daughter, she held the little girl while the molestation was taking place. How could a mom do this?
This editorial is asking more questions than it is answering because I do not have the ultimate answer.
What are we teaching our children to make them go out and do this? What addictions do we have that would make a mother betray her daughter and allow these assaults to take place?
I don’t think all the pscho-blahblah would answer these questions. I do have one answer though. We are a country without Christ. We have taken Him out of our schools, government, but most importantly we have taken Him out of our homes.
We have placed Christ in a little box of conformity that we like to call “church” and we visit Him every Sunday, and maybe Wednesday.
Jesus has no place in our everyday life. We can not live with the constant guilt we feel by having Him there so we place Him in the box and visit Him when we want to.
That is what is wrong with this country, state, county and town. Blacksburg is no different. We have our image of the 5’11” brown hair, blue eyed, white Jesus who looks perfect at all times.
Jesus was a Jew. He had brown eyes most likely and was probably not at all attractive. He was bloodied on the cross, He was bruised, cut and not clean. He hung out with the sinners and the outcasts of society. He ministered to them yet did not become like them. He was Jesus, the Lion of Judah and also the Lamb of God.
We need to stop picturing Jesus like us and start picturing ourselves like Jesus. We need to invite Him back into our homes, and into our lives. We need to call out the sins and love the sinners. We need to embrace the unlovable and care for those in need. That is what Jesus did.
This is my inadequate answer to how we can turn our country around. Our children need to see us “On Fire” for Jesus. Not just a quick burn fire, but an everlasting one.

Fifteen Minutes Can Change Your Child’s Life

What can you do in fifteen minutes? Check your email, clean the kitchen(not in my house), take a shower and fill your gas tank. All these things may be done in fifteen minutes but what impact do they have on your child’s future. Not much.
Reading to your child for just fifteen minutes a day has been proven to increase a child’s literacy skills and help them develop an active imagination.
Children who are read to during the formative years of birth-five years old are shown to have more interest in reading through out their life.
What does reading give a child? Reading helps develop a child’s vocabulary, helps a child learn to spell, gives them the ability to follow plot-lines and increases their studying skills later in their education.
The ability to read and process a story starts at a young age. Some experts even suggest reading to your child as early as 6 weeks from birth. I have seen this personally. I am not going to brag on myself I am far from the perfect parent, but reading has always been an important part of my life and my husband’s life. Just as our parents before us loved to read, we do too, and we are now instilling that into our two sons. Neither can read yet, but they love to look at books and have books read to them.
I remember when my now four year old was 15 months old. He would sit on our couch in our apartment and look through his VeggieTales books. It was so cute and we took tons of pictures.
Why did he do that? He was mimicking his parent’s behavior. Books have always been a balm for me. They help me to travel through time and around the world. Books teach me about different cultures and ideologies. Literature can allow you to be anything you want to be. That is the present I want to give my children. The ability to expand their minds and explore the world.
You too can give your child this precious gift. All you have to do is spend 15 minutes a day reading to your child or having your child read to you.