Feasting on the Word

I'm still looking for sponsors for my walk on the 5th of July - can you help? Just click the badge below and you'll go right to my page:

Countdown To Race Day (5 km)

Thanks so much! Both I and the kids benefiting from your donations greatly appreciate your generosity!

So I've completed my first week of "The Lord's Table" and here are my results (note, I didn't lose 7.5 pounds in a week. I didn't weigh myself before I started, so I simply picked up where I left off in the last round of weight loss. I would guess I've lost about 3 lbs. in total this past week):








This is an amazing course for any of you who are struggling with the weight loss yo-yo and with getting rid of those stubborn pounds that wont' budge. Not only does it deal with food, but it also deals with your mentality, your heart, your focus, and your sin (yeah, sorry, overeating needs to be called what it is: the sin of gluttony. Doesn't sound so nice when it's put like that, does it?)

The course encourages "feasting", but the feasting it encourages is feasting on the word of God. Here's an excerpt from the course materials last week:

Read more here: www.PraiseWalker.com

Pushing the Limits

So, coming up to race day (next Saturday) I'm challenging myself to reach a personal best speed. So far, my personal best is 35 minutes and 21 seconds for a 5k. It would be cool to get it down to 30 minutes, but that would be a 6 minute kilometer and today's pace was 7.22. I have a ways to go!

I've been using Podrunner's free walking mixes to set the pace. They give me an hour of music that's a mix of house, progressive house, breakbeat, funk, tech house, pop remixes, downtempo, and spoken-word poetry.

Read more here: www.PraiseWalker.com

You are what you eat

Once in a while I get "domestic" and decide it's time to make bread. Not in a breadmaker, mind you. The good ol' fashioned way, by hand. It's a very soothing exercise for me. My mom gave me the basics of her secret recipe and a few tips. Years of watching her in the kitchen kneading the dough have added to my understanding of how it should look and feel. That first piece cut from the crusty end of a warm loaf, slathered with butter, is nearly worth killing for! Then there's the smell... the aroma of freshly baked bread is unmistakeable.

As I was kneading my latest batch and admiring the elasticity of the dough, I stopped to marvel at the striking resemblance between what was in the bowl and my derriere. I guess it's true - you are what you eat!!

Losing the Weight

I've been overweight the whole of my adult life. Never hugely obese, but always struggling with that extra 30-40 pounds that need to come off! Even at the height of marathon training, walking 70+ kilometers a week didn't change that fact.

I've done the yo-yo thing, the "change your lifestyle" thing, and even created something that worked quite well for the PraiseWalker system, but each time, I fall off the bandwagon and gain all the weight back.

I was chatting with a friend this week, and she told me about a program that we are now trying together. It seems pretty cool as it uses weight-loss as a form of meditation - kinda like the "PraiseWalker" idea for dieting. Cooool.

Find out more here: www.PraiseWalker.com

The Signs...

The other day Steven, my husband, was wearing a new pair of shorts and showed me the waistband. It had folded over a bit. He remarked that he was gaining so much weight that the waistband couldn't stand up anymore. Then this conversation happened:

Steven: Remember only one of us can be fat at the same time. I guess it's my turn.
Me: Are you calling me fat?
Steven: No.
Me: Yes you did. You just said only one of us can be fat. And THEN you said you were fat. So you just called me fat.
And I can start to see the fear in his eyes. To be fair, the entire "only one of us can be fat" theory was started by me a long time ago. When I gained weight the first time and Steven was so skinny, I used to joke that his family must have thought that I ate all the food and didn't feed him. And then when I lost the weight, he coincidentally gained weight.
Steven: I didn't call you fat. YOU called ME fat.
Me: What?
Good move. Get on the attack. Make her get on the defensive. Nice strategy, dear husband.
Steven: You called me fat.
Attack. Attack. Attack.
Me: You're so funny. There's no way out.

And then yesterday I went to my hair salon and the little Vietnamese lady that does my waxing poked me in the belly and said "baby?".


AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH.

alright. I know. I'm fat. That's it, the Gods must be telling me something. I need to lose weight.

Walking for a Cause

Hello all!

As some of you may - or may not know - I walked my first marathon last October. I took a ridiculously short amount of time to train, and while I succeeded, it nearly did me in!

I want to do another marathon, but take loooooots of time this time to do it well. I decided to start right back at the beginning.

For the past two months I've been training properly for a 5k event (yeah, I know - I can walk it without even breaking a sweat, but I want to go slowly, remember?). This July 5th I'm entered in the "Race for Pace" event to raise money for Pace Kids

This isn't a huge challenge for me, but it's a huge challenge for these kids, and I'd love to have your financial support to give these kids every opportunity to succeed in their lives.

You can send a tax deductible donation to the cause through my page here: PaceKids Donor Page

I just started the fundraising for this, so if you hurry, you can be the very first sponsor! Woohoo!

Thanks so much, on behalf of these kids.

Darlene

Wanna Walk? How about 3,200 km?

Here's another "Amazing Walker" story - truly inspirational (I say just after I chickened out for my walk because it's raining . . .)

First, a confession: I stole this word for word from the "WoW Power Walking" blog, dated Wednesday, June 10.

Johnny Rowe Marathon Walker

Been walking much lately? How about 3,200 kilometres? Today's Globe and Mail obituary described the life of famed Canadian walker Johnny Rowe who averaged this distance every year for 27 years and who died on May 28. According to the Globe and Mail, Rowe described marathon walking as "a chance to accomplish something without mechnical aid". I suspect he would have scoffed at those of us chained to our GPS devices.

Continue the story here: www.PraiseWalker.com

Walking as Soul Work

I have an issue in my life that is causing a great deal of pain and turmoil. I am working through different methods of healing with it, but it can often get overwhelming when it's triggered.

Today was one of those trigger days, and I found myself wrestling with this to the point of complete frustration. By 5:00pm I was at a loss as to how to get peace and move on. I decided to go for my walk, which still needed to get done.

I set my Nike+iPod to a 1 hour walkand set it to play a shuffled playlist of soaking music , put on my Funky Feet, attached the dog to his leash, grabbed a poop bag, and headed out the door.

Read what happened next, here: www.PraiseWalker.com

Bye bye baby

Walking was the last step to finalize my daughters transition into toddlerhood. It's amazing how different she is each day. Talking, walking, feeding herself, and so much more. She has learned to pound it, cheers, wave, high five, hug, kiss, and she knows a lot of her body parts.

I miss her being a blob baby so much but at the same time I am enjoying all the different things she is able to do this summer compared to last summer. Last summer she was three to four months old, still floppy and she couldn't wear sunscreen. We didn't go on vacation or do nothing at all so this summer so far having a 14 month old is fantastic!

Though my desire to have Devyn be a blob still is gone, my desire to have a blob baby in general is even stronger. We always said we wanted our kids two years apart and as we got pregnant July of 2007 we want to start trying July of this year to have them at least 2 years apart. Now that the time is here I feel nervous. I couldn't wait to start TTC, to be pregnant again, to experience it all again. But now I'm afraid we aren't ready, I can't do it, two kids will be hard, I'm afraid I can love two babies the same. All these fears are irrational because I believe we can do it but it's just because the time is here that I am doubting myself. We will have to see what happens.

Renovations of the Soul

We are renovating.


We attempted an en suite bathroom renovation three years ago. It’s still ongoing. I doubt it will ever be done.


So now, we’re doing the main floor, but we learned our lesson, and this time we’re hiring it out. New floors, new paint.


I don’t like renovating. I don’t even like houses - too much work for shelter. I’m not houseproud, I don’t like decorating, and I don’t really care about style and fashion. However, the kitchen floor is coming off, their are nail-pops in the living room, and the wall-paper is peeling. It’s time!


While the kids and I sat there scraping off the wallpaper in prep for painting next week, I thought about how house renovations are much like soul renovations.

Read more here: www.PraiseWalker.com

The Impossible Dog Challenge

Ok, here's the scoop - I'm at my wit's end!

We have just about the most perfect dog on the planet. He's a 9-year-old Bichon Shihtzu named Nicki, in perfect health. Lots of energy, doesn't shed, yap, demand attention, pee on my floor, jump up on me, or display any other annoying tendencies, and is incredibly flexible with our lifestyle. He's easy to train, and behaves himself wherever he goes.

He's been kennel trained since birth, and happily goes to his kennel when we leave the house or at bedtime. I'm a stay-at-home mom of two home schooled teenagers, so we are mostly home. Nicki usually gets a walk every day, and lots of one-on-one play time, mostly with my 16 year old son who adores him.

But here's the problem:

Read about it here: The Impossible Dog Challenge

The Amazing Walker

We’ve lived in our neighborhood for about 12 years now. Soon after we moved in we noticed an older oriental gentleman walking in the area. My guess is that he has an artificial leg - or at best, a leg that is mostly lame. The amazing thing is, this man walks everywhere.

We’ve often seen him miles away from home, with a backpack slung over one shoulder, baseball cap on his head, limping along. He always has a big smile, and is happy for conversation, though his English is very poor.

I'm sure walking is not an easy thing for this man. We live in an area that has exceptional bus service, but this man chooses to walk. I'm sure he walks several hours a day.
I let the thought of this man inspire me on those days when I just don't feel like getting out of my chair and doing my required distance for the day.

If he can do it, so can I! (and, by the way, so can you!)

Happy Walking!

Darlene