David

5 years ago, I was assisting in a level III Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. The catechist was presenting work on the saints. She told a story of her patron saint. How when she was a teen, picking her saint she haphazardly chose Elizabeth and then thought nothing of her for many more years. The story goes that when you pick your saint, whether you are paying attention or not they are yours and they look out for you. 

As she was telling this story, I was grimacing on the inside. I, like many other teens, haphazardly took a name. Davida. (that's David with an a on the end) It was my baptismal name so I also took it for my Confirmation name. Nevermind that David is Old Testament and I should have not been permitted to take this name for Confirmation. 

Why was I grimacing on the inside? Because what immediately came to mind was that David was a murderous adulterer. Great. I took a namesake of a person that was horrid. My catechist friend pointed out all of the positives, he wrote the psalms, David was a great model of God's mercy. 

I still wasn't impressed.

This last weekend, it was time for me to plan the anual Catechist Formation for the start of the year. I had been so busy with setting up our atria, Justin being away, and  Nativity House happenings (the birth of our first guest baby) that I gave very little thought to our formation for the morning. It was actually in the wee hours of Sunday morning that I decided, "we will just reflect on the psalms."

The psalm that grabbed me was 139. It wasn't until I wrote out the entire psalm that I noticed the tiny print, a psalm of David.  This is a psalm that we are all familiar with - on eagle's wings. But as I meditated on it, particularly verses 13-24, I was captivated. There has been a plan for me since before I was born. I marvel at His plans for me and how he makes it all come to be. Remember, he knows all... What comfort.

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
    you formed me in my mother’s womb.
I thank you, High God—you’re breathtaking!
    Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
    I worship in adoration—what a creation!
You know me inside and out,
    you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
    how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
    all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
    before I’d even lived one day.

 Your thoughts—how rare, how beautiful!
    God, I’ll never comprehend them!
I couldn’t even begin to count them—
    any more than I could count the sand of the sea.
Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!
   

 Investigate my life, O God,
    find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me,
    get a clear picture of what I’m about;
See for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong—
    then guide me on the road to eternal life.

David, pray for us

Week 6: Getting Back on the Wagon

So, let me think of some excuses for falling off the wagon: Superbowl Sunday!, Who knew there was going to be a blizzard - couldn't get to the gym for like a week! Back to work full time (it just happened to be the week from hell) - no time to think about what or what not to eat. PMS - I needed those carbs!

I am down from my starting weight. 3 pounds instead of six. But there was a 2 pound gaining and re-losing in there. So here I am, ready to get back on the wagon. I mean business, again.

What I would like is to get so good at these good habits that when stressful times come around I have good practice to fall back on.

Bye-bye Bad Habit # 4: Stress is Not an Excuse
Every once in a while we get reminders of stress busters. The things that come to mind: exercise, healthy eating, healthy sleep - all of the things that go out the window when we are stressed. So how the heck to do we get a handle on this when stress strikes and all the time for healthy eating, sleeping and exercising is no where in sight? What can I do? Any ideas?

Hello Healthy Habit: Be a Woman of Your Word
While that mindfulness I was talking about last time kicks in.... I need to be a bit more reliable for myself. And remember, "oh, yeah! It's not only about me!" If I want to add to our family, if I want to be alive to a healthy, happy old age and be around to see Gracie grow up to be a beautiful young woman; I need to do what I say I am going to do and sweep those excuses under the rug. Stress is going to come. The best way to conquer stress is to do the things already mentioned above.  Ok, enough said, back on the wagon.

Ok, I have some recipes around here somewhere... 

One of my favorite, easy meals is Mexican Breakfast. The best way is a tofu scramble. In this first one I did it the old fashioned way with scrambled eggs, homemade salsa verde and half of an avocado stuffed with red peppers. Spicy, fresh and filling.

I tried this new recipe from Family Fun - Indian Hand Pies It called for ground beef, but I used scrambled tofu, peas, carrots and a touch of garam masala for the filling. The shell is just a whole wheat pie shell. For the dipping sauce I blended fresh pineapple and marmalade (half and half.) This was surprisingly fast. It would also be good to make up a few and freeze for a quick dinner on the run. 

This was among my favorite! Meatless meat balls, sauce and polenta This recipe is a bit labor intensive but it made so many that I have meatballs in the freezer for a meatball sub or a redo any time. I had some italian style lentils in the freezer. I whipped that up in the food processor with some parsley, more garlic, walnuts, onions and brewers yeast; formed them into balls and baked for 20 minutes. So YummY!

Soup. I think that I need to eat much more soup. If one of my meals a day is mostly liquid that can't be a bad thing. This is White Bean, Rainbow Chard, and Tortellini Soup. It is surprisingly easy and very tasty. For this one I start with carmelized onions, and chickenless chik'n broth. Add the beans and tortellini. When the tortellini is cooked mix in the chopped greens. If you like top it off with a bit of parmesan or brewers flakes.