New Beginnings

I pulled up www.blogspot.com in my browser for the first time in a very long time.  And when my dashboard glowed at me through the computer screen, it felt like seeing an old, familiar friend.  As I am writing this, actually, I feel like I'm relaxing in a coffeeshop with a friend and letting go of stress and weights and fatigue.  I've needed this, to be able to write my own words, to write what is on my heart, and I have not allowed myself to do so in a very long time because of TIME...

And I am not letting time get away from me again.  I am claiming my day's time, telling it to do this and do that, instead of letting it tell me what to do.  I am getting up early (usually between 4 and 5 AM) so that I can workout and shower and eat breakfast and work on my paid writing and do devotions, all before the kids wake up.  I am going to bed at 9 (ok, not quite successfully...but at least trying to hit that time) so that I can get enough sleep to wake up early and function throughout the day.  I started doing this about 3 weeks ago, and I feel much more satisfied with my days by their end, instead of hitting bed and wondering what I actually accomplished outside of handling my kids (which, don't get me wrong, is a big thing in itself! But I want to do more than just barely keep my children and myself in order each day).

New beginnings: new daily routine, started three weeks ago. New diet, also started around the same time. New body, thanks to the diet. New baby, as of three months ago (new since I last wrote in this blog).  New job and new home, coming up in August, Lord willing.

I could go into so much detail on each of these things, and I will as time goes on, but here's the Reader's Digest version:

New daily routine - I mentioned it above. I realized my patience was running very low when dealing with Svanja as an independent, strong-willed toddler, and that we would both have better days when I got up earlier than her and had time to myself. So I started getting up earlier, and earlier, until I found a time where I could get most things done that I wanted to get done in the morning. It makes my days go so much smoother.

New baby - Judah Scott was born on his due date, December 29! He is the cutest, sweetest little baby boy you will ever meet.  I'm definitely doing a blog post on his birth, which is why I'm not saying much on him right now!

New diet - This is thanks to Judah. Not only is he the sweetest baby boy, but he is also the spittiest (well, was the spittiest) little boy ever.  I'm talking projectile vomit and soaking through three outfits in a day.  Soaking, not just spitting up on.  So I went on an elimination diet three weeks ago to figure out if he was sensitive to something. I've cut out gluten/grains, dairy, sugar, soy, corn, eggs, nightshades, nuts/seeds (with the exception of almond milk), and some other allergenic foods.  It's easier to say what I can eat: most fruits, most vegetables, rice, potatoes, fish, turkey, and lamb. Coconut products have become my BFF.  And next week I get to start adding things back in, like beef, and seeing if he reacts! Can't wait to have more food that I can eat!  The diet has really been helping Judah, too. He still spits up, but it's a much more normal amount, and it is rare that I have to change his outfit due to it.

New body - Thanks to the diet, which is thanks to Judah.  After three weeks, I have way more energy than I expected for waking up so much to nurse in the middle of the night, and I have lost a bunch of weight. I'm back down to high school weight, and I love my body, and my husband does too! (not that he ever complained when I was heavier; on the contrary, he told me often how much he loved my body and how beautiful I was. And he is delighting in me even more now)  I also started doing Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30, although I'm getting it in more like every other day rather than every day. It feels good to feel myself get stronger. And I like that pants that fit well are a LOT easier to find now.

New job/new home - God has called Jordan and I to move to Utah to be full-time, long-term missionaries to the Mormons.  We are answering that call, and August 1 is our goal date of moving out there.  But we have to raise at least 80% of our annual support before going out there, and we are currently just above 40%.  So we have some work ahead of us, but we are fully confident that this is where God wants us to be! It is so exciting...and I will have to write another blog post about this topic as well!

Mmmmm....it feels so good to be writing again for myself.  Hopefully I will keep this blog updated pretty regularly! I'm thinking about starting a separate one for our family/missionary news.  But we will see what happens!

~Kjelse