My Own JOURNEY to Wellness

So about 10 years ago, I was a super health nut! I typically ran 60-80 miles per week. I ran marathons, ran road races competitively, did weight training, was a coach, had a coach, was a vegetarian, etc. The highlight of my week was my long run! Can you imagine?! It blows my mind when I think about it now. Needless to say, those days are long gone...

God has since blessed me beyond my imagination with the incredible gift of raising 4 small children (ages 8, 7, 2, and 14 months) and one with a major medical condition. Anyone would agree that as a mom, your kiddies come first. Of course! However after a year of having Silas on the Gerson Therapy (and within that year I also was pregnant, had a baby, and then later miscarried another), I realized that I was living my life so "sacrificially" that I almost became a martyr to the therapy. I'll post one of these days about the typical day in the life of a Gerson Person. It's fascinating... Anyway, I was recently talking with Jordan and realized that I had pretty much forgotten who I was. That runner that I used to be and who my identity was tied up in, no longer existed. For the first time in my life, I was terribly out of shape--and I mean terribly! I wasn't quite sure what I enjoyed anymore... I realized that I've somewhat isolated myself in the past 16 months which is virtually necessary to get the day's work done, but I've missed out on many social events and even surprisingly some friendships have changed. It's been at times lonely doing this therapy... It's no one's fault, but some people don't tend to understand and often don't seem to validate the work of the therapy because it's not through conventional medical methods. It's okay, but it doesn't take away from the seriousness of Sy's disease and how imperative the therapy is to his health. I always knew and rejoiced in the fact that I was God's Beloved... but for the first time, I wasn't sure how much I was loving myself.

Anyway during this past year, I had some blood work completed a couple of times because I was having a few medical issues and in general, not feeling great. Finally my doctor sat down with me and said that as much as I want to be there for my husband, kids and others, I needed to make some radical lifestyle changes or I may not be around for them. Whoa... What?! So here I am busting my chops to do this amazing therapy for my kid and ironically, my own health is starting to deteriorate. How many times do we do that as moms? We give our all to our family and leave nothing or at best, the leftovers for ourselves. It took a little while to sink in but the reality finally hit that it was really time to turn my life around. I had the head knowledge since I'd been studying natural therapies for almost 10 years. I had implemented loads of what I learned but definitely still had my own vices and used some of them as a crutch to get through this last year. After spending hours and hours in the kitchen prepping for Sy, the last thing I usually want to do is to cook a healthy dinner for myself!

So I found this amazing kickstart for my life--ironically from a person who healed herself from cancer through the Gerson Therapy! When I find out more about her own story, I see so much of my own. Jordan and I both decided to challenge ourselves and felt that if we're going to speak publicly about Gerson and Sy, then we needed to understand exactly what it was like for ourselves and to better understand how Sy feels each day. We want to be the real deal. And Wow! All I can say is that it completely changed my life! In those 10 days, I found freedom! I realized that we give food--whether it be specific foods or sugar or caffeine, such power in our lives. I don't want food to empower me... I want God to empower me! There is such freedom in letting go and truly eating to live and not merely living to eat. It's amazing how quickly even my taste buds have changed when you take out salt and sugar. Not only did I cleanse through the liquids but I also started cleansing through a new morning regime for ME! Not in a selfish way but in a loving way... I've been convicted that I need to serve others, including my family, out of an overflow of what the Holy Spirit is doing in my own life. If we constantly give to others out of chaos and depleted reservoirs, then over time we will feel the effects of that on our bodies... So I've been really challenging myself these days and constantly asking myself, "What do I love to do?" and "What will bring me the joy I once knew?"

So that leads me to my new morning routine... It includes quiet time with God, prayer time through meditation, oil pulling, coffee breaks (not what you're thinking!), dry brushing, listening to beautiful music, and juicing. I no longer resent the therapy and think about what I'm missing out on but instead focus on the life and healing that God is doing through the therapy for Sy. Instead of thinking of restrictions, I'm focusing on the great things I do have and enjoy! It's all about perspective. I've found the gift in Gerson... It's more than just healing our boy... It's healing ourselves and reconnecting our spirit to our ultimate Healer. As moms, we absolutely have to take time for ourselves--quiet retreats for our own soul care. It's so important. So as I mentioned before, this is a journey for me. I'm not there yet but I'm learning and implementing all that I can. I'm even starting a course to bring about even more transformation and I'm pretty stoked about it. My life sure looks different than it did 10 years ago and I'm sure it will look even more so 10 years from now. So who knows?! Maybe, I'll even be back to running... :)

What about you? What things do you implement in your life for your own soul care?

Jiggle Another Handle?!!

Life is fun for sure! When I picture the doors that we've knocked on or opened in our time, they're never plain ol' doors...

When we diverted our journey to missions 10 years ago, we always knew that the road with the brightly lit signs would be waiting for us to jump on again. There's no doubt that we were created for a life called away from the ordinary. It's just that getting back to that road has been a bigger task than we thought.

We've had many people asking about our status, so here's the current update:

Recently, a door opened to help serve within our community to start building the base we needed to launch ourselves out for wherever God needed us to go. Since we had more juicing in our lives than we wanted, we looked to share the knowledge and healing power with others. There are so many people in our lives now who need some serious healing. I don't mean superficial healing, I mean deep-rooted, death-is-on-your-radar kind of healing. From this, we developed a business plan for starting a juicing cooperative effort where people could get quality nutrition and the workload was evenly distributed. Since we are overwhelmed in our own lives with the work of Sy's therapy, this seemed to be an answer where we could both serve and have some weight taken off our shoulders. Not only would this be an opportunity to help people heal physically, but to really focus on asking people questions about their spiritual health as well. Again, super amounts of encouragement and enthusiasm from others, but when it came to gather people together, it was not the response we needed. Ok God, you can see that we are trying here. We asked the question and you gave an answer on this one. We will move on.

Do we give up now? No way.

As you probably know from our previous post, the door before us has pointed us to look at the need in Dominican Republic and see if we can find a spot for our hearts to be poured out there. As you know, we took the trip and whoa, baby! God showed up and revealed the need for help there. Our skills lined up, we were received with open arms, and there were endless possibilities to live the life the Bible clearly speaks about. Both our hearts leapt as we saw a spot we could easily (relatively speaking) fill. Back in business, right? All doors were wide open, except for one.

Organic produce is something that we certainly take for granted here in States. We asked and looked in the local DR town for produce that would fit Sy's needs. No luck. We spoke to workers in the local hospital about where to get it. Bummer there. We have contacted friends in another DR town to get their knowledge. Another dead end. I've contacted an organic farm on the north coast to look at visiting there to get the information we need. No response. I've been in communication with the country's Department Of Agriculture with a list of Sy's needs. How about a no. We've contacted missionaries in the same organization to get information on the produce. Not looking good there either. We are looking into aquaponically growing what we need, but root veggies are still an obstacle (considering that carrots are the bulk of what we need, that could be an issue since we run through about 75 lbs per week).

Do we give up now? No way.

There are voices that are whispering to just give up and to live a normal, quiet life until we die. I'm sure many of you are thinking, "Why don't you just stay where you are for right now?" Honestly, we would love it! We live in sunny paradise... We dearly love our family, friends and church here... This is home and this is comfortable. But for us, we wrestle between our flesh and spirit every time we open the Bible because of the personal convictions that God has placed on our hearts. When we hear His voice in our lives, we know He is calling us out for more. It's hard because often times we'd rather just stick our head in the sand and ignore it. However, the call to go out and seek who we were really created to be is way too strong.

I can also see that not being willing to radically shake things up is exactly what the enemy wants. We live in a great community where a great song has been written and those that are here are singing it with excellence. However, it has been laid on our hearts that there is a new song that God wants to write and that He wants us to play a part in that. Maybe a small one, but a crucial one. The second issue is that staying where we are isn't working either. It's embarrassing to say this as a man, but the truth is that a firefighter salary doesn't work well when supporting a family of six. I firmly believe that God opened doors for my career and has given me crucial medical knowledge that I will continue to use for His glory--I've even had the priviledge to take part in saving lives. I also have a side business that is small and growing, but it's hard to develop a business with no capital and risk taking the focus off Sy's healing. We will juice in a box on the side of the road if that's what it means to keep our boy healthy.

All of this typing finally gets me to a point. Whenever doors start closing on us, we hear the creaking of another one swinging open. This post is too long already, so that's for another day.

So as another door possibly opens, please pray for clarity and wisdom. We have stood before God and said that we are truly willing to do anything and go/not go anywhere. We just want to live in obedience however scary that may be. I look at Heather and each of the kids and I want to help encourage them to bring the Christ out of their hearts for the world.

Caught in the Monster's Grasp!

This past weekend, we were hosted by the great folks at the Monster Challenge mud obstacle race. It was so much fun to come see a bunch of crazy runners doing some messy stuff.

As a blessing to our family, they invited Sy to be a guest of honor and helped raise funds to support his therapy. Sy had a great day and we were blown away by everyone's generosity. Here's a few pictures from all the fun!

Go team!

Check out this sweet trophy...

Sy even made friends with a Nordic warrior (and got to keep the axe!)

This is our friend and neighbor, Mr. Moses, making light work of the "Tarantula Traverse."

Smiles all day!

Our family just wants to thank all the people at Monster Challenges for allowing us to be a part of such a great event. We would also like to thank all the folks at Roe Family Chiropractic (especially Renee) for helping us continue Sy on a path to total healing!

Thanks again everyone! Sy had such a blast.

Our First Bite Of The Big Apple...

Ok, so day number one has been a success! We have packed many things in one day! Here are a few highlights:

Although my navigating skills were a little off and we ended up heading in the wrong direction a few times, we still got to enjoy our first NY subway ride.

We had a great opportunity to see much of the city because we spent most of the day on foot. Both the kiddos were real champs about walking several miles today.

We were able to secure Sy's fresh made juices and we were relieved to know that he wouldn't miss a beat.

A cruise through Times Square gave us a chance to snag a New Yorker for a quick and memorable pic!

This city a also a great place to run into celebs! Look who we bumped in to! (I never knew he wore patented leather shoes with his armor.)

We had to ship many of Sy's food prep supplies up from Florida, but we also had to get our hands on all the produce. We happened to find this sweet little corner organic market that beat the pants off any place at home. Believe it or not, the prices were even better!

We needed a way to get all this produce home without lugging it for miles, so we were able to hop in for our first NY taxi ride. I did my best to be annoyingly chatty with the driver, but he wasn't much of a conversationalist.

And lastly...

How could we call it a day without staying up late to throw together a fresh batch of soup, mill it, and clean up everything in a mini kitchen?

Thanks NYC! We are looking forward to our next day tomorrow...

Things Are Suddenly Moving At Light Speed!

So, today marks the beginning of an exciting week! We are still coming off the high of the Snowflake 5K and we now are looking forward to hosting some cool folks in our home today. A camera crew and reporter from a popular, national talk show will be coming to spend the entire day with us to get a glimpse of our family's routine and Sy's God-authored story. As some of you know, there will be plenty of energy from this household for these folks to capture. We just hope that these peeps like the smell of veggies simmering, the aroma of fresh carrot juice, and seeing every Lego creation in our home!

Today will be a big day and we hope to clearly portray the way that God has blessed us with the immense challenges and miraculous times of provision through family, friends, and even those we don't even know. Anyone can easily see the incredible power of love and support poured on our household as we struggle through healing our son.

After this experience, we will step onto a plane early next week and find ourselves in the midst of the Big Apple for his national TV debut. (Is America really ready for such a handsome and lion-hearted boy?) With the help of our hosts and countless logistics, we have made arrangements so that Sy's therapy will hopefully be seamless and without interruption. We will keep y'all up to date as we encounter these unique and fun changes. (We promise lots of pictures to come!)

I'm not exactly how much we can share in the digital world yet, but we promise to provide whatever details we can when we can... Stay tuned for more!

One last thing before we embark on this journey... Please pray for us and that the true reason behind our family's adventures shine through Sy's smile, Heather's smokin' hot looks, and my buffoonery. For all of you who know us, you know that all of this could not be happening on our own efforts. We ask for the right words to express the events and emotions that have emerged over the years. We love all of you and know that our bottom line is to bless those who can benefit from our experience and our desire to reach out to those in need.

And away we go...

Looking Ahead to Hindsight...

As we've been approaching the New Year, our family has been thinking through some big questions. We've been taking a real hard look at our life and looking at it from the perspective of 30-40 years from now. Do you ever think about that? It sure brings up A LOT of questions...

Did we follow our God-given passions or sell out to someone else's idea of success?

Were we obedient? The first time, every time, and with a happy heart?

Will we have accomplished what we felt we needed to or did we waste most of our time?

Did we do absolutely everything we could to honor our marriage?

How will we be seen by those around us? Faithful? Joyful? Kind? Peaceful?

Will we have any regrets?

Were we ACTIVELY involved in raising our children to the best of our ability?

Did we pursue health in all aspects or did we allow unhealth to seep in?

Even as I write these questions, I'm kinda scared to answer these now. So, how do we make sure that we will be able to answer these with no hesitation and with ethusiasm?

As you may know, 10 years ago, Heather and I took a huge step and obeyed a call made on our lives. Although it was scary, it was the best ride we've ever been on. We saw miracles happen frequently and our direction was clear. I'm not kidding, our paths really were straight! Even though that phase didn't end the way we planned, our hearts and our marriage were in the best place they could be. It was a life of living with no regrets...

10 years have passed now and we continue to see blessings and miracles come our way, regardless of the amount of our faithfulness. We look around and see more than we deserve and we are watching Sy be healed from a disease with no cure! From the outside, everything is perfect. We have pursued the more "traditional" route and it's worked out fairly well. Even though our resources don't add up on paper, God has provided for us in huge ways. Our life has definitely felt like Elijah in 1 Kings 17:

God then told Elijah, “Get out of here, and fast. Head east and hide out at the Kerith Ravine on the other side of the Jordan River. You can drink fresh water from the brook; I’ve ordered the ravens to feed you.” Elijah obeyed God’s orders. He went and camped in the Kerith canyon on the other side of the Jordan. And sure enough, ravens brought him his meals, both breakfast and supper, and he drank from the brook. Eventually the brook dried up because of the drought. Then God spoke to him: “Get up and go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I’ve instructed a woman who lives there, a widow, to feed you.”

But, the question is, what do you do when you sense your brook has dried up? What do we do when we feel that God is calling us to a new life? How do we not question God and say that the way he has been providing was just fine and we'd prefer to just keep things that way?

"Before we respond, could You please give specifics on how exactly you will provide next?"

"Lord, it just doesn't make sense to change things now!"

"Even though we are continuing to struggle, look at all the work we've done to get here! And we may not be able to get back here if Your plan doesn't pan out!"

These are all conversations and feelings that have been stirring around... However, when the worrying settles down and we stop and listen to our hearts, we know that we have been circumventing the life we were created for. Oh brother, if you only knew the things we have considered...

Late last night, Heather and I came across a network of people who have left the life they knew to live a fuller life. An abundant life. A life of spending time investing in a Kingdom, rather than things we could care less about. A life to use the gifts we love to use, rather than burying them deep under busyness, menial tasks, and stress. A life that doesn't push our faith, our marriage, our children, and our friends to the side. It's calling to us...in a big way.

But how do we get from here to there? Open doors, Lord! We're ready!