First, the technical glitch - for it must be the most interesting to my readers.
Rourke bought an I-Pod Touch. He said it would be good for using as a timer. He hooked it to his jeans (first clue) and I wondered how he was going to keep time from way down there. He tried putting it his hoodie pocket, but we were both afraid it would fall out, back to the jeans. Each time he had to check the time, he had to hunch over, or unclip it.. which caused him to slow down (pokey boy). He had his earphones in his ears, so he couldn't hear me ask for time check.. and guess what, two of our 90 second runs actually went 180 seconds... thanks Rourke, no wonder my lungs were burning!
There is a solution to this malfunctioning $400 stopwatch - it's called an armband. oh, and that's just a cheap $35 fix to our problem. lol. Kids have too much money!
So, today's workout was supposed to be Walk 5, run 90 seconds, walk 180 seconds, for 20 minutes. We did W5, R90, W180, R90, W180, R90, W180, R180, W180, R180, W180, R90, W180, - total 28 minutes then we did 20 situps and 15 pushups, and cool down stretch of course.
The inside of my right knee is feeling it, and below my left knee is feeling it. The right knee I think is just muscle - it'll get stronger and go away. The left knee however seems to be ligament. I hope that doesn't get worse. I'll keep you posted on it.. and I'll pray God keeps me healthy and getting stronger.
The kid however, doesn't see to have any problems, he never complains.. just keeps plodding along beside me.
Rourke's I-Pod says the weather conditions are 5 Celcius and bright sunshine. There's a $50 gizmo that you can attach to your shoe and it sends information to your I-Pod, it can tell you your distance and speed and calories and... if you have the right NIKE shoes, it can tell you your heart rate and bp and all that jazz. Sounds like George Jetson to me.
Week 1 took me 7 days to do 3 workouts. I hope I can get these next 3 workouts done before Friday morning, meaning 3 workouts in 5 days. I'm going away on an Above Rubies weekend next Friday and don't know if I'll have opportunity while away to workout, as I'll be alone with Elias. Maybe I'll just strap him on my back and go for a brisk 20-30 minute walk.
Anyhow, today is Week 2 Workout 1 which wants me to walk briskly for 5 minutes and then alternate running for 90 seconds then walk for 2 minutes. We did 5 runs, so I think that brought our total time 24 minutes. This new increase from 60 seconds of running to 90 seconds is hard those last 30 seconds, it really burns, but then again, when I look back to May 20, those 60 second runs really burned to, so I guess the fact that the first 60 seconds don't hurt at all means I'm gaining strength.
I need to find a website that shows the kinesthetics of the running foot for Rourke. He comes down really hard on his feet, and often drags his feet and if he's going to keep running with me, I don't want him to hurt his knees or his back or his shins with this bad running form. I know he's young - the young can do all kinds of crazy things with their bodies and not suffer terribly, but I know life isn't all about the young - or bodies do get older - in 3 years he'll feel it in his knees. Stuart and I both had bad knees as kids. Trent feels it too. I want Rourke to avoid as much of this pain as possible by having good training.
Here's a good video showing foot mechanics
Now I've learned it was actually ME who needed that lesson. I have been trying to come down on my heel.. seems that's a no-no. I too want to avoid pain!
Today's weather was good, cool, but not cold. Temp: 8.6°C and the wind wasn't too bad. I did still wear my shell and a sweat shirt.
There are Artistic folk and there are Disciplined folk.. Some artistic folk are disciplined.. I am not. - but I want to be. I'm learning to make changes in my life.
Long ago I was a rebel. I was forced to housekeep as a child, my mother worked, my father worked - so I cooked and cleaned from the age of 10 on. I did the groceries at 14 on. I also worked and went to school, but I was home at 3:30 and was expected to do laundry and kitchen cleaning and on weekends vacuuming and dusting and bathrooms and such. It caused me to rebel against those chores as a young woman. The first 5 years or so with my husband, I did just about nothing. I did the things I liked. I cooked, but I didn't clean much. I waited until all my clothes were dirty, bought a few more, and as a last resort, did the laundry.
Finally I realized my rebellion was not hitting it's mark, I wanted my rebellion to be in rejection of my father, but instead it was making my husband do my jobs. My husband didn't complain, but he was overworked. He went to class and studied 9-5 every day to get his Masters and PhD and then came home andtook care of all the chores I had neglected. My transformation to a more disciplined woman began with the laundry.. I learned to fold laundry in a specific way, making all the t-shirts a certain size, all the towels a certain size... and loading them into the drawers in a certain way. The order made me happy to see all the t-shirts lined up, the towels all stacked. I love doing laundry now.
Other chores developed their system in time, one chore at a time I learned to manage my home. I have not perfected this home management yet, I still get piles, and there are so many little personalities to manage too now.
But the newest steps in a disciplined life for me is exercise and prayer. This morning I was praying the Shimoneh Esrie and I came to this prayer for Repentance
Bring us back, our Father, to your Torah, and bring us near, our King, to Your service, andinfluence us to return in perfect repentance before You. Blessed are You, Adonai, Who desires repentence.
As I prayed that, I realized, I can't have a disciplined life on my own efforts, I must first turn to Him, repent of my sin - my lazyness, my selfishness, my rebellion - and return to His Way and that will bring me into a more disciplined life.
So what is His Way? It says it right there in the prayer - Bring Us Back to Your Torah. That's His Way. 1 Peter 4:12 says that sin is transgression of the law - it is lawlessness. Sin is transgressing Torah - Torahlessness.
My most recent discovery in Torah has been the application of the vers Leviticus 19:19 'You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; (A)you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.
When I bought my new running gear, I asked the sales person to guide me to garments with only one fiber - not mixed. Granted, it's not linen or wool, or cotton.. but my shirt is 100% coolmax polyester, my jacket is 100% polyester.. but my socks are a mix of wool and spandex. I suppose I should knit myself some 100% wool socks, but I haven't gotten there yet. I find I'm paying attention to this detail every time I put on a garment now. I bought a beautiful skirt to go to the wedding in Tennessee, but now that I'm aware of this negative command in Levitcus 19:19, I find I'm not so in love with this skirt anymore, as it is 90% linen and 10% something else. I've put it on, and taken it off a few times since.. I don't know if I'll ever be able to wear it again - now that I know. I have plenty of other items of clothing that are of mixed fibers, I can't discard them all, I can't afford to replace them. But I do realize that now I have to keep this commandment and not sin by wearing mixed fibers. I'm in that transition stage.
May Adonai continue to do a good work in me - a Mitzvot in me.
Workout #3 is the same as workout 1 and 2.. and I did it today - 24 minutes plus warm up and cool down stretches. It was warmer, but spitting rain and strong wind. Rourke came with me. My back is not affected by the running, it's mostly twisting and bending that hurt it.
Workout 2 consists of Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
Now I know my expensive running outfit was worth the money.. on a day like today I never would have had the courage to go without proper protective clothing.
Current Conditions
Temp: 8.3°C
Wind:
SE at 13 km/h
Wind Gusts:
N/A
Windchill:
N/A
Dew Point:
7.8°C
Humidex:
N/A
Rel. Humidity:
97.0 %
Visibility:
N/A
Barometric Pressure:
-9.9 kPa
Sun Rise:
4:54 AM
Sun Set:
20:49 PM
This weather report fails to mention - it's raining - puddle raining! The kind we've been waiting for through all this dastardly cold, the kind of rain that soaks the ground.. and I ran in it this morning.
The back is still a little tender, but the running doesn't affect it, it's the bending.. or should I say, bending over and lifting a child, or bending over to put a child to bed! That's what causes pain.
While it's not part of my workout - it still counts, I mowed 1/3rd of the lawn yesterday. And part of it Elias was on my back.
And while I'm talking about me, I'll just add in a few other personal journal notes. My Hebrew is coming along. I've finally mastered the vowels, and can read any word now. That seems great, however just because I can read it doesn't mean I know it's meaning. I've been working through Trent's My First Hebrew Primer and I'm in chapter two. It gives lots of practice exercises per chapter, so not only am I reading, I'm writing too. I can now find a Book in the Hebrew Bible. I was most impressed to see Trent reading the Torah portion in Hebrew on Saturday instead of reading it from the English. He wasn't reading aloud, but following along as the reader at the bimah was reading. I can't wait to get to that stage!
One step at a time, I'll get fit. One step at a time I'll become fluent in Biblical Hebrew
~~~~~~~~~
OH MY! I thought I'd take some "Before" pictures to compare back and see how much my body has changed as I get fit. I'm so embarrassed. I knew I was out of shape, but my mind though I looked better than this! oh, and I AM holding in my stomach.
Wednesday's workout was so good.. and yesterday was supposed to be a rest day, so today should have been my second fun.. but I'm in so much pain.
I wish it was pain in my legs, but it's pain in my back. Rueben the Chiro says that my ligaments are all loose because of all the pregnancies, and that once I've quit having babies, this will get better, but until then, I've got to endure this loosy goosy bone structure, which causes pinches and pulls and strains. Rest helps, this morning after a good night's sleep, it was better, then I started to use it again and well, now I can't do simple things like wash the bath tub or wash the floor, or the toilet.
So, I'm folding laundry at the diningroom table, trying to keep my back as still as possible, no bending or twisting. It means every time I have to bend down, it's a squat - thigh exercise, and that's when I feel the first morning's run...lol.
I had wanted to do something simple today, like a yoga stretch workout, but I don't know if I'll even get that done.. if I do, I'll report back.
The workout was Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes., but we end up with a total of a 27 minute workout.
Fortunately Rourke has volunteered to be my running mate, otherwise I might not have gone this morning. It's COLD.
Current Conditions
Temp: 6.9°C
Wind:
NW at 28 km/h
Wind Gusts:
38 km/h
Windchill:
N/A
Dew Point:
-0.2°C
Humidex:
N/A
Rel. Humidity:
61.0 %
Visibility:
N/A
Barometric Pressure:
-9.9 kPa
Sun Rise:
5:00 AM
Sun Set:
20:42 PM
We woke up at 5:30, got dressed to go. We stepped outside to do our stretching warm up and it was really cold, I needed to go back inside to get different pants. If Rourke hadn't been there with me, I'd have given up at the warm-up. He's a good kid to do this with me!
We did our brisk 5 minute walk and then started our run walk on one dirt road, but it was muddy, so we turned around and went back, crossed the highway and ran on the other dirt road, turned around at the 16 minute mark and headed back home. A few cool down walking laps around the tear-drop driveway and the stretching cool down.. and this is how I looked at the end of it all.
My face is still red from the workout, I can feel the heat in my cheeks, and now the fatigue is setting in. I'm going to hit the showers and maybe go back to bed!
I just bought myself a new weight loss plan. The cheap part of the plan looks like this
Week
Workout 1
Workout 2
Workout 3
1
Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
2
Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.
3
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following:
Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following:
Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then do two repetitions of the following:
Jog 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
Walk 200 yards (or 90 seconds)
Jog 400 yards (or 3 minutes)
Walk 400 yards (or three minutes)
4
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
5
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
Walk 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking.
6
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 3/4 mile (or 8 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:
Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)
Walk 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
Jog 1 mile (or 10 minutes)
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2-1/4 miles (or 25 minutes) with no walking.
7
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.5 miles (or 25 minutes).
8
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 2.75 miles (or 28 minutes).
9
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).
Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).
The final workout! Congratulations! Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog 3 miles (or 30 minutes).
The expensive part of the plan looks like this.
The program starts tomorrow morning as soon as I've nursed Elias back to sleep after his early morning nurse. Rourke plans on coming with me... we'll see.
I feel a strong need to share this. Are you in need of healing? Is there anything in your body which isn't working to the perfect task to which God assigned it to be?
I've just finished reading this book.
The blurb on the site reads thus:
Blind eyes see. Deaf ears hear. Cancer disappears.
Disease of all kinds is healed, never to return.
When people think of miracles, most don’t think of supernatural healings happening in the lives of modern day people. Seasoned authors Melanie Hemry and Gina Lynnes introduce Anointing for Healing the first of four books dealing with the power of prayer and how it is still being made evident in the lives of everyday people. The combination of amazing stories and powerful scripture will have you in awe and amazement of the greatness of God. You will learn the significance of anointing oil when praying for healing, discover how to pray effectively, and find inspiration for a closer walk with God. Apply the biblical teachings of prayer and anointing
I recently bought, to replace an oil Janney dumped, a whole set of the biblical oils offered by Abba Oil and also decided to buy the set of books. I didn't have the foggiest idea what the books were about, I just purchased on a whim. I have been greatly blessed by this book - the other three haven't been shipped yet, I'm very excited to see what's coming in those books.
Truthfully. I had no idea that God wanted me healed. I had no idea that God dealt with healing on the cross. I had no idea that while my Saviour died on the cross for my sins, he also died to heal me. I had no idea that the work of salvation and the work of healing were completed on the cross. - I believed that my sins were - are - forgiven - completely. I don't question at all my salvation. I don't question at all that Yeshua covered my sins so that I can have a face to face relationship with the God of Creation....... but I never knew, I never ever put the two together, that healing was done at the same time. I never have understood why when Yeshua was brought a man on a cot, why he said "Your sins are forgiven" Why didn't he say you are healed? And yet, Yeshua was criticized for forgiving the sins... even though clearly the man was able to get up and walk away, or another was able to see, or another arose from death. I've NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE.
Now I do. Now I know I've been blind to God's Words. I've allowed the Deceiver to lie to me. I've bought his lies that God can't heal me, that God is punishing me for my sins with losing these babies, God is punishing me for my sins with this hypertension - but that's a lie from the pit. I am healed - I am not sick. I am healed and I need to start behaving as if I've received God's healing. The evidence may still say I'm sick, but God's Word says I am healed. I choose to believe God, not the evidence the Dr.s or the BP monitor says.
May you too grab on to the promises in His Book and stand firm in believing His Truth, not the lies of the devil.
Well, after my long arduous effort to lose weight - I conceded defeat and gave up. But then family and friends reminded me that my efforts were to be focused on health, not weight. Still, while it's nice to be strong and fit; strong and fit in a lumpy body still reflects a lumpy body in the mirror.
So, I'm trying again - vegetarian this time. I got a lot of books out of the library on vegetarian cuisine.
The first book I started reading is called Classic Vegetarian Cooking from the Middle East and North Africa by Habeeb Salloum. I like his intro, which talks about how meat was really a meal for kings and government officials, not for the peasant and working class. Meat was also reserved for feast times. This mentality seems to work well with my understanding of scripture. Think of Daniel and Shadrack, Mishack and Abednego who asked for vegetables and water instead of eating the food of the king of Babylon - meats and wines. I can't afford to buy kosher meats, and that has been weighing on my heart recently, so a vegetarian diet, with the occasional meat meals will do our budget and our health and our spiritual lives good.
From this book, I've learned to make Pita Bread. YUMMY! It's better a little thicker. When I roll it out too thin, there isn't any chew to it, it's just like crust all over.
Tonight I made Lentil Pottage. The little blurb under the title before the recipe says that this was likely the meal that Esau sold his birthright for. Traditionally, people didn't serve this meal when guests came to dinner, it is so cheap to make that people deemed it too cheap for guests, though it's one of the favourite meals. I loved it. I served it with steamed kale.
I also made cucumbers with garlic and mint and yogourt, tomatoes with herbs and oil, olives in oil, humus, and leftover wheat salad from Shabbat today. I've learned that when you make a meal with vegetable dishes like this, you want to have a number of dishes to serve on the table, so that you take little bits from each dish. That way you get lots of variety and flavours. This leads to many leftovers, but you just put the leftovers back on the table the next meal, along with your new fresh dishes from that day, and you're just constantly adding to the combination of foods that are on the table.
Yesterday I served a bean soup that had 11 different variety of beans/peas/lentils in it. Very yummy and very filling.
The boys had meat at Shabbat Oneg (pot luck lunch), so when they're dying for meat, they can fill up on it at oneg, and I can fill up on vegetable dishes. Everyone's happy.
Stuart has me exercising with him. He likes to go before dinner a few times a week. He sets up the computer to play a DVD and we exercise for 45 minutes, then he stretches and showers and I get dinner on the table. We alternate using the elliptical machine and recumbant bike.
Tonight I worked the inside of my thighs, my butt and my courage.. yes, my courage.
On Sunday I had the boys take me on a horse back ride. We took all the horses, the two young ones just came along loose, and the three older ones we rode. Trent rode Xanthus, as she hasn't been ridden all summer, and I rode Sahara. Now, Sahara has a quick gait, and so she's usually in the lead (she's also lead mare!). Now I'm not a good rider, so we just walked, but we had a fun time. We went through some woods and along trails, then along the highway back home.
Now while that ride was not challenging, I was afraid at times, as Sahara would take off and I'd have to get her back to a walk, and she's so quick, I felt like I was fighting her the whole time. But OOOH was it pretty in the woods, with dragonflies and butterflies all over the place.
So, tonight I had Trent take me to the riding arena to teach me how to trot. He was riding Sahara, and I rode Aragorn (the big one Myles is on). We started in the round pen - a 16 foot circle - and I gained some confidence and got him to accept me as his rider. Then we went out to the riding arena, and we had to get Sahara to comply with opening and shutting a gate over water. She wasn't having it, but Trent persisted and we eventually got through and shut ourselves in to the arena. Next we walked around and Trent had me trot away from the barn and walk back, trot away and walk back. Occasionally Aragorn would get away on me, but I'd get him back under control, but I was having trouble balancing, and that's why he'd take off. I'd be trotting and then I'd fall forward, and he'd take that as a sign to run. So Trent had me take my feet out of the stirups, and let go of the reins and just use my thighs for balancing.. hence the workout. Then he had me shut my eyes.. and feel for his footsteps, to tell him when each foot was touching down just by feel. The he had me put my feet in the stirups and then had him trot. I was to use my legs to hold on, not the saddle horn. Finally, he gave me back the reins and I was able to trot without falling off, without fear and without falling all over the place. My technique still isn't good, but it's better.
We finished off our workout with a ride around the pasture, then Trent and Myles went out for a ride.. they're still out there now. What adventures they go on.. I'm glad to share a little part of it.
I am Sombra, and these are the stories from our house. We're a Messianic family where academics often take a back seat to the work and adventure of life.
I like his intro, which talks about how meat was really a meal for kings and government officials, not for the peasant and working class. Meat was also reserved for feast times. This mentality seems to work well with my understanding of scripture. Think of Daniel and Shadrack, Mishack and Abednego who asked for vegetables and water instead of eating the food of the king of Babylon - meats and wines. I can't afford to buy kosher meats, and that has been weighing on my heart recently, so a vegetarian diet, with the occasional meat meals will do our budget and our health and our spiritual lives good.
