Highlights From Early 2018

Hey all!
Well there are a lot of things I just realized I hadn't updated on the ol' blog that I had promised to, so first of all I'm sorry if you were actually HOPING for those updates, and that it has taken me six months to get to it!  For reasons that will become clear to you shortly, I'm actually going to do two blog posts in one day.  May be a first for me....

I realized my last blog post was from Dec. 1, 2017 while I was visiting Spokane working on the house.  So I'll give you an update on what happened with the house, as promised...  I did stay until Sunday because I just couldn't get everything done in one morning/afternoon.  I got some plumbing done, fixed the roof, removed some wiring that I hadn't finished installing and several other small tasks. But nothing too earth-shattering over all.

So after all  the work had been done, several failed offers later, two real estate agents, and enough new gray hairs to make a an overcoat, my house finally sold on Dec. 28, 2017!!!

Now, just to give you an idea of how much of a process this actually was, let me tell you a little story....

At the end of May 2017, I went to my good friend's wedding in Coeur d'Alene, ID and that's when I learned that the real estate market in Spokane was really hot!  I quickly made the decision to sell my house because when I left for Germany in 2013, I really couldn't have made enough to make it worthwhile, and after everything may have ended up owed money.

So I decided to head back to Spokane at the beginning of August for a 3-day weekend and hired a real estate agent that I met with during my trip.  At that time, the entire state of Washington was covered in a thick layer of smoke from many large wildfires burning in Canada, with Spokane getting the worst of it!  Temps were in the 90's and was just miserable.  I had personally never seen anything like that.  In Spokane, yes.  But never the whole state! It was completely insane!

So I rented a U-Haul and started getting rid of all the stuff in my storage.  Selling, trashing and giving away to charity. Spilled a large bottle of acid in the back of the truck as well. That was a horrible mess!  Thanks to my amazing brother Lionel for his very sacrificial heart to help me!!!

I returned again a month later during Labor Day weekend and did another clean up session.  Once again, the weather was extremely smokey and temperatures were in the 90's! I don't do well with that kind of heat.  I did bring my big box fan, which helped.  These trips were totally exhausting taxing, and expensive.  Thanks to Mr. Eik and the Baldwins for very generously letting me stay at your homes.  You have no idea how much you helped me!  I will forever be grateful to you all! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So by the time my renters moved out on Nov. 1st, I was now responsible for paying the mortgage, my rent and all the rest of my bills.  To say I was poor in November and December would be a huge understatement.  No money for Christmas, and I got a Target credit card so that I could buy groceries, and even pay for my cell phone bill (top up cards).  By the way, please don't ever do this!  The only reason I did it was because I knew I was going to be able to pay it off as soon as the house sold.

During the Fall, my realtor quit on me (I was going to fire her the same day she quit.).  She had some kind of falling out with my renter and she couldn't deal any more.  That was an extremely stressful time for all of us and emotions were high.  But either way, I was not impressed by her skills at all, and glad I didn't have to let her go, that she quit on her own.  Very stressful...

By the end of December, I hadn't paid any of my bills (I had NOTHING for any of them).  The day the house closed, I received notice of intent of my insurance they would be cancelling my insurance unless I brought it current immediately!

So I also had no money for Christmas.  I basically just told everyone we can celebrate in January.  Actually ended up working out pretty well.  It was totally God.

So on the day the house closed, I was waiting for the funds from the sale of my house to hit my bank.  I looked online every hour on my phone to see if it was there yet.  Finally at 11:50a.m, there it was! I sat there in shock, I started to shake, and a couple of tears fell. It was finally done.... I was happy, and at the same time I was numb.

So since it was the end of the year, and I just started calling all of my creditors and paying off all my bills (thankfully there weren't too many).  But I have to share this one story.

I had one credit card that was over limit, 45 days past due and it ws the last business day of the year. 
I have worked in collections before, so the end of the month is huge, you're wanting to collect every past due dollar that you can.  So I get this young man on the phone and he pulls up my account and I give him my payment information to pay off the card in full, bringing it current.  It was at the end of the day on the last business day of the month/year!  You could hear the excitement in his voice.  He could barely contain his excitement.  I was really encouraged that God allowed me to do that for him.  It was a great feeling.  I know he was encouraged! :)

So, thanks to God, I was able to pay off my debt.  Yes, ALL of my debt.  All of the stress, all of the struggle, all of the sacrifice.  I'd been holding it in and barely holding on for more than just a few years.  In the blink of an eye, it was all done.  Debt free..... It still doesn't seem real 5 1/2 months later! So grateful, thank you, God!

One of the brothers in the church earlier this year told me he was very concerned about me during the Fall.  I told him how stressful and exhausting that time was and how I was just barely holding on, waiting and begging God to get my house sold.  He continued that I seemed much happier now, more funny and playful (the old Tim!).

But the reality was that for at least 2 or 3 months after the house sold, my body just went limp.  I was exhausted, lethargic, and a total home body.  After being in suspense for so many years, my body took some time off. LOL.  I was barely able to just do the basics: work, church stuff and chores.  Finally in March/April, the clouds started to clear (literally and figuratively) and I really started to come out of that haze and started feeling human again.  Either way, I was glad that my body was starting to function again and I could start to resume living life to the full once more!


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And there was another challenge on the horizon that was also weighing heavy on me during this time.  Taxes!   Oy....

I knew that I could claim receipts for money I had spent on my house during the time that I owned  it for things that would increase the value: landscaping, painting, renovations, roofing, fences and such.  The only problem was that I had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of receipts to weed through!

This process took conservatively 10-12 hours to organize and I was hoping to file my taxes myself (idiot!!) but the tax deadline loomed....  then it came.   At the last possible hour, I filed an extension and sent a hefty check for what I thought would be a reasonable amount of taxes, taking into consideration the capital gains, receipts and miscellaneous costs of selling my house.

I finally surrendered and decided to take my taxes to a CPA, and I'm so glad I did.  He was awesome!  He made it look so easy!  I was pretty organized when I went in so it was relatively quick and painless.  Before I went to him, I had prayed an "impossible prayer" of getting back some of what I had sent to the federales for what I thought I owed them.  But God is way bigger than my little prayer!  He not only gave me back ALL of what I had paid them already, I also actually received a refund!  A REFUND!!!!  Even after a fairly heavy tax bill from the CPA (money WELL spent!), I still netted a few hundred dollars!  I got home and I was sitting at my desk just laughing to myself.  It was so ridiculous!! I seriously got a refund??? Totally God, thank you God!!!

I'll end this post here.  This is the end of the old. Here comes the "new".....

Home Sweet Home

 Hey all! Thank you for joining me for another blog post. Tonight I come to you from Spokane, WA. I  am in my house and for the first time in about 4 1/2 years, since I left for Germany, it’s empty. It’s kind of surreal being here again.

My tenants moved out just over a month ago, and I had to come back this weekend to fix some things at the house, that the buyer wants me to fix. So, I saw this as a great opportunity to spend one more night in my house.  I was not excited about having to come back across the mountains in December to do these repairs, but at this point I feel very motivated to do whatever I can to get the house sold and to just kind of move on.

 If I’m really honest with myself, I really wanted to see the house since it was painted about a month and a half ago. I also was really encouraged to be able to spend at least one more night here. I’m going to try to head back to Seattle tomorrow, Saturday, but I see that there’s a few things that really need to be handled while I’m here. So it looks like I may be heading back Sunday after all. Not my ideal situation, but oh well. I feel the need to make the most of this opportunity and will see how it goes. I’ll keep everyone updated on the progress.  I’ll also try to post some pictures.

I also have to share that I got the chance to spend time with John and Megan on my way to Spokane this evening. I love those guys so much. There are a few people in my life that have loved me as unconditionally and consistently as John has. John is the one who taught me how to truly love people. My mom was also an incredible example of this, but John has really been there for me, even at my very very worst. Then again, my mom has probably had to endure way worse. Ha ha!

I called John from about 5 miles away and not only were they very eager to see me, but is soon as I walked in I was welcomed just like I was family. Just like I always am when I go to their house. I was immediately offered hugs and then immediately thereafter, food and beverages.  It doesn’t get any more family than that. If you guys are reading this, just wanted to say how much I appreciate you, and how much I love you guys.

Also I’m super grateful to God for giving me a safe trip over here. When I left Bellevue, it was raining like crazy. But I  have been praying about it, and I kept an eye on the weather and it looked like it was going to be OK to get over the pass. It was actually pretty amazing. The pass waa almost completely clear, although it was snowing just a little bit. But for the vast majority of the trip the roads were completely dry.!  I did  hit a fair amount of dense fog, but only for about 20 miles or so. Overall, it’s about the best you can hope for for the beginning of December. I hope the trip home is this good!

 So I guess I had better start heading to bed here soon. One nice thing is that I can do my laundry here at all times of the night, not having to worry about waking anybody else up. It’s also free!   At home in Seattle, we have a laundry room that shared with three apartments, and you have to pay for it. So this is kind of a nice treat.

So I had better sign off for now, I’ll try to update again tomorrow Have a great weekend!

Laborious, PRODUCTIVE and Poignant Weekend

Happy Labor Day!

Well my weekend sure lived up to it's name: lots of LABOR in the heat and smoke of Spokane!  Despite temperatures well into the 90's (32-36C), I was able to get my storage cleaned out and some other things done around the house.  It went relatively smoothly thanks to the incredible help of Ryan G!  Thank you brother, I am so grateful for you!  Also, I can't thank the Baldwins enough for letting me stay at their house!  You guys are so amazing!  All of you helped me more than you will ever know!  Thank you doesn't even come close, but THANK YOU!!!!

So there were some really poignant moments this weekend that, frankly, took me off guard.  I donated a lot of furniture, but there was a lot of stuff that also needed to go to the dump.  But once we got he majority of stuff out of the garage, I sat down to rest for a moment and I was just kind of looking around the garage.  All of the sudden, all of the memories just came rushing back...

In 2005 and 2006, I rebuilt that garage.  I tore down 3 walls and the roof and completely replaced them.  I even installed a 4" x 4" steel I-beam (that will be there long after the rest of the garage has collapsed! It's VERY solid.  A little over-built, you might say!)

So as I sat there recalling how I re-built it with my own hands, I took pride that even though one was is not exactly straight (at all!), I still take great pride in finishing the first such major project I had ever undertaken.  And I started to get a little bit emotional.  When you've invested yourself fully into something, it's hard to let it go.  It's kind of the end of an era of my life, but this opportunity will hopefully allow me to start another incredible journey!  Oddly enough, I feel more proud of  accomplishing this project than even my dining room renovation.  And I'm super proud of that project, especially because I survived it! 😁

Another interesting thing happened to me Sunday morning (yesterday).  In my "Memories" page on facebook, there was a video I had posted back in 2012 celebrating the 10th anniversary of our planting the mission team in Spokane.  Now when I left the city 4 1/2 years ago, I was very ready to leave the city for a lot of reasons.  I don't feel like I was running away, but I WAS feeling burnt out and God had obviously given me a dream opportunity to go back to Germany.  Even coming back in September 2014 for the first time in 18 months later was very painful.

But that 15-minute video reminded me of the reason I moved to Spokane to begin with.  It's about people: all my friends that I was in the battle with for more than a decade of my life.  So many happy, joyous moments came flooding back once more as I re-lived that glorious 10-year chunk of my life that I no associate with pain, but now conjures up tremendous pride.  It was the good and happy times spent with them, and serving them in my home and being in the spiritual battle together.  It reminded me of the countless game nights, the meals together, but also the baptisms, the parties, the park services, etc. etc. etc.

God has definitely put me in such a different place the past few years. He's reminding me that it is, and has always been, about the love we have for people.  Not stuff.  A piece of me is with each one of them, and a piece of every one of them makes up who I am today, and will always be a part of the person I will always be.  That is the beauty of relationships that cannot ever be replaced, purchased or forgotten.  Incredible, isn't it?  I'm so blown away by this revelation.

And finally, something else occurred to me this weekend.  There is a possibility that this trip to Spokane may be the last one for me for a while.  When I realized this, I took pause because it's just too easy to be "busy".  But when you really want to take in that moment, to savor it,  then you have to find time with other people.

I was so encouraged to get to spend some time with my very lovely 93-year-old neighbor Alice and her daughter Cheryl.  I love those guys so much.  Over the last 13 years, they have become like family to me.  They helped me figure things out when I was a brand new homeowner in 2004 and ever since have not failed to load me up with fresh tomatoes, zucchini, rhubarb, peppers, etc. from their garden!  They have shared their life with me and that is of immeasurable value!  They have become family to me.  They are amazing.  And even though it wasn't good-bye, it was still poignant and incredibly special.  These are the times I will cherish.

So after much traveling, hard work, hot temperatures, and smoky air, I made it back to Seattle today in time for our church's picnic.  Fun, food, water balloons, and general mayhem ensued!  But after 4 days on the go, it's time for a little rest.  Thank you for letting me share with you tonight.  My heart is full and satisfied in the life and incredible friendships I've been given. I'm so excited for my future and to see what God does in the next weeks and months.  I'm beyond blessed and ready for whatever is next.

Tomorrow my house officially goes on the market.  If you have the ability, prayers and good thoughts for a quick sale at the price I am praying for would be much appreciated. Thank you!

I love you all, thank you that you have cared enough to spend some time with me tonight (even though I don't know it!  Ha!  Still amazing though!)

I may have had something to do with Adrian getting wet at the picnic today.

Smokey Seattle, Smokey Spokane, Dusty Tim, but PROGRESS!

Hey everyone!
Well the last two weeks have truly been a whirlwind of activity: traveling, planning, spending money, cleaning, and breathing in lots and lots and lots of smoke!  I'll get to that in a minute....

I mentioned in my last post that I decided a couple of months ago to sell my house in Spokane and get rid of all the stuff that is holding me back from living the life I really dream of.  So two weeks ago I began to plan in earnest my cleanup of the property and clean-out of my storage.

For the first time I can ever recall in a total of 15 years of living in the Seattle area, we had a really terrible smoke problem.  The smoke was coming from forest fires in Canada, hundreds of miles away!  It hung around for a few days and it was very depressing and unpleasant.  I was hoping when I left on Friday afternoon (Aug. 4) that it would get better by the time I got to Spokane.

Unfortunately I was incorrect....

In fact, the smoke kept up from Seattle, all the way across the state, almost 300 miles (500 km!).  It was also 95 F (36 C) for pretty much the whole weekend.  It was hot, dry, dusty AND very smokey!!  But despite being unpleasant, it was a productive weekend!  I didn't get everything done that I needed, but now I have a good idea of what I do need to do.  Still a lot to do, but I'm just praying for God to intervene to make it a bit more do-able.

Same Picture of Spokane: day I arrived (Aug 4th) and Aug. 13
Photo by Young Kwak

Unbelievably, by Monday (the hottest day of the weekend: 97F/37C), I was actually starting to get used to it a bit.  Maybe it was the fan that I brought to keep me cooler in the garage, but I did much better!  I cleaned up the yard, garage and loaded up the car to head back to Seattle.

As I did not have any extra vacation time to burn, my managers very generously allowed me to work 4 - 10 hour shifts Tuesday through Friday last week.  Let's just say God helped me get through the planning phase, work phase, and the long hours for the rest of the week in good condition!  Super grateful for that grace! However, when I got home on Friday night, my body was done, exhausted!

So after about 10 days of what seemed like constant activity, my body just kind of shut down.  I guess I needed some rest!  But Saturday came and I was back to my busy self again....

Even more amazingly, that weekend really helped me to have so much more energy.  Since Saturday I have just been working diligently on organizing, getting rid of stuff and just generally getting my act together.  I am very much making up for a lot of lost time in the past 9 months or so when I was too exhausted to do much of anything.  It still takes a bit of motivation, but when I get started, I do pretty well.  Thank you God!

Another funny thing has happened lately.  I updated my resume and put one of the places I was looking for work was London, but I was still listed as being in Seattle.  So I have been getting a TON of solicitations for work in Seattle.  I finally stopped answering them because there are just too many to respond to.  I love my job here, so I am not ready to make a move here....  So, I put myself in London on career websites.  Hopefully that will take care of all the solicitations (except the ones I am looking for)!

Well, that is about it for now.  Still so much to do in preparation for selling the house, please send prayers and good thoughts for the sale of my home.  Kind of looking for a bit of a miracle as the house and one garage do need to be completely painted, not sure how I'm going to come up with those funds as there will likely be some lead paint disposal involved.  Oy...

Anyway, thanks for looking in on me. Hope you all have a great week and I'll continue to update as i have time, news and energy to write!  Love you guys!

Fast Wrap-Up and Hope for an Incredible Opportunity?

Good evening!  Thank you for another rousing chapter of "What's Up with Tim?"!

So, just a little follow up on my weight loss and health saga...  After being on solid food for about a week now, I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed because I've gained back a few more pounds than I wanted.  I think I'm at a net weight loss of about 25 pounds, but not 100% sure, it could be less.  The cravings have subsided a bit more so hopefully my body becomes less and less ravenous. 

Either way, I'm trying to be careful to not go overboard...  Just wanted to be open about how things  have been going.  Gotta be honest, it's been a bit discouraging.  I'm just trying to remember how much progress I have made, and not focus on the temporary backslide as my body readjusts....

So, funny story.  I've lamented over the last month about how much I have missed pizza.  Well, come to find out, it looks like I have a legitimate gluten intolerance.  After having a few pieces of pizza yesterday at work, courtesy of our managers (thank you!!), let's just say I was not feeling very well yesterday at all.  I'll leave it at that.  Lesson learned, and since my craving for pizza has actually diminished, I don't feel the need for it now...  Weird, huh?  Oh well, that's a good thing. 

Also, on an even more bizarre note, I actually crave things like salad now.  I mean really.... salad?  Me, the carnivore?  I'm pretty shocked and amazed... in a very good way!!  So I actually went out and bought fixins for a salad (with some chicken) which I plan to enjoy thoroughly....  Tonight I went out and had a Yelp Elite event where I went to my first ramen restaurant.  And even though I am not a fan of soup, I was shocked how good it was.  S.H.O.C.K.E.D.!!  Made by a chef that was taught by a master ramen chef.  Who knew such a thing existed?  It was amazing....

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So I want to share something.  I have a feeling it's going to be a bit long-winded, but I promise you, I'm going somewhere with it, so bear with me as I share some very deep and personal things from my heart.

Since I have returned from Germany, life has been extremely challenging.  At the time, life was just very overwhelming to me.  There were always multiple things that seemed to constantly knock me down and try to discourage me.  Often times I would turn to God for healing and strength, but more and more, I turned inward. 

For a lot of years (even before moving to Germany in 2013), I was just in survival mode.  The challenges were large and they were too much for me to bear myself.  However, in my sinful nature, too often I would not take them to God.  To my shame, I have to admit that the longer the challenges persisted, the more I relied on my own strength.

This was a perfect opportunity for Satan to start acting in my life and my heart and to draw me into sinful behavior that slowly, incrementally, pulled me away from others and ultimately from God.  My lowest point was in May 2016.  I was trying to buy a newer car to replace my '86 Toyota that was beginning to have a lot of problems.  But everything went wrong on the deal. 

To make a long story short, the deal finally went through after a ridiculous number of text messages, time and effort spent, and far too much stressing about it.  One night at the apex of my frustration, I ended up yelling at God at the top of my voice while driving down the street, "demanding" that something needed to break.  I just couldn't handle any more.

The reality was that my relationships in my church had nearly completely dried up.  Despite pouring myself out to get time with people, and having very few friendships to show for it, I had an opportunity to make some badly needed changes.

I'm so grateful for Jermaine Peacock.  He led the church in Spokane for the last few years while I was living there and in June 2016 he had posted that he was going to be in town (just a few weeks after I cried out to God).  At the time I was not aware of why he was going to be in town until that Saturday when he posted that there was going to be a church planting of the International Christian Church movement. 

I was so excited because I had wondered if they had a church here!  Although I had heard some not-so-encouraging things, I decided not to listen to hearsay/gossip, but I decided to look into it for myself.  I was so discouraged by this point, I figured I didn't have anything to lose by going.  Despite this, I did still go with significant trepidation.

But the good news was that it was so refreshing!  It was so much like the church that I had been baptized into back in 1993.  It felt weird at first, but the more I learned, the more it fit perfectly with my own convictions! 

But even though the move to the new church was kind of a no-brainer, it was still very difficult to leave the very church (and the relationships) that I had been a part of for over half my natural life. I had to acknowledge the possibility that most people would not understand.  I knew that I stood to lose a lot of close friends because of perceptions of this church.  But a renewed relationship with God was the goal here, and my relationship with God was revitalized.

Despite being actively involved in my previous congregation for many years, I never felt my true talents were valued there.  I acknowledge that I could be wrong, but that's how I felt.  As a result of some sin that I had been involved in, I was restored when I joined the church.  But it was well worth it!

Not surprisingly, in the year since then, Satan threw everything but the kitchen sink at me:  Constant and significant illness, discouragement, financial problems, relationship issues, etc. etc. etc.  And all of the sudden I was super weak physically and spiritually again. 

I was struggling so much and Satan kept throwing curve ball after curve ball at me.  I say to my shame, once again, I allowed myself to be in sin again, feeling totally weak and utterly hopeless. In April, I was asked to stop coming to church for a while until I could work out these issues and start loving God again, instead of myself.

And that's when I decided to do the juice fast: to gain my health back and start rebuilding my relationship with God.  I was so physically weak before the fast that I could no longer trust myself to make good decisions because I just wasn't thinking clearly.  I literally locked myself in my room until I started to get healthy again, which has only been in the last few weeks.

Thankfully, and by the grace of God, I was once again restored to the fellowship on July 23!  I'm embarrassed to say that that was the 4th time I had left God in my heart to the point where I had to be restored to him and to the fellowship.  But my heart is in such a different place now, and it feels like God is blessing the changes he has allowed me to make in my heart and in my daily life.  I still have a lot to learn and grow in, but my heart is nowhere near where it was just two months ago!  To God be the glory!


So this is why I shared this:  God is moving in an area of my life that I am absolutely, completely, and totally over the moon about.  A few weeks ago, I got a message from a leader in our church in London.  For the past year, he has been aware of the fact that my heart has been to return to Germany.  It's likely that this leader will be sending out the church to Berlin next year and they have encouraged me to try to find a way to move to London as soon as I am able to get training. 

This is what I was trying to share on July 17th in my facebook post: "Be still my heart.  I hope this is an open door for me.  My heart might just explode..." 

There is so much that would need to happen for me to be able to do this.  I am currently preparing to sell my house in Spokane.  If I am able to sell it for a certain amount, I should be able to pay off all my debt, go to school for about 6 months to get my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) Certificate and prayerfully be able to return to Berlin next year.  Having this certificate in hand would help me immensely in finding work in Berlin.  It's my best shot actually.  I didn't know that before going over in 2013.

So I hate to ask for more prayers, but I'm asking God for my house to sell for $128,000.  With this, I would be able to move to London, go to school for about 6 months to get my TEFL.  Please pray for me to be able to take care of everything I need to this weekend when I go to work on my house in Spokane so that it can be put on the market next week.  Please also pray (I hate asking so much) for cool weather.  The forecast s calling for almost 100 degree weather (38 C). 

I'm so excited for this time.  God has been so merciful and patient with me. I truly don't deserve him! Thank you for reading this blog post to the end.  I know it was long, but there was no way to say the things I wanted to say in a short space.  I'm so thankful that you were willing to persevere through the long text.  Thank you!  And thank you for your friendship and support! 

Good night and stay cool this week while Seattle heats up!  Would love to hear your thoughts and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!  My email address is timmorse@outlook.com.

Thanks!!

Day 30 - My Fast is Ending, And Other Surprising Revelations....

I can't believe I've finally made it to Day 30!!  I just read my post from June 29th and wow, it's crazy that I've made it 30 days!  Well, almost.  But that's okay, in fact, it's still great.  It's an amazing feat! One that I could have never imagined that I would embark on, and one that I would not only be successful with, but one that God was so obviously made it successful!  Way more than I could have ever envisioned.  Seriously, this was never a thought in my mind.... And yet here I stand!

So, about a week and a half ago, I started looking into getting a nutritionist.  Since I just didn't have enough money to put toward the 30-day online group (at a whopping $289!), I thought that I should at least get a nutritionist to help me to learn how to re-introduce solid food to my body.  Some pretty major changes had happened in my digestive system (all of them exceptionally good as near as I can tell), that I should probably seek the advice of a professional. And I even listened! 

So last Sunday I went to the nutritionist.  It was Day 24.  In the preceding days, my body had been not doing well.  I was very tired and quite irritable and I frankly was getting really sick of the juice.  Now I consider all of those things pretty normal.  But one thing stuck out to me as not being normal.  I was really craving food very strongly.  According to the things I had heard on this plan was that I shouldn't be hungry like this. Well every time I saw food, it was actually getting harder, not easier!  I didn't think I was going to make it another 6 days.  I was really struggling....

So I shared all of this with my nutritionist and she said that my body just needed some protein, so she suggested, starting that evening, to incorporate about one ounce of chicken while I was drinking my juice.  So I cooked up a seasoned chicken breast, slightly seared, and as instructed, ate small bites, chewing each bite thoroughly.  It was absolutely heavenly!  I probably ate more than one ounce (possibly about 2 ounces) and I almost immediately began to feel better! 

The next day, Day 25, I was told I could double the recommended amount of chicken to two ounces. I probably ate about 5 ounces.  Maybe six. It was exquisite, even warmed up!  So, from there, I still continued to drink my juice, but slowly began to add more food.  By Wednesday, she said I could make some soup, with chicken and well-cooked (soft) vegetables and rice.  But no wheat, as I believe that I have gluten sensitivity.  Once again, it was amazing!

So, basically what has happened is that my fast technically ended on Day 25, or even Day 24 if you want to include the first small amount of chicken I had.  But despite this, I believe this was the best for my health.  Now, when I started to re-introduce solid food to my diet, my temptation is to say "Well, I didn't make the 30 days."  But the reality is that I didn't eat any solid food for TWENTY-FOUR days! 

That by itself is such a huge accomplishment for me.  I'm so excited that God kept me strong through pizza at bible talk, drinking only juice at a BBQ, and countless other times that I saw ads, smelled smells at work, took walks on lunch to distract myself, etc.  The victory was clear for me!  I've never done anything like this before, and God blessed me with a weight loss of about 33 pounds!!

However, since I have started eating again, inevitably I expected to put on a couple pounds because the fast had a cleansing effect.  My bowels had nothing in them.  With the re-introduction of food, I now have some waste in my digestive tract, and that's okay.  So, my net weight loss, is probably still right around 30 pounds!  Still, not bad for just 24 or 25 days!!!

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So what happens now?

For the next week, I plan on supplementing my meals with juice.  However I also need to acknowledge that this coming week is going to be filled with planning and a trip to Spokane to work on my house, clean up the property, do landscaping, painting, and repairs in preparation for selling it.

Right now, the weather forecast is showing the hottest week of the year so far: Saturday 98, Sunday 93, and Monday 92.  And it's supposed to be over 100 on the days preceding the weekend!  This would be incredibly challenging for me to complete much of the work I need to get done.  So, I'm asking for prayers for the weather to be significantly cooler so that I can make the best use of this time in order for me to put the house on the market next week. Thank you!

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I will be posting again in the next few days about some other very encouraging things that are going on.  But for now, thank all of you again so much for all of your support, love and prayers/good thoughts over the past month.  I'm very encouraged, energized and feeling like a human being again!  Please pray for me being able to get my house ready, and to sell it quickly. Thank you!!

Days 11 - 16: Steady as She Goes?

Hey everyone! Thanks for stopping by!  So here's a short update on the craziness of my journey.  I love my journey.  But today I love pizza and hamburgers more.  Well, in my mind any way...

NON-JUICE-RELATED CRAZINESS

The last few days have been very distracting.  Since before I started my juice fast, my father and stepmom have been in town.  My dad, as some of you may recall, had a bi-lateral lung transplant (that's BOTH lungs), back in November of 2013.  In the meantime, he's been doing great!  In the past year or two, he has had to come to Seattle for checkups every 4 months. 

Usually, everything checks out just fine and he and my stepmom Pam head back to Eastern Washington to go about their lives.  Well, this time unfortunately was a bit different.  My dad was having a hard time breathing and so they checked him into the hospital.  He had a significant amount of fluid in and around his lungs and one lung had actually deflated! So they put in a drain and started doing some tests to find out what was going on.

Thankfully, it was not as a result of an infection!  But they couldn't quite figure out what was going on. Finally, they seemed to come upon some possible small holes in his lungs.  So on Thursday, they had to do a laparoscopic surgery (minimally invasive) to cauterize and plug those holes.  For most people, this would be a pretty simple surgery, but for a man that has virtually no immune system, it was dangerous.

He went in at 3:30 p.m. and I got to the hospital after work at about 4 p.m.  The surgery took about 5 hours and we didn't hear from the doctor until about 8:45 p.m.  But he was semi-alert and we got a chance to say hi and then I had to head home.  Thank you everyone for your prayers.  My dad is such a great man, and he seems in good spirits and looks healthier than when he went in!  Now we just wait for the next few days to see how he does and if the fluid stops.

On a side note, this has been very difficult on my stepmom.  She has been an absolute hero for my dad.  She makes sure he is taking his meds and shots (he got diabetes from the surgery and is also suffering almost total short term memory loss).  She cooks and cleans for him and my father would absolutely not be around if it were not for her tireless efforts.  Anyway, if you think about it, please send good thoughts and prayers for her, too.  😀

Sadly, on the same day of the surgery, my stepmother got a call from my brother in Alaska.  He and his girlfriend moved there a year ago to build a house and start a life together there.  My brother has been working so hard to get the house done and he is currently within a few weeks of completion.  A few days ago, he finished the deck floor.  Now, I'm assuming this is a bear-deterrent, but the house is built about 10 feet above ground.  So the deck is also at that level. 

His girlfriend went out onto the deck and somehow fell off, falling 10 feet down to the bare ground.  According to my brother, the doctors are saying she has severed her spine and will likely be paralyzed.  Her surgery was supposed to be today and I have not yet heard how that went.  So, if you think of it, please pray for them.  Her name is Yvonne. 

THE FAST

 So with all that other craziness, my craziness doesn't seem too crazy, right?  Well, it is still crazy, but I'm plugging along anyway.  The last few days I have just sort of been cruising.  I still want food, but my cravings are still generally diminishing.  I still have good days and bad days, but overall it's getting a little bit easier each day.

But today was one of those days where I just wanted to eat something... ANYTHING!! Still craving cheese, and would love to sink my teeth into a big old pizza!  But I stayed strong...

Today we had the men's forum at Magnusson Park.  It was fun, there was activities and food (I had my juice) and an amazing lesson preached by Joel.  We spent some time playing frisbee and ninja, and I spent a good amount of time active and in the incredible sunshine, just a few feet from Lake Washington! 

But afterward, I was pretty wiped out!  I went to the guys' house and they were having a gaming hangout.  I didn't stay for long because I just couldn't keep my eyes open. So I headed home and crashed for about an hour and a half.

I've been feeling a lot better in a lot of ways since starting this juice fast, but I have still been pretty tired overall.  I believe that the one thing that I haven't been doing enough of, is exercise.  So I have set a goal to put 30,000 steps behind me this weekend.  But after my nap, I had only put on about 6,000 steps and it was almost 9pm! 

So, I decided to walk to the store.  Not the one by my house, but that's about a mile away. To make a long, very boring story short, I took the long way home, walking about 3.5 miles (5.6 km) total!  With the possible exception of walking around Greenlake almost two years ago, I believe this is the most I've walked at one time.  I wouldn't have been able to do a mile even 3 weeks ago, so this is increible. And I'm not sore (yet)!! So, I will be going to bed this evening with at least 14,259 steps tonight!  I'm pretty excited about that!

So this ends day 16....  Yesterday I weighed myself and have lost a total of 22 pounds (exactly 10 kg)! I originally asked for all of your help, and you've delivered in an incredible way!  Thank you all for your amazing love and support: your texts, notes on facebook, and for the donations that literally are making this possible for me! But most of all, I'm so grateful to God for blessing it so much.  I can't wait to eat again in two weeks, but for now, I'm hanging in there! 

Love you all and I'll post again in the next few days.