No Caffeine: Day 3... the final day!

I will preface this post by saying that I am drinking a cup of fabulous, warm coffee right this minute!

My hardcore dieting and no caffeine lasted three days!  After two days of caffeine headaches, I am never quitting coffee cold turkey again!  To be more realistic, I'm probably never quitting coffee period! 

Day 3 - I woke up with just a slight headache, took some advil, and went to basketball practice.  I ate a banana and an apple for breakfast.  I really don't like bananas that much... but I powered through.  I ran a bunch of errands around town and went to the grocery store.  I found some good deals on more apples and veggies.  When I got home, I made myself a lunch of yogurt & granola and some bread & cheese.  While it fulfilled my hunger, it wasn't that exciting since I'd had pretty much the same thing the day before.

By the time Kevin got home from work, I'd pretty much decided that I am not hardcore enough to cut out all of my favorites (hamburgers, tortilla chips, coffee!!!).  When he decided that he'd had enough of life without coffee, we scrapped the whole diet and returned to normal life!  This was conveniently timed because we ended up going to dinner with friends.  I ate chips & salsa and a chicken caesar salad without the dressing.  Still pretty healthy, but I allowed myself the tortilla chips to splurge! 

All in all, it was an interesting experience, but I'm not disciplined enough to continue 14 days without my favorite beverage!  Ahhh... coffee, I've missed you!

No Caffeine: Day 2

Caffeine withdrawal!!!!  I really missed my coffee this morning.  I ate an apple for breakfast.  It's not the same as coffee!  I've been sporting a killer headache all day and have felt kinda crappy most of the day, too.  My body's working through the caffeine withdrawal.  I've also been craving chips and salsa ALL day!  Every time I walk by the kitchen or pantry, I can hear tortilla chips calling my name!  I've stayed strong, though.

I've been super sleepy all day, so I think I'm going to call it a night early and get some needed rest.  I'm really hoping that the headaches are gone by tomorrow...

No Caffeine: Day 1 Update

I'm really glad that I'm detoxing the caffeine over Winter Break... my kids would call me a mean teacher if I was at school today.  Without my coffee this morning, I've turned into Grouchy Sarah!!!  Yikes!  I've had a significant headache all day, but I'm keeping it at bay with some Advil.  From previous caffeine detoxing, I know that the first day and a half are the worst.  This time tomorrow, most of the caffeine will be out of my system, and I won't be dragging quite so much! 

I ate some turkey for lunch, yes, just turkey!  I needed to run some errands, so I just heated up some turkey and scarfed it down.  Then I had some Greek yogurt and granola for a snack just now.

I also went grocery shopping and loaded up on fruits and veggies.  Kroger had a good sale on apples and oranges!!  I bought some Kale... never eaten it before, but it's supposed to be rich in vitamins and nutriuents... yikes.  I'm scared...

Hopefully now with a snack in my tummy and some food in the house, I'll be less grouchy! 

No Caffeine!!!

Seriously!  We cut out caffeine for two weeks!  We're trying to eat healthier.  With that we decided to do a juice fast to cleanse our systems of all the toxins and junk food.  So for the next few days, we're eating super healthy to prepare for the juice fast.  We'll do the juice-only fast for 3-5 days depending on doctor approval, and then we'll eat super healthy for a few days after that to ease our bodies back into a normal food routine. 

As of this morning, we have cut out caffeine, alcohol, red meat, processed food, and all junk food for the next two weeks.  What's left???  Fruit, veggies, chicken, turkey, yogurt, granola, pasta, dairy, and juicer-made juice.  Both of us have been looking toward a more healthy diet anyway, and with the purchase of a Jack La Lanne juicer (http://www.powerjuicer.com/), we decided to boost the health food kick with juicing!  We then watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (a documentary about juicing - http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/).  After that we decided to try a short juice fast. 

Today is day one of NO CAFFEINE!!!!!!  I already miss my morning coffee.  I took some Advil this morning to lessen the caffeine headache... not looking forward to that!  I will be missing my Diet Coke this afternoon as well.  We will blog throughout the next few weeks to document our caffeine withdrawals and our successes!

I made juice for breakfast - about 1 cup of fresh cabbage, 2 handfuls of spinach, 2 celery stalks, about 7 carrots, 3 apples, and a handful of blackberries.  This made two big glasses for Kevin and I.  It takes more like veggies today than usual.  If I add an orange in the mix, you can hardly taste the veggies.  Bottoms up on the breakfast juice and goodbye to coffee for the next two weeks.  More updates coming soon!

Summer Update

Well, we are 0 for 2 on the adoption front.  The second adoption attempt also fell through at the last minute.  It's not the happiest of situations, but we know that God's still got our best interests in mind.  We're glad to be off of the adoption roller coaster for the time.  It's been such an up and down journey that we are not pursuing another adoption right now.  We need a break from putting our lives on hold and from the emotional ups and downs.

Sarah is not teaching summer school this year - it's the first summer she's had "off" since she began in education.  She is enjoying the slower pace of life during the summer days.  There's more time to read, play, be with friends, and coupon.  Yes, she's jumped on the couponing bandwagon.  It's crazy, but we're already seeing some consistent savings in our grocery purchases.

We just got back from a trip to Disney.  We took a much-needed vacation to get away from the adoption drama and recharge our batteries from all of the emotional stress that we've been through the last few months.  We had a great time, and we are constantly reminded of how much fun we have - just the two of us!

Adoption Update! :)

Our last post shared that the first adoption fell through about five weeks before the expected due date.  While that was a painful event, we knew that God was still working out His best for our family.  We chose to remain optimistic that God did want us to continue to pursue adoption.  This is a calling that has been on my heart for about ten years.  Whether we have a bunch of our own or not, I've always wanted to adopt at least two children.

That being said, a very dear friend of mine made the decision that she was not going to keep her baby.  She struggled with that decision, and I remained supportive to help her out in any way that I could.  I was beginning to research agencies for her to contact when she mentioned that she might want Kevin and I to adopt her baby.  Knowing that we have a close friendship, I was worried that adopting her baby might put a strain on our friendship or drive it apart altogether.  The more we talked about it, the more I began to see that her desire was to be open in the adoption - to be able to see the child grow up and know that she had picked a good family.  

One morning, we met at IHOP (yum!) to catch up and talk about the adoption.  She told us that if we were willing she wanted us to adopt her baby.  We had been praying about it and knew that if she really wanted to choose us, we would not turn her down.  We were hesitant to share this big news because of how the first adoption ended in the last month of the first birthmother's pregnancy.  Birthmothers have the option to change their minds up until 10 days after the adoptive parents take custody of the baby.  So, while things are still very up in the air, we have been making significant steps towards adopting this little one. 

We met with an adoption lawyer this week and made sure that everything on our end of the adoption is taken care of.  All of our paperwork is in, and now we wait!  Our birthmother has to complete some family history information and decide her hospital plan.  She will determine who will get to see, hold, feed, and change the baby while in the hospital, and she decides who will be allowed to see her in the hospital as well.  We still have to get the birthfather to sign off on the adoption,too.  Once all of this paperwork is complete we will be done until the baby is born.  

Our birthmother is having a BOY and she is due at the end of May!!!!  We appreciate your prayers for us, the baby, and our birthmother as we continue to move forward with this adoption.  Pray for patience and preparation as we wait to become parents.  Pray for our birthmother to have peace and healing throughout the painful process.  Pray for God's will to be done, and pray that we can accept His will - whatever it is.  Pray for our baby to continue to grow strong and healthy!

Adoption Update

After weeks and weeks of hearing NOTHING about our adoption, we were starting to get discouraged.  From what we knew, the baby was due January 11. 

We stayed in Tennessee for the holidays just in case she went into labor and called us.  When school started back up, we were starting to feel discouraged.  That Monday night, I asked our home group to really pray for patience for us and for God to do His will in this situation.  We hadn't heard from our birthmother in weeks, and weren't sure if she was still wanting adoption.

The next day.... I got a call from our friend.  She had been in touch with the birthmother!  The day after that, we learned that the doctor had agreed to see our birthmother!  So, Thursday, I went with our mutual friend and spent the day with our birthmother.  We went to the doctor and to get an ultrasound.  Ultimately, we learned that the due date was incorrect.  Both the doctor and the ultrasound tech put her around 33 weeks. 

She was still undecided - between adoption and keeping the baby.  I assured her that we would be praying for her to make a good decision, and that we were with ok with whatever her decision may be. 

Fast forward to this week.  After three consecutive snow days (!!!) I was waiting to see if we would be out for a fourth day in a row.  Our friend texted me and let me know that our birthmother had an appointment the next day.  When we got the call that school was cancelled again, I quickly agreed to go to the appointment!  Through a last minute issue, our mutual friend could not attend the appointment.  So, I went by myself. 

While in the waiting room, I asked her if she had thought any more about her decision.  She told me that she feels like she has to at least try to parent this baby.  She has decided to keep the baby.  She feels like this is her chance to turn her life around.

So, right now, it appears that this adoption will not go through.  Of course, there is still time left in this situation.  Our birthmother may change her mind again.  We are trusting that God is working things out in His timing!  If this is the baby for us, He will make that happen.  If this is not the baby for us, the right baby will come into our lives at the right time. 

While this is painful to have our plans changing, we know that God's will is being done.  We are trusting Him in this time.  We pray continually for our birthmother - if she wants to parent, we pray that she is successful with this baby.