I opened a restaurant and a movie theatre.

Tonight I opened my first restaurant. Cleverly enough, I called it Kristine's Restaurant. :) It is a unique kind of place. There is no menu, as I am not really a short-order cook. Rather, I am a chef and restaurateur with a plan. Tonight I served Benj and Catey-Cate hot dogs, goldfish crackers, and mandarin oranges. I offered to them a pen that glows up, so that if they needed me, their waitress, they could cry out, "Excuse me, Kristine - I need some help!" Well that method, playful as they thought it was, moved into another realm of silliness when every time they called me they had jokes. I guess Kristine is a stronger chef and restaurateur than practical thinker. For the second course, dessert (most important course for me...), I served up Double Stuf Oreos and watered-down Sprite (to control the sugar content). Soon after the main course, I opened up Kristine's Movie Theatre. This is where dessert was served and where we are now. This movie theatre is less like a movie theatre and more like a "hog-pile-on-Kristine-with-a-movie-showing." 

Well this restaurant gets me trained for the long moments of grocery shopping and label reading and gourmet cooking that I am thinking I will endure as I transition into a new dietary realm. I have looked up some possible solutions for the continual pain and overwhelming fatigue that I have found myself in. And the articles show me that there are food items (duh, right) that cause our bodies imbalance and harm. Sometimes things cause people with weak immune systems issues, other times certain foods disrupt a digestive tract...you get the idea and you probably know what I am getting at. Anyway aspartame, caffeine, gluten, lactose, casein, and nuts are common dietary ingredient issues for peoples bodies. And lets just say that I get plenty of aspartame, caffeine, gluten, and lactose in my diet. So, I have done quite a bit of research about how to eat differently. WOW, is this going to be an expensive transition! Whew...maybe I'll "invest" in Trader Joe's or Whole Foods or Amazon.com for their online organic food store. Anyway, so far, I am narrowing out the artificial sweeteners and caffeine. Doing it all at once will teach me nothing about my body and my pain issues. Even today I walked through the grocery store and read so many labels as I looked at what I will begin to dine on. I can only imagine how intense that reading material is for grown-ups whose kids have allergies or whose body completely (and severely) rejects certain things. Whew. :) Anyway. In two weeks or so, I will cut out gluten and lactose too. If I am starting to feel better before then, I will assume that it is partially due to the caffeine and sweeteners. I may never really know - but I am thinking that either way, the better eating I am moving towards will assuredly be better for my body, health, mind, and energy level. But I am really going to miss some of the foods: scones, ice cream, cereal.....I was mentioning this to my friend Jamie and she said that I should consider this a fast. God talks about some spiritual disciplines in His Word - fasting is one of them. God sees it as a sacrifice that we would then rely on Him for His provision. It may be the next meal, it may be through a craving - it doesn't matter. Relying on God through fasting is a great way to increase our daily understanding of relying on God - and I am GOING to need God to help me resist some of the foods I have spent 25 years enjoying.  

I am also going to get some blood work done (EAAAAKKKKKK) at a local thyroid specialist to see if that is something I need to address. AND, I am hoping to find a chiropractor too! It's a process - and so far, I am just "self diagnosing" (with the help of my personal P.A., Krista). Who knows if it is going to be something I will need to make greater effort on!

I DID go to GroupLink this week. And I DID get into a small group. The whole night I was praying that I would sense the Holy Spirit talking to me about who he wanted me to be with. I feel really good about how it all turned out and look forward to our first meeting on 2/10.