It’s funny how some years I totally rock Lent
and then others I’m a Lenten failure.
Last year, I was an EPIC Lenten failure.
I’ll blame the house situation – which is kind of a valid excuse for
stress in this normal humanoid world in which we live but really shouldn’t
actually impact my Lenten-spiritual journey at all. We were getting the house ready to sell and
then had it on the market for all of Lent.
It was totally stressful. I
couldn’t plan meals because I didn’t know if we’d be able to be home for
dinner. We’d get a call at 4:30pm saying
they wanted to do a showing at 5:30 – and there went our evening. I’m SO thankful that those crazy days are
over.
Last year, I knew, due to my stress level that
attempting to give up say my top food/beverage vices: coffee, wine or chocolate
would be a total joke. I DID end up
giving up Diet Pepsi but allowing myself one a week. See, that’s how I’ve done Lent pretty much my
whole life – just SORTA. Sorta giving
something up but then finding a way to basically cheat – a built-in excuse to
indulge in whatever activity/food/beverage of which I’m supposedly
fasting. Cheater cheater dark chocolate
eater. I even told our priest at the
time that I’d finally learned that the idea of me giving up chocolate is a
joke. God doesn’t want me to be a hater
and, let’s face it, I’m just not pleasant to be around sans chocolate. Then
there’s the whole “Sundays don’t technically HAVE to count during Lent…” During
my chocolate-give-up days, this meant Sundays = chocolate-fest pig out
days. I’m AWESOME at finding the Lenten
loopholes.
So instead of making a major sacrifice, I did
the Diet Pepsi thing and also decided that I would DO something as well. I’d spend quality time with each child every
day. Again, major epic Lenten
failure. Thanks to the house-stuff (and
basically my lameness) the one-on-one mother-child bonding time just didn’t
happen every single day. It did work in
adding to my mommy guilt though.
Awesome.
Here we are, a year-ish later, and it’s Lent
time, baby! For Catholics, Lent should
be a time of reflection – reevalutating our lives and realigning them with
Christ. And we’re even told to buck up!
We’re not to whine and groan and throw a pity party through the whole
thing nor are we to brag about our sacrificial piety and general awesomeness. Let’s see, we’re on what, Lent Day 3? I – ever the open book – have already dropped
the ball with this one. Telling everyone
I meet and their dog what I’m doing and how DIFFICULT – woe is me – it is. Oops.
Getting the kids (the boys) on board with
this sacrifice-idea has been a challenge this year. They thought they were just SO funny with
suggestions like: “I’m giving up school!” (Matthew). And “I know! I’ll give up vegetables!”
(Zachary). Meanwhile I – not so subtly –
suggest (several times a day) to Kayliana that she should REALLY consider
giving up toddler tantrums for Lent. No
go, thus far.
Since I was so Lenten Lameness last year,
I’ve taken it to the extreme this year.
I’ve been way over zealous and for the first part of the week – and even
Ash Wednesday – upon hearing what other people were giving up/doing, I thought,
“Ooh! Ooh! I’ll do that too….Oh that’s a good idea, maybe I should give that up
in addition to…and….and…!”
Apparently I’m at a place where I feel the
need for some major soul spring-cleaning. But seeing as this is MY blog – and
will also be the lasting memoir for my children to read when I’m but a distant
memory – I do like to catalogue my life ‘n such here, so I WILL explain my
Lenten plan…or at least some of it. A
girl’s gotta keep SOME secrets. A few
posts ago (http://jenny524.blogspot.com/2013/01/nutritarian-wha.html)
I wrote about some recent alarming discoveries that I’ve made. This moved me to really think about what
we’re eating and feeding our children and while I realize that Lent is not
supposed to just be a convenient time to diet, the six weeks does coincide
nicely with the six weeks that Dr. Fuhrman recommends as a sort of cleanse to a
Vegan diet. http://fatfreevegan.com/blog/2010/01/01/eat-to-live-6-week-plan/
So, Mike and I are trying it with a few exceptions (that we typed up). We won’t make anyone cook Vegan for us,
should we be invited for a meal. I’m
still having my one dark chocolate with my morning coffee. And come March 16th – when we get
to attend the boys’ school auction – we will SO eat the expensive meal that
we’ve paid for (and we’ll enjoy it, darn it).
Oh, and for the record, I didn’t give up alcohol, but I am definitely
limiting my intake. (Jesus’ first
miracle WAS turning water into wine, afterall). Maybe I’ll give up drinky-poo’s
for another Lent, but for this year, I’ve already got enough on my plate
(mostly leafy greens).
To get into the groove, I made a version of
Dr. Furhman’s “Anti-Cancer Soup” last week.
http://lowfatveganchef.com/how-to-make-dr-fuhrmans-eat-to-live-anti-cancer-soup-with-photos/
Due to our lack of high-powered blender/food processor, my version turned out
quite textured and lumpy. Essentially,
it looked like vomit. (Warning: this
photo is not for the weak of stomach).
Matthew saw it and attempted to politely lie, “Mmmm, that looks
good.” I laughed and said, “No, it
doesn’t. It looks like throw-up.” With which the boys were only too eager to
agree. Mike, Kayli and I all thought it
was actually VERY tasty. Matthew gagged
down his required 9 bites (to correspond with his age). Zachary sobbed through three bites (he just
couldn’t get through six) and, as always when I make soup, questioned my love
for him. (“If you love me, why would you
make me eat soup when you know I H-word it?!”
[H-word, of course, is that unacceptable four-letter word, H-A-T-E.] He means business with his dislike of
soup.) I tried to explain that this soup
was basically saving his life and he essentially has the most amazing mom in
the world. He rolled his eyes, looked
down at his full bowl of steaming hot barf –
I mean soup – and shuddered.
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