bell's palsy, a crazy toddler, and raw food

I just thought I would blog about a collage of things happening in the lahrtribe this week. I had to get 2 fillings replaced. Those silver ones are getting old and falling apart from all my teeth grinding. Well, my dentist only uses the white fillings since the silver ones have shown to have adverse long-term health problems associated with them (they contain mercury!). But my insurance doesn't cover anything but silver fillings! Nice, huh? SO glad those wealthy insurance companies that take all our money are concerned about the mercury in our mouth. So I dished out $150 for the safe fillings. They look nicer too. Anyways, when I got the shot of novacaine, it must have hit the same nerve that causes bell's palsy. Here is the result. One of me smiling and one of me blowing a kiss. Thankfully it only lasted a few hours.


I had to go pick up the girls from their first day of school looking like I had a stroke. I just covered my mouth while I talked to the teachers. They probably thought I was a nut. So much for first impressions.

India, as I said, has been working on the somersaults. She has got it down good now.

Chris and I started a raw food cleanse/fast this week. We plan on going 3 weeks. It is the 6th day, and I feel a lot better. I am not drinking coffee anymore which is a huge deal for me. I do have a cup of yerba mate in the morning, which has helped with the headaches. But this week I am going to go off that. That is the hardest part. I also miss dairy. I never realized how hard it would be to give up dairy. Maybe it wouldn't be as hard if I could eat a nice plate of rice and beans, but I always throw some type of cheese on my salads, so it is taking some getting used to having all these veggies with no dip or dairy with it. But my stomach feels so good. I have always thought that I had a slight lactose intolerance. It is hard to know what is making my belly feel good..giving up lactose or gluten. I guess when I go off the fast, I will introduce things one at a time. We are doing the cleanse/fast for physical and spiritual reasons. I am not much of a faster, but I think this is more my kind of fast than just water. I gained some weight after losing my job. I was eating a lot of junk and feeling really sluggish. I have appreciated the aspect of thinking about everything that goes in my mouth. Not in the obsessive way, but in the way that I am gaining discipline and thinking about where things come from...how they got to my table (or blender). I couldn't be a raw foodist forever, but I can see myself doing this as a seasonal cleanse. I read a girls blog who is a raw foodist and she does four cleanses a year. I don't see how you need to cleanse when all you eat is raw and vegan food. She weighs 108 pounds! I don't want to be that obsessive. I like cooked veggies. I have been really craving cooked butternut squash with mixed eggplant, tomatoes, and basil. I make that a lot in the fall. It will be one of my first things to eat in a couple weeks:) Spiritually, I think this fast has been good because I have been meditating more and more on suffering...and how we are called to do it. I don't mean that I am suffering by eating this way..I am definitely not, but I just think it does me good to give up some pleasures from time to time. It keeps me from thinking that they are my right. And it helps me to have a bit more solidarity with others who have less. And it helps me to realize that this suffering servant that our lives are supposed to reflect, calls us much deeper into a life and love that unsettles me. It shakes my comfortable view of who I am as a Christian in this world of incredible suffering. I want to post more on some of my thoughts since Chris has returned from Rwanda and South Africa. I am still processing the whole thing. We have watched a couple good movies that I would recommend. Beyond the Gates and Cry for Freedom are hard to watch but very truthful. More later.