This week has been kind of long. I could have finished the Daniel Fast as of the 11th, but decided to do it the 12th in remembrance of the Haiti earthquake last year. And, then, I decided to keep on for now. My cousin is doing this for 21 days and I might do that, as well. I've only had one slip up and made one minor modification.

The slip-up... yesterday was a stressful day and I had some chocolate soy milk and chocolate covered almonds... instead of regular.

The modification... I made some decaf coffee yesterday and had it with soy milk. No sugar. But coffee and tea aren't technically on the list.. but I'm drinking them with no sugar, and if I want cream I use the soy milk.

The thing I've missed most, and not even all the time is cheese. Ok, and my coffee. But I went until last night from having coffee since the 1st!! That was HUGE for me. I still haven't had cheese. I have made tofu several times, and that has been pretty good. I've also been drinking just regular Silk Soymilk, not plain... because when I checked the labels they both had the same amount of sugar in them, which is very minimal (6 grams, way less than regular milk at 12 or 13grams). Try finding spaghetti sauce that is less than 4 grams of sugar in it, even. Since there is sugar in fruits, I think (personally) that this trace amt of sugar in these two items is worth it. Especially, since some people think that eating Peanut butter on this fast is acceptable. Look at the sugar in that.

Ok, so that's my update. I do feel better in some ways. I do still have some cravings, like yesterday when I broke down and had chocolate. But overall, I feel very good about this time. Looking at my life and eating habits with an eye toward God is always good.

Other tidbits:
Lil M can spell "mommy" by herself. She can also almost remember our whole phone number. she can spell STOP (and pots - stop backwards) and Dog. I got her a great little game that works on phonetic sounds of letters and building 2 or 3 letter words. Last weekend we removed the toddler potty from the bathroom and Lil M is now using the regular toilet all the time. She helped me take down the Christmas tree this week. She does clean up her room before bed each night and oh, has been really interested in the book I Love You Like Crazy Cakes. It's about an adoption situation just like ours. She thinks it's us. She has asked me why couldn't her China Mom keep her... that's a toughy. She's so observant when we talk about this kind of stuff.

I don't have an update on T. She's due on the 17th... when I heard from her earlier in the week, she hadn't delivered yet, but am not sure now.

I've started 3 classes for this semester, but might end up with 2 of them for the term. If I can manage it, I'll only have 7 left for my degree. I like that. Regardless, I'll deal with it. It's not like this is a requirement for my career or anything, but it would be nice to have.

Peace.