It's hard to do the hard things.

Day three.  Today was better then yesterday for me, but not for the littles.  Here are a few that I’ve learned so far. 

•  It’s great to have some skin salve and band-aids around for the many cuts and nicks you’ll get from all that peeling and dicing. (I have an essential oil skin cream that's amazing.)
• Very few of us like kiwi, so the Costco sized container is unnecessary
• Medjool dates are basically nature's candy
• When you are stocking up for a cleanse like this, go ahead and buy extra toilet paper
• Freezing produce is great, but freezing meatloaf not so much.
• It can be very lonely when feel like you are doing the hard things alone.

Doing the Whole30 is super trendy right now.  The support on social media is ridiculous. I don’t feel alone at all.  If anything I feel like I just joined a cult- I mean a group of people who are on the same mission, fighting the same battle.

That’s not so for my little ones.  The novelty has worn off and reality is setting in. It’s hard to do the hard things.  Here’s a quick video of Ava the day before we started:

I got this text message today:

Julia cried because she didn't get a candy cane, and her classmates were teasing her. Hannah cried when everyone else ate a cookie.  It made me glad I'd sent the teachers letters, explaining what we were up to and asking for support.

The reality is, when everyone around you is doing something that seems great, and you don't, it stings.  These are life lessons. Lessons learned that discipline and restraint, choosing to honor a commitment are hard, and good and life giving.  These are the lessons that I hope help get my kids through peer pressure when they are teenagers, and college students, and young adults and 30 some-things.  These are the lessons that I hope help build character and confidence that making healthy decisions and sticking to them to protect our bodies, or our hearts, or our very person are worth it.

So tears were shed.  Cookies and candy were denied.  We refused to give up.  Some things burned, others were under cooked, I feel like a novice all over again.  I’ve spent hours in the kitchen every day, doing the hard thing is hard.  But it's are good. So very good.  Anything worth having is worth fighting for.

A note on the food:  The turkey "sushi" for kid's lunch had a 50% success rate two out of four loved it, and two kids skipped lunch.  Meatloaf takes longer than a day to thaw if frozen, and if you put it in the oven before it's thawed out it might take four hours.  In the mean-time, we highly recommend fried eggs and tomatoes in a pinch.  Meatloaf needed some seasoning love, hoping for better luck next time.  The curry chicken was absolutely phenomenal. This weekend I'm excited to make larabars!  I posted recipes earlier in another blog.  Thanks for journeying with us!