7

It has been a VERY long time since Jake or I posted to this blog. Two and a half years to be more specific. Time to re-ignite the bloggin fire!! What better time to do so than when Jake and I are embarking on a new journey together: the journey through "7: An Experimental Mutiny against Excess" by Jen Hatmaker.

This is the description of the book "7" from Amazon.com: "American life can be excessive, to say the least. That’s what Jen Hatmaker had to admit after taking in hurricane victims who commented on the extravagance of her family’s upper middle class home. She once considered herself unmotivated by the lure of prosperity, but upon being called “rich” by an undeniably poor child, evidence to the contrary mounted, and a social experiment turned spiritual was born. 7 is the true story of how Jen (along with her husband and her children to varying degrees) took seven months, identified seven areas of excess, and made seven simple choices to fight back against the modern-day diseases of greed, materialism, and overindulgence. Food. Clothes. Spending. Media. Possessions. Waste. Stress. They would spend thirty days on each topic, boiling it down to the number seven. Only eat seven foods, wear seven articles of clothing, and spend money in seven places. Eliminate use of seven media types, give away seven things each day for one month, adopt seven green habits, and observe “seven sacred pauses.” So, what’s the payoff from living a deeply reduced life? It’s the discovery of a greatly increased God—a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends social experiment to become a radically better existence."

Jake and I are really excited about our journey through 7. Why on earth did we decide to do this, you ask?  Well, we found ourselves too "comfortable". We would eat what we wanted, when we wanted. We would arrive home from work, sit on our couches, watching TV, playing on our cell phones/iPad/laptops and not really spend time with one another. Sure, we were sitting next to each other, but were we really growing closer?  We needed something to shake up our comfortableness. Then, Jake stumbled upon "7", and here we are. We are looking to grow closer to each other and grow more dependent on God rather than "stuff" to fulfill our lives. We are also intentionally setting aside time on Tuesday nights to talk about the book, the focus for the month, and pray.

We started 7 yesterday, February 1st, 2013. This month's focus is food. We each are allowed to eat 7 foods the whole month. After much thought and internet research, we decided what we would be eating for 28 days straight. We tried to choose the same foods, but in the end, only share 2 foods (which we will be eating together often for dinner, generally the only meal we get to share together due to work). We are allowing ourselves olive oil, butter, salt, pepper, vinegar. No other spices or seasonings.

HERE. WE. GO.

Jenni's 7 foods: bread, broccoli, eggs, peanut butter, spinach, strawberries, milk
Jake's 7 foods: bread, broccoli, black beans, brown rice, chicken, oranges, coffee

Jenni Day 1 food log:
Breakfast/Lunch: spinach/strawberry/milk smoothie
Dinner: 2 eggs on toast and strawberr ies

Jenni's thoughts on Day 1:
Not so bad! I do miss my Coke and wondering if I'm having a caffeine headache already?? Also, I totally almost accidentally cheated already. It was a very honest mistake! As an early intervention therapist, I see kids at their daycares. So yesterday, I was at a daycare during snack. The teacher offered me a rice krispy treat (ingredients=none of my 7 foods), and I said, "sure!". 7 has not crossed my mind at this point. The moment she touched the plates, I remember, "Oh no!! I can't have any. My husband and I just started a diet (easier to call it a diet in those moments than explain the whole kit and kaboodle), and I can't cheat on my very first day. Thanks though." (sad face). I'm thinking March 1st might call for a rice krispy treat?????

Jake Day 1 food log:
Breakfast: 2 clementine oranges and coffee
Lunch: rice, beans, chicken
Dinner: Chipotle (rice and beans soft taco---we decided that tortillas can be considered "bread")

Jake's thoughts on Day 1:
Jake says, "Chicken is a lot more bland than I realized going into this."