Celebrate !

To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under Heaven. A time to be born...and a time to celebrate that fact. Yesterday was our son's 17th birthday, and we spent it in a full day worth of celebration. Some would say "you should stay on a program no matter what". In my opinion, these are people who consider their life's worth according to the possessions they own and the titles they have.They don't impress me much.Then there are those who understand not only the value of but the reason for life's celebrations. I call these people normal, balanced and healthy. I like them.

So yesterday the boy turned 17. This was the last official birthday of childhood for him, and for us the anniversary of the day our lives were turned upside down in the most wonderful way. Suddenly we found that our heart now had two legs and was able to walk independent from our bodies. He was a long time coming to our lives. We dealt with infertility for 8 years, then a still birth, and then a complicated high risk pregnancy . These were amongst the challenges that had to be mounted before his comming to be. Now 17 years have passed, he has made it, we have made it, and the three of us are a lot wiser for the journey. Time to celebrate !

We do not do a lot of gifts in our family, but instead choose to "gift" each other with experiences. Policy is when it is your birthday you get to choose the foods,and unless there is an allergy concern, everyone else shares in the choice.In past years it has been the excuse to make your parents eat kiddie food, or make the boy eat ethnic dishes. One gift thing that was given was Wii points, which allowed son to download games from the Wii connection. One he chose was a game manufactured by the company hubby works at. The game is Target Toss Pro Bags, and it is one of those that is really fun for the whole family, and can be played with a croud. Think of bean bag toss done in a sort of Horseshoes mode. It is a lot of fun to play !

And yes, son thinks it is very cool that daddy works for a company that makes video games. He of course would LOVE to go work with dad. Some things sound so glamerous to kids.

There was only some mild yoga stretching exercise for me, ,but a lot of time spent doing Reiki self treatments to try to adress whatever blocks I might have picked up. It does not burn calroies, but can help your body and emotions balance out so that your body is able to work in the way that is is supposed to. It also has the added benefit of making you feel deeply relaxed, which was something I really needed aftr the last 2 weeks of homeschool !

So here is the rest of the day- not all items are pictured because I forgot

Breakfast- The good choice meal- and son's favorite
Rolled oats, Rolled Barley and Rolled Rye with pumpkin
ground flax,wheat bran,seed nut mix,coconut,olive oil, goji berries,crasins and peanut butter
Yo plus digestive yogert, orange
coffee,water

Lunch- Son's choice, and not so good, but sort of a family traditional favorite
5 White Castle burgers, apple, Yo Plus Digestive Yogert
Diet Sierra Mist

Dinner - the guys gor pineapple shrimp deep dish pizza- I have an allergy so I got
Chicken Vesuvio, , french bread, salad ( I only ate half of the dish, and the leftover chicken is being used to make homemade chicken stock today)

Birthday cake ( yellow cake with strawberry cream icing) most of which was discarded/donated to the tech guys where my husband works who work long hours and will eat anything that is not nailed down,
Chocolate Chip Gelatto (gelatto is Italian ice cream that puts our premium stuff to shame, and it contains milk, cream, sugar and whatever fruit or such that it is flavored with. A definate yum !)

It was a really fun and relaxing for me day. I was not feeling the best and hubby took pity on me and did the grocery shopping on his own ( my hero !) This allowed me to spend the time in self treatment and do some reading to see if I am perhaps doing something to injur myself with reiki work. I learned that the only thing I may be doing wrong is not doing enough self treatment. Reiki does not harm, and the person doing the work ( sending) is a channel. Reiki works to heal the channel as well, but if your life is filled with stress , you can clench and block things. When this happens, it becomes like a clogged pipe. To keep the flow going you need to clean out the pipe on a regular basis.Kind of like the need to clean your washer, dryer lint trap or dishwasher. I feel a lot more relaxed, balanced and ready to face another week of exercise, healthy options and...teaching chemestry !

While the day was "bad" from an eating point of veiw, it marked progress for us allin another way. This was an intentional celebration, with full knowledge of how bad it is and we stopped when we were satiated. In the past, this kind of day would have been known as a normal "It's Saturday, we are shopping and I don't want to cook "day. Now that is a frightening thought !