Just Dance

One of my favorite weirdo artists is Brian Andreas (Thanks, Nicole). He did a Story Person once that said, "For a long time, she flew when she thought no one was watching." ...I love that so very much. It's not my favorite of his stories, but it's in my top three. Can't believe it, but I found a picture of it....so weirdo, though! I love it! For whatever reason, I keep thinking of "flying" as "dancing." Maybe it's just the freedom factor. But doesn't she...um it? um...look like it's dancing?

Wayne and I went to a Glory and Grace conference this past weekend. Boy, did we have some fun! Just when I think I'm free, I get a better glimpse of our too-good-to-be-true Father and get freed up a little more. Wow! Imagine how free we will be tomorrow! YES! It is his goodness that draws us. If you don't know he is good, never mad, never judgmental, never disappointed, never causing bad things to happen to teach or test us, then I will boldly say you do not know my Father, and I'd like to introduce you to him. The more free I become, the easier it is to walk away from food. Food is good, food is great. But the emotional "need" for it no longer has control over me. Getting smacked in the face with liberation this weekend helped me to see a bit more of myself. (I mean on the inside, peeps! I haven't gained weight, Yo!) The light illuminated dark places and hurts I didn't even know I had. It came out in the form of tears for two days. When we were getting ready to go to the evening session on the second day, I wondered if I should even put on make up since it just washed off as soon as I stepped in the door. It was such a sweet presence of the Living God. The final morning of the conference, I caught pure freedom. (I must be free to admit this.) I totally embarrassed myself. Well, I'm not really embarrassed, but lets just say I'm glad I wasn't on tape. I have no idea what I was doing really. (I'm laughing as I try to think about it.) My arms and legs were going crazy wild. I felt like a puppet on a string. I couldn't stop, or I didn't want to stop. Not sure. Both! Nana used to tell me that when I was a toddler, she would get me to dance to "Dance A Little Dolly." She would say that I looked like a little rag doll. Well, that is exactly what I felt like. Fini was praying for me, and I heard him say, "That's the sign of true freedom." And he was right. Freedom from self. Freedom from others. One of my shoes flew off. People were moving away from me fast. My other shoe fell off. I finally fell into the seats, and I heard Fini say, "Just stay there, it's safer." He was laughing. I don't remember much, but I do remember wondering if I could walk and also thinking that I am out of shape. Wayne missed the whole thing. He was out in the foyer eating a banana.

Tonight at home, Wayne was going through some things and he found the "Just Dance" Wii game. I have been looking for it for a while. I played it after the boys went to bed. It was fun to do even with Wayne in the room. I still gave him a hard time about watching me, but really I didn't care as much as I used to. In the past I was too self aware to have him anywhere near me while partaking in such physical activity. I mean I wouldn't want him to see me trying to catch my breath from dancing to "Big Girls You Are Beautiful." Know what I mean? I still have a freedom hangover so it was ok he was in the room with me. He's lovely and kind, but I judge others to think they judge me like I judge myself. Vain and dumb and just plain not true. Freedom from myself automatically frees me from people. To not be self-conscious is to be God-conscious. I've always enjoyed dancing, but that is one thing that the years of fat-consciousness has really stolen. I mean, I don't think I could ever slap on a leotard and be comfortable being Elephantina. But I can be comfortable in my own skin,(in my own clothes.) I'm still a little self-conscious, but I'm just going to step out more and more into this freedom and enjoy myself (while getting some good exercise.) I'm just going to dance.

Nutritional Nugget: Cranberries!

With Thanksgiving coming up, what better thing than to talk about some of the traditional yum yums. Cranberries are sort of known for the help with the urinary tract. To achieve the urinary health benefits daily intake: 10 ounces of cranberry juice or 1/2 cup cranberry sauce or 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries or 3 oz dried cranberries. The phytonutrients in the cranberries seem to be the key for the health goody goodies. These have also been shown to help with cardiovascular disease, certain stomach ulcers, and cancer.

We drink cranberry juice some, but most of our urinary tract health benefits comes from crasins. Love 'em. The boys really love them. They eat them all the time for snack, but we eat them regularly on salad. Mmmmmm!

Check out http://www.cranberryinstitute.org/news/CI_Nutrition_Fact_Sheet.pdf for more info and references.