hey friends!  i haven’t posted in a couple weeks for various reasons (most of which you’ll see here later in the post), but i’m here now and ready to write!

so on to updating:

x. stinker alert!  pictures of ransom coming up!  just look at that stinker:

x. we went to durham last weekend for the onething regional at kings park international church (which is a way cool church, for what it’s worth) and got to see some old friends (and make some new ones!) from KC.  it was a fun and spiritually refreshing time for us, though we didn’t get to make vacation of the trip as much as we wanted to because darin wound up volunteering for the on-site bookstore and that meant i had full-time baby care on my hands.  i tried to help out with the conference at first in a number of ways, but ransom decided he didn’t much care for mom doing anything but dealing with his growth-spurty-whining self (growth spurts are the worst…).  but we still had a blast.

x. we did, however, manage to visit the famous barbecue restaurant The Pit in raleigh and it was everything it was supposed to be–delicious pit barbecue with savory sauces and old-fashioned sides.  darin got pulled pork and brisket with sweet potato fries and i got barbecue tofu and veggies (because we ate so poorly the whole trip so far and my body wa screaming “give me something good to eat!”) and everything was so flipping tasty!  we also got a scoop of homemade cinnamon ice cream with a maple-bacon gingersnap cookie for dessert; i tell you, i never thought bacon would be good in a cookie, but this one sure was tops! we definitely recommend!

x. in ransom news, there’s not a whole lot to tell–he’s just big and getting bigger.  he’s scooting around and we sit him up a lot, and sometimes he’ll stay sitting up for a while, but eventually he kind of forgets to hold himself up and falls over.  it’s kind of cute.  and he will stand up tall for decent spurts of time if we support him under the arms when he gets shaky.  this kid is so strong… it blows my mind.

x. he’s also been getting random foods to munch on when they’re available.  he doesn’t really eat them, but he’s getting closer to doing so.  he will now gnaw on apple slices and we’ve been working on steamed veggies, but those seem to be more satisfying his curiosity than his palate for now, which is fine by me.  we’re really enjoying baby-led weaning (see a great article here), not rushing ransom at all into solids and encouraging him to explore foods as they should be enjoyed.  he seems to like it, too!  there was terrible lighting and all i had was my camera phone, but see him here at buca di beppo with an apple from aunt b’s salad:

he’s so cute… we had him out at IKEA the day prior and got him to fiddle with steamed veggies for a while, much to all of our delight.  he was holding a broccoli floret like a flower bouquet for while, just studying it.  that part was pretty much my favorite…  broccoli is a fun food.

x. also to be ransomly noted: the NoJo Secure-Me is just about the most brilliant thing they’ve come up with for babies.  i love it.  i works in shopping carts, high chairs, regular chairs, whatever and it’s just so darn cute (or is that my kid who’s so cute?).  check it out:

x. in other news, i just finished reading michael pollan’s In Defense of Food and man, it was worth the two days overdue fees i racked up from the library to finish it.  i can’t even tell you how valuable pollan’s words are to this country and generation.  we’ve forgotten how to eat, and it’s making us all (our livestock and produce included) sick and dead.  i know personally, i am going to buck up and learn to eat a salad in the next couple of weeks.  i hate salad.  something about eating grass always bothered me, and no matter what i added to it, that bowl of leaves still didn’t ever appeal to my tastes (and on that note, most of us add so many things that it kind of brings the nutrition of said-salad back to nil if not beyond-in-the-bad…).  i can do better.  i was a vegetarian for years in college and after.  i like plants.  i just need to learn to eat the leaves…

x. in related news, find the book and read it.  your american life pretty much depends on it.

x. hey, christmas is almost here–get excited!  and take a break every once in a while from thinking about buying gifts.  just enjoy the season of preparing for Jesus’ birthday.  it’s actually a lovely time of the year if you let it be.  yes.  i love christmas…  and christmas music!  woohoo!  i turned some christmas music on last month when i was having a bad day simply because christmas music (of the good kind, not your radio station variety.  no saint nick and frosty songs for me!) elevates my happies.  don’t know why, it just does.  and i’m perfectly fine with it.  selah.

x. i made bread and granola bars and bulk black beans yesterday.  it felt so good to be in the kitchen all that time.  i think i’d really like to be one of those cook-once-a-month moms and just spend a day or two doing nothing but cooking and freezing meals.  they save so much money doing that…  we need a deep freeze.  we really do.

x.  speaking of food and related things, i haven’t reported my weigh-in for two weeks.  i apologize for that.  i’ve actually done it personally and kept up in my head, but neither friday or the days following of the last two weeks were all that conducive to posting, so i just haven’t.  but i can tell you this: i’m still losing!  here are stats, for old time’s sakes (i’ll pickup again next friday with proper weekly weigh-ins):

Weight: 195 lbs.
Waist: 34″
Hips: 45″
Progress: 3 more lbs. lost (8 total since reporting!)
Pounds to Ideal Weight: 39 to go!

i didn’t get to work out the past two weeks as much as i would like because i was suffering from being half sick on top of having a really late visit from my headachy crampy friend aunt flo (which was also a bit of a bummer…  and if all that was TMI, well, too bad), but i’m getting back on my game now and feeling much better, so hopefully things will continue to progress.

x. pending i apply wisdom with this bit of glory: i found a buca di beppo coupon for $10 off $20 this past week.  we have a buca less than a mile from the house and we simply love to go.  we had one in KC but we only went once and though we had a great time, we just never went again.  it has now become a family favorite (my extended family included).  love the buca.

x. our friends shane and emily had their baby a couple of days ago–a little girl named stella–and we’re so thrilled for them!  they’re going to make great parents!  congrats, friends!  can’t wait to meet your little star!

okay, so my child is having a moment.  i better go…  love to you all and thanks for dropping by!

i’m one month into this thing and so glad i did it…

it’s honestly been the most challenging to not go nuts with this.  we watch the biggest loser every week and i see folks on there losing 5-15 lbs a week (which isn’t really safe, and certainly not safe for a nursing-possibly-baby-making mom), and i use the show for motivation to keep at my regimen, but for me in my position, i am supposed to be losing an average of 1-2 lbs per week.  sometimes i pull 3, but that’s why 1-2 is an average, and usually i’ll lose nothing the week following (however unintentional) when that happens.  much more weight loss than the recommended level sends too many toxins into the breastmilk (because as fat cells are burned, they let go of everything they’d been holding on to, and fat cells are notorious for hanging onto toxins), which goes straight into baby.  no bueno.

and as far as calorie cutting/counting goes, i can only do so much.  i’ve got a baby to deal with every day, and i live in the reality that God is in control of my womb, so if he sees fit to bless us with another child and i’m not eating a decent amount of food to support its life, i’m going to wind up doing harm.

in any event, i’m doing this wisely as i can.  i have support and encouragement from family and friends.  i am getting healthier no matter what pounds and inches i have to show for it.  and i feel so much better.  it’s a great exchange.

so without further ado, here are this week’s stats:

Weight: 198 lbs.
Waist: 34″
Hips: 45″
Progress: weight and hips stayed the same, but i lost .5″ of waist!
Pounds to go: 42

i stayed basically the same, yes.  i’m okay with that.  this is a journey; it’s going to take some time.

the good part is that i feel confident enough in all these changes that whenever i do wind up pregnant again, i will hopefully keep exercising and eating better.  i was really lax while pregnant with ran.  i don’t want to do that again.  it was terrible.  no repeats.

alright, well, i’ve got a hungry boy in need of some attention, so i’m out of here.  peace.

well, the damage is not as bad as we thought!  apparently, it is not the starter, but a bad cell in our car battery.  much less scary-bad on the finances.  i’ll take $75 over $200 any day, yes.

we are getting a new battery today, bless God.  thank you to everyone who texted responses to help us out and pray for us.  we were blessed and encouraged!  and thank you God for not-as-bad of a problem with the car!  we would have been flat broke at the end of the month if we would have had to deal with the starter…  a new battery is still a chunk of cahnge, but not nearly as serious.

so, my sister is here to enjoy some ransom time and lunch.  yay!  i love sister time!  i’m going to go enjoy it, too!  peace, friends.

the starter on our car went out last night.

awesome.

not.

it’s going to cost us $200 to get it fixed, not including labor since hopefully darin can take care of it, but still, that’s money we currently don’t have to spare…  this bites.  big time.  thankfully, we still have some friends in town with an extra car so darin could get to work this morning, otherwise, we’d have been in trouble, especially considering it was late last night when it happened and today is sunday, so most car-shops are closed.

would any of you be willing to send us some money (the amount at this point is irrelevant; $10 or $20 will still be a big help) to help pay for a new starter?  it would be a huge blessing to us if you would, i can guarantee you that.  you can use the paypal link at the side or otherwise contact me for details (816.806.2910 text, kaciedamme@gmail.com email).

if you are unable to help financially (or even if you are), will you please pray for us?  for darin, specifically; i think he’s taking this the hardest.  i don’t know what it’s like to bear the burden of supporting a family, but i’m sure it’s rough when stuff like this happens.

thanks for whatever you can do.  peace to you all.

much better week!

oh, and i figured out that waist measurements shouldn’t be in-line with where your jeans stop, no matter what clothing folks tell you.  a waist measurement is supposed be at the slimmest part of your torso, just above belly button, generally.  so, my apologies for the wacky-high number that’s been there all this time.  i’ll do it right from here on out.  yes.

so, anyhoo… this week i stunk at food diary-ing, as in i didn’t even keep it, but i still did great!  i simply watched my intake with a trained eye and a serious mental note, did some interval training, and ate veggies when i felt hungry in the evenings so that i didn’t splurge on something ridiculous.  i always feel more satisfied after a bowl full of vegetables; i don’t know why i try to tell myself otherwise sometimes…

well, without further ado, because i’m super-stoked about my stats this week:

Weight: 198 lbs.
Waist: 34.5″
Hips: 45″
Progress: 3 more lbs. lost, corrected waist measurement, 1″ more off hips (2″ total)!
Pounds to go: 42

i’m pretty darn happy about three more pounds melting off.  it doesn’t sound like a lot, but it sure feels like a lot!  that’s hard work for a nursing mom!  yeah!

in completely random other-news, we went to IKEA for the first time since we’ve moved here and we didn’t spend more than $10 (food not included… we were there for nearly 5 hours… had to eat!).  we’ve decided that when we actually have a house to put stuff in, we’re going to shop at IKEA.  it’s fabulous.  cheap nice furniture with lots of options and colors.  and they have an as-is department with super-cheap stuff, too.  i could have put all that discount stuff to use if we had the space.  someday, perhaps.

darin has now become a full-time employee (by the mercy of God) at walmart, so he will have more hours, which means more pay, which means less headaches and heartbreaks on financial fridays when we go over our current financial status.  it is a blessing to us and a timely one at that.  we’re trying our hardest to use this time to pay off what we can on my medical bills (still have to pay every othe rperson that walked into my prep and surgery rooms, it seems) and other things so that we can focus our fiscal efforts elsewhere.  thankfully we have the cheapest rent in the area for the size of apartment that we live in (2BR 2BA), so we’re not losing a ton of our take-home to housing.  now if we can only try harder to keep our food budget in balance… (that is always our struggle, but we’re succeeding this month!)

in ransom news, i don’t really have anything news.  he’s cute, he’s wearing lots of snuggly clothes these days, and he rolls right off the floor mat i put him on all the time because i don’t much care for him spitting up on the carpet.  see:

NOT on the mat, thank you very much.

moments later, he spits up.  every time…  in any event, he’s still lots of fun.  we want to make play-friends for him.  ; )

last night at IKEA, i was waiting outside with ransom for darin and our friends to make their way through the checkout and i got into conversation with a lovely black lady who was also waiting for her husband to come outside.  she asked me if ransom was my only child, and i said “so far”, which sparked a long conversation for strangers about why darin and i want a lot of kids (“whatever God gives us and then some, if we can help it”).  eventually she asked me why in the world i would want so many kids, commenting how she had three and that was all she cared for and couldn’t imagine why anyone would want kids so much; i answered her simply as i knew how: “my husband and i value life.  highly.  we want a house full of life, full of kids. [insert ransom giggling himself silly right here, for no good reason either of us could fathom] besides, look at how cute he is–why not have a bunch of ‘em?”  we talked for a while yet after that about the kids she keeps, now as a grandmother and auntie, and i don’t really have anything else to mention, but my heart felt warm and happy to tell of how far it’s come in love for children.  it’s big deal for me.  i thank God for it.  yes.

well, i need to go workout and do some laundry, so out i go.  as usual, here’s our kidlet in closing:

here's lookin' at you!

read my shirt...

...it's just so true!

i recently discovered honey bunches of oats with cinnamon clusters and i gotta say…

i’m in love.

i’m not much for cereals except for plain ol’ cheerios (unless i eat them like a treat, without milk and by the handful), and very few cereals qualify for tasty and healthy these days, but dang, this stuff is GOOD!

darin actually bought it for himself, but he’s not likely going to get as much out of this box as he wanted… : )

TASTY!

so, everyone has been asking us what we’re doing now in NC since ZHOP is closed for business.  i reckon i can answer that question.

a few entries ago i told you all about the imminent close of the Zadok House of Prayer, and some of you found out in other ways (10th year anniversary of IHOP-KC announcement, heard from other community member, etc.).  all in all, it’s really happened and the general feeling of all involved is that it truly was a good thing and a God thing.  now we are living in the wake of the closing and trying appropriately to get our bearings.

one way we’ve been doing that is by getting involved with a local church.  we’ve chosen MorningStar for the moment because the prayer room we are hoping to help build from the ground up with some other remaining families is going to be intrinsically connected to MSM (MorningStar Ministries, from here on out).  MSM is much like IHOP-KC is this way: if you want to be a part, you have to work at it.  big ministries mean you can either go and do your own thing or you can go and dive in deep, getting your hands into whatever you can along the way.  as the weeks go by for us at MSM, we’re still trying to figure out how in the world to get involved deeper with a nearly full-time working man, a full-time-can’t-drive-anywhere housewife, and a 5 month old who will (by the grace of God) not be a nursery kid (unless in an atmosphere like the CEC in KC where “babysitting” isn’t in the vocabulary).

as far as the prayer room goes in this city, it might be a while before we have something like a ZHOP again.  currently, the community here is hosting sort of a travelling prayer room that meets at certain times in certain homes, and this is the best we can do, but is still a mighty work in God’s eyes.  there is a spirit, a determination in this small band of folks, and if it stays strong, a prayer community in this area will in fact never die.  we have musicians and we have singers; we have intercessors and we have wholehearted lovers of God.  it can work.  and it is working, far as we can tell.  prayerfully, it will keep working.

so that is where we are.  this damme family is thriving and driven to do whatever we can to glorify God in this place.  it may not look like much, but we’re in this to the end, no matter what comes.

in other news, darin got a supplemental job at a shipping warehouse; he works as a temp-worker, so he doesn’t always control when he can work, but his supervisors know his situation and are trying to call him in whenever they can.  anything is helpful at this point, so he’s pretty happy about the job.  thanks for your prayers!

i made my first alfredo sauce from scratch two nights ago and i’m dang proud of it.  now that i know how to make a successful roux, i’ve got an arsenal of things i can do in the kitchen again, like successfully make some country gravy for darin (you’d think a southern girl could handle it, but no one ever taught me how to make it from scratch!).  we used the alfredo sauce on a white spinach pizza that night and boy-oh-boy, papa john’s, you got nothin’ on me now!  i can’t wait to try out some other recipes!

i’ve also started to work on christmas cards already, at least getting pictures printed and cards made and envelopes addressed.  i’ll likely wait another month or so before actually writing in/on the cards, but it will be nice to have most of the work done in advance this year.  things just get too hectic for me around the holidays.  i am doing my best this time around to take care of whatever i can beforehand so i can actually enjoy the season for once.  we’ll see how it goes.

in news-of-the-ran, our boy is still scootin’ around and being cute as ever!  he’s well over 17 pounds now and fits in 6-9 month clothes easy.  he sleeps through most nights about eight or ten hours (but not always…), too, which is a lovely gift to his parents. : ) (ah, blessed rest…)

well, i have nothing else new to say, so here’s some pictures so you don’t forget what we look like–love to you all!

so i got way too busy yesterday with house things, and sick-and-at-home-for-the-day darin, and company in the evening and wound up not getting to post my weekly weigh-in, but here ’tis, in all its glory:

this past week, i ate out with my family a few times, which was not wise because i don’t have one of those cool books that tells you all the calories you’re consuming (translation: impossible to track intake) and darin was home a lot because walmart is lame, so all in all, i didn’t stick to my plan very well.  and what resulted is disappointing, though not utterly.

i stayed the same.  exactly the same.

Weight: 201 lbs.
Waist: 42″
Hips: 46″
Progress: 2 lbs. and 1″ lost from waist and hips
Pounds to go: still a big 45

disappointing, but not discouraging.  i will stick to it and see this thing through, however long it takes.

i did successfully up my exercise, though.  i got up to six miles a day this past week, with intervals and strength training incorporated to boost results.  this week, i shall do more of the same, and i’m pretty stoked about it.  i’ve been exercising most every day for over a month now, so i look forward to it more than i dread it, which is a delightful change.  i even got darin to do two miles with me yesterday.  it was cute.  he started out with leg weights on and one pound weights in each hand and by about a third of the way through took them all off and just tried to keep up.  i love my macho man. : )  he works on his feet all day, so intentional exercise isn’t that big of a deal, but it was still cute that he tried to show off.  love.

in other news, ransom has started scootin’ around!  i don’t think he knows he’s doing it yet, but he will scoot a few inches forward for a toy if you provoke him enough.  and we got a serious kickout of him for a few minutes today on the couch where we would sit him up in the corner and he’d smile and lean forward real slow until he face-planted on the cushion.  i felt bad for him for about a second, but he was giggling, so i guess he found it entertaining.  dad sat him back up three or four more times and he just kept on face-planting and laughing, which got us laughing, and before you knew it we were all a mess…

having a kiddoodle in the house is way fun.  thanks Lord!

alright, well, we’ve got errands to run today, so i better get to it.  peace, friends, and thanks for dropping by!

a few bullet points from our daily lives to update you all:

x. we had ransom dedicated to the Lord yesterday at EGS.  it was a relatively spur of the moment thing (though we decided to do it earlier in his life, the opportunity didn’t present itself until this week) and it was by far the most powerful baby dedication i’ve ever witnessed or been a part of.  the folks of the ZHOP community are truly outstanding people; thanks to them, i think we really can ensure this child and his future will be in the Lord’s hands.

x. ZHOP had its final service last night as well.  it was a wonderufl way to go out, blessing the next generation and rejoicing in what is to come in the service of the Lord.  darin got to play drums for a fantastic worship set, too (i love to see my dear behind a trap set…).  he played steady and strong, even if he thinks otherwise. :)

x. darin is trying to find a new or at least a supplemental job; pray for him.  his walmart job is fine, and he likes it alright, they just aren’t (as in willfully choosing not to) giving him enough hours or pay to support a family, and that puts a constant strain on things.  we watch the Lord provide for our every need time and time again, but i also watch my husband feel the pressing weight of providing for his family (and at present being a bit unable to) and it’s painful.

x. on a happier note, we’ve gotten to play and sing at ZHOP on a number of occasions, even once having a “Damme Family Devo” that was rather delightful as just the two of us (well, three, really.  ransom prayer-led, very meditatively, i might add…) worshipped before the Lord in his house.  darin even sang a few times.  i did, too, shockingly…  it’s still been awhile.  i miss it.

x. might’ve already mentioned this, but we won a $50 off $100 coupon from oldnavyweekly.com this week.  just missed the $75 off by a hair.  or, more accurately, by a “look”.  tricky tricky…  we’re taking my sister shopping because pretty much all we want is a pair of jeans for darin and maybe the item of the week for me.  i’m not buying jeans again until i break into another size (hopefully, soon, though!).

x. here’s a picture of ransom to enjoy:

ain't he cute?

x. WIC in NC gets better this month, with way cooler offerings like canned veggies, tofu, and produce options.  too bad we were issued checks through november and can’t get upgrades.  but, in due time…  woohoo!  government tofu!

x. i finally got all of our boxes unpacked.  i think darin still has one in “his” room (the work/guest room), but i remain unconcerned about that until we actually have another guest to house.  i got our furniture arranged more efficiently as well.  it’s been a big week in homemaking.  now if only i could get motivated enough to wash the dishes and vacuum…

x. ransom has quite nearly officially outgrown his infant carrier (a family member gave us one to use when we moved here because we just had the green convertible carseat and looked really awkward holding our kid all the time, apparently.  we don’t really mind either way, to be honest, and neither does he, it seems).  he’s big and getting bigger all the time.  watch out!

x. i made granola bars from scratch that actually taste good!  sweet action!  next time i make them, i’ll pay attention to my measurements and post the recipe for you.  store-bought ones are so boring and over-priced now.  make ’em at home!  love it!

okay, i’ve procrastinated my day’s tasks long enough.  at least i made the bed!  anyhoo, i have a lot to do, so i better get at it.  love to you all.

here i am again, one week into my online accountability, and i have good news to report!

ALL THIS WORK IS PAYING OFF!

this past week, i have been cutting calories, eating way-a-lot of vegetables and limiting sweets and meats, and increasing my workout from one or two miles a day (15-20 minute miles) to a fast-for-me four (about 12.5 minutes/mile).  the first day i did four miles, i felt so accomplished!  i mean, there are folks out there who can do a four-minute mile, but i am simply not one of those and never have been, so this progress is something huge in my book.  and the workout i follow isn’t just walking for those four miles, it’s strength training and muscle work, too, so i’m getting a total body regimen.  love it!

i’ve also been drinking tons of water (and detoxing, appropriately… hello, peeing-every-thirty-minutes… and pooping out things with arms…) and drinking acai berry juice and milk at breakfast and/or dinner just because it’s something different.  i have no trouble drinking only water; i’ve done it for years.  sometimes, though, a little flavor never hurts.  and a 100 calorie glass of milk is way more filling and nutritious than a 100 calorie cookie or something else empty (though admittedly tasty).

all week long, i had been seeing articles and weight loss advice about keeping a food diary, so two days ago i started to keep one.  it’s true, you do eat less if you know you have to write it down.  and it is way easier to track calorie intake, too.  i heard folks are recorded as doubling their weight loss after starting to keep an accurate food diary, so we’ll see how this pans out for me in the coming weeks.

anyhoo, so here are the stats you’ve been waiting for:

Weight: 201 lbs
Waistline: 42″
Hips: 46″
Progress: 2 lbs lost, 1″ off both waist and hips!
Pounds to Ideal Weight: 45 to go!

i couldn’t believe it this morning when i took my measurements–inches don’t seem that important in this pound-crazed world, but watching the inches fall off is really fun!

we won a $50 off $100 coupon this week from oldnavyweekly.com (just missed the $75 coup; it was a hard one!), so we’re taking my sister out and the three of us are going to split the bill.  i know darin is itching for some jeans (i promised him if we won another high-value coup, we’d go back for a pair of jeans he had found), but i have no clue what i’ll go after this time.  maybe i’ll find a nice dress or something to wear for date nights.

anyhoo, that’s all i have to say for now.  i’ve got four miles to do and a house to clean in the next three hours before the hubby gets home.  love love love to you, and thanks for dropping by!