Rambling, so you can listen in - DEREK

Today the house is quiet and - hopefully - productive. Rebekah is usually home Monday mornings, but this is the first day of Vacation Bible School at First Presbyterian and she plans on being part of the excitement. So she headed in at 8:30, along with our VBS volunteer niece, Faith.

Faith is at Maul Hall for an extended visit. We have been dubbed either, "The Maul Retreat Center" or "Camp Aunt". She's been with us the best part of two months now, is working at Outback as a primo table-server, and has become BFF with both Scout and Darth. Additionally -and don't tell her mother this because she'll never believe it - she's been eating things like squash, carrots and other healthy food she disdained in a previous life.

The whole food thing has been and continues to be an interesting journey, and Faith has been an encouraging participant. As of last week, the "Gourmet Initiative" has shifted from my once-a-week commitment to pretty much every day!

What happened is I purchased one more cool cook-book for Rebekah's birthday and, instead of my promised "Pick one new menu item each week and I'll do it", she wanted to go all in and actually build our diet around the systematic approach.

Consequently, we menu-planned, are re-thinking the way we structure our food day, and made a $350 trip to Publix to invest in some of the new basics. It's all translated into some amazing meals.

The difference now is that the emphasis is more in flavor than calories, and we're looking at a radically healthier diet. I've lost two pounds in four days (modest beginning, but hopeful) and Rebekah is finding it's easier to maintain more consistent blood-sugar control.

It's a lot of work - but change always is. The point is to actually make an investment in change rather than simply talk about it. I'm a little bit tired - to say the least - of so much talk about change (in faith, in politics, in personal behavior, in health...) in this country; talk that is then followed up by fear and backtracking and the digging in of heels...

... Like we're going to ever move forward without some costly investments along the way? Now really, be honest, what exactly do you want?

It's always a good question.

Rambling, so you can listen in. It's a public service I try to provide every day - DEREK