Cynthia’s Blog

Oops - forgot to post this earlier!

Shortly after my last update, the injuries to my knees from our crash in 2007 flared up, and prevented me from continuing our daily walks for a while. A bunch of other things came up too, and in the end my husband and I decided to just relax and enjoy the holiday season, and get back to dieting and exercising in the new year. We amended our goal to making sure we didn’t gain back any lost weight over the holiday period, and we’ve achieved that.

Love

Cynthia

The rest of the first week went pretty well. Friday I decided not to go for a walk, and that break was what my legs needed to get over being sore. Sunday I had planned bacon and eggs for breakfast (yum!) and we had a shared lunch at church. But, as Sunday is my “free day”, it was fine. I had a salad for dinner.

So, the results from week one…..drum roll please……

I seem to have lost about 1.5kg (3lbs). I say “seem” because it’s hard to accurately read a small amount on scales with a dial like mine. I’ve also lost 3cm (a bit over an inch) off both my waist and hips.

This week’s loss hasn’t been as much as I would like, but as far as I’m concerned, all loss is good! The next milestone for me will be to come in under the 105kg mark (231lbs), as that was the weight I pretty much remained at between and after the births of my last three children.

This week has been going pretty well…..

Monday we stuck to the plan. That afternoon I needed to do my bi-weekly grocery shopping. There was a bit of temptation there! I usually buy myself a snack while shopping, as it takes several hours, and besides, I agree with the maxim to “Never shop on an empty stomach!” After thinking about it all, I decided that I wanted to lose weight MORE than I wanted to enjoy a favourite food for a few moments. I was rather hungry though, so I brought a banana. Monday’s dinner was beef stew on mashed potato, which we ate a small helping of, and also had coleslaw with a low-cal dressing.

 Tuesday I also stuck to the plan without too much difficulty. Dinner was my thick farmhouse soup - I’ve got used to eating it now without bread and butter, and it’s very filling. That night was the prize-giving and end of year break-up for St John Ambulance Youth, which my girls belong to. My husband and I made the joint decision to allow ourselves a few small items from the supper table. I also brought a bag of mixed raw nuts - it’s amazing how a small handful of raw nuts really makes you feel full and content!

Tuesday night I did not sleep at all well, and also my lower legs were very sore from the unaccustomed walking of the previous two days. I also had burst blisters on both heels, and altogether I told myself I had the perfect excuse to NOT get up at 6am and go for a walk.  I think SOMEONE has a sense of humor, because that morning my 9yo was begging me to take her to a local reserve where she’d walked with a group the night before, to some box where you could put things in and take things out. She said it was on the local road between beaches, and we just parked and it would only take a few minutes plllleeeeaassee Mummy! Not entirely sure what it was all about, I decided that as I had a couple of quick errands to run, sure we’d stop by there too. So my three youngest and I set off. We found the reserve ok, and parked. Then Becky led the way……..Turned out to be about a mile (literally) in each direction - through chest-high grass, over logs, through blackberry and gorse. I got my workout! The box turned out to be a Geocache - there are lots of them hidden around the world, with their GPS locations given on the website. It’s an adventure to find them, and leave a little note in the book supplied, and/or exchange a small item. Now Becky is mad keen to find all the other local ones. I forsee lots of walking in my future!

Wednesday’s dinner was nachos, a family favorite. My husband and I had a small serving, then coleslaw.

This morning my husband and I got up and went for our walk at our regular 6am time. One of the things I like most about these walks, is that I can notice the difference it’s making to my body already. My lower calves and ankles look noticably slimmer, and the…. ahem…..large fatty areas on my hips/lower back definitely feel as if they’re melting away.

Well, time for me to move on and do my housework.

Love

Cynthia

Hi everyone

Over the last week I’ve completely revamped my website, giving it a fresh new look and streamlining the pages. I’ve also changed the way I archive articles that I have written. GCHP articles will no longer appear on this blog, but are rather available as PDF downloads from my webpages Here.

My plan from now on is to use this blog to write about more personal happenings. In particular, about my new high raw diet, homeschooling, and major events in our lives.

I hope you will enjoy my new look and new blog.

Blessings

Cynthia

Just a short time after I wrote the last post, “When Life Happens”, back in August ‘07 (though I’m just getting around to loading it on here), life really DID happen to us! We were involved in a horrific motor vehicle accident. The fact that we all survived with only minor injuries is nothing but a miracle. You can read all about it HERE. If you are on a slow connection, please be patient while the page loads - it has lots of photos of the vehicles involved.

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

I live in New Zealand with my husband (and best friend on earth!) of nearly 18 years, and our 5 children, whom we homeschool. As of this writing (Feb 2007), they are 15, 13, 11, 10 & 7 years of age.

 We began homeschooling when my eldest was 4. When he was only 8 months old, I had first heard about homeschooling through a Focus on the Family radio broadcast. At that time we lived in a large city; I had never heard of homeschooling, knew no-one that did it, and didn’t even know if it was legal in NZ, but it just “clicked” in my heart, and I said to myself “I’m going to do that!” By the time Chris was 4, God has brought alongside me other homeschooling families, who lead me through the legalities and the beginnings of homeschooling.

 Since then, we have gone through many different experiences (you can read more in Our Story), including a period of 16 months when 3 of the children attended a small local Christian school, and a few months when they were all in a small country public school. Those experiences only made us all the more heartily committed to homeschooling!

 For nearly 3 years now, I have been leading an internet support group for Christian Homeschool mothers, which has given me the opportunity to get to know wonderful ladies from all over the world. For many, the group is their only, or main, form of support from like-minded folk, and it provides a wonderful forum to share ideas, encouragment, struggles and triumphs.

My heart is to share encouragement and ideas with you! If you’re struggling with debt or depression, then I have things to share with you! If your house is in chaos and you feel overwhelmed, then you’ve come to the right place! If your homeschool needs a breath of fresh air, then I know you will find ideas and resources here to help you. If you just want to hear from another normal, imperfect, and very real mother, and know you’re not alone - then stick around!

I have a LOT I want to share with you, but of course, it will take time for me to write or load everything, so please do check in regularly for updated material!

If there is something in particular you would like to see addressed, or if you would like to talk to me about anything raised here, feel free to email me at cynthia@cynthiahancox.com - I’d love to hear from you!

Love

Cynthia

Welcome to my new Blog home!

Thanks to all the input and motivation from Cindy Rushton’s Writer’s Nook, this week I’ve learned how to design webpages and put up my own website (though I’m still playing with them and making changes, due to problems some people are having viewing the graphics in their browsers), and now I have this new Blog! Many thanks to my dear friend (who shall rename nameless - but you know who you are!) for helping me figure out how to install this WordPress blog on my site!

 OH, the joys of learning website creation and all that that implies!!

 I’ll post my intro next.

Cynthia