The Fast (Part 1)

I know that it says in the Bible that you shouldn't fast outwardly or be ostentatious about it (thanks to my sister for pointing that out to me). So maybe blogging is being ostentatious, maybe not. If you think it is, then just call me a pharisee. But I can not NOT blog about this...there are too many revelations to explore that may or may not be blog-worthy. And so I sit here with an iced coffee and a donut to blog about my foray into the 1800's (yeah, they had iced coffee and donuts in 1800). We are "fasting" TV.

(Meanwhile, can I just describe to you that Brooke just took my donut napkin - the one with all the powdered sugar in it - and wiped the coffee table furiously, thus spreading powdered sugar furiously all over? Ok, back to the blog...)

So, our church is doing a 21 day fast - for prayerful reasons, obvi - and since Scott and I are being more intentional about becoming involved church "members," (up until now we have been professional church hoppers, but the member part is getting close because we found this church, and we like it, even though the pastor literally goes by "Pastor Scotty" and wears jeans and sometimes a summer league softball t-shirt to preach on Sunday mornings - but I secretly kind of like that too...and a big fat ANYWAY...), we decided that we should take part in this fast. But alas, I am pregnant and fasting probably isn't the best thing to do when trying to grow a child in one's womb. And Scott would most likely waste away to NOTHING if he fasted. Literally. So we are not "fasting" in the traditional sense. But we picked something of equal, if not greater, influence in our lives to give up. TV.

I grew up watching TV pretty much all day long. I. Love. TV. Actually, I did a my fair share of climbing trees, riding bikes, wrangling farm animals and doing things kids should be doing...but TV was also wonderful. Luckily, I found someone who shares my love for TV in my husband. Though we might not agree on the kind of TV to watch - I am more of a Teen Mom, Bachelor, Days of our Lives kind of person while Scott is an ESPN all day long kind of guy - we do spend our evenings flipping between his shows and my shows and the occasional agreed upon sitcom (luckily we have the same sense of humor and thus can agree on shows like The Office, Parks and Rec and Modern Family).

Ok, so now that I've established how important TV is/was to us, our marriage, etc... I'll add the disclaimer that we don't watch TV when Brooke is awake. We completely recognize that TV probably isn't that great for kids to watch all the time, and we don't want Brooke to love it as much as we do - at least until she's of the age that she can handle it. Watch TV responsibly, people.

I've just come to the realization that this blog is going to have to be cut into parts because in order to write out all my thoughts about this, I need to neglect the 16 month old, and she's not big on being neglected. Well, she is, but only because if I'm neglecting her she can wreak havoc on the living room/kitchen without anyone stopping her. Which is happening right now. Oh, and now there's crying. And that concludes Part 1. You're hooked, right?? To be continued...