Day 29: Finish Line in Sight

Just knowing that I have less than 48 hours before this is over helped immensely today. I also tried to think back on which dishes I've enjoyed the most and tried those again today. I have been surprised by how good the refried beans taste, so I had those again for lunch along with a small amount of brown rice. But as I was still coming off of yesterday's aversion experience, I did not eat lunch until 2pm. My appetite grew as the taste of the beans motivated me to eat more, so I went ahead and made another batch of what you see pictured here for seconds! With two corn tortillas available, I made some small tacos with the beans and rice...

For dinner I went back to good old egg fried rice. But this time I sauteed the cabbage and carrots in a bit of the vegetable oil spread first to give them a little different texture. With one scrambled egg and a cup of brown rice with some Season-All mixed in, it was a great meal. I realized during this whole time I'd never had Ramen soup all by itself. So I did a half-portion of a pack of Ramen just as soup, as the instructions called for, and that was indeed a nice little variety change up. 

Everyone keeps asking what I'm going to eat on the day after. I'm really not sure yet. But I know from past experience in coming off of fasts that you can easily over do it and send your body into shock. So as best as I can control my urges, I'm going to try to take things slow. It might be really nice to just have a bowl of cereal that morning, as I have had no dairy for 30 days. But at some point soon I will definitely be eating at Sri Balaji Bhavan for some authentic South Indian vegetarian delights. Just being able to open up the fridge or pantry and eating whatever is available is what I'm looking forward to the most. Also looking forward to getting back into a normal routine of eating what my family is eating for mealtimes. It's been a challenge to share time with them as I am spending so much time in the kitchen preparing a separate meal for myself. You should see me trying to cook around my wife as she's preparing a meal for the 7 of them. Chaos! 

But my biggest desire is to learn more cooking skills. I've ordered several used cookbooks online. My first one arrived today: 400 Best-Ever Budget Recipes. The weirdest thing happened. My oldest son Noah said, "oh, cool, I wonder if they have a recipe for lemon pie" as he loves lemon pies. I said, "well, let's see." I opened up the book, and I kid you not, it opened straight to a recipe for a lemon pie. It's a sign, I tell you! Two other Indian cookbooks are on their way. I want to be able to cook the food I love so I don't have to pay a fortune to satisfy my cravings. 

Prayer focus: Pray for India's 70 million disabled. They represent about 6% of the population. Of these, only 2% are educated and 1% employed. We at Peace Gospel have made it part of our mission to distribute wheelchairs to disabled dalits ("untouchables" shunned by society) in India free of charge. It costs us only $50 to purchase a wheelchair. This is making a huge impact in areas where wheelchairs were before only an elusive luxury. People previously confined to literally crawling along on the ground are gaining mobility for the first time in their lives. It is our hope that by giving the disabled the gift of mobility, the statistics will not be so horribly stacked against them. If you'd like to sponsor a wheelchair or a portion thereof, you can click here for more details. 

Estimated Savings for Day 29: I might have taken my pre-schooler to Chick-fil-a for lunch today. I would have picked up my usual combo meal for about $5.99 or so. As I was really exhausted today, I would have likely stopped off for a hot black tea at Starbucks or Fioza for about $1.60. Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I'm at $13.59 saved for my orphanage donation today. This brings my running total up to $434.60.