Journaling

This is my journal. I just finished filling up all the pages a few weeks ago! It encompasses and records 15 years of my life. I write really small! It has been so amazing to go back and read the initial entries and compare myself to the person I am now.

One of the things that I mentioned at the end of the year in my reflections post was how therapeutic journaling has been to me. I was talking about my thankfulness journal which is not the one above. I keep a different one for that and I wholeheartedly suggest writing down things you are thankful each day. It is perspective changer.

This full and worn journal is a record of my thoughts, feelings, valleys, triumphs. In the latter part it is a lot more of how I was growing in the Lord or how God has ministered to me or convicted me. It is about his GRACE.

I haven't been a life long journaler but occasionally wrote down my thoughts and feelings until the last year. Within the last year I became a daily journaler. Well almost, I missed some days here and there.

Keeping a journal has been wonderful for those times where my tongue wanted to get the best of me. Instead I brought my issue to the Lord and then just started writing. It helped so much because by the time I was done, most of the time, I didn't feel like I had to hold my tongue anymore.

Keeping a journal has helped me to remember the verses God gives to me for particular situation or for certain circumstances. I love looking back at those especially because sometimes they fill in a piece to the puzzle for me in hindsight.

Journaling gives me a feeling of freedom. I am free because I am a believer in Christ but that doesn't mean I can share my every thought or frustration. This is a place I can write and pour out my heart.

Keeping a journal has been extremely helpful during my health journey. Putting pen to paper and talking about my symptoms and fears and then looking back at them a year later (or six or seven) has allowed me to see God's redemption and restoration. He is faithful.

It was literally like closing a book on my life when I finished this journal. It was my favorite because it had handmade pages with little imperfections on each one. The cover was hand dyed and handmade paper. Have I told you I LOVE paper? Maybe not, but I really love paper. This paper gave me warm fuzzies.

Now that I have finished recording bits and pieces of the past 15 years of my life I started a new journal. The awesome thing is that I feel like I am also literally started a new book in my life too. Great things are happening, my trust and faith in the Lord is deeper than it ever has been (trials and valleys can do that), and it feels like a new season to start writing about.

The picture below if of the cover of the journal that I chose for this next season of life. It won't be able to fit 15 years, especially since I am journaling more now, but I can't wait to be filled with JOY in seeing God's faithfulness in my life through my writing reflections.

I have to wake up at the crack of dawn to have my sweet time in my Bible and writing down my reflections but it is well worth it. Quiet time, that is uninterrupted is a priceless way to start my day. I have never been a morning person either but I look forward to this part of my day so much that it doesn't matter to me about waking up early anymore.

If you don't already, why not take a few minutes out of your day to write down your thoughts or ways God is working on you? You could even record victories and triumphs. Really anything works. It is just a still and calm time in these days that can feel so chaotic and stressful.

~Blessings~

Feeling Good Friday: The Benefits of Raw Milk

Do you drink milk? You might say, "No, I am lactose intolerant." or "No, I can't have dairy."

Dairy is one of the biggest "allergens" in our country at the moment. There are many reasons for this, some of which I will get into in this post. First, is that the dairy products that are available to our society in the USA at the moment are actually dead. Yes, I really mean that, dead. When we purchase dairy (even organic) at our stores the end product has gone through a pasteurization process. Milk is pasteurized, cheese is pasteurized and butter is as well. Actually, there are many food and drink products that go through this process to make them "safe" to consume. Pasteurization is a process of heating up the dairy to over 145 degrees to kill off e.Coli or Salmonella bacteria. The problem is that when this is done is also kills everything else good in the product.

Let me start by telling you about the living parts of raw (unpasteurized) milk. Yes, raw milk is actually a living food! God made it this way because he made humans and he knows how our bodies work and what we need to properly function and digest.

• Milk, in its raw state, is a perfectly balanced food. This is the way God made it. A WHOLE food. 
• It has a high nutritional content. It is naturally higher in vitamins (A and D to name a few) and minerals (calcium, phosphorus and more) than its pasteurized counterpart. Raw milk also has a higher level of Omega 3's and Essential Fatty Acids.
• It also has high levels of CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) which helps with metabolism, abdominal fat, muscle growth, insulin resistance and more.
• Raw milk has many beneficial bacteria in it that helps us in a plethora of functions in our body. **Side note: did you know that you have literally trillions of beneficial (and not so beneficial) bacteria in your intestines that thrive everyday making up between 70-90% of your immune system? One of the beneficial bacteria present in raw milk is called Lactobaccili. This particular bacteria helps to digest (or eat) lactose. Do you think with all the "lactose intolerance" in our country that we need help digesting lactose? I do. Lactobaccili is good for this. This good bacteria is killed through pasteurization.  A lot of the other beneficial bacteria in the raw milk actually help kill off any bad bacteria that may be present in the milk and they perform dozens and dozens of other functions that are helpful to our bodies. I want to write more on this but it is really a whole new post topic in and of itself.
• There are also over sixty live enzymes present in raw, unpasteurized milk. These enzymes are necessary to remain alive because they aid our body in digesting the milk. Without them our bodies are incapable of properly processing the proteins, vitamins and minerals that are in milk. These live enzymes can also help protect our bodies against asthma, allergies and immune diseases.

Raw Milk is truly a health promoting food.

Pasteurization kills all the enzymes, lowers the vitamin and mineral levels and actually changes the molecular make-up of the milk. When humans come in and alter something that was created perfect generally the result isn't so wonderful. That is the case with pasteurizing milk.

One of the reason why there is so much intolerance to dairy in our country is because most people drink (or try to drink) dead milk. It doesn't have the necessary components in it to properly digest in our bodies so therefore an intolerance presents itself or a reaction happens. I do believe there are true dairy "allergies" but I am talking about "intolerance" not true dairy allergies in this post. There is a significant difference. Milk is fragile and the living properties can be destroyed very easily. This is why I believe only raw milk should be consumed for those who have dairy as a part of their diets.

It can be more expensive and hard to find but I venture to say that the benefits far outweigh the inconvenience. Not to mention, when you actually get your milk from a farmer your kiddos will know that milk actually comes form a cow (or goat or other mammal) not from a factory or a store!) Also, if you get it straight from a farmer you will pay less money than if buying raw milk from a store front.

My youngest son was born with lots of rashes, pretty bad eczema and would physically swell sometimes when he would have milk. This was before we were drinking raw milk. I hesitated to give it to him because it was clear it caused a reaction. It wasn't an anaphylactic type reaction but it was a reaction nonetheless. After a couple of years of giving him milk that was pasteurized I started giving him organic thinking that would help. I really did not notice a difference in him so I started to just have him stay away from milk as much as possible. Then I discovered raw milk though the GAPS diet because of my own health problems. I found a farmer and now we purchase our milk once a week through him. I love getting the milk and being able to skim off the cream and do what I want with it. I have tried my youngest son on the raw milk and I have not seen a reaction in him at all after drinking it. I believe this is because this raw milk has the proper balance of enzymes and beneficial bacteria in it so that my son can properly process it. Both of my boys love milk!

If you do decide to find a farmer who owns milk cows or goats for milk I would recommend going to see the farm and meet the animals. Check out how they milk the animals and their sanitary practices. Make sure that they take some precautions in how they do their milking process. Our farmer actually gets inspected every month to ensure that they are safely obtaining and storing their milk.

Here are some links if you want to read more on the benefits of raw milk.:
From my doctor, Chris Kresser: Click here
Raw Milk Testimonials: Click here
An Excellent and thorough overview of raw milk (some of where I got my info from): Click here
An interesting article by Dr. Mercola on Raw Milk: Click here

Feel good this Friday and try some Raw milk!

~Blessings~

My BIG Summer Project

Usually when summer hits I have a long list of fun projects I'd like to do as well as a list of summer activities. This year, since I was so sick most of the first part of the year, I think I was making up for lost time. I put a lot of the project plate and when all was said and done some projects have moved to the "fall project" list. I managed to finish one really big (to me) project on my list though and our family will benefit from it for years to come. Yay!

One of things I have been wanting and looking for for quite a while has been a school room table. It couldn't be too big or too small. It had to be the right shape and durable. It also had to fit the decor in the school room. I looked and looked and the tables I was finding were either too much money or not exactly what I wanted. I tend to be pretty picky with certain things. This was one of them. I ended up going to some thrift stores and that gave me the idea to buy a low cost table and refinish it.

Bright idea right? I thought so. I had never refinished anything like that in my life. I have built a full size bed frame out of wood before (of course with my Dad's help) but never stripped paint, sanded and repainted a piece of furniture.

I thought that this would be a quick two week project and really that it would take no time at all. I mean after all I saw pinterest ideas everywhere and it only took them two weeks to do a project like this right? No way. I was deceived!

I purchased the table from a person off craigslist and I think it is actually an antique drop leaf table. It also came with four chairs. I will tackle refinishing those in another lifetime! No really I will try and get that done in about a year. No rush on those. Here is the table before. (I had already started disassembling it when I realized I needed to take pictures.)

 These puppies will be getting refinished at a later date. I just could not do them this summer. It would have taken me 300 more hours. I picture these to be the same color as the finished table with fluffy red tie cushions on them.

I started by stripping the white paint off the bottom portion of the table. Easy job right? NO! It took forever. The person who painted this table before painted over dark brown paint that was already there. Because there were two layers of paint I essentially had to go over the table two times with jasco paint stripper, a putty knife (for a scraper) and steel wool. To strip the paint off this portion of the table it literally took me over 40 hours!  The little rings on the table legs (that are decorative) took forever because I had to get into every nook and cranny to strip it otherwise the new paint would show the imperfections. I realized after stripping the first portion of one of the legs this is no two week job! Part of it is my fault too because I just can't do a half done job. I couldn't have painted over what was there. The finished project would have been cheesy. I felt like this truly was an investment and wanted to do it right.

Here is the beginning of the table being stripped of it's paint. Many, many hours went into sitting on the concrete floor of the garage with goggles and mask on stripping away at the yucky white paint.

Thankfully, my husband was feeling physically up to helping me sand the tops of the tables. He has previous professional experience restoring Corvette's so he knows all about sanding as well as refinishing. He did an excellent job sanding and I am so glad. I tried it once when I discovered a section that needed to be done and stunk at it! He helped me out soo much. I was praising God that his back was feeling up to that kind of work too.

Once those were sanded and the table was stripped of all paint, then I had to take tack cloth and get all the fine debris off so it wouldn't get into the new paint.  I knew the colors I wanted to paint the table because I wanted it to match our school room and the shelves I made covers for last year.

One of the funnest parts was picking out the paint. I had never done that before either. I learned A LOT. I was so grateful for my Dad's help (who was a general contractor most of his career and is an expert in all things building and more.) He guided me through what I would need for this project. He also helped me to choose paints that he knew would be durable (for little boys sitting at a table and doing school work on it almost every day) and wipeable. I know marker or paint was bound to get on it and I wanted to make sure I could just wipe it down with a damp cloth and it would not be ruined.

I started the project in May and finished it one week before school started at the end of August! I didn't work on it every single day but pretty much every week of the summer I was doing something with the table. I learned a lot and it felt like a wonderful accomplishment in the end. For the red I had to paint three coats on everything and the blue needed two coats. It really required some perseverance and there were many times I was thinking, "What did I get myself into?" However, now, we have a sweet table we can use for our school room for years to come and when the school season of our life is over I can use it for a craft table. I don't think I will ever get tired of the colors because blue and red are my two favorite colors. I also really love the drop leaf part of it. It works so well in our school space because we can make the table big or small.

Here I am putting the table back together in the school room

Cody was really excited and being the builder that he is he helped my put all the screws in. He's good at it too. His dexterity at 3 amazes me sometimes. I realized as I was putting it together that I forgot to paint three of the bottom portions of the table. I plan on doing that in the next few weeks in all the spare time I have (right.)

Here is the finished table with both side leaves down 

The paint is latex enamel and it is truly really strong and I think it will last for a long time.

I love the size of the table too. With one leaf up we can all sit at it and have enough room. With the other leaf up it will be great for bigger projects. I am so pleased with the finished product. So if anyone ends up pinning this or trying this, know that a refinishing project is truly a blessing but it is A LOT of work, especially if you are going to have to strip paint off first. I knew if I just spray painted over what was there it would peel off in 6 months or the minute it got scrapped by one of the boys.

Here are the before and after photos:

Before

After

Thanks for reading! Sorry for the sarcasm but I really did think this was going to take two weeks. I am a bit cynical after it taking the whole summer. I am grateful though because through hard work comes blessings.

~Blessings~

Creativity

The other day Corbin came downstairs and said, "Mom, you have to come see what I made!" So I went upstairs to his room and was so impressed with his creativity. He absolutely loves his stuffed animals and pretends with them everyday. Most of them have names too!

When I came to the entry of his room he showed me the Nativity Scene he made with his animals. It was so precious!

Here he is proudly displaying his creation!
The stuffed animals appearing in this scene are Louie the Lamb, Minty the mint colored bear, Squeeky the hedgehog as Baby Jesus, Piglet and Woodstock. I am not sure of the other ones names.

He was very proud of his ingenuity in hanging Louie over the manger to be the angel. When Corbin moved his door in and out the "angel" went up and down.

It was truly a blessing to see my sweet little eight year old creating this. I love him so much! We had to leave it up too so that Daddy could see it when he got home from work.

I love how Corbin used his "Small Fry" box from Build a Bear for the manger for Baby Jesus. Also, the two wise men (panda and bear) standing at the front of the manger have pennies on their heads. These are their gifts they brought to Baby Jesus.

This is one of the Shepherds with his staff. Cute!

The "angel" of the Lord.

I am so blessed to get to spend every day with my sweeties! Love them.
~Blessings~

Ten on Tuesday

1.) 11 or 12 more weeks of school left! I can't believe it.

2.) Speaking of school I have loved all of our curriculum this year.  It has been so smooth and I cannot wait to post reviews.  I used all new curriculum and usually there is a learning curve/frustration phase but I didn't experience that this year.  Yay!  I am so glad because the health part of life would not have allowed me to go through a learning curve.

3.) I used to say "ignorance is bliss" not because I really wanted to be ignorant but because the more I learn (especially about food, toxins, our bodies, etc.) the more I wish I didn't know. It is so much easier to just go to the store and buy what I see or get the shampoo that smells good.  But really "knowledge is power."  Because I know the things I do and have learned so much over the past few years I think finally I may be able to get better and allow my children to have a life free (hopefully) from autoimmune diseases and filling up their "bowls" to a toxic level.

4.) I am so thankful for the internet.  Sure it can be a bad thing but the stories I have read and the healing I have heard about does my body good.

5.) I can't believe it but I only have 9 more days and I have finished my 6 month ALCAT elimination diet.  I will post a write up/summary on February 13 on that.  The good, the bad and the ugly!

6.) I started introducing raw milk into our diets. I made raw milk yogurt and raw milk greek yogurt out of it with my new yogurt maker. I can't believe how easy it was.  I think homemade yogurt is going to be a staple in our house.  Yummy.  I can only have about 1-2 tsp. a day right now to heal my intestines.

7.) Steve calls the raw milk "lactolax."  Bet you can't guess why!  Those enzymes (that aren't present in pasteurized milk) certainly work for him.

8.) Did you know that if you start taking probiotics and you have IBS, stomach problems, or yeast issues that you have to start with a very small dosage?  The reason is that when you introduce the good bacteria into your body/intestines they start killing off the bad bacteria which produces a "die-off" effect.  If you introduce too much too fast you an have extreme "die-off" that can cause itchiness, fatigue, headaches, nausea, achiness and lot more.

9.) My husband is healing well from his C5/6 spinal fusion in his neck. It has been almost four weeks.  His nerve pain in his shoulder is gone.  He still has a good amount of pain in his rib near his sternum where they harvested the bone for the fusion.  I guess when they "scoop" out the bone they put pretty intense pressure on the sternum and potentially separate a rib (slightly) from the sternum.  Unfortunately that happened to Steve and it takes a long time to heal.  He is sleeping in the recliner for comfort.  Poor guy!  It is so painful.

10.) Psalm 23 has been in my mind frequently lately.  It comforts me. I pray for the Lord to come back soon and gather us all up to His paradise.  I can't wait!

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

~Blessings~

The month of January

I have to say that I think January has to be my least favorite month of the year. 

Not because of the weather - winter is my second favorite season. Love the snow, wish I could be out playing in it.

Not because of the second semester of school-hard to get into the groove again. 

Not because I miss the holidays.

Because...
In the past 6 out of 8 years in January, due to illness, our family has met our insurance deductible.

This means that we have been so sick in the month of January for 6 of the past 8 years that the costs from our visits to the hospitals, doctors, etc. entirely meet our YEARLY deductible.

I don't like January for that reason.

One year our entire family (including my parents because we were living with them) dealt with the horrible stomach flu in December. We had to bring Cody who was one year old at the time, to the ER for severe dehydration because he couldn't keep anything down. They were not able to get an IV in his tiny veins and had to keep poking him. Miraculously after many hours he was able to hold down a small amount of apple juice.  That was horrible enough but then.....in JANUARY we ended up at Children's Hospital for Corbin. He came down with something strange that we couldn't identify (looked almost like Scarlett fever but he tested negative) and the doctor suspected Kawasaki's disease. RARE. GREAT. It was such an ordeal and very scary and unfortunately scarred Corbin for life for doctors and hospitals.  Good ole' JANUARY!  He didn't end up having Kawasaki's thank the good Lord. 

I will spare you details of other Januaries but have to tell you about this January...

So here we are now in my favorite month of the year in 2013 (insert sarcastic tone.)  Steve had neck surgery (that was planned though.) He had a collapsed disc in the C5/6 area and had to have a spinal fusion.  He is recovering from that but now thinks he has a fractured rib because of the procedure and is in pain from that. I started the year with the flu (right before his surgery), got better for two days (or so I thought) then woke up with severe swelling and itching on my ears and face.  I had just had an annual doctors appointment with a ton of blood tests for all my other health issues.  Didn't have results yet though.  Anyway, I didn't know what the swelling was from. It was VERY scary.  After some treatment it went down for a few days but then came back with a vengeance sending me to the ER because my eyes were almost swollen shut one morning when I woke up. I didn't not even resemble myself. No results at the ER. Frustrating. My other blood tests came back from my other doctor that I had Mononucleosis. Oh I am so happy. This is just what I needed. I also had an MRI for possible MS and thankfully that came back negative. We have been to the hospitals and doctors more this month than I hope to be the rest of the year. I continue to have terrible rashes and itchiness along with extreme fatigue, painful swollen lymph nodes and a lot of questions unanswered. Steve continues to heal but has some unanswered questions too.  I DON'T like JANUARY!  We both continue to have appointments through the rest of this wonderful month.

One day after his surgery.  He gets to wear that horribly uncomfortable contraption for 6-10 weeks all day everyday.  I will spare you a picture of me.  I don't want to scare off all two of my blog readers. I scare myself these days.

I am thankful that it is us going through this and not my kids though. It is so hard to sit in the hospital and watch them in pain or have to go through something so hard.

Pray for us if you think of it. We are in a tough spot at the start of this year.

************************************************************

OK now that I am done with my rant.  Real quick, I did want to show you some beauty that we have here in January.  It has been a record breaking cold year here.  The other morning I woke up and apparently it was foggy overnight but really cold and lots of moisture.  Looking outside was magical. It looked like the trees turned into sparkly snowflakes.  The actual branches were all white.
Check out God's amazing creativity...

It absolutely boggles my mind that every snowflake is different.  Not one is alike!

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Colossians 1:16-17

For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

~Blessings~

It finally happened!

My 7 year old lost his first tooth!  We thought they would never fall out.  It was hanging by a thread and giving me the heeby jeebies.  That sick to my stomach feeling.  I finally pulled it out and with quite a lot of drama from the 7 year old, it finally came out.  In the end he said, after wiping away tears and ceasing screaming, "Oh, I didn't even feel that!"  Wow!  He is so much like me. I remember being so freaked out by loosing teeth that I would literally see red. Screaming and crying always accompanied loose teeth for me. I hated the feeling.

Anyway, cheers to a big milestone for my oldest today...

yes, that is his adult tooth right behind it that has already come in.  He's just happy it fell out before our upcoming dentist appointment.  I am too!

~Blessings~

A bit chaotic

My sink has never looked like this..... seriously.....

I am a clean sink, put your dishes away right after the meal kind of gal.  This sink kept filling up for days and days.  It's OK though, the dishes got done today. Whew!

We have just been so busy.  We went on vacation (a mini-one) last weekend and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  Prepping for that was a feat in an of itself though.  I had to pack my own meals (nine of them to be exact) so I spent a lot of time cooking for that last week. Of course packing for myself and little guys takes a while too.  It was all worth it though.

Also with church ministry and co-op activities along with wrapping up our first semester of homeschool, lots of doctors appointments (between Steve and I) and Christmas (shipping and cards and such) things have been pure craziness.

Of course, I am blessed to be able to have the energy to do all this.  I don't take it for granted and praise God for it everyday.

Anyway, all this to say Lord willing, I hope to be back to regular posts by the weekend or next week.

Meanwhile don't mind the dirty dishes.
~Blessings~

2 years ago...

It was two years ago yesterday that Steve had back surgery.  He had a micro lumbar discectomy. I have written several times on my blog about the process and his recovery.  You can look under my blog labels and looks under "Herniated Disc Surgery" to see them if you are interested. 

I thought that I would write about it now to give an update of how he is doing since his surgery.

Steve starting having back pain a good five years before he had his surgery.  He hoped that his back would heal itself and just get better.  He didn't realize that he had multiple herniated discs as well as some arthritis in his lower back and neck.  Needless to say, his pain got worse through the years.  His sciatic nerve would get pinched by the herniated disc and immobilize him. He tried epidural shots, pain medication, and cortisone and eventually nothing was helping the pain. It would mask it temporarily. He spent many years in pain and he looks back now and wishes (although he agrees God's timing is perfect) that he would have had surgery earlier.

We began our search for a surgeon about 4 months before the actual surgery. Of course we had to have the necessary MRI's done in order to properly diagnose him and know exactly where the worst bulge was coming from as well as multiple professional opinions on what should be done. It turned out that he had an 8MM bulge in his L4/L5 spine area. In order for his pain to go away that disc needed to be fixed because that was what was causing the major pain.

We settled on a very well known Neurosurgeon (who has actually been written about and on TV for his miraculous surgeries he has done. We didn't know this when we chose him though.)  Before we settled on him we had seen an Orthopedic surgeon and we were warned that the solution that kind of surgeon would give would be to have a spinal fusion done. That surgeon did recommend a fusion. We did a bunch of research on that and prayed and decided that was NOT the way to go.  The problems down the road with a fusion could be awful.  If you are in a similar situation now please consult an Orthopedic Surgeon AND a Neurosurgeon.  They go about the "fix" very differently.

We felt peace about choosing the Neurosurgeon.  We prayed a lot about the actual surgery since there are risks. On the day of the surgery everything went as planned and the bulge in his disc was "cut off" and the nerve was placed back in it's proper place. You can read about the week after surgery at the links on my blog.

It took Steve about 3 months to get fully back to life.  He was back to (light duty) work within a month of the surgery which was a praise.  He made baby steps all along the way in healing.  The muscles all had to heal and the inflammation had to go down. Once that did his sciatic pain went away.

Now, two years later, he has a full life.  We find ourselves reminded of all the things he can do that he couldn't do before.  Wrestle with his boys, mountain bike, lift weights, lift heavier things (not too heavy though) and more - all without pain.  He will always have to be careful of picking something TOO heavy up, and twisting his torso too much. In the mornings he is usually a little stiff in his back and when he has long days on his feet his back aches a little.  Other than that he has no pain and the sciatica is gone.  He has a quality of life that we certainly don't take for granted.  We thank God for leading us to a top neurosurgeon who was very skilled and meticulous with a great bedside manner. We thank God for healing Steve! We do pray that the other bulges he has in his spine and arthritis stay pain free as they are now - Lord willing! 

While I was typing this an old hymn came on Pandora.  I thought it fit perfectly what I was typing about and it is one of my favorites.  Click on the link below to hear it. (I have been SO blessed today listening to sweet old hymns while doing my work. I absolutely love them.)

To God Be the Glory

To God be the glory, great things he hath done!
So loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life an atonement for sin,
and opened the lifegate that all may go in.

Refrain:
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father thru Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory, great things he hath done!

2. O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
to every believer the promise of God;
the vilest offender who truly believes,
that moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

(Refrain)

3. Great things he hath taught us, great things he hath done,
and great our rejoicing thru Jesus the Son;
but purer, and higher, and greater will be
our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.

(Refrain)

Late Summer Harvest

Our gardening season is slowly coming to an end. Sure we can plant some more for a fall harvest but I am not sure we will get around to that with homeschool, co-op, church, health issues and "life."  Maybe though.

It has been fun to see little tiny seeds grow into to overflowing green plants that give us food to eat.  The boys have helped me water, weed and harvest consistently.  Cody just loves going out to the peas to stand there and eat them directly out of there pods.  It is cute.  The peas on the table he says "yuck" but peas on the vine, "yummy!"  Cracks me up.  He also has taken a liking to strawberries.  He wouldn't touch a strawberry before the garden (because of the texture) but now he eats them out of the garden!

I thought I share with you the last of the garden pictures for the season.

Harvesting the carrots.... this got to be pretty funny, you will see why...

Hmmm..... our soil must have had issues. :-)

Weird...

Three for the price of one!

This our corn.  We can't harvest this yet, it is not quite ready.  I cannot believe how tall it gets.  It got a lot taller than our Sunflowers.

We had a huge harvest that day! :-)

These bell peppers were interesting. Some of them started out a blackish purple and now they are turning green and red. I will probably be canning these into roasted peppers since I can't have these until next year because of my ALCAT regimen.

I have been using Kale in stir fry's and smoothies.  It is such an awesome superfood!

Our peaches are coming along nicely!  This is the most anticipated fruit for me.  I can actually eat it (in moderation) and it is my favorite fruit.  For such a baby tree it sure is giving us a lot of fruit this year.

We have been harvesting lettuce for a lot of the summer and it is at it's end now.  It was sure nice to have organic lettuce on hand whenever we needed it though.

Here is our bounty on one of the days we harvested. We are still waiting on our potatoes which are going to be ready soon.  They are "bubbling" over at the top of the soil.  Thank you Lord for blessing our garden this year.

The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:11

~Blessings~

 

Shadow Daddy Day

Steve had the day off yesterday but still had to go in for about 3 hours to wrap up some business.  Usually when he is off he spends special time with Cody which helps me while Corbin and I get down to the nitty gritty of school.  You know, the stuff we really need to concentrate on.  It's a win win.  Cody LOVES spending special one on one time with Daddy. The other days Cody is with me he does preschool which he loves too.

Yesterday Cody got to go into work with Daddy.  He dressed up in his collared button down shirt and looked handsome just like his Daddy.  It was so cute.

They had a fun time and from what I hear Cody was very helpful (as long as he had his snacks!)

Fathers Day

We had a very nice Father's day here.  Steve really wanted a rest day.  He works so many hours that a day of doing nothing sounded great to him.  After we went to church and had rest time we went over to my Aunt and Uncle's house. My Dad and Mom are out of town visiting my brother and sister-in-law so we will celebrate with my Dad when we get back. He was missed.

The boys made cards for their Daddy and I framed a family picture for Steve to put on his desk at work.  My Aunt bought him some yummy fudge to spoil him some more! We thank God for Steve in our life and that he is a great Dad to Corbin and Cody.  They absolutely adore their Dad.

Steve is easy to please.  For his Father's Day meal he wanted a Papa Murphy's Chicago style stuffed pizza and Dr. Pepper. My Uncle is also easy to please so he enjoyed that too!  I am still eating differently than everyone for the most part and this wasn't Gluten Free so I didn't get to eat it.  It looked good though! 

My Aunt and Cousins set up the Slip N' Slide for the boys and they were in heaven!  It kept them busy almost the whole time. Anything to do with water and they are captured.  We love summer days.

I made Cherry Vanilla Dark Chocolate Ice Cream for dessert.  It was a hit!  I will share that recipe with you in the next post about the Cherry Festival we went to!

I just love spending lazy days with family.  Talking and creating memories together is such a gift from the Lord.  I am grateful and full of joy.

My Uncle is such a great guy.  He is a wonderful man of God and adores his family and spending time together.  He loves his two kids and is a great father.  We are so grateful for his wisdom and time spent with us! He has a special place in our hearts.

~Blessings~