Ten on Tuesday

1. Holy week was so much more poignant for me this year.  It always matters and means something to me and I find that each year I grow in my adulthood Holy week takes on new meanings and speaks to me in different ways.  This year God has been working on me so much through my health trial and suffering that I felt in a SMALL way I could relate to a teeny tiny amount of suffering Jesus went through.  Oswald Chambers once said, "You can't be crucified IN Christ if you haven't walked that path to Calvary." This hit home to me this year.  I feel like in a small way I have walked maybe a couple feet of that path to Calvary through my health trial and suffering the past 7 years (but especially the last year.)

2. We did our usual traditions of Resurrection Eggs along with reading Benjamin's Box The Story of the Resurrection Eggs. We did our Triumphal Entry reenactment, He's Alive Buns and dying Easter eggs along with our Maundy Thursday foot washing ceremony and Good Friday church Service. This year we also started something new. We made a poster all about Holy week.  There were eight squares on the poster and each day resembled something Jesus went through during the week: Palm Sunday, The Cleansing of the Temple, The questioning of Jesus, The anointing of Jesus, Maundy Thursday/Last Supper, The crucifixion/Good Friday, The Tomb and the Resurrection. We read the bible passage each day that pertained and then the boys had to draw something from the scripture on the poster to remember the day.  It was fun at the end of the week to have a memory poster of Jesus' last week - Holy week and see the kid's artwork.. I got the idea from this book: Christ In Easter: a Family Celebration

We had brown eggs this year to dye and they came out jewel colored!  They were my favorite eggs yet.

3. On Easter day we had a first!  In the evening, after our late Easter lunch and annual egg hunt we went out (after dessert too) and had a second dessert.  We roasted marshmallows around my Dad's fire pit.  It was a beautiful sunset and such a nice time.  I felt blessed I got to see the sun rise that day and the sunset that day!  I was bushed the next day though!

4. I made this Pavlova for Easter dessert again this year.  Let me tell you - IT WAS TORTURE NOT BEING ABLE TO EAT IT! Yes, I am screaming that.  Holidays are THE hardest being on these crazy diets.  If I was on the Full GAPS Diet it would be different but I am not.  Being around all the Easter food that day was extremely hard.  I wont lie! I did deal with quite a bit of discouragement throughout the day in regards to food.

Seriously decadent!  Soft yet crunchy pillowy meringue crust filled will lemon curd whipped cream and topped with strawberries.  OH MY GOODNESS! Yum.

5. Thanks to a good friend, I found a source for raw milk. You know the kind that is not ultra-pasteurized and homogenized?  The kind that has good enzymes and building blocks of life still alive in it.  I prayed for a while to find a farmer to supply us with this at a good price.  God answered my prayers.  We now pick up our milk organic, raw milk every Thursday from our farmer friend.  It is so cool too because he is going to supply us with farm fresh organic eggs AND grass fed beef with the fat and bones all for an excellent price.  I am SO thankful!  He is the nicest guy too.  He even said that he would hatch us chickens if we want to start having our own.  Maybe in the near future! I am also looking into beekeeping.  We can't have that here at our house but we can at my parents.  Honey is getting expensive due to the bee shortage.

6. I made raw milk sour cream and raw milk yogurt with some of the milk we got.  I am still trying to perfect it so when I do I will be posting about it.  It did turn out good and the boys loved the fruit sweetened one I made with strawberries and pineapple for them. They have it sometimes in the morning for breakfast.

6. Our annual Homeschool Encouragement night - Curriculum night is coming up and I am so excited. I am a curriculum junkie.  It is so much fun to see them in person and get excited about what I am going to use in the fall for school. 

7. I have been conflicted lately.  There are seriously so many books I want to read.  I keep checking them out from the library and forming stacks all over the place for me to read and I end up playing a tug of war with scrapbooking, computer stuff (like blogging), and reading.  I want to make more time to read though and it WILL happen. I did just read this book about Oswald Chambers though and it was enlightening.  Did you know that he never actually wrote a book?  All of his books were done by his wife after his untimely death at a young age (in his 40's.)  She compiled a lot of his writings and sold them as books. Thanks to her, we have My Utmost for His Highest and many other of his writings compiled to read and learn more about Christ.  His faith was amazing.

8. Friends have told me numerous times that they have tried to comment on my blog and had a problem.  I am curious as to how many people have this problem so if you read this post would you mind commenting on the post in the comments section below so I can try and figure out what the problem is?  Also if you could tell me if your comment came from a mobile device or a home computer it would help.  Thanks!

9. I am itching to update my blog. An entire re-design, probably not on blogger either.  My own actual website.  The problem is finding the time to do it.  I know right now it can't happen because of everything going on but maybe over the summer?  I will be praying about when and wait on the Lord's timing to see if that is something I should be spending my time on.

10. God has answered my prayers in finding some support in regards to my health walk.  I have had to navigate this entire 7 years almost alone.  What I mean by that is that I knew no one who had the same convictions of treating naturally and was going through similar health issues to go through this along side me.  I have certainly had A LOT of support in getting me through (thankfully) but no one that can wholeheartedly relate on the thyroid struggles, diet struggles, emotional struggles, financial struggles, doctor struggles and more.  God answered my prayers and  gave me some friends interested in doing the GAPS diet and dealing with several of the same issues.  We met for the first time last Saturday and I am so excited to have a our little mini support group. It is, and already has been, such a blessing. 

11. (Bonus) Today we were doing a project for History  and we had to paint Clay Pots like they did in ancient Greece.  We went to the store and bought pots and I had paint.  The boys and I got started and I told Cody sit in his chair correctly otherwise you will knock your pot off and break it.  Well what do you think happened?  Yup!  You're right, he broke it when he was almost done.  Oh, the crocodile tears.  I felt so bad for him.  For his disobedience he got the natural consequence - no pot.  Then shortly after Corbin was almost done with his and he got it too close to the edge of the table and dropped and broke his TOO!  AGGGHHH!  Tears everywhere.  Corbin was so sweet though, he said I will buy Cody another pot and himself one too if I would take them.  So sure enough we went back to the store and got more.  They redid them.  The first ones were better because they took more time but at least they got to have something to show for their time and I think they did a good job. What an ordeal.  I had fun painting mine though and didn't break it! :-) Aren't you proud of me?  We are going to plant some herbs in these outside after I clear coat them.

I hope you have a wonderful week and look forward seeing your comments (or not- if it doesn't work) to see if I have blog comment problems.

~Blessings~

Pavlova with Lemon Curd and Berries

I had been wanting to make this dessert since before I was told to abstain from gluten.  After that diganosis I really wanted to make it because I knew it was gluten free and would still be decadent and yummy.  Thse are the things I tend to miss with a GF diet. (I am adapting though.)

The perfect opportunity came with Easter to make this Pavlova.  What a wonderful spring dessert!

Do you know what a Pavlova is? 

Basically it is a 7-9 inch round of perfectly cooked meringue shaped like a basket.  Slightly crispy on the outside and marshmallowy on the inside.  You can fill it with fresh berries and drizzle on berry sauce or you can put a layer of homeade, tangy lemon curd down first, then top with berries.  There are really endless possibilities. 

I highly recommend making this.  It is easy, beautiful, tart, sweet, decadent and gooey all at the same time!

Click on the title for the recipe I used...

Pavlova with Lemon Curd and Berries

Tidbits in April

1. I think Wednesday is my new favorite day of the week.  Lately it is a day where I feel the best mentally and physically.  Don't know why though.
2. I have an eyelash growing down and even when I put mascara on it still goes down and gets in the way.  It's annoying.
3. I made my first gluten free bread with Corbin the other day.  I am storing it under my pillow in case an intruder enters our home and then I can use it as a weapon. Bleck...
4. We watched The Passion of the Christ last night.  It had been 7 years since I had seen it and it really changed my perspective and focus. It humbled me. What Jesus endured for us cannot even be put into words.
5. We are in the thick of Easter week around here doing old traditions and creating new ones.  I have been using Thriving Family magazine (one of my favorites) for some really good ideas.

Here are some of our old Easter traditions and soon to become new traditions: 

We made palm branches and then re-enacted Palm Sunday with the boys and Read John 12:12-13 - they loved it.

We discussed the meaning of the word "Hosanna."

We baked the afore mentioned bread and were supposed to give it to a family in need along with some Easter goodies. Yea - didn't give that one away.  We talked about Jesus being the bread of life.

We talked about the significance of Passover and may implement some new traditions with this next year.

We died Easter egg's last night and talked about where the tradition of the Easter egg came from.

I sent Corbin on Easter scavenger hunt today to find various items around the house that represented Easter (tomb, sin, cross....etc.)

We will be making our He's Alive Buns tomorrow (sadly I will not be able to partake, it's probably better not to grow my muffin top anyway!)

We will be doing our normal Maundy Thursday foot washing tomorrow evening as a family.  We will read John 13:1-17.

We will be purchasing a red carnation and adding red food coloring to the water.  We will talk about how Jesus was a lamb without blemish or defect and then took on the sins of the world.  Over the days we will see the carnation turn red.

We have been using our resurrection eggs every night after dinner along with reading Benjamin's Box: The Story of the Resurrection eggs.

We will be attending church on Good Friday and taking communion. I want to do something more on this day to help Corbin really understand it but I am not sure what yet.

We will also be going to church on Sunday and worshipping Jesus for his death and resurrection.  The same day we will have a mega Easter egg hunt here with an early dinner. We will be reading Matthew 27-28.

I really enjoy celebrating and reflecting at Easter time. It is the basis of my faith and without it I would be lost. 

He is risen - He is risen indeed!

He's Alive Buns

I like to try and do fun stuff with Corbin that has to do with the up and coming holiday.  Sometimes it's crafts, sometimes it has to do with cooking but if it a Christian holiday I always try to find a way to incorporate the TRUE meaning of the holiday into our creative session.  When I saw this recipe in my MOMS of all Seasons newsletter I knew I had to try this with Corbin this year. My friend Michelle M. created the recipe and shared it in the newsletter.  They are called He's Alive Buns and they are really yummy!

Here are some of the ingredients.  Forgive the photography skills here, I had to take this one quick because Corbin couldn't wait to get started.

First you pop open the biscuits.  You'll need to flatten them out a bit to fit the whole marshmallow in the middle.

Wrap the biscuit around the marshmallow and seal it shut.

Then the goodness begins!  Dip the biscuit already laden in butter in more butter! Melted butter of course.  After that, dip it into a cinnamon and sugar mixture, coating all sides.

As you can see Corbin had to lick his fingers.

Have I told you that cinnamon and sugar brings me great joy? LOVE it!

Cook them according to the biscuit package recommendations.  Here is my dear son waiting patiently.

He's Alive, He has risen! The tomb is empty. Praise God.  Now I must tell you that this photo does not do these buns justice.  They are ooey gooey on the inside and bottom and crunchy and crusty on the outside.  If I had my Macro Lens then I could have gotten a much better shot of this decadence.

My family gobbled these up and I wont tell you how many I had.

The Recipe

1 package tube biscuits

1 package large marshmallows (you only need 8 though)

3Tlbs melted butter

1 tsp. cinnamon

5 or 6Tlbs. sugar 

Take each biscuit out and stretch and flatten it enough to fit the marshmallow inside.  Wrap the biscuit around the marshmallow and seal really well.  Dip the biscuit in melted butter and then dip it in the cinnamon & sugar mixture.  Lay on a foiled line cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.  Cook according to biscuit packaging.  Eat them when they are warm.  You wont be able to just have one.

Luke 24

The Resurrection

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.  They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.  While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them.  In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen!  Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again,' "  Then they remembered his words.