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Showing posts from April, 2011

Bring me anything that brings You glory.

Writing is therapeutic right? Some probably can't imagine sharing details of their life like this, but I feel like I need to. Yesterday I couldn't get Mercy' Me's song, "Bring the Rain," out of my head. Specifically the line, "Bring me anything that brings You glory." I sincerely and fearfully prayed it yesterday, knowing that He was going to answer. I had a sense of impending doom all afternoon. I assumed it had to do with all the Motrin I was taking for the pinched nerve in my neck. I had also received a clue in my devotional from yesterday, looking back now, that something was about to happen. The subject matter was on closed and open doors. This morning, Seth informed me that he was let go from his job. Apparently they didn't like the fact that he was using his sick and vacation days as they accrued. Odd, since that's the reason they are given to employees. I'm not a fan of his former place of employment, never have been, but we were

Read this book!

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Not done yet, but amazed at the information packed in this book... please read Free Range Learning ! (It is available through www.metrolibrary.org for those in Oklahoma) and on Amazon for $16! From the website ... "Free Range Learning advocates for the child’s right to learn naturally and demonstrates how to enfold this approach into daily life. It incorporates ancient knowledge as well as current research, highlighting wisdom shared by over 100 families from around the world. In this useful book readers will discover a wealth of inspiring ideas for connecting with nature, reinvigorating their communities and sustaining the love of learning. If you need one volume about educating the whole child, Free Range Learning is that book."

Healthy "No Bake" Cookies

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(That may or may not be chocolate or mud on her nose...) I adapted this recipe from Tropical Traditions,  Cocoa-Nut Peanut Butter Balls.  This recipe without any changes is awesome, but my family  I go through these so fast, I wanted to add extra healthy ingredients to make them last longer. (I have made 3 double batches in the past 7 days.) The following is the ingredient list for a double batch which makes about 36 large cookies. One ingredient that you will need for this that most don't have on hand is coconut cream. It is very easy to make and will leave your hands feeling unbelievably smooth. You will need: A blender 2 cups raw shredded coconut (from the health food store, not the sweetened kind you bake with.) 2 1/4 cups of hot filtered water, not over 120 degrees. (Makes a little over 1/2 cup of coconut cream) Add the coconut and the hot water to the blender and blend for 2-3 minutes on high speed. Have a medium sized glass bowl waiting with a thin dish towel

We are not the helpless ones.

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I've been overwhelmed by helplessness this week. The magnitude of the orphan crisis in this world completely overwhelms me and shuts me down when I start thinking too deeply about it. I imagine that's what prevents so many from becoming involved. The reasoning that if you can only help one, what does it matter? Can you imagine if all of us helped one? The problem would cease to exist. We are so busy living our lives for ourselves and our families that we refuse to give God's commands a second thought. We believe that ministering to orphans is not our calling, but someone else's. I believed this for the last 5 years. I thought that God's plan for us was to build a house and become self-sustainable so that we would have to rely on no one, even Him. What silly thinking that was! God can't work in our lives if we don't have to rely on Him at all. God met me right where I was a couple days ago, by means of the Fostering Hope devotional put together by Dr. Deb

Cloth wipes concoction

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I started using cloth wipes about 8 months ago. It has really been a good experience, or at least as good as a wipe experience can be. One of my pet peeves about it though was that just using filtered water in the spray bottle didn't help the wipe glide over the poo covered bum like store bought disposable wipes. I fixed the problem! I added a squirt of natural almond oil to the spray bottle. I also added about 8 drops of essential tea tree oil because it is naturally antiseptic, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral. Score! (I also add a few drops of the tea tree oil to every cloth diaper load I wash.) For cloth wipes, I just cut up old receiving blankets. They frayed a little after the wash, but not enough for me to take time to figure out how to hem them. 8 months later, I have yet to have one with a stain. Click the links above if you want to know where I buy my oils.

If it seems we are crazy...

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(Written on Saturday, April 9 and had to wait to post until all parties involved were informed.) "If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life." 2 Corinthians 13-14 I love this verse from the New Living Translation because I'm pretty sure that people will think we're crazy when they've found out what we've done. I'm okay with that. We're crazy in a God way. :) God has opened doors this week that I never knew existed and never would have known existed had the whole mess in Washington D.C. never happened. Because of that, the closing on our land was cancelled last Friday because funding would be unable to come through on the following Monday if the government shutdown. Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed when we found out Thursday afternoon tha

Brighton's 5th birthday

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B eautiful boy, we love you so much. R ational I maginative G rumpy when you wake up. :) H elpful always. T ruthful (a little too much at times.) O ldest N ever gives up. I look at this picture and it makes my heart swell. It captures my baby's beautiful spirit. He is one of the sweetest and most sensitive kids you will ever meet. He can sense when something's wrong without me saying anything. He's always helping me keep the other two children safe and out of trouble. He would much rather help me around the house than play with toys. God blessed me so much when he gave me this angel. I pray that God gives me all the love, patience and wisdom in the world to continue to mold and raise this little boy to live for Jesus. He's well on his way. (Here are a few more pictures taken on his birthday by my best friend .)   BLESSED

Water Kefir Withdrawal

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:-( So my grains have not been happy this past month. They will not make anything other than very syrupy water kefir. I cannot drink it. I've been trying different things to fix the problem and nothing has worked. Thankfully I'm picking some up from a friend next week because I am having serious withdrawals. I was drinking close to 32 ounces every day and I haven't had more than a few sips over the past month. I didn't think for a second that I would have such noticeable differences in my food cravings and my overall attitude. The two biggest things I've noticed are: Sugar and fast food cravings have returned. Luckily I have fended most of them off, except for some unlucky chocolate covered cranberries in my pantry. I have been seriously patting myself on the back for the past 6 months about how, "I don't even have a tiny desire to drink a soda pop now." Well, apparently that super strong will power was just an awesome benefit of drinking water