Not physically, but in cyberspace. This blog has moved to LivingAsOfTheDay.Com.

I've really enjoyed being here, but I am completely computer illiterate, My Cousin was helping me with the changes I needed to make around here, but he's in college and not available as often as I would like. As a result, I moved somewhere I felt was dummied down to my level. :)

Please move with me! I would hate it if this meant the end of our internet friendship!

See you there!

.ambre,

Since I see them all all afternoon, by the time it's their turn to be prayed over, I am aware of specific struggles they are having that I can lift up for them. It's just a quiet moment between the two of us and God before they sleep and it's been having a supernatural calming effect on some very tightly wound and wounded children! 

Erik and I have been praying for our Miss N.'s two boys since we moved in two years ago. We were specifically asking God that they would put their trust in Him for salvation while they were still young.

Last week, God said, "Yes."

Praise the Lord! God is faithful to His promises. He says, in Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek Me and find Me when you seek me with all your heart." These boys have been seeking and God's Word did not come back void! Wednesday night they both chose to put their trust in the God Who had given His Son so that they could spend eternity with Him!

This has greatly changed our nightly prayer ritual. For starters, instead of asking God to bring them to His throne of grace, now we are seeking Him to shine Truth into their hearts and to speak to the lies currently residing there. They also don't just want to be recipients any more! Their mother confided that they had started praying over her and asking God to reveal Himself to her. Are you moved yet? I pray so!

Last night was one of the best nights of my life since I chose to give my life to Christ. Let me tell you about it...

These have been some crazy past few weeks.

Physically, I have been stretched to far outside of my comfort zone, way beyond my natural talent level, and all on little sleep.

Spiritually, I have been praying more than I ever have before because I can see and feel the battles being waged for the souls around me. I have watched God bring three, possibly four, of the people we have been serving, in the last six days alone to His throne where He wrote their names in His Book in His Son's blood. 

Emotionally, this has been a battle. I am an introvert who loves to manage people and has a real burden for hurting kids. I will repeat though: I am an introvert. Being front and center from when I rise to when I collapse at night hearing my name chanted by the masses of needy children is overwhelming, but I serve a big God. Way bigger than my limitations and as I tell the kids, "When I am weak, He is strong", to which they quickly point out, "But, He's always strong!". Exactly.

Yesterday, during nap time, I sat down with Miss A. to go over with her what her oldest son had signed up for at the church retreat the day before when trusting in Jesus. I've been answering her questions for weeks now and going over a lot of Scripture, so I just felt led to lay it all out, in order, and ask her if she wanted to make a decision for Jesus as Lord. It was a great conversation and at the end of it, she put her trust in God and not in man.

Praise the Lord. You are a good God.

By bedtime, I was feeling beat. I just wanted to pray for the kids and go home and sleep! As I walked into the room and knelt down on the bed, my neighbor's youngest (8) jumped towards me asking if he could pray for me tonight. I just felt so loved by that request! 

"I would love to be prayed for! Thank you!", I answered. He and his brother knelt in front of me and he drew a cross on my forehead as we bowed our heads.

"Dear God, thank you for Ambre and for her teaching us about You and Your love from the Bible. Please keep teaching her about You when she reads her Bible so that she can keep learning stuff to teach to us. Amen."

I melted. I just felt surrounded by Angels and the Holy Spirit in that moment, I can't even begin to describe it. I felt so blessed.

His prayer was such a beautiful reflection of his desire to learn more about the Lord and proof of how far God has brought him in such a short time. The first time he prayed after Erik finished Bible time a couple weeks ago was a request for more money than any of us and included a rump wiggling dance. God truly has grabbed his heart!

Thank you to those of you who have been lifting our family up in prayer. You too are swinging a sword in this war.

His servant,

ambre

Our next door neighbor is an agnostic single mother of adopted sons. She, Miss N., has a real soft spot for people down on their luck and always seems to have some other single Mom hanging around that she's hired to do light housekeeping because she knows they can really use the funds. Her newest project was a nice lady, Miss A., who's son was in the same class as Miss N.'s eldest. I met Miss A. in passing a couple weeks ago, but hadn't spoken to her since. Our Little Lady saw Miss A.'s twin six year old girls outside on Monday of last week and wanted to join them so I went out as well to say hello. We ended up talking for awhile and I felt led to invite her to come and sit with me during the day instead of sitting alone next door while Miss N. was at work. This is the response I received:

"Oh, yeah, that would be great. Are you and your husband like, really religious or, you know, super religious like?"

I had to chuckle since a "yes" answer could mean all sorts of things: super religious cause I'm a bond servant of Christ, super religious and I dance around bond fires with goat heads, or super religious and ready to go on a neighborhood jihad? See what I mean? Very broad question.

"We both have relationships with Jesus" I offered.

"Great! Then when i come over can you pray for me?"

Praise the Lord. How often does that happen to you? To me: never before. Within 24 hours, I was doing a Beginning in Christ Bible Study with the Mother and reading Children's theology and teaching memory verses to Miss A. and Miss N.'s five youngest children. I am now shepherding a total of seven young hearts (including the two born of my womb) every afternoon until bedtime with my amazing husband. It's complete insanity, but God is moving mightily. I doubt it will be too many more days before the questions these eight to ten year old boys are throwing at me about God and His Word surpass my ability to fathom an answer to. They truly are seeking to get at the heart of God. 

Please keep my family in your prayers as we move into this new season. Miss A. and company have now moved in with Miss N. and her duo for an unknown length of time. The Lord knows though, and He has certainly put us here for such a time as this...

Matthew 11:25-26

At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,

because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned,

and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure."

Erik was sick as a dog over the weekend, as was our poor Baby Girl. My Mom and Dad were in town as were my wonderful  in-laws. My Mother-in-law and I went to two fantastic sessions on Anti-Aging and Weight Loss by a world renowned Physician on Saturday. Sunday was church and a delicious brunch at Iowa River Power Company with my pa rents sans the sicky, Erik. This was all on top of a trip last week to Peoria for an orchard visit with my Aunt Gloris and sister followed by an unexpected drive to Fort Madison for my dear Great Aunt Bernice's visitation after her death on Monday.

Weeks like that tend to leave me feeling quite overwhelmed and unsure where to even start digging myself out when it comes to caring for our home. Today I was clearing off a burner on the stove to make breakfast (before giving up and handing our Lara Bars). I was wallowing a bit in discouragement when the Lady said "Wow, Mom! This window is really clean!" I looked over to find her admiring the dining room window base. I guess she was expecting dead bugs and dust, but I had vacuumed it out last week. I was lifted in my spirits to have my daughter notice this little corner of tidy and to have remarked on it.

"Yeah, Honey? I'm glad! Mommy did that."

"No, you didn't" I was corrected, "Miss Navy did." 

"No, Honey, it was Mommy."

"Nope, Miss Navy". And with that, she sauntered off. 

I'm sorry, but someone needs to give this child a reality check! When a Mommy does something... anything!... she should be graciously thanked. In a perfect world, the credit for a job well done does not go to the IMAGINARY FRIEND! Hrmph!

I wouldn't be so put offended if it weren't for the fact that I think the Little Lady actually believes it! Every day at nap time I'm told Miss Navy is staying up to help me clean. I guess she was just sure this was some of Miss Navy's handiwork.

I wish! It's about time Miss Navy started pulling her own weight around here... 

When I first started receiving physical healing as a result of diet changes this spring my Mother charged me with the previous verse. She encouraged me not to get so wrapped up in my physical health that I would lose my spiritual pulse. I have really been meditating on that since and saw some real spiritual healing in our home last night due to the power of Jesus and the healing wrought through His truth. 

****As a disclaimer, of sorts, the following emotional reaction is not typical on my part, but not unheard of either. Any time one feels they are reacting to a situation in a way that is bigger that the current situation actually calls for, they should identify it as an emotional trigger and seek the Lord.****

Erik and the girls and I were driving home from three nice unplanned visits with different friends in Coralville. We were having a nice conversation recapping some discussions that had been had throughout the day when Erik made an observation. It was an innocent comment that would have meant nothing to anyone else, but it got my blood pumping. Literally. My heart rate elevated and my throat began to constrict. I found myself immediately argumentative and angry. I knew I had to win my point at any cost and began throwing out arguments I knew I didn't even agree with. All the while I was just getting more and more agitated and angry towards him. 

The crazy thing about situations like this (yes, I've been here once before) is that the person I'm directing my anger at is typically not the person I'm truly upset with. They generally are just the person who unfortunately has triggered an emotional reaction, much stronger then the situation warrants, as a result of a much deeper issue. The issue is typically rooted in a lie I believed years before but have never replaced with truth. When I found my mind chanting the ridiculous phrase "I hate you, i hate you" i quickly took that specific lie captive to God but then found my hatred shifted towards the subject at hand and knew instantly that I was just strongly triggered. I tried to explain this to Erik, but it's somewhat hard to comprehend what the fire-breathing dragon in the seat next to you really needs at the moment. As a result (of being crazy!) the issue continued to escalate. 

I was losing more and more control as the seconds passed. I was resisting the urge to kick out the passenger window and instead just pounded my fists down on the dash while demanding "Listen to me!". I was trying not to scare the kids and to keep my voice as calm as possible, but it was as if my brain was split in two: the rational side saying "you know this is not true, just calm down until you get home and can pray about it" and "don't emotionally scar the babies!" while the irrational side is whispering "it will never get better- you should just jump out of the car" and " he hates me! I hate him!". By the time we hit our exit ramp I was hyperventilating. I rolled the window down and tried to breath as the breeze cooled the hot tears streaming down my cheeks. My strong husband laid his free hand on me and prayed aloud for me as I tried to regain the ability to take in oxygen slowly. His prayers were answered and my breathing began to calm. Then the Lady in the backseat sent up her simple prayer of faith "dear, Jesus, please help Mommy feel better" which further calmed me.

By the time we reached home I was calm enough to call my Mom. There is a style of prayer advocated by the Theophostic Prayer Ministry which I have had great success with in the past. With it you identify emotions you are feeling and ask the Lord to take you back to a memory of a time before when you felt the same way. You do this until you have reached the first time you felt those emotions and identify what lie you believed at that time. You then ask Jesus to speak to the lie and replace it with His truth. It may sound crazy, but it has brought life transformation to so many people that I know, myself included! 

We prayed for awhile and I ended up receiving healing for two lies: "I am not worth very much" and "They (my parents) don't like me". Can I tell you how huge that is? These are lies I have unconsciously believed since I was five. In how many ways have they affected my life and relationships? I have no idea, but Praise the Lord for His healing truth! 

I rejoined my family downstairs as the Little Lady had picked out a song on the IPod she felt would help me feel better (it did) that she wanted me to listen to. After it was done I started talking through the events of the car ride with her. I explained that MeeMom had prayed with Mommy so that Mommy would not believe the devil's lies anymore. I told her that Jesus had told Mommy these truths: that I was precious and His Beloved! 

As I was was sharing this with her I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to ask her a question based on the original memory in which I had begun to believe those lies. I asked her "Hey, honey? When Mommy and Daddy put you and your sister to bed and then we get up and leave you there, do you think it's because we don't like you?" She started crying and buried her head in my lap weeping out the word "Yes!".  Praise the Lord! Erik and I have both been having relational issues with her since she had to sleep separate from us for a week in the guest room (it was too humid to sleep upstairs) and we've been at a loss as to what was wrong. We were sure she had been really wounded by the experience though.

I asked her if we could pray about it and we did. We told Jesus the lie and she asked Him if it was true and He told her "No, it is not true!". Then we asked Him to tell her what the truth was and He told her "They do like you!". Hooray! This may sound too simple to amount to much, but that's just because you weren't there last night to see the peace and joy on her face and to watch her throw herself into her Daddy's arms for a long cuddle. You also missed it this morning when her face went into a splitting grin when reminded of the fact that Jesus had spoken truth to her last night. If you had seen those things, or felt my own peace and relief, you would desire it for yourself, I am sure!

My lies have not all been replaced with truth, but I will continue praying about them with my Mom this week and on my own. I do not need to fear for I know Whom I have believed and I know He is faithful. 

***Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or desire to find out more about how you too can find emotional healing from Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith!***

This is part of Monday Mania to hopefully encourage others through my honesty to pursue the benefits of Whole Health through the One Who created us for His own glory.

Last week was quite the adventure. Saturday night I developed an outer ear infection in the right ear and by Sunday night I had one in my left ear. These were not just slightly uncomfortable but garlic, onion and olive oil will kick it types. These are of the "oh, my ear is itching" to "oh, my ear is swollen shut and it's only been four hours" variety. It's swell fun. The swelling was so intense it ruptured my right ear drum. Not so enjoyable. The real icing on the cake though was waking up one morning with double pinkeye. Talk about rubbing salt on the wound! The Doctor (yes, that was my breaking point) prescribed eye drops, ear drops, and an antibiotic. I filled the last two. There was no way I was paying $77 for eye drops when I knew a little colloidal silver would take care of it in a jiffy. Instead, I meandered over to the local Whole Health Store and spent my $77 on Immunity Builders, FOS to counter the antibiotic damage to my flora, a huge bottle of silver, and a coconut macaroon. Money well spent!

I am not anti-Doctors. I just want to be clear on that. My personal belief is that people tend to go to them to quickly and too often. I feel that often when I go to the Doctor my symptoms are treated but the root cause is not. That is cause for great concern for me. Why is it that when I get an infection it crashes my immune system and runs rampant? Why do I get every infection that meanders by? These are questions I will continue searching for the answers to. 

We are all wonderfully designed by our Creator. There are laws of nature which must be followed for our bodies to operate as intended. I know my body has been greatly abused in the past 27 years. I want to make amends. By the grace of God this machine will be rebooted and I will again have the energy necessary to serve the Lord to my full potential. Can I get an Amen?

On Monday, I will personally be starting the GAPS protocol Stage 1 again(I am not going to put my husband through that again!). We had such wonderful results last time we did the intro diet, I am concerned I went too quickly due to my excitement and didn't reap the full benefits. For example I have a full yeast issue I would like to know is dealt with this time. I will also be starting a liver and gallbladder detox. I am really excited to finally be doing this one and can't wait to let you know how it goes! It's going to be a full month for sure! Let's get started!

Our first three winners of their very own tube of Pearly White Teeth are:

Cathy Payne

Blakely

and Alexis!

Congrats to you all! 

Now, for the Grand Prize Winner! The winner of two tubes of Pearly White Teeth, Peppermint Shimmer Lip Balm, and a bar of soap of her choosing is Heidi Powers!

Thank you to all who entered, I wish everyone could have won! 

I will be contacting the winners over the next couple of days for their addresses. Have a great afternoon everyone!

I know a few new people have subscribed as part of the Giveaway. Yay! I'm glad you've joined us. :) In case you've been regretting that decision thinking "goodness! this lady never writes!", I do! Really, really! 

I have been suffering (understatement of the year) from a double ear infection that started Saturday evening. As I lie awake at night waiting for death (okay, now I'm just being dramatic, but it really hurts!) I've been drafting some great posts in my head. Expect them here soon!

The Lord has also been really using this illness for His glory. I can tend to be stiff necked and think I know what is best for our family and during this time the Lord has really addressed that sin and convicted me that by usurping Erik's spiritual headship in the home I am not protecting my daughters best interest, as I've claimed. What I am really doing is putting them in grave danger by not allowing them to rest under the protection of the headship of their Father. Praise the Lord!

This has also been a good time for Erik and I to have some honest conversations about some topics we've never seen eye to eye on and finally find ourselves (as usual) in basic agreement just using the wrong words to convey that. Oh, joy! 

Praise the Lord, Who uses all things for His glory!

You probably won't hear from me again until I announce winners on Friday. I need to give any coherent moments to my ladies!

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (King James Version)

9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee:

for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly

therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of

Christ may rest upon me.

10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches,

in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake:

for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Before we get to the giveaway (Hooray!), let's chat about what you'll be winning and answer some questions. Shall we?

What is tooth soap? It's exactly what you're imagining it to be. It's soap that you use for your teeth. Why would anybody do a crazy thing like that, you ask? I think the question you should be asking is why would anyone in their right mind put fluoride, glycerin, sodium lauryl sulfates, food dyes, and a whole host of other unimaginables in their mouth, let alone their children's mouthes!

Let's look at a couple of the ingredients I just mentioned.

Fluoride seems a good one to start with. I am not going to go into very much detail (we'll save that for another, less riled up night!) right now, but here's a little info to mull over. Fluoride is a known mood and behavior alterer. It was used as such in Nazi prison camps and by Soviets. It was used specifically to sterilize the inmates and make them docile. It's a key ingredient in Prozac, rat poison, and nerve gas. It has NEVER been approved by the FDA for human consumption. I don't know about you, but I have yet to meet a kid who doesn't swallow at least a little bit of their toothpaste. Especially if it's flavored of bubblegum! 

Moving on now to glycerin. This one is the hardest one to avoid even in "safe" toothpastes in my experience. Why should we avoid it? It doesn't do us any favors. It takes twenty rinses to remove it from our teeth while it only takes two to remove soap. Twenty rinses! Why do we want it rinsed off? If it stays nicely coated on our teeth then the calcium and phosphate in the food we eat can't penetrate. It prevents remineralization of your teeth via your saliva. We can all use some of that!

Sodium Lauryl Sulfates are the ingredients which make you foam and froth during brushing. Fun, I know, but we don't want SLS in any product which will come into contact with our skin as the American College of Toxicology has reported it to be quite corrosive and harmful to skin tissue. Eeks! My gums don't need that! 

I'll just quickly touch on the topic of food dyes in toothpaste as I know you want to move on to good news. It's not here, I can assure you! The dyes used in toothpastes are coal dyes and long known to be carcinogenic and mutagenic. Your son may at times seem to have the energy of Wolverine, but you don't want him turning into him, do you? Okay, fine, maybe you do, but you get my point.

The Physicians Desk Reference teaches us that the mucus lining of the mouth can absorb with 90% efficiency meaning that all the toxins going into your mouth are getting absorbed into your blood stream whether you swallow the toothpaste or not. Bummer.

Please cue the music for our hero's entry: It's ToothSoap! Hooray!

Your first thought may be "I don't care if this stuff is better for you, I would hate rubbing soap all over my tongue".

I understand. I used bad words as a child also... Oh, wait. You don't think you'll like it. I see. Not a "from personal experience" share. Forget I said anything. This is not your mothers soap bar. Not that there's anything wrong with that one. It would work too, just maybe not as well and it sure wouldn't taste as nice. Believe me! 

According to Dr. Judd, the author of Good Teeth, Birth to Death, "brushing with soap washes oils off the teeth and disinfects the gums, with the bacteria being killed by the soap". Hip, hip, hooray!

When I decided to give tooth soap a try I looked at the options and there are a few good ones! The trouble I came across though was that I wanted it to not break the bank and I wanted to be able to share with the rest of the family. Most of the tooth soaps I found came in little boxes for you to dip your wet brush in. I would not be willing to share that with anyone else and I am not sure I would even want to go back after too many days! The perfect solution for me was to buy it in a tube. I found a wonderful Etsy shop called Beautiful Soaps'. She offered Pearly White Teeth, a soap for teeth in a little chapstick tube which I found to be the perfect size and price for a family trial. 

The ingredient list is simple yet effective: olive, coconut, and palm oils, peppermint, spearmint, and orange essential oils, anise, cinnamon, orange and lemon extracts, xylitol (go here to read some exciting benefits of this one!), vitamin e, and aluminum free baking soda. 

The way we use it is we just wet our toothbrushes, swipe them across the top of the tube and then, personally, I swipe it across the back of my hand to clean it off for the next person. As I don't trust my three year old or husband to be performing the same courtesy, I swipe my hand before I swipe my brush as well. At this point, in theory, we all have our own tube, but ya know how that goes! (Erik says he doesn't want to brush his teeth with the back of my hand. There's no pleasing some people!)

The soap taste is not offensive at all to any of us. The Lady enjoys the excuse to spit and even without the SLS, it foams up quite comfortingly! It leaves my teeth SO SMOOTH! Even Mr. Picky has no complaints of its teeth cleaning abilities and that's saying A LOT! I love it. True story.

I have purchased from Beautiful Soaps' Store twice now and have always been quite pleased with the promptness of delivery. i have yet to receive an order without there being an extra goody in my bag either! Let me tell you: The Sweet Pea soap is a favorite around here!

Heather Rai, of Beautiful Soaps', has graciously agreed to give three of my readers a chance to try a Pearly White Teeth soap of their own! I am so excited that I'm going to throw in a fourth, Grand Prize if you will, from Heathers shop: two tubes of Pearly White Teeth soap, a tube of Peppermint Shimmer Lip Balm (I love this stuff!), and a bar of soap of your choosing! THat's right, FOUR winners!

Here's how to enter:

****************Giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who entered!*****************

Please leave a separate comment for each entry!

1. Mandatory entry: Go to Beautiful Soaps' Shop and look around! Come back here, and in the comments tell me what soap you'd pick if you won!

2. Subscribe here at We Are Of The Day. Then leave a comment telling me that you did!

3. Blog about this giveaway with a link back here. Leave a comment with a link to your blog telling me that you did it!

4. Share this giveaway on Facebook or Twitter and again- come leave a comment for an extra entry!

Winners will be drawn on Friday the 27th at 9am central time.

That's it! Four chances to win one of Four Prizes! May the most in need mouths win! Ha!

Just in case you were curious, I am in no way being compensated for this giveaway and was not paid for my review. Just so ya know!

This post is a part of Things I Love Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Family Food Fridays, I'm lovin' It, Pennywise Platter,

Fight Back Friday, Monday Mania, Gluten Free Wednesday, Real Food Wednesdays, Frugality is Free, .

My daughter is also a lover of smears, but as my child has more refined tastes. Her spread of choice? Sun-dried tomato pesto. I kid you not! She will (and does!) eat the stuff by the bowlful!

In Mason City, where Erik's parents live, there's a delightful little restaurant that serves excellent dishes made with as many local foods as they can get their hands on. It's named "Ralph's" and we are well known there. On our last visit I found myself almost wishing the server seating us hadn't confirmed "Your family is grain-free, correct?" as she led us to our table so as to not blow the girls and I's cover with my husband and father-in-law. No way to pretend this trip was a special occasion at that point! Oh, well... at least, as their best customer, they shared the pesto recipe with me! 

The recipe is perfect on its own, but I gave it some tweaks so as to be able to not make a special trip to the stores. I also made it two ways: one with standard dried and stored in a bag tomatoes, and once with dried and stored in olive oil tomatoes as the recipe hadn't specified which. I am quite sure they use the oil packed ones as the bright red color fades otherwise. Ralph's uses Parmesan as their cheese of choice. I used Asiago as I had it on hand and personally, I enjoy the bite. If you want a more subtle flavor, then by all means: use the Parm.

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

1/2 cup packed basil

1 mounded cup sun dried tomatoes packed in olive oil (save the oil from the jar)

1/4-1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese (or Parmesan)

extra Olive Oil just in case

Here's how you do it: Throw the first two ingredients into your food processor and let the blade spin until everything is nicely chopped and blended. Now add the cheese and the oil from the jar and let the blade whirl some more. At this point you should be done. If you feel it is too crumbly or dry you can add more olive oil until you are happy with the consistency. This pesto is so delicious!

If you are going to make it using dried tomatoes from a bag, you will definitely need extra oil in the ballpark of 1/4-1/2 cups. The color will also be much darker. In the above picture, we are serving the tomato pesto on top of stew. The darker colored layer on the bottom is the recipe made with bagged tomatoes while the redder pesto on top is the same recipe made from tomatoes bought in oil. We prefer the recipe made with the oil soaked dried tomatoes. 

Which way do you prefer it?

This post is part of Two for Tuesday's and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday's, and Real Food Wednesday's, Friday Foodie Fix, Gluten Free Wednesdays.  Pennywise Platter

We are starting by doing a major overhaul of the "stuff" we have accumulated over our marriage. There is too much of it and as a result it truly owns us instead of the other way around. We have spent countless hours just shuffling it around from room to room  for years. At our previous residence we use to say we were "living a house lifestyle in a condo", as if that excused it. How I wish I had just accepted what the Lord had given us and lived accordingly! Instead, once we did live in a house, I filled it to it's bursting point as well! My current excuse was just that we didn't have enough places to store it: shelves, baskets, bins, etc. Really, again I was just hoarding. I was failing to rule over our land and was instead enslaved to it. 

I am unable to be as hospitable as I would desire. I love to cook and have people over for dinner, but to do that you have to be able to find your table. Only so many people are willing to eat on the couch! I want the ability to open our home (God's home, in reality) at a moments notice to the saints or anyone else in need as our friend did for us last month. She had thirty minutes notice if you'll recall! What a blessing it was to us that she was in charge of her home and prepared for any adventure!

Back to our overhaul. I am sorting through our belongings and donating clothes to Goodwill after making itemized lists of said donations for tax purposes. Thus far we have donated  four thirty-five gallon contractor bags full of clothes and a comforter. I view that as being freed from 140 gallons of personal baggage. How's that for weight loss! HA! I am also listing items on E-Bay and Craigslist while giving things to family as well. This stuff has to go. That's all there is to it.

That's just the junk area of my life. I haven't even touched on the true test of upkeep: cleanliness! We have been saved from utter ruin by Erik and his servants heart. He has been a champ at keeping our head above water when it comes to dishes and laundry in the past and present, but now I am trying to phase him out. It's been rather difficult though. With sorting, donating, and putting items away, I can see progress. With dishes, you do them all now and you'll need to do them again every thirty minutes until you die. Same goes for picking up toys in the living room. I've found myself frustrated every time our three year old just drops her toy as she's walking and keeps going. My real frustration is with myself, not her. I trained her to be this way by doing two things: not requiring her to pick up after herself and not setting an example by picking up after myself. Am I even allowed to be upset that she left her bowl on the coffee table when all she really did was set it next to mine? No. 

When it comes to chores I have been close to despairing as I just didn't even know where to start. I needed there to be one thing that I could keep in a certain condition and it would basically stay the way I left it. With that goal, before bed I cleaned the kitchen sink. 

Random, I know. What's the point? It's just going to fill up with dishes, right? Yes, that may be, but guess what? It I give it two minutes a day before bed, it's still gonna shine! I read the suggestion on flylady.net and it just made sense. My oh, so dear friend, Amanda, always claimed that sink cleaning was peaceful and satisfying and I now know what she was talking about. In five minutes time I was able to go from that nastiness above to this sparkle below.

That's amazing! And guess what? When I came downstairs this morning, even though Erik's breakfast dishes were sitting in it, it was still shining all around them, catching the morning light. I had no choice but to smile. An accomplishment that had carried over from one day to the next! Hooray!

If you are feeling frazzled by the tasks at hand, might I suggest cleaning your sink? It's as good an accomplishment as any, if not better. We all have to start somewhere!

What part of your job as Keeper of Your Home do do struggle with the most? Let's encourage one another unto good works!

(Pardon the picture quality, but if I'd gone off looking for the wandering camera I never would have cleaned the sinks. Priorities! I've seen worse from cell phone cameras!) 

This post is part of New Adventures Thursday.

Light off? Check! 

Toothbrushes packed? Yep!

Suitcase loaded? Uh, huh!

Toilets flushed?

Hello? !? Toilets anyone? 

Bummer.

Not much worse than coming home to the smell of an outhouse! After an hour of running the fan there was no change. Time to break out the big guns! 

That's right folks! A bowl of coffee beans. Nothing absorbs stink on my (extensive) experience like a bowl of French roast! In under an hour this 1/4 cup of beans had freshened up the bathroom and in less than thirty minutes had taken care of the hallway as well! Last sumer I placed bowls of beans throughout the house and within a day they had absorbed all the paint odors. These little guys are amazingly effective! 

Go ahead and give some a try! You could place a dish next to the diaper pail, the trash can, or the kitchen. You can even use them in your car! They work for almost a month for me before needing to be replaced. Give them a try. You won't be sorry! Who doesn't like the smell of coffee? No, seriously. Who?

This post is a small part of Monday Mania.

I just won a free enrollment to the Surf and Turf Cooking Classes being offered by Cheeseslave. I CAN NOT WAIT!

Ann Marie of Cheeseslave has an amazing blog and story. You should go check it out! She cooks the stuff I should be cooking without fear! One of her recent posts was on cooking a pigs head. I mean, really? Haha!

She has put countless hours in to prepare for this Surf and Turf Class. It will be a 13 week online class with a members only online forum. It's $120 which is less than ten dollars a class. The cooking classes at our local Co-Op are $15 each and they are mostly worthless vegetarian ones. This is going to be awesome! Click on this link to register yourself! You won't regret it!   

Cheeseslave recommends this class for those eating the following ways:

Low-Carb

Paleo

GAPS/SCD

Gluten Free or Grain Free

Eating Grains and Starches but wanting to learn to cook grass fed meats, organ meats, and seafood.

Yep, that's just about everyone here, isn't it? :) 

Praise the Lord, guys! Out of almost two hundred entries, my name was drawn! Pardon me, the baby is up. I need to go let her join in happy dance time!

I LOVE chocolate and dairy. I am pretty sure I could find a way to justify a hot chocolate diet if I needed to. Our whole family enjoys our hot chocolate before bed with Bible time, but it's been difficult to swing of late. For one thing, heating milk isn't good for the proteins in the milk. This is basically the crux of the raw vs. pasteurized milk debate. Secondly, while I like my chocolate dark as night, Erik prefers some sweetness to his which was fine when we were using honey, but now that we're trying a sweetener free lifestyle he was just having to suck it up. Poor guy.

Yesterday I really wanted chocolate and had the brilliant idea to make chocolate milk! That would solve all the worlds problems! It would be cold, not heat damaged, and I could add flavors to it so it wouldn't taste as bitter. The only thing standing in my way was that cocoa powder doesn't mix with cold milk. Epic fail.

Enter: the blender. Mr. Oster stepped right up to the plate on this one! I poured milk, vanilla, Ghirardelli chocolate powder (for the refined palate) into the blender with enough banana to add chill and sweetness and gave it a whirl. Divine. It was everything we had hoped for and then some! Last night we made it again and just added a little more of everything but the milk and had some killer milk shakes. Summer has been saved...

Note: Your chocolate flavored kitchen adventures will only be as good as the ingredients used. As chocolate is a once in awhile treat for us (except for the past 24 hours!) We spend the extra money to secure the good stuff. We also use quality vanilla and it makes all the difference!  

The Basic Recipes:

Chocolate Milk (Sweetener Free)

3 Cups Whole Milk

2 Tbl. High Quality Chocolate powder

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

2 frozen Bananas

Put all ingredients in blender. Put lid on blender. Blend. Pour and drink!

Chocolate Banana Milk Shake (Sweetener Free)

3 cups Whole Milk

3 Tbl. High Quality Chocolate

3/4 tsp. Vanilla

approx. 4-5 frozen Bananas

Place first three ingredients into blender. Put lid on blender. Blend. Add bananas to blender until slushy consistency is achieved. Pour, drink, enjoy!

What are your favorite refreshing summer treats? Please share!

This post is a part of Real Food Wednesdays.

Ozone is a toxin. If we played around in it, from my understanding, it would kill us quicker than actually smoking would. This meant we ladies had to leave town. The Daddy was going to crash with some friends so he could continue working and move the ozone machine daily, but the rest of us were getting out of Dodge.

This proved more tricky then one might think. Even though I have adorable, well behaved children who are loved wherever we go, I was sick. True, I was not contagious sick. Instead, I was poisoned sick, with a quick presumed recovery upon leaving our domain but you try convincing others of that! As my sinus infection caused fever had mercifully broken, my Aunt graciously welcomed us into her home. We had a wonderful time with my cousins and Uncle (as she, mysteriously, wasn’t around that much!) before heading up to Mason City to spend some time with the girls’ MeeMom and BaPa Sautter. Erik and his sister and brother-in-law joined us Thursday night and we had a nice visit with them as well.

As far as the ozone treatment was concerned, Erik had been moving it room to room as previously discussed. One day he had set the timer incorrectly and had had to go in while the ozone was still fresh. He said he ended up with a 15 minute long hacking cough in the front yard. We should get hazard pay for our lives. We returned home Sunday afternoon to open up the house and air out the residual ozone smell. It stunk, but at least it didn’t smell of smoke! We kept our fingers crossed. It still smelled of what we assumed was ozone when we returned that night. Now we think it was probably just the stench of all the dead smells in the air from the ozone doing its job. A friend in town agreed to let us crash in their guest room with twenty minutes notice. What a remarkable woman! Thank you, Elizabeth!

In the week we have been home we have decided, that smellwise, it’s much better (I’m not deathly ill) but still not perfect. Erik can still smell smoke, and I think the basement still smells of dog and must. The vents still seem to be a source of issue. Erik is now talking about renting a camera he can send through our vent system to assess where the worst tar build-up is. Boys and their toys. I’ve also stumbled upon charts of our vents he has made on the computer leading me to presume he is again considering ripping out some of the duct work. I can’t wait.

While this may just seem like a crappy situation with no positives, I would have to disagree. In the past two summers the girls have been able to spend some wonderful quality time with relatives they otherwise would not have. I was able to reestablish my friendships with two of my dear cousins and forge a friendship with one of my cousin’s girlfriends. I have learned that it won’t kill me to wear the same outfits week after week. I now more greatly appreciate my husbands contribution to my sanity. I have learned to accept his style of planning projects and am many steps closer to embracing it then I would be otherwise. I have to trust God with this situation or else I would despair. I keep reminding myself that all our money belongs to God and if He wants to keep pouring it into our home, who am I to question Him?

Job 19:25

For I know that my redeemer liveth,

and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth

This post is part of Monday Mania.

We moved into our home a year and a half ago in winter. It was not disclosed that the home had previously been occupied by chain smokers for 60 plus years. The ladies who flipped the house believed the painters and cleaners they had hired when they were told the smoke issue had been “dealt with”. Please. “Sufficiently masked” is more like it! We had no idea until last summer. I was pregnant which tends to make me stuffy headed so I smelled nothing, but Erik started smelling smoke in our closets. He said nothing so as to not worry me as I am incredibly sensitive to the odor.

It was a dry summer and the smell stayed subtle until August. In mid August it got humid and black stuff started dripping down the walls in the kitchen. It was sticky and looked gross. I was at a loss as to what it might be! By now I could catch whiffs of smoke every now and again. Erik recommended shutting the house up and running the air to cut down on the humidity as that was bringing the smoke smell out of the walls. We did and after running it for a day we were caught off guard when (smell wise, not literally) smoke started billowing out of the vents.

After doing some research as to a wise plan of attack, the Little Lady and her prego Mommy were sent off to MeeMom and BaPa’s house while Daddy stayed home and painted. He went the Kilz primer followed by paint route after washing the walls to remove tar and build-up. We also had our vents cleaned and the a/c coils cleaned. We already had a new furnace so that wasn’t a concern. We did add a whole house HEPA filter to it though. The upstairs bathroom smelled like someone was currently smoking in it. Crossing your fingers doesn’t work in these situations so we just gutted it. I think the Little Lady and I saw the Daddy for six days out of thirty that summer. It was a sacrifice on many levels, but we felt we had tackled the problem head on and prayed it was enough…. It wasn’t.

Through the winter, Mr. Sensitive Sniffer would comment that he thought he could smell something. I coud just smell musty attic and stinky dog (previous owners, again). We kept hoping. During the past winter we were joined by Little Girly and she is one hot baby! I have never known a more sweaty kid! We turned our air on in May this year as a result. Praise God Almighty, the air smelled fine! Again, we had a pretty dry spring into early summer so we couldn’t give the house a good test until this month. Not thinking, I turned the air down when we left town for the weekend to save some money. We came back to choking smoke. Within 48 hours I had a sinus infection and a case of smoke induced chronic bronchitis. No fun!

More of this saga tomorrow!

We love pizza around here. We love it so much we gave it a pet name: Pato. After our first month off grains it was one of the foods we were still in mourning over. No more, my friends! No more! After weeks of chanting: "it's not about finding grain free versions of our favorite foods, it's about finding new favorite foods" like a broken record I am glad to say that pizza is securely back into weekly rotation. 

This is good pizza, guys. No, seriously! We've shared it with my Mother-in-law, our neighbor, and my cousins and Aunt and Uncle. Everyone really enjoys it! My cousins girlfriend didn't think it tasted like pizza, but thought it was really good whatever it was! I think it was cause I made my own sauce and it tasted a bit like spaghetti sauce giving the pizza a lasagna type flare. I digress. Oh, well, as I said it was delicious either way!

Let me say though that while being grain free, this recipe is not dairy free. If you cannot eat cheese, then your search for pizza happiness will not end here. My condolences. 

Veggie Crusted Pizza

For the crust:                                                                                                                         For toppings:

2 cups Cauliflower or 1 cup Turnips                                                                                    1 cup cheese

2 cups of cheese (we use a mix of either muenster, mozz, and/or cheddar)               1/2 cup sauce

2 large eggs                                                                                                                                toppings of choice

1 tsp Fennel and 1 tsp. Oregano

Start by shredding your cauliflower or turnips. I like to use my food processor as it has it done in moments instead of minutes. Here are some shredded Turnips:

Mix veggie, shredded cheese,  egg, and spices in a bowl. Dump onto an oiled cookie sheet and using a fork, press down in a circular pattern until the crust is spread thin, but not too thin. You don't want any holes. 

Now put it in the oven (450 degrees F) for 12 minutes give or take. You want the top to be nicely browning. 

Beautiful, isn't it? Now is when you'll load it up with delicious toppings. We like to use artichokes, mushrooms and pineapple. Last week though, at my Aunts, we used ground turkey too. Yumma!

Here are your instructions: Add sauce, then toppings, then cheese... Ready, set, go! Done? Great. Now back into the oven we go! Well, not "we" exactly, more like just the pizza. Understand? This time we will use the broiler function on the oven as it's been feeling rather neglected of late. Don't worry little buddy! You are more than useful to us! 

Just wait until the cheese starts to brown. This will typically take less than five minutes, maybe a couple more if you mounded your cheese as we tend to. :)

Take it out, cut it up, Give Thanks, and chow down! You may want to make more than one as the cold leftovers make a tasty breakfast, or midnight snack. One recipe is a good main dish for our family. The Little Lady counts as a third adult when it comes to eating pizza. 

You can find the original unchanged recipe here. Sheer genius I'd say!

Give it a try and let me know your opinion. What changes did you make if any?

I am adding this post to the Wholesome Whole Foods Carnival, Mouthwatering Mondays, Two For Tuesdays, and the Fight Back Friday Carnival. Go check out the other yummy and informative entries! Thanks!

Not cool.

Via: Weight Loss

Relief boxes that come with instructions for turning the box itself into a ball after being emptied! The Dream Ball project helps the kids and workers build trust while working together on ball building. Pretty cool!

Click here to read and see more!

                                                                                           photo credit

Does the world need yet another Mommy with a blog or just "Mommy blog" as Erik would say? I submit that it does not. Why am I still typing then? Because, while the world may not/does not need this blog, my family does.

In Exodus 2 verses 1 and 2 God tells Moses:

"Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the                                          hearts of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before Him:                             And that though mayest tell them in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son,              what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done                       among them; that ye may know how that I am the Lord."

Then, again and again throughout God's word we are reminded and commanded to "tell these things" to our children. "These things" are stories of God's faithfulness and the awesome things His righteous hand has done. We do this so we do not forget Him and his love for us. Over and over again, the Israelites would find themselves living a rich life blessed by God and then the story will end with this phrase "But they forgot the Lord their God..." and calamity would strike. We do not want this for our children. It is Erik and My's burning desire that our children will remember the Lord their God all their days. This blog is to be a record of their heritage. A collection of stories of the faithfulness of God to them and their loved ones. A monument that they can see and remember so that they will not, like the Israelites, forget Him.

                                                                                                  photo credit

This is also a place for me to teach those that the Lord has put into my sphere of influence: My lovely sisters, my Aunt and Mother, my most precious children, my recently married (and soon to be married!) girlfriends. There are so many lies being sold to us and if we are not equipped with truth we will fall prey. Hosea 4:6a says:

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..."

I have spent the past three and a half years studying nutrition and clean living. Our family is trying to live out what I have learned in a way that reflects our acknowledgement that God is Sovereign, in control, and good. I desire to pass that knowledge I have gleaned on to those I love (and you too if you're interested!) in a simple and practical way. I will do so here.

My sisters are all of marrying age. EEK! They are all quite a bit younger than me so as an "older woman" I will share with them what I have learned through trial and error about loving a husband, raising Godly children, and being a successful keeper of the home. Hopefully they will find it encouraging to learn these things from me and with me. We shall be as iron sharpening iron. :)

This is the goal of this blog and if you feel like sharing in the journey, you are more than welcome! This is my cyber kitchen, where I do my entertaining, my work, and sit down for a chat. Grab a cup of tea, pull up a bit of counter, and let's get talking!

                                                                                            photo credit

1O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.

2Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.

3Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

4For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.

5Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.

6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

This morning the girls and I read/talked about the topic "God knows all things" before breakfast. I haven't been doing our intentional study of God and His character for over a month and it was so amazingly refreshing to dive right back in this a.m. 

Our memory verse of the day is Psalm 139:2a. It was a delight to have my Little Lady come down from nap and greet me with "Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising!" Praise the Lord! She occasionally slips with an "upsitting" instead of "uprising" but at least she understands the context!

If you have been entrusted with a little one, have you taken the time to share the Word with them yet today? If not, I encourage you to do so right now! 

photo credit: ellie

Today, Erik and I were having a discussion about presenting a unified front. I had been sharing a personal conviction with some friends at the end of which he shared his differing conviction. He thought it was better to show people that we were at least close in what we believed, while I thought since I had preempted my sharing by saying “After years I have finally solidified my convictions in this area” that we could just leave it at that.

I didn’t feel that the discussion was more than just that: a discussion. From the backseat though, the Little Lady asked me “Can you say ‘Whatever’, Mommy?”. What? I asked her why she wanted me to say that.

“I don’t know.”

I asked her what “Whatever!” meant and again was met with, “I don’t know”.

With a guilty heart, I asked “What happens when Mommy says ’Whatever’?” “You stop talking”, was the prompt reply.

Ouch. Who cares whether we appear unified or not to the outside world if we so clearly don’t appear unified to our own daughter?

My challenge to myself this week is to not use the word “Whatever”. Period. If I do, I will be letting you know. Please pray for me as I seek to season my speech with grace and to speak to my husband with a gentle and quiet spirit.

Is this a challenge you feel you should undertake as well? Please let me know if it is so I can lift you up in prayer! Let us all be women marked by the demeanor of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Colossians 4:6

6 Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt,

that ye may know how you ought to answer every man.

1 Peter 4:1-4

1Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word,

they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;

2While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.

3Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair,

and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;

4But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible,

even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Whew! Glad I didn't just defrost it and add it to jerky as my most recent plan called for. Gross! I almost fed it to company! 

I now solemnly promise to never serve company a "food" I have been unable to identify. I pinky swear!

Erik's comments: "I should be like physically ill at the thought of that, but at this point nothing surprises me!"

We serve a kind God. I see this side of His nature over and over again. 

Jonah 4:2b

"for I knew that thou art a gracious God,

and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness..."

Earlier this spring, I bought some raspberry plants from a local farm through Craigslist. I was so excited! I brought them home, worked the ground, amended the soil, planted them, watered them, and with jubilation watched them thrive. A week later we discovered carpenter ants living in the siding right above them. I was strongly opposed to anyone spraying there and was blessed with an understanding Orkin man who did nothing around my raspberry patch and only used organic/green granules around the rest of the house. Whew!

The next month I didn't fare as well. It was a new Orkin man who was spray happy. I kid you not. As I was standing there in horror trying to explain my feelings to him, he went over to my patch and sprayed it right in front of me! AHHHH!!!!! It didn't help matters that a carpenter ant was crawling on my neck and he had to flick it off. I think I lost all barganing power in that moment. :)

He told me that since there was no fruit currently on the bushes (they were in flower) that "it was perfectly safe" and "I shouldn't worry about it" as "it won't hurt anything, it's perfectly safe". Riiiight. I went inside and googled the pesticide he was spraying just to find out it's STILL IN TRIALS! Yeah, I don't trust anything that's still in trials. If it doesn't have a proven safety rating, like garlic spray, it's not going into my families bellies and brains. If we can't put it on our skin, we're not putting it in our mouths. 

That night there were tears of disappointment shed over the loss of the berries. Keep in mind that this was also the first week I was spraying the virginia creeper. Very emotional times. God is good though. All the time, His mercies abound. 

As the spring wore on I noticed at a park the girls and I frequented that there were lots of what appeared to be raspberry bushes. I stalked the city lawn workers to make sure they weren't spraying anything (they weren't) and waited with anticipation to see if there would be fruit. 

Would there ever! We have been harvesting those berries like crazy for the past week! They are black raspberries and there are also two types of Mulberry trees. I can pick a gallon bag full in half an hour flat. So far we have put four full bags in the freezer, our bellies are full, and we've given them away to friends!

Every time I bring my colander home to show Erik my Spirit swells up within me and I can't help but sing praises to God in my heart and declare "Give thanks to the Lord of the harvest for He is good!" with my mouth. This has been a wonderful opportunity to share with our Little Lady about God and his abounding love. He truly shows His favor to His children. 

Psalm 47:6-8 

6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.

7 For God is the King of all the earth;
sing to him a psalm [a] of praise.

8 God reigns over the nations;
God is seated on his holy throne.

Where have you seen God's hand of kindness this week?

Yesterday, I tried one with apple juice, pineapple juice, and coconut milk (yes, please). Today, the men went and picked up treats and Erik brought me one with carrot juice, apple juice, ginger, and celery juice. Not too shabby! 

I give the bar three stars. It would be four if they had a wider selection and five if they hadn't put me out by closing the bar thirty minutes before the rest of the shop thus causing me sore disappointment last night. Yes, it's a bit petty, I'm sure, but I'm just being honest!

Now, if only our Cedar Rapids would get on the ball and open one they would find me the most loyal of customers cause let's face it, the likelihood of me dirtying my juicer if someone else is available to do the cleanup is pretty slim. I guess on second thought it's better for our budget that we don't have one, but I sure enjoyed the one there!

Last night we had dinner at a new restaurant, Ralph's, across from the Quarry (one of Erik and I's favorite restaurants pre-GAPS diet). I had the Mahi-Mahi encrusted with macadamia  nuts and a citrus chutney. It was a.ma.zing! Unbelievable! The venison did not taste gamey at all and the marinade on the kabobs was unreal. The red onions on the Lady's kabob tasted like candy. If you're in the area, I would highly recommend this new eatery. 

Erik and I both give the food four stars. 

Happy Father's Day to all you men walking in the noble role of a Dad. We appreciate it greatly!

Sorry for the poor quality of the picture. Like I said, we're doing life one handed right now. :)

I use "real cinnamon" instead of cassia cinnamon and it's delicious!

What's your go to quick snack?

Praise the Lord that is not the woman I am today.

A month and a half ago our family started doing the GAPS diet. I had been doing some reading and research on food allergies and was leaning towards a gluten free trial when I came across a blog post on the book Gut And Psychology Syndrome that I got really excited about. In brief, the GAPS diet is similar to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) with a strong focus on rebuilding your gut flora. As everyone in our family has been on either antibiotics and/or steroids in the last two years I felt that was a vital piece of the puzzle of our path to good health. The diet removes all grains and sugars with the exception of raw honey. Also, the starchy veggies are out- farewell, mashed potatoes! All in all, I would say it's pretty extreme. There is also a very heavy emphasis on bone broths and meats. Over the past few years our diet had looked more and more vegetarian for a myriad of reasons and the fact that I was willing to eat meat everyday really caused Erik to believe I was convinced this was the best route for our family at this time. With his full support after a lot of prayer, we started the agony of carbohydrate withdraw. I'll tell you how that went at another time, but I do want to share now that within 72 hours of removing grains from my diet, I had more mental clarity and alertness then I have had since I was seventeen. The Lord is Faithful! 

This is where we are in life: grain free, sugar free, meat eating, God fearing. My recipes I share will reflect this as we seek to find comfort foods in a new kitchen. Never fear though! I still adore my veggie dishes! 

Let me know if you have any questions. i will either answer them or try to steer you towards someone who can!

The Bible says:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." 29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so. 31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. Genesis 1:26-31

I desire to honor the Lord in the stewardship He gave to me over the earth when He imparted to me a soul. I have an organic garden, compost, buy local, humanely raised meats and eggs, clean my home with ingredients that would cause no harm if drunk, recycle, and seek to not litter the Lord’s earth with more waste than necessary. That said, I am not married to the idea of chemical free perfection. I am instead married to Erik.

Erik is an amazing husband, incredibly smart, and a hard worker. He brought many good disclosed qualities into our marriage. He also brought an undisclosed allergy. Erik is allergic to Virginia Creeper. I’m sure you’ve all seen it, or at least a picture of it, at some time. Visualize an old brick mansion in the South covered with a beautiful red leafed vine. That red vine? Yep. That’s “The Creeper”. Our three year old and I had spent the summer frolicking in our new garden plot barefoot without a pause and the morning Erik did some weed clearing for me went of without a hitch as well. It was two days later when the welts arrived that we began to suspect something sinister. The fact that my sister who had done some weeding for me the week before (I was pregnant, okay?) had mysteriously gone home with “poison ivy” was too much of a coincidence. Our fingers did some searching and discovered that a few special people react to VA worse then non-special (read: normal) people react to poison ivy. Longer story shorter, Erik was out of work laid up on the couch for a week, EVERY inch of his body was covered in rash, a late night trip to the ER was made and scars were left. Suffice to say, we decided that vine had to get gone.

After much research it was determined that the best course to take was covering the ground with landscape cloth for a few years, cross our fingers that the vine would die out, and do raised garden beds in the meantime. Erik’s parents came down a couple weekends ago and tilled up all the ground in hopes of killing some before covering it. Then a girlfriend came over and laid black stuff with me while Erik held our baby. He couldn’t even help with this as he had started to break out in rashes after just being in the yard to help assess the situation last month. Four rolls of cloth later, my friend gently pointed out that the other side of the shed and into our neighbor’s yard was a massive carpet of the stuff. I praised the Lord and tried not to despair. I sucked in my breath and yelled ‘I don’t use anything stronger than hydrogen peroxide in my yard, but…” She finished my sentence with a country girl declaration on “but for HIM, I will!”. True story. An hour later I, I who don’t even wear make-up anymore due to chemicals, was standing in Home Depot insisting to the Garden Center Manager that the poisons she was trying to sell me weren’t strong enough. If you’re gonna do it, ya might as well do it right.

That’s how I found myself in the backyard wearing a facemask toting a container of Round-Up that’s heavier than my six month old this afternoon. Our neighbors on either side of us most graciously granted me permission to poison the Virginia Creeper in their yards as well for the sake of Erik’s health. It took me over an hour on this first pass and I do believe I shed a tear as I sprayed the vine growing out of my compost bin. Anywhere I sprayed today will now be allowed to rest for three years before we plant food supplying vegetation on it. It was so hard for me to arrive at a place where I was willing to take such drastic action, but our lives and well being are worth more than the life of that tenacious plant. The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. Bless His holy name…

Welcome to this blog. Please help us keep this is a Virginia Creeper free zone.