God Revealed in Nature

My food philosophy is very closely tied into my faith in God. My philosophy basically is that God made us so He knows what's good for us. And so I try to eat things as closely to what He originally made as possible. I prefer food in it's most natural state.

This has been a process for me. When I got married and became responsible for meal planning and shopping for my family boxed mac and cheese and cereal were regular staples in my cupboards. I NEVER bought real butter...margarine is cheaper after all! I placed the value of foods on how cheap and quickly  they could be prepared and still taste yummy.

When I developed an auto immune disease around 6 years ago, I really began to change my view of food. My priorities in regard to food changed dramatically.

And then I became pregnant with twins and I was determined to carry them full term. So I put my faith in God and I did what I could with nutrition to insure a safe and healthy pregnancy. I ended up carrying them full term and delivering them at home (not on purpose!) and having a healthy 8# 4oz boy and a 6# 13oz girl. Praise God!

All of my pregnancies taught me something about God. He made our bodies and He knew what He was doing when He did it. And so obviously the things that He has provided for us to eat are what is going to make our bodies function at their best, right?

My most recent stepping stone in this process is making a commitment to buying and using only seasonal produce. Not only is it more cost effective to do this, it supports more local agriculture and it has health benefits as well! God is amazing! I mean, think of the health problems people face in the winter...colds, flu, infections of all sorts. Now think about the produce that is in season during this time...lemons, oranges, apples, pears, lettuce...all of which are rich in vitamin C, super antioxidants and fiber (which cleanse our body of bad stuff). God gave us what we need to fend off these illnesses...exactly when we need it!

For me, putting it in that light gives me purpose. (I'm not saying this is a moral issue and if this is not a priority for you, then please understand I'm not saying it necessarily should be...I understand that we all have different views and priorities!). But I love finding God in ways that I never have before. I love seeing Him while I'm grocery shopping...or while I'm preparing a meal for my family. It helps me to refocus and realize that all of this only matters because of Him, and it reminds me to be thankful because I am truly blessed!

I've Got The Itch!

I have never been a shopper. When I was in college I kind of developed an unhealthy relationship with shopping. I used it to fill my voids (along with food and promiscuity).  And up until the last couple of years, while I didn't have access to a lot of money, I spent a lot of money that I shouldn't have to comfort myself. Of course, we all know THAT drill. It's not really comforting because then you feel guilty.

For the last few years God has really curbed that appetite in me. He's taught me that nothing--not shopping, not eating, not fulfilling the desires of my flesh, not inflicting pain upon myself--NOTHING will fill the God shaped hole in my heart except HIM.

The last week or so I've really had an itch to shop.

Honestly, there are a lot of things we need (Nathaniel's tennis shoes have been duct taped closed and now the duct tape isn't holding...AKA He NEEDS shoes) but there's also a very limited budget for those things...and some of them will have to wait.

I've been struggling with contentment.

I've been focusing on the fact that all of my jackets and warm clothing are too big for me...and brushing aside the fact that I have a jacket at all. I've been focusing on the fact that other people's kids have multiple pairs of shoes instead of on the fact that my kids have shoes.

It's so funny how I kind of expect God to meet my standards. If I don't have multiple pairs of shoes, God hasn't met my need for shoes...right?! Kind of like the Israelites in the desert. They didn't have 5 pairs of shoes to choose from, but they had shoes that didn't wear out. They didn't have a big Thanksgiving feast to eat every day, but they had manna.

God never said that he would buy me a pair of new running shoes, he would give my kids the same standard of living that all their friends have, or that I would have a jacket that fits. But I have running shoes, my kids are clean, fed and happy and I have a jacket.

And at the end of the day I am truly blessed. Not being able to just go and shop away my sorrows helps me to depend on God instead of a new pair of shoes. It's helps me to remember that my treasure is not here. That my focus is not on fashion. It's on Jesus.

God is so awesome! Today I am thankful for warm clothes and shoes. And that God doesn't give me everything that I think I want, because what He has to give me is always so much infinitely better.

Granola Bars!

The desire to cut out processed/convenient foods has greatly impacted our lives. I think that most of us dread  and are turned off by the time that is involved in making things from scratch. And I'll be honest, it does require a lot of time in the kitchen...but I honestly don't think that whipping up a batch of granola bars takes any more time than running to the store to pick up a box of granola bars...and you skip all the extra junk that is in store bought granola bars!

I will say that I prefer to send a piece of fruit and in the winter when our orange tree is producing, that's pretty much our staple school snack. But I like to mix it up a little sometimes with some homemade goodness.

The thing I love about these granola bars is that I know exactly what is in them, they are sturdy--they can survive a backpack and still remain intact, and it's easy to "mix it up".

Here's what you'll need

4 1/2 cups of oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup maple syrup (you could substitute brown sugar, if you prefer...use the same amount either way)
2/3 cup melted butter
2 cups total of whatever "pieces" you want to add--chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts

Preheat your oven to 325 and prepare a 9x13 pan (butter/flour whatever you want to use to keep the bars from sticking).

Mix all of the dry ingredients together (I don't bother with a mixer...a pastry blender would work well...I use a spatula). Create a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients to the well. Mix everything together and spoon and press into your prepared pan.

Bake around 20 minutes or until the edges are a golden brown.

Let me know if you try them and tell me what you think or how you improved them!

Sometimes My Kids Set Me Straight

Last night, as we got home from church, it was late. Uriah and Elisabeth were both having meltdowns and the older kids were fussing up a storm. So I hurried them through their bedtime routines.

In a flurry of brushed teeth, clothes changed and laid out, they got into bed.

Here's where I sighed a BIG sigh of relief.

And then from the boys room I heard a voice, "Mommy, can we say a prayer?"

This is what went through my head...Yeah, jerk mom! Why didn't you ALREADY say a prayer? What kind of mom ARE YOU?!

So I got the girls out of bed and we all gathered in the boys room. And let me tell ya, a portion of that prayer was a humbled pleading for God to change me and thankfulness for the ways He already has.

On some days I think my parenting goal is simply to survive. But that's not what parenting is about. Yeah, there are rough days. But parenting is about showing them who God is. Even our imperfections can point their hearts toward Him. Because our imperfections remind us, and them, that they need a Savior and that we are not it.

So, yeah, I'm not a perfect mom. I am a deeply flawed mom depending on the grace of God to change me and to leave my children as un scarred by my imperfections as they can be.

Praise God for His mercy and grace!

With Me, It's All 'Er Nothin', Is it All 'Er Nothin' With You?

I tend to be an all or nothin' kinda girl. If I get everything on my to-do list done then I feel good and it's been a successful day, but if not, I'm depressed and feel like a failure.


Recently I was reading the creation story and I started to ponder the fact that God did what He did on certain days, then He looked at what He had done that day and was satisfied...and then left the rest for "tomorrow". He didn't do it all in one day, and presumably, He could have. And when He was done for the week, He took a day off.


I think it's pretty common for moms to feel pressured to have a clean home, clean children, a meal on the table and still have time to give our husbands some attention at the end of the day. We give ourselves so much to do every day that something has to give...whether it's going through the drive thru for dinner or being tired and grumpy with our husbands!

Until the last few months, my home was either a complete mess or spotless. For the past few months it's been varying degrees in between. It's pretty clean most of the time. And most of the time my laundry is done. But sometimes I go to bed with laundry on the laundry room floor...and while I hate it, I'm learning to tell myself "well, I guess I'll try again tomorrow!"

Let me tell ya, a few months ago if I had a streak of keeping my laundry done and then "failed" one day, I would have given up. But I've been pondering the creation story and I've come to some conclusions that have had really good repercussion in my life...

1.  Not everything has to be done in one day. God did what He did and then stood back and enjoyed the view. So, do what I can but leave enough time to enjoy the fruits of my labor with my family. Because that's the reason we do it all anyway. If we're "doing it all" but missing out on time with our kids or husband and opportunities to serve others...then what's the point?

2.  Do SOMETHING every day. Again, do what I can and when I'm done don't listen to the voices that are in my head listing all of the other things I should get done. Just shut it off until tomorrow. There are more important things in life than having every can in my pantry facing forward.

3.  Take periodic rest days. This is hard. It's so hard to take rest days. But God thought they were necessary and went to great lengths to enforce the Sabbath day with the Israelites.

I think that viewing this through the creation story has really helped me to look at God in a new way. It's baffling how each thing I learn about Him just reinforces to me how utterly good and completely amazing He is!

The thing is, everything we do is to prepare ourselves and our families to serve others and love God...keeping our homes is one way that we do that.

Countdown to Thanksgiving: Today I am thankful for laundry. I am thankful that God can (and does) take the things I struggle with and moan and groan over and uses them to change me!

Keeping Up with the Joneses

Me and Lilla bein' silly.

As a parent I think it's fairly normal to have a list of things I want my children to have and a standard of living I want them to live. I want them to have a magical childhood. I want them to be carefree. It's my own sort of "keeping up with the Joneses".

And up until the past few years I've kind of had a sense of entitlement about it all. And we've felt a pressure to be able to put presents under the Christmas tree, to be able to take our family out to dinner to socialize with friends and family (because that's what people do, right?!).

In the past year or so I've really realized just how ridiculous that is.

Life isn't about presents under a Christmas tree, or going to movies or eating ice cream. And while it's fun to be able to do those things, we can't do those things and still pay our bills.

We've stopped feeling pressured to keep up. Our clothes are worn, we probably won't be going to the movies anytime soon and we'll be staying at home to eat our meals....but don't feel sorry for us or think our life is less fulfilled because of those things. Because our clothes have character, our living room is our theater (we see a Tony Award worthy play every week!), and our dinner table is set and enjoyed with love. And we're less distracted (than we used to be) by material things, which leaves us more time to enjoy each other and think of others...which is what life is all about!

And that definitely works for us!