The One About Whole Foods

I've been reading a lot of Shonda Parker's books lately. I am really enjoying the way that she writes and am trying to glean as much information as I can from her. The reoccuring theme in her books is that your body is a temple to God and should be taken care of accordingly. She writes how we should be careful about what we put into it, but to do it according to how you can financially and with your husband's & family's likes/dislikes/needs in mind.

So I'm trying to incoorperate more whole, seasonal foods into our diets as money allows. Things can be very tight financially lately, so it isn't going to be perfect, but I'm going to try my hardest.

Today so far:
Bfast ~ Scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast
Snack ~ fresh, homemade applesauce (Yum!)
Lunch ~ baked oatmeal: oats, eggs, milk, maple syrup, baking powder & I put chopped apples instead of raisins because I had none.
Dinner ~ homemade beef stew (unfortunately beef is not organic the way I'd prefer, but a lean cut): beef, browned and a gravy made w/ w.w. flour & water, potatoes, carrots, onions & fresh garlic. & homemade w.w. rolls made w/ molasses instead of white sugar
Dessert &/or second snack ~ homemade whole wheat applesauce cake... which I just tasted and it was yummy.

I know that financially I cannot afford organic foods right now or a huge variety of fruits & veggies... but I'm going to do what I can...

The One With a Mixture of Topics

Recently a friend posted on FB how she has spent too much time trying to fix the negative things in her life than time spent focusing and accentuating the positive aspects. What a thought!! I am very good at seeing the things I need to fix in my personality, my actions, etc... and very bad at seeing and working on the positive things that God has given me. I tend to think if I work on those or accentuate them then it's a matter of pride. But I'm starting to think otherwise. I'm going to give this some more thought.

My mouth is still throbbing this morning. I had my wisdom teeth pulled on Friday... it's Monday now and I'm so ready for the pain to be gone and to eat something normal again. On the plus side I lost 5 lbs! LOL! I'm sure it won't stay off... but I wish it would.

Alyssa was up ALLLLL night last night. Literally. Hourly. I'm not sure why? No new teeth in her mouth, no fever, no cold, nothing visibly wrong. The only thing I can guess is that she hasn't poo'd since Thursday. :( My milk supply has dipped drastically in the days since having my teeth pulled and my milk supply was her main source of liquids. She won't drink water or milk. We just barely found a juice she'll touch, but even then not a lot. I feel so bad for her... and frustrated at the same time. I NEED sleep to help my body heal... rested bodies heal much better than exhausted bodies.

The One About the Costume Party

We had a costume party for the girls. It was a lot of fun!! Levi dressed as Luke Skywalker from a certain episode where Luke wears all green. (I admit: I have NO idea what he's talking about... but he insisted, so I let him. He made his own costume) James was Maxwell Smart from "Get Smart" (TV show WAY before even MY time... but the kids love it! lol!) Beth was a bride, Sammy was a sailor & Alyssa was a fairy. Here are some random pictures of the party. :)

The One About Being Sick

I detest this 'cold & flu' season. Right now we have everything that points to the "flu" according to the CDC. Everything on this list except for the first and last which both say only some people get. So we're staying home from Friday school today because of it though I know other people who have similar symptoms are going. We're all on the mend. Have been dealing w/ this for a little over a week... I've had a sore throat now for 6 days. I just realized it's been 6 days! LOL! I hadn't realized that. It's really been difficult to get stuff done because I'm so fatigued, but we're still plugging away getting stuff accomplished.

I just really detest this season... wondered if we should get 'the shot', but the more I research the more I think not. Even the CDC (the link I posted) says that most people who get the 2009 H1N1 have mild cases. I hate that the media throws such a hype into the mix. It makes it harder to make an informed choice w/out the worries in the back of my head.

Another One About Trust

Being the Mom God wants me to be. This has been on my mind a lot lately. Two times in my recent reading I came across the idea that if what I am doing is taking away from my family's needs then perhaps I shouldn't be doing it. This was interesting to me as so much of what I do at the moment is focused on the house selling, house buying, my schooling, and friends. So much of what I do is focused away from the children and I would say it's taking away from my family's needs. Part of me sees that there needs to be a change in the focus... a shift in my paradigm. The other part of me is saying "How?" or "Where?" or "What gives?" My priorities are always to my husband, my children and my home. Not in that order lately... but I think bigger than that my priority needs to be the Lord and the rest will fall into place. I think I'm a bit of a control freak, tho I have never labeled myself as that before. The reason I say that is because it is hard for me to just let go of those things that I feel I need to hold on to and control. Even placing them into capable hands I still give instructions. "Lord, I place this whole house thing into your hands. I'm trusting you to provide as we need." in one breath and "Let it happen SOON, PLEASE" literally in the next breath. That's not really trusting... that's putting stipulations on the 'trust' that I pretend is there.

The Mushy One Combined With a Normal One

I love how connected Matt & I can be at times. I love that he knows my thoughts without me even hinting towards them and he can still finish my sentences. I love how he understands me and 'gets' my goofiness. I love how patient he is with all my 'new ideas' and how he fully supports me in all my efforts. This all really hit me this morning with something so simple. It was 6:30 am and I was nursing Alyssa, hoping she'd go back to sleep. Beth was awake to use the bathroom and then went back ino the girls room. I thought " I wish I could tell her to rest on the couch so that she won't wake Alyssa when I put her back in her bed." but I couldn't say anything because I didn't want to wake Alyssa. Matt walked into the living room not a minute later and said "Want me to ask Beth to rest on the couch so she doesn't wake the baby?" Awwww... see. I didn't even say a word and he was thinking about it. :)

IN OTHER NEWS:
Another showing today. This makes 2 in 3 days. I *think* people have to have a house under contract by the end of October to get the $8000 tax credit, so I *think* it's spurring last minute people on. We had a showing on Saturday and now one today and the open house will be on Sunday. Praying hard that this week someone will bite. My sisters were here this weekend & they were both a bit overwhelmed by how much it takes to keep/get the house perfect for showings! And they had lots of help!! (and WERE lots of help! I can't believe how much extra stuff I got done because they were here!)

Would it be bad to take a fall vacation? I NEVER take extra school vacations other than Christmas or when a new baby is born. But man! I feel like we ALL need a break. I think I might go ahead and call this 'fall vacation week". The kids will be THRILLED.

The One Where God Speaks

Matt & I were given an offer on our house this week and were advised by our realtor not to take it or even counter offer as the type of loan they were trying to get is close to impossible in this state. We took her advice... the offer was ridiculous anyway.

5 days later we found the house we want to buy. It's literally 2 miles from my parents house. It has a loft, 3 bedrooms 1.75 baths, 1.21 acres, a pool, a deck, a woodburning fireplace and is solid. The only work it needs is flooring (which we have covered thanks to Lee!!) and new countertops (unless we love the 80's orange color on them! lol!!) The house has HUGE windows facing south so you get all the southern exposure of the sun. Wonderful in the winter and even in the summer because, as people who know me well know, I LOVE SUN and LIGHT and BRIGHTNESS! Best of all?? The house is in our price range. Oh man...

So needless to say, we both woke up this morning feeling super discouraged. We looked online and saw houses similar to ours going for higher than we're asking. We saw houses better than ours also going for less than we're asking. We're right in the middle and have no real bites. We both literally dragged our family to church this morning. We debated even going as we've been in VT 4 days out of the past 6 anyway and this would make it 5 out of 6. But we felt we should so we did.

We walked in a little late thanks to someone on a Sunday morning scenic drive who was in front of us w/ no passing areas. *sigh* We were discouraged and frustrated and honestly not in the best frame of mind to worship. Almost immediately after we walked in the music leader started talking about how he knows life can get discouraging, especially when we're waiting for something to happen. He said he knows that waiting for God's timing when we want something to happen now can be one of the most frustrating places to be in, but that we should trust that the Lord will make all things good in His timing.

I almost shrugged it off in a way. It could be a word from the Lord for anyone, yk? Plus KT was squirming around and Erich was climbing all over the pew, so I was distracted from really listening with my heart.

Towards the end of the service someone started to speak in tongues. That doesn't happen often, even in our Assemblies of God church. So I bowed my head and prayed quietly that the Lord would make it clear... and then someone else spoke a word. Again "Do not be dismayed." was the topic.

Ok, Lord... I get the point! I am going to try my best to focus on You and Your timing in all of this. I will wait and be patient. I will trust Your timing... even when I want this over NOW. I will wait... I will try not to let the discouragment stay. I will trust.