I'm not living in the future..

So I decided to blog today. I had a lot of thoughts going through my head. Which is actually the norm. :p Honestly I think my mind is racing even when I'm sleeping. LOL

I started to think about how I and many of us can get so caught up in the future we forget to be present in the here and now. I remember when I started thinking about parenthood and how I could prepare for it. The thing is that sometimes the best preparations happen in the midst of the actual event. I mean sure there's ways to prepare for parenthood. You could try to get less sleep, be okay with changing poopy diapers, watch a family members kid when sick and let them puke all over you etc. ;) (ok, really don't do that)  But there's something about dealing and going through it when you are actually there. I very much like to prepare mentally for events and try to think about how I will be and act in those situations. I've learned sometimes until I was there I could not be completely prepared. Another thing is that God is so good, that he truly gives us his supernatural grace to accomplish what we are doing. But that grace is not there before hand. You also don't have the blessings or good points that go with having a child til you have one. It's like preparing for one of the greatest blessings you could ever receive, but having none of the joys, perks, blessings and grace that you will have in that moment. I call that a recipe for doubt, fear and maybe even becoming so overwhelmed with it that we don't even take the step.

I've also looked back and said "man I could have prepared even more in situations". When I look back at being a parent of one child I think "man, it was so easy with one and I really could have taken better advantage of that time to prepare for baby #2". Then I think back and realize that I was really enjoying and living in the moment of having one child and I don't regret that! I wouldn't change it. It so easy to look back and see how much more we could have done, but truth is I was living in that present moment and I'm grateful for that. There's so much we learn in the midst of our current situations and that's the beauty of being in the here and now and not where others are or you may be in future. I feel there's a lot of happiness that can be missed if I was too concentrated on what was coming. There's beauty in learning things in the midst of them and not from other people's experiences, books or even what we think it might be like.

I sometimes get WAY ahead of myself. It's a good thing to prepare for the future and think ahead. I think the problem is when the future becomes more of our current life than where we are currently. I have been thinking a lot about it with homeschooling too. Kindergarten is not required in NY state. So this year although we've started schooling we don't have to. My thoughts though went like this "but next year I will have to do reports and be super thorough". Today as I was thinking about it and talking to the Lord. I felt like he said you are preparing again for a place you are not at yet and my grace is not there. I was like that's so true. It's not that I'm not going to prepare, but I was beginning to prepare more for the future than enjoying this new journey and place I'm at now. I was getting so caught up in what I have to do in the future that I was starting to not enjoy where I currently am. The fact is this year is the last year it will be this easy with homeschooling and I truly want to embrace where I am and stop fretting about how I'm going to have to be.

My encouragement to you is enjoy where you are, be present in the present and take peace that where ever the future leads you God is already prepared and will be right there to help you and extend his grace to you!

Summer salad with homemade dressing

Made this salad tonight. All 4 of us devoured it. I was out of dressing and I prefer making my own, but was too lazy to make my usual dressing. So I ended up just putting lime juice and extra virgin olive oil and it was perfect.

4 large handfuls of spinach leaves or any lettuce
7 small or 4 large strawberries (sliced thin)
1 med carrot (washed & sliced thin, the skins are really good for you & I leave them on)
half of a large cucumber sliced
Handful of yellow raisins
Small onion (optional)
1/4 cup almonds the small thinly sliced (optional)
 about 4TBSP of feta cheese. ***

dressing: juice from half of a lime and 4TBSP of olive oil. Just enough to get everything nice & moist. ***

I do not usually measure, but just add until it looks good. The measurements are pretty accurate. Next time I think I am going to add some fresh basil.

*** (if you use a less salty cheese than the feta it would be a good idea to add a little salt & pepper to add seasoning. My feta is very salty and therefore the dressing doesn't need seasoning.)

Serves 4 to 5 people. Enjoy!

Pad Thai sauce.

I got the base recipe from a friend and it's super yummy. I have added a few things to it also. We love it though!

6TBSP of peanut butter (real peanut butter with nothing added is best. I get it freshly ground at Wegmans)
6TBSP of soy sauce (preferably low sodium, gluten free and preservative free) Kikkoman brand name
2 cloves fresh minced garlic
3/4 cup water
3 TBSP of maple syrup (you could use another form of sugar/sweetener though)
Juice from 1 1/2 limes and/or lemons. (I like to do half and half)

Spices that I like to add are, a little cayenne pepper & 1tsp of curry powder (curry powder is made up of coriander, red chillies, turmeric, cumin, pepper and fenugreek)

Serve with your favorite veggies and my favorite Thai Kitchen stir fry rice noodles or brown rice.

Makes about 4 to 5 servings

Enjoy!

Homemade whipped cream frosting

Stumbled across some healthy gluten free icing and whip cream/cool whip frosting recipes. Here's the one I used to frost Isaiah cupcakes. It's only 2 ingredients!!

1 cup heavy cream

2TBSP agava nectar

1TBSP of vanilla extract. (optional)

Whip with hand blender until it reaches peak. Fluffy. :)

This recipe was good, but the vanilla was just what it needed for me. :D It Frost about 10 cupcakes, but I made a double batch and saved the rest for my coffee. :D

Latest smoothies

I was looking for more ways to incorporate natural probiotics. I don't like yogurt.. :/ So I've been making smoothies with Keifer or yogurt almost every morning. The kids actually ask for them almost every day and are sad when I tell them today is not a smoothie making day. I also wanted to use mostly in season fruit. So here it is:

1 apple (cored not peeled) the skin has the majority of nutrients.
2 pears (peeled mostly and cored)
Handful of frozen strawberries
1 banana (optional)
1/2 cup Kefir. or yogurt
1/2 cup liquid (we've been using fresh local apple cider or raw milk)
About 2TBSP flax seed.

Blend and enjoy! If too thick just add more liquid. I just dump, so the liquid amounts are estimates.  :)

How to kick a cold

So our family (all 4) came down with an awful cold. We haven't gotten a cold in 9+ months and Aaron almost never gets colds. It was one tough virus. I knocked us all down quit a bit. :( I went to Lori's at first sight of cold after reading my health Bible. :) Isaiah came down with cold first Thursday and then the rest of us by Friday and Isaiah was better by Saturday and the rest of us were better by Sunday. 

Mercedes has a cough still, but that's just due to the fact the girl can not blow her nose and sucks up her snot continually. So for her she had to get better without getting the gunk out...

One easy and quick change we made was NO sugar and VERY little processed foods.

I have a book called Prescription For Nutritional Healing. I recommend everyone have the book especially if you have children. I got it off Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Prescription-Nutritional-Healing-Fifth-Edition/dp/1583334009

Here's a list of things I bought according to the book and what I did:

Down 8oz of water with 2tbsp of RAW apple cider vinger (BRAGGS brand) and if you are brave enough a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. (this alone will kick the cold) I do this for 1 to 3 days.

Zinc lozenges- make sure they do not contain citric acid, sorbitol or mannitol, because these inhibit absorption.  I bought NATURE'S PLUS
Herbal Actives ImmunActin Zinc Lozenges http://store.lorisnatural.com/store/product/38069/NP-Immunactin-Zinc-60l/ 

Also these zinc lozenges contain: olive leaf,  elderberr, echinacea &  goldenseal. 

Raw garlic- I added this to our foods, ate it raw and for the kids added it to there bath. (They would not eat raw) :)

Vitamin C- For this I juiced oranges and lemon. If you don't have a juicer you can still hand juice some oranges. 

Vitamin D3- We laid out in the sun for at least an hour everyday.

Stayed active- Staying active is really important. 

Eucalyptus and lavender essential oil- we added this to our baths and showers. I also put the eucalyptus in a dish with cut up raw garlic by our beds. Important to only buy 100% pure oils and they are expensive, but worth it to me. :)

Echinacea tea with raw honey

Good nights sleep- At least 8 hours

We continued to take our multivitamins- Natural vitality liquid (Calm multi for kids) and juice plus vitamins. If you are taking cheap vitamins from the store then stop and go buy quality ones. Cheap vitamins can actually do you more harm than good.

The book also mentions sipping on good organic chicken or turkey broth, olive leaf, elderberry, echinacea &  goldenseal. 

 

The zinc lozeges contain most of the above!! :)

Most of the above was from the book. I was really amazed how fast we got over everything. Seems like a lot of work and money, but it wasn't. Being sick longer would have been more work. 

Next up I will tell you how we got rid of double ear infections and pink eye. We got that back in January. :(

 

Energy peanut butter balls!

Most amazing peanut butter balls

• 1 cup organic (dry) oats   (I use old-fashioned oats)
• 1/2 cup organic coconut flakes (shredded and un-sweetened)
• 1 cup organic peanut butter  
• 1/2 cup organic ground flax seed and/or chai seeds
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips minis   
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon   (optional)
• 1/3 cup local raw honey
• 1 tsp. organic vanilla
• 1/4 cup raisins  (optional)

To make:
Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed.  Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like.  (Mine were about 1″ in diameter.)  Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.

I also put nuts and dried fruit in sometimes.