Your not alone

It is always wonderful when the Lord answers pray.  Grant it many times we don't recognize our prayers have even been heard, other times the answer we get just isn't "our answer". So what does this have in relation to not being alone?

This is the answer the Lord has given to my prayer!  I didn't ask " Lord why am I alone?" or " who is here to help?". So what was my prayer?  Well, I have been praying for the Lord to show me what I need to work on.  Now the list I can say is very long, I am very far from being perfect.  But our loving God still is here for me; just as He promises he always will be.  It took a while to see just how much of an issue this really is for me.  This feeling that no one can understand what is going on when I can not even understand, when there are no answers to give reason and understanding to my problem. 

Certainly, we all go through situations where we feel like we are the only ones who deal with these problems.  Parenting is a top that comes to mind.  I was reading on a blog I follow {meaningful mama - love her blog} where she talked about this very topic.  While I read I felt as if I could relate on many levels.  I have friends who I will share my parenting struggles with; who have been there done that.  They do understand, and some are going through it with me.  I am not alone in these parenting up and downs as I trying to raise the wonderful girls God has given to me.

While yes sometimes I feel like my kids must be the most out of control children around I think God is trying to get me to look at something else.  I truly cherish the way our Lord works and gives us such grace and is so merciful.

First steps to becoming a homestead

In march we took the first step to becoming homesteaders.  We took the girls to wilco and got 6 little chicks.  They couldn't have been more excited.  It really has been a wonderful experience so far.  The chickens all love Victoria, and the girls can not get enough of the chicks.

Here are some pictures showcasing our adventure thus far.

Our new 6 little babies came home on the 17th of March.  We got 2 americanas and 4 rhode island reds.  

This chicks sure change in a matter of days just 2 days later they have more feathers and one is even working on first flight attempts :)

3 months gone just like that. Catching up with the girls....

Just like that 3 months have passed.  So as you might guess we have been very busy.  What a blessing it is to know that the Lord is walking with us at all times, if not I would be going crazy with the speed that the days seam to be going by. {some might say that I am crazy already}  For now I will just update on the girls, maybe tomorrow I can get to some of the other fun things we have been doing.

So here they are our loving girls  Sofia, Olivia and Victoria.

Victoria turned six years old, our peanut is growing fast.   Today she lost her second tooth, she loves that she is getting loose teeth.  She has almost completed Kindergarten, hopefully we will be done in 3 weeks.  Everyday she has been looking at her bugs waiting to release them into the garden that papa made for her.  For christmas she got a ladybug land to watch the life stages of the lady bug.  I am so convinced that she will be a walking encyclopedia.  Every little thing that is new to her she is instantly asking questions to learn all about the new topic or thing.

All of a sudden this past week both Brad and I look at Olivia and think wow she is suddenly a grown-up pre-schooler.  {don't let her hear you say a big girl, she gets very upset.}  Every smile that she gives is one that will light up her entire body to the tips of her fingers.  Learning how to help with laundry and always being ready to yell "emergency, emergency, Sofia on the stairs," she keeps us smiling.

Our Silly Lovely Olivia

What an experience Sofia has had, suddenly the world that we live in has become alive to her.  We adore her glasses and watching her experience new sights like birds flying in the sky.  While she should wear her glasses all the time we have not quite managed to get her to keep them on that long, but it doesn't stop her from runner in the shadows of her sisters.  Turning 2 must have been a milestone marker for her because she has taken off with her talking communication levels.  Sentences and questions all the time.  Our baby is 100% toddler, now we call her our little bird instead of baby bird.

Three little girls who bring such joy to our lives, expecially during times to sorrow.  We had to say good-bye to our loved Twix in May.  While Victoria took it very hard the first day but she has helped us remember all the wonderful times that Twix had with us.  Sissy {our other kitty} and Victoria have created a new bond and are sleeping pals.

Banana Banana Banana

So our kids love bananas and well they used to eat 2 a day sometimes.  It seams like we needed a bunch of bananas every other day.  We when the kids decide to almost go on complete banana strike out of the blue, all those bananas get rip and to my favorite condition.  BAKING TIME.

Today I have 10 ripe bananas!

First on the list is mini muffins, makes perfect snacks.

So while I have made muffins many time, I tried a new trick today.  This is a time saver and helps keep the mess down, with I had found this years ago.

So when it comes time to put the batter into the muffin tin try using a melon baller

I used the small scoop and it was the perfect size for mini muffins.


I can not wait for these to cool off!  I have been waiting a long time to make some banana bread or muffins but the girls always had the bananas gone long before I would be able to.

Bath Detox

Well, I must say that I pleased with the bath detox.  While I only stayed in for about 15 mins it really made my skin feel so much better.  I also slept really well that night.  As for feeling all revived the next morning, that didn't really happen.

I think that I am going to try doing this twice a week.  I really do think as I am able to stay in the water longer I will feel much better.

I found this from another blogger (and I can't find the site so I will add it when I do) and I really loved how she listed what each ingredient will do. So here it is....

Detox Bath Recipe:

• 1/3 C Epsom salts
• 1/3 C sea salt
• 1/3 C baking soda
• 2 1/2 t ground ginger
• 1 C apple cider vinegar

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Draw a bath with water as hot as you can stand it. As the water is filling the tub, add the bowl of dry ingredients and the vinegar. The flowing water will help mix it, but make sure it is mixed well. (Don’t worry if your water turns yellow or orange, that’s just the ginger and the vinegar.)

Soak in the bath for about 40 minutes and enjoy! If you want to you can rub your skin gently (always towards your heart) to stimulate your lymphatic system and help clear out the toxins.

Benefits:

• Epsom salts: helps make you sweat, reduces inflammation, relieves muscle aches, found in most bath salts
• Sea salt: another common bath salt, helps leach out toxins, soothes open sores or blemishes
• Baking soda: highly alkaline, helps balance an overly acidic system, helps eliminate chlorine in the water, softens water and skin
• Apple cider vinegar: helps restore the acid-alkaline balance in your body, helpful for acne, softens skin
• Ginger: increases circulation, opens pores, makes you sweat

Important considerations before taking this bath:

• This bath and the detox process can be fairly dehydrating so make sure you drink plenty of water during and after the bath.
• When you’re getting out of the bath you must be careful and move slowly. You may feel weak or light-headed if you stand up too quickly.
• You will probably feel tired right after, so take this bath at a time when you can go right to bed if you need to.
• Also, please don’t take hot baths or salt baths if you are pregnant, have heart trouble, high blood pressure, or if you are diabetic. If you’re not sure, talk to your doctor first.

Also: If you start to feel like you are coming down with the flu, don’t freak out. While your body works to detox and flush out the toxins you may feel a bit under the weather for about half a day. It probably means it’s working! Stay hydrated to help your body clear out the toxins and you should feel better pretty quickly.

The day that I did this I drank water all day and while in the bath.  You really do start to sweet and I could feel my face and lips feeling dry.  Next time I will be sure to drink more water.  I think that overall I need to be drinking more water so that is another goal.

Amazing Find at Goodwill

Today the family and I went to goodwill and dropped off some stuff that we were no longer using.  We decided that it would be good to get out and walk around for a bit and look around.  Found a few details but the best was a tag reader for Olivia.  Brand new never used, box still in great condition; a rare find indeed.  Now Olivia will not have to fight Victoria because she has her own special reader pen.

Maybe just maybe this could work!

While the winter months here in the Northwest bring rain and not so pleasant days I can not seam to place all the blame for just being sluggish on the weather.  I am sure some of the weather is a contributing factor, however I think just maybe I need to detox.

I am not setting my hopes too high but I am excited to give this a try tonight.  At least my skin should feel super smooth.

I first saw on pintrest (during the wee hours of the morning when I should be sleeping but am awake because I am so stiff and just uncomfortable.) a bath detox.  Stories how so many women felt so much better the next day.  These women used the same descriptions that I feel myself using when it comes to how I am feeling... tired, foggy, blah, sluggish, exhausted, unable to catch up.

So what is it that a bath detox is going to do.  Well... to get rid of the toxins that are possibly causing some of the issues that I am constantly fighting.

• Epsom salts: helps make you sweat, reduces inflammation, relieves muscle aches, found in most bath salts
• Sea salt: another common bath salt, helps leach out toxins, soothes open sores or blemishes
• Baking soda: highly alkaline, helps balance an overly acidic system, helps eliminate chlorine in the water, softens water and skin
• Apple cider vinegar: helps restore the acid-alkaline balance in your body, helpful for acne, softens skin
• Ginger: increases circulation, opens pores, makes you sweat

I will be doing a follow-up post to this one with the results.  I plan on however tonight sleeping like a baby and waking up renewed tomorrow.  If this turns out well I will add the recipe that I am going to use.

Maybe preparing for grocery shopping can be simple

To start our grocery list we have to go through all of our pantries to see what we need.  Compare that to the items we have planned for the week.  Keeping in mind what we have stocked up already and how much we want to have stocked up.  Sometimes this task can be quite a bit when you are looking to just head out the door, or decide last minute to do your shopping since you are in town already.

With life being busy all the time we constantly are looking for ways to make things easier.  Today I found an app that looks like might accomplice just that for us.

The app is called "out of milk." 

This app has a pantry list, shopping list and to do list.  I look forward to going through and scanning all my stuff and know what I have and knowing what I don't need to buy when I go to the store.

With a clean layout and simple input, this program could work great for us.

Victoria is still sick, poor girl will feel a little better and then hits a wall of misery. Any amount of light last night sent her into a frantic cry. As soon as her fever broke the light was no longer an issue, and so far today she is doing okay. Now that we are all awake and functioning maybe we will get a good school day in.


We plan on going to look at the frames that came in for Sofia, hopefully one of them will work out for her and we can get them filled right away. I can not imagine how new the world is going to look to her. This is one of the frames that we had ordered to try. A bunch of them are on back order so I think we only have 3 to pick from. I do think that these ones are super cute.

A recipe I LOVE: Stuffed Cheese Buns

I found this recipe that I must share.  As some of you all ready know we love cheese in our house so any new recipe that is as great as this one will be used many many times.  This is absolutely my new favorite!

I only can take credit for eating them and enjoying immensely.

Yammie's Noshery: Peeta's Stuffed Cheese Buns

Another attempt

So as we continue on in life we really want to share all the great adventures that we are experiencing.  To share the love of our Lord and all the trials that He is growing us stronger as He walks right beside us.

I will not claim to be some great writer, or even a organized blogger.  I am however a very blessed christian mother who wants to share my life in Christ to others.

As you follow our journey I pray that the Lord would work in your hearts and lives as He does ours.  That you would feel your faith grow stronger or maybe even begin your walk with Him has your savior.