One Big Miracle!

I am just figuring it out!

Life is one big miracle!

The human body, for example, is completely amazing!

All the little parts that work together to keep us walking, talking, breathing, for Pete's Sake!

Walking is a miracle!

Talking is a miracle!

Breathing is A MIRACLE!

The way the earth moves,

The way the wind blows,

The way every living thing grows!

IT'S ALL A MIRACLE!

All of our emotions~

loving,

crying,

feeling,

hurting,

laughing,

sharing!

thinking!

Working things out, working together, running, jumping, sitting, cooking, reading, singing, listening, playing.

EVERYTHING IS A MIRACLE!

I am constantly reminded of how life is so precious!

Every little thing is a miracle!

Conception of a baby~

The birth of a baby~

How a baby grows~

And learns, and feels, and moves!

Being loved is a miracle!

To love another!

Having a family is a miracle!

Having friends!

~Faith, joy, peace, forgiveness!

And even in this imperfect world full of God's miracles,

the greatest of all is that

every single person on earth has a chance at perfection!

The miracle of forgiveness, redemption and salvation!

God is being so very gentle in reminding me that we will only be perfect in Heaven!

But perfect we will be!

He sent His Son out of unconditional love to promise us perfection one day!

I can live with imperfection.

It won't last forever.

But I will try my best to live and love while enjoying this

ONE BIG MIRACLE

OF LIFE!

Simply September

Ahhh, September!
I love it!
I am so happy to be on a schedule again!
Of course, I don't want every minute scheduled~
We need time to relax and chill, too!
(As if we haven't been doing that all summer!)
I love the change of seasons and the change of schedules.
It makes life exciting and interesting.
Oh, but I do love a simple life!
Hmmm.
What can simple mean?
Let's see.
~More time at home.
~Less running around.
~Less clutter.
~More time for faith and family.
~More time outdoors.
~Listening to beautiful music.
~Reading wonderful children's books.
~Talking and listening to God.
~Simple, healthy meals.
~Enjoying the beautiful things in life.

So I said to myself~
"Stop dreaming, Laura, and start simplifying!"

The first thing I thought to simplify was our meals.
I came up with this plan that makes it easier for me to think about our meals.

A Meal Template!
Yay!
This is what it is: (I plan on using it until I am sick of it.)
I picked a main food for each day of the week and I create my meals from that.
~Monday is chicken or turkey day.
I cook a chicken dinner with 2 whole chickens along with all the vegetables. I then boil the bones and tiny bits of chicken into broth so I can use it for other meals.
~Tuesday is rice, bean and veggie dishes.
I know it's coming, so I pre-soak the beans the day before. I can even cook the rice before and then add whatever veggies and spices I want.
I could do Mexican, middle eastern, greek, italian. Whatever we are in the mood for.
Next Tuesday, I plan on making black bean and rice burritos with all the toppings.
~Wednesday is salad day.
I am thinking hearty salads, like cobb, chef, taco, greek etc.
I will add bread of some sort.
~Thursday is fish day.
Fish, veggies and a salad.
So simple!
Everyone loves it!
~Friday is homemade pizza day.
Lenny decided he will be the pizza maker.
He's all fired up!
He made it once and considers himself quite an expert!
It was really good~crispy crust, yummy sauce!
He found a thin crust recipe online.
I will post the recipes at a later time.
Every week could be a different flavor. There are so many types of good unusual recipes for pizza!
Now Saturday. Soup and sandwich day.
This is our running day and I didn't want to worry about what we were going to have for dinner, so I thought this would be a good meal.
I plan on using the crockpot and just making sure there are sandwich fixings in the fridge.
It could be as simple as vegetable soup and broiled tomato, basil and mozzarella sandwiches.
Sunday. Pasta day.
I plan on putting this meal together in advance.
I plan on lasagna this week so I will make it Friday and probably freeze it if I do not have enough room in my fridge.
I'll put it in the oven on Sunday morning before church. Or I could layer it in my big electric roaster. I have even made lasagna in a crockpot.
Other pasta ideas: spaghetti and meatballs, turkey tetrazinni, greek pasta salad etc.

So I have a plan.
Will I use it?
Yes, I will.
But I am enlisting every single child I have to help me!
I am not doing it by myself!
I don't need to!
The kids need to learn their life skills, you know!
I will ask each one for specific ideas for each meal and we are going to put on our aprons together!
Actually, maybe I will hang up mine and go take a nap!

I do know that every day won't be as easy as it sounds, so on those days, I have a back-up plan: breakfast for dinner!
Oh well!
It's better than the fast food on the corner!

Anyway, I look forward to more simplifying.
Does anyone want to share their simplifying ideas?
Oh, Please!!!
I long for simplicity!

Who Will Love Our Children When They Leave The Nest?

Our 1st child has gone away to college.

Shane had his car packed to the brim, a smile on his face and thoughts of adventures as he pulled out of our driveway.

I was quite composed, I thought, for a mother who not only is dealing with her 1st child leaving the house but also quite hormonal due to this pregnancy at 44 years of age!

He turned his head and said,

"Thanks Mom, for everything!"

I went to the bathroom and bawled!

Our precious child that we have loved long before birth and has given us a world of joy is thanking me.

It didn't seem right.

Our lives have been so very blessed by the children that God is loaning to us while here on earth and I know I could never thank Him enough!

I try

but know that my thankfulness will only be enough in Heaven!

How has Our Loving Father taken such good care of us that He gives, and gives, and gives,

without us even being barely aware of it?!

He has given us a most precious gift in the children He has blessed us with!

As Shane was preparing to leave the nest, I knew I had to completely put him in God's care.

I am not equipped to care for him anymore like I was when he was little.

Oh, I knew that God was taking care of him all along but I guess I thought I was taking care of him better than anyone else at the time.

No one loves more than a mother, right!

Well, of course, I had to come to face the fact that, yes, someone does love more than a mother!

Our children's first Father!

I worried and prayed that Shane would be okay, stay on the narrow path, fight temptation, even study, for Pete's sake!

Then God hit me with a ton of bricks!

This is what I felt He said to me:

"I am His Father. I created him and had plans for him long before he was in the womb. I WILL TAKE CARE OF HIM!"

I felt a little sheepish!

It was all so clear!

I was just clouding it up with my own fear and doubt!

I have surrendered my child into the hands of his Father as I should have been doing all along!

It has given me peace!

I still love him and miss him as only a mother could!

I miss putting a plate a food aside for him when he comes home late from work.

I miss his smiling face.

And his whistling.

He has truly been, and still is, such a joy to all of us!

A precious child that only God could create.

A true joy straight from Heaven!

I am so very thankful for the time we have had together!

He has been homeschooled all of his life, except for kindergarten in Australia, and I believe that God has blessed us with that opportunity to treasure Shane's life even more.

I am so very thankful!

I am happy to see him go.

We are so very proud of him and we know we would never want to keep him from his path in life!

He knows he is loved and that is what I pray that all of our children will come to know.

That they are loved!

And truly they are!

More than we will ever know!

I pray for all the Mothers out there who have had to let go of their children in one form or another~

May the peace of God fill your hearts as you hear again how much your children are loved, for Our Heavenly Father has loved them all along and loves them as perfectly as only He can!

Homemade Hummus

We love homemade hummus at our house!

~With fresh veggies,

~tortilla chips,

~on a salad,

~with warm pita bread

~or on a sandwich!

My sis-in-law gave me this recipe years ago:


2 cups garbanzo beans (chick-peas). I use dried beans, soaked overnight, drained and then cooked until soft with fresh water, but you can use canned, too.

~Joni suggests adding kombu seaweed to the cooking water for a ton of extra nutrients!

~save a little bit of water for blending, if needed, for smoothness, etc.

1 teaspoon sea salt

Juice of 1 fresh lemon

2/3 cup tahini (sesame seed butter). I buy sesame seeds and use them whole with a little water instead of the tahini. My blender blends them up real good. Tahini is easiest but it can be quite exspensive. And anyway, tahini is nothing but sesame seed ground up into a butter!

1 teaspoon sliced green onions.

~You could add any vegetable you want, roasted red peppers etc.

1-5 garlic cloves.

1 Tablespoon-1/2 cup fresh olive oil

Water, as needed.

Put all ingredients in blender and blend, adding a little oil at a time.

~Add water as needed.


This is an easy recipe for a child to make!
You will never want to buy store-bought again!
I hope you LOVE it!

Just A Few Things

Just a few things I would love to share with all of you:

The Eat Clean Diet Newsletter has 4 tips to get your dream body: http://www.eatcleandiet.com/
1. Eat Clean!
~This is THE biggest factor! We could exercise until we are blue in the face, but if we choose to reinforce our bodies with worthless junk, the dream body just ain't gonna happen!
~Ditch the processed foods, white flour, white sugar, junk etc.
~Focus on whole foods.
~Read the ingredient list and stay away from anything you can't seem to figure out what it is.

2. Schedule a time, perhaps 2 times a week, for meal planning and preparation.
~It takes some effort but so worth it.
~Pack a cooler for the car
~No more running through the drive-thru when your hungry or picking up pizza for dinner when all your meals are planned and prepared to start your meals off right!
~Grill up a big batch of chicken breast or cook whole chickens and make a big batch of brown rice for tossing with veggies, spices, etc or putting in soup.
~Chop and store fresh veggies and herbs for grilling, stir-frys, salads, soups etc.

3. Get Active.
~Expect yourself to set up a time for evercise at least 4 times a week. Expect is a key word here!

4. Don't feel guilty!
~Just try for consistency, not perfection.
~ I always like to say: "We'll be perfect in Heaven!"
~It's just not going to happen here!

Okay, so that's that! You can find tons more inspiration at http://www.eatcleandiet.com/

NEXT!

I also received a newsletter from Precious Health Campaign.
~Anyone at all interested in what is in vaccines, the latest legislature on vaccines or anything else you may be wondering about vaccines, please visit http://www.childhoodshots.com/ and just browse around on the site.
~I happened to watch Mary Tocco's dvd "Are Vaccines Safe?" a few years ago and found it to be quite helpful in helping me clarify a few things about vaccines.
~I even sent an email with a question I had to the website and I received a response right away.
~They really just want everyone to get more informed about what options we have as parents of our very precious children.
~It is definitely something to look into.

One more thing that I just have to say:

~Of course, it is just my opinion, but if anyone out there that is residing in the beautiful state of Michigan and is ready for a new Governor, I highly recommend you check out Pete Hoekstra's web page at http://www.hoekstraforgovernor.com/.

~He is 100% pro-life, fights for the rights of parents etc.
~The primaries are this coming Tuesday, August 3, and I urge everyone who loves life to vote!

Thanks for reading and I hope you found something that inspires you!

"Jesus, Tender Shepherd" and the Best Earache Remedy

The other night our almost 4 year old woke up in the middle of the night with an earache.


I bet it was from swimming every day during the hot weather that we had.


My old stand-by remedy is to crush a clove of garlic and then mix it with a tiny bit of water to create somewhat of a paste.


I dab the garlic paste onto the outside of her ear with a cotton swab.


I do not go into the ear canal, but I do dab it onto the earlobe.


Then I warm a rice-filled sock or just a plain dry cloth and hold it onto her ear.


I usually put a drop of peppermint oil on the sock or cloth, but our teenage daughter was using it for cramps and she wasn't at home at the time.


So this time I just used a warm cloth.

Then I gave her reflexology on the bottom top half of her foot (the side that the earache was on)~the toes and the area just underneath the toes.

I use firm pressure with my fingers and thumb.


Of course, this little child came into our bed and I asked her if she wanted me to sing her a song.


She did.




She chose "Jesus, Tender Shepherd" which is a bedtime song that my grandparents sung to me and all of my cousins.


All of us cousins still love that song to this day and we fondly connect to each other whenever it is brought up.


It is a favorite with all of our children, too!


Our little 'earache child' went to sleep shortly after and she slept the rest of the night!
Here are the words to our favorite bedtime song, which is actually a prayer but we have always known it with a little tune.


"Jesus, Tender Shepherd"

Jesus, Tender Shepherd, hear me;
Bless thy little lamb tonight;
Through the darkness be Thou near me,
Keep me safe till morning light.

All this day thy hand has led me,
And I thank thee for thy care;
Thou has warmed me, clothed and fed me;
Listen to my evening prayer!

Let my sins be all forgiven;
Bless the friends I love so well:
Take us all at last to heaven,
Happy there with thee to dwell.

If by chance you happen to see one of us 'Storm' relatives and you want to know the tune, we would be delighted to share it with you!

May God bless your days and your nights!

PS. Don't you just adore the painting? I found it on http://www.allposters.com/ and the original was painted by Bartholome Esteban Murillo.

The title is called, "Christ Child as Shepherd"

I am putting it on my list of favorites.

"Grow Your Own Drugstore"

Lenny was flipping through my 'vacation' magazine (June 7 th issue of Woman's World) and came across a wonderful tip for poison ivy itching.

Find an impatiens plant, slice the stem and rub the inside on the poison ivy itch.

It works amazingly well.

You can smooth wrinkles with chamomile by steeping 1 t fresh or dried blossoms in 1 cup hot water for 15-20 minutes, strain and pat on as a facial wash.

The scent of geraniums bring on happy hormones with the added bonus of keeping mosquitos away.

Aloe is great for burns. Just break off a stalk and squeeze the gel right onto the burn.

Sniffing basil boosts energy, reduces migraines and eases depression.

Fill an old sock with the flowers, leaves and roots of ground ivy, hang it on the faucet as you fill your tub and soak for 20 minutes. This will ease back pain and sciatica and also give you softer skin.

Chickweed relieves itches, bee stings and bug bites. Slice open the stem and apply.

Find your joy, peace, happiness and natural remedies while working in your garden enjoying the fresh air, sunshine and earth!
God's bounty is right at our fingertips!

Have a Happy Day!