tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58291652144582386272024-02-18T23:12:17.455-08:00My SupplicationsLeannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.comBlogger451125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-17326136001604444582014-11-01T08:15:00.000-07:002014-11-01T08:15:07.853-07:00Under Attack<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Apparently Mr Obama made a speech yesterday in Rhode Island. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The purpose of this speech was to call for more tax subsidies to support more day cares and more preschools so that mamas will be able to go to work longer hours and more days…..so as not to wear the stigma of one who does nothing to contribute to her family's income.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I kid you not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">All of us mamas know that we are under attack. This speech is heavy artillery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I share here a post written by one of my favorite bloggers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Please, leave a comment for my friend in support of stay home mamas everywhere. And share this post on your blog, or your Facebook page! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks for reading!!</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.nurseryofthenation.com/">Bambi's blog</a>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-11825920399073740192014-10-18T09:32:00.000-07:002014-10-18T09:32:14.958-07:00You Can<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A certain song…..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A warm, caressing breeze…..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Or some particular small beauty…..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These can crack the scars.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And I clutch at my chest, pressing my hands desperately to my heart in hopes that the old and new and familiar grief won't spill over again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The thought that, okay, I'm fine, I'm up out of that dark pit, my feet are secure and everything now is sweet and bright and well….and the whisper comes, again…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"<i>How much sweeter, how much better, how much more joy would there be here, if….."</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And then the questions come, rushing in and overflowing like a storming and out of control river…..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There were days when I craved physical pain. There were moments when I would try to press myself into the earth under which my babies' bodies lay, wanting to sink into the cold, silent ground just to hold them again….There were nights when the dreams would torment and tease, and they would march, unbidden, on my weary and devastated mind…..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>There would be a little girl, smiling, tiny and beautiful in a dress of light blue, with bows in her dark and shiny curls, and she'd be giggling a musical sound and she'd hold out her arms to me, and then, with a knowing and wise look in her eyes, she'd turn and run away, just when I would be about to touch her…….</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And later, many years later…..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>I'd see a blonde sweetheart with Pennie's face and eyes and the same heart-shaped birthmark on her other foot, and she'd grin a baby-grin at me and she'd blow kisses and she'd tell me to take special care of her sister's heart…..</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'd have to force myself to breathe! I'd wake up and clutch at a reality that was far more uncaring than the dreams to which I so deeply wanted to go back……</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Those were dark days, days which seemed, to my tormented and shattered mind, like a seamless blend of never-ending agony…..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Where was the sun? When would I ever again be able to open my eyes without punishing shards of anguish piercing them? Would I ever experience laughter again? Would my heart ever get to experience true joy and blessing, ever again, without breaking?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The answer is….</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>Yes.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Through hard-won victories, my frame is put back together. That frame is crooked. It's bent and worn and so much different from that girl that I was, oh those many years ago…..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But I'm <i>alive.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm standing again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The stitches remain. Under the dark, thick stitches are a jagged network of scars. These scars will never go away. The stitches will never dissolve…..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But now, there are good days!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The trauma and the torture and affliction have shaped me. They've made me into who I am today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Even when I wanted to deny that there really was a God, and even when I wanted to forsake my faith….</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>He held me fast! He was always right there, weathering the hurricane with me!</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>I didn't want Him to!!</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I wanted to break fee from this one whose eyes were so compassionate yet Who I thought, in His great and sovereign wisdom, was going to kill and condemn me…..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've said all of this to say that the <i>only reason </i>I'm winning the next breath today, the <i>only thing, the Only One Who holds my every shred of sanity……</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>Is Christ!</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dare I say that I'm a better person today? Yawning, desolate anguish either destroys or makes a soul….</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>And I'm made!</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm <i>fiercely </i>empathetic. I can internalize your pain so much better, and after all…..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Isn't that the very essence, the heart, of being a follower of Christ?</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sometimes I don't want to follow Him!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But He's there, right there…..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Closer than my skin…..</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He shoulders my broken heart, and when I can't carry the heavy burden of it anymore….</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>He takes it for me!</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And I can say with assurance…..</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>That if you ask Him to, He will shoulder your load too! </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>He WANTS yours too!!</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Oh friend, give everything you have and are and desire to Him, because, hear me now…..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>You CAN trust Him!!</i></b></span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-91995506214964753292014-09-18T09:09:00.002-07:002014-09-18T09:13:11.778-07:00Why 9 Kids??<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Okay.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fine.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Whatever.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is going to be a LONG post. It may even become a two part post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today I'm going to talk about fertility and why I have "<i>SO MANY KIDS!!!!" </i>(Most of the time, said with as much derision and disgust as the person can pack into that phrase)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I guess my aim for this post is to try to get you to understand why we have as many kids as we do. I hope that you'll have a better understanding of most mamas with large families by the end of this post. I hope to help you get to know me better.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>What I do NOT want to do is make you feel cornered or like I'm pointing fingers or deriding or ridiculing YOU for your choices. I hope my blog never does that to you.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">What I want you to know about me is that I'm NOT crazy. Yes, I know how babies are made. And yes, we do have a life outside of the bedroom. I'm not Mormon or Catholic and I'm not Amish either. I don't go about in homeschool mom sack dresses and with a head covering on my head. I'm not SuperMama. I don't have tons of energy and patience and I'm not the best mama in the world. Let's clear this up right now: I'm not perfect, I'm not uber-organized, my house is not spic and span…….</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm just trying to do what the Lord is telling <i>me </i>to do, in the best way that I can.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, here we go!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When I was growing up, I never, ever had dreams of that perfect and fairy tale wedding to the man of my dreams. I never thought about getting married. I didn't put one moment of my time into thinking about having babies and loving babies….</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Truthfully, I was a kid who hated babies and children.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Wow, right?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Really, that's the honest truth. I hated other people's kids for their screaming, snotty noses, dirty diapers…..and on and on, the reasons are countless….</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But the biggest reason I hated children was because I was taught to. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> My mother and father divorced when I was 2 years old. I grew up without a daddy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My mother was a career woman. She got up in the morning, fixed her hair and makeup and walked out the door to her job. I got ready for school and got to school all by myself. I came home to an empty house every day. I had an older brother who despised me and was such trouble that my mother shipped him off up North when he was 14 and I was 12. So, since my brother was in so much trouble growing up, I pretty much was an only child. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm not disparaging my mother here, folks. She did the best she could and did what she thought was right.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But I came out of my home situation with absolutely no desire to marry and have a family. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I came out of my situation being a man hater and deeply knowing that all men wanted was one thing and that I was not going to provide that one thing for them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm from Southern California, from a huge city of over a million people that is right next to the beach. I thought palm trees were the only tree on earth, and I had never heard of a place called Washington State.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My mother packed me up when I was 11 and we began running away. I went to 3 schools for 6th grade. We had lived in three cities by the time I was 12. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When I was 13, we moved up to Washington State, and I was miserable. I vowed that I was going back to CA the minute I turned 18.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But then I met Jesus.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At a small church youth group that I went to to please my new friend, I met the Lord.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And I'm so thankful I did.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I got involved in the youth group. I was on the worship team, as I had been singing since I was 6 and hey, let's use the voice for the Lord, right?? I was happy and content with my three new friends!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For the next two years I thought of nothing but youth group and Lock-ins and getting the youth pastor to shave his head and stupid, silly games that made no sense and were designed to bring us closer to the Lord….<i>how????</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When I was 15 I started to notice this guy. He was super tall, like, the tallest guy I'd ever seen. He was clean cut. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He played the piano.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And the rest, as they say, is history.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Piano Guy and I got together. Shortly after we got together, we went to our church and he played the big black concert grand piano for me, just me, and I fell SUPER HARD.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We were married when I was barely 20.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, we had never talked about family or children or how many kids we wanted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And I'm thankful today that we didn't, because my husband, when he was a little boy, used to pray that God would give him "a green eyed wife" and he beseeched the Lord for 12 children.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I didn't know these things until we had been married for about 5 years.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The thing is, I can make this a really long story. But I won't because the gist of the matter is, fertility.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My husband and I had started to hear how detrimental hormonal birth control could be on a woman's body. We had started to question the medical establishment and their advice and their methods of doing things.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 years after we were married, Russell was born. And then two years after that, Hannah was born….</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And when Hannah was 6 months old, I got pregnant. With Samantha. And my oldest two daughters are a little over 16 months apart.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That was hard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But after we had Samantha, we started to think about how many kids we wanted, and Dave told me he had prayed for years that he would get to have 12 children.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Okay.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, we started to ask the Lord about how many kids He wanted us to have.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">After all, doesn't the Bible say, in Proverbs 3:5-7, "Trust in the Lord with <i>all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all of your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil, and it will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones".</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This has been my verse, these many years, that has helped me explain why we have a big family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I remember so clearly when I surrendered myself to that decree. I was scared to death. It hasn't been easy. But I knew that, for myself, if I truly wanted to be Christ's, and if I truly thought He was whispering this to my heart, then I had to put this into action, in all areas of my life…..</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Even my fertility and the size of my family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That verse is the reason we have so many kids. That verse is the reason I've had 16 pregnancies. That verse is the reason we have 9 living children, praise God.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One day, many years ago, I put my womb into His hands. I told Him how scared I was of children and babies. I told Him I was freaked out. But I also told Him that I wanted to be fully His and so, I gave Him my womb and since then, I have tried to let Him plan our family.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Look, I'm not an eloquent writer. My words are not carefully thought out and calculated. I'm pretty messy in my heart. I'm not wise or educated or very logical, at all….</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But let me tell you this: if you surrender yourself to the Lord in that area where you know He's gently asking, then your life will change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I read blogs where the mamas say that they really want four kids. Or two kids….or none. That's okay if that's what God is really saying to them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My thoughts are that God did not create a pill or shot that will stop you from having babies. He didn't create that stuff. He didn't create a pill that would cause your eggs to come down and get fertilized and implant into your uterus, only to be flushed out when the pill caused you to have a period. God did not create a device that gets shot up into your uterus and implants there, to cause scar tissue to form and block your uterus from receiving eggs for fertilization.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He DID give us women knowledge on how to chart our cycles and how to listen to Him. I personally believe that if you are seeking the Lord and you don't believe now is the time to have another baby, then don't have intercourse when you're ovulating. I do think God gave us women that knowledge. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I decided that I wasn't going to force God's hand in this matter. I was intensely convicted that I was trying to play God in my life by stopping myself from having babies.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And that is why we have 9 children here on this earth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I realize that this will be offensive to some of you. I realize that you might even begin to hate me and stop reading my blog too…..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But the bottom line for me and my husband is this: we don't want to rely on our intelligence or our faulty wisdom to decide the size of our family. We want to try to do what He's asking us to do in those verses in Proverbs. We are convinced that He knows what's best for us. He loves us and He wants us to be fully surrendered to Him in every single area of our lives. He doesn't want us to hold back any area of our hearts from Him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So we have tried to give Him everything.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Honestly, this is still hard for me!! I've heard every single snide and rude and catty comment you can imagine! I've seen the hundreds of nasty, hateful looks when I'm shopping around town. I've lost friends because of this.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It isn't easy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've had two early miscarriages, two second trimester miscarriages which almost killed me both times, and I've had two stillborn babies. God gave us twins, after praying for 6 years for them, only to decide that one of our babies had lived out her life in my womb and needed to be with Him.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Why go on after that?? Why not take back what I had given to Him??</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Because……I believe that He's sovereign.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I believe deeply that He knows what's best.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have 9 kids because I don't want to stand before Him on that day when He calls me Home and account for playing God in my life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have 9 kids because I want to see how He wants to change me through my kids.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have 9 kids because it's fun.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have 9 kids because life is dull when you're planning it yourself.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have 9 kids because He wants me to.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have 9 kids.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks for listening to my thoughts on this matter. Thanks for trying to understand me better. Thanks for loving me anyway, even if you don't agree with me or my ways.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, I hear Jack waking up and I need to go get him!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-38231883473138738392014-08-26T12:33:00.000-07:002014-08-26T12:38:19.004-07:00My Walk<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If I have asked Jesus Christ into my heart, if I have asked Him to forgive my sins, then I am a Christian!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have been redeemed!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was once in bondage. I was once walking regularly in darkness and foolishness, according to Galatians 4:3~</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>"<i>Even so, when we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world…"</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But the Light of Jesus Christ shone into my heart and chased away that darkness~</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, freed me, according to Galatians 4:4~</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>"<i>But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons."</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am no longer a slave, according to Galatians 4:7~</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>"<i>Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And if I am no longer a slave, this means that I am no longer that old person. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">According to Galatians 5:1, I do not have to be entangled by my past~</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>"<i>Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">However, since I am still human and I'm not yet perfect, this means that I am subject to the temptation to go back and embrace that old person and those old ways. Sometimes, to me, this looks like the easy way because, let's face it, being a Christian is super hard!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You've seen a tree~~you've seen a tree and the inevitable process of the tree's changing seasons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I, as a Christian, am like a tree. I have times when I display emerald green leaves and luscious fruit. A lot is happening with this tree. It's awoken from a long sleep and there are times when my tree is strong and tall and gorgeously shady.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have times when the fruit rots and the leaves die and fall off…</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My leaves fall off in certain seasons. This is sometimes preparation for my tree to go to sleep and just rest and relax and gather strength for a more fierce and busy season….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There are times on my walk when my tree is seemingly bare and stark, but I know that a lot is going on behind the scenes and new leaf buds are waiting to burst forth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The hardest times in my life are the pruning times.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm being pruned. I'm always being shaped and formed, and branches that don't have fruit or aren't alive get cut off. The dead stuff gets lopped off~this is normal and healthy in a Christian's life.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As a human and an imperfect Christ Follower, I sin. I fall down. I revert back to old habits and mannerisms~this is a given….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But I no longer have to <i>live there.</i> I don't have to be known as that old person. By God's grace and the gentle mercy He extends to me, I can get up, brush myself off and start walking again, reminding myself that I am no longer under the law of sin and death.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am not perfect and I will never be perfect, but I can still live a full and abundant life! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This natural human imperfection is NOT a license to live a sinful life. This human life is an opportunity to live in grace and mercy, and to extend to myself God's grace and mercy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This Christ Following life is a <i>process.</i> I want to always be in a teachable state! I want those around me who see me all of the time to see progress in my life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Although I will never be a finished vessel until the day that Christ calls me home, I want to be known as one who is striving for that goal of holiness with everything in me….</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>In every season of my life.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-54508134243934086512014-08-24T12:31:00.004-07:002014-08-24T12:36:19.722-07:00Courtship?<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Courtship versus modern dating is a very, very hot topic, especially in the homeschool community!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Dave and I talk about this subject a lot, in light of the fact that we do have</span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> 7 daughters, three of whom are teenagers, and knowing that another of our gals is quickly approaching teenager-ness!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Our 17 year old daughter wants to marry young. I'll be right up front and truthful with you: I think that, if the two young people are Godly, mature, well adjusted people from very good families, then I'm okay with this! <b><i>I'm not asking for judgement or conflict here, I'm just stating what I think.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">**I know that this is a controversial issue among parents in the church, and I'm not seeking to start any arguments here. I just want to share a blog that hits home for me and has some really great insight on courtship versus dating…..</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For the record, since Dave and I came out of the traditional dating, going steady, youth group culture, and since we've prayed and prayed about this topic since our first girl was born many years ago, we tend to adhere to a courtship mentality and philosophy…. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The thing is, in the homeschool community, particularly the very conservative homeschool community, we have found the thoughts about courtship among "leaders" of the movement to be stifling and legalistic with a very controlling and disapproving atmosphere</i></span>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is very, very concerning to us.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I accidentally found this young man's blog the other day on my friend's FB page, and I started to surf his blog, and he has some really good philosophies on dating versus courtship.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For the record, he comes from a large family in Canada who are homeschoolers and they make funny YouTube videos called Jostie Flicks. We adore this family even though we haven't met them! They're also very talented musically and that makes us, as musicians ourselves, like them even more. This family toured our region last year and came to a town near us, but we couldn't go to their concert because we didn't have a car at the time! BOO!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I guess what I hope to accomplish by posting the link to this article is this: <span style="font-size: large;"><b>that those of you out there who are unfamiliar with the courtship thing would hear and read about it from someone who has good things to say from a balanced, respectful perspective. I hope that all of you mamas out there who are also contemplating the issue of dating and courting will think seriously about this in more depth.</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>I really believe that this is an issue that needs to be discussed in more detail among families and mamas and daddies, and even at church, because I believe that traditional dating and going steady and the boyfriend/girlfriend thing just isn't working, for so many reasons.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I do hope you take the time to read this young man's article and pray about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Let me know your thoughts!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's the article:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.purityandtruth.com/2014/02/07/courtdate-a-generation-of-courtship-culture-on-trial/">Courtdate: A Generation of Courtship Culture on Trial</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Also, surf around on his blog. He has a lot of good things to say!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thanks for reading my blog!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">LOVE Leanne </span></div>
Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-73179362386487769042014-08-07T11:17:00.000-07:002014-08-07T11:17:04.367-07:00Loves<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, I looked back at my posts for June and July. I took a 30 day blog challenge, although I didn't sign a contract or make a pinkie swear or anything like that. I just really want to be a better blogger, and I knew that challenge would help me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have lots of posts running around in my head, but once I get to sit down and have a bit of free time on the internet, I always have way too many posts in my mind and can't choose what to blog about!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've blogged pretty steadily, for me, and if I'm going to stick to the 30 day challenge I gave myself, then I currently have 9 days to make up for. I'd like to try to do that by the end of August. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today I'd like to share some things that I've recently started using and loving. It's a random list, like me, but I hope you enjoy it!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This almond milk. What can I say? It's the best almond milk I've ever had. It's brand new at my favorite local store. I went out on a limb and bought it because my husband likes almond milk and I'm lactose intolerant and this stuff is awesome. I used this coconut almond milk in my mocha this morning and it's subtly nutty with a great coconut flavor! It's $3.99 for 48 ounces, but I had a coupon for $1 off of each jug and so, I bought three jugs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I had to look for a new hairspray to use every day because the one I was using, TresEmme, was making huge white flakes in my hair and was itching my scalp. Now, all you gals out there know how overwhelming it is when you go to the store and are faced with two huge aisles of hair products! And isn't it like a serious world decision to pick a new product? I was at Target the other day and saw this, and it's brand new, and I actually sprayed a tiny bit on my hair right there, and I was sold!! It's more pricey than my last hairspray at $12.99, but it's cheaper than anything I'd get at my salon and I loooooove it. I use the Casual type, which is more flexible hold. Unbeknownst to me, I bought the last bottle, so I need to go online to get some more!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, in my opinion, avocados never, ever go out of style. I could eat them every single day, every season. Avocados are in my blood, and it's a hold over from growing up in Southern California. I adore them. Not only are they filling, but avocados are loaded with good fats and calories, and they also help your body produce and upload seratonin, one of the key chemicals that your brain should produce to ward off depression! YAY!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've only had three favorite perfumes in my entire life, and this perfume is one of them! It's Pacifica natural perfume. My favorite is Tuscan Blood Orange. They also make </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">coconut, vanilla, gardenia and guava. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can get it at Target too, and you can get a totally natural spray cologne or a roll-on perfume that's more concentrated. We got the roll-on perfumes for each of our older girls in their stocking at Christmas time. I need a new bottle because mine is almost gone!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And, because everybody knows I'm a total foodie, I'll include this as my last favorite for today. It's feta cheese! I simply love it. I love it on our home grown, fresh from the garden green beans, sautéed with butter and garlic. I adore it on my home grown, sautéed yellow squash. I love it on every salad imaginable. I love Greek food and that's what turned me on to feta cheese. I'm about to eat some guacamole with feta cheese in it for a new twist! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I hope you have a fabulous and sunny day!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-5610329016163817462014-08-01T09:08:00.000-07:002014-08-02T08:19:07.760-07:00The Rodeo, Part 1!<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Last weekend, we all went to The Fair and Rodeo.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, before you quit reading this post out of boredom, just know that, for our family of 11, doing things like going to movies and sports games and the fair are almost impossible due to the cost of tickets for all of us. The money that would be used to go places and do things like bowl or go out to frozen yogurt for all of us could actually start a small country! I mean that!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But last weekend, it was Hannah's 17th birthday weekend, and she loves to go to the rodeo every year, but this year she decided she wanted to go to the fair too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Gulp.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The thing about Hannah is that she's very organized and she had told us months ago that she wanted to go to the fair too this year. This gave us time to save money, which is something that we just don't do a lot of in our family!!! Ha.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We love our local rodeo. Hannah is a cowgirl at heart, as is her sister Samantha, and somebody told Dave that if we went on Saturday afternoon, we'd save $90.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">HUH??? Okay. That's awesome.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So we went on Saturday afternoon instead of Saturday night. It was a relief to go during the day, because the evening show is when the whole entire county comes out for the rodeo and the stands are packed like sardines and you're rubbing elbows with people you've never seen before, and maybe never want to see again….</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I digress…..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway, here's some pictures of our fabulous, fun day at the rodeo and fair!! We got to the rodeo at 12:30 that day and didn't get home until 10 PM!! I sat next to Samantha, who is a very knowledgeable horse woman, and she and I talked about each horse as it came out, and that was super fun! She definitely knows her stuff from studying horse encyclopedias and books when she was younger. We loved the parade of flags. Each of the sponsors had a flag, and horse women ran each of those flags around the arena. I have to say, I saw some of the most beautiful horses that day!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, without further ado, here we go!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Jack's first rodeo. Even though his day was really, really long, he did splendidly and he was so good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The youngest girls. Look at Pennie! I wonder what she's looking for…..</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The rodeo "clown". He was hilarious! He tried to make it seem like he didn't have a clue what was going on, but this fella is from Okanogan, which is Rodeo Country, and he totally knew what he was doing. He was a small, wiry horseman himself and he wasn't annoying like your typical rodeo clown. I liked him!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Some of the older girls. It was hot but there was a really nice breeze and we got to sit in the shady part of the grandstand.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Daddy. And the beautiful view in the background. It was such a gorgeous and vivid day!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is Kellie, before the rodeo started. She likes to take serious pictures of herself, for some reason!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We had the most fun we've ever had at the rodeo and fair this year. It really was a fantastic day. I'll post more pictures of the fair, including pictures of Pennie riding rides for the very first time, and the girls going on their favorite ride, the Typhoon. I myself would never ever go on the Typhoon, but apparently the girls loved it because they went on it at least 4 times!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Do you have a fair or rodeo in your town? Do you go to it? Tell me about it!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-72605018440650746592014-07-29T09:31:00.001-07:002014-07-29T09:31:19.898-07:00Tasty Tuesday<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have another recipe for you!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's my hummus recipe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, before you turn up your nose in disgust, hang in there with me! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A couple of years ago, I began to see a lot of this stuff called "hummus" in the grocery store. Upon reading that it was made of garbanzo beans, I was grossed out! Ewww. Did anyone eat this stuff?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fast forward a few years….it's popular! I tried it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It was hideously disgusting. The stuff in the stores tastes like bland paste! However, I liked the texture and I could tell that, with some tweaking and reworking, hummus could be wonderful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So I took on the job.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And here's what I came up with. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>**Let me say a few things first: I use my Vitamix blender for this recipe, and it blends as easy as warm butter. You can also try your food processor, if you have one, but a good, high power blender works best. </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>**One of the unique things about this hummus is that I use essential oil. I know it seems strange, but my Young Living essential oils are the only essential oils sold on the market that are safe to eat! I realize that most of you don't have this lemon oil, so you can use the juice of half of a fresh lemon plus the zest from that half lemon. It's a bit more time consuming and labor intensive to do it that way, but I've done it and it tastes pretty good.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can serve this with your favorite crackers, or you can use baguettes or warm pitas or even serve it with your favorite veggies! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><u>Mama's Lemon Parmesan Hummus</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>2 cans garbanzo beans, drained</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>1/4 C good olive oil</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>2 cloves garlic </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>2 tsp salt</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>1/2 C good parmesan cheese, finely grated</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>1/2 bell pepper, sliced</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>2 TBSP Frank's Red Hot Sauce</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>1/2 can black olives (<span style="font-size: x-small;">I know, it's a strange amount, but give the rest of the olives to your toddler!)</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>5 drops Young Living lemon essential oil</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>In the pitcher of your blender, pour the olive oil. Add all of the other ingredients and blend on low until mixture is smooth, stopping to scrape down the sides frequently. If blender is having trouble blending this mixture, add more olive oil. When it's blended smooth, taste it and adjust the salt to taste. That's it! Serve with your favorite crackers and ENJOY!!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Recipe copyright leeswords2014.</b></span></div>
Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-79478369619937398482014-07-19T14:31:00.000-07:002014-07-19T14:31:16.063-07:00Outside<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here are just a few pictures of our life outside!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrK4ICy8idIKmaCbpOsq2c_QABi28nwkIUzv_DQhcs1u39Jta7kZEcGqEf3-YmWP41iSvxC8CQD0uHxMuPh2yhpNlBz_Ozl_7fFy8dGq-hEDtJwkVKFlVVM_Fm0aLiEZ739gi9IdUhcM/s1600/IMG_0706.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdrK4ICy8idIKmaCbpOsq2c_QABi28nwkIUzv_DQhcs1u39Jta7kZEcGqEf3-YmWP41iSvxC8CQD0uHxMuPh2yhpNlBz_Ozl_7fFy8dGq-hEDtJwkVKFlVVM_Fm0aLiEZ739gi9IdUhcM/s1600/IMG_0706.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is the rose that I got the month after Janie died.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Another picture of Janie's rose.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I just thought this was a really beautiful picture of Kellie.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My sweet little Pennie, in her pink cowgirl boots!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is my husband. I love him!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is a view of the lake in our town. It's our town's best feature!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The mirror shows the most beautiful 5 year old of all!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Here's a picture from our front yard of one of the most glorious sunsets I've ever seen!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>"Peace I give to you,</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>My peace I leave with you…</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;"> </i>John 14:27</span></div>
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Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-1858884530445448212014-07-17T08:50:00.000-07:002014-07-17T08:50:08.138-07:00Diapers Revisited<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A while back I did a post on diapers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I said I had used just about every diaper out there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I lied.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There was one brand of diaper I hadn't used yet:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was desperate for diapers one day, and truthfully…..</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was so tired of paying so much money for them!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In my Target Trips, of course I had seen these diapers, but I had had such bad luck with store brand diapers that I was dead set against trying these.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Then I had the Desperate For Diapers day! I was totally out of diapers and didn't want to get the Kirkland brand at Costco, and I wasn't going to pay super tons of money for the Huggies either….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I went to Target because I had been there the day before, and I toughened up and decided to try the UpandUP diapers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For some reason, I bought a large box. In retrospect, I wouldn't do that again, since I didn't even know if I was going to like these diapers!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I brought them home and tore into them….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And it was love at first feel! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They were soft. The tabs were stretchy and really adhered well to the diaper. They weren't too bulky.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These are the diapers I use now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There are only two drawbacks to these diapers:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1. They run very big in size.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>I bought size 3 because the Kirkland diapers in size 2 were too short for Jack. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b> Looking back, I should have bought the size 2 diapers. The size 3 diaper was</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b> super saggy on him at that time, so it gapped at the leg……<i>But they still never,</i></b></span></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i> ever leaked!</i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2. They are not very girlie-looking!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span>If you care about this sort of thing (and I do), I'd be hesitant to put these blue and</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b> green polka dot diapers on my girl baby, if I had a girl baby. Yes, I'm weird, and</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b> I'm okay with that! </b></span><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">They work for </b><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Jack because they look boyish…..but you</b></div>
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<b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> might want to consider this when buying for a girl baby.</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b> I think the manufacturer needs to make a more neutral pattern</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b> on these diapers.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Those are the only two things that I object to about this diaper. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">They're good on Jack now because he's gotten taller, so they don't sag anymore. They're still pretty big on the waist, but I just pull the tabs to meet in the middle and he's good. We've never had one leak during the night with these diapers. He always wakes up dry. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I probably could still fit Jack into the size 2, but I like that the size 3 is taller for Jack. He is super long and these fit his height very well.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now you know about the diaper that I'm using!! </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-11694892815669721142014-07-15T13:36:00.001-07:002014-07-15T13:36:50.792-07:006 Months!<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jack is 6 months old!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Actually, to be totally accurate, he turned 6 months on July 3rd, which happened to be his daddy's birthday too..so he's now over 6 months old, but I just missed posting about him on the actual day!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Anyway.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jack really is the sweetest and most mellow baby. God be praised! The Lord totally had me in mind when He destined Jack to be in our family. I couldn't ask for a more calm or darling boy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Since I'm now 41, I think I'm enjoying having small children and babies much more than when I was younger. It could be that I'm more experienced as a mama. Maybe it's because I'm more laid back. Maybe it's because I've grown and matured and am just a different person than I was when my oldest kids were little…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Whatever it is, I'm enjoying this phase of my life to its fullest!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">He's really progressing by leaps and bounds these days. It makes me sad, and happy too! He can now sit up by himself, although he's mostly always sitting on the couch because we have hardwood floors throughout our house and he's still a bit wobbly on his buns! It's the cutest thing to see him sitting all by himself. He looks like he is so proud of himself!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jack has two bottom teeth now!! And what adorable, teenie things they are! He's been my best teether so far, not freaking out or fussy at all. I mean, you can tell he's uncomfortable, but he isn't really a baby who freaks out at all about anything. I do think he's got more teeth coming up, so we'll see!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">His sleeping patterns are really even and he's very regular about sleep. He's still waking up twice at night, at about 2 AM and between 5-6 AM. He goes down around 10 or 10:30 PM. He takes three naps a day still, and he's a really sound sleeper. Even though Jack isn't sleeping through the night, I'm so glad he's at least a sound sleeper and I know that a full night of sleep will return to me someday!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Jack's personality is just the best. It really is. Everyone always comments on how good-natured he is. He smiles all of the time and he's really easy to please. Yes, he does cry, but his cry is so small and he's not a fussy or freak-out baby at all. His hysterical is totally NOT very hysterical! Mama continues to be his favorite and all I have to do is look at him and he breaks into radiant smiles! He isn't a big laugher, but just this week he's practicing fake laughing! It's so funny! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's hard to pin down the size he wears….it's different for different brands! He can still wear 3-6 month onesies. He wears 6-9 month jeans because of the length, but they end up slipping off of him because his waist is so slim! He's a long baby!! He wears 3 month shorts. I'm trying to get him to wear hats, but so far, it's a losing proposition! He also hates socks. He's wearing size 3 diapers, although the size 2 Kirkland diapers still fit him, they're just too short. I switched to UpandUp from Target and I love them! He's really tall and skinny, just like his older brother and his daddy!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This face greets me every single morning. I will never cease to be amazed at the good gift that God gave to me in this boy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This picture perfectly depicts Jack's personality. He's just so joyful! He brings happiness to everyone he meets and my heart and soul is more in love with him every single day!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Happy 6 month birthday, Jack!!!</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-27368981147199112062014-07-08T19:55:00.001-07:002014-07-08T19:55:54.554-07:00Tuesday Ten<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Okay, who wants to know ten weird/quirky/strange/odd things about me??</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yep, I knew you would, so here you go!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1. My second toes are longer than my big toe and they turn inward toward my big toes.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2. I cannot stand pudding in any shape or form. It looks like snot and reminds me of snot. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>3. I am not a dog or cat person AT ALL.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>4. I have never worn high heels.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>5. I dream about being fluent in French and even think in French at times. </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>6. I haven't dyed my hair in almost 10 years.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>7. I love getting my upper lip and my brows waxed.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>8. I'm freaked out by the people at Disney parks who dress as Disney characters.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>9. I've never had a cavity in my life…well, I mean I've had one small cavity but it was in a baby tooth and the tooth and cavity fell out a month after getting it filled.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>10. I love the ocean deeply.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, leave me a comment and tell me some weird stuff about yourself!!</span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-14802735182562466642014-07-07T14:44:00.001-07:002014-07-07T14:44:34.928-07:00Mmmmmonday!<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, this is a spontaneous recipe post!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I guess that's the way I work….I'm learning I'm a super instinctive person and I'm also learning that that's okay!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This morning I made some baked oatmeal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, if you know me you know that I very seldom use recipes or cookbooks. I love cookbooks, so it's quite strange that I don't use them more, but truthfully, recipes confuse me and stump me! It's really weird because I have cookbooks in my kitchen, but I actually love them not for the recipes and foods they hold, but for the stories they tell about the person who put them together. If I'm not careful, I'll have a large cookbook collection that I'll never use!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">As I was saying….ahem….rabbit trail!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The baked oatmeal I made this morning was totally spur-of-the-moment. I know how to make baked oatmeal and so, I threw together some ingredients. The girls said it was the best oatmeal they've ever had…..and let me tell you this: I don't even LIKE oatmeal and I thought it was awesome. It tasted like a warm and soft oatmeal chocolate chip cookie with peanut butter!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's the recipe:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><u>Baked Peanut Butter Cookie Oatmeal</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">5 C gluten free regular oats (I use Bob's Red Mill)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">2 C half and half</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 C creamy peanut butter (I use Adam's Natural, the kind you stir)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3 TBSP vanilla</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">3/4 C brown sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 stick butter</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">1 pkg mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (I love Ghirardelli)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"> Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together the oats and the half and half. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the peanut butter and the butter together. Pour the peanut butter/butter mixture over the oat/milk mixture and stir. Add the brown sugar, vanilla and the mini chocolate chips. Mix very well. Grease a 13x9 inch baking dish (I use butter) and pour oatmeal mixture into it. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">**<i>This oatmeal is really delicious drizzled with warmed strawberry jam. You can omit the mini chocolate chips, but they really do make it really special. This oatmeal can also be served as a dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top! At the risk of sounding like I'm bragging, I think I'd rather have a bowl of this oatmeal than a piece of cake any day</i>!!**</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I hope you try this and love it, and I hope your Monday is bright and beautiful!!</span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-27735359477930556962014-07-04T22:19:00.000-07:002014-07-04T22:19:37.743-07:00Friday Favorites<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Happy 4th of July!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I hope you all had a wonderful 4th! We usually just go to the lake in our town and walk around and look at all of the booths and then we come home and eat a huge early dinner. Dave gets some fireworks, but not too many because we can enjoy a free show from everyone else in this town who loves to light off fireworks! I don't really love the 4th of July, and with Jack being so small, I stayed home from the lake this year while everyone else went. Ahhhh, it sure was nice! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here are some of my favorites on this late Friday evening:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJFz0UUWtKwoVAHxsNoy0SiIsYcp11_r1lBQqt_dtFRuIMA22HA3CmTUx5DR37b47zym_8nRiKxw1kdKrDblo0G7N7f511bAfQ5_3bBs_8IpxbilL18I-3B1h3I-NtVAkqrFJQqA1hxT0/s1600/gregorian-wind-chime-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJFz0UUWtKwoVAHxsNoy0SiIsYcp11_r1lBQqt_dtFRuIMA22HA3CmTUx5DR37b47zym_8nRiKxw1kdKrDblo0G7N7f511bAfQ5_3bBs_8IpxbilL18I-3B1h3I-NtVAkqrFJQqA1hxT0/s1600/gregorian-wind-chime-3.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I looove wind chimes! I'd love to have all kinds of them, especially bamboo in every size! I'd like to get these ones someday…I got my first wind chimes just two weeks ago!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I can't remember if I've blogged about this face cream before, but who cares if I have, I love this stuff!! I have really, really dry skin and this stuff WORKS!! It's super pricey at $42 for a large pot, but a tiny bit goes a long way and as soon as I can, I'm getting more! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These spatulas, made by Island Bamboo, are the best spatulas I've ever, ever used. I cook a lot and I've used a lot of different spatulas, but these beat every single spatula out there. I found these at my local health food store, and they weren't expensive at all. I found them online for about $7 each, but my local health food store had them for $4.99 and they were 25% off!! I bought four different ones!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgelco0P3o1KDIw6Beci8cNcOv_xvOaSyyjqO4TH2OvN7lUx-q33HLpbGCNkqzJm6Ruk0rN3YlbTNWCUJEyqNzxVuqZieLllJCURRWc8DiGcZ8Cr3MmkNuRTzSDOT3MQPivKrsiooP14XY/s1600/996b2ddb82bf2164c3c9954c5cc7187a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgelco0P3o1KDIw6Beci8cNcOv_xvOaSyyjqO4TH2OvN7lUx-q33HLpbGCNkqzJm6Ruk0rN3YlbTNWCUJEyqNzxVuqZieLllJCURRWc8DiGcZ8Cr3MmkNuRTzSDOT3MQPivKrsiooP14XY/s1600/996b2ddb82bf2164c3c9954c5cc7187a.jpg" height="320" width="266" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know these hair ties might be old news to all of you gals out there, but I hadn't tried them yet, and one day I was with my bestie and needed a ponytail holder and she gave me a pink one of these….I love it. I went and bought some and I think these hair ties may replace our regular ponytail holders!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I think I've blogged about this little book before. I keep going through it, day to day, month in and month out. Ruth Bell Graham is one of my favorite writers, and her little tidbits of wisdom and insight have really touched me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That's all of the favorites I have time for tonight. Jack is crying and I've got to feed him and put him to bed!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-50065223351695886872014-07-02T14:25:00.001-07:002014-07-02T14:25:12.555-07:00Heartache<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYOyewNVUWaDWWo-5WhCTxYa1ja86dFq-CLclJNcEUHdjdTyHSElsgiHqjjRUB6BJ3A2qmnI93rIjFiVtqn-8k86e9VB8C_sYmOd_nM8wI1VJJO8P322fJ_2z1DN0IoY1ZPF2moshf4fc/s1600/2014-05-30+18.31.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYOyewNVUWaDWWo-5WhCTxYa1ja86dFq-CLclJNcEUHdjdTyHSElsgiHqjjRUB6BJ3A2qmnI93rIjFiVtqn-8k86e9VB8C_sYmOd_nM8wI1VJJO8P322fJ_2z1DN0IoY1ZPF2moshf4fc/s1600/2014-05-30+18.31.44.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Pennie touching Olivia's name on the headstone at Janie's Place</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>"I'm alive, </b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>even though a part of me</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>has died.</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>Take this heart</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>and bring it back </b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>to life.</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>I fall into Your arms</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>open wide</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>when the hurt and the Healer</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i><b>collide"</b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Most of you who've read my blog for any length of time know my story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've been sitting here, staring at the computer screen, watching the cursor blink, blink, blink…..</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And I'm trying to sort out the feelings that are just now cascading out of my heart and soul.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Sometimes I feel like a mess. Sometimes I'm sure my heart can't hurt or bleed or die any more than it already has. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There are times when it is all I can do just to take the next breath. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I never know when the scars are going to throb again. I'm taken by surprise when the pain surges in waves over my heart. I struggle on some days to keep my eyes tear-free.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">May 13th was Janie's 10th birthday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I should be over the worst of the pain, right? I should have a firm grip on my heart and my emotions, right? I ought to have moved on by now, right?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Well, I haven't.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This new heart, this battered, bruised, gashed, shattered, put-back-together heart, it's who I am now.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Because, since Janie was born without life or breath, she has been joined in Heaven by 5 more siblings.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Olivia, Pennie's identical twin, joined Janie in Heaven on October 19, 2010.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So sometimes, my heart really hurts!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pennie knows about her sister in Heaven. We call Olivia "Livie Bird". I bought two wind chimes in the shape of birds, and Pennie says the pink one is hers and the blue one is "Livie's".</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You know, I've learned something in the past 10 years. I've learned that time indeed does not heal grief and sorrow. I've learned that sorrow and anguish stay around, but they usually become less sore over a long period of days and weeks and months and yes, years.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpcvrF5N2rPeP1_uf1yJVMFAEgTF0H6BaQO_bBQVEN4NMlcxgRqEJ4N1ezMLZtHBh8x_oOxkv16z24PNtYJ3-k0bqgbLOA2YiPKc5qTbU0eem0q1JVRReAHeHRxSXvtrIrZlOSt1r3Vms/s1600/2014-05-30+18.31.23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpcvrF5N2rPeP1_uf1yJVMFAEgTF0H6BaQO_bBQVEN4NMlcxgRqEJ4N1ezMLZtHBh8x_oOxkv16z24PNtYJ3-k0bqgbLOA2YiPKc5qTbU0eem0q1JVRReAHeHRxSXvtrIrZlOSt1r3Vms/s1600/2014-05-30+18.31.23.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pennie has a blanket that came with her crib bedding. The bedding is pink and has quilt blocks picturing different birds and flowers. We got rid of the bedding when she moved out of the crib, but she didn't want to give up her "Livie Blankie". So, we kept it. She sleeps with it, covering herself carefully with it every single night and every single nap time. The blanket has to be just right. She won't part with it. She has two other blankets that are pretty and cute and warm and cozy, but she doesn't want to have anything to do with them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm okay with that.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She and I talk about Olivia a lot. I want her to know that the other half of her heart is in Heaven, living and breathing and full of life. I tell her that she'll get to hug her twin sister and kiss her and run with her someday in that perfect time and place. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She's getting it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Janie and Olivia are laid to rest in the very same spot, back to back. Their names are engraved on the same stone, on either side of it. We call the memorial park "Janie's Place", but now it's Olivia's place too…but we know it as "Janie's Place".</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimMDnSMj2_UHB25-As1MnvwwAgG0-7ftKnddlogP734-T2cySUDk9tcEPkJMYDuFhiVzjiKbh5Q_N4iAKwkLu_L6ryg4M8hZB65wiU4oJPF86zn4Bqpkq5RuaJH_oFdHPX-EQC4-SDw6Y/s1600/2014-05-30+18.31.49.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimMDnSMj2_UHB25-As1MnvwwAgG0-7ftKnddlogP734-T2cySUDk9tcEPkJMYDuFhiVzjiKbh5Q_N4iAKwkLu_L6ryg4M8hZB65wiU4oJPF86zn4Bqpkq5RuaJH_oFdHPX-EQC4-SDw6Y/s1600/2014-05-30+18.31.49.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>"</i>Breathe.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Sometimes I feel</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>it's all that I can do…</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Pain so deep that</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>I can hardly move.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Just keep my eyes</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>completely fixed</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>on You.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Lord, take hold</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>and pull me through."</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know that I have reason to blow kisses at the sky. I pray and ask the Lord to kiss them and hold them and tell them I love them, sometimes. I smile at the clouds and I thank the Lord all of the time for letting me hold those babies in the secret place for as long as He did. I do things like that, but still….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On beautiful days like today, watching my girls fellowship together and share with each other and laugh and sing silly songs and hold hands….</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dTGoHRR-JaxG_AJhz8GG2HGUrCjdLpnc_UMXU5KDy3ZmMf01TFrojJJ9rXr_uwR-EhwRW-2CTL3HZsaBdxBWcLVUibeUNb4STi5CVWbqcjLRSyC47Ts5lRP9Ut2nm0I1ttlVu4o0hmc/s1600/2014-05-30+18.31.58.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dTGoHRR-JaxG_AJhz8GG2HGUrCjdLpnc_UMXU5KDy3ZmMf01TFrojJJ9rXr_uwR-EhwRW-2CTL3HZsaBdxBWcLVUibeUNb4STi5CVWbqcjLRSyC47Ts5lRP9Ut2nm0I1ttlVu4o0hmc/s1600/2014-05-30+18.31.58.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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….<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">it just makes the scars and scrapes and pain and old and new anguish of my journey of grief hurt a bit more than usual.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know that my weeping won't last forever. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm aware that my deep wounds will one day be gone….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But until then, my soul is now a perfect mixture of pain and perfection, of laughter and tears, of mourning and missing them and smiling at the present….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And I'm incredibly glad for my Saviour's arms of love!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>In memory of</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Janie Rose Gilchrist</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Olivia Caroline Gilchrist,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>who are running and laughing and singing</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>for Jesus….</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>I'll see you both someday!</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Love Mama</i></span></div>
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<br />Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-6816787463588106932014-07-01T13:46:00.001-07:002014-07-01T13:46:27.688-07:00Summer Garden<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My husband was busy this Spring!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRn4AV72NAOJWH2gryaXMp7ytwQbtDsYjl7054cH_QXtYed3he-1DJZu7D_LrAxUqnrbsym6lqMrGRaswG2hAVi8xf1UImmrJUcTQEBxZrBCtjYwuge-sSoci33prrsMvp_ZhMiT43Ddk/s1600/2014-06-30+17.53.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRn4AV72NAOJWH2gryaXMp7ytwQbtDsYjl7054cH_QXtYed3he-1DJZu7D_LrAxUqnrbsym6lqMrGRaswG2hAVi8xf1UImmrJUcTQEBxZrBCtjYwuge-sSoci33prrsMvp_ZhMiT43Ddk/s1600/2014-06-30+17.53.38.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is a small picture of his backyard garden. Pennie's strolling between the rows of potato bushes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I think a bit of the evolving history of our backyard is in order for this post, don't you??</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We've lived in this house since 2001. We did move up North in 2009, but we came back in 2011. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Our backyard, by city standards, is good sized. We have a large cement area back there where the original owners parked an RV for years. To my knowledge, we are only the 3rd owners of this house, which was built back in 1960. The cement area, as you can imagine, is pretty long, stretching from our back door to the alley. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Adjacent to the cement was a grass area with a 50 foot tall horse chestnut tree in the middle. In years past, we loved the shade and put a swing in the tree for the kids. We did notice that it was awfully hard to grow plants and flowers back there due to the lack of shade, because the tree was laden with dense foliage and it was pretty hard for any sun to get in. We did container gardens one year, but it was super hard to find the time to keep that going every year, and the kids were growing up and the container gardens were barely providing enough vegetables for one meal for all of us….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Several years ago we got our first dog. She was an Australian Blue Heeler and we got her when she was a puppy. We also learned that horse chestnuts are poisonous to dogs!! Also, Gracie (the dog) was really active and she felt the need to pace and so, she wore the grass out in the backyard, as dogs do…and we were left with an ugly, bare patch of dirt! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In 2009 we moved up North and got a huge greenhouse. Dave was brand new in the garden world, and our greenhouse was perfect for our Northwest weather, and it was a really nice greenhouse. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We lived up North for two years and through events and clear prompting, we knew that the Lord was leading us back here, so we packed up in one weekend and moved back to this house in 2011.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Dave had gotten pretty good at growing things by then, but the greenhouse was waaaay too big for our backyard! What to do???</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Alas, we decided to cut down that horse chestnut tree and make the grass area of our backyard a garden plot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We have the wood from that tree stacked along the cement area, and we use it in our tiny homemade fire pit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today, three years after we moved back, Dave is an expert gardener and has found that it really is his first love. I cannot take a single iota of credit for any of the things you see in the following pictures….I'm so proud of him and our garden is so so so beautiful and lush right now! We use the "Back To Eden" method of gardening. I encourage you, if you aren't familiar with this method, look it up on Youtube. It will open your eyes and really change and revolutionize the way you garden! Plus, it's the easiest thing in the world!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Every Spring, we take a little trip to our favorite tiny local garden center and get organic, non-GMO seeds. I get to choose a lot of what we grow, and Dave gets to choose the rest and he's in charge of planting. The girls are pretty good about helping. Last year, we saved a bunch of seeds from our harvest and we planted those this year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, here's what we've got coming up back there right now:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>*Corn</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>*Sweet Peppers</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>*Yellow Squash</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here are pictures of the garden, taken yesterday by Daughter #1, Hannah….</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-vK5cPf3eeURCbmlGHrt5qJzo7UY3KCT8KBhMHCNcJa4gtcGfezouKGIosU0RPUalKLBkRMjpHFGtVbNKlPVo_Xu7yDF6y_43Mgn8Ni7irKMZQjNXd86_8V4QenCBk2MV3Bu0zSit90/s1600/2014-06-30+17.53.42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM-vK5cPf3eeURCbmlGHrt5qJzo7UY3KCT8KBhMHCNcJa4gtcGfezouKGIosU0RPUalKLBkRMjpHFGtVbNKlPVo_Xu7yDF6y_43Mgn8Ni7irKMZQjNXd86_8V4QenCBk2MV3Bu0zSit90/s1600/2014-06-30+17.53.42.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Although they're hard to see, the plants wrapped in pink saran wrap are peppers. On one side of the peppers you can see the green beans and on the other side you can see a bit of the tomatoes.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgji8avWWN6zyxlMQjEu-2a-cgroGmhwf6EUHD1algvgjCjJmEV31UfDAvkT5V_a1PVqddeSgnLrAhRu30yIaaG88d5ZEjJcOA7X1IpuIl5o0e37FPOReSuNTc-AfAf9lvapejAw9jMEVk/s1600/2014-06-30+17.53.04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgji8avWWN6zyxlMQjEu-2a-cgroGmhwf6EUHD1algvgjCjJmEV31UfDAvkT5V_a1PVqddeSgnLrAhRu30yIaaG88d5ZEjJcOA7X1IpuIl5o0e37FPOReSuNTc-AfAf9lvapejAw9jMEVk/s1600/2014-06-30+17.53.04.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To the left, those bushes are potatoes. To the right of the potatoes, you can see the sugar snap peas, which are Lucie's favorite!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8EfO9E7Ewr9y4bKLiywIwxYlsebDcIOBBwO1RAvJ0bAJoMXjTWiwLVOCABvUmBVQ7o_Ic5MOHdzrEGtMWpNUjw6wBLFOfdQZxPOgcog8OM6QidicpARxMu6KveVBf-V61CHSR3bECI2U/s1600/2014-06-30+17.53.32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8EfO9E7Ewr9y4bKLiywIwxYlsebDcIOBBwO1RAvJ0bAJoMXjTWiwLVOCABvUmBVQ7o_Ic5MOHdzrEGtMWpNUjw6wBLFOfdQZxPOgcog8OM6QidicpARxMu6KveVBf-V61CHSR3bECI2U/s1600/2014-06-30+17.53.32.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These are our tomatoes. We have one golden cherry tomato plant. The rest are large heirloom tomatoes. The surrounding wooden structures were built by my husband.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8izalOICukm_k_SB0A7xEfjtbm6AOSjDRQjCRv962The7Sap1pGMdisLI8iOWeJoP9XY-50MHVHeGmbQhqdvtWFW2VmtTqLzSBCGDWm23NuUl7s6CPOCmLNZo0500nuuiNVZHhF1LY8c/s1600/2014-06-30+17.53.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8izalOICukm_k_SB0A7xEfjtbm6AOSjDRQjCRv962The7Sap1pGMdisLI8iOWeJoP9XY-50MHVHeGmbQhqdvtWFW2VmtTqLzSBCGDWm23NuUl7s6CPOCmLNZo0500nuuiNVZHhF1LY8c/s1600/2014-06-30+17.53.21.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Carrots!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFlIjY6RN5mXeW0uyd8yykYtR2zHMLOcxpKpeQiDJ6HlGK8vOQ6UwE0NozaDEQrmf3OofezWlymEpiNzmnsO8n1LyJFsUJXQJwdOYpZasoO25rwFbuWidOtRV0DyTCnQKBkbiAkuBUAvY/s1600/2014-06-30+17.52.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFlIjY6RN5mXeW0uyd8yykYtR2zHMLOcxpKpeQiDJ6HlGK8vOQ6UwE0NozaDEQrmf3OofezWlymEpiNzmnsO8n1LyJFsUJXQJwdOYpZasoO25rwFbuWidOtRV0DyTCnQKBkbiAkuBUAvY/s1600/2014-06-30+17.52.31.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here is a bit of a panoramic shot of most of the garden.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There you have it! I love looking out my back sliding door at this gorgeous green bounty and I can't wait to harvest its treasures in a few weeks!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Do you have a garden? Do you container garden? What are you growing? Let me know in your comment!</b></span></div>
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<br />Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-39649704540481545682014-06-27T16:29:00.004-07:002014-06-27T16:30:48.312-07:00Friday Favorites<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today is my birthday!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I won't hesitate to tell you how old I am….</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm 41!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm proud of every single year I've had on this earth and really, the past 3 years I've been actually <i>finding myself. </i>I used to think I was somebody, but when I really started to listen to that person, I realized through a very, very painful and traumatic occurrence, that I really <i>wasn't </i>that person after all. For most of my life, I had hurtful, poisonous, smothering things said to me, and I took on that persona, little knowing that I would have a major metamorphosis years later! However wrong that persona was, it was comfortable and familiar to me, kind of like a rotten, stinking, torn up coat...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, at 41, I'm finding that I'm someone new, and I'm just starting to figure out who I really am!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So today, I want to do a kind of <b><span style="font-size: large;">Friday Favorites</span> </b>and a <b style="font-size: x-large;">Birthday Wish List </b>combined!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here we go!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm loving lime! Right now, lime is just about the most refreshing flavor I can think of. I bought a whole bag of limes at my favorite local grocery store and I love to slice them and put them in my water or squeeze them over sautéing chicken or float them in punch! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It's no secret around my house that I'm a <i>Paper Freak. </i>I get high just by going into places like Office Max! I've always loved paper, journals, notebooks, spiral binders, good pencils and my Bic Crystal stick pens in blue ink! I love index cards so much that I admit to hoarding them. I have every size and color. I do love index cards, but I don't do weird shapes. I only like real ones in different colors and sizes. They're good for note taking, recipes, reminders and little sayings. And yes, I have <i>tons </i>of these in my favorite basket!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I love the new blue canning jars from Ball. I bought some last summer to can my salsa verde in, and now we use them for drinks! They're pretty indestructible, which is good with my big family, and they've been holding up really well. I think I'm going to buy some more.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, I've professed to being a Paper Freak….right, I'm fine with that….but I'm also a <i>Pen</i> <i>Freak</i>! I love love LOVE Ultra Fine Tip Sharpies, and these are all of my favorite colors!! These write really nicely and are juicy without being clumpy or too watery, and they're perfect for journaling or scrapbooking.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> Hmmm…maybe I'm going to buy a package of these too!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And last, but definitely not least….Back in the Spring, I got new bedding for our bed. We have a California King sized bed on account of my husband being 6 feet 7 inches tall, and you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find bedding that's nice for a bed that size! I wanted to get good stuff because I didn't want to wear it out and I wanted it to last. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I went to Target to look around and I found Threshold brand linens! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, the last sheets we had were Fieldcrest linens and let me tell you that those sheets had a high-end price tag but were junk! Ugh. I wanted to avoid that problem again! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So I was extremely careful about picking sheets and pillowcases for our bed. I spotted Threshold brand and was able to touch and feel the sheets and pillowcases, and I thought that they felt like super good linens. And now, after several washings, these sheets are supreme. I'm so happy with them. They fit our huge mattress so well without wrinkling or stretching. I bought <a href="http://www.target.com/p/threshold-performance-sheet-set-pattern/-/A-14220754#prodSlot=medium_1_6">these</a> and we adore them. They don't match my duvet cover very well, but the print I was going to get is unavailable right now……</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I discovered the Threshold towels and washcloths too….Ooooh, <a href="http://www.target.com/p/threshold-performance-solid-towels/-/A-14174648#prodSlot=medium_1_3">these babies</a> are thick and luxurious, and <a href="http://www.target.com/p/threshold-textured-towels/-/A-14174617?reco=Rec%7Cpdp%7C14174617%7CCategorySiloedViewCP%7Citem_page.vertical_1&lnk=Rec%7Cpdp%">these little loves</a> are soft and poofy yet substantial also! I bought several washcloths for the bathroom when we finished our remodel…which is another post all together. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Threshold also makes home furnishings that are simply divine. I love <a href="http://www.target.com/p/threshold-windham-2-door-cabinet-with-center-shelves/-/A-14646592#prodSlot=large_1_28">this cabinet</a>, and it would look fabulous under my front window in the living room…..and <a href="http://www.target.com/p/threshold-bench-yellow-white-trellis/-/A-14405936?reco=Rec%7Cpdp%7C14405936%7CCategorySiloedViewCP%7Citem_page.vertical_1&lnk=Re">this bench</a> would be perfect to replace our 40 year old, broken down piano bench!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks for hanging in there with me through this long post….</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What's on your Friday Favorites list? How about your Birthday Wish List? Leave me a comment and let me know!</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-7899786825151892112014-06-25T13:57:00.000-07:002014-06-25T13:57:16.449-07:00Laundry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm sitting at my husband's computer, listening to my girls play the piano and looking at small girls' artwork….being so happy with hearing everyone getting along and loving playing with each other….and looking forward to the two youngest girls' nap time, when I'll take a nap too!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today I've also been doing laundry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In our Large Family, we generally do at least 6 loads every single day. Around here, not doing laundry for even one day means the Dirty Clothes Beast takes over and threatens to become deeply rooted, so I try not to skip a day. What I mean is, <i>we </i>try not to skip a day!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We don't usually struggle over laundry here. Everyone in this house knows we always have a Laundry Monster. As long as there's always a load or two of clothes going in the washer, my husband is fine. As long as clothes are put away and not scattered about, he's okay.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I usually have one person doing everyone's laundry and folding the clothes from the dryer. I rotate the people doing laundry each week, but sometimes one person does the laundry for three weeks at a time, especially if they're not doing a great job. I have a medium sized hamper in the hallway where everyone puts their clothes. That hallway hamper ultimately gets sorted into three large white hampers out in the garage laundry area. I have a large hamper for whites/light colors, dark colors, and sheets/towels/burp rags.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, does this laundry system that works for us ensure that our laundry is always perfectly done and that everything is always immaculately put away?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">**SNORT**</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You must think this is SuperMama's blog!! HA!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We get behind on the laundry almost every single week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For two weeks now, I decided to do the laundry myself. I needed something to do and I wanted to see if I could slay the Dirty Clothes Beast for even one day. My definition of a good battle with dirty clothes is that all of the hampers in the garage are empty and the washer and dryer are humming along merrily.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We have a HE Top Load washer and a regular old dryer. We had a really fancy dryer to match our really fancy washer, but after two separate visits from the maintenance guy, he advised us to just go to our local washer and dryer store and get a simple dryer. We couldn't keep having the maintenance man out, so we took his advice, and I love our simple old dryer. Here's a little secret for you: I almost gagged when I saw that, to match our washer, we'd maybe be spending over $800 for a dryer!!! I'm super happy with the old dryer we now have and it's not so temperamental and it's easier for the small girls to navigate!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, let me share my favorite laundry detergent and stuff with you!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Let's make one thing clear: I'm not one to be making my own laundry detergent. The liquid stuff looks like snot and is slimy and gray, and the powdered stuff makes my nose sting and is messy. I'm a bit of a Laundry Products Snob, and everyone at this house knows this and is fine with this….</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The reason I'm a Laundry Snob is because <i>I've tried almost every single product out there. </i>This is true. Most of the products I've tried had dismal and disappointing results. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm pretty strict with our clothes. I have to hand them down, so I want them to be bright and look good and not dingy or pilled or feel stiff and scummy….</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So I use Kirkland brand laundry detergent for HE washers. It's basically the generic brand of Tide, which used to be my absolute favorite, and which I used for about 15 years until the company decided to mess with a good thing and secretly changed the recipe! I now use Kirkland.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This stuff is amazing and is a fraction of the cost of Tide. I love it and I pick up a bottle every time we go to Costco so we don't run out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The next thing I use for my laundry is OxyClean.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This white powder is really indispensable to me. I buy a big box at Costco and it generally lasts for over two months. I keep it on top of my dryer and use a scoop in every single load I do. I sprinkle it on top of the clothes, after I pour in the Kirkland detergent. I've tried on several occasions to live without this stuff, but without it, my clothes never failed to be dull and dingy and stains never left, no matter what I did.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">For stains, I use OxyClean spray.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This spray is the best thing I've found for stains, no matter what they are. Of course, I try to spray every stain right away, but let's be real here, that hardly ever happens in this house!! But I've sprayed stains on every material with OxyClean and just threw the item into the dirty clothes hamper and forgotten about it, and every stain comes out! I buy two bottles generally and they last over two months each.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We also use fabric softener sheets in the dryer, and I like Up and Up sheets in Clean Linen from Target. Clean cotton or linen is my favorite smell, and these are very subtly fragranced and not overwhelming, and they really do the job for not very much money! As a side note, I don't use fabric softener sheets for towels, washrags or burp rags. I've found that using fabric softener of any kind on these things makes the towel or burp rag less absorbent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So there you have it! These are the things for laundry that I love and that work the best for me.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Do you have any favorites that you swear by? Share them in your comment!!</b></span></div>
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Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-22770259065167084002014-06-24T14:40:00.000-07:002014-06-24T14:40:02.856-07:00Worn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm worn out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">That's just the honest truth.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In every way, shape and form I'm exhausted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Can you relate?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Being a mama is the hardest job I've ever done. It's the grittiest, dirtiest, toughest, most stark task to ever stare me in the face.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Being a wife is the most relentless journey I've taken. It's the longest, most serious, most daunting rode on this trip.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Being a Christian is the most disciplining, most sharpening, lowest, most important walk I've ever been on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And today, as I contemplate everything that's blowing around in the tornado of my mind, I'm just worn out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have so many thoughts I'm thinking, so many things I'm feeling, so many ideas forming that I can't keep track of them all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My shoulders are constantly aching and rock hard from tension. I catch myself slumping over in abject defeat. At times, I feel as though I willingly let a loaded semi truck run over me multiple times. I feel as though I'm standing in a crowded football stadium with my head thrown back, howling at the top decibel of my range, and nobody is even glancing my way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I see all of this and feel all of this and I've come to the realization that our enemy, the enemy of our mama souls, rejoices in this mind set. Defeat is his glory. Exhaustion is his play ground. Recriminations and endless marching guilt are his joy…..I know this well….</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But what to do about it?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've decided to do some maintenance. I've decided to do some personal "house cleaning" in my mind and heart. I've decided it's time to do some overhauling of my soul.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I know I've committed to this overhaul…..</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But how do I go about it? How do I clean out the vaults of years past, where the thick dust of discouragements reside and refuse to be hidden? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How do I sweep out the hallways of regrets and harsh, overpowering voices?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'll tell you, this seems like a challenging and fearsome task to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At this moment, I'm really not sure how I'm going to go about getting healthy in my heart and mind. I don't know if there are any formulas or programs for cleaning out my spirit…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But in the midst of my bone-deep weariness, I keep coming back to one thing:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i>Scripture</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I keep wanting to grab my Bible and immerse myself in it! I keep finding old notes and thoughts written in other times of drought and marrow-piercing fatigue that speak volumes to me. I keep thirsting after my Bible's wisdom as one who wanders in the desert for weeks without water! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I know that my relief lies within that sweet, well-used but neglected Book.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Would you do me a life-saving favor? Would you say a prayer for me? Would you lift me up before the Lord whenever you think of me? Because I know that therein, with the kind of strength that lies in numbers of prayer warriors, I know that I'll be renewed!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-8692726513358442152014-06-22T08:17:00.000-07:002014-06-22T08:17:07.601-07:00Lucie's Wisdom<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The other night we were having family time and reading the Bible, and out of the blue, Lucie, who's 5 says…….</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>"If God's alive, why doesn't He come visit us?"</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I just thought that was so sweet and it exemplifies her literal mind. Daddy tried to explain, but you know, a 5 year old probably isn't going to understand such a lofty recourse. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I look forward with joy to the day in which she <i style="font-weight: bold;">will</i> understand, and, as all of our older children have done, give her heart to Him!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On another night, she said:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>"Is God beating in my heart?"</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I see her trying to gain an understanding of God and His ways, and it's really exciting to see!</span></div>
Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-31590611016118805642014-06-21T14:34:00.001-07:002014-06-21T14:34:01.911-07:00Trades of Hope<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">My friend Katie, who blogs over at Katie's Keepers, is having a great giveaway today on her blog.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You know I almost never link to giveaways on my blog, but this one is a giveaway with a really solid and wonderful purpose.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">She's highlighting "Trades of Hope" today, which is an organization that helps women all around the world gain skills to make a better life for themselves and their families. The organization teaches these women skills like making jewelry, shoes and bags and then they sell the stuff they make so that the women can put food on their tables and a roof over their family's heads!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You can go on over to Katie's Keepers and see what beautiful things these women make, and you can also make a difference by investing in the things that they make!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's the link:</span><br />
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<a href="http://therowefam.blogspot.com/">Katie's Keepers</a>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-40772636113512378982014-06-19T10:34:00.002-07:002014-06-19T10:34:43.881-07:00God Is<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I was cleaning out an old folder that I had tucked into a nook in the kitchen and as I was sorting through the papers and scraps and notes and tidbits, I noticed a rubber-banded bundle and I absently set it aside….</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I would see that little bundle during the days and it would whisper to me and call to me to sort through it, but the busy of the days and the absent minded moments got the better of me…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This morning I finally sifted through the small papers and shards of notes written in times past. They all had to do with scriptures that I had read several years ago, most of them from back in 2008 or further out….</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">How my soul was glad to rediscover these tiny jewels! How I delighted and rejoiced over the rich and wise words that I found, and still find, to be water to my dry soul and firm ground for my uncertain feet!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's one of the things I wrote lo, those many days ago:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>God Is My….</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>Trust, escape, strong habitation, rock, fortress, safety, deliverance, hope, upholder, praise, strong refuge, help, righteousness, salvation, strength, power, comfort, redeemer, and truth!! </i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">And this was all encompassed in Psalm 71! ALL of those wonderful, settling things were woven throughout just one passage of scripture!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm not at all a packrat and for the most part, I don't tend toward sentimentality, but I'm so very delighted that I saved all of my past notes scribbled on note cards, hastened on paper scraps, and jotted on my most favorite of recipients, the lowly index card!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Here's the portion of Psalm 71 that particularly jumped out at me back then, and still does today:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>"But I will hope continually</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>and will praise You yet more and more!</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>and Your salvation all the day</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>for I do not know their limits!</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>I will go in the strength of the Lord God~</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>I will make mention of Your righteousness,</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>of Yours only!"</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i>Psalm 71:14-16</i></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This week, I plan on going through the wealth of all of those notes written in a different time in my life. I plan on leafing through the gems of knowledge and soaking in the truths of the words of the Lord!</span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-30087945341918400112014-06-15T15:43:00.000-07:002014-06-15T15:43:44.253-07:00Hills<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCj3NNNGMaznErIdAv6Fwm0eSu7rZ6SmT5vZojOokjEMnXAYaojrKrmZFnr1horHki7Ww72_6SgmC6-0UumoaSuSL_RDpZ6iOkMT75GT8ZFwV7jmjdWt4n_zF1g2ldnlSbz3tX07TlS0/s1600/Cascade+foothills.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPCj3NNNGMaznErIdAv6Fwm0eSu7rZ6SmT5vZojOokjEMnXAYaojrKrmZFnr1horHki7Ww72_6SgmC6-0UumoaSuSL_RDpZ6iOkMT75GT8ZFwV7jmjdWt4n_zF1g2ldnlSbz3tX07TlS0/s1600/Cascade+foothills.jpg" height="220" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Horizon...</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Shadow hills...</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Sky meets earth</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>in every shade</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>of gray…</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Stone, smoke, slate.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Clouds embrace peaks…</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>On and on </i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>forever.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Changing…</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Rolling…</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Tireless…</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Abundant and never-ending…</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Hills.</i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Poem copyright leeswords2014. Cascade Foothills picture courtesy of someone's pinterest.</i></b></span></div>
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Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-31795343183603680562014-06-13T20:04:00.000-07:002014-06-13T20:04:23.014-07:00Friday Favorites<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I'm jumping on the regular Friday Favorites bandwagon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've tried some new things lately that I want to blog about. They're totally random, and in no specific order.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF7QIqCBgvVKc6ubYIqRBzVi2qaf4I1FgmSFcUPgA_GcmM7FnNLRBK5Q_lQYB17BsAqH0h6unq1OioBKFlfXbODrrZNRmJDQzZCS3Mn2WXOUPUxvxsq5EtOXpHWFLNHA827BmWJLzsQWM/s1600/Food-Should-Taste-Good-Tortilla-Chips-Gluten-Free-Sweet-Potato-021908812649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF7QIqCBgvVKc6ubYIqRBzVi2qaf4I1FgmSFcUPgA_GcmM7FnNLRBK5Q_lQYB17BsAqH0h6unq1OioBKFlfXbODrrZNRmJDQzZCS3Mn2WXOUPUxvxsq5EtOXpHWFLNHA827BmWJLzsQWM/s1600/Food-Should-Taste-Good-Tortilla-Chips-Gluten-Free-Sweet-Potato-021908812649.jpg" height="320" width="255" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These are my all time favorite chips! Really! The combination may sound weird, but they're incredibly light and crisp and they really don't taste like sweet potatoes. They're a bit grainy and they're also gluten/wheat free. They taste wonderful with salsa and guacamole and ranch and probably just about whatever else I can think of to put on them!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKqqzq6WQ16IZyjwqMKS1B2raIAFTtl09u4MqDhL3WtHhjFdw3BQ-N_QeHblQW1Q6EDo6zjSlLwe01mYQMIrO39xEi-PGvubVmY01cFdRmk8nQ7lgK6e61ePkhybwbeG8UucP5gLJebsc/s1600/icecream_chcpntbttr_500ml_pack_en_jun12.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKqqzq6WQ16IZyjwqMKS1B2raIAFTtl09u4MqDhL3WtHhjFdw3BQ-N_QeHblQW1Q6EDo6zjSlLwe01mYQMIrO39xEi-PGvubVmY01cFdRmk8nQ7lgK6e61ePkhybwbeG8UucP5gLJebsc/s1600/icecream_chcpntbttr_500ml_pack_en_jun12.png" height="320" width="290" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This is my kind of ice cream! Now, in my last post I mentioned that I'm lactose intolerant, so I very, very rarely eat ice cream. I think I have ice cream about once a month, if that. This is the ice cream I usually have and I only eat about 1/4 of the pint before I give it to one of my girls. We're usually a Breyer's family because we like to eat as natural as possible. But I really love Haagen Dazs for flavors like vanilla, coffee and this one!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVh2L6yk-pbRv1EcCHbG5HcfABj2lMhE2OWN3fQhQuajivP5Lk9hYjXdnORp_vj5I8dO0t_fJoeza6CkuW_7WBiJ532p5WEutbu5foNH3Ly7xiiehKE6g8JG9LsELiTns_WhK2LU9cAWA/s1600/Wholly-Guacamole.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVh2L6yk-pbRv1EcCHbG5HcfABj2lMhE2OWN3fQhQuajivP5Lk9hYjXdnORp_vj5I8dO0t_fJoeza6CkuW_7WBiJ532p5WEutbu5foNH3Ly7xiiehKE6g8JG9LsELiTns_WhK2LU9cAWA/s1600/Wholly-Guacamole.png" height="320" width="244" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I simply adore fresh guacamole, but sometimes I don't have avocados or they aren't ripe or I'm in a hurry, and this ready-made version of guacamole is pretty good. It's smooth and rich and garlicky and I love that. I love it spread on turkey slices or on corn taco quesadillas! MMM!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZX3D75vuSSxfoaoTp3fRg5FNfosftMjmhKLJWQeYNv1nnZV2VsYSCn3g7-yBbtQf5uHVV4uFLniRYree3WEOvt437U7xOPxhdhSNqfRKl_Mfcg9glTXYXBG1EPakimq00QL65NJQBzOk/s1600/may277-27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZX3D75vuSSxfoaoTp3fRg5FNfosftMjmhKLJWQeYNv1nnZV2VsYSCn3g7-yBbtQf5uHVV4uFLniRYree3WEOvt437U7xOPxhdhSNqfRKl_Mfcg9glTXYXBG1EPakimq00QL65NJQBzOk/s1600/may277-27.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Just so this list of favorites isn't totally devoted to food…..I bought this eyeshadow a few months ago and I guess I was too afraid to use it back then, but now, I love its color on my eyes! I have green eyes that can be olive green or light green with an orange or brown rim around my pupil and I picked this color for contrast. It isn't as dark as it looks, and this Perfect Pastel line of Maybelline eyeshadow is a good choice if you don't want to wear the super pigmented eyeshadows out there. It's a nice enhancement on my lid!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJqFCBnBY7Nk_Tk0_31s2N5IZRmG8iZZ2P0g3Qo0zSX0MM-uFb6t4fIUpLRZia3DUIq6teSxZQvPEdF7P_43FQFOx8N65GBHm9vKJlWFzqkeQaauCITdMfRohxqKQ3ZMWZwrCml8BO0M/s1600/gts13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJqFCBnBY7Nk_Tk0_31s2N5IZRmG8iZZ2P0g3Qo0zSX0MM-uFb6t4fIUpLRZia3DUIq6teSxZQvPEdF7P_43FQFOx8N65GBHm9vKJlWFzqkeQaauCITdMfRohxqKQ3ZMWZwrCml8BO0M/s1600/gts13.jpg" height="320" width="289" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I recently tried kombucha and let me tell you, I got hooked! This is my favorite brand of kombucha, but the strawberry is pretty good too. Kombucha is like a mega dose of nutrients, enzymes, probiotics and taste all wrapped up in a drink! It's a superb replacement for soda, and many people have testified that drinking kombucha actually cured them of a soda addiction! Kombucha is also a liver detoxifier and it can be a pretty powerful one at that. I noticed that even though I loved it, my skin started to itch badly and I noticed some other signs that it was doing its job, and since I'm nursing, I decided to quit the kombucha because all of my toxins were pouring in to my breast milk and Jack was NOT a happy camper! Poor guy had some really bad tummy aches! I'm looking forward to getting back on the kombucha wave after I'm done nursing. If you're pregnant or nursing and would like to try kombucha, I advise caution and drinking just a bit for the reasons listed above.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I hope you all had a great Friday!!! </span>Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5829165214458238627.post-32314211008677624832014-06-12T09:28:00.001-07:002014-06-12T09:28:11.067-07:00Gluten Free<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>***I did not receive any compensation from Bob's Red Mill for writing this post. I just love their products!***</b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Today I want to talk about being gluten and wheat free.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I've been eating a gluten/wheat free diet for about 7 years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I can tell you that the decision to go gluten/wheat free was the single best decision I have ever made for myself.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">7 years ago, I was sick. I was really sick. I was in tremendous pain every day, in every single joint of my body. I was really overweight. I was having so many health issues. I can't remember how I heard about the gluten/wheat issue, but I had read just a couple of articles about how those two proteins might be affecting my health.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Back then, celiac disease wasn't even on the books. Gluten/wheat sensitivity was just starting to be an issue. I didn't have many resources to learn from, but I did learn, and I decided to go gluten/wheat free. I also took dairy out of my diet, as I knew that I was lactose intolerant.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In the beginning, I would still use wheat in my baking for the rest of my family. But then many of my kids started to display signs that gluten and wheat weren't sitting well with them either, so I made my kitchen totally wheat and gluten free, as well as soy free too.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Fast forward to today, 7 years later. I keep my family pretty much exclusively gluten/wheat free. I feel better and beyond the first 6 weeks, I have never, not once, craved bread or pasta or cake or cookies, and the reason why is that I came up with my own gluten/wheat/soy free flour blend!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The picture at the top of this post is of Bob's Red Mill, and we live a little over an hour away from the mill. All of the gluten/wheat free flours I use are Bob's Red Mill. You can buy their flours and mixes in just about any grocery store in the US. I've used other brands but I keep coming back to Bob's Red Mill. Their flours are very finely milled on site, with only top quality ingredients and it makes my flour mixture so smooth, and that's beautiful!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So, I do make my own all purpose flour blend. After trying the gluten/wheat/soy free blends out there on the market, I was disgusted and disappointed. These mixes aren't cheap! So, about three years ago I decided to start tinkering and try to come up with my own blend. I wanted it to be smooth and light and not clumpy or sticky or stiff. I came up with a blend that I've been using for a few years now, and I think it's the best blend out there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">With gluten/wheat/soy free cooking, the texture can be sandy or crumbly. I didn't want that, so I'll tell you what I use in my blend. I won't give you the recipe or exact measurements but I can give you some tips on what to do and what not to do, should you be interested in trying the gluten/wheat/soy free diet!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">First off, you do need xantham gum. This is a necessity so that your baked goods won't be crumbly. This helps to keep your treats and biscuits together.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">You also DO NOT want to use bean flours!! These flours not only make your baked goods taste like refried beans, they also come with all of the side effects that beans make in your tummy! Please, do not use bean flours.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On that same note, you DO NOT want to use brown rice flour, which is the key ingredient in most of the gluten/wheat free flour mixtures out there. Brown rice flour is exceedingly sandy and makes your goods turn out gritty with a sandy texture. I stay away from brown rice flour! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I make my all purpose flour blend in bulk and store it in the kitchen cupboard. I make pancakes, cakes, cupcakes, muffins and even flaky, buttery biscuits out of the mixture.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> I like to use organic components if they're available. Most of the ingredients I use in my cooking and baking are organic, but for this flour blend, some of them are conventional.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Here are the key ingredients:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Organic white rice flour</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>Baking Powder (I use Rumsford Aluminum Free)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">These are the things that I use in my flour blend. This is the perfect blend, and I know this because I used to make muffins for my favorite local coffee joint, and I'd bring them in and they'd sell out and people started requesting my Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip muffins. I don't make muffins for them anymore, but people still ask them for my muffins! I don't have a commercial kitchen and that nagged at the owner's conscience. I looked into converting my kitchen and licensing it for commercial goods, but it was outrageously expensive and the regulations were prohibitive and ridiculous.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Now, these ingredients are what I use. I use the baking powder for a light, high texture. The salt works with the baking powder. I can't give you the exact portions or measurements, because I cherish a dream in my heart where I open up a gluten/wheat/soy free bakery in my town. There aren't any good bakeries within a 1 hour travel time that are exclusively devoted to gluten/wheat/soy free baking. My home kitchen is devoted to gluten/wheat/soy free baking because I know the importance of avoiding cross contamination for those who are true celiacs.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I hope you enjoyed this post and I do hope you have fun experimenting!!</span></div>
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<br />Leannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07790757525000409229noreply@blogger.com1