Oh the Bliss!

(this picture has nothing to do with the rest of the blog, I just really like it, I know people like it when pictures are posted.) The benefits of rain... These flowers make me think of, and miss, the BFF. Love you Lol! From a spiritual mentoring workbook my pastor wrote... "What would you say if one of your friends told you that they hadn't had anything to eat in days? Imagine him telling you about his good intentions, his busy schedule, and his disappointment that he hadn't gotten around to it. Imagine that person telling you that one trip per weekend with friends to a favorite restaurant was all the time for eating that he had. I suppose such news would not be well received. You might suggest such a person see a doctor or even consider admitting himself to a special hospital for eating disorders. Unfortunately, when it comes to our spiritual food we are all too quick to accept this pattern as normal. We find ourselves spiritually malnourished, often blaming it on our bu

Can someone take advantage of a church? If so, is it ok for them to continue, once it's realized whats going on? Did Jesus ever have to cut someone off? Where did he draw the line between compassion and enablement? Did he draw a line?

A few months ago I was talking (read: complaining) to Mark about Troy's puny naps an he suggested I put him down in his pajamas, instead of just laying him down in whatever he was wearing. I don't know why I poo-pooed his idea. Maybe because I thought if I put Troy in his jams then he'd be confused and wouldn't know the difference between naps and going to bed for the night. I don't know why that would even matter, but regardless I dismissed the idea. I changed him into cozy pants, after all, isn't that enough? On Sunday I went out with the girls and before I left Mark put Troy down for his nap, early. When I came home, three hours later, Troy was still asleep and kept sleeping for a while. When I got him up he had his jammies on. Today the boy was tired, really tired, and so was I. I thought, hmmm, maybe there is something to this whole "jammies on for naps" idea and changed Troy into his cozy footed jams and laid him down. IT WORKED! Three and a half

My friend, from like elementary school, is one of the most Raw, Real food cookers, bakers and eaters out there. I'm guessing she has been asked "How do you do it?!?" more than once, so she finally started a blog. Susie, (Susan? I don't know what grown ups call her) has skills in the kitchen and makes almost everything (even her own jello and ginger ale) from scratch using as pure to the earth ingredients she can find. Her blog is awesome because a) She doesn't claim to know it all, or be the best, or have all the answers or that she's %100 right all the time. b) She has really good, practical ideas. c). She has put her time in reading and researching raw and real foods, so I trust her. And d). She's a money saver with the best of us, so I know that when she talks about a product she has looked around to make sure she's getting a good price. She also loves the Lord, loves her husband, loves her kids (and loves Fair Trade), so she has her priorities str

I have always kind of wanted to have a kid was "that kid" who wore costumes and dress-up clothes all the time, everywhere... I'm serious. I think it's awesome. When else can you dress how ever you want, legally, and people stop and say how cute you are? At least he has actual clothes on this time. :-) Wendy is trying to get Cuatro to come out by offering some Frozen Yogurt... it would totally work if it were me in there. Last Saturday, before the week of seclusion, I packed a lunch and took the kids to the free farm at the OC Fair Grounds. So fun! I just like this picture of Ben because it's so him, just working away.

Let me start by saying I love the rain and I'm not complaining about it at all. It has been challenging this week, but challenging in a good way. LIke a "mom test" or something. I had to really flex some creative muscles and that was fun. It's a little bit comical that we SoCal types get so worked up about a few days of rain, but we (at least I) do. Ben's school was canceled twice, like a snow day but not nearly as cool. Four days of going NOWHERE (because I'm a chicken and won't drive in more than a drizzle) made us a little stir crazy and the kids were climbing the walls, literally. Here are a few things we came up with to pass the time... ~ Coloring on paper is fun, but coloring on the kitchen table made me the coolest mom ever (for at least that hour). Dry-Erase markers saved the day and the kids had a blast creating a city on the kitchen table. Coloring on the windows and the sliding glass doors has been fun in the past, but the table was a new idea a

Did your high school have "Daily Reminder's"? Mine did. They handed them out at the start of every year in hopes that you'd use it to write down all your homework assignments and things to do in it. Some teachers actually checked these weekly to make sure you were using it. I used it "properly" for about three weeks then it became much more useful to me as a doodle pad, a poetry book, a place to write down phone numbers. I just never really got the hang of a day-timer. I've never really used a calendar, much to the dismay of my beloved mother-in-law. I don't know what I do, I guess I've just always remembered where I'm supposed to be and when. This is not fool proof. I have forgotten lots of things, double booked (which was kind of embarrassing back in my dating days), over committed and such. It's not a very organized way to live and since that's what I'm going for here in 2010, I took the plunge and spent actual money on a real

How's that for a book title? There's already one out there called "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" but I often toy with the idea of writing a counter to that book . . . Mary and Martha are two sisters in the Bible who Jesus goes to visit one afternoon. Martha busies herself in the kitchen, tidying up real quick, throwing stuff into a pot on the stove, making sure there's toilet paper and clean hand towels in the bathroom no doubt, while Mary sits at Jesus's feet and listens to him talk. Martha was a little ticked that Mary wasn't helping her do anything and eventually tried to get Jesus on her side saying, "Lord, aren't you even a little bugged that Mary is just sitting there and leaving me with all the work? Whasup wit dat?" Much to her dismay, Jesus, most likely taking her hand and pulling her down to sit by him, said, "Martha, Martha, Martha, you are so worried and stressed about so many things; but only one thing is needed. Ma

I had two. I was going to resolve to put away the folded clean clothes immediately instead of letting them sit on my dinning room table for days on end. But that went out the window fast. So now I only have one. New Year's Resolutions 2010: I resolve not to start any facebook status updates with "Dear... (person, place, weather, random thing etc.)". It's been done, by me, and pretty much everyone else now, and it's crossed the line of overdone and bordering the line of annoying. So I will not do that. I'm excited because I'm pretty confident I can do this one!

(Feel free to sing that title too...) This is written on the side of an Epsom salt can. I don't know whether I think it's true or just sad. Maybe both. I've recently hit a stage in my pregnancy, which I saw coming months ago, where everything hurts. You name it, if it's on my body, at some point in the day it will feel one (or all) of these things: achy sore throbbing pulled strained tender swollen sensitive tight irritated cricked stiff annoying Thankfully, these things don't happen to all body parts all at same time. In order to properly combat these potential downers I've developed a nightly "routine", that helps me relax. First I light yummy smelling candles, then I run a nice hot bath (and I drink a glass of wine too, oh no, call the pregnancy police!) with handfuls of Epsom salts in it, I listen to relaxing music or a sermon and spend time praying. Then I have a shelf of lotions, butters, ointments, creams, scrubs and oils I appl

Please go back and sing the title. (Reference: Boyz ll Men circa 1991) I know this is gross, and a few of you might think there is something really wrong with me, especially one hairdresser friend of mine (ahem, B), but I need to remember this event. Today I threw away my hairbrush. Not just any hairbrush! No, the same one I've had since I was - and I'm guessing here because I can hardly remember my life without it - 15 years old. That's, roughly, 14 years of using the same brush. (I'd like to point out that I have not once had any hair and/or scalp issues during those 14 years, thank you.) I loved that brush. LOVED it. It went with me everywhere; Poland, where I actually thought I lost it and had to buy another one only to find my beloved a month later outside on the bleachers of the school we were staying in. I gave it a good wash and it was as good as new. (So gross, I know. Why am I putting this on my blog??) It's been to Mexico and Jamaica. It's been all o

Bets are currently being taken as to the sex of this baby. This one is a tough one for me. You'd think after having one of each I'd be able to tell for sure, but this baby is keeping me guessing, which I love! Way to be sneaky, Cuatro! Here's the reasonings behind any guess I might have... Girl: ~ My doctor's first guess ~ faster heartbeat ~ draining pregnancy, emotionally and physically, like I had with Addison - just not the entire time like I was with her. ~ this baby is high, high, high. SO high that I can still wear normal jeans and button them because nothing has changed from hip to hip, only from around my belly. ~ I've had heartburn, but mild, not extreme like I did with Addison. Boy: ~ I have "craved" the same foods as I did with Ben. Bagels and cream cheese... Mexican... etc. ~ My belly is totally out front, like i have a ball under my shirt. It used to look like a football under my shirt, which would make me think girl, but now it's a basket

Once upon a time, in a magnificent garden, there grew a very precious and very Beautiful Flower. The Great Gardener loved this flower tremendously and wanted nothing more than to look at her, for simply looking at her elegant colors and delicate design brought him endless amounts of joy. Very near to this beauty grew another flower, slightly older, strong and mighty, with bold colors and a handsome design. By the tender care of the Great Gardener the two flourished, and as they did so they grew closer and closer together until their petals touched and their roots intertwined. They were a lovely pair and the Great Gardener was very proud of them, and smiled over them daily. He was elated beyond words when he saw three little flowers growing in the rich soil surrounding them. Not far from those three grew five more flowers, and very near to those five grew nine more, tiny ones, but just as precious. And if the Great Gardener looked very closely, he could see the tips of four more teeny -