Tasting Life Abundant

So cozy. I love hanging out in our new bedroom. Today is the first quiet day in quite awhile, and it feels so good to just be home and have Brian here all day and nowhere to go and no meals to make and just rest.😌❤ We had five family Christmas parties to go to this year. So gifts and food and scheduling and travelling for all those was crazy, plus we have some far away family visiting. And I love my family, and it is such a blessing to have so much extended family around, but it makes for a hectic holiday season for our family. We almost made it through all the parties without any sickness too, which, like, never happens. Nathaniel got a tummy bug two days after Christmas, and Sophie has a little fever today, and Brian and I both feel like we might be getting a cold, or maybe we're just worn out. I think we might have to cut back on more parties next year...five parties in 11 days is a a lot. Coming into the holidays already behind on sleep due to insomnia and adrenal fatigue

John 9:1-3 "Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in Him.' "  We read this passage a little while ago for family devotions, and it really struck me how this poor man, who likely had a very hard life, had suffered so much all for the glory of God .  God had planned this whole thing; a baby was born blind so that years later, Jesus would be glorified by healing him.  The blind man must have felt so useless and frustrated and probably angry at times. Perhaps he wondered why he had ever been born, if all he had was this life of darkness and worthlessness.  But God had a huge plan for him. I mean, he made it into the Bible! He was not worthless. His life and his story had, and still have, a purpose.  People passing him on th

I did a quick, fun, (and messy) little craft with Sophie and Nathaniel today: Pinecone bird feeders.🐦 We have abundance of pinecones due to the large trees that line our property and I love a project that gets the kids outside. Using plastic knives to spread peanut butter🥜 onto the pinecones was a little tricky for Nathaniel, but they both loved doing it. Make sure you tie some ribbon or string on the pinecones before applying the peanut butter! Then you just roll them well in the bird seed and tie them onto branches. We chose my lilac bushes, hoping that the squirrels won't eat them all before the birds find them. (The thin bramches arent as easy for the squirrels to climb on, but they're perfect for little birds)  It was hard to get good picture of the cones hanging up,  but they actually look pretty cute; like little natural ornaments. 🎄 The kids used the leftover peanut butter and seed to spread into some pinecones to stick in the bigger trees or lay around the

" 'For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,' says the LORD, your Redeemer. 'For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so I have sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,' says the LORD, who has mercy on you." Isaiah 54:7-10 These beautiful rainbows showed up the other day. I'd just hung up the phone after receiving some discouraging news. I looked out the window to see a double rainbow. I ran outside to take a picture and was surprised to see that one of the rainbows was a full one, arching perfectly over our home. Some would say that was coincidental. I think it w

BEFORE: Carpet that didn't completely cover the vintage linoleum floor, wood paneling that had one coat of paint on it, done quickly the week before our wedding, no crown moulding. The built in closet was really needing some attention; it was peeling off, showing at least four other colors beneath the white. DURING : We went through so much time and like 10 paint samples picking a paint color. Why is it so hard to find a color that looks good?! Natural light, light bulbs, room size, flooring, trim, paint sheen...so many factors to take into consideration. They all look "natural" or "beige' or "creamy" until you get them home and next to each other... AFTER: We finally got all the  paint decisions made and Brian did an excellent job installing a vinyl "wood" floor (first time!) and crown moulding. We LOVE the finished room! It feels clean and mature and romantic and ours.  What a gorgeo

**This post  was written almost two weeks ago, but I forgot to come back and put it in the blog. So here it is now. I don't have a specific topic to write about at the moment, but I feel like writing, so we'll see where this goes. I know I haven't been posting much lately. Part of that is because I don't have as much stuff to work through as I did when I started this. Part of it is because I'm busy. And part of it is because I don't always know what to say. It's hard to share sometimes when things can be so up and down. The last two days I've been feeling really good, for which I am so thankful. Ever since my last flare-up, there have been a lot of symptoms that presented themselves again and it's very difficult sometimes to keep the anxiety and despair under control. It's also really hard not to start thinking "I am crazy. There's just no other explanation." But things come and go and it seems that to some extent, things just

Today is a sick day. We have a flu going through our house (influenza flu, not tummy bug), and I came down with it last night, so today is a couch day for this mama. Some people enjoy comfort foods when they are sick; I make myself drink dandelion tea and eat roasted root veggie(parsnip, turnip, rutabaga and radish) and brown rice. Lol I laugh at myself...laughter is good medicine, right? The veggies were alot better than I thought they'd be. I've never roasted radishes before but I had heard it completely changes the flavor, and since I can't stand them raw that sounded like a positive thing. It did mellow them out, and all together they were surprisingly tolerable. Not my favorite, but not bad. Turkey spinach meatballs, roasted gold potato spears and green beans. Ginormous breakfast- smoothie, tea, spinach eggs. I'm a "get it over with'" kinda person, so a breakfast full of veggies makes me happy. I get in almost half the recommended servings

I developed this recipe a few years ago when I was in the middle of my food allergy crisis. I wanted a treat, but it was so hard to find a good recipe that didn't contain any of the foods I had to avoid, so I made my own. Yes they have sugar and they are not as healthy as, say, a Paleo dessert, but sometimes that's ok. I was pretty happy to come up with something delicious that I could enjoy with everyone! I'm usually nervous to share my own recipes, but these bars have received many compliments from people who eat "normal food" and they didn't even know they were allergy friendly, so I hope that means you will enjoy them too. They are the perfect Autumn treat in my opinion. Let me know in the comments what you think if you make them! Kayla's Pumpkin Bars ~Allergy Friendly~ Preheat oven to 350* 2&3/4 cups pumpkin puree 2 eggs (or for egg free: 1 "flax egg" and 1 Ener-G "egg") *see notes 1&1/4 cups sugar 1/2 cup oil (

Look who's back: my smoothie! Since my last flare up, I've been working on balancing hormones and reducing stress, or more specifically how I react to stress. I came across this quiz online- FLO Living's Hormone quiz - and after taking it, I realized I needed to get back to eating more greens and veggies and fruit. (You may or may not know, I do not eat fruit. I do not like it. But I can tolerate it in smoothie form. And my body loves it.) I also attended a class last week about Immune Health and the instructor mentioned the Blood Type Diet, which I had heard of before but never followed, and how people with my blood type (A+) make great vegetarians. So between those two pushes and what I know has worked in the past, I was really motivated to change up my diet again. I've been eating a variety of greens and fish, and the fruit in my smoothie, for the majority of my meals. This was a stock up grocery trip to ensure I would have everything I needed in the ho