Disneyland as Therapy

It's amazing what a little trip to Disneyland can do! The last 3 weeks my mom and I have gone to Disneyland on my day off. The night before we always debate about whether or not we should go. We say, "maybe we should rest tomorrow or go somewhere else." But we always end up going to Disneyland, even though we know it will be a long day and we will be tired! It's always worth it. We have so much fun and it gives us a chance to forget about all of our troubles (if only for a moment). It also gives us a chance to talk about things and encourage each other. When your going through hard times it's good every so often to get away and have some fun. Just like there is time to read the word and pray. If we didn't have something to take our minds off of our troubles we would go crazy. So Disneyland it is!

It feels as if you are in a different land, a different place in time. Even though I have been there many times, it never gets old. Every time we go we have a different experience. We eat at different places and we talk to different people. Yesterday, we did not go on one ride. We got there at 11 and left at about 9. We had fun just walking around all of the stores and sitting at all the different places. It was crowded so I didn't mind not having to wait in line. I am so thankful that the Lord has provided this little escape for us. Now in the weeks to come when my mom is not feeling well or feeling a little down, we can look back and remember all the fun we have had. Also she can look forward to the future and all the fun we will have. It gives her something to hold on to, something to look forward to.

We will never stop having fun, no matter what. Even when she is sick or her spirits are low, we will make our own fun. It's so important to get your mind off of your situation and on to the Lord. When your just sitting at home, thinking about how bad things are it can depress you.

Proverbs 17:22, "A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."
Proverbs 12:25, "Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad."

These scriptures are so true. When my mom is feeling down, I remind her of a funny story or a fun memory that we have. Then we laugh and her countenance is raised. I keep reminding her of the promises the Lord had given us and how He has taken care of us in the past, this brings down the anxiety level in her heart. I also tell her every time some one says they are praying for her and when some one prays with me for her. When you keep doing these things a person can't help but be joyful. The scariness is still there, but it seem a little bit easier to bear and the Lord provides His peace.

So this week starts the harder things, but the Lord is there to carry us through it all and He has been from the very beginning. Thanks mom for being so strong and willing to learn and grow through this whole experience. Even though you do struggle, you always come out on top of things and your emotions. I am very proud of you!

Life can be so hard!

Some times life can be so hard! Just when you think things are going to get better, something hits you in the face. You always try to be ready for the next big trial or the next big hardship. But you are never really prepared. Yes, the Bible says there will be trials and tribulations. But can we just get a break every once in a while. Now I'm not complaining, I'm just stating the truth. No one wants to be in the midst of hardship. I know there are good things that can come out of trials, growing closer to the Lord, deepening my roots in the Word and I know that suffering produces endurance, character and hope (Romans 5). But every once in a while it would be nice to have a break from suffering!!

There are so many more families who are going through even deeper and darker trials than my family. Lord please help us, we are suffering.

This is a very comforting passage in Philippians:
4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice! 4:5 Let everyone see your gentleness. The Lord is near! 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. 4:7 And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

I guess we will never fully be out of suffering until we are in Heaven and what a glorious day that will be!

Revelation 21:4, "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more – or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.”

Eating Healthy

I never really new how hard it was to eat healthy until now. Everything is full of sugar or turns into sugar in your body. Now that my mom has been diagnosed with breast cancer, she is staying away from sugar and white flower and things like that. We have a gluten free mix that we use, it's by Pamela's. But even still it's full of sugar. So today I found some recipes using Almond flour or Almond meal and using alternative sweeteners. You can make your own flour by putting Almonds in the food processor and pulsing it. But make sure not to go to far or else you will have almond paste. There are a lot of benefits to eating almonds, they are heart healthy, they aid in weight loss, high source of protein, anti-inflammatory and I'm sure many more things!! Also you can use flax seed oil instead of regular oil, the benefits to that are endless!

So now lets talk about white flour. I took this from Answerbag.com:

"White flour is actually in a lot of high processed foods, it's in bagels, muffins, donuts. Donuts, bagels, muffins they're all the same thing. They all turn to paste in the body and what it does, it actually inhibits your villi. You have villi in the small intestines and what those do; they actually absorb nutrients and toxins into the body. So anything that goes into your bloodstream that goes into the body will go through your villi. So if you add water to flour, which is what all those are, bagels, donuts, English muffins, blueberry muffins you're in a hurry and you want to grab something like that. It would actually go in and it makes into a paste. Now those villi don't really have much to work with because they can't move so if they can't move they can't get nutrients into the body. Which is very, very important so white flour is actually not a very good thing."

Here is one from helium.com:

"White flour is created by removing the bran and germ from the wheat, which contains 76% of the products vitamins and minerals. In removing these parts, 97% of fiber is also lost. At this point, the product only holds less nutritional value, but it doesn't stop there. Once this has taken place, there are many things that are added such as chlorine dioxide, potassium bromated, emulsifiers, ammonium carbonate, alum, chalk, alloxen and sorbitan mono-saturate."

Eeek, that makes me not want to eat anything with flour again. Just to be balanced I looked up the good effects of white flour on the body and not one good thing came up.

It's to bad that eating healthy has to cost so much, most of the organic foods in the stores are twice as much as regular food.

I love baking and I have been wanting to make Christmas cookies!! So I am going to try the Almond flour with blue agave sweetener. I will post my recipe, but only if it turns out OK!!

Ahhh, Christmas time!!

I love this time of year, it's so festive and colorful! I love looking at all the lights and the decorations and feeling the chill in the air (even though I like the warmer weather). So now that I am living in my apartment I am so excited to decorate it. I put up lights around our patio and some green garland and felt flower garland around our fire place. Next on the list is our Christmas tree. I have been slowly collecting decorations and I can't wait to see them all again. I'm sure that I have forgotten about some! But one of my favorite things that I have is a glass Christmas Tree shaped candy dish. My grandma Betty gave it to me years and years ago. She always had one at her house filled with M & M's. So I can't wait to go to the store and buy some red and green M & M's to fill it up with.

This is my first Christmas being married, it will be so different not waking up at home. But it will also be exciting to be with my husband.

One Month Mark

Well, we have already hit the one month mark. When we first got engaged on January 29, 2009 it felt like our wedding was so far away. During the summer we decided that we would have to put the wedding on hold. That was the hardest time of my life. I knew who I would be spending the rest of my life with, but I didn't know when that would start. Looking back now I can see how the Lord was teaching me a lot of things. Like how to trust in Him, fully and completely, without having the answers I wanted. He showed me that His timing is best (I already knew that or so I thought). The Lord is never late and never early. If the Lord would have given me what I wanted, when I wanted it, I don't think I would be as blessed as I am right now. Some times it feels as though the Lord has forgotten our request or doesn't care. But I know that is not true. He does know and He does care. We do not see things the way that He does. We think in temporal, He thinks in Eternal. He is not bound to our time, nor does He see things the way we do. His ways are higher than our ways (thank goodness). I am so glad that He did not give me my own way the thousands of times I asked. Maybe some day I will learn that lesson. But for now I will just do the best that I can do and try not to repeat my past mistakes. Thankfully the Lords mercies are new every morning and I am forgiven. He does not hold those things against me.

A couple of years ago the Lord gave me a verse, Psalms 34:10 "the young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing". So I know that those things which are good for me the Lord will not with hold. If He is not giving me what I ask for, maybe it's because He has a different plan or it's not the right timing. I must remember that He knows best!!! As long as I am seeking Him, He will give me the things that I am desiring. Maybe not right away or maybe He will change my mind about what I am asking for. But the Lord will always get the glory. When I go through a trial or a hardship regarding something major in my life, in the end the Lord gets more glory. Am I willing to go through some suffering in order for the Lord to get even more glory? I hope the answer is yes. It might be very hard during the trial, but after it gives you a sense of accomplishment.

My prayer is that the Lord would be glorified through my life and that I will be a good example of one who is submitted to His will whatever that may be. To God be the glory.

It's Dinner Time!

I have been married for almost 17 days. Wow, time has gone by fast!! We had a great time at Walt Disney World and can't wait to go back!

So tonight will be the first night I am going to make us dinner. I've been lucky, RJ made us our first dinner, Chicken lettuce wraps (which was really good) and most of the other times we have been eating out. Now it's my turn. We got our pots and pans on Sunday, so I cant wait to use them!! I am going to make Butternut-Beef Chili. Oohhh, it sounds so good and warm! For dessert of course I'm making Pumpkin Muffins. This cold weather puts me in the mood to bake! I found both recipes online and if they turn out good I will post them for you!

For tomorrows dinner I'm going to make Crock pot split pea soup. It looks really yummy! I have an app on my phone that has all kinds of healthy recipes. So we'll see how it turns out!

I'm excited to cook us good healthy meals that we can both enjoy together!

10 days

Wow, I can't believe we are at the 10 day mark! Time has really gone by fast! There are so many little details to be done. But I just have to take them one day at a time! This has made me ponder what kind of things can happen in 10 days.

I know one of my favorite movies is "How to loose a guy in 10 days". (but I don't want to loose my guy!)

There is the 10 day forecast (looks like we'll be in the high 80's).

There was the 10 Day War, which was a brief military conflict between the Slovenian Territorial Defence (Slovene: Teritorialna obramba Republike Slovenije) and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in 1991 following Slovenia's declaration of independence.

On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 10 Lords a-leaping (which they say represents the 10 commandments).

Day of Atonement occurs in the seventh month on the 10th day.

If you get a second drunk driving offense within the previous 6 years, then the minimum jail time is 10 days in a row to a maximum of 6 months. (wow I don't want to mess with that!)

There are also 10 day diets and detoxes. (I guess I could loose a few lbs before the wedding)

So all that to say in 10 days from now my name will go from a Miss to Mrs. I am also excited to see what my first 10 days of marriage will hold. I can't wait to see what the Lord has instore for our life!