Happy March Madness!!!!

So many people are watching college basketball these days, myself included, and I think it is fun watching all of these young men working so hard to win.  As with most people, I love the underdog teams who take down the top teams!!!  It reminds me of David and Goliath. I wonder if these top seeded teams go into the game thinking that it will be easy only to have a 13 seeded team roll over them to victory!  How small we are, but with God we are bigger than Goliath!!!  I am not saying that the sports underdog is the one that God is watching out for or that God watches basketball, specifically.  (Of course, God watches everything)  I am saying that we need to be like David or like these underdog teams and give our 110% in everything that we do.  My motto is do our best and let God take the rest!!!  Know that God will be bringing the victory and we just need to obey His call and accept His help!!!

Imagine our father lifting us up to reach the places that we would never be able to reach on our own!  He is there not only to lift us up, but to protect us if we fall!  Aren't we so blessed to have such an amazing God!!!  Isaiah 40:31 says:

            Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but they that                 wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they               shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

As we continue watching college basketball's "March Madness", let's reflect on our own David and Goliath story.  What is it that you were supposed to lose, but God brought you through?  The announcers said you would fail or maybe the doctors said you were supposed to die.  When were you in a spot that you couldn't reach the goal without God lifting you up to it?

Oh, and just one more thing....do you know what comes after March Madness???  The celebration of the ultimate victory.  You know, the one that Christ won on Calvary!!!!  Happy March Madness everyone :)

New Year...New Reading

Happy New Year...Yes, I am late as usual, but better late than never, right?  I have been enjoying my God, my family, my friends, my food, my crafting and the weather a little more than writing and doing schoolwork...teeheehee!!! I can't believe we have been in Kansas for over a year now!!!  It has gone by so fast, but it has been one of the most amazing years of my life and I am so thankful that God has brought us here! I don't know what the next year will bring, but I am ready for God to do His Work in me and intend to show His love more than I have in the past.  

I have been catching up on reading lately and want to mention a "sweet read" that you may love:



I really enjoyed this book which consists of three different stories of Amish romance.

The first story is called "A Choice to Forgive" and follows a widow named Lydia who must try to forgive the man that she was supposed to marry so many years ago.  The man was her husband's brother and she struggles with forgiveness and feelings that she tries to stifle. 

The second story is called "A Change of Heart" and it is a great story about a young unmarried Amish woman, Leah, and her relationship with each member of her family.  She is not the typical "holly homemaker" type and would prefer to write stories all day long rather than participate in housework.  An Amish boy in town, Aaron, has feelings for Leah and they begin a friendship that takes everyone by surprise!

The Last story is called "Healing Hearts" and follows a husband and wife who have been separated for a year.  This story was probably my favorite because it dealt with the emotions that each family member had to go through in order to forgive their father/husband who had left. 

All of these stories take a big look at forgiveness and remind us that it is a choice to forgive and God will bless us when we do.  I recommend you take a look at it if you are interested in a sweet read about forgiveness.


      

New place to live!!!

I have taken about a week or so off the blog so that I could work on moving!!!  We moved to Kansas about a year ago and since we did not know much about the area we picked an apartment right across the street from my husband's school.  It was a neat experience because we met so many people and the hubby was able to just walk back and forth to school everyday, but it was too small for a family of six and there was no place for the kids to go play and run.  We decided to look for a bigger place and found (through the amazing grace of God) a wonderful townhouse with a yard!!! It has lots of space and we are all very happy!!!  It is not too far from my husband's school, but he must drive instead of walk.  Thankfully, he is only going about a mile and a half so it really is not much of a commute.  I have been working on getting settled in here, but it is funny how hard it can be to get back in our "groove"!!!  I am hoping the groove hits soon because we all have a lot of schoolwork, crafts, etc... to get back to. Right now I am laying on my bed in my new bedroom listening to the rain fall on the rooftop and thunder rumbling in the distance and thinking about how great it is that God brought us here :)

Two happy kiddos playing in their new yard!!!

"...But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!!!" -Joshua 24:15



Great blog I found and Love!!!

I have been enjoying a blog for the past week called: Simply Living...For Him.  It is a wonderful blog about living more simply and walking the Christian walk :)  They are currently gearing up to take an amazing roadtrip and will be available to speak at various events!!!  They are currently giving away a $25 Amazon giftcard to one of their readers!!! Pop on over there and it could be you!!!  I highly recommend this site because of the purity in the posts and I find it very encouraging when I need that reminder to let me know to slow down and relax.  I have posted the link to her recent blog post below and I know you will all enjoy it!!!

Simply Living...For Him

Caramelicious...

Today was a fun day for our Feingold following kiddos :)  I have been feeling bad about our kids not being able to eat wonderful apple filled items this fall so I decided to give them some special fall treats that are Feingold approved!!!  The first wonderful treat that I made was caramel popcorn!!!  I visited with a wonderful friend yesterday and she showed me how to make popcorn on the stovetop!!!  I don't know why I had never done it before, but I decided to make it with a wonderful carmel drizzle!!!  I found a wonderful recipe from Kelly the Kitchen Kop and adapted it to our own.  You can find Kelley the Kitchen Kop's recipe here. Enjoy!!!

Ann's Feingold Friendly Carmel Popcorn

Stovetop Popcorn:

• 1/4 c. butter (I use butter instead of oil, because it is better for you.)
• Enough popcorn to make the bottom of the pan one kernel deep
• Turn stove to Medium high, cover with lid and gently shake the pan until it is finished popping. (This can take a few minutes)
• Vent the lid to let the steam escape as necessary.  (I use a vented lid)
• When the kernels stop popping, dump the popcorn into a bowl.

Caramel Topping:

• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar or Sucanat (I prefer sucanat for the extra nutrients)
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• Pinch of sea salt
• Put all of the ingredients into a small saucepan and stir continuously on medium high heat.
• Once the syrup comes to a boil, continue stirring while it boils for an additional two minutes.
• Immediately drizzle the caramel over the popcorn and stir to cover as many kernels as possible.
• YUM!!!

The next treat I made was to replace the beloved caramel apples.  I found a wonderful deal on Bartlett Pears this week and made caramel pears!!! I found a recipe for caramel that did not use corn syrup and used it for our pears. I would post the recipe on my site, but I loved how she posted some videos along with the recipe and I didn't feel I could do it justice by simply putting a recipe on here :)  We used sucanat instead of brown sugar and used pears instead of apples.  It was a great treat, but one tip I wish I would have figured out was to grease the wax paper!!!  Enjoy the recipe link for the Caramel Apples, old timey style here.

"Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.' And it was so." -Genesis 1:11

Feingold Diet for our Family

One of the things that has been a struggle in our family was the realization that my son has been displaying some ADHD/Autistic behaviors. I have been nervous as any mother would be and did the first thing that I do when I have finished praying about a situation...I begin research! I looked up so many things on the Internet and came across information about the Feingold Program. The interesting thing is that I had taken a wonderful online class last October (I think) from Kelly the Kitchen Kop called Real Food For Rookies and during one of the classes was taught about the dangers of artificial food additives in our food. This was the first time I had heard about the Feingold Association, but I am glad it wasn't the last. Since our family moved only a couple months later, I let Feingold drift from my mind, but a couple weeks ago I was snapped back into reality! I called the association to find out some information and spoke with a wonderful lady by the name of Jane Hersey who has written several books about her family's experience with Feingold. She and I both agreed that my son was probably dealing with a chemical sensitivity and I was confident after the call that the days ahead would be different!!!

Through many ups and downs of  life on the Feingold program we can now say success!!!  The hardest part was trying to give my children foods that don't have tomatoes!  They love pizza and pasta and meatloaf and you name it...it has tomatoes :(  Well, I am happy to say that we found a solution to that just last week!  We decided to try Feingold's "untomato sauce" which has beets and carrots and some spices mixed together to make a scrumptious sauce!!!  I couldn't believe that it was good and the kids ate an entire jar of it in a week!    I made an accidental adjustment to the recipe and it turned out great so here is my version of the "untomato sauce":

Ann's Untomato Sauce

1 can sliced beets  (drained and not pickled)
1 can sliced carrots (drained)
1/2 cup celery juice
1 cup of water
2 Tablespoons of white vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sugar (You could probably substitute honey, maple syrup, rapadura, or sucanat here, but I haven't tried them yet because it is such a tiny amount of sugar)

Mix all of the the ingredients in a food processor and puree until it is about the consistency of applesauce.  That is it, just put it in a jar and refrigerate or use immediately.   I used the sauce as a pizza sauce for tortilla shell pizzas and the kids went bonkers for it!!!  I tasted them and agreed with the kids!!!

Even if you are not on Feingold, beets are excellent for you as are carrots and this is a great way to add them to your diet!!!!  Sorry about the lack of pictures, but I forgot to take a picture of the sauce before making it. I will try to take some pictures of the other Feingold recipes I come up with :)

And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.

1 Samuel 25:6

I Won an Award!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited!!!! I actually won an award for my blog!!! This AWESOME lady named Tracy who writes and AMAZING blog called, A Slice of Smith Life, enjoyed my blog and awarded me for it!!!! I get the opportunity now to give an award to others as a sort of "pay it forward" game!!!! So here is my list of 15 sites you MUST see, in no particular order!!!

1. Ruth at http://underneathhiswrapping.blogspot.com/
2. Liz at http://elizcross.blogspot.com/
3. Benson & Kristin at http://lukesexton.blogspot.com/
4. Jamie at http://www.sophistimom.com/
5. Amy at http://amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com/
6. Liz at http://lovingmom2boys.blogspot.com/
7. Kelli at http://the-wilson-world.blogspot.com/
8. Michelle at http://www.shelookethwell.blogspot.com/
9. Bradie at http://quiltcetera.wordpress.com/
10. Rachel at http://www.psiquilt.com/
11. Tiffany at http://www.naturemoms.com/blog/
12. The large family at http://ladyofvirtue.blogspot.com/
13. A wise woman at http://proverbs14verse1.blogspot.com/
14. Emily Rose at http://www.simplyvintagegirl.com/blog/
15. Theresa at http://jborolandlady.wordpress.com/

So here are the rules for accepting this award...


1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.

3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen.


What a fun activity for all you bloggers out there!!! Thanks so much, Tracy, for including me :)