Our Family's Healthy Eating Plan(Part 1)

Recently our family decided (with a little prodding from Tim and I) to begin an adventure of a 21 day Daniel Fast.  If you are not familiar with the Daniel Fast it is taken from the book of Daniel chapter  and 10.  Daniel had requested only to eat fruits and veggies, with only water to drink. No sweets, meat,dairy, not even a cuppa tea!

So we explained to our living at home girls that basically we would be eating vegan for 21 days. Well the girls were on board with but we failed to explain about Daniel diet and what he might have eaten. Many recipes they researched would be considered a no-no for the Daniel fast.   So we decided to just not make a big deal about it but to concentrate on making better food choices. We are still following the basic idea but we are avoiding junk food because we haven't bought any since we started the fast.

My youngest daughter did make some  peanut butter cups using carob chips, coconut oil and natural unsalted peanut butter. They help satisfy our desire for something sweet. These are much better for us than Reeses peanut butter cups.

The hardest for Tim and I is fasting from coffee. We both love our morning coffee. As an alternative to coffee we found some chicory at Natural Grocers.  It's caffeine  free  and it's actually really good but not as good as coffee. I put almond milk in it instead of 1/2 n 1/2 since we are fasting from dairy.   I miss my Lady Grey black tea so I have been drinking herb teas. Good thing I enjoy drinking herbal teas otherwise I might be rather cranky.

As I mentioned earlier, the idea we had for the Daniel Fast was more for learning to make better choices for eating but I really want it to draw us closer to the Lord. That was the original way it came about.
Anyway by the end of this fast I hope we have a better understanding on how to treat this temple (our bodies) the way God wants us to.

11th Tea Cup and Mug Exchange

Hello friends!
Next Wednesday the 11th Tea Cup and Mug Exchange signup begin over at The Enchanting Rose. My girls and I did this in the spring and it was so much fun! If you are interested in signing up or just curious just click on The Enchanting Rose link above. The image isn't clickable for some reason.

Taking Care of Our Spiritual Health

Ladies I apologize for my absence from blogging. I had "blogging block" and couldn't figure out what to write about. My heart has been heavy over the victims of Hurricane Harvey, especially those families who lost loved ones. Now there's Hurricame Irma which is forecast to hit next week. Prayers for those affected by both these hurricanes will be appreciated I'm sure.

So many of us want to be healthy.  As a result we decide to eliminate or reduce certain foods from our diets. We commit to more exercise more. While these are actually important things our spiritual is even more important. So I want to share some ideas that I hope will encourage you.

1.Get into God's  Word. I can not stress to you enough about how we must read our Bibles daily. I don't mean just doing a daily reading and be done. I mean really reading His Word and meditating on what God is saying to us.
Highlight verses that speak to you or you want to study more. I really like the Thompson-Chain reference Bible which allows you to study a particular subject further.
You can also use a devotional to help you get in the Word. I use Beside the Still Waters published by Still Waters Ministries.


2. Pray daily. This is our time us to communicate with our Lord. It's also God's time to let the Holy Spirit speak to us. But we need to LISTEN! I know I'm guilty of going on and on when I'm praying and not letting God get a word in edgewise. There is a lot going on in the world now that needs to be committed to prayer.

3. Try to avoid people or social media that discourages  you. This is a hard one because often times the ones doing the discouraging is a family member.
Be very careful of the social media sites like Facebook, Instagram or blogs.
I've been following a particular Christian blog for awhile but unfortunately because the blog authors want to allow all points of view  as a result there are many negative and downright mean judgemental comments. It's really not enjoyable to read anymore. I even find myself even questioning my beliefs because many of the "trolls" are non believers  they say the most blasphemous things about the Bible and God.

All that to say just be careful. There are a lot of lost souls out there who don't care or truly understand the love of God.

There's more I'd like to say but I started this post on Labor Day actually. And it's taken me this long to finally post the little bit. I hope it has encouraged you in a small way.

I will talk next time about healthy eating and exercise.

Bread Pudding and Tea

A few days ago Stephanie at TheEnchantingRose posted a delicious recipe for bread pudding. It goes great with afternoon tea!
The recipe didn't call for raisins but I topped mine with some raisins I had on hand. Also I used hamburger and hot dog buns. I had never made bread pudding before. I couldn't believe how easy it was and that I actually liked it!

Forgot to mention

I did this tray in honor of Afternoon Tea Week in the UK which started yesterday and runs through the 20th. There's a bunch of us bloggers  and non bloggers who aren't in the UK joining our fellow tea lovers in Afternoon Tea this week.

DIY Dollar Tree Tea Tray

I wanted to get a tea tray but nice ones are too expensive. I decided to do my own using all Dollar Tree items. All I did was get a 13 x 9 sheet pan and some stickers. In this case I used wall stickers because they were the prettiest. My daughter got some paints and Modge Podge, again Dollar Tree.

Basically all we did was painted the tray, let it dry and put the stickers on. We painted a couple of layers od Modge Podge, letting dry between layers. Easy Peasy!

Interesting Radar

We are having a thunderstorm and I wanted to see the radar. It gave me the giggles because it looks like a bird.

Reflections

As I'm sitting here reflecting on memories of Dodie I remembered that a year ago today, we crossed the Colorado River out of California to start our new lives in AZ. We didn't have a home. We didn't have much money because the funds from probate hadn't been released. We spent two weeks cramped in a nice but not very large hotel room. We didn't eat the most nutritious meals, which consisted of microwaved foods from nearby Dollar Tree or the market. We occassionally had a pizza delivered. But we also ate out alot during that two week hotel stay. After two weeks of hotel living, our real estate agent and his wife (who are now our friends!)offered their RV for us to stay in while he helped us find a home.
Sometimes I find it hard to believe that we left CA totally on faith and trusting  that God would 1. Show us the house we are to buy and 2. Provide the money to buy our house.
In September we will have been in our house a year. We are so blessed to have been led here.

Pickles

Here's a more upbeat post. I made 7 quarts of pickles a couple of days ago. I made 7 quarts but my youngest wanted pickles so we stuck that jar in the fridge so that's why only six are shown.
This was my first time making pickles and I had so much fun, I want to do it again!

Dreaded Update on Dodie

We ended up putting our kitten Dodie down yesterday. It was one of the hardest things we had to do. She was not eating as well as she should, she started to stagger when she walked and we think she was losing her sight. The FIP disease was just too hard for her to fight.6
I think some of her habits such as putting her toy in the water, jumping on the couch with her wet toy, and talking to me while I made the morning coffee (things she stopped doing when she got sick) were possibly her way of saying goodbye and to remember the good times. We also believe the Lord knew this was going to happen and He needed someone to care for His furry creation because her time was limited. Dodie actually chose us at the shelter. She climbed on my husband Tim's lap and made herself comfortable. Her sister Kirstie did the same for my daughter. We knew we couldn't separate those two.

  We are sad for ourselves but we are even sadder for littermate sister Kirstie.  She sensed something was wrong with Dodie because she was always grooming her and she was gentle (sometimes!) when she wanted Dodie to play with her but Dodie was just too sick to play.

Yesterday Kirstie watched us carry Dodie in her crate and she became very alarmed when we arrived back from the vet upset and empty handed.  She has been looking for her and the poor thing thing didn't even want to come out of my youngest daughter's room to eat this morning but stayed hid. The kitties usually sleep in my laundry room but we didn't have the heart to put her in there alone. She finally came out but she is very subdued. She keeps looking for Dodie hoping to see her.

We are not sure how to help  Kirstie other than to just love on her and give her lots of attention. She is still a kitten herself so losing Dodie for me makes all the more sad because she was only nine months old.

It's easy to think, oh it's just a kitten and we need to just " get over it" but it is just not that easy since we have never gone through this as a family before.
Not to mention Dodie was perfectly created for us and it was our pleasure to have her for such a short time.