I read this blog post from desiring God

Hear Me Roar! (Musings on Women's History Month)

and found it a great encouragement.
Take a moment and read it....it will continue to point us back to where our happiness is found.

Have a great day!
Gi

Thanks Grandpa Hime!

Grandpa,
We LOVE our new shirts from your trip. :) THANK YOU SO MUCH for blessing us. I love being a princesses and Owen is really a pirate on the search for a buried treasure, usually in my room.
We love you and can't wait to see you soon.
Love, Katie Grace and Owen Bradley
PS thanks also for our other things, we just got our overalls and KU outfit-to wear when it gets warm again!!!

Crepe Myrtle Murder

Stop the trimming...save the tree!

Okay so I am NOT a tree hugger, but it definitely does my heart NO good to see this beautiful tree being trimmed improperly. It just errks me...Crepe Myrtles are BEAUTIFUL trees here in the south and I wish that folks would trim to right. Sigh... Don't listen to the commercial companies, call a nursery or ask someone that truly knows how to care for plants/trees.

A quick lesson: see below-wrong way to trim. If you want a shrub instead of a tree, then dig it up and plant a shrub. Have you ever seen someone top a maple or oak tree? No. Look at all those knots where the tree has been trimmed, trimmed, trimmed. Normal trees should have smooth growing branches!

See this image? The correct trimming is to cut approx. 6 inches off each branch so that the seed pod is removed. The gray part shows correct trimming...

This photo is from somewhere in Dallas. BEAUTIFUL Crepe Myrtle's that have been grown and trimmed well.

Two reasons to trim well, 1-more flowers are produced when the tree is healthy. 2-the tree branches are strong enough to hold the heavy flowers especially when it rains therefore no branches snap off.

Gorgeous!

Love them!

And if for some reason you have trimmed your crepe myrtles a bit to much....I will still be your friend! But now you know for next time.

And my neighbor just had theirs 'trimmed'. I was going to mention something to her, but I think I will just keep trying to get to know her and be a good neighbor and not start a disagreement over trees. After all they are JUST trees. :)

MSG?

There are many things I am learning about food, nutrition, health....I hope I will always desire to learn what is out there and how to make better foods so my family will have energy and joy for His work. One thing I have been doing lately is some reading on MSG (monosodium glutamate). I've read for some time now and though I try to avoid it I am amazed at how prevalent it is in our foods.

From what I understand, though somebody much smarter then I could write it better, MSG is a chemical that was developed from seaweed salt in Asia. It did start off as a natural flavor enhancer. But now it is added to foods to make them more flavorful by helping to make normally untasty food tasty. It is used mostly in very processed foods. This chemical works by sending a message to our brains...yummmmy....KEEP eating, that is delicious, don't stop, don't stop! Our minds then react in a tricked sort of way thinking that what we are eating is good, therefore nutritious. But really the food is void of much nutritional value-the eat more signal is the MSG talking.

The reasons we have steered away from it are the side affects it can cause. I have learned a few of the things MSG has been linked to are: obesity, autoimmune diseases, liver issues, headaches (I am trying to observe after I eat how I feel, but I normally get a slight headache after I eat Chinese foods which are traditionally high in MSG-my mom told me that! Anyone living in Asia can help me??), flushing, poor attention-ADHD, fibromyalgia.
And as with all things there is the other side which states there is no relationship between MSG and the above symptoms. Hummm....what it believe these days!

So for us as a family I am trying to stay away from foods in which MSG is added because of the potential side affect. And this isn't to difficult if I am seeking to make foods that are real and not processed. :)

It is worth looking up if you are trying to stay more 'real' in your cooking. A few things that I make homemade now that are easy to supplement are chicken stock and seasoning packets like taco seasoning. I also try to buy a good soy sauce that is fermented and natural (Tamari brand).

*Also be aware that some MSG is created naturally in foods, but it is in a NATURAL form not chemical, that is good (for example Tomatoes have natural MSG occurring Glutamate).

For my future reference MSG can be labeled by a few different names...Some ingredients to watch out for are yeast extract, textured protein, protein isolate, and calcium caseinate. MSG may even be labeled using very vague terms such as "natural flavors" or "seasonings."

Just my thoughts on life...
Living by grace through it all!

boy vs girl

ooooooomph! Be warned that if you are on the ground Owen might tackle/jump on you. :)

As you can see Katie loves it and gives monster hugs in return.

He's all boy

Sweet sibling love

Katie's photo session

Katie and I spent a few minutes outside yesterday having fun. As you can see creativity flows with a camera and Katie!

LOVE this almost 4 year old.

I love flip flops

Aren't these the cutest? I love the pudge feet and the plaid and the sound they make when they run around.

I am thankful that Katie and Justin love them too. Can't wait for the constant warm weather!

Determined and Confident

Owen can reach the front door and not the back. But he is DETERMINED to get it soon. Look at those calves!

And he is CONFIDENT in his ability to wear a pink button up shirt. Pretty dashing if you ask me!

Excited for school

Katie, today you started your 8 weeks of science and social studies co-op at TCC. You were SUPER excited and ready to go and learn. You picked out your outfit complete with a purple bow and purple flip flops. You wanted your book bag with a water bottle, pencil, notebook paper, fruit strip and fig bar. At 3.5 years old you are SO into school right now and couldn't wait until this preschool opportunity. We've done some school here, but it will be nice for you to taste learning from another teacher and one that loves Jesus too!

You enjoyed your 1.5 hour class downtown, but did wonder where all the toys were. :) You learned about China today and wind. The wind sock you created has been flying on every tree or shrub we have at our house since getting home.

We are impressed little girl with your desire to learn and do things yourself. We love the fact that you participated in the class well... And that after thinking, you did remember some of the neat things you learned! Keep using those ears for listening and cultivating a learners heart.

Thanks for sharing with us that China had enemies so they built a wall. That wind is wind and it moves things. And that it is good to eat gummy things with chopsticks.

We love you Katie Grace like crazy.
Daddy, Momma and Owen

Excited! And can you see Owen dumping out the water filled bird bath?

Beautiful!

Journaling-this is good

taken from Passionate Homemaking blog...

You matter and are valued, dear sister, not because men like you, or you have the perfect body, or are gifted in the ways you desire, but because you are made in the image of God, are loved by God, and are regularly empowered by God to make a difference in this world.

-Jesus walked with women

A Story about Transformational Giving ..

(I copied this from an email I received)

I wanted to share a quick story about an organization we’ve been privileged to work with over the past few months. Coastal Carolina Pregnancy Center is the pregnancy center that serves Morehead City and the surrounding area and has done so for the last 25 years. In honor of their 25th year they held their annual banquet last week. By way of background, this organization (staff & board) has faithfully participated in Mission Increase’s local trainings when possible, sat in on every webinar since joining with the foundation, and taken advantage of the coaching that we’ve been able to provide - liberally. They were faithful to the Mission Increase banquet model and while the results are staggering, it should be appreciated that all this was accomplished just with training, coaching, much prayer...and a massive amount of hard work on their part.

Here is the comparison of the figures from 2010 and 2011:

CCPC 2010 Banquet: CCPC 2011 Banquet:

-150 attendees - 570 attendees

-$9,000 raised - $183,000 raised ($17K of event was event sponsorships)

- That’s the equivalent of 2 yrs. of operating funds for them

- Avg. per person of $320

Even more – 53 individuals (over 60% of them men) committed to engage the cause in a deeper way in the year ahead by joining in the work and walking alongside the young men and women facing these unplanned pregnancies.

Another fun story. The gentlemen doing "the ask" decided (after spending the day at the center) that there were some tangible needs that he felt the liberty to make known. So, of his own volition he proceed to tell about the “wimpy” 19” TV that they use for client counseling and how the center needed something more! So, he challenged someone (he didn’t know who, but he thought that someone there might be interested) to go down to Wal-Mart and buy them a 30” flat screen so they could show their materials to the girls so they could actually see it. And you guessed it, first thing the next morning, there was a gentlemen at the door holding a new 30” flat screen TV. And according to Christine the gifts keep coming.

There’s more I could tell, but I’ll close with Christine’s assessment of the night; which I agree with. She said, “Justin, what happened last night was amazing. The cause of life won the night, a strong vision was cast, the Spirit of God moved mightily, and Christ was made much of!” That’s a heck of an event…what an amazing privilege it is to serve ministries in these ways. In light of our new model of training, coaching, and granting, one of our own pointed out, "instead of giving them a 15K grant, you gave them training and a new skill that opened them to a whole new transformational world! They can repeat this year after year. God is good!"

-Justin

A few things I have enjoyed

We love avocados around here (Owen is still working on them), but for the health benefits of this small fruit, what's not to love?

a few good things-

1.Avocados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid. They also act as a "nutrient booster" by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients

2.Considered to be an almost complete food – so much so that in certain parts of the world babies are weaned using mashed avocado. Native to Central America and has been cultivated for thousands of years, they are rich in potassium and vitamin A. Avocado is also used traditionally to heal skin problems. The pulp is also believed to be both anti-bacterial and anti-fungal.

3.Avocados are an excellent source of monounsaturated fatty acids, potassium, vitamin E, B vitamins, and fiber.

--(taken from various websites)

Spring ahead....while the first day or so our schedules are messed up, I am SO thankful that the dark mornings encourage children that sleep in!