He gets me and He gets me good

Okay, so the title of this post was taken from a little joke between me and my hubby after watching this qvc video. Check it, yo. Now, onto the purpose of this post.

My man and I recently attended a marriage conference. One of the many things we took away from the conference is that I must have God time daily if I am to mother my precious babes with kindness and love. The Lord has blessed me with a babydaddy who can scramble eggs for three hungry munchkins and let his wife have a minute with her Father.

Being the Beth Moore junkie that I am, I picked up my copy of Jesus: 90 days with the one and only and have been loving praying through scripture and learning more about Jesus. Today, I read Psalm 113: 5-8 per the book's suggestion. Here it is:

Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated in high,

who looks far down on the heavens and the earth?

He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap,

to make them sit with princes, with the princes of his people.

I have a new study bible which really clarifies certain verses. I checked to see if there was any clarification offered for these verses and this is what stood out to me among the writing:

"God's majesty never implies His remoteness from those who look to Him, it implies instead His exhaustive attention to detail, and His inexhaustible ability to care for His faithful. "

He cares for me in every detail. He knows my every need and I don't wear Him out. He truly cares about the details of my life between cooking for our fam and disciplining our babes. Mostly what this scripture spoke to was my bewildering desire for another child. Mothering is so blessedly wonderful and difficult right now. Each day is a challenge. Why would I so strongly desire to add another little one to care for into the mix? He assured me today that He knows my desires. He grace for me is inexhaustible. He has surrounded me with children, He may surround me with more children and He will give me the strength to love them. His ability to care for me (as I care for my babies) is inexhaustible. Thank You, Jesus!

I am reminded of the chorus to a beautiful hymn:

I need thee, oh I need thee;

Every hour I need thee;

O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.

Terrific Times with Twins

Whenever I see a mother with twins, I talk to her. I say something like this; "Hi. You have twins? So do I!" And, if her twins are younger than mine I try to encourage her and nearly offer babysitting services to a stranger in spite of the fact that I have three small children.

If her twins are older than mine, my question of choice is this: "What's been the hardest age with your twins?" The unanimous answer is 2 years old. At this point, I say, "THANK YOU for validating me! This is so stinking hard. When does it get better?!" Most moms say that age three is better.

I love my girls. I love my son. Having two children who are 27 months old is not for the faint of heart. There's one problem....I AM THE FAINT OF HEART! :)

Some super fun things the twins do these days:

• Brooklyn is potty trained and only wears a diaper at nap and bedtime. If she tee tees even a tiny bit in her diaper, she wakes up, takes the diaper off, throws it in the floor, puts her pants or panties back on, falls asleep and pees all over her crib in her sleep.
• Vivian is not potty trained and will be sometime by the time she is 18. In spite of peeing an pooing exclusively in her diapers, she often whines and states that she needs to go peepee or poopoo, thus confusing all caregivers (minus Justin and I) and then she will take her diaper off, sit on the potty for 2 seconds and then whine till I put her diaper back on so she can go peepee in it.
• The girls love to color. They also love to destroy and eat crayons and markers.
• They are such good buddies that they often bite, push and pinch each other. The offended child will come to me amid wailing and tears, while the offender usually comes to me all smiles and says, "I push!"
• The girls love to jump in their cribs. Daddy won't let us get a trampoline, arguing that they get to jump in their cribs which is a perfectly safe alternative. Both babies have now almost completely broken both cribs. The cheaper crib is held together by Gorilla Glue. The nice, precious, sentimental crib is now totally without one side and beyond repair.
• They give great kisses and hugs.
• They say, "Mommy HOME!" whenever I return after being away from them.
• Both Vivi and Brook will let me rock them and pretend that they are still little babies.
• Speaking of little babies, they LOVE babies, dogs, cats, etc.
• They love their daddy and kiss and hug him whenever they get the chance.
• They still compliantly ride in their double stroller. HUGE BLESSING!
• They are fruit and veggie fanatics and especially enjoy cantaloupe, pronounced "Ca-la-lope" by the gals. See below. Vivi:

Brook:

All in all, I am blessed to have these girls. This stage is at times overwhelming and I've been pushed to be more patient, more kind, more loving and more selfless. Their brother is also quite a handsome, loving, hilarious little thing. The Lord is growing his 5 year old heart more each day to serve and love on his sisters. I am so proud to be the mama to three little ones!

Bread Making Fun and Vacation

Hey friends, I just spent some time putting together a post on how I make our bread. Go here to read it.

In other news, I've taken a bit of a break from blogging because we went on vacation. My precious younger sister and her fam met our fam in North Carolina for six wonderful days. It was a huge blessing to be able to spend that time together. My sweet, super extroverted son was in heaven. He loved every minute spent with his cousins. And, the twins fell in love with my sister. So sweet! My sis and I cooked for each other a lot which totally filled our love tanks. Here is the butterscotch pie I made for her, complete with NINE eggwhites in the meringue:

The gals enjoyed my sister's creamy shrimp pasta. Soooo goot.

I so enjoyed spending time in the mountains away from cell phones and every day life. The Lord ministered peace to my heart during our trip. I returned much more relaxed than I was when we left.

The "babies". My niece is just a few months younger than the twins.

Gramm posing as a tiger. :)

Uncle B and the big kids:

Our view:

What's this? Oh, it's a HOT TUB! Party on, Garth!!!!!!!!!

Me and my seester. Love her.

Gramm and my nephew hugging good-bye. Precious.

Feminine Friday

My gal pal, Julie, had a little babe 4 weeks ago today. Every Friday, Julie has a Feminine Friday post on her blog and I'm joining in the fun.

These pics of the girls at swimming lessons are so precious. Gramm took lessons at this time as well and it was crazy stressful for me, but the kids loved it.

Vivi and Coach Karen:

The pic below personifies this child. She is super social, loves the water and loves to say "Hey!" with a wave. She was extending said greeting to her Shermee, who graciously came along to help at our lesson.

My sweet Brooklyn baby:

Another pic of my very, very laid back girl (Brook) chillin' with her Mama.

Our Garden

My Nana and Grandpa came over one day in April and let me help them build a raised bed in our backyard. :)

Gramm and Grandpa resting on the side of the bed after we'd finished a hard day's work:



I've not taken a picture yet of the whole thing in bloom, but we planted the following goodies:

green beans
tomatoes
bell peppers
jalapeno peppers
cucumbers
romaine lettuce
basil
parsley
chives
rosemary
chocolate mint
and one purple coneflower :)

We had our very first fruit this week. Two very sweet and tasty yellow cherry tomatoes. Delish if I do say so myself. The little guy helps me water the plants every single day and he was super excited to share the tomatoes with his sissies.

Why We Changed the Way We Eat

Tomorrow morning, I will be posting on another blog. Some of my peops put the aforementioned blog together (mainly Julie) and all of us Weston A. Price Foodies are loving it. Since I will be posting a few tips on how to eat more nutritiously on that blog, I thought it'd be great to post the motivation behind our changes in eating here.

A little over a year ago, I began to question the way I was feeding my family. Why would I question what we eat?

1. In a bible study that I attended regularly, at least one person a week was asking for prayer for a relative dying of cancer. There were about 20 women in the study.

2. Due to several ear infections and multiple rounds of strep throat, our son was completely resistant to Amoxicillin by 18 months old. He had to take Augmentin every time he need antibiotics, which was often.

3. My twins were not far behind their brother. They needed tubes in their ears by their first birthday and were in and out of the doctor's office frequently.

4. I kept reading about instances of young girls starting puberty early due to hormones in milk, children acquiring staph infections and food borne illnesses causing hospitalization and even death in some cases.

5. We, as American people, are so focused on taking the fat out of everything we eat and trying so hard to be our "healthiest", yet our nation continues to pack on the pounds.

I was really beginning to question what acceptable nutrition is to the typical American. I stumbled upon the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon through a friend's blog. I did not read the book from cover to cover, but I read what I could between feedings, naps, and play dates and it has changed my outlook on nutrition. A basic overview of the Weston A. Price Foundation, which is the basis for the content in Nourishing Traditions, can be read here.

I implemented several changes at once. It was really tough at first, but has been more than worth it. The difference in our food budget was significant at first, but has leveled out as I've become more aware of local farmers who sell nutritious foods and a food-buying club, where I order many items in bulk that you can read about here.

My children have not been to the doctor for illness in six months, at least. My son no longer has constant diarrhea. The girls have had a runny nose here and there, but have not had any illness in months and neither has my husband. When I've been sick, it has almost directly correlated with a time when I was eating food I knew was really bad for me (i.e. fast food, my long lost love).

I am not in any way trying to lengthen our days by pursuing a nutritious lifestyle, for I know they are all numbered. I think that it is important to take good care of our God-given bodies because we are stewards of God's gift of life to us. I also am confident that being in good health is helpful as I minister to others (my husband, children, community) and serve my King.

I have learned that this journey towards nutritious eating can easily lead to perfectionism. My goal is to eat as nutritiously as I can 80% of the time, so that I will give myself grace and not feel trapped. Feel free to send any questions or comments my way. And, go here to read my thoughts on where to start.

Some thoughts on Finances

I have spent the past couple hours folding laundry and watching Gilmore Girls. I decided that I needed to spend my time more productively and listen to some Piper.

I went to desiringgod.org, went from the resource library to the topic index, entered "money" as the search and chose this sermon. I am now listening to it for the second time. I highly recommend listening to it when you get the chance. The sermon is not terribly long and is packed with solid, biblical encouragement in regard to money.

I'm going to recommend that my man listen to it at his earliest convenience. We strongly hold to the belief that God gives us money so that we can give to others, but I am sometimes swayed by my black heart. I am thankful that the Lord chose these words to minister to my heart and spur me on to good deeds. I hope it is inspiring to you and yours as well.