Just Copying Jesus

I have been thinking more and more about what it looks like to "disciple" my children. Normally I wouldn't think of raising my kids as such a "spiritual" thing as discipling (silly me) but one day I was listening to a teaching by Jason Hague at our church and he was defining what discipleship looked like:

 Of Course we think of Jesus, and the 12 disciples, and what did that look like? 

Well, he practically lived with them, he ate with them, he hung out with them almost every day for long hours at a time and he lived life in front of them.  Sometimes correcting them; like not to call fire down on people, not to think of yourself better than others (first in the Kingdom of Heaven, sitting at the right hand of Jesus), not to only rejoice in casting out demons but that their names were written in the book of life, he loved on them, spoke life changing encouragement over them, led by example, served them etc... I think you get the point.  

Suddenly it started sounding so familiar, Oh my goodness! I have 4 disciples living right beneath my nose, that I can be equipping now! Not some day when I have arrived and am teaching to the nations, or conferences, or on the pulpit, or on the streets evangelizing SOMEDAY...but now!  The Lord has entrusted 4 precious leaders of the next generation into my very hands.  

So with my mindset changed, I have had a new value for what I do, and for these precious little ones.  I have always valued them, but not in this way, it's a very important different way of thinking.  Instead of hurrying through reading to my son, so I can get onto more important things, or not wanting to stop and listen to an argument cuz I need to hurry onto something more important, instead of needing to teach the kids about the Lord by teaching and words alone, I all the more understand they are watching me.  When I want to spend time with the Lord I do, sometimes in the living room sprawled out on the floor with worship music playing as the kids come and pile on top of me.  Or just speaking out loud my thankfulness for the beauty of creation pointing out God's love in all that He created for us.  Sharing my feelings and processes out loud with the kids more intentionally instead of only processing it inside. Showing my excitement and sharing what God has been revealing to me in life.  Even just talking to them about my day or feeling emotional etc... apologizing more quickly when I make mistakes and have temper tantrums in front of the kids...

I have really been enjoying this new thinking! Sorry it took me so long to get it. But thankfully there was always grace in my learning years.  Love truly covers a multitude of sins. Phewww! :)

So

"Me! Me! Me!"

  So continuing on with my testimony from last time I wrote, I have gotten more confirmation.  I don’t fully understand why some things just take a certain amount of times before they actually sink in, but thank God it’s FINALLY sinking in, being a Wife and Mom is my utmost important dream, destiny, accomplishment, etc…(after my relationship with God of course). It may not be what I am ALWAYS going to do the rest of my life, but right now this is my main focus, and time consuming ministry, that I need to be putting all of my heart into, and I am really enjoying it, in a whole new way. I would say this revelation has been getting through over the last 5 years or so, but it sure has been a process, ups and downs, and lots of forgetting and needing to be reminded again and again.  One of the main reasons being, the onslaught of attack and NOT much affirmation of the value and importance of being a wife and Mothering. In our society I would say it has been long forgotten how important it truly is, our culture basically screams, “Me! Me! Me! And how can “I” be successful, how can “I” be famous or count for something, how can “I” be fulfilled, how can “I” live my fullest potential, and not let anyone steal that from me?  But in the kingdom Jesus said, “if you want to be great, become a servant to all.”  I have thoroughly seen that I fell completely for the lie, and it can snag you even in the Christian life, cuz it’s the same thing it just uses “christianese:” “I want to live my destiny, I want to do God’s will, not focus on menial tasks at home, (cleaning house, washing dishes, wiping bums, feeding kids…) I want to be walking in “my” calling, “my” ministry,  I need to save the world, not be at home wasting “my” precious time! I need to get out of this time wasting job so I can go evangelize (meanwhile your co-workers go on not even knowing you are a Christian).

 

Well at church Sunday, Jason Hague, our associate Pastor was speaking on discipling and what does that really look like, as he gave the description of what that was: a man (Jesus) having 12 other people follow him everywhere he went, learning from His every move as he lived out loud, sometimes explaining and training.  It HIT me! Duh I am totally discipling my 4 disciples consistently and constantly every day!  And I love teaching about the Lord, not just in words but in actions.  So as I have fully embraced my “ministry” I am seeing a new found joy in the daily moments, homeschooling, playing, being silly, spending time with God, cooking, washing dishes, little chats with the kids, walks, food shopping etc…The other day I was reminded how long it had been since I danced and there sat my never ending pile of dishes, so I put on my ipod shuffle and started wildly washing dishes spinning around the kitchen kicking wildly in the air, I ended up out on the patio dancing around just fully enjoying the task at hand. I had a blast, and the dishes were almost done!  It’s amazing how much we can miss if we aren’t just in the moment giving our full attention to what we are doing, I have been stuck in the “next task” or future for so long, I have MISSED many, many, many important moments, and lessons along the way, but it’s never too late to start so I am starting again, and when I forget, I am starting again, and again and again!  There really is a war in the heavenlies for our TIME.

Kingdom Living - one pacifier at a time

 

God delights in my mothering …Reminder to me, and I pass it onto you! God delights in your mothering.

Yesterday I was talking to my Mom about suddenly feeling like maybe I am too selfish focusing on my immediate family so much and not having TIME to reach out beyond my family.  I was feeling a bit guilty (I should have recognized the condemnation right there), like I was maybe fooling myself telling myself that I am in a season of small baby, young kids lots of needs for their “Mama,” and that maybe I am just being selfish and not “reaching the world, the ‘truly’ needy ones…” Well as I voiced it out loud I began to cry and I wasn’t even sure why but I felt the guilt lift and be replaced by truth;  I wasn’t fooling myself and God really is pleased with me focusing on my family.  Mom made a good point, that if everyone would actually take the time to love on their immediate families and give them time, then we wouldn’t have so many hurting needy people in our world. 

So at 3 AM the Lord decided to make clear how much He values mothering.  I smile even as I write this because it tickled me so!  Abi had awoken and was quietly fussing so I blindly reached over, half asleep on my bed (her crib next to my bed) feeling for her “soska”(Russian for pacifier).  I reached by her head, her little sides, all over her blankets, I wasn’t feeling it anywhere…out of nowhere almost audibly so extremely clear,  He said, “It’s under her.”  I was actually startled for a moment, amazed at the clarity of His voice, and yet so excited to see if it really was there!? I reached under her side and there it was! Abi’s soska!  I smiled out loud and fell right back into a sweet sleep. J

The next morning I woke up immediately remembering the incident and again couldn’t hold back my delight.  I had ponder it for a while thinking how God totally, once again, killed my theology, (thinking that He only audibly speaks or shows such clarity when it is something extremely important like life or death or a warning or because we aren’t listening...) so as I write this it hits me again, that is what He was showing me Mothering is EXTREMELY important and He wanted to remind me in a very relatable way and even showing His sense of humor!

Bread or no bread??

So we have shifted into "normal life" and are talking about what that looks like. Whether or not to add bread and grains back at all? Organic milk or no milk? To soak or not to soak?

Sooooooo.......

Here's where we are:

2 Special Occasions a month at someone else's house or event - one serving of dessert or treat

1 special sweets occasion at home once a month

2 special coffees (full on sweetners whip cream the works! :)) unless we already did 2 special occasions then only 1

2 eat outs at Costco (my boys favorite lunch ) NO soda

Sprouted bread from Trader Joes or my homemade whole wheat or spelt bread SOAKED.  Which means you start the process the day before adding the water and some sort of kefir, apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice to the dough and you let it soak all night then finish the process the next day. It breaks down the phytic acid and breaks down the grain so that our bodies can digest it sooooo much better, and receive more of what the grain has to offer, that is now free to be absorbed into our bodies. YAY!

No more breakfast cereal for breakfast. :(  Such an easy thing, that's why I've always loved it so much for the kids. Almost all cereals have been treated with such an intense pressure or heat to form the little flakes or shapes that they are it actually makes them toxic let alone lost all of it's original nutrients, that can only be restored by adding the vitamin supplements AFTER, as a supplement to the cereal which is never as nutritious as the original living nutrients. :(

Our beautiful array of color in the window seal! Kefir water flavored, plain, granules, and a basil plant. :)

A coconut flower blackberry crumble pie, using our wild blackberries growing like crazy near our house

Soaked Quinoa patties! They were actually quite good, but for some reason I can't convince Ian to like quinoa

We have tried a few new recipes lately and enjoyed them. Tonight I have some dough soaking for bread tomorrow, and oatmeal soaking with milk kefir to eat for breakfast. It's been interesting to find out with the NEED to think in advance for all the soaking, thawing meats, preparing broths, that it has actually helped ease the planning of daily meals. I am so happy about that. BUT the negative is, if you don't plan ahead atleast a day, then you are in BIG trouble cuz there are hungry kids asking 100 times what they can eat and there is nothing EASY to just hand to them, and I am too tired to COOK anything!! aggggg!!!! So yes, there are those days, but we are still learning and I am still so excited to be feeling so much more energy and ability to fight off things that are in the air, like this latest bug that had some people sick for a few days, I could literally feel my body kicking into gear and fighting it off, and I only felt extra sleepy for a few days instead of out for the count! I was so excited. 

Oh and one of you, asked about preserving your water kefir granules.  Here's how: 

http://www.traditional-foods.com/fermentation/water-kefir-grains/


So much good information out there!

Discouraged...and Encouraged! "C'est La Vie"

There is a definite theme in my life, ups and downs,  that I have started to embrace instead of being surprised at every time. And you know, it really helps...A LOT!

DISCOURAGED :(
I was starting to feel a bit discouraged with ALL the information out there, and all the do's and don'ts of organic, mixing foods, soaking foods, honey, no honey, grains, NO grains, etc...and so of course that made me think of those of you who are trying to make changes towards healthier living and I just wanted to encourage you that you just need to take ONE STEP at a time, don't try and change everything at once, it will completely fizzle out your desire to do anything at all! I don't know why God put that in us, (actually as I write it I got the revelation of why He did put that in us, he wants all of our heart, if we are walking the line, undecided "lukewarm" He spits us out, wow!)so human nature seems to be either all or nothing, except in the things that matter often times :( I am speaking to myself here.

So I found this and thought it might help you too:

A realistic approach to going organic small steps you can take

http://www.womensforum.com/foods-dangerous-if-not-organic.html

And just a reminder, another hopeful reason why you might want to start taking steps towards organic is the hope that we can bring change to our culture of living. If we all start taking one step at a time towards the more expensive more healthy organic foods, we can begin to start making a demand for organic (which has been growing already) and then the producers of all the "fake dead food (no nutrients)" will start stepping up and seeing that our health is so much more important than money and speedy eating. Therefore also shifting our culture into a new "old way" of thinking which is to slow down and actually enjoy meals and have time for meal prep. and I could keep writing and writing and writing...but I'll stop there for now. :)

ENCOURAGED!! :)

I had a sweet past friend from my hometown youth group message me to let me know that she had been following my blog and was so encouraged by it, she started trying to convince her "junk-food junkie" husband to start making some changes with her. She also had started heading in that direction because of busyness.  So it took some continual pressing the issue, and then talking to someone else who helped seal the deal and they are now headed down the path to healthier living! Woo hoo that is exactly why I am writing this blog and if it is just for this one then it was totally worth it! But hopefully others are being encouraged too. You can do it!

DISCOURAGED :(

My kitchen! Probably don't need to expound on that, but my sister and I decided to text each other a photo of our horrible kitchen whenever we are discouraged, just so we can feel better that we are not alone.  With all this soaking, broth making, veggie chopping and now trying out this new water kefir, : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7svkQuUYYc 

Dishes NEVER end!

With a small kitchen it gets messy SO QUICKLY!

I am thanking the Lord that I have a kitchen but I am also asking for a BIGGER one some day soon.
"The health benefits of consuming water kefir are endless. They are a natural supplier of probiotics to our digestive track. Probiotics refers to the healthy bacteria that usually feeds on the “bad” unhealthy bacteria in our stomach and intestines. Bacterial overgrowth can lead to many ill...nesses some of which include fungi, yeast infections, indigestion, obesity, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Crohn’s Disease, skin disorders, etc. "
(Health Benefits of water kefir: Posted by Lisa Neptune)

These are those strangle little kefir granules

they look like sea creatures or something

He's my helper ALL the time, and he actually sticks with it. Ian usually wants to help, gets bored then leaves half way through. :0

ENCOURAGED! :)
I noticed some of my teeth that were feeling really sensitive when I touched them near the gums, have stopped being so sensitive! I would press on them and it felt like I was pressing on a wound. It scared me to have my teeth feel that way, I thought there was nothing I could do about it, but they are doing WAY better! YES!
Annnnd I have recognized how lazy I had become in coming up with creative healthy recipes cuz it was so much easier to just make something familiar with white flour and sugar rather than thinking of new ways using honey and not always needing to use flour. We have had some pretty yummy treats.

This is made with 3 tbs honey, blueberries, cream cheese, nut crust,and lemon it was delightful :)