Show Us Your Life - Books

This is what I am currently reading. The eight set volume of James Harriot's memoirs. James Herriot was a veterinarian in Yorkshire in the early 1900s. These books describe his many adventures as he tooled around the countryside tending to farm animals, dogs, cats, and an occasional bird or two. They are good, wholesome reads to be enjoyed by all ages. He also wrote a beautifully illustrated children's book all about animals.

I am an avid reader. I love words. I have been known to read the back of a shampoo bottle if it was all I had within reach. Even with five kids and a super busy life, I can not stop reading. I could sooner stop breathing. I love inspirational fiction, non-fiction, magazines, and as I said a shampoo bottle here and there! Books come alive to me and I am there. I live with my characters throughout their adventures and when the book (or the series) is over I feel as if I have lost someone in my life. I truly grieve the end of books. I'm weird, I know.

The main reason I am reading James Herriot right now is simply because it is simple. It is reminiscent of a time and place where I know my children will never live. A time when things were simple. When people had time to "visit" and husbands and wives sat by the fire on cold nights and played cards. A time when life moved slowly. I feel like my childhood was a little bit of that before things in our world just got so techie and fast. I grieve that my children will never know a simple life, unless they purpose to choose one. I pray they do. Sometimes reading heavier things just weighs on me and I need to go back to the slower pace. The Herriot books are perfect for that.

I could never in one post record all the books I love, but I will try to list some you might enjoy. In the fiction realm, my all time favorite author is Francine Rivers. I love all of her books, but Redeeming Love is my favorite. Followed closely by the Voice in the Wind trilogy. I don't often read books over and over, but these four I have read multiple times. I also love Brock and Bodie Theone. They write amazingly accurate historical fiction. Their series the Zion Covenant is a phenomenal account of Hitler's rise to power. I think there are nine books in the series and it was hands down the best history lesson I have ever had on World War II. I have also enjoyed many fiction books with our children over the years as we have home schooled them. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, Johnny Tremain, Understood Betsy, and The Wheel on the School come to mind. As do many of the classics like Pride and Prejudice, Robinson Crusoe, and Pilgrim's Progress.

In the non-fiction genre I love so many that I can not hardly think of just a few to name. The God Who is There by Francis Schaeffer, The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer, Radical by David Platt, Crazy Love by Francis Chan, anything by CS Lewis, More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowall and The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus. I could seriously go on and on.

I also can not fail to mention the many exceptional books I have read on the subject of home schooling. Since this is how we have chosen to educate our children, I have obviously spent a lot of time reading an studying on the subject. There are a few "classics" in home schooling that have helped and encouraged me so much along this path. The Heart of Homeschooling by Chris Klicka, When You Rise Up by RC Sproul, and The Christian Homeschool by Gregg Harris are three I have particularly enjoyed.

Our family also loves missionary stories. They help us to put our lives into the right perspective and remember where our focus should lie. We love The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, Peace Child by Don Richardson, and Rebecca's Diary by Rebecca Pearl Anast just to name a few. I also can not fail to mention a blog I recently started reading called The Journey. This young lady has me completely and utterly speechless when I see what God is doing through her and how she is allowing herself to be used by Him. I can not get her out of my mind and I pray for her often.

Since I'm hitting all the "categories" I have to mention my favorite marriage and parenting books. Created to Be His Helpmeet by Debi Pearl is my favorite marriage book. Yes, it is blunt and to the point. Yes, it even seems harsh in many places. I have heard the critiques, and I do see how it can be taken the wrong way by some - especially if you are not familiar with the Pearls and their writing style. However, I challenge you to implement the principles in this book. It will change your marriage - radically! As for parenting, I love Shepherding A Chid's Heart by Ted Tripp and To Train Up a Child by Mike Pearl. These two books give very practical advice on discipline and parenting. However, this year I found the MOST amazing book on mothering. Hands down, it is the best thing I have ever read in my journey as a mom. Ironically, this book was written by someone in my local home school group. The book is Running Into Water by Angela Blycker. You will be blessed by this book, I can promise you.

I could go on and on. As I sit here typing I see six rows of floor to ceiling bookshelves in our office/library. They are five shelves tall. That is thirty shelves of books - and that is one room! All of our children have bookshelves in their rooms and we have one in our dining room and two sections of floor to ceiling in our "school" room. A couple of our children do not love to read (we are not sure where they came from! Ha!), but for me, books are a huge part of my life. Of course, the book that is most precious to me is the Bible. God's written love letter to His people. I love it. I am trying to read it from start to finish this year. I am pretty sure I have read the whole thing, but never in consecutive order. I am underlining and jotting notes and just loving hearing from Him. The adventure of following Jesus is amazing and throughout Scripture we see the blessings and trials of a life as a disciple of Christ. Oh, I want that life so badly. I want to follow Him, no matter the cost and have Him use my life to glorify Himself. I don't expect it to be easy, but I know without a doubt that it is worth it.

Sorry this has gotten so long. I hope you find a book on my list that you enjoy. Start with the Bible, it is hands down the best!!

Summit Church

This week's SUYL at Kelly's Korner is on churches. Our family attends Summit Church in Naples, FL. We are one church with two locations. Our original campus is located in Estero, FL, right next door to a FL State University. The location we attend meets in a high school in Naples. I love many things about our church. Our mission statement is, "Summit Church exists to glorify God by presenting the Gospel to every man, woman, and child and connecting them into loving relationships with Jesus Christ and with others." I love this mission. I love that it begins with "exists to glorify God...." because I believe that the only reason we exist is to glorify God. There is no other reason for the existence of the human race. God did not need us when He created Adam and Eve - we need Him!

Our church believes that the Bible is the inherent Word of God. Every single syllable is true. If it is not all true, then there is no way you can figure out which part to believe and which part to throw out. It is all or nothing. Jesus is either exactly Who He says He is - the perfect Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer, the one and only way to Heaven - or He is a liar. He is not a "good" man, as many believe, if He said He was God and isn't.

Summit is a very outward focused church. We do not have a lot of "programs." I will admit that sometimes I miss the fact that my children don't have Children's Choir and we don't have Sunday School. However, I totally agree with the concept of Small Group Communities and the idea that too much time within the walls of the church only serves ourselves and not those in the community and the world who will never darken the doors of a church building. I believe that our church spends money wisely when it focuses on missions and outreaches to the community. We do have weekly men's and women's Bible Studies and we have a Youth and a College ministry that meets weekly in order to train and build up the saints. We also focus on community groups, church planting, and mission trips for the entire family. One thing about our church that has always stood out to me is that every single week at the beginning of the sermon, we pray for the other Bible believing churches in our area - by name. We believe that it takes the entire "church" (every believer in Jesus Christ) to reach every man, woman, and child. It is not about building up Summit, it is about building the body of Christ. I have been to a lot of churches, but I have never been to one that prays for the growth of other churches on a consistent basis. I love that!

I believe that faith without works is dead, but I also believe that all of our good deeds are as filthy rags before the throne of Christ. We can never earn our way to Heaven, but once we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus we can never be the same. Our love for others flows from our relationship with Christ and our desire to please Him above ALL else.

I am very thankful for a church with godly leadership. Men who are not perfect, but redeemed. Who strive daily to live lives that glorify Him. Men who are committed to their families and who do not hesitate to preach Truth, even if it is not a popular thing to do in our day and age.

If you live in or are ever near our area and do not already have a Bible believing church that you call home, then please don't hesitate to join us.

Show Us Your Life - Food!!!

I am a self-proclaimed "health nut." My family will gladly proclaim it too. Sometimes my concoctions hit a home run, and sometimes...well, let's just say there is usually peanut butter around to fill in when mom strikes out.

My journey to healthy food started about 9 years ago. In the beginning, I knew nothing more than that eating a salad was good for you. Boring, iceberg lettuce salad. Now, there is nothing I won't try to prepare and no recipe that I won't try to make healthy. I can make chocolate chip cookies that I feel really good about, but more importantly, my kids will gladly eat all sorts of colorful vegetables and fruits. We try to see if we can pick out every color of the rainbow at dinner each night.

My current "health food hobbies" include sprouting, raw meal preparations, and home made baby formula (breast is always best, but our youngest son is adopted and nursing did not work out, so I had to improvise).

The question posed today on Kelly's Korner is "What do you feed your young children?" My short answer is: Whatever we are eating. I have five children, two before my "health nut" status and three after. So, I can attest to the fact that if you allow your children to opt for chicken nuggets when you try a new recipe, then chicken nuggets will quickly become the only thing they will eat and you will be making multiple meals. I did that with my older ones, and my oldest son is still my pickiest eater. No more!

If you start kids out from the very beginning loving the colorful foods in the state God created them, you will not have a problem. I have proof of this with my younger three. They have never refused a food that I can think of.

My ten month old has only been eating for about three months. So far, he loves everything I have given him. He eats whatever we are eating - mashed! Last night, we had sauteed chicken, seasoned with rosemary and garlic, steamed broccoli (including the leaves), baked sweet potatoes, and salad. I put chicken and broccoli in the food processor, gave it a couple of pulses, and voila! dinner for Patrick. He loved it. He also loves avocados, unsweetened applesauce, plain yogurt with fresh fruit, roasted butternut or acorn squash (plain or with a little cinnamon), green peas, and egg yolks.

I have found that the easiest way to get my kids to eat what I want them to eat is not to have any alternatives around the house. To that end, we do not buy boxes of Pop Tarts or bags of cookies. A treat for my kids is Honey Nut Cheerios. Before you feel too sorry for them, I bake home made things quite often - cookies, brownies, and other desserts. I just tweak the recipes, usually substituting agave nectar for sugar and gluten free flour for refined white. Everything still tastes delicious.

More importantly though, we have taught them the health benefits of foregoing junk food. They have learned to love fresh picked strawberries, apples, and oranges. We have experimented with all sorts of soups. Some of their favorites are garlic soup, butternut squash soup, and of course home made chicken noodle. All of these are super easy to make and only take a few ingredients.

We eat a lot of nuts for protein - walnuts, cashews, and pecans. We use them to top salads, eat with hunks of cheese, or just plain. They snack on fruit or popcorn. We pop our corn in a popcorn maker ($10 at Target), using coconut oil and then instead of butter we sprinkle it with nutritional yeast. It is fabulous!

Breakfast we eat eggs or oatmeal, and occasionally cheese toast. Lunch is usually some sort of soup or leftovers from the night before. Sometimes a sandwich with either peanut butter and honey or for my daughter and myself tomato, avocado, and sprouts. Dinner is simple as well. Grilled chicken, a steamed veggie like asparagus or broccoli, baked sweet potatoes, and salad are staples at our house.

We do like to get creative sometimes and try new recipes. Like tonight we made a soup from sprouted lentils. We added kale, onions, garlic, and some chicken sausage with spices. It was pretty good. Not to die for, but definitely edible.

One other thing we like to make is smoothies. We will throw almost anything into a smoothie and even the baby loves them! Our favorite is a base of frozen raspberries, blueberries, and lemon. Let me tell you, anything can be hidden in this smoothie! After I put all that in the vita-mix, I pack as much spinach as the container will hold and blend it up. You can not see or taste the greens!! Perfect. You can also add an avocado and no one will be the wiser.

I could go on and on about healthy food, but if you are familiar with my blog at all, you already know that. I hope that if you are reading you will not be overwhelmed, but excited to get your kids to try new things. Make it exciting. Let them help you choose something new at the grocery store or if possible where you live, go to a farm and pick something. It is amazing what kids will eat when they work to get it. We love to go to an apple orchard or strawberry patch, any chance we get. Talk about the different varieties of fruits - do you like Granny Smith, Jonagolds, or Red Delicious? After our last trip to the apple orchard, we discovered Honey Crisps. Oh my, yummy! Have fun in the kitchen. Even though it is messy, let them help. Kids enjoy setting the table for daddy and showing off their culinary skills. Usually they are more likely to eat something they helped prepare.

Finally, if you are serious about changing your eating habits, then stick to your guns. Your child will not starve and missing a meal or two will not do them any harm. I do not ever tell my kids they have to clean their plate. I refuse to get into a food battle with a stubborn eater. However, if they choose not to eat, then they will likely be super hungry by the next meal. It is said that "hunger is the best seasoning."

The journey to healthy eating is not as hard as it may seem. Recipes for anything are available at the click of your keyboard. Enjoy!!

Show Us Your Life - Adoption Stories

Our adoption story started way before I even met my husband. I have wanted to adopt a baby since I was a little girl. The years passed, I married a wonderful man, we had four amazing children, yet the desire to adopt was still strong in my heart.



I have many posts here about adoption, and why I feel so strongly about it. You can check them out.

Today, since Kelly is doing adoption stories on "Show us your Life" I want to briefly share our son's story with you. There is so much more I could say.

On March 31st, 2010, my husband and I were out to dinner alone. Sitting there, and completely out of the blue, he said, "I think the time is right for us to adopt.". I almost toppled out of my chair! He knew this had been on my heart and in my prayers for years.

The next day I called a friend who is an attorney and talked to her about our options. We always thought we would do international adoption. After much prayer and discussion with her, we knew God was leading us to pursue a domestic adoption plan.

We filed our paper work a few days later and within a week had our home study. We thought the waiting process would be at least 8 months. Eleven days after our paperwork was filed, we received a medical referral for a little boy. Born three and a half weeks early to a drug addicted mother in a state across the country from us. Just the night before, I had been crying out to the Lord about the decision we were facing. My husband and I did not feel that we could or should "choose" based on a medical report. We believe that God is bigger than that, and whoever He wanted to place in our home, we were ready to accept. We said yes immediately.

I think our attorney was a little surprised, as we really did not spend much time "deciding." Our son was seven days old when we picked him up from the hospital. Other than being a little under six pounds and having a club foot, he had shown NO symptoms of any medical issues at all. What a miracle. Exactly three weeks to the day of almost falling out of my chair in that restaurant, I was holding my son.






Our other kids are thrilled. They think God sent them a real baby doll, straight from Heaven. And so He did.





Patrick is now 9 months old and a total joy. His foot is completely straight and he has NO issues from the drugs or the early birth. We feel blessed beyond belief and truly humbled that God chose us to raise this little boy. Adoption really is an amazing miracle.