About Me

My photo
Byzantine Catholic convert, wife, mother to eight children.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Drinkin' A Bit O' The Green


"Are you tired? Run down? Listless? Do you poop out at parties"

I do love Lucy, but the answer to all these problems is not in a little bottle of intoxicating Vitameatavegemin, but in a delicious green smoothie!

I have recently discovered the wonder that is the green smoothie, and let me tell you, and I am hooked. Now before you write me off as crazy (probably most of you did that along time ago)here me out. A green smoothie is a blended drink of fruits, water, and a fist full or two of a green leafy vegetable. I have used all kinds of fruit and a variety of green leafies from spinach, to beet tops, to dandelions from our own backyard (of which we have an abundance).

The fruit makes the pile of raw greens palatable, and the green leafies give you an energy burst without chemicals or the jitters. I have also found that the combination suppresses my appetite and makes me feel satisfied for a longer period of time. My 14 month old totally LOVES them, and my other kids are warming up to the idea (some more than others).

I made a new combo this morning and honestly I could not even taste the spinach. All of the kids really liked it too. Here is what I did:

1 banana
1 mango
1/2 frozen raspberries
1/2 cup water
Blend
Then add 1-3 handfuls of baby spinach. I use three, but if you are just starting out you may want to use just 1 for now.
BLEND BLEND BLEND

For more info on green smoothies here is a good site.

http://www.rawfamily.com/

Thursday, February 4, 2010

My Take On Tebow


I am not a football fan. I just Googled to find out who is playing in the Superbowl this year. I'll be cheering for the Saints. How could you not cheer for a team with a name like that? I have however been following the controversy over the Tim Tebow ad that Focus on the Family is to air during the game. Certain women's groups are fearful that the message is too pro-life. Yet many in the pro-choice camp have admitted that those groups are taking things a bit far, and prohibiting the ad would be a violation the 1st Amendment. Much has already been written about that. I think another point must be made.

First off let me say that I think the ad is a good and positive thing. I hope that it makes people stop and think about life issues, but let's take a little hypothetical rewind. What if Mrs. Tebow had given birth to the little boy that the doctors warned her about? What if instead of a tall, good looking, Heisman Trophy winner, little Timmy had been a severely mentally and/or physically handicapped child? Would her "choice" then not be laudable? Would Tim's life not be as valuable? The triumph of the story is not that Tim grew up to be so successful. The glory lies in the fact that a baby was given the chance to continue on living.

All human life is valuable.....ALL HUMAN LIFE! From the time conception takes place, until the time we breathe our last, our lives are of infinite worth...no matter what. Football players, computer geeks, supermodels, janitors, homeless folks, CEOs, prison inmates, all are equal in their human dignity. Mrs. Tebow is to be praised because she understood that fact. She knew that regardless of the outcome, her child was created in the Image of God and therefore should be allowed to live until the Creator decided otherwise.

When doctors encourage women to abort their children because they might be "abnormal" we tread on some dangerously familiar ground. "Lebensunwertes Leben" or "life unworthy of life" was the ideology behind forced sterilizations and mass murders in Nazi Germany. When we believe that it is more humane to kill a child rather than have it live a "challenged" life what does that logically lead to? I think we have already had a taste. March 31st will be the fifth anniversary of Terri Schindler-Schiavo being inhumanly dehydrated and starved to death. Terri had no terminal illness. She was not on life support. All she had was a feeding tube to give her basic food and water. Yet she was subjected to a slow agonizing death while the entire country looked on. Stray dogs have a better fate. There are similar, less publicized murders that take place in nursing homes all the time. For more on this check out http://terrisfight.org/ .

So yes, I celebrate Tim Tebow and his chance at life and what he has done with it. I just think we also need to celebrate the lives of people like Leslie Lemke as well. I want to leave you with this video. Probably a lot of you have already seen it, but it is worth watching again.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Plans Vs. Reality

Do you remember that scene in Anne of Green Gables where Mirilla is meeting Anne for the very first time? "Tell me about yourself", Mirilla inquires. Anne replies, "If you let me tell you what I imagine about myself it would be much more interesting."

My imagined world is so orderly, so clean, so perfect, so.... not my real life. I've taken the time to make beautiful schedules, goals, outlines, and charts. However, somewhere along the way family members get sick, mice invade the house, or the dog gets a little too friendly with a porcupine (all actual events), and low and behold I'm behind in the laundry, and dinner ends up being toast and eggs.....again. Now I am not saying carefully made schedules are a bad thing.....sometimes they even work out! Yet, no matter how organized a person you are, there are just those days that we must be willing to adapt.

Chaos or calm I try to remember one simple daily prayer....." Dear Lord, please help me to accomplish all that is necessary today." God knows my family's needs. He can see the big picture and the final goal a lot more clearly than I can. Sometimes God takes me in a different direction than I originally planned and I need to learn to yield my will over to His will. Even Jesus prayed, "not my will but yours be done, and we are to "take up our cross and follow Him". Sometimes that means making a simple dinner because I have to spend extra time potty training my toddler. Sometimes it means setting aside a grammar lesson because my kids need some one-on-one cookie baking time with mom. Sometimes it means I have to take a nap while my capable 9 year old makes PB&J for lunch because I was up all night with a sick baby. Whatever it is, as long as I know that I am truly seeking God's will I can rest assured that He is taking care of what really needs to take place that day. Whether it matches my imagined day or not.

However, there are days when I am derailed due to my own selfishness. It is so easy to make little excuses for myself when I spend too much time on the computer, phone, or watching TV. At times I just don't feel like trying, or asking God what He wants from me. I can not have God's blessing if I am not attempting to do His will with my whole heart. There is always grace, but I need to cooperate with that grace to live out my vocation as wife and mother like He intends me to. If we allow slothful behavior to continue it can become a pattern of serious sins of omission. When we are idle with our time we are failing to do the things God has given us to do. We are also setting a bad example for our children to follow. Do as I say, not as I do does not work very well.

Oh, that reminds me.....time to exit the blogosphere and tackle those dishes!