In Honor of My Oldest Son’s 20th Birthday

In Honor of My Oldest Son’s 20th Birthday

Every single year when Asa’s birthday rolls around, my sister-in-law Kari lovingly shoots me this message, “You don’t look old enough to have a ___ year old!” This obviously moves her SIL ranking up significantly, and I will watch for these yearly messages every June from now until forever.

She has sent me that message now four handfuls of times because friends, today I have a 20 year old. Please join Kari as together you all say in unison, “You can’t possibly be old enough to have a 20 year old.”

Aww, shucks. Do you really mean it?

This is the amazing man that gave me the name “Mom” 20 years ago today. Asa John, my firstborn.

Twenty years. Four sons. The significance of what this 20-year journey has been and continues to be lands me in a place of wonderment. Sure, part of that awe results from the fact that my kids are all huge 6-foot something people and I’m way down here in the 5’s. But much of what I’m treasuring in my heart goes far beyond their physical growth during these two decades.

When I realized a few months ago that Asa’s 20th birthday was approaching, I was beautifully touched with this humble realization:

Without knowing it, Asa is the one who taught me to pray.

• Through each new phase as he and his brothers have grown up together
• As each new season in life approached and I looked ahead toward a myriad of unknowns
• While I so often struggled to find the right words to say while training and shaping my kids’ hearts
• While I fully desire for my children to choose Jesus
• As I discovered over and over that my weaknesses could only be made perfect through the power of the Cross

I learned how to pray.

It’s the kind of prayer that says, “I believe. Help me overcome my unbelief.” It’s the conversation with God that proclaims, “I can’t do this alone. But I trust that I can do it with You.” And it’s the surrendered heart’s cry ready to welcome the true love, peace, and joy that can only be provided by our perfect Father.

I continue to learn that if I want to live in the fullness of His peace, I have no choice but to completely trust God with my kids.

I meet Him each morning in the quiet, while all of the house is still sleeping. I wake up with coffee and Jesus, choosing a different colored mug to fill each day, praying specifically for my kids, as each mug directly represents one of my four sons. I drink in the goodness, I fill up with Truth, and I learn day after day to more fully let go of self and embrace the promises of God for my family.

Dear Asa,

On this, your 20th birthday, I say thank you. Thank you for teaching me to pray. I’m honored today to dedicate my newest book to you. I wrote it because of you…because of you and your brothers.

Asa, Justus, Elias, and Malachi – thank you for teaching me to look to our Savior as I strive to fully trust His goodness for our lives.

Dear Friends,

It is with great joy that I introduce you to The Prayer Mugs.

It is a book filled with scripture truth and parenting encouragement. Throughout its 96 pages, you’ll get to walk with me as I share precious pieces of the past 20 years of my parenting journey – the journey that is teaching me the truth about God’s faithfulness in our lives.

You can be sure that the pages of this book are lovingly stained with coffee and tears. I’m guessing you’ll find a chuckle here and there. Most importantly, my hope is that this book will land you in a place of peace as you spend time praying for your children and learn more about all God has to offer our families through His word and His promises.

The Prayer Mugs includes 96 pages with 10 detailed “Prayer Mug Lessons.” It’s full of our stories. It’s full of scripture and study questions. It’s full of specific prayer guides. It’s full of beautifully designed scripture printables.

You’ll read. You’ll dig into the Word. You’ll journal (if that’s your thing). You’ll pray, you’ll pray, you’ll pray. You will love this glorious time with God and you can be sure that your life as a parent will be changed.

It’s the kind of change that is not to be feared, but rather embraced, as time in the Word and in prayer set us free and fill us all with hope and joy!

Snag and download your copy of The Prayer Mugs. Grab your Bible. Fill your mug. Drink in the good and perfect promises of God. Release all parenting burdens and joyfully grab hold of Truth as you perfect the art of trusting the Father with your kids’ hearts and lives.

Pray. Trust. Coffee. Repeat.

It doesn’t get any better than that.

Get your copy of The Prayer Mugs here —>

Grab your mug. Fill it to the top. Download your Prayer Mugs eBook and enjoy the richness it offers as you surrender your kids to God.​​​​​​​ 96 pages filled with lessons I've learned through 20 years of parenting, scripture, encouragement, printables, journaling pages, and truth.

P.S. No one is required to drink coffee while reading this book. I hear some people don’t like coffee. This is curious but perfectly acceptable. :)

P.P.S. This book is for parents of kids from newborn to adult. Once a parent, always a parent. May we always and forever pray for our children in full faith that God is absolutely at work in their lives.

Question of the week

“Laura, where can we get cool mugs to go with this book?”

Aha! Good question. The answer is that any mugs will work – any cups that carry a special link to your child(ren).

But I’m excited to announce that you can now order these personalized mugs!

A beautiful Prayer Mug to use as you pray over your child (or children). We can do individual names on a mug OR a grouping of names - all custom printed for you. This is a 100% ceramic coffee mug in 15 oz size. They are sturdy, white, and..customized for you! And the price INCLUDES shipping*! *Due to expense, we are only able ship to US residents.Custom Information - PLEASE DOUBLE-CHECK YOUR INFOMATION before ordering:

Original article and pictures take heavenlyhomemakers.com site

Immunity Boosting Triple Berry Kiwi Smoothie.

Immunity Boosting Triple Berry Kiwi Smoothie.

A fresh and healthy triple berry kiwi smoothie that’s loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. This smoothie is a great way to boost your immune system!

We’re all so busy at this time of year, we forget to take care of ourselves sometimes, don’t we?

With lots of indoor activities, and children passing around germs, it’s easy to catch whatever’s going around. We have to remember to take care of ourselves, or we wind up run down and sick.

A healthy smoothie is a great choice for breakfast on busy days. Throw everything in the blender, give it a whirl, and you’re good to go. You don’t need a Vitamix to make a super smoothie – this blender is SO powerful, and a fraction of the price. Plus, you can add on this blend and go smoothie jar, which is really convenient. (affiliate links)

This one is full of antioxidants and vitamin C from all the berries and fresh kiwi. Did you know that one kiwi has over 100% of the recommended daily value of vitamin C? And it has a rare form of vitamin E that’s fat-free.

The three types of berries are also excellent for immunity as well since they are full of vitamin C and bioflavonoids. Eating a variety of berries is very good for you as you get a variety of antioxidants. The darker the berries, the more antioxidants they contain. You could also add some blackberries to this smoothie if you want.

I used orange juice for added vitamin C and calcium, but you could use water or even cranberry juice if you prefer.

Tips for making this triple berry smoothie:

• If you find that your frozen berries or the kiwi are too tart, you can add a little maple syrup or honey to sweeten this if needed, or any sweetener that works for your diet.
• Occasionally frozen strawberries are on the tart side – so if fresh fruit is in season, you can use that instead if you prefer!
• If you wanted to add more antioxidants and iron, you could even throw some fresh kale or spinach in here. It shouldn’t change the flavor, but it will change the color – it won’t be such a vibrant shade of deep pink.
• You can also add chia seeds, flax seed meal, or hemp seed hearts (affiliate links) if you are interested in adding some protein and healthy fats to this smoothie. I didn’t choose to do that this time, but it’s a great option if you want this to have more staying power between meals.

This is a beautiful smoothie to enjoy whether you’re sick or well. It’s the perfect breakfast or snack.

What are your favorite natural remedies for a cold?

Follow along:

Original article and pictures take i0.wp.com site

Immune Supporting Bath Salts

Immune Supporting Bath Salts

I may receive a commission if you purchase something mentioned on this page. See more details here.

As a child, I took baths all of the time! But as soon as I graduated to showering, it was years before I actually returned to the tub. Honestly, I just didn't understand why people took baths. I didn't have the time for that. Who wants to sit in a warm tub for a long time?? Turns out, it is actually pretty fantastic! Everyone has their own reasons for hopping in the tub for a nice relaxing soak. And if you use bath salts, you are upping the whole bath experience! Epsom salts, magnesium more specifically, is incredibly good for our bodies! Throw in some lavender and you have a truly relaxing bath experience!

But sometimes our bodies need a little EXTRA support. I know that I turn to a warm tub when I am feeling under the wellness line! There is just something about a warm tub that is just so soothing and comforting! Am I right? And then add to that some immune supporting bath salts and BOOM! The bath is now just what the doctor, or this momma, ordered!

Most recently I created some immune supporting bath salts with Thieves, Frankincense, and Taste of Italy! Taste of Italy? Really? Yes! There are some great immune supportive oils in there! Sometimes we all just want to support our bodies to be able to perform and function as they should! Supporting our immune system is just one thing we can do to keep our healthy bodies healthy!

So, next time you feel like your immune system could use some support, throw these immune supporting bath salts into your tub and take a nice long soak! It will do your body good! And perhaps your mind and soul as well.

Original article and pictures take ohlardy.com site

If Your Alternative Practitioner Doesn’t Know This, Be Wary

If Your Alternative Practitioner Doesn’t Know This, Be Wary

We’ve heard a lot of talk lately about using essential oils safely. And don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing! But somewhere along the way we seem to have lost sight of the fact that they aren’t the only thing for which we need to take precautions or obtain a little knowledge!

Something I’ve been meaning to write about for a while is natural practitioners who are recommending herbs without having the necessary knowledge to do so safely.

“N.D.” — Naturopathic Doctor, or Not a Doctor?

The first time I encountered this was about thirteen years ago. I went to see an “N.D.” (Buyer beware. At least in my state, that isn’t a regulated term, so it could mean anything from an actual naturopathic doctor who has multiple years of post-graduate school and hands-on experience to an MLM distributor of herbs who knows nothing beyond what’s in her catalog.) She recommended some items and I asked her if they were safe to take during pregnancy. After some not-very-confident-sounding stammering, she finally said that they should be fine because they’re “very gentle.”

Wrong answer.

“Gentle” has nothing to do with it — well, very little to do with it, anyway. My “N.D.” had just demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding regarding herbs.

Fast-Forward a Number of Years…

…and a midwife recommended a particular herbal tea. This particular tea is a remedy that has been recommended by thousands of midwives over many years; however, I had read about a particular reason another expert recommended not drinking it during pregnancy, so I asked what the midwife thought about this particular line of thought. Her response demonstrated the same fundamental lack of understanding.

So what is that lack of understanding?

A lack of understanding of therapeutic actions.

If You Don’t Know This, Don’t Make Recommendations!

Let me be blunt: no one who lacks an understanding of what a therapeutic action is, and of the descriptions of some of the more basic, common actions, has any business making herbal recommendations. If you don’t, and you are still comfortable using them with your own family, so be it. But making recommendations demands that you have the responsibility to obtain at least a little bit of knowledge first. Otherwise, there is the potential to do considerable harm — like by recommending herbs contraindicated during pregnancy to a pregnant woman, or to a woman who may become pregnant, without fair warning.

Therapeutic Action

A therapeutic action is, basically, the specific effect an herb (or other substance) has on the body. Most herbs have more than one. In fact, I can’t think of an herb that has only one. There are a limited number of actions, but the great variety of combinations makes each herb uniquely useful. Therapeutic actions include things like the following:

diuretic (increases/promotes urination)

febrifuge (reduces fever)

stimulant (increases energy and activity within the body)

anti-emetic (reduces or prevents vomiting)

Why is this so important? Well, not only do you need to know what actions you are looking for, in order to find the right herb for your needs; you also need to know what actions you don’t want, so you can avoid herbs that have that action. One significant example is herbs which are “abortifacient.” That means they are capable of inducing miscarriage — probably something you want to avoid if you’re pregnant!

Other therapeutic actions have the potential to cause a miscarriage, as well, through less direct means. For instance, herbs that are strong intestinal stimulants can indirectly irritate the uterus and induce a miscarriage.

If you have high blood pressure, you’ll want to avoid herbs which are hypertensive.

You do not have to have all of these memorized! You can look them up when you need them. But any holistic practitioner who is recommending specific herbs needs to understand these concepts, or you cannot trust that s/he is able to safely make those recommendations.

Be a wise consumer. Be informed.

This post is being shared at Wellness Wednesday.

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Original article and pictures take titus2homemaker.com site

If You Drink This Before Going To Bed You Will Burn Belly Fat Like Crazy

If You Drink This Before Going To Bed You Will Burn Belly Fat Like Crazy

Belly fat can be the hardest fat to get rid of. It's esy to feel helpless, like nothing will work, but diet is so important in eliminating that stubborn fat. Just a glass of this drink before going to bed helps you immensely. This drink is easy to prepare and has proved efficient in bringing great results in short period as long as it is consumed regularly.

When you go to bed and fall asleep, the metabolism works slower than when you are awake. This drink will help you boost your metabolism and burn calories while you are sleeping and the best part is it's delicious and easy to make.

Ingredients:

Cucumbers are great for helping you reduce stomach fat. They are refreshing, high in water content, loaded with fiber, and very low in calories. One full cucumber contains only 45 calories, making it sexy stomach food. They also help detox the body.

Both parsley and cilantro are extremely low in calories, full of antioxidants and offer several vital vitamins and minerals that help to ease water retention without causing the bloating and tummy discomfort.

Lemon will flush out all toxins accumulated in your body and this will contribute to much faster melting of fat as fat metabolism will be increased once the impurities are out of the system.

Ginger will fire up metabolism, prevent constipation and melt unwanted belly fat. If you have flat tummy on your mind, make sure you regularly include ginger in your meals. All compounds in ginger work in synergy to prevent overeating and blast belly fat fast.

Aloe vera juice is considered really efficient weight loss remedy as it contains natural anti-oxidants that help to delay the growth of free radicals in the body and even to reduce inflammatory processes going on in the body. It stimulates the metabolic rate which in turn helps for the consumption of more energy. This process stabilizes and reduces the body mass index (BMI)

It's that simple. For an extra boost during the day you can pair it with this healthy detox water.

source

Original article and pictures take www.lovethispic.com site

If I Had to Raise My Kids All Over Again, I Would Definitely Do This

If I Had to Raise My Kids All Over Again, I Would Definitely Do This

I’m on year twenty of being a mom. TWENTY! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t know how I got here. One crusty sock and painful lego under my foot at a time, I suppose. What a ride. What a joy. What a lot of life lessons.

My kids always cooperated when taking pictures.

The regrets over all the mistakes I made and things I wished I could go back and do differently started washing over me during my oldest son’s senior year of high school. It was a painful time, thinking of sending him off after graduation, knowing I could have and should have done a better job. The Enemy was attacking and filling me with lies, making me forget all the good in our lives, keeping me from seeing the amazing person my son had become in spite of, and even because of me.

God’s grace has offered much healing from those days of swimming in regret as He overpowered the enemy lies and showed me His beautiful Truth. I am so thankful to be freed of that bondage!

Sure, I could have done many things differently through these twenty years. But that doesn’t mean I’m a parenting failure. It means I’m a human being. It means I need Jesus. It means my kids need Him too, since what I have to offer falls short of what our Savior offers.

Well with that, I want to reflect back on something I am so thankful we did, something God orchestrated in our family and helped us to do well – even though we had no idea at the time that it was such a thing of beauty.

From the time our kids were little, we made opportunities for our kids to think of and serve others.

It was something we saw happening within another family we respected. They always had their kids with them as they served the community in all different ways. We saw this and we thought, “We want that for our kids.”

I am so thankful for this family’s example of serving with their kids. It would have been easier to leave the kids behind so we could “serve more efficiently.” But what would our kids have learned? That serving was for grown-ups? That helping others wasn’t their problem? That they could learn to do that serving thing later on in life? That they could stay in their own little world and think only of themselves?

When our second son was three (he’s now heading into his senior year; I can’t even) – I started a fun “school” time with him where I taught him an alphabet letter each week. As he was learning the sound and doing activities to help him retain what he was learning, we started thinking of people we knew whose name started with that letter. Then we’d choose a fun way to show love to that person. For instance:

On Mm Week, we chose an elderly couple from church, Mabrey and Madge Miller (how handy that their first names started with M too!). We made and delivered them Mini Muffins, explaining to them what the boys were learning. Dearest Madge loved what we were doing and cleverly sent the boys a thank you note which read, “Mmmm! Many thanks for the marvelous, magnificent mini muffins you made!”

Do you know what a treasure this is? Others responded with equal joy and fun with our family as we delivered “a jar of jelly beans to John on Jj week, a tiny toy for Tina on Tt week, a flower to Felice on Ff week…and so on.

We worked our way through the alphabet this way with all of our boys when they came “of age” but what’s better is that all of our boys got to participate in the serving activities every single time.

Here’s our youngest, back when he was four,

delivering an Apple Pie to the Amick family on Aa week!

I look back on those precious times with our family with so much happiness, I can’t put it into words. Our boys learned to think of others and consider what might bring them joy – then they had the experience of delivering a treasure to a surprised recipient. They learned to talk to the elderly, consider the shut-in, and approach kids bigger than them.

It was a parenting move I didn’t even know would turn out to be such a blessing. But Ww is for win and this is a parenting move I thank God He inspired.

A few years after the idea originated in our home, my husband urged me to compile it all and create an actual curriculum to share. It was a huge amount of effort, but I got to re-live all the memories, which made it such a joy to complete. It’s filled with hundreds of ideas of activities to help your child learn letter sounds while learning to serve!

Many, many families have used this with their kids since it first came out, and this week, I’m highlighting it again for this reason:

Teach your kids to serve. Help them see people. Train them to notice other people’s needs.

I will never regret the time our family has spent caring for and serving others together. My kids have not always done this cheerfully; parts of this training have been hard; sometimes it would have been easier to do the task myself. But now I watch my kids spoon-feeding our adult handicapped friend, I see them hugging our disabled lady friend without reservation, I hear them talking sweetly to little ones – and I know this without a doubt:

Teaching my kids to serve at a young age is a parenting move I would cheerfully do all over again.

What’s something you’ve done as a parent that you feel great about?

Some of the links in this post are my affiliate links.

Original article and pictures take heavenlyhomemakers.com site

If I Had to Choose Just One Supplement to Give My Family, It Would be This One

If I Had to Choose Just One Supplement to Give My Family, It Would be This One

Taking fish oil to supplement my diet was one of the very first things I did when I first started learning about real food and a natural approach to health eight years ago. Right around the time I finally liberated bacon and butter from their undeserved shunning. (Hallelujah and Amen!)

Although fish oil was the first supplement to win me over, it soon became the first of many. Understandably, with my deep dive into the world of whole foods and natural health came a very long and expensive list of changes I wanted to make in my buying habits. Fewer $1 boxes of mac and cheese, and more fresh produce and quality ingredients to make food from scratch. Less cheap white bread and chicken nuggets with filler, and more alternative grain options and local, grass-fed meats.

And of course – a growing list of well-rationalized natural supplements for various minor health issues that we were experiencing.

But we, like many other families, were on a tight budget. A very, VERY tight budget at times. And we still are today, as we work hard to pay off the debt we accumulated during those lean years of flight training for my hubs.

So finally, growing frustrated by the never-ending demands of healthy living, I decided to get back to the basics. Unprocessed food as much as possible, and very few, select supplements.

Today, after years of experience in this natural living world, if I had to pick just one supplement to buy for my family, it would absolutely be fish oil, without a doubt.

The scientifically proven truth is that the omega-3 fatty acids that fish oil provides are absolutely crucial to our overall health. Unfortunately, the majority of us are deficient in them thanks to our modern diets high in industrial oils (vegetable oil, canola, soybean oil, etc.) and low in sustainable seafood, which is the primary source of omega- 3’s.

Natural health proponents and western Western medicine alike now recommend fish oil for improved health. Hurray for healthy fats and nourishing our bodies with things that make sense, right?

What Does Fish Oil Do, Exactly?

Lots! The amazing benefits of fish oil are just too amazing to ignore. Fish oil is a significant source of both EPA and DHA – two fatty acids that are vital to a multitude of bodily functions.

Among other functions, EPA is extremely important to hormonal health in particular, while DHA is required for proper brain function, as well as nervous system function.

I find it fascinating that fish oil was once a standard supplement in traditional European cultures. It has since seen a drastic fall in popularity in favour of our highly processed food culture, deficient in essential nutrients and plentiful in disease and bad health.

I for one am grateful to the companies like Nordic Naturals (one of our family’s fish oil favourites for quality and affordability) that continue to spread this vital information.

Nordic Naturals manufactures a fresh and pure omega-3 fish oil that is backed by solid science and a passion for strong health. They’re committed to quality, purity, and efficacy – the three most important factors in deciding which supplements to buy for your family.

Here are some of the top benefits that fish oil provides:

• Supports joint and muscle health
• Supports gut health
• Supports healthy brain function
• Supports healthy hair, skin, and nails
• Supports positive moods
• Supports heart health

It’s no coincidence that the above-listed issues are extremely common complaints among our population today, yet traditional ways of eating (unprocessed, real food) and supplementing (like fish oil) have taken a dive.

Does it Taste Gross?

On its own, taken plain, it would taste fishy and oily. And rightly so! If the plain, unflavoured product tasted sweet and delicious, I would probably be suspicious. I might say that sounds rather fishy. (pun 100% intended.)

Food isn’t supposed to be neon in colour, your breakfast wasn’t meant to be shaped like cartoon characters, and fish don’t come out of the ocean tasting like candy. These are all rather immutable truths, I say. (Though the processed food industry would inevitably disagree.)

I generally prefer my food to be as unprocessed as possible, which means that fish oil will taste… like fish.

But wait! Don’t despair yet…

If you enjoy the straight up, unflavoured fish oil (like my weirdo children who beg me for it), then you go right on ahead with your bad self, and rock those weird tastebuds of yours.

For the rest of us normal people (who don’t salivate at the thought of fish-flavoured oil), thankfully, there are options. Excellent ones, even!

Nordic Naturals is a brand that I’ve personally used many times before, and they offer both flavoured liquid options and capsules, too.

My personal preference is the capsules, but my kids love the flavoured options so much that they actually beg me for their daily dose. Not kidding. (I actually think that their little bodies intuitively know that it’s what they need!)

Who Should Take It?

The benefits of fish oil are so diverse and holistic that I recommend it for the whole family. It’s especially important for couples looking to conceive, children, the elderly, and anyone facing any issues related to the above list of benefits (ie. cardiovascular health, gut health, joint and muscles, etc.) So in other words – everyone!

As I guide my family back to vibrant health and wellness (and a debt-free life!) I will continue to provide our best and most valiant attempt at an unprocessed and healthy overall diet, along with a daily dose of fish oil.

Does your family take a daily fish oil supplement?

P.S. Want to try Nordic Naturals for yourself? Order some today, and use the promo code CAFEMOM to save 15%!

Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by Nordic Naturals, but opinions are all mine! When this opportunity first landed in my inbox, I totally jumped on it with excitement! I love writing about companies that are a perfect fit with my natural wellness values, and I love sharing them with you all. I only accept sponsored post opportunities that align with the high-standard values of Red & Honey! Thanks to Nordic Naturals for partnering with R&H.

Original article and pictures take redandhoney.com site