Joy - the stuff we should have all the time!

Have you ever been friends with someone who is always genuinely joyful?  They always have a smile on their face and a kind word to say.  Even if they are struggling through a difficult time their demeanor is peaceful and sure that they will get through it and be a stronger person from the experience.  I've been thinking about this lately...it's really captured my attention!  It's forced me to look at myself and ask "Am I always joyful?"  I want to be salt and light to this world.  I want to show them the hope of our Savior.  However, if I groan and complain and act like whatever's happening to me shouldn't be happening to me, how am I showing them Christ?  It's so easy to do.  Matthew 7:13 and 14 (NRSV) says "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it.  For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it."  Some days when I would get up for massage therapy school all that would go through my mind is how tired I was and how I didn't want to work later that day.  It was all negative and very ungrateful for the amazing life I have.  I should be thanking the Lord for one more breath on the dawning of a new day!  This is something I want to strive for - to be joyful always even in the hard times.  It is SO easy to be joyful in the good times - so easy to thank God and think he's awesome.  But I believe we all need to thank God in the hard times too and remember his goodness and promises.  Here are some of his amazing promises to encourage you!

~Jeremiah 31:3b-4 ~  I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.  Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel!  Again you shall take your tambourines, and go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.

~Ephesians 2:3-5~  All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.  But God, who is rich in mercy, out of great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved -

~Revelation 1:17-18~  When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.  But he placed his right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one.  I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades.

~Revelation 7:15-17~ For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship Him day and night within His temple, and the One who is seated on the throne will shelter them.  They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and He will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

When I read these verses they give me such hope!  Hope births joy.  We have an Everlasting Hope so we will never be without the capacity to have joy.  One of my favorite quotes goes like this:  Life is hard and then you die.  It's kind of pessimistic but it's just a fact and plainly stated.  Although, I believe the author missed an important point!  I would have put it like this:  Life is hard and then you die but thank goodness for Jesus who loved us enough to save us from all this crap.  :)  Jesus never said being a follower of Him would be easy.  But I think that without Him it would be more awful than we could imagine.  I am so thankful for God.  I look to Him for my example :
Hebrews 12:2 ~ Looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the JOY that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
In Him is ultimate joy!

~morgan

Toxic Mold

I saw this story recently about a family (The Fabry's) and their journey in dealing with mold in the home.  It made my heart break for the them.  I remember dealing with a very similar situation in our family and while ours did not turn out to be mold (ours were chemicals in the environment  - mainly styrene and formaldehyde). It was very much a struggle and something that was not recognized or even looked at as a real problem.   My hope and prayer is that through families like the Fabry's and my own that people will learn the truth and be able to help themselves.  There are many stories out there just like these and real people dealing with these situations.  I have been able to meet people like the Fabry's that have had to deal with these health problems after exposure to toxic mold. The ladies I met had been shunned by former coworkers and others.  Sadly,  ignorance closes the door on many good people! Fortunately, they were able to find the same doctor we did that was willing to look for the cause of their problems  Through him we were all blessed to be able to get the help we needed.   We will be forever thankful to him for helping us when no one else could or would.  We were told like the Fabry's to take our daughter on to the "head doctor"  because there must be something wrong with her!  It could not possibly be that they did not know enough or have the willingness to learn something new.  It was just Morgan, her fault and her problem!  Out of all the doctors we did see, I can only remember one kind enough to say that he just did not know.  All the others knew exactly what was wrong, wrote a prescription and sent us off.  Problem was when that failed they never helped us from there, so I guess, so much for knowing what it was!?!?  Also, we learned just as the Fabry's have that the insurance does not pay for the things that actually work and the bills are not small.  I know I sound really anti-doctor and I can assure you I am NOT!  There are plenty of good, kind, and helpful physicians out there.  It is just unfortunate that they are in the minority!  I pray this will touch all that need it! :D Check out the Fabry's story below.
Teresa
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/healthscience/2009/December/The-Hidden-Dangers-of-Mold-Exposure/

Fruit Salsa with Brown Rice Tortilla Chips

If you have kids you know you are always looking for something to fill them up as they can go through spurts (long ones sometimes) of endless eating!  And we want to fill them up with something that is good and wholesome and helps them be their healthiest. Enlisting the help of your kids just makes sense. They appreciate their snack more and learn that good food takes a little time and is worth the effort.  This is definitely one of our favorites!  Try it out and I think you will find that it becomes one of your favorites too!

1-1/2 - 2 cups frozen peaches (organic to avoid pesticide exposure)
1-1/2 - 2 cups frozen strawberries (organic too - same as peaches)
5 - 6 kiwis
 4 - 5 granny smith apples (organic -  another high risk for pesticides)
1 whole fresh pineapple
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lime

Chop all fruit into small bite size pieces and add together in bowl.  Juice 1 lemon and 1 lime and pour over fruits and mix well.  We let this sit a bit and let the frozen fruit thaw some, but sometimes can't wait and dive in right away.  Remember, if possible get your thin skinned fruits organic.  These are the ones that have the highest amounts of pesticide contamination.  The kiwi and pineapple are on the list for a lower risk of contamination and do not need to be organic.
We like to make brown rice chips to eat with our fruit salsa.  We buy brown rice tortillas and spray or brush them with grape seed, safflower or olive oil then sprinkle with cinnamon and bake in the oven at 350 or 400 degrees for 12 - 15 mins until lightly browned.  Eden organic blue corn chips work well too but not quite as tasty.
Check out the pictures below and see how yummy!

My helpers

Whole Fresh Pineapple

 Baked Brown Rice Tortilla Chips w/cinnamon

 Finished product!

Sunscreen!

We are less than a week away from the official start of summer!  Yay! :)  In the south, we have been experiencing high heat for the last month so sunscreen use started awhile ago.  Since you need to protect your skin at certain times when you are outside, we thought we would provide some information to help you make the best choice possible when it comes to sunscreens.

We always hear how beneficial wearing sunscreen is and how damaging the sun can be.  Doomsday predictions of skin cancer from sun exposure cause consumers to slather on the white stuff.  Is it really all true though?  I mean common sense tells us that if anyone stays out under the sun too long it's not good!  Red, sore, peeling skin is not fun! However,  no sun exposure at all can be extremely problematic too.  At naturalnews.com, a wonderful alternative news source, you can find studies on how vitamin-D deficient the American population is.  Vitamin-D is produced from a chemical reaction that happens when sunlight hits cholesterol packets on your skin.  Too many of us stay indoors and in front of the television.  Go outside, take a walk with your family to get some fresh air and sunlight!  But to get back on track (you can tell we are a.d.d. can't you?) , God didn't screw up by making the sun!  Why do we fault God's creation and think nothing of the man-made product we are using.  Could it be that it is not all sun exposure to blame but the myriad of chemicals in the skincare industry.

Oxybenzone is a common sunscreen additive, synthetic estrogen, and potential hormone disruptor.   High levels of xeno-estrogens (synthetic estrogens) have been linked to cancer.   Other ingredients include nano-particle sized titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.  Nano-particles are EXTREMELY  small particles of substances that are usually created in a lab.  These tiny particles have not been sufficiently studied or observed in the human body.  We don't know if they can affect people at the cellular level.  Nano-particles are known to be harmful to the environment and aquatic life.

Some of the worse sunscreens on store shelves according to EWG.org (a non-profit consumer-adovacy group that works to keep the public educated)  are:

• Aveeno Baby Continuous Protection SPF 55 - the label reads "keep out of reach of children" and "get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away"  Huh??? SO we can put it on our skin (the LARGEST organ of the body that is highly absorbent) BUT we can't ingest it....hmmm...let's think about that one for a moment.....

• Banana Boat Sport Performance Active Max Protect, SPF 110 - this one has a supremely high SPF.  However, having a high SPF only means that you can expose yourself longer without getting burnt.  This doesn't mean that the sun's radiation isn't harming your skin.  You see when your skin goes red out in the sun, it is your body's way of telling you "Enough! time to go in!"  

This is just two of the many!  You can research everything on the EWG.org website.  They are extremely helpful and the site is easy to navigate.  Two other good sources for information on toxic sunscreens, good sunscreens, and vitamin-D are mercola.com and naturalnews.com/naturalnews.tv.  It is well worth the time looking into these ingredients that will affect you and your family's health!  

Now to give you some good news. :)  There are good sunscreens out there and you can support these smaller companies who are making a safer product.  

• Aubrey Organics Sunscreen 
• Badger Brand Sunscreen

We have used Jason's and Burt's Bee too,  although the first 2 brands are higher quality.  Just a reminder to that we should drink lots of water!! Our bodies and our skin NEED water.  What do we see on the beach?  People laying in the sun drinking soda.  That's really not what your body needs especially when you're in the sun!! Soda will dehydrate you completely so drink the H2O.  

Our suggestion from personal experience is to go outside and enjoy the sun for 15-30 minutes at a time.  If you do this, you will build up a tan which is your body's natural sun protection!  Plus, you get your dose of vitamin-D for the day which helps your mood and all other body processes. :)  So, we hope this information helped.  Here's to summer and the beautiful sun!  

Gardening! :D

Getting started

Almost there!

Finished box!

For some reason she thought the soil need some foot mixing

 

Dirty job!

My one raspberry I just couldn't eat and

should have because a bird did!  Didn't

make that mistake again!! lol

Yummy blueberries!

slicing tomatoes that are flowering but not producing  

I think they need more sun (at least I hope that's all)

cherry tomatoes and jalepenos

cucumbers

We love gardening and these are some photos of our newest plantings a few weeks ago.  We have planted cherry tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, jalepenos, and a few more herbs, dill & rosemary.   There is nothing better than working for what you will eat. You really appreciate it more and our kids learn to appreciate fresh food more often.  Helps so much with groceries too, especially the herbs as you only cut what you need. Knowing where it comes from and what it doesn't have sprayed on it is another great benefit!    Now that we are pros (lol) at building garden boxes I will be looking to see what I can grow even though it is late in the season!

Teresa

Massage Therapy

Hey!  I thought this would be a good topic to write a blogpost on since I only have 13 days left in massage therapy school!!! Yes, 8 months of hard work is bringing forth a sense of accomplishment. :)  After classes are done I have to take a board exam to get my license and then job-searching!  It's all so exciting and I'm really glad I chose this path.  I've met some amazing people at school and learned alot about the crazy-cool body God has given us.  I find it interesting that in the gospels, whenever Jesus healed people, He often touched them.  Another human-being's comforting touch can help the body in more ways that I believe we will ever discover through scientific studies.  Though I will admit, it is fascinating to look at what has been discovered as far as the benefits of massage therapy.  Massage therapy:

• promotes lymph circulation
• improves blood circulation 
• increases red and white blood cell count
• improves skin conditions
• decreases pain
• increases dopamine and serotonin levels
• reduces cortisol levels
• reduces stress and anxiety
• relieves muscular tension
• reduces muscle soreness and fatigue
• increases flexibility
• increases mineral retention in bone
• reduces excessive scar formation
• reduces fatigue
• stimulates digestion

and the list goes on!! This is what is great - no drugs or surgery required.  The more the body is able to keep itself in a state of homeostasis the less diseases or problems occur.   So find a local licensed massage therapist to go to!  Even if you can only go once a month your body will thank you :)  Especially if you exercise - this is a great addition to keep your body in tip top shape.

~morgan

Fruit of the season

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/06/03/why-are-nonorganic-watermelons-exploding-in-china.aspx
We are all, no doubt, enjoying the beautiful weather as the official day of summer approaches.  Hopefully it is filled with all of the wonderful fruits out this time of the year!  The information I share today will help us all to make better choices on one particular fruit, the watermelon. Should we be using chemical like forchlorfenuron that does have side effects?  Is using this chemical that stimulates cell division and makes the fruit grow faster a good thing?  Our family loves watermelon as I am sure most do.  So much of the time though we notice, that like so many other fruits,  there is just no flavor and the fruit is bland! I believe this has to do with all the chemicals and depletion in our soil thus ruining all the benefits to be had in God's creation.   The belief that you are just paying more when you go for organic food is not true.   When you do your research you will find that this is not the case. Organic fruits have more antioxidants and minerals than their conventional counterparts and they always taste better! You can avoid these chemical by shopping for organics when possible and even better and much more fun is to shop at your local farmer's market.  It is a great way to avoid many pesticides and support your local farmers.  While they do sometimes use them you will find it is far less and you are able to find out just what it is they use so that you can do some research to decide if it is something that you will be ok with. Produce at farmer's markets do not have to be shipped and retain more of the nutrients that you want.  While watermelons do have a thicker skin so your pesticide exposure is low compared to other fruits like say strawberries and peaches (two of the worst offenders for pesticides)  watermelons are also being given hormones to increase farmer's yields.   So, just be informed and know what risk you are taking with your health!  As the saying goes "You can pay for your health now or you will pay later!"   Read the above article to get some more information of what goes on with our produce!
Hosea 4:6a
Teresa