Going Green

Not the Green you're thinking of- we are already eco-friendly.

We have always been a healthy family but have gotten off track and started indulging in more processed, cooked and sugary foods that are "quick". This means lots of bread (albeit whole grain) and for the holidays, pies, cakes, cookies and the like.
For Christmas we got a one cup smoothie maker and the book "Green Smoothie Revolution". The book peaked my interest in health again and to see if we can actually consume 8 servings of fruits and greens- raw...daily.
Today was my first batch of green smoothies. Mine was made with mango, banana and purple kale. It was super tasty and I felt full from it and took less than 3 minutes, including clean up.

When the girls got up, I made them "monkey smoothies" which was spinach, banana and apple, with the peel intact. They turned a really bright green which promoted the question from Lily

"Why is this green?".

It reminded me of a book I read as a kid where this little boy hated veggies, or at least the green ones so a scientist found a way to turn his veggies different colors
and he loved them all.
So I put her smoothie in her new Santa cup with a straw so she could not see it, only slurp up the tasty goodness.

Chloe had a TBS and cried for more. I gave her 1 more TBS and she still was not sated. I didn't want to over do the raw greens and have it come out in her diaper though.

Once Corey gets home, I'll fix him up one too and see what he thinks.
This may be the beginning of something beautiful (and I hear I may lose some weight too)

I Love your Presence

Honor and majesty are [found] in His presence; strength and joy are [found] in His sanctuary. ~ 1 Chronicles 16: 27(AMP)

the most common hebrew word for presence is panim which is literally translated as “face”.

To seek God's presence is to seek his face, or even better- to seek him. How can you seek someone's face without looking for them personally?

You see them-you greet them-you engage in conversation with them-you laugh with them- you cry with them-you are involved with them.

The presence of God was sometimes feared in the Bible. People tried unsuccessfully to hide or escape from his presence. Adam and Eve hid from the Lord in the Garden of Eden in Gen 3:8. Jonah got on a boat in Tarshesh to hide from the Lord (Jon 1:3)

More often, people called out to God and his presence brought peace and comfort in times of need.

When we seek God's presence we are seeking an encounter with him. We are seeking to hear him, to feel him, to know him more.

In order to pursue his presence, we must

1)die to ourselves and our own agenda.

You can't visit family if you are too busy to make the trip to see them. You can't visit with God deliberately if you are too busy to stop and seek him.

2)desire to be like Christ. The people you want to be like are the people you associate yourself with. If you want to be more like Christ, then you will desire to be around him more.

Just as a child watches and copies their parents, then you will watch and copy The Lord. But you have to observe and examine him to know and understand him more. Let him be your guide.

3)Make it permanent. Don't only desire God's presence in time of trouble, desire him to give him Thanks for his presence. Seek him to love and adore him and worship Him. Enjoy spending time with him when you are not in a place of wanting. Love and thank him not only on Sunday and Holidays, give thanks everyday for what he has done.

At the end, God's immediate presence is the reward for our searching here on earth. There will be a day when we are with Him and will see him face to face.

1 joh 3:2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is

When he returns-we will walk with him in the cool of the day again. But don't wait until the day we are gone from the earth be Thankful that he is not far away, that his presence is with us.Give Thanks to the Lord, for he is Good, his love endures forever.

Turkey Time Countdown

Thank you God for a sound mind and the breath of life today.

Since we are spending Thanksgiving this year at Aunt Nancy's house there will be lots of food and family and fun.
She is so excited to go that she keeps telling me "Thanksgiving is tomorrow". Since we are working on her numbers (she can count, but can't recognize the numbers just yet) I wanted to make a Turkey Counter to show how many days are left until Thanksgiving.

We used some foam and leftover decorations from last year to build this turkey. Each day we pull of a tail feather until the last one is gone. Then when the turkey is tail-less, we get to grub!